"You were set up by your old classmate," Chu Hao said. "He works for Zuo Cheng."
"That's why I say I have no luck with people!" Mu Qiu let out a long sigh, his face a picture of misery.
Chu Hao smiled slightly and said, "Uncle, leave this matter to me. I will definitely settle this debt for you, and get back that one million that rightfully belongs to you, every last cent."
Mu Qiu shook his head. "Xiao Chu... although this is a society ruled by law..."
"Dad, just let big brother help!" Mu Qingqing urged. "Big brother knows a very formidable big sister who beat the living daylights out of Zuo Cheng today. Zuo Cheng is terrified of her, so big brother might actually be able to do something."
Chu Hao nodded. "That's right, uncle."
Mu Qiu was stunned. He gritted his teeth and said, "If you can really help me wipe out this debt, you can take every bit of that one million. I just want to live in peace."
At that moment, Mu Qingqing's mother brought the dishes out. Aside from a plate of garlic sprouts stir-fried with pork belly, there were four or five other dishes, mostly vegetarian: shredded potatoes, stir-fried greens, and boiled greens.
A hint of apologetic smiling appeared on her face as she said, "Sorry, we live pretty frugally around here."
Chu Hao smiled. "This is already a feast."
Mu Qingqing's mother possessed truly exceptional culinary skills.
After just a few bites, Chu Hao's phone suddenly rang. He picked it up and glanced at the screen, seeing that the call was from an unfamiliar number.
His expression shifted slightly, and he answered it, saying, "Hello?"
From the other end of the line, an exceptionally icy voice rang out: "Kid, who the hell are you, and why is Su Nian's phone in your hands? What is your relationship with Su Nian?"
Hearing this voice, Chu Hao smiled faintly. "Su Nian is my wife. Are you looking for her?"
The person on the other end was clearly taken aback. After a long pause, he let out a long breath and said, "Kid, I don't care who you are or what your relationship with Su Nian is, but I'm advising you right now: return the phone to Su Nian, and then... stay away from her, or else—"
With that, he switched to a threatening tone. "Or else... you won't live to see another day!"
"Oh," Chu Hao said calmly. "I think I'll pass."
"You motherf—" The person on the other end suddenly seemed to fly into a rage.
Without waiting for him to finish, Chu Hao hung up directly.
Mu Qingqing looked at him suspiciously and asked, "What was that about?"
"It's nothing. Eat your food!" Chu Hao picked up his chopsticks once more!
*Screeech...*
Right at that moment, the harsh sound of brakes screeching echoed from outside the door.
"Chu Hao!"
"Chu Hao!"
Immediately following, a shout rang out.
At the same time, two figures appeared in the doorway: a middle-aged man and a pretty woman with long hair.
When the two of them saw Chu Hao sitting there eating, and caught sight of his bright, clear eyes, they both froze for a moment.
Chu Hao's brow furrowed slightly, and he demanded, "Who are you?"
"You aren't blind?" the woman blurted out.
Hearing that voice, Chu Hao's expression shifted slightly. He recognized her instantly—this woman was Lin Qinyi's younger sister, the very person who had framed him.
"Whether I'm blind or not, is that any of your business?" Chu Hao asked coolly.
As for the man, Chu Hao had no idea who he was.
"I am Lin Qinyi's father!" The middle-aged man in the tailored suit said in a calm tone. "My name is Lin Teng."
Chu Hao felt a slight trace of surprise.
When he first arrived in Jiangcheng, he had gone straight to the Lin family to pay a visit, but he had been thrown out immediately without even getting to lay eyes on a single member of the family.
Later on, he went a few more times, but the Lin family simply refused to see him.
It wasn't until recently, when Lin Qinyi had Lin Shuyu personally come to pick him up, that he finally met members of the Lin family for the first time—only to find out... Lin Qinyi had been setting a trap for him.
"Something you need?" Chu Hao frowned and asked.
He had fulfilled his end of the engagement, but the Lin family were the ones who reneged. The engagement document had already been torn up, meaning he no longer had any ties to the Lin family whatsoever.
"Come with me!" Lin Teng commanded, adopting a tone that brooked no argument. "The old master wants to see you!"
With that, he pinched the bridge of his nose, cast a look of utter disdain around the modest apartment, and turned to walk outside.
Lin Shuyu followed closely behind him and left.
However, after standing by the car door waiting for a moment, they noticed that Chu Hao hadn't followed them out.
Lin Teng frowned, turned on his heel, walked back to the doorway, and demanded with a scowl, "I told you to follow me out. Are you deaf?"
Inside the apartment, Mu Qingqing and her parents watched Chu Hao in utter astonishment.
