Summary 1:
Something interesting had happened in the North City of late.
The creepy, eerie haunted mansion located in the East District of the North City, which had remained empty and void of people for many, many years, suddenly had a fresh, human presence!
And the person who moved into the creepy, haunted mansion wasn’t some all-powerful, omnipotent priest or monk.
No – the person who moved in was simply a youthful teenage girl. An extraordinarily beautiful teenage girl, who had in her possession an extremely plump and attractive black cat.
The residents in the East District of the North City all engaged in hushed, secretive discussions, each wondering whether this youthful teenage girl, would be the seventh person who would meet her untimely death in the creepy, haunted mansion.
Summary 2:
Jiang Su isn’t human. And yet, she is neither a ghost, nor a demon.
Jiang Su didn’t know how long she’s been alive; neither did she know her actual age.
She possessed an outward appearance that never ages, and a body that never dies.
Her disillusioned, cynical soul was deceptively hidden beneath her immaculate, enchanting outward appearance as she wandered aimlessly in the human world.
She was greedy, lustful, and extremely, extremely lazy. In her long, never-ending lifetime, her only hobbies were to (1) flirt with handsome, attractive men, and (2) spend her money as though the money she had earned was nothing but cheap dirt.
As such, Jiang Su often swung between the two extremes of being immensely wealthy, and immensely poor.
In order to live a better, more comfortable life, Jiang Su decided to exploit her talents and capabilities, and worked as a witch in her spare time.
Amongst all the witches, Jiang Su was the singular witch who was the best at exorcising and catching ghosts. Amongst all the exorcists and ghost-busters, Jiang Su was the sole exorcist and ghost-buster who was the best at Feng Shui (Chinese geomancy). And amongst all the geomancers, Jiang Su was the solitary geomancer who was also an expert in fortune telling. And amongst all the fortune tellers, Jiang Su was the one and only fortune teller who possessed unrivalled skills in capturing demons.
The 21st century.
Having exhausted all of her savings, Jiang Su had little choice but to roll up her sleeves, and revive her career as a witch / exorcist / ghost-buster / geomancer / fortune teller / demon-catcher — only to discover, that she was now working in a sunset industry, and that many of her fellow witches / exorcists / ghost-busters / geomancers / fortune tellers / demon-catchers barely earned enough to put food on the table.
Jiang Su resolutely grabbed hold of her witch / exorcist / ghost-buster / geomancer / fortune teller / demon-catcher banner, and decided to inject some life into the industry.
Summary 3:
Zhai Jin Yu: As a young lady, couldn’t you act in a more reserved manner?
Jiang Su’s eyes lit up immediately, “Does that mean, that an old lady would have the right to express her wild inner desires freely and without inhibition?”
Zhai Jin Yu: “…”
On a dark and cloudy night –
Jiang Su opened the door to Zhai Jin Yu’s room.
Clasping her hand over her chest, she weakly leaned against the frame of his door, as though she was a pliant, fragile willow. Furrowing her brows ever so slightly, she gazed at Zhai Jin Yu with tears in her eyes, and mewled in a soft and sweet voice, “Captain Zhai, my chest hurts – couldn’t you help me massage it a little?”
Zhai Jin Yu, “…… You must be crazy.”
Slam.
The door swung shut in front of Jiang Su’s face.
[Ebook]
The Witch Jiang Su (神婆姜苏) begins with an old, lonely fortune teller going about his fortune telling business when he hears news that the person that he’s been waiting for since time immemorial has returned. He rushes back to his house, and that’s when we are introduced to our female lead – Jiang Su. Jiang Su first appears to us as a beautiful, proud, and quirky youthful girl, but we quickly learn that Jiang Su has been living since eons ago (as time has simply stopped for her) and that she had disappeared several years back (with the relevant portions of her memory wiped) and has only re-appeared in recent times as part of her attempt to revive her career as a witch / exorcist / ghost-buster / geomancer / fortune teller / demon-catcher and rebuild her fortune.
In her journey as a witch / exorcist / ghost-buster / geomancer / fortune teller / demon-catcher, Jiang Su crosses paths with our male lead, Zhai Jin Yu, who, despite being an ordinary human being without any supernatural powers, is an elite member of the Demon Catching Department in the police force. Having undergone various trials and tribulations, Jiang Su and Zhai Jin Yu eventually begin to develop feelings for each other, and both embark on the journey to (1) recover Jiang Su’s memories, and (2) figure out the potential threat hanging over Jiang Su’s life (as Jiang Su possesses the ability to catch glimpses of the future, and in the rare, occasional glimpses that she sees, Jiang Su is perennially chained up in a white, sterilized room).
Unfortunately, despite the somewhat interesting premise, I was unable to muster much interest or enthusiasm for the novel — largely in part due to Jiang Su’s character. Being thousands of years old, Jiang Su has developed a heart of stone, and it is extremely difficult for Jiang Su to develop empathy, sympathy or any other feelings for the people and her clients around her (many of whom are suffering). She can come across as being cold, snobbish, and self-centered (and conceited) – especially in the first half of the novel, when she hasn’t fallen in love with our male lead – and as a result, make it difficult for me to truly be able to root for her.