Chapter 63: Early Morning Visitors

Fatty walked over and gave me a pat on the shoulder.

"Tiangang, let me show you our shop!"

With that, he pulled me forward.

Finally, Fatty dragged me right in front of the adult goods store.

I stood rooted to the spot in utter astonishment.

In just a single afternoon, the foreign-language sign above the entrance had vanished.

Bright, powerful overhead lights had been installed inside, making the space dazzlingly luminous.

The door stood wide open. Inside, an eight-immortals table was set up, flanked by bundles of bamboo divination sticks on either side, while a reception counter occupied the very center at the back.

A brand-new plaque hung high above the main hall:

[Water Mirror Divine Physiognomy]

The place had undergone a complete, breathtaking transformation.

It had turned into a genuine fortune-telling and Yin-Yang shop.

Where on earth was there any trace of that unsightly, scandalous past?

Fatty smiled and said, "I'm telling you, Tiangang, most of this was the sister-in-law's idea. I just helped out with the heavy lifting. What do you think? The sister-in-law has quite an eye, doesn't she? Pretty grand style, right?"

I stared blankly at the scene before me.

The female corpse was currently sitting behind the counter, quietly reading a book.

She looked exceptionally peaceful.

Her delicate facial features appeared even more stunning under the bright lights.

When she wasn't cursing or hitting people, she truly was breathtakingly beautiful.

I said helplessly, "Well, I suppose it's alright."

"Oh, come off it! With just the two of us and our taste, could we ever pull off something like this? We don't even have to sleep on the floor anymore; we finally have a proper place to stay."

Fatty looked extremely excited.

I cracked a smile as well, then walked into the shop and sat down at a table.

"Um... what should I call you?"

Up until now, I had simply referred to her as the female corpse. In truth, it wasn't even certain whether she was actually a corpse.

After all, those practitioners from Wudang and Mount Mao all referred to her as a demon.

In short, calling her human was definitely off the mark.

"Yin Shuang."

She uttered just two words.

I nodded and said, "Miss Yin, our purpose in coming to the city is to find my family and help Fatty seek vengeance. Does opening a Yin-Yang shop like this actually help us?"

"What does that have to do with me?"

Without even lifting her head, she replied in an icy tone while continuing to read her book.

I was instantly rendered speechless.

I had just started to view her in a slightly better light, but she still possessed that foul temper.

Still, there was nothing I could do. What she said was true—our grudges were our own business and had nothing to do with her.

Oh well, forget it.

At the very least, we no longer had to sleep on the floor, we had a roof over our heads, and tomorrow we could start inquiring about my grandfather and the others.

The divination I cast before entering the city had indicated that a turning point would appear here.

We just needed to wait for that turning point to manifest. Very often, anything foreseen through divination required waiting for the actual events to unfold.

There was no use in rushing.

With that thought in mind, I asked Fatty, "Is there anything to eat? I'm practically starving to death."

"Go to the kitchen yourself."

Before Fatty could even speak, Yin Shuang chimed in with a chilling reply.

I stood up and headed toward the back courtyard.

I had never been to the back courtyard before, as the door had always been kept shut.

I had to admit, the back courtyard wasn't bad at all—neither too large nor too small, and equipped with a proper kitchen.

Though it certainly wasn't worth five hundred thousand, getting it for twenty hundred thousand was genuinely a steal.

In the kitchen, I found two dishes, a soup, and steamed buns.

Eating as I walked, I said to Fatty, who had followed me in, "Your culinary skills are improving, Fatty! This tastes even better than what my mother makes!"

Fatty replied, "The sister-in-law made it. Apart from boiling noodles, I can't cook a single thing."

This female corpse... no, wait.

Miss Yin was actually this domestic and virtuous?

I certainly never would have guessed.

Mentioning this, Fatty came over and whispered mysteriously, "Let me tell you something strange. The sister-in-law cooked the meal and set aside a separate portion just for you, while the two of us ate from another batch."

