"Huh? No?" Gu Qingqiu thought back carefully. After waking up, she went back to the Chujiang King's Palace and did not have any argument with Qi Huaijin before leaving.

"Really?" Shuyi sighed. "Yesterday, the master had a sullen face all day and seemed to be in a bad mood. He barely ate any food and would often drift off into thought. I had to repeat myself to him two or three times before he would respond."

This shouldn't have anything to do with me, right? Could there be some tricky situation behind the ghost incident? The underworld's investigation results haven't been officially released yet, so it seems I'll have to have a good talk with Qi Huaijin about this later.

The ghosts made a ruckus for a while until a faint light appeared on the horizon. One by one, the ghosts yawned wearily, and the concert ended in perfect unison. The ghosts returned to their places, and the incense shop returned to silence.

Outside the window, there were sounds of wind and birdsong, and in the distance, one could faintly hear the barking of dogs and crowing of roosters. The mortal realm presented a peaceful and tranquil scene.

...

Qi Huaijin got up as usual. While washing up, he noticed that he had some dark circles under his eyes. He stared at himself in the mirror for a long time. Usually, he would sleep soundly after lighting some calming incense, but for some reason, he had some insomnia last night.

After he refused the little ghost's request to "repay him with her body," the little ghost disappeared and didn't appear for a whole day; no one knew where she went.

He was the one who refused first, so why did he act this way?

Logically speaking, this was the right thing to do. He and Gu Qingqiu were never meant to be. He had been suppressing his instincts, not getting close to her or touching her anymore. But she was willing to get hurt for him and stand in front of him in times of crisis. Was he being too cruel to her?

But a short pain is worse than a long one. She should understand by now. But not being able to see her... it would be a lie to say I'm not sad, and it would be a lie to say I'm not regretful.

Before he knew it, Qi Huaijin's footsteps stopped at the door of the study. His gaze was fixed on the yellow talisman on the desk. It seemed... one was missing?

Qi Huaijin was stunned. She came back? When? Did he miss it while he was asleep?

Why didn't she wake herself up? Didn't she have anything to say?

Qi Huaijin rarely acted impulsively, but he couldn't help himself. For the first time, he didn't use the Ghost-Finding Talisman on a formal or necessary occasion. "Throughout the six directions and within the four seas, demons and monsters are lurking. One talisman can track them down! Go!"

The talisman he was holding shattered into a faint white light. Qi Huaijin walked toward the light, but the further he walked, the more he felt that the direction the light was pointing was not right. He finally stopped in front of his incense shop, and the white light slowly disappeared.

Is Gu Qingqiu here?

With mixed feelings, Qi Huaijin pushed open the door that he had opened thousands of times before. The incense shop was silent, and Gu Qingqiu was nowhere to be seen.

Is she avoiding me?

Qi Huaijin's face darkened again. He picked up a book and sat down in his seat, trying to distract himself by reading, but he couldn't concentrate and his eyes couldn't focus on the book at all.

Just then, a light, airy female voice came from under the desk, "Um... you seem to be holding your book upside down..."

Qi Huaijin slammed the book shut on the desk, pulled his chair back a few steps, and asked with a variety of expressions, "What are you doing squatting under my desk?"

"I was just about to sit in your chair and rest for a bit..." Gu Qingqiu said somewhat awkwardly, "Then I suddenly heard you push the door open and come in. I was startled and instinctively tried to hide. But when you came in, you didn't say anything, just held a book and seemed lost in thought. I didn't know how to greet you... And this posture felt a bit strange, like something out of a porn movie..."

"What kind of special action movie?" A hint of doubt flashed across Qi Huaijin's eyes, but he also knew that the little ghost girl's thought process was peculiar all day long. "Never mind, come out first and then we'll talk."

"Oh..." Gu Qingqiu obediently crawled out from under the table, stretched, and then hugged Qi Huaijin before he could react. "Master Qi, did you miss me?"

Qi Huaijin almost said "I want to," but in the end, reason prevailed and he pushed Gu Qingqiu away, straightened his clothes, and said, "We've only been apart for a day."

“Okay…” Gu Qingqiu was a little disappointed.

"Um...where did you go yesterday?" Qi Huaijin couldn't help but ask.

"You're home now." Gu Qingqiu answered every question. "By the way, while I was injured, did you manage to find out the origin of that vengeful ghost?"

Going home? Does the little ghost still have family in the underworld? So she didn't leave because she was rejected by herself...

Although she still had questions, Qi Huaijin was in a much better mood than usual, and answered Gu Qingqiu's question first. "That ghost seemed to be corrupted by malevolent energy and had lost its mind. It was taken away by ghost messengers from the underworld. However, before that, we discovered that a secret door connecting the underworld and the mortal world had somehow opened in the Chu River."

"In the Chu River?" Gu Qingqiu looked surprised. "How could that be?"

“It is indeed strange.” Qi Huaijin’s expression was also very serious. “Theoretically, apart from cemeteries and the Ten Courts of Hell, there shouldn’t be any landmarks that can communicate between the living and the dead. This is not in line with common sense.”

"Besides this, is there anything else unusual?" Gu Qingqiu's expression also turned serious.

Qi Huaijin shook his head. "Aside from the occasional person falling into the water and going missing, there's nothing else unusual. We've also compared and analyzed the frequency of drownings in other rivers with the list and data of people who have drowned in the Chu River in recent years. The frequency of accidents in the Chu River is not significantly abnormal, and the government can't possibly prevent all residents and tourists from getting close to the Chu River."

That's certainly true.

However, this is not the first time such a situation has occurred. The appearance of such a secret door that can communicate between the Yin and Yang realms is often accompanied by disasters and abnormal events. For example, such a secret door that could communicate between the Yin and Yang realms appeared in a zoo, and the animals in the zoo were affected, becoming agitated and uncontrollable, and there were repeated incidents of them harming tourists.

On one occasion, a hidden door appeared in a stream in a village. People who wore clothes washed in the stream would develop red and swollen skin, and the cause could not be found in the hospital. People who ate fish from the stream would fall seriously ill, and some elderly people would even die as a result.

Given the vastness of the Chu River, the presence of a hidden door could endanger countless ordinary people, necessitating immediate action.

Gu Qingqiu suddenly thought of something, "Wait, what's the situation with those residents who ate the fruit?"

Qi Huaijin said, "Don't worry, someone has already come to their home to perform a ritual to exorcise the evil spirits. Everything is fine now. The fruit shop is also being managed by a special agency, and the bodies of the fruit shop owner and his wife have been buried."

However, Gu Qingqiu still felt uneasy. The hidden door that appeared out of nowhere in the Chu River was definitely not that simple.