Thanks to the Cheng Family, Cui Fang had been surrounded by fawning admirers for years, styling herself as the next wealthy socialite in waiting. Now that Yuyin had called off the engagement, her dreams of high society were shattered. She was so furious she could tear Yuyin apart, demanding she crawl to the Cheng Family to beg for forgiveness and restore the betrothal.
"The brat hasn't left yet! Stop her! If she runs off, where are we supposed to get the money for the old woman's surgery?"
"You're right, dear. Let's tie her up and send her to Cheng Songbai. He’s always treated that fool Yuyin like she’s made of gold..."
The conversation inside drifted clearly to Yuyin’s ears. She shook her head in disdain; were these two just here to fill up the world's population quota? The walls were paper-thin.
Cui Fang vented her rage before forcing a smile and opening the door. "Yinyin, your aunt knows you were just acting on a whim. I'll take you to the Cheng Family later to apologize. We’ll get them to sign a new marriage contract."
"Exactly. You’ll kneel and beg your Uncle Cheng," Xu Wang added.
*Ptui!*
Yuyin shoved them both aside, her expression cold and resolute. Her parents had died because of the Cheng Family—how could they be worthy of her kneeling?
"The Cheng Family isn't worth it! Sell this house for cash and leave here immediately, or who knows when the Chengs will come to take it back." Having long since divined that they were fated to lose the house, Yuyin couldn't help but offer a warning.
"What did you say? If we lose the house, are we supposed to sleep in the street? Don't think for a second that just because you want to act like a young lady, you can refuse to apologize. Now get out!" Xu Wang erupted, his thick brows knitting into a V-shape, his jowls quivering with rage.
"Without me, you'd be beggars by now. Don't be ungrateful," Yuyin retorted, keeping her composure.
Cui Fang stood frozen. Yuyin’s demeanor was terrifyingly unhinged; the Yuyin of the past would have taken the abuse without a word, docile as a sheep. As his anger flared, Xu Wang's complexion darkened, the pallor of death already creeping from his feet toward his chest.
Thinking of her grandmother's condition, Yuyin’s gaze softened with a flicker of hesitation. Her grandmother suffered from dementia and only recognized her uncle; if anything happened to him, it would surely worsen the old woman's state.
"Uncle, if you don't want to die in a foreign land, cancel your travel tickets. Don't go on any long trips for the next three years, and leave Pingcheng immediately," Yuyin said before shouldering her canvas bag and heading for the door. She had cast a hex, and his fate suggested a brush with death within three days. If he stayed home, he might live a few more years.
"The brat actually dares to curse me? I'll live to be a hundred long after you're dead!" Xu Wang lunged to kick her but stumbled, twisting his gimpy leg and collapsing to the floor, cursing in agony.
Cui Fang rushed to help her husband, shrieking and blaming his injury on Yuyin before lunging for her bag to demand compensation.
Yuyin pushed her away, her long lashes veiling the dangerous glint in her eyes. "If you insist on that trip, I’m afraid the five of you combined won't live as long as I will."
Cui Fang paled. She didn't know if Yuyin had finally mastered the arts of the Xuanmen, but that wasn't the point—they were a family of three, so why did she say five? Could it be...?
"Yuyin, what do you mean by that?" Cui Fang gripped Yuyin’s arm, determined to get an answer.
Yuyin looked at Xu Wang, hesitating. Her aunt’s temper was a powder keg. Xu Wang, feeling guilty under her gaze, realized his niece had changed; she was no longer the dull, thick-headed girl from before. The coldness in her eyes was more terrifying than that Gao Zixia woman. He didn't know what kind of training she had received at that run-down temple to change so much in a few years, but despite his reluctance, he knew he had to placate her.
Suppressing his pain, Xu Wang forced a smile, kindly smoothing the wrinkled Taoist robe on Yuyin’s shoulder. He snatched her backpack from Cui Fang and handed it back to her. "What else could I mean? There are four of us, plus Yinyin—that makes five people."
"That's not right. Yinyin doesn't even have the surname Xu."
"Neither do you or Mom, so stop overthinking things!" Xu Wang deflected, hurriedly pulling Yuyin toward the door. Fearing his affair would be exposed, his attitude shifted entirely. He even secretly slipped her half a year’s worth of his personal savings. "Yinyin, take this as hush money. If you need anything in the future, just tell your uncle. If you don't want the marriage, fine. My niece is young and beautiful; you can find anyone you want."
Yuyin raised an eyebrow, glancing back at him. "But he’s the wealthiest man in the city."
"So what? If my niece doesn't like him, then she doesn't!" Xu Wang was a practical man; he knew if his wife found out about his mistress, his brother-in-law would beat him to death. Between money and his life, he knew which to choose.
Yuyin feigned hesitation, quietly zipping up the pocket containing the money. "But Grandma still needs surgery fees..."
