Chapter 12: Fierce Ghost

TL note: The pronoun in this novel is a little confusing. I assume spirits and ghosts don’t have a gender, so I always use “it” to refer to them. But starting this chapter, Gu Min uses “he/him” to refer to the Pixiu, and the spirits also refer to each other as “he/him.” So I might just use both depending on who’s speaking.

You Xingyue didn’t speak for a moment, making the delivery driver assume he was skeptical about the price, so he quickly explained: “Cash on delivery is a bit more expensive than prepaid, plus this one selected thirty yuan worth of shipping insurance.”

Since it had actively come to find Not Keeping Guests, it was bound to be an antique, so shipping insurance was quite normal.

You Xingyue sighed and said, “Alright, I’ll scan your code.”

You Xingyue scanned the QR code to pay, then bent down to pick up the box. He didn’t know what was inside, but it felt unexpectedly heavy in his hands.

You Xingyue set the box down and tore open the tape.

Bu Liuke sat blankly on a chair, feeling utterly conflicted: “I seem… unable to sense what kind of vessel spirit is inside.”

Back at the Cao family residence, before Bu Liuke had even set eyes on it, he could state the Pixiu vessel spirit’s true body in one breath. Yet now, he surprisingly couldn’t tell what vessel spirit was in the box.

You Xingyue smiled: “Could it be an antique that even you don’t recognize?”

Bu Liuke scrambled onto the table, brimming with curiosity.

As he spoke, You Xingyue opened the cardboard box.

Greeting his eyes was a thick, heavy… laptop.

An old-fashioned laptop, thick as a brick, secured in the box with foam padding. Beside it lay a charger and two faded little speakers.

Bu Liuke had never seen this kind of laptop before and gasped in surprise: “Is this some kind of new magical artifact?! I’ve actually never seen one before!”

You Xingyue: “…It’s an old-fashioned laptop.”

Bu Liuke realized with a burst of understanding: “So it’s an old-fashioned one.”

Whenever You Xingyue had free time, he would teach Bu Liuke how to use a computer. His own laptop was an office-model laptop bought for his graduation thesis, which looked relatively thin, light, and sleek.

“Boss! I’m down here!”

A male voice called out from beneath the laptop.

You Xingyue picked up the laptop and spotted a dusty, stick-shaped object underneath the foam.

The stick-shaped object shouted, “It’s me, Boss! So many antiques! This must be that ‘Not Keeping Guests’ shop that specifically takes in antiques, right?”

You Xingyue looked closely, only then realizing that the stick-shaped object was a wooden hairpin. The head of the hairpin was carved into the shape of a feather, but because it was covered in so much dust, it looked old and dull.

You Xingyue: “It is Not Keeping Guests. How did you get here?”

The wooden hairpin blurted out, “We took a courier truck here! Boss, hurry and charge Ultra-Thin.”

A thought popped into You Xingyue’s mind: “You’re not going to tell me that ‘Ultra-Thin’ refers to this laptop, that it developed intelligence, and then the two of you mailed yourselves to me together, are you?”

The wooden hairpin was overjoyed: “My goodness, Boss, you’re way too smart! You actually guessed it!”

You Xingyue said gloomily, “…Thanks.”

He felt like he was being praised by a fool, and he wasn’t particularly happy about it.

Bu Liuke was deeply shocked. He reached out to touch the laptop casing and marveled: “A laptop can cultivate into a spirit too?! I’ve never heard of such a thing!”

The wooden hairpin babbled on. “My name is Zitan[1]. I’m a red sandalwood hairpin. Ultra-Thin and I belong to the same household, and we’ve been looking for ‘Not Keeping Guests’ all along. Two months ago, that family moved away because of demolition. The residential complex is cutting off power and water in two days. It doesn’t matter much to me, but if Ultra-Thin runs out of power, it’ll be disastrous.”

While Zitan was talking, You Xingyue plugged the laptop Ultra-Thin into the charger.

Just after connecting the charger, Ultra-Thin booted up automatically. Even though it was an old-model laptop, its boot speed was faster than You Xingyue’s own.

You Xingyue connected the speakers, and the laptop couldn’t wait to speak up: “Boss!”

