Chapter 162

Chapter 162

After the speaker had cycled through classic songs like "Lonely Warrior," "Above the Moon," and "The Most Dazzling Folk Style" twice, the e-scooter finally came to a stop. Chen Ji's eyes were glazed over and his head was spinning; when he took off his helmet, everything still looked blurry.

The young man removed his helmet, tossing his hair with a flair. Seeing Chen Ji struggling to stand straight, he asked curiously, "...You feeling okay?"

Weren't you fine just a second ago?

Chen Ji mused internally that this was the first time he'd realized he could get motion sickness on an e-scooter.

Didn't he know why he was feeling sick?! Couldn't he figure it out?! Driving the e-scooter as if it were a sports car, taking sharp, low-angle turns without touching the brakes, going down stairs on it, alternating between speeding up and slowing down erratically... Did he really not understand why he was carsick?!

The young man had a healthy, rosy complexion and looked perfectly fine.

Chen Ji remained silent for a good while before sitting down on a nearby stone block. The stone block, baked hot by the sun, radiated heat the moment he sat, sending a wave of warmth from his rear straight to his brain and then spreading throughout his limbs. Chen Ji immediately felt much better: "..."

The young man scratched his head. "Really got motion sickness, huh? I have some medicated balm."

The balm was an old-fashioned type, like a small button, Dragon and Tiger brand. Unscrewing the cap released a pungent, medicinal smell that rushed into Chen Ji's nostrils, making him feel much better. Rubbing a bit on the pad of his finger and applying it above his upper lip and on his temples, the breeze blew over, bringing waves of coolness that felt extremely soothing.

After resting for about five minutes, Chen Ji had mostly recovered. He stood up and followed the young man inside, only then realizing they were in an old neighborhood of three-story buildings. The plants and trees grew wild and untamed, and he breathed a sigh of relief—everything seemed quite ordinary. The only difference was that this neighborhood had a particularly upright, righteous aura.

Chen Ji saw that the entire complex was filled with healthy, ascending lines of color, red mixed with gold; you could tell at a glance it was supremely auspicious.

The young man pushed open the gate to the yard and went in, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Dad! I brought the master back!"

Chen Ji's steps stiffened for a moment. Immediately after, a man's voice came from the kitchen, "Why so late? The security guard said you came in a while ago."

"The master got motion sickness on the scooter—!" The young man went into the kitchen, grabbed two bottles of water, and handed one to Chen Ji. His father followed him out and, upon seeing Chen Ji, showed no surprise or any expression like "a beardless youth is unreliable." Instead, he acted as if he already knew Chen Ji: "Master Chen, hello, hello! My son has a big mouth, don't mind him! Got motion sickness on the scooter, right? We have a guest room; would you like to lie down for a bit?"

Chen Ji somewhat bewilderedly shook the man's hand, then put on a smile. "You're too kind, too kind. You must be Mr. Wang, right? Don't call me 'master'; that's too formal. I'm hardly a master..."

"Haha, then don't be formal either, just call me Uncle Wang!"

With a few exchanged pleasantries, they got the basic social formalities out of the way, and their forms of address became "Uncle Wang" and "Little Chen." The young man stood to the side holding his water bottle, watching the scene as if it were a bizarre sideshow, rubbing his arms as if he had goosebumps.

Chen Ji got straight to the point: "So... I heard the child at home isn't sleeping well? Can you take me to see? Uncle Wang, let me say this first: I only know a few folk remedies. Whether it works depends on luck."

"Little Chen, you're being too modest!" Uncle Wang laughed heartily, not showing any sign of having a sick person at home. "Your Uncle Zhao told me all about it—true talent emerges from the young! The child is still at school right now; they won't be back until four o'clock."

Chen Ji nodded. "Then let's go take a look at the room first."

"Sure! Let's go up and have a look." Uncle Wang led Chen Ji upstairs. The second floor also seemed perfectly normal; at least, Chen Ji didn't notice anything wrong. It was decorated warmly, comfortably, and logically, not at all like a place where something could go wrong.

Chen Ji walked around the child's room and asked, "Whose room is next door?"

"My wife's room," Uncle Wang said.

Chen Ji went in to take a look as well, but found no issues. The other side was a wall. Although there's a saying that houses at the dead end of an alley are inauspicious, that doesn't apply inside a home. Chen Ji pondered for a moment. "Would it be convenient for me to stay overnight?"

The implication was that he couldn't see anything during the day; the source wasn't in the house.

Uncle Wang nodded repeatedly. "Of course, of course!"

Chen Ji pointed to his wife's room. "Can I use this one?"

Uncle Wang didn't hesitate. "Sure, this room was originally meant to be a guest room anyway. My wife just moved here because she was worried about the child..."

Chen Ji nodded; that was fine then. "Don't move anything. Just put a new bedsheet over the existing bed."

Uncle Wang paused. "Why's that?"

Chen Ji explained, "I'm a stranger."

Usually, the mother stays in this room. Suddenly having a stranger move in, anything with a bit of wariness wouldn't come near.

Previously, Chen Ji wouldn't have paid attention to such details, but after the hints the young woman in blue had dropped, he felt he should be more cautious—after all, even she didn't like coming to this place, yet something else was disturbing the child? There's probably more to this than meets the eye.

Actually, it would be best to have the eldest son, who had just brought him back, go stay elsewhere, leaving Chen Ji here alone.

