Chapter 88

Chapter 88

Catch the Ghost and Truth or Dare?

A huge question mark practically appeared over Xie Qingling’s head.

She sat across from Ye Anran and asked, “How do you play?”

“Oh, come here. I’ll show you. First, you do this…” As Ye Anran shuffled the deck, she drew a card and placed it in front of Xie Qingling.

It was the Ace of Hearts.

“I take this card out and set it aside. It doesn’t get shuffled or dealt, which means one of the other three aces won’t have a match. That unmatched ace is the ghost card. Once the game starts, you draw a card from the person before you. If it matches one in your hand, you discard the pair. If you draw a card you can’t match, you’ll just keep accumulating more cards until the next player draws one from you. The ghost card passes from player to player every time someone draws from your hand or you draw from someone else’s. Whoever is left holding it at the end has to answer everyone else’s questions.”

To help Xie Qingling understand the rules, Ye Anran played through a practice round with her.

Catch the Ghost really was simple. It took Xie Qingling only one round to grasp the rules.

Put simply, it was a game entirely dependent on luck.

After the ghost card was hidden, the rest of the cards were dealt. Any pairs in a player’s hand could be discarded. Once no more pairs remained and everyone was down to unpaired cards, they took turns drawing from each other’s hands. If a drawn card made a pair, the player could discard both and reduce the number of cards they held. Anyone who emptied their hand was safely out of the game. But if someone was unlucky enough to keep drawing cards they could not match, their hand would only grow, and their odds of winning would dwindle with it.

The rules were simple enough. But during this particular time of year, could any game this simple really be simple?

Xie Qingling looked up at Ye Anran. “Senior Anran, is there anything special about this game?”

Ye Anran gave her a knowing look and explained eagerly, “There’s nothing special about the game. The deck is what matters.”

“You know Diting, right?” Ye Anran asked.

Xie Qingling nodded.

Working in the department these past few days had taught her a great deal about mythology, so of course she knew of Diting.

It was Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s mount.

“The Ghost Gates are open today. Ghosts and specters aren’t the only things that can enter the mortal world. Other creatures from the underworld can come through too,” Ye Anran explained. “Diting can distinguish truth from falsehood and good from evil. It bestowed a divine ability on this deck, so these cards can tell whether someone is lying. Diting only appears once a year, and once the sun is fully up, this deck will lose its power.”

Xie Qingling raised an eyebrow. She had known there would be a catch. Sure enough, this game was anything but simple.

“Whoever ends up holding the ghost card has to answer everyone else’s questions. If they tell the truth, nothing happens. But if they lie, they’ll be punished.” Ye Anran lowered her voice mysteriously. “You’ll see when the time comes.”

This… This was one hard-core game of Truth or Dare.

Xie Qingling marveled inwardly.

Maybe she should come up with an excuse and sit this one out.

Then she reconsidered. This seemed to be the department’s first team-building event since she had joined. Would refusing look bad?

She ate while racking her brain for an excuse.

By the time she finished, every seat at Ye Anran’s table had been taken. The department’s other members had all arrived.

At that, Xie Qingling gave up resisting and sat in the last empty chair.

Ye Anran shuffled the cards with obvious enthusiasm, waved them around so everyone could see, and announced, “Watch carefully, everyone. I’m hiding the card now.”

With that, she drew one card from the deck to serve as the ghost card.

“Wait,” Ling Fang suddenly said.

Everyone turned to look at him.

Ling Fang drawled, “I’m sitting out this year. You can play without me.”

“Huh? Why?” Ye Anran asked.

Ling Fang glanced at Xie Qingling. “It’s her first time playing, and I’m afraid this lot might be too much for her. So I’ll stay out of it and serve as an impartial, righteous judge while I watch the rest of you play.”

Xie Qingling was speechless.

What an inspired excuse. Why hadn’t she thought of it?

Ye Anran grumbled under her breath, “If you don’t want to play, just say so. Why bother making up an excuse? The director is such a spoilsport.”

Ling Fang shot her a glare, and she promptly fell silent.