"Leave that to me. I’ve wanted a son my whole life. If your aunt finds out, we’ll both be kicked to the curb, and as for your grandmother—she’d be left alone to die with no one to bury her."
Yuyin listened silently, wanting to say more but holding back. They were this poor, yet he was still wasting money and obsessed with having a son, as if there were a throne to inherit.
"I’ll find a way to cover Grandma’s medical bills. You need to settle the house the Cheng Family gave you as soon as possible. And stop showing off your new phone," Yuyin warned, turning to board a bus.
Watching her leave, Xu Wang suddenly remembered her warning about the tickets. "Maybe I should check the almanac... can't listen to everything the brat says."
Three days later was marked as favorable for travel and ground-breaking, and taboo for moving in or consecrating objects. He sneered, casting her words aside. He hadn't even taken two steps when a motorcycle thief swerved by and snatched his phone. Out of nowhere, two men appeared, grabbed Xu Wang, and shoved him into a car.
***
With the engagement broken, Yuyin felt a weight lifted. She had intended to visit her grandmother at the hospital when she received word that the brothers and sisters who had left the temple were returning to the mountain. Among the master’s legacies was an important item that could not fall into their hands.
Midway through her bus ride, a black sedan swerved from a side road, smashed through a signpost, and barreled straight toward her bus. Yuyin did a quick calculation—the crash was targeted at her.
"Driver..." She turned, but saw the driver had already opened the window and leapt into the nearby river.
She hadn't realized the Cheng Family was so ruthless; she had agreed to the breakup, yet they still wanted to eliminate the threat entirely.
Yuyin smashed the window and jumped. Her knees hit the ground hard, the skin tearing and blood trickling down her calf. *Let it bleed,* she thought. *Blood sheds to ward off disaster.*
"Do you need a hand?"
Just as she was about to rise, her gaze fell upon a pair of long legs stopping before her. A fair, clean hand reached out. The man’s fingers were slender and elegant, his nails trimmed neatly, and his palm lines were one in a million.
"Thanks." She took his hand and stood up.
At first glance, Yuyin was captivated. Her former fiancé, Cheng Fangnan, was good-looking, but he paled in comparison to the man before her. He was in his twenties, handsome and fair-skinned, tall and lean. His features and physique were flawless, like a character modeled for a game. His eyes, in particular, were like stars hidden beneath moonlight, more exquisite than polished crystal.
Yuyin felt he looked familiar, like the "ideal man" one of her senior sisters kept pinned to her bedside.
"Excuse me, which way to Lianxi Taoist Temple?"
Hearing him ask for directions, Yuyin glanced at his car. With her photographic memory, she instantly recognized it as Cheng Fangnan’s.
*So, he's one of the Cheng people.*
Yuyin’s gaze turned cold. She deliberately pointed toward a side road. "That way."
He looked in the direction she indicated, hesitating. "That path doesn't seem to have any tire tracks..."
"If your eyes are that bad, it's no use praying—go see a doctor." Yuyin couldn't be bothered with him and didn't even lift her eyelids.
People in the Xuanmen had a habit of taking a rough look at everyone's physiognomy. The man before her had a square brow, "Big Dipper" eyebrows, and a prominent forehead bone—a face of great fortune. Too bad he was a dog for the Cheng Family. He was likely heading up the mountain to see if she was dead.
Yuyin watched him leave before clutching her leg and heading down a different path. The road she had pointed out was long neglected, rugged, and led straight to the path to the afterlife.
*A pity about the handsome exterior,* she thought. *If my senior sisters saw him, they wouldn't have the heart to let him go.*
Returning to the temple, Yuyin found the place—long silent—bustling with activity. Most of her seniors had returned. They were tearing the temple apart, searching for the inheritance, treating even the lice outside the master’s room as if they were made of gold. There was some baseless rumor that raising these bugs could ward off evil and extend one's life, and they were being auctioned off for prices more outrageous than gold.
The worst was the senior sister, Xu Meirong. Not only had she snatched the wooden box the master left for Yuyin, but she had also gone to the master’s grave to steal the old Taoist robes that were meant to be burned, claiming she wanted to auction them off on a livestream.
Even Yuyin, usually mild-tempered, was infuriated by these sisters blinded by greed.
"Senior Sister, give me the master’s robe and the wooden box. Those are things the master left for me." Yuyin blocked her path, guarding the lockbox, no longer showing any fear.
*How did this stupid brat get so sharp?*
Xu Meirong pushed Yuyin aside with brute force, glaring at her with accusations. "Yuyin, ever since you entered the temple, the master gave everything good to you! You were engaged to the rich kid Cheng Fangnan, and the will leaves the temple to you! I only got these scraps, and you still want to fight me for them? Get out!"
Yuyin clenched her fists. This "good fortune" that had nearly cost her her life was something she would happily hand over to Xu Meirong, who wanted to snatch every last bit of profit.