During lunch break, when he went to the cafeteria to eat, Xu Muchan remembered the threats Jin Qi had made. After getting his food, he carried his tray over to find He Jiaqi.
He Jiaqi was eating alone in a corner. Based on Xu Muchan’s observations, she seemed to have no friends in class. Even when classes ended, he never saw her take the initiative to talk to anyone. Most of the time, she was reading or memorizing vocabulary words.
“Is anyone sitting here?”
Xu Muchan carried his tray over and asked.
He Jiaqi looked up in surprise. When she saw that it was Xu Muchan, she smiled and shook her head.
“No one. You can sit.”
Xu Muchan sat down across from her. He was just thinking about how to bring up a warning when a loud voice suddenly cut in.
“Hey, why are you two sitting in such a corner? It took me forever to find you!”
Wen Dajiang sat down beside He Jiaqi without the slightest bit of politeness, his tray piled high with food.
He Jiaqi was not very familiar with him and quietly shifted a little farther away.
There was a reason Wen Dajiang and Wei Yao could become such close buddies. The two of them shared the same thick-headedness and shamelessness. He did not notice He Jiaqi’s discomfort at all and continued chatting away.
“Hey, He Jiaqi, have you finished writing your self-criticism? Let me copy it later.”
He acted as though he and He Jiaqi were already very familiar with each other.
He Jiaqi was not very good at dealing with this type of person, so she could only honestly say, “I wrote it.”
Wen Dajiang grinned.
“Then send it to me when we get back to the classroom after eating. I thought about it all morning and still couldn’t figure out what I did wrong in this whole incident. Why do I have to write a self-criticism?”
He Jiaqi gave a dry little “Oh.”
After pestering He Jiaqi, Wen Dajiang turned to bother Xu Muchan as well.
“I just heard someone say that idiot Jin Qi came back to school. He didn’t come looking for trouble with you, did he?”
Xu Muchan slowly took a bite of his food and said, “He did.”
Wen Dajiang was shocked. Even his chopsticks stopped in midair.
He looked Xu Muchan up and down several times. Seeing no obvious signs of anything wrong, he asked, “Did you win or lose? If you got bullied, once Old Wei comes back to school, we’ll go get revenge for you. I’ve disliked that idiot for a long time.”
Xu Muchan shook his head, somewhat puzzled. When had he and Wen Dajiang become so familiar with each other?
“I scared him a little. The one screaming like a ghost this morning during break was him.”
Wen Dajiang was startled, but then he thought back to when they had been dragged into the ghost domain. Xu Muchan had been the calmest of all, so it no longer seemed that strange.
He gave Xu Muchan a thumbs-up, then lowered his voice and asked furtively, “Did you have some kind of fortuitous encounter when you were in Yundong? Is that why you know so much about this stuff?”
Wasn’t that how it always happened in novels?
The protagonist would go into some remote mountain wilderness, take a highly accomplished expert as his master, learn a whole set of skills, then descend from the mountains. The idiots down below would look down on him, so the protagonist would show off his abilities and slap them in the face.
Jin Qi was obviously the idiot who had gotten slapped in the face.
Xu Muchan stared at him speechlessly.
“I don’t know how to catch ghosts. I’ve just seen a lot of them, so I have more experience.”
Wen Dajiang did not listen at all, completely immersed in his own world.
“If my relatives or friends ever need help with this kind of thing, can I come to you? Do you give friends-and-family discounts?”
Xu Muchan: “……”
He did not respond again. He silently lowered his head and continued eating.
Across from him, He Jiaqi gave him a sympathetic look, then shifted farther to the side in disgust and likewise buried her head in her food.
Wen Dajiang happily chattered away by himself. When he finally came back to his senses, he asked strangely, “Why aren’t either of you talking?”
Xu Muchan remembered that he still had something important to say, so he reminded He Jiaqi, “When Jin Qi came looking for me, he mentioned you. I’m worried he’ll come looking for trouble with you. After school this afternoon, you can ride home with my family’s car. I’ll drop you off on the way.”
Actually, Xu Muchan vaguely felt that there might be some other grudge between Jin Qi and He Jiaqi. After all, Jin Qi had told her to be careful on her way home, as though he knew where she lived.
But with the loudmouth Wen Dajiang here, Xu Muchan did not feel comfortable asking. He was worried that Jin Qi, having suffered a loss at his hands, would turn around and take it out on He Jiaqi, so he could only offer to take her home.
“That bastard Jin Qi has absolutely no bottom line. How can he even bully a girl?”
