CH 7

Chu Banyang had also followed.

When he saw Lu Yingjiu standing in the alley and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. “Lu Yingjiu shook his head, “Let’s go to the scene first. “

When they arrived at the scene, no one dared to stay except the ghost exorcists.

Ji Cai was still lying quietly with her eyes closed, as if the photo just now was just an illusion. Chu Banyang squatted down beside her, stretched out his hand, and lightly scratched the skin on her arm.

The woman’s skin was delicate and soft, and the place where his fingers brushed had a silky sunken feeling. He stared at it intently, as if examining something. 

Seeing this, Lu Yingjiu didn’t intend to stay, therefore he beckoned and said, “Xiao Li, come upstairs with me, let’s have a look at Zhong Aiguo’s house.”

Zhong Aiguo’s house was on the 6th floor. 

He only went one floor up and jumped from the balcony of the 7th floor.

The door of his house was also cordoned off with yellow and black barricade tape. Lu Yingjiu lifted a few and stepped into the house.

The interior of the house was very ordinary, with white sofas, beige curtains, and a 50-inch TV screen. The morning glory on the balcony had wilted. Several of them even had already withered and had fallen on the soil of the flowerpot.

The feeling here is very subtle.

The breath of life inside was too strong. Everything here, from the unopened cans, the half-drunk milk in the refrigerator to the bookmarked ‘Count of Monte Cristo’, seemed to tell guests that the owner of the house would be back within a few hours. But in fact, the guests knew that he was rotting in the dirt, just like the potted flower on the balcony.

Zhong Aiguo did not leave a suicide note.

Lu Yingjiu walked around the house carefully, but found nothing special.

Old Liu told him that it would take more than ten minutes to transfer the suicide files. He first sent him the archives of Ji Cai and Zhong Aiguo. The protection requirements of the supernatural case on the scene were not so high, moreover, he also didn’t mind about these things. He merely sat on the sofa and watched while waiting.

Unconsciously, he stroked the longevity lock hanging on his chest.

This was his subconscious little action when thinking.

Xiao Li hesitated for a long time, and then sat down on the sofa. After a while, he couldn’t hold back his curiosity.

“Brother Lu, what’s so special about your longevity lock? Can you invite powerful ghosts with it? “

“No.” Lu Yingjiu shook his head.

“Oh……” 

When Xiao Li simply thought– probably from his family— he heard Lu Yingjiu continue, “This is from my wife.”

Xiao Li: “Oh, it’s really a gift from your family……”

Xiao Li:”?!”

Xiao Li was shocked. “Brother Lu, when did you get married? Why didn’t I know? Does anyone in the association know?!”

Lu Yingjiu glanced at him, and said strangely, “Why do you react so strongly? You don’t have a crush on me, do you?”

“I don’t have a crush on you, but so many people have a crush on you!! I just promised my friend that I would deliver her love letter for her! Brother Lu, your mouth is too tight!” 

Xiao Li went crazy.

Although Lu Yingjiu usually kept a low profile, he was nonetheless the Chief, and he had to deal with many people in the association, therefore he naturally encountered many female ghost exorcists. 

Moreover, his face was simply really amazing. Every inch of the line was just right, with his slender neck, a pair of peach blossom eyes that were particularly vivid and charming, even the pores on his face couldn’t be seen under the lens of a camera. 

Especially when he was thinking quietly. The sunlight by the window that would happen to fall on half of his face, gilded the black hair and made his brown pupils extraordinarily bright. The white shirt that was buttoned all the way to the top as always, without any wrinkles, outlned his slender figure to the fullest, and the dark sandalwood chair that this Chief often sat on only made his skin white and radiant.

As the saying goes, which girl wouldn’t yearn for love. Everyone who had seen Lu Yingjiu would say yes, and the negative review rate over the years had always been 0%.

Even if there was a slight sense of alienation between his brows and eyes, it did not affect people from persisting.

The old aunts were a little more restrained, therefore they only asked him vigorously if he had a date. At that time, Lu Yingjiu only smiled slightly and said–”Maybe you have heard of Chu Banyang.”

The old aunt only said—”Oh, turns out that your partner is Chu Banyang.”

Lu Yingjiu—”How could this be possible, the Great Young Master Chu is straight as a steel pipe, and he is still single. His family owns cars and houses, he treats money as dirt, and is richer and caring than me. He told me secretly before that he was anxious to find a partner.”

——Of course, the second half of the sentence was purely Lu Yingjiu’s nonsense. In short, Chu Banyang still hadn’t figured out why so many people were pulling him on a blind dates. He only felt that he was more charming than Lu Yingjiu, and was secretly smug about it.

Xiao Li couldn’t even imagine what kind of uproar it would cause if he said that Lu Yingjiu was married.

Xiao Li asked cautiously again, “When did this happen?”

Lu Yingjiu said, “Thirteen years ago.”

