Chapter 52 Part 1
Huang Jiaofeng, her face filled with guilt, said, ‘My husband and I left so suddenly, leaving nothing for our child, only a mess. Master, if it’s permitted, please grant our remaining lifespan to Xiao Juan as inheritance.’
Li Juan’s tears flowed as she shook her head in her dream.
It was her illness that burdened her family, her parents using all their savings and even borrowing money to treat her. What mess?
The couple didn’t know how long their daughter’s lifespan was. After all, she had been seriously ill, her health weaker than others. What if she was also destined for a short life like them? The thought was unbearable.
They had nothing to offer. If their twenty years could be given to Li Juan, it would be a blessing.
‘Master, we also wish to leave our remaining years to our children,’ the other spirits chimed in, echoing their request.
There was no such thing as a one-sided sacrifice. If it weren’t for their children, repaying Zhao Qingyun despite their deaths, burning the refund requests, it wouldn’t have been so easy for them to reclaim their stolen lifespans.
Their children were burdened with debt after their deaths, how heartbreaking. This was the least they could do.
The judge paused, then struck the gavel. ‘Granted.’
The spirits cheered, only Zhao Qingyun, standing in the center, head bowed, trembling, remained silent.
The disparity between his life and his afterlife was too much to bear. His children cursed him, blaming him for favoring his unrelated, illegitimate grandson over them. Three generations of lawbreakers, they wouldn’t even pass the background check in the underworld.
Li Juan replayed the second video repeatedly, unable to cry, only hiccuping.
Yang Xing put away his phone and said awkwardly, ‘Want to see videos of Zhao Qingyun’s punishment? I’ll film and censor them and even send them to you in your dreams, just burn some joss paper and books for me.’
Li Juan, still immersed in the underworld trial, hugged her knees and sobbed, ‘Yes! I want to see them! Thank you, Senior!’
Yang Xing, seeing her reaction, added, ‘Live a good life. And since we’re from the same university, can you burn some textbooks for me? I want to continue learning.’
Seeing Li Juan nod, Yang Xing smiled, took a book from his side, and waved it gently at her. A gust of Yin wind enveloped her, and she lost consciousness.
Before fainting, Li Juan vaguely saw the book cover in Yang Xing’s hand. Wasn’t that a classic BL novel from Jinjiang Literature City? He read that?
Li Juan slowly opened her eyes, a worried voice calling out, “Li Juan, Xiao Juan, wake up!”
She saw the white mosquito net of her dorm bed and touched her eyes instinctively, her pillow wet with tears.
“You’re finally awake! We couldn’t wake you up! Teacher Xu came to see you!” Her roommates were relieved.
Seeing Xu Qian, who had come so late at night, Li Juan sobbed, throwing herself into her arms, “Teacher Xu, I saw my parents!”
Her parents weren’t educated, even considered foolish by many, but she knew they loved her, even if their love was clumsy, and she loved them too.
Xu Qian gently stroked her hair and said softly, “Live a good life.”
Li Juan, tears welling up in her smiling eyes, nodded emphatically. “I will.”
She would live a good life, cherish every day, and honor her parents’ final gift, those precious twenty years.
“So fragrant, this grilled fish is perfectly seasoned.”
He Yunxiao took a piece of fish belly, removed the bones, and fed it to the little gray snake.
It was Xi Xi’s first time eating grilled fish. Her eyes lit up at the deliciousness, her tongue flicking expectantly.
It was almost 9 p.m. when they left Beijing University of Science and Technology. Knowing they were busy, they declined the principal’s dinner invitation and went to a highly-rated late-night eatery.
The little white snake, being a water snake, naturally enjoyed fish. Seeing Xi Xi being fed by her father, it looked at Wu Heng.
Wu Heng: “What? Don’t you have hands?”
It didn’t.
The little white snake protested, “I’m not a lizard or a gecko, why would I have hands?”
He Yunxiao, carefully removing even the tiniest fish bones, retorted, “Don’t dragons have claws?”
The little white snake was silenced, whining, ‘When will I become a Jiao Dragon…? Should I go cry before the Nuo gods again? They’ll probably tell me to get lost.’
It could even talk back to Wu Heng, but now, only He Yunxiao could subdue it.
The little white snake, having given up on Wu Heng, turned its hopeful gaze to Shi Xuan, its godfather.
Shi Xuan was indeed removing fish bones, but he bypassed the little white snake and placed the boneless fish in Wu Heng’s bowl.
Everyone looked at them, and Shi Xuan said calmly, “He worked hard today.”
Right!
Li Hao immediately started picking up fish and removing bones frantically, “Doctor Wu worked hard today, I’ll debone the fish for you, my skills are top-notch!”
Haha, Shi Xuan also wanted to be Doctor Wu’s favorite!
Just like He Yunxiao, he could only be a group member, hehehe.
Black Hair Number One praised, “As expected of Brother Hao!”
Li Hao corrected him, “Call me Comrade.”
Black Hair and the others: “As expected of Comrade Li!”
The little white snake, seeing its godfather Shi Xuan, not only showing no paternal affection, but also placing the pile of fish bones in front of it, could only dejectedly nibble on the fish skin.
“Doctor Wu, you like seafood? Do you want to visit the aquarium on Sunday? They have a mermaid show. We have classes on Saturday, Sunday is our only day off,” Wang Dong, eating grilled scallops, asked.
Wu Heng asked curiously, “Mermaid show? I’ve never been to an aquarium. Are they real mermaids?”
Everyone: “?”
