After Death, I Discovered My Wife Was the Villainess of a Supernatural Novel - Chapter 5

Black cats were animals said to be highly spiritual in legends. Some elderly people even thought they carried evil energy, believing they could attract unclean things.

But Mu Zhao felt that little Coal Ball was her lucky star! Because he had given her ghostly life a glimpse of hope!

“Coal Ball, since you can see me, that means you’re definitely no ordinary little cat. Could you be a little demon…” Mu Zhao squatted in front of the kitten. Looking at Coal Ball grooming the fur on his paw, her expression turned solemn. Then she pressed her index and middle fingers together, pointed them at the kitten, and said, “Transform for me!”

After the air remained silent for a while, the little cat disdainfully twisted his butt and walked away, his tail swaying back and forth. He went over to the automatic cat feeder and began eating dinner with little crunching sounds.

Mu Zhao’s ghost had returned. The little cat did not know the difference between a person and a ghost. In any case, his poop-scooper had come back, and now everything he ate tasted delicious again.

“You heartless little thing.” Mu Zhao curled her lips and reached out to rub the kitten’s head in midair. Seeing him eat so happily, she felt much more at ease.

She actually wished Senior could be a little more heartless like this Coal Ball, who ate when full, slept when full, and ate again after sleeping. That way, Senior would not be so heartbroken and worn down because of her death.

The sky had already darkened. Aunt Liu had brought the food to the table, but Fu Yushang still had not come out. Thinking of Senior’s abnormal state during the day, as well as how she had been drenched in the rain, Mu Zhao worried that she might be sick and hurriedly floated upstairs.

“Mm. Let me know as soon as there’s news.”

“As long as the goods are passed to me, your boss naturally won’t be missing a single cent of what he wants.”

When Mu Zhao floated in, those were the last two sentences she heard. Afterward, Fu Yushang hung up the phone. The gloom in her eyes was heavy and suffocating, making one feel as though they could hardly breathe.

N-No way, right? It had only been the first day, and Senior had already stepped toward the edge of danger? The more Mu Zhao looked at this scene, the more it resembled some indescribable transaction with a criminal organization!

The gears of the plot were already turning in an orderly fashion, yet as the only person who knew the truth, she could do nothing. She could only worry anxiously and stare helplessly.

Knock, knock, knock.

Aunt Liu knocked on the door from outside.

“Miss, it’s time for dinner. You should rest early tonight.”

Tonight was the seventh day after death. On this night, the soul of the deceased would return home. The living either had to stay somewhere else or remain in their own rooms and not come out, or else they might disturb the soul of the dead.

This was a superstitious saying. The entire house had also been arranged tonight with Aunt Liu’s help. Fu Yushang, whose family members were either soldiers or police officers, had never believed in this kind of thing before. But when the moment truly came, she realized that it was not a matter of believing or not believing. It was merely that the living were desperately trying to find something to place their hopes on.

Aunt Liu prepared the offerings and placed them on the mourning table. She stuck a single chopstick upright into them and lit the incense and candles on both sides.

Then she took out a bag of incense ash, left the door of Mu Zhao’s room ajar without closing it tightly, and sprinkled a layer of incense ash across the floor.

Fu Yushang slept in the guest room that night. Of course, she also brought Coal Ball and his cat bed with her, so that he would not run around causing trouble in the middle of the night.

“Miss, go to sleep early tonight. No matter what noises you hear outside, don’t come out. I’ll leave first and come back tomorrow morning to help you clean up.”

The incense and candles burned quietly. Suddenly, an extremely fragrant smell drifted into Mu Zhao’s nose.

Mu Zhao’s drool nearly flowed out! She traced the source of the fragrance and found that it was the offerings Aunt Liu had prepared for her!

So ghosts really could eat offerings?! Mu Zhao performed a storm-like inhalation. After she finished, she even burped.

Ever since becoming a ghost, she had been a little listless, always feeling that something was wrong. So it turned out she had been hungry! Sure enough, once she was full, her energy returned!

She slurped up the incense smoke like noodles. The after-meal dessert was pretty good too. It just did not have much flavor and was not as tasty as the offerings, but after eating it, she felt even more energetic. Its effect was better than the offerings.

But as she ate, Mu Zhao began to worry again. Looking at the pitch-black outside, she kept feeling as though something was staring at her…

Could it really be like Aunt Liu said? Would soul-reaping envoys come to take her away tonight?

Sigh…

Mu Zhao watched time pass second by second. Her gaze unintentionally caught sight of the layer of incense ash spread across the floor.

Could incense ash really leave behind the footprints of ghosts?

Driven by curiosity, she went over to the incense ash.

Clack…

Suddenly, in the dark night, a sound like chains dragging across the ground came from outside the window.

Mu Zhao felt her soul tremble. An especially terrifying pressure made it difficult for her to move.

Clack…

The sound rang out again. Mu Zhao shuddered. She looked around, then hurriedly hid beneath the cloth-covered mourning table.

Clack… clack…

That sound was faint and indistinct. Suddenly, it stopped for a while, as if that thing had paused somewhere.

Mu Zhao gritted her teeth and did not dare make a single sound. She curled up beneath the mourning table, trembling. Not long after, the sound appeared again. This time, it seemed to be moving farther and farther away, until all movement disappeared.

Was that a soul-reaping envoy? Or some wild ghost or monster?

Mu Zhao spent that entire night trembling with fear. She was afraid that the moment she raised her head, she would see things like Ox-Head and Horse-Face, or the Black and White Impermanence spirits, staring at her from outside the window.

Midnight passed. The night of the seventh day after death finally went by, and it was quiet outside.

When it was two in the morning, Mu Zhao heard the sound of a cat scratching at the guest room door, along with Coal Ball’s meowing. The scratching made people uneasy. What was that little thing Coal Ball fussing about? It would affect Senior’s rest! And what if it attracted that thing over?

