Chapter 9

By the time Xie Chi arrived at her destination, it was already quite late. She had originally planned to find a hotel and spend the night there, but who would have thought that just as she got off the plane, turned on her phone, and prepared to let her martial nephew know she’d arrived safely, she would receive a call?

The call came from an unknown number, one she hadn’t saved in her contacts. After hesitating for three seconds, Xie Chi answered anyway. “Hello.”

“Ah Chi~ Are you in G City right now?”

The moment Xie Chi heard that voice, her expression became extremely serious. “No. I’m not. I’m not there.”

The other end of the line fell silent for about half a minute. Then, a woman’s voice replaced the man’s. “Darling, aren’t you in G City? I was hoping we could meet up if you were. It’s been so long since we last saw each other. I’ve missed you to death.”

Xie Chi: “I am. I’m at the airport right now.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is! When your Sister Qiao asks, you’re there, but when I ask, you’re not? You heartless little thing!” The man, who had regained possession of the phone, spoke in a tearful voice. “You weren’t like this before. You used to be such a good girl.”

Xie Chi: …

“Oh, don’t pay attention to him. I’ll come pick you up [unauthorized copy]at the airport right away.” Sister Qiao’s voice was very gentle. “Just stay right where you are, okay? Ten minutes at most. I’ll be there before you know it.”

And sure enough, less than ten minutes later, an outrageously flashy sports car stopped in front of Xie Chi.

It was already around eight or nine in the evening. Whenever the sun went down, Xie Chi liked to take the little darling she was raising out for some fresh air.

After all, nobody could see her in the darkness.

Thus, the little ball of black mist was hanging around her neck, looking incredibly smug.

The sports car came to a leisurely stop in front of Xie Chi. Behind the wheel sat a woman wearing sunglasses despite the late hour. She had long, straight black hair, wore a red dress, and possessed a figure with generous curves in all the right places.

The young man in the passenger seat got out and personally opened the car door for Xie Chi.

“Come on. Sister Qiao is treating you to dinner.”

“Sister Qiao, Senior Brother.”

Xie Chi greeted them before climbing into the car.

The woman driving was Sister Qiao. Nobody knew her full name; everyone simply called her Ah Qiao. She had already been living on the mountain for as long as Xie Chi could remember.

Ah Qiao always claimed that she’d only been dead for a few years. She also insisted that she’d been just eighteen when she was alive and demanded that everyone on the mountain call her Ah Qiao.

Only Xie Chi, who had still been a soft, fair little dumpling back then, was allowed to call her Sister Qiao.

As for the senior brother in the passenger seat, he was Xie Chi’s third senior martial brother, Yun Xu.

Despite possessing extraordinary talent, Yun Xu had been afraid of ghosts ever since childhood. To help him overcome his fear, their master frequently instructed the lesser ghosts raised on the mountain to frighten him.

As a result, in Xie Chi’s memories, her third senior brother always looked as though he were on the verge of crying.

Ah Qiao had always been an incorrigible troublemaker. Apparently, it was because she’d been playing pranks on people that their master had brought her back to the mountain in the first place.

Consequently, she particularly enjoyed bullying Yun Xu.

It was also worth mentioning that…

The two of them were now boyfriend and girlfriend.

They had been together for almost eight years.

Once Ah Qiao started driving, Yun Xu immediately turned to Xie Chi and asked in an aggrieved voice, “Little Junior Sister, you were clearly in G City. Why did you lie and tell me you weren’t…?”

Yun Xu had a youthful face. Although he was almost thirty, he still looked like someone in his early twenties.

His eyes were particularly striking. Despite having single eyelids, they were large and remarkably bright. Perhaps it was because he’d cried so much when he was younger, but they always seemed especially watery.

When he looked at Xie Chi with those accusing eyes, she actually felt a slight pang of guilt.

“Wasn’t I just joking with you?”

Xie Chi quickly changed the subject.

“How did you know I was coming to G City? Did you calculate it again?”

