Chapter 1: Strange Phenomena in the Underworld

  For several days, every evening at 7 o'clock, Yang Hua would wait in his taxi outside Lu Xiaoying's apartment building. Each time, Lu Xiaoying would dress up beautifully and wait for Yang Hua, and the two would go out to the seaside or shopping streets. Whenever Lu Xiaoying saw a beautiful piece of clothing, Yang Hua would say he wanted to buy it for her, speaking with such sincerity that there was no hint of insincerity. However, the battle over who would pay the bill always ended in Lu Xiaoying's victory and Yang Hua's defeat. Lu Xiaoying happily paid for herself and even helped Yang Hua with his expenses. Over several days, Lu Xiaoying bought Yang Hua several sets of clothes. As a result, whenever Yang Hua saw these clothes, he felt grateful to Lu Xiaoying, and their relationship gradually deepened to the point where they couldn't stop thinking about each other at any moment.

  Every day, Lu Xiao Ying just longed for 7 o'clock to arrive as soon as possible. She had become inseparable from Yang Hua. As soon as Yang Hua left, her heart felt empty and uneasy in the office, restless and distracted. Like a girl who couldn't do anything, except for going online she would just sit there blankly, so now she sat there blankly.

  Qian Xiaohong's slightly clearer mind saw her so emotional and was happy for her, while also becoming more worried.

  That night, Yang Huan was waiting downstairs in the car as usual. Lu Xiao Ying heard the horn and rushed out of the door with her bag, excited as if she had discovered a treasure.

  Qian Xiaohong stood in front of the window, quietly watching Lu Xiaoying jump onto the bus. She couldn't help but feel envious, although she didn't show it on her face when Lu Xiaoying was around. Seeing Lu Xiaoying's happy expression, she felt a pang of sadness and sourness in her heart.

  Two people have been single for a long time, so they haven't experienced the taste of love. Now Lu Xiaoying is happy, but Qian Xiaohong is still alone. Originally, when she met Zhang Mingyu last time, she thought she had found happiness like Lu Xiaoying, but unexpectedly, since parting ways with Zhang Mingyu, he hasn't called her once. Every day, she looks forward to it, foolishly waiting, thinking that tomorrow he will definitely call her. When tomorrow comes, she puts her hopes on the next tomorrow. Several tomorrows have passed, and a week has gone by.

  She had been waiting like this, her heart was already impatient, and she felt a little anxious. She thought about taking the initiative to call him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it because of her shyness. A woman's reserve should be the last guarantee of her happiness, for only by respecting oneself can one gain respect from others. So she continued to wait anxiously.

  Tonight, Lu Xiao Ying walked out happily as usual. Qian Xiao Hong, driven by her envy of their happiness, took out her phone again and flipped out Zhang Ming Yu's business card. She dialed the first three digits on her phone before giving up.

  She hesitated and wavered, finally lying on the bed staring at the ceiling with a sigh, her frustrated scream muffled by the blanket as she flipped it over to cover herself.

  "Beep beep—"

  Just as she was messing up her hair like a bird's nest, the phone rang. The sudden ringtone made her whole body tremble, and she hastily picked up the phone without looking at the number displayed on it and answered: "You finally called!"

  "What's finally arrived," said the voice on the phone, "I'm Xiaoying, what's wrong with you?"

  "Xiao Ying," Qian Xiaohong hastily became calm and said, "How did you think of calling over? Is there something going on?" Her tone was clearly tinged with disappointment.

  "That's not true," Lu Xiao Ying said over the phone, "We're at a coffee shop by the river. You're alone at home and it's too boring. Come join us for a bit."

  Qian Xiaohong pretended to be very happy and said: "You guys play, I'm busy now. I met a handsome guy on QQ and we're chatting enthusiastically, so I won't come."

  She finished speaking and hung up the phone, then threw it aside. She continued to lie back on the bed in a sprawling manner.

  She had just lain down when the phone rang again. She closed her eyes and let it ring, not answering immediately, thinking it was Lu Xiaoying calling again.

  The phone rang for a long time, she sighed and then calmed down to answer the call, saying: "I said I wasn't going, you two have fun."