“Be careful. They’re a devious bunch.” As he passed Xie Qingling, Ling Fang paused long enough to tap her on the shoulder and warn her. Then he took a seat off to the side.

Xie Qingling nodded, then picked up the cards Ye Anran had dealt her.

After matching and discarding every pair, she was left with four cards.

She looked up to find that everyone else also held three or four cards. None of the remaining cards could be paired, so it was time to start drawing from one another.

The first player began the hunt for the ghost card.

Ye Anran was first, so Dai Xingyu, seated beside her in the direction of play, would draw from her hand.

Ye Anran fanned out her three cards, looking open and unconcerned.

“Go on. Pick whichever one you like.”

Dai Xingyu wore a guileless, innocent smile. One hand drifted back and forth across the three cards, touching one and then another over and over as if he were savoring some priceless treasure instead of a few slips of paper.
Watching him run his fingers over the cards so carefully, Xie Qingling could not understand why drawing one had to take so long.

Ling Fang spoke in a cold, uncompromising tone. “Dai Xingyu, don’t use your Groom talent to sense the cards while you’re choosing. If I catch you, it counts as cheating, and cheaters have to answer questions too.”

“Fine! I won’t use it!” Dai Xingyu huffed, his adorable, boyish cheeks puffing out. He drew a card at random and discarded a pair of fours.

Xie Qingling was speechless.

“I can still win without my Groom talent. Heh!” Dai Xingyu grinned.

Smugly, he fanned out his remaining three cards for the next player, Shen Huaizhou. “Go ahead. Pick one.”

Shen Huaizhou did not hesitate. He casually drew a card and quickly discarded a pair of kings.

Then it was Xie Qingling’s turn to draw from Shen Huaizhou.

She studied the two cards in his hand and hesitated for a moment. The odds of drawing the ghost card probably were not very high yet, so she chose one.

It was the Six of Spades, and it made a pair.

Xie Qingling breathed a sigh of relief, then held out her remaining three cards for the next player, Yu Wei.

Yu Wei chose just as decisively. He also discarded a pair, leaving him with two cards.

Then the turn came back around to Ye Anran.

Ye Anran had two cards left. If she drew the right one and discarded a pair, then let Dai Xingyu take her last card, she would have an empty hand and could leave the game early.

Looking entirely confident, Ye Anran drew a card just as quickly.

Then she discarded a pair.

Dai Xingyu took the only card she had left.

Ye Anran was safely out.

Her card joined Dai Xingyu’s hand, bringing him back up to three, with no pair to discard.

Then it was Shen Huaizhou’s turn to draw.

He also had two cards. If he drew one that made a pair and then let Xie Qingling take his last card, he would be out as well.

Unfortunately, Shen Huaizhou was not so lucky. He could not discard anything, leaving him with three cards.

“Your turn,” Shen Huaizhou reminded Xie Qingling.

Xie Qingling also held two cards. If she could discard a pair and pass the last card to Yu Wei, she would be safely out. If she could not, things would be far less promising.

She chose one of the three cards in Shen Huaizhou’s hand and turned it over. It was the Eight of Diamonds, and it made a pair.

Good. She was safe.

Smiling, Xie Qingling held out her last card to Yu Wei. “Good luck, Brother Yu.”

Yu Wei took the card, but it did not make a pair. His hand grew to three cards.

Only three players remained, with seven cards among them. Without question, one of those seven was the ghost card.

Dai Xingyu’s eyes widened. With extreme caution, he chose one of Yu Wei’s three cards. It made a pair, putting him safely out of the game.

That left only Shen Huaizhou and Yu Wei locked in a duel. Shen Huaizhou had three cards and Yu Wei had two, so the ghost card was obviously in Shen Huaizhou’s hand.

Now it was Yu Wei’s turn to draw.

With a one-in-three chance of picking the ghost card, Yu Wei became much more cautious.

After agonizing over the choice, he finally selected a card. The moment he pulled it free, his expression changed. It did not make a pair.

It was the ghost card.

Yu Wei sighed inwardly, though his face remained calm. He repeatedly shuffled the three cards in his hand, trying to confuse Shen Huaizhou.

