The first name on the yellowed page was Dong Daping.
If you only look at this one name, Qin Gu wouldn't remember who it is, but Dong Daping's name is followed by a series of other names, clearly indicating that it belongs to Grandma Dong and her family who live on the first floor below them.
After Old Master He moved here with Qin Gu, he never read fortunes for anyone again, and no one knew his identity as a fortune teller.
These few sheets of paper contained the old man's brief comments on the adults in Grandma Dong's family, ending with the words "no major evils".
Looking further down, sure enough, they were all neighbors from the same floor.
Qin Gu suddenly realized that his maternal grandfather, a lonely and sick old man, couldn't possibly settle down peacefully with his young grandson who was still quite young.
It's an occupational habit of his to assess people before getting to know them. He secretly showed his neighbors their faces to make sure there weren't any truly wicked people in the area before letting them stay with him.
Qin Gu held the few sheets of paper in his hand, a thought suddenly occurring to him.
Since there are other neighbors, the Ruan family should also have records. I wonder what the result was when his maternal grandfather looked at Ruan's parents' faces.
Thinking this, he subconsciously flipped to the next page, and sure enough, he saw the names of Mr. and Mrs. Ruan on the second to last page.
Qin Gu breathed a slight sigh of relief, moved the paper to the top, and carefully read the records left by his maternal grandfather about the Ruan family couple.
The first few words were all compliments, such as "charitable and generous," "a family with abundant blessings," and "blessings that will last forever." Qin Gu glanced at them and thought to himself that he could show these to Xiao Bei to make him happy.
But when he saw the last line, his expression froze.
Over time, the handwriting left by my grandfather has faded, but the content remains intact.
"He was destined to have one daughter and one son, but lost his son in his youth."
The note pauses noticeably here, leaving a slightly larger ink dot, followed by the sentence "Xiao Bei may have been adopted."
A young man lost his son...
Even when Xiao Bei had the accident in her previous life, Ruan's father was by no means a young man.
His son had died long ago.
Who is Lu Sibai?
A chill suddenly ran down Qin Gu's spine. He immediately stood up, ignoring the notes scattered on the floor, took out his phone to call Ruan Bei, and walked towards his room while making the call, preparing to grab his coat and head out.
The call connected quickly, with some static and the sound of running water. Ruan Bei's cheerful voice came through the receiver: "Kunkun? What's up? I'm washing my hands, wait for me."
After watching TV, Mr. Ruan was about to go to bed when Mr. Ruan came out with a thermos to fill it with hot water, just in case his father needed it.
The thermos handle was sticky with something on it, so Ruan Bei took it to the sink to wash it clean and wash his hands at the same time. Just then, Qin Gu called.
"Xiao Bei, listen to me." Qin Gu was a little out of breath; he had already gone out and was running downstairs.
"Lu Sibai is very likely not a child of the Ruan family. The Ruan family's biological son is already dead!"
"What?" Ruan Bei was so shocked that he almost dropped the thermos.
"He's not a child of the Ruan family, nor the Lu family, so whose child is he?"
"I don't know, I think there's a conspiracy involved."
When Lu Sibai and Ruan Bei were switched, they were just born, just babies. Even if he is cunning now, he couldn't do anything back then.
Therefore, there must have been a mastermind behind all of this.
After his initial shock, Ruan Bei suddenly understood everything that he hadn't been able to comprehend before.
No wonder Lu Sibai was so indifferent to Ruan's parents and sister in his previous life. He just thought it was because they had never spent time together and therefore had no feelings for each other, just like he couldn't get close to the Lu family.
It turned out that those weren't his parents or sister at all, which explained their indifference.
His father's injury...
In this life, he has confirmed that someone deliberately wanted to harm his father. He didn't dare to suspect Lu Sibai before because he felt that Lu Sibai would never do such a cruel thing to his own father. It just didn't make sense.
But what if that wasn't his father at all?
By the way, in the previous life, was it also Lu Sibai and that mastermind who orchestrated everything? Did they find that man with cancer and have him frame his father?
That's right, that's exactly it. He was afraid that his identity would be exposed, not that he would be exposed for being switched at birth, but that he would be exposed for not being the child of either of the two families!
"Kunkun, we..."
"elder brother-----!!!"
Ruan Bei's words were interrupted by Niu Niu's sharp, almost tearing scream. The little girl's clear voice was drawn out too high, making a sound like a shrill howl.