Meanwhile, Chu Hao calmly took another couple of bites of rice, then turned around to look at Lin Teng. "You tell me to go out, so I just go? Tell me... are we even that close?"
Chu Hao's voice wasn't loud, and his speaking pace was unhurried, but every word landed clearly in Lin Teng's ears.
Lin Teng froze for a moment, then spoke up again: "I am Lin Teng of the Lin family, Lin Qinyi's father."
"So?" Chu Hao asked. "Who you are—what does that have to do with me in the slightest?"
Lin Teng was stunned all over again.
Who was Lin Teng? He was the current chairman of the Jiangcheng Lin Group.
Although he usually lived in Jiangcheng and the headquarters of the Lin Group was also located there, their primary business interests lay elsewhere. Their family wealth might fall somewhat short of Jiangcheng's richest man, but in Jiangcheng itself, they were undoubtedly among the very top elite.
In Jiangcheng, nobody had ever dared to speak to him like this.
Especially since the person talking to him this way was nothing more than a country bumpkin!
Lin Teng had always looked down on Chu Hao. He had long known about the engagement between Chu Hao and Lin Qinyi, but in his eyes, Chu Hao was simply trying to scam them out of money.
And this time, if Old Master Lin hadn't forced him to come and invite Chu Hao, he wouldn't have bothered showing up at all.
Yet, no matter what he imagined, he never expected Chu Hao to address him in such a manner.
Lin Shuyu frowned and said, "Chu Hao, don't go too far. My sister lost a lot of blood today and is hospitalized right now. Grandfather sent us to fetch you personally, and we've even come all this way ourselves. What more do you want?"
Chu Hao chuckled, looking at Lin Shuyu with keen interest. "What? You guys came to fetch me personally, so I have to go? Or is your grandfather's word some kind of imperial decree?"
"She's sick?" Chu Hao smiled faintly. "Let's do the math—it's just about time. She should be turning twenty-eight in a couple of days, shouldn't she?"
"What do you mean by that?" Lin Teng demanded, his face dark.
"Nothing much!" Chu Hao said calmly. "I'm not going anywhere with you. If you don't have anything else, please stay away from here. Judging by the look on you, even breathing the air around here seems to be agonizing for you—don't torture yourselves."
He smiled faintly and added, "Most importantly, stop interrupting our meal!"
"A miserable pauper, and you'll act like a miserable pauper for the rest of your life!" Lin Teng sneered. "Shuyu, let's go!"
With that, he turned and stalked outside!
Once they were far enough away, Chu Hao smiled and said, "Let's keep eating!"
"Who were they?" Mu Qingqing asked suspiciously, looking at Chu Hao.
"People from the Jiangcheng Lin family," Chu Hao replied with a smile.
"The Jiangcheng Lin family?" Mu Qingqing asked in surprise. "You mean that insanely wealthy Lin family in Jiangcheng?"
"I suppose so!" Chu Hao looked at her in mild surprise. "You've heard of them?"
"Of course I have!" Mu Qingqing eyed Chu Hao doubtfully. "I have a feeling... you're not as simple as you look. You know a powerful, influential, gorgeous big sister who even makes Zuo Cheng shit his pants, and now you're connected to the Lin family too..."
Chu Hao laughed. "I'm... just a country boy, that's all."
...
While they were talking, a black Mercedes-Benz was speeding down the road. Lin Teng's face was as dark as thunder as he drove, cursing, "I honestly don't know what your grandfather is thinking, insisting on seeing this Chu Hao!"
"Yiyi getting nosebleeds has got to be a sheer coincidence. How could anyone possibly calculate who's going to get sick at twenty-eight? That's complete nonsense!"
"He forced me to come and invite Chu Hao, and this bumpkin actually has the nerve to put on airs with me..."
Lin Shuyu curled her lip. "Yeah, but this Chu Hao probably does have some actual skills."
"Skills? What kind of skills could he possibly have?!" Lin Teng snarled. "Yesterday he was blind, and today he's fine. He was probably faking it the whole time, just acting pathetic to come to our house and scam us out of money. It's a good thing your grandfather didn't see through it."
"No!" Lin Shuyu argued. "Didn't I have my period yesterday? Whenever I get my period, I usually cramp for days. Yesterday, I had Chu Hao give me a massage, and the pain actually went away! It hasn't hurt since."
"Hmph!" Lin Teng scoffed. "I've met Chu Hao's grandfather before—he's nothing more than a traveling charlatan. Don't go saying things like that in front of your grandfather; he's getting senile in his old age."
Half an hour later, their car pulled into the Jiangcheng First People's Hospital.
