Chapter 191: Chapter 100: The Promise, Teaching My Son His First Lesson (5k)_3
It seemed that upon hearing Wen Yan’s words, the little brat who for the first time felt how difficult life could be cried even harder.
Wen Yan walked out of the courtyard, listening to the piercing cries of the little brat, and suddenly felt that this area instantly gained more vitality, no longer as lifeless as before.
Hey, that’s pretty good.
He went back with the half prawn he had brought for the Sparrow Cat, humming happily.
Zhang Laoxi returned to sleep in the neighboring building, and Feng Yao, not willing to stay over at Wen Yan’s, followed Zhang Laoxi there as well.
Wen Yan went home alone, gave the Sparrow Cat the prawn as an extra meal, and gave the Little Zombie a tomato blessed with Yang Energy.
Then, he went down to the basement and in front of Uncle’s urn, he lit a stick of incense.
"Uncle, here, try the new incense."
After chatting to himself for a bit, he went back to the living room on the first floor, and Wen Yan still felt that the house was somewhat empty. Even though Uncle had never been one to talk much, having one less person was just that, one less.
Fortunately, his silly son was now living right next door, and besides, that family took really good care of the silly child. With Pei Tugou there, there definitely wouldn’t be any safety issues.
"Bedtime, bedtime, sleep well tonight, I have to go to work tomorrow."
After taking a bath, Wen Yan fell into bed and began to snore heavily.
As he slept, at some unknown point, the Little Zombie also lay beside him, clutching one of Wen Yan’s arms. The Sparrow Cat slept at the foot of the bed, its head resting on Wen Yan’s ankles, snoring as it slept.
The entire northern part of the villa complex gradually quieted down.
Two buildings away, on the balcony of Pei Tugou’s building, the old lady sat in her rocking chair enjoying the evening breeze, casting a dissatisfied glance at the cigarette in hand; she still thought it wasn’t as satisfying as her tobacco pipe.
Pei Tugou looked towards the back row, to Old Zhao’s building.
"Mom, isn’t that one..."
"What about that one? Your father had been buried behind our yard all those years, and I never saw you fuss over it like this."
Pei Tugou immediately kept his mouth shut. He actually didn’t care; he even thought that a few shortcomings made it more acceptable, as the current conditions were already too good. He just couldn’t help himself and asked a question without thinking.
As the old lady enjoyed the evening breeze, having finished her cigarette, she advised, "Work well, live an honest life. Don’t follow in the footsteps of the older generation, especially your uncles and your father. No matter what you do, you must be able to live with your conscience."
"I understand." Pei Tugou listened obediently to the lecture.
"Yeah, I know." The old lady smiled, very satisfied with her own son. Although he might be overly honest, at least he hadn’t gone astray. Whether he made money or not was not a big concern for her; having food, drink, and a roof over their heads to shelter them from the wind and rain was enough.
"I’ll go check how Wenwen’s preparations are coming along. I have to take her to school tomorrow; I don’t know how she’ll adjust to the new school." Pei Tugou went downstairs to get busy.
The old lady looked towards Old Zhao’s house, then she stood up at the edge of the balcony, glancing over there.
The five brothers peeking from the window immediately retracted their necks in unison.
"HISS. Such a strong murderous aura."
"Must have killed quite a few people, huh."
"What’s there to fear when Wen Yan brought her over?"
"Eh, yeah, why are we scared?"
"Exactly, Old Zhao, look how scared you are, isn’t it embarrassing?"
Old Zhao, who was standing nearby with his arms folded and a long face, watched the five brothers. How had this turned into his issue?
...
In the middle of the night, Wu Tingsheng woke up, drank a cup of boiled water that the nanny had left by the bed, and entered one of the rooms filled with surveillance screens.
He gazed at three of the screens, which monitored Old Zhao’s villa draped with black curtains.
Sitting in the chair, he watched the screens for a long time, looking somewhat absent-minded.
Few people knew that he was the one who had arranged the offerings inside that villa.
Even the villa’s setup, reminiscent of a house for the deceased, was all arranged by him.
He spent most of his time here every year, also to watch over it himself, to keep an eye on it himself.
Years ago, he had met a Taoist priest who was full of scientific explanations. The priest had said he couldn’t solve the problem of this place. However, beneath the villa, there was a connection to another place with supernatural phenomena, and Ghosts would sometimes appear here.
His son had lost a part of his Soul, and if he truly wanted to retrieve it, a not-so-conventional method was for him to stay here, to call out himself, to act as a guiding light.
If his son’s Soul had indeed been lost, then there was a faint possibility. Because of his calling, because he was here, his son’s Soul might be able to walk out of that villa on its own.
At that time, the Taoist priest wanted to make him believe this was very scientific. So, he spouted a bunch of stuff about magnetic fields, three and four dimensions, quantum mechanics, and the like, in an attempt to make him understand.
He had indeed seen a few Ghosts come out from there, and he had investigations done; those Ghosts truly all had lingering concerns and people who missed them.
Wu Tingsheng naturally believed in these things. It was only today that he realized why, after waiting for so many years, his son’s Soul still hadn’t emerged.
It was not because that part of the Soul was lost, but because it had been harmed.
While he couldn’t see the Soul, he could tell from his son’s changes. Just by seeing him resemble his former self, he knew that the portion of someone else’s Soul that had been inside his son was now gone.
He trusted Wen Yan. Throughout these years, his son had never shown special attention to anyone. Yet, he spoke to Wen Yan upon their first meeting and was even willing to listen. This time, he even took the initiative to give away a painting.
His son had never given him any of his paintings...
He reached out, turned off the surveillance, closed the door, and locked it securely.
When he came out, he encountered the nanny. After her inquiry, he thought for a moment and replied, "Tomorrow, I am going back to Yu State to handle some matters and to visit some people. I’ll have to trouble Aunt Wu to look after this place."
"Okay." The nanny nodded and agreed.
...
In the northeastern corner of Divine Land, beneath the snowy mountains and within a pine forest, an elderly man with partially white hair was driving a flatbed cart pulled by a horse along a path.
He took out an old-style bar phone and looked at the new message on it.
"Touched a hedgehog, prickly pain, not enough money to cover the injury..."
After reading the rest of the message, the old man’s brows furrowed slightly. It meant the investigation had traced back to Changfeng Group in Yu State and implicated its CEO. They couldn’t probe further without alerting their target. The current payment didn’t justify taking greater risks, nor was it deemed necessary.
The old man sighed.
"Heh, Wan Jun’s indiscretion back in the day really turned into a boomerang. After so many years, it has come back to hit her."
He phoned Zhuge Wanjun to talk about this matter. After hanging up, he casually crushed the phone and threw it into a small stove to burn.
Then he lightly wielded the horse whip.
"Giddy up."
The horse, breathing out white air, pulled the cart and began to speed up. After traveling not more than a hundred meters on the trail, the man and the cart had vanished without a trace.