Lily Carter didn’t go looking for Emily Walker this time, but instead sat across from him and suddenly said, “Let me tell you a story…”

Grace Carter put down his book, curious about what new mischief she had come up with.

After all, listening to her tell a story was much better than being startled by her suddenly jumping out from behind.

Lily Carter looked at him, took a deep breath, and began slowly, “Once upon a time, there was a scholar. On his way to the capital for the imperial exam, he met a young woman. They spent every day together and developed feelings for each other. But the scholar didn’t know that the woman was actually a fox spirit…”

Her face turned a bit pale. She glanced at Grace Carter, and seeing his calm expression, she asked in a trembling voice, “Aren’t you… aren’t you scared?”

“Scared?” Grace Carter looked at her in surprise and said, “Are you telling a ghost story?”

He had thought Lily Carter was telling some romantic tale about a scholar and a fox spirit—was this how ghost stories were supposed to go?

A scholar and a fox spirit—those were the classic ingredients for a romance story…

“Just listen!” Lily Carter glared at him, grabbed the hem of her skirt under the table, and said, “Every night when the scholar stayed up reading by lamplight, the woman would stand behind him and massage his shoulders…”

At this point, Lily Carter’s face grew even paler, and her voice trembled, “But the scholar didn’t know that every night, the one standing behind him, massaging his shoulders, was actually a fox standing upright…”

Emily Walker walked in from outside and patted Lily Carter on the shoulder from behind, asking in confusion, “Yao…”

“Ah!”

She had only said the first syllable, “Yao,” when Lily Carter immediately let out a scream, sprang up from her seat, and before Grace Carter could react, she had tackled him to the ground.

Lily Carter squeezed her eyes shut, her face deathly pale, waving her hands and shouting, “Fox spirit, don’t come over, don’t come over…”

At the table, Emily Walker looked at the two of them in astonishment.

On the ground, Lily Carter was sprawled in Grace Carter’s arms, eyes tightly shut, flailing her arms wildly and shouting at the top of her lungs.

Grace Carter’s face darkened as he pushed her shoulder.

……

Grace Carter patted the dust off his clothes and looked at Lily Carter with a strange expression.

Honestly, after living two lifetimes, this was the first time he’d seen someone scare themselves with their own ghost story.

Inside the room, Lily Carter looked at Emily Walker with a hint of grievance and said, “Why do you walk so quietly…”

Emily Walker blinked innocently at her.

“——”

“All right, all right, it’s not your fault…” Lily Carter waved her hand dispiritedly. She should have checked the almanac before going out today. She’d planned to tell a ghost story to scare him, to see if it might jog his memory, but ended up scaring herself instead. This was already the second time she’d embarrassed herself today.

Emily Walker had come to call Grace Carter for dinner. As the three of them walked out of the courtyard, they saw Charles Walker hurrying away.

His county magistrate father-in-law was a busy man—Grace Carter knew this well. He was often so busy he didn’t have time to eat at home, and today was no exception.

Lily Carter, on the other hand, was kept by her mother-in-law to eat with them. Without Charles Walker there, the atmosphere at the table was much livelier.

Of course, most of the time, it was Lily Carter chatting with her mother-in-law, while he and Emily Walker listened.

From this, it was clear that Emily Walker was introverted, while Lily Carter was extroverted. With just a few words, she could coax her mother-in-law into laughter. If any man could master her skills, there wouldn’t be a mother-in-law in the world he couldn’t win over.

William Brooks looked at Lily Carter and said, “Yao Yao, remember what Auntie told you: when you look for a husband in the future, you must find one who cares about his family. Otherwise, it’ll be hard for the whole family to even have a meal together…”

Lily Carter picked up some food for her and smiled, “Auntie Zhong, Uncle Zhong is the county magistrate. He has to keep all the big and small matters of Yong’an County in mind, so of course he’s busier than most. But if you say Uncle Zhong doesn’t care about his family, I’m afraid he’d feel wronged to death. Unless there’s a real emergency, isn’t he always rushing home for dinner?”

William Brooks was pleased to hear this, though she didn’t show it on her face. She said, “What’s so good about being a county magistrate? That murder case the other day was finally solved, and now there’s trouble with evil spirits in Guo Family Village outside the city. They’ve invited some wandering immortal to catch ghosts. Why does he have to get involved in ghost-catching?”

“A wandering immortal, catching ghosts?”

Grace Carter looked up, a look of surprise on his face. “What wandering immortal?”

……

Grace Carter needed to reflect.

Just a few days ago, he’d sworn never to believe in ghosts or gods again, but today, he still really wanted to see what that old immortal was like.

After dinner, he left the Zhong residence straight away.

After a few steps, he turned around and saw Lily Carter following him. He asked, “Why are you following me?”

Lily Carter glanced at him and said, “Who’s following you? Is this road your private property? I’ll walk wherever I want…”

Grace Carter shook his head and kept walking.

“Hey, do you think there really are ghosts in this world?” After a couple of steps, her voice came from behind again.

Grace Carter turned around and saw Lily Carter looking timid. He couldn’t help but laugh, “If you’re scared, just stay home.”