Chapter 4

What are you even talking about?

I kicked him.

“I thought of you as a housemate, and you want to sleep with me? Have you no shame?”

Shen Yanli looked aggrieved.

“I just like you.”

I was confused.

“Little ghost, do you even know what it means to like someone?”

“Of course I do!”

Shen Yanli was indignant.

“I’m not a stupid ghost!”

A moment later, he tugged at my hand.

“Big Sis, if you don’t hate me… would you like to try being with me?”

Before I could answer, someone knocked at the door.

Xie Songhan came in carrying a plate of dumplings and smiled at me.

“Mannan, you worked late. You must be hungry, right? Didn’t you post that you couldn’t find any corn filling? I happened to make some. Want to try?”

Xie Songhan was my coworker. He lived downstairs, and we were both night owls.

I happily accepted the plate.

“Thanks! Come on in~”

The dumplings had just come out of the steamer, still piping hot.

I picked one up with my chopsticks and put it in my mouth. Golden kernels of corn were wrapped in a soft, chewy skin. Their natural sweetness spread across my tongue.

I gave him a thumbs-up.

“They’re really good.”

The man changed into slippers and politely sat on the sofa.

I was so focused on the delicious food that I didn’t notice the resentful gaze staring at the sofa behind me.

11

“Ah!”

I was dipping a dumpling into Xie Songhan’s secret sauce when a scream suddenly came from the sofa.

I turned around. His face had gone deathly pale, and he was pointing outside the window with a trembling finger.

“A ghost… There’s a ghost…”

Before I could explain, he bolted.

He hadn’t even changed his shoes. He flung open the door and dashed outside.

I looked out the window. A female ghost in white was floating in midair, holding a sign with several blood-red words on it:

“Leave, or you’ll die!”

I was speechless.

“Shen Yanli! Get in here!”

Shen Yanli floated in, still pouting. He took off the wig on his head and tossed it onto the sofa.

“Why did you scare him?”

He puckered his lips.

“He came to see you in the middle of the night. He definitely had bad intentions!”

“He was just worried I hadn’t eaten.”

“But still!”

Shen Yanli’s voice got quieter.

“He was wearing my slippers!”

I put the last dumpling into my mouth.

“Didn’t you turn human?”

Shen Yanli put his hands on his hips, looking proud.

“I can switch whenever I want, hehe~”

He came over and rubbed against my shoulder.

“Big Sis, I can cook, too. Whatever you want to eat, your puppy can make it for you from now on, okay?”

I went to the door and straightened the shoes Xie Songhan had kicked out of place.

“If you keep scaring people like that, I won’t be with you.”

“Got it…”

Shen Yanli looked just like a child who’d done something wrong, lowering his head to admit it.

His brain seemed to load for a few seconds. Then, as if he’d suddenly realized something, he jerked his head up.

“Big Sis… do you mean you’ll be with me?”

I put the clean slippers back where they belonged.

“Do you remember the Code of Conduct for Men I sent you?”

Shen Yanli nodded furiously.

“A wife is always right; always take your wife’s side.”

“Listen to your wife and never give her the cold shoulder.”

“Take good care of your wife and prosperity will follow.”

“Keep your wife in your heart and your career will soar.”

Huh???

This guy really was pushing his luck. He’d even changed how he addressed me already!

“You…”

I pointed at him with my index finger.

He obediently rested his head against my hand and blinked at me.

“What is it?”

Looking at how excited he was, I really couldn’t bear to throw cold water on him.

All right… let him have his way…

12

Early the next morning, my father and grandfather called me repeatedly, ringing my phone off the hook.

I had an extremely bad temper when I was woken up.

“Even if the sky falls, wait until I’m awake to tell me!!!”

Dad’s voice was very serious.

“I know why you’ve been single all these years.”

I was speechless.

“You called this early just to push me to get married? Are you going through menopause?”

“Su Mannan, you have a ghost marriage arranged for you.”

“What?”

I immediately sat bolt upright.

I’d only slept two or three hours. I went to the villa in the suburbs with huge dark circles under my eyes.

I took a sip of tea and pretended to be calm.

“I crossed from the east side of the city to the west. You’d better not have gotten the details wrong, Dad.”

But inside, my heart was uneasy.

I knew the elders of the Su family were capable.

I just didn’t know how to face this.

I’d been single for over twenty years, and Shen Yanli had even turned human for my sake.

Now they were telling me my destined partner was someone else?

Then what about him? What was supposed to happen to him?