JOS Extra 1

Zhang Yangyang glanced at his lit-up phone and picked it up, shouting, “Hey buddy! You’re back?”

The Judge had returned to his position in the underworld, and now he was just casually coming up to check and make sure there were no thorny matters in the mortal world.

Jiang Feng pulled off the plastic sheet covering the sofa, getting a layer of dust on his hands, and asked, “Did you urgently call me because you had something?”

Zhang Yangyang lowered his voice and asked mysteriously, “Do you know what I’m doing now?”

Jiang Feng said, “I know.”

Zhang Yangyang had originally gone to look for a job, but unfortunately he lacked good judgment and applied to a small private enterprise whose recruitment advertisement painted a rosy picture. He bravely moved forward toward the ultimate goal of being a CEO and rich handsome guy, but after entering that company, he discovered that although the enterprise had achieved a certain scale in the city, it had always adopted old-fashioned family management, meaning those managing finances, warehouses, and personnel all came from the same bloodline.

The boss lacked vision, his subordinates lacked enthusiasm, there were nepotistic connections oppressing others everywhere, and even when queuing for meals, one could encounter the boss’s distant relatives.

Zhang Yangyang, as a newcomer and outsider in the company, was responsible for various trivial miscellaneous tasks in the office, working like a horse and ox, while also being ready for free external assignments at any time.

Following the principle that young people should be persistent, patient, and persevering, he deceived himself and persisted for three months, but finally the work made him so depressed that he deeply felt his abilities were inadequate and his future bleak.

Without any prospects, where could his faltering steps land? After standing on one leg for too long, that leg would become useless.

So following the principle that young people should burn themselves out, the enlightened him finally submitted his resignation letter.

After quitting, he developed psychological trauma in the short term. When he went to look for work again, he had already lost the advantage of being a fresh graduate. After multiple interviews while browsing company recruitment requirements and inquiring about colleagues’ treatment and salaries, he discovered that undergraduate degrees from key universities were no longer popular – graduate students were more valued. Even for civil service examinations, the competitive pressure would be much less.

So he resumed studying and went to take the graduate entrance exam.

Perhaps what he was best at… was still studying.

Jiang Feng said, “Congratulations on getting into our school’s graduate program.”

“Oh, actually it’s nothing much.” Zhang Yangyang was a bit bashful and was preparing to chat with him about their superficial brotherhood when he heard Jiang Feng say: “Then I’ll hang up.”

“Damn!” Zhang Yangyang said angrily, “How can you be like this!”

Jiang Feng: “…”

Zhang Yangyang accused. “Plastic! This plastic friendship!”

Jiang Feng: “What are you doing?”

Zhang Yangyang snorted. “Preemptively occupying the moral high ground to make you feel guilty.”

Jiang Feng was speechless and wanted to hang up the phone directly. At this moment, a new female voice interrupted the call. “Can you not talk so gay? Don’t men handle things more straightforwardly? Do you often have long phone conversations? What’s your relationship with him?”

Zhang Yangyang was obviously quite shocked. “What the hell?!”

Jiang Feng asked. “Who is it?”

Zhang Yangyang said sullenly, “My classmate.”

Jiang Feng: “Does she have something to ask me?”

“Yes.” Zhang Yangyang quickly followed up, “Oh no. I mean I said… no, she… um…”

Zhang Yangyang fell into conflicted contemplation, then asked, “Should I describe the entire course of events, or just state the result directly?”

Jiang Feng: “…”

What had happened to his brain in the few months they hadn’t seen each other?

It seemed that taking the graduate entrance exam wouldn’t necessarily improve one’s IQ.

Zhang Yangyang: “Actually, I recently encountered something rather unlucky, so I casually said I wanted to find my friend to dispel the bad luck and seek peace of mind…”

Jiang Feng asked directly, “What did you encounter this time?”

“No, let me finish first!” Zhang Yangyang said, “Although I said it casually, my classmate said I was too superstitious and that I was wasting my graduate education, so I had to brag about you to them, right? Of course I didn’t brag much, I just said you really knew people from Taoist temples, and for people who believe in metaphysics, you have real skills. For people who don’t believe, you’re still someone in the industry. And people in our country, regarding matters of ghosts and spirits, have always believed it’s better to believe they exist than to believe they don’t – being cautious causes no great harm and brings no great loss, right?”

Jiang Feng didn’t want to respond to him.

Zhang Yangyang said with a shake of his head. “Then one of my fellow students heard about it and said they wanted to find you. They’ve recently encountered some trouble.”

Jiang Feng: “Oh.”