Wen Dajiang immediately became angry. He said to He Jiaqi, “We’ve been through life and death together, so we’re friends now. I’ll add you on WeChat. If that bastard dares to come looking for trouble, send me a voice call. Old Wei and I will get people to deal with him.”
He was indeed quick about it. Before long, he had added He Jiaqi through the group chat.
He Jiaqi accepted the friend request and softly said, “Thank you.”
After school that afternoon, Xu Muchan indeed asked He Jiaqi to come with him.
It was Friday, so there were no evening self-study classes. The sunset on the horizon burned a fiery red, and students walked out of the school gates in groups of two and three.
Xu Muchan led He Jiaqi toward the Xu family’s car, but the phone in his pocket suddenly began vibrating violently.
He answered it, and Wei Xilou’s voice came from the other end.
“Didn’t I say I’d wait for you and pick you up after school? Where is A-Chan going again?”
His voice sounded rather ominous.
Xu Muchan stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking around him.
“Brother, are you at the school entrance? I can’t see you.”
Wei Xilou opened the car door and stepped out, calling to him.
“A-Chan.”
Xu Muchan followed the sound of his voice and saw a silver-white car parked not far from the Xu family’s Audi. Brother was standing by the front of the car, looking at him.
With his current eyesight, Xu Muchan actually could not make out the other person’s appearance or figure clearly. He could only vaguely see a human-shaped figure standing there.
Yet he immediately knew that it was Brother.
So he took He Jiaqi and walked toward him, raising his face with a smile.
“Brother.”
Wei Xilou’s gaze swept over the somewhat nervous-looking girl. He took Xu Muchan’s schoolbag and naturally inserted himself between the two of them. Turning his head, he sized up He Jiaqi.
“Who is this? A new friend of A-Chan’s?”
Xu Muchan’s smile froze slightly, and he became alert.
After carefully considering his words, he cautiously replied, “She’s my classmate. She ran into a little trouble, so I’m giving her a ride home.”
“I need to take her home first. Do you have time, Brother? If you don’t, I can have Uncle Wu drive us.”
Uncle Wu was the Xu family’s driver.
The smile disappeared from Wei Xilou’s face. He opened the rear passenger door and said, “Of course I have time. Get in.”
While the two of them were talking, He Jiaqi kept her head lowered the entire time, pretending to be a quail and hiding all her astonishment inside.
She obediently got into the car.
Xu Muchan got in behind her. He Jiaqi secretly turned her head to look at him, wanting to say something but hesitating.
She was not unfamiliar with the man who had come to pick up Xu Muchan. She still remembered how Wei Yao’s grandfather had chased after him, calling him their old ancestor.
Later, inside the ghost domain, the man had faced the terrifying Goddess Jinhua without showing the slightest fear. He had even grabbed Wei Yao and shoved him over to Goddess Jinhua……
No matter how she looked at it, he did not seem like a good person.
Yet Xu Muchan seemed extremely familiar with him……
He Jiaqi warily glanced at the man sitting in the passenger seat.
He had changed into a shirt and trousers now. His appearance and physique were exceptionally outstanding, even more eye-catching than a celebrity. There had already been plenty of students secretly staring at him at the school entrance.
But He Jiaqi only felt that his presence was far too oppressive. He seemed extremely dangerous.
And, as if to make things worse, the man turned his head and looked at her gently.
“Student He, where do you live?”
He Jiaqi gave him an address.
But the moment she finished speaking, she suddenly felt her scalp go numb.
Xu Muchan had not introduced her at all just now. How did he know her surname was He?
He Jiaqi nervously lowered her head, avoiding his gaze.
Seeing that He Jiaqi had practically pressed herself against the car door, Xu Muchan had no choice but to speak.
“Brother, where are you going later?”
After dropping He Jiaqi off, Xu Muchan would definitely return to the Xu family home. But Brother could not possibly follow him around in his current state, so Xu Muchan needed to ask first.
Wei Xilou said, “The house the Wei family prepared is a little too small. A-Chan should stay at the Xu family’s house for now. After we find a bigger place, I’ll take you over.”
Xu Muchan had not planned to move out for the time being anyway, so he readily agreed.
He Jiaqi lived on Yuyuan Road. That area was relatively old, with construction barriers surrounding it everywhere. The roads were also quite narrow, and vehicles were backed up at the intersection, with impatient horns sounding from time to time.
Looking at the cars inching forward at a snail’s pace, she felt bad about wasting Xu Muchan’s time and said, “My home isn’t far from here. It’s only a few hundred meters away. Have the driver pull over, and I’ll walk home myself.”
