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He had managed to accurately "pick up" the bargain Gu Jiuque had selected at the antique market without the Jade Celestial Pivot. Thinking back to Bai Yuesheng's endless lucky breaks and the benefactors he always happened to meet in his previous life, Gu Jiuque smiled.

He seemed to have found Bai Yuesheng's secret.

Chapter 22

A sudden commotion erupted at the front gate. When Gu Jiuque and Old Huang went outside, they saw Bai Yanliang and his wife standing at the Gu family's entrance, stomping their feet and cursing. No one could stop them.

"Gu Jiuque, you little bastard, get the hell out here! What exactly did you do to our Shengsheng? You scared him so badly he didn't come home all night!"

Bai Yuesheng had not gone home last night?

Gu Jiuque and Old Huang exchanged a glance. One after the other, they walked outside.

The moment Bai Yanliang and his wife saw Gu Jiuque appear at the gate, they became even more agitated.

Tao Li rushed forward in two strides, intending to grab Gu Jiuque by the collar. Gu Jiuque dodged aside.

"Gu Jiuque, give Shengsheng back to me!" Tao Li wailed, hysterically screaming at Gu Jiuque, "If anything happens to my son, I'll make you pay with your life!"

Gu Jiuque had long grown tired of the Bai couple's unreasonable pestering. He merely asked, "Bai Yuesheng didn't go home last night?"

"No, he didn't!" Tao Li seemed to think of something, and her tears fell even harder. "He's still injured! My poor son! Over sixteen million, you actually forced a child to run away from home. Are you even human?"

Bai Yanliang stood on the steps before the Gu family's gate, rolling up his sleeves as he shouted to the passing neighbors, "This is inhuman! Come look, everyone! The Gu family is driving people to their deaths over money—"

"Oh, my life is so miserable!" Tao Li dropped onto the ground before the Gu family's gate and burst into loud sobs. "My son is missing! The Gu family has driven someone to death! Is there no justice left?"

"What are you screaming about?" It was the weekend, and no one was working. Gu Yugui had just reached the alley entrance with soy milk and fried dough sticks from the morning market when he heard the Bai couple's voices.

He hurried home, only to find that a crowd had already gathered outside the Gu family's gate.

Gu Yugui squeezed through the neighbors and sneered at the Bai couple. "There really are all kinds of shameless people these days. The arsonists come to the victim's doorstep crying injustice. Do you really think that just because your family of three has no shame, the whole world has to revolve around you?"

"Who committed arson?" Tao Li's expression changed, and she hurriedly defended herself. "Even the fire department said your house fire was an accident. How did it become arson? Don't talk nonsense."

Bai Yanliang craned his neck and shouted, "Quit trying to scare people here. We're talking about my son going missing. Your Gu family has to take responsibility."

Gu Yugui snorted coldly. "What the hell does that have to do with me? Before he pays back the money, even if he runs to the ends of the earth, that's still fleeing to avoid punishment. Why are you two, the defendants' family members, making a scene at my door, the plaintiff's, first thing in the morning instead of looking for your son?"

"You—" The Bai couple was left speechless.

Having heard Gu Yugui's words, the neighbors began whispering among themselves and pointing at the Bai couple.

Bai Yanliang wiped his face, slapped his thigh, and said in grief, "We've been neighbors for decades. Are you really going to turn your backs on us over sixteen million? This is a matter of life and death now. His mother and I are only panicking because we care. We just came to ask what happened to Shengsheng at your house last night. How did he end up not coming home all night?"

"Now that sounds like something a human would say!" Gu Yugui gave a soft snort, but he could not help worrying and pressed, "Shengsheng didn't go home last night?"

This time, the Bai couple did not dare make a scene. In front of all the neighbors, they sighed heavily. "That's right! His father and I waited at home for most of the night. We thought Shengsheng had gone back to the hospital. But when we checked the hospital early this morning, he wasn't in his room either. The nurse said he never went back last night. Who knows where that child ran off to! Even the tens of thousands we had at home are gone. He didn't really run away, did he?"

At this point, Bai Yanliang glanced at Gu Yugui and could not help complaining again. "Look at what your family has done. Is it really necessary to drive someone into a corner over sixteen million?"

He had thought the Gu family would show mercy because Bai Yuesheng was just a child. Who would have expected that even such a decent family could become so money-minded and heartless?

The three members of the Gu family came over from the backyard, arriving a little late. Hearing the Bai couple spouting this nonsense again, Lu Xunmei immediately snapped, "Over sixteen million, you parents didn't care whether your son went to jail. Now that he's missing, you know how to cry? And you want to turn around and blame us?"

Old Huang did not want to hear the same old arguments between the two families either, so he immediately cut in, "That Bai boy was making a fuss at the antique market for half the night yesterday. He said he wanted to pick up bargains and make money to repay the debt. Unfortunately, he was a step too late. The good items he picked out had already been selected by Gu Jiuque that afternoon."

Hearing Old Huang's words, everyone remembered. "That did happen."

"Your son does have a good eye, I'll give him that. Too bad his luck wasn't so good." If he had come yesterday morning, they might really have missed something.

"My son? He went to the antique market to pick up bargains?" Bai Yanliang pointed at himself in disbelief and repeated the words. He simply could not believe that the appraisal genius everyone described, who never missed a bargain, was his own son.

But since when had Bai Yuesheng been interested in antiques? And he could pick up bargains? How did he, as the boy's father, not know?

Looking at the utterly clueless Bai Yanliang and Tao Li, Gu Jiuque said calmly, "Since he had that idea, could he have gone to another antique market to pick up bargains?"

The moment Gu Jiuque spoke, the discussions came to an abrupt halt.

Old Huang slapped his thigh and pulled out his phone. "I'll ask around for you."

Some longtime neighbors with relatives or friends working at the train station or bus station also said, "I'll ask around too. I'll see whether any seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy bought a ticket to leave the city last night or this morning. If not, you should report it to the police right away. A missing child is a serious matter."