Astrology Hall with Flesh and Blood

Chapter 67

"You're off-key!" Maya roared fiercely. "If you're tone-deaf, don't embarrass yourself here, okay?"

The moment she opened her mouth, the singing in the room vanished without a trace. Yan Wuyue waited anxiously for a long time, but the singing never returned. Disappointed, she had no choice but to return to her room.

The next morning shift had a different nurse, surnamed Liu. She was a bit older, with a kind face, and quite talkative. So Yan Wuyue started to strike up a conversation with her, showering her with compliments before slowly steering the topic of conversation.

"These days, people in society say that medical staff have poor medical ethics. In my opinion, that's all because of a few bad apples who are corrupting the entire medical profession. How can we not be convinced and give a thumbs up to our school hospital, which has both medical skills and medical ethics?"

"That's our duty, it's what we should do!" Nurse Liu beamed as she drank the yellow soup.

"I've heard that the school hospital has done a lot of good deeds. I think they saved an old man who fainted and even treated him for free! I was just about to submit an article to the K University newspaper, how could I miss out on such a good deed!"

“She’s not an old man!” Nurse Liu’s eyes crinkled into slits with laughter. “She’s even younger than you, a lovely young girl! And later, the orphanage sent over medical expenses and even wrote a letter thanking us for taking care of her!”

"Really?" Yan Wuyue's eyes lit up. "Do you have that letter? Do you know which orphanage that girl is from? I want to interview her myself."

"Well..." The nurse looked troubled. "It happened about six months ago, so I don't remember much... Oh right, Nurse Huang took care of her before, so she should know better than I do."

No need to ask, Nurse Huang was the one who blurted out "the girl is dead" last night. She wouldn't believe Yan Wuyue's hastily made-up "interview" lie like Nurse Liu did. Yan Wuyue's eyes darted around, and she continued, "Then, is the doctor who examined or treated that girl still here?"

Dr. Du Jianming. Seeing Yan Wuyue enter, he sat motionless at his desk, his expression indifferent and uninterested. "Hmm, I heard it from Nurse Liu. You're going to submit an article about good deeds at the school hospital, right?" His sharp gaze quickly swept over Yan Wuyue from behind his gold-rimmed glasses. "To be honest, it's not very meaningful."

"First of all, this isn't news, it's old news, reheated leftovers from six months ago. How many readers do you expect? Secondly, the school hospital didn't do anything. The girl wasn't sick or injured; she was just starving and thirsty. We only provided some glucose and a few meals. Moreover, the orphanage later paid off that debt, and not only did they pay it off, they became much richer. You call that a good deed? What a joke."

“But that girl is mentally challenged, and the school hospital is helping disabled girls… That alone makes it attractive.” Yan Wuyue made up a reason on the spot.

Dr. Du's expression suddenly changed. "Intellectual disability? What does 'intellectual disability' mean? Does it mean that people with intellectual disabilities are less intelligent than you so-called social elites and chosen ones?!"

Before Yan Wuyue could react, Dr. Du slammed his hand on the table and stood up, pointing to the door, "Please leave! You are not welcome here!"

The doctor's attempt to break through failed shamefully. Maya complained that she was stupid, and while Yan Wuyue was scolded, she felt that Dr. Du was honest and kind-hearted, and was not too sad.

He seemed quite kind to the intellectually disabled girl, which could be used… Yan Wuyue immediately dialed Lu Bing's cell phone, asking her to investigate online. There shouldn't be many welfare homes in the city that take in intellectually disabled teenagers… At the same time, she asked Maya, "Is astrologer Mr. Xue available today?"

Dr. Du stared blankly at the obituary section of the newspaper, sitting there for the entire afternoon. The obituary was filled with the deceased's illustrious name, past glory, the grief of their bereaved families, and the effusive praise and remembrance from their friends—a disgraced dead were unworthy of these words on paper, just like that girl, abandoned by a gust of wind, her life mercilessly swept away, vanishing as quickly as a drop of water on the afternoon road, leaving no trace. No one remembered her existence, no one cared… not even her name was known…

"Doctor! That singing!" Nurse Huang suddenly pushed open the door, panting heavily. Her expression was terrifying; she was deathly pale. "I heard the singing in the toilet too!" she said, before fainting.

