"Mommy, these are spells and wooden cards given by my classmate." Li Xiao Gui raised the yellow charm paper and the deep black wooden card high in the air.
The Female Ghost looked at these two items but didn't show much reaction. She closed the door and smiled, "You should keep them safe, put them in your bag."
Li Xiao Gui shook her hand lightly, "Mommy, don't you want to take them? They can protect us."
The Female Ghost replied, "You keep them, Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, and your brother don't need them. As long as you hold them, it's enough."
Li Xiao Gui tilted her head and asked, "Why?"
"Because Mommy is powerful!"
"Oh," Li Xiao Gui earnestly nodded and put the spells and wooden cards into her bag.
The Female Ghost didn't explain further, and with just a few words, Li Xiao Gui seemed to suddenly understand, and she believed it without a doubt.
"Mommy, what do ghosts look like? Do they have several heads? Are their tongues long, and their teeth sharp?"
"Is Li Xiao Gui scared of ghosts?"
Li Xiao Gui nodded anxiously, her eyelashes blinking down in a helpless manner.
The Female Ghost yawned as the rain gradually stopped, and she felt a bit sleepy.
"But you don't even know what ghosts look like, why are you scared?"
Li Xiao Gui was taken aback because she didn't know; she just felt scared. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I don't know. Are ghosts really scary-looking? If they don't look scary, then maybe I won't be afraid."
Li Xiao Gui spoke hesitantly.
But the Female Ghost said, "It's better for Li Xiao Gui to stay scared. Ghosts can have one head or two, and some of them look scary while others don't. But they are all wicked, so Li Xiao Gui should be cautious. If you encounter them, use your spells to deal with them, alright?"
Li Xiao Gui still hesitated, "But I can't tell them apart, Mommy, I can't tell what ghosts look like!"
"The ones who would harm you are the ghosts," the Female Ghost said with a pale face, gazing at Li Xiao Gui and softly repeating her name, "Li Xiao Gui."
Li Xiao Gui seemed to understand vaguely.
Suddenly, the Female Ghost asked, "What did you buy outside?"
Li Xiao Gui blinked, her attention quickly shifting, and she excitedly said, "I bought cakes, biscuits, plain potato chips, tomatoes, and toast!"
Her voice was slow and gentle, enunciating each word clearly, "Big Brother said he would make sandwiches for me to eat on a picnic!"
"Then go give them to him. He's in the kitchen now."
"Great!" Li Xiao Gui's eyes brightened, and she hurriedly ran to the kitchen.
"The cake is for after dinner," the Female Ghost lazily reminded from behind.
Ahead, the sound of mixed footsteps and a cheerful humming of a child's voice came.
The Female Ghost gazed at Li Xiao Gui's fading figure, lost in thought.
The door of the ghost house was pushed open from outside to inside.
The Female Ghost said, "Li Xiao Gui met a child who can ward off spirits."
"Indeed," the Young Ghost nodded and walked over. He said, "Do you think we should let Li Xiao Gui learn how to ward off spirits too?"
"I also had this thought. After all, Li Xiao Gui always stays with us, and it's inevitable to encounter some unpleasant things," the Lady Ghost said, "But if she goes to the Spiritual Academy and learns about our opposing identities..."
"If there's a conflict, we'll just leave on our own. After all, she's just a human, and we can just abandon her," the Young Ghost replied.
"But, we don't know if Li Xiao Gui had her spiritual sensitivity from the beginning, or if she gained it after spending time with us. If we leave in the future, and she loses her sensitivity, what will she do if she's unemployed?" The Female Ghost suddenly became worried, "Should we let Li Xiao Gui continue studying at the human academy? Having an education is still important."
Li Xiao Gui was only five years old, but the Female Ghost was already thinking about her future employment, which could be described as very troubling for a ghost.
The Young Ghost also pondered, "This... "
"At that time, we can let her work at my company," the Ghost Grandpa's figure suddenly appeared from the ghost house.
Although the Ghost Grandpa was the quietest person in the ghost house, his silence was golden, and he was the wealthiest among them all.
After all, everyone in the ghost house only had ghost money, but the Ghost Grandpa had Chinese yuan – he single-handedly covered all of Li Xiao Gui's living and educational expenses.
The Female Ghost and the Young Ghost had always thought that this was his property from his past life. They didn't expect that as a ghost, the Ghost Grandpa had started a company. They couldn't help but respect him.
The Young Ghost said, "It sounds like a good idea?"
At this moment, the Ghost Granny's figure also appeared, and with her eyes almost closed into thin slits, she looked downwards and made a suggestion, "Although she can work at the old man's company, if she gives up attending the human school and goes to the Spiritual Academy, she might become disconnected from human society. It might not be good for Li Xiao Gui. How about finding her a cram school?"
The Young Ghost nodded, "That's also an option."
Ghost Grandpa said, "Then I'll go and find out about the cram schools for Li Xiao Gui."
As he finished speaking, his figure began to slowly fade away.
With the problem seemingly resolved, the Female Ghost stretched and said, "Hmm, I'm so tired. I need to go to sleep now. Tomorrow, I have to go on a picnic with Li Xiao Gui."
The Female Ghost sighed.
The rain outside the window had completely stopped by now, and the Female Ghost felt deeply exhausted. She slowly floated upstairs.
...
"How is it?"
"It's not an ordinary drowning; it's the same spirit. It has done the same thing in Area A and Area B. Here's its information."
Following was the sound of pages flipping.
"It seems like a roaming offender; it won't stay in one area for long. How long has it been in our area?"
"Unclear, it's been three days since we discovered this child's drowning case."
"We'll catch it before it leaves, and we can't let it continue committing crimes. To dare to kill someone on my turf, hmph, it's quite audacious."
"Yes!"
"..."
About twenty minutes later, two men walked out of the study, one older with a stern face, and the other much younger, dressed in a black suit, looking like a fresh graduate who had just attended a commencement ceremony.
The older man escorted the younger man to the door, and next to the door, a transparent white umbrella hung in a basket, dripping with water.
The younger man bowed to the elder and left after pushing the door open.
Shortly after the man left, a young boy walked out of the room and called out to the stern-faced man, "Father!"
The man nodded, "Yes, what is it?"
Shen Chen said, "I just practiced my spells, and I sealed a mutated filth."
"Mutated filth?" Shen's father asked.
Shen Chen nodded and said, "Yes, I happened to encounter it. It was on 777th Street."
Shen Chen continued, "Then I met one of my classmates there, and I happened to give her a ride home. Her house is deep inside 777th Street. The ghostly aura in her house is very strong, but strangely, nothing has happened to her family, and they've lived there for many years. Can you accompany me to go and take a look?"