Chapter 34

Wei Qilin then turned to look at his wife.

"What did you just say?" he asked.

Zheng Feibao snapped out of her daze, almost forgetting what she was about to say, and said somewhat sluggishly, "Ah, I mean, what are Fu Lai and the others doing? Why did they suddenly go upstairs?"

She stood up, frowning, and said, "I wonder if something has happened. Let's go check it out."

Meanwhile, Xu Gui had already stood up and started walking upstairs at a leisurely pace, her expression calm. This made Zheng Feibao take a second look at her—she always felt that this Miss Xu had a very peculiar temperament that made her unable to help but pay attention to her.

However, once they got upstairs, Zheng Feibao's attention quickly shifted away from Xu Gui because she heard a gasp coming from the room in front.

"Grandpa, Grandpa, what's wrong?"

"Grandpa! Wake up!"

"Brother Feiran..."

"Calm down, go and call Dr. Fu!"

Zheng Fulai's panicked voice and Zheng Feiran's voice, which was trying to remain calm, overlapped. Zheng Feibao quickened his pace and bumped into Zheng Fulai, who rushed out from inside, just as he reached the door.

"Fulai, what's wrong with Grandpa?" Zheng Feibao asked quickly.

Zheng Fulai's face was covered in sweat, whether from cold or heat, he said in a panic, "Grandpa has a rash and suddenly can't breathe... I have to go call Dr. Fu."

He remembered something and said, "Oh right, Second Sister, you're a doctor, you should take a look at Grandpa!"

Before Zheng Feibao could react, he pulled her into the bedroom. When she came to her senses, she couldn't help but say, "...Fu Lai, I'm a surgeon."

A surgeon is fine with holding a scalpel and operating on the operating table, but asking her to treat rashes is a mismatch with her expertise.

"Qilin!" She turned sharply to her husband and said, "Qilin, you're an internist, please take a look at Grandpa!"

As Xu Gui and the others entered the room, Xu Gui immediately smelled a unique scent of an elderly person that even fragrance couldn't mask. Zheng Feiran was bending over and standing by the bed, anxiously checking on the person on the bed.

His face was grave, and cold sweat could be seen beading on his forehead.

On the bed lay an elderly man on the verge of death, clutching his chest and breathing heavily, seemingly having great difficulty. On his face, one could see red spots of rashes.

"Qilin, hurry and check on Grandpa!" Zheng Feibao had already pulled Wei Qilin to the bedside, anxiously urging him to check on his grandfather's condition.

Wei Qilin's expression was serious as he was about to take a step when he heard a faint voice coming from behind him: "I advise you not to let him go forward, because you never know, he might secretly try to kill you."

Wei Qilin paused, turned around and looked behind him, and saw Xu Gui standing at the bedroom door, his gaze gently falling on her.

The other people in the room reacted differently to Xu Gui's words.

Zheng Fulai was a little confused. He looked at Xu Gui, forgetting that he had introduced him as a friend in front of Zheng Feibao, and subconsciously asked, "Master, what do you mean by that?"

Xu Gui lifted his eyelids to look at Wei Qilin, who stood there, his tall figure appearing incredibly silent and gloomy.

Xu Gui laughed and said, "Mr. Wei should understand what I mean."

"Miss Xu, you're joking," Wei Qilin smiled, his smile gentle and harmless. "I don't quite understand what you're saying."

Just then, a figure rushed in from outside. Before even entering the bedroom, a voice could be heard shouting, "The doctor is here! The doctor is here!"

Zheng Fulai and the others turned around and saw Yang Haolin, the person who had been following them, rush in. Only then did they realize that they hadn't seen Yang Haolin at all.

Yang Haolin was holding onto someone else. Once that person stood up straight, Zheng Fulai and the others immediately recognized who it was.

"Dr. Fu?!" Zheng Fulai was overjoyed. He rushed forward to pull Dr. Fu aside and shouted, "Dr. Fu, please take a look at my grandfather. He suddenly started getting rashes all over his body for some reason, and he seems to be having trouble breathing."

Before Dr. Fu could even catch his breath, he had to go forward to check on Mr. Zheng's condition.

The smile on Wei Qilin's face faded when he saw Dr. Fu appear. His cold eyes were fixed on Xu Gui, on this variable.

After hearing Xu Gui's words, Zheng Feibao became somewhat absent-minded. At this moment, she noticed the change in her husband's expression and felt her heart sink.

"...Grandpa is having an allergic reaction!" Dr. Fu had already examined Grandpa Zheng and hurriedly said, "Everyone, move aside and keep the air circulating. Fortunately, there is no swelling in his throat."

