Chapter 56 Part 1

As Lu Qingxue had said, it was far easier for a ghost to find another ghost than for a living person to do so.

Yun Yueqin figured that Yun Chun and Lu Qingxue must be living together. She had no idea where Yun Chun stayed, but a quick ask around was all it took to track down the home of the Lu Qingxue who struck terror into the hearts of wild ghosts.

Ever since Lu Qingxue had moved into Yun Chun’s place, no stray souls had dared to venture anywhere near it.

When Yun Yueqin arrived, Lu Qingxue was sitting on the sofa, sketching dress designs on a sheet of paper.

She wasn’t drawing them for Yun Chun to use or anything like that—just doodling to pass the time. But if anyone else saw those casual sketches, more eye-catching than many designers’ polished drafts, who knew what they’d say.

The instant she sensed Yun Yueqin’s presence, the pen tip Lu Qingxue had lightly pressed to the paper snapped without warning.

She glanced at the jagged break in the pen tip, its uneven edges sharp enough to prick if she wasn’t careful. Setting the pen and sketchpad aside, Lu Qingxue stood and called out to Yun Yueqin, “Aunt Qin.”

Yun Yueqin let out an “aiya” and floated over to her. She took Lu Qingxue’s hand and stared at her wordlessly for a good ten seconds or so before it all dissolved into a long sigh. She patted the back of Lu Qingxue’s hand. “You’ve suffered so much.”

Lu Qingxue smiled faintly. “It’s just fate.”

They were both dead, after all, so Yun Yueqin didn’t press the point. If life in the mortal world was too bitter, death wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. But that only applied to her—not to Lu Qingxue.

Yun Yueqin fell silent. She glanced around the room. “So this is Little Yun’s place?”

Lu Qingxue nodded. “Mm-hm.”

“It’s spotless.”

Yun Yueqin’s gaze naturally lingered on Lu Qingxue’s portrait. She drifted closer, her eyes flickering darkly as she said, “You tidied all this up for her, didn’t you? She’s so busy, she probably just tosses her clothes everywhere without a second thought.”

Lu Qingxue stood in place, replying evenly to Yun Yueqin’s question, “It’s all part of my duty.”

Those four simple words gave Yun Yueqin pause.

She pressed her lips together, her eyelashes trembling as she turned away. The afternoon light spilled across the floor. Yun Yueqin stood in the shadows, while Lu Qingxue lingered right on the border between light and dark—whether she stepped forward or back would depend on the sun’s drift.

Yun Yueqin had deliberately shifted back to the relatively healthy look she’d had when her cancer was first confirmed: the face of a woman in her forties, just as Lu Qingxue remembered her. She felt that this form gave her at least some semblance of elder authority in Lu Qingxue’s presence—maybe her words would carry a bit more weight that way.

“Little Snow,” Yun Yueqin called softly.

The familiar yet distant form of address drew a quiet “mm-hm” from Lu Qingxue.

She didn’t ask what Yun Yueqin wanted. If Yun Yueqin didn’t bring it up, Lu Qingxue would simply pretend she hadn’t come by at all today.

But Yun Yueqin spoke anyway.

She hadn’t come on a whim; she’d thought it through.

“I know about you and Little Yun… the ghost marriage,” Yun Yueqin said.

Pronouncing those two words was awkward for her. None of this would have happened without her involvement, so she couldn’t really blame anyone else.

She went on, “I overheard some of your conversation with A-Lan that day.”

Understanding dawned on Lu Qingxue, though her gaze remained calm. “Is that why Aunt Qin came to see me?”

“Yes.”

Yun Yueqin hesitated, her tone carrying a note of plea. “Auntie hopes you’ll take the initiative to dissolve this ghost marriage.”

Her hands twisted together anxiously, unease threading through her voice as she spoke in a negotiating tone. “Auntie came to you like this because Little Yun refuses to separate from you. Little Snow, you’re a few years older than her—you’re more sensible. You’ve studied well and made your way in the wider world for so long; you’ve seen so much. And now you’re a ghost messenger, so you must know the rules better than I do. Auntie believes you understand that the likes of us—the dead turned ghosts—can’t be with the living.”

Yun Yueqin wasn’t here to bully Lu Qingxue into compliance. She laid out her concerns as gently as she could. “Before she went abroad, I asked if she had anyone she liked, and she said no. But now she’s saying she likes you and doesn’t want to part from you. Little Yun’s loyal and values her bonds—she must feel guilty about separating from you, that’s why she’s rejecting me over and over. Otherwise, how could she suddenly like you after less than two weeks?”

The afternoon sun shone peacefully; Yun Yueqin hadn’t taken long to say all this, and the patch of light on the floor had barely shifted.

Lu Qingxue still stood on that border of light and shadow. After a brief silence, she asked, “Did she tell you she likes me?”

“Yes.” Yun Yueqin gave a wry laugh. “I wanted to set her up on a blind date to get you two apart, but when she found out, she told me not to bother—she already had someone she liked. I asked who, and she said it was you.”

Yun Yueqin laid out the facts plainly, without embellishment.

But it sounded an awful lot like Yun Chun had only claimed to like Lu Qingxue as an excuse not to go on the date.

That was exactly what Yun Yueqin thought, so she’d dismissed Yun Chun’s explanation as a bluff.

