Chapter 40 Part 1

Yu Zezhi got out of the car and saw Wu Yinyu collapsing sideways toward the ground.

Wu Yinyu was dazed and dizzy, with no strength in her limbs. She had hoped the hospital would prescribe her some medicine, but instead of medicine, they had pointed her down another path.

Thankfully, Yu Zezhi arrived just in time, hauling her up from the ground and supporting her. Otherwise, who knew how long it would have been before she could move again?

Yu Zezhi’s timing was impeccable, catching her at her most wretched. The debt from the last favor had barely been settled, and now she’d have to owe another.

Wu Yinyu’s mind was a blank fog, her thoughts swirling chaotically. Even after she was upright, her gaze was still slightly unfocused and distant.

“Get in my car?” Yu Zezhi asked, holding her steady.

Wu Yinyu’s hands and feet were limp, her body constantly sinking downward. She had no energy to reply.

Yu Zezhi simply hoisted her onto her back, then turned her head to speak to the assistant in the car. “Go check on the Third Young Master of the Lu Family. If there’s nothing else, no need to call me.”

The assistant hurried out of the car, acknowledging the order before striding efficiently toward the inpatient building.

Wu Yinyu leaned back, a fleeting sensation of falling from a great height washing over her. She snapped back to her senses and quickly wrapped her arms around Yu Zezhi’s neck, soon recognizing that cool, indifferent fragrance. “Boss Yu,” she said.

“Back with me?” Yu Zezhi said flatly. “You took a fall like that, yet I didn’t hear you cry out in pain.”

“Would you have been more attentive if I had?” Wu Yinyu asked feebly.

“Aren’t I being attentive now?” Yu Zezhi walked toward the car.

Wu Yinyu laughed, her chest trembling slightly against Yu Zezhi’s back. The person carrying her paused for a moment. When her laughter subsided, she asked in a voice as thin as gossamer, “What brings Boss Yu here so suddenly?”

“The Feng family lost another child, a branch family member—Feng Qingshuang’s little cousin.” Yu Zezhi carried the person as if it were effortless, her voice perfectly steady. “The disappearance was just as sudden. Elder Lu asked me to come check on Lu Sansheng.”

Wu Yinyu rested her chin on the other’s shoulder. “Then why didn’t you go?”

“Well, I found you along the way. Besides, I already sent my assistant.” Yu Zezhi stopped abruptly, her tone unreadable. “You’ve put on some weight.”

Wu Yinyu knew full well it wasn’t her that was heavy; it was the Prayer Wheel she had stuffed into her bag. She hadn’t dared leave that thing at the hotel, so she had carried it with her. Who could have guessed it would get heavier and heavier, nearly too much to bear?

But she just gently squeezed Yu Zezhi’s shoulder, feigning anger. “Where have I put on weight? I’ve been sick for days, I’m lighter than ever.”

Yu Zezhi had no choice but to set her down in the backseat, pulling the seatbelt over her and fastening it. She then stepped back, holding the car door. “What kind of sickness?”

“I’m in this state, yet the hospital insists I’m not sick. Don’t you find that a bit funny?” Wu Yinyu said.

Yu Zezhi didn’t laugh. She asked calmly, “How many days?”

“Ever since I checked into the hotel, I haven’t been well.” Wu Yinyu leaned askew, lifting her eyelids to glance slantingly at Yu Zezhi.

“Is the hotel unclean?” Yu Zezhi asked.

“Boss Yu, that’s practically an insult.” Wu Yinyu let out a short, mocking laugh. She was in this line of work, after all; if the hotel weren’t clean, would she have stayed there?

Yu Zezhi shut the car door for her, then got into the driver’s seat. Gripping the steering wheel, she asked, “Where to? Still back to the hotel?”

Wu Yinyu was about to nod, but the person in front started talking to herself.

Yu Zezhi shifted the car into gear, glancing at the rearview mirror. “Come to my place. In your current state, you have no one to take care of you at a hotel.”

This sudden concern was strange, even more so because it came from Yu Zezhi.

Wu Yinyu’s lips flattened into a straight line. She said bluntly, “You’re not thinking of using ‘taking care of me’ as an excuse to keep an eye on me, are you?”

“What have you done wrong that I’d need to watch you?” Yu Zezhi gave a cold snort, then added, “Didn’t you say you wanted me to be more attentive?”

Those words weren’t wrong. Wu Yinyu’s heart itched again.

But remembering there was a child at the Yu residence, she wasn’t very willing to go. If she were careless and somehow Yu Suhan also got sucked into the Prayer Wheel, things would get complicated.

“It’s fine, I’ll just lie down at the hotel for a bit,” Wu Yinyu murmured, her gaze drooping listlessly.

“Is it really so hard to let me do you a favor?” Yu Zezhi had already pressed the accelerator.

Wu Yinyu clicked her tongue. “Strange things keep happening around me. Aren’t you afraid the Yu family will get caught up in it too?”

“I’m not some decoration,” Yu Zezhi said, her tone stiff, as if brooking no refusal.

“Let me out up ahead.” Wu Yinyu’s mind was still sluggish. She had no desire to fence with this seven-orifices-clever person right now.

But Yu Zezhi didn’t slow down. She kept driving insistently toward the Yu residence. On the way, she asked, “What did you leave at the hotel? I’ll have someone deliver it to the Yu house later.”

Since she couldn’t get out of the car and had no ability to jump, Wu Yinyu simply answered, “Some clothes, and that jade.”

“Alright.” Yu Zezhi shot a quick glance at the rearview mirror. Seeing Wu Yinyu slumped weakly in the back, looking sickly, she said flatly, “You can lie down for a while.”