Xu Muchan originally wanted to escort her all the way home, but unfortunately, there was another dangerous individual in the car. He could only say, “Then send me a message once you get home.”
The driver pulled over, and He Jiaqi waved before getting out.
Actually, she had lied to Xu Muchan. Her home was still two streets away, but it was less than two kilometers, so it was not particularly far.
She did not like troubling other people. But Xu Muchan had offered to take her home because he was concerned about her safety, so in the end, she had agreed.
He Jiaqi turned several corners along the familiar route. She was just about to cross the street when she spotted two boys squatting outside the entrance of the residential complex across the road.
They had cigarettes between their fingers and were wearing Nanming school uniforms.
Students who could attend Nanming were either rich or powerful. They would not normally appear in this old resettlement housing complex. Moreover, she was certain there were no Nanming students living in her neighborhood.
They were most likely people Jin Qi had sent to wait for her.
He Jiaqi immediately turned around and ran, intending to go home through another side entrance.
But at that exact moment, the boys across the street noticed her too. The Nanming uniforms were simply too conspicuous. They threw their cigarette butts onto the ground and ran across the street after her.
“Shit! Don’t let her get away!”
The two chased after He Jiaqi.
He Jiaqi ran extremely fast. The few pedestrians along the road saw students chasing each other and assumed they were just kids fooling around, so they avoided them.
Unable to find anyone to ask for help, He Jiaqi thought that the side entrance was only two hundred meters away. She gritted her teeth and sprinted with all the strength she had, as though she were running an 800-meter race.
Although she was small, she was not slow at all.
Jin Qi’s two lackeys chased her for a long time but still could not catch up. They could only watch helplessly as she sprinted into the residential complex at full speed.
There were too many people around inside the complex, and there was even an old man sitting in the security booth. The two did not dare continue chasing her. They could only curse bitterly.
“Shit, is she a rabbit or something? How the hell does she run so fast?!”
He Jiaqi looked back and saw that the two had indeed stopped outside the residential complex. She gave them a smug smile before quickly heading home.
Her family lived on the first floor.
When she reached the door, He Jiaqi took out her key and opened it, but she was stunned by the scene inside and hesitantly stopped at the doorway.
In the not-so-large living room, all the curtains had been drawn and the lights were off. The dim room was illuminated only by a circle of white candles.
In the middle of the candles was her younger brother, who should have been hospitalized. Beside him was a bowl of something black that looked like blood, along with a rooster whose feet had been tied up.
Her parents and grandmother were all in the living room.
When they heard the door open, all three turned their heads toward He Jiaqi.
“Mom, Dad, Grandma, what are you doing?”
He Jiaqi instinctively took a step backward.
Her father stepped forward and grabbed her.
“You finally came back. The hospital couldn’t cure your brother, so we brought him home. Your grandma went to ask someone about a folk remedy. They said it’s very effective and can make your brother get better.”
Behind He Jiaqi, her mother closed the door.
Her grandmother then stuffed a straw doll into He Jiaqi’s hands. Her aged face looked gloomy in the candlelight.
“Do exactly as I tell you later. Don’t make any mistakes.”
For some reason, the straw doll in her hand gave off a chilling sensation.
He Jiaqi was a little frightened, but even more than that, she felt like breaking down.
Ever since her younger brother had gotten sick, her grandmother had been trying all sorts of folk remedies. Every day, she was either praying to some deity or worshiping Buddha.
The family was already a complete mess, and now things were getting even worse.
Besides, her brother had been doing fine in the hospital. Now they had gone to the trouble of bringing him home again, and his condition might worsen as a result.
“Grandma, how many times have I told you? These superstitious practices can’t cure illnesses. If someone is sick, they need to go to the hospital.”
He Jiaqi threw the straw doll away and went to pick up her younger brother, who had been placed on the floor.
But the moment she touched his body, she suddenly froze.
Her eyes widened in terror—
【I’m home.】
On the way back to the Xu family’s house, Xu Muchan received a message from He Jiaqi.
He glanced at it and relaxed, then turned seriously toward the man beside him.
“He Jiaqi is a really good person. She’s helped me before, and this time she got into trouble because of me. You’re not allowed to bully her.”
Wei Xilou looked at him in confusion. “Why would I bully your classmate? A-Chan, did you misunderstand something about your brother?”
Xu Muchan: “……”
He almost couldn’t resist rolling his eyes. But since Brother insisted on playing dumb, there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t exactly bring up old scores and settle them now; that would be a little too much like taking advantage and then pretending to be innocent.
He could only mutter, “It’s best if you don’t bully her. It took me so long to finally make a friend.”
