Chapter 119

Chapter 119

The empty City God Temple was dark and silent.

The smoke from the paper money burned for the Ghost Festival hung like fog, leaving the shrine murals and the painted statues of wandering gods and evil spirits half hidden in the haze.

The woman kneeling before the City God’s altar was painfully thin. Tears slid from her swollen, bruised eyes.

In the brazier, several crooked lines had been written on a page torn from a child’s squared exercise notebook.

Many of the words were mottled where water stains had blurred the ink.

That one thin sheet of paper burned away together with a small stack of joss paper and her endless tears.

It carried the grievances she could not speak of in the mortal world to the courts below.

The firelight flickered, bright and dim by turns, dancing across the woman’s face.

Qin Ying stood sideways beside the window, hidden in the shadows.

In the instant when the flames flared brightest, she saw the woman’s face clearly.

Although it was swollen almost beyond recognition, Qin Ying still knew who she was.

She was the little girl from many years ago, the one who had cried and screamed after Huang Jun cornered her in that dark alley room.

Qin Ying’s hand tightened slowly around the doorframe.

Sensing the shift in her mood, Han Lie, who had been standing quietly beside her, made as if to enter the City God Temple.

According to his current, very simple train of thought, since the woman inside had been wronged, and the Supreme Deity was upset because that woman had been wronged…

Then he would go in and kill the person who had bullied her.

That way, no one would be bullied, and the Supreme Deity would no longer be upset.

The logic was perfectly sound. The execution just couldn’t be that crude.

Qin Ying grabbed his arm and silently withdrew.

Every accusation the woman was sobbing out in the City God Hall was true.

Huang Jun really had gotten hold of some kind of photo and used it to threaten her.

For the sake of her reputation, her dignity, or something else entirely, the woman had no choice but to swallow it in silence.

She only dared come on the seventh-month Ghost Festival to lodge her grievance with the underworld.

If the crux of the matter was not resolved, Qin Ying would only get silence even if she went in now.

And Huang Jun?

Call the police, send him to prison for a few more years, and let him come out to ruin more lives?

There was no need to waste grain on him. Better to find a way to eliminate the problem once and for all.

Qin Ying, Han Lie, and Huodou, who lay quietly over his shoulder, melted back into the darkness the way they had come.

When they reached the side wall, Qin Ying was about to direct Han Lie to climb over it.

Unexpectedly, his arm tightened around her waist, and in the blink of an eye, he had carried her to the other side of the courtyard wall.

Qin Ying gave him a look and led him toward home.

This was when the choking smoke was at its thickest. It was almost impossible to see someone standing face-to-face.

But to Han Lie, the buildings and smells here were all exceedingly novel.

Earlier, Qin Ying had kept him tucked inside her pouch. Now that he was walking openly down the road, he kept turning his head to look around.

In the crook of his arm, he restrained the restless Huodou.

Afraid this fool would wander off and get lost, Qin Ying had him hold on to the hood of her hoodie.

And so the two of them made their way home.

The moment the door closed, Qin Ying let out a breath of relief.

Qin Ying brought Han Lie to the bathroom.

Under his Black Trench Coat, he had absolutely nothing on. He had walked home barefoot, and forget him-even Qin Ying was covered in ash from the smoke.

Only when they stood together in the bathroom did Qin Ying realize just how tall Han Lie actually was.

She took Fuzhu, who was sleeping groggily in her clothing pocket, and put it back into the Fish Tank.

Then she pulled out a damp towel, wiped Huodou down once, and sent it back to its nest.

Only then did she take a measuring tape and measure Han Lie.

One hundred eighty-nine centimeters. Standard male model height.

But Qin Ying felt that, given his age, there was a chance he might still grow taller.

According to Fuzhu’s estimate, Han Lie would probably remain like this for another two or three days.

She couldn’t let him keep wearing a trench coat over nothing like some pervert. A good body wasn’t meant to be shown off this way.

Qin Ying allowed for a little extra room and used her phone to buy him several outfits, from underwear to outerwear.

With extra money added for same-city errand delivery, someone accepted the order quickly even on a holiday.

In less than half an hour, several large bags of things were delivered to Qin Ying’s door in a rush.

“Pull it like this, and the trench coat will come off.” Qin Ying transformed into a preschool teacher and taught Han Lie how to take off the coat. “Gently. Don’t break the zipper.”

Han Lie nodded eagerly.
Through the glass bathroom door, Qin Ying saw a shadow suddenly stretch taller.

