Chapter 116: So Cold—Didn’t You Turn On the AC?
The driver listened for quite a while before he couldn’t hold it in anymore and cut in, “Little girl, are you some kind of fortune-teller? One protection talisman costs five hundred? That’s… that’s too much. I drive all day and I only make about that much.”
“The talismans my Keke drew are super effective, sir. People in your line of work should be the first to get one. Five hundred to buy peace and safety—totally worth it…”
Qin Junchi was the type whose mouth never stayed idle. The driver had conveniently opened the topic, so he started chatting with him.
The driver had been in this business for years and knew exactly how to keep a conversation going.
At first they were still talking about Su Keke’s protection talismans, but as they chatted on and on, they somehow ended up talking about their life dreams.
“Actually, my dream is to become a professional racecar driver. But my parents don’t understand. They insist I study management so I can inherit my dad’s company.”
Qin Junchi sighed. “Now I can only treat racing as a hobby—and I have to keep it secret too. Otherwise, if my dad finds out, he’ll freeze my bank cards again.”
“What a coincidence. When I was young, my dream was also to be a pro racer. In the end, I just became a taxi driver,” the driver sighed as well.
“No wonder. I can tell the way you drive is different from others.”
“You can really tell? Then how about I show you a couple moves? If this car were a bit better, I could even drift…”
Just as the two of them were getting into it, Su Keke stared at the back of the driver’s head and suddenly cut in, “Sir, drive a bit slower at night.”
Qin Junchi nodded along. “My Keke is right. When you drive at night you really have to be careful. Not long ago, I almost got finished off—thanks to Keke’s protection talisman, nothing happened.
After that accident I haven’t touched racing at all. It left a bit of a shadow. And there was news this morning—last night a taxi hit a big truck while turning. The taxi got completely crushed, and the driver died horribly.
I think the driver’s surname was Wang—Wang something-shan. I don’t remember exactly.”
Hearing him say that, Su Keke subconsciously glanced at the driver info plate: Wang Lushan.
What a coincidence~
The driver, hearing Qin Junchi’s words, asked in confusion, “Someone died on the road yesterday? I drive taxis every day—how come I haven’t heard about it?”
“It was big news and you don’t know? It was yesterday—the 8th. Keke, you know, right?” Qin Junchi asked.
Su Keke shook her head honestly. “I’ve been busy studying. I didn’t look at the news.”
Qin Junchi sighed. “Such a studious little sister.”
“Young man, yesterday was the 7th. Today is the 8th—you remembered wrong,” the driver corrected, glancing at the date on the car navigation.
Qin Junchi was about to argue back, but then Su Keke looked at him with watery eyes, puffed up her bun-like cheeks, and said seriously, “Today is the 8th. You remembered wrong.”
Her tone was extremely certain.
Qin Junchi stared blankly and opened his phone.
The 9th, 20:11.
So yesterday was indeed the 8th.
Forget it. Whatever these two say goes. He wasn’t going to argue with an old man and a kid.
“Still, it’s strange. I don’t know what’s going on tonight—hardly anyone has flagged down my cab for ages,” the driver muttered.
Qin Junchi didn’t believe him. “Come on, sir. The road you came from is a busy commercial district. There are always more people needing cabs than not. I even saw someone waving up ahead—you didn’t stop, and the car behind picked them up.” So it’s your eyesight that’s bad.
Su Keke rubbed her puffed cheeks and stayed silent.
When riding a “ghost hitchhike car,” she usually didn’t talk much. After all, humans and ghosts walk different paths.
As Qin Junchi chatted, he happened to notice the talisman Su Keke had stuck on the seatback. “Oh right, Keke—what does this talisman do? Why have you been sticking it here the whole time?”
As he spoke, he reached out and yanked it off.
“Don’t touch it!” Su Keke’s expression changed.
But Qin Junchi moved too fast—Su Keke didn’t have time to stop him.
“What kind of talisman is this? Changing luck? Attracting wealth? Can you give me one?”
Su Keke’s cheeks puffed again and again—she was seriously about to be driven mad by him.
But she couldn’t get angry. She couldn’t. She had to cultivate her temper.
Seeing her face look off, Qin Junchi hurriedly apologized. “Don’t be mad, Keke. I was just curious and wanted to take a look. I’ll stick it right back for you.”
Su Keke rubbed her face and forced herself to keep a smile. “No need. This is a road-guiding talisman. Putting it back now is useless.”
Once it was stuck on, the guiding began. Once it was removed, it meant the guiding ended.
This talisman had already done its job—naturally it was no longer effective.
The unlucky part was: this was her last road-guiding talisman. She didn’t have a spare.
The driver had already turned onto a small side road, and on this kind of road it was clearly hard to hail a cab.
Ahhh—did that mean she had to run the rest of the way back herself?
It was hard to go from luxury to frugality. She was used to taking taxis and the subway now—how could two legs compete with transportation?
And she was even bringing a live person with her.
As she thought about it, the forced smile she’d rubbed onto her face immediately collapsed, and her cheeks puffed up again.
Qin Junchi was still wondering what a road-guiding talisman even was when he suddenly saw the yellow talisman paper in his hand darken at a visible speed—like it had been scorched by fire—then crumble into ash.
“W-what… what’s going on?” Qin Junchi’s eyes bulged.
Hearing the alarm in his voice, the driver tilted his head slightly and asked curiously, “Young man, what’s wrong?”
When the driver tilted his head, half his face was exposed—facing Su Keke’s side.
Seen closely, his complexion was unnaturally pale—an ashen, corpse-like blue-white, with no vitality at all.
Su Keke’s expression didn’t change. Facing that half a face, she said smoothly, “Driver, it’s nothing. I was doing a little magic trick just now. This big brother hasn’t seen much, so I scared him.”
The “big brother who hasn’t seen much” twitched his mouth. “Keke… your magic trick is really something.”
Su Keke glanced at him, still puffed-cheeked.
Seeing her small face set and her mood clearly sour, Qin Junchi grew quiet out of guilt. The driver also stopped making conversation.
When they were chatting, he hadn’t noticed, but now that it was suddenly quiet, Qin Junchi realized the temperature inside the car seemed low—so cold his arms were breaking out in goosebumps.
“Sir, turn the AC up a bit. I feel like it’s too cold—there’s this chilly draft,” Qin Junchi shivered.
“Young man, I didn’t turn on the AC. It’s pretty cool at night—no need for AC,” the driver said.
Qin Junchi froze.
This cold, and the AC wasn’t even on?
But he clearly felt cold air in the car—an eerie, clammy cold.
Looking at the man rubbing his arms from the cold, Su Keke said to the driver, “Sir, I’ll still pay you. Just stop here—we’ll get off here.”
Qin Junchi looked at her, confused. “Keke, you want to get off here?”
He looked out the window. Outside, fog drifted thickly, making the road even darker. In the pitch-black fields, you could occasionally see a few dirt mounds—like wild graves.
