Qin Jingzhou said to the System, "Qin Er is right. If I hadn’t personally seen how Gu Su manipulated the mist, reversing and churning it inside Lu Jiuxiao's mind, after what Lu Jiuxiao just said about 'filial piety and taking care of the elderly,' I really would have hung him up on the chandelier in the living room again."
The System naturally understood why the host would hang up his cheap son. "Hung on the chandelier, he can’t move at all, and unlike being tied to the bed, there is no support from the back, so he calms down pretty quickly." Then it asked curiously, "That earring of Gu Su’s seems pretty extraordinary?"
"Yes, that earring is no ordinary thing. To put it simply, destroying it would require a force that exceeds what this world can handle. The moment I made my move, the World Will would immediately kick me out... If that happens, even if the task is considered completed, I probably won’t get a good evaluation."
"No wonder."
"The more reliable method is to continuously accumulate backlash until the earring self-destructs." Qin Jingzhou took a drag on his cigarette and caught Lu Jiuxiao sneaking glances at him. "This kid’s mental state wasn’t stable to begin with. First a car accident left him disabled, then Gu Su deliberately tormented him. The fact that he’s only half insane is already a result of his self-restraint."
The System could sense a trace of sympathy in Brother Zhou’s words. "Still... the pitiful always have something detestable about them, right?"
"Exactly. I’ll see if I can use Gu Su to temper him the other way around. If that doesn’t work, I’ll just destroy Gu Su’s earring and settle for the lowest reward."
The System thought for a moment. "That just feels a little unsatisfying."
Qin Jingzhou laughed again. "Right." He then asked Qin Er, Assistant Li, and the others, "Out of the 24 apartments in this building, how many have you bought?"
Qin Er glanced at his good buddy Xu Chen and exchanged a look with Li Assistant. "Aside from your place, Uncle Cheng, we’ve bought them all."
Assistant Li also chuckled and chimed in, "Sanjiu Network's market value is over a hundred billion. Even with the association joining forces with the Qin Family, it wasn’t easy to get it done."
Qin Jingzhou nodded. "Do it as soon as possible. Once we’ve secured Sanjiu Network, I can finally try out the little project I’ve kept in mind."
He was barely finished speaking when everyone present turned to look at Qin Er, except for Lu Jiuxiao, who was still spacing out.
Xu Chen slung an arm over his buddy’s shoulders and exclaimed, "You’re always this badass!"
"I’m lazy, don’t want to move." Qin Jingzhou went on giving instructions, "Floors one and two will be the clinic. Three and four, split between the dispensary and warehouse. Five and six are for offices. All floors above seven will be dormitories. Get all the permits ready and finish the renovations quickly."
Li Assistant immediately agreed.
Qin Jingzhou then asked Qin Er, "How’s that appointment system coming along?"
Qin Er replied, "The framework is set. If testing goes well, one more week."
"It has to be stable. From now on, I’m only taking on tough and rare cases. This is the last hope for patients and their families."
Qin Er answered seriously, "Don’t worry, Uncle Cheng."
After lunch, Lu Jiuxiao seemed to be in a slightly better mood, his blood sugar up, and spoke again, "I think I must really be crazy, but all the psychiatrists I’ve seen say I’m fine... So it’s not the doctors, it’s Gu Su who’s controlling me, isn’t it?"
Qin Er, with five silver needles in his head, was sorting herbal medicine as he replied, "Do you yourself have any self-awareness at all?"
Suddenly, Lu Jiuxiao exploded, "Cheng Jingzhou, can just anyone stomp all over me?!"
Qin Jingzhou calmly flicked two needles into him. Lu Jiuxiao’s eyes rolled back and he passed out.
After knocking out his foolish son, he made sure to encourage Qin Er. "Well done. If you can get him to divorce without driving him insane, you can officially start learning medicine from me."
Excited, Qin Er stamped his foot—and he stood up!
His left leg had recovered a lot, but his right foot still wasn't quite under control, so he managed to stand for all of five seconds before sitting down again. "Just wait and see, Uncle Cheng!"
Xu Chen was happy for his buddy but couldn't help feeling a little envious.
