Chapter 8: Gold

"Mr. Shen, it's so late, and we've come to disturb your rest—I'm very sorry."

The moment Jiang Wenxin arrived, she led with another apology to Shen Siyuan.

"I told you, it's fine."

As Shen Siyuan spoke, he reached out and patted little Dou Dou's head beside him, and a faint ghostly-blue glow immediately bloomed from Dou Dou's body.

Tao Guangsha, who had been standing to one side the whole time without a word, silently observing Shen Siyuan, suddenly widened his eyes.

Then he blurted out "Dou Dou," bent forward to scoop her up, but caught only empty air, as if what had just happened were nothing but an illusion.

Tao Guangsha reacted instantly, snapping his head up to look at Shen Siyuan.

His face full of disbelief, he asked, "My… my daughter's ghost is really here?"

Obviously, he hadn't actually believed his wife Jiang Wenxin's words; he had only agreed to make the trip with her because he loved her—and also because he was afraid she was being scammed.

He hadn't even stopped her from taking some "thank-you gifts" from home, and had even been secretly pleased—because if the other party dared to accept them, he would call the police right away, and with such a huge sum, it would be enough to put the other party behind bars for good.

That was why he had kept his mouth shut the whole time, but he never expected that he would actually get to see his daughter.

He also wished it were only his own illusion, yet at the same time hoped it wasn't.

"This is Dou Dou's daddy…"

Jiang Wenxin was quite artful in her wording—she didn't introduce him as her husband, but as Dou Dou's daddy, because Shen Siyuan had said he liked Dou Dou, so she phrased it this way to win a good first impression from him.

"Mr. Shen, hello, my name is Tao Guangsha."

Tao Guangsha stood up and introduced himself first; his expression was visibly agitated, and even while introducing himself, his gaze kept drifting to the spot by Shen Siyuan's right leg—the exact spot where Dou Dou was standing.

Dou Dou thought her daddy could see her, and excitedly waved her little hands.

"Mr. Shen, we came in such a rush and didn't have time to prepare anything. Please accept this—consider it our thank-you gift."

As she spoke, Jiang Wenxin hurriedly pulled a red square brocade box from her bag and pressed it into Shen Siyuan's hands.

"What is it?" Shen Siyuan asked, somewhat surprised.

He didn't overthink it and took it casually.

"I bought this a while back. It's a bit vulgar, but it's the only thing in our home that's presentable," Tao Guangsha explained from the side.

Hearing that, Shen Siyuan casually opened the brocade box, and then froze.

Inside were four gold bars—the investment kind, with the gram weight stamped on them, a hundred grams each. At five hundred yuan per gram, those four bars were worth two hundred thousand.

"This is far too valuable—I can't accept it."

Shen Siyuan was a little tempted, but after thinking it over, he handed it back.

He had helped Dou Dou purely out of compassion, not for any reward.

"Mr. Shen, we'll still need to trouble you to look after Dou Dou in the future. If you don't take it, our hearts won't be at ease," Tao Guangsha knew how to persuade people.

Jiang Wenxin nodded repeatedly at his side.

Shen Siyuan hesitated for a moment, took out one bar, and handed the remaining three back.

"This one is enough," Shen Siyuan said.

Everyone has desires, especially Shen Siyuan, who was most in need of money. But a gentleman loves wealth only when it comes by the right path—one gold bar was already plenty; taking them all would be greed.

The couple still tried to decline, but Shen Siyuan's face darkened and he said in a low voice, "Take it back."

At his words, both of them gave an involuntary shudder, the fine hairs on their arms standing on end, and they couldn't utter a single word—they could only take the brocade box Shen Siyuan handed back in a daze.

Seeing them take the box back, Shen Siyuan also let out a long, quiet sigh of relief inside.

In truth, he knew this couple probably wasn't short on money—just the watch on Tao Guangsha's wrist was probably worth several times those four gold bars.

But he simply wanted to help Dou Dou, and so he would keep it pure from start to finish.

If he really wanted money, he had plenty of ways to get it now.

"Then tomorrow, we'll treat you to a meal," Jiang Wenxin said.

"You should spend more time with Dou Dou instead."

At a thought from Shen Siyuan, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner appeared in his palm; he formed a hand seal, and a wisp of ghostly-blue light shot into Tao Guangsha's brow.

Tao Guangsha only felt a faint coolness at his brow. He instinctively raised a hand to touch it, but before he could even lift his hand, he noticed Dou Dou beside him, waving her little hands.

"Dou Dou…"

Overjoyed, Tao Guangsha could hold back no longer—he crouched down again and scooped Dou Dou into his arms.

"Daddy, can you see me now?"

Held in her daddy's arms, Dou Dou pressed her little lips together, both happy and wronged.

"Baby… daddy… daddy…"

Seeing his daughter again, Tao Guangsha choked up and could barely speak.

"Go home and talk slowly. You have about a day."

Shen Siyuan felt he couldn't quite bear to watch scenes like this.

"Mr. Shen, you… you mean Dou Dou only has one day left?" Jiang Wenxin asked in a fluster.

Tao Guangsha had no time for grief either; he hurriedly picked Dou Dou up and stared at Shen Siyuan with a tense face.

"It's not that Dou Dou has one day left—it's that you can see Dou Dou for only one day."

The reason they could see Dou Dou was the wisp of ghostly aura from the Ten Thousand Souls Banner that Shen Siyuan had planted on them.

But once that wisp of ghostly aura left the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, it was like a duckweed without roots—at most it would dissipate completely within a day, and naturally they would no longer be able to see Dou Dou.

"Then could you—"

Tao Guangsha had just opened his mouth to speak when Shen Siyuan cut him off directly.

"I can't. The living and the dead walk different paths. I can let you meet Dou Dou once, and let you have a brief reunion—that's already my limit. If it really went on long-term, it wouldn't do you two any good…"

What allowed Shen Siyuan to let them see Dou Dou and communicate with her was a wisp of ghostly aura from the Ten Thousand Souls Banner—and that was no good thing; for ordinary people, it brought no benefit at all.

Seeing Shen Siyuan's solemn expression, the couple didn't dare say any more.

"Take Dou Dou back." Shen Siyuan said again.

The couple exchanged a glance at his words, and could only hold Dou Dou and take their leave helplessly.

And the moment Tao Guangxia turned around holding Dou Dou, he also noticed Old Lu standing not far away.

Then he was startled too, only now recalling what his wife had said on the way here — those words were true as well.

There really was a ghost, following behind them the whole time.

But thinking that Shen Siyuan was here, his heart settled greatly. He only took a deep look at the other party, then held Dou Dou and continued walking out of the residential compound.

"Bye-bye, Uncle."

Held in her father's arms, Dou Dou happily waved her little hand at Shen Siyuan.

Shen Siyuan also smiled and waved back at her.

Once they were completely out of his sight, he immediately suppressed his smile and turned to look at Old Lu, who was approaching cautiously.

Looking at the thumb-sized fleshy warts covering his face, Shen Siyuan forcefully suppressed his discomfort and asked in a low voice, "Aren't you afraid I'll take you in?"