Chapter 127 - 126: Just Deserts

Chapter 127: Chapter 126: Just Deserts

Zhuo Yan knew Huo Yunjing wouldn’t attack her, so she didn’t resist at all, allowing Old Liu’s force to pull her over.

Old Liu, thinking someone was about to take the fall for him, couldn’t suppress a flicker of joy. He scrambled up from the floor to run, but Tong Xihai blocked his path after just two steps.

Tong Xihai couldn’t speak, so he just opened his mouth and let out a vicious growl.

Old Liu immediately shrank back in terror.

He turned to Gu Qingyin for help, but fell silent when he saw her leaning lazily against the male ghost.

He glanced at Mr. Zhuo and flinched. The man’s glare looked like it could flay him alive. Even Mrs. Zhuo, who had been terrified just moments before, was now so incensed by his earlier remarks that she lifted her head and stared daggers at him.

As for Zhuo Yan, she was both furious and heartbroken.

All three people and two ghosts in the room were against him.

Seeing Tong Xihai draw closer and closer, Old Liu completely panicked. "Master Gu! You can’t just watch me die and do nothing!"

"Of course I won’t!" Gu Qingyin stood up straight, her expression the very picture of righteousness. "It’s only natural to pay your debts. Give him his money back, and he’ll stop bothering you."

Old Liu was speechless. ’If I had the money, I wouldn’t have taken the compensation in the first place!’

Snarling, Tong Xihai took another step closer, raising his hand...

The hair on Old Liu’s arms stood on end. "I’ll pay! I’ll pay!" he shouted frantically.

"When?" Gu Qingyin instantly became the designated spokesperson, smiling. "A friendly reminder: we don’t accept installment plans. The balance must be paid in full."

Old Liu froze for two seconds, then took out his phone to check his accounts. A few minutes later, he looked up, his face a mask of apprehension. "Could I... make two payments? I don’t have enough right now. I’ll go home, sell my house, and then pay the rest."

Gu Qingyin smiled. Tong Xihai roared.

"I’ll pay, I’ll pay! I’ll borrow the money to pay!" Old Liu was on the verge of tears. He looked pleadingly at Mr. Zhuo. "Brother Zhuo, please, help me one more time. I’m begging you, save me."

Mr. Zhuo’s expression was complicated. He didn’t refuse right away.

Mrs. Zhuo’s eyes flashed, and she pinched his arm hard.

Mr. Zhuo hissed in pain but said firmly, "I can help you."

Old Liu’s eyes lit up, and he was moved beyond words. "Brother Zhuo, besides my own parents, you’re the best person I’ve ever known."

"Let me finish," Mr. Zhuo said, his voice calm but firm. "Go to the office tomorrow and submit your resignation. After that, we’ll go our separate ways. Let’s just pretend we never met."

Old Liu was stunned. "Brother Zhuo?"

"You got greedy, and my family was haunted. If my daughter hadn’t noticed something was wrong and hired a Heavenly Master, who knows what might have happened tonight." Mr. Zhuo grew more furious as he spoke. "I can’t afford a friend like you. You don’t have to pay me back for the money I’m lending you now. Consider it a severance payment for our years of friendship."

"And one last piece of advice: go to the police as soon as possible. Don’t wait until your family is destroyed and someone is dead to feel regret." Mr. Zhuo was getting older, and his heart had softened with age. If he were younger, he would have, at the very least, rushed over and beaten Old Liu half to death.

Old Liu slowly nodded, sighed, and said nothing.

In less than five minutes, Old Liu had transferred the money to the Tong Family’s account. He also composed and sent an apology text.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to apologize in person, but the Tong Family likely didn’t want to see him. It was also too late to call, so a text message was the best option.

Seeing this, much of the shadowy resentment in Tong Xihai’s eyes dissipated.

"It’s settled. You can go get reincarnated now," Gu Qingyin said with a smile. "Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him. I will absolutely not let him bother your parents again."

