I Got Together with the Goddess [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 94

“It’s all my fault.”

“Senior Ghost, why do you say that?” Jiang Yiqing asked, puzzled.

Before the female ghost could answer her, Luo Shuyu pushed the door open and barged in. This was the mortuary on the second basement level. For some reason, there was such a gloomy place inside the nursing home, which gave her a very bad premonition.

Jiang Yiqing and Luo Shuyu’s eyes met. She clearly saw the anxiety in Luo Shuyu’s eyes. In Jiang Yiqing’s memory, the only person who could look at her with such concern was her Royal Sister; now, Luo Shuyu was the second.

Luo Shuyu knew that she wasn’t the original Yiqing. This care, even if it stemmed from the idea of looking after a client, belonged solely to her.

Luo Shuyu tried to step forward, but the female ghost pointed her sharp nails at Jiang Yiqing’s cheek and said, “Don’t move. If you move, I can’t guarantee what will happen to this girl’s pretty little face.”

Luo Shuyu, who had been clutching a talisman, relaxed her hand and placed both hands within the ghost’s line of sight. “Don’t be impulsive. I won’t do anything. I just want to know—why are you targeting her?”

The female ghost did not answer her question. Instead, she looked at Jiang Yiqing’s face with a hint of admiration. Years ago, her Qi’er also possessed such a beautiful face.

“Qi’er, you loved beauty the most. If I use this girl’s flesh and blood as nourishment to restore your vitality, what do you think?”

“I won’t let you do that,” Luo Shuyu said coldly. “Let her go. If you have any tricks, aim them at me.”

Jiang Yiqing was moved, and for a moment, she didn’t dare look up at Luo Shuyu. She turned her head to look at the bed nearby. Could the person lying there be the “Qi’er” the ghost spoke of?

But why would there be a corpse in a nursing home? Even if it were a corpse, how could it stay here in such a state? Most importantly, how could a ghost be with a corpse? Was this ghost thinking of some extremely heterodox method?

“Luo Shuyu, I know your name.” The female ghost laughed upon hearing this. “No matter how powerful a ghost is, they tremble at the mention of you. Tell me, why must you cross me? Even if I fail to fulfill my wish and lose to you, I won’t make things easy for you.”

The ghost’s other hand suddenly made a movement as if pulling silk threads. Jiang Yiqing felt her right hand being pulled by a force and subconsciously raised it.

“You and her are bound by a sturdy red thread. It makes me so envious,” the ghost laughed. “It was because Qi’er and I lost this thread that we ended up separated by the boundary of life and death. Luo Shuyu, tell me, if I break this thread for you, what will happen to the two of you?”

“…What red thread?” Jiang Yiqing asked, confused. She didn’t understand.

The system explained: “This ghost had spiritual intuition when she was alive and can see the red threads invisible to ordinary people. These are the legendary bonds that exist between people destined for each other. When they are within ten meters of each other, the thread appears automatically. If it breaks, it means the fate between the two is severed forever.”

What did that mean? Had this thing always existed between her and Luo Shuyu?

Could Luo Shuyu see it too?

“She can naturally see it,” the system said. “It’s just that you, the host, cannot.”

“Why?” Jiang Yiqing asked. “Why hasn’t she said anything if she sees it?”

“This thread is very strange. Over time, it can change from sturdy to fragile, or vice versa. It’s even impossible to say when it might suddenly vanish. Luo Shuyu knows the impermanence of fate, so she probably doesn’t want to mention it to avoid causing you unnecessary worry.”

“No good, I want to see this thread too,” Jiang Yiqing said. “I want to buy a prop that allows me to see the red thread.”

The system said, “…I suppose that’s possible.”

It searched for a moment and said: “‘Red Thread Visualization Toolkit.’ There are three versions: Simple, Intermediate, and Advanced. Which one do you want to buy, Host?”

“You’re such a profiteer,” Jiang Yiqing said, speechless. However, since it concerned her marriage, Jiang Yiqing said, “I’ll buy the Advanced one.”

Speaking of which, her current fragments were all given to her by Luo Shuyu; it seemed she needed to find more spiritual plants and flowers.

The system seemed to feel a bit bad and said, “I’ll give the host a limited-time discount. 20% off. Total is 399 gold coins.”

After the transaction was completed, Jiang Yiqing indeed saw a red thread on her right ring finger. This thread was entangled in a hundred ways, almost a mess, but the other end was indeed tied to the ring finger of Luo Shuyu’s left hand.

Luo Shuyu seemed to sense her gaze and turned her head slightly, looking unexpectedly embarrassed.

“…?” Jiang Yiqing was shocked. Did this mean that from the first day they met, Luo Shuyu had been talking to her while being able to see this thread?

