Ha, Karma! – Chapter 63

Chu, why do you always come freeloading off my bed?

Chu Zhaoqiu got plenty of sleep at Fu Lianxue’s place.

When she woke up, she first took out her phone to check messages and missed calls—empty. Good, no emergencies had occurred, and the red-clothed female ghost hadn’t come looking for trouble.

Next, she got up and helped Fu Lianxue tidy the bedsheets that had gotten messed up during sleep.

Only after finishing all this did she leave the bedroom to find Fu Lianxue.

It was just past lunchtime now; she didn’t know if Fu Lianxue had eaten…

As soon as she walked out, she saw Fu Lianxue coming out of the music roomg holding a guitar, followed by a short-legged little cat scampering behind her.

The two met face-to-face.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Fu Lianxue stopped, jerking her chin towards the dining table in the living room. “Food’s on the table, help yourself. I’ve already eaten.”

Chu Zhaoqiu raised an eyebrow slightly.

Fu Lianxue immediately said, “Don’t misunderstand, I just ordered too much, that’s all. I didn’t want to waste it, so I left it for you.”

Chu Zhaoqiu replied with a smile, “Is that so?”

Fu Lianxue insisted it was, then hurried away with Baobao, looking embarrassed.

Chu Zhaoqiu walked towards the dining table.

Indeed, there was one meat dish, one vegetable dish, and one soup, quite complete. Everything was properly arranged in bowls and plates, neatly placed on the smart food warmer plate on the table, still warm.

However…

Her gaze fell upon the bowl of rice, completely intact, clearly a single portion.

Who orders an extra serving of rice just because they’re afraid of waste?

She couldn’t help but smile.

Such a great yaoguai who says one thing and means another.

She sat down to eat alone. After eating for a while, a small kitten suddenly jumped onto the dining table, walking and sniffing its way towards her lunch.

Baobao had come to sniff the two-legged beast’s food again.

Smiling, she pushed the plate towards Baobao, expertly letting it sniff first.

In this house, no matter what you ate, you had to let the little cat have a sniff to satisfy its curiosity. Only after it finished sniffing could you stop it from extending a paw.

Fu Lianxue quickly ran over and picked up the kitten that was about to reach out its paw. “Don’t disturb her while she’s eating.”

She then rubbed its soft little belly. “You already ate just now, you ate a lot.”

Baobao meowed innocently twice, as if it knew nothing.

Fu Lianxue: “Playing innocent won’t get you more food.”

Baobao: “Meow!”

Then it leaped out of her arms and ran off to play with its scratching post, ignoring them.

Seeing this, Fu Lianxue returned to the sofa, opened her phone, and checked her work schedule.

Chu Zhaoqiu continued eating her lunch.

Both sides were peaceful, and the atmosphere was quiet.

After Chu Zhaoqiu finished lunch and started clearing the table, she finally heard Fu Lianxue speak: “Are you going to wait for that Fingerless Madam to appear again?”

Chu Zhaoqiu didn’t deny it.

“This is what I should be doing right now, isn’t it?”

Since someone had already been harmed by an evil entity, they, as Demon Hunters, couldn’t just stand by and watch.

No matter the grievances and helplessness behind this malice, they had to capture the perpetrator.

“But you don’t even know if she’ll come back again. Are you planning to just wait foolishly like this?”

“That’s why I came to ask you.”

“Too bad, I don’t know either.”

Chu Zhaoqiu paused her tidying, then put down the bowl and plate she was holding, wiped her hands clean, and suddenly came to Fu Lianxue’s side, looking at her with bright, expectant eyes. “Lianxue, you know many ghosts and spirits, right?”

Fu Lianxue retorted, “What do you want? Can’t wait for the Fingerless Madam, so you’re planning to use other yaoguai to earn merit?”

Chu Zhaoqiu smiled. “Of course not. I wanted to ask if you could help me ask them about the Fingerless Madam.”

Fu Lianxue didn’t speak.

Chu Zhaoqiu added sincerely, “Our Lianxue is so powerful, the yaoguai you know must also be very powerful. Maybe among them, there’s someone who knows the Fingerless Madam?”

Fu Lianxue raised an eyebrow, a hint of smugness appearing in her eyes.

“That sounds nice,” she finished being smug, then changed her tone, “But why should I help you? I don’t want to help you.”

“Heavenly Master Chu, good and evil cannot coexist.”

After saying this, she stood up and haughtily turned away.

Chu Zhaoqiu remained quite calm despite the rejection. Watching Fu Lianxue saunter back to the music room, she smiled helplessly and shook her head, then got up to clear the dining table.

The great yaoguai wouldn’t help; what could she do?

The Chu family disciples dutifully kept watch near Liu Guohui’s house, constantly monitoring their movements.

After Liu Guohui returned home, although he didn’t go out drinking and gambling like before, his incorrigible nature hadn’t changed. He still spoke viciously to his wife, Guo Qin, and ordered her around imperiously.

He forbade his wife from going out to run her stall at night.

He wanted her to stay home to take care of him, keep him company, and… prove whether ghosts and evil spirits existed.

Besides this, he had also invited a Daoist priest home to perform rituals to exorcise evil.

Inside a nearby house, the disciple responsible for monitoring with the Lesser Heaven Eye¹ watched silently.

The next second, a few calls of “Young Miss” and footsteps sounded from behind.

He sensed someone approach, and a familiar voice fell beside his ear, “Xiao Wu², how’s the situation?”

Xiao Wu replied, “A Daoist priest is performing a ritual inside their house.”

Chu Zhaoqiu frowned. “Performing a ritual?”