Fortunately, he had brought allergy emergency medication with him, which he quickly gave to Mr. Zheng. After observing that Mr. Zheng's breathing gradually slowed down, Dr. Fu's heart slowly settled down.

He was genuinely worried that the old man's allergy might escalate to its most severe form, at which point simple treatments wouldn't be enough.

Dr. Fu looked at Zheng Feiran and asked, "What did the old man eat today? Did he eat kiwifruit?"

Zheng Feiran's furrowed brows did not completely relax. Upon hearing Dr. Fu's question, he denied it without hesitation, saying, "Impossible. My family knows that my grandfather is allergic to kiwifruit, so there's no way he would have kiwifruit!"

The old man was allergic to kiwifruit when he was young, and everyone in his family knew this, so even if someone in his family liked to eat kiwifruit, they would never bring it home.

“My grandfather could never have had the chance to come into contact with kiwifruit!” Zheng Feiran said with certainty.

Dr. Fu said, "The old man is only allergic to kiwifruit. If he didn't come into contact with kiwifruit, then we need to do a detailed examination to see what the allergen is."

Zheng Feiran: "How is my grandfather doing now?"

Dr. Fu said, "The situation has stabilized now, but we still need to observe it carefully. If the breathing difficulties recur, we will have to send the patient to the hospital... The hospital's equipment is definitely more complete."

Zheng Fulai had already moved closer to the bedside, kneeling and prostrating himself at the head of the bed, and whispered to the old man, "Grandpa, Grandpa..."

Grandpa Zheng opened his eyes slightly. Zheng Fu looked at him, took his hand, and asked with slightly moist eyes, "Grandpa, are you alright?"

Grandpa Zheng raised his hand and gently touched his head, saying weakly, "I'm fine."

Seeing that the old man closed his eyes again after speaking, looking tired, Zheng Feiran said, "Fulai, Grandpa needs to rest now. Let's go out first and let him get some rest."

Zheng Fulai nodded obediently and followed everyone out of the old man's bedroom. However, Dr. Fu stayed behind to take care of the old man in case anything unexpected happened.

As soon as Xu Gui and the others went downstairs, Zheng Feiran's expression turned stern, and Zheng Feibao's smile vanished. Only Zheng Fulai, whose mind was still on the old man, remained absent-minded, completely unaware of the strange atmosphere, until…

Zheng Feiran suddenly looked sharply at Xu Gui.

"Miss Xu, did you know all along that my grandfather would have an accident?" he asked sternly.

Zheng Fulai snapped out of his daze and instinctively spoke up in defense of Xu Gui: "Why are you being so fierce to Master Xu?"

Zheng Feiran was momentarily speechless.

Xu Gui glanced at Zheng Feiran, but did not answer him immediately. Instead, he walked to a chair and sat down before speaking.

"If I remember correctly, if it weren't for me, your old man would have been in danger." Xu Gui smiled, slightly raising his chin, and said with a reserved air, "So, Mr. Zheng, isn't your attitude towards me a little rather impolite?"

Zheng Feiran: "..."

Hearing their words, Zheng Fulai suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh right, it was Master Xu who reminded me that I realized my grandfather was in trouble... No wonder you told me to eat quickly, saying that I probably wouldn't be in the mood to eat afterwards."

He asked Xu Gui, "Master, did you know all along that my grandfather would have an accident?"

Xu Gui: "It's not too early, just a little bit earlier than you guys... because this thing wouldn't have happened now, it was a variable, so I didn't know much earlier than you guys."

Suddenly remembering something, Zheng Fulai blurted out, "Was it when you said my appearance had changed?"

Xu Gui nodded.

Zheng Fulai's mind was a bit confused. He said, "You said this is a variable, which means my grandfather shouldn't have ended up like this. But why? Why did this variable happen?"

Xu Gui: "I am the variable. My appearance caused the predetermined fate to change... However, my appearance only brought this matter forward. Even without me, this matter would still have happened soon."

"As for why this happened, you'll have to ask Mr. Wei." Xu Gui smiled and looked at Wei Qilin. "After all, it was Mr. Wei who personally had kiwis added to your old man's food."

"..."

The living room was quiet.

Or rather, after hearing what Xu Gui said in the old man's bedroom, the Zheng family deliberately avoided the topic, or rather, dared not bring it up.

Because they were afraid that if they brought it up, things would develop in ways they didn't expect.

Zheng Feiran pursed her lips and looked at Zheng Feibao.

Zheng Fu looked around, seemingly sensing the subtle atmosphere, and obediently fell silent, not daring to speak.

