The Real Heiress Just Wants to Be a Lazy Fish - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Corpse Worms

After helping Tao Yitong complete her discharge procedures, Jiang Zitan took her back to the Jiang villa to pack. Her adoptive parents were out, leaving only Auntie Sun working in the house.

Seeing Jiang Zitan return, the nanny rushed forward with a smile, but her steps faltered when she saw the person behind Zitan. A flash of panic crossed her face; she looked as if she wanted nothing more than to stay ten meters away from Tao Yitong.

Auntie Sun had been the first to discover the commotion in the living room the night before. Upon learning that Jiang Zitan had fallen down the stairs, she became even more convinced that Tao Yitong was a jinx. Look at that, she thought, the moment Miss Zitan the person who treats her best comes home for one day, she nearly gets hurt. And Tao Yitong was right there when it happened. If that isn’t her bad luck rubbing off, what else could it be?

“Go settle in and pack,” Jiang Zitan told Yitong. “Just take the essentials. I’ll help you prepare new clothes and other things later.” Most of Tao Yitong’s clothes were ill-fitting, and Zitan had wanted to replace them for a while.

“Okay~”

Seeing that Jiang Zitan hadn’t distanced herself from Tao Yitong at all after the previous night’s accident, Auntie Sun looked anxious but didn’t dare speak. She feared losing her job if she nagged too much. Young people don’t believe in these things, she thought bitterly. They won’t believe me until they suffer for it!

Tao Yitong truly didn’t have much to organize. She had arrived with a single canvas bag, and she left with the same bag.

She had already searched the Jiang villa inside and out several times without finding anything suspicious. Staying here would yield no further progress; she might as well stay by Jiang Zitan, her suspected bait.

After placing a specialized hidden monitor in her room, Tao Yitong headed downstairs with her bag. Jiang Zitan noticed a blue felt dolphin charm hanging from the bag, with the character “An” (Peace/Safety) stitched crookedly onto the dolphin’s tail.

Jiang Zitan found the charm familiar. Wasn’t the toy Xiao Ran had been looking for identical to this? Perhaps they were just popular.

“Miss Zitan? Where are you going?” Auntie Sun asked, watching Tao Yitong carry out that cheap canvas bag. Combined with what Zitan had said earlier, it seemed she was moving out.

“I’m taking Tongtong to stay with me.”

Auntie Sun’s expression turned peculiar. She had never seen someone actively bring a “jinx” into their own home. However, once Jiang Zitan made a decision, not even the Master or Madam could change it. She could only watch as Zitan led the girl away.

As they reached the door, Tao Yitong suddenly glanced back at Auntie Sun. The nanny jumped back a step, terrified of catching “bad luck.”

Tao Yitong gave her a small smile—it seemed like a mere prank.

She took one last look at the Jiang villa. Regardless of who had set Jiang Zitan up as bait, if they dared to try and hook a “fish” like her, they had better be prepared for her to swallow both the man and the boat whole.

Back at her apartment, Jiang Zitan prepared the guest room for Tao Yitong. Checking the time, she saw her doctor’s appointment was approaching. After the repeated hallucinations the night before, she feared for her mental health and had scheduled a check-up.

“I’ll have someone deliver lunch. Here’s a spare key,” Zitan said. “If you’re bored this afternoon, feel free to walk around. There’s a mall to the right of the complex entrance, and a food street further up.” Tao Yitong’s eyes lit up at the mention of the food street; if she had a tail, it would be wagging like a propeller.

A faint smile touched Jiang Zitan’s eyes. She handed over the key and left.

Tao Yitong waved goodbye, but the second the door closed, she shed her “obedient” persona and began a thorough sweep of the apartment. Since it was smaller than the villa, she turned every corner inside out in no time.

She still found no abnormal energy fluctuations. The house appeared to be a standard residence. No clues here either?

