Chapter 16#

The Qin Family#

When Ye Sheng saw Xia Wenshi, he felt that the boss looked surprisingly similar to what he had imagined. He was a bit shorter than Ye Sheng, wearing a blue and white plaid shirt, with round eyes like a puppy, a slightly chubby face, and two small tiger teeth when he smiled. His hair was dyed light yellow, with a row of silver ear studs on his right ear, his temperament pulling to the extreme between “obedient” and “rebellious”.

Xia Wenshi arrived at the haunted house earlier than him and was chatting with Huang Qiqi at the front desk. Hearing the sound of the door opening, he turned around and his eyes lit up when he saw Ye Sheng.

“Junior!” Xia Wenshi pounced directly, holding Ye Sheng’s hand with tears in his eyes, thanking him passionately: “Junior, thank you, you saved me and my faith from fire and water. If it weren’t for you, after this haunted house closed down, I would only be able to go back and inherit the family property, and there would be one less young man with dreams in this world!”

“…”

Ye Sheng, who had felt guilty and heartbroken this morning for eating a ten-yuan breakfast.

“You’re too polite, boss.”

Ye Sheng nodded politely and calmly pulled his hand out.

Xia Wenshi patted his shoulder generously: “The boss is happy today, we won’t be open this afternoon. Let’s go, let’s go, the boss will treat you to something delicious.”

Huang Qiqi happily put down the radio and said excitedly: “Really, boss?! A new barbecue restaurant opened on the food street, I’ve wanted to try it for a long time.”

Xia Wenshi: “Okay, let’s go to that one!”

Ye Sheng, having eaten someone’s food and taken someone’s money, was soft-handed and didn’t want to lose this job for the time being, so he could only follow along.

This was an open-air barbecue, set up in a buffet style. The three of them gathered around a small table.

Sparks floated with the heat of July, and the evening breeze brought the sweet smell of watermelon soda. Next to them were students from nearby universities out for team building, chatting about various gossip and interesting things, with bursts of laughter coming from time to time.

The 39° midsummer combined with mint and lemon, everywhere was the hustle and bustle of life.

Ye Sheng didn’t eat much, listening to Xia Wenshi brag the whole time about how exciting the haunted house he went to this time was.

Xia Wenshi said: “This dismemberment case was famous in Huaicheng back then. The housing prices in the Luohu District of Huaicheng plummeted by millions because of this murder villa. The hostess dismembered the host and put him in black plastic bags, filling a whole refrigerator, and then committed suicide by throwing herself into the lake.”

Huang Qiqi raised her hand and said: “I remember, it seems the man cheated and had an affair. The hero and heroine were together since high school, a school beauty and a school hunk, a talented man and a beautiful woman, a match made in heaven. As a result, after marriage, the woman resigned and became a housewife at home, while the man’s company went public but he started to have affairs outside. I heard that the hostess also suffered from severe depression and had a history of self-harm. She must have been driven crazy.”

Xia Wenshi said: “When we sneaked in, the refrigerator door was open. It hadn’t been plugged in for more than ten years, but it felt chilly when approaching it.”

Huang Qiqi said: “Then did you hear any screams at night?”

Xia Wenshi shook his head with a wooden face: “No, the whole process was like ‘Hello everyone, this is Little A, Little B, Little C, today the place we are exploring is Luohu Mansion’.”

Huang Qiqi burst out laughing. Her gaze fell on Ye Sheng, seeing that he had been silent, she quickly stopped smiling and asked considerately: “Is Xiao Ye not interested in this kind of thing?”

Ye Sheng didn’t know what to say, so he gave a “Mn”.

Xia Wenshi realized later: “Look at my memory, I almost forgot, Junior Ye Sheng is afraid of ghosts. Sorry, sorry.” He put the grilled chicken wings from the shelf into Ye Sheng’s bowl and said: “Come, junior, let’s talk about something else. Did you join your freshman group?”

Ye Sheng: “Joined.”

“How is it, how is it? Did the handsome guy blow up the place?” Huang Qiqi rested her chin on her hands, her eyes shining.

Ye Sheng twitched the corner of his mouth and answered: “I didn’t talk much.”

“Didn’t talk much? Junior, you are too modest.” Huang Qiqi showed a heartbroken expression: “Xiao Ye, if I looked like you, I would post ten photos in the freshman group a day.”

Post ten photos in the freshman group a day.

