“Tsk, Grandpa Wen, I’ve known Xian Zhi for so long, but I never knew he could do such an amazing Daoist spell. ” Huang Hongyuan’s expression was exaggerated as he gestured with his hand like a sword in the air twice, “Urgent as a law! Wow, it’s so handsome! ”
Bai Lixin coughed and gave Huang Hongyuan a wink, “It’s just a trivial skill, you just… ”
“We have an ancestor in the Wen family who went to seek the heart of the Dao in the early years and brought back a book on Daoism when he returned. Xian Zhi would often loom through it when he had nothing to do and learned some spells over time. ” Elder Wen stood up and explained quickly.
Bai Lixin was stunned and glanced back at Elder Wen and smiled along with him, “Yes, as my grandfather said. ”
The matter was not a big deal, and the conversation passed by as soon as the topic was broached.
Bai Lixin ate lunch late, but the other three did not eat. When it came time for the evening meal, Bai Lixin was full after just two bites. Elder Wen was old and did not eat much. He saw Elder Wen stand up and leave, so he thought about it and followed him into the study.
The study that originally had a lot of ancient paintings and calligraphy hanging on the walls was now empty. The shelves also had a lot of ancient porcelain, jade, ancient books, and so on. But after the jade soul-sucking in the aura, the paintings and calligraphy in the study turned into pieces, and the porcelain also turned into fragments.
Elder Wen’s heart ached, and he suppressed the pain in his heart to clean up the study. After cleaning up the family’s broken antiques, he heard that his business had suffered a setback and he had lost a large sum of money.
The old man had no choice but to sell what was still valuable in the house and resell the shop to raise enough money to make up for the shortfall. But the Wen family has been in decline ever since and no longer had the power to make a comeback.
Fortunately, Elder Wen was still strong enough to survive that disaster. But by that time, evil spirits had already started to invade the ancestral home, haunting Elder Wen. His health was deteriorating, but Liang’s departure was the last straw that broke his back.
Liang took the last of the family’s money with her and disappeared.
When Elder Wen learnt of this, he became so desperate that the evil spirits found an opportunity to take advantage of the situation, and he was bedridden.
Elder Wen put his hands behind his back, his slightly stooped back arched up to look around the decaying walls. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes cascaded in immense sadness. “To think that I, Wen Huiren, who had a smooth life, caused the Wen family to fall in this way in my later years. I am the sinner of the Wen family, ah. ”
“Grandpa, ” Bai Lixin hesitated for a moment, “you don’t need to blame yourself; life is full of ups and downs and no one knows what kind of changes will happen in the future. Today we have nothing to live for, but tomorrow we may be rich beyond our means.”
“Oh, what’s the use of being rich? I’m just worried about my antique paintings and calligraphy. ” The old man’s eyes showed his regret, “Some of those antique paintings and calligraphy were left behind by the old generation, while some were collected by me. These were all gifts from our ancestors. Money can be earned again, but how can these artefacts that record the sediment of history appear again? The world’s precious treasure, all destroyed in my hands, ah. ”
Bai Lixin was silent. He really did not know how to refute what Elder Wen said. He was right; money could be earned again, but it was impossible for antiques stained with traces of history to see the light of day again.
“There is only one antique, and the same goes for people. ” Elder Wen sat in the chair, his kind eyes looking towards Bai Lixin, “Son, you may not know this. Ever since my grandson was beaten by that Liao Sufan, he has been sick. That day, my heart kept beating, and I felt sad. I had a sour feeling in my heart for no reason, so I dragged my sick body to visit my grandson. At that time, my grandson’s body was already cold and I didn’t know how long he had been gone. ”
Elder Wen’s voice trembled slightly and his eyes grew more miserable, “I was thinking, my grandson has left me. What else do I have to live for? I didn’t even think about preparing for his funeral. All I thought at that moment was to go back to my room and commit suicide. But when I swallowed the gold, you suddenly came in and removed the demons from my body, and within a few moments of laying your hands on me, I was refreshed. No, not refreshed, but I was better than before. ”
Bai Lixin’s eyes widened and his body stiffened as he listened to Elder Wen say these words.
Elder Wen already knew that Wen Xuyao was dead!
“Son, I know that you are not my grandson. Father and son are connected, and that day, I did know that my grandson was already gone. Although you know all about our family, your words, actions, and mannerisms are somewhat different from my grandson’s. I have watched my grandson grow up, and I know his character well enough not to remember it wrong. ”
Bai Lixin’s throat was dry and he opened his mouth slightly in a hoarse voice: “Grandfather… I…. ”
“But since you are willing to come to my grandson and live in his place so that my Wen family does not become extinct, I am grateful to you. ” Elder Wen already had tears in his eyes, “Son, if it weren’t for you, I’m afraid I would have gone to that ghost gate long ago. If it weren’t for you, with the death of my grandson and me, I’m afraid that the Wen family would have become someone else’s possession. Then I would not have had the face to meet my ancestors in the spring. ”
Elder Wen stood up trembling and gave a big salute to Bai Lixin: “Thank you, son. ”
Bai Lixin was startled and hurriedly went forward to help Elder Wen up.
