In previous missions, Qin Jingzhou would usually drop down from the sky like a godly weapon, appearing before his cheap son or daughter the moment he transmigrated.
After listening to the plot summary, he honestly didn’t think much of this so-called cheap son. Besides, “pushing yourself on others isn’t any real business.” He didn’t want to “deliver himself to the door” on his own initiative… All this, of course, was based on the premise that his cheap son Lu Jiuxiao was not in mortal danger.
Qin Er had said that Lu Jiuxiao had been lying in the ICU the whole time, which differed somewhat from the System’s storyline. Qin Jingzhou felt he should go see for himself. His gut told him this world wasn’t as simple as it looked.
The System asked curiously, “If it is memetic contamination, what are you planning to do?”
Qin Jingzhou replied seriously, “I’ll go call in some reinforcements too.”
“It’s that serious?”
“Yeah.”
That afternoon, Qin Er and his good buddy Xu Chen arrived on time for their acupuncture session.
The two young men had clearly done their homework beforehand. The taller one brought his own tea leaves and skillfully made tea, while Qin Er maneuvered his wheelchair forward and respectfully lit a cigarette for Qin Jingzhou.
Qin Jingzhou maintained his usual air of lazy arrogance, as if he looked down upon the world. “If you have something to say, say it.”
To these young men, the fact that Uncle Cheng hadn’t ever declined their chosen form of address meant that “they could try to get closer.” And now that Uncle Cheng had accepted both their tea and cigarettes, the two of them were all the more encouraged.
Uncle Cheng had transformed overnight, becoming one of only two people in all of Hua Country with supernatural healing abilities—not to mention, even just being able to say a few words to him would benefit them for a lifetime!
The two of them had actually discussed for a long time before coming to the Cheng household. They suspected Uncle Cheng deliberately made Lu Jiuxiao suffer a bit so he could see for himself what a filthy “sewer-dwelling family” the Lu clan was.
Having seen plenty of disgusting and reprehensible things, they could still say with a clear conscience: the Lu family was exceptionally dirty!
But as for Lu Jiuxiao’s suffering, that was one thing—now that his life was truly in danger… They figured Uncle Cheng wouldn’t stand by and do nothing, considering Lu Jiuxiao was his only son.
So, Qin Er and Xu Chen respectfully, yet cautiously and ingratiatingly, took turns telling Qin Jingzhou all the latest news they’d uncovered.
After finishing his cigarette, Qin Jingzhou asked expressionlessly, “What did you find out?”
Qin Er spoke quietly, “My assistant went to check… Lu Jiuxiao doesn’t just have no chance of taking Old Master Lu’s place. Even if he survives...” He didn’t finish, but the implication was obvious.
Xu Chen jumped in, “Staying alive would just mean endless suffering.”
Qin Jingzhou looked at Qin Er. “Worse than what you went through?”
Qin Er answered without hesitation, “Yes, he’s way worse off than I ever was... Back then I was in despair, gave up completely, but Lu Jiuxiao wants to live… Everything’s just so hard for him.”
Xu Chen chimed in again, “Uncle Cheng, don’t blame us for being naggy… About that car accident of Lu Jiuxiao’s back in the day, even if there’s no evidence, who could say there wasn’t something fishy going on? Those people behind the scenes know you’re a registered Gu martial master. Who knows if they’ll… take desperate measures...”
They spoke haltingly, but managed, after watching his expression, to spill out everything they meant to say. Qin Jingzhou picked up his phone and dialed the Vice President of the Gu martial association.
He didn’t waste a single polite word, immediately requesting the Vice President to keep his identity strictly confidential. After getting a solemn promise, he casually asked whether the association could help make introductions. He wanted to hire two assistants, one driver, and four bodyguards.
The Vice President not only agreed immediately but also promised to have all the resumes sorted and sent over that very night.
Qin Jingzhou put down the phone, only to meet two pairs of bright, eager eyes—the young men at that moment looked like dogs waiting to be fed, with phantom tails wagging furiously behind them.
Qin Er took a deep breath. “Uncle Cheng, if you’re hiring assistants, do you think the two of us would do? Maybe we’re not very good at serving a boss, but we’ll learn! If you’re not satisfied, we can just shell out some more money and hire better assistants…”
The System burst out laughing. “Impressive, even outsourcing crossed their minds!”
Qin Jingzhou smiled too. “These little guys being so familiar isn’t annoying, so give them a chance.”
The System was quite knowledgeable. “They’re also perfect to use for provoking the cheap son.”
Looking at the two, whose muscles were taut and who were clearly very nervous, Qin Jingzhou shook his head but said nothing.
Qin Er and Xu Chen exchanged glances, feeling a little disappointed but not daring to show it.
After the acupuncture session, Qin Er thumped his left leg a few times. The pain was even more distinct than before. He was downcast for a bit, but soon recovered and said to his friend, “Guess we were being greedy.”
Xu Chen patted Qin Er’s shoulder, then got up to wash his hands in preparation to clean the silver needles.
After Xu Chen was done, Qin Jingzhou lit another cigarette. “Come by at nine tomorrow morning to report in.”
Xu Chen’s eyes went wide. Before he could say anything, Qin Er was already so excited he forgot his legs didn’t really work, but somehow his left leg managed a little bit of movement… He tumbled out of his wheelchair and bowed deeply to Qin Jingzhou.
Xu Chen and the assistant hurried to help him up.
Qin Er raised his hand, wiped his mouth, and spit out half a tooth. “Did I just socially die?”
Xu Chen was worthy of being his best friend. “I don’t think so. Uncle Cheng never had any expectations of either your… or my intelligence.”
Qin Er gave it some thought and accepted this. “You’re right.”
