"That’s right. If she puts enough effort into her studies, she will naturally achieve better results. There are no shortcuts to success," Yu Qi said aningfully.
Sang Yuling simply nodded in response.
"I am going to head inside now." Yu Qi said.
"Of course." Sang Yuling replied.
Yu Qi turned to the girl one last ti. "Enjoy the hot spring, Ji Gu Niang, and then study well."
"Thank you, Miss Tang." Ji Gu Niang responded politely, holding back her excitent.
As Yu Qi walked into the Saisei Ryokan, she could clearly feel Sang Yuling’s eyes following her every single movent. However, she did not let it bother her in the slightest. Whatever Sang Yuling was planning, Yu Qi was already prepared to face it head-on without hesitation.
Once inside her room, the soothing scent of sandalwood and the gentle, calming sound of trickling water from the indoor fountain filled the air. Yu Qi did not head straight to her private hot spring in the room. Instead, she lowered her gaze and stared at her hand.
There was a dark red aura surrounding her arm. She observed this strange aura with great interest. ’This Sang Yuling is quite interesting.’
Yu Qi took out her phone and called Neko-chan.
"Hai... Hai... Master... What do you want from ?" Neko-chan answered the call with a question.
"What are you doing right now?" Yu Qi asked in return.
"Well... you could say that I am studying human behaviour," Neko-chan answered casually.
"You really have beco more and more like a human." Yu Qi responded.
"Master... I am a cat." Neko-chan retorted imdiately.
"Yes... yes... you are a cat who studies human behaviour." Yu Qi replied calmly.
"Hmm... That’s correct. So, back to the topic, Master, what do you want to do?" Neko-chan asked.
"Help investigate a woman nad Sang Yuling." Yu Qi stated.
Without wasting any ti, Neko-chan imdiately began searching for the details.
"Master, I found five won with the sa na. I have already sent you the pictures of the five won. Can you identify the correct one for so that I can proceed to the next step?" Neko-chan said.
"Okay... let take a look at the pictures first." Yu Qi replied.
Yu Qi imdiately checked the pictures that Neko-chan had just sent.
"Picture number 3." Yu Qi said as she returned to the call.
"Alright. I will start digging into the information about this woman. Give one hour." Neko-chan stated.
"Sure." Yu Qi replied before ending the call.
Yu Qi stared at the dark red aura on her hand once again. She did not feel anything different at all. It simply remained there, unmoving and silent. She truly wondered what this aura was about.
....
Sang Yuling and Ji Gu Niang went to enjoy themselves in the hot spring. Sang Yuling had actually been waiting for Yu Qi to appear at the hot spring. However, even after she and her daughter finished their bath and got out, she did not see Yu Qi at all.
Both of them then returned to their room. Ji Gu Niang was already getting ready to sleep.
"Mom... I am going to sleep first." Ji Gu Niang said softly.
"Hmm... You can sleep first. Mom is still not feeling sleepy." Sang Yuling responded.
Sang Yuling waited until the sound of her daughter’s steady breathing confird that she had fallen asleep. Ji Gu Niang had been exhausted from the earlier encounter, overwheld after eting her idol, and had drifted into sleep almost instantly after their bath.
Sang Yuling opened her bag and carefully took out the pen that Yu Qi had used earlier. Her movents were slow and deliberate, as if she were handling sothing sacred. She also retrieved a small, silk-lined box that had been hidden securely within her luggage.
Inside the box was a small doll made of bound straw, tightly wrapped in a scrap of red silk. The silk looked worn, as if it had absorbed sothing over ti. Sang Yuling’s eyes darkened slightly as she stared at it.
She held the pen for a mont, her fingers curling around it possessively. A faint smile appeared on her lips, one that did not reach her eyes. Without hesitation, she slowly stabbed the pen into the doll.
The mont the pen pierced through the straw, Sang Yuling let out a quiet breath, as if sothing inside her had been satisfied.
After that, she carefully placed the doll back into the box, as though afraid of disturbing whatever had been awakened. Then, she turned her head and looked at her sleeping daughter.
Ji Gu Niang knew nothing about any of this. The girl was still imrsed in a sweet dream, completely unaware of the invisible threads tightening around her fate.
Sang Yuling’s gaze softened on the surface, but beneath it, sothing cold and calculating lingered.
The girl genuinely believed that she had simply t her idol and received a stroke of good fortune. How naïve. How convenient.
Sang Yuling intended to keep it that way.
Her daughter was the vessel, the perfect vessel. Pure, untainted, and unsuspecting. The more innocent she remained, the cleaner the fortune would be when it was transferred.
Any knowledge of the ritual would only pollute the ’Qi’ and might even trigger a backlash. Sang Yuling would not allow that to happen. She had planned everything too carefully to let sothing so trivial ruin it.
Ji Gu Niang only needed to study well, smile brightly, and believe that her future was hers.
Everything else... would be taken care of by her mother.
Sang Yuling’s lips curled slightly, her expression turning colder.
"My dear daughter, I will change your world." Sang Yuling said softly.
***This novel is a contracted work with w e b n o v e l. c o m. If you do not read this novel on w e b n o v e l. c o m, that ans it has been stolen. Thank you, from your shaless author, ZerahNeko***
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