Ruan Bei's expression changed, and he hurriedly said into the phone, "Something's happened."
He threw down the thermos and ran towards his father's hospital room.
Before even reaching the ward door, the heavy aura of yin energy made Ruan Bei's hair stand on end, and he immediately realized that the enemy was extremely difficult to deal with.
"Pudding, bite him, bite him!" Niu Niu's voice was urgent and panicked.
But Ruan Bei couldn't care less about anything else. He rushed into the ward, and the scene before him made his eyes widen in horror—
A hideous and grotesque demon was lying on his father's body, its dark, ghostly hand gripping his neck tightly, and a large mouth emanating black mist trying to swallow his father's head!
The wild peach pit bracelet was scattered all over the ground. His father was being choked and could hardly breathe. His face turned red as he struggled to pry open the object pressing on his throat.
But that was a ghost, an evil ghost that had cultivated itself to the point of harming people. He couldn't touch anything, and his two hands futilely grabbed at the air.
Pudding clung to the demon's arm, its mouth wide open, biting at it. Niu Niu pulled and bit, desperately trying to pull away the arm that was choking her father's neck.
"Get out of the way!" Ruan Bei shouted, and spiritual energy was rapidly drawn from his body and flowed to his two arms.
A red light flashed across his fair palm, and intricate runes appeared after being infused with sufficient spiritual energy.
Ruan Bei grabbed the evil spirit by the back of its head, where the yin energy seemed to be gathered together like hair. With his left hand, he drew a talisman to restrain the yin energy, and the yin energy was helplessly captured in his hand.
In a fit of shock and rage, Ruan Bei grabbed the demon's head and dragged it away from his father.
The evil spirit roared and was about to retaliate when Ruan Bei grabbed its ghostly claw that was choking Ruan's father's throat with his right hand, wishing he could pour all his spiritual energy into his right hand.
With the support of abundant spiritual energy, Ruan Bei's right hand seemed to ignite with a layer of intense light. The two demonic claws of the evil spirit were like shattered ice under the scorching sun. Wherever Ruan Bei's hand touched, the black energy there melted away directly.
Its two enormous demonic claws were quickly burned away by Ruan Bei.
The demon let out a terrible howl, and its body suddenly swelled up, pressing against the ceiling and almost filling the entire ward.
Ruan Bei tightened his grip on its left hand, the sudden increase in force pulling its five fingers to their limit, the knuckles turning white from the force.
He subconsciously drew spiritual energy from his body and poured it into his left hand to enhance the effect of the Yin-binding talisman.
However, he had only been cultivating for less than half a year. He had just saved his father by severing the two ghost claws of the demon, and his spiritual energy had been almost completely depleted. Soon, he felt powerless.
The evil spirit let out a cacophony of laughter, making Ruan Bei's head spin. It grew so large that Ruan Bei felt as if he were grabbing a wisp of yin energy from its head, barely managing to pull it away.
But the evil spirit's hands and feet were now free. Its ugly face twisted into a ball, and like a cat playing with mice, it raised its foot to stomp on Niu Niu and Pudding, who were trying to help Ruan Bei.
"Get out of the way!" Ruan Bei rushed forward, draining the last bit of spiritual energy from his body, and raised his hand to block in front of the two little ones.
"Run, go find Kunkun!" Ruan Bei shouted, and the Blazing Sun Talisman in his right hand burned off a large chunk of the evil spirit's foot.
The little girl ran out crying, calling out "Big Brother" as she ran. Pudding followed behind her, limping. It had injured its hind leg when it was thrown away by the evil spirit earlier.
Ruan Bei couldn't care less about them anymore. The evil spirit didn't care about the two escaped mice; it had come with a mission.
Its burned-out ghost claws have grown back, although the yin energy is visibly much weaker, but they have indeed grown back.
Its arms grew very long, reaching directly to Mr. Ruan's bedside, and once again tried to strangle Mr. Ruan's neck, who had just recovered and was staring in disbelief.
Ruan Bei felt a sense of powerlessness. He could feel that his spiritual energy was completely depleted, the talismans in his palms were beginning to dim, and his meridians were aching slightly.
He deeply regretted not having the habit of carrying a talisman with him. He was too dependent on Kunkun, because the two of them were always together, and he felt that if Kunkun carried one, it was the same as if he carried one himself.
