Don’t Be a Kept Man

ling fast, and without faltering it pointed right behind him. 

Yan Yu paused in silence, packed up the luopan and walked inside.
Xun Chuan was confused, but followed, flying in behind him.

The room still faintly had the smell of death, and so after Su Yu’s mother packed everything up, she went to the bathroom to grab a bucket of water and very carefully and thoroughly cleaned up the floor without missing a spot.
Her face was old and wrinkly, her hands rough and filled with callouses, looking like someone who has completed a lot of hard laborious work.

Seeing that the floor was still wet, Yan Yu couldn’t help but retract his footsteps.
Leaning against the doorway, he scanned the entire room, taking it all in.
When Su Yu’s mother noticed him, she paused in surprise.
She tucked a few strands of her white hair behind her ear, looking quite apprehensive, as if she wanted to say something, but didn’t know what she should say.

Yan Yu opened his mouth to break the awkward atmosphere, 

“I’m Xiao-Su’s friend and wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help.”

Immediately upon hearing this, a smile quietly appeared on Su Yu’s mother’s face, 

“Ah, so you are Xiao-Su’s friend.
There’s not much to help with.
I’m almost done.
That child didn’t know a lot of things, so hopefully she didn’t give you much trouble.”

Yan Yu didn’t say anything in reply, pausing in silence before shaking his head.

Su Yu’s mother continued then to bend down and scrub the floor, slowly sighing, 

“Xiao-Su’s, ah, her life was hard.
She had a big fight with her dad one year and ran away by herself to the big city to work.
How many years had she not come back……”

She scrubbed the mop in the bucket and then used her hands to squeeze it dry.
Her eyes, filled with a lot of emotion, were swirling with tears, but in the end she held it all in and silently finished scrubbing the floor clean.
Cleaning up the uncleaned blood and dust until it was gone, as if it had never been there before.

The bag Su Yu’s mother brought was bursting at the seams, cramped full of Su Yu’s items.
She lifted it and carried it on her back, her body tilting a bit from the weight.
Yan Yu wanted to help, but was politely refused.

“No worries, no worries, I’m used to it.
No worries.
Thank you young man.”

Su Yu’s mother carried the things downstairs, walking a few steps before coming back.
She asked where the nearest train station was and after Yan Yu pointed the direction for her, she left.

Su Yu’s room was cleaned up very well and neatly, leaving not even a single trace of garbage behind.
A breeze blew by, shifting the curtains slightly by the window.
Xun Chuan blew a breath of cold air at Yan Yu’s neck from the back and then whispered, 

“She’s hiding in the closet…..”

At that, Yan Yu turned his eyes towards the closet and his fingers quickly shot out a copper coin, hitting the closet open–

A woman dressed in red laid inside, looking worse for the wear.
There was still a peach wood sword stabbed in her head and she was so weak her spirit looked transparent.
Her face was mostly decayed, but she looked like she was crying, yet no tears were able to come out.
Her shoulders were shaking as she quietly sobbed.

There were still some human qualities left in ghosts.

“……Mom……it was me who was unfilial…….”

Yan Yu’s feet slightly moved, walking to stand in front of her, casting a large shadow on her body.

Su Yu was hugging her knees, curled up into a ball, knowing that she had no way to win over him in a fight.
Her heart was already as dead as ash, 

“Just kill me…… I have already lost my will to live……”

Hearing this, Yan Yu lowered his eyes, raising his hands for a spell.
Seeing this, Xun Chuan wanted to say something, but then there was nothing to say, and so he could only silently tighten his hands.

A flash of golden light passed by, silently entering into Su Yu’s body.
The peach wood sword stuck in her head suddenly popped out with a sound, clanking onto the floor.

Su Yu’s eyes flashed a shock, 

 

“You……”

Yan Yu opened his palms and there was a jade gourd2 silently lying there, 

“Go in.
When it’s time, I will send you off to be reincarnated.”