Finally, it was Zheng Feibao who took a deep breath and spoke first.

"Is what Miss Xu said true?" She looked at her husband, with whom she had shared a bed for many years, and asked softly, "Grandpa, is it really you who caused this?"

Wei Qilin blinked and chuckled, "Fei Bao, you don't actually believe what she said, do you? Grandpa has been so good to me, why would I want to harm him? But Miss Xu..."

He looked sharply at Xu Gui and said, "You're making these baseless accusations against me. I think it's you who harmed Grandpa. Otherwise, how would you know so much about when I would have my accident?"

“Only the perpetrator knows best when the victim will be in trouble, right?” he countered.

All eyes turned to Xu Gui again. Zheng Fulai frowned and said, "It can't be Master Xu. I specially invited Master Xu to look at the feng shui of our house and exorcise evil spirits. Before this, she had no relationship with our family at all!"

Wei Qilin sighed, "Fu Lai, you're still too naive. You just think she has nothing to do with our family, but who knows what the truth is?"

"If she wasn't the one who harmed him, I really can't understand why she would know so clearly when Grandpa would have his accident. It's impossible that she could predict the future, right?"

He smiled and looked at everyone: "What era are we living in? You don't actually believe that precognition is a real thing, do you?"

Zheng Fulai: "..."

He glanced at Wei Qilin furtively and whispered, "But Master Xu really can predict the future." He had personally experienced this.

but……

If Master Xu is telling the truth, then the problem lies with Wei Qilin, who is his second brother-in-law!

Zheng Fulai's mind finally caught on, and he finally realized how serious the situation was, and understood why Fei Ran and his second sister had been silent just now.

He looked at Wei Qilin in horror, and blurted out, "Brother Qilin, why did you hurt Grandpa?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Qilin's smile vanished instantly.

“Fu Lai,” he frowned, “do you mean to say that you trust a stranger you’ve only known for a short time more than me, your brother-in-law?”

Zheng Fulai was speechless for a moment, realizing that his attitude seemed strange to others, but...

“But Master Xu really can tell fortunes!” he said with great certainty, his mind surprisingly clear at the moment. He continued, “Moreover, Master Xu has no conflict of interest with our family, so she has no reason to harm Grandpa.”

Wei Qilin retorted, "Then does that give me a reason to harm Grandpa?"

“Of course you do,” Xu Gui said, staring intently at Wei Qilin and saying, word by word, “because your surname is Wei! Wei, the Wei who has a grudge against the Zheng family.”

Wei Qilin: "..."

The smile on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a blank expression.

Zheng Feibao had been married to him for many years. While she wouldn't say she knew him inside and out, she was quite familiar with him. Seeing this unfamiliar expression on his face, which she had never seen before, she felt a chill in her heart.

"...Did you really do this?" she asked softly, then thought of something else: "So, all the strange things that have happened in the house over the past month or so, are they also because of you? Are you playing tricks?"

Wei Qilin looked at her, a hint of sadness appearing in his eyes.

"Didn't you already guess?" he said helplessly.

He admitted it...

Zheng Feibao felt a pang of pain in her heart. Confused and distressed, she demanded, "Why? Why did you do this? Was I bad to you? Was my family bad to you? Why did you do this!"

Wei Qilin, however, was even more agitated than she was. He shouted, "Because my surname is Wei! Wei as in Wei Liao!"

Zheng Feibao asked blankly, "Wei Liao?"

Wei Qilin looked at them, a deep hatred flashing in his eyes for the first time. He said, word by word, "Wei Liao is my grandfather."

"So, you are Wei Liao's grandson."

At that moment, a somewhat hoarse voice suddenly came from upstairs.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Grandpa Zheng being helped up by Dr. Fu to stand on the stairs. His cloudy eyes stared at Wei Qilin and he said, "I thought you looked familiar before. Now I realize it's because you look a lot like your grandfather."

Wei Qilin looked at him, his eyes flashing with deep and blatant hatred. He said, "You didn't expect that Wei Liao would still have descendants alive, did you?"

The old man coughed lightly and was helped downstairs by Dr. Fu.

"Grandpa!" Zheng Fulai hurried over, supporting his other hand, and together with Dr. Fu, helped him sit down on the sofa.

Full of questions, Zheng Feiran couldn't help but ask, "Grandpa, who is Wei Liao?"

“Wei Liao,” the old man said with a look of reminiscence, “was my good brother and good partner.”

Wei Qilin sneered: "Your so-called good brothers and partners are just people who, after you become successful, try to kick your business partners out, then betray them, seize their assets, get their children involved in drugs, and ruin their entire family!"

