Luo Shujing’s family wanted not just his life, but the lives of his entire family.
“By the way, Bro, if we can’t fall out with them, what should we do with these things?”
Luo Chengan changed the subject.
Xi Yu rubbed his growling stomach. “The formation has already been dispelled.”
“Huh?” Luo Chengan looked confused.
Xi Yu sneered. “What else did you think I was doing when I walked around the formation? These things are nothing more than useless decorations now.”
If he had only wanted to sense whether the formation had been reinforced, he would have needed only one glance.
Luo Chengan looked at him with admiration. “Then what do we do next? Do we need to provoke them and make them so anxious that they can’t wait to make a move?”
“No. All you need to do is live well. That’s enough to provoke them.” Xi Yu tossed out those words and leisurely headed upstairs.
After taking a shower, he took out the gold-embossed business card. There was only a string of numbers on it, and nothing else.
Lu Zhixing…
Xi Yu had never imagined that the power of the two realms could coexist within one person.
Moreover, Lu Zhixing had a heartbeat. Members of the demon race had no heart and could not possibly have a heartbeat.
But if he wasn’t a member of the demon race, where had the demonic aura come from?
If Lu Zhixing was a god…
Then why had he become like this—
Nothing made sense.
It was far too bizarre.
Then Xi Yu thought about it. A thousand years ago, even after his body had died and his soul had completely vanished, to the point that he couldn’t possibly have been any more dead, he had still been able to come back to life. So what was so strange about Lu Zhixing being like this now?
But why did Lu Zhixing want to find him? If he wanted to kill him, he could make him vanish without a trace in an instant.
Yet Lu Zhixing hadn’t.
Instead, he seemed to be showing goodwill—
Could it be that he had guessed Xi Yu’s identity?
Impossible.
Xi Yu immediately rejected the thought. The only person in the entire world who might have recognized him had personally had his memories erased by Xi Yu on the eve of the God-Demon War.
Thinking of his disciple, Xi Yu sighed and simply banished Lu Zhixing from his mind.
He wondered how the little brat was doing now. Since he didn’t remember Xi Yu anymore, he shouldn’t be sad because of his death. That was for the best.
Otherwise, given the little brat’s single-minded personality, he would probably have followed him in death.
Xi Yu comforted himself with that thought, but there was still a trace of melancholy in his heart.
Among the Three Realms and Nine Regions, there was no one left who could accompany him to play the qin and get drunk.
Xi Yu sighed, turned over, and came face-to-face with a face covered in talismans.
Like a zombie.
Xi Yu gritted his teeth. “Luo! Cheng! An!”
Luo Chengan lifted the “curtain” of talismans from his forehead and said ingratiatingly, “Bro, I’m here to sleep with you.”
“Do you think I need that?”
“How could you not?” Luo Chengan chuckled. “In a few days, there’s going to be Old Mr. Jiang’s birthday banquet. As a genuine member of the Luo family, naturally you have to show your face. Mom and Dad sent me over to tell you about the procedure.”
Xi Yu refused. “I’m not going. I have to set up my stall.”
“It’s an evening banquet. It won’t interfere with your stall.”
“I’m not going.”
“No way! You won’t let us put your name in the newspaper, and you won’t let the family hold a banquet to announce your identity either. You absolutely have to attend this one. Old Mr. Jiang is the most prestigious calligrapher in the country, and his banquet gathers practically every prominent figure. You can take this opportunity to show your face and let everyone know that you’re the real young master of the Luo family.”
“No. I don’t have to be this young master.” The real young master of the Luo family had died long ago.
Luo Chengan grew anxious. He lay beside the bed and looked at Xi Yu pleadingly. “You have to go! I’ve occupied your identity for so many years. If I don’t introduce you to everyone now, won’t you have any standing in A City in the future? Even Lu Zhixing is going. Just go, go, go.”
Xi Yu opened his eyes and tore off the talisman paper from Luo Chengan’s forehead. “Didn’t you say Lu Zhixing was a jinx? That anyone who got close to him would have bad luck?”
“Wasn’t I mistaken before? I thought the bad luck came from seeing Lu Zhixing. Don’t I know the reason now?”
It was because he had used the Life-Exchange Lock to take the disaster meant for Luo Shujing.
Luo Chengan picked up the talisman and secretly stuck it back onto his forehead before saying sheepishly, “Besides, Luo Shujing is going too. I’m scared.”
Xi Yu raised an eyebrow.
Luo Shujing was seriously injured, yet he was still going to attend. It seemed this banquet really was going to be interesting.
Xi Yu agreed, and Luo Chengan began chattering on and on about various things to take note of at the banquet.
Xi Yu hadn’t been sleepy at first, but Luo Chengan’s endless rambling somehow made him drowsy, and he soon drifted off to sleep.
Seeing that Xi Yu had fallen asleep, Luo Chengan made himself a bedroll on the floor and shifted closer to him.
After a rainfall, A City entered midsummer, and the temperature became absurdly high.
Xi Yu had even started wearing a tank top while setting up his stall beneath the overpass. Every day, he came home drenched in sweat.
On the day of the banquet, Shen Qing went to the overpass two hours early to pick him up. She shoved him straight into the bathroom and barked, “If you don’t wash yourself until you smell nice, stay in there!”
After Xi Yu came out of the shower, he was immediately pressed into a chair and subjected to a whole round of styling.
For a full two hours, his butt was sore from sitting before he was finally allowed to get up.
“So… so handsome… Bro! You’re so handsome!”
………………..
Xi Yu pushed himself up with the back of the chair. His eyelashes were as distinct as crow feathers, his eyes as dark as ink, and his expression was relaxed and indifferent.
