TL: Hua

Chapter 10: Reliable

You Xingyue looked at Gu Min and the Pixiu. In his eyes, the thread between the Pixiu and Gu Min was exceptionally stable, and a radiant glow even shimmered upon it.

Only a sufficiently firm thread would emit light.

You Xingyue’s gaze softened considerably: “Mr. Gu, you possess a destiny of wealth and nobility, and you have performed many good deeds. The Gu family supports the Yingjiang City orphanage every year. Meanwhile, the Pixiu is an auspicious beast. You and the Pixiu can be said to fulfill each other. If it were anyone else, it might not be this effective.”

A newly birthed vessel spirit like the little Pixiu could only produce such astonishing effects because it met a contract holder with an extremely high degree of compatibility like Gu Min. As for Gu Min, no matter how good his destiny was, without the Pixiu’s auspicious fortune assisting him, achieving success would have still required going through twists and turns.

Gu Min and the Pixiu were simply too perfect a match.

Gu Min adopted a serious expression: “I understand. Thank you, Boss.”

You Xingyue placed the Pixiu ornament into a wooden box that had been prepared long ago, saying with a smile, “You’re welcome. Meeting you is a stroke of fate for both the Pixiu and me. If you have any issues regarding the Pixiu in the future, you can always come find me.”

Gu Min took the wooden box: “Alright. I will take the Pixiu back now, and I will definitely visit you often in the future.”

The Pixiu vessel spirit lazily crawled into Gu Min’s pocket, turned over inside, then hooked its paws over the edge of the pocket, poked its head out, and raised a tiny paw to wave at You Xingyue.

You Xingyue stood up and waved back at the little Pixiu.

Zhou Fan remained in a daze until his own mother bade farewell to the boss with a face full of regret: “Master You, I’m a bit tired and will be heading back soon. The items in your shop are all wonderful. It’s just that at home…”

Zhang Xuemei smiled a bit self-consciously.

For Zhang Xuemei to open a shop on Nanbei Street, her family background was naturally substantial, but not so wealthy that she could casually buy an antique to take home. And the antiques in Not Keeping Guests looked far too valuable.

You Xingyue smiled gently: “Auntie, I’m already very happy that you and your son came to help me liven up the opening. By the way, make sure to always wear that red string on your wrist. If anything happens, you can come to me.”

Saying that, You Xingyue saw Zhang Xuemei to the door. As the three of them passed the last display rack, Zhang Xuemei caught sight of the golden toad at a glance.

Scared, Zhang Xuemei hid behind You Xingyue: “Master, you haven’t… disposed of it yet?”

You Xingyue steadily supported Zhang Xuemei’s arm. Though he looked slender, the muscle lines on his forearms were clear and quite strong.

“Don’t be afraid, Auntie. It has turned over a new leaf now.”

The golden toad had been suppressed precisely because it coveted the fetus in Zhang Xuemei’s womb. Terrified of scaring Zhang Xuemei this time and being suppressed even more severely by the boss, it hurriedly whispered, “Yes, yes, yes, I’ve really turned over a new leaf.”

The golden toad was an evil deity and could manifest before humans. The voice it produced could naturally be heard by ordinary people as well. Its voice wasn’t loud, just enough for Zhang Xuemei and Zhou Fan to hear.

Zhou Fan’s face turned pale in an instant. Unable to control his volume, he shouted out and frantically looked at You Xingyue: “Holy shit! How can it…”

“Shh—”

You Xingyue raised a finger to his lips. Naturally gentle and handsome, his eyes behind those thin metal-framed glasses held a subtle shadow, seeming to harbor a faint smile.

In a single instant, Zhou Fan’s worldview shattered completely, and his feet felt light as if floating on air. Dear Lord, there really are demons and monsters in this world?!

……

Once Gu Min and Zhou Fan left, they took all their classmates with them. Before leaving, one of the boys even snuck a touch of a bronze incense burner on the shelf.

You Xingyue: “…”

Before he could say anything, the boy quickly pulled his hand back and ran off.

