Chapter 85 My relationship with your stepfather has been ruined by you…
Wang Qiang, holding his head wrapped in gauze like a boiled egg, recounted what had happened not long ago.
"Today I took my men to collect protection money and found that someone was causing trouble on our turf."
"That guy's stall had already paid us protection money, but another gang wanted them to pay again."
"The money they pay is still twice the amount of our protection money. If you say it's not more than twice the amount, then you're looking down on them."
Wang Qiang held the boiled egg in his hand and sneered.
"How dare anyone bully us on our turf? Do you think I, Wang Qiang, would tolerate this?"
So after exchanging glances with the other side's leader, they immediately started fighting.
This is their territory, and their headquarters is here too. Brothers, come and support them quickly.
By any measure, they should win.
"But I never expected that bastard had a gun!"
Wang Qiang grimaced as he spoke, still shaken.
"He fired two shots, wounding two of my brothers."
"If I hadn't dodged quickly, I'd be in the morgue right now!"
He pointed to the wound on his head, which was wrapped in gauze and was still bleeding.
"Although I dodged quickly, someone still managed to cut a gash on my head with a knife."
"Fortunately, the wound wasn't deep; it only needs about ten stitches. It didn't damage the brain."
Song Yu, listening nearby, felt uneasy and pressed for an answer:
"And then what? Were those people punished?"
Seeing Song Yu's curious gaze, Wang Qiang subconsciously straightened his chest.
He was starting to show signs of a peacock spreading its tail feathers: "Of course! Who am I? I'm Wang Qiang, the third leader of the White Tiger Gang!"
"If they dare to mess with me, they'll definitely regret it!"
Song Yu stared wide-eyed and pressed, "So what punishment did they receive?"
Wang Qiang choked, his eyes showing a hint of guilt.
Chu Ci chuckled. "Did they call the police?"
"Call the police?" Song Yu asked curiously. "You guys call the police too?"
She practically had "The police are arresting you, aren't they?" written all over her face.
Wang Qiang's face turned pale, then red, then pale again, and finally his shoulders slumped.
"Hey, I'm a good citizen of Hong Kong, unlike those thugs!"
Chu Ci found it amusing and offered an explanation for him.
"His boss passed away, his second-in-command was purged by the gang, and now he, the third-in-command, is also going to retire from the gang."
"The White Tiger Gang is in complete disarray and can no longer be considered a major gang."
Wang Qiang glared at Chu Ci, muttering resentfully:
"That's true, but my brothers and I are still pretty good!"
The underlings nodded in agreement, speaking up for Wang Qiang.
"Brother Qiang is still paying us salaries!"
"Yes, we also get a bonus for the Ghost Festival!"
"Now we have a stable salary and we don't have to fight like before. We really like our life now."
A henchman with a bandage wrapped around his hand nodded repeatedly:
"Brother Qiang also said that he would help us do business in the future. If the business is good, he will open a shop for each of us."
"They'll help us get married, and everyone can be a boss!"
Perhaps embarrassed by the praise from his underlings, Wang Qiang forced a smile, waved to them, and pretended to be serious:
"Alright, alright, it's not even close to being a done deal yet! What are you talking about!"
His upturned lips were harder to suppress than AK's, but when he turned his head and saw Chu Ci's ambiguous smile, he couldn't laugh anymore.
Chu Ci asked him, feigning curiosity, "What kind of business are you planning to do with your underlings?"
Without a second thought, Wang Qiang exclaimed, "A street food stall!"
He looked confident. "Everyone needs to eat, right? We have a lot of brothers in the underworld. Once we open our shop, they'll definitely come and support us."
"With so many customers, we'll be able to recoup our investment quickly!"
"Once we recoup the costs of the first store, we'll open the second and the third!"
"It won't be long before each of us can be our own boss!"
Wang Qiang is full of confidence for the future, and his underlings are also happy about it.
Chu Ci chuckled and asked them, "If you're making food at a street food stall, you need a chef, right?"
She looked at Wang Qiang and his brothers, "Which of you can cook?"
Song Yu added: "Not only chefs, but also those who want to control costs as low as possible and have their own supply chain."
She looked at Wang Qiang and asked, "Do you know where I can find a butcher shop that offers fresh, cheap meat with a stable supply?"
