Before the three could react, Qu Nanzhu had already pushed open the guest room door and gone inside.
In the living room, Mr. Su leaned toward Qin Siyi and asked, "Siyi, was what you just said true?"
Qin Siyi nodded, clutching her phone. "It's true. And my friend said even many veteran celestial masters can't necessarily summon heavenly lightning, but we all saw Master Qu do it effortlessly just now."
As she spoke, she looked resolutely at the door Qu Nanzhu had just closed. "Uncle, Master Qu really is powerful!"
The truly powerful Master Qu had barely lain down and closed his eyes before knocking outside the window woke him.
After staring at the ceiling for three seconds, Qu Nanzhu resigned himself to getting up and drawing back the curtains.
Outside the pitch-black window, six powerful ghosts dressed in ancient-style clothing grinned and laughed at Qu Nanzhu. The female ghost leading them wore a long pink dress and spoke with a lovely smile. "Little celestial master~"
These were the wandering ghosts who had helped rescue people during the day.
Qu Nanzhu opened the window. With his invitation, the ghosts swept inside, laughing and playing around in his room.
Only the young female ghost floated to Qu Nanzhu's side. "What brings you here?" he asked her. They had followed him across an entire province.
The young female ghost giggled. "We were afraid our little celestial master would forget our agreement, so we came to remind you."
Hearing this, Qu Nanzhu took the bank card from his pocket and showed her. "Look, I earned some money today. In a few days, I'll buy some jade and make peace pendants for you to inhabit, then send you to those people's homes."
With his promise secured, the young female ghost's smile grew a little more sincere, her voice lilting. "Heeheehee, since you've said so, esteemed celestial master, how could we possibly doubt you? We'll await your good news~"
With that, the ghosts swept away again.
Rather than coming to remind him, it would be more accurate to say they had come for amusement, arriving in a hurry and leaving just as quickly.
After they left, Qu Nanzhu stood by the window and looked at the moon for a while before closing it and going to sleep.
The next day, Qu Nanzhu slept until eleven before slowly waking. There seemed to be an argument outside, so he grabbed his clothes and opened the door.
The Zhao family had arrived.
In fact, the Zhao family had wanted to come last night, but they had feared disturbing everyone so late. If they were thrown out instead of getting to apologize, it would do more harm than good.
The whole family, young and old, could only spend an anxious night at home before bringing apology gifts over at daybreak to make amends.
But the Su family had all gone to bed late last night and had not woken until after ten, leaving the Zhao family to wait a grueling three hours before being invited inside.
In the living room, Zhao Donghao's parents had forced him to kneel before Mr. and Mrs. Su, while they stood beside him, bowing and apologizing over and over.
The two elderly members of the Zhao family had originally intended to come too, but fearing the Sus would think they were using their age to pressure them, only the three had come.
On the floor, Zhao Donghao haltingly explained what had happened.
Everyone thought he had only pursued Su Youqin for four years at university, but he had actually started in middle school. Su Youqin had lost count of how many times she had rejected him, yet he simply refused to give up.
Su Youqin had thought graduating from university would finally mean she no longer had to see him every day, but instead-Zhao Donghao had actually done something like this!
Following someone's advice online, he had placed a peach blossom sha on Su Youqin, but fearing it might harm him, he had found a gay man to experiment on first.
That gay man felt absolutely nothing for women, so Zhao Donghao did not have to worry about them having sex. And so Qin Siyi had watched helplessly as her childhood friend acted possessed, declaring that she had fallen in love with a gay man at first sight!!
It turned out she really had been possessed!!
Zhao Donghao stammered that he had observed them for a month and only transferred the curse onto himself last night after confirming that it caused no harm. He also admitted to tampering with the surveillance footage.
As it happened, that night, the gay man she had forced into dating her had finally reached his limit and broken up with her, righteously declaring that he would no longer submit to her tyranny.
Convinced she had suffered a breakup, Su Youqin had run into the woods in despair to end her life. The moment she entered, the object of her fantasies had changed to Zhao Donghao.
At the time, Su Youqin had truly thought she was the ultimate scumbag woman.
Qin Siyi laughed in anger, sneering throughout Zhao Donghao's explanation. Su Youqin was even angrier, nearly jumping up to kick him several times. Whenever she remembered declaring her love to a gay man, she wished she could travel back in time and slap her own head clean off.
Normally quiet and well-behaved, she unleashed a stream of cutting remarks when the two elders asked for forgiveness. Qin Siyi joined in with sneers from the sidelines, showing neither elder any courtesy.
Qu Nanzhu opened the door to hear Su Youqin's sarcastic voice. Only when she heard the door close did she stop and look over.
Everyone else present turned to look as well.
Qu Nanzhu nodded politely in greeting. "Don't mind me. Carry on."
Su Youqin knew this was the master who had saved her yesterday, but she had not known he was still here. Before her aggressive air had even faded, she was already sitting properly.
Seeing him awake, Mr. and Mrs. Su greeted him politely, then called for the housekeeper to bring out the breakfast saved in the kitchen.
Qu Nanzhu sat at the dining table, eating while watching the show.
