“He doesn’t trust me?” Zhu Xuan frowned. “I’m the one who doesn’t trust him! God knows if he’s really in trouble, or he’s planning something——”

“Hey, hey.” I gestured Zhu Xuan to stop. His question really gave me a headache. I said, “Let’s not talk about this for now, okay?”

“Hold on. If Wen Jiubo is not here, why are you here?” Zhu Xuan suddenly stared at me. His expression told me that he was really interested. “Do you want to investigate a dangerous case by yourself, when you don’t even know what is the cause of it?”

“Yeah, so?” I replied as if it was not a big problem. “Even if I can’t solve this case, I still want to find out what is going on here. Besides, aren’t you here as well?”

“But you didn’t know that I would be here. If I didn’t come, wouldn’t you have no help at all?” Zhu Xuan asked.

I shook my head. “That is irrelevant. It’s just that your presence confirmed my guess. And since my guess is accurate, I have to be here.”

“What guess?”

“You know what.” I looked at him, dissatisfied. “Didn’t you came here for the same reason?”

At this moment, probably because someone inside heard the noise we made, the door in front of us suddenly opened.

“Sorry, do you need——hey, it’s you!” It was the voice of a middle-aged man.

The person who opened the door was not Liang Kaifeng, nor his father, but a person that Zhu Xuan and I were familiar with. Seeing him in this place, we both were stunned.

“You are.. Mr. Xu?”

Perhaps you do not remember this person, but I remembered this face quite well.

Xu Yingchen was the forty-year-old middle-aged owner of a small hostel where we stayed when we went to Mt. Diecui. While we were fighting with the beast Chen, this nice and kind man took good care of us. What’s more, he was so thoughtful that he never asked about the details. For that, I was grateful.

However, I was still shocked when I saw him.

“You’re.. Mr. Xu? But, but why are you here?” I was surprised and asked. “Isn’t this Liang Kaifeng’s house?”

“Yeah, it is the residence of Young Master Liang.” Xu Yingchen seemed very confused as well. “I’m an old friend of his father. I heard that he was very sick, so I came here to see him. You guys——”

“We’re Liang Kaifeng’s classmates,” Before I could speak, Zhu Xuan interjected. “We’re also here to see him.”

“You? His classmate?” Xu Yingchen looked even more surprised. “But, but you’re not..”

“I transferred,” Zhu Xuan interrupted and smiled awkwardly. “It’s a long story.”

When I was thinking about how to ease the inexplicable awkward air, Liang Kaifeng’s voice came from the inside.

“Uncle Xu? Who is outside?”

Xu Yingchen turned around to reply, “They said they’re your classmates. They came to see you!”

Soon after, we heard some footsteps, and then Liang Kaifeng grabbed the door and pulled it wide open in a very rude manner.

“Gu Yu? Bai Zhuxuan?”

I lowered my voice and said to Zhu Xuan, “I really want to laugh every time I hear that name.”

“Shut up.”

“What are you doing here?” Both his expression and his tone suggested that we were not welcome. “Get out! I did not ask you to come here!”

I hastily rushed over and blocked the door open with my shoulder. “Liang Kaifeng, listen to me. We’re here to help you!”

“I don’t need your help!” He glared at us like a cat whose tail got stepped on; his eyes were full of hostility. “When I asked for your help last time, you refused me without hesitation! You just want to see my father die! Now you changed your mind?! I don’t need you anymore!”

What? When did I refuse to help him ‘without hesitation’ and ‘want to see his father die’? Actually, I was the one who hesitated the most, okay?!

I looked at Liang Kaifeng and did not know whether to laugh or to cry. “Liang Kaifeng, can you stop being overly emotional and just listen to me? Yes, I did reject you last time, and that was my fault. However, it was because Wen Jiubo is not around, and I——”

“Bullshit!” Liang Kaifeng simply did not listen to my explanation and wanted to slam the door shut. Just when I did not know what to do, Zhu Xuan suddenly grabbed the door before it was shut.

“Do you still want to save your father or not?” Zhu Xuan said coldly.

Liang Kaifeng shouted, “This has nothing to do with you——!”

