No Ghosting Allowed

On a dark and windy night, the world was in turmoil.

Inside a third-floor corridor of a vacation resort in the outskirts of Beijing, the surroundings were pitch-black.
Only the emergency exit sign above the baseboard emitted a faint green light.

In the dim night, a figure leaned against the door at the end of the corridor and let out a long sigh.

Inside the room, Zhou Qingbai tightly held the doorknob, confronting the person outside through the door chain for ten minutes.

“Tell me the truth,” Zhou Qingbai peered through the crack of the door, locking his eyes on the person outside, and cautiously said, “What exactly are you here for?”

“I came to take you out to have some fun,” the man outside smiled and leaned against the door, using a tone that could easily deceive any young girl, “Why are you hiding upstairs when it’s so lively downstairs? You’re not Cinderella; there’s no need to worry about exposing your true form after midnight.”

“Just think of me as good.” “Cinderella” clearly refused to be fooled, pursing his lips while gripping the doorknob and said with a hint of resentment, “If I had known it was your arranged matchmaking event, I would have preferred to stay home and play video games.”

Among Zhou Qingbai’s circle of friends, there were those who loved food, those who loved fun, and those who were into artsy stuff.
Unfortunately, this Mr.
Ge outside the door was neither into gambling nor whoring.
His only hobby was playing matchmaker, actively pushing single young men together.

When he invited Zhou Qingbai out that day, he said it was just old friends getting together.
However, upon arriving at the venue, Zhou Qingbai realized something was off.
It was practically a large-scale “Universal Matchmaking Agency,” with various young eligible bachelors in all shapes and forms.

With a surplus of eligible bachelors and a scarcity of eligible bachelorettes in their circle, Zhou Qingbai felt like Tang Seng entering the spider cave, almost losing a layer of skin to the crowd of suitors.
It was a relief when he finally managed to escape.

“Be reasonable, Mr.
Ge,” Zhou Qingbai attempted to reason with him, “I haven’t offended you, so why are you doing this to me?”

“What do you mean by ‘doing this to you’? Don’t make it sound like I’m forcibly snatching someone else’s fiancé,” Ge Xing disapproved with a tsk, earnestly explaining, “This is a necessary stage in life, and I’m not forcing you.
I’m just offering you a brand new life choice.”

“Indeed,” Zhou Qingbai replied calmly, “You’re not snatching; you’re deceiving.”

“It’s a well-intentioned lie.
I’m making efforts for your personal safety,” Ge Xing said nonchalantly, “Fortune tellers all say that your problem won’t be solved until you find someone to love.”

“In that case,” Zhou Qingbai began to subconsciously reject the idea, but mid-sentence, he suddenly realized something and asked in puzzlement, “Hold on, how did you know about this?”

His fortune had been terrible since the first day of the Lunar New Year that year.
Not only were his stocks and funds declining, but he also encountered one disaster after another, whether it was getting burnt by firecrackers or having his car crashed while driving.

At first, he didn’t think much of it, until he sprained his foot on his doorstep half a month ago, lying helplessly on the ground.
That’s when he considered finding a fortune teller for advice.

After asking around, he found a highly recommended “expert” within the circle.
However, when he gave his birth date and time for a reading, the person immediately told him that he had encountered a Red Luan Flying to the Tai Sui, and the Six Clashes had turned into Calamities.
Therefore, he was experiencing both physical and financial problems, and he needed a romantic relationship to resolve it.

As someone who always listened to good advice, Zhou Qingbai didn’t take such feudal superstitions to heart.
He was just curious about how that information reached Ge Xing’s ears.

“It was from your circle of friends,” Ge Xing said, taking out his phone from his pocket and casually tapping a few times before showing the screen to Zhou Qingbai, “You posted it yourself.”

Zhou Qingbai took a closer look and then recalled, somewhat belatedly, that when he walked out of the “expert’s” door, he posted a complaint on his friends’ circle, mourning the loss of his 1888 (a play on words for ‘ba ba ba ba’ which sounds like bye bye bye bye) bachelor life.

“That ‘expert’ is the godfather of one of my friends,” Ge Xing explained, “Once I heard about it, I figured out the situation.”

Zhou Qingbai: …

After understanding the reason behind this, Zhou Qingbai felt somewhat relieved and no longer looked at Ge Xing with suspicious eyes.
He just shook his head with a headache.

“It’s all just a misunderstanding,” Zhou Qingbai said, “You should know that I’m a believer in being single.”

“That’s not certain.
Who knows, maybe one day you’ll suddenly awaken and fall head over heels in love, crying and shouting to elope with someone,” Ge Xing smiled enigmatically, then waved his hand to interrupt whatever Zhou Qingbai was about to say, thoughtfully adding, “But rest assured, I know you’re not interested in those downstairs, so I’ve prepared Plan B for you.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small card, holding it between his fingers before handing it to Zhou Qingbai.

The card had a white background with a golden border, but before Zhou Qingbai could read the words on it, he saw a clear QR code that startled hi