A flicker passed through Wei Xilou’s eyes. He reached out and rubbed Xu Muchan’s head. “Isn’t having your brother enough for A-Chan?”
Xu Muchan tilted his head. “Brother is Brother, and friends are friends. They’re different.”
“How are they different?” Wei Xilou leaned down his tall body and looked at him intently.
Xu Muchan pressed his lips together and said nothing. He lowered his eyes, avoiding Wei Xilou’s overly focused gaze.
When Wei Xilou saw that he still wasn’t answering, he sighed, looking quite disappointed. “A-Chan has grown up.”
Xu Muchan bit the soft flesh inside his lip, still remaining silent.
Just then, the car stopped at the entrance of Oak Manor. Xu Muchan glanced outside and said, “We’re here. I’m going home. Are you coming with me, Brother?”
Wei Xilou said, “I still have something else to do. You go home.”
Xu Muchan said, “Oh,” then obediently said goodbye. He opened the car door and slowly walked inside.
Wei Xilou watched his figure for a long time before suddenly asking the driver, “Do you have children?”
The driver had been assigned by the Wei family. He only knew that this man was someone of great importance, probably a big boss as well, so he hurriedly answered, “Yes. I have a ten-year-old daughter.”
Wei Xilou asked, “If your child makes friends outside, what would you do?”
The driver was filled with question marks.
His daughter was only ten, right at the lively, energetic age. She had plenty of friends. He had never considered this something worth worrying about.
“It’s a good thing for a child to like making friends. It means they have good social skills and an outgoing, lively personality. It’s having no friends that you should worry about, right?”
Wei Xilou looked at him disapprovingly. “Those messy friends will only take up the time you spend together.”
Driver: ???
He vaguely sensed that something was wrong and immediately became much more cautious with his words.
“Parents still have to give their children some space. What child spends every day clinging to their parents……”
He glanced at the rearview mirror. Seeing that the big boss didn’t seem angry, he cautiously added, “Experts say that parents having too much control over their children is also a psychological disorder……”
Not a single word was something Wei Xilou wanted to hear.
Since they clearly weren’t on the same wavelength, he frowned at the man and said coldly, “Drive.”
When Xu Muchan returned, Xu Wangchuan was already home.
Xu Qingming and Xu Zhifei happened to be there as well. When they saw him return, Xu Zhifei first asked where Xu Muchan had gone and why he hadn’t come back with Xu Wangchuan.
Xu Muchan casually made up an excuse and brushed it off. Fortunately, Xu Zhifei had clearly only asked in passing and didn’t pursue the matter. Instead, she said, “You two need to get up early tomorrow. The Wei family is holding a ceremony to formally acknowledge a family relationship, and they sent us invitations. I’ve arranged for a stylist to come over in the morning.”
She touched Xu Muchan’s messily cut hair. “Especially Muchan. This hair needs to be properly taken care of. We need to style it.”
Xu Muchan had never been one to argue over things that didn’t really matter, so he nodded in agreement.
Early the next morning, the stylist indeed arrived bright and early.
Xu Muchan’s hair had been cut short, and the stylist carefully shaped it into a proper hairstyle. After he changed into the suit Xu Zhifei had specially prepared for him, the family of four left the house.
The ceremony was being held in the morning, at the Wei family’s old residence.
The old residence had a spacious enough grounds, and tables and chairs had been arranged in the courtyard of the central compound for the guests to watch the ceremony.
The statue of Goddess Jinhua had also been brought out and placed in the very center. On the altar table in front of it were offerings of meat from the three animals, incense, candles, and other ritual items. Around them was a group of people dressed like Taoist priests, chanting incantations under their breath.
The Wei family was treating this ceremony with utmost solemnity. The guests who had been invited to observe, however, were somewhat baffled. They couldn’t figure out what kind of family relationship this ceremony was meant to acknowledge.
But everyone who had been invited was an influential figure in Jiangcheng. Even if they were curious, none of them would ask outright. They simply treated it as an opportunity to socialize and strengthen their connections.
The ceremony had yet to begin, so everyone was chatting casually in the front hall.
The moment Xu Muchan entered, the sharp-eyed Wei Yao spotted him. He broke away from the people around him and came over. After greeting Xu Qingming and his wife, he immediately threw an arm around Xu Muchan’s shoulders.
“Come sit over here. I thought you weren’t coming.”
Xu Muchan indeed hadn’t wanted to come, but since Xu Qingming and Xu Zhifei were coming, he had no choice but to come along.
