Cleansing

Weisheng returned the case reports to Liu Heng. Coincidentally, Liu Heng didn't give him any more work and even told him to go rest for the day. Weisheng could guess that his mother must've pulled some strings. After all, he had just had an accident. 

Xiaoling and her underling were still sitting in his car when he walked from his office. He looked at Xiaoling from a distance. She was sitting and talking to Hai. Unlike Xiaoling, Hai was dressed in casual clothes. He had a T-shirt on with regular trousers. 

Weisheng didn't trust Xiaoling completely, but he knew she wasn't a bad person. He walked back to his car with an empty mind. He wanted to focus on the Gao Family case for now. Maybe he could get extra points from Liu Heng for completing a case. 

He entered the car, "I've returned the files. Where are we going now?" 

Xiaoling held her chin to think about it, "Your house." 

Weisheng cleared his throat, "Why my house?" He asked while fastening his seatbelt. He asked questions comfortably, now that she had told him to be at ease. 

"I plan to cleanse your house of evil spirits. Although they will appear again, I want to hang a few charms. Just in case," Xiaoling answered. 

Weisheng nodded. He twisted his car keys and adjusted the rearview mirror, noticing Hai had disappeared from the backseat. 

"Where did Mr. Hai go?" Weisheng asked. 

"I made him run an errand for me," Xiaoling replied, "I'm craving Szechuan noodles from this place that has such a long line that it wears me out just thinking about it," She murmured in one breath, "That's why Hai will suffer," She smiled. 

Weisheng coughed, "Will you make me run errands too?" 

"Of course!" Xiaoling sneered, "What are you? A Princess?" 

"N-No…" 

"Exactly!" 

…

Weisheng shook his head. He could run errands for her later. Right now, he had to focus on the case. He almost pressed the accelerator when he noticed she hadn't fastened her seatbelt. 

"Master, your seatbelt," Weisheng pointed at her seatbelt. 

Xiaoling looked at the seatbelt, then scoffed, "Who even wears these?" 

Weisheng was dumbfounded, "Does being a sorceress make you immortal?" He asked as he scoffed, "Pardon my indecency," He muttered while leaning to grab her seatbelt. Her eyes widened for a moment, and he captured them in his memory. 

He fastened her seatbelt to her, then drove to his apartment. He parked his car in the parking lot and then guided Xiaoling to the elevator. His neighbors were already present in the elevator. He gulped, wondering how to introduce Xiaoling. 

"Oh!" Mr. Yong, who lived next door, exclaimed joyously upon seeing Weisheng. 

"Good Evening, Mr. Yong," Weisheng muttered nervously, walking inside the elevator with Xiaoling. 

"How is your head now?" Mr. Yong asked about his health, ignoring Xiaoling. 

"I'm good now. What about you?" Weisheng asked, hoping he'd continue to ignore Xiaoling. 

"I'm great. I just packed my stuff to go hiking again. I want to climb Mount Hua again," Mr. Yong casually said.

"Really? Enjoy your hike, then!" Weisheng awkwardly muttered. 

When they reached the right floor, Weisheng bade farewell to Mr. Yong and escorted Xiaoling to his apartment. Strangely, Mr. Yong didn't say a word about Xiaoling. Weisheng wasn't popular with women, so he had expected Mr. Yong to tease him about having a woman beside him. Thankfully, that hadn't happened. 

"Weisheng?" Xiaoling called him when she found him standing still in front of his door. 

"Oh," Weisheng shook his head, pressed his passcode, and opened the door for Xiaoling. 

He walked behind Xiaoling sheepishly. He felt eerie for some reason. Xiaoling looked at him from the corner of her eye and smirked. 

"Do you see them?" Xiaoling casually asked. 

He jolted and grabbed her arm out of fear, "S-Stop!" 

Xiaoling's eyes widened before she burst into laughter, "Seriously? You're that scared of them?" 

"Can you not? I'm already losing it!" Weisheng complained, clenching his eyes shut while holding onto her arm. 

Xiaoling smiled gently, "Watch me." 

Although Weisheng wanted to keep his eyes shut, he opened them slowly to look at Xiaoling. 

"You won't see them yet. I suppressed the Cursed Eye," Xiaoling said while casually folding her legs to kneel. 

Weisheng knelt alongside her, still holding onto her arm. 

Xiaoling traced her other hand from left to right, and a zither made of glass emerged on her knees. Weisheng's eyes widened at the sight. She wasn't a quack. The proof was right in front of his eyes. 

Xiaoling looked at Weisheng and smiled, "The River In Which My Blood Flows," She announced the name of the song, then started to pluck the strings of the zither with just one hand, since Weisheng was clinging onto her other arm. 

She still managed to create a beautiful melody. Weisheng was mesmerized by the sight. Now that he watched her play her zither from up close, he saw the notes emerging from the zither and traveling across his room. He couldn't see the spirits, but he could see the notes attacking certain points. 

By the end of the song, only a few notes emerged from the zither, even though Xiaoling ran her fingers through the thirteen strings. At the end of the beautiful song, she laid her hand flat on the strings to stop them from vibrating. 

"Your house has been cleansed," Xiaoling smiled, watching Weisheng slowly letting go of her arm. "For now," She added, watching him frantically holding onto her arm again. She chuckled softly, "After we solve this case, I will teach you how to get rid of them. Don't worry. You have me now." 

Weisheng looked at her with widened eyes, slowly letting her arm go. She was trustworthy. His instincts told him she was trustworthy.