Gu Su changed her usual approach and switched to the "casting a wide net" strategy.
She didn’t even spare her own son, so naturally, none of her employees working for her escaped either. By late afternoon, her proficiency in controlling the Huiwu was rising rapidly.
But all the Huiwu she spread out that afternoon, even combined, couldn’t compare to what she had retrieved from Xiang Feng. What really made her feel the pinch was that her stores of negative emotions had dropped by about a fifth.
Confusing the relative of Xiang Feng who worked at the Gu martial association was no issue, but as for taking down the Vice President of the Gu martial association in one go, her confidence was no longer as it once was.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help rubbing her son’s head, her tone mournful. “I thought I’d become a rich woman, but now I see I was thinking too much.”
Baobao frowned. “Is it because Lu Jiuxiao wants to divorce you? He’s not giving you his assets anymore?”
Her little son was precocious; Gu Su had long known that. “More or less.” As soon as she finished speaking, she felt a strong wave of negative emotion from her son... something like resentment.
She couldn’t help but laugh, and her son’s emotional fluctuation wasn’t even worth intentionally harvesting. “You little miser, you care that much about the money in Lu Jiuxiao’s hands?”
Baobao pursed his lips. “It’s the shares, Mom!”
Gu Su’s expression turned serious and she patiently explained to her son, “Lu Jiuxiao said he no longer wants to be part of the Lu family. I think he means it. So the shares he owns will go back to Old Master Lu.”
Baobao asked in a low voice, “Does that mean we have to please Old Master Lu now?”
Gu Su smiled, “That’s right. But Old Master Lu is much harder to please than Lu Jiuxiao…”
Baobao blurted out, “But the benefits are greater too.”
Having such a sensible son was wonderful! Gu Su kissed her son’s cheek. “Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Baobao nodded vigorously. “Okay!”
Everything was cheerful on Gu Su’s side. Meanwhile, on the other side, with another father and son... not a word was spoken.
To be exact, Lu Jiuxiao was staring dumbly at his own father, his feelings complex though his face stayed blank. As for Qin Jingzhou, he was smoking and playing video games, not sparing his dull-witted son a single glance.
Already, his game character lagged in the main city because he’d received too many DMs. After Assistant Li uploaded those photos, the number of direct messages surged even more.
When Qin Jingzhou called customer service, the last DM on his screen was: Want to sleep with a fan?
He could only ask them to temporarily turn off his DMs and mass blacklist, so these people would finally back off.
The folks over at Sanjiu Network might not know what his job was now, but someone had definitely tipped off the higher-ups about him. So five minutes after he hung up, the customer service manager called back and set up a “Do Not Disturb” mode just for him.
At the moment, he was running a team dungeon with a priestess and other players who had some relationship with the original host, chatting with them in the guild channel.
Everyone was well-equipped, and clearing the current dungeon was a breeze.
The priestess piped up, “Markets are about to close. Lu Group dropped almost five points. Even if Old Master Lu doesn’t end up in the hospital, he’ll have to call a private doctor.” She sounded just a bit mystified, “I get that a granddaughter isn’t as close as a great-grandson, and Old Master Lu sure vents some anger on you, Cheng. But showing more favoritism to a granddaughter-in-law than a grandson—what sense does that make?”
Next, the priestess’s childhood friend, the mage, bravely stepped up, “Old Master Lu can’t see that Gu Su’s son is...”
The original host liked to brag, but wasn’t much of a talker.
Qin Jingzhou replied, consistent with the original’s persona, “Old Master Lu isn’t blind.”
The team fell silent for half a minute.
The priestess spoke again, “No reason for anyone to stay with the Lu family.”
After a while, the rogue in the party finally asked, “Uncle Cheng, do you need a lawyer? My uncle is Lin Baiming! He’s willing to offer you lifelong free legal services, for real, and he’ll even pay your medical bills. He told me to say, he sent tons of DMs volunteering, but never got a reply!”
The rogue’s uncle was both the one who came to Qin Jingzhou for treatment and the last boyfriend of Miss Lu, a Gu martial master.
Qin Jingzhou was interested and turned to ask his absent-minded son, “Lin Baiming is a lawyer?”
Lu Jiuxiao came back to his senses, and his eyes finally showed a bit of brightness. “Yes.”
Qin Jingzhou went on, “How do you plan to stop being part of the Lu family?”
Lu Jiuxiao instinctively glanced at Qin Er, who was processing herbal medicine beside him, before replying, “I want to return all the shares and properties to Old Master Lu, then divorce Gu Su... Can we ask Uncle Lin for help?”
He called Uncle Lin so naturally, but refused to call me "Dad." Thinking about how his foolish son had been so listless all day, Qin Jingzhou agreed, “Sure.”
