Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The black Bentley raced down the road and eventually pulled into Oak Manor, stopping directly across from the Xu family villa.

The villa area of Oak Manor consisted entirely of detached houses, each separated by walls and greenery for privacy, but the main road in front of the front yards was shared. In other words, the two villas were only separated by their front yards and the main road—one could even stand on the second-floor balcony and see what was happening at the Xu villa diagonally across.

In fact, if both families happened to leave at the same time, they might very well bump into each other.

Xu Muchan was momentarily speechless, his face scrunched up. "This isn't the new house you meant, is it, brother?"

Wei Xilou looked down at him, puzzled. "Achan doesn't like it? Old Man Wei said Oak Manor is one of the top villa areas in Jiangcheng."

Xu Muchan furrowed his brow. "The Xu family is right across the street."

"Silly Achan, that's exactly why I chose this place—because I knew the Xu family was right across."

Wei Xilou smiled, his eyes filled with barely concealed malice. "Don't you think it'll be fun, Achan, watching their expressions shift every day when we walk out the door?"

Xu Muchan didn't find it fun at all, but seeing how much Wei Xilou liked it, he simply kept his mouth shut.

Wei Xilou took him by the hand and led him through the front yard. "Come on, let's go inside and take a look. Old Man Wei already had someone clean it up—check if anything else needs to be changed."

Unlike the Xu family's European-style luxury, this villa's decor was primarily Chinese-style. The backyard was modeled after an ancient garden with a small bridge over flowing water, and the interior maintained the same aesthetic, with furniture that had a distinctly antique feel.

Xu Muchan wasn't picky about food or where he stayed. In his view, this villa was a bit extravagant for just two people, but Wei Xilou seemed to turn his nose up at it—complaining first that the wood used for the furniture wasn't good enough, then that the porcelain displayed on the shelves was actually a replica... In short, the luxurious villa that Xu Muchan thought was move-in ready was nothing but junk in his eyes.

Xu Muchan began to wonder what exactly that "junk" he'd given Old Man Wei really was.

Finally, Wei Xilou let out a long sigh, ruffled Xu Muchan's hair, and said, "There's no better place for now, so I'll have to ask Achan to make do here for the time being."

"..."

Xu Muchan didn't feel it was a big deal to live here at all. He walked around the villa, chose a room he liked, and said, "I'll take a room on the first floor."

He chose a room with a view of the backyard and pushed open the antique carved glass window. A breeze carrying the scent of flowers wafted in, and the heavy worries weighing on Xu Muchan's heart were blown away with it.

He turned his head to look back and saw his brother standing by the decorative screen behind him, frowning as he examined the painting on it, his expression clearly dissatisfied—obviously finding fault with the screen again.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he said a little eagerly, "I'll make a trip to the Xu house to pack up my things."

Xu Muchan didn't really have much stuff. After living at the Xu house all this time, the only things he needed to take were his brother's shrine and his own school uniform and backpack.

By this time, Xu Qingming and his wife would usually have already gone upstairs to rest. Xu Muchan planned to grab his things and leave quickly, then call Xu Zhifei afterward to let her know. But to his surprise, when he entered the house, he found the Xu residence all lit up.

Not only that—Xu Qingming, Xu Zhifei, and Xu Wangchuan were all there, looking like they were about to hold another interrogation.

Xu Muchan frowned, slowed his steps, and after a moment's thought, said outright, "I'm here to pick up a few things. I won't be living here anymore."

As for where he'd be staying, Xu Muchan didn't want to say and didn't see the point.

But to Xu Qingming's ears, it sounded like this son of his was sulking.

Under his wife's persuasion, he had agreed to back down for now—as long as Xu Muchan sent the shrine away, not keeping it in the Xu house, it could be placed anywhere. But he hadn't counted on Xu Muchan not coming home at all after school. By now, his patience had run out, and hearing his declaration of leaving home, anger flared up. He said coldly, "So now that your eyes are healed, you think you can fly! Since you don't want to live at home, then get out right now—why bother coming back?!"

