The Restless Spirit's Father

A deep frown was etched on Li Feng's brows when he received a text message from Chuan Nayi. Since they first exchanged numbers, the last conversation they had was about the bracelet wards. However, she was now asking to meet him tonight after dinner.

Li Yunru came to the couch with a bowl of fruits for them to snack on. After she settled in, she leaned towards Li Feng's head and read the message that Li Feng had been staring at for a long while. She then pulled back and leaned against the chair, picking a slice of apple and biting it off of the decorative toothpick.

"Why aren't you saying yes? You used to like her, right?"

Li Feng dragged his gaze from the phone to her face. He kept the frown on though. "Erm, yes, but… I don't think I should go now. I mean, I don't really have anything to talk about with her… especially after dark."

The cousin sister snorted as she ate another fruit piece. Li Feng only sighed and leaned against the couch. He kept staring at the phone, but he had already brought down his hands along with it.

It's just by then that he realized that Li Yunru had reclined in her seat. One of her legs was actually crossed on top of his leg closest to hers.

It didn't help that her white t.h.i.g.h seemed to glow against the dim room and flashing lights from the movie played in the background. His palm flattened near her knee while the other held onto the phone.

Soon, a smile curled on his lips.

He sent a text to Chuan Nayi: "Sure, I will be there."

…

The sky had grown dark, and Chuan Nayi was waiting at one of the tables outside the cafe where she agreed to meet Li Feng. It was perfectly normal since she really needed his help to get inside Cherry Medical without turning into a real patient.

Li Feng did have a loud voice when it came to convincing his father, who was powerful enough to force Cherry Medical to yield.

However, her mother was making things difficult for her.

Chuan Nayi understood her mother's thinking, but she knew that Li Feng couldn't be that kind of guy. Even if she attracted his attention before, he had been in a mess with ghosts and Liu Xiaodan. Sticking with Chuan Nayi might as well be a ticket back into the fray.

It's just that… she still came with the attire her mother forced her to wear. Even if she could hide it under her dark cardigan, the bodycon dress didn't fail to hide Chuan Nayi's shapely body.

She didn't normally wear things like this, but she had to deploy every kind of strategy she had now to make sure Li Feng would say 'yes' to her demand.

That was the thinking Jiang Yanyu wanted her daughter to have… now that Chuan Nayi had become ambitious.

She was wearing warmer leggings and flats for her bottom wear, but they were concealed by the blanket she had on her legs.

"How stupid of me… if someone ended up taking fancy of me, I won't be able to run." Chuan Nayi gritted her teeth. However, when she turned to look inside the cafe, the baristas smiled at her. "Did Mom talk to these people about my situation?

"Is she okay with leaving me here like this because the baristas are watching?"

Chuan Nayi only sighed and began looking at her phone and the things in it. In her gallery remained photos that she didn't want to delete. She had photos of Liu Xiaodan in there as well.

Her eyes closed and tried to remember the old her. The one that wasn't loathsome and one that would often smile. It was as if being involved with the child had also torn her apart from her real nature. Right now, she was just an ugly-hearted woman chasing after a man she failed to fight for.

She opened the camera app and took a look at her face. Her pessimistic face didn't have the glow that was once hers, perhaps the one Liu Xiaodan crushed on so badly. All she had now was one that had concealed bags and straight lips that had forgotten to smile.

"Hm. He's already late. It's been ten minutes..." Chuan Nayi checked her messages again and didn't see any messages from Li Feng aside from the one he sent earlier.

Then, it hit her. "What will I do if he stood me up?!"

She then held onto her forehead and massaged it. "Stupid. I knew something was very wrong with this..."

"Ah, shit… I knew it, I was baited..."

Chuan Nayi twitched and straightened her back. She turned to the side and saw Ruan Jin standing nearby. He had his phone up… as well as his 'you gotta be kidding me' face. He then went to sit across her and brought his phone to her face.

Li Yunru: "I haven't rewarded you for saving Feng'er before. Can we meet tonight? (Wink.)"

The woman then laughed bitterly as Ruan Jin took back his phone. "Guess we're both tricked. Heh, are you looking forward to getting laid?"

