Chapter 43: Transaction "You really made it easy for me to find you, Chang, Xi, ...
Chang Xile met Dai Xigang's gaze, unsure how to respond. Her left hand held two silver rings, and in her right, she held the bank card Dai Shanyan had given her. Dai Xigang could see both.
She could actually understand the other person's feelings at the moment. It was indeed strange that a complete stranger appeared in the room of a deceased relative.
"I am here to fulfill Shanyan's last wish." Chang Xile said concisely.
"It's enough for me to fulfill her last wish. There's no need for an outsider like you." Daisy Gang wasn't satisfied with this answer. What he really wanted to ask was, "This room is clearly locked. How did you get in?"
This is a more complicated issue.
If she simply told them she could draw talismans, it would sound like she was being charlatanic. After all, there are still many atheists in this world, and explaining these strange and supernatural theories to them wouldn't be easy. Even Chang Xile herself had to experience it firsthand before she was willing to believe it.
Chang Xile didn't answer Daisy Gang. Instead, he tilted his head slightly and asked softly in the direction of the photo wall, "It seems I can't stay any longer. Is there anything else you want to say to him?"
If you don’t say it now, you may never have the chance again.
Dai Shanyan looked at Dai Xigang with a complicated expression. She took a deep breath, as if making up her mind. She asked, "I'll say one sentence, and you can repeat it. Is that okay?"
Chang Xile nodded.
Daisy Port saw that the woman's eyes were slightly blank, and she tilted her head as if listening to something, and then spoke to him word by word.
"Daisy Port, please apologize to my parents for me. I shouldn't have sneaked out of the house just to have fun. I shouldn't have been sick and hospitalized without telling my family."
"When I said the other day I hoped you would never come back to this house, it was just out of anger. Now that I'm dead, I won't make you angry anymore, and you can be happier in the future."
Daisy Port listened to Chang Xile in silence. His hand gripping the paper tightened unconsciously, and his eyes flushed slightly. He stared at Chang Xile's expression, trying to determine whether what she said was true. Then he followed her gaze. There was no one there, only a wall filled with photos.
He sneered, "Don't play tricks on my dead sister. I've had people investigate, and while you did save her life, we had no other connection. If you want a reward, you can ask the Dai family openly for it. We're not the kind of people who would be stingy with such a small sum."
He stared at the jewelry in her hand and said meaningfully, "Don't be like a thief and take things without asking. These may just be a tool for you to exchange money, but for us..."
Chang Xile finally gave him a look. She frowned, put her index finger to her lips, and hissed briefly, "I can't hear you clearly."
She was born with a pair of smiling eyes, and even when expressionless, the corners of her lips always curled slightly upward. But now, her expression was unusually solemn, as if she was deeply saddened but had to maintain a normal tone of voice. Daisy Port looked into her watery, sullen eyes and, for some reason, fell silent.
She continued, "I locked your study. I should have given you the key myself, but unfortunately I didn't wait until you got home. The key is on the top of the door frame. Don't be too surprised when you go in. Just think of it as my apology. And don't complain later that your parents got gifts but you didn't."
"...That's enough!" Daisy Gang could no longer tolerate this woman continuing to speak to him in the tone of his sister. He let go of the doorknob and strode forward, wanting to ask Chang Xile for clarification.
"Who are you? Don't come over here!" Chang Xile continued to repeat Dai Shanyan's words, but she felt something was wrong. She turned her head to look in the direction of Dai Shanyan's voice and asked, "Shanyan, who are you talking to?"
At the same time, as the wind blew violently outside the window and dark clouds covered the sun, the sky suddenly darkened.
"Da, da..." First, a few raindrops as big as beans hit the windowsill, and then heavy rain poured down. Looking out of the window, all the flowers, plants and trees in the mountains were covered by this heavy rain.
Beyond the sound of rain, Chang Xile heard that familiar cold voice.
"Dai Shanyan, female, should have died at mid-sentence on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Jiachen year, but actually died at midnight on the 19th day of the eighth month of the Jiachen year. It's you, right?"
"How do you know my name? Don't come over here, don't touch me!"
Chang Xile could only hear someone talking to Dai Shanyan in front of the photo wall, but she couldn't see anything. However, she had a strong premonition that this uninvited guest was the same man in black she had seen in her dreams and even at Xu Wanjia's funeral.
"You have stayed in this world for too long. It's time to go."
"No... I haven't seen anyone yet, and I have many things to say. I can't leave." Dai Shanyan subconsciously hid in the direction of Chang Xile, seeking shelter.
Chang Xile felt the sound of Dai Shanyan running towards her. She raised her right hand to protect her behind her, but at that moment, she felt an extremely cold air penetrate into her body through her fingertips.
She felt her legs go weak and she was about to kneel on the ground. She was only able to stand when Daisy Gang, who had just walked up to her, held her arm.
"What on earth are you doing?" Daisy Gang frowned, his patience almost running out. However, when he met Chang Xile's gaze, the next words were choked in his throat.
Her face was pale, and she stared at Daisy Harbor's face, murmuring, "Brother...?"
Chang Xile's eyes at this moment are really, so similar... so similar to hers.
The next second, her eyes went from wet and confused to clear and resolute. Chang Xile shook her head vigorously to stay awake, waved away Dai Xigang's hand that was holding her, gritted her teeth and stood up straight, staring at the man in the black windbreaker who had stood in front of her at some point, as if facing a great enemy.
He folded his arms, looking calm and composed. His familiar, beautiful eyes looked straight at her and he sighed with a smile, "You really made it hard for me to find you, Chang Xile."