He sighed in his heart. Since Elder Wen already knew, there was no point in hiding it from him.
After thinking about it, Bai Lixin said, “I was originally a Taoist disciple a hundred years ago, but I was killed when I was fighting and subduing demons. I was killed by a demon but my soul was not taken, so I wandered around the world. I was drawn here by a powerful hostile energy. This Fengcheng city is full of hostile energy, so I am afraid that some terrible evil creature has come here to haunt it. It happened that your young master had just died, and I met his soul. ”
When Elder Wen heard that Bai Lixin had seen Wen Xuyao’s spirit, he held his hand tightly and said, “You saw Xian Zhi? Did he tell you anything? ”
“I happened to need a physical body that I could attach to, and Young Master Wen’s was just the right one. He told me that he had unfinished business, and that if he wanted to take his body, I needed to agree to two conditions. ”
“Which two conditions? ”
“One is to protect you and help you live out your old age in peace; the other is to revive the Wen family. I agreed, and Young Master Wen went away in peace. ”
“Xian Zhi… my Xian Zhi….. ah, ” Elder Wen was already in tears, crying like a small child.
Bai Lixin couldn’t stand seeing such a scene. Whenever he sees this kind of father-son love picture, he is reminded of his parents.
Bai Lixin also had red eyes as he hugged Elder Wen and whispered in consolation: “Grandfather, I will keep my promises for a lifetime. I have promised Wen Xuyao that I will fulfil his wishes and I will keep my word, don’t worry. My real name is Bai Lixin, and if you don’t mind, I want to be your grandson, and I want to call you grandfather. Is that fine with you? ”
Elder Wen cried for a long time before wiping his tears and looking at Bai Lixin with teary eyes. He choked and said, “But…but you just said that you have lived for a hundred years, so you should be the elder in terms of age. ”
Bai Lixin almost bit his tongue as he gritted his teeth and said, “Grandpa, I was only twenty when I died. I am still very young, really! ”
Elder Wen laughed, his wrinkled old palm gently stroking Bai Lixin’s forehead, “Okay, good boy, from now on, you are my grandson. Your name is Bai Lixin, right? ”
Bai Lixin nodded, “You should still call me Zian Zhi, if I reveal myself in front of people, it will lead to unwarranted trouble. ”
Elder Wen nodded, “Yes, Xian Zhi. ”
The snow had already stopped by the time Bai Lixin walked to his room, and the cold wind carried a gust of coolness into his warm neck.
Bai Lixin shrank and quickened his pace.
When he reached the door of his room, Bai Lixin saw that the rooms on either side of his were lit by candlelight, so both Liao Sufan and Huang Hongyuan must have come up already. He had barely reached halfway to his door when his excellent hearing allowed him to hear an interesting conversation.
“Lord Liao, why do you have to put up with the Wen family again and again. They have repeatedly made things difficult for you, and you are the governor. ”
“What do you know? If I had beaten your son twenty times for no reason, would you still smile when you saw me? ”
“Yes, whatever Lord Liao does is right. If Lord Liao wants to beat my son, he naturally has his intentions. ”
“…my intentions? I misunderstood him, which is why I made a wrong call and let him suffer the unwarranted beatings. ”
After a moment of silence in Liao Sufan’s room, he heard the latter speak again, “Xian Zhi…Xian Zhi, so those close to him call him Xian Zhi. Do you think that Xian Zhi is extraordinarily cold towards me? ”
The adjutant’s voice was somewhat speechless: “Lord Governor, you yourself just said that you had him beaten indiscriminately. Young Master Wen is angry in his heart, so he will naturally be extra cold towards you. Those were twenty strokes. Twenty strokes! If someone dared to beat my child so unjustifiably, even if it was Lord Liao, I would definitely be looking for him to settle the score. ”
“Ai… ” A sigh came from Liao Sufan.
The adjutant continued, “Lord Liao, if I had known, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place. I was there at that time. You threw your arm in a dashing way and said, “Drag him out, beat him twenty times! ” and walked away. ”
“Heh…as dashing as it was then, is how painful it is now. ”
Bai Lixin stifled a laugh, and deliberately took a heavy step to make a “creak ” on the floorboards. He then heard the sudden silence in Liao Sufan’s room.
