Qin Siyi truly hadn't expected that to be the reason. A breath caught in her throat, unable to go up or down, before she finally swallowed hard. "I understand. Please give me your location, and I'll send someone to pick you up!"
Then she asked, "Is there anything my younger sister needs to watch out for right now?"
Qu Nanzhu was still mentally answering the comments mocking him for not having a car. Hearing Qin Siyi's question, he thought for a moment. "Just keep her away from that Zhao Something-dong. Also, if she really won't settle down, knocking her out or sedating her will both work. As long as she doesn't do that, it won't harm her body."
"All right. I'll send someone to pick you up now, then. Would that be convenient?"
"Yes, that's fine."
Once they had settled things, Qin Siyi promptly disconnected, leaving the livestream viewers with no time to react.
[Whoa, is that it? Why do I feel kind of frustrated?!]
[I get you, person above. Same here! It feels like getting only half the gossip! So what's going to happen to that Zhao Something-dong? Anyone got a source?]
[Yes, yes! I know the guy. We went to the same university. That beauty who just called in was our year's campus belle, and her sister was the department belle. Zhao Donghao chased Department Belle Su for four years without winning her over. Who would've thought he'd do something like this right after graduation!!]
[Whoa, someone with firsthand info! Tell us more!]
[There isn't much else, really. Zhao Donghao usually looks honest and well-behaved, but he's rotten underneath. The Qin Family is pretty much the richest family in our city, and the Su Family isn't far behind. The two families are very close. Zhao Donghao's company is absolutely finished.]
[You call that not much!! This is rich-family gossip! And we got to watch it live!!]
Qu Nanzhu was reading the comments too, nodding as he went. Watching how well-behaved he looked, Huo Sili found every bit of him adorable.
Remembering that he had just said he didn't have a car, Huo Sili opened his private messages, composed a message, and sent it.
4567318875: [No car?]
The message sank without a trace. Huo Sili fell silent for a moment, then sent another.
4567318875: [I'm one of the people you saved today. I'm not a bad person.]
Still no reply.
In fact, Qu Nanzhu couldn't see it at all. His private messages were perpetually at 999+. Unless he specifically searched, he wouldn't see it, and new messages kept coming in all the time. He simply couldn't be bothered to look.
He sent Qin Siyi his address, only to discover that they were a province apart. The fastest way to get there was by plane.
It was too late tonight. The Su family was worried about their daughter's health, but they feared offending the master and didn't dare suggest having him come over tonight.
Qin Siyi felt the same. After some thought, she typed: [Master Qu, it's very late tonight. Since you said Youqin's health is fine, how about we pick you up tomorrow?]
Qu Nanzhu received the message and replied instantly: [Either works. Tonight would be best. She'll suffer less.]
Reading that and recalling how Qu Nanzhu had risked his life to save people earlier, Qin Siyi immediately built him up in her mind as a noble figure, charitable and devoted to delivering people from suffering.
So she didn't demur any further. Although there were no late flights left, the Qin family had a private jet.
They agreed that he would be picked up in two hours. Qu Nanzhu also told her to prepare several sheets of high-quality blank talisman paper and some cinnabar, since he had used up his own.
She readily agreed.
Meanwhile, after both his messages sank without a trace, Huo Sili was even starting to wonder whether something was wrong with the way he spoke.
Left with no other choice, he typed in the public chat: [Could you reply to my private messages?]
Second-ranked donor: [?]
Third-ranked donor: [?]
Fourth-ranked donor: [?]
Fifth-ranked donor: [?]
Qu Nanzhu: "?"
Qu Nanzhu asked, "What's wrong?" As he spoke, he opened his private messages. There were red notification dots everywhere, but he didn't see any messages from his top donor.
He cleared out a batch of messages and explained, "Sorry, there are too many private messages. I didn't see yours. I'll message you instead."
Hearing his explanation, Huo Sili secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
As for why Qu Nanzhu was being so proactive with his top donor, it was entirely because he thought the man was an elderly fellow in his fifties or sixties.
Respecting the elderly and caring for the young was one of his fine virtues.
He sent a private message himself and saw the two earlier messages as well. He mentally reviewed when he had saved an elderly man today. The answer was-never.
He put down his phone and looked at the screen. "Whatever it is, let's talk after the stream. There's one last divination today. I'll end the stream after that."
[Huh? Don't! Baby, you haven't even chatted with us today~]
[I really want to ask the master when I'll get rich, but I'm scared he'll tell me there's no wealth in my future!]
[The scariest part is spending three thousand on the divination!!]
[Stop, that hit a nerve.]
They didn't have to wait long for the next divination. About three minutes later, an account with a missing-son notice as its profile picture requested to join the stream.
Qu Nanzhu accepted, and a thin, sallow face appeared on the other side of the screen. She looked weathered, her eyes filled with sorrow that would not dissolve, along with a mother's distinctive tenderness.
