Chapter 75: The Witching Hour
When Wei Xingteng came to pick up someone, Bai Liu was still curious and asked Ye Xue, “Shishu, how did you convince her? Didn’t this little ghost just a while ago seem completely absorbed in playing games and not wanting to leave?”
Yan Nianzhen held a bag, which was filled with clothes.
Ye Xue had someone make several beautiful dresses for her, and she burned them all for Yan Nianzhen.
Yan Nianzhen stood next to Wei Xingteng with the bag in hand and waved to Ye Xue and Bai Liu.
Ye Xue waved back, then turned to Bai Liu and quietly said, “I don’t know. As soon as I came back, she主动ly told me she wanted to reincarnate.”
Bai Liu was puzzled. “That’s strange. I thought she wanted to stay at Xuanzhen Temple for good.”
After all, she had food, drink, and something to learn.
Wei Xingteng refused Yan Nianzhen’s request to take the gaming console back to the underworld, and lightly waved his mourning stick, “Remember to come in the evening for overtime!”
Bai Liu replied impatiently, “Got it!”
After bidding farewell to Ye Xue and Bai Liu, Wei Xingteng left with Yan Nianzhen.
But not long after, a blue and white glow appeared in front of them again, bringing with it a chill.
Ye Xue and Bai Liu were about to head back when the cold, eerie energy surrounded them once more.
They turned around to see Wei Xingteng hurriedly returning, saying to Bai Liu, “Lend me some money… Ah, no, wait! Lend me your Nintendo for a couple of days.”
He had been bored in the underworld and was looking for something to pass the time.
Bai Liu stepped back two paces and coldly rejected, “No, go away.”
Wei Xingteng’s deadpan face was filled with astonishment. He hadn’t expected Bai Liu to be so heartless, “Are you telling me there’s no love between coworkers?”
Bai Liu countered, “You have love for your coworkers, yet you still make me work overtime?” He glanced at him, cleared his throat, and coughed a few times before saying, “If you want to borrow it, that’s fine. I’ll give you the Switch, but you have to give me two days off in return.”
It seemed as though Wei Xingteng didn’t hear him. His smile never faded as he waved his mourning stick and turned around.
The next moment, his tone changed, as if he was lost, “Oh, how did I end up here? Lost? Right, the road to the Yellow Springs is that way…”
The ghost of impermanence continued talking to himself and ran off.
Bai Liu: “…”
Bai Liu had never seen Wei Xingteng act this well. Knowing he was just trying to fool him made him even angrier.
Ye Xue couldn’t help but laugh.
She patted Bai Liu’s shoulder and said, “Come on, Junior, you still have half a day to rest.”
At the end of the month, Lu Xuezhen’s parents came to Xuanzhen Temple to take the statue of Emperor Wenchang back home.
Lu Qing and his wife were in the main hall talking to Bai Ziang about the precautions for taking the statue back. For instance, in addition to keeping the fruits fresh, the offerings absolutely couldn’t include plums, because Taoism’s Taishang Laojun has the surname Li, and one must avoid the name Laojun. If they were to bring back Zhenwu Dadi’s statue, there was an additional taboo: they couldn’t offer pomegranates.
Lu Xuezhen’s leg had healed a long time ago, and now he was running faster than a rabbit. Without his parents needing to remind him, he had already run to the back courtyard to find Ye Xue.
When Ye Xue saw him, she asked about his recent review progress.
Lu Xuezhen looked more confident than before, “During the winter break, my parents found me a tutor, and now I feel like I’ve been immersed in studying. I feel like I’m leveling up. Big Boss, maybe we’ll be classmates!”
Ye Xue smiled and said, “Great, I’ll wait for you at Haicheng University.”
Lu Xuezhen cupped his hands in gratitude, “I’ll do my best!”
While chatting, he mentioned his plan for the upcoming month-long break.
He and a few roommates had planned a mountain trip. Starting from the second semester, the school canceled the weekend breaks in order to accelerate revision progress. Senior high school students now only had two days off each month instead of two days off every week.
Since Friday fell at the end of the month, Lu Xuezhen was accompanying his parents to take the statue home, planning to pack his things and head out with his roommates afterward.
Ye Xue approved, “That’s good, combining work and rest.”
Lu Xuezhen seemed to find a like-minded person, “Right? I feel the same. Senior-year students are under so much pressure, memorizing, memorizing, memorizing every day. By the way, Big Boss, was the pressure high for you during your college entrance exam?”
