My Gorgeous Neighbor Is Cooking Every Day - Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Previously, Feng Tinglan’s speech was always mild, with a hint of coldness, but now her voice was filled with unconcealable urgency.

Xia Xingye immediately put down the knife, washed her hands, took the phone, and said: “Where are you now? I’ll come right away.”

Feng Tinglan sent an address.

Just as Xia Xingye was about to leave, Jiang Yingyue stopped her: “The person she’s looking for should be me, right?”

Only then did Xia Xingye realize that Jiang Yingyue was the one with the ghost-catching ability, not her.

She felt a bit awkward. Feng Tinglan called her because she only remembered her phone number, not Jiang Yingyue’s.

She looked at Jiang Yingyue’s knee with some concern and asked: “Is it alright?”

“It’s almost healed,” Jiang Yingyue originally wanted to say that Xia Xingye was too anxious, but after thinking about it, she didn’t say the words.

Xia Xingye’s anxiety was out of concern for her, and there was no need to say anything that would upset Xia Xingye.

“Let’s go then.” Xia Xingye helped Jiang Yingyue up. Although she was concerned about Jiang Yingyue, she also knew that Feng Tinglan wouldn’t call her unless they had encountered something they couldn’t handle.

On the way, Xia Xingye felt uneasy and asked: “Sister, could this be related to that night?”

She was worried that the previous incident was aimed at her, and Liu Xuantong and Feng Tinglan were affected because they happened to be nearby. If it were truly as she suspected, Xia Xingye clenched her fists.

Jiang Yingyue said softly: “Didn’t you say that if it weren’t for me, you might still encounter such things? Their encounter might not necessarily be related to you.”

Xia Xingye said that before to comfort Jiang Yingyue, so now that Jiang Yingyue was saying it, she simply kept quiet. She still felt it was because of her.

She hadn’t encountered anything strange for so many years; it only started after meeting Jiang Yingyue. Although the incidents were more startling than dangerous, and since she was the one who was hurt, she didn’t think much of it.

But if the injured person wasn’t just her but others, and they were affected because of her…

Xia Xingye didn’t care if Jiang Yingyue faced danger, but Liu Xuantong and Feng Tinglan might mind being harmed because of her.

“It’s fine. We’ll go now, and even if there’s a problem, I will resolve it,” Jiang Yingyue added.

The driver was young. Hearing their conversation, although she didn’t know what they were talking about, she offered comfort: “There’s nothing to be afraid of. If there’s a problem, just solve it. Just do your best. You don’t need to feel too burdened.”

Xia Xingye looked up at the driver.

The driver had a buzz cut, which accentuated her delicate features.

Xia Xingye rarely saw girls with such short hair and couldn’t help but look twice.

The driver saw her looking and said: “My hair looks good, doesn’t it?”

Asked if her hair looked good, Xia Xingye could only nod.

Seeing that they were quiet, the driver tried to lighten the mood: “If you don’t mind, I can tell you why I cut my hair short.”

Generally, Xia Xingye wouldn’t be interested in other people’s stories, but she could tell the driver was trying to alleviate their tension, so she nodded and let the female driver speak.

“My name is Mi An. You can call me whatever you like. I’m about the same age as you,” she introduced herself. While waiting at a red light, she ran her hand through her hair and said: “I used to have long hair, but then someone said my hair looked nice and wanted to buy it, so I sold it.”

“Don’t you feel it’s a pity?” Xia Xingye asked.

“Why would it be a pity? My hair could fetch a lot of money,” Mi An seemed amused, laughed, and continued, “It’s just hair. It will grow back.”

“Did you run into some difficulties?”

Mi An said helplessly: “My next-door neighbor’s sister’s child has leukemia and needs money, but I don’t have that much money. Ah, never mind that. You two don’t look like you’re in a good mood. I was hoping to talk about something happier.”

Mi An realized what she had said and quickly changed the subject, talking about lighter things.

After dropping Xia Xingye and Jiang Yingyue off, she said to Xia Xingye: “I feel like we’ll meet again. I’m going now. Maybe I’ll see you again when I pick up my next fare.”

The address Feng Tinglan sent was a temple. The temple was on a mountain, and not many people visited it normally.

The two didn’t encounter many people on the way up the mountain. When they reached the top, they immediately saw Feng Tinglan.

Feng Tinglan rushed toward them when she saw them and said: “She went in and hasn’t come out since.”

Xia Xingye looked at the tightly shut temple door and asked strangely: “Did she not come out, or is she unwilling to come out?”

“What’s the difference?” Feng Tinglan frowned but answered honestly: “She’s unwilling to come out. She’s been acting strange lately, so I specifically brought her here today to see if we could expel some evil spirit, but she won’t come out. I thought maybe you two might know something.”

“Strange lately?” Xia Xingye asked uncertainly. “Was it the night she met me?”

Feng Tinglan nodded and urgently asked: “Is it really related to you two?”

Jiang Yingyue pulled Xia Xingye behind her, looking at Feng Tinglan warily. Feng Tinglan realized her reaction was too strong and quickly explained: “I’m not blaming you. I just want to ask if you know anything.”

“Ask me if you have any questions. She knows nothing,” Jiang Yingyue said.

Feng Tinglan didn’t care who she asked. She would ask whoever could answer her questions, so she looked at Jiang Yingyue.