Xun Chuan narrowed his eyes.

With the peach wood sword out of her, Su Yu’s body seemed to have become more solidified.
Hearing this she looked up in disbelief, lips flapping, 

“I…… I have the chance for reincarnation……”

She moved, and it turned out she was actually going to kneel before Yan Yu, 

“I’m begging you…… can you help me with one thing……”

Yan Yu didn’t like to stick his nose into a lot of things and was about to reject her when the system rang out.

[ Ding…… found…… found side mission…… my host please accept the request from the female ghost…… receive an equivalent reward…… become self sufficient and self reliant sooner…… ]

The system seemed to be scared out of its mind, and quickly skittered away before it could even finish its words. 

Yan Yu furrowed his eyebrows slightly and asked Su Yu, 

“With what?”

Hearing this, some hope appeared on Su Yu’s face.
Her half decayed finger pointed at the bed,

“Under the bed…… there is a bit of money…… half of it for you…… the other half…… can I trouble you to help me give it to my mother, please?”

Everyday Su Yu received many different customers from all walks of life, and some of them would pay in cash.
It was only after she collected the money to a certain amount that she would take it and save it at the bank. 

The bed frame was very heavy, and normally, people would not hide their money under there.
The police officers who had searched her apartment probably didn’t look under it to find the cash left behind.

Xun Chuan flipped out a string of resentment from his fingers and the bed frame popped up with a creaking sound.
In the middle was a stack of money, about eight to nine thousand yuan.
If it was split in half, there would be at least about three to four thousand, which was way more than his stall business could ever make him,

Yan Yu slightly nodded his head, 

“I can.”

Su Yu’s mouth tugged at this, a million emotions flashing in her eyes.
But in the end, it rested on relief.
Her body then collapsed into a cloud of black smoke and was absorbed into the jade gourd.

Xun Chuan sat on the edge of the bed and tilted his head to look up at Yan Yu, 

“What, are you in need of money?”

Yan Yu packed up his peach wood sword and asked back, 

“When have I never lacked in money?”

Yan Yu was always poor, and he has never been able to save up any money.
From the beginning of a year to the end of a year, each year repeating after the other, always in a state of poverty.

Xun Chuan thought of something then and he mockingly hooked up his mouth.
But seeing Yan Yu starting to lock the door, he followed right behind, flying close.

Su Yu was weaker than he imagined, and because of his precautions, Yan Yu had made sure to stuff a lot of things on himself.
When he returned home, he started to take them out.
In his left pocket, there were two of his talismans and a few copper coins in his right.
His sleeves also hid that sword of golden money.

Xun Chuan was by his side and seeing him pack the things into a drawer, he came closer to take a look.
He looked at Yan Yu, 

“What do you have inside?”

Yan Yu closed the drawer, 

“Things to repel ghosts.”

 

 

Notes:

 

*1 luopan: kind of like a compass or clock, tied around feng shui, but has a lot of symbols with a lot of variance in what is on there and what it means.
There are ones that can tell about the stars in the sky, or the “atmosphere” of the ground/sky (kind of like the surroundings and used for telling good/bad things).
It also has many other uses besides that kind of investigative work, like warding off ghosts/spirits/evil things, attracting luck/money/love interests, etc.
A multipurpose tool I guess in a way but can look different depending on the person/specialization (here’s two below that’s for feng shui – with 2 different designs (quite a bit of variation actually) and kind of the realm of what Yan Yu may have used, but that is up in the air as there are many different tools in this profession/area, but just for some kind of reference):

*2 jade gourd: there’s a lot of meanings for a jade gourd, with lots of good luck and good things associated with it so you may see it as an ornament someone wears or has in their house.
Gourds in general are believed to be able to hold down spirits (good or bad) which is reflected a lot in supernatural genres of movies/films or novels too, like the Journey of the West (I believe there’s a scene in there where one of the characters get caught inside of one, kind of like a jail).