Thinking this, Chen Ji said as much. The young man, who had been listening nearby, was taken aback. "Huh? Me?"

"Mm," Chen Ji said. "The number of people in the house shouldn't increase or decrease. Also, give me a couple of your clothes to wear... just your everyday clothes will do."

The young man pointed at himself. "Wait, my clothes?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment. "The yellow delivery vest you were wearing earlier will do."

Uncle Wang immediately looked at the young man, whose expression seemed to say the next words out of his mouth would be, "You're not some kind of pervert, are you?!" Chen Ji smiled and explained to him, "It's just to pretend to be you."

The young man looked at Uncle Wang, who said sternly, "Don't you like staying out all night?! Go wherever you want today, go on! Tomorrow, don't come home unless I call you!"

The young man's eyes instantly softened, looking at Chen Ji as if he were his own brother. He cheerfully handed over the yellow vest and shot out the door like a gust of wind. Chen Ji even heard him on the phone, "Bro, come out quick! My dad's letting me play all night today!"

Uncle Wang's expression was a mixture of complex emotions. "Little Chen, sorry you had to see that."

Chen Ji smiled. "It's fine. I was like that when I was young too."

After that, things went smoothly. Chen Ji, wearing the young man's clothes, entered the room. After changing the bedding himself, he set up a monitor. Only then did Second Master Huang and Chang Xu finally make an appearance. The System Cat, meanwhile, had stayed back at the hotel. Second Master Huang said, "I took a look at these two rooms earlier. They're quite clean."

"Mm," Chang Xu agreed.

Chen Ji thought so too.

That's why he said they needed to wait until night to see.

Chen Ji set up a backup phone nearby, connected it to power, and started recording the whole screen. Otherwise, if someone later claimed he had moved things in the room, he'd have no proof. He lay back on the bed and said slowly, "It probably doesn't have bad intentions either, Second Grandpa. When the time comes, don't be too heavy-handed."

Second Master Huang retorted, "Why didn't you say that to Xiangxiang?"

Chen Ji said, "Xiangxiang goes overboard; she doesn't know her own strength. It's better for you to handle it."

As he spoke, he placed the tabby kitten on his chest, letting her lie there.

In the next instant, Second Grandpa bumped the tabby kitten off and settled himself on Chen Ji's chest, his tail swishing back and forth across Chen Ji, making him laugh. "Alright, alright, I was wrong, okay?!"

Chen Ji played on his phone for over an hour and even ordered takeout for the hotel to prevent the System Cat from meowing in anger. Soon, he heard movement downstairs—Aunt Wang had brought the child home.

"Old Wang, come help!" a robust voice called out. "Where's the eldest? Run off somewhere again?"

Uncle Wang, wearing an apron, gave his wife a look. "The eldest isn't feeling well. He's sleeping in your room today."

Mrs. Wang understood immediately. "Oh, let him sleep then. Bring him some food later when you're done cooking."

Not long after, Chen Ji received dinner—a tray with four dishes, a soup, and two large chicken legs added just for him. Chen Ji was quite satisfied.

After dinner came the tense and exciting homework tutoring session. He had thought Uncle Wang had a good temper today, but upon hearing the roars from next door and the faint sounds of a medicine bottle being opened and pills being taken, he suddenly felt how hard it is to be a parent these days.

It's even harder for parents having a second child much later in life—after all, they're older, and various underlying health issues start to appear. Compared to younger parents, they're more prone to heart attacks and burst blood vessels from anger.

By the time it was almost nine in the evening, the homework was finally finished. After the kid took a bath, he went to sleep. Chen Ji wasn't too on edge—this was basically the witching hour for ghosts and monsters, and generally no one would be out and about at this time.

Just past midnight, Chen Ji heard the window next door creak open. He went on high alert, a yellow talisman already held between his fingers. Second Master Huang was already crouching under that window. Chen Ji listened closely to the sounds from next door and heard the child whisper, "Beibei, Beibei, come quickly!"

A soft meow answered.

Chen Ji: "..."

Oh, so the kid was up in the middle of the night because he was keeping a stray cat?

Suddenly, a sharp, piercing cat cry rang out. Before Chen Ji could react, he saw Second Master Huang gripping the cat by the scruff of its neck, dragging it forcefully to the outside of Chen Ji's window.

Chen Ji opened the window and found himself face-to-face with the child.

window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: '6909b82653c30418d8ca4f40', id: 'pf-17365-1'})

Just then, lights in the neighborhood began turning on one by one, and four burly security guards came charging from the end of the path. The child pointed at Chen Ji and wailed loudly, "Help—! Help—!"

The security guards sprinted incredibly fast. Before Chen Ji could explain, several red laser dots were already aimed at his forehead.

"..." Chen Ji raised his hands.

At that moment, Wang Shu pushed open Chen Ji's door, looking panicked. "What's going on?!"

Wang Ayi went to the child's room.

Immediately after, they both heard the child crying and shouting, "Mom! There's a thief in our house! He made a cat bite Beibei! Save Beibei—!"

Wang Shu saw the red laser dots on Chen Ji's face and quickly waved at the security guards outside. "It's a misunderstanding! He's not a thief!"

The laser dots moved away. Wang Shu looked at Chen Ji sheepishly. "Xiao Chen, sorry about this, you see..."