Zhu Xuan interrupted him and said while stressing each word, “Do you want to save your father or not? Answer me!!”

“I..” Liang Kaifeng suddenly wussed out. “Of course I do! But——”

“Then let’s let us in.” There was sharp light in Zhu Xuan’s eyes, and his tone also sounded unfriendly. “Now Gu Yu and I are your only hope to save your dad. You can refuse our help, and I promise you that we will turn around and leave right away to never come back, even if your dad turns into mud.”

“I, I..” The way Zhu Xuan acted scared Liang Kaifeng so much that he could not speak clearly.

“Do you get it now?” Zhu Xuan asked patiently. “Now let us in.”

Liang Kaifeng nodded hurriedly. He opened the door and let us in without saying a word.

I watched this with my mouth wide open. I was stunned by how Zhu Xuan handled it. However, Zhu Xuan showed me a soft smile.

“It’s better to deal with people like him in such a simple and violent way. It’s useless to try to reason with them,” Zhu Xuan whispered.

I quickly nodded to him, showing that I learned something new.

After entering Liang Kaifeng’s house, for the first time in my life, I really understood the so-called wealth gap.

The high ceiling entrance hall, the luxurious lordly front gate, the large arched windows, and the stone statues in the corners revealed the wealth of the owner. The white stucco wall, the light red roof tiles, endless arches, cloisters, and the high ceiling living room with huge-profile windows showed the owner’s fine taste.

It was a world that I could never reach. I would never believe that there was such a luxurious and fancy building in the world until I was in it.

“Hmph, the old fox’s residence is way better than this,” I heard Zhu Xuan mumbling. He clearly disdained the house of the nouveau riche.

I smiled. “That is true. I think Wen Jiubo’s old residence is better.”

“So, where is your father now?” Zhu Xuan turned his head and asked Liang Kaifeng, who lowered his head and stayed silent.

“He’s lying in his room, at death’s door,” Liang Kaifeng muttered. “Upstairs, this way.”

Zhu Xuan and I looked at each other before following him upstairs.

Soon, Xu Yingchen followed behind us with a surprised expression.

“I thought that you two came to see the young master,” Xu Yingchen asked from behind.

“Yeah. And address the problem about his dying father along the way,” Zhu Xuan smiled and said.

“What?” Xu Yingchen seemed surprised.

I secretly blamed Zhu Xuan in my heart that his simple and violent way of handling things had caused many troubles for outsiders, while I had to explain to Xu Yingchen what was going on.

“Mr. Xu, you said that you’re an old friend of Liang Kaifeng’s father, right? How did you meet?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing important.” Xu Yingchen waved his hand. “A few years ago, his father worked for me. At that time, he told me that I was one of the few employers that were good to him. However, business was not great, thus his salary wasn’t very high, so he later resigned. Unexpectedly, it didn’t take long for this lucky bastard to become a millionaire overnight. This is so unbelievable.”

“There is nothing unbelievable in this world, and there is no dumb luck.” Zhu Xuan sighed. “Everything is just the consequence of your own deeds.”

Xu Yingchen confusedly looked at Zhu Xuan. “What do you mean?”

I glanced at Liang Kaifeng, who was in front, and said, “Well.. the story is, we heard that his father paid a price for his sudden wealth.”

“Paid a price?” Xu Yingchen was puzzled.

“Father traded with a devil,” It seemed that Liang Kaifeng finally could not bear our whispering and answered. “He traded his life for wealth and fame, which also led to our family’s separation.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Zhu Xuan explained. “We want to find out what caused his father’s illness and if it has anything to do the object we’re looking for.”

“Um, what object?” Xu Yingchen still did not understand.

“The Jade Ruyi,” I replied.

At that moment, we had followed Liang Kaifeng and reached his father’s room. Liang Kaifeng raised his hand and knocked on the door.

“Dad, are you there? Some friends of mine want to see you.”

However, we waited for a while and did not hear anything from inside. Liang Kaifeng did not hesitate, he opened the door and walked in.

As soon as the door was opened, we all subconsciously wrinkled our noses. There was a strange odor coming out of the room. I looked into the room and was stunned by what I saw.