Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The only chef in the small courtyard was surnamed Gao, named Gao Man, a short, thin little old man who, like the gatekeeper Bi, was always smiling and cheerful all day long.

Knowing that a newcomer had arrived at the courtyard today, aside from the chicken that Xiao Jiang had specifically called to request, Uncle Gao also bought plenty of other ingredients, preparing a full table of dishes to ensure that the new friend felt the warmth of home.

Jiang Lin walked in front, entering the dining room first, followed by the three youngsters, one by one. When Bai Zhizhi, the last one, stepped inside, the entire dining room seemed to brighten up a bit.

Uncle Gao said cheerfully, "What a beautiful little one! Come on, come on. Xiao Jiang said you like chicken, so I specially made you a braised chicken with scallions. Give it a try and see if you like it. Just tell me what you love to eat—I wouldn't dare boast about anything else, but in this kitchen, if I say I'm the best, no one in this courtyard would argue!"

Lin Xiaoyang couldn't help but burst out laughing. In their courtyard, no one besides Uncle Gao could cook—the best they could manage was boiling instant noodles.

Yue Zhihuan patted Lin Xiaoyang to make him show some respect for Uncle Gao and stop messing around.

Jiang Lin made everyone sit down and then said to Bai Zhizhi, "Tell Uncle Gao what you like to eat. Uncle Gao’s cooking is pretty good."

He then picked up a chicken leg and placed it in Bai Zhizhi’s bowl. "Try it and see if you like it."

Bai Zhizhi sniffed it, didn’t detect any strange odor, so he picked up his chopsticks, took a bite, and his eyes lit up. Although the chicken lacked spiritual energy and couldn’t compare in texture to the demon beast meat he usually ate, the flavor was surprisingly good.

So, while chewing on the chicken leg, he smiled with narrowed eyes and nodded at Uncle Gao. "It's delicious."

The person who cooked always loved seeing others enjoy their food, and with a child this good-looking, smiling warmly over like that, it made anyone want to pile all the good things on him.

From the side, Lin Xiaoyang exclaimed, "Zhizhi, you can use chopsticks!"

When the fox demon working at the zoo was first caught by Brother Jiang, he couldn’t use chopsticks; he just grabbed things with his hands and ate them raw. It took a long time for him to learn how to behave like a human at the headquarters before he was let out to fend for himself.

Bai Zhizhi looked at the chopsticks in his hand, utterly puzzled. What was the big deal about him using chopsticks? Even though he didn’t recognize the local writing, he wasn’t some savage beast that ate raw meat.

Wu Yue stepped on Lin Xiaoyang’s foot. "Eat your meal. After dinner, take Zhizhi to buy a phone and some clothes—whatever he needs. Keep the receipts, and come to me for reimbursement."

Bai Zhizhi looked up, confused. "Hand-chicken?"

Although he was a fox, he really wasn’t that fond of chicken. Why did people here keep trying to feed him chicken? There was still some left on the table, and now they wanted to buy more?

Seeing Bai Zhizhi glance at the chicken on the table and then at him, Jiang Lin explained with a smile, "It’s not food. It’s a communication device. Let Lin Xiaoyang teach you how to use it later."

Lin Xiaoyang said, "I’m supposed to go out with Brother Jiang later."

Yue Zhihuan raised her hand and gestured, "I have time! I can help with the shopping!"

Wu Yue said, "Huanhuan, just buy it online. Have it delivered by courier."

Yue Zhihuan nodded enthusiastically, clearly happy to help.

Bai Zhizhi looked at Jiang Lin. "I want to go too." He still didn’t know where this place was—there was no way he was staying cooped up in this little yard.

Jiang Lin didn’t refuse. "You can come, but you can’t run off, and you can’t act rashly. Can you promise me that?"

Wu Yue’s cultivation was decent, but with a house full of old and young, leaving an unknown little fox demon alone in the yard didn’t sit well with him.

Bai Zhizhi nodded and agreed. He wouldn’t act—he wasn’t a fox who liked to cause trouble anyway.

After lunch, Wu Yue took rough measurements of Bai Zhizhi’s dimensions, and then Jiang Lin took him and Lin Xiaoyang out.

On the way, Lin Xiaoyang briefly explained the Zhou family situation.

The victim, Zhou Yan, suffered from severe insomnia, claiming he was haunted by a ghost. His family had hired Taoist priests and monks, performed various exorcisms, and hung up plenty of talismans in his room—nothing worked. Zhou Yan’s condition only worsened.

The Zhou family ran a freight company with a wide business network and many connections. They’d always known about the existence of cultivators. When they exhausted all their options and Zhou Yan’s condition remained unresolved, they used their connections to contact the Bureau and hired a cultivator—namely Lin Xiaoyang—to come over.