“…”

Ye Sheng thought of that future roommate and said sincerely: “That’s not necessary.”

Xia Wenshi sat opposite, looking at Ye Sheng without blinking.

Ye Sheng was not prone to sweating, and he still maintained a fresh and clean appearance while eating barbecue. His black hair was messed up by the wind, and his eyelashes cast a faint shadow. He had a very peculiar temperament, like a sharp knife forcibly placed in a dull and rusty shell. His appearance was indifferent, dull, and wooden, but there was a sharpness hidden in his bones, surprisingly cold.

He had never seen Ye Sheng smile.

Xia Wenshi asked inexplicably: “Junior, do you not like to smile?”

Ye Sheng didn’t know how to answer this question, nodding: “Mn, I look scary when I smile.”

Xia Wenshi couldn’t believe it: “How could it be scary? I think you must look especially good when you smile, able to charm thousands of girls!”

Huang Qiqi chimed in from the side: “Yeah. If Xiao Ye smiles, he must be the best-looking person I’ve ever seen smiling.”

Ye Sheng shook his head and said: “No, my smile is very stiff.”

He didn’t know how to smile at all.

The living environment in Yin Mountain didn’t give him any impulse to smile either.

Smile my ass.

The forced pulling of the corners of the mouth looked stiff, awkward, and fierce.

As for Huang Qiqi’s sentence, best-looking when smiling…

Ye Sheng lowered his head and expressionlessly skewered the tofu.

He had actually seen someone who looked good when smiling.

“…”

Damn.

Why did he think of Ning Weichen again.

When returning after eating barbecue, Ye Sheng saw Huang Yiyue at the school gate.

Huang Yiyue was wearing a red cheongsam and a white shawl, standing in front of a black luxury car, shining with jewelry all over her body. She held her handbag nervously and uneasily. When she saw Ye Sheng, her eyes lit up instantly, and she walked over quickly in high heels: “Sheng Sheng.”

Ye Sheng stood at a certain distance from her and frowned: “Isn’t the banquet tomorrow?”

Huang Yiyue tried hard to show a kind smile: “It is tomorrow. I’ll take you back to the Xie family today to try on the clothes for the banquet.”

Ye Sheng said lightly: “No need, I have clothes.”

Huang Yiyue forced a smile: “Sheng Sheng, there will be many people at the banquet, if you dress like this…”

Ye Sheng played with the keys and completed her sentence for her: “Will dressing like this embarrass you?”

Huang Yiyue’s face turned pale, and she hurriedly added: “No, it’s just that your stepfather and brother will be back today, I want us to have a meal together.”

Ye Sheng: “Oh, let’s go.”

“Sheng Sheng, I… Ah??!!”

Huang Yiyue thought she would be rejected by Ye Sheng again. Hearing him agree suddenly, she almost didn’t react. Her eyes widened, her neck stretched, looking like a rooster being choked.

Ye Sheng said: “Tonight I’ll sleep in the room Grandma used to live in.”

Huang Yiyue lost her soul and nodded blankly: “Oh oh, okay.”

Ye Sheng closed his eyes to rest after getting in the car, leaving Huang Yiyue alone scratching her heart and lungs, unable to squeeze out a word until the end.

The driver watched this strange scene calmly and remained silent.

In fact, the news that Ye Sheng was coming to the Xie family had long been publicized by the Xie family to the whole of Huaicheng. The Xie family wished they could announce to the world that “from now on Ye Sheng is a member of the Xie family” to legitimately block disasters for Xie Wenci.

Although the driver sympathized with this teenager who was kept in the dark, he also felt that coming from Yin Mountain, being able to marry into the Qin family in this life could be considered smoke rising from the ancestral grave, nothing to be aggrieved about.

Before Ye Sheng came, the servants of the Xie family had secretly discussed the appearance of this third young master from the poor mountains. The inherent impression of Yin Mountain made them feel that Ye Sheng should be humble and cramped when he came to the Xie family.

He was like an ugly duckling who accidentally entered a crystal castle. In the adolescence when self-esteem is strongest and most sensitive, suddenly leaving the original world and coming to the magnificent rich world, he would only be dazzled by the colorful world, become inferior, vain, embarrassed, and then carefully please everyone in the family.

Everyone was waiting to see him make a fool of himself and become a joke.

But the reality was like a slap in everyone’s face.