The two women looked over, while Wang Qiang and his underlings were completely bewildered.
But soon, Wang Qiang's confusion vanished, and he waved his hand dismissively:
"If street food stalls don't work, we can open a nightclub!"
He and his brothers exchanged glances and chuckled.
"We currently own several nightclubs, and they're incredibly profitable!"
The brothers chuckled and laughed, then turned their heads to meet Chu Ci's ambiguous smile.
Wang Qiang and his brothers immediately stopped laughing.
Chu Ci looked at the group of thugs and said coldly, "Nightclub? Is this what you call 'whitewashing'?"
Wang Qiang shrank back, "Forget it, forget it, we're planning to sell those nightclubs too."
"To do business, you always need some capital."
Seeing that their eldest brother had said so, the younger brothers also quieted down.
Chu Ci looked at the varying degrees of black energy emanating from these people and pursed her lips.
These people aren't good people, but they're not bad enough to warrant being arrested and imprisoned.
Everything seems fine now, but retribution is inevitable; the time just hasn't come yet.
When they get older, the retribution for their sins will come knocking all at once.
Looking at Wang Qiang's slumped shoulders, she suggested, "In recent years, many businessmen have been moving to the mainland. Have you ever thought about going there?"
Before Wang Qiang could even speak, his underlings had already started complaining.
"Huh? No way. Apart from a few coastal cities, what place over there can compare to Hong Kong?"
"That's right. I heard that in many places there, the roads are all dirt roads, and when it rains, your feet are covered in mud."
"I just came from the countryside, and I don't want to go back..."
Wang Qiang stared at Chu Ci, his mind racing.
"When my older brother was alive, he wanted to move the business to the mainland."
They said there was a need to build houses everywhere over there, and that there were opportunities to make money everywhere.
“If my older brother hadn’t suddenly passed away, I would be managing the business on the mainland by now…”
When Wang Qiang suddenly mentioned the former leader of the White Tiger Gang, the underlings couldn't help but feel sad.
Bai Feng, the leader of their White Tiger Gang, is a very intelligent man.
While others were busy fighting and vying for territory, Brother Bai Feng acted as a middleman, selling weapons to both sides, making money without offending anyone.
Because they rarely engage in shootouts, their gang has a very low casualty rate.
Even their gang's business is very good, spanning most of Hong Kong.
Once you join the White Tiger Gang, all the brothers are doing well.
One of the underlings hesitated before speaking, "Boss, since Brother Bai Feng said it was something, then there's definitely no problem."
"or……"
He looked at Wang Qiang with trepidation.
"Shall we give it a try?"
Wang Qiang remained silent.
He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and put one in his mouth.
He silently finished a cigarette, then suddenly slapped his thigh and stood up.
"Alright! If Big Brother hasn't finished his work, let's go do it!"
"Walk!"
He waved to his brothers.
"My older brother said that you should do your homework before doing business, and investigate the industry first."
"Let's go find a construction site and ask some people in this industry!"
They went out in a large group, and each of them seemed to have a lot of ambition.
Song Yu watched Wang Qiang leave with bright eyes, then turned her head and met Chu Ci's dark eyes.
Her smile froze, she quickly wiped the upturned corner from her lips, and whispered:
"master……"
Chu Ci looked her up and down. "The Yin Peach Blossom curse on your body has been lifted. Go outside for a walk and see if you still want Ren Wenguang."
Song Yu obediently said "Oh," and pushed open the door to go out.
She paced around the doorway twice, then suddenly turned pale, as if struck by a sudden thought.
He ran to a corner and vomited violently.
Seeing that she was about to vomit, Grandma frowned with worry.
"Oh dear, what's wrong with Xiao Song? Why did she suddenly vomit?"
She quickly filled a paper cup with some water and said, "Aci, go and take this to Xiao Song."
Song Yu squatted on the ground, vomiting violently. He took the water Chu Ci handed him to rinse his mouth and quickly said thank you.
She vomited everything out of her stomach, but the nausea still lingered.
Her eyes reddened, and the thought of the days she spent with Ren Wenguang filled her with a physical aversion.
My stomach churned again.
She vomited until there was nothing left to vomit, and her head started to ache. She then rinsed her mouth again and forced herself to straighten up despite the discomfort.
She couldn't bear to think about those past few days; if she did, she would feel violently nauseous.
