Qin Zhengze did send someone to Qin Gu's side, but not too close, nor did he follow him every day.

Back when Qin Gu's maternal grandfather was still alive, the people he sent would check on him from afar every two or three months. If they had the chance, they would take a picture; if not, they would just make sure he was alright.

After Qin Gu's maternal grandfather passed away, those people didn't dare to get too close. Cultivators have strong spiritual power and are naturally more sensitive than ordinary people. If they follow too closely, they will be discovered.

However, he didn't have any useful information about Lu Sibai's biological parents.

He knew about Lu Sibai not from Qin Gu, but from Qin Shen.

Although he didn't care about Qin Zhengping's family, it didn't mean he wouldn't send people to keep an eye on them.

His mother, who had been proud her whole life, was ruined by an insignificant caregiver. Perhaps from the beginning, his mother didn't take that young girl, whose ambition was hard to hide, seriously. As a result, her husband slept with the caregiver he looked down on, had an affair for several years, and only realized he had been fooled when his illegitimate child came knocking on his door.

Qin Zhengze learned from his mistake. He couldn't just shut Qin Zhengping down, so he sent people to keep a close eye on them. If they made any small moves, he would make sure they shot themselves in the foot.

Qin Zhengze was quite surprised to hear that his nephew had fallen for a boy. He had someone investigate and couldn't help but sigh that the boy was nothing like his father or his mother, and he wondered where he had learned such a romantic nature.

The shares given to Ruan Bei were actually thanks to the young couple Qin Shen and Lu Sibai.

Because of their romantic relationship, Qin Zhengze had people investigate the Lu family and pay attention to the Haiming Group.

After the Haiming Group ran into trouble, just as the signs began to emerge, Qin Zhengze keenly sensed that this was an excellent opportunity.

When investigating the Lu family, the people he sent had habitually assessed the value of the Haiming Group. Lu Minghai was indeed capable, and the Haiming Group was a very high-quality investment project, but the right investment opportunity had already passed.

But he was lucky. His nephew was just like his parents, who knew to choose a boyfriend who would bring trouble to his father. He seized the opportunity, raised funds early, and acted immediately when the time was right.

His rivals, who were not as financially well-off as him, learned about the news later than the wealthy ones. This allowed Qin Zhengze to cut off a large portion of the Haiming Group and conveniently hand it over to his future son-in-law.

Knowing that even his father didn't know Lu Sibai's background, Qin Gu was slightly disappointed. It seemed he still had to go back and ask Lu Minghai and his wife.

At noon, Qin Zhengze took them to a private restaurant for lunch. It was expensive, but the food was delicious.

For the past month, Ruan Bei and Qin Gu had been eating conveniently most of the time because of the competition. Finally, they had a good meal, and they both enjoyed it very much.

Qin Zhengze has never been one to indulge in gluttony, but seeing how much the two children were eating, his appetite improved, and he ate a little more than usual.

After dinner, Qin Zheng had someone take them back to their hotel, only saying that if they wanted to see him, they should call first, and that they should also remember to let him know before leaving the capital.

Ruan Bei had already boarded the car. Qin Gu stood by the car door and couldn't help but say, "I thought you would want me to stay in the capital."

Qin Zhengze chuckled and asked, "Why are you staying here?"

That's not enough to make me angry.

"Learn how to manage a company, be a good successor, and so on." Qin Gu touched his nose. This was partly why he didn't want to acknowledge his relatives before; he was worried that his life would be controlled.

Now that he knows his father only has one son, and that Qin Shen is also eyeing him covetously, he is even more worried.

He didn't want to be like Lu Siyuan, confined by the title of heir, giving up his personal hobbies and life just for the sake of that title.

Qin Zhengze looked at him with surprise: "You're dreaming."

Qin Gu: "?"

Qin Zhengze sneered, "Your father is only forty-three, more than ten years away from the legal retirement age. If I were to train you now, what would I do? Retire young?"

He's in the prime of his life, full of energy and ambition. Why doesn't he develop his career? Is he just going to retire early and go home to be a grandson? That unfortunate kid didn't even give him a grandson to hold.

Qin Gu: "..."

"Pfft..." Ruan Bei leaned against the car window, laughing so hard she was shaking. Qin's father was so funny; even Kun Kun had his moments of being outsmarted.

Qin Zhengze: "Get out of here, get out of here. I've given you the car and the house. You're just a kid who's not even twenty years old. Play around for a few years first, and stop thinking nonsense all the time."

Qin Gu was speechless: "Dad, you really are my dad."

"What are you saying? Do you have another father?"

Qin Gu: "...No."

"That settles it."

Qin Zheng said something to the driver and then greeted Ruan Bei. Without even glancing at his son, he got into another car and drove off without looking back.

They just left like that.

Qin Gu: "..."

Ruan Bei: "Hahahaha, goodbye Uncle Qin!"

After meeting Qin's father, the two went to see their senior brother the next day.

Ruan Bei still has a Void Stone in his possession. He needs to ask his elders for help in planning it out, and then find a skilled artifact craftsman to refine it into a spatial storage magic artifact.

Although the Void Stone is the main material for spatial storage artifacts, it doesn't mean that no other materials are needed. On the contrary, quite a few are required.

After listening to Ruan Bei recount how he obtained the Void Stone, Xuan Ningcheng sighed that he was lucky, and then told them that the weapon maker happened to have a suitable one.

Uncle Feng, who brought them to the capital, is a top-notch weapon maker. Since he is still in the capital and has connections with his fourth senior brother, he should be easier to talk to.

