Indeed, after I poured the entire bowl of turtle soup into his mouth, Young Master Song started to howl in pain. In the next second, he began to dissolve as if he was being eroded from the inside out. At this moment, Wang Jie suddenly rushed in. Seeing Young Master Song’s pathetic appearance, he knew the circumstances didn’t favor him anymore. He wanted to run away. 

Before I could react, Young Master Song hurled himself forward and bumped into Wang Jie. Wang Jie’s body went stiff, and his movements became rigid. It seemed Young Master Song had taken control of his body. 

In Wang Jie’s body, Young Master Song furiously turned to attack me. His fast speed made me smack my tongue in awe. Feeling flustered, I sprinkled the refined salt on him, but it didn’t work. I decided to use the Yin and Yang Umbrella. However, he was so fast that I didn’t have enough time to open it. 

In just the blink of an eye, Young Master Song had scratched me several times. While dodging him, I looked around to see if I could use anything to confront him. If he continued his frantic attacks like this, my body would soon be scratched into a sieve! 

At this moment, I suddenly saw a lighter on Lin Qiusheng’s desk. I took the chance and grabbed it. I immediately threw the lighter hard to the ground. With a loud crackle, the lighter was broken and the blast of flame was enough to burn the calendar on the desk. 

Ghosts were afraid of explosive noises. I had just wanted to make some noise to scare him and seize the chance to open the Yin and Yang Umbrella. Unexpectedly, I had horrible luck, and I had created a small fire! 

Young Master Song halted. I immediately threw the open Yin and Yang Umbrella towards him. 

He immediately turned around to run as he knew the Yin and Yang Umbrella was powerful. Unfortunately for him, Wang Jie was just an ordinary human. After a period of furious attacks, his body didn’t listen to the ghost’s commands anymore. At this moment, Young Master Song’s moves looked very uncoordinated.

I read the spell faster and faster. The Yin and Yang Umbrella spun and imprisoned Young Master Song. 

I was cheered up by this. I wanted to destroy him, but all of a sudden, my body couldn’t endure it anymore; I landed on my butt. The Yin and Yang Umbrella also dropped on Young Master Song’s body. 

As the Yin and Yang Umbrella’s halo had dimmed out, Young Master Song licked his lips.

He wants to eat me! 

I bit the tip of my tongue and crawled towards the Yin and Yang Umbrella. Then, I spat my blood on it. With my essence blood, the Yin and Yang Umbrella’s radiance was much stronger. Young Master Song screamed for a while before disappearing into thin air. 

Wang Jie fell. He struggled hard on the ground for a long time, but in the end, he couldn’t get up on his feet. I finally heaved a sigh of relief. I relaxed and laid on the ground. 

Soon, Lin Qiusheng entered the room. He was worried when he saw me and Wang Jie lying on the ground. “Master Zhang, did you deal with Young Master Song?” 

I pointed at Wang Jie. “I’m sure he is still keeping the phalanx. Young Master Song has tortured me for days. I want that phalanx as my interest.” 

Lin Qiusheng smiled. He loomed over Wang Jie and searched his body to find the phalanx. “According to your rule, it’s the commission. However, I still have to give you some more for your labor.” 

I chuckled and didn’t deny him. In the next second, my eyes rolled to the back of my head. I fainted…

When I woke up, it was around noon. I was so hungry that I grabbed chopsticks and started to dig in the food. Lin Qiusheng laughed. “Look at you, I guess the phalanx also affects you.” 

As I had rice in my mouth, I didn’t reply to him. I gorged down the food until I couldn’t eat anymore. Then, I placed the bowl back on the table. “How did you deal with Wang Jie?” 

Lin Qiusheng took in a deep breath. “I let him go.” 

I was surprised. I hadn’t expected that Lin Qiusheng would be that generous. Wasn’t he afraid that Wang Jie would take revenge again? 

“Sigh! I don’t know the reason, but Wang Jie eventually realized he was wrong. He wept and apologized to me. He didn’t look pretentious at all,” said Lin Qiusheng. 

After listening to him, I understood the situation. Earlier, when Young Master Song possessed him, Wang Jie was scared out of his wits.

Anyway, it was good that Wang Jie admitted that the incident was his fault. I wasn’t sure that they could rekindle their friendship. But at least, Lin Qiusheng would have one enemy less from now on. 

After filling my stomach and receiving the generous payment from Lin Qiusheng, I bid him farewell. Lin Qiusheng asked Xiao Zhao to take me home. Before I got into the car, I remembered something. “Mr. Lin, has your sense of taste recovered?” 

Lin Qiusheng shook his head. “It’s all right! I’ve earned enough money. For more money, I almost paid for it with my life. I understand what’s important now.” 

I smiled as I understood him. He finally got it. Many people had turned themselves into ridiculous clowns in public just to earn money. For the sake of money, they didn’t care about their dignity or even their bodies. 

It’s not that having money isn’t good. But some people will never feel that they have enough, no matter how big the sum they have earned. And this is despite their primal wish that they could earn enough to make ends meet. If the basic living condition, which is to have a safe life, isn’t achieved, what good is it to possess a lot of money? 

Wang Jie had wanted Lin Qiusheng’s life because of a small show. Everything was because of greed. Anyway, he was lucky that he had met Lin Qiusheng, who was a good man. 

However, there were many people like Wang Jie in this world. And how many people like Lin Qiusheng would one meet when they made mistakes? They could only sink deeper and deeper into the dark vortex and let the darkness swallow them whole! 