Ye Xue replied, “Oh, not really. I have a photographic memory, so once I memorize something, I pretty much never forget it.”
“……” Lu Xuezhen fell silent for a moment before saying, “Look at me, digging my own grave.”
Before leaving, Lu Xuezhen added Ye Xue on WeChat.
He was surprised to see that Ye Xue had finally switched from her old Nokia to a smartphone. “Big Boss, finally got a new phone?”
Lu Xuezhen had always been puzzled. Ye Xue could switch phones every time she made a business deal, so why was she still using an outdated Nokia brick?
“Yeah.” Ye Xue scanned his code and added him. “Done.”
The road to Fengyang Village was already under construction, and Xuanzhen Temple had no urgent need for money at the moment. Ye Xue had more leeway, so she decided to retire her old phone and upgrade to a smartphone since many places now require WeChat.
Lu Xuezhen added Ye Xue’s contact and then left with his parents.
Assistant Zhou usually organized the schedule and sent the itinerary to Yu Qi via email.
Recently, Yu Qi’s schedule had been packed.
The butler came over and privately complained to Ye Xue about the trouble the Yu family had caused, especially Yu Qi’s son, Zhang Hesong, who had just been released from prison and immediately caused trouble at Jin Xin, only to be kicked out by security.
Ye Xue found it quite bizarre. The Zhang Hesong family was truly strange.
When Yu Qi’s health wasn’t improving, Zhang Hesong had already considered the Yu family’s wealth as his own, thinking that once Yu Qi died, the inheritance would pass to the only relative of Yu Qi.
When everyone thought Yu Qi’s life was near its end, she made a will, stipulating that after her death, all of the Yu family’s wealth would be donated to a charity foundation.
Zhang Hesong and his mother didn’t receive a cent.
Now that Yu Qi’s health was gradually improving, and Zhang Hesong realized he wouldn’t get the inheritance, he had started coming up with different schemes, often showing up at the Yu family house to try to gain some benefits.
But every time, he was met with rejection.
Yu Qi returned late that evening.
Ye Xue had bought some fabric and was making clothes for the cotton doll.
The cotton doll was only 20 cm tall, so making clothes for it was easy. Ye Xue quickly sewed a few stitches, and the doll was very pleased with the result. It even wanted Ye Xue to take it to the main hall’s altar so everyone could see its new clothes.
Ye Xue didn’t want the worshippers to see her sewing skills, so she distracted the cotton doll and got it to forget about the idea.
Yu Qi came back with some shrimp dumplings.
Ye Xue put down the fabric and thread, smiling, “How did you know I was hungry?”
Yu Qi chuckled lightly and didn’t answer. Instead, he took Ye Xue’s hair tie off and tied her hair again.
Ye Xue looked at him, and Yu Qi explained, “It got messy.”
Ye Xue touched her hair, feeling that Yu Qi’s skills at tying hair were even better than hers.
She ate a few dumplings and then used another pair of chopsticks to pick up one for Yu Qi, saying, “A reward.”
Yu Qi smiled at her and took the dumpling into his mouth.
The two of them finished eating the shrimp dumplings together, and Ye Xue started working on her paper.
Tonight, the sky had no stars, and it happened to be the fifteenth day of the lunar month, with a full moon hanging in the sky.
The cotton doll was basking in the moonlight, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon.
Yu Qi took the lunchbox to the kitchen to wash, and when he returned, he saw that Ye Xue was still working and gently urged her to go to sleep.
Ye Xue, rarely struck by inspiration, didn’t plan on stopping yet. Seeing that Yu Qi still wanted to urge her, she leaned over, kissed him a few times, and then continued working.
Just then, her WeChat notification went off.
She checked it, and to her surprise, it was a message from Lu Xue Zhen.
Lu Xue Zhen: [Daoist, help!!!]
The message was full of exclamation marks.
Ye Xue furrowed her brows and quickly replied: [What happened?]
She remembered their mountain climbing plan and asked: [Aren’t you out having fun?]
Lu Xue Zhen replied quickly, with a few typos: [We’re staying at a guesthouse, all my roommates are with me. But for some reason, at 3 o’clock, we suddenly heard strange noises outside…]
Lu Xue Zhen and his roommates had spent a long time playing on the mountain, touring the forests, and taking so many photos that their camera memory was almost full.
