Chapter 23

Chapter 23

In the end, thanks to Yun Jianyue’s explanation, Lu Changxue managed to preserve her status as a law-abiding citizen… or rather, a law-abiding ghost.

Everyone signed a confidentiality agreement at the Paranormal Bureau and gave their statements. Afterward, Xia Chao drove his parents and in-laws home before finally returning with Yun Jianyue and the others.

By the time they arrived, it was already three thirty in the morning.

“Everyone wash up and get some sleep. Tomorrow… Actually, forget it. I’ll call in and get you the morning off. Get some proper rest, then go to class in the afternoon,” Xia Chao told Xia Huiqing.

Everyone was physically and mentally exhausted after the night’s events, with the sole exception of Yun Jianyue, who was still brimming with energy.

The family of four slept until noon the next day. Yun Luhua got up and made lunch for everyone. Once Xia Huiqing finished eating, she left for school, while Xia Chao headed to work.

With only Yun Jianyue and Yun Luhua left at home, Yun Jianyue got straight to the point.

“Auntie, I want to know more about my mom.”

Yun Luhua’s expression stiffened. She turned away, unable to meet Yun Jianyue’s eyes. “Your mom has been dead for so many years. What is there left to ask?”

“Mom was adopted by Grandpa, wasn’t she? And after that fire eleven years ago, you never actually found her body, did you?” Yun Jianyue asked.

“Who told you that?” Yun Luhua stared at her in shocked dismay. But the moment she met her niece’s gaze, her composure began to crumble.

In the end, Yun Luhua told her everything.

Back then, Grandpa and Grandma had been married for two years without conceiving. When they went to the hospital for an examination, they were told that Grandma would have difficulty getting pregnant.

In those days, a woman who couldn’t bear children would be viciously condemned. The whole village gossiped about her, and plenty of meddlesome relatives even tried to persuade Grandpa to divorce her.

But Grandpa flatly refused. He cursed those foulmouthed busybodies for sticking their noses where they didn’t belong and even cut ties with many of his relatives.

It rarely snowed in the south, yet that winter brought an unusually heavy snowfall.

In the snow, Grandpa found an abandoned baby girl and brought her home. That baby was Yun Jianyue’s mother, Yun Xiangrong.

Since they had no children of their own, Grandpa and Grandma doted on Yun Xiangrong as if she were their biological daughter.

Perhaps good deeds really were rewarded. Less than two years after they adopted Yun Xiangrong, Grandma became pregnant. Nine months later, she gave birth to Yun Luhua.

Years afterward, Yun Xiangrong unexpectedly became pregnant. She refused to reveal the identity of the man who had gotten her pregnant and stubbornly insisted on keeping the child.

That was how Yun Jianyue came into the world.

When Yun Jianyue was ten, a massive fire broke out at Yun Xiangrong’s home.

The family never found Yun Xiangrong’s body, but they did find the suicide note and bank card she had left behind.

In the note, she wrote that she had calmly gone to her death and asked Yun Luhua to take care of her daughter. She wanted Yun Luhua to use the money she had earned over the years to raise Yun Jianyue.

In the end, however, Yun Luhua never touched that money. She didn’t even rely on Xia Chao. Instead, she and Yun Jianyue’s grandparents paid to raise Yun Jianyue together.

When Yun Jianyue turned eighteen, Yun Luhua gave her the bank card Yun Xiangrong had left behind.

“If there was only a suicide note and no body, doesn’t that mean my mom could still be alive?” Yun Jianyue seemed to be asking Yun Luhua, yet also herself.

Before Yun Luhua could answer, Yun Jianyue asked another question. “In your memories of her, was there anything about my mom that set her apart from ordinary people?”

Yun Luhua pondered for a moment before answering, “She was different… She was unusually beautiful? Does being exceptionally gorgeous count?”

Yun Jianyue, who had inherited eighty percent of her mother’s beauty, was speechless.

