Chapter 2.12 The Timid And Fragile White Lotus

10 years is not long, but it’s not short either. If you ask Zhang Daoling what is the deepest impression he had in these 10 years, he will definitely answer that as a Heavenly Master (exorcist), he has fallen in love with a ghost. Moreover, he is an antique-level (super old) ghost. To add to it, the thing that broke him is the ghost is a male.

10 years is enough time for a person to recognize his feelings. Zhang Daoling has changed from the indifferent youth with a poisonous tongue to a mature man, and his whole demeanor has become calm and restrained. This kind of Zhang Daoling attracted more attention from other people. Regrettably, the person he wanted to attract the most is always half-ignoring him.

_ (:3」∠) Heart felt depressed.

After returning home, Zhang Daoling suddenly felt even more depressed when he saw a room of ghosts having a party. By now, he is regretting his decision to let Lin Zisheng come into contact with so much modern knowledge. Recalling the day they first met, Lin Zisheng at that time looked so ignorant and easy to fool. It’s a pity that Zhang Daoling didn’t realize his feeling during that time. When he finally did, Lin Zisheng had become way smarter. No point trying to lie to him as it would be seen through the next minute!

_ (:3」∠) Heart so tired, I can’t feel the love any more.

001: Easy to fool? Male lead daren, you think too much, the so-called silly and naive person has never been his host-daren.

"Ah Ling, you are back?" Feeling that his ‘playmates’ suddenly become agitated, Lin Zisheng turned his head at the door, and he saw Zhang Daoling walking in slowly. It is obvious that his whole body is shrouded in a black aura which makes his ‘playmates; shivering in fear, "Is the job not going well?"

No, it’s my relationship not going well.

Zhang Daoling shook his head and sat weakly on the sofa. He didn't look like he is okay at all. His depressed appearance is like a big dog that got abandoned by its owner.

"No, I'm just a little tired." After saying this, although Zhang Daoling's face is still expressionless, his eyes looked faintly pitiful. However, at the next moment when his gaze fell on the other ‘person’, it became intense.

Although Zhang Daoling's gaze is quite hidden, Lin Zisheng still managed to find out, which made him feel amused. It is obvious that Zhang Daoling had become a lot more mature over the years, but on the inside, he became more naive instead.

[Ain’t it because of you, host-daren? Don’t tell me that you don’t know about the male lead’s intention at all.] At the beginning of these years, Zhang Daoling's pursuit was very vague, but recently it has become more obvious, but its host-daren just pretended not to know anything.

"What does this have anything to do with me? He is the one who didn't say it clearly." Actually, Lin Zisheng didn't want to bully Zhang Daoling much. He simply didn't respond to those too vague hints and acted like he didn't know. Watching Zhang Daoling getting agitated by himself, Lin Zisheng doesn’t think it’s his fault.

[...Hehe, indeed.] Now 001 is a little sympathetic to the male lead. Its host-daren is getting more black-bellied. Male lead, can you still hold on?

"What's the matter?" Looking at Zhang Daoling's pitiful look, Lin Zisheng floated to his side and reached out to press lightly on his temple.

As a ghost, Lin Zisheng's body temperature has always been cold. At this moment, Zhang Daoling feels comfortable and wants to sigh when Lin Zisheng presses on his head. Lin Zisheng's thoughtfulness always gave Zhang Daoling the impression that Lin Zisheng knew about his intention. But every time he looks at Lin Zisheng’s clear and ignorant eyes, Zhang Daoling will think that his mind must have been flooded with water to have that thought.

001: Male lead, please don't doubt your feelings. In fact, host-daren knows everything.

"No, it's nothing." Pulling down the hand that had been massaging his temple, Zhang Daoling dropped a gentle kiss on it. Then he raised his head and looked at Lin Zisheng hopefully, only to see a pair of clear eyes. In an instant, Zhang Daoling didn't want to say anything, his heart felt so tired. _ (:3」∠)

The ghosts who have been watching this scene can't help but want to sigh in exasperation. Can someone with such a low IQ be a Heavenly Master? The other party clearly knows his intention and is teasing him every day to see when he will confess. As a result, Zhang Daoling silly-ly continued with the one-sided love script until now.

The Lin Zisheng right now has successfully leveled up to become the ghost king due to his bloodline. It stands to reason that he should go to the ghost realm to rule as king. Hence, isn't it obvious that he is staying behind for Zhang Daoling?

Looking at these two people, a group of single ghosts feels that they have been strongly attacked. It’s better to leave quickly. This shiny light coming from them is no different from sunlight. The lovey-doveyness might start burning them into ashes if it continues.

"Ah Xuan, you won't go to work with me anymore." In the past, Lin Zisheng would be by his side no matter where he went, but recently he always gets together with those lonely souls. Is Ah Xuan tired of being with him?

"Your job is to catch ghosts. If I follow, I should help you with the capture, or let you catch me?" Although Lin Zisheng is teasing Zhang Daoling and did not respond to his initial question, in his heart, he always knew his answer.

