Chapter 27

Hu Yuanfei’s grief was quickly cured by Tang Qianran.

Since both demons were taking such a job for the first time, they hadn't agreed on a fee beforehand. Now that the matter was mostly resolved and a heavy weight had been lifted from Tang Qianran’s heart, she decided to settle the payment.

Lang Xiao said uncertainly, "Five... five thousand?"

To be honest, she felt a bit guilty when she called out that number. It felt like asking for too much, especially since they hadn't really done much.

Tang Qianran nodded without hesitation and transferred twenty thousand to them immediately.

Lang Xiao was taken aback. "You gave too much!"

Tang Qianran stroked the jade pendant. "Thanks to you this time, I discovered Tongtong’s existence and learned the truth about his death. Although I can't do anything to that family, just knowing that Tongtong can return to my side is our greatest reward. Please keep the money. If it weren't for you calling that master, we wouldn't have been able to reach him. It’s all because of you; this money is what you deserve."

The ten thousand that had been lost was now back in their hands in a different way. Hu Yuanfei couldn't help but wag his hidden tail.

Although it was hidden, Qing Yao seemed to be able to sense its presence; her gaze kept darting toward his backside, and her little hands grasped at the air.

Lang Xiao asked the couple, "What do you plan to do? Are you moving?"

Tang Qianran shook her head immediately, speaking fiercely, "Of course not. Why should we be the ones to move? I want to watch with my own eyes as that villain gets his retribution. Didn't the master say that evil meets its end? I want to watch their family’s misery!"

Lang Xiao sighed softly and said nothing more, simply retracting the demonic energy from Wang Hongying and Wu Zijie.

Upon realizing she could move again, Wang Hongying let out a heaven-shaking roar. She rushed into the bedroom to check on her son. Finding him in good condition, she initially wanted to go out and cause trouble for Tang Qianran. However, having seen with her own eyes that ghosts existed and that the other side had hired such a powerful master, she felt both guilty and terrified. After shouting loudly in her home for a while, she didn't dare to step outside.

Hearing the commotion, Tang Qianran sneered. "She doesn't dare come out to yell; it seems she has a guilty conscience. Hmph, I will tell the neighbors one by one about the 'good deeds' her family has done so they know exactly what kind of evil this family has committed."

Peace was temporarily restored between the two households, and the matter came to an end. Lang Xiao and Hu Yuanfei prepared to leave.

Before leaving, Lang Xiao, in consideration of the twenty thousand, left a trace of demonic energy on Tang Qianran. If she were ever in a life-or-death crisis, she would be able to sense it immediately and rush over to investigate.

Consider it an after-sales service.

Having been delayed for so long, it was already dark outside. Declining Han Ming’s offer to see them off, the two demons carried the child out of the residential complex.

Once they were outside the gate, Hu Yuanfei, no longer able to restrain himself, leaped three feet into the air and began bouncing excitedly along the roadside.

"Hahahaha, twenty thousand!"

This was worth as much as a month’s worth of catching rats. He hadn't expected that catching ghosts and praying for blessings could be so profitable. In that case, Wen Yuan must have made quite a lot of money as well.

Lang Xiao watched Hu Yuanfei’s excitement all the way home, and only then did she slowly speak the words she had been holding back the entire trip.

"That job was meant for me."

The implication was clear: there was no share for him.

Suddenly doused with a bucket of cold water, Hu Yuanfei sobered up instantly. Every hair on his head drooped, and he looked at Lang Xiao in shock.

"Not even a little bit?"

Lang Xiao walked past him into the kitchen without mercy, giving him the answer through her actions.

Hu Yuanfei even lost the sparkle in his eyes. He listlessly turned back into a fox and lay on the chilly balcony, looking up at the hazy crescent moon with a melancholy expression.

Oh, his heart at this moment was as cold and shattered as that moon.

Qing Yao had been coveting his tail for a long time. Once they were home, she immediately scurried toward him, quickly hugging his large, drooping tail. She rubbed her entire body against it, rested her face on his rear, and then climbed onto his back to pull and torment his two ears.

Under normal circumstances, Hu Yuanfei would have carried her on his back to play, but today he remained motionless like a dead dog.

Qing Yao curiously leaned toward his eyes. Seeing he was still awake, she pushed his head with her hand. When he didn't budge, she simply lay down beside his paw, rubbed her head against his cheek, and gave him a kiss.

*Pat, pat.*

Hu Yuanfei hugged the cub and sighed. "This family really only has you as the best one. Wolves and the like are truly cold-hearted, ruthless, and emotionless. We should stay far away from them in the future."

Lang Xiao heard his words clearly. She shook her head helplessly and, out of the goodness of her heart, transferred five thousand to him.

When Hu Yuanfei heard his phone beep, he thought it was just a message in the group. He didn't expect to see a transfer record when he opened it. He blinked and blinked again. Upon confirming the five thousand had arrived, he suddenly jumped up with vigor.

"Ahahahaha! Who said wolves are heartless? Wolves are truly the kindest, gentlest, and most beautiful animals in the world. I love wolf demons the most!"

After saying this, he carried the cub in his mouth and ran circles around the living room in excitement.

Qing Yao, who was used to being tossed about, also shrieked with excitement, stretching her hands out like Superman.

Watching the two go crazy, Lang Xiao couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips. Teasing a fox was actually quite interesting.

"Quiet down, it’s time to eat."

She brought the food out, prepared a large bottle of milk for the cub, and made some side dishes to go with it. Since there was an unexpected surprise to celebrate today, she also cut two large pieces of meat for herself and Hu Yuanfei.

