The Byoukidere Is Her Sweetie

Chapter 183: 183: Jiang Zhi and Luo San Recognize Each Other in the Attic (First Update)

“Zhou Xufang left it in the changing room, it’s Luo San’s necklace.”

Jiang Zhi picked up the necklace, examining it closely in his palm. The metal disc was polished smooth, coin-sized, probably because the owner often touched it. The engraved script ‘Zhou Xufang’ had become shallow from frequent handling.

This necklace looked quite old.

Jiang Zhi carefully pocketed the necklace and looked up at Tang Xiang, “Just say it, what’s your purpose?”

Tang Xiang didn’t beat around the bush; she got straight to the point, “There weren’t many who knew about the Luo Family’s great fire that year, Fang Dashun is one, but he doesn’t trust me.”

That’s why she pulled Jiang Zhi into this.

What she couldn’t find, with Jiang Zhi’s means, if he was willing, he could certainly pull it out.

Jiang Zhi didn’t confirm nor deny, counter-asking, “Do you think I would trust you?”

“Since you know Luo San was a girl, you should also guess who hid her gender.”

It was Tang Xiang’s parents.

Luo San’s background was known only to the Luo Family and them.

Tang Xiang revealed her purpose, “I suspect my father’s death in the fire wasn’t an accident, it was the Luo Family wanting to silence him, and I, want to clarify this matter.”

She and the Luo Family were never on the same side; she always remembered how hurriedly the Luo Family had dealt with her father’s body and hastily closed the case when he perished in the fire.

In the great fire of the Luo Family, two died, one was injured, yet the perpetrator wasn’t sentenced to death; she didn’t believe it was all unintentional.

Jiang Zhi tentatively believed her, then asked, “And what makes you trust me?”

With a voice as if it was most natural, Tang Xiang had never doubted Jiang Zhi’s goodwill towards Luo San, “Aren’t you always investigating the incident from eight years ago? Apart from me, the only other person who cried outside after the fire was you.”

She didn’t trust any of the Luo Family members, seeing them all as cruel-hearted. Even though Luo San was adopted, after so many years, not a single one from the Luo Family wished her well.

Tang Xiang made her position clear without any concealment, “Jiang Zhi, we are in a cooperative relationship, not a hostile one.”

After Jiang Zhi left, Tang Xiang sat for a while in the porridge shop. The shop’s Boss Lady was her second aunt, who specially cooked a bowl of porridge for her; she didn’t leave until she had finished eating.

She didn’t come by car, so she chose a bus stop with fewer people, sat down, and lit a cigarette, watching the bustling traffic as she took intermittent puffs.

A black business car stopped in front of her, the window rolled down, and a ruggedly handsome face stormed into her view, “You still smoke?”

Dressed in a suit and leather shoes, looking stable and scholarly.

Just looking stable and scholarly was all, Tang Xiang was in no mood to deal with this old classmate who always disagreed with her, her tone more perfunctory, “Is that a problem?”

Jiang Xiaolin leaned on the car window, all relaxed, looking as if he was watching a fascinating show, “What, did you confess to Jiang Zhi and get rejected?” he said mockingly, “Smoking away your sorrow?”

How long had he been here?!

Tang Xiang held the cigarette between two fingers, blowing a smoke ring towards the car window, “It’s none of your damn business!”

Back in her school days, she was a ‘face-control’ fanatic, had praised Jiang Zhi several times in front of this guy, and he always thought she ‘coveted’ Jiang Zhi’s beauty.

He straightened his tie, altogether suave and scholarly, “As a lady, can’t you speak politely?”

Tang Xiang smiled sweetly, “That depends on whom I’m speaking with.” She flicked some ash off, leisurely smoking, “I speak human words to humans, ghost words to ghosts, and naturally, I speak rogue words to rogues.”

Calling him a rogue.