"Ew. I'm not into a brocon." Ruan Jin only leaned against the chair and sighed loudly. "I wasted my time going here. Probably the same as you." He then scratched his head. "Dammit. I only went because I thought it'll be bad if a girl goes out this late and I don't show up. What if someone else gets her occupied?"

"The other guy didn't care about that apparently." Chuan Nayi wanted to scream at Li Feng, but she figured it was too early to bite a hand she wanted to feed her.

"Geh… it'd be bad if we sit here and then not eat anything. Want to get something to eat while waiting for a cab?" Ruan Jin was on his phone, booking for a cab to send Chuan Nayi home first before heading home himself.

Chuan Nayi subtly twisted her pink lips and hesitantly asked Ruan Jin to buy her something to drink. She had been waiting for a while after all.

Since the counter didn't have a lot of people, it only took Ruan Jin five minutes to get their drinks. They waited for the cab while whittling time away with just drinking and not even talking. There was nothing to speak about between them.

Chuan Nayi didn't know Liu Xiaodan's friends a lot while Ruan Jin found it improper to chat.

It had been days since Ye Ling stopped showing herself. Ruan Jin could still feel her presence inside him, but she last said she would be sleeping for a while. It seemed that she had collected a lot from feeding on the lesser ghosts in the hospital. She might be asleep for a long while.

"...Ruan Jin..." Chuan Nayi suddenly called him, her eyes looking past him. "Did Xiaodan tell you anything about how we… how we cut ties?"

"He didn't say anything. It must be quite painful for him as well." Ruan Jin sighed before twisting his lips. "Don't you think it's too late to chase him anymore? You already made him believe that it's fine for you to leave him behind. Why are you going after him now?"

"Will it be stupid for me to realize that… I can't go on like that. If I could still mend things, am I not allowed to pursue them again?"

Ruan Jin only stared at her before snorting at his once crush. "As long as you're not chasing him just because you think you're in love with him, maybe it will be good enough. If you hurt him again, I won't stop Guangru if he dared to lay his finger on you for good."

The woman hummed as a response. "So it's okay with you if the child killed me?"

Silence grew between them as Ruan Jin didn't know how to answer that. It felt like his honest words would cause another person to self-destruct. The loud slurping of his empty cup made it more awkward.

"Don't worry. I have other people to look to for advice."

"Still not risking it..."

Before Chuan Nayi could speak, she noticed a big van making its way towards the street quite next to them. It's just that… the driver was driving on the wrong side of the road. The van drove past them and turned at an alley just right at the corner next to the cafe.

When she looked away, Ruan Jin brought his gaze to the direction the van took. Then, he saw a few men in black clothes walk towards them. At first, he thought they were just a gang he shouldn't watch go by, but the leader actually made eye contact with him.

"Chuan Nayi..." Ruan Jin wanted to go and run, but he couldn't just leave Chuan Nayi on her own. If he moved to grab her, the thugs would be able to chase them down nonetheless.

Then again, was Ruan Jin scared of humans?

Ruan Jin almost toppled his chair when he went to grab Chuan Nayi by the arm. The girl screamed as the motion and until she was already hanging from Ruan Jin's shoulder. Everyone in the area was startled by her scream, more likely the men who went on a full sprint just to catch them.

Chuan Nayi lifted her head and saw the men chasing them. "Who are they?!"

"Don't know, but I don't like them!" Ruan Jin screamed back as he tried to run his fastest even though he was carrying Chuan Nayi.

He was just forced to stop when the big van suddenly appeared in front of him. If he didn't stop, they would have been run over by the van. The driver stopped on the brakes so hard the van stopped just steps away from Ruan Jin. Even if he tried to run now, a second van appeared.

Armed men alighted from both cars, and Ruan Jin only planted himself on the ground, slowly pulling Chuan Nayi down so he could carry her properly in his arms. The woman s.u.c.k.e.d in air as she saw the guns and only could hug Ruan Jin tightly in fright.

They were ushered inside the van quickly, and they saw someone sitting in front of them with a strange grin. The two's faces grew so dark as they both recognized the man.

"Ah, I was hoping to catch Li Feng instead, but you two are good enough. I doubt Li Feng would turn down my invitation." The man laughed.

Ruan Jin mumbled… "So you're the one trying to kill Li Feng… Xie Canrong?"