When Shen Huaizhou’s turn came, he smiled and drew a card from Yu Wei’s hand. He had only two cards left now. If he had drawn the right one, he could discard the pair and pass his final card to Yu Wei, winning the game.

And so, under everyone’s watchful eyes, Shen Huaizhou drew a card from Yu Wei’s hand and discarded a pair of tens.

“I win,” Shen Huaizhou said. “Old Yu, your luck really is awful.”

As he spoke, he held out his remaining card to Yu Wei. According to the rules, it was now Yu Wei’s turn to draw, which meant the ghost card would end up in his hand.

Yu Wei was about to take the last card when Ye Anran suddenly shouted from the sidelines, “Don’t trust him, Old Yu!”

Ye Anran snatched up the pair of tens Shen Huaizhou had discarded. “Shen Huaizhou discarded the ghost card! Don’t let him fool you! He used an illusion to deceive us!”

Everyone’s gaze swung back to Shen Huaizhou.

Without the slightest change in expression, he said, “These are obviously a pair.”

Ye Anran glared at him, then turned to Ling Fang. “Director, look at him! He’s cheating!”

Ling Fang looked from Ye Anran to Shen Huaizhou, then picked up the pair of tens from the table. He rubbed his fingers over the cards, held them beneath his nose, and sniffed carefully before confirming Ye Anran’s accusation. “Shen Huaizhou, you cheated.”

Shen Huaizhou fell silent.

His trick exposed, Shen Huaizhou did not argue. When he released the illusion, the two cards he had discarded on the table were revealed as the Ten of Hearts and the Jack of Clubs.

It really had been an illusion.

What a complicated game.

Xie Qingling asked Ling Fang, “Director, how did you know? Can you identify Shen Huaizhou’s illusions just by smelling them?”

“Of course smelling them isn’t enough to break Shen Huaizhou’s illusion,” Ling Fang said. “I simply caught the scent of medicine on the ghost card.”

That made things even more complicated.

“Ye Anran marked the ghost card while she was shuffling, which was how she recognized it.” Ling Fang raised an eyebrow and glanced at Xie Qingling. “I told you already. They’re a devious bunch.”
He turned back to Ye Anran. “Well? Was I wrong?”

Every eye shifted to Ye Anran.

Ye Anran fell silent.

She had been exposed.

“Shen Huaizhou, Ye Anran, you both cheated and broke the rules,” Ling Fang, the righteous and impartial judge, declared. “Old Yu doesn’t have to answer any questions, but the two of you do.”

Shen Huaizhou’s face went blank, betraying no emotion.

Ye Anran, on the other hand, looked ready to cry.

“We’ll start with Shen Huaizhou. Take turns asking him questions,” Ling Fang announced.

Xie Qingling immediately raised her hand. “Me! I’ll go first.”

She asked Shen Huaizhou, “I want to know how you made all those ghosts line up and behave themselves during tonight’s patrol.”

If she could learn his method, perhaps next year’s Ghost Festival would not leave her running herself ragged.

Xie Qingling gazed at him expectantly.

“I wove dreams for them so they could see people they would never see again,” Shen Huaizhou said.

So he had also set up a stall and worked, just like Ye Anran.

That was not something she could learn. Xie Qingling was a little disappointed.

Yu Wei spoke up next.

He was just as curious about Xie Qingling’s question. If he could learn Shen Huaizhou’s way of handling ghosts, he would not be caught so helplessly off guard next year either.

Yu Wei asked, “Besides weaving dreams, do you have any other ways to deal with these ghosts? Teach me too.”

“No. Nothing I can teach you.” The instant Shen Huaizhou finished speaking, an enormous white head emerged from the ghost card on the table. Like a gigantic hound, it opened its bloody maw, lunged at him, and swallowed his head in one bite.

The sudden turn made Xie Qingling draw her blade at once. The enormous white hound soon spat Shen Huaizhou’s head back out, however, then withdrew into the card. If not for the sticky fluid coating his face and his tightly controlled expression, it would have been as though nothing had happened at all.

