Back at School, Several Fish in the Middle

That meal alone cost my master and me 2,300 yuan.

To me, it was extravagantly expensive.

But my master did not think much of it. He did not even treat it as a big deal.

After leaving the hotel, we drove straight toward the school.

When we passed Third Hospital, I asked to get out and visit Uncle Yu.

After all, Uncle Yu had been injured and hospitalized because of me.

His phone had also been left in the Cursed House, so I had no way to contact him.

A day had passed, and I wanted to see whether Uncle Yu's condition had improved.

When my master heard that I wanted to visit Uncle Yu, he grumbled and cursed.

But in reality, he quickly pulled over and parked.

He told me to go and come back quickly, not to dawdle too long...

After getting out of the car, I ran straight toward the inpatient department.

When I reached Uncle Yu's ward, I found him leaning against his hospital bed and watching TV.

He was pleasantly surprised to see me.

"Xiao Jiang!"

Uncle Yu's complexion was clearly much better than yesterday.

I smiled and called out to him.

"Uncle Yu, how are you feeling?"

Uncle Yu sat up.

"I'm fine. I'll be discharged in a day or two.

"What about you? From the looks of it, my senior brother must have stepped in.

"Everything's been settled, right?"

So I told him how Corpse Head Song had helped me and taken me on as his disciple.

I also took out the Fish Bone Sword my master had given me and showed it to him.

I also passed along the message Zhang Qiang had asked me to deliver to Uncle Yu before he left.

After hearing it all, Uncle Yu waved his hand.

He said there was nothing to apologize for. Ghosts who died violently were consumed by resentment and would lose their reason.

They could not control what they were doing at all.

They only acted under the drive of their obsessions.

He had grown up in this line of work, so he understood these ghosts.

He did not hold anything against Zhang Qiang either.

Instead, he was happy that I had sent Zhang Qiang on his way.

He said sending off a ghost accumulated more merit than destroying one.

Since I had sent Zhang Qiang on, Uncle Yu could gain a little merit, fortune, and longevity from it as well.

At the same time, Uncle Yu was extremely shocked by my situation.

He said that among those with Four Misfortune Fate, I had the one-in-ten-thousand Paper-Thin Fate.

But he also told me not to worry. Although his senior brother Song Decai did not get along with him, his abilities were indeed formidable.

He had already made a name for himself when he was young.

As long as I studied diligently under him, my problem would definitely be resolved completely.

After saying that, he patted my shoulder.

On the way there, I had actually been somewhat worried.

I had worried that Uncle Yu would be upset that I had become his senior brother's disciple and take it out on me.

After all, Uncle Yu had said that he and his senior brother did not get along, yet I had gone and accepted his senior brother as my master.

But Uncle Yu was clearly far more open-minded than I had imagined.

He did not mind at all. Instead, he was happy for me.

He said that over the years, countless people had wanted to become my master's disciple.

But not a single one had succeeded.

Yet by sheer accident, I had become his disciple. That was fate.

After saying all that, he asked how much I had paid for the hospital bills and said he would reimburse me.

He even took out his bank card.

Uncle Yu had nearly risked his life to save me. How could I possibly take his money?

I repeatedly refused and told him there was no need.

Even though I had paid with a credit card, I still had to repay Uncle Yu for some of the kindness he had shown me.

In the end, I told him my master was waiting downstairs, asked him to recover properly, and left the hospital.

When I got back into the car, my master only asked one question casually.

He asked whether Uncle Yu was dead yet.

He acted unconcerned, but I could tell.

He actually cared a great deal about Uncle Yu, his junior brother.

I answered truthfully.

When my master learned that Uncle Yu was stable and would be discharged soon, he visibly relaxed.

But he still cursed, saying that idiot had a damn stubborn life.

By the time we arrived at school, it was already past four in the afternoon.

After parking, my master told me to take him to see the dormitory where I lived first.

