Ha, Karma! – Chapter 14

Mind your own business!

Around the Lin family home stood a circle of people wearing Western suits.

They were both men and women, stern-faced and unsmiling, looking just like professional bodyguards.

These were disciples that Chu Zhaoqiu had summoned from the Chu family to protect Lin Yun.

She had matters to attend to and couldn’t stay at the Lin residence indefinitely, so naturally she had to make arrangements first, if only to put Lin’s parents at ease.

Their appearance as professional bodyguards wouldn’t arouse suspicion from passersby—the Lin family was wealthy and prominent, what was strange about hiring some bodyguards?

Up until Chu Zhaoqiu’s return to the Lin residence, everything remained peaceful and calm.

When Chu Zhaoqiu returned to the Lin home, Mr. and Mrs. Lin were still awake.

She was somewhat surprised, but putting herself in their shoes, she could understand these parents.

Their child had been haunted by a ghost, scared to the point where their three hun and seven po [三魂七魄 | san hun qi po | traditional Chinese concept of the soul] were nearly scattered, and now that ghost had vanished to who knows where, possibly to return and harm their child again.

Under such circumstances, it was normal for parents to remain sleepless through the night.

The Lin couple hadn’t expected Chu Zhaoqiu to return so late.

Mrs. Lin asked softly, “Miss Chu, where did you go? Did you go to catch the ghost haunting our child?”

Chu Zhaoqiu said, “Yes and no.”

Regarding Chen Hong’s matter, she didn’t conceal anything: “I discovered that the water ghost haunting Miss Lin is connected to Miss Lin’s boyfriend.”

She recounted how Bu Yu had seen the water ghost threatening Chen Hong, telling him to stay away from Lin Yun.

The couple was stunned after hearing this.

Even in their dreams, they hadn’t imagined it would be connected to someone close to them.

Though the two of them felt Chen Hong wasn’t quite good enough for their daughter, they had never suspected him of any wrongdoing, let alone imagine he would bring such trouble to their daughter!

They both looked toward their daughter’s room, then turned to remind each other to keep their voices down.

The child had finally fallen asleep; they couldn’t wake her up.

“What’s going on?” Mr. Lin asked quietly, “How could an ordinary person be involved with a female ghost? Could it be…”

As he spoke, his expression grew increasingly grim.

With all this talk of water and ghosts, and threats, could it really be… a murder case?!

Chu Zhaoqiu shook her head.

Mrs. Lin: “It’s not?”

Chu Zhaoqiu: “I don’t know.”

Mr. Lin: “?”

“We’ve only discovered that there’s a connection between them, but we’re not clear on what exactly that connection is,” Chu Zhaoqiu said. “This matter requires further investigation.”

“Investigate, by all means investigate. I’ll cover all the expenses, and I’ll take responsibility if anything happens,” Mr. Lin said with a solemn expression. “We only have one daughter, we absolutely cannot let her be deceived!”

Now their trust in Chu Zhaoqiu far exceeded their trust in Chen Hong.

Even if Chu Zhaoqiu hadn’t been here today, they would have found someone to investigate Chen Hong’s background.

This concerned their child’s lifelong happiness—they absolutely couldn’t treat it carelessly!

Seeing their support for her work, Chu Zhaoqiu felt reassured.

If they did discover Chen Hong wasn’t a good person, the couple could help persuade their daughter, who was particularly fond of and dependent on Chen Hong.

“Please don’t worry, we will do our utmost to resolve this matter,” Chu Zhaoqiu said.

Her demeanor was calm and composed, unhurried, as if nothing in the world could trouble her.

Not even these supernatural beings and strange occurrences that lay beyond ordinary human understanding.

Mr. and Mrs. Lin found her increasingly reliable because of this.

“Xiaochu, do you know where that female ghost is now?” Mrs. Lin asked.

Chu Zhaoqiu’s red lips parted, the words “I know” already on the tip of her tongue.

Suddenly, she thought of Fu Lianxue, and changed her response: “I’m waiting for her to appear.

“She will appear again, certainly.”

Fu Lianxue had taken the water ghost away just to cause her trouble.

Since she wanted to cause trouble, how could she keep hiding away?

As for what Fu Lianxue would make the water ghost do, she didn’t know.

But she would stay put, waiting for her to bring the water ghost to find her, to cause her trouble.

