Qi Jia sat bolt upright. “Can I see them?”
Xiao Ciyou turned the fork upside down and dipped it in water. Then she took out a talisman and wrapped it around the fork’s handle before handing it to him.
“Hold on to this, and you’ll be able to see them.”
Qi Jia accepted it like a priceless treasure, cupping the fork in both hands as if it were a bouquet.
Pei Xiuyan couldn’t help looking at Xiao Ciyou. “What about me?”
After finishing the apple, Xiao Ciyou started on an orange. She answered around a mouthful, “You don’t need one. We’ve formed a soul contract. When I can see them, you’ll be able to see them too.”
At the time, Pei Xiuyan had no idea how terrifying those words were.
……
After night fell, the servants at Jinyuan returned to their rooms one after another to rest.
Only Xiao Ciyou, Pei Xiuyan, and Qi Jia remained in the living room, watching television.
Xiao Ciyou was still getting used to this era. Pei Xiuyan assumed she’d been mistreated by the Song Family and knew very little about the world, so every now and then he explained something from the news to her.
Qi Jia was the only one clutching the fork and warily scanning their surroundings.
Suddenly, the talisman paper wrapped around the fork twitched twice. Qi Jia’s eyes flew open, and he instinctively edged behind Xiao Ciyou.
“They’re here? They’re here?”
Pei Xiuyan glanced at the tall figure who was nearly pressed against Xiao Ciyou’s shoulder and tugged him back to his own side.
“Don’t make trouble.”
The next second, the television crackled. The crystal chandelier on the ceiling flickered twice, and a clear knock came from outside the door.
“Knock—knock—”
The villa was enormous, and the door was made of solid, heavy metal. Under normal circumstances, they relied entirely on the video doorbell.
If someone knocked on it with their bare hands, no one inside would hear. Yet right now, the sound was so clear it seemed to come from right beside them.
Besides, the power at Jinyuan had never gone out. How could the television and chandelier suddenly short-circuit?
“Knock—knock—”
“Knock—knock—”
“Knock-knock—knock-knock—”
The “person” at the door seemed to be losing patience. The knocks came faster and faster, turning into pounding, each blow seeming to pierce their eardrums.
Qi Jia’s hair stood on end. He wanted nothing more than to cling to Xiao Ciyou for warmth, but Pei Xiuyan held him in place at his side.
The next second, the knocking stopped abruptly.
The living room door burst open with a bang. A gale rushed in, the television snapped off, and after flickering wildly, the crystal chandelier plunged into darkness.
As the thick fog dispersed, two figures stood in the living room, wearing black-and-white tall hats and holding chains. Their blood-red eyes and long tongues made their identities unmistakable.
Qi Jia drew in a sharp breath, both hands trembling.
“Oh my god… Mom… Master… Master Xiao… help…”
Pei Xiuyan screamed “Mom” in his heart countless times, but his usually reserved, taciturn nature made him quietly shut his eyes instead.
It was over. His entire worldview had collapsed.
The two figures slowly approached. They paid Qi Jia no attention, instead taking up positions on either side of Pei Xiuyan and bending down toward him.
Their breathing was as labored as that of beasts, as if they were sniffing him.
Pei Xiuyan felt the temperature around him plummet. An icy wind swept past, and his hair stood on end.
“Is it him? This man’s not dead.”
“The scent’s right. His soul is unstable. Just as I thought—it’s another trick by those stinking Daoists, trying to keep him here for seven days. Take him, take him!”
Xiaohei swung the chain in his hand. Just as it was about to coil around Pei Xiuyan’s neck, a slender, pale hand reached out of thin air and seized the soul-binding chain!
In an instant, the icy wind howled.
“How dare you interfere with the ghost messengers carrying out their duty! Do you wish to come with us to the Underworld?!”
Xiao Ciyou tossed the half-eaten chips in her hand to Pei Xiuyan, then yanked the chain and pulled Xiaohei right up to her.
She flipped her hand. A talisman burst into flame in her palm, forming a ring of fire around it.
Xiao Ciyou clamped a hand around Xiaohei’s throat. The ring of fire seared his neck with a sizzling sound.
“Are you new here? This man has already formed a pact with me, Xiao Ciyou. If you want to take him, you’ll have to take me first.”
Xiaobai’s voice was shrill. “Xiao Ciyou?! The Xiao Ciyou from the saying, ‘Even the Heavenly Dao fears Xiao Ciyou; ghosts detour to avoid her’? That Xiao Ciyou?”
Xiao Ciyou frowned. “Who came up with that awful rhyme?”
Xiaobai’s face turned even paler. His tongue drew back, and his eyelids drooped. He bowed repeatedly to Xiao Ciyou.