Xu Muchan didn't want to argue with him. Without a word, he turned and went to his old room, retrieving the luggage he'd already packed.

With his backpack on and his brother's shrine held in his arms, Xu Muchan walked out without hesitation.

Seeing him like this, Xu Zhifei quickly stepped forward to block his way, speaking softly, trying to persuade him. "Muchan, don't be angry with your father. Business hasn't been going well lately, which is why he's been so suspicious and insisted you get rid of the shrine. If the shrine is important to you and you don't want to get rid of it, then keep it. We have other houses—you can move the shrine there, so your father won't be upset."

She gripped Xu Muchan's arm tightly, her face full of worry, clearly hoping that both father and son could meet in the middle and find a compromise.

Xu Muchan held her gaze, hugged the shrine tightly to his chest, and shook his head. "No need. I can live well on my own—I've been doing it for years."

And besides, he had his brother.

Xu Zhifei's face went pale, and her grip loosened.

Of course, she wanted to make it up to this child. Ever since bringing Xu Muchan back, she had tried to ignore the past and tried her best to be a good mother.

But Xu Muchan clearly still remembered what had happened before. He wouldn't forgive them.

Xu Zhifei's face was pale and she looked like she might break down. Xu Muchan stepped around her and headed out.

Xu Zhifei wanted to chase after him, but behind her, Xu Qingming had had enough and barked, "What are you chasing after?! If he wants to leave, let him leave! If you have the guts to walk out that door, don't ever beg to come back!"

"From today on, I, Xu Qingming, have only one son!"

Xu Zhifei hesitated and stopped.

Xu Muchan walked out without looking back. Xu Wangchuan, however, made a show of chasing after him and grabbed Xu Muchan's arm. "Muchan, Dad is just angry—he's just blowing off steam. Why do you have to argue with him?"

"Just apologize, and Mom and Dad won't blame you."

"Let go."

Xu Muchan was annoyed by the tugging and was about to shake him off when a familiar voice laced with amusement came over: "Putting on a show this late at night? What a scene."

Wei Xilou sauntered in and saw Xu Muchan being grabbed by the arm.

Irritated, he squeezed Xu Wangchuan's wrist until the other let go in pain, then looked down to smooth out the wrinkles on Xu Muchan's sleeve, asking him, "What took you so long to pack up?"

He was clearly asking what he already knew. Xu Muchan didn't want to play along and pursed his lips, staying silent.

Wei Xilou didn't seem bothered by his lack of response. He looked at the stunned Xu family and introduced himself with a smile: "Mr. Xu, Mrs. Xu, I'm Xu Muchan's older brother. We met once before at the Wei family banquet. From now on, Achan will be living with me, so you two don't need to worry."

Then, as if just remembering something, he added, "Oh, right—I just moved into Oak Manor, the villa diagonally across from yours. We're neighbors now."

"Of course, I'm only telling you this to inform you that Achan will be in good hands. It's not an invitation for you to come visit."

Wei Xilou was in a great mood today, his face wearing a smile so warm it bordered on insincere. With that, he gave the group a slight nod, took Xu Muchan's backpack, and held out his hand. "Come on, let's go home."

Xu Muchan followed him out.

Behind them came Xu Qingming's furious roar: "Xu Wangchuan, shut the door!"

Back at the villa across the street, Xu Muchan haphazardly threw his few clothes into the wardrobe, then wandered around the living room for a bit before finding a table in a spot with good light and a nice view. He placed the shrine on it, setting the rough-hewn stone idol neatly in the center.

Xu Muchan turned back to ask Wei Xilou for his opinion: "Should I put the shrine here?"

Truth be told, this old shrine was of no use to Wei Xilou anymore, but he loved the way Achan treated it with such reverence, so he said, "Put it there."

Seeing that he agreed, Xu Muchan carefully set up the incense burner and lit three sticks of incense.

