Little Pink Starfish

Early in the morning, the sky was gloomy, as if it were going to rain. Zhang Qiu and the others called two cars and headed toward the villa area where the chubby ghost’s family lived.

The mountain road wound along the south side, close to the mountain. The uppermost area was a villa district developed in recent years. Because the transportation was convenient and the environment was good, many wealthy people had purchased property there — the chubby ghost’s family was one of them.

The cars drove up the road. At the third house, the bell on Xiao Jiang’s wrist jingled. Xiao Jiang frowned and mercilessly pinched the bell, saying, “It’s here.”

Everyone got out of the car. Xiao Jiang, with a stern face, growled at the bell on his wrist: “If you keep making noise, I’ll eat you.”

“He misses home, be more understanding,” Zhang Qiu rubbed his son’s head and said with a smile.

Xiao Jiang pouted unhappily and said, “Kids are always so troublesome, always crying. Daddy, do you think little brother will cry like this too?”

Everyone was present, and Zhang Qiu was a bit embarrassed by the question. “How do you know it’ll be a little brother and not a little sister?” A little girl would be great!

Beside them, Zhang Yushui glanced over Zhang Qiu and Li Shu and said flatly, “If two men can give birth to a girl, I lose.”

“Let’s not talk about that now.” Zhang Qiu felt awkward from being stared at by Li Shu, quickly changed the subject, “Let’s help Xiao Pang first.”

Xiao Jiang showed his tiger teeth and smiled. “Daddy, you said we can’t give people nicknames.”

Zhang Qiu felt today was just a day for being roasted, and quickly said, “Daddy was wrong. Shouldn’t give kids nicknames. But what’s Xiao Pang’s real name?” They were just helping out in passing, and since there was also the issue with Xiao Lin, they hadn’t asked much about the chubby ghost’s name or family.

Yue Le.

No one spoke, but Zhang Qiu still heard that name. He looked at Xiao Jiang’s wrist. Xiao Jiang nodded. “He said it himself.”

“Alright, let’s send little—” Zhang Yushui nearly said “chubby ghost” but was elbowed by King Hui of Xiapi and quickly corrected, “Let’s send little Yue home.”

Most of the villas in this area followed a European style, but varied — not identical. The Yue family’s house looked clearly more low-key than the Gao family’s. They rang the doorbell, and soon a housekeeper came out, eyes red, like she’d just cried.

“What do you need?”

“We’re here to do something for little Yue — that is, Yue Le—” Before Zhang Yushui could finish, a woman inside heard the name and rushed out, her expression haggard. She grabbed Zhang Yushui’s hand tightly, “Yue Le, it’s Yue Le, is there something he wanted you to do?”

Just as Zhang Yushui was about to speak, a man came out — looked about twenty-five or six, dressed in formal wear. He wrapped an arm around the woman and said, “Mom, calm down first.” Then looked at them guardedly, “What do you want? My brother is already gone. He didn’t know you — don’t use his name to upset my mom.”

“This place isn’t suitable to talk. We really mean no harm.” Zhang Qiu hurriedly said, “Just listen to what we have to say — it won’t hurt.”

The woman grabbed her older son’s hand and pleaded, “Qin Cang, listen to them, maybe it really is Lele!”

Yue Qincang looked over the group, hesitated a bit, then nodded. “Come in. But I’m warning you — don’t try anything shady.”

The group followed into the living room. Zhang Qiu noticed the place was quiet and somber. Decorations on the furniture had been packed away. There were signs of moving everywhere. Luckily they had come today — this family was about to move.

The housekeeper went to prepare tea, but seeing Yue Qincang watching them like thieves, Zhang Qiu thought — forget tea. The sooner this was done, the better.

Zhang Yushui had the same idea and asked the housekeeper to draw the curtains. He held a talisman. Yue Qincang sneered, “Parlor tricks.”

Zhang Yushui said nothing. He lit the talisman, and a faint shadow of a chubby child appeared in the living room.

“My Lele!” The previously composed woman on the sofa immediately rushed forward but fell through nothing. She was distraught. “Lele, what’s wrong with you?”

Yue Qincang, who had shown disdain earlier, was now stunned, and called out in disbelief, “Brother?”

“Brother, Mom, it’s me, Lele.” The chubby boy cried again upon seeing his family.

Zhang Yushui spoke up, “His spiritual energy is weak. Reincarnating sooner is better for him. Before dying, he couldn’t let go of you. If you have anything to say, hurry — delay will only harm him.”

“Master, can’t you save him? He’s only eight, only eight. It’s my fault, I didn’t watch him properly. When the car came, I should’ve run to save him…”

Zhang Yushui shook his head, “The dead can’t come back. Don’t let him carry regrets.”

Yue Qincang came back to his senses, full of disbelief, thanked them, and comforted his mother. The woman slowly accepted the fact her youngest son was gone. The grief and regret of the past ten days poured out. She wanted to hug Yue Le, but couldn’t.

“Mommy, don’t cry. Lele’s leaving. You need to take care of yourself. Brother, look after Mom.” Yue Le spoke like a little adult.