I indulged in my emotions while sitting in the car. All of a sudden, Xiao Zhao asked from behind the wheel, “Mr. Zhang, could you help me with something?” 

I nodded. “As long as I can do it, I will help you.” 

She smiled and found a place to park the car. Then, she gestured at me to get out of the car. We went to a cafe by the street. 

“Master Zhang, I think something foul has been pestering me these days,” said Xiao Zhao. 

After listening to her, I felt awkward. This woman and her boss have something in common! They both encountered foul things almost at the same time!

However, I still made a serious face and asked her to tell me more details. 

Xiao Zhao took off a blood-red jade pendant from her neck and gave it to me. “This jade pendant was originally yellow. I don’t know when, but a red wisp appeared inside. But these days, it has turned completely blood-red. Sometimes, it will heat up!” 

I received the jade and took a close look at it from different angles. I found no problems with it. “If the jade releases faint heat, it could be a typical warm jade. If you keep it with you for a long time, it’ll be good for your health. Although the blood-red hue looks scary, I’ve found no Yin energy from it,” I told her simply. 

When I said that, Xiao Zhao’s eyes reddened. She didn’t mind that we were in a public area and pulled down the collar of her high-neck sweater to show me her neck.

Feeling embarrassed, I looked around. Fortunately, we were seated in a relatively remote corner. There were no other people around. Xiao Zhao’s sudden movement didn’t attract anyone’s attention. 

When I saw her neck, I had to take in a breath of cold air. There were so many kiss marks on her neck. Some were red, while others looked like day-old bruises. Moreover, judging from the colors of the bruises, it looked somewhat sadistic to me. 

Xiao Zhao felt embarrassed as I had stared at her neck for a long time. She adjusted her clothes then started to weep. “These days, at night time, I always feel that someone is kissing me. But when I open my eyes, I don’t see anyone. At first, I thought I was dreaming. But in the morning, when I washed my face and saw these bruises in the mirror, I was shocked. Since that day, the jade looks redder. I thought that a pervert visited my house at night time, so I set up the camera on my phone to record myself sleeping. However, I only saw myself rolling and struggling on the bed as though I was pushing something away from me.” 

Then, she showed me the video on her phone. It was as she said. It looked like something was looming over there. At the same time, more and more kiss marks appeared on her neck. It seemed something foul had been pestering her. 

I lifted my head to take a glance at Xiao Zhao. She was beautiful, indeed. If she went into showbiz, she would become a goddess. Was that the reason a perverted ghost was pestering her?

However, the darker the bruises on her neck, the deeper the color of the jade. It spoke to the fact that the jade pendant was related to this case. 

“Xiao Zhao, how long have you been wearing this jade?” 

“Ever since I can remember. I’ve heard that it’s a family heirloom that was imparted to the male descendants. However, until my generation, my family only has me. That’s why I got it.” 

The older the jade item, the more likely for it to have a spirit. The body of a female virgin was the best to nurture jades. As she had worn the jade pendant for more than twenty years and it was a family heirloom, it shouldn’t be a problem for her to achieve this much. 

Anyway, I had heard from somewhere that jade would develop affection for its wearer after a long time. If she could nurture a jade spirit, that jade spirit would love her. 

I guessed Xiao Zhao’s jade had a jade spirit. With that thought, I asked Xiao Zhao, “I hope you don’t mind, but I guess you are in love these days, right?” 

She was amazed. “How did you know that?” 

I smiled when I knew that my assumption was correct. The jade spirit was jealous. To confirm my thought, I had to be thick-faced and asked, “Have you been intimate with your boyfriend?” 

Xiao Zhao didn’t look at ease, but she wasn’t foolish. She understood it immediately. “Because of that?” 

I nodded and explained more to her. “Everything in the world can have a spirit after existing for a long time. Once the spirit has intelligence, it will likely fall in love with the owner that has nurtured and helped create it. I guess your jade has a spirit and it’s jealous of your boyfriend. That’s why it has come out and is troubling you.” 

“What?” Xiao Zhao’s eyes opened wide in shock. “What should I do? I can’t just stay single for the rest of my life because of this jade.” 

I held the jade in my hand and gently stroked it twice before returning it to Xiao Zhao. 

It wasn’t a hard matter to solve. She would just need to put the jade into a bucket of water and change the water every three days. After the blood-red color of the jade completely faded, the jade spirit would be melted. As long as she stopped wearing the jade, there would be no more trouble. 

Xiao Zhao couldn’t thank me enough, but I didn’t feel happy. Once the jade spirit was dissolved into water, the jade wouldn’t be ‘alive’ anymore. It felt like I had just killed a person. 

Anyway, from the color of the jade, I knew that if she continued to keep it, the jade spirit could become an evil spirit. I decided to solve it now and help its owner feel rest assured forever. 

I didn’t let Xiao Zhao take me home. I slowly walked back to the shop. These days, I was feeling weary after solving Young Master Song’s case. And, I didn’t feel comfortable as I had indirectly destroyed a jade spirit. 

People had started to learn how to create tool spirits from the Internet, but when bad things happened, they would destroy that spirit. 

Some tool spirits would be forced to become evil just to satisfy a human’s endless desire. Those spirits would be eliminated in the end, which was somewhat sad to me. 

Humans had always been selfish, and otherworldly merchants couldn’t always help them. The only thing we could do was to try our best. 

It was like when the giant Kuafu chased the sun. He knew that he would never succeed, but he pursued his ideal without second thoughts! 

It was our responsibility, and also our fate!