This was the first time she saw the man's full appearance clearly. He was tall and thin, with a handsome face, and he was clearly smiling, but Chang Xile couldn't help shivering.
This man who had haunted her dreams time and again had appeared in reality more than once. Now it was confirmed that he really existed and was not just a dream.
"Who are you?" she asked.
The man raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you need to know that.”
"You already know my name." Chang Xile didn't give up after being rejected. She continued to ask, "Don't you want to reciprocate?"
"My last name is Xie, and I'm Wuchang." The man didn't know what he was thinking, and suddenly felt that it would be okay to tell her. He suggested very gentlemanly, "You can call me Xiao Xie."
"What do you want to do?" Chang Xile was startled when she heard the word "impermanence". She glanced at the increasingly heavy rain outside the window and frowned slightly.
This question was so unlike Chang Xile to ask, because the answer was so obvious. Wu Chang raised his hand and pointed at Chang Xile's body, saying, "Take her away."
Chang Xile didn't understand at first why he used the third person pronoun "she" when he was clearly pointing at her. However, when she heard Dai Shanyan sobbing in her mind, she suddenly realized where the chill had come from.
Dai Shanyan is now attached to her.
He wants to take Dai Shanyan's soul away.
Before Chang Xile could figure out how to respond, he suddenly tilted his head, his expressionless face revealing Chang Xile's intention: "You're stalling for time. Why? Do you want to keep her?"
He discovered it.
The last time I saw this man named Xie in real life was on a cloudy and overcast day. He disappeared as soon as the sun came out.
Chang Xile glanced at Dai Xigang, who was standing nearby. He looked at Chang Xile with a strange expression as he muttered to himself facing a wall, obviously unable to see this uninvited guest. This meant that this was a ghost without a physical body.
Beings like ghosts and monsters always have conditions for appearing in the real world. Chang Xile originally thought that perhaps he couldn't see the sun. However, he said he was Impermanence. Chang Xile knew very little about Impermanence, but he had a general idea of their daily duties. Could such a being be afraid of sunlight?
She wasn't sure.
What's more, this sudden rain seems to be going on for three days and three nights, so the idea of "waiting for the weather to clear up" can be directly abandoned.
"Do you want to take her to reincarnate?" Chang Xile thought for a moment and asked him.
"Not everyone is eligible for reincarnation. I'm only responsible for taking her down," Wu Chang answered sincerely. When Dai Shanyan died, he hadn't been able to find her soul. Knowing that people return home seven days after death, he staked out the villa for two days before finally finding the escaped ghost.
"Can't we wait a little longer? She hasn't said goodbye to her family properly yet." Chang Xile hesitated. The world of the living has its own order, and so does the world of the dead. Wandering the mortal world clearly wasn't the best fate for Dai Shanyan; it might even become a horrific punishment in a few years. But Dai Shanyan was still planning her funeral arrangements with her family; taking her away like that was too cruel.
"Ha, I didn't even say goodbye to my family when I died, so who cares?" The Impermanence seemed to have heard a joke. He yawned, decided not to waste time talking to Chang Xile, and stretched out his hand to make a beckoning gesture to her.
Chang Xile immediately felt her body boiling with fire, her ears ringing with screams and cries of pain. She knelt on the ground, feeling as if her soul was being pulled out of her body in excruciating pain.
Wu Chang lowered his hand, sighed, and took a few steps forward, kneeling on one knee in front of Chang Xile. She was already sweating profusely, but when she raised her head, her eyes were gleaming with coldness, without a trace of fear.
"You are really like a newborn calf who is not afraid of a tiger. You voluntarily let her possess you. Aren't you afraid of being attacked by the vengeful spirit?" He could draw away the soul, but if he forcibly drew the soul from Chang Xile's body, he was afraid that both souls would be drawn out together, leaving only an empty shell.
"I know. This is your duty." Chang Xile answered irrelevantly. She didn't have much strength left, so each word was difficult to say. "But even if she's dead, she's still a human being. You can't just kidnap someone like you would any other object. She has feelings and thoughts, and she's your equal."
"Let her say goodbye to her family. She'll be willing to leave." Chang Xile forced a smile and said, "After all, you're a public official. Can't you try to be more flexible in enforcing the law?"
Wu Chang was silent for a moment, thinking carefully about what she had said. He thought for a moment and then shook his head decisively: "Everyone has their own obsessions. If I had to fulfill the wishes of every ghost I took away, I would never be able to finish my work even if I worked overtime until I died."
"That only means that you are short-staffed and oversaturated with work. It's time to expand recruitment." Chang Xile saw that he was willing to respond to her words. Being able to communicate meant there was hope, so she immediately continued following his logic.
Unexpectedly, Wu Chang nodded in approval. He held Chang Xile's arm and helped her up.
He said with a half-smile, "That's exactly what I meant."
"How about we make a deal?" Wu Chang licked his teeth and said with interest, "I agree to let her say her final goodbyes to her family, but you have to agree to one thing I ask."
Chang Xile stared into his eyes. At this moment, she really couldn't think of any other solution. She was just an ordinary person, with a little knowledge of ghosts and monsters at most, but it was difficult for her to compete with a truly powerful Wuchang.
"If I can do it." She added a condition.
"Of course." Wu Chang's smile grew even brighter. His eyes had drooped, making him look gloomy, but now he looked like a young man in his twenties, full of vigor and vitality. He held Chang Xile's hand tightly and said, "It's a deal."
Chang Xile didn't know that no matter how cautious he thought he was, he shouldn't easily make deals with ghosts - especially those that have been wandering around for many, many years.
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