The worst thing is leaving the Yu'an umbrella at school; now he doesn't even have a decent weapon.
But it was too late to regret it now. Ruan Bei endured the stinging pain in his meridians, circulating his cultivation technique while recklessly drawing spiritual energy from his body. He couldn't let his father be harmed in front of him.
“Xiao Bei…” Mr. Ruan looked at his son standing in front of him, his arms trembling as if he were desperately trying to block something. He was panicked, scared and worried.
The next second, Ruan Bei felt as if he had been violently hit by something, his back slamming heavily against the iron railing in front of the hospital bed, making his father's bed shake.
Before Mr. Ruan could even utter his worried cry, that strange feeling of suffocation returned. He felt as if someone was choking him, covering his mouth and nose, making it impossible for him to breathe.
Ruan Bei felt a sharp pain that made his vision go black. He shook his head, turned around, and grabbed the evil spirit without a second thought.
He remembered his master saying that the stronger the ghost, the larger its body could become, but a huge ghost would consume a lot of yin energy.
After realizing that Ruan Bei could no longer pose a threat, the evil spirit naturally shrank its ghostly form and returned to the normal appearance that Ruan Bei had first seen.
However, Ruan Bei's spiritual energy had been completely drained, and the talisman on his palm had completely disappeared. He relied on his Yin-Yang Eyes to grab the evil spirit, but the Yin energy in his hand slipped away through his fingers like water that could not be held back.
Seeing his father's eyes roll back, Ruan Bei was driven to madness by despair. A crisp cracking sound rang in his ears, and a large amount of spiritual energy suddenly surged into his meridians, which had been drained of spiritual energy.
He subconsciously activated his cultivation technique, and the once spiritual fish transformed into a joyful stream, flowing into his arms according to his will, and finally converging into the talisman in his palm.
"You die!" Ruan Bei pounced from behind, hooking the demon's throat with his left hand and pulling at half of its face with his right, tearing off half of the demon's head through its wide-open mouth.
"Ah——————" The evil spirit twisted its body and howled miserably, instinctively trying to grow into its larger form again.
Ruan Bei's eyes turned red, and he exerted force with both hands at the same time. His left hand grabbed the evil spirit's neck and killed it, while his right hand continued to harass the evil spirit's head along the gap that had just been burned, until finally, he burned the evil spirit into a headless ghost.
The demon let out a mournful howl, and a head so thin that its features were no longer discernible reappeared.
Before it could grow larger again, the talisman on Ruan Bei's right hand, having been infused with too much spiritual energy, emitted a burst of light that was more than a meter long.
Ruan Bei simply held up the flame that looked like a large pillar, stabbing, chopping, sweeping, and poking at the evil spirit. He burned wherever the yin energy was thickest, and the more he burned, the weaker the evil spirit became, and the weaker it became, the less able it was to fight back.
It did want to escape, but the Yin-binding talisman Qin Gu drew was no joke. If Ruan Bei hadn't caught it, it could have shed its tail like a gecko. Even if it lost its head, it would still have its life if it ran away.
But Ruan Bei held it tightly with his left hand, afraid that it would break free and harm his father again. With red eyes, he grabbed it and burned it frantically.
In the end, the evil spirit couldn't take it anymore and began to beg for mercy. Ruan Bei had gone mad and couldn't hear anything. He couldn't stand even the slightest bit of ghostly energy in front of him. In the end, he managed to burn the great evil spirit to ashes.
The process sounds long, but it only took a few minutes. In the end, it took one or two minutes just for Ruan Bei to hold down the evil spirit, poke it, and burn it.
After finishing the fight, Ruan Bei turned to look at his father, who was completely stunned and at a loss for what to do.
A young nurse rushed in: "What's wrong? Who pressed the call button?"
A head popped out from behind the drawn curtain. The female caregiver pointed at Ruan Bei, trembling, "He...he seems to have gone mad. He just...he just rushed in and started yelling, then he started yelling and hitting the air. You...you have to check him out, check him out, maybe he's in the wrong psychiatric ward..."
Ruan Bei: "..."
Mr. Ruan: "..."
The young nurse looked at Ruan Bei with surprise and doubt: "Is what she said true?"
Ruan Bei: "...Our school is putting on a New Year's Day performance, and I was performing for my dad. I might have scared that auntie. I'm sorry."
