Although Su Huaizhen, the Fate’s Son, was indeed an illegitimate child and had always had to live by observing others’ moods, he could admit with a clear conscience that he’d never lacked for food or clothing. He got a monthly allowance of a hundred thousand, which might not compare to his father’s legitimate children, but it was still better than ninety-five percent of his peers.
He could honestly say that money did not interest him much. However, the cautious years of his childhood had left him with a deep craving… for power in his own hands.
If his biological mother had not lost her sense and, obsessed with having another child, spilled the confidential patent he had worked so hard to conceal straight into his biological father’s hands, he could have gotten along with his parents peacefully, each minding their own business.
After his biological father snatched away his patent, even though he’d tossed some money his way, Su Huaizhen had stumbled upon a heaven-sent opportunity. From that moment on, he embarked on the brilliant path of immortal cultivation—something that no amount of mundane wealth or power could ever compare to.
But after fate had smiled upon him, the truly tricky part was just getting past the first step, “Qi Introduction.” How was he supposed to know where to find a spiritual stone?
He was soon shocked to discover that the bracelet Zhao Wan had given him… actually contained a spiritual stone!
With that small stone, he finally took his first real step on the immortal cultivation path and became a bona fide cultivator.
He knew his biological father was still having people watch him. So he moved into a Daoist temple, putting on the appearance of having been so badly struck down that he no longer cared for secular life.
Whether his father believed that he wanted to become a monk or not didn’t matter. Seeing that he stayed in the Daoist temple all the time, the private detectives and bodyguards his father sent eventually withdrew, and Su Huaizhen could finally relax a little as he cultivated. With careful effort, he truly made some headway.
The abbot of the Daoist temple where he was temporarily staying was no ordinary person. Wanting to form a good relationship, the abbot recommended him for a few jobs, and Su Huaizhen soon made a name for himself in a few small circles under the guise of a "Yin-Yang Master."
When Zuo Rongcheng came requesting that he destroy the Xiao family, or at least Xiao Jingzhou, Su Huaizhen hesitated for a moment.
After all, almost immediately afterward, he heard through his own channels that Zhao Wan, who had gifted him the bracelet, was in truth surnamed Xiao—the biological daughter of Xiao Jingzhou.
Su Huaizhen’s impression of Zhao Wan was simply ordinary. To him, she was just another pitiful woman pinning her hopes on a man to change her fate… but as they say, those who are pitiful must also have their failings.
So he hesitated for just a moment before performing a ritual to gather four strands of pure baleful yin energy, and then he targeted the Xiao brothers as well as the Zhao Wan siblings, “sending” those energies their way.
But even with the baleful energy sent, nothing happened to the Xiao family.
He didn’t need to spend mental energy divining it to know that he had come up against a hard nut to crack. The Xiao family’s fate was far deeper than he had imagined. The Xiao family was not just some ordinary wealthy clan.
The more Su Huaizhen thought about it, the more fired up he felt.
There was not enough spiritual energy or spiritual stones to be found. The only way for him to keep cultivating was… to draw on the fate of others. His biological father, biological mother, his father’s wives and lovers, and his half-siblings had already had their destiny drained to a rather dangerous level. If it dropped any lower, accidents would surely start to happen.
A few incidents here and there weren’t unusual, after all, there were dozens of them, but if accidents started happening frequently one after another, it would be hard for him to stay out of trouble.
So he set his eyes on the Xiao family. If he could lower the Xiao family’s fate, he’d complete Zuo Rongcheng’s commission—and Zhao Wan, who liked him, was the perfect entry point.
However, upon returning to her biological father Xiao Jingzhou, Zhao Wan’s attitude towards him… it wasn’t just a lack of affection, it was full-on contempt. What was that about? As his cultivation level increased, his charm should have grown stronger.
Su Huaizhen deliberately paused, then looked extremely aggrieved. “I’m not borrowing money, and I don’t want to curry favor with you either.”
Wanwan gestured for her brothers to stand down—she would handle this herself. Then she turned to Su Huaizhen. “You know Zuo Rongcheng. I never expected you to really help me. Just getting a reply from you once in a while was enough for me. After all, your life as an illegitimate child isn’t much easier than mine. But you always read my messages and never reply… Now I’ve found my dad and you show up to block me. Let’s leave each other with a little dignity, all right?”
Wanwan’s tone was gentle and unhurried, but her words struck directly at Su Huaizhen’s sore spot.
To storm off in anger would be to underestimate this Fate’s Son. He was quiet for a moment. “So that’s what you think of me?” As he spoke, he cast his Confusion Technique, which he’d continued to hone. “I’ve just been busy lately, and when I heard something happened on your end… I came to see you right away.”
Wanwan was briefly dazed by the Confusion Technique, and suddenly, Su Huaizhen didn’t seem quite so detestable.
At the same time, the Confusion Technique, after hitting its main target, subtly spread outward and caused the Xiao brothers to look at Su Huaizhen a little more favorably as well.
After a moment, Wanwan truly did “let bygones be bygones” with a smile, and the five of them went for tea together and had an enjoyable time chatting.
Wanwan was so happy that she took a selfie with Su Huaizhen and posted it on her Moments feed.
Meanwhile, Qin Jingzhou was on his way to pick up Ling Jing, when he saw his daughter’s new post. Rather than being angry, he chuckled. “A Fate’s Son has to have something special, after all.”
Ling Jing and her so-called “cheap son” were waiting for him at a well-known tea restaurant.