You Xingyue pulled a silk handkerchief from a wooden box and slowly wiped Zitan clean, asking: “Did you run straight over here without worrying that your family would look for you?”

Mentioning this, Zitan began to feel aggrieved: “I’m a fine piece of small-leaf red sandalwood hairpin, formerly my great-grandmother’s dowry! To think the male master of that house treated me like a piece of rotten wood and threw me into the storage room!”

Ultra-Thin vented its grievances: “Sigh, they all moved away. Both Zitan and I were abandoned because we were too old. If we hadn’t run fast, once they demolished the building, both of us would have been finished. Boss, you have no idea. After I turned into a spirit, I hacked into the forum of the Non-Human Planning Bureau. It wasn’t easy learning about Not Keeping Guests’ existence, but I couldn’t find specific details anywhere. It was only yesterday that I found the address on a forum!”

While wiping down Zitan, You Xingyue asked curiously: “What forum? And how did you get my phone number?”

Under the wiping of the silk cloth, Zitan gradually revealed its true form, a fine, warm red sandalwood wood that could rival soft jade.

For wood like red sandalwood, under proper handling and polishing, its luster and appearance would rise to the next level. Well-handled red sandalwood bracelets would look glossy and smooth.

Ultra-Thin’s screen flashed, jumping in the blink of an eye to Yingjiang University of Science and Technology’s campus forum, pulling up Gu Min’s thread: “This one! The phone number wasn’t hard either. Thanks to all kinds of sketchy websites, and thanks to Boss’s college campus forum.”

You Xingyue cleared his throat: “Clever. So, coming here, do you want a place to stay, or are you looking for someone destined for you?”

Ultra-Thin said with melancholy, “I’m just an outdated laptop. Even though I named myself Ultra-Thin, I reckon nobody would want me even if I paid them to take me. Zitan might be fine; he looks pretty handsome, but as for me, forget it.”

You Xingyue blatantly lied, trying to comfort Ultra-Thin: “Maybe someone will suddenly lose their mind?”

Ultra-Thin: “…”

Ultra-Thin: “Sigh. I’ve thought it through. I’d better just stay by Boss’s side. In my former home, there was a little boy who secretly used me to get online. Leaving aside him playing games on me, he also watched some really weird websites. Even now, my hard drive is stuffed full of videos, and his taste was pretty heavy. Hey, Boss, do you know what those videos are? Those videos are…”

You Xingyue suddenly coughed loudly: “Ahem!”

Ultra-Thin quickly stopped and changed the subject: “Boss, I’m very easy to keep! You don’t even need to pay for the internet. I can connect directly to the cell tower signal. I just need a bit of charging.”

You Xingyue: “You can stay as long as you like.”

He subtly glanced at his own phone, lost in thought. Thank goodness he doesn’t watch weird websites. He only reads novels.

These days, even electronic products can become spirits. After death, there probably won’t be any privacy left to speak of.

Cleaned until not a speck of dust remained, Zitan felt so comfortable in You Xingyue’s hand that its voice trembled: “I still want to find someone to keep me company, preferably a young lady. My first owner was a beauty, and I miss the fragrance in a girl’s hair even in my dreams. Without a girl, I’ll die.”

Zitan had a crisp, pleasant male voice, making these words sound exceedingly strange when spoken.

You Xingyue said tactfully, “That sounds pretty dissolute.”

Bu Liuke quickly explained, “Objects don’t have a concept of gender. Even some artifacts with supreme cultivation that can take human form don’t care about gender like humans do.”

You Xingyue couldn’t help but think of Wangfu, raising an eyebrow slightly.

Zitan whined in response: “Not many guys keep long hair these days anyway.”

You Xingyue: “That’s true. Just stay here for now. A little Pixiu just left a while ago, so you might not necessarily find someone you like anytime soon.”

As You Xingyue laid Zitan horizontally across the wooden display rack, his phone rang urgently. He glanced at his phone. It was surprisingly a call from Gu Min: “Hello?”

Gu Min’s anxious voice came from the other end: “Boss, do you have time to come to my house right now?”

You Xingyue froze: “I have time. Has something happened to the Pixiu?”