By the time he finished, it was already late, so Xu Muchan headed to his room to shower and sleep—but Wei Xilou followed him in.

Xu Muchan turned back, clutching his pajamas, confused. "Brother, I'm going to shower and go to bed."

Wei Xilou said, "Go ahead."

Seeing that he showed no sign of leaving, and had even started unbuttoning his shirt and fluffing the pillows, Xu Muchan had to be more blunt: "Brother, the villa's got plenty of rooms. We can each take one."

Wei Xilou stopped unbuttoning, leaving the top two buttons casually undone, his eyes locked onto Xu Muchan: "Achan doesn't wanna room with me?"

Xu Muchan pursed his lips but still said, "It's a bit tight with two people."

Wei Xilou nodded and finally got up and walked out.

Xu Muchan finally let out a sigh of relief, clutching his pajamas as he went to shut the door. As he did, he heard noise from the next room—his brother must've gone in there.

He figured having the room next door wasn't so bad, and only then felt relaxed enough to go shower.

Xu Muchan kept a regular schedule, and after showering, he passed out as soon as he hit the bed.

Moving to a new place didn't faze him; in fact, he slept even better than before.

It was only in the dead of night that he vaguely felt cold, as if something cold and shadowy had wrapped around him. Half-asleep, he reached out for the blanket, then suddenly jolted awake.

He squinted to the side and saw a tall, pitch-black figure lying on its side next to him, its human-like arm wrapped around his body, holding him tight.

Xu Muchan: "..."

So much for the room next door.

A wave of helplessness hit Xu Muchan, but in the end, his sleepiness won. He pulled the blanket over his face, decided to pretend he hadn't seen anything, and closed his eyes to go back to sleep.

After he fell asleep, the still figure slowly stirred, extending more limb-like appendages from its back to wrap tightly around Xu Muchan, while another hand carefully pulled the blanket down from over his head to his chin. Its faceless head pressed against Xu Muchan's face—if it had a nose, you could almost say they were nose-to-nose.

The sleeping Xu Muchan didn't know that the inhuman thing had no need for sleep. His brother just stared at him the whole night.

*

Life after moving out of the Xu house was pretty comfortable.

Xu Muchan no longer had to force himself to deal with messy family drama, or worry about making ends meet. With his custom glasses in hand, he threw himself fully into his studies.

Before, with his bad eyesight, he could barely keep up, but catching up wasn't easy.

Now that his vision was restored and there were no distractions, Xu Muchan gathered a full set of practice books and test papers from Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang, covering everything from freshman year to the first semester of sophomore year, and started frantically grinding through problems.

Time spent studying always flew by, and before he knew it, it was the end of May. Xu Muchan took Nanming's monthly exam for the first time.

Nanming didn't do weekly tests, but it did monthly exams. The monthly exam tallied total scores but didn't release rankings; instead, results were sent privately to parents, so in reality, students still had an unofficial ranking.

This time, the exam was brutal—as soon as they left the hall, groans filled the air.

Wei Yao let out a long, dramatic wail and asked Wen Dajiang with a serious look, "I'm not gonna be dead last, am I?"

Wen Dajiang looked at him like he was crazy: "It's not like it's your first time in last place. Why do you even care?"

Wei Yao said with a heavy expression, "My grandpa got some kind of instruction from Lady Golden Flower and suddenly ordered my parents to get on my case about my grades. He said they've been spoiling me rotten and I'm turning into a waste. If I'm last again this time, I'll only get five hundred yuan a week in allowance from now on."

Five hundred! That's insane?! It's not even enough to buy someone a meal.

He used to get fifty grand a month—he couldn't spend it all, but it went into his little stash!

Wen Dajiang was shocked too: "Five hundred a week?"

Wei Yao sighed heavily, and seeing Xu Muchan sitting nearby in silence, he poked him: "Hey, how did you do?"

