IMGH Chapter 51.1

You Like Me (1)

Seeing Jiang Yi at home, Chen Yuhe was quite happy. She smiled at him and said, “You’re home! Why didn’t you answer my call last night? I thought something had happened to you!”

Girls these days are really forward — she actually came looking for me, Jiang Yi thought to himself, finding Chen Yuhe’s forwardness somewhat speechless. When asked why he hadn’t answered the phone, he simply played deaf and dumb, glossing over it with vague silence.

Seeing that he didn’t respond, Chen Yuhe pouted and complained, “I asked you to call me in the evening and you didn’t, then I called you and you didn’t answer! Are you saying you don’t want me to be your girlfriend?”

As she spoke, Chen Yuhe had already pushed past Jiang Yi and let herself in, not forgetting to swap into a pair of slippers at the shoe cabinet by the entryway — her manner making it perfectly clear she didn’t consider herself an outsider.

Jiang Yi watched her behavior and was once again left speechless.

In the brief moment while Chen Yuhe was changing her shoes, she lifted her head and looked around the small apartment. Her bright, glittering eyes swept past the dining table and lingered there for just a moment. It appeared to be a casual glance, yet it made Qiu Rui, who was sitting at the dining table, furrow his brows slightly — he had the distinct feeling of being watched.

But no one other than Jiang Yi could see him. Qiu Rui gave a self-deprecating smile, deciding he must have been too sensitive.

“Yuhe, did you come over for something?” Jiang Yi asked, somewhat helplessly, as Chen Yuhe continued looking around.

Chen Yuhe blinked her large, pretty eyes. “Nothing in particular! I just came to check on you — I was worried something might have happened to you!”

Jiang Yi laughed. “I’m a grown man sitting at home — what could possibly happen to me?”

Chen Yuhe curled her lips in a cryptic little smile and glanced toward the dining table again. “Well, you never know!”

Her words were ambiguous enough to give Jiang Yi pause. Puzzled, he followed her gaze and realized she seemed to be looking in Qiu Rui’s direction.

But Chen Yuhe quickly withdrew her gaze, her expression completely normal, giving nothing away. Jiang Yi decided he must have been overthinking it. After all, Qiu Rui’s spirit was invisible to ordinary people.

Chen Yuhe said with a hint of guilt, “I haven’t interrupted your meal, have I?”

“No, I already finished eating,” Jiang Yi replied, feeling a wave of relief wash over him. He concluded he had been overthinking — what Chen Yuhe had been looking at earlier was probably just the food on the table.

….

“What is it?” Jiang Yi lowered his voice, wary of Chen Yuhe overhearing.

“I feel like she can see me,” Qiu Rui said, pressing his thin lips together, his expression grave.

Jiang Yi’s eyes widened in surprise. “You feel that way too!”

“I think there’s something off about this girl — the way she looks is strange,” Jiang Yi said, pointing toward the other room and speaking to Qiu Rui. “Could she be working with Taoist Cao?”

Qiu Rui propped his chin in one hand and murmured, “Hard to say.”

Jiang Yi poked his head out and looked — Chen Yuhe was wandering around the apartment on her own, apparently taking a tour of the place. He pulled his head back and lowered his voice to Qiu Rui. “Wait here — I’ll go test her.”

Having said that, Jiang Yi walked out of the kitchen as though nothing was the matter. By then Chen Yuhe had made her way to the living room and was staring at the floor, apparently studying something.

“Yuhe, have a seat!”

Jiang Yi gestured for Chen Yuhe to sit on the sofa and poured her a glass of juice.

Chen Yuhe thanked him, took the glass, and brought it to her lips for a small sip.

“Yuhe, do you often trade stocks together with Xuan Xuan?”

Jiang Yi made small talk, looking for an opportunity to coax some useful information out of Chen Yuhe.

“The stock market is unpredictable — you have to invest carefully! Don’t end up like Xuan Xuan, getting your shares locked up and losing everything.”

Jiang Yi offered considerate advice, and Chen Yuhe nodded. “I don’t really play the market much. Xuan Xuan is the one who’s really into stocks — I just occasionally give her some input.”

