Little Pink Starfish

Early the next morning, Zhang Qiu was still sleeping when he heard loud, urgent banging on the door next door—pa pa pa.

Little Jiang, with bedhead and sitting on the bed with his legs folded, had a sleepy and gloomy look on his big face—obviously woken up.

Zhang Qiu tugged his son’s soft little arm. “You keep sleeping, Daddy will go check.”

“I’m coming too,” mumbled Little Jiang, still not fully awake.

Zhang Qiu thought he was just curious, but then Little Jiang said clearly, “I want to protect Daddy!”

Zhang Qiu was momentarily speechless. In his son’s eyes, he was so weak it was embarrassing.

“Good boy, it’s just your Second Uncle next door. Nothing will happen.”

Upon hearing that, Little Jiang’s soft body fell back onto the bed, and he burrowed into the covers to sleep soundly again.

Zhang Qiu got out of bed with mixed feelings. His son being too good wasn’t necessarily a good thing—he had no fatherly dignity left. Sigh.

Zhang Qiu opened the door and was startled by what he saw in the hallway. Five bodyguards stood crying and disheveled at Second Brother’s door.

“…Master Zhang, we were wrong, please save us!”

“Master Zhang, I want to buy a talisman!”

“Me too, me too! No matter how expensive!”

His Second Brother opened the door, expressionless and dark-faced, speaking with a bad attitude like he’d just had his activity interrupted, “There’s no discount now. One talisman, 18,000.”

“I’ll buy!”

“I want two!”

“I’ll take three!”

Zhang Qiu stood there rubbing his chin. Looks like Qi Zhirong really was rich. The bodyguards’ salaries must be high—no one even blinked at 18,000 per talisman. And with people begging to pay despite Second Brother’s grumpy face, Zhang Qiu couldn’t help but think—this line of work seemed kind of lucrative?

After Zhang Yushui made a nice profit, Zhang Qiu learned from the bodyguards that more female ghosts had tried to seduce them last night. They were targeted. If it hadn’t been for the two talismans in Agui’s possession from day one, they all would’ve died.

But there were only two talismans, and six people tossed them back and forth. One didn’t catch in time and got hurt badly—now in the hospital. Except Agui, who looked a bit better, the other four all had trembling limbs and dark circles under their eyes, like they were about to die.

When the five looked at each other’s faces, they were shocked and truly realized the seriousness of the situation. They didn’t even finish dressing before rushing to beg Zhang Yushui for help.

“This Agui is quite loyal,” Zhang Qiu said as Xiapi Prince came out of the room, not looking too well. He grinned and greeted him, “Second sister-in-law didn’t sleep well?”

Xiapi Prince glared coldly at Zhang Yushui, who only smiled dotingly, wrapped an arm around his waist and whispered, “No choice, gotta earn milk powder money.”

“That’s what I meant?!” Xiapi Prince gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, “I’m a man, how could I—” Seeing Zhang Qiu smiling over, he swallowed his words and coldly huffed his way down to the dining hall.

Zhang Yushui knocked Zhang Qiu on the head. “Don’t gawk!”

Zhang Qiu wasn’t upset about the knock. He grinned and turned into his room, hugging the soft Little Jiang from the bed. “Your auntie’s gonna give you a little phoenix egg!”

Little Jiang, still half-asleep, smacked his lips. “Yummy.”

“Hahaha, not for eating.” Zhang Qiu saw it was getting late, so he tugged the soft boy to get dressed, wash up, and head downstairs for breakfast.

Everyone was already there in the restaurant. Today, Lingdang wore a Rilakkuma-style jacket with a bear tail on the back. Pei Qing hadn’t let go of it once. Qi Xi rolled his eyes. “You two are way too lovey-dovey. My eyes hurt!”

“You’re just jealous. If your little Rongrong wore a bear suit, I bet you’d be worse than me.” Pei Qing gave a kiss to the uneasy Lingdang. “Don’t listen to him. He never says anything nice. You look the best in this.”

Qi Xi imagined little Rongrong in such an outfit and got so excited he started spacing out.

“It’s Qi Zhirong.”

