Xu Zhihan returned to the Xu Family two days later.
Xu Chengyuan hadn't asked him to come back.
He had wanted to return himself.
The reason was simple. There was a key among Lin Wan's belongings, and He Xiaoyun said it opened a long-sealed study in the Xu Family Old Residence. There might be things in that study that Lin Wan hadn't managed to take with her back then.
The Xu Family Old Residence wasn't this current villa.
But Xu Chengyuan had once taken the key, then later put it back in the safe at the Xu Residence.
Xu Zhihan wanted that key.
Lu Wenchuan hadn't agreed at first.
"You only just got out of bed, and you're going back to the Xu Family? Has Song Zhixia not chewed me out enough for your liking?"
Xu Zhihan sat in the car without even looking at him.
"You don't have to come."
Lu Wenchuan gave a laugh. "Nice try."
"Then shut up."
"Fine."
Two seconds later, Lu Wenchuan added, "But let's get this straight first. We leave as soon as you get the key."
Xu Zhihan looked at him.
Lu Wenchuan immediately added, "That's not negotiable. It's the Medical Team's orders."
Xu Zhihan said coolly, "Song Zhixia isn't here."
Lu Wenchuan said, "She asked me to pass it on."
"You talk even more than she does."
"I'll admit that."
When the car stopped outside the Xu Family's house, the servants had already been notified and opened the door in trepidation.
The house was even quieter than last time.
After Zhou Man was taken away, half the servants had gone. Those who remained walked with their heads lowered, not daring to spare Xu Zhihan another glance.
Xu Chengyuan wasn't there.
Xu Mingji was.
He stood at the top of the second-floor stairs, his expression shifting when he saw Xu Zhihan enter.
He hadn't slept well these past two days.
There were dark circles under his eyes, and his lips were pale. He kept his fingers hidden inside his sleeve, as though holding something.
The moment Xu Zhihan entered, he glanced at him.
Xu Mingji's back instantly stiffened.
"Brother."
His voice was very soft.
Xu Zhihan frowned. "Don't call me that."
Xu Mingji's face grew a little paler.
Standing behind Xu Zhihan, Lu Wenchuan swept his gaze over Xu Mingji's hand.
He felt something was off about Xu Mingji.
In the past, when Xu Mingji was frightened, he would cry, act wronged, and instinctively look for someone to back him up. He was frightened today too, but there was an indescribable tension mixed into that fear.
As though he were hiding something.
Lu Wenchuan drawled, "Second Young Master Xu, what have you got in your hand?"
Xu Mingji abruptly hid his hand behind his back.
That movement made Lu Wenchuan's gaze turn colder.
But Xu Zhihan didn't rush to expose him.
He looked behind Xu Mingji.
A lump of shadow clung there.
It was small, like an underdeveloped infant, with long, thin limbs. Its face pressed against Xu Mingji's shoulder as it stared at him with pitch-black, hollow eyes.
Xu Zhihan's gaze turned cold.
The scent of the Old Gods Society.
Xu Mingji felt his skin crawl under that stare. "What are you looking at?"
Xu Zhihan said flatly, "Whatever filthy thing you've picked up this time."
Xu Mingji's expression changed abruptly.
At those words, Lu Wenchuan's hand was already on the Short Knife.
Xu Mingji's voice trembled. "I don't understand what you're talking about."
Xu Zhihan ignored him and headed straight upstairs.
Panic flickered in Xu Mingji's eyes. He instinctively backed away, then seemed to remember something and forced himself to stand his ground.
The Talisman Paper inside his sleeve began to grow cold.
It pressed against his palm, as though urging him on.
Put it over there.
Put it beside Xu Zhihan.
As long as I put it there, Zhou Man can be saved, and I can go back to how things were.
Xu Mingji gritted his teeth, turned, and followed.
Xu Zhihan was heading for the safe beside the third-floor study.
Lu Wenchuan walked beside him and asked quietly, "Is there something on Xu Mingji?"
Xu Zhihan murmured an affirmative.