After Auntie Zhang’s group left, silence descended upon the shop once again. The few remaining scattered customers nudged each other and also departed from the antique store.

You Xingyue had just sold a Pixiu for five hundred thousand yuan; they truly couldn’t afford the antiques here. If they accidentally broke one, they might even have to pay compensation.

Bu Liuke clung tightly to You Xingyue’s arm: “That boy kept filming with his phone. He was shooting you and Gu Min for quite a while, almost as if he were recording a video.”

Accompanied by You Xingyue, he had learned quite a few new things about modern society. Having lived through several eras while maintaining the appearance, the curiosity, and the innocence of a child, his ability to learn was naturally second to none.

You Xingyue didn’t care: “Let him film as he pleases.”

It was probably just a video. In any case, posting it online wouldn’t attract much attention.

Bu Liuke nodded, half-understanding: “I’ll go to the storeroom to get a new antique to fill the empty spot.”

With the Pixiu gone, an empty space was left on the shelf.

You Xingyue nodded: “Alright.”

He returned to the bedroom and pulled out the jade box. Wangfu’s main body lay tightly within it, with only one final layer of threads remaining on top.

Though called a layer, it was actually just a single thread. Because it was so long, it wrapped around Wangfu’s main body in a full turn.

Busy with renovating the antique shop over the past few days, he hadn’t managed to find time to clear this final thread.

You Xingyue hooked a finger around the thread. The moment he touched it, weeping echoed in his ears, and feelings of despair and resentment instantly flooded his heart.

“I can’t die, I can’t die… My parents are still waiting for me at home…”

“Where is justice? Where is justice! My hatred and grievances cannot be vindicated—I refuse to accept this!”

“The hatred of a fallen nation! The blood feud of a slaughtered city!”

…

The thread itself was the incarnation of connection, bearing the lingering obsession of living beings. This final layer of thread, wrapped directly around Wangfu’s main body, was tens of thousands of times more stubborn and frantic than the outer layers.

When Bu Liuke returned from the storeroom, he was so terrified that he dropped the gold vessel in his hands and scrambled to You Xingyue’s side: “Xingyue! Xingyue! Wake up, quick!”

This is bad. He had forgotten to remind You Xingyue that the final layer of thread was extremely troublesome and needed to be extracted with caution; otherwise, one would suffer backlash from it!

Wangfu was born of the rules of Heaven and Earth, an entity of transcendent status among ghosts and gods. For these threads to be able to tangle around Wangfu’s main body, one could only imagine how paranoid and obsessive they were!

Panic welled up in Bu Liuke’s heart. Previous shop owners always faced extreme headaches when clearing the final layer of thread. Many of those owners were great demons of their eras, yet even they had to rest for a long time after suffering backlash from the thread. Would Xingyue… would his life be put in danger by the thread?!

You Xingyue’s eyes lost their focus. His mind was completely consumed by the emotions within the thread, making him unable to receive any external information or hear Bu Liuke’s calls at all.

Bu Liuke reached out and grabbed You Xingyue’s hand, trying to pull it away from Wangfu.

Sensing Bu Liuke’s intentions, the thread stuck its head out like a snake and crept up You Xingyue’s fingertips inch by inch. Wherever it passed, the thread sprouted capillary-like branches that plunged into his skin to absorb his blood.

Gorged on blood, the thread turned a vivid red, with one end vanishing into You Xingyue’s sleeve. Though Bu Liuke couldn’t see it, he knew these threads were bound to follow the blood vessels straight toward his heart!

The thread grew redder and redder, oozing drops of blood from its surface.

With trembling fingers, Bu Liuke turned to pull at the thread, attempting to unwrap it from You Xingyue’s wrist. Bu Liuke lacked a body of flesh and blood and couldn’t understand love, hatred, or human emotions, so he remained unaffected by the thread’s influence. However, he was far too weak right now. Not only could he not untangle the thread, but he would also suffer backlash from it!

You Xingyue felt as if he were standing in total darkness, surrounded by countless threads weaving through the shadows.

Sighs, sobs, wails of agony, screams… Negative emotions flooded You Xingyue’s heart.