Tong Xihai nodded gratefully, then looked toward Huo Yunjing.

Huo Yunjing once again released his Yin Qi to establish a link with the ghost. After a moment, he said, "He wants to go to the hospital to see his parents one more time."

Gu Qingyin nodded in understanding. "Then let’s all go. After you see your parents, I’ll send you off to be reincarnated."

She took a palm-sized glass bottle from her bag, uncapped it, and said, "Get in."

Tong Xihai flowed into the bottle.

Huo Yunjing shot Old Liu a cold glance before returning to the pendant as well.

The room fell silent. Gu Qingyin yawned and looked at Zhuo Yan. "Let’s settle the Fate Fee."

By the time she left the Zhuo family home, it was already past two in the morning. Gu Qingyin was exhausted and starving, but she was in high spirits. ’After all, I just got paid.’

Zhuo Yan walked her to the entrance of the apartment complex, thanking her profusely the entire way. Finally, she asked with concern, "Nothing else will happen now, right?"

Gu Qingyin couldn’t make any guarantees. She only instructed, "Don’t move the Eight Diagrams Mirror on your door, and always carry the talisman I gave you. If you ever notice anything wrong with the talisman, you can come find me."

She smiled. "Of course, let’s hope that day never comes."

Zhuo Yan smiled back. "Thank you, Sister Qing. It was a pleasure to meet you."

Gu Qingyin patted her on the head, then turned and got into the car.

Zhuo Yan didn’t see the flash of golden light that appeared and vanished above her head.

Sitting in the car, Gu Qingyin murmured to herself, "Such a polite kid. Consider it a parting gift."

「Half a month later.」

Gu Qingyin received a call from Zhuo Yan.

Zhuo Yan said, "Uncle Liu is dead."

Gu Qingyin raised an eyebrow as she listened to Zhuo Yan recount what had happened.

Someone with a gambling addiction doesn’t quit so easily. Not only did Old Liu fail to stop gambling, but he also doubled down, borrowing from loan sharks to get more funds in an attempt to win back his losses.

The result was predictable: he was once again drowning in debt, and now he had two groups of collectors after him instead of one.

His wife couldn’t take it anymore. She sold off their valuables and left with their child.

Old Liu came home to an empty house. Hounded by his creditors and forced to hide, he broke down after just a few days.

He holed up in a cheap motel and drank himself into a stupor every day. Looking back on his life, he grew more and more bitter. How had it all come to this?

Then, he started blaming Zhuo Yan.

’If only Zhuo Yan hadn’t hired that Heavenly Master,’ he thought. ’Then I wouldn’t have had to pay the money back, I wouldn’t have needed to borrow from loan sharks for a stake, and if I hadn’t borrowed from them, my wife wouldn’t have left with our child...’

In a drunken, impulsive rage, Old Liu tried to run Zhuo Yan down with his car as she was returning home.

Miraculously, though Zhuo Yan couldn’t get out of the way in time, she only suffered minor injuries.

It was Old Liu, the driver, who fared worse. He threw up from the jolt of the impact. Then the airbag deployed, slamming into him and making him gasp instinctively. He aspirated his own vomit, choked, and died of asphyxiation.

Zhuo Yan was in shock. It was the assistant who was escorting her home who called the police.

While investigating Old Liu, the police followed the trail of clues, which led them to bust both the illegal gambling den and the loan sharking operation.

"It’s completely over now. Just look forward," Gu Qingyin said, offering a few words of comfort before hanging up.

Zhuo Yan didn’t know how she had managed to cheat death, but she was certain it had something to do with Gu Qingyin.

’Sister Qing, thank you,’ Zhuo Yan thought, her gratitude coming from the bottom of her heart. ’I hope that your future is smooth and that you find everlasting happiness.’

A smile touched Gu Qingyin’s eyes. She raised her hand and caught a bit of golden light that had materialized out of thin air. "Your blessing," she whispered, "has been received."

Every devout believer is a cultivator’s most precious asset.