After driving to the urban village, Li Lin asked Lin Chen to park by the entrance. The roads inside were too narrow, so she planned to walk home.
"Back already, Xiao Li?"
Just as Li Lin was about to get out, a sudden voice rang out. An elderly man with an unsteady gait was looking in their direction.
"Uncle Zhou!" Li Lin smiled and nodded.
Lin Chen glanced at the old man, then asked, "Who's that?"
"The landlord. He owns several buildings in the neighborhood and collects rent," Li Lin said with a sigh.
That was the difference between living like a Roman and working like a horse. The man collected rent from several buildings, while she didn't even have a place to call her own.
Lin Chen rolled up the window, turned off the engine, and looked at Li Lin. "I'll walk you home."
"Hm?"
Li Lin paused, then chuckled. "Junior, don't tell me you've fallen for your senior?"
Lin Chen was undeniably handsome and sunny, but Li Lin understood that they lived in completely different worlds. She hadn't entertained that sort of thought from the start.
Their shared connection as alumni had brought them a little closer, but there had been nothing more to it. Lin Chen's sudden offer to walk her home had caught her off guard.
"The urban village is a complicated place. It's late, and it isn't safe for you to walk alone," Lin Chen said with an easy smile.
Seeing how composed he was, Li Lin didn't refuse again. After she got out, Lin Chen looked around.
Noticing this, Li Lin asked, "Is this your first time in an urban village?"
Lin Chen nodded. It really was his first time in one, and he was rather curious about the place.
"Most of the buildings here are three or four stories tall. But landlords often add another floor or two to earn more rent," Li Lin explained.
That was also why rents in urban villages were relatively cheap: building costs were lower, and with the conditions and other factors, they naturally couldn't compare to residential complexes.
"Does your landlord go out wandering alone this late?" Lin Chen glanced at the old man shuffling along in the distance.
"Our landlord's actually a pretty pitiful man. Apparently, his wife and child died in an accident a few years ago, leaving him all alone," Li Lin said with a sigh.
His wife and child had died in an accident?
Lin Chen's pupils contracted. He let out a quiet sigh. "Sometimes, there's more to a pitiful person than meets the eye."
"Don't say things like that. Our landlord is a good person, and he treats us tenants well," Li Lin scolded him with a glare. In her eyes, the landlord was a lonely old man who had looked after them often. She was grateful to him and felt sorry for him.
Lin Chen nodded and said nothing more. He walked Li Lin to her building, then said goodbye and left.
"What a pity. We're not on the same level." Watching Lin Chen leave, Li Lin sighed inwardly. She might have had feelings for him, but she knew the two of them could never be together.
His car alone was worth more than she could earn in most of her life. Some thoughts were better put to rest before they took root.
On his way back, Lin Chen happened to run into the landlord. As they passed each other, the old man raised his head slightly and glanced at Lin Chen. A glint flashed deep in his eyes, then vanished.
Knock, knock.
Li Lin had finished washing up and was about to open her phone and watch a show when a crisp knock sounded at the door. It was the landlord.
"Xiao Li, was that handsome young man who brought you home today your boyfriend?" the landlord asked curiously.
"No, he's a client of mine," Li Lin replied with a slight shake of her head.
The landlord sighed. "Rich people don't take these things seriously. You should be careful."
"I will." Li Lin nodded. She didn't think much of his warning, assuming he was simply looking out for her.
"By the way, Xiao Li, have you thought any more about what I mentioned last time?" The landlord suddenly turned to her.
Li Lin shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't think I'm quite right for it."
"No rush. Give it some more thought," the landlord said, unbothered.
Li Lin wanted to say more, but the landlord had already turned and headed downstairs, giving her no chance to speak again. She couldn't help sighing.
The landlord really was good to his tenants. There was just one thing: he wanted to arrange a Ghost Marriage for his late son.
The landlord had approached Li Lin about it, and she had naturally refused. But knowing he was all alone in the world, she had tried to turn him down gently.
The landlord shuffled back to the first floor, opened the side door to the kitchen, and entered a basement. No one would have guessed that an ordinary-looking house had one.
Two ice coffins stood in the middle of the basement. A man and a woman lay inside. The woman looked somewhat older, while the man appeared to be under thirty.
Suddenly, the ice coffin holding the man began to shake. The landlord's expression changed, and he hurried over. "Xiao Tian, don't be impatient. I'll convince Li Lin for you."
"No! I want her now! I want her now!" The man's eyes snapped open inside the coffin, and a chilling voice came from his mouth.
The landlord scolded him. "No! The master said four years, not a day less. There are only seven days left. You have to wait. You can't leave this room!"
"Xiao Tian, be patient a little longer. Once you're allowed to go out, Mom will personally help you get Li Lin." The elderly woman in the other coffin suddenly spoke.
"Ah! Ah!"
The man growled in frustration, but he didn't dare defy the rules set by that master. Otherwise, he would surely be reduced to ashes, body and soul!
"What a picture of fatherly devotion and mother-son bond!"
A sudden voice rang out in the basement.
"Who's there?"
Hearing it, the landlord immediately turned around. At some point, a figure had appeared behind him.
"It's you!"
When he recognized the newcomer, the landlord's pupils contracted sharply. It was none other than Lin Chen, the man who had walked Li Lin home.
When Lin Chen had encountered the landlord at the entrance to the village, he had sensed Corpse Qi on him. Yet the landlord was alive, which clearly meant he had come into contact with a corpse that had turned strange.
This was an urban village, packed with people. To avoid alerting anyone, Lin Chen had pretended to leave, then doubled back to watch from the shadows.
At last, he had waited until the landlord opened the basement and seen the two corpses he had been keeping there. Just as he had suspected, they were the landlord's wife and child!
"Since you've seen this, you can't be allowed to leave. I might as well feed you to Tian'er and the Old Woman!" the landlord growled. He lunged forward in an instant and thrust a palm toward Lin Chen's chest.
There was no trace of the frail old man about him now. He was more nimble than a young man!
Bang!
The landlord had charged in fast, but flew back even faster. With a loud bang, he was sent hurtling through the air and slammed down in front of the two ice coffins.
"You're a cultivator!" The landlord stared at him in terror.
Before you continue