My Family Is Very Odd

Chapters List

Chapter 32: Shadows of Doubt

After the white figure disappeared, the Young Ghost slowly raised its head and looked towards the second floor. That was Li Xiao Gui's room.

Suddenly, it received a message. The Young Ghost's two dark holes drooped down and glanced at it before leaving the yard.

'Work' again.

The Young Ghost and Wen Yuanrui were guarding a house.

Wen Yuanrui yawned, holding a cup of coffee in his hand, "Xiao Chen said that something from the abyss appeared in the school today, summoned by a student. The student has scars on his hands. The specifics are still under investigation. We're here to keep an eye on things and prevent anything from happening."

Thirteen years ago, Wen Yuanrui was just a small-time spirit exorcist, only doing trivial errands, occasionally catching ghosts, working from nine to five every day. Now, as Wen Yuanrui became the supervisor of the haunted house, his workload and time became increasingly irregular. It was common for him to be called up in the middle of the night.

In the past, going bald from tutoring Li Xiao Gui was just a metaphor. Now, with all the late nights, his hair was really falling out in clumps. He was so angry that he directly shaved his head into a crew cut, out of sight, out of mind.

Wen Yuanrui currently had deep dark circles under his eyes. He complained, "I'm so sleepy. Being a spirit exorcist is really not a job for humans. I'd rather tutor Li Xiao Gui with her homework."

The Young Ghost's bored expression suddenly fluctuated, "Really? Li Xiao Gui is about to take the college entrance exam..."

Wen Yuanrui immediately said, "I refuse."

The Young Ghost stretched out two fingers, "I'll pay you. Double the spirit exorcist rate!"

Wen Yuanrui, "Wow— I refuse."

The Young Ghost looked at him faintly, "That's not what you just said."

Wen Yuanrui, "Refuse!"

"..."

As dawn approached, there was a loud crashing sound from inside the house, followed by yelling. The Young Ghost and Wen Yuanrui looked at each other. One went through the wall and conveniently opened the door, while the other put down his coffee and followed closely.

The Young Ghost passed through the door and then through another wall to reach the source of the argument. It saw two humans fighting, or rather, a one-sided beating. The stronger, taller human was kicking the slightly thinner one fiercely. The shorter one was already beaten black and blue, covered in blood.

The tall one still didn't stop. His eyes were red with anger, and he even picked up a chair and walked step by step towards the person curled up on the ground.

At this time, Wen Yuanrui hadn't arrived yet. He couldn't make it.

The black holes stared at the child curled up on the ground.

One second.

Two seconds.

It slowly raised its hand...

Originally, the Young Ghost didn't want to interfere, but it suddenly thought of Li Xiao Gui. She had mentioned this human before. What if one day, Li Xiao Gui found out that it knew about this human being beaten, and had even witnessed it with its own eyes...

That wouldn't do.

It would affect its image in Li Xiao Gui's heart.

"Sigh." It sighed. "I'm really doing charity work."

Its slender fingers instantly tightened. The chair in the tall man's hand was instantly embedded in the Young Ghost's palm as if attracted by gravity.

Having been with Li Xiao Gui for so many years, watching so many TV dramas with her, the Young Ghost had also picked up human vocabulary and understood quite a bit.

...

The next day, the gossip about the police appearing at An Wenxu's house spread throughout the school. For a while, An Wenxu seemed to have become a celebrity in the school, known by everyone. This was popular underground, among the students. The teachers wouldn't mention it, but every student knew.

Li Xiao Gui looked at her wrist with her cheek resting on her hand.

The lunch break after class was very long. Li Xiao Gui, Shen Chen, and Chen Yuanyuan wouldn't go home. After lunch, they would usually go to the rooftop of the tallest teaching building to rest.

The rooftop was spacious and windy, surrounded by high nets, as if to prevent anyone from jumping off.

Li Xiao Gui spread out a yellow checkered cloth on the ground, with the lunch box her brother made for her on it. Sometimes it was fruit, sometimes biscuits and snacks, for the little ghosts to enjoy during their lunch break.

The lunch box was still closed because Chen Yuanyuan was suddenly called away by the math teacher when they were about to come up. Li Xiao Gui and Shen Chen decided to wait for Chen Yuanyuan to come up before eating.

Li Xiao Gui sat cross-legged in her school uniform pants. Shen Chen told her about An Wenxu, "An Wenxu's father is Lin Hong, a very famous entrepreneur in H City. He has a family. An Wenxu's mother was his girlfriend."

Li Xiao Gui's eyes widened, "Girlfriend?"

Shen Chen, "Yes. Later, their relationship was discovered by Lin Hong's wife, who even wanted a divorce because of it. But after some time, they didn't divorce because Lin Hong and An Wenxu's mother broke up due to some issues."

