IMGH Chapter 13

The Ghost Who Doesn’t Eat Incense Candles

Qiu Rui covered his ears and gritted his teeth, refusing to pay attention.

However, Jiang Yi was relentless, showing every sign that he wouldn’t give up unless Qiu Rui appeared.

Unable to bear it any longer, Qiu Rui floated into the living room and glared angrily at the smiling person. “Are you done yet? Calling me by my name—we’re not that close!”

“We’ll get familiar gradually! If you don’t think Rui’er sounds good, how about I call you Qiu’er instead?” Jiang Yi gazed at Qiu Rui with a grin, completely ignoring the murderous intent in the other’s eyes.

“Is this enough to eat? If not, I’ll burn some more for you! Sit down quickly. From now on, this is your own home—don’t be polite with me!” Jiang Yi completely entered the role of a caretaker, treating Qiu Rui like a nervous little pet entering a strange environment for the first time.

Qiu Rui’s attention was drawn to the fragrant dishes on the coffee table, ignoring Jiang Yi’s deliberately familiar form of address. He quietly swallowed and thought to himself: “This person isn’t completely useless after all. His cooking skills are much better than our family chef’s.”

Seeing that the incense candles in the burner were nearly burnt out, Jiang Yi asked the motionless Qiu Rui beside him. “Rui’er, is that enough? If not, I’ll burn some more for you.”

Qiu Rui frowned and questioned Jiang Yi, “How am I supposed to eat when you haven’t even provided bowls and chopsticks? Is this your way of treating guests?”

Jiang Yi muttered to himself that young masters from wealthy families were so fussy—even eating incense candles required chopsticks.

“I say, Rui’er, with all this smoke filling the room, just inhale it slowly. Even if I really got you chopsticks, you couldn’t pick anything up with them!”

Seeing Qiu Rui looking at him with a face full of confusion, Jiang Yi sniffed and put on an expression of comfortable satisfaction, saying, “Just inhale it like this without chopsticks!”

Having inhaled too vigorously, Jiang Yi broke into a coughing fit from the thick smoke. This smell was really quite strong—he didn’t know if Rui’er could get used to inhaling it.

Qiu Rui’s mouth twitched as he watched Jiang Yi, whose eyes were streaming with tears from the smoke. He said through gritted teeth, “You’re making me eat this!”

“Yes, I specifically asked Baidu. The netizens on Baidu were so enthusiastic. When they heard I wanted to raise a ghost, they all rushed to give me advice. They said to eat raw chicken blood mixed with rice and incense ash from candles. Chicken blood is too bloody—I figured you wouldn’t be used to eating it either. Incense candles seemed more reliable.”

Seeing Qiu Rui’s gloomy expression, Jiang Yi asked in confusion, “Rui’er, don’t you like it? How about I go buy you a chicken and make chicken blood rice for you to eat?”

Jiang Yi couldn’t understand at all why Qiu Rui had suddenly turned cold again. He looked cautiously at Qiu Rui in front of him, whose handsome face was twisted with anger, and said ingratiatingly, “Rui’er, if you don’t like any of these, what do you want to eat?”

Qiu Rui felt that getting angry with such a thick-headed man would only lower his own standards. He floated over to sit on the sofa and said coldly, “I want to eat these. Go get me bowls and chopsticks!” His slender hand pointed to the delicious dishes on the coffee table as he ordered Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi was stunned for a long moment before asking uncertainly, “You can eat these?”

“If you can, why can’t I?” The look of disdain on Qiu Rui’s face, like he was looking at an idiot, made Jiang Yi feel like he’d been a clown bustling about for nothing—the other party didn’t appreciate it at all, and he’d just embarrassed himself.

Who told him to engage in superstition and set up magical formations? He hadn’t attracted any romantic prospects and instead got himself a ghost ancestor.

That old fraud Taoist Cao—when I find you, I’m going to beat you until you’re looking for your teeth on the ground.

Jiang Yi grumbled resentfully as he walked to the kitchen. He got the bowls and chopsticks and walked back to the living room to find Qiu Rui’s pitch-black eyes staring unblinkingly at the food and dishes, with an adorable expression like a puppy waiting to be fed that immediately hit Jiang Yi’s cute button.

Jiang Yi couldn’t help but reach out a finger to poke Qiu Rui’s fair and smooth cheek. The empty feeling transmitted through his finger filled him with regret.

He sighed inwardly—if only he could touch the real person, that feeling would surely be wonderful.

Jiang Yi’s sudden action interrupted Qiu Rui’s daydreaming about the delicious food. He turned his face to avoid Jiang Yi’s hand and glanced at him with disgust. “Hey, what are you doing?”