When Ruizhu heard about this, she was quite saddened. Seeing that no one was there to collect the bodies of the elderly couple, she paid for their funeral out of her own pocket and held a grand funeral ceremony for them.

At the time, this incident caused quite a stir in the entire Dejing Town. Most of the villagers who attended the funeral knew the elderly couple and had heard about their kind and benevolent nature. Upon seeing this, they all praised Ruizhu as a kind-hearted bodhisattva.

On that very day, Ping An, covered in wounds and looking haggard and disheveled, was released from the detention center. He returned home, expecting to be greeted by the elderly couple's joyful smiles and worried words, but instead found two coffins and a stranger dressed in mourning clothes in his place.

The neighbors who usually looked down on him now gathered around and started criticizing him for not even knowing that his grandparents had passed away!

This incident became an indelible thorn in Ping An's heart. Because of his orphan status, he was more sensitive and thoughtful than ordinary people, and he was also prone to misinterpreting other people's intentions. He saw Ruizhu's kindness as a mockery of him, and he felt that she interfered in his grandparents' funeral because she looked down on him.

The seeds of hatred sprouted in his heart, and every time Ruizhu made a splash in Dejing Town, his resentment grew stronger. However, he didn't dare to actually do anything to Ruizhu, because he understood how vast the gap was between them—she was the admired "Porcelain Fairy," while he was a scoundrel whom even dogs despised.

So he could only hide in the shadows, spying on her movements, trying to find the slightest impropriety in her, as if this would provide a reasonable explanation for his despicable behavior.

Ping An's mind became increasingly twisted; he almost pathologically wanted to embarrass Ruizhu as well.

So when those two men found him, showed him a sum of money, and asked him to call Ruizhu out, Ping An agreed without hesitation.

He assumed they were just like the collectors who had traveled thousands of miles to Dejing Town before, simply to buy porcelain from Ruizhu.

However, he waited and waited nearby but Ruizhu didn't return. Thinking about the money they had promised him for his other half, he quietly crept over, only to stumble upon a horrifying scene—

They knocked Ruizhu unconscious as she turned around, then stuffed her into a large sack, threw her into a black sedan, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

He was terrified, but when he came to his senses and rushed forward, what horrified him even more was that there were no traces of a car there!

It was as if what he had just witnessed had never happened!

Ping An felt like he had seen a ghost. He was so frightened in broad daylight that he broke out in a cold sweat. He was afraid that the two people would come looking for him again, so he thought about running away as soon as possible.

But escaping required money. His reputation was ruined ever since he left the detention center; no place dared hire him. His living expenses for the past two years had come from selling the elderly couple's inheritance, and it was long gone. The only money he had was given to him by those two men earlier. It was far from enough to escape and live a normal life. So, he decided to go all in and set his sights on the wood-fired kiln—

There are many newly made porcelain pieces inside. If he's lucky enough to get a few of the auspicious white elephant-patterned porcelain pieces, he won't have to worry for the rest of his life!

Driven by his desire for money, he overcame his fear and ventured into the kiln. But before he could find Ruizhu's batch of porcelain, he was caught red-handed.

He confessed everything in detail and repeatedly assured that he was not lying, and that if he were to lie again, he would be struck by lightning.

Seeing his current state, Nanxian knew he wouldn't dare to hide anything from her or have any ulterior motives, so she asked him to lead the way to where he saw the car.

This small village in Dejing Town is not prosperous. The most common means of transportation are bicycles and tricycles. Occasionally, a car will pass by and attract the attention of the villagers. It's hard not to be high-profile.

As he said, there were indeed no car tire tracks here, or rather, even the footprints on the ground belonged to Ping An alone.

Nan Xian and Diao Yu exchanged a glance, and the latter nodded slightly.

The two walked aside, and she asked in a low voice, "Did you find anything?"

"Yes, I smelled an extremely strong magical aura! I can track it!"

Nan Xian's eyes lit up. "That's great!" Then, as if remembering something, she glanced in Ping An's direction. "Then what happened to him just now...?"

Diao Yu was also very puzzled as to why he couldn't track Ping An's presence, even though Ping An was just an ordinary person. So, while slapping him, he examined him closely and quickly understood the reason.

"His soul is not complete; a piece is missing. If I'm not mistaken, someone used some dark magic to take a part of his soul at birth and put it into another person's body. That's why he has a disability in his right ear and his temperament is more easily influenced by the outside world, becoming extreme and twisted."

Nan Xian was stunned.