Before losing consciousness, Gao Wu had vaguely seen a dark shadow clinging to him, making it impossible for him to breathe.
Only when the peony landed on his body did the shadow seem to encounter something it feared.
It fled at incredible speed.
Only then was Gao Wu finally able to regain consciousness.
Xin Ying’s face was covered in black lines.
A peony could save someone’s life?
Her cousin was as unreliable as ever.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“How could a flower possibly save someone’s life?”
“You’re still half asleep, aren’t you?”
She and her cousin had always been close, so she spoke to him without the slightest restraint.
Gao Wu continued clutching the peony tightly, as though it were his only lifeline.
“No, I’m really not lying to you!”
He took a deep breath, drawing the floral fragrance into his lungs.
The icy chill surrounding him instantly dissipated.
He was so relieved that he almost burst into tears.
“My dear little cousin, which master gave you this flower?”
Xin Ying replied irritably,
“It wasn’t some master.”
“It was a gift from a friend.”
However, she looked at the peony with growing confusion.
Her cousin’s reaction did not seem fake.
Could this flower really have been the reason he woke up?
Mrs. Gao hurriedly asked,
“Xiaobao, what exactly happened to your body?”
In her anxiety, she had unconsciously called him by his childhood nickname.
Gao Wu answered,
“I don’t know.”
“Yesterday, while I was driving home from the company, my body suddenly felt incredibly heavy.”
“It felt as though someone was clinging to my back.”
“My chest felt so tight that I could barely breathe.”
“Then I passed out.”
“But I could still hear everything happening around me.”
“I just couldn’t wake up.”
“When Ying dropped this peony onto me just now, my body suddenly became light.”
“That’s when I woke up.”
Xin Ying asked,
“Did anything unusual happen before you got home?”
Gao Wu racked his brain.
Suddenly, inspiration struck.
With an embarrassed smile, he admitted,
“O-on my way home, I saw a red envelope lying in the middle of the road.”
“So I picked it up.”
“There was a hundred yuan inside.”
“Other than that, nothing happened.”
Mrs. Gao frowned.
Could the money really have been the problem?
“Ah, I remember now.”
“There were a few strands of hair inside the red envelope too.”
A red envelope containing hair…
No matter how one looked at it, the whole thing felt deeply unsettling.
Perhaps this was the reason her son had fallen unconscious.
Mrs. Gao glared at her troublesome son through gritted teeth.
“How could you just pick up random things lying by the roadside?”
The Gao family was hardly lacking in money.
Gao Wu hurriedly took the red envelope out of his pocket.
In front of his mother and cousin, he opened it, revealing the strands of hair inside.
The hair looked dried and brittle.
Perhaps it was only his imagination, but it even seemed to carry a faint reddish hue, almost like dried blood.
Gao Wu rubbed the goosebumps on his arms before turning to Xin Ying.
“So, Cousin, please!”
“Introduce me to that master as soon as possible!”
Xin Ying looked rather dazed.
“I… I’ll call my friend first.”
Qin Su was so young.
How could she possibly possess such abilities?
The peony must have been something she had accidentally obtained from a true expert.
Yes.
She would call Qin Su and ask exactly who that person was.
No matter what, she could not simply stand by and watch anything happen to her cousin.
…
“That peony?”
“I just bought it from a girl selling flowers by the roadside.”
“Why are you looking for her?”
“I think I more or less understand what’s going on.”
“I’ll head over and take a look.”
“Maybe I can solve it.”
After hanging up, Qin Su smiled faintly.
Excellent.
Business had finally come knocking on her door.
Since it involved Xin Ying’s cousin, the payment was unlikely to be small.
Although Xin Ying had not revealed many details, Qin Su had already pieced together most of the situation from the fragments she had shared.
All she could say was…
Xin Ying’s cousin was unbelievably reckless.
He had actually dared to pick up money of unknown origin.
Especially when the envelope even contained strands of hair.
It was obviously part of a ghost marriage ritual.[1]Ghost marriage (结阴婚): A traditional Chinese folk custom in which a deceased person is symbolically married, sometimes involving red envelopes containing money and personal items such as hair. … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2766845_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2766845_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
Accepting the red envelope was equivalent to accepting the marriage proposal.
Qianjin ran over and rubbed against her leg.
“Su Su, are we going to make money again?”
Qin Su nodded slightly.
Tiny stars seemed to sparkle in her eyes.
“Mhm.”
“If we earn enough, I’ll buy you dried fish.”
Excitedly, Qianjin placed both front paws on Qin Su’s knees.
