When the moon was at its zenith, Jiang Ai saw Chen Ying again under the golden wall of Xusheng Mountain.
He sat cross-legged against the golden wall, with an open Ghost Book between his legs. The Ghost King Lamp emitted a faint light at his side. He rested his arm on the Ghost King Lamp and looked at the Ghost Book carefully in the light.
Shen Ying followed her to handle government affairs during the day, and read the ghost book at night. Although evil ghosts do not need sleep, Shen Ying's spirit seems to be too good. He can work non-stop for several months without rest, which is amazing.
Jiang Ai's first impression of this heir apparent in the ghost world was a bloody corpse lying in He Simu's arms. It was said that he was only fourteen years old and died on the battlefield with thousands of arrows piercing his heart. He became a wandering soul because of his obsession with protecting He Simu and Duan Xu. He Simu's hands were shaking as he held his corpse, not like an evil ghost who was used to seeing life and death.
Shen Ying's body was buried by He Simu in the back mountain of Yuzhou City, next to her parents' graves.
The second time she saw Chen Ying was on Xusheng Mountain. After becoming an evil ghost, the child went to see his own grave. He stood in front of his own grave, leaned down and looked at the tombstone carefully for a long time, appearing very calm.
—It turns out that I am really dead.
After saying this, he turned his head to look at He Simu and Duan Xu beside him, and said with a smile - When I died, I was still thinking that Third Brother and Little Sister had disappeared without a trace, and your wishes had not yet come true. I must see you again, and I must make your wishes come true. Then I really saw you again, how lucky.
At that time, the child was dressed in black, with a pale and delicate face, and a look of innocence and maturity between a child and an adult. She wondered what the child looked like when he was alive, and if he grew up, he would be very good-looking.
He died with thousands of arrows piercing his heart. He died in such pain but he could still say the word "lucky". He was indeed a weird person. No wonder he turned into a ghost.
At that time, He Simu's eyes were wet and he hugged Chen Ying. Jiang Ai found that after He Simu became a human, he seemed to cry very easily.
I miss this child so much. Finally, he stopped pretending to be tough and was allowed to have his own weaknesses.
She was very happy for Simu.
Later, He Simu asked the Ghost King to choose between Jiang Ai and Chen Ying as the master, and the Ghost King actually chose Chen Ying. Jiang Ai was very surprised and relieved, relieved because she didn't want to be a ghost king, and surprised because the Ghost King actually chose Chen Ying, a child who had just become an evil ghost not long ago and had low ghost power.
Shen Ying doesn't seem to be as gifted as He Simu.
In the past few years, Jiang Ai has been supervising the ghost domain, and Chen Ying has been familiar with the ghost domain with her and He Simu, and has learned the way of being a king. She gradually discovered that Chen Ying did not have the powerful magical talent like He Simu, but if hard work can be considered a talent, then Chen Ying should also be a genius.
She had never seen an evil spirit who worked harder and more focused than Chen Ying. Chen Ying seemed to be completely unaware of how demanding he was of himself, and he even continued to push himself and test his limits.
People always get lazy and tired sometimes, and evil spirits are even more so, but Chen Ying never gets tired. He is not impatient, but just keeps working hard day by day.
The implementation of the Jinbi Law and the suppression of the rebellion have brought the ghost world to a stable stage. According to the speed at which Shen Ying's magic power and governance ability are improving, He Simu should be able to see Shen Ying officially take charge of the ghost world during his lifetime.
Jiang Ai sometimes wondered if this was the reason why Shen Ying worked so hard.
He Simu was also a little worried, but she was not worried about Chen Ying's ability. She was worried that the position of Ghost King would become a constraint for Chen Ying, just like the position had constrained her. He Simu asked Jiang Ai to ask Chen Ying indirectly.
This is really difficult. It is difficult for Jiang Ai to "beat around the bush" when communicating with Chen Ying - because if Duan Xu and He Simu did not come to see Chen Ying, he would never chat. All the questions and answers were about serious matters, as if no trivial matters could take away any of his time.
Jiang Ai cleared his throat.
Shen Ying didn't hear it, his mind was entirely on the book in front of him.
Jiang Ai thought that she should bring out her big loudspeaker Bai Sanxing, who would surely make Chen Ying unable to bear it.
"Chen Ying." She walked to Chen Ying and called his name. Chen Ying finally raised his eyes, saw Jiang Ai and smiled and called out "Aunt Jiang Ai."
He Simu's father called her Aunt Jiang Ai, He Simu called her Aunt Jiang Ai, and now this teenage kid also called her Aunt Jiang Ai. It seemed like she was going to call her Aunt Jiang Ai forever.
Jiang Ai sighed, walked over to sit next to him, and said, "Are you reading the Ghost Book again?"
"Well, we need to familiarize ourselves with the evil ghosts of the Twenty-Four Ghost Halls over the past three hundred years, and also learn why people in the world become evil ghosts. Speaking of this, I just happen to have a question I want to ask you..."
