Chapter 14

And you had the nerve to call someone else a looks-obsessed fool.

As Shui Wuyuan spoke, he snatched the soup dumplings from He Qinglan's hands and stuffed them into his own pocket, then shoved the pretty pastry into He Qinglan's hands. "Eat."

Both indignant and showy, he said, "This is the best-looking pastry of them all, and the fish, shrimp, and vegetables too! I'm super rich. Impressive, right?"

He Qinglan took a bite of the pastry and chewed. It tasted quite good.

Then he looked at the longest shadow stretched across the ground by the setting sun, a faint smile appearing in his eyes.

The Little Rain God who had chased after them and caused a ruckus long ago, always trying to prove how powerful he was, had truly grown up now. He possessed a strong body and formidable power.

Yet seas had turned to mulberry fields, time had flowed on and on—how many of his old friends, himself included, remained as they once were?

"Hey, why aren't you saying anything? I asked whether I'm impressive or not."

"Powerful, wealthy, handsome!"

Shui Wuyuan kept chattering on.

He Qinglan swallowed the pastry in his mouth before finally replying, "Not bad."

"Hah. Not not bad—very bad-ass!"

Qi Xiaoyuan walked behind them carrying the crystal fish tank and Black Carp. Suddenly, he realized that childhood sweethearts really were childhood sweethearts. The two walking side by side ahead of him seemed to have shut out the entire world.

The Qi Family's ancestral home was not far from the Qinglan River. In a sense, it could even be said to stand by the riverbank.

However, the stretch of the Qinglan River where they were was upstream from the filthiest section. Since it was a wealthy neighborhood, the environment here was better maintained. There was no garbage along the Qinglan River, though plenty of weeds grew there, and the water was scant, only seeming to be a dozen or so centimeters wide.

This was Qinghe Garden in Bicheng West District.

The Qi Family lived in the villa closest to the river in Qinghe Garden.

Qi Xiaoyuan had stopped living here after his grandfather collapsed a year ago. Although his second uncle had never explicitly driven him out, he truly could not stand his second aunt's barbed mockery or the little schemes of his two younger cousins.

In any case, he had a small apartment near school, so he moved out on his own and returned every week to visit his grandfather.

But over the past three months, his grandfather's health had taken a sharp turn for the worse. He had told his second uncle many times that he wanted to send his grandfather to the capital, or even overseas, for better treatment. Yet his second uncle had always refused. Recently, he had even stopped Qi Xiaoyuan from coming back to see his grandfather.

At that thought, Qi Xiaoyuan lowered his eyes.

He tried hard not to think too much. Not to think about how his second uncle had entered the Qi Clan after his parents' accident. Not to think about how his grandfather had suddenly fallen unconscious after arguing with his second uncle.

But once the seed of suspicion had been planted, all those details and scenes he had forcibly suppressed in the past surfaced in his mind one by one, leaving Qi Xiaoyuan no choice but to think—he could not help thinking.

But now...

Qi Xiaoyuan took a deep breath. Looking at He Qinglan beside him, then at Boss Water, who had inexplicably followed along, he finally reached out and pressed the doorbell.

Logically speaking, Uncle Qi's family should have known someone had arrived when Qi Xiaoyuan entered the neighborhood. But Qi Xiaoyuan had rung the bell for several minutes now, and there was still not the slightest movement inside the luxurious three-story villa.

Qi Xiaoyuan pressed his lips together and reached out to ring it again.

But He Qinglan stopped him.

"Don't ring it."

"Let's go straight in."

Qi Xiaoyuan looked utterly confused, only to see Boss Water, Huazhou's richest man, lightly slap the courtyard gate—and knock it straight open?!

At that moment, he no longer looked like the man who had just been hovering around He Qinglan talking nonstop. Instead, he radiated wickedness, his face carrying a mocking smile. "Your grandfather really struck it lucky. The River God is watching over him."

With Corrupting Miasma this dense, it would take several lives at the very least.

Author's Note:

When others show off, they show off. When Boss Water shows off, he displays his true self!

Shui Wuyuan: Back then, you all ignored me! But now!

He Qinglan: Now?

Shui Wuyuan: Now hurry up and praise me, and I'll let you ride my coattails!

He Qinglan: Fake smile.

Chapter 14

Even if Qi Xiaoyuan did not know what the "Corrupting Miasma" Shui Wuyuan mentioned was, he understood the key point: too much of it would kill people.

Thinking of his second uncle's abnormal behavior in repeatedly refusing to let him visit his grandfather lately, as well as his cousin's hints at school about inheritance, Qi Xiaoyuan's expression changed drastically as he rushed straight toward the villa's front door.

But it was already eight in the evening, and the sky had gone dark. Against the brightly lit villas around it, the unlit, pitch-black Qi Family villa seemed somewhat eerie.

He Qinglan and Shui Wuyuan quietly followed behind Qi Xiaoyuan. Though they were merely walking normally, they were no slower than the wildly sprinting Qi Xiaoyuan.

Yet Qi Xiaoyuan's steps were halted once again at the Qi Family's front door. This time, what blocked him was not only the tightly shut door, but also a layer of gray, foul aura invisible to his naked eye.

As Qi Xiaoyuan pounded frantically on the door, that foul aura clung to his body, filling his body—previously blessed by the spiritual river water—with excessive corrupting filth once more.

He Qinglan frowned. He roughly understood how this person had ended up covered in Corrupting Miasma.

Shui Wuyuan stood beside him with his arms crossed, sneering. "Heh. If he pounds on it a few more times, there'll be another car accident tomorrow."

He Qinglan looked at the man beside him with considerable speechlessness. Since he knew what was happening, why could he not simply lift a hand and save him?

Still, He Qinglan did not ask Shui Wuyuan for help. Leaving aside the gods' innate disdain for living beings, just this half day had been enough for He Qinglan to realize Shui Wuyuan's indifference toward humans, and even... his disgust.

Forget asking Shui Wuyuan to save someone voluntarily. It was already an act of self-cultivation if he did not go looking for trouble with people himself.

Besides, in He Qinglan's memories, this younger Rain God had never possessed a good temper. Though his temper was not as explosive as the Fire God's, when it came to sarcastic barbs, he truly was... unparalleled through the ages.

Remembering something from the past, He Qinglan gave a soft laugh and prepared to break the barrier of Corrupting Miasma.