“Little Rongrong, you look so good in this. Even better if you’re not wearing anything.” Qi Xi propped his chin and mumbled, lost in fantasy.

Zhang Qiu saw Qi Zhirong approaching with an even colder face and kicked Qi Xi under the table. Qi Xi got mad, “Enough with the PDA, now you’re kicking me?! Be careful or I’ll tell my little—” He paused when he saw Qi Zhirong right beside him, and quickly changed his tune with a grin: “Little Rongrong, you came to see me?”

Qi Zhirong kept a cold face and didn’t even glance at Qi Xi. He looked straight at Zhang Yushui. “Mr. Zhang, I want to cooperate with you.”

“It’s us,” Zhang Yushui said flatly.

Qi Zhirong glanced at everyone, his eyes pausing briefly on Qi Xi before quickly moving away. He nodded. “No problem. You name the price.”

“If we’re cooperating, then state your terms. What exactly are you looking for?” Zhang Yushui said while watching Qi Zhirong.

Qi Zhirong’s expression didn’t change. He sat down. Qi Xi immediately swapped seats with Lingdang to sit beside him, resting his chin on his hands, staring at Qi Zhirong with a lovestruck expression. Zhang Qiu covered Little Jiang’s eyes and kicked Qi Xi again.

“Cut it out! My Little Jiang is right here!”

Little Jiang pulled Zhang Qiu’s hand down curiously and softly asked, “Daddy, does that pretty uncle have something wrong with his eyes? He keeps blinking.”

“That’s right. Don’t copy him. Don’t look at him either—your IQ might drop.” Zhang Qiu coaxed him.

Qi Xi wanted to retort, but for the sake of his image in front of Qi Zhirong, he held back.

Qi Zhirong took a sip of water and began, “You ask what I’m looking for—I don’t know myself. Since childhood, I’ve always felt like I was searching for something. The older I got, the stronger the feeling. I didn’t want to be controlled by it, so I went abroad. But unexpectedly, I fell ill.”

“Last time, your heart hurt?” Zhang Qiu recalled him writhing in pain.

Qi Zhirong nodded. “I saw countless famous doctors—they found nothing wrong. In fact, my body was very healthy. But the attacks got more frequent, and I realized running away wasn’t the solution.” He pulled a jade disc from his pocket and placed it in the center of the table.

“I don’t know what I’m searching for. Maybe a person, maybe an object. I’ve held all kinds of parties over time, hoping to find something. At an auction, I saw this jade disc, and felt a strong urge to have it.” He rubbed his forehead, tapped the disc. “This is a map. Li Shu said it’s also a key.”

If the jade disc is a map, then why did Qi Zhirong send someone to steal their map?

Maybe they were thinking in the wrong direction. Zhang Qiu quickly asked, “Was it you who sent someone to take the Lu family’s map?”

“What map?”

Zhang Qiu watched him carefully—his surprised reaction didn’t seem fake. So it wasn’t him who took the map from his senior’s study. Then who?

“Whoever it is, they must be here too—maybe waiting for us at Moon Bay,” said Zhang Yushui.

Qi Zhirong froze. “How do you know I’m going to Moon Bay?”

“Your attacks, the places where the ghosts lured bodyguards—we guessed,” Zhang Yushui replied. And clearly, they guessed right.

Qi Zhirong nodded, returning to his indifferent expression. “This time, I just want to figure out who is controlling my body and will—and deal with it.”

“What if it’s you?” Zhang Qiu asked. Seeing Qi Zhirong confused, he clarified, “I mean, what if it’s your past life?”

“I only know that the current me is me.”

Zhang Qiu understood—no matter the ties of past lives, they were separate lives. Qi Zhirong, especially, valued complete independence and didn’t want to be controlled.

After the talk, Qi Zhirong left, not taking the jade disc. He left it for them to study—showing trust in the newly formed partnership.

Zhang Qiu held it and examined it. It felt warm and was fine jade, carved with intricate patterns that remained clear after thousands of years. But as for being a map—he couldn’t see it at all.

“Get a magnifying glass,” said Zhang Yushui.