Mu Zhao gathered her courage and stuck her head out to look at all the windows. After confirming there was nothing frightening there, she quietly crawled out from under the table and floated into the guest room.

The moment Coal Ball saw Mu Zhao, he began meowing.

“Shh! Stop meowing. Mommy’s here. Don’t disturb Senior’s rest, okay?”

But that little bad thing not only refused to listen, he even jumped straight onto Fu Yushang’s bed, making Mu Zhao’s blood pressure shoot up.

“You little bad thing!” Mu Zhao could not touch him and had no way to carry him down. She could only stare at him, big eyes against small eyes.

“Meow…” Coal Ball curled up beside Fu Yushang’s face and kept rubbing against it.

Gradually, Mu Zhao sensed that something was wrong. Senior was a light sleeper. After being tormented by Coal Ball like this, it was impossible for her to still be asleep. Mu Zhao hurriedly moved closer to Fu Yushang.

After becoming a ghost, she had gained night vision she had never dared imagine before. By the faint moonlight, she saw the fine beads of sweat on Fu Yushang’s forehead, as well as the trace of pain on her face.

Ever since that accident happened, Senior had lost a lot of weight and had become especially haggard. The dark circles beneath her eyes could hardly be hidden anymore.

After several days without proper rest, and then getting drenched in the rain, even a body made of iron would not be able to endure it!

She had to see a doctor! At the very least, she needed to take some medicine!

Mu Zhao knew where the medicine box was at home, but she could not touch it. Surely she could not expect the little cat to fetch it, right?

“Zhao… Zhaozhao…” Fu Yushang, sick and somewhat muddled, murmured as if talking in her sleep.

“Hey! I’m here! Senior, are you still conscious? You need to get up and take medicine!”

Fu Yushang mumbled a few more muddled words. Mu Zhao could not hear clearly, so she moved a little closer.

“Zhao… you’re back… you came back?”

Mu Zhao could not hold herself together. Tears instantly streamed down with a whoosh.

“I’m back. I came back…” Mu Zhao lay beside the bed, unable to speak properly. She fiercely wiped her tears. Now was not the time to wallow in sorrow. She had to think of a way.

“Meow?” Little Coal Ball came up beside her again, meowing softly.

“Coal Ball, can you help Mommy bring the medicine over?”

“Meow…”

She must have gone stupid. Even if Coal Ball was extraordinarily talented, she could not expect him to pour a glass of water and feed Senior the medicine too, right?

Mu Zhao patted her own head. Senior looked seriously ill. They could not just wait until Aunt Liu came to make breakfast and discovered it then…

Mu Zhao spun anxiously around the room until a sudden flash of light in the room caught her attention.

It was Fu Yushang’s phone on the table, lighting up because of a newly received message.

A flash of inspiration struck Mu Zhao. She placed her hopeful gaze on her extraordinarily gifted, uniquely talented little Coal Ball, and a seemingly unrealistic idea was born in her mind.

“Coal Ball, come here. Come to Mommy.”

The little black ball trotted over, jumped onto the table, and crouched beside the phone.

Mu Zhao patted the phone. Little Coal Ball glanced at her, then stretched out a paw and pressed it on the phone.

“Yes, Coal Ball. Bring the phone over here.” Mu Zhao patted the bed again.

Coal Ball looked at her as though she were an idiot.

Mu Zhao suddenly remembered that a long, long time ago, when she had wanted to train the kitten into a dog, Senior had said very helplessly, “Cats won’t just go along with you.”

Thinking of her family’s occasionally extremely rebellious Coal Ball, Mu Zhao tentatively reached out and made a gesture of pushing the phone inward. Sure enough, in the next second, Coal Ball swung his paw and swiped the phone outward, sending it onto the bed.

“Coal Ball, could you be any more rebellious?!”

The unruly little cat licked his paw, not feeling at all as though he had done something bad. Want to tame a little cat? Not even in the next life!

But at least the phone had finally been moved onto the bed. Then Mu Zhao and Coal Ball spent a long while matching wits and courage, yet the phone was still a little distance away from Fu Yushang’s hand.

Mu Zhao was about to be defeated by her own furry child. If she had known this day would come, she should have taught the little cat how to make phone calls back then!

“Meow…” Little Coal Ball proudly shook his tail. In this situation, it really made one feel as though the little cat was expressing disdain toward his poop-scooper.

“Coal Ball, if you push this over here, I’ll give you a can of food tomorrow.” Mu Zhao said it casually, but the moment the words “can of food” came out, the little cat suddenly stretched out a paw and pushed the phone over.

“…”

Her little cat could understand human speech, right?! So he had been waiting for this all along! Mu Zhao wished she could bite the kitten’s head hard to punish him!

Now that the phone was here, how should she unlock it with a fingerprint?

This time, commanding little Coal Ball no longer worked very well. The little cat’s abilities were limited, and after several attempts, they still did not succeed.

The hope that had originally been faint became even more uncertain. Sigh… How about she went outside to try her luck and see if she could find someone who could see ghosts? Although doing that would be very dangerous. If she encountered a more powerful ghost, she might not be able to come back.

“Come, Coal Ball. Do it like Mommy. Move your mom’s finger over here…” Although she was the one teaching and also the one who could not touch solid objects, Mu Zhao seemed to use all her strength, even her face beginning to twist with effort!

Then, under her unremitting efforts, Fu Yushang’s finger suddenly shifted position.

However, what hooked Fu Yushang’s hand was not a fluffy black paw.

It was another finger, icy cold beyond belief.

Mu Zhao stared blankly at her own hand and the unlocked phone.

A miracle had happened!

She… she had actually touched Senior!