Xiao Wu nodded. “Liu Guohui invited him. Although he partly believes what others said about him being confused while drunk, he’s still a bit spooked. So as soon as he got home, he had his wife invite someone to perform a ritual to drive out ghosts—Young Miss, you can take a look.”

Chu Zhaoqiu agreed, raised her hand, and gently placed it on Xiao Wu’s shoulder. A silent spell descended, opening another world for her after she closed her eyes.

Like a butterfly perched outside the window, she observed everything inside Liu Guohui’s home.

The babbling charlatan³.

The nervous-looking Liu Guohui.

And standing beside him, supporting him, his wife Guo Qin, looking even more haggard than he did.

Their daughter wasn’t there; she must have gone to school.

The yellow-robed Daoist priest jumped around the house holding a peachwood sword⁴.

He held a handful of rice, scattering it towards the window at one moment, towards the kitchen the next, muttering incantations, looking fierce and putting on a good show⁵, as if he could really suppress the troublemaking fierce evil.

Chu Zhaoqiu watched with a calm expression.

If a capable Daoist priest had come, it could indeed have the effect of pacifying the residence and calming the spirit.

Unfortunately, the one Liu Guohui’s family invited was a freeloader and scoundrel.

But that was none of their business. They just needed to wait quietly for the red-clothed female ghost to arrive.

“Young Miss,” Xiao Wu asked, “Will that red-clothed female ghost really come back?”

The honest Young Miss said, “I don’t know.”

Xiao Wu couldn’t help but glance at her. She gently patted his shoulder twice while her eyes remained closed, prompting him to turn back and continue operating the Lesser Heaven Eye.

The Young Miss’s calm voice reached his ears: “Waiting is a stupid method, but we have no other choice.”

Inside Liu Guohui’s home, the scoundrel Daoist priest had finished his ritual, collected his red envelope and payment, and left.

Liu Guohui grumbled about being tired and went back to his room to sleep.

Only Guo Qin remained in the living room.

She sat on a chair, her back slumped, her face full of exhaustion.

After a moment, a soft sigh gently escaped her lips.

She looked again towards the door of her husband’s room.

Hopefully, through this incident, he could truly learn his lesson, turn over a new leaf, and live a good life with her and their daughter from now on…

The Chu family kept watch for many days, but the red-clothed female ghost did not reappear.

Whether day or night, she seemed to have vanished as if evaporated into thin air⁶, leaving no trace.

Ye Linlin and Chu Sining also pulled several all-nighters with the team, gradually suspecting that the red-clothed female ghost wouldn’t come back, that her harm towards Liu Guohui had seemingly ended there.

Chu Zhaoqiu didn’t say much about this.

So far, no second gambler in Zhoucheng had appeared with chopped-off fingers, which was somewhat good news. At least it proved the female ghost hadn’t switched targets, but they still couldn’t relax their guard.

Thus, at night, they continued the watch, pulling all-nighters as needed, and during the day, they rotated shifts to rest.

But after her day shift ended, she would immediately head out again without stopping⁷.

Fu Lianxue noticed that Chu Zhaoqiu seemed to favor coming over in the morning recently, and each time, she had pulled an all-nighter and needed rest.

Chu Zhaoqiu also knew how to play pitiful, intentionally or unintentionally letting Fu Lianxue know each time that she had just finished an all-nighter and hadn’t slept a wink.

Fu Lianxue didn’t know why, but as soon as she knew Chu Zhaoqiu hadn’t rested properly, she just wanted her to cut the crap⁸ and lie down to sleep first—what was there to talk about so early in the morning, sleep was more important!

Therefore, these past few days, they had been sharing a bed and pillow almost every day.

Today, Chu Zhaoqiu came again.

Inside the dimly lit bedroom, the door was gently opened and closed. Fu Lianxue, half-asleep, heard the movement.

Subsequently, a familiar and calming fragrance settled beside her.

Without even opening her eyes, she wrapped herself in the blanket and shifted aside, naturally and skillfully leaving half the bed empty.

The space beside her dipped slightly.

The person behind her seemed to move closer, her gentle voice like the wind kissing her ear, “Thank you, Lianxue.”

Fu Lianxue responded with a mumble.

Although she didn’t refuse her closeness, her words were deliberately complaining: “Chu, why do you always come freeloading⁹ off my bed? Isn’t your room big enough for you to sleep in…”

The person behind her laughed softly, low and gentle, like feathers tickling her.

“Because I want to see the person I like, so I always shamelessly came.”

“I’m a yaoguai,” Fu Lianxue corrected meticulously.

“Alright, the most powerful great yaoguai,” Chu Zhaoqiu readily accepted the correction¹⁰, even slipping in her own agenda¹¹ by adding the prefix.

“That’s more like it.”

Satisfied, Fu Lianxue generously tossed the blanket over, sharing half with her.

Chu Zhaoqiu covered herself with the other half of the blanket she’d been given, gazing tenderly at Fu Lianxue’s back.

After a while, she saw Fu Lianxue slowly turn around.

They faced each other, one with eyes closed, the other gazing at her.

Chu Zhaoqiu took the initiative, “Is there something you want to say to me?”

Fu Lianxue lifted her eyelids, met her gaze for a moment, then closed them again, yawned, and snuggled deeper into the blanket.

“A friend of mine told me something, related to the Fingerless Madam—I didn’t ask proactively, it just happened that they told me, okay?”

She first offered a clumsy denial that revealed the truth¹².

Chu Zhaoqiu understood something, wanting to laugh but having to hold it back.

“Mm, what did your friend tell you?”

“My friend said, the Fingerless Madam had a husband when she was alive. Her husband was a gambling addict,” Fu Lianxue opened her eyes. “Her finger was lost because of that gambling dog husband.”

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