I'm Already the Richest Man, Why Did My System Just Arrive?

Chapter 363: Chapter 203: Ghost Painter

That night.

The distant dark clouds looked like a heavy mass of sand, rolling in on the wind. As they rolled, they blotted out the stars and moon above Richan Town.

The air was heavy and stifling, thick with an unsettling tension.

A sandstorm was brewing.

A handsome couple walked the deserted streets of Richan Town.

The woman held an orange cat in her arms.

"Meow."

Curled up in the woman’s arms, Little Feng Miao lifted its head and let out a soft whimper, pawing at the soft pillows blocking its nose.

’These giant pillows are making me anxious!’

"Shh, settle down."

Xie Luohe soothed it gently, and the cat quickly settled down.

After calming Little Feng Miao, Xie Luohe looked up, her gaze drifting into the distance.

Shadowy figures moved on the rooftops, hidden in the darkness. She instinctively clenched her fists.

"We’re almost home. Don’t worry."

Zheng Xiu gave a small smile and put his arm around her shoulders.

Xie Luohe lowered her head. "Mm."

The two returned home without incident and lit an oil lamp.

"Husband, I have a premonition of an Omen."

After dinner.

Zheng Xiu pulled a dust-covered wooden box out from under the bed.

WHOOSH~

He blew the dust off the wooden box, then slowly took out the Luohe Brush, sealed away for many years.

Xie Luohe, already lying in bed, lazily turned over. She watched quietly as Zheng Xiu retrieved the brush. Her gaze then drifted inadvertently to the Longbow that had hung on the wall for many years.

Zheng Xiu stepped outside, drew a bucket of fresh water from the well, and wet a towel. Sitting by the door, he carefully wiped the grime from the Luohe Brush.

Before long, the Luohe Brush was gleaming like new.

He returned to the room and shut the door tightly.

Zheng Xiu tucked the Luohe Brush under his pillow and blew out the oil lamp. In the darkness, Xie Luohe’s bright left eye stared right at him.

"Let’s just get some sleep tonight."

Zheng Xiu chuckled, ruffling Xie Luohe’s soft, long hair.

Remembering what had happened at Mohe Pavilion that day, Xie Luohe felt a flicker of unease.

"Husband, I just can’t shake this premonition of an Omen."

"Don’t worry. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"They won’t let this rest."

"Heh. Of course not."

"But they were asking about the Green River Trade Route. It must be because..."

"I suspect there’s been some upheaval in the Central Plains."

Zheng Xiu sighed softly. "Conflicts between nations are never simple. But what does any of that have to do with powerless common folk like us?"

Xie Luohe fell silent at his words, then turned away and closed her eyes.

WHOOSH... WHOOSH... WHOOSH...

「In the middle of the night.」

Faint, unusual sounds could be heard outside.

Xie Luohe tossed and turned in bed.

One moment, she would press close to Zheng Xiu. The next, she would touch his chest, then rub his cheek, then cover her own ears tightly.

Xie Luohe couldn’t sleep.

In the darkness, she sat up abruptly. Staring out the coarse cloth-covered window, she instinctively made a motion as if pulling on a pair of gloves.

Another hand snuck out from under the blankets. So her husband hadn’t been sleeping either. He precisely slid his fingers between hers, intertwining them. With a gentle squeeze, Zheng Xiu took hold of her small hand, which was radiating killing intent.

"What are you doing, making such strange gestures in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"

Zheng Xiu kneaded her fingers with his, a wicked grin on his face.

"Oh, you’re impossible." The once-domineering Xie Luohe had, after ten years of married life, become a sharp-witted young wife who knew her husband inside and out. She understood what he was implying with that gesture at a glance, and the killing intent in her heart vanished without a trace, replaced by a playful smile.

"Can’t sleep?" Seeing that her killing intent had subsided, Zheng Xiu pulled her into an embrace, tucking her back into the blankets as he asked softly.

"It’s noisy..." Xie Luohe said pitifully.

Zheng Xiu thought for a moment.

"Alright."

He said only that single word, then got up in the darkness and lit the oil lamp.

"What... are you doing?"

Xie Luohe watched her husband in astonishment, curious why he would ignore his beautiful wife in the middle of the night to light a lamp and grind ink.

"I suddenly feel inspired... to paint something."

A blank sheet of paper was spread out on the long table.

When the ink was ready, Zheng Xiu dripped a few drops of blood into it.

In a corner of the room, the cat named Little Feng Miao suddenly lifted its head, its bright green eyes watching Zheng Xiu with an unnerving calm.

Zheng Xiu sat cross-legged. Left hand holding back his sleeve, right hand holding the brush, he remained motionless, as if hesitating.

Xie Luohe asked, "Is this really a good idea?"

Zheng Xiu shook his head. "I know you hate the noise. Since we’ve already left the Jianghu, we shouldn’t get involved again."

"But you..."

"I am still a Painter."

All his hesitation vanished. Zheng Xiu finally made up his mind. A vein bulged on his forehead as he pressed the tip of the brush to the paper with the force of a slamming fist.

"Demons and Monsters."

With thick, heavy ink, Zheng Xiu first painted a swatch of deep, dark night onto the paper.

Next, he thinned the ink. With a few quick strokes, he added many light-colored "specks" to the deep "night," making them look like pairs of faintly visible eyes. On the paper, the endless darkness now teemed with ghostly figures, as if hiding countless unknown evils.

"There."

Zheng Xiu got to his feet. While Xie Luohe wasn’t looking, he secretly pressed his unhealed finger into the center of his "Demons and Monsters" painting.

The lamp went out.

They held each other, and Xie Luohe’s expression gradually grew calm.

She curled up greedily in Zheng Xiu’s arms.

She wished that time would stop in this very moment.

On the scroll, the little sketched "specks," the patterns that looked like "eyes," began to roll and swivel.

"Sleep now."

...

「The next day.」

The sun was already high in the sky.

A crowd of Great Desert residents had gathered on a street corner.

Brother Ridi, now a Clan Leader, was rushing frantically through Richan Town, clearly at his wit’s end.

A neatly dressed Boss Mo strolled toward Mohe Pavilion, carrying breakfast and whistling as he went to open his shop. Just then, Ri Di hurried right past Zheng Xiu.

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