NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 153: Chapter 153
Night time, the shop's lights were out.
A white ghostly figure skillfully phased through from next door.
However, this time she appeared not in Xia Zhi's room, but in the downstairs kitchen.
The dark environment posed no obstacle to her.
Looking at the kitchen before her, remembering the taste of the strawberry daifuku she ate last night, she couldn't help but lightly lick her lips, her delicate face showing an expectant expression that appeared alluring and charming.
Opening cabinets to look, lifting pot lids to peek.
There were some leftovers, but they were just ordinary food, and had been frozen - she couldn't eat them at all.
Floating in place, she felt her mood become as cold as the bowl in her hands. After a while, she put the bowl back and, still hopeful, went to the second floor to the room where Qiqi had stayed last night.
There was nothing to eat there either.
The ghost lady looked disappointed, turning towards the wall, phasing through it back to Xia Zhi's room.
Sigh, in this cold world, only the incense could bring me a bit of warmth... Wait, where's my incense?
The ghost lady looked up at the empty table, had just floated over, and hadn't yet had time to check the incense burner when a voice suddenly sounded in the room.
"Miss."
???
The ghost lady's soul form suddenly froze, her hand reaching for the incense burner stopping in mid-air.
She slowly turned her head to see Xia Zhi sitting gently at the edge of the bed.
"Miss, are you looking for the incense?"
The ghost lady remained silent.
She suspected he was trying to trick her.
"The incense is in the second compartment of the wardrobe, you can go get it."
The ghost lady looked at the nearby wardrobe, still maintaining her silence.
"Miss, why do you not speak?... I suppose I've been a poor host. When guests visit, I should serve tea."
Xia Zhi looked somewhat apologetic, stood up from the bedside, and walked towards her.
Reaching the table, he picked up the teapot and took out a small teacup.
The ghost lady silently watched him pour tea.
She remembered he didn't have a habit of drinking tea at night, and she had never seen this teapot in the room before during her previous visits. This meant the tea was specially prepared tonight.
In the darkness, steam rose from the teacup.
Obviously, this was tea brewed not long ago.
This meant he had calculated when she would come.
Xia Zhi put down the teapot, picked up the teacup, and following Liyue etiquette, offered it to her with both hands.
"The tea isn't very good, please excuse its quality."
As his voice fell, in her world, the previously flavorless steam suddenly became fresh and pleasant, with unfamiliar yet familiar tea fragrance wafting to her nose.
The ghost lady stared straight at the cup of hot tea before her, swallowed, and finally broke her silence.
"Thank you."
She spoke softly, accepting the cup with both hands.
Their fingers touched during the exchange.
One warm...
One cold...
The ghost lady's body froze again, suddenly looking up at Xia Zhi before her, her face full of disbelief.
"You... can actually touch me?!"
"Yes, your fingers are very cold. Is that strange?"
"Of course, how could normal people touch ghosts? Ghosts aren't like zombies, ghosts have no physical form... Are you really surnamed Xia?"
"Mm, my surname is Xia, given name Zhi."
"Do you have any relatives surnamed Hu?"
"...No."
The ghost lady fell into confusion, muttering to herself about how it was impossible, wondering if there were other special constitutions that could interact with ghosts, or if it was some lost bloodline from their clan...
Xia Zhi didn't understand, shook his head and turned to the wardrobe, taking out the incense he had put in the second compartment and lighting it in the burner.
A strange fragrance that calmed both minds and souls wafted out.
The ghost lady smelled this fragrance and gradually calmed down, lifting the teacup in her hands and taking a sip.
As the hot, fragrant tea slid past her throat and tongue.
The ghost lady sighed somewhat nostalgically: "Qiaoying Village's new tea..."
Xia Zhi smiled: "Indeed. I didn't expect Miss to be a tea enthusiast?"
The ghost lady shook her head: "I don't particularly love tea, I just had Qiaoying Village's new tea a few times before and found it better than ordinary tea, so it left a deep impression. I didn't expect after so many years, its taste hasn't changed."
Xia Zhi nodded: "I see. May I ask Miss's name..."
The ghost lady hesitated for a moment, then said: "My surname is Hu, as for my original name, it's not convenient to mention. Mr. Xia can call me Chi Yu."
"Surname Hu... What is Miss Chi Yu's relationship with Director Hu Tao?"
"I have deep ties with her..."
She didn't want to say more, and Xia Zhi didn't press further.
After chatting a while longer, he saw her cup was empty and raised the teapot to refill it.
Chi Yu watched him fill the cup perfectly without spilling a drop, and couldn't help asking: "Mr. Xia, can your eyes really not see?"
"For now I can't see things, but I can sense a little."
"Mr. Xia must have discovered me long ago, right?"
"I had some awareness after moving in, but seeing Miss Chi Yu didn't drive me away like the rumors said, I didn't pay much attention."
"I see..."
"Later when I saw Qiqi really liked the incense's smell, I realized it might be because of that, so I light some every night."
"Mr. Xia is thoughtful. I do really like this incense's fragrance. Thanks to it, I recovered my lost memories and consciousness. As for those haunting rumors before... I had lost my memories and consciousness then, and felt they were disturbing my daytime sleep by opening shops, so I threw tantrums and scared them away. Hu Tao was quite helpless about it too. She originally planned to buy this house directly when she had enough money, but didn't expect Mr. Xia would suddenly appear..."
"So that's how it was..."
Xia Zhi laughed, feeling life was truly wonderful.
"Just drinking tea is a bit plain, let me add some snacks for Miss Chi Yu."
"Snacks?"
"Mm, I happened to make some osmanthus cakes this afternoon."
Xia Zhi bent down and picked up a food box from beside the table, opened it, and took out a plate of beautifully arranged osmanthus cakes.
"Please help yourself."
As his voice fell, the previously flavorless osmanthus cakes suddenly became fragrant and enticing.
Chi Yu stared straight at the osmanthus cakes, swallowed, and asked: "How does Mr. Xia do this?"
"I don't really know how, it just works when I think about it."
"This kind of thing... in all my years, I've never heard of it..."
"Miss Chi Yu needn't think too much about it. If you want to eat, just come here in the future, I'll make more."
"This..."
Chi Yu fell silent for a moment, looking at Xia Zhi, unable to understand why he was being so kind to her. They were separated by life and death, and weren't old acquaintances.
"Mr. Xia, why?... That incense must be very precious, right?"
"You ask why? It's simple - because you were my first reader. I was very happy about that, so I wanted to be good to you."
"Ah?"
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