He typed out a message to the rogue, “Let your uncle know I need his help. I’ll give him a discount.”
A few seconds later, the rogue replied, “Uncle Cheng, you don’t need to be polite! It’s natural for colleagues to help each other.”
As they were defeating the boss and looting the drops, the rogue spoke up again, “Uncle Cheng, my uncle says he’s free anytime. Just let him know when it’s convenient for you.”
Qin Jingzhou said, “Let him come tomorrow morning. I’ll treat his hand first, then he can advise my son.”
The rogue fired off a string of emojis.
Finally, the priestess couldn’t help asking, “Uncle Cheng, are you a doctor?!”
Qin Jingzhou rather liked this little girl. “Something like that.”
For the rest of the time, the priestess and mage were quiet, while the rogue kept making jokes, and the tank chimed in for comic effect. Qin Jingzhou told the system, “These two kids really mean well.”
At six in the evening, Qin Er and the others were off work right on time. Judging from today’s trending topics alone, their evening would be anything but quiet.
Qin Jingzhou placed a delivery order, walked over to Lu Jiuxiao, and ruffled his son’s hair. He clearly “saw” the Huiwu recede a bit from his son’s mind—putting pressure on Gu Su while reminding Lu Jiuxiao got instant results.
The core of Gu Su’s golden finger was negative emotion.
Whether generating or deploying Huiwu, perceiving and controlling emotions through Huiwu, or using Huiwu to seize negative emotion, all required expenditure of it.
Up until today, simply guiding and controlling the emotions of Lu Zhentong, Xiang Feng, and Lu Jiuxiao let Gu Su keep everything pretty much under her thumb, living quite well.
Since he arrived, Gu Su had felt threatened and immediately tried to counter him, only to have her usual risk-taking tactics backfire, shooting herself in the foot.
Qin Jingzhou guessed that Gu Su probably had nowhere to collect negative emotion now, since even emotional manipulation had to be based on reality.
Lu Zhentong was designated by Old Master Lu as his successor. For Xiang Feng, the day Gu Su divorced, neither of these two cared about her happiness—they were both overjoyed. No matter what Gu Su tried, it was hard to change their underlying mood unless she announced she was terminally ill.
Now that he was watching his foolish son, Gu Su would have to come up with a plan or she’d be “cut off.” He hoped that next time he saw Gu Su, she could bring him a “surprise.”
Besides, once his foolish son went public on social media about the divorce, he couldn’t reach Gu Su by call or text. Instead, Old Master Lu’s trusted assistant managed to get in touch with him, persuading him “not to make a mistake.”
“Not to make a mistake”—those were clearly Old Master Lu’s words.
Lu Jiuxiao felt bitter, but still tried to play it cool. “Forget it…” As soon as those words left his lips, he felt a gentle touch on his head, and suddenly he found a bit more backbone. “Old Master Lu wants me to be a stepping stone for Lu Zhentong. He knows Baobao is his biological child too… I’m just a cast-off who can’t even show his temper? Fine, let’s break things off completely, we’ll stay out of each other’s way!”
After hanging up, he couldn’t help it and covered his face.
It had to be said, the most violent and twisted side of Lu Jiuxiao was a face he only ever showed to Gu Su—now he was beginning to realize that his worst side had been stirred up by Gu Su herself. Gu Su deserved it.
With his own father, he was always irritable and harsh.
With Old Master Lu, he tried to be as gentle as possible. Truth be told, he’d never been that polite even with his own mother.
Now, he actually regretted it.
Qin Jingzhou didn’t say anything, just rubbed his foolish son’s forehead and casually peeled away the largest scab on his face.
Qin Er and Xu Chen, who were standing nearby, were once again stunned: there was no sign at all that Lu Jiuxiao’s face had suffered severe burns—as long as you applied some foundation!
Before Qin Jingzhou could say anything, the doorbell rang.
On the screen of the video intercom, they could clearly see Lin Baiming and the bodyguard on duty.
A moment later, Lin Baiming entered in a classic three-piece suit, his left arm wrapped in a thin bandage, and a briefcase in his right hand. When he caught sight of Lu Jiuxiao’s face, he was so shocked he almost burst out cursing. “Has it even been a week? His face is fine already?”
Qin Jingzhou smiled slightly. “He’s my biological son.” He paused, then continued, “My son and Old Master Lu scheduled the handover for today.”
Lin Baiming nodded. “Don’t worry. I know my way around the Lu family.”
Suddenly, Lu Jiuxiao reached out, tugged on Qin Jingzhou’s sleeve, and asked, “Would you... be willing to come with me?”
Qin Jingzhou met his son’s bloodshot gaze. “Of course.”