She paused for a long moment before continuing. “Xiao Yu, I suspect your grandmother might not be in the world of the living anymore. Not just me—I had Great-aunt look too, but she found nothing. It doesn’t quite fit with her being dead either; we should be able to find a soul then. But we found nothing. Next time… next time, give me Grandma Yu’s birth details and name, and I’ll have Great-aunt try again!”
“I…” Yu Ruoyin’s expression dimmed. “I don’t know my grandmother’s birth details or even her name… I’m really unfilial. I’ve… I’ve been searching for her all these years—how could I not know anything…”
Lost in despair, she continued forward with the heavy coffin steady on her back. Nan He stuck close by her side.
It was impressive that, even in such distress, she carried the burdensome coffin so steadily.
Zhuang Ciyue had no idea how things had spiraled like this. When Zhuang Huaisu signaled for her to leave quickly, she couldn’t budge an inch. “Granny Zhuang, I’m feeling down here.”
“There’s nothing to feel down about when you can’t compete with fate.”
“Fate? What fate? Granny Zhuang, did you see something?”
“I didn’t see anything, but I firmly believe the owner of Four Spirits Shop wouldn’t just casually pick an eighteen-year-old little maiden as a wife.”
“Xiao Yu has charm.” Zhuang Ciyue muttered, weakly defending Yu Ruoyin.
“Is she richer than Jiang Huaining, or more beautiful than Jiang Huaining?”
Zhuang Ciyue was displeased. “Granny Zhuang, you’re being too superficial.”
“Falling in love has no reason, but it should have a trigger. Do you think the time they’ve known each other is enough to move someone in a high position? Jiang Huaining has at least five thousand years of lifespan—maybe even ten thousand. What kind of people hasn’t she seen? Do you think she’d fall in love at first sight with a little maiden, or get moved by some tiny gesture? Compared to ten thousand years, not even seven days—seven years would be too short. Such a brief time wouldn’t leave even a faint trace, let alone love enough to disregard her own safety.”
“Granny Zhuang, the way you put it makes Xiao Yu sound so pitiful.”
Zhuang Huaisu couldn’t follow Zhuang Ciyue’s train of thought. “Hm?”
“Granny Zhuang, look—you said Jiang Huaining has such a long lifespan. She’s seen so many people, had so many experiences. Our Xiao Yu has only lived eighteen years and doesn’t understand a thing. She hasn’t seen much of the world either, and she’s been starved for affection since she was little. Jiang Huaining knows all the tricks—just a crook of the finger and Xiao Yu would be putty in her hands. Right! Think about that Ghost Market incident. She exhausted her spiritual power to attack the Ghost Market, vomiting blood and getting badly injured. Xiao Yu must have been so moved, and probably felt super guilty too. Maybe that’s why she’s put her in such a high position. Come to think of it, the owner of Four Spirits Shop encircling the Ghost Market? She hadn’t even started fighting—how could she get hurt that badly? Sure, maybe because she fought Xia Yu before, but that Xia Yu is a spirit of nature and powerful, yet she’s her subordinate under her command. There’s no way she could’ve been beaten that hard. She probably did it to trick Xiao Yu’s heart!”
Zhuang Ciyue had no idea that Jiang Huaining only had half her spiritual energy when Yu Ruoyin wasn’t around, and she was wildly speculating out of favoritism toward Yu Ruoyin.
“You… it’s fine to say this to me, but don’t say it to them. You’re still friends and getting the better end of the deal, though…” Zhuang Huaisu rubbed her temple, distracted. “Your cursing does make some sense. The long-lived ones do have it easy bullying the short-lived. In ten thousand years, they’ve seen so many people, and…”
Zhuang Ciyue had already stopped listening to Zhuang Huaisu. She pushed the wheelchair and started running.
The hot wind scattered Zhuang Huaisu’s thoughts, and she couldn’t help cursing her. “Are you rushing off to reincarnate or what?”
“I’m going to tell Xiao Yu I forgive her for putting Jiang Huaining first. We’re still best friends for life! This clearly isn’t Xiao Yu’s character at fault—Boss Jiang is just too scheming! Aside from Grandma Yu and Jiang Huaining, I can rank in the top three too!”