Seeing that she had gradually calmed down, Chu Ci asked her:
"Now you should be able to remember what happened before you met Ren Wenguang, right?"
Upon hearing the name "Ren Wenguang," Song Yu felt nauseous again.
Half an hour later, she sat in a chair and drank hot water, and only then did she feel a little better in her stomach.
Holding the warm cup in her hand, she waited quietly for her parents to come and pick her up.
He told Chu Ci about what happened before he met Ren Wenguang.
"My only connection with Ren Wenguang is that he collaborated with my father's company before he went bankrupt."
“I went to discuss business with my dad and met him once, but it was just once…”
For some reason, Ren Wenguang set his sights on her.
He even used that Yin Peach Blossom technique to make her completely devoted to him...
The nausea returned, and she quickly drank two sips of water to suppress it.
Thinking of that "yin peach blossom," she frowned and asked Chu Ci, "Master, where did that thing come from?"
During the few days she spent with Ren Wenguang, she never saw him touch anything related to that.
His home didn't even have statues of Guan Yu or the God of Wealth; there were only empty wine bottles scattered all over the floor.
Ren Wenguang doesn't seem like someone who knows such evil magic.
All he does is drink and gamble, and when he loses, he vents his anger by cursing.
Chu Ci shook her head, "I don't know either. I'm afraid you'll have to ask Ren Wenhua himself."
As the two were talking, a black sedan pulled up in front of the shop.
A well-dressed middle-aged couple got out of the car and went straight into the store.
Seeing Song Yu sitting unharmed at the table, Song's mother couldn't help but wipe away her tears.
"Little Fish, you've finally decided to contact your mom and dad..."
She hugged Song Yu tightly, and Song's father breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked at his daughter, whose eyes were red, and shook his head helplessly.
"How could you possibly fall for that good-for-nothing Ren Wenguang?!"
Song's mother told him not to scold his daughter as soon as they met, but Song's father clearly couldn't stand it.
He pointed at his daughter's eyes and scolded her for being out of her mind.
"Ren Wenguang is short-sighted and only cares about petty gains. If you stay with him, you will only suffer with him."
"The key point is that he's not divorced yet; he has a wife and children!"
"Your parents have spoiled you for so many years, just so you would ruin yourself and become a mistress?"
Song Yu was so moved by what he said that she almost cried, and couldn't help but retort:
"No, Dad. Listen to me, Ren Wenguang's wife and children are dead, and it was him..."
"His wife and children are dead?" Mr. Song stared in shock, his face contorted.
"Then the two of you definitely can't be together!"
He roared.
"His wife and children just died, and you're already rushing in? What were you thinking?!"
"And this kind of man is obviously bad luck in marriage!"
"He's tough and lives a happy life, but his wife works herself to the bone and dies from exhaustion in just a few years!"
Mr. Song grabbed Mrs. Song and left, saying, "Don't even think about marrying someone like that. Your mother and I will absolutely not help him make a comeback!"
Song's mother felt sorry for her daughter, but also thought her husband was right, so she was caught in a dilemma.
Song Yu was raised with strict discipline. Faced with her father's anger, she said "no" for a long time with red eyes, but couldn't explain why.
Chu Ci pursed her lips helplessly and interrupted the argument between the family of three.
"Mr. Song, Mrs. Song."
After arguing for a while, the family of three turned to look at each other.
Chu Ci smiled and pointed to the aggrieved Song Yu.
“You’ve misunderstood. Being with Ren Wenguang was not Miss Song Yu’s intention.”
She briefly recounted the whole incident, including the details of Ren Wenguang murdering his wife and children.
Seeing the incredulous expressions on his parents' faces, Song Yu quickly said:
"It's true! What the master said is all true!"
She cried, feeling wronged. "I was really framed. I don't like that kind of man at all!"
"I even..." she choked back tears, her lips trembling, "I even feel nauseous just thinking about him..."
As she said this, she couldn't help but rush outside the store and vomit.
But he only vomited a little bit of acidic fluid; his stomach was completely empty.
Mr. and Mrs. Song exchanged a glance, and Mrs. Song nervously grabbed her husband's arm:
"Old Song, now is not the time to talk about these things..."
Mr. Song nodded thoughtfully and took out a card from his pocket.
