1.
Xu Zao is a young Taoist priestess. Her training is mediocre, but she's got a silver tongue.
"My master says other people make a living with their skills, but I make a living with my mouth."
Her master's exact words were: "You little rascal, Xu Xiaozhao! Look at you. You can't even beat a rabbit spirit. How can you be a Taoist priestess? With that mouth of yours?"
But that's beside the point.
Xu Zao isn't ashamed. As long as she solves the problem and takes good care of her customers, what's the harm?
Xu Zao is different from other Taoist priestesses, too. Her clients aren't humans having trouble with spirits.
They're the fluffy spirits themselves.
2.
Humans hate the rat spirit living in their house.
The rat spirit, on the other hand, thinks the humans are trespassing on her territory.
She bites everything in their home and makes a huge mess.
So Xu Zao goes over.
She sits down on the sofa. It creaks, then collapses beneath her.
She doesn't get the least bit angry. Instead, she narrows her eyes and smiles obsequiously.
"Sister Rat Spirit, this place is much too cramped for you. Don't get mad at those thoughtless humans. I'll find you a big, spacious place to live."
With her silver tongue, Xu Zao drives the shabby little car her sect has passed down for decades and takes the rat spirit to a farm in the suburbs.
The rat spirit is very pleased and gives her three whiskers.
"This is your payment."
"Burn one, and I'll come to you right away."
Xu Zao may be bad at everything else, but she's excellent at fire-control techniques.
3.
On her way home, she passes a suburban lake.
A woman's hair is as thick as seaweed, and a lotus flower is tucked into her hair.
She shows only half her head above the water, blowing bubbles.
Thinking someone has fallen in, Xu Zao jumps in without hesitation.
She swims over to the woman, grabs her arm, and tries to pull her toward the shore.
Her first thought: She's so cold.
Her second thought: Why can't I move her?
Suddenly, the jade pendant around her neck snaps in two.
Xu Zao is terrified. She lets go and tries to run.
Something clamps tightly around her waist, while seaweed-like hair coils around her body, binding her fast.
The woman's voice stretches out slowly, so gentle it could drown someone.
"I... found... you."
"Wife."
Bonus Scene 1.
Xu Zao silently recites a spell, and a tiny flame appears on her fingertip.
She burns one of the whiskers.
A cloud of smoke immediately rises through the floor and turns into the rat spirit.
"What do you need me for?" She pinches Xu Zao's cheek.
Xu Zao points at Shen Jingshui.
"Could you make her go away?"
The female ghost, who had been sitting obediently, suddenly gets red eyes.
Her long hair quickly wraps around Xu Zao's wrist, pulling her into her arms.
A ball of water suddenly forms in the air, then turns into an arrow.
It flies straight at the spirit.
The female ghost tilts her head and tenderly kisses the spot on Xu Zao's face that was touched.
"Mine."
"Don't touch her."
Bonus Scene 2.
Xu Zao: "You're so scary! Why are you hiding in the bathtub while I'm taking a bath?"
The female ghost slowly blinks. "Protecting... my wife."
Reader's guide: Not scary.
A cozy, lighthearted story about fluffy spirits.
Power ranking: Ghosts > Taoist priestesses > Demons > Humans
Gentle and considerate but intensely possessive true ghost × Bubbly, silver-tongued, timid little Taoist priestess
Original title: Bones Buried in Mirror Lake
Theme: Treasure your time.
