Ge Fei's cause of death

  "You... what did you say? So now you are..." Although I had guessed many times whether he was five years ago..., but hearing him say it himself, I was still shocked.

  Ge Fei's eyebrows were gloomy: "Five years ago, I was originally dead, but for some reason, I came back to life later. As a result, I ended up with this half-human and half-ghost appearance, and... because of my younger brother's sake, sometimes I lose control of myself. That's why that day... I would think of harming you."

  "What was going on five years ago?" I asked after a pause, and at this moment, I suddenly felt that Ge Fei was very pitiful. It's said that women are changeable, and I'm a living example.

  Ge Fei let out a long sigh, his tone very heavy: "Have you seen 'Painted Skin'? The one starring Zhou Xun."

  My little chicken nodded: "I've seen it."

  "The fox spirits in the movies are great, but it's not like that in reality......" Ge Fei's eyebrows were furrowed, and he said halfway, then looked at me and asked: "Do you believe me?"

  "I believe." I blurted out without thinking, and indeed, I did believe in what Ge Fei said. Probably just as Ge Fei said, I was still that stupid, believing whatever he said, even though yesterday he wanted to kill me.

  As I said that, a smile floated onto Ge Fei's face, and at the bottom of his eyes, there was a hint of... gentleness that made my skin crawl: "I thought you'd scold me for being crazy."

  "These past few days, I've encountered quite a number of strange occurrences. I've even seen fox spirits and whatnot, and it's possible that there are some painted skin creatures around too. How about you? Have you had any encounters with the little Wei? I forced a smile to try and lift the gloomy atmosphere. The Ge Fei I knew wasn't like this; seeing him in this state actually made me feel a bit heartbroken. Lin Xijia, oh Lin Xijia, you really are a scoundrel."

  Ge Fei smiled and said: "How... are you no longer afraid of me now?"

  "I... I've never been afraid before..." I said with a guilty conscience.

  "Ah, okay, you weren't afraid." He smiled meaningfully and continued: "Five years ago... I was just pretending to be with that woman. I'm also a coward. Five years ago... Ye Jingchen, that fox spirit, told me to leave you or else he would take my life. I had no choice, to save my life, I could only do that. I thought if I left you, he would spare me... spare my parents. But I didn't expect him to still kill me. He once boasted that he would take my heart, just like the little demon in Painted Skin, taking a human heart to sustain his own body."

  At this point, Ge Fei's face was full of grief and indignation, his expression reminding me of the way he looked when he tried to kill me yesterday.

  But... he said Ye Jingchen told him to leave me, but I really don't know Ye Jingchen. I think I don't have the charm to attract the single and wealthy Ye Jingchen, let alone the charming Ye Jingchen who has been a fox spirit for thousands of years. After all, female fox spirits are much more beautiful than me. That's what I thought, otherwise why would people call those beautiful women fox spirits?

  Ge Fei closed his eyes, walked to the tea table, and sat heavily on the sofa. He continued: "I was originally dead, but later... I don't know why, inexplicably came back to life. And... I became the young master of the Xu family. As for my parents, I actually don't know where they went either. These past few years, I've been searching for them, but it's been five years and there's no news at all. When I told you they immigrated earlier, I was afraid you'd be scared, so I didn't tell you the truth."

  "Uncle and aunt... have they gone missing?" I hesitated for a moment before asking this question, after all, it's not very polite to poke at someone's scars.

  Ge Fei nodded, with tears welling up in her eyes: "As you all know, my whole family moved away overnight. And I... am no longer myself, my dad and mom are nowhere to be found."

  "Now you are..." I was very confused in my heart. Is Ge Fei now a human or a ghost, or is it really as Xue Lang said, half-human and half-ghost?

  Ge Fei shook his head, and sighed: "Actually I don't know what I am now, maybe it's true as Xue Lang said, half human and half ghost. I just want to find the person who killed me back then, and...I want to know where my parents went, and..."

  He stopped at this and closed his mouth, as if intentionally changing the subject to ask me: "That old fox didn't do anything to you, did he?"

  "I don't..." I shook my head. Even if he did something to me, I couldn't do anything about it, even if he killed me, all I could do was sit and wait for death. I'm just an ordinary person, and my brain isn't particularly clever, at most I was a bit clever in my student days, before this, I had never encountered any monsters or ghosts.

  "Didn't you say... the one who harmed you back then was Ye Jingchen? How... " I remembered he just mentioned it a while ago, how come now he wants to find that person again.

  Ge Fei furrowed his brow: "All these years, I've had dealings with him in business too. If he really wanted to harm me, he would have done it long ago when I wasn't capable of fighting back against him. He's just... unwilling for you and me to be in contact."

  As for Ye Jingchen's actions, I really feel inexplicable and can't figure out what he wants to do. Yesterday, he scared me half to death, and I thought he wanted to kill me, but in the end, he didn't do anything. This morning, he said something... I am his sister, just as Ge Fei said, he is a fox spirit, and I am human, how can I be his sister?

  "Ge Fei, aren't ghosts... all non-corporeal?" Thinking of Ye Jingchen, I also thought of that water ghost. Aren't ghosts supposed to be formless? How could it grab my foot then?

  Ge Fei shook his head: "There are some, for example vampires and zombies."

  "What about the water ghost?" I thought of that rotten guy from last night and still felt scared.

  Ge Fei's eyebrows slightly furrowed: "Did you encounter something last night?"

  I nodded and said, "Yeah, I was by the riverbank in Fuchuan, didn't go into the water, when suddenly a hand reached out from below to grab me. And...the people around me...seemed not to see it. But I could feel that it had substance. If not for the red string on my wrist, I'd probably be making headlines by this morning."

  "This is strange, usually the water ghost should be confusing people into the water before having a chance to take action, why would it run onto the shore?" Ge Fei said in confusion.

  "Could it be... related to that vengeful spirit?" I muttered. Although I didn't understand these ghostly things, but having encountered so many strange events in the past few days and hearing Ge Fei mention it before, I could make an educated guess.

  Ge Fei looked at me with a surprised expression, with a thick tone of mockery: "Eh... Lin Sijia, when did you become so clever!"

  This girl's face changed too quickly, just now she was still with a bitter and resentful expression, sympathizing with the heavens and pitying the people.

  "I've always been smart, thank you." I retorted with a bad tone, and it was clear that he also thought this matter had something to do with that what's-it-called Food Grudge Spirit.

  "Help...!" I was talking to Ge Fei, but suddenly heard a cry for help. It was a child's voice, very hollow. It was... Xiao Fangzi, Fang Junan.