After a moment, Liao Sufan’s voice rose slightly as he said, “Go, bring Young Master Wen and Commissioner Huang here, I want to discuss the case with them. ”
“Tsk, Grandpa Wen, I’ve known Xian Zhi for so long, but I never knew he could do such an amazing Daoist spell. ” Huang Hongyuan’s expression was exaggerated as he gestured with his hand like a sword in the air twice, “Urgent as a law! Wow, it’s so handsome! ”
Bai Lixin coughed and gave Huang Hongyuan a wink, “It’s just a trivial skill, you just… ”
“We have an ancestor in the Wen family who went to seek the heart of the Dao in the early years and brought back a book on Daoism when he returned. Xian Zhi would often loom through it when he had nothing to do and learned some spells over time. ” Elder Wen stood up and explained quickly.
Bai Lixin was stunned and glanced back at Elder Wen and smiled along with him, “Yes, as my grandfather said. ”
The matter was not a big deal, and the conversation passed by as soon as the topic was broached.
Bai Lixin ate lunch late, but the other three did not eat. When it came time for the evening meal, Bai Lixin was full after just two bites. Elder Wen was old and did not eat much. He saw Elder Wen stand up and leave, so he thought about it and followed him into the study.
The study that originally had a lot of ancient paintings and calligraphy hanging on the walls was now empty. The shelves also had a lot of ancient porcelain, jade, ancient books, and so on. But after the jade soul-sucking in the aura, the paintings and calligraphy in the study turned into pieces, and the porcelain also turned into fragments.
Elder Wen’s heart ached, and he suppressed the pain in his heart to clean up the study. After cleaning up the family’s broken antiques, he heard that his business had suffered a setback and he had lost a large sum of money.
The old man had no choice but to sell what was still valuable in the house and resell the shop to raise enough money to make up for the shortfall. But the Wen family has been in decline ever since and no longer had the power to make a comeback.
Fortunately, Elder Wen was still strong enough to survive that disaster. But by that time, evil spirits had already started to invade the ancestral home, haunting Elder Wen. His health was deteriorating, but Liang’s departure was the last straw that broke his back.
Liang took the last of the family’s money with her and disappeared.
When Elder Wen learnt of this, he became so desperate that the evil spirits found an opportunity to take advantage of the situation, and he was bedridden.
Elder Wen put his hands behind his back, his slightly stooped back arched up to look around the decaying walls. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes cascaded in immense sadness. “To think that I, Wen Huiren, who had a smooth life, caused the Wen family to fall in this way in my later years. I am the sinner of the Wen family, ah. ”
“Grandpa, ” Bai Lixin hesitated for a moment, “you don’t need to blame yourself; life is full of ups and downs and no one knows what kind of changes will happen in the future. Today we have nothing to live for, but tomorrow we may be rich beyond our means.”
“Oh, what’s the use of being rich? I’m just worried about my antique paintings and calligraphy. ” The old man’s eyes showed his regret, “Some of those antique paintings and calligraphy were left behind by the old generation, while some were collected by me. These were all gifts from our ancestors. Money can be earned again, but how can these artefacts that record the sediment of history appear again? The world’s precious treasure, all destroyed in my hands, ah. ”
Bai Lixin was silent. He really did not know how to refute what Elder Wen said. He was right; money could be earned again, but it was impossible for antiques stained with traces of history to see the light of day again.
“There is only one antique, and the same goes for people. ” Elder Wen sat in the chair, his kind eyes looking towards Bai Lixin, “Son, you may not know this. Ever since my grandson was beaten by that Liao Sufan, he has been sick. That day, my heart kept beating, and I felt sad. I had a sour feeling in my heart for no reason, so I dragged my sick body to visit my grandson. At that time, my grandson’s body was already cold and I didn’t know how long he had been gone. ”
Elder Wen’s voice trembled slightly and his eyes grew more miserable, “I was thinking, my grandson has left me. What else do I have to live for? I didn’t even think about preparing for his funeral. All I thought at that moment was to go back to my room and commit suicide. But when I swallowed the gold, you suddenly came in and removed the demons from my body, and within a few moments of laying your hands on me, I was refreshed. No, not refreshed, but I was better than before. ”
Bai Lixin’s eyes widened and his body stiffened as he listened to Elder Wen say these words.
Elder Wen already knew that Wen Xuyao was dead!
“Son, I know that you are not my grandson. Father and son are connected, and that day, I did know that my grandson was already gone. Although you know all about our family, your words, actions, and mannerisms are somewhat different from my grandson’s. I have watched my grandson grow up, and I know his character well enough not to remember it wrong. ”
Bai Lixin’s throat was dry and he opened his mouth slightly in a hoarse voice: “Grandfather… I…. ”
“But since you are willing to come to my grandson and live in his place so that my Wen family does not become extinct, I am grateful to you. ” Elder Wen already had tears in his eyes, “Son, if it weren’t for you, I’m afraid I would have gone to that ghost gate long ago. If it weren’t for you, with the death of my grandson and me, I’m afraid that the Wen family would have become someone else’s possession. Then I would not have had the face to meet my ancestors in the spring. ”
Elder Wen stood up trembling and gave a big salute to Bai Lixin: “Thank you, son. ”
Bai Lixin was startled and hurriedly went forward to help Elder Wen up.
