I was startled by the woman in her fifties who suddenly burst into the bedroom.
I originally thought she was the live-in maternity nurse that Gu Fancheng had hired for Xixi. Since Xixi's mother had passed away and Gu Fancheng was all alone, and there didn't seem to be any maids or housekeepers in the house to help Xixi take care of the baby. But which live-in maternity nurse would ignore the mistress and guests and go straight to the baby on her own?
Moreover, little Gu Xiaolu in the crib had already started crying shrilly at the sight of her.
"Ah?"
Lu Xiyu had already turned around and rushed to the crib. She carefully picked up Gu Xiaolu in the swaddle, gently patted his back, and cooed to him.
When I followed Lu Xiyu and walked closer to the crib, the old woman in uniform had already vanished into thin air.
"Xixi, didn't you see her?!"
I blocked Lu Xiyu in the place where the woman had disappeared, my face pale with shock. "There... there was a woman!"
What shocked me was not that I had seen a ghost, but that Lu Xiyu seemed oblivious to the ghost woman! Her family was a well - known ghost - hunting family. Both Master Lu Tianchang and Lord Mu Yuan were capable of capturing ghosts and subduing demons!
"Where...?!"
Lu Xiyu looked blankly in the direction I was pointing. There was, of course, nothing there.
At this moment, someone else burst into the room from outside.
"Mom Xixi, why is Xiaolu crying again? Is that ghost here again?!"
Gu Baobao, with her coppery curly hair, fair skin, and round eyes, rushed in with two baby bottles in her hands.
"Maybe not..."
Lu Xiyu frowned and looked at Gu Xiaolu in her arms. The little guy had already stopped crying when held by his mother. He made a fist with his chubby little hand and put it in his mouth, sucking on it with relish.
When he noticed our gazes on him, the little guy immediately grinned and cooed with laughter. He reached out his other hand towards Gu Baobao to grab the baby bottle.
"Maybe Xiaolu is hungry and crying for food."
Lu Xiyu looked up at the empty side of the crib again, sighed softly, took the baby bottle from Gu Baobao, tested the temperature on her face, and then stuffed it into Gu Xiaolu's mouth. Once Gu Xiaolu had something to eat, he didn't even bother to smile at us. He let go of his fist and sucked on the baby bottle, cooing as he ate.
"There was a woman!"
Afraid that Lu Xiyu wouldn't take the situation seriously, I quickly pointed in the direction where the old woman had disappeared and said urgently, "She was touching Xiaolu's face just now!"
"An old woman? What kind of old woman?"
Gu Baobao was obviously more nervous than Lu Xiyu. When she heard my words, she immediately leaned over. "Grandma Xiaohe, you have good eyesight. Tell Baobao what the old woman looked like."
"She... was wearing a dark - blue uniform, and her hair was... pulled up like this..."
Although I wasn't used to Gu Baobao's way of addressing me, there was no time to care about such things now. I quickly gestured while describing the appearance of that woman... well, the ghost woman, to Lu Xiyu and the others.
When I mentioned the blue uniform and the coiled hair, Lu Xiyu's face changed. First, she looked surprised, then sad. Then she stuffed Gu Xiaolu, who was still nursing, into my arms and rushed out of the door shouting, "Gu Fancheng!! Gu Fancheng! It's Housekeeper Tong!! Housekeeper Tong is back!!"
Lu Xiyu's shout was full of surprise and excitement. She even discarded her furry slippers because she thought she was running too slowly!
The room was suddenly left with only Gu Baobao and me, looking at each other in bewilderment.
"Who is Housekeeper Tong?"
After a while, I finally asked, "Is she... Xixi's maid?"
Gu Baobao thought for a while before answering me, "She should be my Uncle Gu's housekeeper in Hong Kong."
I had heard Si Jiangchen talk about this young man surnamed Gu. He was the head of Hong Kong's No.1 financial group. His Hongjun Financial Group had industries all over the world. He had lived in Lucheng all year round for his wife, Lu Xiyu. People from Hong Kong always had the old - fashioned way of having housekeepers and servants, unlike here where we just called them live - in maids.
It seemed that Housekeeper Tong had passed away, and only a wisp of her soul remained here. When she found out that there was a baby in her master's family, she came to dote on the future young master...
But why couldn't Lu Xiyu see this housekeeper's soul?
Both she and Baobao were mages with the celestial eye. Why was it only me, an outsider, who had noticed Housekeeper Tong's presence?
"Housekeeper Tong died to protect my Uncle Gu."
Gu Baobao was teasing the nursing Xiaolu while slowly saying, "At that time, several children of the Gu family were fighting for the family fortune. Uncle Gu had already hidden in Lucheng, but his second brother still wouldn't let him go. He arranged a car accident. Housekeeper Tong and the others were killed while trying to protect Uncle Gu. So Uncle Gu has been looking for them."
I couldn't help but sigh. It seemed that being born into a wealthy family wasn't always a good thing. There would always be dramas of brothers fighting against each other!
The beggar - like man who had tried to disrupt Lu Xiyu's child - birth in the Beijing hospital before was Gu Fancheng's eldest brother. Then... the second brother who had framed Gu Fancheng was probably taken care of by that seemingly vengeful Mr. Gu, right?
However, since Gu Fancheng was a great demon in the underworld, it shouldn't be difficult for him to find two souls who had died a violent death, right? Since Housekeeper Tong had always stayed in the Gu mansion, why couldn't they find or see her?
While I was still puzzled, I heard a series of footsteps coming from the corridor outside.
Lu Xiyu rushed in, holding Gu Fancheng's arm tightly.
"Xiaohe said she saw Housekeeper Tong!"
Lu Xiyu's fair face was slightly flushed with anxiety. "Housekeeper Tong came to see Xiaolu, and Xiaohe saw her!"
Gu Fancheng looked at me, raised his eyebrows slightly, and said, "Miss Du, you're really capable."
"Why can't you see her?"
I voiced my doubts. "You have connections with the underworld. Why don't you just ask them for her?"
Gu Fancheng shook his head. "They've been imprisoned by someone, right here in Lucheng. But we've searched with all our might and still can't find them. They should..."
"Have their souls been sealed?"
I frowned and interrupted. "Housekeeper Tong is a dead soul. How long has she been sealed? If we can't find where her soul body is soon, she may never be able to exist in this world again!"
There were many ways in Taoism to capture and trap souls. The method I used was just to use a soul bottle as a fake body for the soul, put the deceased soul into it for worship and salvation. Another way was to use a magic formation as a prison, trapping the deceased souls between heaven and earth, making them suffer the pain of the strong wind cutting through their bones every day. Finally, their consciousness would gradually dissipate in pain and despair...