Chapter 4: The Client
The two descended from upstairs and saw a middle-aged man in a suit sitting on the sofa in the main hall. He had arrived much faster than Liu Chuxia had expected; she thought they would have to wait a while. But what surprised her most was the person sitting opposite him. Xiao Xu was actually sitting there, talking about something, seemingly answering his questions.
“Xiao Xu?” Liu Chuxia exclaimed, glancing behind her and then back down at Xiao Xu.
“That’s a paper talisman puppet Xiao Xu created herself. It’s more advanced than a typical paper talisman puppet. It can take on her appearance and even chat normally with people. She can detect whenever a client arrives. It can last for 24 hours, just in case none of us are here. Let’s go, let’s see what’s going on,” Li Hanyan said from the side.
“She can create her own talismans?” Liu Chuxia had always thought of Xiao Xu as an ordinary ghost. Hearing that she could create her own talismans was genuinely surprising.
Li Hanyan replied as they walked, “She is a several-thousand-year-old ghost, after all, and one created by a forbidden art. Her power certainly won’t be lacking. Learn well from her in the future. The things she can teach you are all good things. However, she still has the disposition of a child at times, so she needs to be disciplined when necessary.”
Liu Chuxia nodded. She hadn’t paid much attention when Li Hanyan had introduced Xiao Xu earlier. Her mind was foggy and she was scared, so she hadn’t really noticed. Now, she truly felt from the bottom of her heart that Xiao Xu was incredible. After all, creating anything on one’s own was no easy feat.
As they reached the main hall, the two people on the sofa turned their heads in unison to look at them. The middle-aged man’s eyes were filled with panic and wariness. Xiao Xu, on the other hand, walked silently to the front counter and sat down, ignoring the middle-aged man’s calls.
“Sir, we will be assisting you now. Please tell us the situation,” Li Hanyan said, calmly sitting down opposite the man. She then pulled Liu Chuxia to sit beside her and poured her a glass of water.
The man looked at them warily. “Who are you? Why is that person ignoring me now? I haven’t even stated my request!”
“Telling us is the same. You’d better finish quickly, I’m in a hurry. I’ll give you five minutes,” Li Hanyan said, glancing at her phone with a blank expression.
“What do you mean?” The man looked at the time on his watch, swallowed nervously, and gripped his phone tightly, then looked at the two people opposite him again.
Li Hanyan couldn’t even be bothered to speak, not even sparing him a glance. She took a sip of water on her own, then closed her eyes to rest.
Liu Chuxia watched from the side, clicking her tongue in wonder. She had never realized Li Hanyan had this side to her. So cold, and quite good-looking?
The man stood up in agitation and shouted, “Is anyone going to deal with this? Help me! I’ve encountered a ghost, I’ve encountered a ghost…” As he spoke, he started to cry.
Liu Chuxia was frightened and leaned closer to Li Hanyan. “What’s wrong with this guy? Can’t he just explain the situation properly? What’s he trying to pull?”
Li Hanyan opened her eyes, casually pulling Liu Chuxia into her arms. “He wants to blow this up so that we’ll appease him and perform the exorcism for free, because he knows we’re the only ones who can truly solve his problem.”
“He’s good at picking his targets. Xiao Xu talked to him for so long just now, and I didn’t see him make such a scene,” Liu Chuxia grumbled as she pulled away from Li Hanyan’s embrace.
Li Hanyan silently looked at her own hands. A moment ago, they were wrapped around that woman’s soft waist, and now they were suddenly empty. She felt a little disappointed. She felt she was getting bolder and bolder, and she despised herself for these little thoughts.
“Hanyan? Hanyan?!”
Li Hanyan snapped back to her senses, cleared her throat, and said, “The paper talisman Xiao Xu was just introducing this place to him and answering his questions. I guess he’s learned enough and also found out the price. This person is a bit of a problem.”
“Then what do we do? How do we deal with him now? We can’t let him cry here. It’ll be bad if someone comes in,” Liu Chuxia said anxiously.
