Cultivation Retirement Plan (BL)

34. Heart and Soul

As Mo Yixuan listened, Old Song explained in detail. He and his two close friends were having a drink after work in the mines when they heard a child crying. Surprised by the noise, Old Song had insisted on checking it out. He followed the cries to a disused shaft and saw a baby of all things left to cry on the ground. Before he could pick the child up, his friend Fang hauled him back—it turns out he'd been two steps away from falling into a badly patched hole in the cave.

Both the baby and its cries vanished after that. Spooked, the trio had fled the scene immediately. They came back at daytime to inspect the place, but didn't find anything worthy of notice. Even the hole only led to a shallow cave-in with nothing memorable, so they'd only reported the incident to their bosses. Later, Lady Bai had asked to meet them in person and had her maid take down his story in writing.

"You didn't tell her it was a baby you saw?" Mo Yixuan asked after the narrative. He remembered the notes—it only detailed Song Gehao's meeting with a crying "female ghost," not a baby one.

"Would you?" Old Song challenged back. "A grown man scared by a babe of all things! I heard others mutterin' bout ghosts and said what they said." He leaned in conspiratorially. "Course, I'm tellin' you the truth 'cause you're one of them cultivator types. A man might win some favors by foolin' his bosses, but he's only askin' for trouble if he tries to trick the Heavens!"

"How did you know it was a girl?" Mo Yixuan asked next. Song Gehao hadn't even gotten close enough to touch the baby, much less pick her up.

"Did I say that?" Old Song scrunched his brows before affirming, "Well, it probably was a lass. You don't see many abandonin' their sons in the wilderness nowadays."

According to Old Song's reckoning, the ghost must have been the spirit of an abandoned baby who'd died after being left exposed to the elements. Yes, he had heard about the other hauntings around the mine. No, he wasn't sure if this was the same spirit who caused them. The pretty girl ghost? He'd heard a few rumors about that too from his co-workers, but nothing that seemed worth worrying about. People got spooked over the dead during Ghost Month and imagined all sorts of things.

Like most of the townspeople, he had no idea that Old Madam Su's yearly sickness around July was related to the jade ghost haunting her quarters. He only assumed it was some old ailment of hers. Naturally, Mo Yixuan didn't go spilling the secret either. In the end, he got directions to the abandoned mine shaft so he could take a look in person. He was about to wrap things up when a gust of wind blew in from the balcony, sending the rows of red lanterns hung out for the day waving back and forth. The next second, a figure in light-blue robes and a veiled hat landed right next to Mo Yixuan's table in a flurry of silk.

".........!" gesticulated Su Shimeng soundlessly.

Mo Yixuan extended the sound barrier to him just in time to hear, "—and all I saw was the body on the ground!"

"What did you say?" Mo Yixuan's expression was severe.

"I said, my last target's already dead!" Su Shimeng sputtered. "It's—ah hells, just come with me, will you?"

Mo Yixuan glanced at Old Song, but the latter shook his head violently and hugged the wine jug to his chest. "We're done now, right? Great celestials, you do what you gotta do!"

Su Shimeng had already grabbed Mo Yixuan's arm and was heading for the balcony when the old man shouted out one last time.

"W-wait! Great celestial, I'm out of money for the meal!" Old Song had spent most of his taels on the prescription today and didn't have any left on his person.

With no time to wait, Mo Yixuan tossed a piece of silver on the table before taking to the skies with Su Shimeng. Old Song's expression turned gleeful when they left—here was enough to pay for lunch tenfold!