Suddenly, Zhao Donghao, still kneeling on the floor, looked over and met Qu Nanzhu's eyes with a gaze full of resentment.
He hated Qu Nanzhu, because without him, he would already have succeeded in getting together with Su Youqin.
Qu Nanzhu raised an eyebrow. Utterly unrepentant.
At this point, Mrs. Su spoke, disappointment in her voice. "Zhao, I know what sort of person you are. I truly can't understand how you could have a child like Donghao."
Qu Nanzhu gave a puzzled "Hm?" Tapping his fingers on the table, he interrupted Mr. Zhao's obsequious nodding and bowing. "So Young Master Zhao is your biological son?"
The question stunned everyone present.
Sitting beside each other, Su Youqin and Qin Siyi exchanged a look in perfect understanding. Was there something fishy here?
Mr. Zhao initially thought the master was mocking him and felt utterly ashamed, but Mr. and Mrs. Su looked enlightened and pressed, "Master, do you mean...?"
Qu Nanzhu set down his chopsticks, walked over, and looked over the three members of the Zhao family before saying with a smile, "There are no blood-kinship lines connecting you two to him."
Those words struck Zhao Donghao's parents like a bolt of lightning. Having dabbled in sinister arts himself, Zhao Donghao suddenly realized something. Like a cornered dog, he lashed out, shouting at Qu Nanzhu with a red face, "Stop spouting nonsense!"
Qu Nanzhu took a step back to keep the man's spit off him and continued, "Whether I'm telling the truth should be easy enough to verify."
Indeed, with modern technology, finding out whether a child was biologically theirs could not have been easier.
Thinking of the son whose character was worlds apart from his own, Mr. Zhao immediately made his decision. He might be an honest man, but he was also a businessman.
Still, there was something else to resolve first. He looked back at Mr. and Mrs. Su on the sofa, only to find them whispering to each other and glancing at him from time to time.
Mr. Zhao: "?"
Caught in the act, the couple coughed twice and sat up straight. Mr. Su drew out an "Uh" before saying, "Zhao, since the master has said so, you should hurry and get it checked. Our matter can wait. Even if we're going to deal with it, we have to wait for the people the police have called in."
They had contacted the police that morning, risking being taken for lunatics as they talked about fortune-telling, peach blossom sha, and the like. Yet after repeatedly confirming with him that it was all true, the police had simply said someone from a specialized department would come that afternoon.
Mr. and Mrs. Su exchanged a look. Their understanding of the world had advanced another step.
Hearing that the police would be handling it, Zhao Donghao was terrified and begged on his knees for Su Youqin to let him off this once.
Before Su Youqin could speak, Qin Siyi kicked him.
Her words were no kinder. "Get lost, you scum. Stop making a disgrace of yourself!"
Zhao Donghao tried to lunge forward and keep begging, but Mr. Zhao grabbed him and dragged him outside.
Mr. Zhao's expression was dark. Whether Zhao Donghao was his biological son or not, he had raised him for over twenty years, after all. Having done such a thing, he had to receive the punishment he deserved.
Zhao Donghao was dragged outside, still shouting, "Dad! Dad, don't listen to his nonsense!"
Mrs. Zhao had remained silent the whole time, merely wiping away her tears.
Seeing her like that upset Mrs. Su too. Fortunately, she was gone now.
Once they left, Su Youqin shyly hurried over to thank Qu Nanzhu.
After some conversation, Qu Nanzhu took his leave of the Su family. It was already noon when he reached S City.
Inside the little rental, the bodyguard was still standing ramrod straight when Qu Nanzhu returned.
Qu Nanzhu walked over and asked in surprise, "Don't tell me you stood like that all night!"
The righteous-looking bodyguard stammered, "I did move around to eat and use the bathroom."
Qu Nanzhu regretted not having explained things clearly before he left.
He asked the man to wait a moment, then went to the computer and took a Spirit-Calming Talisman, folding it into a triangle.
He pressed the Spirit-Calming Talisman into the righteous-looking bodyguard's hand and used his phone one-handed to message Qin Siyi.
Qu's Bamboo: [Miss Qin, can that bodyguard return tomorrow?]
Qin Siyi replied instantly: [Whatever you arrange is fine!]
After receiving her confirmation, he held up the chat for the righteous-looking bodyguard to see. "Find somewhere to rest for a day, then report back yourself tomorrow. I gave you a Spirit-Calming Talisman as a thank-you gift."
The righteous-looking bodyguard was overwhelmed by the favor and thanked him repeatedly. After opening the door and leaving, he glanced back at the tightly closed door and could not help stretching.
Once the man had gone, Qu Nanzhu checked on Xiao Zhu again. His soul body was stable, but there were no signs of recovery.
Qu Nanzhu sighed and sent a wisp of golden light of merit into him.
Ordinarily, when a living soul left its body, it only needed to be put back into its original body. But Xiao Zhu's situation was special. Born in a yin year, yin month, yin day, and yin hour, his life palace was barren and devoid of yang. In life, he attracted evil; in death, he nurtured sha. Zhu's living soul was a sumptuous feast for ghosts.
Otherwise, Qu Nanzhu would not have thought it such a feat for Xiao Zhu to have raised himself to eighteen.