His moon-white satin shirt had been designed with a V-neck, revealing a small patch of fair collarbone.
There wasn’t a single ornament on him. His features were dazzlingly beautiful like a demon, yet his bearing was as cold and pure as an immortal descended from Heaven.
“My butt hurts from sitting.” Xi Yu rubbed his backside.
Luo Chengan asked the stylist, “Is there any hairstyle that can make him stop talking?”
The stylist apologetically said there wasn’t.
“Are you done? Done—”
Shen Qing entered the styling room, but her words abruptly stopped halfway.
She stared blankly at Xi Yu.
Luo Yuan poked his head in, froze for a moment, then broke into a grin. “You’re so handsome, son!”
Xi Yu modestly replied, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”
Shen Qing was amused by him and laughed, giving the stylist a thumbs-up.
She had always been able to tell that Xi Yu was good-looking. It was just that Xi Yu was usually too rough around the edges. He went out to set up his stall every day and came home looking like a homeless man.
Now that he had been dressed up, he looked like a little prince who had been pampered from childhood.
Shen Qing laughed for a few seconds, then her eyes reddened.
Xi Yu should have been the little prince she had raised with all the care in the world, yet he had suffered so much.
Wandering the streets, unable to eat his fill.
It was all her fault.
“It’s really good.” Shen Qing turned around and wiped away her tears.
Xi Yu couldn’t handle this sudden emotional moment, so he bumped Luo Chengan.
Luo Chengan patted his chest and gave Xi Yu a look that said, This is my specialty.
Then, like a golden retriever, he threw himself onto Shen Qing and acted spoiled.
“Mom~ Why are you only looking at Bro? What? I’m not your little darling anymore?”
He deliberately raised his voice into a sweet, coquettish tone and smiled obediently.
Xi Yu rubbed the goosebumps on his arms and suddenly felt a moment of déjà vu.
Did everyone in the world act spoiled in exactly the same way?
The little brat had acted spoiled toward him like this too.
Even Luo Chengan rubbing his head against Shen Qing was exactly like the way the little brat used to rub against him.
A faint smile spread across Xi Yu’s lips.
Shen Qing laughed and scolded Luo Chengan, but her eyes turned toward Xi Yu. Seeing that he didn’t look disappointed or show any other emotion, she finally relaxed.
Actually, when she first brought Xi Yu home, she had been somewhat uneasy. She was afraid that Xi Yu and Luo Chengan’s identities would cause the two of them to turn against each other.
She knew Luo Chengan well. He was sincere and kind. What worried her more was Xi Yu.
If it were anyone else who had had their identity occupied for more than twenty years, even if they had suffered all those hardships themselves, they might not have been able to face it peacefully.
She had been afraid she wouldn’t be able to mediate between the two of them.
Xi Yu had already suffered too much. She couldn’t let him suffer even the slightest bit more, yet she was also afraid that he would reject Luo Chengan.
Luo Chengan was innocent too. She had raised him for more than twenty years and truly couldn’t bear to drive him away.
But unexpectedly, Xi Yu was intelligent and broad-minded. Not only did he have no hatred whatsoever, he had saved every one of them as soon as he appeared.
Heaven really had treated her well.
“My two boys.” Shen Qing waved her jade hand. “Go and join the feast!”
Luo Yuan raised his hand and quietly reminded her, “There’s your husband too.”
As for what exactly “joining the feast” meant, Xi Yu had no idea.
Where was the braised pork?
Where was the chicken cooked in an iron pot?
Even the pastries were arranged so delicately that one plate wasn’t enough to fill him up!
The enormous banquet hall was filled with elegantly dressed people, their hair ornaments gleaming as they exchanged toasts.
The only thing Xi Yu did was pull Luo Chengan over and ask, “Can we order takeout? I’m really hungry.”
Luo Chengan held a glass of red wine and pretended to be cool, replying quietly, “No—”
“Oh, who is this? Isn’t this our Young Master Luo?”
“Oh, that’s not right. We can’t call him Young Master Luo anymore, can we? Should we call him Young Master Cuckoo instead? After all, the cuckoo has occupied the magpie’s nest. Hahahahahaha!”
Mocking voices came from behind them.
Luo Chengan’s expression became somewhat ugly.
Xi Yu turned around.
Two greasy, overdressed men covered their mouths as they laughed. When they saw Xi Yu, they both froze for a moment.
One of them was the first to recover and became somewhat obsequious.
“You must be the real Young Master Luo.”
Xi Yu shook his head. “I’m not. I’m a servant of the Luo family.”
Luo Chengan looked at Xi Yu in disbelief, his face full of question marks.
“How is that possible? You’re wearing a limited-edition Aijia outfit. One piece costs more than a hundred thousand yuan. How could you possibly be a servant?”
Xi Yu frowned. “Mine’s fake. How come you’ve got two eggs hanging beneath your eyebrows, and all you can do is spin them around without knowing how to look?”
Luo Chengan desperately suppressed the corners of his mouth that were trying to fly upward. The embarrassment from earlier had vanished completely.
The expressions of the two men opposite them changed instead.
“How can you talk like that?!”
Xi Yu rested his elbow on Luo Chengan’s shoulder. “I’m just talking the way you did.”
“You! You—” The man who had provoked them raised his hand and angrily pointed at Xi Yu.
Luo Chengan impatiently slapped away the finger pointing at Xi Yu.
“Zhang Jia, you’ve already figured out who he is. Do you dare provoke him? You never dared provoke me before, so don’t come here to embarrass yourself. There are so many people watching at the banquet.”
The man called Zhang Jia glanced around. Seeing that several people had already turned their attention toward them, he angrily lowered his hand, but he still threw down a final threat.
“Just you wait!”