Incense ash water

Only after she had vented most of her resentment, gazing at Old Lady Bai's body as bits of flesh and blood kept dripping from it, did fear well up in Grandma Huang's heart again. She silently returned to stand behind Qi Gu.

Seeing this, Qi Gu stepped forward and looked down at Old Lady Bai, who was bound into a bundle.

Old Lady Bai hurriedly begged for mercy. "Great master, I know I was wrong. Please show mercy and let me go!"

Qi Gu chuckled softly, but the smile did not reach his eyes. "But judging whether you were right or wrong isn't part of my job."

Old Lady Bai's body ached, and her mind was muddled. For a moment, she was terribly anxious.

What... did he mean by that?

Beside them, Huang Hongyuan also stepped forward. "Master, you aren't going to let this wicked thing go again, are you? If she can't take our Xiao He away, she might steal someone else's child in the future."

Qi Gu's face was cold, as though covered in a thin layer of solid ice, but he spoke gently. "She committed evil as a ghost and has gravely sinned. She should stand trial in the Underworld, where the Judge of the Underworld will decide which hell she should be sent to for punishment. As for me, my job is to send her to the Judge of the Underworld."

With that, Qi Gu began reciting the Yin-Summoning Order. As he chanted, white fog rose in the room, so dense that not even a trace of light could penetrate it.

The underworld officers stationed in different regions each made their entrances in slightly different ways according to their own preferences. Qi Gu was not surprised. He merely inclined his body slightly toward the enormous figure whose form was obscured by the thick fog in greeting, then recounted Old Lady Bai's deeds in the language of ghosts.

"Thank you." The massive, not-quite-human being spoke in an ethereal, overlapping voice, then hurriedly swept Old Lady Bai away and vanished into the white fog.

"Master, what happened to Old Lady Bai?"

"An underworld officer took her away. Given her sins, she'll probably have to atone in hell for a hundred years before she gets a chance to reincarnate. Even then, she probably won't be born human, but as something like a pig or a dog."

Hearing this, everyone in the Huang family was delighted, but it also felt somewhat unreal.

Something that had seemed so monumental to them had been resolved this quickly?

"Master, is it all settled now? Will our Xiao He get better soon?" Wang Li's face was anxious and hopeful.

As things stood, even if Qi Gu did nothing, the vitality Old Lady Bai had stolen from Huang He would slowly return to her body.

But seeing the Huang family's anxiety, Qi Gu still took three sticks of incense, shook the ashes into clean water after they had burned down, and instructed them to have Huang He drink it the next day.

The family nodded repeatedly in agreement and respectfully escorted Qi Gu to a nearby five-star hotel.

Early the next morning, I Am Long Aotian, who had been deeply unhappy just yesterday about his parents urging him to visit a relative in the hospital, volunteered, "Mom, I'll go see Second Uncle again today. Is there anything you want me to bring him?"

His mother thought he had finally become more considerate and praised him for quite a while, greatly heartened.

Little did she know that her son was rushing to the ICU to expose his girlfriend's idol for who he really was.

At two in the afternoon, just as he had hoped, I Am Long Aotian saw the Huang family from yesterday arrive outside the ward. They lined up for disinfection and waited to enter with the others to visit their daughter.

He hurriedly switched on his camera and pointed it at the family as though casually.

"The incense ash water-did you bring the incense ash water?" Wang Li repeatedly checked with Grandpa and Grandma Huang.

"We brought it, we brought it. Lili, don't panic. Master Qi said that even without the incense ash water, our Xiao He would recover on her own," Huang Hongyuan reassured his worried wife.

"I know... I just want Xiao He to get better sooner, don't I?" Wang Li said.

Hearing this, I Am Long Aotian grew even more excited, feeling that he had truly found the secret to going viral.

Incense ash water? This scam was ancient. Why was Qi Gu still using it to fool people? Couldn't he be a little more creative?

Still... the more there was to criticize, the more he stood to gain.

Originally, he had only wanted to expose Qi Gu as a charlatan to his girlfriend. Yet last night, quite a few businesses had contacted him, offering over ten thousand just for a Weibo post promoting their products.

I Am Long Aotian had spotted a business opportunity and become so excited that he had volunteered to visit his second uncle first thing that morning.

Following closely behind the Huang family into the ward, Long Aotian excitedly filmed them feeding what they called incense ash water to the little girl.

At four, Long Aotian hastily edited the video and uploaded it to his account.

Sure enough, just as he had expected, the video brought him an enormous amount of traffic and discussion.

[Holy shit, how can someone be this vile? Tricking a little girl into drinking incense ash water.]

[Does anyone understand? My mom actually forced me to drink this stuff. It tasted absolutely awful and burned my throat so badly it nearly killed me.]

[A nurse passing by lets out a piercing shriek.]

[I can't take this. I'm seriously calling the police. Put more severely, this could count as killing someone for money, couldn't it? Who knows whether there are harmful substances in that incense ash?]

[Quietly seconding this. Even food safety isn't guaranteed these days, let alone incense ash.]

Watching the offers from businesses in his inbox climb higher and higher, I Am Long Aotian's grin grew increasingly unrestrained. With things like this, he would like to see who dared say he lived off his parents now. Hadn't he just earned money?

After feeding Huang He the incense ash water, Huang Hongyuan and his family stayed in the waiting area outside the ICU as usual.

About an hour later, Huang Hongyuan received a call from the ICU's landline. The caller sounded anxious and asked whether he could come over as soon as possible, saying that Xiao He's condition had changed and they needed a family member's signature to conduct another full-body examination.

Huang Hongyuan had a guess and hurriedly said, "I'm right outside. Please come open the door."

After a series of consent forms were signed, medical staff soon wheeled Huang He out and took her to various floors for detailed examinations.

The Huang family treasured this chance to spend time with Huang He and accompanied her throughout the entire process.

And... they did not know whether it was just psychological, but they kept feeling that Huang He's complexion looked much better than before. Even her little cheeks were rosy!

Three hours later, all the test results were ready.

The attending physician responsible for Huang He was astonished to discover that all her results were completely normal, apart from a slight fever.

The vast contrast between the earlier and later reports naturally shook the entire hospital. But to say the earlier diagnosis had been wrong... none of the doctors from the various departments involved in examining Huang He would agree.

Just as the hospital director was anxiously considering how to explain this to the family, he discovered that Huang Hongyuan was not surprised in the slightest and simply asked them to please prescribe some fever medicine for the child as soon as possible.

It was as though he had known all of this beforehand.

After repeated confirmation that she was no longer in any serious danger, Huang He was soon transferred out of the ICU and into a general ward for observation.

Everyone in the Huang family was all smiles. They were so happy that they bought milk tea and fruit for all the medical staff responsible for Huang He. Naturally... what they remembered most of all was Qi Gu's payment.