Chapter 8: 8. Give me a pension?

Ah...

It was only after Master spoke that I realized I had never thought about such details. Since I was a child, my grandmother had taken care of me, and it had never occurred to me that even if I sent the money back, Grandmother wouldn't spend it.

It seemed better to buy some stuff and mail it back.

For the next few hours, the whole train was unusually quiet; many people were sound asleep. In plain terms, they had lost a lot of vitality and needed to sleep to recover.

There were also those who moaned in their sleep, mostly those who had been bitten by sidhe on their necks, arms, and legs. These were cases of weakness, and they needed to rest quietly for a while.

A couple of people even fell down suddenly, ending up with bleeding heads. The train attendants were completely flustered, muttering as they walked about what was happening today.

After Lu Mingwei woke up, he took over my shift. I closed my eyes and meditated, letting both my body and my mind rest, but I didn't fall asleep.

Listening to Lu Mingwei make one call after another to deal with various issues, I was sure that's just how things were.

And that old relative had been dealt with by him too.

The situation was somewhat melodramatic, as I gathered the gist of it from the several calls he made.

Lu Mingwei's father apparently had two older brothers. The eldest and Lu Mingwei's father had died over some matter, only leaving behind Lu Mingwei's second uncle, who was now bedridden due to lingering ailments from transporting corpses.

For the past twenty years, Lu Mingwei had been on the rise; he had money, power, a beautiful wife, and three sons.

The eldest was a spoiled rich second-generation, and the second was frequently ill.

Therefore, Lu Mingwei pinned all his hopes on Xiao Guai, the youngest at just three or four years old. Outsiders saw things the same way.

Both of his second uncle's sons were working at Bailu Electronics, and they were part of the management.

Lu Mingwei made a call to his assistant, who said that his two cousins had been in exceptionally high spirits for the past couple of days, strutting around the company and even discussing how they would renovate the place once they had taken over.

As the train was about to arrive at the station, I opened my eyes, sat up, and started to pack up my belongings. Seeing that I was awake, Lu Mingwei immediately started gesturing on the old man's hands and legs, and the elder slowly got to his feet. Lu Mingwei hurriedly wiped the sweat from his forehead and tidied up the elder's clothes, then sighed a huge sigh of relief as if he was grateful that the body was obedient; otherwise, it would have been troublesome.

Xiao Guai also woke up at this moment, gazing at me with wide, watery eyes and said,

"Sister, I dreamed you were a great hero! When I grow up... I want to marry you!"

Uh...

It seemed this event hadn't been erased from the child's mind, but children forget quickly, so probably in a little while, he wouldn't remember it anymore.

I walked over with a smile and patted Xiao Guai's head, then said to Lu Mingwei,

"When we get off the train, take the kid away. The road ahead of us is no place for Xiao Guai; even we may not come back in one piece, let alone a little boy."

Upon hearing this, Lu Mingwei agreed, as who would want their child to be in danger? He nodded and said,

"I just called my wife; she should be at the station entrance with my men waiting for us. After I give them some instructions, we will..."

Seeing Xiao Guai's adorable expression, I took Master Huang off my neck and put it on Xiao Guai's. Master Huang asked in a panic,

"What are you doing? Auntie told me to follow you."

I pursed my lips and comforted Master Huang,

"This tycoon has already promised us 100,000 upon his return. After buying some things for Grandmother and leaving some aside, we can also give more for the incense offering at the temple. Your mission is to protect his entire family. It's not that I am afraid of the danger and don't want you to come along; rather, I'm afraid that while we're away, our base might be set on fire, and then whom would we ask for the money?"

Master was hesitant for a moment, but then he realized that made sense.

With some reluctance, he said,

"Fine, I'll protect this chubby little boy for you. If something happens to you, I'll be aware, and I can come to rescue you. Just don't die! If you're in trouble, just think of my name, and I'll be at your side in an instant."

I chuckled as I looked at Xiao Guai with Master Huang around his neck. Master was really acting like a tough guy from the Northeast. Recalling how pitifully he had cried before, it was quite amusing.

"Who dies that easily, I'm not going off to vanquish sidhe or anything."

In truth, I was really worried about Master Huang's safety. Again, he's already become a wreck, he can't afford to lose his life too.

After sorting things out with Master, I turned to Lu Mingwei and said:

"Judging by your age, I'll call you Uncle Lu. You can just call me Xiao Bai. Give this protective charm to Xiao Guai to wear until we return, then you can give it back to me. Your family is not at peace, and this charm will surely come in handy."

Lu Mingwei, seeing that it was taken from around my neck, knew it was something valuable and hurriedly bowed to me profusely in thanks and had Xiao Guai bow as well.

Xiao Guai fondly held the small bottle, cradling it in her hands like a treasure.

"Sister! I will protect it well! I'll return it to you when you come back!"

After we disembarked from the train, the old man followed us slowly to the entrance where, because of the broken seal, the corpse had started to stink, and liver mortis had appeared on his face. I don't know much about dead bodies, but something seemed off...

Could liver mortis appear so soon after death?

A middle-aged woman, beautiful and dressed in a black cheongsam, stood there with a group of people in black behind her.

Looks like she must be Lu Mingwei's wife.

Instinctively, I swallowed hard. This woman was really a beauty—incredible curves, a waist so small it seemed it could break with a squeeze, and her stylish short hair perfectly framed her face.

Too beautiful.

Uncle Lu seemed like one of those friendly big brothers you find in community centers, whereas this woman exuded a kind of gangster vibe, didn't she?

They were complete opposites in terms of aura.

Furthermore, this woman was shrouded in a misty air as if blessed by the Immortal Family, only the mist was somewhat murky. It seemed she was unaware of the Immortal Family's existence.

"Mommy! Mommy~"

Xiao Guai stumbled and ran to the woman's side. The woman bent over and quickly scooped Xiao Guai into her arms, the fierce and impressive demeanor she had before was gone, and she now was simply a mother concerned for her child.

Xiao Guai patted the woman's arm, turned back to me and said:

"Mommy! This sister is so amazing, I... Xiao Guai dreamed... so many sidhe and ghosts! They were all... driven away by big sister..."

Uncle Lu had already explained everything to his wife over the phone, and upon seeing us, she immediately bowed to me.

The people in black followed suit, bowing along with the beautiful woman.

I felt somewhat helpless; bowing to me in such a situation...

It was too high-profile.

Besides, I, a rookie barely out of the nest, could not accept such honors. Hastily, I waved my hands and said:

"Really, there's no need for formalities like this. After you go back, don't let Xiao Guai leave the house and don't open the door for any relatives who come. With my protective charm, protecting you all for a bit shouldn't be a problem. Remember, don't open the door no matter which relative comes."

The woman acknowledged with a nod and then looked at her husband, her eyes reddening...

"If I had known it would come to this, Dad at the beginning..."

Lu Mingwei shook his head, signaling his wife to stop talking, as this was a time to swallow one's grievances.

"Let's not talk about that now. With our benefactor joining us, we're sure to handle everything smoothly. And if something does happen, give 500,000 to the benefactor's family as compensation."

I was just standing there, lost in thought, expecting the couple to have a quick chat before I could leave. But Lu Mingwei had already thought about my compensation.

I was somewhat moved.

If I died, it would be a huge blow to Grandma. If there was some money for her to live on in her old age, that would be a good thing too.

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