Watching the suddenly cheerful Zhuang Ciyue, Zhuang Huaisu rolled her eyes in annoyance.
She resisted the urge to jump off the wheelchair and let Zhuang Ciyue carry her along in the wild dash.
They quickly caught up to Yu Ruoyin. Zhuang Ciyue handed her off to Nan He and joyfully pounced toward Yu Ruoyin. “Xiao Yu, I’ve figured it out. We’re still best friends for life!”
Yu Ruoyin had no idea how Zhuang Ciyue had figured it out.
She was a bit confused herself right now.
She seemed to have fallen into strange thoughts again. Her filial piety and her obsession with Jiang Huaining were on the verge of clashing.
Like Nan He, Yu Ruoyin had bumped into two equally important people.
It was hard to choose, impossible to choose.
Nan He might one day sort out her feelings, but whichever side gained the upper hand for her seemed destined to make her a bad girl.
If Jiang Huaining won, she would be unfilial.
Grandma would win.
She didn’t want Grandma to win at all.
The hot wind messed up her breathing. Yu Ruoyin could no longer stay calm. Anxiety seeped from her every pore, and she could only numbly press forward.
Verdant South Courtyard consisted of rows of small Western-style houses. The residents here all had considerable assets, and even in this sweltering heat, the security guards stuck to their posts.
Yu Ruoyin had just been thinking how dedicated they were when Zhuang Ciyue’s voice exploded in her ear. “Paper! Paper people!”
Yu Ruoyin looked closely. The security guards at the gate looked no different from ordinary people at first glance, but their faces were all paper-white. In this dry, stifling heat, the skin exposed outside their clothes showed not a drop of sweat, and their uniforms were crisp and dry without a hint of moisture.
Looking even closer, they wore security uniforms over red clothes.
There was a subtle double happiness symbol on their chests.
Yu Ruoyin’s heart clenched hard, and fear surged up.
Her breathing quickened noticeably. Zhuang Ciyue noticed too. She stepped forward, pen in one hand, shielding Yu Ruoyin and pulling her back a bit with the other.
She was about to raise her hand to activate the ghost pattern when Zhuang Huaisu stopped her. “Don’t act rashly. The paper people are right at the front gate, and there’s something powerful inside.”
“Granny Zhuang, what do we do now?”
Before Zhuang Huaisu could give her opinion, Nan He suddenly tugged Yu Ruoyin’s sleeve again.
Yu Ruoyin turned back in confusion. “What is it?”
“Blood. The smell of blood.” As a spirit, Nan He was innately more sensitive to auras. Her fingers paled from gripping too hard, veins bulging on the back of her hand. “The blood smell is very strong. Inside… there should be quite a few dead people.”
Dead people?
Yu Ruoyin was sensitive to the word “dead” now.
She rubbed the coffin on her back. The touchable distance reassured her a bit. Her mind started calculating the weapons she could use. She had six Borrow Yin Talismans left— one with two sections of chain, five with one. They should work on paper people, and ordinary yin souls too.
The Red Jade Fruit still had Moonlight Paper and Cloud Zither Sand inside, along with Lu Qingzhen’s blood. She could draw a Yin Suppression Talisman.
But drawing one now was risky. Not much time had passed since last time, and her mental energy hadn’t recovered yet.
Yu Ruoyin and the other two were all tense, but Zhuang Huaisu remained nonchalant. “No wonder Vanguard Wen said Yin City isn’t peaceful. Yin souls have stirred up trouble all the way here. Yin City’s Yin Messengers are really useless.”
This wasn’t the time for snarky remarks.
Yu Ruoyin and the others hid behind the landscaping trees, staring from afar at the Verdant South Courtyard gate, ears perked for any sounds.
Suddenly, two red-clothed ghosts floated over. Their faces weren’t clear, but they placed a stack of something into the paper people’s hands. Then one paper person shouted loudly, “Two guests from the netherworld—welcome!”
Immediately, suona horns blared. The celebratory tune brought no joy; instead, it made Yu Ruoyin even more nervous.
After the paper person’s shout, a paper sedan floated out from Verdant South Courtyard, with an old woman following beside it.
The old woman’s gray hair was piled high, her body slightly hunched as she lifted the sedan curtain. “Please, guests, board the sedan!”
She tilted her head up, baring her gums in a creepy grin.