Wu Yinyu didn’t lie down. If she did, she was certain to fall asleep.

The car eventually drove back to the Yu residence. When it came to a stop, Wu Yinyu slowly unfastened her seatbelt.

Yu Zezhi opened the rear door from outside, her eyes downcast. “Should I carry you on my back?”

Wu Yinyu grabbed her bag, straining her eyes to glance outward. A sickly smile was plastered on her face. “Then I’ll trouble you to bend over a bit, or how else can I get on your back?”

The person outside the car had no choice but to turn around, her waist bending slightly.

Wu Yinyu studied the other’s back for a long moment before finally moving to leave the car. She draped her arms lightly over Yu Zezhi’s shoulders, leaning in. “This favor I owe you this time… who knows when I’ll ever be able to repay it.”

Her breath fell faintly, very deliberately, right beside Yu Zezhi’s ear.

Yu Zezhi paused, then slowly straightened up, locking the car doors. “No rush,” she said.

Wu Yinyu swung a leg, and the small heel that had been dangling loosely on her right foot dropped to the ground. She drew in a sharp breath. “My shoe fell off.”

Without asking whether it was intentional or not, Yu Zezhi silently picked up the shoe, then walked to the door and pressed the doorbell.

After a moment, someone opened the door from inside. A head poked out. “Sister.”

Yu Suhan looked like she had just woken up, her braids in a messy tangle. When she saw the person slumped on Yu Zezhi’s back, her eyes widened into perfect circles, and she fell silent again.

Sick as she was, Wu Yinyu still had the thick skin to respond for Yu Zezhi. “Hey there, kiddo.”

After entering, Yu Zezhi set the person down on the sofa. She hooked a finger through the shoe and dangled it in front of Wu Yinyu’s face.

“It fell off by itself,” Wu Yinyu said, her eyes wet with sickness, making her gaze seem exceptionally bright.

Yu Zezhi let out a cold snort, bent down to grasp the other’s ankle, and slid the shoe back onto her foot.

The ankle bone was held tightly. Wu Yinyu looked down at the person before her, a faint restlessness stirring in her chest. For some reason, a flicker of rebelliousness sparked after the feeling of being “disciplined.”

But Yu Zezhi’s hand released quickly. She stood up. “Suhan, get a cup of warm water.”

Yu Suhan secretly sized up Wu Yinyu. She set her rabbit plushie down on the table and shuffled off in a pair of oversized slippers, padding and slapping her way toward the water dispenser.

After getting the warm water, she shuffled back in those slippers, wobbling precariously as she brought it over.

Wu Yinyu’s limbs were so weak she probably couldn’t even hold a water cup steady, and she had no intention of reaching out to take it.

A hand reached over from the side. Yu Zezhi took it for her, pressing the rim of the cup to Wu Yinyu’s lips and tilting it so she could take a sip.

Her throat moistened, Wu Yinyu finally felt a bit better. She said listlessly, “Thank you.”

Yu Zezhi set the cup down on the table. Pushing Yu Suhan’s shoulder toward the stairs, she asked flatly, “Finished your writing practice for today?”

“Not yet,” Yu Suhan said in a small voice.

“Go on up. Come down when you’re done,” Yu Zezhi added.

Yu Suhan looked back at the coffee table. “Bunny!” she exclaimed, then ran over, scooped up the rabbit plushie, and used the opportunity to timidly scrutinize Wu Yinyu.

Wu Yinyu leaned on her side, generously tolerating the scrutiny.

Just one glance, and Yu Suhan showed her timidity. She turned hastily and walked back to the stairs.

Wu Yinyu followed the girl’s retreating figure with her eyes, hearing the deliberately hushed voice.

“Is she sick?” Yu Suhan looked up at Yu Zezhi, clutching the rabbit tightly, seemingly nervous. “Will she die? Will she become a ghost after she dies?”

Such a question really shouldn’t come from a six-year-old’s mouth.

But Yu Suhan had lost both her parents. Her family drove out ghosts and dispelled bad luck, so the concept of “death” was never taboo in the house.

“No,” Yu Zezhi answered very flatly.

Yu Suhan offered a brief smile, finally at ease as she headed upstairs. After just a few steps, she seemed to suddenly remember something. Turning her head, she shouted, “Mengmeng!”

A Golden Retriever dashed out from a corner, bursting with excitement as it ran upstairs.

That must be the dog Yu Zezhi had “put into” a paper effigy before. As it bolted out, it knocked over a paper figure standing by the wall.

The paper figure, painted with blush and dressed in garish colors, fell flat on the ground. Its black-hole eyes stared lifelessly.

Only then did Wu Yinyu realize that the Yu family, true to its mastery of Puppeteering and Exorcism, was filled with paper effigies. Life-sized “people,” or “cats, dogs, insects, and birds” crafted from colorful paper, were piled up everywhere, filling the house to the brim.

Yu Zezhi turned and picked up the paper figure Mengmeng had knocked over. Watching Yu Suhan ascend the stairs, she only spoke after hearing the door close. “The rainstorm at Ivory Mast Beach still hasn’t stopped. Too many people are missing there. Even though Elder Lu and Elder Feng rushed over, they can’t confirm if those disappearances are the same as Lu Yiqi’s and the others’.”

It was indeed hard to confirm. Getting into Ivory Mast Beach at this point was difficult enough.

Wu Yinyu pondered for a moment, then looked up. “Did Elder Lu ever say why the ancestors forbade the Five Gates from going near that place?”

“No,” Yu Zezhi shook her head.