Ghost King 011

"Ahhh!!!" He stumbled back in terror. As soon as his hand left Liu Xiaohua's shoulder, the two people he had seen also disappeared.

"What's wrong?" Someone was startled by him. A cowardly individual even turned and ran.

Fang Zhiyi, who had been beating up the drunkard, was also drawn by the commotion. He turned to look. Liu Xiaohua looked utterly confused.

"Ghost, ghost, ghost!" The man nearly pissed himself. He had seen it! One person he didn't recognize, and the other was Wang Wu! "Wang Wu! I saw Wang Wu!"

"You, don't scare me!" Another man began to tremble.

"It's true! You, you just have to touch the master's shoulder and you'll see!"

Fang Zhiyi suddenly understood. He hadn't expected... that this method would work?

He turned to look at Wang Wu, who was holding his head: "Bastard, I'll tell you what to do, and you do it, understand?"

Wang Wu looked at him fearfully. What kind of ghost was this? He came in swinging, and the worst part was, he couldn't even beat him.

"Understand?" Fang Zhiyi glared.

Wang Wu nodded frantically.

When the second person, with Zhang Xiaohua's permission, touched her shoulder, he saw a sight that frightened him too: Wang Wu sat obediently in a chair, mechanically waving at him.

The man shouted and stumbled back several steps.

Now everyone believed.

"M-master, what do we do now?" Someone asked Liu Xiaohua. She instinctively looked at Fang Zhiyi, who was hiding to the side.

Fang Zhiyi then realized he hadn't given this girl any real training, so he had to prompt her.

"Tell them it'll be over soon. Then just strike a few poses, anything will do."

As Liu Xiaohua struck stiff and awkward poses, Fang Zhiyi averted his gaze. The kid was too literal-minded—she was doing, of all things, a series of calisthenics.

Wang Wu never expected that cooperating nicely would still get him hit several more times before Fang Zhiyi grabbed him and dragged him away.

Liu Xiaohua only breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the ghost being hauled off.

"I'm going now. Remember to collect the fee!" Fang Zhiyi tossed out this one line before leaving.

"How much should I take?" Liu Xiaohua panicked. She had no idea what to charge.

"Don't say anything! Let them guess their own amount!" Fang Zhiyi's voice faded into the distance. He had already thought of an even better idea, one that might make even more money than this.

Liu Xiaohua became quite famous this time, considering how many witnesses there were. And after that day, those few people never encountered any strange events again. They pooled together a sum of money for Liu Xiaohua, but she thought it was too much and returned some of it, which moved them deeply. They spread the word about her like crazy.

At the cemetery, Liu Xiaohua looked at Wang Wu, who was tied to Liu Sandao's grave marker, then turned to Fang Zhiyi.

She now knew that after finishing a job, she first had to burn some paper money as an offering to Fang Zhiyi. But she still couldn't grasp the "new business expansion" he talked about. Who on earth would want to see a ghost? She had hated her own eyes her entire life!

Fang Zhiyi said, "You can't think like that. In your eyes, all ghosts are scary. But look at it from another angle—the ghost you fear might be someone else's dearly missed loved one."

Liu Xiaohua was stunned.

"The business of getting rid of haunting ghosts? The competition is way too fierce. See, your service only covers this area. Beyond this, it's all the territories of Taoist priests and exorcists. They've got a solid client base and excellent reputations. We can't compete with that." Fang Zhiyi had somehow found a plank and started drawing a diagram of the area on it. "So you can't just follow the crowd. You have to think about what's missing in the market."

"That's all well and good, boss, but plenty of souls get taken straight down by the underworld messengers once they die..." a ghost who was busy counting his money turned around and said.

"That's exactly why we only take cases within seven days of death!" Fang Zhiyi tapped the wooden plank. "Plus, this whole area is Ah Da and Ah Er's jurisdiction. No problem there. Think about it: wouldn't the dead have things left unsaid to their families? This is about building good karma."

Liu Xiaohua was starting to understand.

"What if we run into a malicious spirit that's been lingering in the mortal world..."

"Now that's even more promising business!" Fang Zhiyi rolled up his sleeves and stood up. "First, we go catch them directly. Then we contact their family. Look at these guys," he pointed at the other ghosts, " after a long time, they forget why they stayed behind, some even forget their own names."

"Then the family would have to thank us, right? So the trick is to find the opportunity yourself."

"What if it's like this one..." Liu Xiaohua glanced at Wang Wu.

"Even better! If the family won't pay, we just let it loose again!" the earlier ghost shouted, only to be kicked flying by Fang Zhiyi.

"Are you some kind of thug?" Fang Zhiyi cursed, then turned back to Liu Xiaohua. "Of course, we can't do that. But if the family wants to teach him a proper lesson, we could collect a modest fee..." He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together in a familiar gesture.

Liu Xiaohua nodded repeatedly.

"And in the end, these spirits can be handed over to Ah Da and Ah Er to complete their tasks. A perfect system! Give it up!"

Several ghosts, along with the one who had just been kicked away, immediately burst into applause.

They might not understand much, but they certainly knew that ever since following Fang Zhiyi, they hadn't stopped raking in the cash.

"Little Fang, you must have been a business genius in your life," Liu Sandao praised. "Following you, our future looks bright!"

Fang Zhiyi waved his hand dismissively: "Minor issue, minor issue. The company's future depends on everyone working together, right?"

"Absolutely! Through fire and water, Boss Fang!"

"Flattery gets you nowhere, Old Liu. You're the company's backbone. You're about a hundred years old now, which is exactly the prime of life for venturing out!"

"Indeed, indeed!"

Liu Xiaohua watched Fang Zhiyi and Liu Sandao flatter each other, her little head buzzing.

How did the world feel so upside down?

But she was still reaping the benefits. First of all, the bullies at school had stopped showing up. And she had saved up a good chunk of money without anyone knowing, even bought new clothes for her grandmother. When her grandmother scolded her, she was secretly happy deep down.

Following Fang Zhiyi's instructions, she also knew she couldn't lead customers back to her own home. So, gritting her teeth, she rented a tiny office space outside. She placed the personal belongings of the ghosts from the cemetery reverently on the bookshelves.

Her life was about to change from this point forward!

Her debut hadn't caused much of a ripple in the world of men and women. After all, in this era, there were plenty of ghosts, plenty of Taoist masters, and even more people pretending to be Taoist masters. No one paid any attention to a tiny office without even a sign.

Especially when the boss of that office showed up every day in her school uniform with a backpack to open the door.