The Hall Master Is Pretending to Be Sick Again

The eldest daughter of the Qin family has been sickly since childhood, her health so frail that she has rarely left home for years. No one in or around Yancheng has even seen what she looks like.

Recently, the Qin family made an announcement: whoever marries their eldest daughter will receive a lavish dowry.

Quite a few spoiled young gentlemen in the city are tempted. After all, if they marry a sickly woman and keep her at home like a treasured idol for a few days, perhaps they can get their hands on that dowry.

The marriage is settled at once, and everyone wants to catch a glimpse of the Qin bride at the wedding.

But who could have guessed that on the wedding day, the bride would run away!

*

Yancheng has been far from peaceful lately. Strange deaths and bizarre supernatural incidents keep occurring. Every household bolts its doors and windows at night, afraid some evil spirit or sorcerer might come knocking. A few months later, a saying spreads through Yancheng: if ordinary people run into a difficult case, they can seek out Chief Qi of Pingzhao Hall. Within three days, all their troubles will be gone.

The difficulty is that she is mysterious and elusive. Few people have seen her, and no one knows when she might be at the hall taking cases.

Many people offer large sums of money to get Chief Qi to solve their cases. Then, not long afterward, someone claims to have seen her. Whenever Chief Qi appears to crack a case, she often has a young man with her, and the two are inseparable. Everyone guesses that the young man is courting Chief Qi.

While boiling medicine, Fu Ji suddenly remembers the rumor circulating around the city. He immediately gets up and goes over to Qin Guanpu, who is reading. Raising an eyebrow, he says teasingly, "Miss, stop reading. What do you think about the recent rumors?"

Qin Guanpu does not even spare him a sidelong glance. "Go away," she says coolly.

Fu Ji clutches his chest and takes several steps back, looking wounded.

Then he curls his lips into a smile and gives the red cord around his wrist a little shake. When she still ignores him, the young man sulkily gives it a tug. The other end of the cord is wrapped around Qin Guanpu's wrist. His tug makes her hand jerk, and the book in her hand clatters to the floor.

"..." Qin Guanpu rubs her forehead. "Stop messing around."

Fu Ji says, "You don't pay attention to me."

Qin Guanpu massages her temples and looks at him. "Then how about you sit in front of me and boil the medicine, and I'll watch you the whole time?"

Sometimes she really wonders whether Fu Ji is even a demon hunter. How can he be so clingy?

Qin Guanpu looks at the sturdy red cord around her wrist and sighs.

What can she do when she's tied to a clingy pest?

[Sweet romance, one-on-one, mystery solving and demon hunting.]

■A sickly, reserved noblewoman x a free-spirited, unruly demon hunter

The setting is fictional, with many original elements. Please don't nitpick.

Theme: Take your fate into your own hands.