"No, I just arrived." After saying this, Wei Xunzhou silently tightened his grip on the broom.
"That's right. When we first came in, this house was covered in dust." As she spoke, Di Yao picked up the feather duster and started dusting the wooden shelf.
"Hey, husband, do you have an extra dustpan? I'll go clean the side room."
Di Yao called him "husband" fluently, her movements quick and decisive, a completely different style from Wei Xunzhou's unhurried, slow state.
"There isn't any." Wei Xunzhou hadn't even had time to look up when he suddenly heard a harsh crash.
Di Yao had just not paid attention to her feet and kicked over a stool.
Di Yao's face turned awkward. She looked at Wei Xunzhou and gave an embarrassed dry laugh.
"I accidentally knocked it over."
"Let me," Wei Xunzhou said, putting down what he was holding, taking the feather duster, and bending over to right the stool. "You sit here and rest."
Di Yao picked up the stool and circled to the area Wei Xunzhou had already cleaned, hesitating to put it down. "That was just a mistake. I'm very efficient at work."
Wei Xunzhou nodded and focused on dusting. Where Di Yao had to stand on tiptoe to reach, Wei Xunzhou only needed to raise his hand to touch it easily.
Meanwhile, the sweeping work that required Wei Xunzhou to bend down was just right for Di Yao.
So she put down the stool and started sweeping.
After finishing the main hall, Di Yao went to sweep the side room, but it was spotless, clearly already cleaned by Wei Xunzhou.
Now the house was empty, and the yard was not messy. Seeing there was nothing left to do, Di Yao thought about preparing some tea for Wei Xunzhou.
Unexpectedly, the residence had everything except tea sets. Di Yao searched around the yard, then realized that not only were there no tea sets, there were no kitchen stoves, bowls, or chopsticks either!
"Oh! This is really strange and deadly!"
Di Yao put her hands on her hips, frowning. Looking at Wei Xunzhou's busy figure in the house, she was determined to get him something to drink.
Through the fence, she saw a faint light in the house of the neighboring yard. Her mind immediately became active. She picked up the lantern hanging on the fence, left her own yard, and went to the door of the neighboring yard, knocking softly.
After a long time without hearing any footsteps, she knocked again several times. An old woman's hoarse voice came from the yard: "The door isn't locked. Come in directly."
So Di Yao pushed the door open and entered.
The layout of this yard's house was very different from hers and Wei Xunzhou's. Comparing the two, Di Yao felt that this yard was very cramped, not even half the size of hers.
Following the light, she found the main hall. Through the window, she saw the shadow of an old woman holding a needle and thread, working stitch by stitch.
Di Yao knocked on the door, and after receiving permission, entered. The room had only a single candle on the table and the light from her own lantern, with no other brightness.
The old woman had silver-white hair and a hunched figure, sitting cross-legged. Even after Di Yao entered, she only glanced at her, her hands not pausing at all.
"Sit down, young lady."
Di Yao glanced at the sewing basket on the table, then looked at the old woman. She noticed that besides wrinkles and age spots, the old woman's face had a large scar, as if from a burn.
"Grandma, I'll leave the lantern here, otherwise the room is too dark, bad for your eyes."
The old woman's hands trembled slightly, then she put down her work. In the candlelight, she examined Di Yao. A glimmer of light flashed in the old woman's murky yellow eyes.
Di Yao openly introduced herself to the old woman and chatted a bit.
"Grandma, do you live here alone?"
"Yes." Ning Shuhe looked up and saw the pity and concern in Di Yao's eyes. She laughed a few times. "This is Wrongful Death City, not a good place to live. It's better for me to be alone than to have someone accompany me here."
Di Yao thought it made sense. She couldn't help but think of herself and Wei Xunzhou, both young and dying early, trapped in this Wrongful Death City, unable to reincarnate. On second thought, she herself was more pitiable.
Di Yao told Ning Shuhe all her thoughts, making Ning Shuhe laugh until tears came.
"Girl Yao'er, coming here so late, have you encountered any trouble?" Ning Shuhe took the initiative to ask.
"Hehe, Grandma Ning really understands me. I do have a small problem now. My husband and I just moved here today. I thought he was tired from cleaning the house, so I wanted to pour him some water to drink, but there's no water in the house, and not even cups or bowls. I'm not very familiar with Wrongful Death City, so I thought I'd borrow a pot of water and some bowls from you, and I'll repay you double later."
After hearing this, Ning Shuhe frowned, completely losing her happy smile from before. She picked up her needle and thread again, sewing five or six stitches before speaking.
"Sorry, young lady, I don't have those things at my house. Not just my house, but the entire Wrongful Death City probably doesn't have what you're looking for."
Seeing Di Yao puzzled, Ning Shuhe spoke again: "Don't worry, young lady, and don't go looking. Ghosts in the Underworld don't need to eat or drink. Naturally, your husband won't feel thirsty."
"Don't need to eat or drink? Then what if you want to eat or drink something? Do you know where to find food?"
A bad premonition rose in Di Yao's heart, and then Ning Shuhe's words confirmed her despair.
Ning Shuhe waved her hand and said, "I've been here for over ten years. Except around the Cold Food Festival every year, I've never seen any food or drink. Look at my place, I don't even have a cup."
Di Yao returned empty-handed to her own empty small yard, feeling as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her, completely dejected.
She remembered that Judge Cui's food ledger recorded that she still had three hundred dan of grain left to eat in this lifetime. But in the Underworld, there was no food at all.
To reincarnate, would she really have to stay here for thirty years until her lifespan ran out?