“This humble servant failed to recognize your greatness and offended Your Highness! Please be merciful!”
He shot Xiaohei several meaningful looks, then lowered his voice to warn him, “She’s the one who rampaged through the Underworld four hundred years ago, fighting her way from Naihe Bridge all the way to the Eighteen Levels of Hell! She’s far beyond anyone we can afford to offend!”
Xiaohei’s face darkened further. Only his pupils showed, pleading. “But if we don’t take him tonight, we won’t be able to answer for it…”
Xiao Ciyou released him. “He’s formed a pact with me, so he’ll share my lifespan. He won’t die tonight according to the Book of Life and Death, either. Just report my exact words to your superiors. No one will give you trouble.”
Xiaohei and Xiaobai exchanged a glance, then bowed respectfully again. “Yes.”
In the blink of an eye, Xiaohei and Xiaobai vanished from sight.
“Pop!”
The living room lights came on at full brightness, and the television lit up again. The evening news continued its broadcast…
Everything that had just happened seemed like a terrifying nightmare.
But the door standing wide open, the tissues blown onto the floor, and the cups knocked askew all reminded Qi Jia and Pei Xiuyan that the ghost messengers really had come.
With a clatter, Qi Jia dropped to his knees. “Master Xiao, I know I was wrong!”
Xiao Ciyou went over and sat beside Pei Xiuyan, casually taking his hand and lacing her fingers through his. The red thread appeared on their wrists again.
With her other hand, she reached for the chips and crunched away. “Lend me some violet qi.”
Pei Xiuyan silently pinched the bridge of his nose, then obediently nodded. “…All right.”
Qi Jia gazed at Xiao Ciyou, eyes full of hope. “Master Xiao, what about my problem…”
“Shh.”
Xiao Ciyou closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she opened her mouth. “Chips.”
Pei Xiuyan resigned himself to feeding her a piece, while constantly reminding himself that he was giving her violet qi.
At first, he wasn’t sure whether he’d managed to give her any. But as Xiao Ciyou’s complexion gradually grew rosier and the red thread on their wrists glowed a little brighter than before, he figured he probably had.
All three of them sat quietly: one resting with her eyes closed, the other two rebuilding their worldviews.
Apart from the news broadcast, the only sound in the living room was the crunch, crunch of Xiao Ciyou eating chips.
A full ten minutes passed before Xiao Ciyou opened her eyes again and looked at Qi Jia.
Qi Jia jolted upright. “Is it my turn? Is there… something behind me?”
Xiao Ciyou shook her head. “Tell me your birth date and time.”
Qi Jia gave them to her at once. Xiao Ciyou counted on her fingers as she calculated. “You were clever as a child and did well in school. Your career has gone from strength to strength, but you once broke an arm after falling because you were being mischievous.
“Your parents have a good relationship. They saved up quite a bit of property when they were young. Now they’re happily retired and in good health, and they don’t live in the same city as you…”
Qi Jia’s eyes lit up. This was incredible!
Xiao Ciyou said, “Call your parents. This isn’t your problem.”
Qi Jia’s expression changed, and he hurriedly called his mother.
Despite the middle of the night, she picked up right away.
“Xiaojia, I was just about to call you! Your dad and I went out to play mahjong today, and when we got home, we only then noticed the air conditioner was leaking!”
Every so often, Qi’s father could be heard in the background. “Wipe this up with another towel!”
Qi Jia quickly asked, “Are you hurt?”
“No, no,” Mother Qi replied. “I just wanted to tell you we’ve been having terrible luck lately. A few days ago, I was riding my bike to buy groceries when the wheel came off. I nearly hit someone.
“Yesterday, the grape trellis in the courtyard collapsed and crushed all the vegetable seedlings we’d been growing for half a year. And today the air conditioner leaked, soaking all the clothes and bedding in an entire cabinet!”
Qi Jia thought of how he’d stepped in dog poop earlier that day, then had a car door knocked off, and his phone had run out of battery too. Wasn’t he even more unlucky?
He turned to Xiao Ciyou for help.
“Tell me your parents’ birth dates and times,” Xiao Ciyou said.
Mother Qi sounded suspicious. “Who is this? Xiaojia, who are you with in the middle of the night? Do you have a girlfriend?!”
“Mom!” Qi Jia hurriedly said. “She’s a master who’s here to help! Don’t get the wrong idea! Just tell Master Xiao your birth dates and times!”
Mother Qi hung up with a click.
A moment later, she sent him a message:
“Xiaojia, we’re an educated family. We can’t believe in feudal superstition! You’re highly valued by President Pei, so don’t be foolish and ruin your future. We’ll find someone to fix the air conditioner. You stay out of it!”