“Yuhe, I heard from Xuan Xuan that something happened at your company,” Jiang Yi asked, appearing to bring it up casually.

“Mm, apparently our company’s chairman is about to be replaced,” Chen Yuhe replied, waving her hand as though it had nothing to do with her.

“Yuhe, have you ever seen your company chairman?” Jiang Yi steered the conversation toward Qiu Rui, then quietly observed Chen Yuhe’s reaction.

“I’ve only seen him once, and that was at the year-end celebration. He was too far away — I couldn’t even make out what he looked like.” Chen Yuhe’s expression was perfectly natural, showing nothing unusual. “Jiang Yi, why are you asking about this?”

“Oh, nothing — just asking,” Jiang Yi said, keeping his expression neutral. “A couple of days ago, Xuan Xuan mentioned that your company was going to do mass layoffs and that she was worried about where she’d end up. You’re in the same department as Xuan Xuan, so you’d be affected too, wouldn’t you?”

“There’ll definitely be an impact, but I’m not as attached to this job as Xuan Xuan is,” Chen Yuhe said with a carefree smile. “It doesn’t matter who becomes chairman. I’ll just wait for my severance package to come through and find somewhere else.”

Jiang Yi frowned slightly. After all that probing, he hadn’t come away with anything useful.

“Jiang Yi, the weather is lovely today — let’s go on a date!”

Chen Yuhe stood up and reached for Jiang Yi’s arm. Jiang Yi awkwardly stepped aside and said with a mild apology, “Yuhe, I can’t go out with you today — I still have writing to do.”

Chen Yuhe stuck out her lip in disappointment. “I don’t come by that often — just keep me company for a little while!”

Jiang Yi gently reassured her. “I really can’t today. Head on home first — I’ll call you when I have time.”

“No! You can’t stay home by yourself!” Chen Yuhe suddenly became agitated, her soft voice pitching sharp and shrill with emotion.

Jiang Yi stared at her, bewildered by her strong reaction. “Yuhe, what’s gotten into you?”

Chen Yuhe seemed to realize she had overreacted. She quickly ducked her head and muttered under her breath, “I don’t feel right about you being home alone.”

Her voice was soft, but Jiang Yi caught it all the same. He couldn’t help but laugh. “What could possibly be wrong with me being home?”

Seeing that Jiang Yi was completely unbothered and hadn’t taken her words to heart at all, Chen Yuhe grew a little anxious. She lowered her gaze and thought for a moment before leaning in with an air of mystery. “Jiang Yi, there’s something unclean in your house.”

Jiang Yi nearly leaped off the sofa. He forced down the surge of emotion rising inside him and studied the girl before him. Her dark eyes held tension and concern, her expression serious and solemn, nothing else visible beneath it. He wasn’t sure what to make of Chen Yuhe’s words.

Was she someone who could genuinely see Qiu Rui, and was she kindly warning him?

Or had someone sent her to keep tabs on them, or to plant herself by his side so she could harm Qiu Rui again?

He didn’t dare trust Chen Yuhe rashly. Pretending not to believe her, he looked at her with a teasing smirk. “You little troublemaker, spreading superstitious nonsense.”

“Jiang Yi, do you believe in ghosts?” Seeing his expression, Chen Yuhe knew he wasn’t convinced. She added urgently, “There’s one right in your house! And he looks kind of familiar — where have I seen him before?”

Chen Yuhe’s gaze drifted to where Qiu Rui was, her head tilting as she thought to herself, seemingly trying to recall Qiu Rui’s identity.

Jiang Yi and Qiu Rui exchanged a look. It was now clear that Chen Yuhe could truly see Qiu Rui. What her intentions were, however, remained unknown.

In that brief exchange of glances, both Jiang Yi and Qiu Rui had each come to their own conclusion.

Jiang Yi’s eyes shifted, and he suddenly grabbed Chen Yuhe by the arm, asking urgently, “Yuhe, can you see him?”