Of course she knew how beautiful her own mother was!
“I mean anything else! Something unusual, like how I beat up a ghost with my bare hands yesterday,” Yun Jianyue said.

Yun Luhua thought for a long moment before shaking her head. “No. She was gentle and kind, and she never believed in ghosts or any of that supernatural stuff.”

Lu Changxue drifted over and remarked smugly, “Such a gentle, kind woman, and yet she gave birth to a violent maniac.”

Yun Jianyue: What a true best friend. Please, keep talking.

It was clear she wasn’t going to learn anything else from her aunt, so Yun Jianyue decided to ask her grandfather instead.

She went to find him right away. He was working in the fields, so Yun Jianyue grabbed a sickle and began cutting fodder for the pigs.

“Grandpa, I wanted to ask…”

Before she could finish, her grandfather set his back basket down beside her. “Let’s finish cutting first. We can talk back at the house with the air conditioner on.”

Yun Jianyue replied, “You got it.”

After a great deal of hard work, the old man and his granddaughter finally settled comfortably into the air-conditioned room.

What she learned from her grandfather was almost exactly the same as what her aunt had told her. Unless they had deliberately coordinated their stories beforehand, this was simply the truth as they knew it.

“Oh, right. Before your mother’s accident, she gave me this.” Her grandfather took off the small wooden carving hanging around his neck and handed it to Yun Jianyue.

Yun Jianyue turned it over and examined it several times, but she couldn’t find anything unusual about it. In the end, she could only give it back to him.

Yun Jianyue celebrated her aunt’s birthday on Saturday, then set off for City A on Sunday.

However, the Paranormal Bureau’s administrative staff didn’t work Sundays, so Yun Jianyue reported for duty on Monday.

Just as Du Minghao had promised, the job came with full social insurance and housing fund contributions, paid holidays, and various allowances. All in all, the take-home pay each month was very generous.

“Didn’t you say this came with an official government post?” Yun Jianyue asked, pointing at the contract.

Du Minghao scratched his head, his gaze drifting toward Cai Zeyu as if to say, Hurry up and tell her. What do we do now?

As the unlucky one, Cai Zeyu had no choice but to step forward. Looking somewhat embarrassed, he explained, “We’re the municipal bureau. It’s difficult for us to secure official posts. You have to pass the civil service exam.”

Xu Tiangang worked for a county-level unit, where recruitment rules could be bent under special circumstances. The municipal bureau couldn’t do the same. Anyone who wanted an official post had to sit the annual civil service exam.

“All roads lead to the civil service exam,” Yun Jianyue grumbled, but she signed the contract anyway.

After putting the contract away, Cai Zeyu cheerfully announced, “From now on, you’re officially one of our contract employees. I’ll have Du Minghao show you the ropes-”

“Have me do what?” Du Minghao cut him off forcefully.

“If you don’t train her, who will?” Cai Zeyu stared at him blankly.

“You seriously think I’m qualified to train her?” Du Minghao’s expression twisted beyond recognition.

She had slaughtered a C-rank malevolent ghost with her bare hands. That kind of brute strength already put her far above most people in the metaphysics community.

The two men exchanged a look, then slowly turned their gazes toward Si Wuming, who was asleep nearby.

As though sensing their burning stares, Si Wuming slowly opened his eyes. Still dazed from sleep, he tilted his head as if asking what they wanted.

Cai Zeyu immediately made the decision. “You’ll be in charge of Yun Jianyue from now on. As it happens, there’s a mission waiting. Take the files and go handle it together.”

Si Wuming: ?

Yun Jianyue said, “Isn’t this a little hasty?”

“It’s called efficiency. What would you know?” Cai Zeyu shoved Yun Jianyue toward Si Wuming, stuffed a copy of the case file into each of their hands, then turned and fled back to his office.

Si Wuming and Yun Jianyue stared at each other. In the end, Yun Jianyue tentatively broke the silence. “So… should we go carry out the mission now?”