“Squeak, squeak…”

Yitong heard the sonic signals from A-Fu. Understanding the little guy’s meaning, she opened the window and activated a Special Affairs Bureau cloaking device. She couldn’t have ordinary people seeing her clinging to the exterior wall like a gecko; they’d call the police.

On the exterior wall above the balcony window, several motionless insects were stuck to the surface. They were shriveled and dry, looking long dead.

Tao Yitong caught a familiar scent of rotting corpses from them. Because of her sensitive nose, she had visited the mountain village where the Ogre had left traces. Every scent of decay is unique; she had memorized the Ogre’s specific scent. If anyone was tainted by it, she could identify them instantly.

Currently, these “corpse worms” smelled exactly like the Ogre! Her guess was correct faced with such a delicacy, there was no way the Ogre wouldn’t be tempted.

She examined the insects, confirming they were thoroughly dead. They must have been here for a long time, practically baked into “insect jerky” by the sun.

Deciding they posed no immediate threat, she left them there to avoid alerting the enemy. What is their purpose? A marker for a future strike?

Tao Yitong opened her palm. A wisp of white mist coiled around her fingertip. She flicked it away, and it transformed into a strange mist-bird that soared into the sky. Using the bird’s vision, she scanned the entire exterior of the apartment building to check for other traces.

She found nothing else but those few dried worms. She then took her keys and walked through the residential complex, carrying a Bureau device to monitor abnormal energy. In the whole complex, she only found one newly formed ghost. It radiated resentment and looked quite gruesome—clearly an unnatural death.

The newborn vengeful spirit noticed Tao Yitong’s gaze. Realizing she could see it, its malice intensified. It seemed ready to cast a “ghost wall” illusion to trap her, but Yitong merely glanced at it. The gathered ghostly energy instantly dissipated.

The spirit shrank into a corner, trembling. Even as a ghost, it understood nothing of this world; it only knew this human was terrifying. That single look had almost caused its soul to destabilize.

A pity, she thought. The ghost had been dead for less than three days. If it had been longer, she might have been able to squeeze some intel about Zitan or the Ogre out of it.

Yitong continued her walk, sending a GPS ping to the Bureau to have colleagues handle the ghost. It was resentful but hadn’t harmed anyone yet; after a ritual, it could still be reincarnated. Suddenly, a blood-stained knife fell from the sky. She reflexively stepped aside, and the blade whistled past her shoulder.

She felt nothing, but a passerby screamed in terror.

“Who is so heartless?! Throwing trash is one thing, but a knife?! Do you want to kill someone?!” A helpful middle-aged woman saw the “frail” girl nearly get struck and pulled her back, yelling at the building above.

“Little girl, don’t walk this path again. I don’t know what’s wrong lately, but one household keeps throwing trash down. Scraps of paper are one thing, but a knife today! Do they have a lunatic locked up in there?”

Tao Yitong looked toward where the ghost had been. It was gone.

“What happened? Is that family throwing things again?” The woman’s shouting drew other residents.

“Yes! And it’s too much this time! They threw a knife! It nearly hit this young lady!” The woman explained the situation, sparking outrage among the neighbors. If the girl hadn’t been lucky, what if it was one of their own children next time?

“Call the police! This knife must have fingerprints. We have to catch whoever did this!”

Before long, the police arrived. Seeing the dried blood on the kitchen knife, they realized this wasn’t just a reckless act. Since the knife fell from a side window where there was only one unit per floor (the X01 line), it was easy to narrow down. Currently, only the window of Unit 501 was open.

Tao Yitong could see the thick resentment clouding that unit. The tragedy was likely inside.

The police went up to knock, but there was no response only a powerful stench. They eventually broke the door down and discovered a body.

When Jiang Zitan’s assistant arrived with the packed lunch, she saw a commotion in the complex. Police tape was up, and people were gossiping about a death.

