Chapter 45: Chapter 45: You… So Familiar…

The woman was tall and well-proportioned, her figure graceful and alluring.

But dark circles marred the area around her eyes, making her look like a panda. Even exquisite makeup couldn’t conceal them.

The woman walking down the stairs was none other than Li Kerun, the most famous actress in the entertainment industry today.

She entered the entertainment industry at the age of nine. With her outstanding acting, she boosted the ratings of multiple shows and became a child star known throughout the country.

After growing up, she entered the short-form drama industry. At her peak, she garnered over ten billion subscriptions, her fame once surpassing that of many A-list celebrities. Her Weibo followers even exceeded eighty million.

She was a top-tier figure in the entire entertainment world.

Compared to her, Kang Naixin was nothing.

When she saw Shen Zhiyao, Li Kerun paused for a moment before saying, “Miss Shen, please have a seat. You’ve probably seen my short-form dramas, so I don’t need to introduce myself, do I?”

“Sorry, but I actually haven’t seen any of your short-form dramas.”

Shen Zhiyao was telling the truth. Since she had transmigrated here, she had spent her time either livestreaming or meditating and cultivating. When would she have had the time to pay attention to the entertainment industry?

Li Kerun, who was used to being the center of attention, never expected that there was someone in the country who didn’t recognize her. She immediately felt a loss of face.

Shengming Ru Ge immediately stepped forward. “My boss is Li Kerun! She became famous nationwide at the age of nine for starring in numerous television series. After becoming an adult, she starred in several short-form dramas that all became massive hits. How could you have not seen her work?”

To prove her point, she rattled off the names of several of the most popular short-form dramas.

Shen Zhiyao shook her head. “Never heard of them.”

Shengming Ru Ge thought she was just acting aloof and rolled her eyes in disdain.

“That’s enough!” Li Kerun snapped at her young assistant. She then turned to Shen Zhiyao. “Alright, it’s fine if you don’t know me. Just treat me like a regular person. The reason I sought you out is to get rid of the Spiritual Child I’ve been raising for years. Just tell me directly if there’s anything you need me to do.”

Shen Zhiyao glanced up toward the top of the stairs, at the young girl hiding there, and turned to leave.

As she was leaving, Shen Zhiyao asked casually, “Didn’t the person who sold you the Spiritual Child tell you that once you start raising one, you have to do it for life? Why abandon it halfway through?”

At the mention of this, Li Kerun nervously wrung her hands. “He did say that, and I did intend to raise him for life. I just never expected him to suddenly act up.”

To explain, we must go back to the very beginning.

Li Kerun was one of the lucky ones. She was born with a beautiful face, got discovered by a talent scout, and had a natural gift for acting. As a result, she achieved a level of wealth and fame at a young age that most people could never hope to attain in a lifetime.

Later, as Li Kerun grew older, the path of a child star was no longer viable.

So, she chose to put her acting career on hold and return to school to further her education.

But acting had interfered with her studies for too long, and she couldn’t keep up academically.

Moreover, she had grown accustomed to being the center of attention, and the sudden return to a normal life was a difficult adjustment.

And so, at the age of twenty, she re-entered the entertainment industry.

But after so many years, she discovered that the rules of the industry had completely changed. Handsome men and beautiful women were countless, and she could no longer rely on her looks to get by.

Fortunately, she had starred in hit TV series in the past. After leveraging that past success to land roles in a few shows that were met with a lukewarm response, she could no longer get any good parts.

Unwilling to remain a minor supporting actress, she had a moment of weakness. On her agent’s advice, she went to South Asia and brought back an expensive Spiritual Child.

At first, she was skeptical about the Spiritual Child’s effectiveness.

But after a month of making daily offerings of high-grade incense and luxury clothing, and feeding it with her own fresh blood every day as instructed, the Spiritual Child finally began to respond.

For example, newly bought shoes would soon appear on the shoe rack; newly bought incense would quickly be placed in the burner; and the front door would open by itself as she arrived, making it easy for her to get home.

And Li Kerun’s career also began to pick up.

A low-budget short-form drama that A-list stars had refused became a massive hit after she starred in it.

The TV series she acted in afterward became progressively more popular. Everyone in the industry said she had superb acting skills and was born to be on screen.

Only she knew that all of this was thanks to the good luck the Spiritual Child had brought her.

Because of this, she began to worship the Spiritual Child with even more devotion.

But the Spiritual Child started causing trouble, smashing everything in the house to pieces.

On the day she was performing in a stage play, the Spiritual Child caused a chandelier on the stage to fall, killing a crew member instantly.

Li Kerun called out to him, but he gave no response.

Later on, the crew member’s ghost also began to appear frequently in the villa, often scaring her so badly she couldn’t sleep at night. It even caused her to suffer several broken bones.

Furthermore, Li Kerun’s career started going downhill.

The male lead of a short-form drama she had just finished filming was hit by a major scandal before its release, causing the show to be shelved.

Several high-profile endorsement deals she had landed were also suspended for various reasons.

All these incidents made Li Kerun suspect that getting a boyfriend might be the cause.

Li Kerun wasn’t getting any younger. Plus, she and her boyfriend were genuinely in love. She cherished him deeply and couldn’t bear to be apart from him.

After much deliberation, Li Kerun decided to get rid of the Spiritual Child she had lived with day in and day out for many years.

After listening to the story, Shen Zhiyao’s brow furrowed slightly. “You’ve raised him for so many years, and he brought you countless riches and fame. Now you want to get rid of him for a boyfriend? Do you have any idea what will happen to him after you send him away?”

Li Kerun immediately covered her ears. “Stop talking, I don’t want to hear it! I have no other choice! I have to get married and have children eventually. Keeping something like this in the house isn’t a long-term solution. Even though we’ve lived together for many years, humans and ghosts walk different paths. He shouldn’t be interfering with my happiness!”

Shen Zhiyao said, “You talk about humans and ghosts walking different paths now. If you knew this would happen, why did you start in the first place?”

Li Kerun sounded impatient. “So can you get rid of him or not? I paid you to solve my problem, not to lecture me!”

Just then, more people arrived at the villa.

It was Li Kerun’s agent, Lin Qiang, and he had brought two people with him, one old and one young.

The older one was a man of about seventy with salt-and-pepper hair. He wore a tuxedo and had the dignified air of an Immortal.

The younger one was a man of about twenty, dressed in a dark blue Daoist robe. He followed behind the old man, looking like an attendant.

But when Shen Zhiyao tried to use her Spiritual Energy to see the young man’s true face, she felt his features were shrouded in a thick fog, making them impossible to discern.

’He’s… using Spiritual Energy to conceal his true form!’

This was the first time Shen Zhiyao had encountered such a situation since coming to this world. Her curiosity piqued, she channeled the Spiritual Energy around her to her eyes, trying to pierce through the layer of mist and see the man’s true face.

The other party seemed to sense her probing gaze and suddenly looked over—

It was a pair of scrutinizing eyes, seeming to cross thousands of rivers and mountains to gaze leisurely at her.

His gaze was deep and devoid of any emotion, yet it also seemed to hide a thousand different feelings beneath its calm surface, capable of stirring up monstrous waves.

Shen Zhiyao’s usually placid heart, for the first time, felt a ripple of disturbance.

’Who—who is he? Why does he feel both familiar and strange?’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep