Jiang Xuyi looked at Lin Ruirui, her gaze clear and somber, though her voice held not a single trace of warmth.
"An evil spirit consumed by resentment and bent on malice can only be eliminated."
Upon hearing those final two words, Lin Ruirui's body seemed to sway violently, and Mother Lin quickly pulled her into an embrace.
"Ruirui, this child was never meant to be yours, and furthermore, it nearly destroyed you. I know this sounds incredibly cruel, but to me, you are the only one that matters."
As a mother, Mother Lin understood the weight of maternal feelings better than anyone.
But to her, a child she had never even seen could never compare to the daughter she had raised through blood, sweat, and tears.
Lin Ruirui felt the slight tremor in Mother Lin's embrace and simply closed her eyes.
To say she harbored a deep love for this child would be a lie.
This child had been a mistake from the very beginning; even without the incident in the teaching building, she likely would have found a way to terminate the pregnancy.
Perhaps that was where the child's resentment had stemmed from.
It hated her so much, yet it was so deeply attached to her.
That was why it had tried everything in its power to keep her by its side.
During the time she had been lost in the haze, she had truly felt a tiny thing clinging tightly to her.
Lin Ruirui couldn't quite put into words what that feeling was, yet she still could not bear to watch it be eliminated…
"Master Xuyi, is there really no other way?"
There was a hint of pleading in her eyes. Though she was roughly the same age as Jiang Xuyi, the vibrancy and sparkle that belonged to her youth had entirely vanished from her features.
Jiang Xuyi pursed her lips. As a Talisman Master, she was never proficient in exorcism, and to make matters worse, aside from the spirit's own resentment and the lingering malice of the past student who had committed suicide, the infant spirit was also tainted by the yin-malice belonging to that skull.
She wasn't certain if she could fully cleanse it.
After a moment of contemplation, Jiang Xuyi simply turned and walked out the door, took out her phone, and dialed a number.
"It's me… I have an infant spirit here, I need you to help me exorcise its resentment. Its condition is a little special…"
"How much? One hundred… Didn't you say eighty before?!"
"That's too expensive! Give me a discount!"
"Alright, I'll flash deliver it to you this afternoon."
Jiang Xuyi hung up the phone and returned to the room. Seeing the mother and daughter looking at her with eager, hopeful eyes, she simply stated,
"I've found someone to try and exorcise its resentment. If the resentment within it can be purged, it might be able to successfully move on and enter the cycle of reincarnation."
Hearing this, both Mother Lin and Lin Ruirui lit up, immediately followed by a torrent of gratitude.
Mother Lin then began to ask about the payment.
Although she had little experience with people of this profession, she knew that a master with such capabilities would not charge cheaply.
Jiang Xuyi looked at Mother Lin, who was clearly malnourished, and took in the cramped, stifling room they were currently standing in, saying,
"I charge three hundred for a consultation, plus the eighty for the exorcism commission. Just give me three hundred and eighty yuan."
Mother Lin was somewhat surprised but quickly felt a wave of relief, hurriedly pulling out her phone to transfer the funds.
After accepting the money, Jiang Xuyi left a protective talisman for Lin Ruirui before finally leaving the residential building.
She found a secluded spot downstairs to wait. Before long, a young man dressed in black, wearing black pants and a black cap, walked toward her. He wore a black face mask, and his eyes were curved, appearing as though he were smiling.
"Hello, Ling Shi Flash Delivery. May I ask what item is to be shipped?"
Jiang Xuyi took the paper lantern bound with red string out of her backpack.
Perhaps it was because it had left the residential building, but the infant spirit was struggling violently, desperately attempting to return to its mother.
The young man in the black cap didn't seem surprised by the struggling little thing. Instead, he calmly retrieved a box from his crossbody bag.
Jiang Xuyi recognized it as one of the artifacts Yi Zhan had previously auctioned off, capable of temporarily sealing away yin-evil. There had been twelve in total.
This box was one of them.
Jiang Xuyi placed the paper lantern into the box, paid the delivery fee on the spot, and the young man in the black cap immediately took the box and left quickly.
Jiang Xuyi sent a message to the number she had called earlier, stating the estimated arrival time of the delivery, and simultaneously transferred eighty thousand to the other party.
The sixty thousand she had just received from Jiang Su was gone, and she had even paid out twenty thousand from her own pocket. Jiang Xuyi felt a brief pang of heartache.
But she quickly returned to her normal state.
It was fine. Even though she took a loss on this job, she could always earn it back from another.
Although it had been a fortuitous coincidence, she had indeed solved someone's problem.
Taking advantage of this timing, it was time for her to collect some interest.
Hospital.
Guan Ruirui lay on the bed. In just two days, she was visibly gaunt; her dark circles were severe, her skin sallow, and her spirit lethargic.
Because of that night before last where she had nearly been strangled to death, Guan Ruirui had hardly slept these past two days. Even when exhausted and drowsy, she forced herself to stay awake, looking at everyone around her with suspicion and fear.
It was as though any given person across from her might suddenly transform into Lin Ruirui and lunge at her.
After drinking her third cup of coffee for the day, Bai Shuqin sat beside her, her head wrapped in gauze because she had inexplicably collided with a flight of stairs on her way out earlier that day.
Despite this, she still kept her daughter at the forefront of her mind, immediately coming to the hospital ward to watch over her the moment her own bandaging was complete. At this moment, her eyes were brimming with heartache.
"Ruirui, you've drank nearly twenty cups of coffee in the past two days. You can't keep going like this."
Guan Ruirui ignored her, finishing the last drop of coffee in her cup before turning to look at Bai Shuqin, asking anxiously,
"Mom, has Dad found the master that can save me yet? If not, you can go find Jiang Xuyi too! Didn't they say she could save me?"
"Don't worry, Ruirui, your father is already looking. We don't even need to beg that little wretch, Jiang Xuyi. Be a good girl, your father and I will certainly save you…"
Upon hearing this, Guan Ruirui suddenly flew into a rage, slamming her cup onto the floor.
A harsh shattering noise echoed as porcelain shards flew in every direction, accompanied by Guan Ruirui's noticeably frantic voice,
"How are you going to save me?! I almost died! Lin Ruirui came to find me as a ghost, you have no idea how terrifying she is! Why won't you take me to see Jiang Xuyi?!
I want to see Jiang Xuyi! Even if she has no way to deal with that vicious ghost, at least she can help me divert the ghost's attention!"
Perhaps when the vicious ghost saw Jiang Xuyi, it would lose the desire to harm her, and would go after Jiang Xuyi instead.
Hadn't it always been like that in the past?
As long as Jiang Xuyi was by her side, her chronic ailments would slowly be transferred away; she would recover her health, and Jiang Xuyi would fall ill and get injured in her stead…
As Guan Ruirui recalled the sheer terror of that night with Lin Ruirui, she refused to wait any longer, making a move to tear at her IV line.
"I want to see Jiang Xuyi, take me to her right now! She took my bracelet, she cannot just ignore me…"
Bai Shuqin hurriedly stepped forward to appease her, and in the midst of their chaotic struggle, the door to the ward was suddenly pushed open.
Jiang Xuyi stood right outside the doorway, her almond eyes slightly raised, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on her lips.
"I hear you want to see me?"
I'm here.
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