The group, engrossed in their fun, didn’t realize how late it was until it was almost dark.
In a hurry, they descended the mountain.
Suddenly, a heavy rainstorm hit, soaking them to the bone.
They tried to catch a taxi but couldn’t find one, and no one responded to their ride-sharing request. To avoid catching a cold, they decided to look for a place to stay temporarily.
The group of high school students walked around, sneezing constantly.
Lu Xue Zhen thought he would catch a cold by the next day.
Lin Yichun spotted some lights in the distance and turned to Lu Xue Zhen, saying, “Xue Zhen, Da Mao, it looks like someone lives over there!”
They looked forward and saw the lights, so they hurried over.
Lu Xue Zhen hesitated, noticing the place seemed secluded, but his roommates were already headed over, so he reluctantly followed.
A lantern hung outside the guesthouse, but its light was too dim to illuminate the entire path, leaving the house quite dark.
Lin Yichun, brave as always, opened the door and walked in.
The group followed him, and the front desk was empty.
Lin Yichun glanced around and called out, “Is anyone here?”
“There’s someone,” a creaky old voice came from behind them.
They all instinctively turned around.
An old woman, her face wrinkled, was holding a small table lamp, its dim light casting eerie shadows on her face in the pitch-black surroundings.
“Ahh!” The group screamed in fear.
The old woman looked at them with some displeasure, saying, “What are you screaming about? If you don’t want to stay, leave.”
Her voice was hoarse, like nails scratching across sandpaper.
Lin Yichun gathered his courage and asked, “Old lady, why don’t you turn on the lights?”
The old woman grumbled, “With such heavy rain, the power’s out.”
She shakily walked to the front desk with the lamp and pulled out a registration book. “There’s one room left.”
Lu Xue Zhen felt the place had an eerie atmosphere, but they had no other choice.
While Lin Yichun filled out the registration, Lu Xue Zhen, taking advantage of the old woman’s distraction, secretly dropped some eye drops into his eyes.
He quickly scanned the surroundings, and seeing no signs of any sinister presence, he sighed in relief, gripping the talisman Ye Xue had given him. He thought to himself, it was probably just his imagination.
After Lin Yichun finished registering, Lu Xue Zhen cleaned his eyes and filled out his details.
As they headed upstairs, the door to the room next to them was open, with someone sleeping inside.
The old woman closed the door and muttered, “I’ve told you a million times to be careful and remember to close the door, but you never listen.”
She led them to the next room.
Lu Xue Zhen glanced at it—two single beds, just enough for the four of them.
Lin Yichun and Da Mao would share a bed, while Lu Xue Zhen would sleep with Xue Jia.
Da Mao also went downstairs to borrow a few sets of pajamas, which he ended up buying.
The water heater was solar-powered.
When Lin Yichun went to check the water temperature in the bathroom, he found it was still hot, so he quickly grabbed the pajamas and went in to shower.
By the time they were all done, it was past midnight.
They were too tired to talk anymore and climbed into bed to rest.
At first, they played on their phones and chatted, but gradually their voices quieted, and soon the sound of snoring filled the room.
Lu Xue Zhen put down his phone, feeling a bit helpless.
Although he was used to the snoring of his roommates, tonight, with his mind restless and the noise bothering him, he couldn’t fall asleep.
When he finally looked at his phone again, it was already past 3 a.m.
Looking at the moonlight outside, for some reason, four words came to his mind: The Witching Hour.
Lu Xue Zhen slapped himself to stop the crazy thoughts from continuing.
Just as he was about to go to sleep, a “thud, thud, thud” sound came from outside, like something was hopping around.
Although it was just something hitting the ground, it felt like it was thudding on Lu Xue Zhen’s heart, making him anxious.
As the sound drew closer, he trembled, telling himself that when he dropped the eye drops earlier, he hadn’t seen anything, so it couldn’t be a ghost.
It couldn’t be… right?
Lu Xue Zhen quickly pulled out his phone and sent a message to Ye Xue.
It was so late; he wasn’t sure if she would see it.
The “thud, thud, thud” sound passed by their room, gradually fading away.
Lu Xue Zhen let out a sigh of relief and was about to check his WeChat when, suddenly, the sound came back.
Thud, thud, thud… thud!
The sound stopped.
And this time, it stopped right at the door of Lu Xue Zhen’s room.
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152