Gu Min’s voice was low, suppressing a surge of anger: “I… I took the Pixiu out with me to class today. Right after class ended, the vessel spirit suddenly vanished. Now I can’t sense him either—”

You Xingyue frowned: “Where are you right now?”

Gu Min: “I’m three minutes away from Nanbei Street.”

You Xingyue: “I’ll wait for you at the south entrance of Nanbei Street.”

Gu Min said urgently, “Alright.”

You Xingyue hung up the phone and grabbed his shoulder bag off to the side: “Bu Liuke, can you watch the shop?”

Bu Liuke nodded with worry: “Okay. Be careful out there. Don’t push yourself too hard. You’ve been injured several times over the past few days.”

You Xingyue smiled gently and bent down to rub the top of Bu Liuke’s head: “Don’t worry.”

When You Xingyue walked to the entrance of Nanbei Street, a black commercial vehicle pulled up sharply right in front of him. The window rolled down to reveal Gu Min’s face: “Boss.”

You Xingyue pulled open the door, sat in the passenger seat, and buckled his seatbelt: “Don’t panic; let’s head over first.”

Gu Min let out a soft breath, his hands on the steering wheel trembling slightly: “I—”

He could barely bring himself to finish the sentence.

You Xingyue frowned: “Don’t be in such a rush. You formed a pact with the Pixiu. If anything happened to him, you would feel it. Since you’re fine right now, it proves there’s no major issue.”

Gu Min said raspy, “Alright.”

The commercial vehicle merged into the traffic, driving at the speed limit toward a very famous wealthy residential area in Yingjiang City.

The car drove past the security booth and turned into a villa without stopping along the way.

Gu Min pushed open the car door and walked hastily toward the villa, his pace accelerating almost into a jog as he neared it. The closer he got, the more clearly he could feel the Pixiu’s furious emotions.

Strong yin energy hovered near the villa, mingled with a clammy moisture. You Xingyue stepped out of the car and looked up at the sun.

It was already late afternoon, but the sun hadn’t completely set yet. What kind of fierce ghost could actually manifest outdoors at this time of day?

You Xingyue walked swiftly toward the villa. Gu Min hadn’t gone inside. Instead, he stood at the doorway with a strange expression. As You Xingyue drew closer, he began to hear the threatening “grrr-grrr” growls of a feline animal.

A water ghost’s murky eyeballs were fixed on the inside of the door.

You Xingyue: “?”

He walked over to Gu Min’s side and saw a water ghost standing in the shadow of the villa. The ghost was clutching a clump of water grass, dripping wet all over, with pale, bluish skin and ragged clothes of a dark, mossy green.

A fierce ghost.

Extremely tricky to deal with.

You Xingyue frowned.

Meanwhile, crouching just inside the villa’s doorway was the Pixiu vessel spirit, no bigger than a fist. Its fur was puffed up all over, and low growls of “grrr-grrr” issued from its throat.

It looked entirely like a little kitten fiercely defending its territory.

Compared to the bloated water ghost, the Pixiu wasn’t even as large as the ghost’s shoe.

Swinging the water grass in its hand, the water ghost couldn’t enter the house at will and merely said sinisterly, “Scram to the side, kitty.”

The Pixiu was furious: “I’ll bite you to death!”

Just as the little Pixiu finished making its fierce threat, it suddenly felt a tightness at the back of its neck as someone grabbed it directly by the scruff and tucked it into their coat.

Pixiu: “??”

Ignoring the water ghost, You Xingyue took a step inside the door, bent down, pinched the back of the Pixiu’s neck, lifted it right up, and tossed it into Gu Min’s arms: “Behave yourself.”

The little cat hadn’t fully grown yet; fighting a fierce ghost would inevitably be a desperate battle to the death.

The water grass in the water ghost’s hand stopped swaying, its eyeballs bulging in shock: Holy crap, who is this guy? He can even handle a Pixiu like that?

The commotion at the doorway caught the attention of the two men in the living room.

Two middle-aged men walked out with puzzled expressions. Around one of their necks was a green, dripping thread, with the other end held firmly in the water ghost’s hand.

You Xingyue raised an eyebrow—a fierce ghost claiming a life.

[1] Literally translated to sandalwood but I thinking keeping this name in Pinyin sounds better.

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