After Saving The Villain, He Had Sex With The Female Ghost. Chapter 4

A few days after contacting Director Zheng, the contract was finalized. Chu Yu held the thin paper, letting out a long sigh of relief.

Xu Yue sounded even more excited than she was over the phone: “T-Country wasn’t a wasted trip after all! Do you think the ghost we ran into back then was a test from some master? You passed the test, so your luck changed.”

“Wasn’t it because I was brave and quick-witted, earning the director’s appreciation, that she kept me?” Chu Yu chuckled.

“You’ve watched too many movies, tsk tsk. I’d sooner believe that ghost choked the director in the middle of the night and forced her to keep you than believe that melodramatic plot,” Xu Yue joked.

Li Heru, who was leaning nearby fiddling with her nails, scoffed upon hearing this: “I swear, can you two distinguish between malevolent ghosts and good ghosts? I am not that kind of ghost.”

“Huh? Is there someone else there? Aren’t you at home?” Xu Yue asked, momentarily stunned.

Remembering how miserably Xu Yue had fainted the last time Li Heru scared her, Chu Yu quickly grabbed the phone. “That’s the TV. You misheard.” After giving a couple of perfunctory answers, she hung up.

When she looked up, Li Heru was staring straight at her, her willow-leaf eyebrows lowered, clearly displeased with Chu Yu’s attitude.

Chu Yu pretended nothing had happened, picked up the contract nearby, and turned to read it. A moment later, the chill beside her vanished. The bedroom door slammed open, then slammed shut again.

Li Heru had stormed back into her room. Ghosts don’t need sleep, or even rest, but Li Heru had emphatically demanded a private space, claiming that ghosts also have a right to privacy.

Consequently, Chu Yu, who didn’t particularly need privacy, was kicked out of the bedroom and had since taken up residence in the living room.

The one-bedroom apartment was tiny. Chu Yu rolled over on the sofa, resting her head on her arm, feeling as if she were dreaming.

She was cohabiting with a ghost. And this ghost had a terrible temper, acted eccentrically, and often left people baffled.

But after spending time together, she had figured out a few things. For instance, Li Heru was generally without desire, save for one hobby: eating. She claimed she had drifted in foreign lands for many years without eating a single proper meal. Now that she was back home, she commanded Chu Yu to order lavishly on the delivery apps, vowing to make up for every meal she had missed.

Chu Yu checked her wallet and calculated: well, this amount of money was enough for one person to survive, but two would starve.

Fortunately, Li Heru was a ghost. The food she consumed remained physically intact, only completely flavorless, tasting like incense ash mixed with stale dough. Chu Yu didn’t mind; as long as it filled her stomach, she could eat anything.

Even so, her pockets were too shallow. Although she had landed the role, the payment had to go through the agency, and after layers of approval, she had no idea when she would actually receive the money.

Trapped by financial worries. Chu Yu’s gaze swept across the shelf, and suddenly, something shiny caught her eye.

It was a brass geomantic compass, which Xu Yue had given her last year, telling her to study geomancy to improve her own fortune.

Covered in a thick layer of dust, Chu Yu lightly flicked it with her index finger. The compass spun, emitting a buzzing sound, and an idea formed in her mind.

Chu Yu headed out. She wore a Bluetooth earpiece in her left ear, a black trench coat, and a loose black beanie. Her expression was cold and aloof. She carried a folding chair in one hand and tucked a piece of cardboard under her arm.

“Is anyone going to ask for a reading? You look way too unprofessional.” Li Heru, who had materialized a pair of leather shoes from somewhere, tapped quickly beside her, muttering while curiously observing the surroundings.

“What is there to be afraid of when you’re here? Good technique is all that matters,” she said loudly, pretending to be on a phone call with her earpiece, exchanging remarks with Li Heru as they quickly reached the central shopping plaza.

This was the city’s largest open-air mall, bustling with fashionable young women. Chu Yu set down the folding chair, placed the cardboard sign, which boldly displayed the words: “Fortune Telling, Twenty Yuan Per Session.”