Using it, they could trace the patterns. Zhang Qiu had studied maps with his senior for a few days—this palm-sized jade disc was much more detailed than a basic map. Even with changes in geography over the ages, major rivers and mountains were still there.

That afternoon, Zhang Qiu went shopping with Zhang Yushui. According to him, this time they were more likely to encounter yin energy and vengeful spirits than Jiangshi. Jiangshi were at least tangible—these things were elusive and harder to handle.

Zhang Qiu was afraid of ghosts. Like Second Brother said, you couldn’t catch or see them. Though ghosts like Lingdang didn’t count—they were embarrassing to ghostkind.

Black dog blood, rooster blood, glutinous rice, yellow paper, cinnabar…

“Give me your hand,” said Zhang Yushui.

Zhang Qiu dumbly handed it over. The next second, his brother slashed his fingertip with a small knife—swift and brutal.

Ten fingers linked to the heart—it hurt so bad Zhang Qiu wanted to curse. And his brother even squeezed out more blood into a small dish.

“Second Brother, don’t we already have black dog blood and rooster blood?!”

“You think you’re still human?”

“You use my blood and still insult me,” he pouted. “Wanna fight?!”

Zhang Yushui squeezed out more blood before finally letting go, satisfied. “Li Shu gave you his soul essence. After so long, you’ve mostly fused with it. Your blood works better than black dog blood or rooster blood.”

“Wait, soul essence should be what Li Shu needs, right? Shouldn’t he kiss kiss suck it back?” Zhang Qiu quickly asked.

Zhang Yushui glanced at him and clicked his tongue. “Kiss kiss suck it back? Back in the Queen’s Pit, the formation nearly drained you dry. If not for that soul essence, you’d be long dead. Li Shu really did it for you.”

“I know Li Shu loves me. But Senior Brother is just a normal person—why is he fine?”

“One, Lu Feng waters him every day. Two, he’s not carrying a baby,” Zhang Yushui said seriously while talking about dirty things. “You need more nutrients now. Without that soul essence, how else could you be bouncing around like nothing?”

Zhang Qiu hadn’t thought of it. He had felt terrible during his first pregnancy with Little Jiang, but now with the second one, he felt totally fine. Thinking of how he was nearly sucked dry in the Queen’s Pit made him shudder. He quickly asked, “But my second baby’s so quiet—what if it got hurt back then?”

“Little Jiang’s a Jiangshi—rare divine blood in his veins. As for the second baby, with the soul essence, it should be okay. Don’t overthink it—keep a healthy mindset,” Zhang Yushui said. Though he wasn’t sure either, he could only reassure for now.

Zhang Qiu felt heavy inside after hearing that. Thinking about how little he’d rested or eaten properly, especially while worrying over Li Shu, he felt guilty. When pregnant with Little Jiang, the baby was born after a bit more than three months. Now it was almost time, but the second baby hadn’t made a sound. If they hadn’t brought it up, he’d nearly forgotten there was even a second one inside.

Zhang Yushui saw his expression and regretted bringing it up. “Don’t overthink. Keep your mindset healthy—it’s most important.” But one look at Zhang Qiu’s face told him it was pointless.

Zhang Qiu didn’t even know how he left the room. Unconsciously, he drifted to the door of Li Shu’s room on the second floor.

The door was open. Li Shu stood inside. Zhang Qiu couldn’t hold it anymore—he crashed into Li Shu’s arms and started sobbing.

Li Shu stiffened. Feeling the dampness on his chest, his cold face twitched slightly. He stood upright and said flatly, “Did someone bully you?”

“It’s my own fault.” Zhang Qiu sniffled. Thinking of the second baby made his heart ache. “I didn’t take care of the second one. What if something happens?! It’s all your fault, you bastard!”

Li Shu’s face darkened. He pushed Zhang Qiu away by the arms and saw the tear-and-snot-covered face. His head hurt. His heart softened. He swallowed the words he meant to say about not wanting to be a substitute, and instead pulled Zhang Qiu back into his arms.

“It’s okay. I’m here.”

Li Shu’s voice was still cool, but it gave Zhang Qiu the confidence that the second baby would be just fine. He nodded hard. “The second one will be okay.”