Wei Yao pressed him down into a seat, then introduced his new friend to everyone around them.
Most of the people present were friends Wei Yao was close with, though some weren’t students at Nanming and naturally didn’t know Xu Muchan.
Xu Wangchuan stood beside Xu Qingming, watching from a distance as Xu Muchan was surrounded by a group of wealthy second-generation youths. His expression was impossible to read.
Xu Qingming noticed it too and said cheerfully to Xu Zhifei, “Muchan looks like he doesn’t talk much, but I didn’t expect him to become so close with the Wei family’s kid in just a few days.”
Xu Zhifei was quite pleased as well. Along the way, quite a few ladies had marveled at how handsome Xu Muchan was. She had taken the opportunity to show him off quite a bit, making up for the embarrassment she had suffered before.
She smiled. “Muchan has always been well-liked.”
Only then did the two of them remember that their adopted son was standing beside them. Xu Qingming patted his adopted son on the shoulder and said, “Don’t stick around with us. Adults are talking, and you won’t be able to get a word in. Go find Muchan and play with him.”
Xu Wangchuan was pushed forward a step. His expression twisted for an instant before he adjusted himself, put on a smile, and walked toward the crowd.
At this moment, Wei Yao was enthusiastically discussing the latest gossip.
“You guys don’t know yet, do you? That grandson of a bitch, Jin Qi, went crazy last night and jumped from the second floor. He broke his leg.”
Xu Muchan was somewhat surprised. “He jumped himself?”
Wei Yao nodded gleefully. “Yeah. Otherwise, why would I say he went crazy? But according to what his parents are saying, Jin Qi encountered a ghost and became possessed. Their family has been having one problem after another lately. My parents originally thought they wouldn’t come today, but who knew they’d show up first thing in the morning. Guess what they came here for?”
Wen Dajiang dutifully played along. “What did they come here for?”
“To ask my grandfather to introduce them to a master.”
Wei Yao curled his lips. “My grandfather introduced Daoist Yan He to them out of consideration for their connections.”
He felt that Daoist Yan He had demonstrated a certain level of ability back in the ghost domain. He couldn’t help clicking his tongue regretfully.
“I hope Daoist Yan can see through that bastard and realize he’s nothing but a human-shaped beast, then show some mercy and send him off to the afterlife.”
“Jin Qi’s getting what he deserves, right? And he still dares to find a Taoist priest to exorcise him? Isn’t he afraid the priest will exorcise him straight into the grave?”
Wei Yao looked toward the person who had spoken, immediately sensing the delicious smell of gossip.
“Xu Fan, you’ve got more dirt?”
Xu Fan crossed her arms. Just thinking about Jin Qi made her frown, but seeing Wei Yao looking like he was desperate for gossip, she realized he genuinely didn’t know.
“You’re in the same school as him. You seriously don’t know?”
“It happened last semester, I think. During the first couple of days after summer vacation started, a new Chinese teacher in the international department jumped to her death at school.”
“I know about that. The school happened to be on vacation at the time, so there weren’t many people around. The school suppressed the news. I only heard about it later.” Wei Yao looked puzzled. “But what does that have to do with Jin Qi?”
Xu Fan said, “I have a friend in the international department who was in the same class as Jin Qi. She said Jin Qi had been harassing that teacher nonstop. He openly wrote her love letters, confessed to her, and gave her gifts. Even after the teacher rejected him, he didn’t back off. Eventually, it became such a problem that the school administrators found out. The teacher was summoned for questioning, and apparently they even threatened to fire her……”
“Not long after that, we heard that the teacher had jumped from the school building.”
She and her friend both felt that the teacher’s death had a great deal to do with Jin Qi. A piece of trash like Jin Qi couldn’t possibly have genuinely liked anyone. He had simply seen that the new Chinese teacher was pretty, soft-spoken, and had no powerful background, so he shamelessly treated her like a toy for his own amusement.
The incident happened during summer vacation, and not many people knew about it in the first place. The Chinese teacher’s family apparently hadn’t come to the school to make a scene either. In any case, the school had managed to suppress the matter just like that.
Jin Qi, on the other hand, was reportedly disciplined by the school, but all he got was a one-month suspension. After that, he returned to school as though nothing had happened.
Xu Fan said bitterly, “If ghosts really exist in this world, then that piece of human garbage Jin Qi deserves to be taken by one.”
This was the first time Wei Yao had heard about the matter. He frowned and said, “That’s beyond disgusting. I’m going to ask my grandfather for Daoist Yan’s WeChat and tell him about this. If he really saves a piece of human garbage like that, he might lose years off his life.”