In the end, the waiter scrambled away on all fours to inform the restaurant owner.
“What nonsense? What era is this? How could there possibly be ghosts? You must’ve been dreaming in broad daylight because you didn’t sleep well last night.”
The restaurant owner was a middle-aged man dressed in a light gray Zhongshan suit, slightly overweight.
Hearing the waiter’s words, he looked utterly unconvinced.
“I-It’s true! There really is a ghost! I saw it with my own eyes, right in that private room!” The waiter was frantic.
“Go see for yourself, I’m not lying!”
Wang Huazhong didn’t believe a word of it. “Even if ghosts existed, they wouldn’t come out in broad daylight. You’re just trying to slack off.”
“I’ll go check right now. If there’s nothing there, you’ll have to answer to me!”
With a snort, he strode out, the waiter trailing closely behind.
“T-This is the one.”
The waiter pointed at the private room where Yun Mojiu and the others were seated, trembling and not daring to take another step forward.
“Look at you, so cowardly. How could there possibly be ghosts in this world?”
Wang Huazhong scoffed disdainfully and pushed the door open.
“Hey, hello there~”
Gu Ling floated mid-air, upside down, grinning as he greeted Wang Huazhong.
His face was a sickly bluish-gray, his pupils an unnatural white, clearly not human.
Wang Huazhong: !!!
“Ahhhh! G-Ghost… A ghost!”
He stumbled back two steps in terror, tripped over the doorframe, and fell onto his backside.
His plump face was twisted with fear.
Behind him, the waiter rubbed his nose.
See? He wasn’t lying.
Hah, and he called him a coward.
Look who’s scared now!
“Hey, don’t be afraid. We’ve lived together for decades, I’ve been around since you were in diapers,” Gu Ling said with a laugh.
Wang Huazhong: !!!
What?!
Lived together for decades?!
Who?!
Him and this ghost?!
“Though, you’ve eaten really well all these years. Ah, I’m so jealous. I wish I could eat too. If only you could share some of that fat with me, look how plump you are, and how skinny I am.”
Gu Ling sighed dramatically.
Wang Huazhong’s lips twitched.
Are you sure you’re jealous? Or are you just mocking me for being fat?!
Gu Ling drifted down, moving toward the restaurant owner.
Wang Huazhong’s pupils shrank.
Y-You… Stay away from me!
His entire body trembled like a sieve, his chubby cheeks quivering.
“Alright, enough playing around.”
Yun Mojiu stepped forward, stopping Gu Ling.
If he kept this up, the owner might just die of a heart attack.
“Owner, we called you here to ask about the history of this house.”
Wang Huazhong froze, only now noticing there were other people in the room.
“Y-You… Who are you?”
From the looks of it, she didn’t seem like a ghost.
If she were, she’d be way too pretty for one.
Yun Mojiu smiled faintly. “Who I am isn’t important. What matters is that I can return this house to you, ghost-free.”
Wang Huazhong: “You can exorcise ghosts?!”
As soon as he said it, he remembered Gu Ling was still nearby.
He immediately hunched his shoulders, afraid Gu Ling might swallow him whole in a fit of anger.
Yun Mojiu nodded. “Yes, but first, you need to tell me about this house’s past.”
She had already asked Gu Ling earlier.
Though Gu Ling was a ghost from a thousand years ago, he had only awakened a century ago.
He didn’t remember much about the distant past.
If he wanted to be reincarnated, he first had to figure out why he had died and why his soul hadn’t entered the underworld.
Wang Huazhong frowned in thought.
“This house has been passed down in my family for generations. It’s been here since my great-grandfather’s time, I heard it was bought from someone else. Later, it came into my hands, and I turned it into a restaurant. As for who owned it before or what happened back then, I’m not really sure. But if you want to know, I can look into it.”
“Alright, then leave this matter to you.”
“Of course, of course.” Wang Huazhong nodded obsequiously with a fawning smile.
“We might need to dig up something in this house later. You don’t mind, do you?” Yun Mojiu asked.
Since Gu Ling’s ghost was trapped here, his remains must still be somewhere in the house.
Wang Huazhong hastily shook his head. “Of course not!”
As long as they could get rid of this ghost, they could dig the place upside down for all he cared!
He even offered, “I’ll go find some people. Just tell us where to dig, and we’ll dig there.”
Seeing how cooperative he was, Yun Mojiu said nothing more.
She pinched a Soul-Tracking Talisman between two fingers, swiftly gestured with her other hand, and the talisman suddenly flew to hover above Gu Ling’s head, circling rapidly.
A few seconds later, the talisman shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
Seeing this, Yun Mojiu leisurely followed.
Xiao Junhe, Wang Huazhong, and the waiter hurried after her.
Gu Ling, too, floated along curiously.
He also wanted to know why he had died and why he had been trapped here all this time.
If he found out who had imprisoned him here, he’d scare them to death!
It was all their fault that he couldn’t go anywhere!
The Soul-Tracking Talisman passed through the courtyard in the middle of the house, heading toward the backyard.
Finally, it stopped above a lush, leafy tree.
“Has this tree always been here?” Yun Mojiu raised an eyebrow.
Wang Huazhong quickly answered, “Yes, it’s been here for as long as I can remember.”
“Hmm. Get someone to dig it up.”
After circling the tree once, Yun Mojiu pointed at it.
“Right away, I’ll call someone now.” Wang Huazhong immediately pulled out his phone.
Taking advantage of the break, Yun Mojiu dispelled the Manifestation Talisman on Gu Ling.
There would be more people around soon, and she didn’t want to hear any more ear-piercing screams.
Before long, several men arrived with shovels.
Worried that the digging might disturb the guests, Wang Huazhong had the door connecting the backyard to the front yard closed.
About an hour later.
“A c-coffin!”
One of the diggers suddenly scrambled out of the pit in terror, pointing at a pitch-black coffin lying at the bottom.
Wang Huazhong’s heart nearly stopped.
After living here for so many years, he had never known there was a coffin buried beneath this tree!
As everyone else backed away in fear, Yun Mojiu stepped forward calmly.
“Let me help you.”
Seeing that Yun Mojiu seemed intent on opening the coffin, Xiao Junhe offered his assistance.
Yun Mojiu shook her head. “No need. You won’t be able to open it.”
She was simply stating the truth.
This wasn’t an ordinary coffin. She could sense that a spell had been cast on it, no ordinary mortal could pry it open.
Hearing this, Xiao Junhe didn’t insist.
He took two steps back, giving Yun Mojiu space.
Yun Mojiu drew out two talismans.
The talisman paper shot out and neatly adhered to both ends of the coffin.
Then, with her hands swiftly forming seals before her chest, she began murmuring incantations under her breath.
Finally, she uttered a sharp command.
“Break!”
Instantly, the black coffin lid burst open with a loud bang, crashing onto a nearby mound of earth.
Inside, a set of withered skeletal remains came into full view of the onlookers.