Xuan Ningcheng immediately called Uncle Feng. He hadn't wanted to agree at first, but when he heard it was about making spatial magical artifacts, he agreed.

Because of material limitations, it's impossible to make such special ritual implements even if you wanted to.

He gave Xuan Ningcheng a list of materials. After Xuan Ningcheng read it, he told Ruan Bei in advance that their team had won first place in this exchange competition.

"Really!" Ruan Bei was so happy he almost jumped for joy.

"Of course it's true." I thought the scores would be very close, but I didn't expect these kids to be so dedicated. They even dared to take on the Level 6 task and managed to pull ahead by more than 100 points.

Qin Gu had no more tasks to complete, so their final total score was more than fifty points lower than theirs. The third-place team was not Jiao Yan's team, and they were more than two hundred points lower than Qin Gu.

This was unexpected by the organizers. Instead, there was a significant gap in the scores of the top few, with the scores of the third and subsequent players being very close.

"These are the prizes we originally prepared." Xuan Ningcheng showed them a list. Perhaps out of a pang of conscience, the Special Affairs Bureau gave particularly generous prizes this time, especially for the top three winners. Even Qin Gu took a few extra glances at them.

"The Special Affairs Bureau has plenty of the materials Master Feng requested, but I can't give them to you without permission. I imagine you don't have enough points to redeem them..."

He looked at the two of them, and Ruan Bei and Qin Gu nodded silently.

One of them was a slacker, and the other had just joined with pitifully few points.

Xuan Ningcheng said, "If you agree, I will replace part of this prize with the materials you need, which will be of roughly the same value. What do you think?"

"I can," Qin Guxian stated.

Ruan Bei didn't agree immediately. These prizes weren't just for him; he couldn't make decisions for his teammates.

“The first prize already included materials, so I just replaced them with these,” Xuan Ningcheng said.

The first-place prize is truly generous. The materials included are by no means the most precious; there are rare spellbooks, high-grade magic artifacts, talisman master's notes, and rare medicinal herbs.

In comparison, those materials were actually the most ordinary.

After considering it for a moment, Ruan Bei felt that his senior brother's arrangements were very thoughtful, so he thanked his senior brother and agreed.

The next day, the organizers announced the results in the hotel banquet hall as usual, and just as the senior brother had said, Ruan Bei's team won first place.

Mao Xiaoqian was overjoyed and almost danced on the spot. Everyone else was also very happy, even the usually reserved Conan couldn't stop smiling.

Qin Gu's four-peat was broken, and many contestants craned their necks to look over, wanting to see which heroes had actually defeated the Great Demon King.

Then they discovered that Qin Gu was standing calmly next to the champion team, with a smile on his face.

Those with inside information secretly pointed to Ruan Bei and said, "It's him, the little devil of the great demon king's family. Sure enough, only the demon king can defeat the demon king."

Ruan Bei: "..."

Hey bro, don't whisper like that!

Yes, he already knew that his own Kunkun was actually the legendary big devil. Mao Xiaoqian carried thorns to apologize and begged him to put in a good word for him.

Ruan Bei hadn't suspected Qin Gu at all before, all because of Mao Xiaoqian's bizarre descriptions. He never imagined that the fierce and ruthless demon king in his teammates' eyes would be his gentle and handsome childhood sweetheart. The difference was too great.

When he went to collect his prize, he received the materials as he had hoped.

The teammates were quite embarrassed, as they received more valuable items. Ruan Bei repeatedly explained what materials he needed before they accepted this distribution method.

The two obtained most of the necessary auxiliary materials through the prize channel, and exchanged the remaining few at the subsequent trade fair. After giving all the materials to Uncle Feng, he plunged into the room called the laboratory, which was actually a weapon-refining room, and began to refine a rare spatial magic weapon.

At the end of April, Ruan Bei bid farewell to his friends and returned to Jincheng with Qin Gu.

After a month's journey, it seems like a lot has changed, yet nothing has changed at all.

Bai Miaomiao kept talking to Ruan Bei, but once Ruan Bei left, he lost interest in chatting. He didn't want to confide in his old, superficial friends, and as for Da Peng, there were some things he couldn't say. Ruan Bei was much better.

If Qin Gu hadn't looked so unfriendly, he would have almost stayed up all night talking with Ruan Bei.

Bai Miaomiao told Ruan Bei that after he left, Lu Siyuan came to their dormitory a few more times.

Bai Miaomiao said with a disdainful look, "He's so narcissistic. When I told him that you weren't here and that you had gone to study in another city with the professor, he looked guilty and said that if I found him annoying, he would try to change in the future and that I shouldn't delay my studies by avoiding him."

"Pah! He thinks he's so great. I want to go but I don't even have the chance. Who's avoiding him? He's so arrogant," Bai Miaomiao said indignantly.

“Miao Miao is right.” Ruan Bei nodded solemnly, thanking his friend for speaking up for him.

"Has he left yet?" Ruan Bei asked. He didn't want to see the Lu family as soon as he got back; it would be too upsetting.

"We're leaving! I heard they've moved all their stuff out of the dorm," Bai Miaomiao said happily.

"That's good." Ruan Bei was also happy.

Seeing how happy he was, Bai Miaomiao didn't know whether she should tell him the next piece of news. If she didn't tell him, he would feel restless, and Xiao Bei would find out sooner or later.

Say it, you're ruining the mood.

"Just say what you have to say, don't beat around the bush. What can't we say to each other?" Ruan Bei saw through his hesitation at a glance.

"Well then, I'll say it. Qin Shen and Lu Sibai have made up."

Ruan Bei: "???"