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As soon as he spoke,

Ding Tao emerged from under the table, giving a thumbs up. "Master, you're truly incredible. I already thought it was impressive that you could calculate my family background. Who knew you could also guess my occupation. That's right, I work as a nurse in a hospital."

The onlookers, however, were startled upon hearing the term "male nurse."

In this era, male nurses were indeed scarce.

"Isn't there any psychological pressure being a male nurse? Many people look down on male nurses, thinking they lack tenderness."

"How many male nurses are there in your hospital? I've been to quite a few hospitals in Hong Kong, big or small, but I rarely see male nurses."

Ding Tao replied sheepishly, "I work at the Haven Hospital, and I'm the only male nurse in the entire department."

"Just one? That does seem rather few."

"It has its pros and cons. Us guys would prefer to have more male nurses around. Sometimes, when the nursing assistants aren't available and we need to use the restroom, we have to ask the girls for help, which can be quite awkward."

"As a guy, I can imagine you might not be too popular. Do you have any friends? When we're young and working, we usually have a few close friends."

"For the sake of a job, losing social interaction seems rather troublesome."

Chu Yuening poured water from the teapot into a cup and lifted it, "That's actually not true."

"Ding Tao is known for his kindness. In the department, he enjoys helping others the most. He volunteers for any heavy or tiring tasks, earning him the affection of his female colleagues. Not only does he never feel lonely or bored, but many women approach him every day to chat. He's a genuine friend to women."

Ding Tao felt a bit embarrassed by the praise and scratched his head, "Master, you flatter me."

Chu Yuening set down the teacup, "Do you have anything specific you want me to divine?"

"A divination?" Ding Tao honestly didn't have anything in mind. He had heard from his aunt that Master Chu was incredibly skilled, usually with a long queue of people waiting for her services. Today, he happened to notice that there weren't many people around.

Motivated by the idea of not wanting to miss this opportunity, he decided to seek a fortune.

After some thought, Ding Tao furrowed his brow, "Master, recently, my spirits seem to be quite low. Can you perhaps draw a charm to boost my energy, something that could keep me alert?"

As soon as Ding Tao finished speaking, a neighbor playfully chimed in, "At such a young age and already feeling low in spirits – looks like your body needs a good tonic."

Ding Tao waved his hands repeatedly, then sighed, recalling something. "No, it's because I got to know an elderly man when I helped out in the Intensive Care Unit earlier. Perhaps I treated him kindly during our interactions, and he took a liking to me."

"In recent times, I've been reassigned to my original department. The old man still comes to find me every night, asking me to help him purchase food during my break."

"Sigh, he's seriously ill, and I rarely see any of his children taking care of him. Every time he comes to me, he appears extremely hungry. I'm naturally a compassionate person, so I try to assist whenever possible. But perhaps due to the intrusion of my rest time or other reasons, I haven't been able to get proper rest, and my energy is dwindling."

As he spoke, Ding Tao let out another deep sigh, remembering something.

"For some reason, the old man doesn't eat anything I buy for him. The first time I brought back fried rice noodles, he just held them up to smell before leaving."

"The second time, I assumed he wasn't fond of stir-fried rice noodles, so I prepared congee instead, but he merely took a sniff and left."

"After skipping it once or twice, I simply asked him what he liked. In the end, he said he would enjoy anything as long as I was willing to buy it."

Ding Tao, tasked with errands time and again, would return with items that the elderly person did not fancy. As this routine repeated itself, fatigue began to set in on him. Nevertheless, he persisted, chiefly because each instance saw the elder exhibit an earnest hunger.

There was even a time when Ding Tao could hear the old man's rumbling stomach.

Encountering such an eccentric elderly person, the neighborhood buzzed with chatter and speculation.

"This old man is indeed going too far. Someone went out of their way to buy him something, and he just smells it and leaves."

"Yeah, little brother, if he comes back tonight, don't buy him anything."

"Picky and complaining — he must not have a good relationship with his children, that's why no one takes care of him."

"You're just an outsider, yet he doesn't show gratitude and keeps nitpicking."

Chu Yuening blinked, feeling puzzled. "How do you know the old man didn't eat?"

"He really didn't." Ding Tao's face was clouded with worry; he genuinely didn't know how to deal with the old man. Continuously disrupting his rest time would only worsen his condition.

"Every time we bring something back, he sniffs it in front of me and then gets up and leaves."

Putting down her teacup, Chu Yuening saw no issue. "Of course, the way a deceased person consumes food is different from that of the living."

Upon hearing this, Ding Tao couldn't help but widen his eyes and draw a sharp breath.

The neighbors were even more startled, their limbs trembling with fear.

What?

A dead person?

In broad daylight, what kind of international joke is this?

Chapter 119

Ding Tao's heart pounded like a drum for a moment. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead in the middle of the day from sheer fright.

He wiped his forehead, his voice trembling with unease, "A dead person? No... isn't it just a ghost?"

Chu Yuening nodded and said, "Yes, people eat with their mouths, but ghosts feed through scent. If a ghost has already eaten something, it becomes tasteless and flavorless to humans, like chewing wax. In fact, if you hadn't been careless, you would have noticed something strange much earlier."

Ding Tao was speechless.

Paralyzed by fear, his mind rapidly recalled the odd incidents he'd experienced with Old Uncle over the past week.

"It was... the first time, when Grandpa didn't eat the fried rice noodles, I was worried about wasting them, so I took a bite. Indeed, there was no taste at all. Later, I fed the rest to stray cats and dogs."

"There was also this one time, Old Master insisted on giving me money. I knew he didn't have any, so I asked where he got it from. He said he found it. I didn't want to accept it, but I couldn't persuade him otherwise in the end, so I reluctantly took the money."