Let alone pleasing, this third young master had never given anyone in the Xie family a good face.

His appearance on the first day at the Xie family also overturned everyone’s dark imagination. Cold, good-looking, with an aura that kept strangers away.

The driver parked the car in the garage, watching the third young master open the door and leave without looking back. Huang Yiyue had to trot in high heels to catch up in a sorry state.

For a moment, the mood was particularly complicated.

Having character is a good thing, but having too much character will suffer in this society.

Especially a person with no power or influence.

Ye Sheng can be presumptuous now only because the Xie family needs him. After the banquet is over, his pride will only completely destroy him and push his life into the abyss.

“Sheng Sheng! Sheng Sheng! Wait for Mom!”

Ye Sheng walked out of the underground garage, looked up at the brightly lit Xie family villa in front of him, put away the keys, and walked directly inside.

“Sheng Sheng!” Huang Yiyue walked too fast in high heels and almost tripped over a pebble on the path, holding onto a tree to stabilize herself. Her ankle swelled up, and the burning pain made all the anger explode at this moment!

She looked at Ye Sheng’s back with gloomy and vicious eyes, not like looking at her own son but like looking at an enemy. She scratched the bark with her fingernails, telling herself to tolerate him for one last day.

Wait until tomorrow when Ye Sheng appears at the Qin family banquet, accepts the identity of the Xie family by default, and is selected by Old Man Qin instead of Xie Wenci. She must return all the anger she suffered from Ye Sheng these days!

She wants to teach this ungrateful wolf a lesson! Tell him that rats from Yin Mountain should live with their tails between their legs for a lifetime!

When Ye Sheng walked in, the Xie family was eating.

Beside the long table in the living room, besides Xie Wenci whom he had met before, the head of the Xie family, Xie Yan, and the eldest son, Xie Ji, were also there.

Xie Wenci rolled his eyes angrily when he saw Ye Sheng, and continued to stir the soup in the bowl with a silver spoon.

Xie Ji looked like his biological father, majestic and cold, and was also a brother-con. Long before Ye Sheng came, he had heard his beloved brother blowing wind in his ears, so he didn’t have a good face for Ye Sheng either, his eyes and attitude full of contempt and disgust.

On the contrary, Xie Yan was cheerful, showing a welcoming expression to the unlucky guy who blocked the disaster, and raised his voice: “Xiao Sheng is here, just in time to sit down and have a meal with the family.”

Ye Sheng said: “No need, I’ve eaten, thank you.”

After speaking, he ignored everyone and walked upstairs.

Xie Wenci was so angry that his delicate face turned red.

Xie Ji glanced at his brother’s aggrieved look, slammed the knife and fork in his hand down, and questioned with disgust: “Is this your upbringing? —When you come to the Xie family, you have to follow the Xie family’s rules. Don’t bring your disgusting style from Yin Mountain here.”

Ye Sheng was not in a hurry to get angry. He nodded and said lightly: “Huang Yiyue, your stepson is asking you something.” Before going upstairs, Ye Sheng said: “Regarding the question of my upbringing, I believe you have the most right to answer.”

Huang Yiyue: “…”

Xie Ji: “…”

Xie Wenci: “…”

Xie Ji was furious and wanted to speak, but was glared at by Xie Yan, so he could only shut up aggrievedly.

Xie Yan said kindly: “Xiao Sheng has eaten, so hurry up and take a shower and go to sleep, rest well.”

Ye Sheng ignored his hypocrisy. After tomorrow, he would not have any interaction with anyone here.

The innermost room on the third floor.

When Ye Sheng went in, he first smelled the traces of burnt talisman paper and saw some black ashes at the door.

Thinking of the Buddha statue smell on Huang Yiyue when she first met him, Ye Sheng understood instantly.

In a sense, he knew his mother quite well. He was born with Yin-Yang eyes and dealt with evil spirits. Huang Yiyue hated him and feared him, probably afraid that he would take revenge in the future, so she specially went to pray to Buddha to prevent little ghosts.

Even the room he had entered had to be exorcised.

Ye Sheng withdrew his gaze lightly.

What’s the need? If he really wanted to harm her, how could Huang Yiyue still be her wealthy wife safe and sound.

—She really should thank the seventeen years of precipitation and practice Yin Mountain gave him.

Ye Sheng walked into the room where his grandmother used to live, and the hostility floating in his heart calmed down a little.