"If it weren't for you, how could my grandfather have committed suicide? How could my father have died a violent death in the street? And how could I have grown up without a father?"

As Wei Qilin spoke of these things, the resentment in his eyes was almost overflowing. He hated, he really hated so much. From childhood to adulthood, he had grown up immersed in an emotion called resentment.

After hearing his words, Zheng Feibao couldn't help but look at the old man and ask, "Grandpa, is what Qilin said true?"

The old man lifted his eyelids and said, "No, that's not how it is. There's more to this story."

Wei Qilin sneered, "The inside story? Do you dare say that if you hadn't swallowed up our Wei family's assets, would your Zheng family have ended up like this?"

"Back then, our Wei family was a prominent family in City A, while you, Zheng Qi, were just a street urchin. If my grandfather hadn't valued you, befriended you, and even invested money in doing business with you, how would your Zheng family be where you are today?"

"But what about you, Zheng Qi? What did you do, Zheng Qi?"

"They colluded with outsiders to seize our Wei family's property! They caused our Wei family to be destroyed and our people to die..."

These things, he had heard from his mother since he was six years old, over and over again, each sentence like poison, deeply imprinted in his mind.

"You must remember this! It was the Zheng family that ruined your grandfather and killed your father. It was the Zheng family, Zheng Qi, who caused the destruction of our Wei family!"

"Qilin, you must remember this hatred, remember how your grandfather and father died, you must avenge them, and take back everything that our Wei family has lost..."

"Qilin, you must remember what your mother said. Even if you die, you must never forget these words, understand?"

Therefore, Wei Qilin could not forget, nor dared to forget, he would always remember his mother's crazy and resentful appearance.

The old man said, "...So, you married Fei Bao just to get revenge on me? To get revenge on the Zheng family?"

Hearing this, Zheng Feibao felt a pang of sorrow. She looked at Wei Qilin sadly, but Wei Qilin did not look at her; he was only staring at the old man.

"That's right, I came to your Zheng family to take revenge on you and your Zheng family!" Wei Qilin admitted, after all, now that everything was exposed, there was no need for him to be stubborn anymore.

"Things were going very smoothly. I could have killed you without anyone noticing and no one would suspect me. But then something unexpected happened."

Speaking of unexpected events, Wei Qilin couldn't help but give a wry smile.

He had been plotting for so many years, patiently getting close to Zheng Feibao, and even after marrying her, he dared not show the slightest resentment. All of this was just to kill Zheng Qi quietly and without arousing suspicion.

Just when the plan was about to succeed, an unexpected complication arose.

"...If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been in such a hurry to take action." He looked at Xu Gui with disappointment and calmness. "You're right, you are the variable." His expression was one of resignation.

According to his original plan, he should have killed Zheng Qi more calmly and discreetly, but Xu Gui's appearance disrupted his plans, forcing him to act ahead of schedule.

"But I didn't expect that even though I took action in advance, you still managed to find out."

He closed his eyes and said, "My biggest mistake was that I never imagined there would actually be people in this world who could tell fortunes and predict the future."

At the pond, he heard Xu Gui make a prophecy with his own ears, and then he watched as the two so-called "masters" fulfilled her prophecy without missing a beat. At that moment, Wei Qilin was somewhat devastated.

“Things wouldn’t be like this if you hadn’t come along!” he said through gritted teeth.

Xu Gui said, "You're wrong. The variable isn't me, it's Zheng Fulai..."

Wei Qilin was taken aback, and Zheng Fulai was also taken aback.

"Me? Me?" Zheng Fulai asked blankly.

Xu Gui looked at him and said, "Have you forgotten? You were the one who came looking for me. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here at all."

On the surface, Wei Qilin's plan failed because of her, but fundamentally, it was Zheng Fulai's appearance and his invitation to Xu Guilai's home that led to Xu Guilai's presence at the Zheng family home and the exposure of Wei Qilin's conspiracy.

Therefore, the real variable is Zheng Fulai.

Wei Qilin realized this, and he looked at Zheng Fulai with a strange gaze, muttering, "I used to think you were just ridiculously stupid, but now it seems that you really can bring good fortune to your family."

Zheng Fulai: "..." He was clearly praised, but why didn't he feel happy at all?

What was wrong with him?

Now that the plan has been completely exposed...

Wei Qilin took a deep breath, looked at the old man, and said, "Now that you know everything, what do you plan to do with me? Are you going to call the police?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Feibao's expression changed, and she subconsciously looked at the old man.

"grandfather!"