Jiang Xiaolin didn’t get angry, stepped out of the car, and walked over to her, “Didn’t you say I was a pervert? Then let’s talk something more intense.”

The great son of the Jiang Family, Lin, admired by so many.

See, this is his true nature.

Tang Xiang couldn’t stand it anymore, “Jiang Xiaolin!”

He smiled like a scoundrel, “You really know how to scream.”

“…”

Really fucking intense.

Tang Xiang lost the mood to smoke, stood up, and kicked towards him, “Filthy rogue!”

He didn’t dodge, and took a solid kick, leaving a footprint on his impeccable suit pants. He bent down and calmly brushed off the dust, “Feeling better now?”

Tang Xiang was stunned for a moment.

As he stood up, he also took the cigarette that was between her fingertips, looked at the lipstick stain on the cigarette butt, “This isn’t anything good, stop smoking it.”

He extinguished the cigarette and threw it in the trash can, then turned back to his car, stepped on the accelerator, and left.

Tang Xiang was left standing under the light with a complex expression.

It was eleven twenty in the evening.

The clouds dispersed, the moon was round again, surrounded by stars, casting myriad photons like a celestial diadem.

“Snap—”

Zhou Xufang casually twisted off the lock on Luo Yinghe’s room; she felt the quality of the lock definitely needed improvement.

At this hour, Luo Yinghe was actually asleep, with no lights on in the room, pitch black.

Zhou Xufang, feeling her way in the dark, entered the bathroom and took out a flashlight from her bag. She searched the sink and the floor, gathered some hair strands, and also picked up a few from the brush and towel, which she put in a bag, and took the toothbrush too.

Suddenly, there was a ‘click’ sound!

Then, the sound of footsteps came from the bedroom; Luo Yinghe awoke.

Zhou Xufang turned off the flashlight, left the bathroom door slightly ajar, and stood directly behind it, holding her breath, like an imperceptible piece of wood.

Luo Yinghe, yawning, pushed the door and entered the bathroom, casually closing it, and groggily switched on the light without even noticing the lock was broken. Her steps wobbly, she walked to the toilet, squinted her eyes to undo her trousers, then sat down, her head swaying drowsily.

Then came the sound of urination.

Zhou Xufang: “…”

She was standing right in front of Luo Yinghe. Just a lift of Luo Yinghe’s head would reveal her presence, so she decided to make the first move—holding her breath, she moved forward, reached out, and turned off the light.

The bathroom was plunged into darkness.

Luo Yinghe let out a ‘huh’, looked up, and saw a vague silhouette. She was about to scream when suddenly her vision blurred, her neck felt numb, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed behind the toilet.

To be extra cautious, Zhou Xufang pulled a few more strands of hair from her head before feeling her way out.

She only left for a little while, then came back in the dark, flashlight in her mouth, hands assisting to pull up Luo Yinghe’s trousers.

Following that, she made her way to Luo Qinghe’s room.

Luo Qinghe’s room was empty, likely he hadn’t come back yet; this made her task much easier. She found the hair and toothbrush and left the room in less than five minutes.

Just as she left Luo Qinghe’s room, her mobile phone in her pocket vibrated. At this hour, it had to be Jiang Zhi calling her; she casually opened another guest room, hid inside, and picked up the call.

Her voice was very soft, whispery, “Hello.”

Jiang Zhi asked, “Where are you?”

His voice was strange, tense, and heavy.

Zhou Xufang couldn’t explain her current situation in a few words, so she just said, “I am on a mission.”

He stubbornly pressed, “Where?”

The more she listened, the more Zhou Xufang felt that something was off, “What’s wrong?” She sensed that Jiang Zhi’s voice was suppressed, as if he was in a heavy mood.

He didn’t explain, only said, “Want to see you, tell me where.”

Zhou Xufang hesitated for quite some time but couldn’t refuse him, “I’m at the Luo Family.”

He paused for a long time, as if mulling over something, and the sound of the wind came through the phone for a long while before he finally spoke, “Wait for me in the attic.”