"Is it after you?"
"Probably."
"And you're still letting him follow?"
Xu Zhihan glanced at him. "What else would I do?"
Lu Wenchuan understood.
Setting the bait.
Xu Zhihan wanted to see who was trying to reel him in, and just how stupid Xu Mingji could be.
The third floor was quiet.
The servants didn't dare come up.
Xu Zhihan went to the safe and entered the old code He Xiaoyun had provided.
The first attempt failed.
On his second attempt, Xu Zhihan tried Lin Wan's birthday.
The safe opened.
There wasn't much inside: a few old documents, a black velvet box, and an old key.
Xu Zhihan picked up the key.
Just then, Xu Mingji suddenly stepped closer.
"Brother."
Xu Zhihan turned his head.
Xu Mingji's eyes reddened, and his voice shook. "I know I've done a lot of things wrong. I know you hate me now, too. But Mom's been taken away, and Dad won't bother with me anymore. Could you..."
As he spoke, he reached out, as though trying to grab Xu Zhihan's sleeve.
Lu Wenchuan's gaze darkened, and he was about to move.
But Xu Zhihan didn't dodge.
The instant Xu Mingji's fingers touched Xu Zhihan's sleeve, the Talisman Paper slipped out of his cuff and attached itself to Xu Zhihan's wrist.
The red markings on the Talisman Paper suddenly flared.
A flash of delight crossed Xu Mingji's eyes.
It worked.
A second later, the Talisman Paper suddenly froze.
Xu Zhihan glanced down at it.
As though it had touched something utterly terrifying, the Talisman Paper's red markings dimmed inch by inch, and the paper began to tremble.
Yes.
Tremble.
Lu Wenchuan raised an eyebrow.
"This talisman's pretty well-mannered. It knows when to be scared."
The delight on Xu Mingji's face vanished instantly.
"How could..."
Xu Zhihan raised his eyes to him.
"You're truly an idiot."
Xu Mingji went deathly pale.
The Talisman Paper suddenly sprang off Xu Zhihan's wrist and attached itself to Xu Mingji's palm instead.
Xu Mingji screamed and tried to shake it off, only to find that the Talisman Paper seemed to have grown into his hand. No matter what he did, he couldn't shake it loose.
The shadow behind him finally moved.
It had been clinging to Xu Mingji's shoulder, staring at Xu Zhihan as though waiting to pounce. But when it realized the Talisman Paper couldn't touch Xu Zhihan, it slowly turned its head to look at Xu Mingji.
Xu Mingji's entire body went rigid.
He couldn't see the shadow in full, but he could feel something breathing against his neck.
Cold.
And sticky.
His voice shook. "Brother, save me..."
Xu Zhihan looked at him. "Now you know to call me that?"
Tears fell from Xu Mingji's eyes. "I was wrong, I really was! I didn't mean it. Someone gave it to me. He said Mom could come back as long as I put it beside you."
Lu Wenchuan sneered. "Who gave it to you?"
Xu Mingji shook his head, crying. "I don't know. He was wearing a hat. I couldn't see his face clearly."
The Talisman Paper on his hand began burrowing into his skin.
Xu Mingji dropped to his knees in pain.
This time, it wasn't an act.
He had truly fallen to his knees.
The shadow pressed against his back and opened its mouth, as though about to bite into his soul.
Lu Wenchuan drew his knife. Thunderlight flashed as he slashed straight at the shadow.
The shadow shrieked and recoiled half an inch, but didn't disperse.
Lu Wenchuan frowned. "This thing's linked itself to him."
Xu Zhihan looked down at Xu Mingji.
Xu Mingji trembled as he cried. "Save me. Please, save me. I don't want to die."
Xu Zhihan didn't act immediately.
Xu Mingji had once tampered with the original owner's medicine, stolen his marriage arrangement, feigned illness, and played the victim. Now he had even tried to harm him with a talisman from the Old Gods Society.
By Xu Zhihan's old rules, someone like that deserved to die.