Hu Yuanfei grinned as he placed the cub on her special seat and sat in his own spot, beaming. When he saw the pieces of meat on the plate were larger than usual, his smile became even brighter, as excited as if he had stolen an entire chicken.

Hu Yuanfei chewed his dinner heartily. Having spent so long in the human world, his table manners were much better than before; he no longer swallowed everything in one gulp, leaving crumbs and blood everywhere.

After dinner, the revitalized Hu Yuanfei planned to expand their business. He re-edited the wording, changing the pinned message in the group to include services like catching demons, exorcising ghosts, and praying for blessings.

It didn't matter if they didn't know how; they still had Wang Wenyuan to back them up. They expanded their new business with full confidence.

The group members who were chatting were curious when they saw the new pin. "Now you're catching demons and exorcising ghosts? Are there really ghosts in this world? This business sounds a lot like a scam."

"Is there a fortune-telling service? I just want someone to calculate a date for my family's wedding."

"I want to calculate for myself when I'll get rich."

"Hahaha, I want to calculate which lottery ticket to buy to win."

"Screw you, if it were that accurate, the master would have bought it himself. Why would he tell you?"

The conversation in the group quickly went off-track, veering toward things the two demons weren't good at. Hu Yuanfei’s brow furrowed once again.

"How can this be!"

They had the strength to catch demons and exorcise ghosts, but they really couldn't handle technical tasks like fortune-telling, even with Daoist Wenyuan backing them up.

Hu Yuanfei frowned. Perhaps he should go learn it? With his cleverness, it should be easy to learn, right?

Thus, Daoist Wenyuan, who was still busy, received another message from the two demons. Seeing Hu Yuanfei say he wanted to learn fortune-telling, Daoist Wenyuan replied in his spare time: "Which kind do you want to learn? Feng Shui, physiognomy, or date selection and divination? Even divination is divided into many types: Zhou Yi, Eight Trigrams, Plum Blossom Divination, Da Xiao Liu Ren, Qi Men Dun Jia, Six Lines, Zi Wei Dou Shu..."

Hu Yuanfei’s head began to swell. "Stop, stop! Tell me something simple! Which one is easier to learn!"

"If you just want it to be easy to learn, you can try Xiao Liu Ren. It is relatively simpler. Do you need reference books? I can send them to you."

"Send them, send them."

Soon, Daoist Wenyuan sent a long list of books, accompanied by a single sentence:

"Read and memorize these, and you can get started. However, Xiao Liu Ren is better at calculating weather, farming, or medical matters. It depends on your choice."

Perhaps fearing he might find it too difficult, Daoist Wenyuan added: "If you want something even simpler, there is Tarot. I have also dabbled in that. Here are the reference books."

Hu Yuanfei opened the materials one by one and closed them one by one. He felt his phone becoming hot to the touch because of these crystallizations of wisdom.

He looked up at the sky with a melancholy expression and let out a sigh: "Humans!"

No wonder demons had to transform into human form and integrate into human society once they reached maturity. The things humans created were truly, unimaginably complex.

He put away his phone and lay down silently. Learning and such—cultivation was more important for now. He would learn when he had time in the future. Yes, it was absolutely not because he gave up after finding it too complex to understand at all.

Actually, money could still be earned; there was no need to dwell on things he wasn't good at.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, another month passed. During this month, the two demons were a bit busier. Their advertisements for demon-catching and exorcising ghosts didn't bring anyone in, but there were more requests for finding lost cats, dogs, and birds. It seemed the rats had adapted to the heating, and orders for catching rats had also increased.

Seeing that there was only one month left until the New Year, the two demons silently counted the days, looking forward to the arrival of the New Year. This was their first New Year since coming to the human world, and it was worth cherishing.

Before the New Year arrived, however, a piece of news came first.

Wu Zijie was dead.

He died very suddenly—unexpected, yet within reason.

The two demons went specifically to learn about the situation.

It turned out that after the incident, the relationship between the two families had severely deteriorated. Tang Qianran had thoroughly publicized what Wu Zijie had done, and the neighbors, who already had opinions about the family, gossiped behind their backs. Wang Hongying had several arguments, but the situation didn't improve, which left her filled with rage.

Even more unfortunately, the case of the Li family’s lost dog had reached a conclusion. The dog thief, who seemed to have nothing to do with the Wu family, was actually Wang Hongying’s cousin. Wu Zijie had helped him steal the golden retriever; he had released the dog, lured it away, and delivered it to a designated location. This wasn't the first time Wu Zijie had done such a thing; he had long had the idea of selling the golden retriever, and this time he finally took action.

The Li family, who had already moved away, couldn't swallow their anger upon finding out the truth. They came back and sprayed the entire wall of the Wu house with red paint. Although it was somewhat immoral, a family like theirs couldn't really do anything more malicious.

This incident caused another huge argument between the husband and Wang Hongying. It just so happened that a relative was hosting a banquet and had invited them. Wang Hongying took Wu Zijie and went out. The location was in a neighboring city, and the temperature had been extremely low for those few days. The surface of the river had frozen into thick ice. The banquet was held next to the river, and many adults and children were skating on the ice. There were quite a few people.

Wu Zijie also excitedly went onto the ice. However, after only a few laps, the thick surface of the ice suddenly cracked for some unknown reason, and he fell right in with a splash.

There were many people around, and logically, it should have been easy to pull him out. But after he went under, he simply disappeared. People poked the hole with long poles several times, but no one could grab hold of him. Later, people went into the water to search, but after searching for a long time, there was no sign of him.