Chapter Thirty-One: Expelling Evil

  Su Tong's interest was piqued by his words, and he hastily sat up straight, listening intently to Tang Ao's account.

  "At that time, I also accidentally took on a business deal. To put it simply, I had been guarding the workshop alone for a long time and hadn't even opened it yet. Finally, someone came to the door, and at that time, I was like a starving person who didn't care if he could chew his food properly, just grabbing whatever he could and trying to stuff it into his mouth.

  Tang Wei recalled the incident with a hint of lingering regret. "Maybe some things are really destined. At that time, I accidentally took on this business deal. Later, the client asked me to go to their home to take a look. I went there, and it was an old house, quite old. After asking around, I found out that the house was left behind by the client's grandmother. The client had graduated from university and returned home but didn't want to live with his parents, so he planned to move into the empty house left behind by his deceased grandmother. However, he thought the layout and decoration of the house were too old-fashioned and wanted to renovate it. He was also a recent graduate who had just started working and was short on cash, so he looked for a cheap quote and asked me to come over.

  As a result, I went there and took a look, only to discover that something was off about the house."

  "What's wrong?" Su Tong knew that this matter was definitely unusual, so she listened very intently, as if Tang Ao was telling her a story.

  "His grandmother never left." Tang Ao said, after saying that, he saw Su Tong shudder at the words and hurriedly comforted her, "Don't worry, you don't have to be afraid, that client's grandmother is not a malevolent spirit, there's another story here, I'll tell it to you slowly."

  Su Tong nodded and listened intently as he continued speaking.

  "At that time, I had already discovered that I had opened my yin-yang eyes and could see some things that others couldn't see, which didn't belong to the world of the living. So when I saw them, I wasn't particularly scared myself, but considering that humans and ghosts are on different paths, living under the same roof for a long time would have an adverse effect on the living, whether it's just bad luck or physical harm, it's not suitable, so I tried to tactfully reveal this to the client."

  "Will he believe it?" Su Tong asked, and if she hadn't personally experienced so many things recently, she probably wouldn't have believed that there were gods and ghosts in this world either, and she believed she wasn't an exception.

  As expected, Tang Ao shook his head: "That client didn't believe me. Not only did he not believe me, but he was also very angry, thinking I was pretending to be a ghost and trying to swindle him. At first, I pretended that the design fee was very cheap, and then I deliberately scared him so that he would give me more money. No matter how I explained it, he didn't believe me, scolded me, and drove me away. I had no choice, because if the other party doesn't trust you, there's nothing you can do about it. So I went back home.

  After about half a month, that client came to find me again. As soon as we met, he apologized nonstop and said he believed me now. Many strange things had happened in his house, so he found another design company, designed the renovation plans, and hired workers to renovate the house. But the result was that all the strange things stopped happening. The new furniture they had just installed the day before would be dismantled by the next day. Things that had been moved around would return to their original positions.

  At first, he didn't believe in evil spirits either, and insisted on continuing with the renovation. But after about five or six days, a worker was pasting wallpaper when suddenly the ladder fell over, and the worker fell and broke his leg. He was sent to the hospital. When these people came back, they found that their tools had been thrown outside the door, but the door couldn't be opened no matter what. The client called a locksmith, who took apart the entire lock, but the door still couldn't be opened. The locksmith said he had never encountered such strange things before.

  The renovation team was so scared that they didn't dare to continue working on his house. Then that night, the client dreamed that his deceased grandmother came and hit him with her wooden cane, hitting him right on the forehead. He woke up in pain and found that there really was a big bump on his forehead, exactly where he had been hit by his grandmother in the dream.

  This scared him badly, so the next morning he rushed to find me for help."

  "What happened afterwards?" Su Tong asked curiously and nervously.

  Tang Ao smiled and said, "Actually, it was quite easy to solve in the end. The ghost that refused to leave was after all the client's grandmother, so she wouldn't really harm anyone. I looked up some information and went there, using a spell to help open the door. The client didn't dare go in, but I did, and I talked to the old lady's ghost. I found out why she hadn't left after passing away. It turned out that when she was young, her husband had been taken away by the army during a defeat, and they lost contact. The old lady stayed behind with their children, raising them while constantly thinking of her husband returning. She waited until her own death, but never got to see that day. The old lady said that when her husband was taken away, he told her that as long as he was alive, he would return, even if it meant coming back as a ghost. So after she died, she couldn't bear to leave and kept thinking of waiting for her husband to come back so they could be reunited. After I communicated with her, I promised to help her find out what happened to her husband. This was the hardest part, and I put in a lot of effort to help the old lady fulfill her wish. But in the end, the result was a bit disappointing."

  "The old lady's husband had long since passed away?" Su Tong was originally still a little scared, but when she learned the reason why the client's grandmother lingered in the house after her death and refused to leave, she felt an inexplicable taste in her heart, and was no longer afraid.

  Tang Ao sighed and shook his head: "If it were like that, it would be a good result for the old lady. Unfortunately, the fact is not like that. Later, I really found news of the old lady's husband. The man was still alive, very old, living in another province, with an old partner and several children, already four generations together, living very comfortably. I managed to contact them, and the old man still remembered that he had a wife and child here before, but he had long since put his mind on the new family he established later. When talking about exposing his wife who was left alone at home in her 20s and 30s, he said he didn't even remember what she looked like. When I told this to the old lady, she initially refused to accept it. I showed her a photo of her husband and his new family that I had managed to get, and only then did she believe me. With a heart full of despair, she said she wouldn't stay in this house waiting in vain anymore, having wasted half her life. Next time, she would not be so foolish and wait for someone who didn't plan to come back."

