The male supporting character was actually myself.

He Yongqiang climbed up the wooden ladder to the roof, originally wanting to see what new changes had occurred in the neighboring yard. Unexpectedly, he caught sight of He Jiangchen and a graceful and beautiful woman behaving intimately, whispering something and laughing happily.

"Holy crap?! Who is that?"

He wanted to get a better look, so he leaned as close as possible to the edge of his own roof.

Back then, He Gousheng relied on his parents' favor to always be superior to his older brother. To avoid disputes, the original owner's father deliberately left a gap of less than half a meter when building the house, so that the two houses, being so close together, would not cause trouble with the other party using impolite excuses such as affecting their fortune.

Therefore, the closer He Yongqiang got to the gap of less than half a meter, the closer he became.

"Wow! This is incredible! Where did He Jiangchen snag such a beautiful young lady?" Having inadvertently caught a glimpse of gossip, He Yongqiang's curiosity was instantly ignited, and he became even more eager to get closer and take a closer look.

So his feet, clad in cloth shoes, moved forward little by little. His small eyes were fixed on the pretty young woman wiping He Jiangchen's sweat and fanning him. He was so shocked and jealous that he completely forgot to look at his feet.

The Horcrux was just hooked so lightly!

He Yongqiang's foot slipped on the very edge of the eaves, and he screamed as half of his body fell into the gap. Fortunately, he had the protagonist's halo protecting him, and the gap was too narrow, so he didn't fall. However, he was in even more pain after being beaten up.

"Oh my god, my mother! Come quick, save me!"

He Yongqiang forced himself into a split, and his legs felt as if they were being torn apart.

The sudden scream startled Liao Yuzhou. She turned around and saw half a figure moving on the roof. Startled, she lowered her voice and asked, "Who is that?"

At the same time, Da Huang jumped out of the doghouse and barked wildly, barking and hopping around at the roof.

Jiang Chen thought it was a pity. With the protagonist's halo protecting him, he couldn't even think about killing the protagonist. He could only teach him a lesson out of the blue. He replied casually, "He Yongqiang must be here to spy on things in this yard again."

"Huh?! Stealing?" She had clearly underestimated the shamelessness of the other party. Her heart pounded, and she asked in a low voice, "What should we do? As the saying goes, it's not the thief you should fear, but the one who's eyeing you. He's a neighbor, and he's always been thinking about this..."

After planting the last rose bush, Jiang Chen loosened the soil, watered it, and comforted the family, saying, "Don't worry, we have Dahuang guarding the house. Besides, I've already put the ladder away."

If he really wanted to steal something, he'd have to jump off the roof, which would be quite a noise, and we'd spot it immediately if we were home.

"What if we're out and not at home?"

"When people aren't home, the dogs have even more room to maneuver, right? Don't worry, I've been outsmarting them for years, I'm pretty confident now."

"Alright then..." Liao Yuzhou felt uneasy, thinking that he had to use that big iron lock; he couldn't let that guy have a chance!

The fluffy little thing, which had been squatting on the high wall made of blue bricks and licking its paws, jumped up in fright when it heard He Yongqiang's scream. Then it happily hopped over and kicked him in the arm, meowing, "Go down!"

However, the protagonist's halo is truly powerful, and its ability to exert its strength was clearly not very effective.

The little white cat was very unwilling to give up, so it jumped down and grabbed his trouser leg, trying to drag him into the gap.

If it's understandable that I slipped and fell before, after all, I wasn't watching where I was going, and the eaves were slanted to prevent water from accumulating and were covered with a lot of green moss, so they might have been slippery.

But then He Yongqiang felt something was wrong. First, his left arm suddenly hurt as if he had been hit with a stick. Then, his right foot, which had fallen into the gap, clearly felt a heavy downward pulling force!

Remembering the strange encounter he'd had in the neighbor's yard, he was terrified. Coupled with excruciating leg pain, he started kicking and screaming, "Mommy, come save me! There's a ghost! It's haunted!"

Chapter Thirty-Six: Raising a Ghost Child?

Qian Shuandi was changing her clothes. After two days of this sweltering summer heat, her clothes were almost stinking. Hearing her son crying and wailing on the roof, she shouted angrily, "In broad daylight, what the hell is this ghost? I think you're just asking for trouble again!"

"Get down here right now! Damn it, you come home and do nothing but climb on the roof. What's up there? Are you trying to tear the tiles off the roof? I'll beat you up!" He Gousheng saw his son swaying halfway and thought he was causing trouble again, so he took off his shoes and waved them at the roof to scare him.

He Yongqiang was heartbroken.

I was just thinking of checking out what the short-lived neighbor was up to and how much money he spent, so I could tell my parents about it. But before I could even catch a glimpse of some interesting gossip, the ghost scratched at me.

The problem was that the ghost was incredibly heavy. Clinging to the eaves, he had no foothold. After howling and wailing for ages and getting a scolding, he finally managed to climb up with great difficulty. Ignoring the slight burning pain from his split legs, he grimaced and ran away without looking back.

