The Ghost Insists on Giving Me a Beautiful and Powerful Wife! - Chapter 31.1

Yu Ruoyin was an observer; Nan He’s memories to her were like starlight entering the ocean, leaving not a single trace.

It was, after all, not her story, and she couldn’t retain what she had only watched.

Strangely, even after Lian Zhen withdrew her demonic power, the scene of the girl interacting with Jiang Huaining remained clearly visible. Yu Ruoyin remembered the gold thread embroidered on the girl’s fluttering skirt and Jiang Huaining’s doting and gentle gaze.

Lian Zhen’s power was to awaken memory. This memory couldn’t be Nan He’s, so it could only be hers.

Had she known Jiang Huaining a long, long time ago?

This seemed to explain why Jiang Huaining was so good to her, and why she had used a lie to keep her by her side.

But if they had known each other for a long time, why hadn’t Jiang Huaining said anything?

Yu Ruoyin might not remember, but Jiang Huaining surely should.

Yu Ruoyin’s mind drifted, and Zhuang Ciyue gently shook her shoulder: “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m fine.”

Matters without a definite answer held no meaning to be spoken aloud.

Yu Ruoyin was not Lu Qingzhen, nor was she Zhuang Ciyue; she couldn’t dare to speak every thought she had.

She was afraid—afraid that the person who wasn’t speaking had a secret, and even more afraid that speaking out would shatter the current peace.

Yu Ruoyin never denied being a coward.

Zhuang Ciyue saw her still sitting rigidly in the chair and was a little worried: “Are you really okay?”

“Yes.” Yu Ruoyin suppressed her complicated thoughts, her fingers slightly curled until her fingertips pressed against her palm, finding a small sense of security. She let out a soft breath and turned her gaze toward Lian Zhen: “Senior Lian Zhen, thank you.”

Lian Zhen’s condition was somewhat poor. She looked like she had aged ten years in an instant, with fine lines appearing around her eyes.

However, her eyes were more spirited, unlike the previous exhaustion: “You don’t need to thank me; we’re just getting what we need. As long as you don’t forget what you promised me, I should be the one saying thank you.”

Yu Ruoyin was silent for a brief moment, her clenched fist trembling slightly, a sign that her heart had been touched.

After struggling for a long time, she finally asked Lian Zhen: “Is that person very important to you?”

“Very important.” Lian Zhen placed her palms on the table, pressing down continuously, almost crushing the tabletop: “I must find her. You at the Four Spirits Shop must help me find her. This is what you promised me. You cannot go back on your word, and you cannot refuse!”

“You, this fox…”

Zhuang Ciyue was displeased with Lian Zhen’s attitude and wanted to argue with her.

Yu Ruoyin pulled her arm and shook her head at her.

Waiting until Zhuang Ciyue stopped speaking, Yu Ruoyin continued: “Have you been separated for a long time? Have you thought that she might have forgotten you?”

Despite the realistic inquiry, Lian Zhen found it hard to accept: “Then I still have to find her. Whether alive or dead, I must see her soul! Even if she’s forgotten, I’ll make her remember. I won’t let her go, never, absolutely never!”

Her eyes turned peach-colored again, this time with a heavier shade, thick like paint about to spill out.

Her neat teeth suddenly elongated into two animal fangs, long and sharp, looking particularly frightening.

Yu Ruoyin’s heart fluttered. She stood up from the chair, subtly increasing the distance between them.

The quiet Nan He also reacted: “You… you scared her.”

Nan He stood up and shielded Yu Ruoyin.

“…” Lian Zhen waved her sleeve. All the oil lamps in the shop went out, leaving only the oldest lamp on her table still burning. The faint spark of light couldn’t even illuminate her entire face. The darkness hid her sneer: “How can the Four Spirits Shop have a person like you.”

The oil lamp on the table flickered, and the last wisp of flame was swallowed by the darkness.

She couldn’t see anything in the dimly lit shop and could only hear Lian Zhen’s voice: “I have fulfilled what I promised you. You may leave. I will come to the Four Spirits Shop in a few days to collect my payment.”

It was too dark. It was difficult to distinguish the direction to leave.

Yu Ruoyin was lost. Nan He reached out her hand: “I can see.”

She took hold of Nan He’s sleeve and was led out of the Purple Phoenix Hall by Nan He.

There was no light outside the Purple Phoenix Hall either. The lively and noisy Ghost Market only had a few lanterns still lit.

Sparse firelight painted a picture of desolation and gloom. The chilling wind blew in their faces, and Yu Ruoyin shivered from the cold.

She rubbed her arms, subconsciously gripping the red jade fruit.

