Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 95: Drawer

The moment those words came out, Xun Chuan’s attitude visibly changed. He seemed to be getting angry as both of his eyes were turning red. 

At this moment the diagram on the table suddenly burst into flames, burning higher and higher by the second. Yan Yu moved his hand over to press it down, extinguishing the flames. 

Seeing Xun Chuan glower at him, he didn’t say anything else and pretended that the other acknowledged his words. He took a look at the time and seeing that it was already past midnight, he pushed the chair back to get up, and went through his normal night time routine.

In the dark, a corner of his bed sheet was quietly lifted up and following that, an ice cold body slid in, wrapping itself around Yan Yu’s body like a coiling snake. Xun Chuan stared at Yan Yu, petulant, but he didn’t get any response back. In revenge, he bit viciously down onto Yan Yu’s left shoulder through his clothes.

Opening his eyes for a brief moment before closing them again, Yan Yu said uncaringly, 

“If you draw blood, your face is going to be ruined.”

Xun Chuan paused in his movements.

Yan Yu said again, 

“Perhaps it’ll be as ugly as that female ghost.”

Xun Chuan narrowed his eyes and then with dark and moody eyes, he let go of Yan Yu’s shoulder.

All malicious ghosts were hideous and terrifying, but some of them could use a bit of their resentment to create the mirage of a beauty; however, Yan Yu’s blood could break through the image. If his blood were to splatter on their mirage, it would not only reveal their true image, but also rot through their original spirit body.

Silence descended into the room once again. The back of Xun Chuan was facing Yan Yu and, after a long time, he slowly moved his hand in front of his eyes to wave away the air of resentment surrounding his face. Under the rays of the cold and lonely moonlight, stark white bone was revealed, shining in its ice cold color.

He had already been dead for so many days……

His body had been slowly rotting, and then it was turned into ash in a roaring fire, before being buried underground. His face was no different than that of the female ghost’s, as ugly and as horrifying as it could ever be.

Xun Chuan’s face was numb as he slowly moved his hands to touch his face. Yet just as he was about to make contact, his wrists were held back.

Yan Yu’s body was engulfed in darkness, his expression unclear. But he pulled Xun Chuan’s hands back, practically forcing them back under the sheets. Xun Chuan tried to struggle, but a strong hand suddenly went around his waist, pulling his whole body backwards and dropping him into an embrace that faintly smelled of cigarette smoke.

Xun Chuan didn’t move, and the surroundings were so quiet it was deafening.

He closed his eyes. In the darkness, he could faintly feel that heart beating behind him: a heart that was alive and bleeding, beating in Yan Yu’s chest.

Xun Chuan turned around in the dark, rustling faintly. He tightly wrapped his arms around Yan Yu’s waist and then slightly raised his head up, dropping an ice cold kiss on his lips.

Su Yu’s case had been solved, and in the bright early morning, the landlady brought an older aged woman wearing very muted colored clothes to Su Yu’s apartment to gather up her belongings. It was said that she was the mom of Su Yu who lived in the countryside.

“What bad luck! Your daughter died right here, blocking my entire business. Who even dares to live in this building anymore? Always arguing with the neighbours, offending people left and right, over here and over there, not only ruining herself, but also ruining me! This is really the culmination of bad luck from my past lives!”

The landlady was holding a large chain of keys and had one hand on her waist as she yelled out, her voice sharp, to the point of shrieking, as if she was afraid the whole building couldn’t hear. Yan Yu, being only one floor away from Su Yu’s apartment, was even woken up by the sound of her voice.

He pushed the sheets off of himself, about to rise up and take a look at the racket, when he was pulled back by a strong force. Xun Chuan wrapped around his waist, slowly climbing up Yan Yu’s back, his voice sweet and begging, like a poisonous snake swallowing its forked tongue, 

“Not allowed to go……”

The reason why ghosts and spirits appeared at night was only because the sunlight brought them pain. Only really the lowest level of these would actually be harmed by the light. The curtains on the windows were pulled taut, but Yan Yu could see through the linen to that bright and burning sun outside.

Before, Xun Chuan would come at night and leave at night, but now…… he wasn’t leaving once he came.

Yan Yu took his hand back, but Xun Chuan’s face became menacing, tightening his grasp without a single thought of letting go. The human and the ghost froze like this, neither willing to be the first one to back down. Xun Chuan’s eyebrows rose and a dark glint flashed by his eyes as he stared coldly at Yan Yu. He quietly said, 

“Yan Yu, you really are ruthless……”

“I’m going to reincarnate soon, does this fact not make you act even a little bit better towards me……”

Hearing this, Yan Yu finally weakened a bit, 

“I’m heading up to see what’s going on. I’ll be back in a second.”

Xun Chuan’s expression was hard to decipher, 

“I’ll follow you.”

Yan Yu didn’t respond and went straight to the washroom to wash up, a sign that he was conceding.

Su Yu’s room was really cluttered. The tables were filled with jars and bottles of makeup. Her closet was split into two: one filled with shoes and the other all clothes. When her mother came, she had only carried a cloth backpack that looked to have been washed so many times it was almost white, which was evidently not enough to carry everything.