Shen Chen said, "And An Wenxu is the child Lin Hong adopted when he was with An Wenxu's mother."

"Ah, ah?" The amount of information was too much for Li Xiao Gui to process. She suspected she had heard wrong.

Shen Chen continued, "At that time, Lin Hong's girlfriend, also An Wenxu's mother, saw a program and thought the child was very cute. But she didn't want to have children herself, thinking that some children were abandoned and pitiful, so she decided to adopt a healthy and lovely but abandoned child, which was An Wenxu."

Shen Chen, "And she used her surname, An, for the child. But Lin Hong's girlfriend really wanted to raise An Wenxu. When they broke up, she didn't want anything but An Wenxu, but Lin Hong didn't give him to her. Instead, he sent the child away."

Shen Chen, "Lin Hong and his girlfriend often quarreled over the custody of the child, and many people heard it. On the way to find Lin Hong to get An Wenxu back, his girlfriend had an accident and passed away while arguing with Lin Hong on the phone and driving at the same time."

This series of developments caught Li Xiao Gui off guard: "..."

Shen Chen, "So from then on, no one fought with Lin Hong for An Wenxu anymore, but he didn't actually care about this child. After An Wenxu's mother died, Lin Hong sent him to the town, found someone to watch over him, and never cared about him again."

Shen Chen narrated flatly, like reading an essay, "The person who took care of him was randomly found by Lin Hong. He was an alcoholic and often beat An Wenxu after getting drunk. This caused An Wenxu's mental state to be very bad, with severe depression and many self-harm scars on his hands. What you touched that day might have been his self-harm scars or injuries from being abused."

Li Xiao Gui was silent. She thought of something, her fair face and light eyebrows furrowed, and the soft flesh on her cheeks drooped.

"If Lin Hong doesn't like An Wenxu, why didn't he give An Wenxu to An's mother?"

Shen Chen looked ahead, expressionlessly extended his thumb and index finger, and gently pinched Li Xiao Gui's chin. His fingertips pressed against the soft flesh on both sides of her cheeks, and he said, "Dad and the police have already taken control of the drunkard who hit him and Lin Hong."

Li Xiao Gui's mouth was pinched, and she tried hard to purse her lips, her cheeks puffed up. "Sigh."

She sighed seriously, and her two parted lips bounced open. She pouted, and suddenly thought of something. She frowned.

"Lin Hong's wife, is her surname Zeng?"

Shen Chen glanced at Li Xiao Gui, looked at her puffed-up cheeks, couldn't help but pinch them twice, and said seriously, "Yes. How did you know? Lin Hong's wife is called Zeng Sufang."

Li Xiao Gui thought of the character An Wenxu wrote on the paper, it was 'Zeng'.

Li Xiao Gui suddenly said, "Could it be that An Wenxu's mother's death was not an accident?"

Otherwise, why would Lin Hong be so bad to him, and the first name An Wenxu wrote in the game was 'Zeng'?

Shen Chen paused, released his hand from Li Xiao Gui's cheeks, and said seriously, "I'll go and ask about it."

Li Xiao Gui nodded.

Shen Chen looked at the slightly dejected little chick in front of him, pressed his forehead, handed her a candy, and said, "Don't think about it, I'll handle it."

Li Xiao Gui blinked, picked up the candy from his palm, unwrapped it, stuffed it into her mouth, and replied, "Oh."

Shen Chen looked at the little chick in front of him, who was somewhat dejected, and suddenly asked, "Was the person who kept pestering you yesterday the one who always bullied you?"

Li Xiao Gui, with the candy in her mouth, the sweet taste spreading in her mouth, looked at him with her light brown eyes, "Xu Li? He didn't bully me, but he's very mean, he loves to mess with my hair and clothes, it's so annoying. I'm ignoring him."

Shen Chen touched her hair and said calmly, "Then ignore him. If anyone bullies you, tell me."

Li Xiao Gui nodded and asked Shen Chen, "Have you found the evil spirit you're looking for?"

Shen Chen said, "Not yet, but..."

Before Shen Chen could finish, Chen Yuanyuan's footsteps came pattering over. She opened the balcony door and walked in wearing short sleeves and carrying her schoolbag. She also had a bag of milk tea in her hand.

Chen Yuanyuan said, "I bought milk tea!"

Chen Yuanyuan sat down next to Li Xiao Gui, panting, and took out the milk tea one by one. First was Li Xiao Gui's favorite pudding milk tea, then her own favorite boba milk tea.

Shen Chen didn't like milk tea, so Chen Yuanyuan bought him a coke.

Li Xiao Gui looked at Chen Yuanyuan and said, "Yay, it's my favorite pudding! Thank you, Yuanyuan!"

Li Xiao Gui's eyes lit up as she took the milk tea from Chen Yuanyuan's hand and happily hugged her.

