Chapter 48

Xia Zhiming did not know when she had put on her signature Daoist robe again. She stood on the other side of Qi Xu and Tiger Granny, and the three of them formed a three-way standoff.

A “gurgle gurgle” sound came from Tiger Granny’s throat, but unlike before, it sounded more like a warning to keep Xia Zhiming away. It seemed that the pressure Xia Zhiming brought to Tiger Granny was also considerable.

Upon hearing Xia Zhiming’s words, Qi Xu widened her eyes: What had Xia Zhiming been busy with?! Hadn’t she been confronting Tiger Granny and gotten misunderstood by those four people?

Xia Zhiming ignored Qi Xu and Tiger Granny. She took a lollipop out of her pocket and tossed the wrapper directly onto the ground. Chewing on the lollipop, she nodded at Tiger Granny. “Go ahead and speak. I also want to hear what kind of nonsense you can come up with.”

Tiger Granny couldn’t help but take a step back. Seeing that neither Qi Xu nor Xia Zhiming moved, its eyes darted around. Then it suddenly bared its big teeth and revealed a somewhat creepy smile. “Are you sure you want me to say it?”

“Speak.”

Xia Zhiming was truly calm and composed, her face showing no emotion at all. Even Qi Xu admired her for it. This was the demeanor of a truly reliable adult. Compared to Xia Zhiming, she was far inferior.

Tiger Granny was not very honest, though. It couldn’t help pacing back and forth a couple of times, neither approaching Qi Xu’s human body nor moving too far away. Qi Xu could tell that Tiger Granny actually wanted to run, but its eyes stayed fixed on her body, looking particularly greedy and desirous.

That kind of gaze felt somewhat familiar to Qi Xu. Upon closer thought, that Stone Spirit had looked at her with the same eyes. Qi Xu’s heart jolted; she felt like she had grasped something.

If it were just one ghost coveting her, it might not mean much. But now a second ghost, one that might lose its life at any moment, was still eyeing her greedily. Combined with the many oddities about herself, it was not hard to conclude that Tiger Granny might really know something.

Xia Zhiming had not stopped Tiger Granny from speaking and had not said it could not talk. Seeing Tiger Granny hesitate, Qi Xu immediately grew anxious. She reached out her hand, and black fog surged directly forward, thinning out the white fog. The black fog turned into a large hand that grabbed Tiger Granny tightly.

Startled, Tiger Granny revealed more of its tiger ghost form. As a tiger and a ghost, it grew larger and larger, like a real adult tiger. But human limb features still faintly appeared on Tiger Granny’s body.

Even as it grew bigger, in Qi Xu’s black fog hand, it became like a little kitten.

【Speak.】

With Qi Xu’s single word, even the big tiger had to become obedient. The tiger features on its body faded somewhat, returning to its original Tiger Granny form. It rolled its eyes. “I’ll speak, but… I can’t just talk for nothing. If I speak, can you let me go?”

Qi Xu frowned. She truly had no intention of letting Tiger Granny go. Just the fact that it had been roaming and committing crimes made it hard to release. Letting it go would be completely setting the tiger loose to return to the mountains. Who knew how many children would suffer in the future.

But she glanced at Xia Zhiming on the other side. She had not spoken, so after thinking for a moment, Qi Xu said, “Fine, I promise you. I won’t kill you.”

Not only that, the black fog even released Tiger Granny. It landed on the ground on all fours and eyed Qi Xu and Xia Zhiming slyly before speaking. “You two are really interesting, extremely interesting. One has a fate constellation of noble imperial descent, yet fallen to the mortal world; the other has a strange fate constellation, missing half of it entirely.”

“That’s all I know. Th-then I’ll be going now…”

It tried to run after saying that, but Qi Xu’s black fog hand grabbed it again. Tiger Granny widened its eyes, its tiger eyes growing even larger. It looked at Qi Xu, its face full of “How can you go back on your word?” Qi Xu looked at Xia Zhiming instead. “I’ve finished asking…”

“Oh.”

Xia Zhiming pulled a copper coin sword from her sleeve and walked straight toward Tiger Granny. At the same time, she took a talisman from her pocket. She formed a hand seal, and the talisman ignited in flames. She then smeared the flames onto the copper coin sword and directly stabbed it into Tiger Granny’s eye.

As Xia Zhiming approached, Tiger Granny bared its teeth with “hiss hiss” gasps, twisting its body and angrily cursing Qi Xu for breaking the agreement.

Qi Xu turned her head away, pretending not to hear Tiger Granny’s curses. After spending so much time with Xia Zhiming, she had grown a bit bad herself. Xia Zhiming definitely would not let this ghost go—not out of some supreme sense of justice, but because it had made her run for so long, drive for hours, and trek over mountains… If she did not kill Tiger Granny, it would be hard to vent her hatred.

Qi Xu knew Xia Zhiming’s personality all too well.