"Meow~ Host, isn't the kitten amazing?" The fluffy ball had finally seized the opportunity, how could it possibly give it up so easily?

So, He Yongqiang, who was pale-faced, trembling and fleeing in a panic, soon lost his footing on the not-too-high wooden ladder again due to the little white cat's mischief.

"Waaaaah... Mother, help! The ghost is chasing us!" In his panic, he somehow lost his footing and slid down the wooden ladder, landing on his bottom. He Yongqiang rolled and crawled, wailing loudly.

He Gousheng, standing in the yard, watched helplessly as his son slid down the ladder. Although he knew his precious son must be in a lot of pain, it looked so funny.

He threw his smelly shoes on the ground and shuffled them on, then couldn't help but burst into laughter while clutching his stomach.

"My dear wife, hahaha...come and see this idiot...hahaha..."

The little white cat laughed so hard it almost fell over, "Host, this whole family are idiots, hahaha..."

Seeing this scene from the Horcrux's first-person perspective, Jiang Chen couldn't help but smile slightly.

Liao Yuzhou was clearly confused about what was going on. First, He Yongqiang on the roof suddenly screamed and then cried and shouted that there was a ghost. Then, he heard thumping footsteps on the roof next door. He Yongqiang's crying grew louder, and soon the neighbor's father's wild laughter came from the next yard.

And the big yellow dog in his own yard was jumping around and barking, making the scene a bit chaotic for a moment.

She was stunned for a moment, then turned to her husband and asked in a low voice, "Is their family... mentally unstable?"

"They're guilty, don't bother with them." Jiang Chen got up, scooped a ladle of water from the water vat in the yard to wash his hands, and invited her to go back inside to rest.

In the neighboring yard, He Yongqiang tumbled and crawled, tears and snot streaming down his face, clinging to his mother's leg and wailing, "Mom, there really is a ghost! That ghost grabbed my ankle and pulled me down hard, look what it did to my arm!"

He rolled up his left sleeve, and sure enough, there was a very obvious red patch on his arm.

The little white cat peeked over and glanced at me with disdain, saying, "Meow~ Your feet smell so bad, I don't want to touch you. I was just tugging at your pants leg, I didn't grab your ankle."

That slap on the arm was alright, perfectly showcasing the strength of a soft and adorable kitten! Yes, I earned my strength through my own abilities!

"You slipped and fell, didn't you?" Qian Shuandi looked closely and shook her head. "You must have hit your head on the eaves. Look at you, so cowardly! Even if there really are some ghosts or monsters next door, those things wouldn't dare to come out in broad daylight..."

Before she could finish speaking, He Yongqiang retorted, "We went to steal the dog that day, wasn't that in broad daylight? If you ask me, the ghost next door is really spooky; it dares to come out and cause trouble even in broad daylight. Mother, why don't we ask a shaman to come down from the mountain and exorcise the ghost?"

or……"

He looked around, then shivered, hugged his arms, and whispered, "I'm scared, I don't dare stay at home anymore!"

Hearing her son say this, Qian Shuandi frowned slightly.

If only the day the dog was stolen was strange, that would be one thing, but my son being this frightened today is definitely not normal.

"Honey, stop laughing! Our precious son is so scared, and instead of thinking about how to cheer him up, you're laughing! Still laughing!"

She saw her good-for-nothing husband hunching over, unable to suppress his laughter, and her anger flared up. Without saying a word, she went up to He Gousheng and started beating him. He only stopped laughing and scratched his head sheepishly as he hid to the side after being hit with fists and feet.

On the contrary, the carefree He Yongqiang saw his father being beaten by his mother and not daring to utter a sound, and covered his mouth to chuckle, "Hey~ Dad, look at you, you're such a wimp, you can't even control a woman."

He Gousheng glared at him and raised his foot to indicate a threat with the sole of his shoe, which finally shut He Yongqiang up.

"Stop fooling around!" Qian Shuandi glared at them, then lowered her voice and glanced out the window with a suspicious look, "Don't you two think this is strange?"

If there's a ghost in that courtyard, why wasn't there any trouble before?

If there really is something unclean, it would definitely be helping He Jiangchen. If it were his father or mother, why didn't they cause trouble when they were full of resentment after their deaths?

"We didn't make a fuss when we bullied He Jiangchen so badly, but now suddenly we're making a scene?"

Thinking that his mother was right, He Yongqiang used his limited brainpower to think for a moment and replied, "That means it's very likely that the ghost wasn't my uncle or aunt. If it were, they definitely wouldn't have let you two go back then."

He Gousheng glared at his son and muttered, "I also think it's not my brother and sister-in-law. I admit they're a bit cunning, but frankly, they're both cowards."

I was such a coward as a human, I refuse to believe I'll become fierce as a ghost!