Inside the hospital room, Lin Kefu was sitting quietly while several doctors chatted nearby.
The two of them walked in, and upon spotting the doctors, Lin Teng hurried over to ask, "Doctor, how is Yiyi?"
"Director Lin!" one of the doctors said, holding up a stack of test reports. "We've run a comprehensive examination on Miss Lin Qinyi. Her vital signs are completely normal; she's simply suffering from acute blood loss."
"You call this normal?" Lin Teng demanded. "Didn't you see how much blood she lost?"
"Yet the test results show that she's genuinely fine," the doctor said with a helpless expression.
"Is she awake?" Lin Shuyu asked.
"She's awake. Mr. Zuo Cheng is keeping her company right now," the doctor added.
"A bunch of total quacks! Dad!" Lin Teng ranted, turning to Lin Kefu. "Let me take Yiyi to the provincial capital for treatment, or even Beijing if we have to! Our family isn't short on money—we can definitely get her cured!"
Lin Kefu glanced toward the doorway, then waved his hand and told the doctors, "You guys can head out first!"
"Then we won't disturb you any further." The doctors hurriedly nodded politely and scurried out of the room.
Once they were gone, Lin Kefu frowned and asked, "Where is Chu Hao?"
Lin Teng curled his lip. "He wasn't willing to come. Said he wasn't familiar with us."
Lin Kefu froze for a second, then let out a bitter laugh. "Fair enough. The engagement is broken off, so of course he..."
"Dad!" Lin Teng interrupted. "Stop falling for that nonsense. That kid even had the nerve to harass Shuyu and put on airs with me today. I've a good mind to take this video to the police and have him locked up for a few years. That's sexual harassment—an open-and-shut case!"
"Shut your mouth!" Lin Kefu snapped, looking rather angry at these words. "Your medical equipment can't detect a damn thing, haven't you noticed? Yiyi is about to turn twenty-eight. For her to have issues flare up at this critical juncture—do you really think there's nothing wrong?"
"Chu Hao's grandfather is nothing more than a wandering charlatan!" Lin Teng cursed.
"Whether he's a charlatan or not, I know better than you!" Lin Kefu retorted. He looked at Lin Shuyu and instructed, "Shuyu, make another trip. Go to my study at home first. In the second cabinet on the left, there is a talisman. Chu Hao's grandfather gave it to me all those years ago. Take it with you, use a better attitude, and invite Chu Hao over. Even if the engagement is broken, I... still want to have a talk with him."
***
After finishing his meal, Chu Hao wanted to pay for his lodging for the upcoming days, but Mu Qingqing and her parents flatly and sternly refused his money.
They insisted that Chu Hao had done them a massive favor today, and since the inn's rooms were sitting empty anyway, Chu Hao could stay for free for as long as he wanted.
Left with no choice, Chu Hao could only return to his room.
Up in his room, he pondered how to deal with the situation concerning Zuo Cheng.
This wasn't just about helping Mu Qingqing and her family resolve their troubles—it was also about settling his own score!
Zuo Cheng had dumped a blind man on the side of the road, an act practically indistinguishable from murder. Combined with the scheming and the beating Zuo Cheng had received, the grudge was far from small; Chu Hao naturally wasn't about to let it go just like that.
As for the trouble plaguing Mu Qingqing's family, that could be considered a convenient side benefit.
And most crucially, Mu Qiu had brought up a piece of information that afternoon:
The Luo family had once produced an Immortal, and that person's name was Luo Qing!
To ordinary people, it was impossible for Luo Qing to still be alive today, but if Luo Qing was an immortal cultivator, living two or three hundred years was a perfectly normal thing.
Chu Hao now had some clues regarding the events of the past, which meant his trip that afternoon hadn't been a waste of time.
For all these reasons, Zuo Cheng was a breakthrough point he had to pursue.
He walked over to the windowsill, where a backpack sat containing his change of clothes and two items of great importance to him!
One was his silver needle pouch—the tools of his trade.
The other was a notebook. Inside it were recorded the contact information of most of the people he had treated over the years.
He picked up the notebook and began flipping through the pages, hoping to find someone in Jiangcheng or the surrounding area who could lend him a hand.
*Knock! Knock! Knock!*
Right at that moment, a series of knocks sounded at the door, accompanied by a voice calling out, "Big brother, are you inside?"
Chu Hao opened the door to find Mu Qingqing standing in the hallway.
"What's wrong?" Chu Hao asked.
"That pretty sister from this morning is waiting for you downstairs," Mu Qingqing said.
Chu Hao looked down from the balcony and spotted Su Nian standing below, dressed in a white dress. To his surprise, the burly, bearded bodyguard was nowhere to be seen, and Su Nian hadn't driven over either.