A window in the attic faced the fountain on the Xie family’s lawn. The statue in the middle of the fountain was a dolphin, water droplets like broken diamonds, and the moonlight was like a wash.

Ye Sheng’s voice was calm in the darkness: “I met Huang Yiyue. As you expected, I don’t hate her much. But the premise is that she shouldn’t provoke me again and again. I have given her a chance.”

He came this time to find clues about the box.

Ye Sheng turned on the light and rummaged through the boxes very lightly, as if he didn’t want to disturb anything. He searched from the head of the bed to the corner of the cabinet, but found nothing.

It’s just that nothing was left here. Thinking about it, Huang Yiyue probably ransacked this place long ago in order to open that box.

Ye Sheng didn’t plan to sleep on the bed his grandmother had slept on.

He lay on the table and slept until dawn.

At eight o’clock the next morning, there was a knock on the door. Huang Yiyue smiled gently and brought him breakfast. Ye Sheng didn’t refuse. After breakfast.

Huang Yiyue drove to the mall and took him to choose clothes.

Xie Wenci and Xie Ji’s clothes were private haute couture from famous designers, but Huang Yiyue obviously didn’t intend to be so attentive to Ye Sheng. It was unnecessary, just to prevent him from wearing that street stall outfit and embarrassing her.

Ye Sheng’s figure and appearance were living clothes hangers. The sales lady in the luxury store praised him fiercely.

“As expected of your son, his temperament and appearance are good.”

Another sales lady smiled and said: “Although the eldest young master looks good, he doesn’t look much like you. Does he take after his father?”

Huang Yiyue, who was floating with praise, froze her smile and changed the subject unnaturally: “Bring that tie over to try too.”

Finally, Huang Yiyue matched Ye Sheng with a silver-gray suit and a dark blue tie, which retained the freshness, cleanliness, and chicness of a teenager, as well as the decency and seriousness required for important occasions. Ye Sheng spent only twenty minutes entering and leaving the mall. He was not interested in choosing clothes, only interested in the topic Huang Yiyue would chat with him in the car.

He turned off his phone and got straight to the point: “About the box, did Grandma only say that the key is with me?”

Huang Yiyue didn’t dare to lie to him, hesitated and nodded: “Yes, that’s what she said.”

Ye Sheng: “What does the key look like?”

Huang Yiyue frowned and recalled carefully: “Your grandma didn’t say explicitly, but she said you always wear it on your body.”

Ye Sheng: “…”

Ye Sheng: “…………”

Always wear it on the body.

He thought of something… something he didn’t take to heart and gave away casually at that time.

His fish scale necklace!!!

This fish scale necklace wasn’t even given to him by his grandmother. He just bought it casually at the market, took it back, and was strung by his grandmother as a necklace to wear. He had been frail and sickly since childhood, and his grandmother took almost all his personal belongings to pray to Buddha.

So he wasn’t lying to Ning Weichen on the train at that time.

Ye Sheng bit his lip irritably.

…If the key is in that fish scale necklace, what should he do?

Ning Weichen’s contact information was heavily encrypted. From the attitude of the Unnatural Bureau towards him in the reception center, it could be seen that this noble son’s identity was not simple, not someone he could contact at will.

He wished him a happy university life, which meant never seeing each other again.

It was the first time Huang Yiyue saw Ye Sheng showing an irritable and impatient expression. She was stunned and said softly: “Sheng Sheng, it’s okay. Mom will help you find a way to open it together then.”

She was sincere in saying this. She also wanted to know what good things the crazy old woman left for Ye Sheng.

Ye Sheng closed his eyes, turned his head to look at the retreating high-rise buildings outside the window, his eyes heavy.

*

Mrs. Qin, who had never married in her life, had always been the most mysterious and noble existence in the Qin family. She was actually not a member of the Qin family, but was adopted by the Qin family as a goddaughter along with her sister back then.

When Qin Liushuang was young, she was a peerless beauty that countless people dreamed of, her myriad amorous feelings frozen into paintings frame by frame. After her biological sister married into the Ning family, the world’s number one chaebol, her status in the family also rose with the tide.

Her marriage and life had the power to say “no” from then on.

“Auntie, do you want me to pick him up?” Qin Heyu stood next to a beauty in a pure white long dress and asked softly and carefully.

Qin Liushuang pursed her lips and smiled, shaking her head: “No need, Weichen chose to stay at the Rose Empire Hotel and didn’t come to the Qin family, probably because he doesn’t like to trouble others.”

