High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2391: Chapter 612: New Year’s Money

Bang!

The dense fireworks blossomed in the night, causing everyone inside to turn simultaneously and look out the window.

This round of fireworks not only displayed floral shapes but also a variety of animals, mainly oxen and tigers, as it was the Year of the Ox before New Year’s Eve, and the Year of the Tiger on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Strange-looking tigers with multiple heads, scorpion tails, wings, or unicorn horns, dashed and played freely in the night, catching those clumsy golden oxen that also evolved from fireworks, then tearing them into pieces, scattering stardust across the sky. Other zodiac images like dragons, snakes, dogs, and rabbits flickered among the nebulae, peering at this lively scene.

As the first golden ox shook its head and ran in the night sky, Poseidon screamed and rushed out of the house, seeming eager to climb into the heavens as well. More than a dozen mansion maids jumped up hastily, following her, fearing this little ancestor might impulsively slip out of the mansion’s fence.

Meanwhile, Zheng Qing swiftly prepared the New Year’s money.

After some heartache, he made up his mind — since Su Daxu mentioned words like ’perfect ten’, the red envelope for her could only contain ten jade coins; then slightly lower, Poseidon would get nine, as a bribe to the Nine Yaoxing Jun who dominated human fortunes; for the remaining forty-plus maids, each got one jade coin, elegantly named ’wholehearted’.

”Sister Man gets eight, she is the mansion steward, after all, and should be quite versatile.” Su Shi embraced her fur coat, reclining to one side, as she flipped a book, glanced at the stack of red envelopes prepared by the warlock, and her lips moved slightly, with sound transmitted clearly into the boy’s ear.

Versatile.

Zheng Qing muttered this word, recalling the head maid’s usual unemotional face and indifferent tone, completely unable to relate her to being versatile.

”Is there anything else to pay attention to?” he asked casually, his sudden voice drawing many curious glances inside the room. Instantly he realized, Su Shi had just used sound transmission magic.

”Ignoring or overly relying on magic is not a good habit.” Su Shi’s mouth curled slightly, casually mentioning an amusing anecdote she recently heard: ”Do you remember your magical zoology lecturer?”

”Gan Ning?”

”Yes, that’s the name. He was suspected heavily in the ’Raven case’ and was under the surveillance of the Trident Sword, yet he escaped despite their intense monitoring?”

”Did the Trident Sword catch him?” Zheng Qing stopped sealing a red envelope, looking up at Su Shi with surprise and sentiment, already imagining the scene he’ll see of this former lecturer in the interrogation room.

”What are you thinking?” The owner of Greenhill Mansion chuckled: ”Those Trident Sword fools, as if they could catch that raven so quickly... I just found out how he managed to escape.”

”How did he escape?”

”He dug a tunnel. Your magical zoology lecturer used ordinary shovels and hoes, and manually dug a tunnel leading straight to the edge of Silent Forest, without using any magic or leaving any magical traces. Even the entrance of the tunnel in his residence was hidden using a regular mechanical contraption. This caused the Trident Sword, accustomed to using magic for on-site detection, to miss the anomaly at first.”

Zheng Qing was stunned and speechless.

Upon further reflection, it seemed perfectly logical.

In an area with the highest alliance wizard density and the most flourishing magic skills, who would expect a wizard proficient in magic to use commoners’ methods?

”Indeed, one shouldn’t overly rely on magic.” The boy couldn’t help but chuckle.

The fireworks outside gradually faded, and his red envelopes were ready.

When the eager Poseidon returned from the little garden, chilly and thrilled, she found an odd, furry queue formed inside the room.

The queue’s end led to a low-back sofa, where Zheng Qing sat cross-legged, a stack of red envelopes by his side. The maids who hadn’t gone outside reverted to their original forms, dragging their fluffy big tails, lining up with eager eyes toward those stacks of red envelopes, each receiving their New Year’s money from the warlock.

The foxes were similar in size and not tall, reverting to their original forms allowed them to gaze straight at the boy on the low-back sofa. After receiving the red envelope, they would raise their paws to bow, using fox language to express their New Year’s blessings to the boy, filling the room with all kinds of chattering.

”Chirp chirp!”

The Little Fox flipped her tail, kicking her small legs, trying to squeeze into the line, when suddenly four furry big tails, like a giant hand, reached out from beside her, catching her and tossing her to the end of the line.

She wasn’t the only one caught and thrown to the back, there was also a greyish Gouzi. Zheng Qing hadn’t noticed when Furry Bean sneaked into the room.

”Line up.”

Su Shi, reclining on the side, uttered two words sternly, her imposing gaze sweeping across the Gouzi trying to sneak away, causing it to whimper and tuck its tail, obediently lining up in front of Poseidon.

Poseidon drooped her ears, dragged her tail, displaying a lethargic and pitiful expression. Alas, the room was full of Fox Spirits, each one’s acting far superior to hers, aside from the boy handing out red envelopes at the end of the line, only the grey-skinned Gouzi ahead might be fooled by her pitiful look.

”Meow~”

Zheng Qing looked down at Furry Bean in front of him, panting, paws raised, and blinking at him — he had completely forgotten he also had a dog, and forgot to prepare a New Year’s gift for the Gouzi — fortunately, his bag was hefty enough, preparing one at the last minute was timely.

The only issue was, he had no more red envelopes left.

The boy quickly glanced at Su Shi, only to find the witch seriously flipping through the book ”The Fragment of Sellino”, seemingly oblivious to his signal for help.

How childish.

Rolling his eyes inwardly, the warlock had a sudden inspiration, fetched a Red String, strung a jade coin on it, hung it around Furry Bean’s neck, and smiled as he petted the dog’s head: ”Happy New Year, wishing you immunity from a hundred evils~!”

Perhaps sensing the boy’s inner complaints.

Carrying her book, Su Daxu hummed coldly: ”Oh, right, I almost forgot to tell you... the flowers you picked in the garden this morning, I expedited them, probably reaching Zhongshan Jiang Family’s old house by noon on the first. No need to thank me. Just prepare more red envelopes, you have many siblings and junior relatives here in Qingqiu.”

Plop.

The jade coin Zheng Qing was playing with slipped from his hand, falling onto the carpet with a muffled thud.

His mind was a tumult, unable to discern if he was grieving the jade coins in his wallet, or worried that something peculiar was sneakily placed in the bouquet he secretly sent out.

The next second, a cyan shadow darted out, grabbing the jade coin, then swiftly disappearing around the corner of the sofa.