Shen Chen also took the coke that Chen Yuanyuan handed him, "Thank you."

Chen Yuanyuan said, "There were so many people at the milk tea shop."

Chen Yuanyuan continued to tell them, "The math teacher called me to get the test papers back to register and hand them out. We're going over them in class this afternoon."

Li Xiao Gui put the milk tea on the ground and opened the lunch box on the light yellow tablecloth while saying, "The results are out so soon?"

Chen Yuanyuan said, "Yeah, that's why I have to hurry up and register them later."

This time, when the lunch box was opened, it was full of fruit. Li Xiao Gui nodded and poked a piece of cantaloupe for Chen Yuanyuan, "Good work."

Chen Yuanyuan leaned over and took a bite of the cantaloupe, "So sweet. Your brother is really the best! There's always delicious lunch to eat."

After finishing the cantaloupe, Chen Yuanyuan said with a giggle, "I can be the first one to tell you your score later!"

Li Xiao Gui thought of her math score and her head started to hurt. Without thinking, she stretched out her hand and said decisively, "Refused."

Chen Yuanyuan laughed and took out the test papers from her schoolbag, "No way! Hahaha!"

...

After they played around on the rooftop for a while, Li Xiao Gui started to help Chen Yuanyuan record the scores. She held the test paper and read out the names and scores, while Chen Yuanyuan lay on the ground, listening to Li Xiao Gui's clear and soft voice recording on the paper.

"Number 24, Lin Qingfeng, 57 points."

"Okay."

"Number 25, Jin Xin, 90 points."

"Okay."

"Number 4, Wang Quir, 90 points."

"Okay."

"..."

Shen Chen slept beside Li Xiao Gui, his hand under his head. On the right side of his head was the opened can of coke. The slightly curved straw inside swayed left and right with the wind.

The sun was warm and just right, shining on Shen Chen's eyelashes, Li Xiao Gui's slender hands, and Chen Yuanyuan's hair.

The wind carried the voices of the girls.

After Chen Yuanyuan and Li Xiao Gui finished registering the scores, they also lay down.

They had played too late yesterday and got up early this morning. Li Xiao Gui couldn't hold on any longer. As soon as she lay down, her eyelids drooped and she quickly fell asleep.

Chen Yuanyuan originally wanted to gossip with Li Xiao Gui, but when she turned her head, she saw that Li Xiao Gui's eyes were closed.

Li Xiao Gui rarely took naps. Chen Yuanyuan couldn't help but get up and take a picture of Li Xiao Gui with her phone before lying down.

Chen Yuanyuan raised her phone. Li Xiao Gui's sleeping posture was the type that didn't move at all. Her legs were together, her arms bent, and her palms rested on her abdomen.

She was completely different from herself, who tossed and turned in her sleep. She was terrifyingly well-behaved.

In this respect, she was very similar to Shen Chen. Chen Yuanyuan looked at Shen Chen, who had accidentally entered the frame, and glanced over there with her chin raised.

Chen Yuanyuan sent a copy of the photo to Li Xiao Gui's brother, Li Xiao Gui, and Shen Chen respectively.

Among Li Xiao Gui's family, Chen Yuanyuan only added Li Xiao Gui's brother.

At the beginning, it was Li Xiao Gui's brother who took the initiative to add her. Because except for when she was facing Li Xiao Gui, she was actually quite shy most of the time.

However, both Chen Yuanyuan and Li Xiao Gui's brother had a hobby of photography, so they actually got along quite well and became good friends.

Li Xiao Gui's brother taught her a lot of photography techniques.

Li Xiao Gui's brother asked her to take more pictures of Li Xiao Gui at school because he couldn't take them himself. He even bought Chen Yuanyuan a camera because of this...

Chen Yuanyuan sent the photos, lowered her hand, and also fell asleep.

She slept below Li Xiao Gui, and Li Xiao Gui slept below Shen Chen.

The three of them slept in a row, like steps.

The wind slowly became gentle, and the sky was a light blue. The sunlight was like cotton balls, soft and fluffy.

...

"Ring!!" The third bell, symbolizing the start of class, suddenly rang.

Three pairs of eyes opened at the same time, they looked at the time tacitly, looked at each other, got up, and rushed downstairs.

Notes

The author has something to say:

Adding a [Haunted House Theater]

Ding, the Burly Ghost received a photo from his friend Chen Yuanyuan

The Burly Ghost: "Wow!!! Li Xiao Gui is so cute!!!"

Then, he showed it off

Then, five faces watched

Suddenly, they noticed Shen Chen in the photo

The Burly Ghost: "Eh? Shen Chen is also very good-looking, but are they too close?"

The Young Ghost: "."

The Female Ghost: "."

Ghost Granny: "."

Ghost Grandpa: "."

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