Book 1, The Seven Deadly Sins Special: The Necromancer's Concerto (Part 4)

"That girl!" Nurse Huang screamed suddenly, startled awake in a cold sweat. She grabbed Dr. Du's sleeve, her eyes fixed on him. "Doctor! That girl is dead, isn't she?"

The doctor shifted his toes nervously. "Yes..." His gaze was unfocused.

"Then why is she lingering in the restroom and won't leave???" Nurse Huang buried her face deeply in her shoulder. "We've never mistreated her... Why is she singing to scare me?..."

"You mean..." Dr. Du was somewhat confused.

"A ghost! That girl has turned into a ghost! She's singing in the toilet!" Nurse Huang shouted incoherently.

Unexpectedly, Dr. Du actually smiled slightly. "Are you missing that child so much that you're hallucinating? There's no such thing as a ghost in this world."

"Impossible! I heard it with my own ears, the exact same singing as back then!..."

“Alright, alright, let’s just treat her as a ghost,” Dr. Du stood up. “As the saying goes, if you have a clear conscience, you have nothing to fear. I don’t see any reason why you or I should be afraid of that child.”

Nurse Huang's voice gradually lowered, becoming a low sob, "You really don't have anything to be ashamed of, doctor, but I do..."

"It was I who told 'that' orphanage about the girl..."

The H City Children's Welfare Institute is the only welfare institute in H City that can be found by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It is a comprehensive welfare institution established by the state, under the jurisdiction of the H City Civil Affairs Bureau, and is currently the largest welfare and adoption institution in the province. In recent years, it has successively won titles such as Provincial First-Class Welfare Institute, Municipal Civilized Unit, Municipal Advanced Grassroots Organization, Municipal Model Unit for Military-Civilian Cooperation, and Municipal Garden Unit. "Something seems a bit off," Lu Bing told Yan Wuyue, "but I can't find any other welfare institutes."

Something was amiss. If it were the only welfare institution in H City, Nurse Huang wouldn't have said "a welfare institution within the city," but rather "the city's welfare institution" or simply "welfare institution." Judging from her tone, it seemed there was another one... But no matter how she searched, she couldn't find any information about the second welfare institution online. It seemed she still had to start with Dr. Du. She quietly crept to Dr. Du's office and heard Nurse Huang sobbing.

"It was I who told 'that' orphanage about the girl..."

"What exactly happened?" Dr. Du asked.

"It was me... I saw a missing person ad in the newspaper, looking for a mentally disabled girl who had run away from an orphanage. The reward for information was very high. It just so happened to be that girl, so I called the orphanage... The orphanage came to pick her up that afternoon... Later, sure enough, they gave me a large sum of money, really, a huge sum, I never dreamed it would be so much! I haven't dared to touch that money since..."

"Why not? If it were me, I would also notify that welfare home and let that girl go back to where she belongs."

"But that girl is dead!" Nurse Huang cried out in despair. "You're the one who told me that the girl died not long after returning to the orphanage! She was perfectly healthy here, how could she die as soon as she went back!"

Dr. Du fell silent, while Nurse Huang continued her rambling:

"Maybe she thinks I betrayed her, that I killed her, so she came back to settle scores with me! God above, I never even thought of that! I just wanted to help her! But speaking of which, that orphanage is really strange. Why would they offer such a high reward for finding a lost girl? A whole 50,000 yuan!"

"Bang!" The door was kicked open like a whirlwind, and Yan Wuyue, unable to hold back any longer, rushed in. "I heard everything you said. That girl really did become a ghost, wandering this hospital," she said, determined to exploit Nurse Huang's fear and scare her. "But I think she's not here to settle scores with you. What did she do? Singing in the toilet, singing in her former hospital room—those were things that brought joy, weren't they? Perhaps her time in the affiliated hospital was the happiest and most blissful time of her life, so her spirit lingers here, unwilling to leave even in death." She concluded with perfect emotional manipulation, "We should find out the truth about her death, and then let her go to paradise, to where she belongs, shouldn't we?"

"So pitiful!" Nurse Huang covered her face and cried. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"Amazing!" Maya exclaimed from behind Yan Wuyue, a rare occurrence for her. "Your tricks are so sophisticated, you're only a little bit less skilled than me!"

