Chapter 142: 142

142 "You say, are we doing something sinful?"

"Thump thump thump"

The knocking sound rang out, interrupting Chang Mengxi's recollection.

Her eyes flickered, she felt puzzled—hadn't Zhou Hao just sent a message saying he wouldn't be able to return for an hour?

Moreover, he was always a gentleman; before each visit he would contact her in advance to ask if he could come up.

She would say yes, and then he would come knock on the door.

How come he's acting so unusually today?

However, her mind had been getting worse lately; she didn't want to think too much, so she got up to open the door.

As she walked, she thought, indeed, people shouldn't stay up late, and neither should ghosts!

Stay up too long, and even a ghost's mind will get foggy!

Reaching the door, Chang Mengxi reached out to turn the handle, but suddenly she stopped, glanced back to see if her bedroom door was closed properly.

As it turned out, luckily she glanced—her bedroom door was actually wide open, the coffin inside plainly visible!

She called out, "Wait a moment, I'll be right there!"

She pulled her hand back from the doorknob and turned to head toward the bedroom.

But just as she took a step, a familiar voice came from the doorway.

"Xiao Xi, it's us, open the door."

Chang Mengxi halted her steps, surprise flickering in her eyes, then she turned and opened the door.

A middle-aged couple stood at the doorway.

Chang Mengxi stepped aside to let them in, saying, "Mom, Dad, why did you come?"

The middle-aged couple didn't go inside, just stood at the doorway and said, "We're not worried you have nothing to eat—last time you said the incense we bought was fake and tasted bad, so I bought new incense and brought it over. Your mom rushed out without her keys and talisman paper, so we didn't go in; we'll come see you again in a couple days."

Chang Mengxi pursed her lips, but she also knew her parents were old; without that talisman paper, they might fall seriously ill.

She said, "Mm, okay, I understand."

Seeing her dejected expression, the couple outside had red rims around their eyes.

Chang Mengxi quickly reassured them, "Mom, Dad, although I can only be like a normal person at night, I'm still living in this world, I can still see you, our family can still reunite—I'm already quite content."

Aside from those specific restrictions—she can't eat normal food, only incense and candles; she can't leave this room, must sleep in her coffin, and observes a day‑sleep, night‑wake routine—otherwise she's no different from a person.

This is already good enough; she knows these were hard‑won.

Her parents each pawned ten years of their lifespan to keep her living in the mortal realm.

That is the price they paid for it.

Chang Yixin wiped his eyes, "Alright, daughter, hurry back—don't let the neighbors see, or it'll be trouble if anyone finds out."

Upon hearing that, Chang Mengxi felt a bit guilty and immediately nodded, "Mm, I got it, Mom and Dad—you should go back too; it's late, Mom's health isn't good, don't overexert yourselves..."

Before she could finish speaking, the elevator down the hall chimed, its display stopping at fourteen.

Chang Yixin's face changed, "Xiao Xi, close the door! We're leaving first."

Mainly because the decoration of a yin residence is definitely different from a normal home—it's really rather too netherworldly inside.

If anyone saw that, they'd surely kick up a fuss!

The pawn transaction with that person is already complete; if we later look for a new place and move things around at random, we don't know whether there will be any taboos.

Moreover, if those metaphysical circles discovered it, that would also be trouble.

They had finally found a neighborhood with good location, good feng shui, and plenty of people.

So we absolutely must not let anyone discover it.

Chang Mengxi also grew nervous; she hadn't figured out how to tell her parents—what if it were Zhou Hao?

That would be running straight into him!

She felt flustered—whether to close the door or not was unclear.

If she closed it, Zhou Hao would just come knock and it would still be exposed.

Originally she was just thinking how truly lonely and bored she was.

Last time her parents offhandedly mentioned once that if it didn't work out, they'd arrange a ghost marriage for her.

Besides, she really did like Zhou Hao, so she was waiting until they became an item to come clean with him and her parents.

If Zhou Hao could accept it, that would be best; if not, they could have her parents go pawn something else with that person to set up a ghost marriage for her and Zhou Hao.

But it's not the time yet, so we must absolutely avoid letting them run into each other!

Just as she was thinking that, the people in the elevator stepped out.

The scene she had imagined didn't appear; instead of Zhou Hao, a young couple walked out of the elevator.

Don't ask how she knew they were a couple.

Because they were holding hands.

Seeing them both looking this way.

Chang Yixin hurriedly reached out to push the door back, then tried to use his body to block their view.

Chang Mengxi also snapped to and went to close the door.

Meanwhile, Chang Mengxi's mother Lai Xiulan regained her composure, smiled at the pair, and greeted, "You also live on this floor?"

When they bought the place, they had asked the property management, who said the unit opposite was for a newlywed young couple—they owned more than one unit and didn't reside here long‑term.

Little did they expect that the couple hadn't visited in ages, and the opposite unit hadn't been occupied in ages either.

And yet today they happened to show up at the same time?

"We don't live here," Tushan Jiu said calmly.

Upon hearing that, both the humans and the ghost were stunned for a moment.

Lai Xiulan was about to speak, but you don't even live here—what are you doing coming up to this floor?

But she hadn't even gotten a chance to speak.

The other party spoke again, causing all of their faces to drastically change.

Because the other party said, "If I lived here, wouldn't I be terribly affected by her yin qi, having my vitality sucked away by her?"

As soon as the words were spoken, the hallway fell silent.

Seeing the family across the hall, so shocked they forgot to keep closing the door, Tushan Jiu lightly added:

Constant exposure to yin qi not only lowers one's fortune, but also weakens immunity, making one prone to illness; low fortune also brings frequent misfortune.

Moreover, everything is interconnected; feng shui affects yin dwellings, and yin dwellings naturally affect feng shui. This neighborhood originally had a good location, but because your family's yin dwelling appeared, it has affected the entire building complex.

The couple across the hall were fortunate not to have moved back here; if they had, the child would surely have miscarried because of this yin qi.

Do you think what you're doing is basically creating bad karma?

Tushan Jiu said while lowering her head to pull out a talisman, "I don't want to waste words with you; let's not waste time—I'll give you two options: either you come in yourself, or I'll drag you in; you decide."

Chang Yixin and Lai Xiujuan both panicked instantly.

Precisely because they believed this, they knew the other party was likely a master in the metaphysical world.

But they wondered, how could she possibly know?

They had been doing things so secretly; it's impossible for anyone to know!

At this moment, Chang Mengxi also looked bewildered, her first thought being Zhou Hao.

Just then, her phone in the living room rang.