Chapter 24: Bad Ghost
“Mr. P-Painter, please calm down—”
Mu Mu, seeing that they were getting closer and closer to the bathroom, hurriedly spoke, “Everyone says this is really strange.”
“You think it’s strange too?” Fu Heqing suddenly stopped in his tracks and asked, his tone carrying only a hint of doubt and the slightest trace of barely perceptible expectation.
“Strange… I guess?”
Mu Mu stammered, his voice uncertain. It was clear he was only repeating what others thought; he himself still felt nothing.
Fu Heqing let out a cold snort. “Wrong answer.”
He shook Mu Mu a little and resumed walking toward the bathroom.
“P-please wait—”
“What did I say wrong?!”
“Then… should I say it’s not strange? If I say it’s not strange, is that correct?”
“Wrong.” Fu Heqing said coldly.
The little skeleton struggled with all his might, but Fu Heqing still carried Mu Mu into the bathroom and placed him on the sink.
“Go use the bathroom.”
Mu Mu looked at the narrow-edged toilet, feeling a bit scared.
If the little skeleton accidentally fell in, the germophobic painter would surely not pull him out. He might not even give him a chance to climb out, and might just flush him straight into the Pacific.
Mu Mu grabbed Fu Heqing’s wrist with both hands and said, “Mr. Painter, the little skeleton doesn’t need to use the bathroom! Let’s just go out…”
Fu Heqing looked at Mu Mu amusedly and said deliberately, “It was Mu Mu who said he needed to use the bathroom.”
“And it was Mu Mu who said his short little legs are slow, so I should hold him.”
Fu Heqing stated each point one by one, each reasonable and all things Mu Mu himself had said.
Mu Mu froze. His brain raced at full speed, but he realized he couldn’t argue his way out at all.
He stared silently at Fu Heqing for a moment, then reached out and grabbed his sleeve. The tense, almost combative atmosphere from before instantly softened. In a small, hesitant voice, he said, “C-can I… just be joking?”
Fu Heqing looked at the little skeleton in front of him, his tone unreadable. “Joking?”
Seeing that showing weakness worked, Mu Mu climbed up the arm skillfully and snuggled close, pouting adorably. “Can I? Please, can I?”
“I just wanted to go down and play by myself, but you kept picking me up, so I had to come up with some excuse.”
As he spoke, Mu Mu suddenly realized he was actually in the right. How could the painter still act all tough and righteous?
Mu Mu’s eyes widened as the thought hit him. Adjusting his tone immediately, he declared, “It’s all your fault anyway!”
“You did it on purpose!”
Seeing that Mu Mu had caught on, Fu Heqing smiled, carrying the little skeleton out of the bathroom without teasing him further. Although playing around with the ghost was fun—he’d growl and snap like a little predator—too much would be going too far.
“You scared me on purpose, huh!”
“Ghost is good, human is bad, then ghost will become bad too.”
Mu Mu, still fuming, hugged his phone and scrolled through his list. Sixteen different flavors of mini cakes were all added to his shopping cart—he was determined to make the human pay dearly.
He had read online that if someone b*llied you, you could just throw them to the ground and start thinking about what car you wanted next.
Mu Mu suddenly thought humans made a lot of sense!
So clever, he giggled.
After selecting the desserts he wanted, he held the phone up to the painter and then smoothly jumped onto Fu Heqing’s lap, lying down.
Fu Heqing looked at the shopping list on the phone, then glanced at the little skeleton lying perfectly still, hands crossed neatly over his stomach, lying flat like a tiny, orderly corpse.
Fu Heqing probably shouldn’t have understood this strange behavior, but when he saw Mu Mu practically radiating the word expectation, he weirdly “got” the little skeleton’s manipulative stunt.
“You…”
“This is compensation!” Mu Mu watched Fu Heqing’s expression closely and boldly made his demand.
“If I don’t get sixteen little cakes today, this matter isn’t over!”
Mu Mu earnestly recited the classic lines of extortion, using every ounce of his cunning to shake down the painter.
Fu Heqing glanced at the shopping cart: mousse cakes, ice cream cakes, layered cakes, filled cakes—everything imaginable, all adding up to several thousand.
He looked at the neat total and then checked Mu Mu’s own balance.
Sure enough.
Just enough to empty Mu Mu’s little treasure chest.
Mu Mu didn’t realize his little scheme had been seen through. He stared at Fu Heqing with big eyes, pretending not to care as he said, “I’m only asking for sixteen little cakes. That’s already not much! Painter, you just work a bit harder and you’ll earn it back quickly.”
Even though it was actually Mu Mu who would need to work hard to replenish this money.
Fu Heqing smiled helplessly, typed in his account, and paid for Mu Mu’s order.
“Alright, it’s paid. Happy now?”
Fu Heqing handed the phone back. Mu Mu grabbed it with his tiny skeleton claws, and when he saw the confirmation page, he jumped up in delight, holding the phone as he leapt onto the nearby little table, happily inspecting it over and over.
“You ghosts all love sweets that much?”
Fu Heqing looked at the full sixteen cakes and warned with some concern, “Be careful of high blood sugar.”