"Master, there is 50,000 in this card. Thank you for saving my daughter."
Chu Ci stared at the card, her eyes wide.
Fifty thousand?!
After a brief moment of shock, he waved his hand and said, "One hundred per divination, no need for so many."
“How can that be?” Mrs. Song frowned. “Master, you’ve been running back and forth. This isn’t a simple matter of a divination.”
The couple insisted on leaving the card, but Chu Ci resolutely refused to accept it.
Finally, Mrs. Song took out a wad of cash from her wallet and placed it on the table.
"Master, I still need to take Xiaoyu for a medical check-up, so we'll be leaving now."
The two hurriedly got into the car with their daughter. Chu Ci chased after them with the money, only to be met with a mouthful of exhaust fumes.
She counted the money; it totaled two thousand two.
She took out a hundred and put it in her pocket, and gave the rest to her grandmother.
"Grandma, let's buy more paper money tomorrow and burn it for the wandering ghosts. It'll be a way to do good for Song Yu."
"Okay," Grandma replied. "Let's go buy it tomorrow. It's already dark today, so let's not go out."
At dinner time, Chen Xinxin, who lives at the school dormitory, returned.
She and her roommate Cheng Zhenzhen bought a lot of things together when they arrived at the store.
"Sister Aci, Grandma, let's eat together! Sister Zhenzhen and I bought a lot of things!"
Cheng Zhenzhen has been working at the company for a month now, and her previous disheveled state has completely disappeared.
She sported the most fashionable hairstyle of the moment, with fair skin and red lips, and her eyes and brows showed a newfound determination.
She looked at Chu Ci with clear eyes, her previous forced smile gone, revealing her snow-white teeth in a genuine smile.
Good evening, Master Chu.
Chu Ci was surprised by Cheng Zhenzhen's change and couldn't help but stare at her for a few more moments.
Cheng Zhenzhen smiled gracefully even though she was being stared at.
Instead, Grandma couldn't help but push Chu Ci, saying, "It's rude of you to keep staring at other people."
Cheng Zhenzhen shook her head cheerfully, "It's okay, my parents also said I've changed a lot."
As soon as she turned around, Grandma couldn't help but smile and said to Chu Ci:
"When people reach a dead end, they have to change their environment."
She pointed to Cheng Zhenzhen, who looked like a completely different person, and said, "I've never seen your sister Zhenzhen in such good condition before."
Chu Ci smiled and nodded in agreement.
Chen Xinxin looked at the bright shop with great curiosity.
She wandered around the store and secretly asked Chu Ci:
“Sister Chu Ci, your place is nothing like other spiritual medium shops.”
Cheng Zhenzhen teased her on purpose, "Since you're using Master Chu as a medium, have you been to other medium shops?"
"No! Sister Zhenzhen, don't try to trick me!"
Amid Cheng Zhenzhen's laughter, Chen Xinxin explained sheepishly:
“There is a spiritual medium shop next to our school. The owner is an old lady.”
"Her shop was very dark, and the windows were all sealed, making it seem very mysterious."
She pouted, "But my classmate falls for that, insisting that she's accurate."
“I felt that what she said was inaccurate. As soon as I went in, she said that my mother was going to have a bloody disaster, even though my mother had been dead for a long time!”
Speaking of her mother, Grandma suddenly remembered:
"Xin Xin, have you prepared any offerings for your mother?"
Cheng Zhenzhen took the initiative to speak up: "Xin Xin didn't know how to prepare, so when I asked my mother to prepare, I also prepared an extra set for Xin Xin's mother."
She pointed upstairs, "We set out the offerings before coming down."
Grandma nodded repeatedly, "Okay, that's good. Now Xin Xin's mother will know that she's doing well..."
There are no food stalls tonight, but thankfully there are still a few food stalls open.
Chu Ci bought a few more items, and Grandma laid out all the food and pointed upstairs.
"Ah Ci, should we go and call Inspector Wu to come along?"
She sighed almost imperceptibly, "Woo Sir has been suspended for so long, and all I've seen are her colleagues from the police station visiting."
"She lives alone and I've never met her parents..."
Chu Ci was stunned for a moment before remembering that Wu Jiangxue's parents had both passed away.
She nodded. "Okay, I'll go up and call her."
When she went up, she saw Wu Jiangxue about to leave.
