Lin Jie opened his eyes and saw Lin Miao dressed festively, sitting cross-legged at the head of the bed, looking at him.

And Lele was there too, obediently sitting beside Lin Miao, with a funny little red hat on its head.

"Brother, Happy New Year! I wish you good health, no illnesses or disasters, and all the best in the new year!"

Lin Jie nodded and said, "I also wish my Miaomiao to become more beautiful and have smooth sailing in everything this new year."

Saying that, he prepared to turn over and get some more sleep!

"Hey, brother, don't move..."

Lin Miao reached out and grabbed Lin Jie, saying, "Lele's New Year blessing is still pending!"

"Lele, hurry up!"

With that, she lifted her small hand and lightly tapped Lele on the head!

"Woof, woof..."

Lele looked at Lin Jie with a pitiful expression and barked a few times.

Lin Jie couldn't help but laugh, reached out to scratch Lele's chin, and said with a smile, "Lele is so good, I'll give you a meat bone to eat later!"

He yawned again and said, "Okay, we've done the New Year greetings, it's just past six, let me sleep a little more..."

"Oh, brother, you shouldn't sleep in on the first day of the New Year..."

Lin Miao shook Lin Jie's body and kept chanting, "Brother, get up! Brother, get up..."

Feeling helpless, Lin Jie had no choice but to get up and even put on the festive clothes Lin Miao had prepared for him.

A small red cotton jacket embroidered with auspicious patterns.

Last night, Zhang Xiaoxiao was at the hospital with Yao Henan, the An sisters were at their own home, so only the Lin siblings spent New Year's Eve together.

After paying respects to their grandmother and grandfather, they cooked a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner, and after eating, they ran to the top of the apartment building to set off fireworks.

Afterwards, they stayed home watching the gala, eating snacks, and messing around until midnight and then went to sleep in their bedrooms.

Lin Jie, after washing up, yawned as he went downstairs with Lin Miao, and couldn't help but complain, "Miaomiao, during this rare New Year holiday, I can afford to not think about anything and relax for a few days."

"Yet you got me out of bed this early!"

Lin Jie had a reason to complain.

Because entrenched within him, the usually stern Shen Lanruo, in honor of the festive season, didn't push him to study or work, allowing him to relax a bit during these days.

Shen Lanruo had also told Lin Jie that the reason he was granted this break so easily was due to his decent performance lately. Not only had he made progress in various areas, but his diligence and self-motivation had also greatly improved.

This rare holiday was a reward for him.

Lin Miao chuckled, "Brother, it's already six-thirty now. After we have breakfast, it'll be eight or nine o'clock. By then, we'll start having New Year visits."

"Getting up at this time is really not that early."

"For the first meal of the New Year, we should make new dishes and need to prepare well; it's just more than an hour, and we're actually quite pressed for time."

Lin Jie rolled his eyes and said, "We never used to be so particular; it was more about eating whatever was available."

"I clearly remember one New Year, I even cooked instant noodles for you."

Speaking of which, Lin Jie couldn't help but feel a bit sentimental.

That year he had a bit of a cold, his body miserable, yet he managed to cook a pack of instant noodles for Lin Miao.

Lin Miao ate the noodles, he drank the soup, and surprisingly, he felt much better after sweating a bit, getting through that New Year.

Lin Miao said righteously, "Before, we didn't have the conditions to be particular, now we do, so naturally, we should be."

"Brother, let's make this breakfast together..."

After over an hour of bustling around, their first breakfast of the New Year was six dishes and a soup.

After breakfast, Lin Jie's phone started ringing incessantly.

New Year messages and calls from students, colleagues, friends, and patients were pouring in.

Lin Jie was even surprised to receive New Year greetings from Maxwell in the United States and people like Slophel.

Until nearly eleven o'clock, this wave of festive calls and messages had subsided quite a bit.

At this time, An Kexin and An Kemeng also arrived at Xiangtai Apartment.

After walking in the door, An Kexin took off her coat and hung it up, wrapped her arms around Lin Jie's neck, and leaned on him like she had no bones.

"Ajie, I'm so sleepy and tired, let me lean on you for a while!"

Lin Jie held her as he moved step by step toward the living room sofa, smiling as he said, "What happened to you? Did you stay up all night?"

An Kexin nestled her head against Lin Jie and murmured, "You're right, I didn't sleep at all. I went to Longhua Temple with Fei Xue to burn the first incense of the year."

"We joined the queue at midnight, and Longhua Temple didn't open until seven this morning; I'm really exhausted and sleepy."

