CHAPTER 52: CHAPTER 35: PAPERMAN PROTECTING HER HUSBAND (PART 1)

"Sang Mulan?"

Just after crossing the road, Sang Que heard someone call her by her nickname. Turning around, she saw a tall young man in a basketball jersey, carrying two bags of fruit, walking towards her.

"Xu Yichao?"

Sang Que instinctively stepped back half a step, cautiously looking behind Xu Yichao’s head. A shadow quickly shrank away, almost as if... it was afraid of her?

"Damn, how did you get so good-looking? Did you get plastic surgery or was I just blind before?"

Xu Yichao walked up to Sang Que, eyes wide in shock as he looked at her.

Sang Que frowned, not understanding where Xu Yichao’s words were coming from. However, his taste did seem a bit off; someone had once shown him a photo of Immortal Sister, and after looking at it for a long time he only said, ’She’s average.’ In his eyes, there were no beautiful women.

At this moment, Sang Que caught sight of a small pale paperman hand stretching out from behind Xu Yichao’s head, trembling, trying to cover Xu Yichao’s eyes. Realizing Sang Que’s gaze, it quickly shrank back again.

Sang Que understood that Xu Yichao must have been under a ghost’s spell before, which was why his perception of women’s beauty was off.

"What are you doing here? Such a big box, is there a sniper rifle inside? Could it be that being a killer is your true identity?"

Xu Yichao was naturally friendly, always acting so silly with everyone.

Sang Que retorted, "What are you doing here?"

Xu Yichao raised the fruits in his hand. "Didn’t we talk about stories in the group a few days ago and mention Grandma Temple Guardian? My grandma asked me to bring some fruits to visit her, since she’s my savior. I forgot after gaming at the internet café this morning, just remembered now, hehe."

"I’m also here to find her."

"You believe in these things too? So... together?" Xu Yichao raised his hand to scratch his head, blushing slightly.

"I think you’d better go back first; something doesn’t feel right in the village today."

Sang Que looked deep into the village. It was only five o’clock, yet it was as dark as night, giving her an ominous feeling.

Xu Yichao combed through his hair with a smile, "What’s there to be afraid of? It’s not like I haven’t seen ghosts, plus there’s Grandma Temple Guardian here, nothing’s gonna happen. Come on, I know the village well, I’ll show you around. If anything happens, I can, uh..."

Xu Yichao initially wanted to say he would protect Sang Que, but then he remembered how, just after entering high school, Sang Que had become famous at the school’s alley.

Back then, with a half-eaten pancake in her hand, she easily took down three bullies harassing a classmate, and then casually finished her pancake while stepping on the leader’s face, only wiping her mouth clean before heading to class.

Later, when those three gathered reinforcements looking for trouble, Sang Que made a single phone call to summon a group of martial artists, all of whom dragged those troublemakers to the police station, leaving no one behind.

The male classmate she saved even now comes to their classroom daily to fill Sang Que’s desk with snacks, unfailing for over a year.

Xu Yichao awkwardly scratched his head and suddenly noticed an elderly man with a red armband coming from the corner, eyes scanning the area.

"Damn! Dongzi’s uncle is patrolling here, he definitely won’t let us enter the village casually. He’s the hardest to deal with, follow me."

Xu Yichao half-covered his face and swiftly turned away, Sang Que glanced at the patrolling old man, then followed Xu Yichao, texting her mom that she was handling some affairs in Xujiawan Village and wouldn’t be home for dinner.

Sang Que kept a safe distance from Xu Yichao, one hand carrying the box, the other hand in her pocket gripping the Ghost Soldier Talisman.

"Why is it so dark and foggy here? All my childhood nightmares are resurfacing!"

The village was shrouded in a blue mist, deathly silent except for the occasional cat’s meow, sending chills down one’s spine.

Xu Yichao glanced at Sang Que beside him, her face emotionless and calm, feeling slightly embarrassed as he straightened his back, took out his phone, and turned on the flashlight, pretending to stay cool among the ruins.

"Does Grandma Xu Shufen have any other family? Did she mention where she’d move after the relocation is done?"