One could only say that even a metaphysical master has her own troubles. Knowing things too clearly—being a player in the game yet having the perspective of a bystander—it was no wonder she would experience such confusion about what to do.

The subtle emotional changes between the two were caught by the female ghost. She said with some displeasure, “Luo Shuyu, you aren’t speaking. Shall I snap it?”

“…Suit yourself.” When Luo Shuyu looked at her, her expression had returned to calm. She said, “It is because you were so heartless and failed to accumulate merit in life that she left you so early.”

“You!—” The female ghost was completely enraged.

At the moment the ghost was controlled by her emotions, Luo Shuyu threw out a talisman. Unexpectedly, the ghost’s long hair extended like needles, instantly piercing the talisman. Seeing Luo Shuyu’s setback, she fiercely grabbed Jiang Yiqing’s neck.

“Hahahaha… Luo Shuyu, you underestimate me. Do you think I don’t know what you’re thinking? If you want to save your little lover, you’ll have to ask me first.”

Luo Shuyu’s expression was also a bit grim. This ghost had stayed in the nursing home for too long, and her ghostly energy had permeated everywhere. For a moment, it was difficult for Luo Shuyu to break the stalemate. She heard the ghost say: “I don’t necessarily want this little girl dead, nor do I want to break your bond. How about this, Luo Shuyu: you do one thing for me, and once it’s done, I’ll return her to you. A fair trade, how about it?”

“What trade?” Luo Shuyu frowned, knowing she wouldn’t suggest anything good.

“I’ve heard that some of you metaphysical masters refine ghosts to catch ghosts, practicing the art of ghost refining. As a genius of the mystical arts, you couldn’t possibly have never heard of the forbidden art of ghost refining.”

“What do you want?”

“Help me refine Qi’er into a ghost so she and I can stay together. Not only will I return the girl to you, but from now on, the two of us will be willing to serve you.”

“You’re mad. I am not a practitioner of such heterodox paths. Besides, Miss Qi’er might not agree.”

Luo Shuyu was born with incredibly strong spiritual intuition and naturally disdained the practice of enslaving ghosts. Furthermore, forbidden arts were forbidden precisely because they were rejected or even despised by the mainstream. Moreover, with Luo Shuyu’s pride and self-respect, she would never allow herself to do something that would destroy her reputation.

“That’s not up to you anymore,” the female ghost said. “If you don’t agree, I’ll have this girl stay here to accompany me and Qi’er.”

The female ghost truly seemed to have murderous intent. Jiang Yiqing felt waves of chills running down her back. She felt her neck being scratched by the nails, causing distinct pain. Being restrained by the neck made it impossible for her to speak, but she still used her eyes to tell Luo Shuyu not to worry about her.

This ghost was still trapped by love and refused to let go of her obsession; one could imagine how great her resentment was. Since she was held as a hostage, the situation was very unfavorable for Luo Shuyu. Jiang Yiqing didn’t want to see Luo Shuyu sacrifice her own principles for her; that would mean her existence was a burden.

Thinking of this, before the ghost could act, Jiang Yiqing reached out to snap the red thread herself. Since the ghost paid so much attention to this thread, if it actually broke, she would surely reveal a real opening.

“What are you doing?!”

Seeing Jiang Yiqing’s action, the female ghost indeed cried out. Luo Shuyu also stared unblinkingly at Jiang Yiqing, a flash of pain in her eyes.

“Yiqing, do you not believe in me?” Luo Shuyu said.

Even without listening to the ghost’s proposal, she had a way to get Jiang Yiqing out safely. Was it her refusal that made Yiqing sad, leading her to do something so resolute?

Luo Shuyu hadn’t expected that Jiang Yiqing had also noticed the red thread. So, all this time, had they both been testing each other?

The ghost’s grip loosened slightly, and Jiang Yiqing immediately began to cough. Her hand that was trying to snap the red thread was slapped away by the ghost. The ghost appeared shocked: “So you can also see this thread! How can there be such a cold-hearted person in this world!”

Before Luo Shuyu could strike, the ghost herself collapsed, clutching her head and screaming.

Rapid footsteps sounded in the hallway. Jiang Yiqing moved a step closer to Luo Shuyu. The Director walked in, panting. Seeing that no one was hurt, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Zheng Wen, stop doing these things. If Qi’er knew, she wouldn’t be happy,” the Director said.

The female ghost took one last look at the person on the hospital bed and suddenly fled from them, as if she had encountered something she couldn’t accept.

The Director walked up to the two of them and said, “But you two are truly impressive, to be able to make Zheng Wen feel such wavering emotions.”

Luo Shuyu cast a glance at Jiang Yiqing, hiding the matter of the red thread between them, and said, “I wonder what exactly happened between that Miss Qi’er and Ms. Zheng Wen?”

