CH 51

“What happened last night?” Master Mao remarked, “You never leave the small building around the winter solstice.”

“A very powerful malevolent ghost appeared in the vicinity last night,” Lou Ming said.

“Couldn’t Little Friend Chen subdue it either?” Master Mao asked with a frown. 

Recalling last night’s events, Lou Ming’s eyebrows scrunched up unconsciously, and slowly he shook his head in disagreement.

“So… you left the building to save Little Friend Chen?” Master Mao asked.

“It’s not only Shishi. There are a lot of people in this compound, and it’s always unsafe for a very dangerous, powerful malevolent ghost to haunt the neighborhood,” Lou Ming said, “Besides, my evil spirit will lie dormant in a low-temperature state. Hence, even if I went out, I shouldn’t have been able to discharge too much evil qi.”

“You’ve thought everything through, except for one thing…,” Master Mao reminded, “You forgot about yourself.”

“…” Lou Ming fell silent.

“Lou Ming, you care more about Little Friend Chen than I thought,” Master Mao suddenly said out of the blue.

“I didn’t do it only for Shishi’s sake, but for…”

“Please don’t rush to explain first,” Master Mao interrupted Lou Ming and said, “Before Little Friend Chen returned to this compound, this compound had been very clean. Not even a single wandering spirit had appeared.  If you truly care for the wellbeing of the compound’s residents, you should inform your father about this and then have Mayor Chen’s family move out of the compound.”

Lou Ming’s face changed, and his palms clenched into a ball offists

“You have always been aware of the dangers of the evil spirit in your body. Right from the beginning, when we talked about letting you live here because there was abundant spirit qi in this small building, you disagreed to reside here, considering that it was right smack in the city center, and there were also other people living in the compound. You were afraid that your evil spirit will suddenly get out of control one day and hurt the the surrounding people,”  Master Mao said, “Later, I repeatedly assured you that the arrays I set up in the courtyard can guarantee that as long as you do not step out of the courtyard, even if your evil spirit breaks out, it will not affect the people outside of the array in the the compound. So you reluctantly stayed.”

“Yet now, you took the initiative on your own to step out of the small courtyard and unlock the jade clasp for the sake of Little Friend Chen alone.”

Lou Ming suddenly raised his head. His face was pale, and there was a trace of panic in his eyes. Lou Ming’s panic did not originate from Master Mao’s questioning, but from the sudden realization that everything Master Mao said was right. He did care about Chen Yu…

“Your care for Little Friend Chen is abnormal. What exactly do you…”

“I’m done for! I’m done for! I’m done for!…” A series of screams that wailed from the second floor interrupted Master Mao’s unfinished sentence. The two turned their heads  and saw Chen Yu, running down from the second floor in a panic.

“Third Brother, how are you feeling now?” Chen Yu ran to the living room and saw Lou Ming sitting downstairs at a glance.

In fact, before going to sleep last night, Chen Yu had already checked Lou Ming’s condition that his vital qi and evil spirit had recovered. It was only because she did not see Lou Ming wake up with her own eyes that she still felt slightly uneasy.

“I’m fine. What’s wrong with you?” Lou Ming asked.

“I was in too much of a hurry when I came out last night, and I didn’t return home afterwards, so my parents right now must be anxious,” Chen Yu had been thinking for a while as  to how to explain herself, but she still couldn’t come up with a reasonable excuse after pondering for a long time.