Yang Ming stared at Li Qiao with sharp, piercing eyes.
“You’re not from Guihua Village?”
This guy was pretty alert.
“We’re from Guihua Village. My grandmother is the village’s kind-hearted old lady,” Tang Liusu suddenly spoke up.
The kind-hearted old lady?
Yang Ming’s expression softened slightly, but his demeanor remained cold: “Since you’re with her, you can cut in line. You’ll be scheduled for tomorrow.”
“Thank you.”
Tang Liusu gave him an extra glance.
Meanwhile, Li Qiao kept her eyes fixed on the cemetery, scanning the gravestones one after another. Their arrangement matched a certain formation from Taoist teachings.
But—
The formation had flaws.
Whoever set it up probably wasn’t very skilled!
Li Qiao’s attention stayed glued to the cemetery, and Yang Ming warily asked, “What are you looking at?”
“Just curious.”
“This spot was carefully chosen by me. It’s beneficial to the feng shui of the entire Guihua Village.”
“It’s indeed pretty good. The villagers are really grateful to you,” Tang Liusu said.
Yang Ming cracked a smile, but it was a bit odd. As Li Qiao and Tang Liusu were leaving, she asked what the kind-hearted old lady meant.
At that, Tang Liusu puffed up with pride. Her grandmother was the village’s most charitable old woman.
From her youth up to now, she’d helped countless people and was well-known in the village as the benevolent elder.
So, in the village, the old lady was deeply respected!
Back home, Grandma Li had already prepared some food. As they chatted, she brought up Yang Ming with a warm smile.
“Oh, he’s a good kid.”
Li Qiao felt there was more to the story.
So—
She casually asked about Yang Ming’s past. Only then did she learn that Grandma Li really did know Yang Ming well.
Fifteen years ago, when Yang Ming was ten, he’d fled to Guihua Village with his biological mother.
Yang Ming’s father was a wife-beater.
Whenever things didn’t go his way, he’d grab Yang Ming’s mother and beat her senseless. Mother and son barely escaped with their lives, and when they reached Guihua Village, Grandma Li took them in.
Later, with nowhere else to go, Grandma Li brought them to the village chief’s house.
In the end, they settled in Guihua Village.
But Yang Ming’s mother only lived there for three years before she fell ill and passed away. After her death, Yang Ming left the village too. Even at that young age, he was independent and strong-willed. When he finally returned, the first place he came to was Grandma Li’s house.
And he brought plenty of gifts!
It all pieced together as a simple story that seemed perfectly normal. By all accounts, the people of Guihua Village were Yang Ming’s benefactors.
But—
“Qiaoqiao… what are you thinking?”
“Ms. Tang, Yang Ming doesn’t seem like he’s here to repay a favor.” Li Qiao’s gaze was calm. Tang Liusu paused in surprise: “What do you mean?”
“I can’t quite figure out his real motive yet, but it’s definitely not about repaying kindness. I need to make a trip to Yang Ming’s place tonight. Do you have something personal that belongs to Tang Ye?”
When she suddenly asked, Tang Liusu handed Li Qiao a pen: “This is A-Ye’s. It’s been kept at Grandma’s house all along.”
“Good.”
That night.
When Li Qiao showed up at Yang Ming’s thatched hut again, he wasn’t there!
Inside the hut was a bed, a table, and a chair. In front of the bed hung a gauze curtain. She stepped forward and pulled it aside, her eyes landing squarely on a memorial tablet.
It read: Beloved Mother Xu Ying—Spirit Tablet.
“Who’s in there?”
Yang Ming’s cold voice came from outside. Instantly, she used an invisibility talisman, and Yang Ming burst in right at that moment.
He scanned the room. Empty.
Li Qiao noticed his furrowed brow and once again confirmed that Yang Ming’s skills were far from refined.
