"The Lucky One"

Hearing his wife's horrified cry, Han Yunshu hurriedly turned and pulled her into his arms. Then he saw the bed board with its eerie air, and he, too, was startled.

"What is this...? Why would something like this be under the bed board!" Han Yunshu was famously skeptical of the occult, but how could he be pleased to see something that anyone could tell was meant to curse his child?

"Never mind that for now. Help me think-besides our parents, our relatives, my close friends, and your buddies, who else knew our baby's birth date and time?" Vivian asked anxiously.

Han Yunshu also wanted to know who had done something so vile. "There was the nanny who looked after him back then, the nurses and doctors at the hospital, and the fortune-teller my mother hired to read his bones."

"Did any of them have a child whose academic results were exceptionally good, beyond their actual ability?" Qi Gu asked.

That detail immediately narrowed the field.

Vivian and Han Yunshu exchanged a look before she finally said, "Didn't your youngest uncle's son, Jiahao, get into Q University last year? I remember he wasn't particularly hardworking and his grades were only average for his class, but they said he did unusually well on the college entrance exam and scored high enough for a top-tier university."

Han Jiahao was their youngest uncle and aunt's late-born son, about the same age as their baby, and was therefore thoroughly doted on.

"Now that you mention it, Jiahao really has been lucky. Good things beyond his abilities often happen to him. One year, during a competition, he actually guessed every multiple-choice question he didn't know correctly..." Han Yunshu's usually gentle expression changed as well.

Could there really be such coincidences in this world?

Could it... could it really have been his youngest uncle who had harmed their baby??? Han Yunshu said nothing, but inwardly, his conviction had inevitably begun to waver.

"Do you have a photo of him?" Qi Gu asked.

Now that they had a lead, Vivian was frantic. She hurriedly found Han Jiahao on WeChat, opened his Moments, located a photo, and handed it to Qi Gu.

In the picture, the boy stood with three roommates in front of Q University, the best university in the country, his smile bright and confident...

Qi Gu committed his facial features to memory, closed his eyes, and calculated for a moment before delivering his verdict. "He is using your child's fate. Judging by his face, he should have been destined to die young."

Living on someone else's life, he had been "lucky" time and again over the past twenty years, obtaining everything others could only dream of.

As for the child whose fate he had swapped with his own... he was probably no longer alive.

At that conclusion, Vivian's eyes instantly reddened, and tears poured from them. "I remember now. This crib was a gift from our youngest aunt! Our baby, has he already...?"

The moment Vivian heard Qi Gu mention a fate of early death, she had already guessed what came next.

"That's right," Qi Gu said.

Vivian's heart sank completely. She immediately ran toward their youngest uncle's house, no longer caring about appearances or anything else.

She was going to confront those bastards who had killed her child right now!

Han Yunshu hurried after her, afraid of falling even a step behind!

He had never imagined that, after he and his father had supported the family business and provided these relatives with a comfortable life and protection, they had actually nurtured enemies!

They had set their sights on his child's fate and killed his child!

As Han Yunshu chased after his wife, he took out his phone and called his parents, asking them to come and witness this together.

Before long, everyone had gathered in the Han Family's spacious, luxurious living room.

Vivian's hair was disheveled and her makeup smeared, her usual polished appearance gone. She pointed at the Han Family's youngest aunt, her eyes filled with hatred. "Aunt, I've always respected you. Why did you do this to our baby?!"

The plump woman, her wrists laden with gold and jade, felt her heart jolt at those words, but she quickly regained her composure. The fortune-teller they had hired had cast a concealment spell over the dark magic. No ordinary mortal could ever detect it in their lifetime, which was precisely why her family had never replaced that bed board.

"What nonsense are you talking about? What could I possibly have to do with your baby?"

Han Yunshu's parents had no idea what had happened to make their usually gentle, decorous daughter-in-law question an elder like this, but they instinctively defended their ill-fated daughter-in-law. "Vivi, tell us calmly what happened. If the second brother's family really is at fault, we'll make sure you get justice!"

"Brother, Sister-in-law, what nonsense is this? Her child has been missing for years, and now she suddenly comes running over to blame us, and you're actually taking her side?" The Han Family's youngest uncle had a pointed mouth and an ape-like face, and his voice was chilly as he spoke.

Han Jiahao, who was home for summer vacation, indignantly chimed in. "Exactly! My parents have a share in the Han Family too. If you think you can bully us just because you hold more shares than we do, we won't take it lying down!"

Their shamelessness left Vivian so furious she could barely breathe. Her nails dug deep into her palms. "Do you dare swear that the dark magic beneath my baby's crib had nothing to do with you?"

At those words, the uncle's and aunt's expressions changed drastically.

Han Yunshu's parents were both shrewd. Noticing this, they naturally knew something was amiss and immediately asked, "What dark magic?! What does it have to do with our grandson?"

The elderly couple had never gotten over their grandson's disappearance, hardly any less than Vivian and her husband.

Their little grandson had been so beautiful and well-behaved, yet before they had much chance to dote on him, the family nanny had taken him away. How could they not have been heartbroken?

Han Yunshu hurriedly repeated what Qi Gu had just told them, then pointed at Qi Gu, who was casually leaning against the sofa beside them, eating cherries from the fruit platter. "This is Qi Gu, Master Qi, who broke the concealment spell and discovered the dark magic."

Seeing their science-minded son treat Qi Gu so respectfully and address him as a master, the elderly couple fell silent for a moment. "..."

But they quickly followed suit, showing no trace of disdain for the young master before them, and greeted him respectfully. "Master Qi."

Hearing them address him, Qi Gu looked up, a little purplish-red cherry juice still staining the corner of his lips, and waved a hand.

He displayed none of the reserve or haughtiness expected of a master.

"There's really no need to say so much to them. I can simply perform a ritual to swap the two children's fates back." Qi Gu's tone was casual and his expression indifferent, as though performing a fate-swapping ritual were as simple as taking a bite of food.

At those words, the uncle's and aunt's expressions changed dramatically. They immediately lunged forward to grab Qi Gu by the throat.

"No! Absolutely not! You can't swap their fates! Nothing can happen to our Jiahao! He's my very life!"

With things said so plainly, what was there left to misunderstand?