The assistant, a young woman, was curious, but she intended to deliver lunch to the CEO’s sister first. After knocking for a while and getting no answer, she wondered if Miss Tao had gone out to watch the excitement.

She didn’t have Yitong’s contact info, so she messaged Jiang Zitan.

Zitan had just returned to the office from the hospital and happened to run into Xiao Ran, who had come to visit.

“Maybe she went out to play?” Xiao Ran suggested.

Zitan hadn’t known Yitong long, but she felt the girl would be home waiting for food around lunchtime. Did she fall asleep?

“I’ll call and ask.” Zitan dialed, and Yitong picked up quickly.

However, she never expected Yitong to say she wasn’t playing or sleeping she was at the police station giving a statement.

“The police station?”

Xiao Ran nearly spat out her coffee. Because she had a bad impression of the Jiang family (except for Zitan), she hadn’t liked the “true heiress” at first until the girl risked herself to save Zitan.

After hearing from her friend that the Jiangs were superstitious weirdos who hated their own daughter over a fortune-teller’s whim, Xiao Ran had developed a bit of pity for her.

But now, hearing that Tao Yitong had stumbled onto a murder case and nearly been decapitated by a falling weapon the moment she moved into Zitan’s place… Xiao Ran took a sip of coffee to calm her nerves. She suddenly thought that maybe just maybe that fortune-teller had a point.

“Are you okay?” Zitan asked worriedly.

“I’m fine, really. I’ll be home after I finish the statement. By the way, Sister, are you coming home for dinner? I saw a supermarket nearby. Want to try my cooking?”

Xiao Ran watched as her usually cold-faced friend’s gaze softened. In a tone usually reserved for coaxing a child, Zitan said: “Okay, I’ll come home for dinner. You’re going to cook personally?”

“We’re out of groceries, you can buy extra to stock up.”

Hearing the girl on the other end chirp a happy “Okay!”, Zitan mentioned the assistant’s failed lunch delivery.

“I’ll head back immediately!”

After hanging up, Zitan met Xiao Ran’s teasing gaze.

“Okay~ I’ll come home for dinner~” Xiao Ran repeated in a high-pitched, mocking imitation of Zitan’s voice. It was incredibly annoying.

The softness in Zitan’s expression vanished, replaced by her usual chill.

“Oh? Someone was moping yesterday, but one night later, everything is different?” Xiao Ran winked. “Didn’t you say you were working late tonight? One phone call and the workaholic cancels her overtime?”

“She nearly had an accident. I should go back early to be with her.” Zitan sent a sum of pocket money to Tao Yitong, telling her to buy whatever she wanted to eat.

“I didn’t know President Jiang could be so caring. I remember when I had a terrible cold in school, and you just said: ‘Drink. More. Hot. Water!'” Xiao Ran rolled her eyes.

“Enough. If you have time to play the clown, spend it on your ex-girlfriend. Have you confirmed if she’s that superior? How did the talk go yesterday?” With two simple sentences, Zitan turned Xiao Ran into a wilted vegetable.

She didn’t know, and it didn’t go well. Her ex hadn’t contacted her in years, but had been popping up frequently this past week. Xiao Ran was losing sleep over it but couldn’t read her mind.

Vrrrm… Zitan’s phone rang. The caller ID said “Grandpa.” Her expression darkened.

It seemed Grandpa knew she had taken Tongtong in. Good she wanted to ask him about that fraudulent fortune-teller.

At the police station, Tao Yitong saw a notification for a bank transfer. She didn’t pay attention at first, but as she reached the door, she froze.

Wait. How many zeros was that?

She rubbed her eyes and recounted.

She counted three times before she was sure: Jiang Zitan’s “pocket money” was a six-figure sum.

Is… is this the life of the rich?

Earlier, Tao Yitong had been a bit annoyed that she had to call Jiang Zitan “Sister” just because Zitan was born an hour earlier. Now… anyone who dared to try and steal her “Sister” from her was going to have a problem!

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