“Yes, that’s what I think too.” Qian Shuandi lowered her voice, sounding somewhat mysterious. “If those two hadn’t turned into ghosts to protect their son, what do you think would have happened in the neighboring courtyard?”

Neither father nor son were particularly bright. After thinking about it for a while, they realized they couldn't figure it out and shook their heads in unison.

Qian Shuandi couldn't help but roll her eyes and complain, "How could I have been so blind as to marry such an idiot like you, and end up with an even dumber kid!"

After complaining, she said quietly, "Either there was no ghost in the neighboring yard at all, and we just happened to be lucky the day we stole the dog, or Qiangzi slipped and fell while climbing the roof today and is just scaring himself."

Either He Jiangchen's side really has some mysterious thing, or it's not that his father or mother turned into ghosts.

There's only one possibility then—that kid's raising a ghost child!

"Raising a little ghost?!" The father and son looked at each other and exclaimed in surprise at the same time.

She glared at him disapprovingly. "What's all the shouting about? I've heard of things like raising ghost children, it's really creepy. Think about it, the neighbors next door have been acting strangely for the past few days, haven't they?"

I've never seen him keep his house so clean before. I heard that if you raise a ghost child, you don't have to clean it yourself; the ghost child will keep it neat and tidy for you. And He Jiangchen suddenly has money, and he's spending it recklessly everywhere..."

Before Qian Shuandi could finish speaking, He Yongqiang's eyes lit up. "Mom, raising a ghost is so good! It helps clean the house and brings good fortune, right? Then, let's raise one too!"

Ideally, we'd raise a beautiful female ghost who can do everything from laundry to cooking, hehehe... She'd work for us and even give us money to spend. In our spare time, we could even flirt with her like in ghost stories and warm our beds. Just thinking about it makes me happy!

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Shall we give him one?

Seeing his son's dreamy expression, He Gousheng couldn't help but twitch his lips. "Where the hell did you hear those ghost stories, kid? A female ghost warming your bed?"

Why do all the ghost stories I hear are about blue-faced, fanged ghosts, hanged ghosts with incredibly long tongues, and ghosts that possess people or strangle them?

"Can't you two be serious for once!" Qian Shuandi slapped each of them, and the room finally quieted down again.

The fluffy little dumpling squatted on the table, laughing so hard she was wiping away tears with her paws. "Oh ho ho, I'm dying of laughter! What a bunch of weirdos this family is! But if you really think that way, it's quite interesting..."

It glanced at He Yongqiang and then at He Gousheng, and made a bold decision in its heart.

“If He Jiangchen really raised a ghost, it would explain why we stole the dog and Qiangzi has been having such bad luck these past few days!” Qian Shuandi analyzed seriously. “I heard that raising a ghost is very dangerous; those are children who died violent deaths and are full of resentment.”

But if raised well, it can be very good at guarding the house and can also bring bad luck to others.

Think about it, wasn't that day pretty strange? Just a skinny, half-grown dog kept the three of us from leaving the yard. There must be something guarding the house for it!

From that day on, our family has been plagued by bad luck. Did you lose a lot of money gambling? Qiangzi was beaten up first, and not only did he have to go to the hospital and suffer the pain, but he also had to pay two cents to the mentally challenged family. His wedding, which was originally set in stone, was also delayed!

I almost fell off the roof while trying to climb it today.

I've heard of people who got dizzy while climbing onto the roof, fell down, broke their necks, and died on the spot!

Do you think we got targeted by some little devil when we were stealing dogs?

Hearing her say that, the two grown men felt a chill and gloom in the room and shrank their necks involuntarily.

“But the sage didn’t see anything that day, did he?” He Gousheng thought for a moment and realized that his wife wasn’t quite right. He retorted, “If he was really being followed by something, wouldn’t the sage have noticed?”

Qian Shuandi glared at her and scolded, "Are you stupid?! Even if we're haunted by little ghosts, would the Taoist priest dare to follow us to the temple to see the immortal? You only gave the immortal a few coins and asked him a bunch of questions. He earns his living by his skills and will definitely do what he's paid for."

If you ask me…

Before she could finish speaking, He Yongqiang suddenly slapped his forehead and remembered the most important gossip. He grabbed his mother's sleeve and shook it, saying, "Mother! Mother, I just remembered, there's a beautiful young lady in He Jiangchen's courtyard!"

Tsk tsk tsk, you didn't see her figure and face, she's really like a fairy!

She's as pretty as a flower, and she even wiped He Jiangchen's sweat and fanned him. The two of them were all over each other, cuddling like a married couple!

"What? What young lady?" Qian Shuandi's voice rose involuntarily. "We were only away from home yesterday, how come he even brought a young lady back?"

He Gousheng rubbed his hands excitedly, "Maybe it was a little ghost he raised that abducted him back. I've heard of many places where people have been taken away by ghosts. They were in a daze and didn't know anything, their feet left the ground and they flew forward like the wind. When they woke up, they were dozens or even hundreds of miles away from home."