When that time came, she would be able to see the water ghost and learn the truth.

Chu Zhaoqiu looked at Lin’s parents and said gently, “It’s getting late, please go rest. We’ll stay here tonight to protect you, so please don’t worry.”

The Lin couple looked at her, then at the people outside, and nodded in agreement.

After thinking for a moment, they asked her softly: “Xiaochu, are you… not planning to rest?”

While Chu Zhaoqiu was indeed the expert they’d invited to help exorcise spirits, she was also the sister of the Lin family’s business partner.

Letting their business partner’s sister stay up all night watching over their home seemed a bit inappropriate.

Chu Zhaoqiu smiled: “It’s alright, it’s part of my duty.”

The couple, seeing her insistence and unable to persuade her otherwise, finally retired to their room to rest.

After they left, Chu Zhaoqiu found a place to sit in the living room by herself.

She lifted her head to look toward the third floor.

It was very quiet, as if the entire world had fallen into slumber, even the wind no longer visited.

It seemed the night would remain this quiet…

With this premonition, Chu Zhaoqiu took out her phone and opened Fu Lianxue’s chat window.

The last message in their chat history still showed Fu Lianxue’s tongue-sticking-out emoji.

She looked at their chat history in silence, her expression carrying helpless resignation and an indescribable tenderness.

Their relationship was actually quite peculiar.

Fu Lianxue said she hated her, hated her enough to want to kill her, yet could always speak to her calmly and joke with her.

And herself? Despite knowing Fu Lianxue was waiting to kill her, she still looked forward to seeing her every day, looked forward to talking with her.

The two of them truly had a strange enemy relationship…

Chu Zhaoqiu’s fingers lightly brushed across the screen, and after a moment of silence, she finally opened the input field.

[Are you asleep?]

Message sent successfully.

After sending it, she checked the time.

Almost one-thirty.

Usually when she had nothing to do, she would be asleep by now, but she wasn’t sure about Fu Lianxue.

Then she received Fu Lianxue’s reply—

[Yes, asleep]

Chu Zhaoqiu: “?”

She couldn’t help but laugh, and continued typing with a smile: [So am I in your dream right now?]

[Awake now]

[?]

[Don’t want to dream of you, it would ruin my sleep]

Having to dream of one’s enemy while sleeping at night, how exhausting!

Fu Lianxue lay in bed thinking this, then impatiently typed: [If you have something to say, say it. If you have gas, let it out] [有話說，有屁放 | you hua shuo, you pi fang | crude way of saying ‘get to the point’]

In the middle of the night, if she wasn’t going to sleep, at least Fu Lianxue wanted to!

Chu Zhaoqiu asked politely: [Are you planning to come over tonight?]

[Come where?]

[To cause me trouble, make things difficult for me]

[Oh, let’s talk about that tomorrow]

[?]

[Not worth sacrificing precious sleep time for you]

[What about the water ghost?]

[Not worth sacrificing her precious sleep time for you]

[? Do ghosts need sleep too?]

[Mind your own business!]

The one who would cause trouble was her, and when to cause trouble was for her, Fu Lianxue, to decide!

After internally ranting, Fu Lianxue suddenly remembered something and enthusiastically sent Chu Zhaoqiu a question: [By the way, when are you planning to stop liking me?]

She was certain Chu Zhaoqiu would give up on liking her.

Yet when they met today, Chu Zhaoqiu still smelled fragrant, and still faced her with composure and openness.

This kind of Chu Zhaoqiu made her uncertain and incredibly curious.

When would a human demon hunter, whose mission was to eliminate demons and evil spirits, give up on liking a demon?

Especially a demon who wanted to kill her.

Chu Zhaoqiu didn’t understand the meaning of these words and sent back a simple question mark.

Why should she give up liking her?

Fu Lianxue quickly replied: [I’m a demon, and I want to kill you. If you like me, doesn’t that make you a bit of a certain letter from the twenty-six alphabet letters?]

Chu Zhaoqiu furrowed her brows in confusion.

What letter from the twenty-six alphabet letters?

[Which letter?]

Fu Lianxue: [A bit M.]

Chu Zhaoqiu: “?”

She silently opened her web browser and seriously typed “what does ‘a bit M’ mean.”

Then looking at the search results: “……”

She returned to their chat window, typing much faster this time:

[I’m not that kind of person.]

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