"What?!"

I immediately stopped my frantic devouring and stared at Fatty. "Damn it, why didn't you say so earlier?!"

"She definitely isn't trying to harm you. Isn't she your wife?" Fatty said without a care in the world.

Then he added, "Besides, the sister-in-law only seemed to want to smell it. She didn't put any in her mouth; after taking a sniff today, she poured the whole thing out..."

By now, I had grown accustomed to her bizarre quirks.

"Ah, whatever. Let's just eat and go to sleep!"

In a flash, I finished my dinner, and Fatty and I headed up to the second floor.

There were two rooms on the second floor: Fatty and I shared one, while Miss Yin had the other to herself.

I slept deeply that night.

Ever since the day I went up the mountain, I had never once gotten a proper night's rest.

I fell into such a profound sleep that I knew nothing of the world.

Even that bizarre recurring dream failed to appear.

By the next day, it was close to noon when I finally woke up.

As soon as I entered the main hall, I noticed a stranger there.

It was an elderly woman, perhaps close to seventy years old.

Her face was etched with deep sorrow, covered in wrinkles, and she looked desperately ill, as if she were at death's door.

She sat quietly on a chair, waiting.

Fatty was nowhere to be seen, while Yin Shuang sat behind the counter, reading her book.

Puzzled, I walked into the hall.

"Elderly madam, is there something you need?"

Upon seeing me, the old woman suddenly sprang to her feet.

And then, she dropped to her knees right in front of me!

*Thud!*

The sound was remarkably loud!

Startled out of my wits, I hastily leaped back seven or eight paces.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I didn't touch you! You didn't even make contact!"

What was going on here?

People always said there were plenty of scam artists staging accidents in the city, but surely they didn't come right into a shop to pull stunts like this?

"Young master, please save my life! My daughter is about to draw her last breath, please save her!"

With that, she began kowtowing frantically.

Thump after thump against the ground.

I hurriedly scrambled out of the path of her kowtows.

Shouting over toward Yin Shuang, I demanded, "Miss Yin, what on earth is going on here?!"

I rushed anxiously over to the counter.

Without even lifting her head, she replied coldly, "She's here to beg for her life. Can't you understand that?"

"Save her life?"

"What kind of life can I save?"

The old woman wailed again, "Young master, please save her! I'll give you however much money you want, I'm begging you, my poor daughter is losing her life..."

She was crying so miserably that it tore at the heart.

I frowned slightly. "Where on earth did you come from? Why is someone coming to beg like this the moment we open our doors?"

"Recommended by an old acquaintance," Yin Shuang answered with characteristic indifference.

"Why is it always an old acquaintance? Just how many people do you know? Besides, if an old acquaintance recommended her to you, why is she kowtowing to *me*?"

Hearing my words, Yin Shuang uttered a sentence that made me almost want to curse aloud.

"I told her you're my master and that you're much more powerful than me. Of course she'd beg you."

I stared blankly at her face, then shifted my gaze back to the old woman.

"You..."

Before I could finish, Yin Shuang snapped, "What are you dithering about like a timid woman? Go set up your divination board! Don't you want to find your family?!"

"What does this have to do with my family..." I started to retort.

Yin Shuang shot me an icy glare as sharp as a razor blade.

I had no choice but to trudge over there with a sheepish expression.

Resigned, I said, "Alright, alright. Please get up, at your age, I really can't accept this kind of bow."

The old woman finally hoisted herself up from the floor, her face streaked with tears.

I sat down at the eight-immortals table and told her, "Take a seat first. Tell me specifically what's going on, and I'll... do my best."

With that, I cast a sidelong glare of utter exasperation toward Yin Shuang's spot.

If I failed to cure this person's affliction, wouldn't I just be making a mess of things?

I was completely being driven like a duck onto a perch.

Wiping away her tears, the old woman said, "Young master, my daughter has been entangled by an evil ghost!"