Qin Jingzhou took off the face-lifting device that resembled a mask from his son’s face, then gave a dozen more needle insertions to the now completely scabbed skin. He fetched a little bottle from the study, poured half the medicine onto his son’s face, and made him swallow the rest, finally adjusting Lu Jiuxiao’s position so the half-mad, half-foolish son wouldn’t roll off the sofa when he woke.
After "tossing" his son, he added, "My inheritance comes with a threshold as well. Qin Er has the best talent and is most compatible in temperament. The rest of you, even if you have slightly less talent, can still learn some basic techniques—both you and your descendants will benefit greatly."
It was all but a plain hint: you all have a shot, but it depends on how you behave!
Xu Chen quickly said, "Uncle Cheng, you’re too modest. Saying we’ll work hard... sounds fake even to us."
Qin Er grinned, showing his canine teeth. "Yeah, they’ll fight for it."
Assistant Li and the bodyguard bros nodded enthusiastically. Even though they were just sorting herbs, they thought it was worth it!
Lu Jiuxiao, meanwhile, slept soundly on the sofa all afternoon. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by a familiar face.
It was his mother’s long-time lover.
After a nap, his mind seemed clearer. "So you’re a... master too!"
The other man looked at the healing wound after just one hour of acupuncture, then replied kindly, "That’s right. Your mother had refined taste." With that, he raised his teacup and glanced over at Qin Jingzhou. "You need to be careful. Gu Su isn’t just some petty freak. I know you may not be scared, but two fists can’t win against four hands."
Lu Jiuxiao gave a loud shout. "So you know everything too!"
The man’s expression was forthright. "Of course. I can’t deal with her, but she can’t do anything to me either. You young men, always stuck in the web of affection, are really beyond my help."
It was clear Lu Jiuxiao had thought of something. "She can manipulate love and hate too?"
The master—who’d almost become Lu Jiuxiao’s stepfather—nodded slightly. "Just about."
Lu Jiuxiao didn’t say another word until the master took his leave.
Qin Jingzhou didn’t interfere either, because a lot of things could only be figured out by Lu Jiuxiao himself.
Elsewhere, Gu Su was almost fleeing in a panic.
Ever since she got the magical earring, she’d never felt so terrified.
Even after her dad went bankrupt, she was still a bona fide daughter of a wealthy family, born into luxury. Her outlook and experience needed no mention. She’d known all along that supernatural powers existed in this world, and she also knew the influence of local supernatural powers was actually pretty limited.
On the surface, she spoke with respect for those Gu martial masters famous for their physical skills, but in reality she didn’t think much of them: they couldn't face off against modern weapons, and even after mastering their skills, all they got were boosted fighting power and longer lifespans. But didn’t every Gu martial master risk their lives recklessly for the next breakthrough? As far as she knew, most Gu martial masters died in their sixties or seventies and rarely came to good ends.
Ever since she got the magical earring, she’d felt even more disdain for Gu martial masters, having had many encounters with her mother’s boyfriend, who really struck her as... overrated—until she saw what Qin Jingzhou was capable of today.
Qin Jingzhou could interfere with her mist manipulation!
He couldn’t nullify her power, but still... it was terrifying! On her way home, holding her son, the more she thought about it, the deeper her heart sank. She’d been unbeatable at manipulating emotions, but now she hit a real wall for the first time.
Of course, she’d never admit defeat. The more special Qin Jingzhou was, the more she wanted to conquer him... A man so hard to "conquer" promised the juiciest negative emotions.
For now, with Lu Jiuxiao in the way, a direct approach was impossible.
Gu Su pinched the earring on her ear. She needed help from people in the Gu martial association and also had to ruin Qin Jingzhou’s reputation online... She was almost a natural at this. The lower someone’s public reputation, the easier she could handle them.
The president of the Gu martial association was generally recognized as the strongest master in Hua Country, but he rarely got involved in things.
The two standing vice presidents were more active. After getting home, Gu Su logged into the association’s website, checked them out carefully for a while, and chose the one who seemed more mild-mannered as her "partner."
With her stockpile of negative emotions, surely this vice president would fall for her at first sight.
