A week had passed.
Under Yan Shouyi's supervision, the house by West Lake was beginning to take shape.
This new residence had been personally planned by Yan Chou and incorporated countless principles of feng shui. Even in its nascent stage, it exuded a feeling of spring in the dead of winter. The construction workers, who knew nothing of feng shui, clearly sensed the difference and marveled at it.
That evening, Yan Shouyi returned to the villa from the construction site and saw Lin Zitong sitting on the living room sofa, looking somewhat troubled.
He asked curiously, "What's wrong? It's rare to see you with such a troubled expression."
Lin Zitong sighed and said, "Last week, I sent Wang Zhilai to school. According to his age, he should have gone to kindergarten, but I pulled some strings and got him directly into first grade. He's only been there a few days, and it happened to be time for the final exams. Today, the results came out."
Long Feicheng happened to be walking down from the second floor and, upon hearing Lin Zitong, chuckled.
"Did Wang Zhilai fail his exams? No wonder he looked a bit unhappy when I saw him upstairs earlier! Exams, you know, they don't decide a person's life. I used to fail every exam, and I'm still living just fine."
Yan Shouyi shot him a glare. "You're not worried about food or clothing now because Zitong is supporting us."
"Alas, if only he had failed!" Lin Zitong sighed again.
Yan Shouyi grew serious. "He wouldn't have cheated, would he? That needs proper education. It's much more serious than failing. If Wang Jiwang finds out, he might get angry with us. It's easy for children to go astray."
"Stop guessing," Lin Zitong shook her head. "He neither failed nor cheated. The teacher called just now and said Wang Zhilai answered all the exam questions correctly, but..."
"But what?" Both men perked up their ears, full of curiosity.
"But he wrote down all the answers for next year's final exam!" Lin Zitong said, torn between laughter and tears. "This kid used his precognition to foresee next year's exam questions and answers."
"Holy..."
Yan Shouyi and Long Feicheng's mouths fell open, marveling at Wang Zhilai's incredible ability.
If they had possessed such a skill back then, they would have been unstoppable!
Long Feicheng, not yet reaching the bottom of the stairs, intended to turn back upstairs. Yan Shouyi grabbed him. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to ask Wang Zhilai for the winning numbers for the next lottery draw."
"Have you forgotten what I told you? Meddling with your future luck will bring misfortune in your old age."
"But current poverty is more terrifying than misfortune in old age. Even if I grew red hair all over, I wouldn't want to stay poor any longer!"
As Long Feicheng was about to head upstairs, their phones, which were in their pockets, began to vibrate frantically.
The vibrating phones were not their personal ones but those they had previously seized from the Taoist priests of Shengxian Temple.
The two men took out their phones and glanced at them, their expressions becoming somewhat subtle.
"What happened?" Lin Zitong asked.
Yan Shouyi handed the phone to Lin Zitong. "Fukada Ichiro is dead. Take a look yourself."
In the chat group, the speaker was Guhong Shitai from the Wuzhen Sect. This old woman had directly posted photos of Fukada Ichiro's corpse in the group and tagged everyone.
Guhong: @Everyone, this is the body of Fukada Ichiro from the Zhao family. My disciple just escaped from Rongcheng. According to her, the Yan family of Kunlun Mountain, Lingyin Temple, and Emei Mountain have all betrayed us. Fukada Ichiro was killed by Yan Shouyi. My disciple barely managed to survive after suffering severe injuries!
Wang Ba: No wonder so many people suddenly disappeared from the group. So they betrayed us!
Ning Jing Zhi Yuan: Damn it, does this Yan Shouyi have such capabilities?
Feng Guo Wu Hen: Are you sure Fukada Ichiro was killed by Yan Shouyi? The corpse looks a bit off to me.
Guhong: @Feng Guo Wu Hen, as a successor of Lu Ban, he has mastered the strengths of various schools. It's normal for him to know some dark and evil magic. Fukada Ichiro just ran into him and was harmed by Yan Shouyi in such a cruel manner! My disciple witnessed it firsthand and was so frightened that she suffered a mental breakdown. She is still recuperating in the mountains!
Feng Guo Wu Hen: Are there any members of the Zhao family in the group? Can someone tag them?
In this chat group, people rarely spoke under their real identities, and some even used alts. This was because they knew the group was a mixed bag, with both righteous and demonic factions. Therefore, everyone deliberately kept their true identities secret, which allowed them to coexist.
So, to this day, no one knew which of the members in the group was from the Zhao family.
As Lin Zitong read the chat history, she frowned deeply.
"That Yi Hehuan is using a borrowed knife to kill."
"Yes, judging by the appearance of Fukada Ichiro's body, he was clearly drained of his essence by Yi Hehuan. However, there are no other witnesses, so Guhong can fabricate whatever she wants," Yan Shouyi thought, feeling frustrated. At this moment, the other party could slander him at will, yet he couldn't step forward to clarify.
If this continued, his reputation as the son of an evil figure in the martial world would only worsen.
Those people wouldn't listen to his explanations; they didn't care about the truth.
Just then, there was new activity in the group.
Blood Drop: I am from the Zhao family.
The group members were astonished. They never expected that Blood Drop, the most frequent poster, was actually from the Zhao family.
Blood Drop first furiously cursed Yan Shouyi's entire ancestral lineage in the group, expressed his grief and indignation, and then inquired about the specific circumstances of Fukada Ichiro's death from Guhong.
Guhong, naturally, fabricated a story, but Blood Drop believed it wholeheartedly.
Finally, as the atmosphere in the group reached its peak, Blood Drop sent a voice message:
"I have an irreconcilable feud with the Yan family! From today onwards, my Zhao family will mobilize its entire clan to attack Rongcheng, and we will kill Yan Shouyi first!"
Below the message, there were a string of thumbs-up emojis from group members, who were liking Blood Drop's post.
Yan Shouyi felt a sense of shame. "How many people in this group are real enemies? Why do I feel like most of them are just onlookers who don't mind seeing a chaotic spectacle?"
"It seems we won't have any peaceful days ahead," Lin Zitong said dejectedly. "The Zhao family is not a small family. If they really come at us with their full force, it will be very troublesome for us to deal with."
"Brother Yan, Sister-in-law, you don't need to worry. Leave this matter to me!"
Long Feicheng patted his chest and said, "I am the Director of Rongcheng's Strategic Deception Bureau. Just as I was able to trick them last time, I can also fool them this time! Just wait, I'll go and trick that Blood Drop, and give him a nationwide tour package!"
According to Long Feicheng's plan, he intended to do as he had with Ning Jing Zhi Yuan and Wang Ba before, tricking them into thinking Yan Shouyi had fled Rongcheng, then giving them wrong directions and making them run around the world.
However, before Long Feicheng could speak, Guhong preemptively exposed Yan Shouyi and their identities.
"Everyone, please note that the three brothers from Shengxian Temple in the group are actually dead. Their chat accounts are in Yan Shouyi's hands. Everyone has been deceived by them!"
Long Feicheng: "Damn it, I was careless! This old woman has no integrity!"