Opening the doors to the principal's office, Chu Nuan sat at the desk up front. Drumming her fingers impatiently on the redwood table, she looked at the kneeling shadows in silence.
An unexplainable pressure suddenly emerges, pressing down on them heavily.
"Everyone seems to be doing well." She said with a yawn, tears forming at the corner of her eyes.
Silence. The kneeling shadows quivers in fear. Knowing Chu Nuan's silent anger, the figures in black don't dare to speak recklessly.
"What?" Chu Nuan said slowly, "feeling it's underneath you to speak to me, en?"
"We wouldn't dare!" The shadows answered hastily.
"Wouldn't dare?" Chu Nuan repeated with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Suddenly, switching to an incensed expression, she scolded sternly. "Don't dare to not answer me, but dare to ignore your duties?!"
"Bam!" Her hand firmly slammed onto the table.
Eyes glinting dangerously, Chu Nuan asked the group in front of her, "do you know what I hate the most?" She laughed frenziedly. " What I dislike the most are people stretching their grubby hands towards my man. For millenniums, I waited millenniums for this opportunity and you choose times like these to slack off, huh?"
The pressure released by Chu Nuan became heavier, causing the guards to tremble even harder.
Abruptly, the pressure subsided as quickly as it appeared, causing the guards to collapse from sheer exhaustion. Only the heavy breathing of the guards echoed across the spacious room.
Taking a moment to catch their breaths, the guards quickly kneel back down respectfully, awaiting her orders.
Reverting back to her usual carelessness, Chu Nuan reached out for a cup of tea. Taking a leisure sip, she took a quick glance at the clock nearby. "Bring it out." She ordered.
Obeying, one of the shadows forcibly pulled on the chains wrapped around his arm. Out of thin air, a young woman in her early 20's stumbled heavily onto the floor. This ghost was the white smoke that came out of Ru Yi's body. By possessing someone on campus, she was able to avoid detection from the guards around campus. Unfortunately, this ghost decided to find existence in front of the wrong person today.
Glaring up at Chu Nuan, the female ghost spoke with clenched teeth, "crazy." How can there be such an insane person in existence? The ghost thought.
Chu Nuan smiled lightly. "Try being single for thousands of years, you might turn out the same." Resting her chin on her hands, she continued. "Not sure about you, but I definitely don't want to be an unopened can of vegetables for the rest of my timeless life." Fiddling boredly with the teacup, she signaled the nearest guard with a glance.
Immediately, a guard stepped forward. Placing a hand on the back of the ghost's head, the guard brutally slammed her head onto the wooden flooring. "Speak!" He barked.
Gritting her teeth, the female ghost refused to answer. Just as another guard was about to take action, a calm voice sounded around the room.
"Your Honor." Blackie said, as he appeared from behind Chu Nuan's chair.
"You're here." Chu Nuan said indolently.
Bowing in respect, Blackie replied, "I felt my second brother's presence." He said as his eyes landed on the ghost on the floor.
"Oh?"Chu Nuan raised her brow in interest. "Go take a look." She suggested.
Nodding in agreement, Blackie walked towards the female ghost. He first silently stared at the glaring lady in front of him for a moment, before pulling closer to her face. His eyes gradually glowed a bloody red as he gazed deep into her soul.
"Ahh!!" The ghost screamed suddenly, her body writhed in pain as she wrapped her arms around her head. Thrashing around violently, her movements eventually slowed to a stop as Blackie's eyes returned to a deep black.
Taking a few steps back, he watched as the ghost's body steadily turned transparent. Eventually vanishing from sight, her soul has perished. What was left behind in her place is a folded note clipped to a plastic card.
A guard presented the item to Chu Nuan attentively with both hands.
"So?" She asked while reaching for the note. "What did you see?"
Blackie wagged his tail slightly, eyes moving onto the card in her hand. "Second brother is in Macau. He sent an invitation to Your Honor."
"En." She replied, opening the note to see what is written inside.
The note read:
"Chu Nuan! You thousand years old jar of pickled vegetables! Both wrinkly and salty.
Come to Macau if you've got the guts to face me! Signed Second Brother."
"........" Crinkling the paper and throwing it into the trash bin, Chu Nuan stood up from the chair. Walking towards the large glass windows, she stood there mysteriously with her hands behind her back.
"Your Honor?" Blackie questioned. "Should we make preparations?"
"No need." Chu Nuan answered, "I'm not in a hurry."
"????" Getting a bizarre feeling from Chu Nuan, Blackie's sight flitted quickly towards the trash bin before cautiously asking, "Your Honor, did second brother write something strange?"
"....." Standing silently for a moment, she started in a solemn voice. "They say, the longer a bottle of wine is aged, the richer the taste."
Blackie, "???"
"It's the same with vegetables. The longer you pickled them, the deeper the flavor. It's not a taste you can find in young and fresh plants."
"????" Blackie sat next to Chu Nuan's feet in deep contemplation. His ears flicked to the side as he tried to decipher her words. "Your Honor..." What you said doesn't make any sense…he thought quietly.
"Hmph." Chu Nuan looked away with a huff. She definitely isn't bothered about her age. That note most certainly didn't jab at her soft spot.