What Zhang Daoling has done for him in the past 10 years, Lin Zisheng can see it. The saying that humans and ghosts have different paths is no joke. There are only 3 opportunities for humans and ghosts to touch each other in a year, on Qingming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival, and the day that person died. At first, the two didn't care if they could touch each other, but gradually Zhang Daoling couldn’t be satisfied by this kind of rare contact. Hence, to get close to Lin Zisheng, Zhang Daoling ground the ghost jade into powder and ate it.

Ghost jade is a sacred object from the ghost realm. For ghosts, ghost jade is a good thing to nourish their spirit and it is of no use to living people. However, being useless does not mean that it will be harmless. People who have been in contact with the ghost jade for a long time will develop a faint ghostly aura around them, let alone eating it. If it weren't for Zhang Daoling’s identity as a Heavenly Master, he might have already become half-human and half-ghost now. It's impossible to say that Lin Zisheng is not moved by the action, but Zhang Daoling didn't say anything else so Lin Zisheng could only pretend that he didn't know anything. He is waiting, waiting for the day when Zhang Daoling finally is willing to speak his mind.

"I want you to accompany me." This is the most straightforward thing Zhang Daoling can say, but right now, the two people's thoughts are not on the same channel. For Zhang Daoling's seemingly confession-like words, Lin Zisheng just smiled and ignored it. The depressed Zhang Daoling didn't know what to say for a while. Fortunately, someone called his phone at this time to ease his embarrassment. Zhang Daoling almost turned and ran as if he had received an amnesty.

Lin Zisheng felt a bit amused looking at Zhang Daoling acting like that.

...

At the bar, deep in the night.

After Zhang Daoling came to the bar, he saw a man getting dazed from drinking too much. Needless to say, he knew that this man is dumped again.

"What's wrong? You called me out so late at night." Zhang Daoling sat next to the man and ordered a glass of juice. He is driving so he didn't want to drive back under influence later.

"Zhang Daoling, do you have a conscience? Buddy, I just got dumped and you came here shrouded in happiness." The man patted Zhang Daoling's shoulder, with a bit of teasing in his tone. Obviously, these two have a good friendship.

After Zhang Daoling heard what he said, his face turned gloomy for a moment. The man naturally saw it and he involuntarily sighed. Right now, he really felt that they are buddies indeed.

"Still haven't gotten the one in your house yet?"

For anyone who knows Zhang Daoling well, they will know about his 10-year long run of love. Back then, someone laughed and joked about how he as a Heavenly Master fell in love with a male ghost. But later, anyone who saw Zhang Daoling couldn't help but want to sigh. Not everyone can have 10 years of perseverance.

"En," Zhang Daoling's tone sounded weak, "he still doesn't understand my thoughts, and now I don't know what to do..."

Of course, Zhang Daoling didn’t think that he couldn’t keep going. He already persisted for 10 years. He didn’t care to wait for another 20 or 30 years. It’s just that Lin Zisheng has always been so ignorant of his feelings and it made him feel despair.

"Wait, don't tell me that you have been in a one-sided love for 10 years, and you have not confessed even once?!" Hearing what Zhang Daoling said, the man is shocked. It’s fine that he has been chasing his love for 10 years but what the hell is this one-sided love?!

"I have always hinted at him." Zhang Daoling felt that what he did is already very obvious. It’s a pity that Ah Xuan didn't seem to understand at all.

"Hehe, hinting? Farts!" Right now, the man really wants to slap Zhang Daoling to make him sober, "Your love is not a woman. If you do this to a woman, they might think more of it. To get friendly with a man, heh, that is called being buddies!" It is said that a person in love has no IQ, but if that has no EQ as well, it is simply a natural disaster!

Hearing what the man said, Zhang Daoling's expression became a little ugly, "Then what should I do?"

At the same time, Zhang Daoling's heart suddenly surged with hope. Perhaps, he will finally get a result after today, whether it is good or bad.

"Are you really stupid or something? Of course you have to go straight up to confess, no matter if he can accept you now or not. At the very least, you have to let him know what is in your heart, that he is not just a friend, but a lover for life."

These words caused Zhang Daoling to stiffen, and then he nodded. Since Ah Xuan can accompany him for 10 years, he should be able to accompany him for the rest of his life. In that case, what else is he afraid of?

After thanking the man, Zhang Daoling almost rushed back like he is driving a racing car. When he opened the door, he saw Lin Zisheng standing alone by the window, basking in the moonlight. For a moment, Zhang Daoling's heart that was beating wildly started to quiet down.

"Ah Xuan, I'm back." Looking at Lin Zisheng with a fixed gaze, Zhang Daoling's always calm gaze carried a trace of greed. He wanted this person and wanted to keep him by his side forever, "I want to tell you something, can you listen to me?"

Feeling Zhang Daoling holding himself in his arms, Lin Zisheng didn't even notice that the corners of his mouth have curved up slightly.

"Ah Xuan, I like you, so please stay with me forever, okay?"

Raw word count : 3238

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Banana: Alright, this is the end of Arc 2. The next arc has 9k word count as its 1st chapter lol _(;3/ gotta split that