Only then did Yu Ruoyin notice she had no teeth or tongue—she was clearly a paper person too!
The two red-clothed ghosts boarded the sedan. It floated back into Verdant South Courtyard, leaving only faint rippling waves at the gate.
Yu Ruoyin had seen some things by now. She softly cried out at the rippling waves. “Barrier.”
No wonder Nan He said there were many dead inside. From here, she couldn’t even spot a single person in Verdant South Courtyard. It was covered by a barrier. One hand on the coffin, the other on her satchel, she asked Zhuang Huaisu—the most experienced with yin matters among them—“Granny Zhuang, do we go in?”
“We do. Save the dying and help the injured—it’s our duty!”
Zhuang Ciyue answered her. She’d had an unusual passion for ghost hunting since childhood.
Zhuang Huaisu poured cold water on her head. “We still have to know our limits. Don’t forget we’re the old, weak, sick, and disabled squad right now.”
“Granny Zhuang!” Zhuang Ciyue wasn’t pleased. “Are we just going to watch? Nan He said there are a lot of dead people inside. If you don’t go, I’m still going. I…”
Zhuang Huaisu: “You want to go die?”
“I…” Zhuang Ciyue was furious. “Granny Zhuang, where’s your sense of justice?”
“I never said we weren’t going in.”
The soft, drifting voice stunned even Yu Ruoyin. “Then you… weren’t you just saying…”
“Oh.” Zhuang Huaisu’s gaze toward Yu Ruoyin was cold, though her tone was still decent, laced with laziness. “I felt like cursing. Finding an excuse to chew out my disciple a bit isn’t too much, right?”
“This…”
Yu Ruoyin didn’t know what to say. Zhuang Ciyue was full of resentment. “Granny Zhuang, that’s too much!”
Yu Ruoyin’s sensitive nerves told her Zhuang Huaisu definitely wasn’t targeting Zhuang Ciyue. “Granny Zhuang, do you really dislike me?”
Zhuang Huaisu hadn’t expected her to ask directly, but she wasn’t one to shy from admitting it.
She laughed openly. “Indeed.”
Yu Ruoyin hadn’t even reacted yet when Zhuang Ciyue bristled first. “Granny Zhuang, how can you be just like my mom!”
Zhuang Huaisu raised a hand, signaling Zhuang Ciyue to shut up. “I help your mom keep an eye on you doesn’t mean I share her views. I have no opinion on your friend’s life grid. That’s fated from heaven—good or bad isn’t up to you. Even if she really curses you to death, it’s your own fault for insisting on being friends. You can’t blame her for it.”
“I just don’t like Painting Witches. If it were any other Painting Witch standing here, I’d dislike them the same.”
Yu Ruoyin suddenly remembered that the first time she met Zhuang Huaisu, she hadn’t shown any displeasure at Zhuang Ciyue interacting with her.
The coldness started after seeing the Borrow Yin Talisman.
She disliked Painting Witches?
“Why?”
“Too many reasons. Don’t want to say.” After brushing off Yu Ruoyin, Zhuang Huaisu raised her arm and waved lightly. Two strands of black qi emerged from her sleeve, wrapping around Yu Ruoyin and Nan He’s wrists. “With this ghost qi following you, you’ll temporarily appear as ghosts to other ghosts. But be careful—if the ghost qi disperses, your auras will be exposed.”
After instructing them, she glanced especially at Yu Ruoyin. “The situation inside is unknown. If you unfortunately get separated, you’re the weakest with no self-protection ability. If you’re scared, hide in the coffin.”
“Auntie Ning needs rest. I won’t disturb her!”
“Little Ciyue wasn’t wrong—you do have a bit of love brain.” Zhuang Huaisu lightly tapped the wheelchair armrest. “I didn’t tell you to wake her. This century-old Yin Sinking Wood has absorbed plenty of spiritual energy over the years at Four Spirits Shop. It’s a treasure for gathering yin, tempered over so many years—even ordinary ghosts would burst if they got close. Staying inside would be safer for you. Even if I don’t like you, I have to give face to Four Spirits Shop and Little Ciyue. I won’t harm you.”
Zhuang Huaisu’s gaze swept over the coffin. “Harming her? I don’t have that ability.”