Zhang Yangyang asked, “Are you free? Can you come over?”

Jiang Feng looked at the time. “It’s eleven o’clock now, I need to go to Chu Xuanliang’s place at one. You can come over now.”

“Okay, okay.”

Jiang Feng’s house hadn’t been cleaned by anyone for a long time. He had originally just wanted to stay casually for a couple of days, but seeing the situation, he finally decided to go freeload at Chu Xuanliang’s Taoist temple.

He had just tried his best to tidy up the things in the living room when Zhang Yangyang and his classmate had already arrived at his door.

The other person was a female student who appeared to come from a well-off family. Even though it was only early spring and Zhang Yangyang was still wearing a knit sweater and jacket, she had already started wearing short skirts.

Jiang Feng casually pointed. “Sit.”

She nodded and sat down across from him.

Jiang Feng leaned back against the sofa with casual movements, but his eyes only needed to sweep lightly to convey a powerful presence. When he stared at you, there would be an uncomfortable sense of oppression.

But some girls liked this kind of oppressive feeling.

He said in a low voice. “What’s the matter?”

The girl sitting across from him was slightly stunned, and only snapped back to reality after Zhang Yangyang pushed her.

Her eyes brightened as she stared at Jiang Feng, showing a shy smile.

It seemed she was that type of girl.

Zhang Yangyang: “…”

What the hell.

“Are all Taoist priests as handsome as you?” Xue Qi asked, “What are the requirements for becoming a Taoist priest? Are you allowed to date and get married?”

Jiang Feng hesitated for a moment. “I’m not a Taoist priest. You can search online directly. Yes, it’s allowed.”

Xue Qi said, “I want to be friends with you.”

Jiang Feng paused and said, “I don’t like making friends.”

Xue Qi: “Then even someone like Zhang Yangyang can be your friend?”

What did she mean by “someone like him”? Zhang Yangyang glared.

Jiang Feng glanced at him lightly and shamefully remained silent.

Zhang Yangyang clutched his chest. “…What did I do that you have to hurt me like this?!”

Jiang Feng asked, “What exactly is your problem?”

“I do need help with something.” Although Xue Qi said this, her expression clearly showed she didn’t believe him and just found it amusing. “How much money can you make in this line of work? Actually my family is quite wealthy, and I’m an only child, single. I don’t have any prejudices about social status – I heard my dad used to be a farmer, but from my earliest memories our family has been very rich.”

Zhang Yangyang pursed his lips and looked at Jiang Feng pitifully, his eyes carrying innocence and the instigation that comes before stirring up trouble.

Jiang Feng felt that if he didn’t quote a high price now, he would be too sorry for himself and too sorry for Zhang Yangyang.

“It depends on the situation.” Jiang Feng said, “For someone like you who really has yin energy on them, depending on the ghost situation, it starts at one million.”

Xue Qi laughed loudly. “You’re really interesting. But isn’t being so direct from the first step not good? It’s easy to make people think you’re a fraud, making it hard to proceed to the next step. And from a psychological perspective, you should first chat with me about other things, first probe with words then scheme against me.”

Zhang Yangyang was stunned and asked, “There really is something?”

Jiang Feng nodded. “Mm.”

Xue Qi cupped her face with her hands and smiled. “I have quite a bit of experience – ordinary scam tactics won’t work on me, and I won’t fall for vague psychological suggestions either. And you should at least dress up a bit, right? This is too ordinary. But since you’re so handsome, I actually could be deceived by you.”

Jiang Feng: “…”

He picked up the TV manual from the table and casually flipped through it.

Zhang Yangyang: “Boss Jiang?”

Jiang Feng remained silent.

He didn’t really want to talk to this person, always feeling there was a generation gap with today’s young people.

Zhang Yangyang said, “Boss Jiang, don’t be like this. Do you know that although a graduate student’s day is cheap, it’s exceptionally busy?”

Jiang Feng finally looked up and said to Xue Qi, “There are water stains on your shoulder.”

Xue Qi patted her own shoulder and said confusedly, “No there aren’t?”

Jiang Feng: “Then you should ask yourself. Why would there be water on your body. You should have a feeling about it.”

Xue Qi’s hand remained on her shoulder, her posture frozen, as she turned and said, “Did you tell him?”

Zhang Yangyang said bewilderedly, “Tell him what? What did you ever tell me?”

He quickly reacted and denounced, “If I had known you came here coveting my brother, I wouldn’t have made this trip! I’m so disappointed in you!”

Xue Qi straightened her expression and became serious.