Yun Xu smiled sheepishly. “I happened to be coming here on a business trip. Since I had nothing to do while traveling, I made a few calculations and got a rough idea. Then I called our martial nephew and asked for your phone number.”

Just as I thought…

Xie Chi wore an expression of serene resignation.

There was a reason she had been avoiding Yun Xu.

This senior brother of hers was an innocent, naive crybaby. Ever since childhood, he’d demonstrated an extraordinary talent for divination.

From a very young age, practically nothing could be kept secret from him.

Unfortunately, he was also the type of person who would reveal your deepest secrets with an utterly innocent expression.

For example, there was one particularly embarrassing incident from when Xie Chi was seven years old.

She had drunk too much fruit juice and, for the first time in ages, wet the bed.

When she woke up the following morning, she was so embarrassed and guilty that she immediately tried to destroy the evidence.

She finally managed to wash the bedsheets clean, scrubbing so hard that her little palms turned red, before hanging them out to dry.

Then, when everyone gathered for breakfast, several of her senior martial brothers and sisters smilingly asked why she had gotten up so early.

Yun Xu had answered with a perfectly innocent expression.

“She wet the bed, so she got up early to wash her sheets. I already calculated it.”

Remembering the incident, Xie Chi’s smile gradually turned sinister.

Ah Qiao showed her boyfriend absolutely no mercy.

“Don’t you have any idea what kind of weakling you are? Ah Chi didn’t even want to see you. The only reason you got to meet her is thanks to me, okay?”

Then she turned her attention to Xie Chi.

“Ah Chi, I forgot to ask earlier. What’s that around your neck…?”

At the mention of this, Xie Chi’s eyes immediately lit up.

She cupped the little ball of black mist in both hands and proudly showed her to Yun Xu and Ah Qiao.

“I’m raising her! Her name is Xiao Hei. Isn’t she adorable?”

Ah Qiao: …

Although she’d already heard that Xie Chi had started raising a ghost, apparently one she’d picked up while descending the mountain, and had even written home specifically to seek advice from her senior martial brothers who were experienced in raising ghosts, seeing the creature in person still gave her a rather strange feeling.

Mainly because…

It was a little ugly.

Ah Qiao had always doted on Xie Chi tremendously.

The words a little ugly rolled around in her throat several times before she finally swallowed them.

“She’s quite… unique.”

Yun Xu didn’t have to drive, so he turned around and even reached out to poke the little ball of black mist with his finger.

His face was filled with amazement.

“It’s so ugly! Ugly and strange! I’ve never seen anything like it before… Owww! Little Junior Sister, why did you hit me?!”

He covered his forehead, his eyes brimming with tears.

“Th-that really hurts…”

“Go away.”

Xie Chi pressed her palm against his face and pushed him away.

“You have absolutely no taste! I don’t want to talk to you anymore!”

Yun Xu: QAQ

Ah Qiao cast a pitying sideways glance at her foolish boyfriend before saying, “The one you’re raising seems to have suffered extremely severe injuries. Her spirit form can’t even condense properly anymore. Hmm? You’ve been nourishing her with blood offerings? But that still isn’t quite enough.”

“I left in a hurry, so I didn’t bring many things with me. However, I collected quite a few items that are beneficial to souls in my earlier years. Once I return to the mountain, I’ll send some over to you.”

“Thank you, Sister Qiao.”

Xie Chi didn’t refuse at all.

After all, their Sister Qiao was… exceptionally wealthy.

She didn’t care about those possessions in the slightest. In fact, if someone refused her gifts, she would probably think they were looking down on her.

Before long, they arrived stolen contentat their destination, a private restaurant specializing in home-style cuisine.

The restaurant was owned by a family member of someone in their profession and had branches in many cities throughout the country.

Since people in their line of work often traveled with both humans and ghosts, establishments like this were particularly convenient.

A server led them into a private dining room and first brought complimentary tea and a fruit platter.

After Xie Chi and the others finished ordering, the server withdrew.

The restaurant offered excellent privacy. Unless the guests specifically requested something, the staff would simply wait outside the door.

While waiting for their food, Xie Chi learned why Yun Xu had come to G City.