Unfortunately, even Lin Xiaoyang couldn’t find anything wrong after checking.

After hearing about the Zhou family’s troubles, Bai Zhizhi was even more curious: "You guys help ordinary people too?"

In his world, there was a barrier between cultivators and ordinary people. For ordinary folks, cultivators pursued immortality and possessed godlike abilities, making them comparable to immortals. Apart from major sects recruiting talented disciples every so often, ordinary people rarely saw cultivators. And even if they did, they would be terrified and reverent, not daring to trouble a cultivator with their problems.

Jiang Lin said, "We are cultivators, but we are also ordinary people. We live here—this place is stable and peaceful, allowing us to cultivate in peace. Aside from our responsibilities and the greater good, we can’t detach from ordinary people for even basic needs. Zhizhi, you’ve come out of your cave abode and will live here from now on. You don’t have to bear those responsibilities, but don’t separate yourself either. Ordinary people, adepts, cultivators, demon cultivators, birds and beasts, flowers and trees—we are all part of this world."

Bai Zhizhi didn’t respond; he turned his head to look out the car window. The car was moving slowly, so he could clearly see the passersby outside: men and women, old and young, some hurrying along, others strolling leisurely. He couldn’t tell if they were wealthy or not, but he could see they were at peace—a peacefulness that came from a prosperous and stable era.

This was a world different from Qingqiu.

Off-peak hours meant smooth traffic, and they arrived at the Zhou residence in less than an hour.

The one in trouble was the Zhou family’s son. The Zhou family had one son and one daughter: the eldest son Zhou Yan, and a younger daughter Zhou Jing. They were only two years apart, but they had different mothers.

Perhaps because they naturally assumed the daughter had no right to inherit the company, the family relationships were quite harmonious. Zhou Yan’s stepmother, though partial to her own daughter, had done her best for her stepson without mistreating him.

Now that Zhou Yan was in this state, the family had been trying everything to help him, but unfortunately, many masters had been called in, and none could identify what was wrong with him.

Zhou Yan’s father, Zhou Jiming, had been home in the morning but left for the company after Lin Xiaoyang said he’d come in the evening. He hadn’t returned yet. At home were only Zhou Yan’s stepmother, Lv Qinghe, along with the medical team and bodyguards guarding Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan hadn’t been able to sleep properly for a long time, and his mental state was extremely poor. Chronic sleep deprivation had led to mental breakdowns and aggressive tendencies, so bodyguards were necessary to prevent him from hurting others or himself when agitated.

Lin Xiaoyang had already described Zhou Yan’s condition in detail on the way there.

At first, Zhou Yan kept feeling like someone was following him, not just during the day but also at home at night, sensing that he was being watched. That’s when the insomnia began.

At first, it was just insomnia—he could still get one or two hours of sleep a day, but he couldn’t sleep through the night because he would always wake up from nightmares.

The long-term insomnia gradually developed to the point where he couldn’t sleep at all. He had been to the hospital, tried various medications, and sleeping pills were completely ineffective. His physical functions had declined due to the lack of sleep, so the hospital even attempted anesthesia-induced sleep.

But Zhou Yan said that the anesthesia only immobilized his body; he didn’t truly rest. He was still conscious, fully aware he was in a dream, surrounded by nightmares, yet unable to wake up because of the drugs. That frantic struggle to wake up but failing miserably made him refuse to undergo anesthesia sleep again.

He had once weighed 160 pounds, but now he was down to just over 100. If the root of the problem couldn’t be found soon, Zhou Yan might not have much longer to live.

Knowing that Lin Xiaoyang’s team leader had arrived, Lv Qinghe said with a mixture of hope and anguish, "Mr. Jiang, right now, finding out what’s causing A Yan’s condition isn’t the most important thing. We just want to know—can you make A Yan get a good night’s sleep? A sleep without nightmares?"

His biggest problem right now was not being able to sleep. If he didn’t sleep soon, it wouldn’t be a matter of months—he might not last even a few days.

Jiang Lin said, "Let’s go upstairs and take a look first."

Bai Zhizhi, following behind, paused slightly, twitched his nose, and frowned in distaste.

As they walked upstairs, Lin Xiaoyang whispered, "Their house seems pretty clean. I didn’t detect any yin qi anomalies. Brother Jiang, did you find anything?"

Jiang Lin shook his head. He hadn’t sensed any yin qi here either. Both ghosts and evil spirits thrive on yin qi, so the Zhou residence didn’t seem to have anything unclean.

Lin Xiaoyang turned to Bai Zhizhi and asked, "Zhizhi, did you notice anything unusual?"

As a fox demon, Zhizhi should be more sensitive than humans.