Dai Xingyu burst out laughing. “Brother Shen got punished! Hahahaha! He lied.”

Xie Qingling was speechless.

What a damn intense game.

Thank goodness. Thank goodness she had not drawn the ghost card or broken the rules.

Otherwise, she would have been the one getting swallowed just now.

She had no idea whether it hurt, but it had certainly seemed intense. Shen Huaizhou’s face was as sour as a pile of dog shit.

Dai Xingyu wore an adorable, boyish face, yet somehow managed to look eminently punchable. Grinning, he asked, “So, Brother Shen, besides weaving dreams, what did you actually do to make those ghosts behave?”

Shen Huaizhou’s face darkened. After thinking for a moment, he decided it would be safer to tell the truth.

“Nothing much. I just… helped them resolve a few emotional problems.”

This time, the ghost card did not react.

The other members of the Department fell silent for a moment, then broke into knowing laughter. After the River God’s attempt to abduct Shen as a bride, they all knew that his appearance happened to appeal to mysterious beings.

No wonder he had looked so unhappy when she saw him at his stall. Shen Huaizhou was rather conscious of his image, Xie Qingling thought. For example, once putting on a dress had made him visible, he had spent the rest of the time looking aloof and refusing to speak.

She glanced at him again and found that his expression had soured even further.

As an outsider to the game, Ling Fang had no right to ask questions. Ye Anran had also broken the rules, so she could not ask any either.

Then it was Xie Qingling’s turn to pose a question.

After thinking for a moment, she asked, “Senior Anran, what talent did you awaken?”

There were four innate Spirits in the Department. She already knew Shen Huaizhou’s talent, and the Groom’s ability to see ghosts went without saying, but she still did not know Ye Anran’s.

The moment she heard the question, Ye Anran began to lament. “It all started with my grandfather. He was a master of traditional Chinese medicine. When I was little, my parents dumped me with him to study medicine. My grandfather was so strict! Ever since I was a child, he made me memorize *Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces*, the *Compendium of Materia Medica*, and medical formulas written in classical Chinese. But I wasn’t very bright, so I could never memorize them. Every time I failed, my grandfather smacked my palm with a ruler. Boo-hoo…”

“After a while, I started wishing I could understand the effects of every herb just by looking at it. Then I wouldn’t have to memorize all that tongue-twisting classical Chinese.”

“I wished and wished, until one day, I really could understand the effects of every medicinal herb I saw! Then they sent me here…”

So that was how it happened.

But another question arose in Xie Qingling’s mind. Was everyone’s awakened talent connected to their childhood experiences? Or perhaps to whatever they had longed for most deeply?

Then what about her voice?

She set the question aside and listened as Yu Wei asked Ye Anran, “When are you planning to visit your grandfather?”

Ye Anran thought about it. “In a few days, I suppose. I’ll go after work.”

Then it was Dai Xingyu’s turn. He narrowed his eyes and considered his question for a moment before looking at Ye Anran. “Sister Anran, are you planning to cheat in the next round too?”

Ye Anran protested at once, “Of course not! How could I ever do anything so shameless?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the enormous white head emerged from the ghost card again, opened its maw, and swallowed Ye Anran’s head.
Ye Anran fell silent.

Dai Xingyu clapped in delight. “I knew it! Hahahaha!”

Xie Qingling watched the whole thing in amazement. This game really was far too entertaining.

“This time, I’ll shuffle the cards as the referee,” Ling Fang said.

No one objected, and the second round began.

Ling Fang shuffled and dealt the cards.

After her experience in the first round, Xie Qingling finally understood how Catch the Ghost was actually played.

No wonder Ling Fang had said this bunch was devious and worried she would be unable to handle them.

Now that Xie Qingling had mastered the proper way to play, she had no intention of sitting back and waiting to lose.

She wanted neither truth nor dare. That meant she needed to take control herself.

She picked up her hand and discarded most of it in pairs. Once only three cards remained, she placed them facedown on the table and said to Ling Fang, “Director, keep an eye on my cards for me. I need to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

Ling Fang nodded his permission. Everyone else was busy discarding their own pairs, and no one paid her any attention.