She originally did have something to consult a Taoist priest about. To be precise, her family had already consulted quite a few Taoist priests and monks, but there had been no improvement. It was just that when she saw Jiang Feng, her first impression was that this young man definitely made a living off intelligence tax, so she wanted to chat casually.

“Actually it’s about my dad. I don’t know when it started, and my dad can’t figure it out either. Because it’s really hard to distinguish.” Xue Qi said, “Starting from one day, he was woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of flowing water. He used to sleep very deeply and basically never got up in the middle of the night. That time he drank too much water, got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and after returning to bed, he heard the sound of trickling water.”

Jiang Feng: “What kind of water sound?”

“Like a sink that’s clogged with a pool of water, when you pull out the drain plug and water is suddenly sucked into the pipes. First there’s gurgling, then it flows trickling.” Xue Qi gestured and said with a dark expression, “But our house is in a villa district with no upstairs neighbors. If there was a leak, it would definitely be from the second or third floor bathrooms. He thought I had forgotten to turn off a faucet, so he put on his pajamas and went upstairs to turn off the water.”

“But there was nothing in the upstairs bathroom. He thought he had misjudged the direction, so he checked all the bathrooms, including the kitchen, but still found nothing.” Xue Qi said, “But he was too tired at the time, so although he couldn’t figure out the situation, he didn’t pay much attention and fell asleep again shortly after returning to his room.”

“Nothing happened after this incident, and he had even forgotten about it, then the second time occurred.” Xue Qi took a deep breath, “The second time he was woken up by the water sound. The previous time when he heard it, he still felt that the draining place was very far away, only a small and vague sound, but this time it started to become clear. He felt it might be right next door, so he felt uneasy and went upstairs to check again.”

Zhang Yangyang answered quickly, “There was nothing.”

Xue Qi: “Right, there still was nothing. He still fell asleep.”

Zhang Yangyang said admiringly, “What a big heart…”

Xue Qi sighed along with him, obviously she thought the same way.

“People, when encountering this kind of thing, would definitely first think it’s a physical cause. He had people come to the house to examine the structure, made some changes according to suggestions, and also contacted the property management, but there was no change at all. After that there was a second time, a third time… After it happened multiple times, he felt it was a bit eerie and started having trouble sleeping at night.”

“Once my dad decides on something, he can’t get past it without figuring it out.” Xue Qi said, “He later stayed up every night guarding that time point, just to listen for the flowing water sound. But that sound doesn’t happen every day – the pattern is hard to grasp and can’t be connected to anything. Sometimes it’s short, sometimes long – some flow for a few minutes then stop, others flow for half an hour and are still going. It’s very strange, definitely not a normal situation.”

“That night, he heard it again and specially went next door to wake up my mom to listen together. Oh, they’ve slept in separate rooms for a long time. My mom was woken up in the middle of the night and said she didn’t hear anything. My dad got anxious and shouted, ‘How could you not hear it? That sound is obviously very loud, it’s right next to us!'”

Xue Qi said helplessly, “My mom was spooked by what he said, and later she was going completely crazy. My dad kept doing this, but my mom really didn’t hear anything, and it was impossible for her to hear it, right? Originally they didn’t sleep together, so if he loved staying up all night keeping watch, that was fine, but now he would come knock on the door in the middle of the night for no reason – wasn’t that much scarier than any water sound? She felt my dad should be under too much stress and was having auditory hallucinations, so she had me help persuade my dad to go to the hospital to see a psychiatrist.”

Jiang Feng: “So you mean only your dad could hear the sound, but you and your mom couldn’t hear it?”

Xue Qi’s face paled a shade. “That was the case at the time.”

Jiang Feng: “Mm, continue.”

Xue Qi: “He originally refused to go, but in the end, probably because he was scared, we half-dragged him there. The doctor gave him tests and prescribed some medicine, telling him to observe first…”

The subsequent development could be imagined.

Xue Qi: “My dad said that water flowing sound got closer and closer, louder and louder, and no matter what Taoist priests or monks he hired, they couldn’t stop it from approaching. Then one day, when he listened to that water sound, he felt it was right by his ear, very close, about to drown him. He woke up with his heart skipping a beat, saying he was finished. After that he was in a daze all day, constantly saying he was finished, finished. He was never like that before.”

Jiang Feng nodded: “So where is he now?”

Xue Qi: “…In the hospital. Two days ago while taking a bath, he fell asleep soaking in the bathtub and almost drowned. It was my mom going in to get clothes who opened the door halfway and discovered he was in trouble, then rushed him to the hospital. Fortunately there was no danger to his life.”