Xiao Li: “!!!”

Xiao Li: “Child bride?!”

Should he call the police?

Lu Yingjiu: “…..can’t say that it was really like that.”.

He stroked the longevity lock, and the lines of the mountains and the seas passed under his fingers. He was very familiar with every inch of it. 

He explained, “It was a ghost marriage.”

.”Oh…” Xiao Li was even more confused.

Lu Yingjiu: “I’ve never seen him. The person who arranged the ghost marriage….was very unreliable. He found me a fierce ghost with no tablet and name. That ghost never appeared to me before, and I don’t think he will in the future.” He touched the longevity lock again.

Suddenly, his cell phone chimed.

It was a file sent by Old Liu.

Stated in the file, three suicide cases occurred within a radius of 10 kilometer, centered on the Second Municipal Hospital where the female corpse was placed. This was quite a high frequency, 2 of which were due to falling and 1 was of wrist cut.

Lu Yingjiu browsed the cases of death due to falling first and quickly scanned the basic information.

“Zhang Hong male, 43 years old, sanitation worker……”

“Chen Songhai, male, 47 years old, dishwashing worker in Lvjing Tea Restaurant…”

These were genuine suicide cases, therefore the police didn’t associate them for a while–after all, according to common ideals, it was almost impossible for suicide cases to be related.

Now, Lu Yingjiu looked at these cases with thorough attention, and soon saw the problem.

The one who died due to cutting was a high school girl. Neighbors confirmed that she had a fierce conflict with her parents, and that night that they had a big fight was the night she cut her wrist. But Zhang Hong and Chen Songhai were different, neither of them showed any tendency to commit suicide.

A closer look showed that they were even fellow villagers, both from Dingyang Town. 

The name looks familiar.

Lu Yingjiu went back and looked through Ji Cai’s file. There it was stated: [2018.12~2020.8, participated in the “Road to Dream” poverty alleviation plan, volunteered as a teacher at Dingyang Primary School, Dingyang Town, XX City, XX Province, showed enthusiasm for work and positive attitude.] 

It was also written in the file that last August, Ji Cai died unexpectedly in Dingyang Town.

Xiao Li: “This can’t be a coincidence, brother Lu, what do you think?” 

He flipped through the file again, “Chen Songhai has also a criminal record for sexual assault.”

Lu Yingjiu: “According to the general procedure. These two people should have become attracted to the volunteer teacher, but they didn’t expect to kill her by mistake. They fled to the big city in fear of the crime, but Ji Cai followed…or it may also be that they simply just had a conflict. “

He sighed softly and got up. “No matter what the story is, I’m not interested anymore. The connection between them is too obvious, and the rest is enough to be left to the Green Lantern Association to deal with. There is a high probability that Zhong Aiguo is also related to her, you can find it out with a little research.”

Xiao Li was stunned, and followed him. “If Ji Cai is the victim, then this is–vengeance, she is really pitiful……” He suddenly felt a little guilty.

Looking at the photos on the file, Ji Cai was still young and beautiful, with a braid, and her eyes were like crescent moons as she smiled.

Hearing these words, Lu Yingjiu stood still.

When he turned his head, Xiao Li subconsciously stepped back half a step. He was blocked and had his back against the wall.

Lu Yingjiu said, “She killed people, do you know what that means?”

Xiao Li was startled for a moment by his suddenly serious expression.

In terms of face alone, Lu Yingjiu was actually on the gentle and delicate side, but when his face became expressionless, the aura that once held a high position would overwhelm people, and his brows seemed to have sharp edges. 

Xiao Li hurriedly stammered, “Must, must be dispersed by us, I, I, I know this.”

“But she didn’t do anything wrong, did she? It’s just human nature. If I was killed, I might be more fierce than Ji Cai.” Lu Yingjiu said.

Xiao Li was confused by this, and didn’t know what Lu Yingjiu wanted to say.

Lu Yingjiu then said, “Let me ask you, what is the difference between the human world and the ghost world?”

Xiao Li was startled, and quickly replied. “The human world is the land of the living, and the ghost world is the land of the dead. The human world has few resentments and is heavy on Yang energy, while the ghost world is full of vicious ghosts, and Yin energy. There are cliffs in the human world, and abysses in the ghost world. The human world uses RMB, while the ghost world uses ghost coins……”

Lu Yingjiu clicked his tongue. “Why is your answer so complicated? You think you are answering questions in an examination room where you write a long paragraph just to cheat two pitiful points. Let me tell you, the difference is that we are a society ruled by law.”

Xiao Li: “???” He couldn’t help leaning on him.

Lu Yingjiu continued, “Therefore when we have committed a crime, we should be handed over to the law for trial. We have sentencing standards, but ghosts don’t. Ghosts that have killed people are more likely to continue to hurt innocent people. Therefore, even if it is a ghost, we should still abide by the laws of our world. If everyone messes up, wouldn’t it result in chaos? The dead want revenge, sure, but it’s also right that we have to dispel them.”