"Oh, I see." The nurse immediately believed her and asked with a smile, "What kind of program are you rehearsing for? Is it a play? Are you playing a prince or something?"
Exhausted, Ruan Bei tried to maintain a smile: "Mental illness."
The nurse: "?"
"I'm playing a mentally ill person."
The nurse: "...Hehe, your school's scripts are quite innovative."
"Yes, that's right." Ruan Bei wiped the sweat from his forehead; fighting was exhausting.
"Well... if there's nothing else, I'll be going now."
The young nurse turned to leave, but the female caregiver quickly stopped her: "No, no, I need to..."
"What's wrong with you?" the nurse said. "Didn't they already explain everything? Just rehearse the show, don't overthink it."
The female caregiver wanted to cry. It didn't look like a rehearsal at all. She felt like the child was really fighting with someone. Putting everything else aside, the way he bumped into the bed frame was something she couldn't have done herself.
"Alright, alright, look at that old lady, she's not flustered at all, why are you making such a fuss?"
The female caregiver glanced at her employer. The old lady was hard of hearing and might not hear clearly even if someone spoke directly into her ear. Her eyesight was also poor. What could she possibly know? She had just complained of being cold and asked the caregiver to find her some warm clothes.
“I see.” Ruan Bei interrupted them, “I did disturb them. Do you see if there are any private rooms available? Could you please move my father to a different room?”
"Yes, there are, but the bed fees are quite high..."
"It's okay, can we change it now?"
After what happened tonight, his dad will definitely have a lot of questions to ask. If things aren't cleared up, neither of them will be able to sleep tonight.
Multi-person wards are inconvenient, and a single ward would make his father more comfortable while recuperating.
He didn't mention it before because it was hard to explain where the money came from; his dad certainly wouldn't be willing to spend more of that money.
Sure enough, Mr. Ruan hesitated for a moment, wanting to stop him, but when he met his son's pleading eyes, he shut his mouth.
The hospital wards are all clean and ready to be occupied at any time; all you need to do is lay out clean sheets and blankets.
The nurse went to process his room change. Ruan Bei sat down by his father's bed. Ruan's father reached his hand behind him, wanting to touch him but not daring to: "Does it hurt?"
Ruan Bei chuckled softly: "It doesn't hurt."
"Xiao Bei..."
"Dad, wait a moment, I'll explain it to you clearly."
Mr. Ruan fell silent, reaching out to grasp his son's hand, which trembled slightly from the force of his grip. The father and son, one lying down and the other sitting, remained quiet and still.
"Oh right, I'll call Kunkun." Ruan Bei suddenly remembered, took out his phone from his pocket and saw that it was still on a call, his pocket was already warm from being in his pocket.
He was on the phone with Kunkun when he heard Niu Niu's cries for help. He hurriedly said something, stuffed the phone into his pocket, and then ignored it.
As it turned out, Kunkun hadn't hung up yet. Ruan Bei just picked up his phone and said "hello," when a familiar voice appeared nearby, accompanied by hurried footsteps.
"How did you get here so fast?" Ruan Bei pulled out a tissue to wipe his sweat.
Even with Qin Gu's physique honed from years of martial arts training, he was panting heavily from running. Seeing that there was still a wait for the elevator downstairs, he ran up the stairs instead.
"I left when I called you." Qin Gu pulled him up and down, looking him over carefully: "Are you alright?"
"It's nothing." Ruan Bei smiled at him with her eyes crinkled.
Qin Gu's gaze swept over his pale cheeks, bloodless lips, and damp hair. He lowered his eyes, a flash of ferocity crossing his gaze.
They hadn't exchanged more than a few words when the nurse finished the paperwork. She brought over a wheelchair, and Ruan Bei and Qin Gu helped Ruan's father into it and pushed him to a private room.
After what had just happened, Ruan Bei really didn't dare leave his father alone. He stayed in the new ward to keep watch over him, while Qin Gu went to pack his things.
As he packed his things, Ruan Bei held the small jade house hanging around his neck, silently reciting the incantation Qin Gu had taught him, calling for Niu Niu to come back.
The little girl didn't come with Kunkun; she must have missed it.
The spell stirred up the spiritual energy, causing it to flow. He hadn't had time to think about it during the crisis, but now that things had calmed down, Ruan Bei noticed the stinging pains coming from his meridians and dantian.