Wu Jiangxue locked the door while holding her chubby little cat sister, then turned around and saw Chu Ci, raising an eyebrow.
"Miss Chu, is there something you need?"
Chu Ci pointed downstairs, "Want to go eat together?"
Wu Jiangxue shook her head. "No, something happened at the police station. I need to go there right away."
"..."
Chu Ci thought for a moment, but couldn't recall any major events that had happened during the Zhongyuan Festival in the past two days.
Those are things that don't appear in the main storyline of the book, so they shouldn't be too important.
"Alright then, work comes first."
She and Wu Jiangxue took the elevator down together.
While Wu Jiangxue was driving, Fat Cat Sister, with her cute and innocent appearance, tricked Chen Xinxin out of a chicken leg.
He tricked Cheng Zhenzhen out of two more fish balls.
It quickly devoured two fish balls, then nimbly jumped onto Wujiangxue's car with a large chicken leg in its mouth.
The 14th day of the seventh lunar month passed peacefully through the night.
But just after midnight, Chu Ci heard a familiar sound: the sound of chains being dragged on the ground.
Through the door, she could hear the sound of chains being dragged across the floor, echoing up and down the stairs.
They seem to be looking for something.
Amidst the various noises around her, she quickly fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, she was woken up by a phone call.
On the phone, Zhuang Jingxuan sounded exhausted.
"master……"
Her voice was hoarse and had a heavy nasal tone.
"Can you predict when my mom will have an accident?"
She couldn't help but let out a long yawn.
"I waited at my mom's place all night. She ate and drank well, and scolded me with great vigor. She didn't seem like anything bad was going to happen to her..."
Seeing how long she had been waiting, Chu Ci decided against opening his shop on the Ghost Festival anyway.
"Have someone come downstairs to pick me up, I'm going to see your mother."
Zhuang Jingxuan's voice immediately brightened: "Thank you, Master! I'll treat you to a big meal when I'm done with this!"
While waiting for Zhuang Jingxuan to pick him up, Chu Ci wanted to make a phone call to Shen Xiuhe.
He was asked to inquire with Ren Wenguang about the origin of that Yin Taohua, but the call did not go through.
Calling Ji Jingtong went unanswered.
Thinking of Wu Jiangxue's hurried departure last night, Chu Ci lowered his eyes, his eyebrows twitching twice.
"I hope nothing will happen..."
She sat in front of the breakfast stall muttering to herself, only to be interrupted by the stall owner.
Seeing that her shop was closed, the elderly stall owner smiled and asked:
"Master, the Ghost Festival is the time for you to make money, why aren't you opening your shop?"
Chu Ci smiled and took the bowl from her hand. "I won't open it. I have a lot to do today."
The old lady wiped her hands with her apron and nodded. "I've had a lot to do today. I'll go home after I sell these things and come out again tomorrow."
"I dare not stay outside for too long on the fifteenth of July."
The old lady said a few words casually and then hurried off to greet the other guests.
After Chu Ci finished breakfast, the person who came to pick her up arrived.
We took a car to Zhuang Jingxuan's mother's residence.
This isn't even a luxury apartment; it's a detached manor.
Standing in front of the magnificent manor gate, looking out at the spacious lawns, gardens, and wide, interconnected paths.
She looked up at the statue of the Virgin Mary with her head bowed in the center of the manor, and gained a new understanding of the extent of Zhuang Jingxuan's family's wealth.
"master?"
Chu Ci was standing at the door looking around when a voice called her name.
She looked away and saw a familiar old lady in front of her.
The last time Zhuang Jingxuan argued with her mother, this old lady was right next to her.
The old lady smiled kindly at Chu Ci, "Master, please come with me. My young lady is waiting for you in the living room."
Chu Ci followed her, and along the way they could see gardeners pruning the flowers in the garden.
Among the people coming and going, Chu Ci even saw several dark-skinned maids.
Every time someone passed by, they would stop what they were doing, smile and greet the old lady, calling her "housekeeper."
The tone was respectful and fearful.
This is a completely different world from the one Chu Ci had encountered before.
She followed the old lady to the front of the three-story villa, and as soon as they got close, they heard arguing coming from inside.
"Zhuang Jingxuan, can't you just shut up for a second?!"
"You keep coming here all day long, you've ruined my relationship with your stepfather!"
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