Even with all the stumbles and a broken tooth, today was still a great day for Qin Er.
Watching the jubilant pair leave, the System muttered quietly, “Maybe that’s a form of reverse motivation…”
Qin Jingzhou was rather optimistic about them. “Maybe there’ll be unexpected results.”
Before dinner, the Vice President of the Gu martial association sent over thirty carefully selected résumés.
Qin Jingzhou picked out a few he liked: one assistant, one driver, and six bodyguards.
Once he cured Qin Er, he planned to take on a few “incurable” severe and critical patients to quickly build up his reputation: if the male and female leads wouldn’t let Lu Jiuxiao go, there was no way they’d let his father off either.
As a cultivator in the Tribulation Crossing Stage, Qin Jingzhou could completely dismiss the multi-billionaire Lu family, but Cheng Jingzhou couldn’t, even if he had just registered as a Gu martial master.
Even as a “Ling Yi,” a very rare type among Gu martial masters, with a clear “I’m open to cooperation, but I’m especially expensive” stance, most bigwigs who knew his identity would probably prefer not to make trouble for him. Still, “prefer not to” and “absolutely cannot offend” were worlds apart.
At nine the next morning, Qin Er and Xu Chen arrived together.
Qin Jingzhou first sent Xu Chen out to buy breakfast, then instructed Qin Er, “Register a martial arts school. Then find a reliable company to develop an appointment app, and it must have a function for uploading medical records. If the martial arts school or the app needs anything in terms of procedures, ask the Gu martial association.” With that, he pulled open a drawer and tossed his Gu martial master registration certificate to Qin Er.
Qin Er took it carefully, “Uncle Cheng, I’ll take care of everything.”
Ten minutes later, Xu Chen returned, and together they enjoyed a pretty tasty breakfast. The new employees all arrived punctually as scheduled.
After making introductions, Qin Jingzhou said to Driver Old Wang, “Prep the car, we’re heading to Jingguan Hospital.”
Driver Old Wang was an old acquaintance—the same experienced driver who had taken him to the Gu martial association two days ago.
Everyone present, whether they had inside information or not, at least knew who their new boss was, and they also knew the new boss’s only son was currently lying in the ICU at Jingguan Hospital.
Before getting into the car, Qin Er contacted his aunt, who was the Deputy Director at Jingguan Hospital.
His aunt quickly replied: Arrangements will be made!
Qin Er had wanted to praise his aunt’s composure—it was truly befitting of a doctor—but before he could, her next message arrived: About to meet the legendary master! I’m so excited!
He replied with a smiley emoji. “Stay calm, Auntie. I already socially died in front of Uncle Cheng once. Don’t make it a double kill.”
So when his aunt finally met Qin Jingzhou, she did manage to look calm, but as soon as she turned away, she messaged her nephew: Your new boss is just... way too handsome. Honestly, Lu Jiuxiao doesn’t look a bit like his dad.
Qin Er was sitting with the new team in the meeting room, waiting for word from Lu Jiuxiao—since he was conscious, he had the right to decide whether to meet his biological father. Just as Qin Er was pursing his lips, ready to reply to his aunt, he sensed something off. He turned his head… only to be met with Qin Jingzhou’s emotionless gaze. In a panic, he tried to explain, “Uncle Cheng, my family all have bad eyesight…”
The sudden appearance of the little nurse at the meeting room door saved him. “Mr. Lu has agreed to see you.”
Qin Jingzhou got up and followed the little nurse out.
Separated by a huge glass window, he saw—for the first time—the cheap son, now nearly mummified with bandages. Even without using his divine sense, Qin Jingzhou could tell the kid’s disfigurement was no accident. Half the left side of his face and part of his right temple were burned; his left eye was destroyed. But his nose and mouth were nearly intact.
That could only have been caused by someone pressing a high-temperature object to the upper half of his face, done deliberately to torture him, so that he could be painfully aware of losing the inheritance he once thought was his by right.
The little nurse placed a Bluetooth microphone at Lu Jiuxiao’s bedside, and told them to call her if they needed anything before stepping out.
Lu Jiuxiao glanced out at the group through the glass, then used his remaining right eye to carefully study the father he found strangely familiar. Then, suddenly consumed by rage, he snapped, “You’re not dead yet!”
If anyone else had transmigrated here, just hearing those words would be enough to make them suspicious of Lu Jiuxiao, even if the original host had truly died of a heart attack.
Qin Jingzhou, however, remained unmoved. “You’re still here too.”
Lu Jiuxiao’s blood pressure shot up, and the monitoring devices started beeping repeatedly. “Who the hell have you gotten in bed with this time!” He stared at the people behind his father. “Qin Er, are you blind?”
In that instant, everyone finally understood why the boss couldn’t be bothered with his biological son Lu Jiuxiao.
Qin Er wasn’t the least bit angry, only felt that Lu Jiuxiao’s situation now wasn’t exactly innocent. He even managed to jab back at him in public. “You only have one eye left.” As if anyone needed to say who was really blind.
Seeing that Lu Jiuxiao could still muster the energy to argue with Qin Er, Qin Jingzhou spoke coldly, “Is it worth it? Even now, you still want to cover for Gu Su.”
Lu Jiuxiao shouted back, “None of your business! You...” He stuttered on the word “you” for ages without being able to say anything more.
Gu Su was, of course, the female lead.
Qin Jingzhou turned and walked away. “Let’s go.”
As long as the cheap son Lu Jiuxiao stayed in the hospital, he wouldn’t die any time soon. Most importantly, Qin Jingzhou had confirmed that the issue lay with the female lead, Gu Su, but as for the male lead, it was still too soon to tell.