The First Ghost Hunter

When I was ten, I asked my father, "Where did my name come from?"

My father said that the day before I was born, my mother found a book. She flipped it open at random, pointed to a name she liked, and said, "There, let's name our child that."

But later, the literate people in the village saw my name and said it was an ill omen. My mother had died, though, and my father wanted to keep my name as a way of remembering her, so he refused to change it.

The villagers were superstitious and never called me by my name. Only my father called me by my full name, as if reminding himself to remember his dead wife.

Later, my father died too. For more than a decade, nobody in the village remembered my original name. They called me "Ning Shi." A hundred years later, even the name "Ning Shi" was forgotten.

On a snowy day, I left the place where I'd lived for so many years, and from then on, I wandered the world.

Someone asked my name.

I said

"Ning Yi."

-

A civilian ghost hunter x the tough-as-nails beauty of a special investigations bureau. The human attacks, the ghost receives.

A laid-back, health-conscious old-school man attacks x a beautiful, sweet-on-the-outside, dark-on-the-inside ghost receives

(Everything may change before the story begins.)

Things to know before reading:

1. Devoted, mutually doting one-on-one romance, third-person narration, modern supernatural fiction with the male lead as the pursuer. Involves multiple cultures. Please don't conflate the story with reality.

2. The characters aren't perfect, and the author isn't on anyone's side. The viewpoints serve the plot, so readers who are strongly attached to one character type should proceed with caution. Plot-focused, and the receiving partner isn't just a background character. There are ensemble scenes.

3. If you don't want to read it or can't get into it, please leave quietly. Be gentle with any feedback.

Theme: I grow weary of looking back at the flowers. Half for the Way, half for you.