After the mother and son spoke, Yue Le’s attachment dispersed, and his shadow gradually faded.

The woman knew her son was leaving. Though reluctant and pained, she didn’t try to stop him from reincarnating — that was the best thing for him.

After Yue Le left, the woman, having experienced emotional turmoil, felt faint and was helped to rest by Yue Qincang, who then came out and sincerely thanked them.

“It was just a small favor. No big deal — we’ll be going now.” Zhang Yushui said.

“Wait.” Yue Qincang looked serious and said, “I originally thought my brother’s accident was just that — an accident. But lately, something feels off.”

Zhang Yushui said, “Mr. Yue, if it was an accident or man-made, you should report to the police.”

“It’s useless.” Yue Qincang frowned. “I don’t know when it started — maybe two months ago. My father accidentally acquired a jade disc — an ancient relic. He treasured it, often invited people to examine it, saying something about an address leading to Silk Clustered Road. I used to think that kind of thing was nonsense.”

Jade disc again.

Zhang Qiu frowned. Felt like they’d fallen into another weird loop. He glanced at Li Shu — Li Shu’s expression was calm. Then he suddenly looked back and smiled slightly. Zhang Qiu’s heart started pounding.

Face got warm.

Little uncle was really flirting with him all the time! He really wanted to pounce on little uncle!

As he was daydreaming, he looked up and saw second sister-in-law smiling at him. He immediately pretended nothing happened. The one who just went into heat definitely wasn’t him — it was all Li Shu’s fault for being too good-looking!

“A month ago, my father suddenly died of a heart attack. When my mom was packing his things, she found that the jade disc he cherished had gone missing.” Yue Qincang rubbed his forehead — clearly tired from the recent string of events. “Not long after, my brother had the accident. I can’t see the connection, but ever since that jade disc appeared, our home hasn’t felt peaceful.”

Zhang Qiu couldn’t figure it out either — how the disc’s disappearance related to the deaths of the father and son. Then he heard second brother ask, “Did your family invite any masters?”

“After my father died, my mother got superstitious and invited a monk to chant.” Yue Qincang frowned, “Does that have anything to do with it?”

Zhang Yushui didn’t reply, but looked around, “Mind if I look around?”

“Please do.”

Zhang Qiu and the others followed Zhang Yushui through the Yue house, circling around to the back — surprisingly, there was even a pool.

“Definitely a problem,” Zhang Yushui said, staring at the pool.

“Is it the monk—”

“You should be glad your mother invited a monk to chant.” Zhang Yushui glanced up toward the mountain top and sneered, then retracted his gaze. “Two months ago, your home was cursed with sinister evil energy. Staying here long would ruin your luck. Your little brother was too young — even though the monk removed some of the evil, he still couldn’t avoid it.”

Zhang Yushui hadn’t sensed anything unusual at first — one, because the monk had driven out some evil, and two, because time had passed. But in the backyard with the pool, the yin energy still lingered — water draws yin.

This method was too similar to what the Gao family did to the Lin family.

Zhang Qiu looked at Zhang Yushui. Zhang Yushui nodded. Yue Qincang wasn’t stupid — seeing their reaction, he guessed they knew something and pressed for answers. Zhang Yushui didn’t hide it. “It’s the same technique used against the Lin family. I have no proof. Just move out as soon as possible — don’t alert the enemy.”

They left the Yue house and headed to the Lin family — but were refused entry.

Xiao Lin went in to check, came back shaking his head — indeed no one was home.

“Let’s go back for now,” Li Shu said.

They took a car back. It was already past noon. They ate first, and a while later, Zhang Yushui got a call. After speaking, he smiled, “What a coincidence — big brother heard I’m in Chengdu and had a client but couldn’t go himself. Asked me to go look at some feng shui — turns out it’s the Lin family.”

Truly a coincidence.

But the Zhang family had a big reputation in the spiritual world — said to be descendants of Zhang Tianshi. Even Hong Kong tycoons had invited Zhang Sanlian. The Lin family had been unlucky lately — business failing, children sick. The elders were superstitious and asked around, of course they’d want the best.

Everyone went about their business in the afternoon. Pei Qing took Little Bell shopping. That was his new joy in life. Zhang Qiu curled his lips and looked over to see Li Shu staring thoughtfully at him. He got goosebumps and quickly said, “Don’t even think about it. I’m not wearing a skirt. If anyone wears it, it’s you.”

“So you’ve thought about it,” Li Shu said calmly.

Zhang Qiu was silenced, muttering, “You’re so pretty, you’d probably look better in one.” Saying that, he really hadn’t imagined Li Shu in a skirt — Li Shu’s aura made it hard to picture. Plus, he didn’t have Pei Qing’s odd kink.

But now that he thought about it — why had he once imagined Li Shu forcing him to wear women’s clothes, and himself struggling to reject it, only to give in eventually…

Ugh, why had he fantasized about that?!

Li Shu looked at Zhang Qiu’s face full of changing expressions as he sank into thought and chuckled — looks like there’s going to be fun in the future.