Jiang Ai just felt overwhelmed, she waved her hands: "Chen Ying, let's not talk about this for now, Simu just sent a message that she is going to hold a wedding with Duan Xu."
Chen Ying's eyes lit up immediately, and he said excitedly: "Third brother and little sister finally achieved their goal! Where should we hold this? Yuzhou City? The guests on both sides are half evil spirits and half humans, so we need to think carefully about this banquet..."
Jiang Ai saw the rare lively expression on Chen Ying's face, as if he had come alive. After he rarely put aside the business and talked about this and that, Jiang Ai propped up his chin and asked him, "Little Chen Ying, are you envious?"
Shen Ying was stunned, the blue light reflected on his pale face.
"What are you jealous of?"
"Si Mu and Duan Xu have both become human. They have the five senses and live passionately. They can get married and live together forever. But after you die, you still have to learn all these complicated things to support the ghost world. Don't you envy them? Do you really want to be the ghost king?"
A look of surprise appeared on Shen Ying's young face. He said as a matter of course: "Third brother and little sister get married and stay together for life. This is one of my wishes. My wish has come true. What should I envy? And I don't think there is anything wrong with death. My sister and third brother are still by my side. What has changed in this world?"
After a pause, he seemed to understand what Jiang Ai wanted to ask, so he said: "Sister said that the throne requires sacrifice, but I have nothing to sacrifice. The most important people to me in this world are my sister and third brother. Their wishes are my lifelong wishes. Third brother has recovered the Seventeen States, and sister hopes to maintain the balance between the human world and the ghost world. Then, becoming the Ghost King and doing this well is my wish."
Although he already knew that Chen Ying's obsession was to protect He Simu and Duan Xu, this was the first time that Jiang Ai felt so clearly that this was an "obsession".
She frowned. "What about you? What about yourself?"
“This is my own wish.”
"What if Simu and Duan Xu died a hundred years later?"
"Then they will have descendants and people they love. I will do my best to protect the world they live in." Chen Ying looked down at the Ghost Book and said, "I know I'm not as smart as my sister and third brother. I don't know if I can do it well, but I will try my best."
Jiang Ai didn't know what to say.
She discovered that Chen Ying had a special quality: he took "me" lightly and attached great importance to the people around him. Perhaps because he lost his relatives one after another at a young age, he had a deep attachment to his later relatives - He Simu and Duan Xu.
Jiang Ai thought that if the child grew up, things would get better. When he had his own family and more relatives, his obsession with He Simu and Duan Xu would gradually fade.
But Shen Ying did not have the opportunity to grow up as a normal teenager.
Jiang Ai touched Chen Ying's head and said, "Si Mu and I both know that you work very hard. There is no evil ghost in the world who works harder and is kinder than you."
She seemed to understand why Ghost King Deng chose Shen Ying.
"You would make a good ghost king."
Chen Ying laughed. He put away the ghost book, picked up the ghost king lamp, and said happily: "Let's go find them first!"
Jiang Ai watched Chen Ying humming a song as he walked down the mountain. There was no shadow of his tall and slender figure under the moonlight. She also laughed and shook her head.
The former Ghost King He Yichen was the one who made laws in troubled times, the former Ghost King He Simu was the one who enforced laws in peaceful times, and the later Ghost King Xue Chenying was the one who upheld laws in prosperous times.
Later, under his leadership, peace lasted for thousands of years between the ghost world, the human world and the immortal world.
Let’s not talk about things that are too far away. In the fifth year of Xinhe, a grand wedding was held in Daizhou City. The red-bride procession was as long as there was no end. The attendants beside the car scattered pearls and silver coins to the people on the street. The sound of gongs and drums and firecrackers resounded through the sky. The whole city was filled with red confetti, like a red snowfall.
The banquet lasted for three days and shocked the whole Daizhou.
No one expected that the famous artist He Simu in the painting actually had a fortune and spent a lot of money to find a son-in-law. The people of Daizhou were still discussing the wedding a few years later. Some people said that if they had known this, they would have become a son-in-law of the He family. Others said, "Don't dream, you have never seen Miss He's groom."
It was a bright summer day. The groom was wearing a red suit with gold embroidery, riding his horse down the street with a big smile on his face. Anyone who saw him would say that there was no more handsome man in the world than him.
So much so that decades later, Zhao Xing, the governor of Qizhou, rebelled and proclaimed himself emperor, conquered the southern capital, established the Xin Dynasty, moved the capital northward, worshipped the deceased great scholar surnamed Fang from the previous dynasty as the emperor's teacher, and erected a monument and wrote a biography for the former general Duan Shunxi. However, when the people of Daizhou recall the past, they still talk about the grand wedding, as well as He Simu and her husband who had long left Daizhou City.
This seems to be the most praised legend in Daizhou City in the past few decades.