“A whole box every day?”
The corners of Qin Su’s mouth twitched.
“One box a week.”
Qianjin had expensive tastes.
The type of fish it liked was far from cheap.
If she bought it a box every day, she would be spending tens of thousands of yuan every month.
Disappointed, Qianjin curled itself into a ball in the corner.
Qin Su tried to ignore it.
Finally, she let out a sigh.
“Fine.”
“One box every three days.”
“That’s the absolute limit.”
She sat on the sofa.
About half an hour later, someone called her.
It was the Gao family’s driver, who had come to pick her up.
That saved her the trouble of hailing a taxi herself.
By the time Qin Su arrived at the Gao family’s villa, it was already ten o’clock at night.
Gao Wu had only recently returned from the hospital.
Dressed in a loose hospital gown, he appeared even thinner than before.
When he saw that Qin Su had come alone, disappointment inevitably flashed across his eyes.
The Gao family owned an entertainment company.
As a result, Gao Wu was quite familiar with Qin Su, the highly popular beauty influencer.
He knew she was Xu Xiao’s ex-girlfriend.
In fact, he had even met her once at a banquet.
There was no question that Qin Su could not possibly be the master they were looking for.
Given her public persona, if she really possessed such abilities, she would have publicized them until the entire country knew.
The moment Qin Su stepped inside, she noticed a long-haired woman standing not far from Gao Wu.
The woman gazed at him with deep resentment.
She clearly wanted to approach him, but the peony in Gao Wu’s hand prevented her from doing so.
The spiritual energy Qin Su had deliberately infused into the flower exerted tremendous pressure on ghosts.
Raising an eyebrow, Qin Su said leisurely,
“Aren’t you going to acknowledge your girlfriend?”
“She looks like she’s about to cry.”
The corners of Gao Wu’s mouth twitched.
“Come on.”
“I don’t even have a girlfriend right now.”
Qin Su casually pointed toward the female ghost.
“Isn’t she standing right in front of the vase?”
Everyone in the room instinctively looked in the direction she indicated.
All they saw was empty space.
Xin Ying blinked in confusion.
“But… there’s nobody there.”
Qin Su lightly tapped the palm of her left hand with her right fist.
“Ah.”
“I almost forgot.”
“You can’t see her.”
Every hair on Gao Wu’s body stood on end.
He suddenly remembered that while unconscious, he had felt something dark clinging tightly to him, making his chest heavy and leaving him unable to breathe.
Could it have been because…
That female ghost wanted to be with him?
Xin Ying swallowed hard.
For a moment, she was completely speechless.
She had no idea whether she should believe Qin Su or not.
Mrs. Gao asked anxiously,
“What female ghost?”
When it came to her beloved son, she could no longer maintain the composure of an elegant society lady.
The worry in her eyes was impossible to hide.
The female ghost looked at Qin Su with a mixture of fear and faint reproach.
“Master, why are you trying to separate Gao Wu and me?”
“Why are you tearing apart a pair of lovers?”
She made it sound as though she and Gao Wu were lovers destined to be together.
Qin Su replied calmly,
“But Gao Wu never agreed to date you.”
The female ghost said,
“But he accepted my hair.”
Qin Su answered,
“If he’d known that picking up that red envelope meant getting stuck with you, he wouldn’t have touched it even if you beat him to death.”
Gao Wu immediately declared his position.
“That’s right!”
“If I’d known, I definitely wouldn’t have picked up that red envelope.”
He hurriedly took it out and threw it as far away as he could.
The female ghost fell silent.
If she had been able to find a man who was genuinely willing to be with her, she would never have resorted to deception in the first place.
In the end, she could only stubbornly say,
“I don’t care.”
Speechless, Qin Su tried to reason with her.
“You don’t have to insist on finding a living person.”
“Why not find a single ghost you actually like?”
The female ghost let out a miserable sob.
“The handsome ones never lack girlfriends.”
“And I don’t like the ugly ones.”
The corners of Qin Su’s mouth twitched.
This ghost was surprisingly picky.
Besides, she could not understand why the woman was so determined to find a boyfriend.
“Then you could reincarnate.”
“Maybe in your next life you’ll find a handsome boyfriend.”
The female ghost trembled.
“B-but if I’m reincarnated…”
“I’ll have to go through the college entrance examination all over again.”
“I repeated my final year of high school four times before finally getting into university.”
“I don’t want to experience the college entrance examination ever again.”
The resentment in her voice was enough to move anyone to tears.
