Crown Prince and Ghost King

Chapter 44

The Distance-Shortening Array drawn by Yin Yu – teaching courtesy of He Xuan – worked perfectly. The group opened the door of a crumbling house in Mount Tong'lu and stepped right inside Paradise Manor, halls much more silent than they normally were.

Many of the ghosts fled to participate in the gathering, after all. Hua Cheng, although he found it frustrating, didn't mind the absence. In fact, he foresaw; the arousal of ghosts was no joke, he couldn't demand his servants to stay rooted in place as Mount Tong'lu called them forth. Even the Ghost King himself had been gravely affected, it would have been only hypocritical.

«Prepare a room for this kid», he ordered one of the servant that stayed, an incredibly well-mannered ghost that had been at his side since Ghost City was nothing but Qiandeng Temple and a couple rough houses. «Nothing scary, maybe tone down the red inside it».

GuZi shouldn't feel scared when waking up in an unfamiliar place. Though Hua Cheng enjoyed the red and black of his residence, for a kid it could be too much to take in all at once.

The servant, ever so diligent, bowed without asking questions and scurried away, robes following like a trail. He was one of the very few ghosts that respected propriety, when it came to clothes and hair. Always well-kept, vivid red robes tightly closed and some hair pinned up in a simple but neat hairdo with a stark white hairpin.

Hua Cheng often tried to give him a better place in Ghost City, because he was entirely too skilled and intelligent to be a mere servant, but the ghost always refused, saying it was a honor to serve someone like him.

The Ghost King always wondered why, asking himself what kind of deeds had he ever done for the ghost to deserve such loyalty, until Xie Lian pointed out the fact that he treated his servants better than how many heavenly officials treated their deputy officials.

What was there, anyway? Hua Cheng simply gave them orders to follow, and paid them accordingly. He couldn't understand what the praise was all about.

«You can go», the ghost then turned to Yin Yu, still standing beside him. His face was ashen, heavy bags underlined a pair of dull eyes, and his clothes were dirty and dusty. Overall, he was the perfect image of someone in dire need of a bath, some food, and at least two or three days of uninterrupted sleep. «I'll give He Xuan his shovel back, you go clean yourself and sleep».

Those days had been so rough for Yin Yu that he didn't even dream of complaining. Rather, he unceremoniously dumped the Earth Master's shovel on the floor, where it clunked loudly, gave a nod to Hua Cheng, and hobbled away towards his private rooms without a single word.

Just as he disappeared at the end of the hallway, the ghost servant came back and bowed once more, announcing the room was ready.

Hua Cheng, who was about to entrust the ghost with GuZi, looked down at the sleeping face of the kid and didn't have the heart to dump him in the arms of yet another stranger.

Instead, he sent the ghost to draw a bath for him and Xie Lian – making sure to specify it needed to stay hot until his husband came back – and walked towards the room himself. Maybe Xie Lian would have been better, he had far more experience with human beings compared to him, but the god kissed him and ran to the human realm in order to check on the Brocade Immortal as soon as they stepped foot in Paradise Manor.

Obviously, Hua Cheng offered to go with him, and was promptly turned down. Understandably so, because GuZi was now in a place where no mortal child should ever set foot in, surrounded by strangers and scary looking creatures. Yin Yu had absolutely no experience with children, save for the adult child that was his shidi – and even that was somewhat questionable, given the fact he told he almost bashed his head in with the shovel – so it was up to Hua Cheng.