Xie Qingling had only just stood to leave when Ling Fang said without turning around, “You can go to the bathroom, but leave Bloodsworn here.”

“Huh?” Xie Qingling looked utterly bewildered. “Why?”

“If you use Concealed Presence to peek at everyone else’s cards, it counts as cheating.”

Xie Qingling fell silent.

Her scheme dead before it even began, she helplessly sat back down and abandoned her trip to the bathroom.

Her actions might as well have announced to everyone: *I fully intended to cheat, but once I was exposed, I saw the error of my ways and repented in time.*

Xie Qingling escaped disaster in the second round. She did not draw the ghost card. Yu Wei did.

Now it was everyone’s turn to question Yu Wei.

They started with Xie Qingling again.

She did not want to make things too difficult for this honest, dependable senior, so she asked a simple question. “What do you want to do most right now, Brother Yu?”

Yu Wei paused, then smiled. “I want to take my daughter to an amusement park and spend the whole day having fun with her. Ride the carousel, the pirate ship, the roller coaster – go on every attraction there.”

Of course. Brother Yu really did love his daughter.

Shen Huaizhou asked, “You’d only take your daughter? What about your wife?”

Yu Wei paused again, then gave a helpless laugh. “I’d like to bring her, but…”

“We divorced a long time ago.”

Now it was Shen Huaizhou’s turn to stare.

He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

“It’s nothing. Just a choice two adults made.” Yu Wei scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. “The past is the past. I might look rough as hell now, but I was a handsome guy when I was young. I had one hell of a romance too.”

Ye Anran immediately said, “I don’t want to ask a question anymore. I want to hear about Old Yu’s love life.”

Dai Xingyu eagerly joined in. “Me too!”

Yu Wei fell silent.

“I shouldn’t have bragged.” Yu Wei regretted his words, but faced with all their expectant expressions, he smacked his lips and gave in. “There’s not much to tell, really. I met Niuniu’s mother in the army. She was a military doctor, and I was in the special forces. Later…”

Back then, Yu Wei had been high-spirited and recklessly proud, the army’s undefeated king of single combat.

Young people ran on adrenaline, always eager to prove themselves. Once a contest began, they held nothing back. Victory was all that mattered, regardless of who stood across from them. Yu Wei earned honor and fame, but out of sight, he paid for it with a body covered in injuries.

What was youth without a little recklessness? In those days, Yu Wei was always black and blue somewhere.

As soon as one injury healed, another appeared. It never ended.

He prided himself on his strength and never took minor injuries seriously. If he left them alone, he figured, they would heal on their own. To the military doctor, however, his behavior was nothing short of a challenge to her professional competence.

Doctors hated patients who ignored medical advice, and military doctors were no exception. Yu Wei was an especially stubborn and troublesome patient. She would sternly tell him what he could and could not do, but when verbal warnings proved useless, she had no choice but to physically restrain him herself.

One encounter led to another. Their paths kept crossing, and affection blossomed between them.

By the time Yu Wei finished his story, the sky had brightened.

Diting quietly departed. The enchanted deck became a perfectly ordinary set of playing cards once more, so there was naturally no reason to start another round of Catch the Ghost.

Instead, Ye Anran got everyone playing other card games.

Ling Fang and Yu Wei sat on the step before the floor-to-ceiling windows, each holding a bottle of liquor. They clinked the bottles together, then tipped their heads back and drank.

“You don’t have to indulge them so much,” Ling Fang said. “If there are things you don’t want to discuss, you can refuse.”

“Hahahaha, it’s nothing. They can treat it as a story. It happened so long ago that if I don’t talk about it, even I’ll forget.” Yu Wei laughed heartily.

Ling Fang was silent for a moment before speaking again. “By the way, Old Yu, headquarters got back to me. They’re sending a new member to Future City – a warrior with tremendous combat strength.”

“Really? That’s wonderful.” Yu Wei visibly relaxed. He took another drink, looking immensely reassured. “Now I can retire without worrying.”