  "What's going on? What's so funny?" said the voice over the phone. "I'm Zhang Mingyu, the one you met at the coffee shop. Ms. Qian, don't you remember? You almost forgot your keys on the table and I reminded you. We sat together and chatted for a while. I don't know what you were thinking, but I felt really happy, happier than ever before. In the end, I even sent you back home. Do you remember?" He went on to recount every detail of that day in an attempt to jog Qian Xiaohong's memory. But in reality, she had remembered all along.

  "What?" Upon hearing the three words "Zhang Mingyu", Qian Xiaohong almost jumped out of bed, she tried her best to restrain her excited emotions and said in a stifled voice, "Oh, sorry, I thought it was my BFF calling me again. They went out to play and called me, but I didn't want to go, so when you called, I thought they were calling again. Sorry."

  "Really?" said over the phone, "What are you doing at home?"

  "Watching movies, sometimes reading books," in fact, Qian Xiaohong hasn't read a book since dropping out of school.

  "Don't you want to go out and have some fun?"

  "They always go to those song and dance halls when they go out, I think it's too noisy, so I never want to go out," Qian Xiaohong lied, but she suddenly felt that saying this was not quite right. If Zhang Mingyu had come to invite her out to play, wouldn't she be implicitly rejecting his invitation by saying she didn't like going out? Wouldn't she have done the stupidest thing in the world if he just gave up on her? So she hastily added, "Besides, I'll go out with anyone who invites me."

  "May I have the pleasure of inviting you out for a sit-down?" he said over the phone.

  "Last time, if you hadn't reminded me to take the key, I wouldn't have been able to go back home. To thank you, of course, I couldn't refuse." Qian Xiaohong's words were calm on the surface, but her heart was excited beyond measure.

  "I'll come pick you up," said the voice on the phone, "no show, no go."

  She hung up the phone, and Qian Xiaohong hurriedly picked out a few clothes to dress herself up carefully. She spent a good while putting on makeup and styling her hair until Zhang Mingyu's car honked downstairs. Only then did Qian Xiaohong finish getting ready. She grabbed her bag and rushed out of the door in a flash, bumping her knee against it without even noticing, since the possessed body didn't have nerve signals to the brain, so she couldn't feel any pain.

  The two drove directly to the coffee shop they had been to before, sat elegantly and sipped their coffee, then spoke softly.

  "Sorry," Zhang Mingyu spoke first, "I had wanted to call you a long time ago, but I was afraid that you would be busy with work and even more afraid that you would reject my invitation, so I didn't dare make the call. It took me gathering up all my courage to finally call you tonight."

  "Zhang Ge is too polite," Qian Xiaohong took a sip of coffee, smiled slyly and said, "As for me, work is just like that, not busy at all. Besides, who would dare refuse such a handsome and elegant man like you?" She was half-joking and half-speaking from her heart.

  "Really?" Zhang Mingyu said, "Then if I invite you in the future, will you agree?"

  Qian Xiaohong didn't say a word, she just smiled again, and this smile was so obvious that even an idiot could see that she had agreed to Zhang Mingyu's request.

  This time, the two of them sat for a long time and talked about many things. They went from talking about work to life, from personal life to the current state of the country, from the nightlife of bars and clubs to life itself, and finally from classmates to emotions.

  "Do you know?" Zhang Mingyu said, "After I met you last time, I felt that you are different from ordinary people, with a extraordinary and elegant temperament. These days, every evening, your beautiful face always appears in my mind, I think I have been attracted by your fresh and elegant temperament."

  "You're making me happy," Qian Xiaohong's face turned red with embarrassment, pretending to be shy and lowering her head. In fact, she was extremely delighted inside. Although she had heard similar words before in the dance hall from those drunken men who would caress her and Lu Xiao Ying's hands while saying they loved them to death. But they would just laugh it off, never truly feeling the sweetness of love, so they only took those words as drunken nonsense. However, now that the same words came from a different person, it was entirely different. Qian Xiaohong felt like she was floating on air, her vanity making her mind go blank.

  So, it has been proven many times that the position of others in one's heart is different, and the words spoken are also different. If you like this person, then even their spitting action is elegant; if you don't like this person, then no matter how refined they look, they will still appear disgusting.

  Zhang Mingyu's words were obviously intentional towards Qian Xiaohong, and Qian Xiaohong also understood, she was very happy and hoped that Zhang Mingyu would say so.