But the original owner's lingering emotions stirred again.
Very faintly.
It wasn't sympathy.
It was exhaustion.
Perhaps the original Xu Zhihan had never truly wanted Xu Mingji dead.
He had only wanted to ask one question: why?
Xu Zhihan found these emotions troublesome.
He crouched down and looked at Xu Mingji.
"Who sent you?"
Through his tears, Xu Mingji gave him the address. "West City Old Street, the Abandoned Photo Studio. He told me to come hurt you. I really didn't know it would turn out like this."
Xu Zhihan raised his hand.
The shadow immediately shrank back.
It feared Xu Zhihan. Feared him desperately.
But it was hungry now.
It couldn't feed on Xu Zhihan, but it could feed on Xu Mingji.
Xu Zhihan looked at the thing, his tone flat.
"Did I give you permission to eat?"
The shadow froze.
Clinging to Xu Mingji's back, it let out a shrill cry, like an infant, or like something rotten laughing.
Xu Zhihan frowned.
"Shut up."
The crying stopped.
The shadow curled into a ball, but still clung desperately to Xu Mingji, refusing to let go.
Lu Wenchuan walked over to Xu Zhihan and asked quietly, "Can you peel it off?"
Xu Zhihan gave a quiet hum of assent.
"Yes."
Lu Wenchuan looked at him. "At what cost?"
Xu Zhihan didn't answer.
Lu Wenchuan's expression darkened at once.
"Xu Zhihan."
Xu Zhihan raised his eyes. "You're annoying."
This time, Lu Wenchuan didn't back down.
"He brought this on himself."
Hearing those words, Xu Mingji went white as a sheet.
Xu Zhihan lowered his gaze to him.
Xu Mingji knelt on the floor, sobbing in a pitiful mess.
At last, it didn't look like an act.
Xu Zhihan suddenly found it all rather dull.
"I'm not saving you."
Xu Mingji's pupils contracted.
The next second, Xu Zhihan raised his hand and touched a fingertip to the Talisman Paper.
"I'm interrogating it."
The red markings within the Talisman Paper burst apart in an instant.
The shadow let out an agonized shriek as half of it was forcibly torn from Xu Mingji's back.
Xu Mingji passed out from the pain.
Lu Wenchuan stepped forward and kicked Xu Mingji a short distance away to keep the shadow from grabbing him again, then swung his blade to seal off the doorway.
Xu Zhihan watched the writhing shadow, his voice cold.
"Where is the Old Gods Society?"
The shadow didn't answer. It only wanted to escape.
Xu Zhihan pressed down with his fingertip.
The shadow was forced to prostrate itself on the floor.
Its mouth split open little by little, spilling out a few indistinct words.
"The Photo Studio... mirror... door..."
Before it could finish, half of the shadow suddenly exploded.
Someone was silencing it.
Lu Wenchuan's gaze sharpened. "The same trick again!"
He struck down with Thunderfire, intercepting a wisp of black vapor.
Xu Zhihan raised his hand as well, sealing the remaining half of the Talisman Paper into his palm.
His face grew a little paler, but he was far steadier than before.
Seeing this, Lu Wenchuan relaxed a little.
Xu Zhihan stood and looked down at the unconscious Xu Mingji.
"Send him to the Special Investigation Bureau."
Lu Wenchuan asked, "To interrogate him?"
Xu Zhihan said coldly, "Lock him up. Don't let him cry again."
Lu Wenchuan chuckled softly. "All right."
A jumble of footsteps came from downstairs.
The servants had probably heard the commotion.
Xu Zhihan picked up the old key and headed toward the stairs.
Lu Wenchuan followed him. "Where are you going?"
"The Photo Studio."
"Right now?"
Xu Zhihan turned to look at him.
Lu Wenchuan looked at his pale face and sighed.
"I knew it."
Xu Zhihan said coldly, "You don't have to come."
Lu Wenchuan drew the Short Knife, his smile easy, but his eyes cold.
"Nice try."