Li Hanyan patted her shoulder reassuringly, then walked up to the man. “If you want a freebie, you should first see if you’re qualified. You’d better think clearly. You’re the one begging us. You have three minutes left. If you don’t talk, you’ll be thrown out.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell everyone about this bookstore? If you help me with the exorcism for free, I might consider not reporting it. How about it? Is that a fair trade? Hehe.” The man thought that as long as these people performed the exorcism for free, he wouldn’t touch anything they gave him, and he could turn around and sell them out. As long as he reported this, he would get a promotion and a raise, and this report would definitely go viral! The thought of it was exciting!
Li Hanyan couldn’t be bothered with such a person, but she couldn’t ignore an evil spirit affecting an ordinary person. She pinched a yellow talisman and flicked it out. The talisman self-ignited in mid-air, burning to ash, which then fell onto the man. Before he could react, he felt his legs cramping, and the pain sent him rolling on the floor.
Li Hanyan casually threw another talisman to shut him up.
Then she turned, walked back to Liu Chuxia, and sat down. “Don’t look at me like that.”
From the moment she threw the self-igniting talisman, Liu Chuxia had been looking at her with eyes full of admiration. “Hanyan, you’re so cool! How come I never noticed this side of you before? You were pretending to be a little lamb in front of me, weren’t you? But you’re actually a big bad wolf, and a really handsome one at that!”
Li Hanyan was startled by her description, and a cold sweat instantly broke out on her back. Although she knew that wasn’t what Liu Chuxia meant, her own guilty conscience made her nervous. She then drank her water in silence.
Liu Chuxia just thought she was being shy, so she smiled without saying anything and sat quietly beside her.
—
Half an hour later, Liu Chuxia was worried something might have happened. She patted Li Hanyan lightly. “Will he be okay like that?”
The man had been thrown out by Li Hanyan midway through. At first, they could still hear muffled groans, but now there was no sound at all.
“It’s fine, he won’t die. The effect only lasts for 10 minutes. He’s probably recovering now, or he’s gone home,” Li Hanyan said as she poured a cup of coffee.
“Gone home? Then won’t he report the bookstore?” Liu Chuxia was genuinely anxious now. If the bookstore was reported, wouldn’t things blow up?
Li Hanyan chuckled and tapped her on the head. “Are you as stupid as he is? Why do you think the bookstore hasn’t been exposed after all these years? Do you think the four great families are just for show? You just need to know that we have people in high places.”
Liu Chuxia clutched her head, her eyes full of accusation. “Just answer the question. Why did you have to hit me? So we have backers, is that it?”
Li Hanyan nodded with a smile. She took a sip of her coffee, her mood exceptionally good. Even the streetlights outside the window seemed less dim than before.
“Still smiling? You’re asking for it!” Liu Chuxia pretended she was about to hit her. Li Hanyan held back her laughter and raised her hands in surrender.
“I was wrong, I was wrong.”
Seeing her like this, Liu Chuxia lowered her hand. She hadn’t really intended to hit her anyway. “Hmph, as long as you know.”
The night wind swirled up sand and dust, and the leaves rustled slightly. In the darkness, the man sat on the steps, listening to the laughter from inside. He felt like a clown, and even thought his previous self was an idiot. Now that things had come to this, he didn’t even know if they would take his case.
10 minutes ago
The moment the man recovered, the first thing he did was message his superior, saying he had discovered a huge story that would definitely be a hit if reported. Then he started talking about the bookstore. The person on the other end had only read the first few lines before calling him directly and giving him a harsh scolding, telling him not to cause any more trouble.
“Why?”
“Why? You’ve got some nerve! You dare to report something like this? The higher-ups have explicitly forbidden any reports on the bookstores. Didn’t you know about this? Didn’t I warn you a thousand times? How dare you? You may want to get fired, but I don’t!”
Only then did the man remember what his superior had told him a few days ago. But at that time, he was being harassed by the ghost and his mental state was poor, so he hadn’t paid any attention at all.
“The higher-ups? Is it who I think it is?”
“Who else could it be?”
After hanging up, the man’s heart went cold…
Thank goodness he hadn’t been so impulsive as to post it on his social media. He had planned to post it along with the report. Thank goodness he hadn’t posted it in advance. Right now, he just felt lucky.