Yan Wuyue smiled and extended her hand to Dr. Du, "Dr. Du, you also want that girl to leave happily, don't you?"

First, we gathered clues. Nurse Liu had said that the welfare home had written a thank-you letter, but there was no such letter in the archives; Nurse Huang had said that she had seen a "missing person notice" in the newspaper and had even made a phone call, but she had long since lost the newspaper and forgotten the phone number.

"Didn't the orphanage give you 50,000 yuan? Should we wire it? That way we'll have a bank account," Yan Wuyue said.

“It wasn’t a money transfer,” Nurse Huang replied with a worried look. “It was people from the welfare home who came to pick up the girl. Before they left, they suddenly grabbed me and said, ‘Nurse Huang, right? You were the one who called us?’”

“I was shocked. When I called, I only said my surname was Huang and didn’t reveal my identity. I don’t know how they found out. He questioned me about a few details, then just handed me a paper package and left.”

Yan Wuyue frowned and thought for a moment, "Then the person in charge came alone?"

"Yes."

"Drive or walk?"

“I don’t think I drove, I don’t remember… I probably came on foot,” Nurse Huang replied.

“I remember that very clearly that there was no car,” Dr. Du interjected. “At the time, I found it strange that they didn’t send a car to pick up a mentally disabled girl; they should have at least called a taxi. That person just brazenly grabbed her hand and left. What if he ran away again?”

"Could we take the bus? No, impossible," Yan Wuyue pondered to herself. "Buses are crowded and chaotic, offering a greater chance of escape. How could the head of the orphanage not have thought of this?"

“Then there’s only one possibility,” Yan Wuyue said, “The orphanage is actually very close to K University, so close that it’s just a short walk away!”

The two nodded secretly. At that moment, a voice rang out:

"You're wrong! That's precisely his cunning!"

The astrologer stood gracefully outside the door; as always, he was dressed in black, his shaggy hair concealed by black robes, his gloves pristine white, and a faint, mocking smile playing on his pale face. But somehow, Yan Wuyue's previously anxious heart suddenly calmed down. "How am I wrong?" she retorted defiantly.

If that welfare home really intended to deceive everyone, even if it was very close, they should have driven around the city in a car to create the impression of a long journey—that's common sense. By the same token, pretending to walk there would have given the doctors the false impression that "the welfare home is very close," which would have shown that the welfare home was not nearby.

In this way, the girl vanished without a trace, like a stone thrown into the sea... Wait, there's one more place! "Doctor, how did you find out that the girl died half a year ago?" she asked.

Book 1, The Seven Deadly Sins Special: The Necromancer's Concerto (Part 5)

Dr. Du shrugged helplessly. "It's not exactly a coincidence. A few days ago, I ran into the man who picked up the girl on the street and asked him about it. He initially tried to pretend he didn't know me, but I have a strong ability to recognize people, so he couldn't hide it from me and admitted it."

A moment of silence.

"It's that simple???" Yan Wuyue exclaimed in disbelief. "Isn't that too much of a coincidence?"

"Perhaps it really is a coincidence," the astrologer suddenly said. "Doctor, what was the date you met that man?"

“Hmm, let me think… the Saturday before the National Day holiday, the day before my mother’s birthday… September 24th, yes,” the doctor replied.

The astrologer silently pulled a newspaper from his pocket; the edges of the paper were slightly yellowed. His snow-white gloves moved silently across the newspaper, finally settling on a news headline.

"Unidentified man appears in car accident; vehicle flees overnight."

This newspaper reports: On the evening of September 24th, a serious traffic accident occurred on Xinglong Street in this city, killing an unidentified man on the spot… The text was accompanied by photos of the horrific accident scene. Dr. Du glanced at them and exclaimed in surprise:

"It was him! He just died out of nowhere?"

The problem suddenly became serious. The only contact between the orphanage and the hospital—the unidentified man—was dead, right after Dr. Du recognized him. This meant that the girl's ghost wasn't singing for no reason; the orphanage did indeed have some unspeakable secret behind it, so much so that even the unidentified man's mouth had to be sealed to protect it. On the other hand, could Yan Wuyue and her companions win against such an inhuman, ruthless, and cunning opponent?

