Chapter 259: 259, an old customer—I

259, an old customer—I'll go see him off.

Before it died, it had eaten plenty of those rotting corpses, and also devoured the ghosts that had become earth-bound spirits from abandoned corpses; in the end, not only did it itself become a zombie, but it also refined the over ten corpses it hadn't finished eating into zombies.

Later, its cultivation grew higher and higher, and it crawled out of that dry well; by then, thousands of years had already passed.

After that, it left that village and continued to drift, but it had an obsession: to become stronger so that its former sect would know it was right.

So it set its sights on those hereditary magical implements, because only those hereditary implements have undergone thousands of years, and the ghostly power they contain is extremely pure; it could simply reap the benefits, which is much faster than hunting down ghosts one by one to devour.

After "shopping around", it settled on the knife sellers, corpse‑chasers, and spirit mediums—those three families.

But it didn't know where their descendants were now, so it wasted a lot of time running around.

Not long ago it found the spirit mediums' hereditary magical implement, brazenly took it from their office in Spring White Mountain, and then it stirred up this whole affair in Nan Cheng.

"Finally, it ended in Nan Cheng, reported, told, completed, finished!" Tushan Jiu tapped out the last character, then moved the mouse to review it once, clicked save and upload, straightened her back, and said, "All done!"

Everyone else had more or less finished, except Mumu, who had fallen asleep lying on Xiang Yichu's shoulder.

Tushan Jiu glanced at the time—it was already almost ten at night.

When she left home in the morning, while Tushan Jiu was waiting at the residential gate for Maomao and the others, she had already sent Xie Shiyu a message saying she had a big case today, so she wasn't sure when she'd get off work and might even have to pull an all‑night shift, and told him not to wait for her.

But Xie Shiyu insisted that she message him when she was done, and then he would go pick her up.

Tushan Jiu knew he was worried about her, and during this time he didn't disturb her, fearing that a message would affect her.

In the afternoon, when she returned to the office, she messaged him to say she was safe, saying she had finished the report and was now sending him a message.

She took out her phone, thinking to give him a call so he could come pick her up.

But when she lit up her phone, she saw an unread message from Xie Shiyu; she opened it and found just a few simple words.

【I'm at the alley entrance; when your work ends, just come out directly.】

Tushan Jiu's eyes curved slightly as she held down the voice button: "Xie Shiyu, I'm done, I'm hungry, I want to eat the sour soup noodles you cook."

Xie Shiyu likewise sent a voice message; Tushan Jiu opened it and held it to her ear: "All right, I'll make it for you when we get home."

The Daoist priest's hearing is excellent.

Wang Dongqing was the first to let out a "Huh~".

Immediately afterwards, Xiang Yichu raised his head and echoed it.

Maomao realized it a beat later, and after two seconds also chimed in with a "Wow~".

Finally came Mumu, half‑asleep, who rolled over and mumbled, "I don't eat anything."

In other words, hurry up and take away the dog food—it can't eat a bit.

Tushan Jiu smiled, raised her eyebrows, and said bluntly, "You'll know how it feels when you each have a significant other—it's really nice."

Wang Dongqing clicked his tongue, "Hurry up and go—you, a married person, rush home to eat the sour soup noodles your husband cooks. When I finally get a girlfriend, I'll cook for her too, and I'll post it every day in the group just to show off and not let you die of envy."

Maomao didn't even lift his head, once again bluntly exposing: "Soy‑sauce noodles?"

Wang Dongqing looked desperate, arms spread, and wailed, "Family, who understands? Being in the same team as my childhood sweetheart, she's about to shake out all my old tricks! Give me a thunderbolt—strike me down!"

No sooner had his words fallen than the door of Lin Xiu'er's office behind him swung open, a pink‑blue double‑ponytail head popping out to ask, "Who? Who wants thunder? I can provide that."

Instantly, the whole office burst into laughter.

Xiang Yichu laughed while covering Mumu's ears.

Tushan Jiu curled the corner of her mouth, glanced at the glum Wang Dongqing and at Maomao, who was head down, working seriously and completely unresponsive.

Then she turned her head and looked again at Xiang Yichu and Mumu on his shoulder.

The smile at her lips grew a bit wider.

She said, "I'm heading out first—you guys finish up and head back early too."

Everyone said goodbye to her.

In the alley, as Tushan Jiu just stepped out from the wall, she noticed the light at the alley entrance seemed much brighter than before.

And standing under that light was Xie Shiyu.

Tushan Jiu's heart instantly filled up.

Little did she know that for the rest of her life, until the day she retired completely, whenever she was on duty, Xie Shiyu would stand there under that light day after day for ten years, waiting to pick her up and take her home.

After getting in the car, all the way Tushan Jiu told Xie Shiyu about today's matter of invoking the ancestors.

This time Xie Shiyu didn't worry overly; on the contrary, he felt much more relieved.

Before, she used to say that if she couldn't win a fight, she'd call for backup, but he didn't know what she would actually do when the time really came.

But now it seems he was overthinking.

Just then they hit a red light; Xie Shiyu turned sideways and gave her a quick kiss on the lips, saying it was a reward for her.

Tushan Jiu was puzzled and asked straight out, "Are you sure this isn't a reward for yourself?"

Xie Shiyu raised his brows slightly, kissed her again, and gave a noncommittal response.

Tushan Jiu smiled helplessly.

Back home, Tushan Jiu went to take a shower while Xie Shiyu cooked noodles for her.

After she finished eating and washed up, Xie Shiyu didn't pester her, letting her rest quickly.

He could sense that Tushan Jiu was feeling a bit fatigued today.

After she fell asleep, he carefully checked her body for any injuries.

What kind of opponent could make her have to summon the ancestors, and still be easy to deal with?

Sure enough, there were two cuts on her calf and arm.

They looked like they'd been scraped by a branch or something similar.

Also, there was a bluish‑purple patch on her lower back.

He fetched the medical kit, disinfected the wounds, and applied medicine.

For that spot on her lower back, he warmed his hands and used a bruise‑relief liniment to rub it in, so tomorrow she won't feel any pain.

After finishing all that, she didn't even change her breathing, and she slept so soundly.

Xie Shiyu kissed her forehead, turned off the light, and then went to the bathroom to take a shower.

Coming out of the bathroom, he got into bed, held her in his arms, and went to sleep.

She had a dreamless night, and by the time Tushan Jiu woke up the next morning, Xie Shiyu had already gone to the company.

She glanced at the time; it was already almost noon.

Yesterday she expended a lot of Qi, her body entered self‑repair, which is why she slept so deeply.

Tushan Jiu picked up her phone and glanced at it; sure enough, the breakfast Xie Shiyu had prepared for her was warming in the kitchen, set on a timer to reheat automatically every hour, so whenever she woke up to eat it would be hot.

She replied to Xie Shiyu with a message.

【I'm awake, honey; tonight I'll pick you up after work, and on the way I'll stop by Gou Daye's to collect a payment—he's an old customer, I'll give him a ride.】