People on the street quickly glanced over. Chu Yu raised her face and said expressionlessly, “Want a reading?”

The person quickly waved their hand and hurried away as if fleeing.

Several people passed by, only looking but not stopping. Some even took photos of her from a distance. Chu Yu pulled her hat lower and frowned. “Why is no one getting a reading? Is everyone this rational now?”

Li Heru was engrossed in reading a stack of real estate advertisements placed in front of her. She looked down and said, “Your price is too cheap. Change twenty to two hundred, and people will definitely come.”

“What kind of logic is that?” Chu Yu sighed.

“Too cheap makes people lose the desire to buy. For a job that relies on talking, if you charge more, people will think, ‘If she dares to charge two hundred, she must have some real skill.’ Some fools will take the bait,” Li Heru explained.

That made sense. Chu Yu was just starting to modify the price on the sign when a frail, trembling old woman walked up.

Chu Yu looked up. After clearly seeing the old woman, the sign nearly slipped from her grasp. She turned her head to look at Li Heru, whose expression was normal, though she raised an eyebrow.

Black energy swirled around the old woman. Her glabella was tinged blue, her eyelids drooped, and she looked entirely oppressed by something, her waist bent almost ninety degrees.

“Do you tell fortunes?” the old woman asked, leaning on her cane and glancing at the cardboard sign.

“Yes, we do. Please have a seat.” Chu Yu stood up and offered her the only chair.

“And the price?” she asked, her eyelids lowered. Chu Yu looked at the sign in her hand, where the price had just been erased, and hesitated.

Li Heru called out to her, “Two thousand! She can afford it.” Chu Yu’s eyes widened slightly. While the old woman was leaning down on her cane, Chu Yu mouthed, “Are you crazy?”

“Just quote two thousand, trust me,” Li Heru said calmly. Reluctantly, Chu Yu felt a little embarrassed. After much internal struggle, she whispered, “Two… two thousand.”

The old woman nodded. “If the reading is good, the price doesn’t matter.” This was music to Chu Yu’s ears. Li Heru looked smug, leaning down to tap the necklace on the old woman’s neck. “That’s a conch pearl. Look at the quality—it’s antique grade. This old lady’s ancestors must have been rich.”

Li Heru knew a lot about certain things, and Chu Yu admired her for it.

Chu Yu took out the geomantic compass she used for show, asked for the birth date and time, and began the pretense of casting a divination. Li Heru leaned next to the old woman, looking and sniffing around, before finally spreading her hands.

“She doesn’t have any ‘dirty things’ on her. It’s not a geomancy issue.”

Perhaps it was a psychological ailment? Chu Yu asked, “Have there been any recent changes or incidents at home?”

The old woman shook her head. “No.”

“Are your family members all well? Are there any strange areas in your house?” If there was no ghost on her person, where did this extremely heavy ghostly energy come from? The only remaining options were the people around her or the residence itself.

The old woman continued to shake her head. Chu Yu fell silent. If nothing was wrong, what fortune was she supposed to tell? But looking at the old woman’s appearance, Chu Yu simply couldn’t believe she was fine.

Sure enough, after a moment of hesitation, the old woman said, “But, I keep having dreams lately. I dream about an old friend from a very long time ago.”

This piqued Chu Yu’s interest. “Oh? Where is that old friend now?”

“She died when she was a teenager, at the Yu Mansion… that is, Pingjiang Road No. 34 in the city today,” the old woman said.

Chu Yu was startled. Wasn’t that the actual filming location for the horror movie she had just signed on for? The famous haunted house where eight consecutive murders had occurred.

As for the teenage girl, Chu Yu had seen several young spirits when she went for the audition that day. Perhaps the old woman’s friend was among them.

She wanted to ask more, but the old woman didn’t wish to continue. She shakily stood up, leaning on her cane. “Thank you, young lady. This is a sickness of the heart; you can’t divine it. I’ll pay you as agreed. I just wanted to talk to you. You look so much like her.”

Chu Yu reached out to stop her from pulling out her wallet, but the old woman evaded her, stubbornly counted out a stack of money, and hobbled away.