He secretly hoped Xu Muchan had done badly, since Xu Muchan had only transferred less than two months ago and had spent this month redoing freshman-year practice papers. Maybe he couldn't keep up and would be a buffer, letting Wei Yao take second-to-last.

But Xu Muchan cruelly crushed his hopes, thinking for a moment before saying, "Should be fine."

After a month of intense grinding, Xu Muchan had basically caught up. Although teaching varied by region, the knowledge points were all connected, and Xu Muchan didn't find it too hard.

This time, aside from the last big math and physics problems he wasn't totally sure about, everything else seemed doable.

"What does 'fine' mean?"

Wei Yao scrambled up: "How much of the math did you get through?"

Xu Muchan said, "I finished it all, just wasn't sure about the last big one."

Wei Yao looked confused: "Didn't they say Yundong's education was way behind?"

This math was tough—he'd racked his brain and only managed three-quarters of it, not even touching the last big problem.

But Xu Muchan had finished everything and didn't even look like he was struggling?

If Xu Muchan couldn't be his buffer, who could? Was he really going to be stuck with just five hundred a week from now on?

Wen Dajiang sympathetically patted his head: "The gap between regions sometimes isn't as big as the gap between people. But you might not be last—He Jiaqi hasn't come back to take the exam yet, so she should be able to cover you."

He Jiaqi had been on leave due to family matters, but they still chatted often in their four-person group chat.

According to He Jiaqi, her grandmother's death had ultimately been ruled as a heart attack, with the dismemberment happening post-mortem. The police, following the trail of the ghost money and yellow paper her parents had bought, discovered that her grandmother and parents had joined some cult and participated in superstitious rituals. Perhaps that had driven her parents to lose their minds after the grandmother's death, leading them to commit the horrific act of dismembering and consuming the body.

In the end, He Jiaqi's parents were sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. Since He Jiaqi had started school late and had just turned eighteen, and was capable of living independently, she chose to stay at home alone. She would return to school once she'd handled her grandmother's and brother's funerals and her parents' hospitalization.

Wei Yao hadn't thought of that before, and felt a secret thrill, but said hypocritically, "That's a bit of an unfair win."

Wen Dajiang rolled his eyes: "Just cherish this hard-earned second-to-last place. Once He Jiaqi comes back, you'll be firmly seated on the throne of last."

Wei Yao flew into a rage at that, rolled up a book, and jumped up to smack Wen Dajiang's head with a "bang bang."

Wen Dajiang dodged left and right, begging for mercy while letting out squeals like a pig being slaughtered.

Xu Muchan found the two of them too noisy, so he put on his earphones and did reading comprehension.

Before the monthly exam results came out, the Dragon Boat Festival holiday arrived first.

Nanming wasn't too harsh on the first and second years during holidays—they got a proper three days off for Dragon Boat Festival. Wei Yao was cheerfully packing his things while nudging Xu Muchan with his elbow: "What are you doing for Dragon Boat? Want to go out and have some fun?"

Xu Muchan said, "I'm going back to Yundong."

"Why are you going back to Yundong? Visiting family?" Wen Dajiang also leaned in, discussing excitedly with Wei Yao: "Why don't we go to Yundong too? The tourism there isn't bad."

Wei Yao was about to agree in one breath when Xu Muchan said, "Your family's ancestor is coming too."

Wei Yao's tone did a complete one-eighty: "Yundong's so far, what can you even do in three days?"

With that, he grabbed his bag and bolted, as if something were chasing him.

Wen Dajiang asked Xu Muchan in confusion, "Why do I feel like he's been really scared of your brother lately? Wasn't he calling him 'ancestor' all chummy not long ago?"

Xu Muchan couldn't figure it out either, so on the plane, he turned to look at the person beside him with a probing gaze: "Did you bully Wei Yao?"

Wei Xilou turned to look at him, brows slightly furrowed in an expression that seemed to say "What is Achan talking about, I don't understand": "Why would I bully him?"