When the door opened again, Han Lie, whose beastified head nearly hit the ceiling, crouched down and presented the Black Trench Coat with both hands.

Qin Ying’s bathroom wasn’t exactly spacious. She had to turn sideways just to squeeze in, then patiently taught Han Lie how to adjust the hot water.

“This is for washing your head…” Holding a bottle of shampoo, she hesitated for a second. Looking at the beastified Han Lie, she switched to a more precise explanation. “For washing your hair and the fur on your tail.”

As for washing his body, Qin Ying thought it over and handed him a boar-bristle brush.

After carefully studying the scales on his body, Qin Ying ultimately chose to give him soap rather than toilet cleaner.

“Remember all that?”

When Han Lie nodded, she went out in satisfaction. As she passed by, she accidentally stepped on his tail.

Han Lie twitched but didn’t dare pull it away, afraid he would make her fall.

“Oh, right.”

Just before leaving, Qin Ying remembered one more thing and turned back. “Brush your teeth.”

She found a new toothbrush in the bathroom cabinet and taught Han Lie how to squeeze out toothpaste and brush.

She taught patiently, and Han Lie learned seriously.

But when it came time to actually do it, there were some issues.

After beastifying, Han Lie’s claws were large and sharp. They were perfect for ripping out someone’s heart, but a thin little toothbrush was somewhat difficult to hold.

In his panic, he failed to control his strength and snapped the toothbrush in half.

Knowing he had made a mistake, the hair on his head instantly drooped.

Seeing that, Qin Ying took matters into her own hands. She pried his mouth open and brushed for him.

After beastifying, Han Lie’s teeth were even sharper. Qin Ying had him squat in front of her with his mouth open, then carefully scrubbed over his two canines and every gap between his teeth.

Several times during the process, she failed to control her strength and jabbed him until he retched.

Finally, she held his face and checked left and right before nodding in satisfaction. “All right. Your teeth and gums are actually pretty healthy.”

Han Lie let out a long breath, his mouth full of cinnamon-mint flavor.

“You have to brush your teeth properly from now on too, got it?”

When an enormous body came with absolute submission and obedience, that contrast in loyalty could greatly satisfy a person’s desire for control.

At the very least, Qin Ying liked the feeling very much.

She set down the toothbrush and stroked the mane-like hair on Han Lie’s beastified head.

Under the bathroom light, the fur had a faint silver-blue cast. Unexpectedly, it wasn’t coarse or prickly.

Wrapped around her fingers, it was as smooth as silk thread.

Qin Ying combed through it twice with her fingers before saying, “All right, time for your bath.”

Han Lie, whose tail had been wagging wildly from her touch, immediately grew dejected.

“Remember what I taught you just now. And you absolutely may not open the blinds on the window and let people outside see you.”

With that, Qin Ying closed the door.

A few sounds came from inside the bathroom, and soon, the splashing rush of water followed.

Good. He really had learned.

With an inexplicable sense of accomplishment, Qin Ying went to deal with Han Lie’s clothes.

There was the trench coat that had been soaked, dried, soaked again, and was now musty and foul.

There were also the newly bought T-shirts, undershirts, and boxers, all of which needed washing.

When Qin Ying’s grandmother was still around, Qin Ying had worried it would be troublesome for the elderly woman to wash and hang clothes, so she had partitioned off a laundry room beside the kitchen.

There was a washer-dryer, a washing machine specifically for underwear, and even a shoe washer.

Summer clothes could be stuffed into the washer-dryer and worn straight after being taken out.

By the time she carried the clothes and the washed Black Trench Coat upstairs, what she saw was Han Lie waiting so long he had practically turned to stone.

The hair on his head was half-dry and sticking out in every direction. He was crouched on the little mat outside the bathroom door, lovingly hugging his freshly washed, fluffy tail fur.

Several Red-furred Hou had gathered around him, barking as they watched the show.

When he saw Qin Ying, his teardrop-shaped silver-gray eyes lit up.

Ash had been blown in from outside, leaving the floors in the house gray and dusty. Qin Ying had been irritated just thinking about having to mop later.

But for some reason, seeing them like this made that irritation vanish all at once.

“Han Lie, come put your clothes on.”

“As for the rest of you dumb little dogs, if you have nothing to do…”

They were so tiny. They couldn’t really help with anything anyway.

Qin Ying changed tack. “If you have nothing to do, I’ll put on some cartoons for you.”