What?
Real mermaids? Weren’t those mythical creatures?
“Of course they’re fake, just people in mermaid costumes diving and swimming, I heard it’s quite a lucrative job,” Wang Dong explained.
Wu Heng immediately lost interest.
Chen Zhao, however, perked up, “How lucrative?”
Black Hair Number Two said, “Not sure, heard you can earn eight or nine hundred a day.”
Chen Zhao was filled with regret, “Is it too late for me to learn how to swim?”
His master had always warned him about the temptations of the outside world, how could this not be tempting?! Money, money, money! He had never known how expensive everything was out there.
“It’s so annoying, still so long until graduation, can’t even have any fun, always studying, I had to cancel my cruise trip…” he grumbled.
He Yunxiao chimed in, “You mean the Dream Cruise? We can try it for our graduation trip next year, but I heard this time they have some grand performance, we missed it.”
“Doctor Wu, we’re not intentionally showing off, just casual conversation!” Li Hao said, seeing Wu Heng silently eating the fish Shi Xuan prepared for him.
Then, glancing at the fading character on his palm, he asked, “Doctor Wu, we have physical checkups and vaccinations at school in a few days, are we cured of our random sneezing? We can’t get vaccinated if we’re sick.”
Wu Heng, sipping his orange soda, “Almost cured.”
The group finished their late-night snacks quickly and lingered at the table.
He Yunxiao teased Xi Xi with a piece of meat on a skewer, seeing the little snake raise its head eagerly, “Xi Xi, say ‘Dad’.”
“Hiss… hiss… hiss…”
The little white snake, munching on boiled peanuts, thought Uncle He had too many expectations. Learning human language wasn’t that fast!
Xi Xi, her eyes fixed on the meat, slowly and with great effort, said, “D… Da…”
The little white snake, startled, raised its head, a peanut shell stuck on it.
Everyone stared at the little gray snake. Li Hao and his friends even forgot to pick their teeth.
He Yunxiao, his voice filled with disbelief, “Xi Xi, you… you can speak now?”
Wu Heng had used a special method, allowing him to understand his snake daughter’s hissing, but this was actual human speech.
Xi Xi, still focused on the meat, struggled to pronounce the word clearly. “Da… Da… Dada… Dad!”
He Yunxiao carefully picked Xi Xi up, his eyes welling up, but a smile on his face. “Good girl! My precious baby!”
He had never been in a relationship before, but this was his first experience of fatherhood.
“Why can’t we give birth? Right, Comrade Li?” Wang Dong and the others whined, hugging each other, “We also want a snake baby to call us Dad.”
They used to laugh at He Yunxiao, now they envied him. This was true nurturing.
Li Hao looked at the little white snake with the peanut shell on its head. “Since you’re both snakes, can’t you let us each have a snake baby? Our seven emotions and six desires are overflowing!”
The little white snake: “?” How could it do that?
It was stunned. Xi Xi, so young, could already speak.
It had taken it years of cultivation to learn, slowly picking up the human language from the villagers.
The little white snake felt a sense of crisis, not from Xi Xi, but from her father, He Yunxiao!
It had finally impressed Uncle He with its official position, but now…
“Xi Xi is the embodiment of ‘Joy,’ the foremost of your seven emotions, the strongest of the snake fetuses, happiness is crucial for her growth and cultivation,” Wu Heng explained.
Xi Xi had never suffered since birth, always happy, and intelligent and eager to learn, it was only natural for her progress to be so rapid.
“As expected of my daughter, the best snake in the world,” He Yunxiao said proudly, taking out his phone to record a video of Xi Xi, intending to send it to his parents.
His daughter could talk now, soon she might even become human, he had to keep a close eye on her, no yellow-haired or white-haired snakes allowed near her.
Wu Heng patted the dejected little white snake’s head. “Still not motivated to study?”
The little white snake almost cried. It wanted to be motivated, but its aptitude wasn’t there!
Seeing its dejected demeanor, Wu Heng said, “I’ll teach you how to spray water in a few days, a simple water spell.”
It was a water snake, after all, different species, different learning paths.
The little white snake wanted to complain that it hadn’t even mastered transforming into branches yet, but seeing Xi Xi’s rapid progress, even learning words like “meat” and “snake,” it could only nod obediently.
It didn’t doubt Wu Heng’s ability to manipulate water. After all, he was rescued from the Nuo River, his connection with water profound.
“I’ll go pay the bill,” Shi Xuan said, looking around.
Except for Chen Zhao, who shrunk back, trying to be invisible, Li Hao and the others immediately scrambled to pay.
“You guys are students, he’s the one who earned money, our Young Master Shi will pay,” Wu Heng stopped them, then added, “I’ll order some more to take away for Zhou Yi.”
They were all stunned. What?
They had all been following Wu Heng and the drama online today. How did Shi Xuan make money? From where?
After Shi Xuan paid, they left, each going home in their own cars.
As they entered the Shi residence’s garage, Shi Xuan glanced at the car parked next to them, his expression turning cold. “My father is back.”
Wu Heng, sensing the shift in his mood, said, “Once you earn enough, you can leave the Shi family.”
Shi Xuan turned off the engine, got out, opened the door for Wu Heng, and said, “That’s not my only goal now.”
Wu Heng: “?”
Besides leaving the Shi family, what other goals did he have?
Seeing that he didn’t want to talk about it, Wu Heng didn’t press further, and they walked towards the well in the courtyard.
“You finally decided to show your face?” a stern voice came from the pavilion.