The landlady very impatiently rolled her eyes, and seeing Su Yu’s mother fold each item of clothing neatly, her patience was shot to the ground, making her even more annoyed. 

She quickly urged her, 

“Alright, alright, it’s not even worth that much money. All of these are just items you can get from the street peddlers downstairs. Just quickly pack up please. You are so slow that I’m going to have to wait until the world ends.”

Su Yu’s mother kept apologizing, but as she was not quite as young anymore, her legs were not very coordinated. In her haste, she even tripped, almost giving the landlady a heart attack. She was just going to help her up when Su Yu’s mother quickly stood back up by herself, 

“No worries, no worries. It doesn’t hurt one bit. Ack, this floor is quite soft, I didn’t get hurt by the fall.”

In a place where no one could see, a faint resentment disappeared by her knees.

The landlady thought to herself, this floor is concrete, so how soft could it be. She was just about to say something when footsteps sounded from behind her. She turned around and was greeted by the sight of Yan Yu.

“Oh my wonders, what a curious sight. Don’t you wake up when the sun’s already setting hmm? Did the sun rise up from the west today?”

The landlady stared at him, bursting with curiosity, shaking the keys in her hands and making a clear ‘wah-la’ sound. Yan Yu leaned against the stairway railing, emotionlessly yawning, 

“I at least knew Xiao-Su, so I came to take a look.”

The landlady’s face turned weird and she patted hard against Yan Yu’s shoulder. In a quiet tone, she said, 

“I knew you rascal didn’t study well in school. When did you two hook up huh? Your mouth should be zipped up tight, and don’t say it in front of her mother about that…… that something. Just before, at the police station, her father got so mad he went straight home because of this.”

Xun Chuan could only focus on the words “hook up” and narrowed his eyes, pinching hard at Yan Yu’s waist.

The landlady had a bit of a poisonous mouth, but she wasn’t a bad person. Yan Yu patted the hand off his waist and went through the motions to nod his head before subtly glancing inside the room, 

“If you have things to do, then go. Give the keys to me. When Xiao-Su’s mother leaves, I’ll lock the door.”

A smile grew on the landlady’s face, 

“Omo, I knew I didn’t care about you for no reason. I had planned to play mahjong with Fang-jie a while back. Great, then you watch and I’ll come by later to grab the keys from you.”

And then gave Xiao-Su’s room key to Yan Yu before sashaying happily out of there.

The female ghost had been lying patiently in wait these past couple of days. Yan Yu had come up a few times to investigate since that night, but so far he hadn’t been able to find any evidence. He stuffed the key in his pocket and took out a luopan1 that could detect ghosts. The arrow was swirling fast, and without faltering it pointed right behind him. 

Yan Yu paused in silence, packed up the luopan and walked inside. Xun Chuan was confused, but followed, flying in behind him.

The room still faintly had the smell of death, and so after Su Yu’s mother packed everything up, she went to the bathroom to grab a bucket of water and very carefully and thoroughly cleaned up the floor without missing a spot. Her face was old and wrinkly, her hands rough and filled with callouses, looking like someone who has completed a lot of hard laborious work.

Seeing that the floor was still wet, Yan Yu couldn’t help but retract his footsteps. Leaning against the doorway, he scanned the entire room, taking it all in. When Su Yu’s mother noticed him, she paused in surprise. She tucked a few strands of her white hair behind her ear, looking quite apprehensive, as if she wanted to say something, but didn’t know what she should say.

Yan Yu opened his mouth to break the awkward atmosphere, 

“I’m Xiao-Su’s friend and wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help.”

Immediately upon hearing this, a smile quietly appeared on Su Yu’s mother’s face, 

“Ah, so you are Xiao-Su’s friend. There’s not much to help with. I’m almost done. That child didn’t know a lot of things, so hopefully she didn’t give you much trouble.”

Yan Yu didn’t say anything in reply, pausing in silence before shaking his head.

Su Yu’s mother continued then to bend down and scrub the floor, slowly sighing, 

“Xiao-Su’s, ah, her life was hard. She had a big fight with her dad one year and ran away by herself to the big city to work. How many years had she not come back……”

She scrubbed the mop in the bucket and then used her hands to squeeze it dry. Her eyes, filled with a lot of emotion, were swirling with tears, but in the end she held it all in and silently finished scrubbing the floor clean. Cleaning up the uncleaned blood and dust until it was gone, as if it had never been there before.

The bag Su Yu’s mother brought was bursting at the seams, cramped full of Su Yu’s items. She lifted it and carried it on her back, her body tilting a bit from the weight. Yan Yu wanted to help, but was politely refused.

“No worries, no worries, I’m used to it. No worries. Thank you young man.”

Su Yu’s mother carried the things downstairs, walking a few steps before coming back. She asked where the nearest train station was and after Yan Yu pointed the direction for her, she left.

Su Yu’s room was cleaned up very well and neatly, leaving not even a single trace of garbage behind. A breeze blew by, shifting the curtains slightly by the window. Xun Chuan blew a breath of cold air at Yan Yu’s neck from the back and then whispered, 

“She’s hiding in the closet…..”