Lu Qingxue’s long, thick lashes fluttered lightly.

Setting that aside, everything Yun Yueqin had said made Yun Chun’s affection seem awfully sudden. Just as Lu Qingxue suspected, Yun Chun had only professed her liking after learning what Lu Qingxue had done for her—perhaps out of guilt or a sense of obligation, mistaking that sentiment for joy.

Did she really like her?

Lu Qingxue rubbed her fingers together slowly.

She looked up at Yun Yueqin and, with a small smile, called out “Aunt Qin” before continuing, “I like Little Yun, that’s why I’ve stayed by her side all this time. If not for that, I would have dissolved our bond the moment I learned about the ghost marriage. Staying with her this long… well, it’s because I can’t bear to leave her.”

“If Aunt Qin asks me to leave Little Yun, I can’t do it. Not yet.”

She had emphasized “not yet.”

She only had five days left on her month-long bet with Qian Shan.

Once those five days passed, she’d win. She could make her demands of Qian Shan then…

Qian Shan was one of the Emperor’s law protectors, and the Emperor had two of them. Lu Qingxue had heard from the other protector that Qian Shan possessed a 10,000-year spirit herb. Consuming it would nourish the soul, foster flesh and blood, and allow one to remake a new body.

The spirit herb was precious, coveted by other ghosts but impossible to obtain. Over the millennia, some had tried to steal it and failed—ending up in eternal torment for their efforts.

No ghost or spirit knew where Qian Shan hid it, and none could get close—unless Qian Shan offered it willingly.

If Lu Qingxue won this second wager, she could trade her two conditions for the spirit herb. With Qian Shan’s unyielding nature, she’d hand it over without complaint. And then… Lu Qingxue might just be able to become human again.

“Even if Little Yun likes you too, even if you like each other… the living and the dead can’t be together.”

Pain flickered in Yun Yueqin’s eyes as she murmured, “Liking someone doesn’t mean you have to be together.”

She took a step forward, right up to Lu Qingxue. “Little Snow, let Little Yun return to a normal life, okay?”

Lu Qingxue lowered her eyelids. “…Her life is normal right now.”

“If she spends too much time with you, can she still live like a normal person? To others, she’ll look like she’s talking to thin air, keeping company with nothing. She can see you, but they can’t—they’ll think she’s crazy, that her mind’s gone.”

Yun Yueqin’s brows furrowed. “And didn’t A-Lan say your position as a ghost messenger means you can’t get involved with the living? If this keeps going and something happens to you, what about Little Yun? Do you want to see her die trying to find you, only to become a ghost herself? But even then, could she find you? Little Snow, even if you won’t think of Little Yun, can you at least think of yourself?

“I’ve watched you grow up too—you’re no different from Little Yun in my heart. If something happens to you… what then?

“With your status, you can wait for Little Yun. But she can’t do anything. She’s so young, saddled with the stigma of a ghost marriage—what future does that leave her? She might not care, but I do. I can’t bear to hear a single word against her. Even though I’m dead, even though I’ll vanish soon… Little Snow, for my sake, will you… let her go?”

Every word from Yun Yueqin struck Lu Qingxue right to the core.

Her concern for Yun Chun was no less than Yun Yueqin’s.

But one line in particular forced her to take it seriously: If something happens to you, what will Little Yun do? Do you want to see her die, become a ghost, and come looking for you?

The first half touched on her own worries. The second half was what she wanted to refute—to tell Yun Yueqin that Little Darling wouldn’t do something so foolish. Yun Chun didn’t love life passionately, but after everything she’d been through, her spirit had toughened. She’d endured Yun Yueqin’s death with strength, surviving on her own at such a young age. If Lu Qingxue left, Yun Chun might write it off as a fleeting dream, fading with time.

But before she could respond, her silence looked to Yun Yueqin like a resounding refusal, magnified a thousandfold.

Without thinking, Yun Yueqin choked out, “Little Snow, Auntie is begging you on her knees…”

As she spoke, her knees began to bend. Lu Qingxue reacted swiftly, waving her hand to cast a spell that locked Yun Yueqin in midair and helped her straighten up.

“Aunt Qin, please don’t.”

As Lu Qingxue’s words faded, a chime of bells suddenly rang out in the air.

The next moment, Qian Shan’s laughter echoed. “I was just coming to invite you for a few drinks, but I ended up watching quite the show.”

Hearing Qian Shan’s voice, Lu Qingxue’s expression turned serious. She instinctively stepped in front of Yun Yueqin to shield her.

Even so, Qian Shan—who had been watching the show from the sidelines for quite some time—naturally noticed that something was different about Yun Yueqin. She appeared a step ahead of Lu Qingxue, glanced back at Yun Yueqin, and then fixed her gaze on Lu Qingxue.

“Lu Qingxue, your nerve is getting bolder by the day. Not only did you form a bond with a living person, but when you ran into a suicide ghost, you didn’t even deal with her? I’m rather curious, though. Weren’t you supposed to be trapped at the site of your suicide? How did you end up here?” Qian Shan directed the second half of her question at Yun Yueqin.

Although Yun Yueqin didn’t recognize Qian Shan, she could sense the powerful energy radiating from her. And from the way Qian Shan spoke to Lu Qingxue, she could guess that this figure held considerable status in the ghost realm.