Qin Heyu’s eyebrows twitched, but he didn’t speak.

Doesn’t like to trouble?

Why did he only see the undisguised indifference and arrogance of that favored son of heaven behind this behavior.

Qin Liushuang had always been a cold beauty with a frail body, looking weary and listless all year round. Now her eyes were bright like a young girl. She said: “I only saw Weichen once when he was very young. I remember he looked jade-snow cute and very likable. If you meet him, you will know that Weichen has a very good personality too.”

Qin Heyu made no comment on “very good personality”.

Thinking of something, Qin Liushuang suddenly sighed: “Weichen has been living abroad for more than ten years and only returned to China after graduating from university. I don’t know if he will be unaccustomed to the banquet.”

Qin Heyu was slightly stunned and asked: “He graduated from university?”

Isn’t Ning Weichen only seventeen now? Why did he graduate from university.

A proud smile appeared in Qin Liushuang’s eyes: “Mn. Graduated in May this year, from a world-top famous school. His university major seems to be mathematics, and he also minored in psychology.”

Qin Heyu was stunned. He had heard countless things about this crown prince of the capital from this little aunt.

The more he listened, the more he felt that this genius who attracted worldwide attention seemed so mysterious and distant that he was not in the same world as him.

Whether it was education, identity, appearance, or ability, everything reached the peak at an extremely young age.

Qin Liushuang’s beautiful eyes looked around, her appearance outstanding even near forty. She said softly: “Weichen said he hasn’t been feeling well these days. He might just come to give me a congratulatory gift and leave, not staying for too much time. So don’t publicize this matter.”

Qin Heyu nodded: “I know.”

They had never publicized it.

If even a little bit of news about this matter was leaked, the whole of Huaicheng would probably boil over.

Qin Liushuang nodded, looked out the window at the long-abandoned house, and suddenly froze again. She whispered: “Also, keep the matter of your grandfather marrying a young wife to ward off bad luck a secret from me, understand.”

She didn’t want her nephew to hear about such dirty and dark things in the Qin family as soon as he arrived in Huaicheng.

Qin Heyu nodded: “I know. Father and the others all think so.”

In order to welcome Ning Weichen, almost all the Qin family members gathered together to discuss for half a day. Regarding the matter of marrying a male wife to ward off bad luck, even his stubborn grandfather agreed to hide it first and bring it to the surface after Ning Weichen left.

This matter was not glorious. Family ugliness should not be publicized, especially letting this heir of the Ning family know.

As for the young master of the Xie family who was to be sent over to ward off bad luck, Qin Heyu had no sympathy at all.

The benefits given up by the Qin family were enough for that scheming head of the Xie family to laugh for half a lifetime.

It was just selling a son for glory, no one was innocent.

Qin Liushuang nodded, frowning her beautiful willow eyebrows.

“Your grandfather said he was entangled by little ghosts. Every night he dreamed of a group of dark shadow figures falling from the ceiling to tear him apart and drown him. He spent a lot of money to hire a Taoist priest. The solution given by the Taoist priest was to marry a boy born in a yin year, yin month, and yin day to transfer the disaster, and specified that it must be the Xie family. Do you think this is credible? I think this matter is weird everywhere. Could it be that your grandfather has Alzheimer’s disease and hysteria, so he said these things confusedly.”

Qin Heyu: “If Grandpa wants to believe it, let him believe it. He has been making a fuss for half a year. When it was serious, he even threatened the family with a hunger strike. If marrying someone over can make him feel at ease, it is also a good thing.”

Qin Liushuang worried: “Is that child from the Xie family willing?”

Qin Heyu couldn’t bear to break the purity in the heart of this aunt who had lived in a greenhouse since childhood, so he said softly: “Willing. The Qin family can give him endless glory and wealth for a lifetime, how could he not be willing. And this marriage is just for show, nothing will be forced on him.”

Qin Liushuang then smiled.

*

Night.

Ye Sheng was thinking about the fish scale necklace, looking cold, resting his chin on his hand and looking out the window the whole time.

Sitting in the black extended sedan, he followed a group of people from the Xie family to the Qin family’s main house.

The Qin family’s main house was located in the suburbs of Huaicheng, occupying a vast area. After five expansions, it was like a dormant behemoth in the dense forest. There were many buildings, now brightly lit.