After meeting up, Ling Jing held her son’s hand and pointed to Qin Jingzhou. “Baby, say hello to uncle.”
The five-year-old boy looked steadily at Qin Jingzhou for a while before asking softly, “Mom, is this my new dad?”
Ling Jing glanced at Qin Jingzhou and, seeing no hint of rejection from the big boss, smiled and replied to her son, “Maybe. If he becomes your new dad, what do you think about that?”
The little boy considered seriously before speaking again. “He’s kind of good-looking, and… kind of scary, but better than Dad.”
Ling Jing burst out laughing and scooped up her beloved son. “How could my son be so smart?”
Being kissed and hugged by his mom, the little boy blushed bright red with excitement. “Not that smart, really.”
Qin Jingzhou asked his system, “Will this little guy grow up to be a villain too?”
“Compared to the Fate’s Son Su Huaizhen, yes. Su Huaizhen’s father is just a cold-blooded, self-serving businessman. Besides Su Huaizhen, several of his other children are remarkable as well.”
“So that’s like being the father of dragons, but not a dragon himself?”
“Exactly.”
“Too bad he’s not a girl.”
The system stifled a laugh. “True.”
After Ling Jing and her son finished their affectionate moment, she lifted her tiny handbag in one hand and carried her little boy on the other arm. “Ready to go?”
Qin Jingzhou smiled. “Let’s go home.”
He took Ling Jing and her son straight back to the Xiao family estate.
The Eldest Brother Xiao was at work and not home. Wanwan and the others hadn’t returned yet either. When the old master and old madam saw their youngest son and the mother and child arrive together, they were not just unsurprised but delighted. Finding their son was one thing, but for their youngest to look like he wanted to start a family—!
The old couple firmly believed that only a warm family could heal their youngest son. As much as they loved him, they were also perfectly clear: parental love wasn’t everything in life, and they couldn’t accompany him forever. Their son only held on to life so as not to make them sad, and that was already more than enough for them.
In short, in the eyes of the old couple, if their son brought a partner home, even if it was a male partner, they could accept it. Compared to finding out he had a boyfriend, a divorced woman with a child was really nothing to fret about.
Qin Jingzhou put on a serious face and made things up with a straight face. “It was love at first sight for me, and it happens that she’s in the middle of a divorce with her husband.”
The old master and old madam exchanged glances. “Do you need our lawyer team to step in?”
Qin Jingzhou looked over at Ling Jing, meaning she could make her own decision.
Ling Jing gave a lovely smile. “Then I’ll thank you in advance, sir, madam.”
The old master and old madam were momentarily dazzled by that charming smile. Now they understood why their son fell in love at first sight. With a smile like that, it was hard to feel bad.
They had no problem with this new daughter-in-law.
After greetings were made, Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing took the mother and child up to his own “territory.” To call it that, the main building of the family estate had four floors, and just the floor space of each level was over a thousand square meters. The old couple lived on the second floor, the entire third floor was Qin Jingzhou’s.
As he watched his son leave, the old master turned to his wife and said, “A double blessing! We have to help our daughter-in-law with her divorce case.”
The old madam scolded, “Of course! Hurry up! Whenever Jingzhou wants to register the marriage with our daughter-in-law, he can go ahead.”
Speaking of the Xiao family, they maintained the world’s top public relations and lawyer teams. So when the executive in charge of handling family affairs appeared before Su Huaizhen’s father with a team as if descended from the heavens, Su’s father received the business card and was instantly cowed.
Mr. Su would never have survived to this day if he didn’t know when to act.
So he humbly promised that he would separate amicably with his wife Han Lin, and once the matter was settled peacefully, he finally saw this group of plague-like visitors off.
But even after these uninvited guests left, Mr. Su fumed on and on. He took a blood pressure pill, his pressure went down but his mood did not improve. He tried to hold it in, but couldn’t help grabbing his phone to call Han Lin, opening with a curse, “So you think you’ve got some powerful backers now? Take a look in the mirror! It won’t be a few days before he dumps you!”
Ling Jing wasn’t angry at all.
Normally, Mr. Su was not this quick-tempered. Even when some little lover who’d mooched off him and put a green hat on him was dragged back, he hadn’t lashed out. And he certainly knew that the wife divorcing him had found herself an ally he couldn’t afford to offend—the Xiao family.
This was actually the result of Su Huaizhen draining a huge amount of his father’s fate, leaving him irritable and quick to anger, and setting him up for a series of rash decisions.
Ling Jing waited patiently for Mr. Su to finish cursing, then calmly replied, “Fine, call it a clean break. Your money is bad luck.” With that, she hung up and blocked his number.
She was telling the truth.
If she took Mr. Su’s money, nothing would happen, but the more her son used it, the greater the karmic debt he’d have to pay back later. If she didn’t sever this karmic tie in time, it would accumulate and most likely cause disastrous heart tribulations when he tried to advance in cultivation.
For her son’s future, Ling Jing absolutely would not take a cent from Mr. Su.
Qin Jingzhou finished updating Ling Jing on his current progress just as Wanwan and the others returned home.
Wanwan came in and, seeing Ling Jing, frowned deeply. “What’s going on? Dad, don’t you love me anymore?”
Qin Jingzhou casually removed a wisp of baleful energy that was hovering over his daughter’s head. “Care to repeat that?”
Wanwan: …
As her mind cleared, her face turned red. She figured out what had happened at once, and ground out between clenched teeth, “Su Huaizhen!”