At that, Yan Yu turned his eyes towards the closet and his fingers quickly shot out a copper coin, hitting the closet open–

A woman dressed in red laid inside, looking worse for the wear. There was still a peach wood sword stabbed in her head and she was so weak her spirit looked transparent. Her face was mostly decayed, but she looked like she was crying, yet no tears were able to come out. Her shoulders were shaking as she quietly sobbed.

There were still some human qualities left in ghosts.

“……Mom……it was me who was unfilial…….”

Yan Yu’s feet slightly moved, walking to stand in front of her, casting a large shadow on her body.

Su Yu was hugging her knees, curled up into a ball, knowing that she had no way to win over him in a fight. Her heart was already as dead as ash, 

“Just kill me…… I have already lost my will to live……”

Hearing this, Yan Yu lowered his eyes, raising his hands for a spell. Seeing this, Xun Chuan wanted to say something, but then there was nothing to say, and so he could only silently tighten his hands.

A flash of golden light passed by, silently entering into Su Yu’s body. The peach wood sword stuck in her head suddenly popped out with a sound, clanking onto the floor.

Su Yu’s eyes flashed a shock, 

“You……”

Yan Yu opened his palms and there was a jade gourd2 silently lying there, 

“Go in. When it’s time, I will send you off to be reincarnated.”

Xun Chuan narrowed his eyes.

With the peach wood sword out of her, Su Yu’s body seemed to have become more solidified. Hearing this she looked up in disbelief, lips flapping, 

“I…… I have the chance for reincarnation……”

She moved, and it turned out she was actually going to kneel before Yan Yu, 

“I’m begging you…… can you help me with one thing……”

Yan Yu didn’t like to stick his nose into a lot of things and was about to reject her when the system rang out.

[ Ding…… found…… found side mission…… my host please accept the request from the female ghost…… receive an equivalent reward…… become self sufficient and self reliant sooner…… ]

The system seemed to be scared out of its mind, and quickly skittered away before it could even finish its words. 

Yan Yu furrowed his eyebrows slightly and asked Su Yu, 

“With what?”

Hearing this, some hope appeared on Su Yu’s face. Her half decayed finger pointed at the bed,

“Under the bed…… there is a bit of money…… half of it for you…… the other half…… can I trouble you to help me give it to my mother, please?”

Everyday Su Yu received many different customers from all walks of life, and some of them would pay in cash. It was only after she collected the money to a certain amount that she would take it and save it at the bank. 

The bed frame was very heavy, and normally, people would not hide their money under there. The police officers who had searched her apartment probably didn’t look under it to find the cash left behind.

Xun Chuan flipped out a string of resentment from his fingers and the bed frame popped up with a creaking sound. In the middle was a stack of money, about eight to nine thousand yuan. If it was split in half, there would be at least about three to four thousand, which was way more than his stall business could ever make him,

Yan Yu slightly nodded his head, 

“I can.”

Su Yu’s mouth tugged at this, a million emotions flashing in her eyes. But in the end, it rested on relief. Her body then collapsed into a cloud of black smoke and was absorbed into the jade gourd.

Xun Chuan sat on the edge of the bed and tilted his head to look up at Yan Yu, 

“What, are you in need of money?”

Yan Yu packed up his peach wood sword and asked back, 

“When have I never lacked in money?”

Yan Yu was always poor, and he has never been able to save up any money. From the beginning of a year to the end of a year, each year repeating after the other, always in a state of poverty.

Xun Chuan thought of something then and he mockingly hooked up his mouth. But seeing Yan Yu starting to lock the door, he followed right behind, flying close.

Su Yu was weaker than he imagined, and because of his precautions, Yan Yu had made sure to stuff a lot of things on himself. When he returned home, he started to take them out. In his left pocket, there were two of his talismans and a few copper coins in his right. His sleeves also hid that sword of golden money.

Xun Chuan was by his side and seeing him pack the things into a drawer, he came closer to take a look. He looked at Yan Yu, 

“What do you have inside?”

Yan Yu closed the drawer, 

“Things to repel ghosts.”

Notes:

*1 luopan: kind of like a compass or clock, tied around feng shui, but has a lot of symbols with a lot of variance in what is on there and what it means. There are ones that can tell about the stars in the sky, or the “atmosphere” of the ground/sky (kind of like the surroundings and used for telling good/bad things). It also has many other uses besides that kind of investigative work, like warding off ghosts/spirits/evil things, attracting luck/money/love interests, etc. A multipurpose tool I guess in a way but can look different depending on the person/specialization (here’s two below that’s for feng shui – with 2 different designs (quite a bit of variation actually) and kind of the realm of what Yan Yu may have used, but that is up in the air as there are many different tools in this profession/area, but just for some kind of reference):

*2 jade gourd: there’s a lot of meanings for a jade gourd, with lots of good luck and good things associated with it so you may see it as an ornament someone wears or has in their house. Gourds in general are believed to be able to hold down spirits (good or bad) which is reflected a lot in supernatural genres of movies/films or novels too, like the Journey of the West (I believe there’s a scene in there where one of the characters get caught inside of one, kind of like a jail).