Shh, There's a Ghost in the Painting

[New Romance Writing Contest]

There’s a saying that ancient paintings have spirits. Some even say that vengeful ghosts and evil spirits like to possess these paintings, biding their time and soaking up people’s affection to nourish their haunting.

There’s a profession called painting-walker. Just as the name suggests, they can freely enter any painting. They don’t just hunt monsters; they can also enter the world inside a painting and clear away the distracting thoughts of its inhabitants.

Yao Xi is one of the few people in this rare profession. A gold-lover, she only works for money. Whoever can pay her in gold can hire her.

A poet in the museum has lost his eyes, a beauty in a painting has lost her clothes, and there’s even a painting that kills. Once, a painting-walker entered a painting and met a gruesome death...

Yao Xi’s senior fellow apprentice asked her to help. She entered the painting, battled its world with her wits, and completed the mission despite ending up covered in injuries.

Yao Xi: Pay me extra! I won’t be satisfied unless you pay me more for this. I’m injured from head to toe!

Lu Jingxing smiled and paid for her gold out of his own pocket. As he watched her count the coins, his smile grew even wider.

Yao Xi: Did you sell me off just so I could count your money? Why are you grinning like such a creep?