The shops in the Ghost Market had long been closed, and the stalls were gone.

Besides them, there was no one else to be seen.

“Oh no!” Zhuang Ciyue took off her hood and fumbled to remove her mask: “I was so focused on helping Nan He find her memory that I didn’t keep track of the time. Did the Ghost Market close?”

Zhuang Ciyue forcefully broke the mask. It turned into a black mist and disappeared from her palm, but her body showed no change.

“Ah! It really closed!” Zhuang Ciyue was flustered and couldn’t help but grab Yu Ruoyin: “Little Yu, what should we do? We can’t get out!”

Yu Ruoyin also took off the hood of her black robe, her fingertips tracing the cold mask on her face. Unexpectedly, she was exceptionally calm when facing this sudden situation: “Then… we’ll wait until the Ghost Market opens again.”

Zhuang Ciyue pulled a long face: “Little Yu, the Ghost Market connects to the Underworld. Those restless souls that can’t be reincarnated will appear after the Ghost Market closes. Most of them have incomplete souls and are tainted with evil energy; they’re very dangerous. We… have to stay here for a whole day, and I don’t have a bone brush. We…”

“I… I can protect you.”

Nan He stepped half a pace forward. Pink mist spread from her body. Tiny golden specks mixed in, transforming into individual Sanskrit characters, forming a protective shield that encircled them. The deep Sanskrit chanting quieted Zhuang Ciyue, who looked at Nan He in surprise: “You really are like what Xia Yu said… Do you really have the power to disperse the Underworld Officer Lu?”

Nan He nervously waved her hands: “I… I won’t do that.”

“You…” Yu Ruoyin felt that Nan He’s way of speaking was a little different.

Nan He squeezed her palm and said quietly: “I… I undid the spirit contract just now.”

Yu Ruoyin secretly observed Nan He. Nan He was also a very powerful spirit, but she wasn’t accustomed to belittling others and spoke softly.

Although many years had passed and her consciousness had been lost for a long time in the vastness of time, her personality seemed no different from before—still shy and still passive.

Perhaps because three generations of the Gou family raised Nan He as a child, she was quite old, but her mind’s growth was slow, and her personality was not independent enough.

Yu Ruoyin wanted to think of more details to analyze Nan He’s interaction with the Gou family, but after thinking it over and over, she only had a few vague figures.

She was just an audience; the memories she could retain were few.

Yu Ruoyin circled back to her original purpose: “Nan He, what is your wish now?”

“Nan Chun, find Nan Chun.”

“Which one?”

Nan He was stumped by her question, and the answer that had been certain suddenly became vague.

She looked at Yu Ruoyin, at a loss, seemingly expecting Yu Ruoyin to give her an answer.

Nan He was too dependent on others. That’s why when her memory faded and her consciousness became blurry, she split off a sister’s body to protect herself.

“I… find Nan Chun.”

Sure enough, after Yu Ruoyin’s long silence, Nan He couldn’t come up with the correct answer herself.

“Nan Chun…” With the protective shield Nan He put up, Yu Ruoyin wasn’t as cold, but she still clutched the red jade fruit tightly.

She thought Nan He was too dependent, but she herself had also developed a dependency on others.

Holding the red jade fruit felt… as if the owner of the red jade fruit was right beside her.

Yu Ruoyin’s thoughts were a bit chaotic, and she was eager to put everything back on track: “Nan He, whose spirit consciousness was the one that stayed with you?”

“A-Chun.” Nan He’s expression turned bitter. She wildly gestured at her chest: “A-Chun said to be happy, but I… I’m not happy at all.”

“Is it because you forgot them?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you undo the spirit contract back then?”

Nan He’s expression became even more dejected and somewhat flustered: “I… I couldn’t bear it… If I undid the spirit contract, I felt like I wouldn’t be related to the Gou family anymore, whether it’s Nan Chun or A-Chun, or… I’m sorry, I’ve caused you trouble.”

While they were talking, Zhuang Ciyue had already circled the protective shield several times.

Zhuang Ciyue seriously studied the Sanskrit writings on the protective shield, stroking her chin, and full of praise: “A spirit with Buddhist energy is strong. Why don’t you become my guardian spirit? Then I…”

“Nan Chun, find Nan Chun.” Nan He took Zhuang Ciyue’s playful words seriously, shaking her head like a rattle: “I want to find Nan Chun.”

