PD -Chapter 118 New Tenant

“Don’t take what a child says too seriously.”

Just as the little boy was about to answer my question, the woman beside him patted him lightly again and smiled at me.

“Oh right, I’ve already put that photo album in the cabinet. Since you’re here, I’ll return it to its rightful owner.”

With that, she stood up and walked into the room to fetch it.

Taking advantage of the moment she left, I leaned closer to the child and signaled him to quietly tell me what exactly was inside the wardrobe.

Children are innocent and naturally have no guard. He leaned into my ear and whispered, “Whenever Mom works the night shift, I see a man in black clothes inside the wardrobe, watching me. But when I call him, he won’t come out.”

Just as I was about to ask further details, the woman had already returned from the room holding an old, worn photo album.

I had no choice but to stand up, drop the questioning, and act as if nothing had happened.

After all, we were in someone else’s home. Since the mother clearly didn’t want the child mentioning it, we couldn’t push further.

When I first came in, I carefully observed the furnishings and layout. I noticed there didn’t seem to be any men’s clothing or signs of a male presence anywhere—neither on the balcony nor inside the rooms.

That suggested this was a single mother household. Judging from their living conditions, life probably wasn’t easy for them.

The woman came out of the room and handed the slightly worn album to Liu Xiaopeng.

“It’s a bit old, but I repaired and organized it a little. Take a look.”

Liu Xiaopeng thanked her and took the album, flipping through it page by page. His expression grew complicated.

“Big sister, when did you start living here?” I asked while he was looking through it.

“Oh, I haven’t been here long. About a month,” she replied while hurriedly pouring us cups of freshly boiled water. “I’m renting this place. From what the landlord said, the previous owner of Xiao Liu’s family sold this house to him a long time ago… but because it was cheap, it seems it was left vacant for a while.”

“We’re just a poor single mother and child. Life’s hard. Finally found a cheap place, so we couldn’t care less about how remote it is.”

She sighed, her face showing exhaustion from life’s hardships.

“Then… did the landlord ever tell you anything about what happened here before?” I continued probing, trying to indirectly learn about what happened to Liu Xiaopeng’s family.

She shook her head, then looked at Liu Xiaopeng before continuing.

“I only found this old photo album while cleaning out the wardrobe, and that’s how I learned someone used to live here. I don’t really know anything else.”

She seemed to find my questions a bit strange and looked like she wanted to ask me something back—what exactly had happened here.

But I didn’t give her the chance, quickly shifting the topic.

“Then… are you and your child used to living here?”

She froze for a moment, hesitating, then said awkwardly, “The house is very old. There are always things that aren’t quite right… like at night there are mice. They make a lot of noise.”

She then looked at Liu Xiaopeng again, a little apologetically.

“Sorry, Xiao Liu, I don’t mean to ruin your memories…”

“It’s fine, big sister,” Liu Xiaopeng said with a smile, shaking his head.

“But it is strange,” she continued after seeing he wasn’t upset. “I’ve tried turning on the lights many times at night to catch those mice, but I never find them. The noise is really loud though.”

“That might be why the child thinks there’s someone in the wardrobe…” she said, patting her son’s head.

Liu Xiaopeng and I exchanged a glance. He understood what I meant and put the photo album down, taking out an EMF detector from his pocket and turning it on.

“What’s that?” the woman asked in confusion.

I quickly smiled and explained, “We work in interior design. I noticed your walls were freshly painted, so we’re checking whether formaldehyde levels are too high.”

“The walls were repainted by the landlord before we moved in,” she said after a pause. Although hesitant, she didn’t stop him.

Shentu, who had been standing behind us silently with folded arms, rolled her eyes as she watched Liu Xiaopeng.

“What an amateur,” she muttered.

I shot her a glare, but she didn’t back down.

“Call him back,” Shentu said impatiently. “No need to test anything. It’s definitely over the limit!”

I was stunned for a moment before realizing she meant something else entirely.

After thinking for a moment, I turned to look at the woman sitting beside her child.

“Over the limit?” she immediately panicked. “Will it affect my child’s health?”

At that moment, Liu Xiaopeng turned off the detector and came back. He looked at me and gave a subtle nod—clear confirmation that the device had detected an abnormal magnetic field.

This house… indeed had something unclean inside it.

I hesitated, glanced at Shentu, who looked completely indifferent, arms still crossed as if watching a show.

I sighed inwardly, then forced a smile.

“Don’t worry, your formaldehyde levels are indeed a bit high, but it won’t cause serious harm in the short term. We came in a hurry today and didn’t bring the proper equipment to deal with it. We’ll go back first and then come back later to help you fix it.”

“That… that’s really kind of you. But the cost…” the woman stood up nervously.

Liu Xiaopeng quickly waved his hand.

“No need to worry, big sister. We won’t charge anything this time. Think of it as thanks for keeping that album for me.”

“How could I accept that…” she said, fidgeting with her clothes. She was clearly an honest, modest woman.

Liu Xiaopeng picked up the album, exchanged a few more polite words with her, and we finally left the building and got back into the car.

“So this is how you guys usually work? With that thing beeping in your hands?”

As soon as she got in the car, Shentu looked at Liu Xiaopeng and asked disdainfully.

“The two of you clearly have spiritual abilities, yet your perception is this weak…”

She shook her head.

“Want big sister to teach you how it’s really done?”