"Runaway Terror - Gu Qingcheng's Ghost Detective Case File 1"

Author: Gu Qingcheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: After hanging up the phone, Jenny stared at me wide-eyed. Probably the Chinese I spoke to her was like gibberish—she didn’t understand a word. I was also at a loss, wondering how to explain that the large seafood fish called "Suzhi" is a favorite among Chinese people. So my friend jokingly called herself "Big Fish" to avoid the hassle of explaining marine biology. Oh no, that was a mistake—I almost forgot Jenny was with the Wildlife Conservation Association. If she heard I ate seafood, she’d probably see me as a barbarian and label me as an outsider. I could only smile and give a simple explanation: "My friend, she’s big, so we call her Big Fish." Jenny looked at me with sympathy and said, "You should ask your friend to do half an hour of fitness exercises after work every day, and only eat salads and yogurt for dinner. I can lose eighteen pounds in a month." I smiled and thanked her. Jenny was close to one hundred forty pounds. I went to the curator’s office to resign. Luckily, the young curator had been staying in the office this week, so I didn’t have to bother writing a resignation letter. To my surprise, Curator Gu Yanghe’s reaction was unusually calm. He let out an "Ah" and said no more. I had expected some polite words, but he skipped it entirely. It seemed I had overestimated myself. I nodded and started packing my things. Behind me, footsteps echoed, and Gu Yanghe followed. I spread my hands and waited for him to speak. After a long while, he suddenly said, "My original name was You River—You for sorrowful You—but I love science, so I changed it to Yanghe." I just murmured "Hmm" without understanding. After another long wait, Gu Yanghe said, "I didn’t know you liked Chinese lilies. Too bad."