Qin Su: “…”
So…
The reason this ghost had refused to reincarnate all this time was actually because of the college entrance examination?
As someone who had always excelled academically, Qin Su simply could not relate.
However, if the ghost continued wandering the human world, she would gradually lose her memories from life and eventually her sanity, turning into a vengeful spirit.
No matter how pitiful her story was, it did not justify dragging innocent people into it.
That red envelope had remained lying in the middle of the road without anyone else picking it up.
She had most likely used an illusion to keep others away.
As for why Gao Wu had managed to find it…
Because he was handsome.
With a flick of Qin Su’s hand, the red envelope lying on the floor floated into the air and slowly drifted into her palm.
After witnessing that scene, Xin Ying and Mrs. Gao no longer had the slightest doubt.
Turning toward them, Qin Su explained,
“I’ve always had a natural affinity with ghosts.”
“Why don’t I have a proper talk with this young lady and persuade her to stop clinging to Gao Wu?”
“Please prepare a room for me.”
Mrs. Gao said eagerly,
“Then we’ll have to trouble you, Master.”
She immediately changed the way she addressed Qin Su.
She instructed one of the housekeepers to lead Qin Su to a guest room.
The female ghost obediently followed behind Qin Su, repeatedly looking back over her shoulder.
Although Gao Wu could not see her devoted gaze, he somehow felt a little chilly.
After the ghost left, Xin Ying finally let out a long sigh.
“I feel like it’s suddenly gotten warmer.”
Gao Wu cautiously loosened his grip on the peony.
To his surprise, his chest no longer felt tight and he could breathe normally again.
“What do you think?”
“Can Master really send that ghost away?”
Mrs. Gao still felt uneasy.
Holding the peony tightly, Gao Wu was full of confidence.
“I think she definitely can!”
…
As soon as they entered the room, the door closed by itself.
The female ghost gathered her courage and said,
“The marriage contract between us has already been established.”
“It won’t be that easy to undo.”
After hesitating for a moment, she added,
“I wasn’t planning to stay with him forever.”
“I only wanted to date him for one month before breaking up.”
Qin Su glanced at her.
“What gave you the impression that I’m easy to talk to?”
The method the ghost had used already harmed her own karmic merit.
Qin Su had only appeared so gentle in the living room because she needed to maintain her public image.
She reached toward the strands of hair inside the red envelope.
With a light touch, she replaced Gao Wu’s aura with her own.
Now…
The one bound by the contract with the female ghost was Qin Su herself.
Qin Su smiled sweetly.
“You have two choices.”
“Either stop doing immoral things like this from now on and obediently go reincarnate.”
“Or become Qianjin’s dinner.”
Qianjin immediately jumped out.
Drooling, it stared eagerly at the female ghost.
It wanted to eat her.
Although this ghost was far from a precious tonic, she would still make a decent snack.
Faced with the overwhelming pressure emanating from both Qin Su and the cat, the female ghost trembled uncontrollably, not daring to move.
…
Half an hour later, Qin Su emerged from the room.
Gao Wu and the others immediately surrounded her.
“Master, how did it go?”
Qin Su smiled gently.
“I moved her with emotion and reason.”
“She was won over by my personal charm.”
“She deeply regretted forcing herself onto someone against his will.”
“She’s already gone to reincarnate.”
Xin Ying’s mouth fell open.
“That’s… it?”
“It was solved just like that?”
Qin Su nodded.
She took out the red envelope, the source of all the trouble.
“She already took her hair back.”
“You can either spend this one hundred yuan or donate it.”
“It’ll help dispel the bad luck.”
“Thank you, Master.”
Gao Wu understood basic social etiquette.
He hurriedly expressed his gratitude.
Qin Su merely looked at him silently.
What was the use of thanking her with words alone?
At least give her some payment!
Xin Ying nudged her cousin with her elbow.
“Cousin.”
“My friend just saved your life.”
“You should at least show your appreciation.”
“For example… give her a red envelope.”
Gao Wu waved his hand and said righteously,
“How could someone like Master be insulted with money?”
“I heard Master likes paintings.”
“I have quite a few.”
“Just pick whichever one you like.”
He had heard a little about Qin Su’s personality.
Rumor had it that she was refined, unconventional, indifferent to money, and especially fond of art.
The smile disappeared from Qin Su’s face.
What would she do with paintings?
She wanted money!
Or, if not money…
Jewelry filled with spiritual energy would do just fine.
Qin Su’s expression turned indifferent.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
“That female ghost was actually quite well matched with you.”
References[+]