The rescued middle-aged woman, upon seeing that the one who caught her was a snow-white skeleton, immediately pushed Gu Qiqi away and fainted with a scream. The next day, the first thing the woman did after waking up was to hire several Taoist priests to perform rituals in her house for three days, pstering talismans inscribed with "Evil Spirits Begone" all over her door. As for the man she had saved from the forest fire, the first thing he did after getting a clear look at her face was to plunge a self-defense dagger into her chest.

  As for the man Gu Qiqi rescued from the forest fire, his first reaction upon seeing her face was to stab a self-defense knife into her chest.

  As a bone yaokai, Gu Qiqi had to reveal her true form for her powers to take effect on humans.

  She wasn′t an evil spirit, so the Taoist talismans were just ordinary pieces of paper to her. She was merely a skeleton, so the man′s knife didn′t harm her in the slightest. What puzzled her was why her simple act of saving their lives—and briefly showing her true form—provoked such reactions.

  “You′re not like them!” Gu Wuming had shouted after scolding her severely.

  Not like them?

  Walking down the sunlit streets, Gu Qiqi looked at the people around her, young and old, male and female. What difference did it make that they had an extra yer of flesh? After all, when they died, wouldn′t they all become skeletons in the end? At their core, weren′t they just like her?

  Why were they so afraid? Afraid of her—weren′t they just afraid of themselves?

  Humans are such fascinating and peculiar creatures. On one hand, they go to great lengths to protect their bodies, yet on the other, they fear the very skeletons that support their flesh and blood.

  The deeper this contradiction became, the more Gu Qiqi yearned to befriend a human. Living a transient life and under her brother′s constant watch, she didn′t have many friends. Of course, “friends” here referred to various yaokais—like the little mushroom yaokai in the mountains, the old scorpion spirit in the Sahara, or the fashionable flower sprite in New York. None of them were humans.

  Gu Wuming once said that no human would ever be willing to befriend a bone yaokai. Unlike other yaokais who can endlessly transform into beautiful women or handsome men, we can never take on the pleasing appearances humans admire. From beginning to end, we are nothing but our truest form—a bare skeleton.

  Gu Qiqi knew this well. True bone yaokais, from birth to death, cannot change their form. As for that cousin who was beaten to death by the monkey spirit, no matter how powerful her cultivation, she could only forcibly drape herself in a yer of human skin, crudely impersonating a human figure, unable to truly transform into a human body.

  But so what if she couldn′t transform into a beautiful woman? What was wrong with her current appearance? Her mother had once told her that she was the prettiest girl among the Bone Yaokai cn. That′s why Gu Qiqi could never truly understand why humans rejected her. Was it really just a difference in aesthetics?

  Still, she believed that there had to be someone out there who was different.

  Gu Wuming, however, remained dismissive of her belief, just as he dismissed her habit of looking in the mirror. He said, "Let′s make a bet. If even one human is willing to truly befriend you after seeing your real form, I′ll leave your life completely in your hands from then on—I won′t interfere at all."

  "Deal!" Gu Qiqi wanted to use this bet to break free from the suffocating shackles of “obedience.” But this wager had already spanned several decades, and Gu Qiqi still showed no signs of winning. She believed that any human who might consider being her friend was inevitably scared out of their wits upon seeing her true form.

  She felt a bit discouraged but still held onto hope.

  "All the other shops are closed. Why aren′t you closing up?"

  Squatting at the entrance of the little goldfish shop, Gu Qiqi watched the colorful fish swimming in the tanks. Then she gnced at the boy sitting on an old chair by the door, curiosity sparkling in her eyes as she asked him.

  It was now 12:30 a.m. The goldfish shop was tucked away deep in the alley outside the neighborhood. The neighboring convenience stores and print shops had long since closed, but this pce remained open under the dim glow of two simple lightbulbs.

  Gu Qiqi had been noticing this goldfish shop—and the boy who tended it—for several days now. They always stayed open te, and she had never seen them close. It was just a goldfish shop, not a 7-Eleven—did it really need to operate 24/7? How odd.

  "We close just before dawn," said the boy, who looked about fifteen or sixteen. His oversized gray T-shirt didn′t fit well, and his blue jeans were so worn they had faded. He turned slightly, fumbling on the nearby shelf, and retrieved a small bag of fish food. Carefully, he sprinkled some into the tank in front of him. "Time for a midnight snack!" he said cheerfully to the fish, smiling.

  He must be blind, Gu Qiqi thought, judging by the pitch-bck sungsses perched on his pale face. Who else would wear such gsses in the middle of the night? Besides, he was clearly relying on touch to find things.

  Gu Qiqi couldn′t resist waving her hand in front of his nose.