Xu Muchan inwardly grumbled, you don't need a reason to pick on someone—just not liking the look of them is enough.

But then he thought about it—Wei Yao was, after all, a descendant of the Wei family, so he had some kind of connection to his brother. And he seemed to be hopping around without a scratch, all limbs accounted for, which meant that even if his brother had bullied him, it hadn't been too severe.

So he stopped dwelling on it and moved on to asking where they were headed: "We're not going back to Leigong Village, so where are we going?"

He'd only learned the day before they left that they were returning to Yundong for the Dragon Boat Festival.

Lately, Xu Muchan had been focused on his studies and hadn't paid much attention to what his brother was up to. When his brother told him they'd be going back to Yundong for the holiday, he'd just assumed it meant going back to the village.

But once they were on the plane, he realized they weren't heading back to the village after all.

Wei Xilou said, "It's kind of complicated to get into. You'll know when we get there—I'll tell you the details then."

A jeep was waiting for them when they landed.

As they got in, Xu Muchan noticed the jeep driver wasn't your average guy. He had a plain, honest face and a thick, burly build, like a typical village farmer, but his eyes had a sharp, cunning look that was nothing like a farmer's.

Xu Muchan glanced at the man sitting beside him, and seeing that his brother didn't seem inclined to talk, he held back his curiosity for now.

Once on the airport expressway, the jeep didn't head into town—it took a different turnoff, winding up a mountain road with endless twists and turns, then rattled along a dirt road for two hours before finally pulling into a village that looked half-abandoned.

Xu Muchan was even more bewildered. He jumped out of the car, stretching his stiff limbs slightly, and saw a man who seemed to be the foreman hurrying out to meet them, giving Wei Xilou a deep, respectful bow: "Mr. Wei, you've finally arrived."

Wei Xilou took Xu Muchan's hand and followed the foreman inside: "How's the excavation coming along?"

The foreman said, "We've reached the main tomb chamber door, but this ancestral tomb of yours is seriously creepy. The guys didn't dare open the door and head down without you, so we had to wait for you to come."

Wei Xilou nodded and said, "I won't take too many people down—five will be enough. Go count the numbers and ask who's willing to go. This trip is likely to be pretty dangerous, and I can't guarantee everyone's safety. Those willing to go down can sign the agreement themselves; those who aren't can stop digging here, take their severance pay and head out today."

The foreman got his answer and immediately went to tally up the numbers.

Meanwhile, Xu Muchan, who had been silent all along, was stunned. He opened his mouth, and it took him a moment to make a sound: "That's illegal..."

So that's why his brother suddenly had money.

Wei Xilou found his dumbfounded expression adorable, ruffled his hair, and said, "Don't worry, Achan—this isn't someone else's tomb, it's the Wei family's ancestral grave. Old Man Wei has already sorted out the procedural issues."

Hearing this, Xu Muchan wasn't exactly reassured. He didn't quite understand: "Why are we digging up the Wei family's ancestral grave?"

But then it quickly occurred to him—Wei Yao was always calling him "Old Ancestor, Old Ancestor." His expression immediately turned strange: "This isn't your own tomb, is it?"

Wei Xilou laughed, patted his head, and said, "Achan is so smart."

Xu Muchan's face scrunched up: "Didn't you say before that your coffin was placed in the Wei family ancestral hall? How is there also a tomb?"

And if they were digging up a tomb, why did he have to bring him along?

He kept worrying that this wasn't entirely legal—what if it got found out as a criminal offense and affected his chances of taking the civil service exam in the future?

Wei Xilou said, "I don't remember why I built this tomb either, but after coming here last time, I recalled that there's something in it that's very important to me. I need to retrieve it as soon as possible."

Xu Muchan still didn't want to go, so he said, "Then I'll wait for you up here."

Wei Xilou shook his head, pinching the back of his neck: "Achan has to come too. This trip is a bit dangerous, but there's something inside that's useful to you."