Li Heru watched the old woman’s retreating figure, narrowing her eyes. “I think…”

“Something’s wrong.” Chu Yu quickly put away the money, picked up the cardboard sign and the folding chair, and followed her.

What ordinary person carries this much cash around?

Especially an elderly person. Chu Yu had been momentarily distracted by the conch pearl necklace, but thinking about it now, the old woman was dressed extremely plainly, even shabbily, a stark contrast to the expensive pearl.

How could someone like this afford to spend a fortune on a street-side fortune teller?

Unless, money no longer mattered. Chu Yu remembered the black energy surrounding her and was suddenly alarmed. That black energy didn’t come from other ghosts; it came from the old woman herself.

That was the aura of death.

“Catch up to her.” Li Heru moved swiftly, leaping onto the balcony of a nearby small building to guide Chu Yu.

The crowd was bustling, and the old woman was nowhere in sight. Chu Yu followed Li Heru’s directions, weaving through the people, and finally spotted the old woman near an old building in an urban village.

The old woman wasn’t living in the old building; she was living in a shack.

A few steel plates, some plastic sheeting, and wooden sticks formed a makeshift home in this city where every inch of land was precious.

Inside the shack were two broken stools. The old woman stood amidst a pile of scavenged junk. A frayed electrical wire had been fashioned into a noose and hung from the steel frame of the roof. The old woman stood on a stool, which was wobbling precariously, and the steel beam holding the rope was also unstable.

“Watch out!!” Chu Yu leaped over several broken pots and pans, rushing toward her, but the old woman had already slipped her head into the noose. The moment she kicked the stool away, the steel frame snapped, and the entire shack collapsed.

Chu Yu darted forward, finally managing to shield the old woman just before the steel frame crashed down on her.

After the shack, which had withstood years of wind and frost, collapsed with a crash, dust flew everywhere. Chu Yu was buried under several steel plates. She struggled a few times before finally crawling out of the debris.

Li Heru stood nearby, brushing dust off her back. “This old woman couldn’t even find a decent place to die. Hanging herself here—she really thought that through.”

Chu Yu didn’t reply, because the old woman was conscious. She sat up, her eyes tearful. She didn’t thank Chu Yu, nor did she try to kill herself again. She just sat there, and then she started crying.

“Is that you? Meizhi? Did you just come to save me?” The old woman wiped her tears, stumbling around the ruins in search of something. Li Heru gave Chu Yu a look that clearly asked if the woman was insane.

Chu Yu shrugged, stepping forward to gently pat her. “Grandma, I was the one who saved you.”

The old woman wiped her dirt-covered face and backed away. “No, it wasn’t. You protected me, that’s true, but I saw clearly. Meizhi was behind you just now. She blocked the steel plate, and then, in an instant, she vanished.”

Chu Yu looked back at Li Heru. They exchanged a glance. The old woman had mistaken Li Heru, who had accidentally manifested while rushing to help, for “Meizhi.”

Chu Yu asked, “Grandma, who is this Meizhi?”

The old woman ignored her, standing on the ruins and frantically calling out. Then, remembering something, she bent down and desperately searched through the debris with both hands.

No matter how Chu Yu tried to explain, the old woman was disheveled and looked deranged, completely different from her earlier demeanor.

Li Heru curled her lip. Ignoring Chu Yu’s attempt to stop her, she manifested her true form. Her leather shoes squeaked on the plastic sheeting. She looked at the old woman expressionlessly. “You saw wrong. I was the one who blocked the steel plate just now. Your Meizhi is not here.”

Seeing a ghost in broad daylight, the old woman showed no fear whatsoever. She lowered her hands and stared blankly at the two of them. “Then, do you have a way to find Meizhi? She died many years ago. Maybe she’s like this one.”

The old woman added.

Li Heru’s expression grew even colder.

Chu Yu stepped out from behind Li Heru. “That depends on how much information you can provide,” she said.

It was the summer of 1945, when the old woman was still called Hua Mei.