A Familiar Name

Hearing Xia Jie's explanation, Qiao Qiao was so angry she wanted to start cursing, but when she saw him raise his demonic hand as if to strike, she swallowed every insult.

"Stop spouting nonsense!" Qiao Qiao gritted her silver teeth and glared at Xia Jie with her big eyes.

"How could this be your friend's home? This is obviously my friend's home!"

"There's no point arguing like this." Xia Jie spread his hands. "If you don't believe me, just call your friend over and have him confront me."

Qiao Qiao's eyes shifted. "Fine! Then let me go, and I'll go find him!"

"Are you stupid, or am I?" Xia Jie looked at Qiao Qiao disdainfully. "What era is this? Do you still have to go find someone in person? Where's your phone?"

"I don't have a phone!" Qiao Qiao said guiltily.

"Oh, so you Monsters really are cut off from the world." As he spoke, Xia Jie walked over to the outlet in the room, where a phone in a pink bunny case lay charging.

Xia Jie unplugged the phone, and the screen flashed to life.

"Lucky me. I actually found a phone." Xia Jie pretended to mutter to himself.

"That's mine!" Qiao Qiao tried to struggle, but the black rope around her body suddenly tightened.

Holding the phone, Xia Jie walked up to her and pried open her fingers to unlock it.

"Didn't you just say you didn't have a phone?" Xia Jie opened it and spoke leisurely.

On the phone screen, a rainbow magic bird and a brown bear beside it bounced together, prompting the phone's owner to swap them quickly.

"Happy Match?"

Xia Jie looked up at Qiao Qiao, then glanced at the level number. His expression became extremely strange.

"Level 916... Just how bored are you to have made it this far?"

Qiao Qiao's face reddened first, then she said indignantly, "Playing Happy Match isn't boring at all! What would a guy like you know? Give me back my phone!"

Playing Happy Match wasn't boring...? Xia Jie silently mocked her, but did not argue with Qiao Qiao over it.

Xia Jie waved Qiao Qiao's phone in front of her. "Will you call that person yourself, or should I find him myself?"

"Give me the phone!" Qiao Qiao repeated her demand.

After a pause, she added, "I'll call him myself!"

"Tell me his number, and I'll call him! You can talk to him yourself and find a way to get him here!"

"And don't mention that I'm here!" Xia Jie said without looking up as he opened the dial pad.

"Why?" Qiao Qiao asked mockingly. "Didn't you just say you wanted to confront him?"

"Cut the crap! You'd better do as I say, or don't blame me for getting rough!" Xia Jie "threatened."

Though he had just talked about confronting the Monster girl's friend, Xia Jie did not actually want to expose himself so soon.

After all, he had no idea what kind of Monster the girl's friend might be. If it was some cunning and powerful type, he might end up trapped here.

His expression looked fierce, but Qiao Qiao could tell that Xia Jie was mostly trying to scare her.

"Ah—I understand!" Qiao Qiao said, her eyes flickering.

Xia Jie knew from her expression that his threat had backfired. He wanted to teach the Monster girl a real lesson, but after thinking it over, he gave up.

Although the girl before him was a Monster, she was clearly not some utterly evil creature. Xia Jie could not think of any reason to be ruthless with her.

Forget it, Xia Jie thought to himself.

If she really gave him away, he would simply put on an act and lure the Monster girl's friend over.

He would see who the other party really was, and how he had obtained Xia Jie's house.

"What's your friend's name?" Xia Jie asked.

Qiao Qiao bit her lip, but in the end, she still said the name. "Lu Zhe."

Hearing the name "Lu Zhe," Xia Jie's hand resting on the phone paused.

"Lu Zhe?"

Xia Jie silently repeated the name, his expression turning somewhat dazed.

He was no stranger to that name.

Lu Zhe was his mother Lu Xiaolei's younger brother. In other words, Lu Zhe was his biological uncle.

Xia Jie had met Lu Zhe several times as well.

Before he turned five, Lu Zhe came every year on his birthday to celebrate with him and bring him a carefully prepared gift.

Because all his memories were so clear, Xia Jie could still remember what Lu Zhe looked like.

He had been a ridiculously handsome man, with beauty no less than Gojo Satoru's, and he seemed to exude a special charm from head to toe.

Of course, Xia Jie had never paid attention to that as a child. He had only cared whether Lu Zhe had brought him the newest toys.

Thinking about it now, his looks were one thing, but there had indeed been something off about that aura of his.

Could the "Lu Zhe" the Monster girl mentioned be the same "Lu Zhe" Xia Jie knew?

If they were the same person, did that mean the Lu Zhe he knew had always been a Monster too?

If he was a Monster, then... was his mother a Monster as well?

Xia Jie's gaze flickered constantly, and his mood became extraordinarily complicated. The speculation was entirely plausible, and it could explain the questions surrounding his background.

Why had every member of the family looked down on him after he returned to them?

After all, he had merely failed to awaken a Cursed Technique. He could still refine Cursed Energy.

There were others like that in the family, yet he alone had received such "special" treatment.

If his mother had been a Monster, then everything made sense!

Because his mother was a Monster, both he and his mother had been rejected by the family.

That was why, after his mother died, his father had completely broken away from the family and crossed the ocean with him to Japan.

His father had likely been rejected by China's Jujutsu Society as well, while he had entrusted that former "home" to his brother-in-law, Lu Zhe.

And the reason he had secretly kept in touch with Lu Zhe without telling Xia Jie was probably because he did not want this uncle to influence him.

"Could that be it?" Xia Jie said absentmindedly.

Even with his steady temperament, his heart was deeply shaken at this moment.

"What are you talking about?" Qiao Qiao asked, utterly confused.

Xia Jie looked at Qiao Qiao with a complicated gaze, making goosebumps rise all over her body.

What was with this guy's look?

Qiao Qiao felt inexplicably baffled, yet she did not dare ask aloud.

Xia Jie withdrew his gaze and calmed his unsettled emotions.

Only one question remained now: whether the "Lu Zhe" Qiao Qiao had mentioned was truly the Lu Zhe Xia Jie knew.

Xia Jie looked at the number for "Lu Zhe" in the contacts and silently dialed it.

After a brief series of beeps, a gentle voice came from the other end. "Hello, Qiao Qiao. What made you think of calling me?"

Qiao Qiao looked at the glowing phone screen, then at the expressionless Xia Jie. She took a deep breath and shouted, "Lu Zhe, some bastard Jujutsu Sorcerer came to—"

Before she could finish, Xia Jie swiftly reached out and pinched her mouth shut, leaving her unable to speak.

His fingers pressed slightly harder, and Qiao Qiao's cheeks immediately reddened. Tears began gathering in her beautiful eyes.

He looked at Qiao Qiao "dangerously." "Have I been too easygoing? Is that why you're being so bold and ignoring my warning?"

Qiao Qiao looked at Xia Jie with reddened eyes. She wanted to speak but could not, and could only make soft, animal-like whimpering sounds.

Lu Zhe fell silent after hearing Qiao Qiao's voice, then said, "Let Qiao Qiao go, Jujutsu Sorcerer!"

"She isn't some wild Monster. She is a member of the Monster Alliance!"

"According to the Sorcerer-Monster Pact, Jujutsu Sorcerers cannot casually attack members of the Monster Alliance!"

"I believe there may be some misunderstanding here, but I'm sure you don't want that misunderstanding to deepen until you violate the Sorcerer-Monster Pact!"

"If Qiao Qiao has done anything improper to you, I can offer you some compensation!"