A Female Lead Wants a Lifelong Union With Me (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 3

It was raining outside, the sky was deathly dark, and the wind was exceptionally strong.

The moment An He squeezed out from the hole in the wall, rain plastered her face, bringing with it a peculiar smell of dampness and brine.

An He sighed. As she ran forward, she rummaged through her pockets, fished out a handkerchief, folded it corner to corner, and quickly tied it over her face.

Seeing her in this state, a phrase suddenly popped into the System’s mind:

I am a heartless assassin.

And at this very moment, this “heartless assassin” was climbing up a dirt slope, her face full of embarrassment and awkwardness.

The slope stretched out like a long cross-section with no end in sight. Rather than spending ages trying to find the end to walk around it, it really was faster to just climb over.

Because of the rain, the slope was incredibly slippery. After much effort, An He finally scrambled over using both hands and feet, only to find herself in another predicament.

On the other side of the slope lay a thick fog—a vast expanse of white where nothing could be seen.

Acting rashly was out of the question; you never know what’s waiting for you ahead. It could be a warm, cozy house, a giant fierce beast, or a bottomless abyss.

Standing on the slope, soaked to the bone and covered in mud, An He pondered for a moment before finally reaching a prudent decision.

“Maybe I should just go back?”

“Actually, green vegetables taste pretty good. Green food is healthy and nutritious…”

“Besides, Lin Ruoxue isn’t that scary. If I apply for a change of scenery, she’d probably agree, right?”

System: “Is it okay if I start cursing now?”

“…Just a joke,” An He coughed dryly.

Finding a few concave pits in the dirt beneath her feet, An He turned around and slowly shifted downward, finally landing safely on the ground.

She stretched her slightly frozen limbs and began walking forward.

Though the fog was thick, the surroundings weren’t entirely invisible. About half a meter directly in front of her stood a tree.

This tree was the limit of An He’s vision.

She sighed, hunched over, and shuffled toward the tree, placing her hand on the trunk.

The original owner’s eyes had been injured during childhood. Although they were later cured by a traveling doctor’s folk remedy, some underlying issues remained. For instance, whenever it was foggy or rainy like this, An He felt as though a black veil were draped over her eyes; everything was severely blurred.

But she didn’t dare slack off. She gritted her teeth and continued to feel her way forward.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the rain gradually stopped, and the fog began to disperse.

An ancient street slowly materialized before her eyes like a scroll unrolling. In the “painting” were bridges, lotuses, carved railings, marble steps, green tiles, and red eaves.

There were also all sorts of men and women; some stood by the bridge with umbrellas, while others sat in boats picking lotuses in the river, looking entirely leisurely and content.

An He was momentarily dazed by the sight until the System called out to her three or four times.

“Stop daydreaming!” the System urged. “Hurry up! Lin Ruoxue is coming to catch you!”

“Right, right, right,” An He nodded quickly and stepped onto the ancient street.

The moment her foot touched the ground, she felt a strange sensation.

Whether it was her imagination or not, An He felt like someone was watching her. It wasn’t just one person—it felt like many, many pairs of eyes were fixed on her, staring unblinkingly.

An He paused and slowly lifted her head to look at a woman standing by the bridge.

The woman was dressed in white, holding a red oil-paper umbrella, her long black hair fluttering gently in the breeze. Her eyes were like pools of deep, still water, staring at An He without moving.

For some reason, An He felt an inexplicable shiver run down her spine.

She didn’t dare lock eyes with the woman again. She thrust one hand into her pocket, gripping the string of prayer beads tightly, and sped up her pace.

Not far down the street was an inn. A yellowish flag fluttered beside it with the single character for “Wine” written on it.

The wine must be good; An He could smell the aroma before even reaching the door.

Though it had stopped raining, the air was clearly still cold. An He was already shivering. If she could get a cup of hot wine to warm her body, that would be wonderful.

With that thought, she stepped into the inn.

There were quite a few people inside, sitting in small groups and drinking with their heads down. No one spoke.

An He navigated past the scattered tables and came to a stop at the counter.

“Is anyone here?” she asked softly. “I’d like to…”

“I’m right here.” Before she could finish, a person suddenly popped up from behind the counter, planted their feet, and sat down on a long bench, staring at her with wide eyes.

This person looked quite strange. Their forehead and lips were tinged black, their eyes bulged outward, and their skin had a sickly white pallor.

An He paused and glanced down at his fingernails. They were also black.

“What do you need?” Seeing that she hadn’t spoken for a while, the man tapped the table. “Getting a bite or staying the night?!”

When he spoke, his mouth opened wide. An He even saw froth spraying out—white foam mixed with streaks of blood.

In that instant, An He understood even if she hadn’t wanted to.

The person in front of her was likely a ghost—specifically, the kind of ghost that had been poisoned to death in their past life.

“Staying the night,” An He sighed.

Regarding ghosts, An He wasn’t as frightened as an ordinary person. All things in the world follow the balance of Yin and Yang; where there are humans, there are ghosts; where there are demons, there are immortals. Ghosts were once human too. Aside from their appearance being perhaps a bit startling, there was nothing to fear.

“Staying for how long?” The “Ghost Brother” pulled out an abacus, clicked the beads a few times, and asked with raised eyebrows.

“Just one night for now.” An He reached into her pocket.

She had been taken by Lin Ruoxue in the middle of the night. Aside from her thin clothes, she only had two strings of prayer beads, a jade pendant, and a hairpin—nothing else.

The hairpin was actually a gift from Lin Ruoxue, who had fashioned it from a small silver bar and hand-carved the floral patterns with her own claws. An He couldn’t bring herself to use the hairpin as collateral, so she had to hand over the jade pendant she wore close to her body.

“I don’t have money on me right now,” An He said. “Take this jade pendant as collateral. I’ll pay you once I’ve raised some funds.”

“That works.” Ghost Brother inspected the jade pendant, then smiled happily as he tucked it into his waistband.

“Take your time raising the funds, no rush!” He smiled and waved at An He.

Originally, it would have been fine if he didn’t smile, but once he did, his face scrunched up, and even his eyeballs were squeezed halfway out.

An He: “…”

She didn’t want to see how Ghost Brother put his eyeballs back in, so she quickly looked away and followed the waiter upstairs.

The System asked in her head: You make it sound easy, but money isn’t that easy to earn. What skills do you have to make money?

“I know plenty,” An He replied, resuming the habit of rotating the beads in her pocket.

“Such as?” the System asked.

“Such as fortune-telling,” An He laughed.

“Telling fortunes for ghosts? Are you stupid—”

“I’m not doing it for ghosts; I’m doing it for humans,” An He shook her head.

“Every ghost in this realm still has some sort of lingering tether to the human world,” she added.