“No way!”
Mu Mu looked at him with absolute confidence. “Ghosts don’t get high blood sugar. Every time a ghost turns back into a human body, it’s brand new anyway.”
Fu Heqing looked a little curious. “Hm? Mu Mu knows?”
“Of course.”
Mu Mu gave an example. “Remember when I burned my tongue on tea before? But after I turned back into a ghost, there was no pain at all. And the next time I became human, my tongue didn’t feel anything at all.”
Fu Heqing listened thoughtfully, reflecting on Mu Mu’s words.
Seeing that the painter had fallen silent, Mu Mu returned to playing on his phone. After exchanging the usual greetings with Li Yiyi and about to exit the chat app, he suddenly noticed a friend request from a stranger. The note said it was Fu Heqing’s psychologist.
Mu Mu’s eyes widened instantly. He quietly glanced at the painter, who was already starting work on a new piece and hadn’t noticed what Mu Mu was doing.
Holding his phone, Mu Mu subtly shifted his position so the screen faced away from Fu Heqing, then sneakily tapped the [Accept] button.
[Hello.]
As soon as the request was accepted, a message popped up immediately.
Mu Mu quickly typed back, [Hello!]
[You are Young Master Mu Mu, right? I am Mr. Fu’s psychologist. I added you because I want to understand something. Previously, Mr. Fu agreed to desensitization therapy, but not long ago, he suddenly changed his mind. Do you know anything about this?]
Mu Mu stared at the long message for a while, reading it carefully two or three times before fully understanding what was being asked.
Still uncertain, he even went to check with Li Yiyi and Li Xunyang to confirm the sender’s identity before attempting a reply.
[I don’t know.]
After recalling the events, Mu Mu answered honestly.
[All I know is that the painter seemed to say he was going out before, but then something else came up, so he never mentioned it again. Is that what you mean by changing his mind?]
[Interrupted? What happened at that time?]
The other side probed gently.
[Nothing really happened… it’s just that the painter received the things he bought.]
Mu Mu briefly recounted what had happened before, then asked his own question.
[I want to ask… what is desensitization therapy? What illness does the painter have?]
It seemed the psychologist had been waiting for exactly this question. After hesitating for a while, he replied formally, saying patient privacy could not be disclosed.
[Alright then.]
Mu Mu felt a little disappointed, but he understood—some professions have confidentiality rules. Since the psychologist couldn’t say, he wouldn’t press further.
Dr. Chang, staring at the [Alright] on the screen, grew a bit anxious.
“Why is this kid so honest? If I can’t tell him directly, can’t he ask in a roundabout way?”
“Isn’t he a relative of Mr. Fu?” Dr. Chang, worried, called the two Li siblings.
“Your roundabout phrasing won’t work on him. Mu Mu is too pure. Just tell him a tiny bit directly—he won’t suspect anything.” Li Yiyi took the call, confidently advising Dr. Chang.
“Okay, I’ll try.”
[Ah, Young Master Mu Mu, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you…]
Dr. Chang attempted his roundabout approach to open the topic, but against Mu Mu, it failed completely.
[I know. I looked it up online, there are confidentiality agreements, right?]
Dr. Chang: …
He had no choice but to abandon the roundabout tactics and get straight to the point.
[The main thing is… Mr. Fu’s experience is really heartbreaking…]
Mu Mu watched as the other side sent message after message of exclamations—complaining about all the injustices and hardships the painter had faced—but without any concrete details.
Still, the clever Mu Mu thought for a moment and managed to extract the key information: the painter had apparently gone through some bad experiences in the past, which gradually caused him to withdraw from others, and it got worse over time.
Seeing that Mu Mu finally understood his hint, Dr. Chang began explaining the dangers of psychological disorders—how they can darken and twist the mind, and amplify extreme emotions.
Finally, he introduced Mu Mu to desensitization therapy.
Mu Mu didn’t really understand mental illnesses, nor did he want to know about desensitization therapy. If this weren’t the painter’s doctor, he would have treated the whole conversation as spam and blocked it.
But since it involved Fu Heqing, even if it was hard to understand, Mu Mu still cautiously asked:
[Th-then… that desensitization therapy, can it help the painter get better?]
[I can’t say he’ll get completely better, but it will definitely improve his current condition,] Dr. Chang said confidently.
[Then… Doctor, can you teach me… so I can help him try?]
Typing this, Mu Mu suddenly felt like he was secretly doing something big behind Fu Heqing’s back.
His nonexistent little heart was pounding wildly, a mix of nervousness and excitement.
He peeked at the painter again, seeing that Fu Heqing was completely unaware, then looked back down and sent the message.
Success!
Mu Mu exhaled in relief—but when he looked up, he saw Fu Heqing staring at him.
He poked the little skeleton and asked,
“What’s wrong? You look guilty, like you’re doing something sneaky.”
Mu Mu froze. Panicking, he tried to hide his phone screen and close Dr. Chang’s chat window.
But at that moment, Dr. Chang sent a huge batch of files and voice notes with instructions. Mu Mu accidentally tapped something, and the audio suddenly played out loud.