“The feng shui of this place is bad. You two step back,” Jiang Yingyue gave each of them a talisman and repeatedly instructed, “Wait here for me obediently until I’ve determined whether there’s danger.”

She looked specifically at Xia Xingye when she said “obediently.”

Xia Xingye touched her head. Hadn’t she always been very obedient?

Jiang Yingyue walked to the door. She knocked and asked: “Is anyone inside?”

Liu Xuantong’s annoyed voice came from inside: “Why are you here? I don’t want to see you!”

Jiang Yingyue was quiet for two seconds and then said: “If you don’t come out, I’m going to break the door down.”

“Is this a place for you stinky Taoists to come? %&*…” Liu Xuantong immediately started swearing foully. The language was so unpleasant that Xia Xingye almost wanted to go and kick the door.

Jiang Yingyue raised her hand to signal Xia Xingye not to approach. Xia Xingye could only stand reluctantly in place and secretly glanced at Feng Tinglan: “What exactly is going on?”

Feng Tinglan whispered: “She’s been acting a bit strange since we went back that day, always saying things I don’t understand. I had arranged for someone to take a look at her, but she only wanted to come here.”

“Don’t you think she’s like…” Xia Xingye stopped mid-sentence because Feng Tinglan was glaring coldly at her, stopping her from continuing.

Xia Xingye had no choice but to shut her mouth. It was enough that they both knew. Saying any more might alert the ghost.

Liu Xuantong inside seemed to think Jiang Yingyue wouldn’t damage public property, but then the door was violently kicked open. The door shook for a moment, then fell to the ground with a thud, stirring up a cloud of dust.

Liu Xuantong inside the temple turned around in shock to look at Jiang Yingyue, stammering: “W-what are you doing?”

Jiang Yingyue said calmly: “Didn’t I say so? If you didn’t answer, I would kick the door down.”

Liu Xuantong was horrified: “Do you know what kind of place this is? A sacred Buddhist site cannot tolerate such insults from you!”

Xia Xingye felt that the words were strange. Why would anyone speak so dramatically now? She said loudly from behind: “Sister, hurry up and solve this! Let’s go back soon!”

“Okay,” Jiang Yingyue responded.

Seeing Jiang Yingyue respond only to Xia Xingye and ignore her, Liu Xuantong was enraged, her face turning red.

“This is not where you should be,” Jiang Yingyue finally looked at Liu Xuantong and said word by word, “If you don’t leave, I don’t mind taking action myself.”

“This isn’t a Taoist temple. What do you care where I am? If you ask me, it’s you, the Taoist, who should stay away from here!”

Jiang Yingyue only uttered one sentence: “I don’t understand.”

Liu Xuantong was speechless. She seemed not to have expected Jiang Yingyue to say such a thing. She was about to say something else when she saw Jiang Yingyue take a talisman from her pocket and point it at her.

Seeing this, Liu Xuantong became more anxious: “What are you going to do? Don’t you know murder is illegal?”

“Murder might be illegal, but catching ghosts is not,” Jiang Yingyue smiled.

“That’s right,” Xia Xingye echoed.

Liu Xuantong’s body stiffened. She tried to appear calm, but her voice was trembling uncontrollably: “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. Where are the ghosts here?”

Jiang Yingyue asked coldly: “Are you going to leave her body yourself, or should I help you?”

With the conversation reaching this point, Liu Xuantong saw that she couldn’t hide any longer and stopped pretending. She immediately became ferocious: “I’m just borrowing her body. Why are you so anxious? If you dare come closer, I’ll take her with me!”

“Doesn’t sound like a very powerful ghost, does it?” Xia Xingye commented from behind, her beautiful eyes looking at them.

Feng Tinglan sighed almost imperceptibly: “Won’t you provoke her by saying that?”

Xia Xingye didn’t lower her voice at all and said casually: “If she were really capable, she wouldn’t rely on verbal threats or hide here.”

After saying that, Xia Xingye found it amusing: “Did you think Taoists wouldn’t come to this place, so you decided to hide here?”

Clearly, Xia Xingye had hit a nerve with the ghost possessing Liu Xuantong. It was furious but had nowhere to run. It stood its ground, staring at Jiang Yingyue blocking the door, trying to threaten them by harming Liu Xuantong.

Before it could act, Jiang Yingyue said: “If you harm her, you’ll harm yourself, don’t you know that?”

“I-I know that, of course,” Liu Xuantong said stubbornly.

Jiang Yingyue nodded and said: “Then try it. Will you hurt more, or will she hurt more?”

Jiang Yingyue hadn’t made a move at all, contrary to Liu Xuantong’s expectations. She remained confident, wanting to see whether the body or the soul would hurt more after the ghost harmed itself.

Xia Xingye walked forward and said kindly: “Is there anything you need help with? Just tell us nicely. We’re not unreasonable people. If you keep this up and get beaten up, I won’t speak up for you.”

Liu Xuantong asked half-believingly: “If I come out, you really won’t hit me?”

“Really, I won’t lay a finger on you,” Xia Xingye swore to the heavens. “I absolutely won’t touch a single hair on your head.”

Hearing Xia Xingye say that, Liu Xuantong hesitated and walked out. The moment she stepped out of the temple, Jiang Yingyue suddenly pinned her to the ground.