Involved

After Ren Tianxue finished giving her statement at the police station, she finally got home at four in the afternoon. She collapsed onto the living room couch, completely drained.

Yuan Jiancheng's ordeal kept haunting her. He had gone from looking utterly dejected to acting completely deranged. Thinking back on it now, she still found it terrifying.

Ren Jingshan was in a great mood today. He had come home early from the office, only to find that his daughter was back too.

"Hey, weren't you going shopping with Xi'er?" Ren Jingshan asked curiously as he set down his car keys.

She pouted, looking exhausted. "Shopping, my foot. Something came up at noon, and I just got back from the police station."

The moment he heard "police station," Ren Jingshan tensed up. He sat down beside his daughter and asked, "What happened? Did you end up at the police station?"

Ren Tianxue sighed, got up, and took a bowl of sweet tremella soup from the fridge. As she ate, she told her dad what had happened that day.

Ren Jingshan listened, stunned. "You're saying that man went crazy in the end?"

"Yeah! He was acting completely deranged. It felt like he'd lost his mind." Ren Tianxue said, patting her smooth, delicate cheeks.

"What a shame. If he'd held on until after the restructuring and then sold, his life would have turned out completely differently," Ren Jingshan said with a sigh.

Ren Tianxue snorted. "Why are you all focusing on the wrong thing? The point is, if he'd listened to Shen Qiong from the start, this wouldn't have happened."

Ren Jingshan laughed. "Right, right, you're absolutely right! Speaking of which, for the past two weeks, you've been going on about that guy nonstop."

Ren Tianxue's face reddened. "I was just stating the facts."

"All right, all right! Your dad was only joking. I know what Master Shen is capable of! Now you know your dad wasn't trying to trick you, right?" Ren Jingshan said with a chuckle.

Ren Tianxue blinked her big eyes, looking like a curious little kid. "By the way, Dad, how did you find out about Shen Qiong? I mean, how did you know his fortune-telling was so accurate?"

Ren Jingshan raised an eyebrow, looking like he knew everything there was to know.

"Oh, come on, tell me..." She shook her dad's arm.

He laughed. "Fine, fine, I'll tell you. I heard about him from one of our employees."

"Someone at your company went to him for a reading too?" Ren Tianxue asked in surprise.

Ren Jingshan's company was inside the Second Ring Road, quite a long way from Shili Street.

"Yeah. I don't know if you remember, but a while ago there was a report about a gang of thieves getting arrested. It happened over by Hongqiao Street..." he said.

Ren Tianxue immediately sat up, alert and full of energy. "I know, I know! One of the people arrested was a dealer in stolen goods. He'd gone to Shen Qiong for a reading back then."

Ren Jingshan narrowed his eyes at his daughter. "You know about that too?"

"I looked into it! People even posted the details of what happened on Weibo," Ren Tianxue said with a grin.

"That's right. But you might not know why that dealer went to Shen Qiong for a reading," Ren Jingshan said mysteriously, gazing at his daughter.

"Huh?" Ren Tianxue asked, puzzled. "Wasn't it because he felt guilty about buying stolen goods and wanted Shen Qiong to read his fortune?"

"That's right, that was the reason. But he only found Master Shen because a friend recommended him. And that friend, He Junming, happened to work at my company." Ren Jingshan looked rather pleased with himself.

"When the news came out, He Junming was scared out of his wits. I happened to pass by and noticed he was acting strangely. After I asked him about it, I finally got the whole story straight."

She blinked her big eyes and gazed at her dad with a smile. "So you planned to send me over to investigate and see if the story was true, and while I was at it, check whether Master Shen was really as capable as they said."

Ren Jingshan pursed his lips and turned to look at her. "Are you saying you don't trust your dad?"

"Forget it. I'm not talking to you devious businessmen." Ren Tianxue walked toward her room with a cheerful spring in her step.

He watched his daughter with a wry smile, then shook his head and let out a sigh for no apparent reason.

That night, the recording of Shen Qiong's bet with Yuan Jiancheng was released by Yuan Jiancheng's family as evidence against Shen Qiong. They intended to accuse him of indirectly driving a people's teacher insane.

"I, Shen Qiong, promise that if Yuan Jiancheng makes money in the stock market, then in three months I'll pay him twice what he earns. If he wins ten thousand, I'll give him twenty thousand."

The recording was also uploaded online. Along with it came an article of over ten thousand words criticizing Shen Qiong for having ulterior motives. It accused him of making an outrageous bet to lure a financially struggling people's teacher into the stock market, where he eventually suffered a mental breakdown after losing years of savings.

Since the article involved a people's teacher, its click count skyrocketed in no time. Many people felt outraged on his behalf and began condemning Shen Qiong.

Most people were just there to watch the drama and join in the excitement. Hardly anyone was willing to look into the context of the recording or the truth of what had happened.

As for the two people at the center of the story, one was receiving treatment to help him recover in the hospital, while the other was happily humming to himself as he read a novel.

Shen Qiong continued reading Grave Robbery Notes. Some of the details about underground formations and the arrangement of the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams made him frown.

He was no longer the clueless fool he used to be. After reading for so long, he had gradually reached a beginner's level.

Shen Qiong wondered if he could try writing a similar book himself. Maybe he could write a novel like Grave Robbery Manual or Underground Grave Mysteries. It might even become a bestseller.

At that thought, Shen Qiong suddenly remembered an article his younger sister had sent him the night before. It had been too long, so he hadn't gotten around to reading it.

Now Shen Qiong opened the article his sister had sent. It was called How to Gracefully Break Up.

He smiled. "The title seems pretty good."

After he finished reading, he took out his phone and called his sister. "Ding-ding-ding! Have you missed me?"

Shen Shi's voice came through the phone. "Bro, I think you're acting more and more like a kid."

Shen Qiong laughed. "That just means my little sister's all grown up."

She smiled faintly, holding the phone between her shoulder and ear as she wrote something with a pen.

"When does school start? I'll come see you off."

"Soon. In half a month." She joked, "By the way, how's business at the shop lately? Don't tell me you can't even afford to pay your employees."

Shen Qiong grinned. "It's all good. The place is packed every day, and everyone trying to book a reading with your brother keeps complaining that it's hard to get an appointment."

Shen Shi covered her mouth and giggled. "There you go bragging again. I don't believe you."

"It's true. You can come see for yourself when you're back on break next semester. I've replaced all the furniture and appliances in the old house," Shen Qiong said with a smile.

"Sounds good!" she said brightly.

They teased each other for a few more moments. After Shen Qiong hung up, he smiled wryly and said, "Why is it so hard for my own little sister to believe a word I say? There really are tons of people coming to me for readings..."