I nodded right away. I could use the chance to change clothes.

People came and went around the school, but no one paid any attention to my master and me.

Before long, we reached the dormitory area.

The male students' dorm buildings were on the left, while the female students' dorm buildings were on the right.

I was walking forward when I suddenly noticed that my master had stopped.

He was simply staring at the female dormitory building.

Seeing him stop, I walked over and said,

"Master, that's the female dormitory. Our dorm is over here."

My master did not say anything, only nodding at me.

But his eyes remained fixed on the female dormitory.

Anyone who did not know him would definitely think my master was an old lecher.

But when he looked at the female dormitory building, his gaze was not lustful at all.

Instead, his expression was somewhat grave.

So I asked again,

"Master, is there something wrong with the female dormitory?"

Only then did my master fully turn his head back and wave his hand.

"I was just looking. The Feng Shui of that building is pretty bad. No idea which idiot picked that site.

"Come on, let's go!"

Since my master had said so, I did not ask any further questions.

I did not understand Feng Shui anyway.

When we reached my dormitory, Zhang Qiang's bedding had already been cleared away, leaving only an empty bed.

Only my own bedding remained in the dorm room.

"Master, this is my dorm.

"That's my bed. That empty one belonged to the male ghost from last night."

As I spoke, I invited my master into the dormitory.

My master walked around once, then stood beside Zhang Qiang's bed and examined it for a few moments.

He did not say anything.

I hurriedly changed into a fresh set of clothes.

Once I had finished changing, my master said,

"Your dorm is pretty clean, and its orientation is good. There's nothing seriously wrong with it.

"Now take me to see the lake where that kid drowned."

"Okay!"

I answered again.

Then I led my master out of the dormitory.

When we got downstairs, I noticed that my master looked over at the female dormitory building a few more times, frowning as he did so.

But he only glanced at it a few times and did not linger.

I led my master through campus, introducing the various buildings to him.

But he was not interested. When we reached Emerald Willow Lake on campus,

I pointed to Little White Bridge some distance away and said,

"Master, that's the place. Zhang Qiang jumped from that bridge and drowned."

"Mm. Let's go take a look."

After saying that, my master walked toward the bridge.

Even though Zhang Qiang had jumped from the bridge and drowned only a few days ago,

there were still plenty of young couples chatting and flirting on Little White Bridge.

My master and I walked onto the bridge. He stood there and looked down over the whole lake.

The water rippled, green willows surrounded it,

and now and then, koi swam through the sparkling waters.

But my master stared at the water beneath the bridge and said,

"Damn it, the designer who built this lake was an idiot too.

"They made the lake shaped like the character for 'return.' Are they trying to keep people who go down there from coming back up?

"And this lake has such heavy yin energy. It's probably swallowed quite a few students' lives."

Hearing that, I looked at Emerald Willow Lake before me in shock.

I had never expected the lake to violate such a Feng Shui taboo.

To me, the rippling lake water had always been a beautiful sight.

But I trusted my master's abilities, so I asked in confusion how he could tell that the lake had taken the lives of so many students.

My master pointed with his chin toward the middle of the lake.

"Do you see those fish sticking their heads out in the middle of the lake?"

I looked up and saw that clouds happened to be covering the center of the lake, casting it in shadow.

Several large fish had surfaced as well.

But they stayed only in the middle of the lake and did not swim anywhere else.

"I see them. They're pretty big."

But my master grinned.

"They are big, all right, but not one of them is a real fish. They're all Water Monkeys in disguise."

"Huh? W-Water Monkeys?"

My eyes widened, and I looked toward the lake again.

I could hardly believe it.

The large fish were still poking their heads above the water, circling around the center.

No matter how I looked at them, they were fish...

My master narrowed his eyes.

"These Water Monkeys are a little different from that drowned classmate of yours.

"They can't go ashore.

"They can only soak in the middle and wait for the next unlucky bastard to go down and take their place..."