Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Xia Yanzhi and Yu He had no idea what Xia Zhiruo was thinking. They immediately sent Xia Zhiruo’s Eight Characters, which they had saved on their phones, to Shi Chen, then began discussing the engagement.

After obtaining her Eight Characters, Shi Chen became noticeably more perfunctory while discussing the wedding.

As their parents talked, Xia Zhiruo kept observing from the side. The more she looked, the stranger Shi Chen seemed.

For example, Shi Chen was clearly a living, breathing person, yet there seemed to be a chill radiating from him.

His complexion was also extremely pale, like a medieval vampire from a movie.

It wasn’t that she had never noticed these details before, but she had always assumed it was because Shi Chen was in poor health and suffered from a cold constitution, which was why he showed such symptoms.

However, after seeing Xia Sheng’s strange methods and realizing that mystic arts and ghosts truly existed in this world, the abnormalities around Shi Chen only seemed more and more eerie the longer she looked.

After they finished discussing the marriage and returned to the Xia Family, Xia Zhiruo could not help telling Xia Yanzhi and Yu He about the abnormalities she had observed. Worried, she said, “Dad, Mom, Xia Sheng said before that Shi Chen wants to marry me so he can take my life. That can’t be true, can it?”

Xia Yanzhi scoffed at Xia Zhiruo’s words. “Have you been brainwashed by Xia Sheng? She’s just a country girl. What fortune-telling could she possibly know?

“Besides, how could there be so many mysterious things in this world? If there really were, why have I never seen any of them?”

“I hadn’t seen any before either, not until Xia Sheng appeared.” Xia Zhiruo thought of how she had lost control and slapped her parents earlier, as well as how she had somehow ended up in Zhou Yichuan’s room last night, and she could not help shuddering.

“Dad, you might not believe me, but when Xia Sheng first came to our house, the reason I hit you and Mom was because I was being controlled by some unknown force. I had no control over myself at all.

“And last night, I don’t know what kind of sorcery Xia Sheng used to switch our glasses of wine. More importantly, after I drank that wine, I should have been too weak to move, but I still walked to Zhou Yichuan’s room on my own. Clearly, Xia Sheng used some kind of sorcery to control me!”

The more Xia Zhiruo spoke, the more frightened she became. “Dad, why don’t we cancel the engagement with the Shi Family? I don’t want to stake my life on this!”

Xia Yanzhi frowned. “You simply drank too much last night. It’s perfectly normal that you lost consciousness. Our company’s operations haven’t been looking good these past two years. We need the Shi Family to lend us a hand.

“If you really don’t want to marry that sickly weakling Shi Chen, we can cancel it after the engagement.

“But the engagement itself absolutely cannot be canceled.”

Xia Yanzhi had always doted on Xia Zhiruo. Agreeing to cancel after the engagement was already the biggest concession he could make.

Yet Xia Zhiruo still did not feel safe.

Shi Chen was in such a hurry to get engaged. He definitely had some motive.

If she did not want anything to happen, it would be best not to get engaged at all.

With that in mind, she was about to say something else when Yu He came over and took her hand. “Zhiruo, didn’t you say last time that you wanted to try on the new necklace I bought? Come with me.”

With that, Yu He pulled her upstairs without giving her a chance to refuse.

Once they entered the bedroom, Yu He closed the door and looked at Xia Zhiruo angrily. “Zhiruo, what is wrong with you today? Don’t tell me you actually believed that little fraud Xia Sheng.

“She’s nothing but a scammer. Don’t throw away your future wealth and glory because of her! You’re a living person. Shi Chen can’t really kill you the way Xia Sheng claimed. That would be a crime. Even the Shi Family wouldn’t dare do something like that.
“Promise Mom. Get properly engaged to Shi Chen, and once you’re of age, marry into the Shi Family. That way, you’ll never have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of your life. You’ll be someone above everyone else.”

Xia Zhiruo was still hesitant. “But…”

“No buts.” Yu He’s expression turned stern. “Zhiruo, don’t forget-you are not Xia Yanzhi’s biological daughter. If he finds out I cheated on him and that he’s been raising another man’s child all these years, he will never let us off.

“But if you marry into the Shi Family, then if he ever wants to lay a hand on us mother and daughter, he’ll have to think twice, won’t he?”

Xia Zhiruo also felt that Yu He had a point. After hesitating again and again, she finally nodded and agreed.

So what if Xia Sheng knew some crooked, unorthodox tricks?

It wasn’t as if she were a goddess. She couldn’t possibly predict everything with perfect accuracy.

Xia Zhiruo comforted herself this way, and her heart finally settled a little.

…

The next day, Xia Sheng had just arrived at school when she received a call from Wu Zhaodi.

Over the phone, the woman’s voice was thick with despair and sobs. “Little Celestial Master, please save me! Last night, I went back to my parents’ house, and I was almost dragged away by the male ghost involved in the Arranging a Ghost Marriage…”

Xia Sheng soothed her. “Don’t panic. Take your time and tell me what happened.”

Wu Zhaodi took a deep breath and tried hard to calm herself. Crying all the while, she told Xia Sheng everything.

Yesterday, after Xia Sheng had finished telling her fortune, she and her boyfriend had gone back to her parents’ home in the suburbs. She told them about the Arranging a Ghost Marriage and asked them to return the betrothal money to the man’s family.

At the time, her parents had agreed readily. She had even thought they truly felt sorry for her, that they had really changed their minds.

Because of that, she had been happy for quite a while, feeling that her parents did, in fact, love her.

Who would have thought that that very night, her parents would warmly insist she stay over at home?

After she stayed the night, however, the male ghost came for her life in the middle of the night.

She tried to run out, only to discover that the door had been locked from the outside.

She pounded desperately on the door, trying to get someone to let her out, but in the end, all she received was her parents’ cold response.

“Zhaodi, your father and I raised you for so many years. You have to repay us somehow, don’t you? You know our family isn’t well-off. No girl is willing to marry into our family.

“Only if we buy a place in the city can your younger brother get a wife, and only then can our Old Wu family have descendants. You’re just a girl. In the end, you can’t carry on the family line for us. Since that’s the case, shouldn’t you contribute to us in some other way?

“If you could marry a rich man and earn back some of what it cost to raise you, then we wouldn’t have had to use you for the Arranging a Ghost Marriage.

“But since you’re not capable of clinging to some wealthy man, your father and I can only help you ourselves.

“That Xiao Yuan is a good boy. Once you go down there, live well with him. Whether you’re alive or dead, life goes on all the same. Don’t blame us. In the future, we’ll burn more paper money for you.”

After saying that, the old couple paid no further attention to Wu Zhaodi. They simply left her in the room to fend for herself.

If not for the Talisman Paper Xia Sheng had given her, Wu Zhaodi would have died at home last night.

After saying all this, Wu Zhaodi broke down crying in agony once more. “I was wrong. I never should have held on to any hope for a family like that. Little Celestial Master, please save me…”