“Okay.”

Zhou Xufang hung up the phone.

Jiang Zhi was so strange, something sad must have happened; she’d have to comfort him well when he arrived. Thinking this, she made her way to Luo Changde’s room.

Luo Changde had drunk a lot, sleeping soundly with snores echoing, the room filled with the stench of alcohol. Zhou Xufang, seeing him sleep like a pig, simply plucked some of his hair.

She needed to collect DNA from all Luo Family members, ending with Mr. Luo. He lived on the first floor, and as Zhou Xufang approached, she could hear coughing sounds from inside.

“Cough, cough, cough.”

The light was on in the room, and people were still awake.

Zhou Xufang didn’t want to startle the snake by hitting the grass, so she crouched under the staircase, listening to the movements inside and outside the room, and quietly observed the changes.

About three or four minutes later, Luo Huaiyu received a phone call.

“Chairman,” a man’s voice on the phone, probably a young adult, said, “Peng Zhongming has arrived in Imperial City.”

Luo Huaiyu pondered for a moment, “Has he seen his father yet?”

The man on the phone answered, “No, Peng Xianzhi is still unaware. It was only after Peng Zhongming got involved with drugs abroad and had financial issues that he turned his sights to Mr. Luo.”

Mr. Luo referred to the elder Mr. Luo, Luo Changde.

Luo Qinghe was usually called Younger Luo.

Luo Huaiyu thought it over for a moment and instructed the man on the phone, “Have people watch Changde and Qinghe’s side, and try to get ahold of what Peng Zhongming has in his hands.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

Peng Zhongming, Peng Xianzhi.

Zhou Xufang remembered these two names and planned to have Shuangjiang investigate them as soon as she got back.

Suddenly, a hurried footsteps ran down from upstairs to the front of Luo Huaiyu’s room door. It was a servant of the Luo Family, seeing that the light was still on in the room, knocked on the door and called out, “Chairman.”

Luo Huaiyu asked from inside, “What is it?”

The servant reported, “The second young miss has fainted in her room.”

Zhou Xufang, “…”

Thank goodness she had helped someone get dressed. She really was too kind.

Afterward, Luo Huaiyu left the room with his cane.

A golden opportunity!

As soon as he departed, Zhou Xufang entered Luo Huaiyu’s room. She rummaged around the pillow, but before she could find even a strand of hair, the sound of a cane tapping on the floor reached her ears again.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

The sound grew closer, and Zhou Xufang hadn’t gotten the hair yet. She didn’t plan to run; Luo Huaiyu pushed open the door, and they came face to face, “You’ve got some nerve.”

With the incandescent lamp glowing in the room, Zhou Xufang looked up and saw Luo Huaiyu’s stern and rigid face. Her mind flashed with sporadic fragments of memory.

Back then she was a little Bald, in the attic, where she found a pill in a tattered pillow. She held it in both hands and stammered to a pale-faced, sickly boy, “Eat this; it’s not poisoned.”

Her voice, not often used, was androgynous.

The boy looked at her but didn’t open his mouth.

She urged, “Eat it.”

He blankly opened his mouth, and she directly threw the pill in, then pushed him into the closet, bracing the closet door with her back.

Fearing the boy was scared, she comforted him, “Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”

The attic had only one small window, which was open. The sun was dim that day, and as she leaned against the closet door, she looked up to see a pair of eyes outside the window.

It was the person she feared the most.

He gestured for her to come out.

She hesitated for a long time, then slow-footedly followed him out.

Inside the closet, the boy called out, “Luo San.” No response came, he knocked on the door, “Luo San, are you still out there?”

Still no reply, the boy pushed open the closet door and came out. In the attic, Bald was nowhere to be seen, and her whereabouts were unknown.