“Ow, that hurts!” Chen Yuhe yelped. Jiang Yi quickly let go, but his tone remained just as urgent. “Yuhe, can you see him?”

“Yes…” Chen Yuhe rubbed her aching arm, then suddenly jerked her head up and fixed a hard stare on Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi felt a chill. Her look put him on guard. He feigned ignorance. “Yuhe, why are you looking at me like that?”

A frost had settled over Chen Yuhe’s pretty face, nothing like the warm softness from moments before.

In an instant, it was as if spring had leapt to the dead of winter.

What on earth is this woman? What is she trying to do? Jiang Yi wondered silently.

While he was still puzzling it out, Chen Yuhe’s icy voice reached his ears.

“You can see him.” Chen Yuhe raised a slender finger and pointed — straight at where Qiu Rui stood.

Jiang Yi’s heart pounded. Chen Yuhe was still a suspect in his mind. Whether or not to tell her he could see Qiu Rui was a question he had to weigh carefully. If she and Taoist Cao were working together, she would certainly know the purpose of the formation. If he claimed he couldn’t see Qiu Rui, wouldn’t that be an obvious lie that would raise suspicion?

Jiang Yi snuck a glance at Qiu Rui and saw him give a slight nod. He could tell Qiu Rui was thinking the same thing.

No longer hesitating, Jiang Yi answered, “I can see him.”

The grim look on Chen Yuhe’s face grew colder still. The gaze she fixed on Jiang Yi was full of unconcealed contempt and scorn.

Jiang Yi grew more confused by her expression and simply asked, “Yuhe, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Jiang Yi, I really didn’t think you were this kind of person.” Chen Yuhe shot him a sideways look and turned her head toward Qiu Rui. “Did he force you into this?”

Both Jiang Yi and Qiu Rui were taken aback. The two of them found her words utterly baffling.

Though full of questions, Qiu Rui remained calm and replied, “Miss Chen, I think you may have misunderstood something.”

Chen Yuhe sat down on the sofa in a huff, pointed at Jiang Yi, and said with a cold laugh, “Misunderstood him?! I may not be good at many things, but these eyes of mine can discern yin and yang and perceive cause and effect!”

Could Chen Yuhe be the gifted individual they had been searching so hard for? The thought surfaced in Jiang Yi’s mind, and the tips of his fingers trembled faintly with excitement. But he quickly steadied himself — until he understood who Chen Yuhe really was, he couldn’t afford to trust her lightly.

Keeping his emotions in check, Jiang Yi said calmly, “Yuhe, I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t pretend to be confused! Yesterday at the café I already spotted this ghost — he’s been following you around the whole time. At first I thought it was just a harmless prank. Last night I called you, you didn’t pick up, and I thought something had happened to you. I came to your place today to make sure you were alright. But I never expected you to be such a two-faced hypocrite!” Chen Yuhe accused Jiang Yi with indignant fury.

Jiang Yi didn’t quite grasp the full meaning behind Chen Yuhe’s words, but he managed to catch the general drift.

“Yuhe, what exactly do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb!” Chen Yuhe pointed angrily at the living room floor. “You’ve set up an Eight-Banner Soul-Trapping Formation here, trapping his spirit inside! You’ve done something so utterly unconscionable, and you still have the nerve to act like you’re perfectly innocent!”

“If you weren’t Xuan Xuan’s cousin, I’d have dragged you straight to the Taoist Association already!” Chen Yuhe jabbed a finger at Jiang Yi’s face in furious rebuke. “And to think I actually thought you were a good man worth entrusting my life to — you’re… you’re nothing but a beast!”

Jiang Yi stared at her, dumbfounded. Not only could Chen Yuhe see Qiu Rui, she actually knew the name of the formation and how it was laid.

Without stopping to defend himself, Jiang Yi rushed to Chen Yuhe’s side and asked urgently, “Yuhe, do you know how to break this formation? Quick, find a way to undo Qiu Rui’s Soul-Trapping Formation!”

Chen Yuhe gave a cold snort and shot Jiang Yi a glare. “Why didn’t you think about the consequences when you were laying it?”