“Oh, I know!” Zhuang Ciyue grumbled: “I was just joking with you. Didn’t that Underworld Officer Lu go back to the Underworld to help you find Gou Nanchun’s reincarnation? Once we meet her, we’ll know where to find Gou Nanchun. Don’t worry too much. What we should worry about now is me. I’m trapped in the Ghost Market. If Grandma wakes up, she’ll definitely be worried, and if it reaches my mom’s ears, I’ll definitely get lectured again, so annoying!”

She complained for a bit, then suddenly asked: “Little Yu, aren’t you worried about Boss Jiang?”

“Ning Sister, Ning…” Yu Ruoyin bit her lip tightly, almost breaking it before finally managing to squeeze out a sentence: “She should still be sleeping. She said she needed a few days to rest.”

“Maybe she’ll wake up halfway. If she doesn’t see you, she’ll definitely be worried. But you haven’t known each other for long, so your feelings probably aren’t that deep yet. By the way! You still haven’t told me how exactly you met, how you fell in love, how she became your wife, and how far you’ve progressed? Have you kissed? Have you slept together? Are you the top or is she the top?”

Zhuang Ciyue not only confused Yu Ruoyin, but Nan He next to her also started fidgeting with the corner of her clothes, flustered: “You… you…”

Nan He struggled to join the conversation. Yu Ruoyin touched the red jade fruit, took out the bread she had put in before coming to the Ghost Market, and handed it to Zhuang Ciyue: “Sister Yue, are you hungry?”

“Ah! Hungry!”

Zhuang Ciyue was a living person, and it was hard for her to escape the feeling of hunger. After Yu Ruoyin’s reminder, her stomach immediately rumbled in cooperation.

She grabbed the bread and put it in her mouth, asking Yu Ruoyin while eating: “Aren’t you hungry?”

Yu Ruoyin now rarely felt severe hunger. She wasn’t hungry, but to prevent Zhuang Ciyue from noticing her anomaly, she took out another piece of bread, tore open the packaging, and took a bite: “Hungry.”

“Little Yu has good taste in choosing things. This bread is quite delicious.”

Zhuang Ciyue’s praising voice was right by her ear, but Yu Ruoyin was a little distracted.

She didn’t reply, but Zhuang Ciyue couldn’t stand the silence: “Little Yu, Little Yu!”

Yu Ruoyin snapped back to attention and realized she hadn’t responded to Zhuang Ciyue. Before Zhuang Ciyue could question her, she diverted the topic: “Sister Yue, is Senior Lian Zhen a half-human, half-demon, and is her demon bloodline a fox? I kept hearing you call her a fox just now.”

“That’s right, didn’t you see her tail?” Zhuang Ciyue chewed on her bread, responding vaguely, “Plus, the moment she uses her demonic power, that fox scent can’t be hidden at all.”

That’s just how she was; her attention scattered very quickly.

Yu Ruoyin breathed a sigh of relief and followed up on her words: “Why can’t I smell it?”

Zhuang Ciyue was uncharacteristically silent. It was Yu Ruoyin herself who realized: “Sister Yue, I’m sorry, I think I asked a very silly question. It would be strange if I could smell it when I haven’t even mastered anything yet.”

Zhuang Ciyue swallowed the bread, circled Yu Ruoyin once, and asked seriously: “Little Yu, do you really not feel that you overthink things too much?”

She rubbed her hands, unusually nervous: “It’s not that I think you’re bad for being like this; I just think living like this must be very tiring for you.”

Yu Ruoyin didn’t argue: “I… I will change.”

Zhuang Ciyue stared intently at Yu Ruoyin and stated with certainty: “Little Yu, is something on your mind?”

“No, there isn’t.”

She denied it too quickly. Zhuang Ciyue let out a long sigh: “Didn’t you say you were going to change?”

Another long silence followed.

She still couldn’t bring herself to voice all the confusion in her heart, but it was also difficult to continue lying to someone who cared about her deeply: “Sister Yue, next time.”

Zhuang Ciyue wasn’t ready to give up, but a red figure suddenly appeared in the Ghost Market.

The red figure closed the distance between them at an extremely fast speed. It was a woman wearing a red robe and a blood-colored mask.

The blood color made her skin appear pale and eerie. She was holding a lantern, and the faint blue light reflected on her face made her presence even more bizarre. Yu Ruoyin’s intuition told her that she was not human.

Yu Ruoyin noticed a token hanging from her waist that looked very similar to the one Xing Ruoyuan had.

Just as she was guessing the identity of the newcomer, Zhuang Ciyue had already called out: “Underworld General! Are you a Ghost General?”

Underworld Generals are divided into Generals, Vanguards, and ordinary Underworld Soldiers. The ghost in front of them was a General.

No wonder she wasn’t afraid of the Buddhist spell and was still approaching them despite feeling the spell.

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