Chapter 195: 195 She Revealed a Sinister Smile

Kang Shuangrou rubbed her eyes again, thinking she might have been frightened into high blood pressure, as hallucinations appeared before her eyes.

She opened and closed her eyes, and indeed, the doll wasn't smiling at all; she had misseen it.

But this also served as a reminder: the recent events were truly too strange.

These children have recently exhibited some strange behavior for no reason.

First, two children fought each other, saying they wanted to kill the other.

Then the next day, as the children lined up to go downstairs, the biggest child at the back shoved the one in front down; fortunately Kang Wan reacted quickly, using her arm to block him, otherwise the consequences would be unthinkable.

Then today, they actually sneaked onto the rooftop while she was checking donated supplies; she didn't know how they managed to get past the high lock, nor how they got the key to her office, but several kids ended up on the rooftop.

Fortunately, when the building was constructed, they had considered possible accidents, so the rooftop railings were made very high, and a mesh protective net was added.

After they finished their work, they discovered the children were missing; checking the surveillance nearly scared them into a cold sweat.

She didn't even know how she had gotten up there.

When she went up and looked, the children were all lying neatly on the ground, hugging dolls and sleeping soundly.

She then sat on the spot, taking a while to calm her racing heartbeat.

She never married in her life, devoting herself entirely to this orphanage.

Seeing that she could hardly keep going, this was the last batch of children she would take in; once they grew up, she would retire.

These are children she raised one by one from infancy; if anything happened to them, she would surely break down.

But after all these years, she had never encountered anything so bizarre.

These children were clearly normal before—when exactly did they start acting odd?

"Dean Mom, help me wipe Xiao Ming's bottom—he pooped, and I can't do it myself!"

"Coming."

Kang Shuangrou casually put the doll on the nearby table and got up to go to the restroom.

Little did she know, if she turned her head now, she would see the doll that had been lying down slowly sit up and give her a sinister grin.

Tushan Jiu didn't return to the old manor but went to the Xie Clan Group; anyway, she currently only had the task of tracking down the penniless one, and she had to wait for him to show before she could act.

Since she was idle anyway, she went to spend a while with Xie Shiyu, and they could grab lunch together at noon.

As soon as the topic of eating came up, she noticed last night that her bowl was different from everyone else's.

It was exactly the same as the bowl she used on the mountain.

No need to ask; she knew Xie Shiyu had prepared it.

Her boyfriend's thoughtful detail warmed her heart once again.

In her rush this morning, she forgot to give him a reward.

Sitting in the car, she pulled out her phone to check; she hadn't looked at it all morning, so she scrolled through her Moments.

If she didn't check, she wouldn't know, but this scroll turned up a neat display of gifts.

Scrolling down, when she saw Xie Shiyu leading the showcase, she pursed her lips and smiled.

She first liked Xie Shiyu's post, then commented below, "I'm here to claim my Xie peacock."

She had thought he'd be busy and wouldn't have time to look at his phone, but right after she exited, a red dot appeared.

She tapped back in and saw that Xie Shiyu had replied to her comment with: "Mm, going home with you."

Tushan Jiu was amused by him, returned to open Xie Shiyu's chat page, and wrote: "I'm on my way to the company; let's have lunch together at noon."

Xie Shiyu: "Okay, my meeting should end in about half an hour; what do you want to eat? I'll have my secretary reserve a restaurant."

Tushan Jiu thought for a moment: "I'm about done too; no need for that trouble—let's eat at the company cafeteria, I haven't tried your company's cafeteria food yet."

Xie Shiyu: "Fine, then I'll have my secretary prepare dessert for you to have after lunch."

Tushan Jiu replied with "Okay" and ended the conversation.

Half an hour later, upon arriving at the company side, she had the driver go to the underground parking lot.

Since quitting time was approaching, and based on last time's experience, she didn't want to end up with a stiff smile again.

The elevator rose all the way, pausing at the twenty-eighth floor.

The elevator doors opened, and there was Xie Shiyu.

The entire twenty-eighth floor consists of meeting rooms; he had just finished a meeting and was heading back to his office.

Tushan Jiu glanced at his outfit today.

Since she had left first that morning, she didn't know what he had worn when he went out.

When she saw him wearing the crisp shirt she had given him, with her tie neatly knotted, they exchanged a smile.

Xie Shiyu took Tushan Jiu's hand, first returning to the office to let her rest a bit, then preparing to go eat with her.

The cafeteria has his private dining room, but one still has to pass through the lobby to get there.

When the two appeared in the cafeteria, they undoubtedly became the focus of everyone.

Today Tushan Jiu wore a white high-neck sweater as a base layer, paired with a crocheted half-skirt; the building had floor heating, so she didn't wear an outer layer, leaving it in Xie Shiyu's office.

Her gentle demeanor, combined with this elegant and graceful attire, prompted the female staff to repeatedly comment that her temperament was simply superb.

Assistant Li followed behind, still reporting the afternoon schedule to Xie Shiyu; after finishing the report, he left.

In the private room, Xie Shiyu ordered dishes specially for Tushan Jiu.

The chef noted the dish names and went to prepare them.

Xie Shiyu said, "Are you free tonight? Tomorrow, Qi Chen and Kang Yan's vacation ends, and they said they want to get together again; who knows when the next chance will be—will you come?"

"Sure, I happen to need to talk to Lu Ze Yuan," Tushan Jiu said.

Xie Shiyu looked at her, puzzled.

She leaned in and whispered a few words to him.

After hearing her, Xie Shiyu's eyes flashed with surprise; after a moment of silence, he nodded: "That works, just in case."

Tushan Jiu sat upright, 'Exactly, if He Qian made a deal with them, they'll probably come looking for me soon—good, I also want to see whether those spirit mediums have made any progress over all these years.'

Besides, the friend who harmed my third brother's roommate—the one pregnant with a yin ghost fetus—had their soul surely taken by them; if I'm not mistaken, they should be refining souls.

'Refining souls?' Xie Shiyu heard the term for the first time.

Hmm, refining souls is placing a ghost in a vessel inscribed with soul-refining spells, then refining it into the purest yin qi.

Then, after forty-nine days, the vessel is opened to extract that yin qi, allowing the ghost to devour and absorb it.

That ghost can then become a fierce ghost with deep ghostly power in one leap.

Recently many new ghosts have mysteriously disappeared, and they all do so around the seventh day after death—normally when spirit mediums are extremely sensitive to the dying—so I suspect they want to use He Qian to devour the yin qi they produced from refining souls, then test my strength.