Lin Jie wanted to place An Kexin on the sofa, but since she wouldn't let go of his neck, he had to sit on the sofa with her.

He casually asked, "I didn't expect you to be so devout; I've never heard you mention it before!"

An Kexin kicked off her shoes and lay down on the sofa, her head resting on Lin Jie's lap. "Not very devout. Fei Xue wanted to pray for the success of this year's film project, but I went with her for another reason."

"Another reason? You weren't trying to bless me, were you?" Lin Jie asked, feeling delighted.

An Kexin turned, lying sideways on Lin Jie's lap, and said, "No! We were deciding on poaching a few key staff from Tiande Medical Technology Research Institute, weren't we?"

"I've gathered some of their information and identified a few targets. Actually, my trip to Longhua Temple was aimed at one particular person."

"It's that Yuan Xianjun, the engineer hosting the Life Healing Box for you."

"I heard he would be visiting Longhua Temple to burn the first incense this year, so I planned to stage a chance meeting to take the opportunity to chat and see if we could recruit him."

This purpose left Lin Jie a bit disappointed.

He took the blanket handed by Lin Miao and covered An Kexin with it, asking despondently, "How did the talk go? Is there any hope?"

An Kexin replied gloomily, "Not great! This guy is quite stubborn and holds onto old loyalties, not easy to sway. I'll try to approach his family instead."

"Besides this non-result of a result, I also extracted some information about the institute, especially more details on several other people."

"According to his description, those other targets should be relatively easier to win over."

Lin Jie gently patted An Kexin's back, saying, "This is already a significant gain."

"Alright, you didn't sleep all night, now take a nap."

"Hey, Ah Jie, let me ask you something!"

An Kexin suddenly perked up, asking, "Ah Jie, do you think ghosts really exist in this world?"

Lin Jie paused, somewhat unsure, "There shouldn't be ghosts, right? Why would you suddenly ask this?"

"During my conversation with Yuan Xianjun, I learned that his reason for burning the first incense this year was for his mother. He said his mother could see ghosts."

"See ghosts?"

Lin Jie was taken aback and asked urgently, "Kexin, tell me clearly, what's the story about his mother seeing ghosts?"

With An Kexin's detailed description, Lin Jie finally understood what was going on.

According to Yuan Xianjun, just two or three days ago, he returned home to find that the elderly lady was missing.

After a while of searching, he found the old lady curled up in bed, shivering under the covers.

Seeing this, Yuan Xianjun quickly asked what had happened, fearing it might be a burglary scare.

But the old lady told him that a ghost was haunting her.

She said she had gone to the cardroom to play cards, felt tired, and was planning to go home to rest and eat.

On the way home, she sensed someone following her!

Suddenly turning around, she indeed saw two people behind her.

Upon closer inspection, she was nearly scared to death.

These two people used to be her frequent card-playing partners!

However, these two had already died last year.

The old lady was truly frightened mindlessly, sprinting home and hiding under the blankets.

Yuan Xianjun thought she had played cards for too long earlier, was dizzy, and mistook things, so he comforted her a bit.

The old lady calmed down under his comfort.

Just when he thought the matter was over, the old lady screamed in terror in the middle of the night, waking everyone up.

Yuan Xianjun and his wife rushed to the old lady's room, and she fearfully said, they're back, they're back.

Looking in the direction she pointed, there was nobody there.

As a last resort, they took the old lady to the hospital overnight for a check-up.

The result showed that aside from higher blood pressure and some old ailments, her health was fine.

After this incident spread, several old people told Yuan Xianjun.

The old lady might have encountered something unclean and needed to burn the first incense at the most efficacious Longhua Temple for blessings, and then everything would be fine.

An Kexin poked Lin Jie's stomach with her finger, saying, "Yuan Xianjun seems quite dull, but his storytelling ability is good; listening to him made my back feel cold at the time."

"Several pilgrims around us also shared their experiences of hearing about or personally encountering ghosts and suggested several ways to resolve it to Yuan Xianjun."

"Ah Jie, do you think ghosts really exist in this world?"

Lin Jie chuckled, stroked An Kexin's face, and said, "I don't know if ghosts exist in this world, but I can be sure that what Yuan Xianjun's mother saw was definitely not a ghost."

"You tell him to take his mother to have a brain MRI check-up at the hospital!"

An Kexin flipped over and crawled out of Lin Jie's embrace, her eyes shining as she excitedly asked, "Ah Jie, are you saying the old lady has a brain disease?"

Lin Jie nodded and said, "It's very likely."

An Kexin's eyes twinkled, chuckling, "If that's the case, it's a great opportunity to exploit."

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