High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 940: Chapter 2 Strange Noises in the Bookstore

On the twenty-third, sweet treats stick; on the twenty-fourth, sweep the house clean.

The second day after Zheng Qing returned home was January 19th, coinciding with the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Early in the morning, after completing his morning exercises, he was urged by his parents to start the big clean-up. In Zheng Qing’s opinion, such nuisances could be easily handled by flipping through the Law book and casting a couple of minor spells.

But reality taught him that one should always prepare for the worst.

Because as Zheng Qing was cleaning, there was always an ”adult” watching him - sometimes it was his grandfather, other times Father of Zheng Qing, and then Mother of Zheng Qing - they always seemed to find a reason to stay by Zheng Qing’s side, like helping him rinse the rags, supporting a stool, or simply standing nearby, incessantly talking while he worked.

This prevented our wizard from using magic to slack off.

No, it wasn’t that he didn’t use magic at all.

During a morning’s labor, Zheng Qing used up five Calm Heart Talismans and two energy-replenishing talisman papers, ensuring that he could efficiently and effectively complete his tasks under the nagging and supervision of several parents.

It wasn’t easy.

’Why did I have to fill out a bunch of application forms, waste a perfectly good holiday, and then come home just to suffer?’ the young warlock wondered disconsolately as he knelt on the ground wiping the baseboards, imagining his peers’ carefree lives at school and growing increasingly melancholic.

For wizards, the twelfth month was also the Moon Hunting - this Moon Hunting differed from the one held by First University during the ”Campus Cup” in October. It was a longstanding tradition, described as ”hunting animals in the field to sacrifice to the ancestors”.

In other words, during this twelfth month, wizards engaged more in sacrificial rituals and ceremonies.

Of course, aside from sacrifices, many wizard organizations, including the Mage Alliance, would organize small-scale hunting competitions or preseason matches for larger-scale hunts during this period as an adjunct to the sacrifices, as well as a form of leisure after a busy year.

The Absolution Hunting Team was no exception.

Zheng Qing knew that while he was away from school for two weeks, the Absolution Hunting Team had three small-scale skirmishes with other hunting teams, including Matthew’s hunting team and Andrew’s Serpent Tail Hunting Team. Initially, he thought these matches were a great disrespect and waste of holiday time, but compared to doing house chores at home, staying in school for the hunts didn’t seem so bad.

The joy of returning home was quickly depleted by a morning of domestic drudgery.

After lunch, Zheng Qing finally found an excuse to escape the narrow cage.

He was off to San You Bookstore to help Mr.Wu clean up the shop.

”You must be back by 6:30,” Mother of Zheng Qing reminded him repeatedly as he left, ”otherwise I’ll have to heat your dinner again... Also, your cousin from your third uncle’s side is taking the college entrance examination this year; he wants to get advice from you. Come back early tonight to help him with his studying or whatever.”

Zheng Qing, who had received acceptance letters from foreign universities, had already become the proverbial ’child of someone else’s family’ among relatives. Throughout the morning’s work, he had heard his parents mentioning more than once that relatives wanted him to tutor their children.

He found it somewhat amusing and frustrating.

Tutoring? I haven’t looked at language, math, or science for half a year; how am I supposed to help them... If they want to learn how to hunt, or identify herbs, or construct magical spell formulas, I might be able to lend a hand.

The young warlock helplessly pondered whether to catch a little mischief-making ghoul from Hui Zi Ji to scare his cousin, while giving vague responses to his mother’s admonishments and beat a hasty retreat.

San You Bookstore was located at a street-facing ground-floor shop in the Yunhua Residential Complex.

With the Lunar New Year approaching, most of the shops on the street had already closed for the holiday, with only a few still open for business, mostly those like barbershops that had taboos against operating during the first lunar month.

As Zheng Qing walked to the bookstore carrying a broom and mop, as he passed a barbershop, the shopkeeper’s wife just happened to come out to throw away garbage and showed a hint of joy upon seeing Zheng Qing:

”Zheng Qing, you’re back? When did you arrive? How many days will you be staying at home?”

”Last night’s plane,” Zheng Qing said with a shy smile. ”I’ll probably leave around the seventh or eighth... the school has its requirements.”

”Tsk, these foreign schools really are different,” the shopkeeper’s wife muttered, then spotted the cleaning tools in Zheng Qing’s hands and said with a smile, ”Going to clean Mr. Wu’s shop? Such a good kid...”

Zheng Qing never faced up to such praise.

Fortunately, the barbershop’s owner didn’t expect Zheng Qing to provide any interesting answers; her mention of Mr. Wu’s shop was merely a prelude.

”Speaking of which, didn’t Mr. Wu hire a new assistant in the shop?” the shopkeeper’s wife looked back at the San You Bookstore and muttered, ”Yesterday when I passed the bookstore, I thought I heard someone talking inside, and there was even the sound of a TV, but the shop’s door was always closed. You know, that bookstore has frosted glass windows; you can see nothing through the windows...”

Listening to the barbershop owner’s wife rattling on, Zheng Qing frowned.

Ever since the beginning, other than Mr. Wu himself, Zheng Qing was the only one working part-time as an assistant in San You Bookstore. He had never heard Mr. Wu mention hiring a new staff member, and his grandfather hadn’t mentioned anything either.

Moreover, a television? Mr. Wu never used such modern electronic devices full of contemporary vibes.

As a wizard, Zheng Qing’s first thought was that the shop was now haunted—an unguarded shop, closed spaces, strange noises—any wizard’s first instinct would certainly involve ghosts or ghouls.

Of course, he couldn’t share this speculation with the barbershop’s shopkeeper’s wife.

”Oh, Mr. Wu called me yesterday about this matter,” Zheng Qing lied without a trace of embarrassment. ”He said he might have forgotten to turn off the TV when he left and asked me to turn it off today when I come to clean.”

The barbershop’s owner breathed a sigh of relief.

”I was saying, it must be that he forgot to turn off the TV; they were talking about all kinds of strange things, haha.” Realizing her words might not be quite appropriate, she laughed, waved her hand indicating Zheng Qing should hurry on his way: ”That Mr. Wu, always engrossed in his studies, doesn’t have any common sense about living... If there’s no one in the shop, you must turn off all water and electricity! Especially since he runs a bookstore, if the TV catches fire, that would be so dangerous!”

Zheng Qing nodded repeatedly in agreement while unconsciously quickening his pace a little.

He would bet that if he showed the slightest interest in chatting, he would probably not reach the bookstore just two hundred meters away in the next hour.

After a short run, the narrow facade of San You Bookstore came into Zheng Qing’s line of sight.

As always, the door was tightly closed, and on the windowsill hung the black notice board, with the white letters ’The owner is out on urgent business, the shop is temporarily closed’ shining brightly, starkly conspicuous.