The Director went to the hospital bed and lifted the white sheet. The two looked and saw that beneath the sheet was a mannequin—it was neither a corpse nor Miss Qi’er.

The Director covered it back up with the sheet and gave a bitter laugh: “Zheng Wen knows best herself that Qi’er cannot be resurrected. Even with forbidden ghost-refining arts, she won’t come back, because I personally buried Qi’er’s body.”

“…How… how did this happen?” Jiang Yiqing asked.

Just now, when Zheng Wen spoke like that, Jiang Yiqing really thought she was nourishing a corpse with the flesh and blood of the living and attempting to resurrect the dead with forbidden arts.

“I wonder if you two believe in the existence of the Red Thread of Fate?” the Director suddenly asked.

“There’s no need to ‘believe’; I know it truly exists,” Luo Shuyu said. As she spoke, her left hand moved slightly. Even though they were separated by a mass of threads, Jiang Yiqing felt a tug on her right hand, and the pulse in her wrist skipped a beat.

“When Qi’er was alive, there was a red thread between her and Zheng Wen. Qi’er was my childhood friend. I watched them date for eight years until they were about to get married, and I gave them my blessing for all eight years.” The Director, lost in the past, showed a look of sorrow on her face. “But fate is fickle. In the year they were to marry, their red thread broke. Qi’er fell seriously ill and moved into this nursing home I run. Qi’er didn’t tell Zheng Wen the truth; instead, she pretended to fight and break up with her. Qi’er, living alone in the nursing home, was very sad, but she didn’t know that every night, Zheng Wen would secretly visit her after she fell asleep.”

“Wasn’t the red thread broken? Why would she still…?” Jiang Yiqing asked.

“The red thread can at most show that fate exists between two people, but it doesn’t represent true love. When two people who deeply love each other decide to deceive one another, the presence or absence of the red thread is no longer important,” Luo Shuyu answered the question.

Jiang Yiqing looked at her. She hadn’t expected that the seemingly cold Luo Shuyu would give such an answer. It seemed her understanding of emotions was very profound.

“Yes, exactly,” the Director said. “But the existence of the red thread is also meaningful. Its disappearance means that the fate has truly ended. On the day after Qi’er passed away, Zheng Wen hanged herself from a tree behind the nursing home. This was something even I didn’t expect.”

Jiang Yiqing and Luo Shuyu both fell silent. Such a devoted person was truly rare in the world. Yet they were fated not to be together.

“Some time after she died, she became a ghost. Qi’er, under the arrangement of her family, was buried by me personally. After becoming a ghost, Zheng Wen kept asking me where her Qi’er was. I had no choice but to set up a mortuary and tell her that Qi’er said she must not look at her face, or she would never forgive her in this life. Zheng Wen believed it just like that and kept wanting to turn Qi’er into a ghost to accompany her. But she only appears in the nursing home from time to time, occasionally disturbing the patients, and has never done anything to harm them. You two ladies, I am truly sorry for what happened this time, but I also hope you can turn a blind eye and not blame Zheng Wen. She didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Naturally not,” Jiang Yiqing said. It turned out that seeing her attempt to snap the red thread had triggered Zheng Wen, reminding her of the broken fate between her and Qi’er. That was why she hadn’t harmed her and chose to flee instead.

She was actually a gentle ghost.

“Yiqing, let’s go back,” Luo Shuyu also said. “It was just a false alarm.”

Constantly seeing the red thread in their hands, Jiang Yiqing also felt awkward, but Luo Shuyu’s expression had returned to its natural state.

“Sister Luo, thank you for coming to save me,” Jiang Yiqing said. She felt like she understood Luo Shuyu better than before.

The two walked to the entrance of the nursing home. Jiang Shangwei and Li Fangting happened to arrive to pick them up. Seeing that both were fine, they shared a knowing smile.

Jiang Yiqing sat in the back seat, intentionally using her collar to hide the wound on her neck. Luo Shuyu took a first-aid kit out of the trunk and pulled out some iodine. “…Better treat it.”

“Yiqing was injured?” Jiang Shangwei asked in surprise.

“It’s nothing, just a minor injury.” Ghosts have quite a bit of strength; it had left a red mark and a small wound.

Luo Shuyu pulled aside her collar and looked at Jiang Yiqing’s wound. Her gaze became somewhat dark and frightening; Jiang Yiqing was a little startled by her look.

Luo Shuyu used a cotton ball dipped in iodine to disinfect it, then used a small piece of gauze to help Jiang Yiqing dress the wound. She kept her eyes fixed on the rather obvious red mark, her dark pupils unreadable.

“Since meeting Yiqing, Yiqing seems to be constantly getting injured. It’s all my fault. And yet I still call myself a metaphysical master,” Luo Shuyu said.