Bai Zhizhi asked, "What counts as unusual?"

Lin Xiaoyang: "...I shouldn't have asked."

The three of them arrived on the second floor, which had been entirely converted into a space dedicated to Zhou Yan, complete with a medical team, bodyguards, and even Zhou Jing, who originally lived on the second floor, had moved to the third floor to avoid disturbing Zhou Yan.

Lin Xiaoyang had seen Zhou Yan that morning and was fairly familiar with his condition, but it was the first time Jiang Lin and Bai Zhizhi laid eyes on him. If not for the fact that Zhou Yan could still sit up, open his eyes, and speak, they would have thought he was a mummified corpse or a skeleton.

They had no idea what Zhou Yan used to look like, but now he didn't resemble a man just over thirty at all. He was emaciated, skin and bones, with sunken cheeks, blackened circles around his eyes, and dark lips. A deathly aura radiated from him.

Bai Zhizhi had never seen a living person like this. When Zhou Yan looked over, he instinctively hid behind Jiang Lin. This ghastly, inhuman sight was even less endearing than the skeletons he had seen in books.

Noticing his reaction, Jiang Lin stepped forward to shield him. "Don't be afraid," he comforted.

Bai Zhizhi muttered under his breath, "I'm not afraid."

He just found this person too ugly—a bit frightening.

Jiang Lin chuckled and didn't argue. He looked around the room, then turned his attention back to Zhou Yan. "What tests has he undergone?"

Lü Qinghe, close behind, quickly grabbed a nearby medical record book. "All the hospital examination records are here. From head to toe, everything that could be examined has been examined."

They weren't the superstitious type. When Zhou Yan first said someone was watching him, they didn't jump to ghosts. They figured it was just work stress. Then when his insomnia started, they blamed it on work-induced anxiety.

So they ran tests in internal medicine, surgery, and neurology. They even ran a drug test to see if someone spiked him. Nothing. It wasn't until his condition worsened that they considered supernatural explanations. Even so, they didn't give up on medical treatment—otherwise they wouldn't have kept a professional medical team on site.

Jiang Lin said, "Your house is very clean, and so is his body. There's no Yin Qi attached, no leftover traces of any spirit. I also looked at the house's energy and feng shui on my way in. Everything is fine."

Lü Qinghe couldn't help saying, "That's what the other masters we invited said too. But how could he suddenly become like this if everything is fine?"

Jiang Lin looked at Zhou Yan. "You mentioned you have nightmares whenever you sleep. What kind? Do you remember them?"

Zhou Yan was too weak to speak forcefully, but he made an effort. "All kinds of strange dreams, like monsters chasing me, people stabbing me, being tied up and having my flesh cut off piece by piece. Some I can't really remember. What I do remember is that I never escape. I get caught every time."

Jiang Lin asked, "Did you die in every dream?"

Zhou Yan thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know. It seems like I always fight my way awake. I don't know if I died in the dreams or not."

But every time he was chased—by monsters, by faceless killers—he ran frantically in hopeless despair. Even after waking up, the fear made him tremble.

Jiang Lin said, "Do you have any family graves?"

Lü Qinghe shook her head. "No, only a cemetery. Everyone was cremated and their ashes were buried. We had a master check the cemetery before, and he didn't find anything."

It wasn't a private cemetery but a public one. At most, they chose a nice, impressive spot for the burial. It shouldn't be a feng shui problem with the graves themselves.

Jiang Lin said, "Since we can't identify the cause, we'll have to wait until you're asleep and see what happens."

Zhou Yan was already dizzy from sitting and talking. He gave a bitter smile. "But I simply can't sleep."

He desperately wanted to sleep. He was so exhausted that it felt like he could drift off the moment he closed his eyes. Yet sleep eluded him. No matter how tired his body was, his mind remained hyperactive. Before, he could tough it out, but now he felt like smashing his head against something every second.

Jiang Lin said, "Don't worry, I can help you sleep. First, eat something and rest. We'll talk again after nightfall."

They didn't stay in the room long. Jiang Lin led Lin Xiaoyang and Bai Zhizhi downstairs. Lü Qinghe quickly had the servants prepare some food and drinks.

Curious, Lin Xiaoyang asked, "Brother Jiang, what's going on with him?"

Jiang Lin shook his head. "I don't know. I can't tell yet. We'll try something later."

The servants brought out freshly baked pastries—soft little cakes and crispy cookies. The warm aroma filled the space with a sweet, delightful scent.

Bai Zhizhi took a little sniff. The sweet smell was much more pleasant than the fishy odor upstairs.

Author's Note:

A brief introduction to this story: The main plot revolves around building a strong nation, with occasional supernatural incidents. It's a long story—exact length unknown, subject to inspiration changes.