  Su Tong didn't expect the outcome to be like this, his nose felt sour, and he couldn't help but feel heartache and sadness for that old lady who had waited a lifetime only to end up with nothing.

  "There are two good things about this matter. First, the old lady's grandson, my client, can finally renovate his house and move in. Second, my small studio not only designs home decor but also has a reputation for being able to ward off evil spirits.

  Later on, I had several clients come to me with strange occurrences in their homes. Some were just mischievous little ghosts, while others were indeed haunted by malevolent entities. Fortunately, I was able to resolve all of these cases successfully. My business slowly picked up, and my income stabilized. The studio was able to stay open.

  Before I got sick, I had lost all the knowledge and inspiration I had about home decor design due to that severe illness. So, I couldn't force myself to do it, which wouldn't be good for the studio's reputation either. Therefore, I hired two university graduates who majored in this field. Over time, a pattern emerged: clients who knew about my abilities would specifically ask for me when they came to the studio. Of course, there were also those who just wanted to entrust me with design work, which was handled by the other two.

  Overall, everything has been developing steadily. Although I'm someone who suddenly gained the ability to see spirits due to a coincidence, I don't dare say I have any foundation in this area. But I'm not just talking nonsense either - I do have some practical experience. So, you don't need to worry that I won't be able to handle things."

  Su Tong was still immersed in the thing Tang Ao said, as well as the process of his studio's decline and resurgence. As a result, he suddenly turned the topic back to going up the mountain to check on the abandoned house, her mood became tense again in an instant. She looked at Tang Ao and shook her head seriously.

  "That won't do, I've thought it through," she said. "I listened carefully to what you just said, and I understand what you mean. I'm not saying you're all talk and no action, but this time the situation is really different. Let's not even mention what's going on at my house, just look at what happened at the hospital earlier - seven kids lost their souls, that's definitely not something one evil spirit can do! What if there's more than one opponent? You'll definitely be at a disadvantage! I'm already grateful that you're willing to help me, but I won't let you take risks for my sake, my conscience won't allow it."

  "Let's not discuss this topic anymore." Tang Ao's attitude was equally firm, "I can understand your thoughts, but from my perspective, watching you being in danger and having the ability to fight for it, helping you solve the current difficulties, but I couldn't intervene, that's something I couldn't do."

  Su Tong's face turned red as she was told by Tang Ao's words, which were very meaningful. Her impression of Tang Ao was still very good, perhaps even better than "very good". In such a short period of time, she had gone from being unfamiliar to familiar with him and felt very good about it, full of trust. This was also an unprecedented situation for Su Tong, the first time in her life that this had happened. However, no matter what, after all, the two people's acquaintance was still short-lived. Even if Tang Ao had the same good feelings towards her, it would not be enough to say such words with a hint of "rushing into boiling water and walking through fire without hesitation". Moreover, he said it so directly and straightforwardly, which made Su Tong somewhat unsure of how to react.

  Tang Ao looked at her, his face red and unable to speak, seemingly a bit embarrassed and flustered. He subconsciously cleared his throat, and somewhat unnaturally used his hand to tidy up his hair, trying to cover up his nervousness. Only then did he begin to speak: "Actually, saying this kind of thing at this time might be a bit presumptuous, and it's possible you'll think I'm being weird or neurotic. But in order to explain what I said just now, I can only be honest with you about this one thing. Su Tong, for you, from the moment you knew I existed until we met, it's only been a few days. However, I've known you, and recognized you, for far longer than that. After all, we've been neighbors for quite some time now. To be precise, when I first saw you, you were still a university student, with short hair cut to your cheeks, wearing a blue-striped butterfly hair clip."

  Su Tong recalled with a smile, he indeed had a period of time when he often dressed like Tang Xiao just described, but at that time she was only in her second year of high school, and it has been six or seven years since then.

  "Was it before you got sick or after?" Su Tong hoped he could be more reserved, but his curiosity got the better of him and he blurted out.

  Tang Ao smiled a bit awkwardly and said, "It's strange to say, but before I got sick, many things from that time were forgotten. However, the part about you was not forgotten at all, it's all very clear in my memory. To be honest, I've been wanting to find an opportunity to get to know you naturally, but I never had the chance. Who would have thought that the opportunity finally came, but it wasn't natural and can't be considered a good thing? I don't know if this counts as turning misfortune into fortune for me."

  Su Tong's face turned red to the point of almost bleeding, it was really deadly! She, who had never believed in love at first sight from childhood to adulthood, was actually loved at first sight by someone. And this person was a man who made her feel like they had known each other for a long time, and she felt quite good about him. Hearing him say such straightforward words, Su Tong wouldn't be surprised if she spontaneously combusted the next second.

  Tang Ao looked at her red face and didn't want to say too much all at once, giving Su Tong too much pressure, which would be counterproductive. So he timely stopped the conversation and looked outside at the weather, which had cleared up after a storm, and said to Su Tong: "Let's go, we can head up the mountain now."

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