“Yuhe, I was in the wrong back then. I was deceived by a villain and that’s how I ended up laying that formation. I never intended to trap Qiu Rui’s spirit here!” Jiang Yi explained frantically, but Chen Yuhe remained utterly unmoved, sitting on the sofa in a huff.

Qiu Rui, who had been silently observing Chen Yuhe, drifted over and said, “Miss Chen, this is not Jiang Yi’s fault. I was harmed by a treacherous person — Jiang Yi was simply manipulated without his knowledge.”

Chen Yuhe looked up at Qiu Rui, a flicker of uncertainty still in her eyes.

“You’re saying he was manipulated into laying this formation?”

Jiang Yi rushed to agree. “Yes, yes! How could I do something so unconscionable?”

Seeing that Jiang Yi’s expression was sincere, and with Qiu Rui stepping in to vouch for him, Chen Yuhe began to waver. “Is that really what happened? But you may not have meant to kill Boren, yet Boren still died because of you — you can’t be entirely absolved of responsibility.”

(TL: “我不杀伯仁，伯仁却因我而死。”

“I did not kill Boren, but Boren died because of me.”

It comes from a story in the Jin dynasty about Zhou Yi (whose courtesy name was Boren) and Wang Dao. Wang Dao didn’t directly cause Zhou Yi’s death, but his actions indirectly led to it, which created the saying.)

Jiang Yi quickly nodded in agreement. “Yuhe is right, but I’m a victim in this too!”

“The truth of it is this…”

Jiang Yi recounted the whole story to Chen Yuhe. Chen Yuhe’s expression grew increasingly grave, laced with indignation.

“This Taoist Cao really is a disgrace among practitioners — to help a villain do evil and lay such a wicked formation to harm others!” Chen Yuhe raised her voice in outrage, her face reflecting unmistakable contempt.

Qiu Rui asked, “Would Miss Chen be able to break this formation?”

Chen Yuhe tapped her chin lightly. “Every consequence has its cause — fate has already laid out its course.”

Jiang Yi’s patience wore thin from her cryptic, fortune-cookie reply. He went straight to the point. “Yuhe, Heaven is too busy to attend to every injustice. Otherwise, what are prayer beads and people like you cultivators for? Isn’t your duty to vanquish evil and uphold righteousness, and to accumulate virtue by doing good? Since this matter has fallen into your lap, can you really walk away in good conscience — letting down your cultivation, your master’s teachings, the nation, the Party, and all of us ordinary people?”

One had to admit that Jiang Yi’s gift of gab was second to none — his tongue was as nimble as a lotus flower, his words coming in a rapid, dazzling stream. Before long, he had Chen Yuhe completely flustered and turned around.

Chen Yuhe, unable to take any more of Jiang Yi’s nonstop chatter, crossed her hands in a halting gesture. “Stop, stop, stop — enough already!”

Jiang Yi smugly winked at Qiu Rui. See? There’s nothing that can’t be handled once I step in.

Qiu Rui gave him a sideways glance and turned away, choosing to ignore someone who was clearly too pleased with himself.

“Yuhe, try to think of a way to help us,” Jiang Yi said, looking at Chen Yuhe with a pitiful expression.

Chen Yuhe twisted her fingers, her face carrying the flustered look of someone struggling to say something embarrassing. After a long pause, she finally stammered, “It’s not… not that I don’t want to help — it’s that I don’t know how to break this formation. So you’d better find someone more capable.”

Jiang Yi nearly collapsed. It had never occurred to him that Chen Yuhe was only half-baked at this.

Whatever hope had just risen was now utterly crushed. Jiang Yi drooped his head in defeat.

The mocking look in Qiu Rui’s eyes only made things worse for Jiang Yi. He had worked so hard — bowing and scraping, pleading with kind words — and for whose sake? That ghost not only felt no gratitude but was laughing at him. The more Jiang Yi thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. His eyes rolled, and an idea came to him. Pointing at Qiu Rui, he said to Chen Yuhe, “Yuhe, don’t you recognize him?”