Now that she’d picked her target, she just needed an opportunity for an "accidental encounter." At this point, she finally remembered her "simp," Xiang Feng. She vaguely recalled that Xiang Feng’s mother’s side had a relative working in the Gu martial association.
Gu Su unlocked her phone and found Xiang Feng in the "Read Only, No Replies" group chat. "Are you there? I need a favor."
Xiang Feng replied instantly, "Here!!!"
Gu Su asked, "Last time I told you to get evidence that Qin Jingzhou is a scumbag, how’s that going?"
Xiang Feng again replied in seconds, "I got Qin Er to help, but he blocked me. I tried to ask Qin Er about it, but my mom found out and scolded me for several days. I also messed up a few things at work—nothing major—but my dad told me to stay home and reflect for a while."
Gu Su was mildly speechless after reading that and pinched her brow, feeling like maybe she’d used too much mist on Xiang Feng and made him stupid. She was just causing herself trouble and figured she’d better show some restraint in the future.
After thinking for a moment, she replied, "Thanks for your help. Qin Jingzhou is a small fry. For us to be together, we have to get past Lu Jiuxiao first. Oh, right, I remembered you have a relative working at the Gu martial association?" As soon as the message showed "read," she quickly recalled it.
"So let’s not beat around the bush. Can’t we just hire a killer from the Gu martial association and take out Lu Jiuxiao?"
Gu Su sent him a string of ellipses.
She couldn’t recall her mist through the internet, nor did she want to reason with a mentally disabled Xiang Feng, so she simply stopped him. "Don’t do anything stupid! Killing someone—is that something you’re supposed to say?"
Xiang Feng replied, "You’re too gentle..." followed by a string of "kiss" and "heart" emojis.
Gu Su kept typing, "Can you set up a meeting with your relative? I think there’s something wrong with Lu Jiuxiao’s mental state. Are there any Gu martial masters talented at stabilizing people’s states of mind? If someone could calm Lu Jiuxiao down, I could divorce him smoothly."
"Good idea! I’ll get back to you!"
After getting Xiang Feng sorted, Gu Su pressed on while the iron was hot and contacted Old Master Lu.
Old Master Lu may be aged, but he was anything but muddled.
He clearly saw through who was behind the car accident that left Lu Jiuxiao disabled, the fire that disfigured him and almost killed him. He deeply favored Lu Jiuxiao, his external grandson who looked so much like his precious daughter, but time after time Lu Jiuxiao "fell for the traps," and Old Master Lu had become utterly disappointed.
What he disliked most was Lu Jiuxiao’s soft-heartedness, and he knew that all came from her manipulation.
Every time Gu Su thought about this, she felt proud: she could control both Lu Jiuxiao’s and Lu Zhentong’s emotions, and thereby affect Old Master Lu’s judgment.
Now, Old Master Lu had basically given up on Lu Jiuxiao, but there was no way he wanted to see his grandson spend his last years back with Qin Jingzhou, since Old Master Lu always believed Qin Jingzhou was responsible for his daughter’s death. Otherwise, why did Qin Jingzhou retreat into life as a shut-in gamer after the divorce for so many years... Was it that he was rotten from the start?
Gu Su’s mind whirred, running through over twenty years of "resentments" between Old Master Lu and Qin Jingzhou in a flash, just as the call connected.
She knew it’d be Old Master Lu’s top confidant answering, so she kept it succinct. "Jiuxiao is at Uncle Cheng’s place now. It looks like he doesn’t want to come home. The two of them seem to be reconciling after all, since Jiuxiao..." Her voice choked and she swallowed the words "doesn’t have much time left."
After a faint metallic clunk, she heard Old Master Lu’s hale-and-hearty voice. "He wouldn’t dare! I’ll make sure he knows what kind of scum Qin Jingzhou is!"
Gu Su deliberately asked, "Old Master, take care of your health..."
Old Master immediately said, "I’m not dying yet." He paused, then added, "I’m not going to see them, but as for you, bring Baobao over."
Gu Su hung up, and couldn’t help giving herself a silent "Yay." Tomorrow she’d take her son to the estate and grab some of Old Master Lu’s negativity while she was at it... If all went well, she could settle things with the association vice president in one go.