In a trance, You Xingyue recalled a scene from a dozen or so years ago. Back then, the economy was far less developed than it is now. Children in the orphanage lived hand-to-mouth; everyone scraped by, and a single lightly padded coat had to last through many winters.

One year in Yingjiang City was exceptionally cold. Seven-year-old You Xingyue thought he would freeze to death, but later, the children in the room huddled together in a house without heating, keeping each other warm to endure that freezing winter.

Hopelessness toward living and despair toward dying surged into You Xingyue’s heart simultaneously.

You Xingyue frowned slightly.

“Come with me,” a voice lingered in You Xingyue’s ear. “All things under heaven must eventually die. Rather than waiting to fall into the underworld after death and unwillingly enter reincarnation, why not merge with me right now and transcend life and death…”

You Xingyue snapped out of the emotional haze and politely interrupted the voice: “After I die, I plan to apply for a civil service position in the underworld. Reincarnation probably won’t be necessary.”

The voice: “?”

You Xingyue: “Don’t you get it? Benefits. Does transcending life and death come with benefits?”

The voice: “…”

You Xingyue asked courteously: “Does your ‘transcending life and death’ mean clinging tightly to Wangfu’s body, starving on the River of Forgetfulness, and then being untangled by me to feed Bu Liuke?”

The voice flew into a rage: “You! You! Let me tell you, in your next life, you will still live a life like this, fleeting like the morning dew. How dare you remain unrepentant!”

Along with the voice’s fury, the negative emotions surrounding You Xingyue whipped up a fresh wave, attempting to engulf him once more. You Xingyue let out a soft laugh: “Save it. This trick won’t work on me a second time. No emotion can control my thinking.”

You Xingyue closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, he accurately grabbed a bright red thread amidst the tangled chaos and yanked it out by force!

In reality, the thread plunged into You Xingyue’s body was pulled out at the same time, bringing with it a spatter of blood that dripped onto the table. A couple of drops even splashed onto Wangfu’s main body. You Xingyue tossed the thread onto the table: “…”

Great. This was already the second time he had done something like this.

You Xingyue tossed the thread onto the table. Having lost a significant amount of blood, his complexion looked rather pale.

Overjoyed to the point of tears, Bu Liuke threw himself into You Xingyue’s arms: “I was so scared! It’s all my fault! All my fault! I’ve been asleep for centuries, so my memory is rusty. I forgot to tell you that the final layer of Wangfu’s thread requires the two of us to handle it together.”

With one hand, You Xingyue gently patted Bu Liuke’s hair while using the other to wipe the bloodstains off Wangfu. He even had spare attention to soothe Bu Liuke: “Don’t be afraid. I’m fine. Just now, I was merely…”

You Xingyue’s wiping motion paused as his wrist was held by a familiar warmth.

You Xingyue pursed his lips, feeling a rare and belated touch of guilt. In just one short week of having Wangfu around, he had already gotten blood on Wangfu twice.

All his unreliability over the past twenty-plus years seemed to be catching up to him through Wangfu. Did he really have to embarrass himself this much?

Quietly taking a light breath, he raised his face with a smile. “Shi… I’m so sorry, I’ve…”

Shi Wuyan interrupted him: “Allowing you to suffer such an injury is my fault.”

Shi Wuyan cupped You Xingyue’s hand, soothing the wound.

Then he set You Xingyue’s hand down and turned his gaze toward the segment of thread: “And of course, it is also that thing’s fault.”

His movements were gentle, but his eyes were cold and dark.

Under Shi Wuyan’s gaze, the thread, gorged on You Xingyue’s blood, twitched with great difficulty twice.

You Xingyue was surprised: “You can see it?”

Yu Tu was also a ghost deity, yet he couldn’t even tell where the thread was.

Shi Wuyan said, “All life and death lie within my sight. As long as it exists, I can see it. However, the thread can only be seen, not touched.”

The Author Has Something to Say:

Mini Theater:

You Xingyue: I am reliable.

Wangfu: ?

You Xingyue (correcting himself): I am… basically reliable.

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