Chapter 26: Chapter 25: Footsteps in the Living Room
For the time being, He Xiaotian hadn’t figured out a source of income, so he simply decided to stop thinking about it.
A nonchalant... Zen-like attitude. He’d just let things take their course.
He obediently stayed in his room and didn’t return to his cousin’s place.
Too much had been happening recently. As one of the pillars of the family, He Xiaotian felt a responsibility to stay with his mom.
As long as she didn’t nag him about troublesome creatures like girlfriends.
That evening, his dad and uncle didn’t come home.
The paper mill had recently received a huge order.
They were both so busy that they couldn’t get away.
But after ten o’clock that night, He Xiaotian’s sharp hearing picked up the sound of footsteps.
PATTER! PATTER!
He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but the temperature in the room seemed to have dropped by several degrees.
He immediately got up and tiptoed to the door.
He pressed his right ear to the door, listening carefully to the footsteps outside.
PATTER! PATTER!
Inner Strength surged from his Dantian, gathering in his left hand.
WHOOSH!
A scorching flame ignited in his palm as his right hand reached for the doorknob.
CLICK!
The instant the door opened, He Xiaotian shot out like a cheetah.
He headed straight for the source of the sound in the living room.
But unfortunately, he lunged at empty air.
Whatever had been pacing back and forth seemed to have sensed him and vanished.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
He Xiaotian didn’t hesitate. He rushed to knock on his mom and aunt’s door to see if they were all right.
"Coming!"
CREAK!
"Xiaotian, what’s the matter?"
"Mom, did you hear the footsteps in the living room just now?"
"Wasn’t that you?" his mom asked lazily. Her nerves had been shot these past few days, and now that she’d finally relaxed, she was sleeping soundly. She had vaguely heard a noise but assumed it was just her son getting up in the middle of the night.
"It was me, it was me," He Xiaotian said, nodding with a slight frown. There had been too much trouble lately; it was better not to tell her about the footsteps in the living room.
SLAM!
...
’Do you really have to be so cold to your own son?’
He Xiaotian turned on the lights and began to inspect the area.
Sure enough, he saw wet spots.
And some disgusting slime that gave off a foul, fishy stench.
He followed the trail of marks.
The wet trail led to a door.
He looked up and saw it was the room of their nanny, Aunt Yang.
Seeing this, he hesitated.
He wasn’t the only one at home; his mom and aunt were there too.
’What if I go in and a fight breaks out?’
’I can’t even imagine what they would do if they saw me covered in flames.’
’Forget it. I’ll find an excuse to get them to go shopping tomorrow. Then I can come back and properly investigate what’s going on in here.’
With that thought, he went back to his room, grabbed his blanket, and went to sleep on the living room sofa.
He Xiaotian had a serious persecution complex.
He constantly had the paranoid feeling that ’scheming subjects are trying to harm their emperor.’
For the safety of his mom and aunt in the master bedroom, he would just have to put up with it for one night.
The next day, Wang Mei was dumbfounded to see her son sleeping on the sofa.
She couldn’t understand the mentality of He Xiaotian, who chose to sleep on the sofa when there was a perfectly good bed available.
’Did he sleep on the sofa all the time at his cousin’s place?’
His aunt, Helan, stood awkwardly to the side.
She and her sister-in-law had come to the same conclusion.
She muttered to herself that she would give her own son a good talking-to when she got home.
’Your cousin only stayed at your shabby place for a few days, right?’
’Was it really necessary to make him sleep on the sofa the whole time?’
’Being a neat freak is one thing, but this is too much!’
’It’s not like that?’
’Then why is Xiaotian back in his own home, with a bed he’s not using, drooling on the living room sofa!’
...
First thing in the morning, He Xiaotian successfully got his mom and aunt to leave the house.
His excuse was that they’d been too tired lately and should go shopping to relax.
He’d cover all their expenses.
After the two left, he immediately went to the nanny’s room, pushed open the door, and went inside.
The decor inside was a good match for Aunt Yang, a woman in her thirties.
From top to bottom, it exuded a mature aura.
"Why am I so agitated? I’m even feeling a little hot," He Xiaotian muttered to himself, wondering if he was getting sick. ’Or maybe it’s qi deviation from my training?’
After calming himself, he began his inspection.
One night hadn’t been enough time for all the wet spots to evaporate.
There were water droplets all over the room, as if it had been drenched in a downpour.
Some of the clothes in the wardrobe made him blush.
He felt like he was about to get a nosebleed.
Other than the wet spots on the floor and a chilling, unsettling aura, everything in the room was normal, with no signs of disturbance.
’I just hammered a Pig Grudge to death, and now a water ghost shows up?’
He Xiaotian grimaced. If he were all alone, it wouldn’t matter.
He would just deal with whatever came his way.
Besides, he had the Perfection-level Fire-refined Golden Body and the Mastery-level Iron Sand Palm.
Unless he was facing a group of people armed with guns, he wasn’t afraid of anything.
He had already smashed that terrifying Pig Grudge to a pulp.
’What’s there to fear about a single water ghost?’
’The only thing I’m not sure about is who it’s targeting. If its presence is limited to the house, then I just need to move Mom and Aunt somewhere else. But if it’s after the two of them specifically, then I’m in trouble.’
He Xiaotian had a massive headache. He didn’t know the Clone Skill, so what was he supposed to do?
’Could it be that getting the Golden Finger tanked my luck? Is that why I keep running into these things everywhere I go? Whatever. I’ll take Mom and Aunt to my cousin’s place for the night. If nothing unusual happens, it’ll prove the "water ghost" is restricted and can only cause trouble in our house.’
Then, his hands would be free to come back and deal with this thing properly.
’Two big iron hammers will pound you until your scalp goes numb.’
Before dinner, his mom and aunt returned, loaded down with shopping bags.
He Xiaotian saw the brand logos on the bags and his face filled with despair.
"Xiaotian, thirty thousand. Mom will round it down for you, no need to thank me. Oh, and don’t forget to transfer me the money."
"I know."
His voice was filled with endless grievance and the faint sound of a sob.
Not only was the twenty thousand he’d secretly saved up yesterday gone, but he now owed even more.
Then, to their utter confusion, He Xiaotian took them to his cousin’s place.
He had already secretly moved the iron hammers from the trunk and back seat of the car to his room at noon.
It was a good thing no one saw him, or they would have definitely called the police.
Nowadays, you could get arrested just for carrying a kitchen knife down the street.
Let alone carrying two massive, spiked iron hammers!
The moment they walked in the door, it was He Xiaotian’s turn to be dumbfounded.
His aunt saw her son, his cousin, devouring his food in the living room, and immediately grabbed his ear and started chewing him out.
Every other word was about how he had treated He Xiaotian so poorly by making him sleep on the sofa.
Liu Junming didn’t dare to argue back. He could only stand there with his head down, admitting fault.
But the occasional glances he shot his cousin were filled with resentment.
’You had a bed, but you didn’t sleep in it. What the hell is wrong with you?!’
He Xiaotian could only smile without a word, thinking to himself that tonight would reveal the truth.
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