He sighed in his heart. Since Elder Wen already knew, there was no point in hiding it from him.
After thinking about it, Bai Lixin said, “I was originally a Taoist disciple a hundred years ago, but I was killed when I was fighting and subduing demons. I was killed by a demon but my soul was not taken, so I wandered around the world. I was drawn here by a powerful hostile energy. This Fengcheng city is full of hostile energy, so I am afraid that some terrible evil creature has come here to haunt it. It happened that your young master had just died, and I met his soul. ”
When Elder Wen heard that Bai Lixin had seen Wen Xuyao’s spirit, he held his hand tightly and said, “You saw Xian Zhi? Did he tell you anything? ”
“I happened to need a physical body that I could attach to, and Young Master Wen’s was just the right one. He told me that he had unfinished business, and that if he wanted to take his body, I needed to agree to two conditions. ”
“Which two conditions? ”
“One is to protect you and help you live out your old age in peace; the other is to revive the Wen family. I agreed, and Young Master Wen went away in peace. ”
“Xian Zhi… my Xian Zhi….. ah, ” Elder Wen was already in tears, crying like a small child.
Bai Lixin couldn’t stand seeing such a scene. Whenever he sees this kind of father-son love picture, he is reminded of his parents.
Bai Lixin also had red eyes as he hugged Elder Wen and whispered in consolation: “Grandfather, I will keep my promises for a lifetime. I have promised Wen Xuyao that I will fulfil his wishes and I will keep my word, don’t worry. My real name is Bai Lixin, and if you don’t mind, I want to be your grandson, and I want to call you grandfather. Is that fine with you? ”
Elder Wen cried for a long time before wiping his tears and looking at Bai Lixin with teary eyes. He choked and said, “But…but you just said that you have lived for a hundred years, so you should be the elder in terms of age. ”
Bai Lixin almost bit his tongue as he gritted his teeth and said, “Grandpa, I was only twenty when I died. I am still very young, really! ”
Elder Wen laughed, his wrinkled old palm gently stroking Bai Lixin’s forehead, “Okay, good boy, from now on, you are my grandson. Your name is Bai Lixin, right? ”
Bai Lixin nodded, “You should still call me Zian Zhi, if I reveal myself in front of people, it will lead to unwarranted trouble. ”
Elder Wen nodded, “Yes, Xian Zhi. ”
The snow had already stopped by the time Bai Lixin walked to his room, and the cold wind carried a gust of coolness into his warm neck.
Bai Lixin shrank and quickened his pace.
When he reached the door of his room, Bai Lixin saw that the rooms on either side of his were lit by candlelight, so both Liao Sufan and Huang Hongyuan must have come up already. He had barely reached halfway to his door when his excellent hearing allowed him to hear an interesting conversation.
“Lord Liao, why do you have to put up with the Wen family again and again. They have repeatedly made things difficult for you, and you are the governor. ”
“What do you know? If I had beaten your son twenty times for no reason, would you still smile when you saw me? ”
“Yes, whatever Lord Liao does is right. If Lord Liao wants to beat my son, he naturally has his intentions. ”
“…my intentions? I misunderstood him, which is why I made a wrong call and let him suffer the unwarranted beatings. ”
After a moment of silence in Liao Sufan’s room, he heard the latter speak again, “Xian Zhi…Xian Zhi, so those close to him call him Xian Zhi. Do you think that Xian Zhi is extraordinarily cold towards me? ”
The adjutant’s voice was somewhat speechless: “Lord Governor, you yourself just said that you had him beaten indiscriminately. Young Master Wen is angry in his heart, so he will naturally be extra cold towards you. Those were twenty strokes. Twenty strokes! If someone dared to beat my child so unjustifiably, even if it was Lord Liao, I would definitely be looking for him to settle the score. ”
“Ai… ” A sigh came from Liao Sufan.
The adjutant continued, “Lord Liao, if I had known, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place. I was there at that time. You threw your arm in a dashing way and said, “Drag him out, beat him twenty times! ” and walked away. ”
“Heh…as dashing as it was then, is how painful it is now. ”
Bai Lixin stifled a laugh, and deliberately took a heavy step to make a “creak ” on the floorboards. He then heard the sudden silence in Liao Sufan’s room.
After a moment, Liao Sufan’s voice rose slightly as he said, “Go, bring Young Master Wen and Commissioner Huang here, I want to discuss the case with them. ”