He backed away half a step, looked at Xiao Li who was still a little confused, and bent his eyes. “I said this to tell you that you can sympathize, but shouldn’t feel guilty. Straighten your back, everything you’ve done is right.” 

Downstairs, Ji Cai was already wrapped in runes like a rice dumpling.

Chu Banyang nearby, slowly threw away a pair of gloves, and said, “The runes are all arranged. It can be cremated on the spot, and guaranteed that there will be no residue left behind.”

“Burn!” Lu Yingjiu said concisely.

Chu Banyang snapped his fingers, and flames burst out, engulfing Ji Cai.

The fire was extremely fierce, and in just five or six minutes, the corpse had completely disappeared.

As the flames dwindled, there seemed to be ashes flying in the air. Lu Yingjiu took out three runes and flung one out lightly.

The paper floated in the wind….

Boom!!

With a deafening sound, Xiao Li’s ears buzzed immediately, and he was dumbfounded—the rune thrown out by Lu Yingjiu caused a small-scale explosion, sending ashes flying in the air.

Xiao Li: “What are you doing!”

Lu Yingjiu merely said, “Giving it a final blow, to prevent resurrection.” He threw out another one, there was another loud noise, and the ground was dented by the blast.

Xiao Li: “…. “

By the time Lu Yingjiu was finished with his final blow, the loud noise had already attracted a bunch of people.

The police ran over in a panic. “What happened?”

While Chu Banyang was explaining to them, Lu Yingjiu had already bypassed the crowd and left through the small gate of the community.

****

It was already late at night, and he didn’t get home until it was almost 12 o’clock.

The cow cat greeted him with its tail up and rubbed against his legs. Lu Yingjiu then knelt down and scratched its chin.

As usual, before going to bed, he warmed up a glass of milk and drank it while reading.

The cup was warm in the hand, revealing a temperature that calmed his mind. After reading two chapters of the book, he took out the diamond ring again, and he opened the box that Chu Banyang could not open, with ease.

The diamond ring was still sparkling, with an intoxicating brilliance.

Combined with the eggs and milk that appeared inexplicably, the red underworld flower and the ghosts that were suddenly crushed today.

He’s almost certain that he had provoked something unclean.

This was the first time he encountered a ghost that he was completely unaware of.

If it were someone else, they would probably be scared to death. But Lu Yingjiu had been plagued with misfortune since he was a child, and had seen too many evil spirits. The ghosts in the well, wandering through nightmares, and the crows fluttering their wings as the hanged ghosts screamed all night long. When he was young, he covered his head with a quilt on the bed, but there would always be a pair of cold hands quietly stretched out from under the bed.

If the ghost exorcists were moving towards the abyss, then the world he saw when he was born was the abyss.

Therefore, no matter how terrifying and ferocious a ghost was in the eyes of others, it wouldn’t compare to everything he had already met.

He would not, and need not to be afraid of any ghosts.

Looking back on the past, the original hellish days would have continued.

But…..

Lu Yingjiu took the longevity lock off his neck.

It had a strange luster under the light.

He gently grasped the longevity lock, lay down on the table, and held it up to the light, just like how he had been looking at it for countless of long nights before, thinking about what kind of person the other party was. 

Gentle and quiet?

Or cruel and violent?

Will you also like things like myself, or would you say that as a ghost, you have no desires and demands?

His aura and the sharpness of his expression in front of outsiders were completely suppressed at this moment. No one had ever seen him show such a gentle look on his face.

Holding the longevity lock, Lu Yingjiu was thinking the same question as himself thirteen years ago.

—When can I see you?

Because then I’ll tell you the story of these past thirteen years.

The short hand pointed to one o’clock in the morning, and Lu Yingjiu hung the longevity lock back around his neck.

After restraining his demeanor, Lu Yingjiu returned to his usual calm and indifferent way, hiding his emotions tightly. That even if there were mountains of swords and seas of fire, and a bloody storm in front of him, he would not even raise his eyebrows.

He turned off the light and then went to bed.

The night was quiet. He didn’t know how long it had passed, but the longevity lock on his chest became hot. Lu Yingjiu immediately woke up.

The short hand inside the room ticked, pointing to 2 o’clock, and the moonlight that shone in through the curtains, was very white.

There was someone at the head of the bed.

He looked up.

Ji Cai stood at the head of the bed, staring straight at him with resentful eyes.

Her skin was pale, her whole body was soaked, her long hair dripped with water, and her bare feet that stepped on the floor were almost transparently white.

Taking a closer look, the diamond ring box that was on the bedside was like a shark, clamping on her two fingers tightly and not letting go.

“……”

Lu Yingjiu smiled. That’s right, in this way, I will be a little interested in you.

He leaned back on the bed, “Go ahead, tell me what it is that you wish for.”