She managed a smile at Qu Nanzhu. "Hello, Master. My name is Huang Fenfang. I'm from the countryside."
Qu Nanzhu returned her greeting and motioned for her to continue.
She looked somewhat timid, but still smiled as she explained why she had come. "I... used to have a son. When he was three, he went missing... I just saw that you could use someone's birth date and time to find them, so I wanted to come and try. Sob..."
Before she could finish, she couldn't hold back her sobs. Just then, a dark, rough hand reached in from beside her and patted her shoulder. Only then did she pull herself together and continue, "I'd like you to divine whether my child is still alive, whether he's doing well. Sob, sob..."
At that point, the older woman truly couldn't contain herself anymore. She covered her face with both hands and broke down crying.
Her missing son was a scar carved deep into her soul. Whenever it was exposed, the mother's heart ached beyond endurance.
The man beside her couldn't hold back either. He pulled his wife into his arms, patting her comfortingly.
The sight brought tears to the eyes of all the eagle-tough women and men watching their screens.
[Damn, this made me cry. Heaven, you have no heart!]
[Her family is so badly off, and she lost her only son too. I can't imagine how she's made it through all these years.]
[It's very unlikely he just wandered off. It was probably human traffickers...]
[Sob, sob, Master Qu, please help them!!]
[Isn't it just a three-thousand divination fee?! I'll pay it for her! Master Qu, go ahead!]
Qu Nanzhu had never personally experienced parental love, but that didn't stop him from understanding these parents' feelings for their child.
After all, he had his master. The love his master had given him was no less than any love in this world.
Actually, from his first glance at the older woman, he had known that her child was still alive, and living very well. But was that a good thing?
Would parents who learned their biological child was still alive let go of their obsession and leave their comfortably living child undisturbed? Would a child accustomed to spending money like water accept penniless birth parents? Would the adoptive parents who had raised the child for sixteen years be willing to let him return to his birth parents?
Qu Nanzhu didn't know. He asked, "Ma'am, if your child is still alive, what will you do?"
"I want to see him. Just seeing him would be enough..."
Would it really be just a look?
Qu Nanzhu asked himself. Clearly, quite a few people in the livestream had noticed his hesitation.
[Qu Baobao doesn't seem to really want to do this divination...]
[I feel like the outcome isn't very good. Does Qu Baobao already know the result?]
[Seriously, this many people believe a staged act?]
[Are you new here? Our Qu Bao just saved someone with his fortune-telling. Does he need you to confirm whether he's a fraud?]
[Who knows whether that was staged too?]
[What kind of act would get the eldest daughter of G City's richest family to perform in it?]
[Bro's doing that "everyone else is drunk, only I'm sober" thing again.]
[Aren't we getting off track? Isn't the point right now to find the missing child?]
[Heh, if he really finds him, I'll livestream myself eating a keyboard, okay?]
[If you want to eat one, just say so.]
[Why are so many people fawning over a fraud? Your child's missing, and you go for fortune-telling instead of calling the police? Has the world gone mad?]
Just then, the top donor also sent a comment: [If you don't want to do it, you can refuse. It's all right.]
By now, the older woman had also caught the implication in Qu Nanzhu's words. She asked anxiously, "Master, is my son still alive?! Is he still alive?!"
Qu Nanzhu said, "Yes. Your face shows that you have one son. He's nineteen this year."
Hearing that the age matched, the older woman immediately smiled through her tears. "It's him, it's him! He turns nineteen this year. My son's still alive! Did you hear that? Our son's still alive!!"
Then she looked cautiously at Qu Nanzhu again and asked, "Then, Master, is he doing well?"
Qu Nanzhu was silent for a moment. "He's doing very well. He has a healthy body, two parents who love him, and... very privileged living conditions."
At those words, both husband and wife fell silent.
Everyone in the livestream also sank into thought.
[No wonder Qu Bao didn't want to do it. So it's this kind of mess...]
[What do you mean? Does that mean he shouldn't acknowledge his birth parents?]
[You're being naive again. Didn't you hear Master Qu say their son's very happy now? He went missing at three. By now, he probably doesn't even remember his birth parents. For all we know, he still thinks his current parents are his biological parents.]
[Agreed. And honestly, making the child choose who to go with would be cruel. On one side are the parents he's lived with for sixteen years, and on the other are his birth parents. Whichever side he chooses, people will call him heartless.]
[Giving up wealth or giving up blood ties-there really is no need to throw that kind of question at a child.]
[So why can't he acknowledge both families?]
[How could things work out that nicely? His new parents are immensely wealthy, while his birth parents are poor. Who would dare gamble on whether the child would compare them in his heart? And who could guarantee that neither set of parents would harbor any resentment?]
[Damn, this is so hard...]