Sang Que had considered inviting Grandma Xu Shufen to live in her community, having a unit next door that was still vacant, with no tenant yet.

Xu Yichao shook his head, "I don’t know. My grandma said that all these temple guardians are unfortunate people, and when Grandma Temple Guardian was a teenager, her parents died in an accident. Her sister went abroad with relatives, leaving her alone to guard the temple in the village."

"Later, she married a man from out of town, who was also a loner. After the marriage, he stayed in the village. My grandma said that during that time Grandma Temple Guardian was pretty happy. She had company, someone to care for her, and even bore twin boys. But sadly, the children died of illness at three."

Sang Que suddenly remembered that besides an old man, she had seen two children around three years old in Xu Shufen’s house.

She wondered whether Grandma Xu’s fate had anything to do with her devotion to the Mountain God. If so, even serving a Wild Mountain God had such severe consequences.

In that case, what price must one pay in the Mysterious World under the supposed tutelage of a Daoist Lord?

"Her husband passed away in his sixties, over ten years ago, and Grandma Temple Guardian has lived alone in the village ever since. My grandma said she never charges for reading fortunes for villagers and makes a living collecting scrap, donating the money her husband saved for her to college students instead."

"Hey? It’s not Mid-Autumn Festival yet; who’s offering sacrifices to ancestors here?"

Coming out from the ruins ahead, Xu Yichao’s phone light illuminated three plates encircled by bricks at the street corner, containing offerings.

A black cat tried to steal a roasted chicken but was scared away by Xu Yichao’s phone light.

Sang Que looked around, feeling that the atmosphere was indeed wrong. Although the village was dark last time, it didn’t have this chilling, hair-raising aura.

"Help! Help—"

A woman screamed as she ran out of the front street. Xu Yichao’s phone light offered her hope, and she crawled towards them as if a murderer were chasing her.

Upon seeing them clearly, the woman instinctively rushed towards the taller, more robust Xu Yichao.

At that moment, Sang Que caught a glimpse of half a paperman’s face flash behind Xu Yichao, and the woman tripped over her feet, falling to the ground, failing to embrace Xu Yichao.

Startled, Xu Yichao leaned closer to Sang Que, "Miss, who are you, and why are you screaming like a ghost here?"

Xu Yichao shone his phone in the direction the woman came from, only seeing the black cat quickly cross the street, with nothing else in sight.

The woman’s curly hair was disheveled, her red dress torn in several places, tears and sweat mixing on her face, smudging her makeup. She was none other than Sister Hong from the Four Great Kings of Spirit Exploration.

Still trembling, she glanced back twice before standing, hugging her arms tightly, and spoke to them in a quavering voice, "There’s a ghost! That butcher from Fatty Pork Shop is chasing me with a knife, and my friend is locked inside the shop. Please, help me save him."

Xu Yichao looked at Sang Que, who frowned. Xu Yichao immediately said, "What nonsense are you spouting? Where are there... where are there ghosts in this world?"

Even Xu Yichao himself was uncertain, uncontrollably glancing at the Fatty Pork Shop at the street’s edge. Having grown up in the village, he knew the butcher shop’s brutal dismemberment case.

During that time, rumors in the village suggested Fatty sold human and cat meat as pork, making him too afraid to eat pork and starving him into skin and bones until his grandpa forced him to eat.

Hmm... it tasted wonderful!

Sister Hong tried to grab Xu Yichao’s arm when there was a sudden bang.

"Ah!!"

Sister Hong screamed and retracted her hand in fright as a brick nearly fell on her foot from nowhere.

Sang Que sensed that the paperman behind Xu Yichao wasn’t too malicious, just extremely possessive. She stepped in front of Xu Yichao to separate him from Sister Hong. These constant disturbances were hindering her from locating other Evil Spirits.

"Stay away from him, and don’t touch him."

Hearing this, Xu Yichao opened his eyes wide, his ears turning bright red at Sang Que’s assertive stance.

"Don’t flatter yourself. I’m not interested in you."

Before Xu Yichao’s passionate heart could cool, it was doused with cold water. He coughed twice to cover his embarrassment.

He glanced at the paperman on his shoulder, which looked at Sang Que for a moment before quickly retracting.