Strange Tales of the Ghosts

Chapter 39

Yab-Yum (Part 17)

After a little while, the Green Willow Manor's door opened. A lady dressed simple but elegantly and with some white hair walked out; she looked at Li Bandian in surprise and happiness, "Senior Banshan, is that really you?"

"Junior Lv'er!" Li Bandian was obviously excited as he grabbed the lady's hand.

The lady pulled her hand away shyly, and at this time, she noticed Su Qing'e standing behind Li Bandian, "And this is?"

"Ah, her name is Su Qing'e."

"Miss Lv'er," Su Qing'e smiled sweetly and stole a glance at Li Bandian before whispering, "Father, Miss Lv'er must be a beauty when she was young."

"Naughty," Li Bandian tapped Su Qing'e's head lightly and didn't notice Lv'er's expression.

Lv'er was surprised that they were father and daughter; she thought Li Bandian had married and had this daughter in the past thirty years. However, she noticed that Su Qing'e did not only not look like Li Bandian but also didn't even have the same surname as him, "Is she your daughter?"

"Yes." Li Bandian quickly replied but immediately explained, "But she's not my biological daughter!"

"Oh," Lv'er's expression eased a little at his words, and she smiled, "Why are you standing outside? Come in, let's talk inside."

Li Bandian and Su Qing'e followed her inside. Although the manor was huge, they did not see many people. Li Bandian asked, "Where are your servants?"

"We don't have that here," Lv'er smiled and shook her head.

"You are the only one living in this huge manor?"

"We had some before, but I found them too noisy, so I asked Senior Wuya to send them away."

"Ah," Li Bandian nodded and recalled the granny who opened the door for them, "Who was the granny?"

"That's Aunt Qin. I met her when you left that year. She was alone without any family, so I let her stay with me." Lv'er opened a door and welcomed them in, "Come in, we can sit and talk here." Then, she brought them some tea.

Li Bandian drank the tea as he studied the room. There weren't any antique objects, but he couldn't deny that Liu Wuya indeed put a lot of effort into the room design. He knew what Lv'er was interested in, and everything was arranged according to her liking. The bronze incense burner engraved with cranes alone was extremely elegant. Only something simple but refined would gain her favor.

Lv'er sat on the other side of the table from Li Bandian and asked when she noticed that he wasn't speaking, "Senior Banshan, how have you been all these years? Last time you wrote to me saying you were helping people with running dead bodies in Jiangxi, was that tough?"

"Ah, that's more than thirty years ago. I went to a small town and settled down there. I help people with funerals and rituals." Li Bandian put down the cup and felt like he had spent thirty years drinking it. If he didn't see Lv'er today, he wouldn't realize that his feelings for her had never disappeared for thirty years. He just tried his best not to think about it but still put all his energy into finding the most appropriate corpse.

Lv'er was part of the matter, and she knew the competition between them; she asked softly, "Senior Banshan, have you found a suitable body?"

"Yes." Li Bandian nodded and continued at Junior Lv'er's content expression, "I found one, and a very successful one too."

"Really?"

"It's true, Miss Lv'er. Father didn't lie to you, I'm the body he found." Su Qing'e smiled and joined the conversation.

"What?!" The answer was unexpected. Lv'er couldn't help but pull her body backward. She couldn't even tell Su Qing'e was a corpse at her level of cultivation...