Chapter 30: “Fellow Daoist Tu Shan, May I Owe You a Knife?”

The old man guarding the gate squinted at Tu Shanju as she walked toward him.

She looked unfamiliar. Must be an ordinary passerby. So he simply shut his eyes again, continuing to fan himself under the sun.

“Excuse me, sir, could you open the gate?”

Startled, the old man’s lounge chair tipped backward.

Tu Shanju instinctively reached out a hand like a dramatic gesture from a soap opera, but with the gate between them, it was pointless even if she wanted to help.

“Ow, my tailbone!” the old man cried out, clutching his lower back.

Tu Shanju scratched her temple awkwardly. “Are you okay, sir?”

The old man slowly got up from the ground, rubbing his back and waving her off. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Don’t let the age fool you—my body’s still in good shape. Girl, who are you?”

Anyone who could see this building definitely belonged to the metaphysical world, but he didn’t recognize her. Just like any official organization, the Operations Office also kept records of visitors.

Tu Shanju understood the protocol. Yun City’s office was the same.

She introduced herself, “I’m Tu Shanju, a knife-barterer.”

The old man, who had been reaching for a tablet to register her, froze. “You’re that old geezer Tu Shan Tu’s granddaughter?”

Tu Shanju choked for a moment, unsure whether she should nod.

She opted not to acknowledge the “old geezer” part and simply replied, “Yes, I’m Tu Shan Tu’s granddaughter.”

The old man paused for two seconds, then picked up the tablet and scanned her face for registration.

“All done, child. Go on in.”

Tu Shanju couldn’t resist asking, “You knew my grandfather?”

The old man nodded. “He bartered a knife to me once.”

Tu Shanju understood and didn’t ask further.

She hadn’t sensed his name in her account book, which meant the transaction had been completed, and with payment received, there was no need to pry.

The old man glanced sideways at her.

Tu Shanju noticed but didn’t engage. No one liked being pushed into a deal. If he wanted something, he’d say so himself.

As she entered the building, everyone inside turned to look at her.

Just like the old gatekeeper, they were simply curious—because she was a stranger.

Nancheng was huge, and the office couldn’t be run by just Xu Jiangshan and two others. Different roles and departments meant some worked out in the field, while others had desk jobs.

Just as Tu Shanju was about to walk over to reception, a voice called out behind her—Lin Xiuer.

“Tu Shanju, you’re here! Come on, come to my office. The milk tea I ordered arrived ages ago.” Lin Xiuer warmly linked arms with her.

“Delivery reaches out here?” Tu Shanju asked, surprised.

“Of course! These days, even Taoists do food delivery gigs. There’s a Zhengyi Sect guy who delivers in this area—fast as lightning. I always give him five-star reviews!”

Tu Shanju nodded seriously. “That’s actually great. This place is too remote, not convenient for anything.”

Since ordinary people couldn’t see the building, all office staff had to use special exits when going out—they couldn’t just randomly appear in the middle of a street and scare people to death.

The Operations Office had several departments, one per floor.

Lin Xiuer’s office was on the third floor.

Before they got in the elevator, Lin Xiuer called out, “Xiao Liu, bring that closed case file on the evil Gu master to my office, okay?”

At that, everyone on the first floor turned to stare at Tu Shanju again.

She offered a polite smile and followed Lin Xiuer into the elevator.

The moment the elevator doors closed behind her, everyone erupted into heated discussion.

“Did you hear her name just now? Lin-jie called her Tu Shanju. She’s from the Tu Shan family?”

“What else could it be? Like it could be some other Tu Shan family?”

“That surname is rare. Sure, there are Tu Shans among normal people, but in our metaphysical world? Only one family.”

“Exactly. And if she’s able to enter this office, there’s no way she’s just some regular person.”

“Holy crap, the knife-bartering Tu Shan family? And a girl no less! I heard that whenever a girl is born in the Tu Shan clan, she’s always the strongest!”

“Ugh, you’re behind. Do you know she’s not expected to live past twenty-two? Also, her grandfather arranged a marriage for her—with the heir of Nancheng’s richest family, the Xie family. That guy’s basically the Son of Fortune!”

“No way, I didn’t know that!”

As the gossip reached a fever pitch, their team lead—who’d been standing behind them for a while—slammed a hand down on a desk.

“You didn’t know? Great! Then stop chatting and get back to work! That girl took down an evil Gu master on her first try! Meanwhile, you all have been chasing a skin-flaying ghost for half a month without catching it. And you still have time to gossip?!”

The room instantly went silent. Everyone scattered back to their desks like mice fleeing a cat.

Qian Hu, the team leader, stood with his arms crossed, lecturing loudly, “Didn’t we trace that ghost’s spirit to an old dress? You’ve got three days to close this case, or I’m docking points from all of you!”

“What are you doing every day? If she kills one more person, she’ll become a vengeful ghost. You know how hard those are to catch?”

“Right now I’m yelling at you, but next time it’ll be upper management revoking your enforcement permits—and you’ll be back retaking the civil service exam. Sound fun?!”

“All of you—!”

Despite Qian Hu’s tall, tough appearance, as the team leader of Group One, he nagged like a grumpy auntie.

Meanwhile, upstairs, completely unaware that she’d sparked a round of reprimands downstairs, Tu Shanju was happily sipping a cup of taro bubble milk tea.

Seeing how much she liked it, Lin Xiuer smiled brightly. “Good, right? Their full-sugar taro bubble tea is chef’s kiss. We’ve got similar tastes—I’ve got a crazy sweet tooth too.”

Tu Shanju swallowed her mouthful of milk tea. “I figured you liked sweets. I saw you chewing gum before.”

That “gum” was actually a form of ghost energy—but still a kind of sugar.

So she must definitely be a fellow sweet tooth.

Lin Xiuer was a bold, straightforward personality—Tu Shanju even more so. It made Lin Xiuer really like her.

The only difference was that Lin Xiuer was naturally social, while Tu Shanju clearly struggled with interpersonal skills.

But that was fine. Opposites made for great friendships.

And it turned out Lin Xiuer really could keep up with Tu Shanju’s abrupt, deadpan conversational style. Even if Tu Shanju dropped a lead brick of a statement, Lin Xiuer could scoop it off the floor and toss it right back.

“You mean your grandparents didn’t reincarnate, but stayed in the underworld with government jobs?”

“That’s so cool! If you died, wouldn’t you be able to strut around the underworld like a boss?”

Tu Shanju: “……”

Lin Xiuer could handle her, but Tu Shanju definitely couldn’t handle Lin Xiuer.

Just as Tu Shanju was wondering how to answer that, a knock came at the office door.

It was Xiao Liu, dropping off the case file.

He’d also brought along a “request.”

After Tu Shanju signed the document and pressed her fingerprint, Xiao Liu hesitated a moment before nervously asking:

“Fellow Daoist Tu Shan… may I owe you a knife?”