  "Come on, I′m not blind, okay?" He said, pausing his movements to push her hand away. "It′s just that my eyes are a bit sensitive—they can′t handle bright light, and my vision′s not great, that′s all."

  Gu Qiqi awkwardly coughed twice and muttered, "Then why were you fumbling around with your hands when grabbing the fish food?"

  "I wasn′t fumbling. The weather′s been humid tely, and some of the fish food clumped together. I had to break it apart," the boy replied, rolling his eyes at her. "But look at you—wearing so many yers in this heat and even a mask. People might mistake you for a creepy auntie."

  "You...!" Gu Qiqi nearly choked on his words but had to admit he wasn′t wrong. To talk to this goldfish shop boy without scaring him, she had gone to great lengths with her outfit tonight: a high-necked tracksuit, boots, gloves, a wig, a rge sunhat, sungsses, and a mask—completely covering every inch of her body.

  "If it weren′t for your voice, I might′ve thought you were a creepy uncle," the boy said honestly.

  "I have a cold, okay?!" Gu Qiqi retorted, her expression dark, trying to justify herself. "Besides, where are you going to find a creepy uncle with such a good figure?"

  "Haha, you′re really full of yourself!" The boy ughed, his bright, shell-like teeth showing, and his ughter was as crisp as the sound of fish joyfully swimming in the water.

  "Who buys goldfish at this hour? Are they pnning to turn them into a midnight snack?" Gu Qiqi teased, mocking this impolite little brat. She gnced around—the alley was steeped in dim silence, with neither people nor even ghosts in sight.

  The mosquito zapper hanging in the corner crackled softly, the loudest sound in the stillness.

  "You′d better head home, creepy auntie," the boy said with a slight shift in his position. He leaned forward a little, turning his head toward the end of the alley. His pale lips moved faintly, murmuring something under his breath. In that moment, he truly looked like a vendor waiting for customers. Even though his eyes were hidden behind sungsses, his expression betrayed a glimmer of anticipation.

  "I′m Gu Qiqi, not some creepy auntie! I′m still young!" Gu Qiqi retorted, resisting the urge to yank off her mask and give the boy a midnight shock with her true face. Even bone yaokais cared about their appearance and hated being called "auntie" instead of "sister"—despite being several hundred years old.

  "Alright, creepy sis. Are you sure you want to stick around?" He continued gazing nonchantly toward the end of the alley.

  "You′re quick with the comebacks!" Gu Qiqi gritted her teeth in a forced smile, but inwardly, she found the brat rather amusing. "Hey, what′s your name? Do you live nearby?"

  "My name′s Ah Sheng," he replied cheerfully. "I also have an English name—‘Live.’ Call me whichever you like."

  "Live? What a weird English name. Gu Qiqi muttered to herself. But then again, it matched this peculiar boy—a sharp-tongued oddball working at a goldfish shop in the middle of the night.

  "You’re not exactly normal yourself, Miss Gu Qiqi," he quipped, clearly enjoying how many times he’d changed her title in the past few minutes. "It’s almost 1 a.m. Are you really not going to sleep? Staying up too te makes women age faster."

  "I just happen to have insomnia tonight," Gu Qiqi replied, ughing dramatically on purpose. "So I decided to stay and keep you company, you lonely little brat."

  "Suit yourself," Ah Sheng said with an amused smile, shaking his head. "People these days are getting more and more bored. Staying up all night just to watch someone sell goldfish."

  "Not as bored as you—and your boring shop," Gu Qiqi shot back, plopping down on the step by the fish tank. She pointed toward the alley and said, "I′ll bet you—if you can sell even one goldfish tonight, I′ll grant you a wish."

  "You′re not Santa Cus," he said without sparing her a gnce, still watching the alley.

  "And if you lose..." Gu Qiqi smirked, deliberately striking a roguish pose. "You′ll have to obediently say to me, ‘Beautiful sister, I was wrong.’"

  "Alright, it′s your choice to stay," he replied, turning toward her. The dark lenses of his sungsses reflected her tightly bundled face like a wrapped-up dumpling. "But I won′t lose."

  Just as he finished speaking, he smiled faintly. "Business is here..."

  Gu Qiqi′s ears picked up a faint sound, like petals falling onto soft soil, subtle and delicate.

  Ssshh, ssshh. The sound grew closer. From the other end of the alley, a shadow less than half the height of a person floated toward them, shrouded in a faint, dusty yellow mist.

  When it finally drifted close enough, Gu Qiqi could see it clearly. It was a short, white-bearded old man so round that neither his neck nor his waist were visible. He barely reached Gu Qiqi′s thigh, and if not for his distinctly shaped facial features, she might have mistaken him for a walking winter melon.