The ghost traveled very quickly. Just as Qin Gu had finished moving everything over, Niu Niu returned with Pudding.
The little girl buried her face in Ruan Bei's arms, her eyes red and swollen, sobbing as she called out "Brother".
"It's alright now." Ruan Bei patted Niu Niu's hair and then ruffled Pudding's hair.
He thought for a moment, glanced at Mr. Ruan who was puzzled but quietly waiting for his explanation, and said to Qin Gu, "Do you have any eye-opening talismans? Let's put one on Dad."
Qin Gu then gave Ruan's father an eye-opening talisman. Ruan's father felt a blur before his eyes, and his son's empty arms were now filled with a little girl and a dog.
"This is……"
"Dad, it's a long story. Let me introduce you first. This is Niu Niu, the little girl I told you about. This is Pudding, Niu Niu's best friend. They've been entrusted to me to take care of them."
Mr. Ruan instinctively gave the little girl, who was looking up at him, a kind smile: "Hello, Niu Niu."
"Hello, Daddy Ruan!" Niu Niu replied crisply.
Pudding barked, and Ruan Bei laughed, "Dad, Pudding is saying hello to you too."
Mr. Ruan immediately added, "Hello to you too, Pudding."
When Ruan Bei saw that Niu Niu's braids had come undone, she took off the hair tie and re-tied them for her, explaining to her father as she did so, "As you can see, Niu Niu and Pudding... are a little different from other people."
Mr. Ruan paused, then hesitated and asked, "Is it... a ghost?"
Ruan Bei nodded. Ruan's father looked at his son holding the little devil and smiled wryly, "What happened to you? Just now in my hospital room..."
Ruan Bei paused, and Qin Gu said with a grim expression, "It's an evil spirit."
He has just collected all the remaining yin energy in the vicinity. By tracing it back to its source, he will surely find out who was driving it. When the time comes, he will make that person know that he is the master of playing with ghosts.
"How about Niu Niu goes out to play with Pudding for a while?" Ruan Bei said.
There are some private things to discuss, and it's not appropriate to leave the two little ones here.
The little girl nodded obediently. Ruan Bei then asked Qin Gu for a Yin Qi talisman for her to hold and give to Pudding. Pudding's leg was injured, and a ghost only needed to replenish its Yin Qi to heal itself. The Yin Qi talisman was the perfect solution.
After they left, Qin Gu closed the door.
Ruan Bei looked at her father, pursed her lips, and said with difficulty, "Dad, do you...do you know that I am not your biological child?"
Mr. Ruan was taken aback and instinctively wanted to refute.
The words were about to leave his lips when they turned into a long sigh: "How did you know?"
Ruan Bei smiled bitterly. If he had known earlier, he wouldn't have missed so many things in both his past and present lives.
Qin Gu explained, "My maternal grandfather was a fortune teller. He examined your face and knew about your son, who should have already..."
First, his son suddenly became able to see and catch ghosts, then his godson seemed to be very powerful as well. Now, he heard that his sickly old neighbor was actually a demigod. Mr. Ruan was so shocked that he was numb.
"Actually, there are many more things, but it's too long to tell you slowly. Could you first tell me how you became my father?"
Mr. Ruan was silent for a moment, seemingly reminiscing about the past.
After a while, he said sadly, "Your grandfather was right. I have another son, who is about a few days younger than Xiao Bei."
"As you all know, Xiao Bei's mother's pregnancy was an accident. We were both public servants and obeyed the organization's arrangements, so we had IUDs inserted early on."
Later, for some unknown reason, the IUD fell out on its own, and Xiao Bei's mother unexpectedly became pregnant.
“She’s not in good health. The doctor said that abortion would have a great impact on her health. Besides, she couldn’t bear to part with the child. She said that the child’s arrival was fate, and we, as parents, couldn’t send it away.”
"We took great care of the baby and even picked out a name for him."
He glanced at Ruan Bei, and Ruan Bei immediately understood that his name should have belonged to that child who died young.
“But he was born during a difficult labor.” Mr. Ruan wiped his face. “Your mother gave birth to him with her life on the line, but he was already dead when he was born.”
Was he sad? Yes, he was, but he didn't dare show it.
While his wife was unconscious, he held his son's small body, wanting to ask the doctor to take another look.
The result was of course futile. He carried the child back home, and as he passed through the corridor, he suddenly heard a baby crying.
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