Luo Huaiyu took her to the study and closed the door. The old man, his face full of wrinkles, a dark purple tint to his lips, crouched down very close to her, “So, you can speak.” His eyes were cloudy as he gazed at her timidly, like coaxing her, yet also commanding, “Say ‘Grandpa,’ let me hear it.”

She was terrified and instinctively moved back, her back pressing against the room door.

He held on to a cane, the handle of which was carved into a dragon’s head with eyes made of jade, embedded in vibrant green. His hand was covered in age spots, and his fingers inconsistently rubbed the dragon’s eyes while his other hand reached out towards her: “Call out.”

He placed his hand on her shoulder.

She shivered, and her voice faltered as she stammered: “Gr-grandpa.”

The old man before her suddenly laughed.

“You’ve got quite the nerve.”

Zhou Xufang stared intensely at the person before her, the old face blurring into the memory of another elderly face. She hadn’t recalled everything, yet even with the incomplete memories, fear remained like an instinctual reaction.

Luo Huaiyu stood at the doorway, leaning on the jade-embedded dragon-headed cane. His piercing gaze fixated on her: “Who are you?”

Who was she?

Luo San had died in the fire eight years ago; she was Zhou Xufang.

She said, “I am a vengeful ghost.” Wearing special glasses that glowed in the night, she stared straight at Luo Huaiyu, deliberately lowering her voice, eerily saying, “Ever heard of ‘Vengeful Ghost Soul Lock’?”

Luo Huaiyu snorted, “Playing ghost and god tricks!”

Well then, she’d play ghost for a bit. She moved swiftly, stirring up a breeze, and in the blink of an eye, circled behind Luo Huaiyu. Catching him off guard, she pulled out several strands of his hair.

Luo Huaiyu staggered and crashed into the door, shivering, whether from fright or anger, it was unclear.

With the spoils in hand, Zhou Xufang had no interest in playing hide and seek with someone surnamed Luo. Expecting Jiang Zhi to arrive soon, she leapt onto the Luo family’s rooftop, taking the ‘air route’ to the attic above the servants’ quarters.

She scoped out the area first. The villa side was in chaos, but no one seemed to come searching, so she then pushed open the attic door.

It was dim inside, the lights off.

Zhou Xufang tiptoed and whispered, creeping and cowering like a thief, “Jiang Zhi.” Very quietly, “Jiang Zhi.”

The attic had wooden windows that were closed; the moonlight couldn’t seep through, and she couldn’t see clearly. She closed the door and fumbled in: “I’m here, Jiang Zhi.”

She took out her flashlight from her bag, turned it on, and the beam shot straight forward, illuminating a face perfectly.

Jiang Zhi was sitting on a dusty little wooden bed in the attic, his pale face made ghostly white by the flashlight.

The atmosphere felt like a horror movie. Zhou Xufang jumped when she first saw him: “Pointing that flashlight like that, you look like a ghost—”

Before she could finish, that “ghost” rushed over and hugged her.

Thud—

The flashlight fell to the floor, rolling under the wooden bed.

Zhou Xufang paused for a moment: “What’s wrong?”

He hugged her very tightly, his hands trembling.

Zhou Xufang raised her hand, grasping the clothing at his waist: “Jiang Zhi, what’s wrong?”

He buried his face in her shoulder, his voice tight, as if choking: “I’m sorry.” His voice choked, “I promised to pick you up to go to the Jiang family,” he tightened his embrace, holding her closely, “but I was late.”

Oh.

He knew too.

Zhou Xufang was unclear how he had found out: “I was just thinking about how to tell you that I am Luo San.” She lifted her hands, held Jiang Zhi’s face, and stepped back a little to look into his eyes, “How to tell you so that you won’t feel sad for me.”

The flashlight under the wooden bed cast a layer of light on the floor, and in the dim light, she saw tears in his eyes.

Jiang Zhi was crying.

This was the first time Zhou Xufang had seen him cry, he who was so proud, a man who would bleed but not shed tears.