  Zhang Mingyu saw that she didn't object, so he appeared to be very moved, with tears of happiness shining in his eyes, and even Qian Xiaohong's icy heart was about to melt.

  The two of them talked more and more until the coffee shop closed before they got up and walked out.

  On the way, Zhang Mingyu plucked up the courage to hold Qian Xiaohong's hand several times. When he reached out to grab Qian Xiaohong's hand, she also tightened her grip on his hand. The two of them looked at each other and smiled, giggling as they walked back.

  Back home, Lu Xiao Ying had not arrived yet. She was eager for Lu Xiao Ying to return as soon as possible, because she wanted Lu Xiao Ying to share her joy at this moment.

  At this time, Lu Xiao Ying and Yang Hua were having a great time. The two of them sat on the riverbank, cracking open sunflower seeds that Yang Hua had bought, blowing in the cold autumn wind, gazing out at the dark night, and Lu Xiao Ying felt extremely happy.

  Afterwards, the two of them went to the city center square where old people exercise and chased each other around for a long time. When they were tired, they leaned against each other. Lu Xiao Ying leaned on Yang Hua's shoulder, Yang Hua wrapped his arms around Lu Xiao Ying's slender waist, gazing at her with an infatuated expression, just staring like that.

  Time froze in their gaze, the world disappeared in their deep affection, and at this moment, there were only these two lovers between heaven and earth.

  Yang Hao took a deep breath, smelling the delicate fragrance of orchid on Lu Xiao Ying's body, his heart racing, blood rushing up, after a long time, two hot lips tightly pressed onto Lu Xiao Ying's red lips.

  Lu Xiaoying's breathing was also a bit urgent, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the hot kiss brought by Yang Hua, the happiness brought by him.

  After a long kiss, Yang Huan took Lu Xiao Ying's hand and walked into a hotel with embarrassment.

  In the middle of the night, Qian Xiaohong still couldn't wait for Lu Xiaoying to come back, so she picked up the phone and dialed Lu Xiaoying's number. Drowsy Lu Xiaoying answered the phone and heard Qian Xiaohong's urgent voice telling her to hurry back home.

  Lu Xiaoying agreed, and after hanging up the phone, she looked at Yang Hua who was sleeping soundly beside her. She reluctantly left, using her jade-like hand to touch Yang Hua's broad chest, then put on her clothes, kissed Yang Hua lightly, and opened the door to leave.

  Lu Xiaoying hailed a taxi and rushed to her apartment. As she was about to arrive, she felt a gust of cold wind blowing in, colder than the autumn wind, which blew directly into her heart.

  She knew what the sudden appearance of a dark wind meant, so she muttered to herself and in an instant, black and white figures appeared before her.

  "Is there something official?" Lu Xiaoying asked.

  "Yes," said Bai Wuchang.

  "What's new in the underworld recently?"

  "Everything is the same as before, except that a woman named Ruan Jiaolü keeps trying to escape and has been caught several times. Yan Wangye said she was disrupting the order of the underworld, so he punished her by sending her to the Mountain of Knives, where she was tortured until she was no longer human in shape. But even that couldn't tame her; just two days ago, she used her mouth to bite through one of the wooden pillars on the window of her cell." Hei Wuchang sighed and said.

  "Ran Jiaoluo's case, I've heard Zhenhua mention it before. Ran Jiaoluo was indeed very unfortunate. Until now, the killer who killed Wang Canglong has not been caught yet? You think, the real killer who harmed Ran Jiaoluo is still at large, no wonder she wanted to escape." said Lu Xiaoying.

  "Oh, right," said Bai Wuchang, as if he had just remembered something. He thought for a moment and then said, "The Judge told me to ask you when I met you, how many skills have you learned in the mortal world? The King of Hell wants to call you back to the underworld on the 30th of next month, the King of Hell is going to summon you to a meeting, so if you happen to meet them, just let them know."

  Lu Xiaoying nodded in agreement.

  "Alright," said Bai Wuchang, "the time is almost up, that person's soul is about to float away."

  "Who's that poor devil who's about to go to hell?" Lu Xiao Ying asked with a smile.

  "A taxi driver, seemingly named Yang Hua!" Hei Wuchang shrugged his shoulders. After finishing speaking, he called out to Bai Wuchang and floated away together.