"Why didn't you go back to the place where I gave you the key?" Su Nian asked, a slight frown creasing her pretty brow.
"I've gotten pretty used to living here," Chu Hao replied with a smile. Then he asked, "By the way, why did you come alone? Are you done with your business?"
Su Nian nodded. "I had him go take care of some other things. Chu Hao... could you accompany me somewhere?"
Looking at Su Nian's lovely face, Chu Hao nodded. "Sure, I don't have anything going on right now anyway."
*Screeech...*
Just then, the sound of screeching tires rang out. Chu Hao looked toward the street to see a red convertible pulling up to the curb.
Lin Shuyu sat in the driver's seat, wearing a pair of dark sunglasses.
She turned her head and froze the moment she saw Chu Hao and Su Nian standing together.
Especially upon catching sight of Su Nian's near-flawless face and figure, a profound sense of self-loathing welled up inside her.
"Hmph!" Lin Shuyu sneered. "What a total scumbag. He just tore up his engagement with my sister, and now he's already hooking up with this vixen."
Hearing this, a flash of biting cold swept across Su Nian's gaze. "What did you just say?"
"I said you're a vixen, what about it?" Lin Shuyu curled her lip. "You must be just as blind as him to actually fall for a country bumpkin like this."
Su Nian looked at Lin Shuyu with a half-smile. "You're Lin Qinyi's younger sister, Lin Shuyu, right?"
"Who I am is none of your business!" Lin Shuyu huffed coldly.
She then picked up a folded paper talisman from the passenger seat and held it up. "Recognize this? My grandfather told me to show it to you. He said he wants to see you!"
It was a talisman folded into a triangle. One glance at it, and Chu Hao could sense a faint trace of spiritual energy emanating from the paper. This item had been crafted by his own grandfather.
Chu Hao's brows knitted tightly together. He wanted nothing more to do with the Lin family, but for the sake of this talisman, he still had to show his grandfather some respect.
"I might need to make a trip over there first," Chu Hao said, turning to Su Nian.
"It's fine," Su Nian shook her head. "I'll go with you!"
"My car only seats one person!" Lin Shuyu snapped coldly.
"Just give us the address, we'll take a cab!" Su Nian shot her a glance and said.
"The People's Hospital!" With that, Lin Shuyu stepped hard on the gas and sped off.
Watching Lin Shuyu's car depart, Su Nian said coolly, "What an ungrateful little girl. Looks like the Lin family doesn't treat you very well!"
Chu Hao looked at Su Nian. "It seems you know quite a bit about me."
"Of course, I've looked into your entire life history!" Su Nian replied with a radiant smile. "Otherwise, how would I dare marry myself off to you?"
With that, she flashed a charming, flirtatious expression and asked, "When are we going to consummate our marriage?"
The demeanor was worlds apart from the icy persona she had shown Lin Shuyu just moments before.
Chu Hao gave a dry cough. "Let's go see Old Master Lin first."
"Alright!" Su Nian agreed.
She flagged down a taxi, and the two of them hopped in. Before long, they pulled up outside the entrance of the People's Hospital.
Lin Shuyu was waiting for them at the entrance. Seeing them arrive, she gave a cold huff and said, "Follow me!"
Entering the VIP ward, Chu Hao and Su Nian walked inside.
Lin Kefu was lying in the hospital bed. Seeing Chu Hao and Su Nian enter, a faint smile crossed his face. "Chu Hao?"
Chu Hao nodded. "Old Master Lin!"
Ignoring Su Nian entirely, Lin Kefu looked straight at Chu Hao. "Chu Hao, Yiyi has fallen ill and lost a ridiculous amount of blood, but the hospital can't figure out what's wrong. Do you know anything about this?"
Chu Hao nodded. "She must be turning twenty-eight soon. This is merely a precursor; her condition won't fully deteriorate until she reaches the age of twenty-eight."
Lin Kefu's expression shifted drastically. "Chu Hao, can you save—"
Chu Hao looked right at him and said, "Old Master Lin, out of all the Lin family members, you were the one who treated me best."
"I apologize on their behalf," the old master said. "But you... you shouldn't have been putting your hands on Yiyi's sister either."
Chu Hao blinked in bewilderment, then shook his head, too lazy to bother explaining. He said calmly, "Old Master, my grandfather should have told you what needs to be done to cure Lin Qinyi's condition!"
"I know—consummation!" Lin Kefu blurted out anxiously. "I can make the decision to have you and Yiyi get married, as long as you can save her!"
Chu Hao shook his head. "I'm sorry..."
With that, he turned his gaze toward Su Nian and said, "This... is my wife."