Everything had to be investigated from the beginning. First, they needed to find the newspaper where Nurse Huang had placed the missing person ad, and after pinpointing the approximate date, Yan Wuyue, carrying a bag of biscuits, plunged into the library. Maya returned to the astrologer's shoulder, giving Yan Wuyue a pout.

"That tomboy is so stupid! She never even suspected that he was lying!"

"So what if I have doubts?" the astrologer said thoughtfully. "I can't force him to tell me the truth."

Maya held her head in her hands and thought about it carefully, then suddenly clapped her hands and shouted, "Who says it can't be! Sir forgot, there's also 'her'!"

"If it's 'her,' then all those damn clues are irrelevant!"

"So we're going to have to use 'her'?" the astrologer said with a wry smile. "However, 'her' keen insight in this area is truly unmatched."

"Bai Xia..."

When he moved into this astrology shop, the astrologer treasured two boxes, insisting on carrying them with him at all times and forbidding anyone else from touching them. The first box was naturally his own "bed." He would hide inside to sleep at night, and in the morning, he would carefully seal it. Apart from Yan Wuyue accidentally breaking the seal, no one had ever been able to enter the box to explore. The second box was much smaller, carved from dark rosewood, with ten thick brass padlocks across its exterior, making it appear even more frail. Maya stood on the table beside him, holding her breath as she watched the astrologer take out a bunch of brass keys and slowly unlock the ten locks one by one.

The box creaked open, releasing a cloud of accumulated dust. Lying in the gray dust was a doll, roughly the same size as Maya, yet possessing a completely different feel. The astrologer, with utmost care, gently lifted the doll by the head and placed her on the table. The doll had long, snow-white hair, gathered only in a single braid on top of her head, not pointing upwards, but cascading down with the rest of her hair, giving her an ethereal appearance. Her skin was as white as snow, her starry eyes closed, with only a touch of scarlet on her lips, further emphasizing her fair complexion. Her hands were clasped together in front of her chest, a golden bell tied to her wrist. She seemed like a beautiful princess from a fairy tale, asleep for centuries, who could be awakened with a gentle kiss.

The astrologer softly called her name, "Bai Xia, Bai Xia, wake up!" At the same time, he reached for the bell on her wrist and gently shook it. *Ding-dong*.

Ding-dong.

Ding-dong.

Suddenly, Bai Xia's body trembled slightly, and the astrologer quickly stepped back. Bai Xia raised her arms and let out a long yawn. Only after she released all the pent-up energy in her abdomen did the astrologer smile.

"Did you sleep well, Bai Xia?" He stepped forward and kissed her small hand.

Bai Xia did not open her eyes; her voice seemed to travel from ancient times, full of mystery and timelessness.

How long did I sleep?

“Thirty years,” the astrologer replied. “I’m sorry to wake you just as I was falling asleep. But this time, I need your help…”

Bai Xia raised one hand, indicating that he didn't need to say anything.

"A quick victory is all I need. I don't want to waste time; the dream is still calling me."

Before she could even figure out what had happened, Bai Xia sat on the astrologer's shoulders, while Maya was forced to watch the house, helplessly watching the two of them leave. She remembered saying to the astrologer with jealousy, "Anyway, you only ever listen to 'her'..." Indeed, as long as "she" was around, as long as Bai Xia was there, the astrologer would only listen to her.

Because Bai Xia never makes a mistake, and never will...

When the astrologer arrived at the hospital, Yan Wuyue was still in the library reading newspapers. He made an excuse to chat briefly with Nurse Huang and Dr. Du, and then he asked Bai Xia:

"Do you need me to put glasses on you?"

Bai Xia gave a cold laugh; she moved her lips inscrutably and smiled.

"Though the eyes of mortals are gone, the eyes of their hearts remain."

“That person is lying. What she thinks and what she says are completely contradictory.”

The astrologer breathed a sigh of relief. "Just as I suspected. I had suspected it all along. The orphanage spent 50,000 yuan to buy the information, how could she not remember such an important phone number? She even forgot the newspaper name."

“That’s not all,” Bai Xia said with a sneer, “there were practically no newspapers at all.”

"No?" The astrologer was taken aback. "Then how did she know?"

“I only saw a blurry image, it seemed like someone stuffed something like paper into her hand, and the two of them talked for a long time,” Bai Xia replied.