So who was the second baby? Li Shu frowned. Seeing Zhang Qiu like this, he couldn’t resist asking.

That afternoon, besides Zhang Qiu, everyone else got questioned by Li Shu about who the second child was. Qi Xi was confused—what’s with Li Shu today?!

Zhang Yushui just said mysteriously, “You’ll know when the time comes.” He barely escaped being silenced by Li Shu.

The next day, for once, the weather was good. Li Shu, cold-faced, announced it was time—Zhang Qiu knew they were heading to Moon Bay. Qi Zhirong’s bodyguards had arrived too. With all the timing and people in place, Zhang Qiu sat in the car feeling a bit anxious. He didn’t want to be left at the hotel either. His emotions were clearly off.

Moon Bay, despite the name, was actually a flat open area surrounded by small hills. At night, when the moon rose, the center would be bathed in silver light. People claimed the moonlight shimmered like water and mist—like a fairyland.

But no locals dared go there. The hills were filled with graves. In the past, brave people used to bet and sleep there overnight, only to wake up naked on a hilltop grave, mad or gravely ill. After the female ghosts five years ago, no one dared approach again. Anyone who tried to move ancestral graves always faced trouble—like the graves were rooted to the land, guarding Moon Bay.

They arrived at Moon Bay around eleven. The sun was shining elsewhere, but the closer they got, the gloomier the sky became. Near the hills, the sky above the center area was heavy with thick clouds—oppressively low.

Zhang Yushui held a feng shui compass. As soon as they reached the area, the needle started spinning wildly and wouldn’t stop.

“Worse than I thought,” he muttered. He pulled out a small bronze mirror with a red gem on the back. It looked old and ornate. No one cared about that. They watched as Zhang Yushui clipped the mirror above the compass, quickly made a few hand gestures, and muttered something.

“Set!”

He shouted suddenly. The spinning needle stopped, and in the mirror appeared rolling black mist, like clouds surging.

A bodyguard peeked and stammered in fear, “M-Master, there’s a ghost in the mirror!”

“Don’t look,” Zhang Yushui said calmly.

Zhang Qiu turned his head quickly, thinking it was some taboo, but then heard his brother say, “I’m afraid you’ll get so scared you can’t walk.”

…

All of Qi Zhirong’s bodyguards came, minus the one in the hospital. Thirteen people formed a circle around him. Qi Xi took the chance to squeeze in and grab his hand, only to be shaken off. Undeterred, he said seriously, “We’re teammates now. It’s safer if I protect you. You’re a target—those things will come for you. These bodyguards are just regular people—they can’t protect you.”

To chase a man, Qi Xi was putting in work—he even hinted he wasn’t a regular person.

Zhang Qiu looked inside and saw Qi Zhirong not shaking him off this time. Maybe any trick was worth trying to get a man—maybe it’d work!

Zhang Yushui, Xiapi Prince, and Li Shu led the way. Pei Qing and Lingdang followed. Upon arrival, Lingdang, scared, hid in her spirit orb. Only Pei Qing remained. Qi Zhirong and his guards were in the center. Zhang Qiu, thinking Pei Qing was too alone in the back, moved to join—only to hear Li Shu say, “You come here. Qi Xi, move to the back.”

Qi Xi, who had just proudly held hands, wanted to protest, but Qi Zhirong’s look shut him up.

“I’ll watch over you from the back,” Qi Xi said to Qi Zhirong, blowing a kiss saucily. Zhang Qiu wanted to punch him.

Before entering, Zhang Yushui handed out protective talismans. “Keep it on you. If it starts burning hot, find me immediately.” To Qi Zhirong, he handed the one drawn with Zhang Qiu’s blood. “Stay close to the group. Don’t fall behind.”

Qi Zhirong nodded, calm but with a trace of urgency.

Zhang Qiu saw this and found his expression a bit odd. But considering he’d been out of control for years, urgency seemed normal.

Little Jiang held his dad’s hand and cheerfully said, “Don’t be scared, Daddy! Little Jiang is here!” But on his face was an unmistakable expression of so many yummy things!

Zhang Qiu: …………

Good boy, at least wipe your drool first?!