Chen Yuhe looked Qiu Rui over carefully, her expression conflicted as she tapped her chin. “He does look familiar…”

“Let me give you a hint — his name is Qiu Rui,” Jiang Yi said with a strange smile at Chen Yuhe.

“Qiu… Rui…” The name was so familiar — where had she heard it before? Chen Yuhe frowned in thought, then her eyes flew wide open and she shot up from the sofa with a cry.

“Oh my god, he…” Chen Yuhe spun to look at Jiang Yi, her finger pointing at Qiu Rui — trembling! “He… he’s Chairman Qiu…”

Qiu Rui remained silent in confirmation. Chen Yuhe turned to Jiang Yi with sympathetic eyes. “Jiang Yi, you’ve got some nerve — you actually had the guts to trap my boss here! You’re… you’re done for! When the Boss gets his body back, you’ll be the first one he silences!”

“Yuhe, we’re all grasshoppers on the same rope now — we rise and fall together.”

Jiang Yi’s smile turned sly. Chen Yuhe felt a chill crawl up the back of her neck. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she’d stepped onto a pirate ship. She scrambled to distance herself. “Jiang Yi, this has nothing to do with me — I don’t know anything, I don’t know anything!”

“It’s too late for that now. You clearly have the ability to help Qiu Rui get free, but you’re refusing out of self-interest. When Qiu Rui gets his body back, just see how he deals with you! Don’t forget — you still work for him.” Jiang Yi cast her a meaningful glance, and Chen Yuhe understood perfectly.

Jiang Yi was warning her to watch out for her boss settling scores with her later.

Chen Yuhe stole a careful look at Qiu Rui and dropped her voice by several octaves, speaking in a muffled, placating tone. “Chairman Qiu, it’s not that I don’t want to help — I truly have no way to do it.”

Qiu Rui said nothing. He simply sat there quietly and composed. Yet his bearing carried the silent authority of someone who commanded without needing to speak.

Jiang Yi secretly gave a thumbs-up. Truly someone from the top — even without a word or a gesture, the presence alone is commanding.

Chen Yuhe shrank back into the sofa, hunched over, not even daring to breathe.

Jiang Yi laughed quietly to himself. You had to pair the stick with the carrot.

“It doesn’t matter that you can’t break the formation. You’re a cultivator — surely you know other gifted individuals. Yuhe…” Jiang Yi stretched out her name with a long, coaxing drawl. “Qiu Rui is not the kind of man who forgets kindness. If you can find someone to break this formation and bring him back, he won’t forget your great service. Promotions, raises, rewards — none of that would be an issue.”

“So please, do us the favor and put some effort into this,” Jiang Yi said with a grin that bordered on sinister — enough to make Chen Yuhe’s heart quiver with apprehension.

This man is treating him like a street thug — and he’s actually going along with this nonsense! Qiu Rui shot Jiang Yi with a displeased glare.

Jiang Yi blinked and tossed back an ambiguous look.

Qiu Rui turned cold and chose to ignore the someone who was getting too carried away.

Chen Yuhe sat with her gaze cast down, looking conflicted. Qiu Rui felt it was rather unkind to pressure a young woman like this. He was about to say something to stop it when Jiang Yi sensed his intention first and shot him a look telling him not to.

Qiu Rui wanted to push back, but Chen Yuhe had already spoken. “The formation isn’t impossible to break — it’s just beyond my abilities. I’d have to ask my senior martial brother.”

Jiang Yi’s ears perked up at the glimmer of hope and he pressed on, “And where might your senior martial brother be right now?”

Chen Yuhe looked uncomfortable. “He’s always hard to pin down — he wanders around a lot, and I have a hard time tracking him.”

Jiang Yi gave her a sideways look. “Are you playing games with us?”

Chen Yuhe’s face fell in displeasure, and she said with a pout, “Not only do you not thank me — you threaten me! Do you really think those little tricks of yours can fool me? I’m only helping out of respect for Chairman Qiu and Xuan Xuan. Otherwise I’d want nothing to do with this mess.”