Yun Xu had an old client.

And by old, she didn’t just mean someone who had been a regular customer for many years. The client was also elderly, having reached the age of eighty-nine this year.

At that age, it was extremely inconvenient for the client to visit Yun Xu personally.

So Yun Xu had thoughtfully offered a home visit, which conveniently gave him an opportunity to travel and enjoy himself with Ah Qiao.

Xie Chi suddenly understood.

“So coming here to have fun is actually the most important part, isn’t it?”

Yun Xu immediately looked bashful.

“We’re getting married!”

“Congratulations.”

Xie Chi froze for a moment before continuing, “But…”

Ah Qiao, on the other hand, appeared much more composed.

“I originally thought that, given our circumstances, it didn’t really ​unauthorized copy​matter whether we held a ceremony or not. But he insisted on making up for the one we never had, so I figured we might as well.”

The ceremony they were planning was obviously not an ordinary wedding.

It was a ghost marriage.

Once they completed the ghost marriage ceremony, Ah Qiao and Yun Xu would become husband and wife in the truest sense.

Even if the laws of the human world didn’t recognize their union, the underworld would.

The saying that humans and ghosts belonged to different worlds wasn’t merely an empty phrase.

Xie Chi was genuinely happy that the two had managed to reach this point in their relationship, although she also felt a slight trace of worry.

Hearing Ah Qiao’s words, Yun Xu gradually looked aggrieved.

“I… I still have to give you a proper status as my wife…”

“That isn’t important.”

Ah Qiao had already taken off her sunglasses.

Her eyes had a reddish tint, and her features were extraordinarily alluring. Even when she merely rested her chin lazily on one hand, she radiated a captivating beauty.

Yun Xu: QAQ

“B-but… I want it…”

“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t cry! Haven’t I already agreed to marry you?”

Ah Qiao cupped Yun Xu’s cheeks and gently kissed the corners of his eyes to comfort him.

Her voice was low and tender.

“If you keep crying, you’re going to make my heart ache again.”

The thoroughly aggrieved Yun Xu replied softly, “Mm…”

Xie Chi sighed and covered her eyes.

She always felt that even if Ah Qiao’s and Yun Xu’s genders were reversed, there wouldn’t be anything strange about their relationship at all.

Forget it.

As long as they were happy.

Seeing Xie Chi’s expression, Ah Qiao giggled.

“Don’t look at us like that. It’s not like we’re deliberately showing off our relationship to make single people suffer. Ah Chi is so adorable. Finding a boyfriend should be easy for you, shouldn’t it?”

Xie Chi hugged the little darling she was raising and rubbed her cheek against her.

After all, the little ball of black mist was composed of yin energy, so she felt pleasantly cool against her skin.

“Xiao Hei is enough for me.”

“That’s not enough. Can Xiao Hei warm your bed? Can Xiao Hei… Mmph…”

Yun Xu quickly covered Ah Qiao’s mouth.

“Ah Chi is still young…”

“She’s not that young anymore. Once she gets a boyfriend, she’ll naturally become an adult.”

Ah Qiao gave him a flirtatious wink before adding, “Stop treating Ah Chi like a little child all the time.”

The little ball of black mist remained completely motionless, resting softly against Xie Chi’s cheek.

After a long while, one of her soft tentacles secretly curled around Xie Chi’s finger.

Inside her mind, which had been reduced to chaos by the severe injuries she’d suffered, a new concept suddenly appeared.

That concept was called boyfriend.

Yun Xu was Ah Qiao’s boyfriend.

That was why Ah Qiao hugged him and kissed him.

And boyfriends could also… also…

Sleep together…

The little ball of black mist, who possessed nothing more than instincts and a simple consciousness and whose mind should have contained nothing beyond the most basic desires to eat and survive, suddenly experienced an intense emotional fluctuation.

What is a boyfriend?

Want… want to be Xie Chi’s boyfriend…

Another emotion, something called shyness, swept through her entire being.

The already soft little ball melted directly into a puddle in Xie Chi’s palm.

Want to… sleep together with Xie Chi…