As Xia Zhiming stabbed Tiger Granny, her mouth did not idle. She cursed profusely. “You’re the one who made your mother run so far and hide in these deep mountains and old forests, huh?! Do you know how long your mother has been busy chasing you?! You still want to live? Dream on!”

Ah— it really fit Xia Zhiming’s style perfectly.

Qi Xu sighed inwardly.

She figured that even if she had really let Tiger Granny go, Xia Zhiming would have caught it and killed it again.

Once Tiger Granny was reduced to smoke and scattered, many questions still lingered in Qi Xu’s mind. Xia Zhiming chewed her lollipop, hands in her pockets as she turned to look at her. After hesitating for a long time, Qi Xu asked a question. “Um, how are the children? Are they still alive?”

Qi Xu was no fool. After thinking it over, she quickly realized what Xia Zhiming had gone off to do. Tiger Granny had just tried to lure the tiger from the mountain on her, unaware that it had already fallen into the trap—Xia Zhiming’s lure the tiger from the mountain ploy. The moment it appeared, Xia Zhiming had probably found a way to slip away and head to Tiger Granny’s lair.

While Qi Xu had faced Tiger Granny alone, Xia Zhiming must have been busy rescuing the children it had taken to Rowboat Mountain.

Now that Xia Zhiming stood here, Qi Xu guessed that the matter with the children had reached a conclusion, but she was still worried—how were the children exactly? Had they already been eaten by Tiger Granny? That was why she asked this question out of concern.

Compared to the answer to this, the other matters seemed less important.

Qi Xu did not think her own issues should take precedence over those children. Especially since her own situation was not a matter of life and death.

Xia Zhiming could not help but laugh, with a hint of mockery. “You’re really kind. Instead of asking about yourself, you want to ask me about this?” Qi Xu fell silent for a moment, because she knew that with Xia Zhiming’s personality, if it were her in this situation, she would definitely ask about herself first.

Qi Xu pursed her lips. “I do want to know what’s going on with me, but compared to the children, this isn’t urgent.”

Xia Zhiming’s smile faded. She looked Qi Xu up and down before answering. “They’re fine. With you as the tempting bait dangling in front, that guy had no appetite for those kids for the time being.”

With that, Xia Zhiming kicked Qi Xu. Her ghost body flew uncontrollably toward her own body. By the time she came to again, she was already sitting in the passenger seat of Xia Zhiming’s car, seatbelt fastened.

Qi Xu was stunned. She did not speak right away but thought about things.

Some unclear or even forgotten matters slowly became clear at that moment. During the first temple fair, the Stone Spirit had shown an unusual interest in her—that she had noticed before. But during the second time at Vivid Red Hotel, she had overlooked one small detail.

After reading online about Lunar Taboo Day, she had asked Xia Zhiming what to do if the ghost did not come out by then. Xia Zhiming had glanced at her and said to Qi Xu, “It will definitely come out.”

Qi Xu had not thought much of it then, but now she realized that under the moonlight, that look from Xia Zhiming was telling. The deliberate glance was not because of her strange question, but because a hunter was eyeing the bait she had carefully prepared for her prey.

Knowing Qi Xu’s fatal attraction to ghosts, how many could resist with her around? The Stone Spirit could not, the Inverted Hanging Ghost could not, and Tiger Granny could not. It might have known early on that Xia Zhiming had left to find the children, but it did not care because… Qi Xu was its target.

Tiger Granny was cunning. Perhaps those children had been bait specifically to lure Xia Zhiming away. Xia Zhiming had simply turned the tables. It had been a game they both knew, and Qi Xu was Xia Zhiming’s best piece.

After figuring out the key to it all, Qi Xu felt a mix of emotions. She did not blame Xia Zhiming for using her as bait to lure Tiger Granny away from its lair, making it easier to find and rescue the children.

But Qi Xu thought that if Xia Zhiming had just told her… she would not have been so terrified and at a loss.

Xia Zhiming’s personality was what it was, though—a complete riddle maker. She definitely would not explain clearly. Qi Xu sighed. Seeing her awake as she drove, Xia Zhiming simply spoke up. “What’s there to sigh about all day? You knew what kind of person I am long ago. Instead of saying you like it all the time, you might as well see clearly and run away sooner.”

The way Xia Zhiming said it made Qi Xu wonder: Maybe she just did not want to respond and wanted to drive her away, so she did and said this on purpose. On the other hand, Qi Xu knew Xia Zhiming was not the type to play hard to get.

She was sincerely telling her: Don’t love sis, no good end.

Qi Xu simply did not respond to that. Instead, she asked Xia Zhiming, “What did Tiger Granny mean by fate constellation?”

What did it mean by noble imperial descent fallen to the mortal world, and strange fate constellation missing half?

Qi Xu did not feel like noble imperial descent at all. She came from an ordinary family. At least a super rich second-generation heir could claim that. She could not possibly have some clichéd true-or-fake heiress plot. Photos of her from childhood to now were all at home, and she truly resembled her parents back then.

Even now, her facial features vaguely still carried traces of her parents.