Wuchang did not say anything, and Lanting had not intended to ask beforehand, so he only knew that Xu Xiaoyu had died of suffocation from being buried alive, but he knew none of the details.
At this moment, seeing that Xu Xiaoyu had been stopped, her eyes were bloodshot, and she showed signs of going berserk, Lanting simply sealed the decree in her hand and then cut off her control over Gu Guixi.
Having survived a near-death experience, Gu Guixi still had no consciousness, but he instinctively returned to that house filled with talismans and formations.
Xu Xiaoyu’s expression was gloomy. Lanting did not care about her thoughts and said, “He will die sooner or later. The problem right now is that there is something wrong with you.”
Xu Xiaoyu paused: “What?”
Lanting did not answer, but instead asked, “What was your relationship with Gu Guixi before, and why did you have a feud?”
The female ghost’s eyes went blank for a moment, as if she were recalling the past, and then her expression carried an undisguised hatred and pain.
“I used to date him back during our freshman year.”
“He was very considerate and nice to me back then. Later, later I got pregnant with his child.”
“On the day I learned about the pregnancy, I was very happy and wanted to go to his rented apartment to find him and give him a surprise.”
When she reached this point, as if touching upon her most painful memories, the female ghost’s eyes turned hazy again, gradually filling with layer upon layer of heavy hostility.
“However, I caught him sleeping with another woman!”
“I was so angry that I rushed forward and loudly questioned him, and then a fight broke out.”
“Later on, I was beaten unconscious by them, suffocated awake, and left in that despair to watch the dirt bury me bit by bit.”
After finishing, Xu Xiaoyu raised her hands in panic and lingered over her still-flat lower abdomen.
Her tone was weeping: “I want him to pay with his life for our mother and child!”
This experience was truly tragic, but Lanting listened expressionlessly, and then spoke lightly, delivering a heavy blow: “But Gu Guixi is a natural gay man who only likes men.”
Lanting said in a flat tone: “He cannot get an erection for women.”
This point was also discovered by the original owner by chance, yet it contradicted what Xu Xiaoyu had said.
Xu Xiaoyu was stunned, her expression clearly showing helplessness: “How could that be? He clearly with me…”
Opinions on both sides conflicted, but Lanting found that Xu Xiaoyu did not seem to be lying.
He narrowed his eyes and chuckled softly: “This is getting interesting.”
Since neither side was lying, what could be the problem?
Lanting could not help thinking of the time at the hospital, that amnesia talisman that Gu Guixi still firmly believed in.
Explaining each doubt one by one, Lanting said to the deep-in-thought Xu Xiaoyu, “There is obviously a huge problem with this matter. The real murderer who killed you might not be Gu Guixi, but he definitely played a big part in it.”
That tightly entangling karmic debt was enough to prove that Gu Guixi was not innocent.
Lanting said, “You can choose to kill him now and return to the Underworld to reincarnate, but if you do that, the real murderer will still be living comfortably.”
“Of course, you can also choose to postpone your revenge and find out the truth.”
Although her memories had large discrepancies, Xu Xiaoyu felt that Lanting inexplicably made her trust him.
Her eyes shifted through several emotions, and finally she bowed and said, “Sir, please help me!”
“No rush.” Lanting narrowed his eyes.
Although Gu Guixi felt that Lanting liked him so much that they would eventually get back together, he had not expected the turnaround to come this fast.
Having camped outside the Lan family’s gate for a few days, bringing bouquets of gifts, striking a few poses, and uttering a few undying vows, the other party actually loosened up.
The Lan family gates opened to Gu Guixi once again, and the news of their reconciliation spread throughout Jingchuan.
The Lan family members turned out to be the last to know. Lan Lin drove home at the first opportunity, frowned upon seeing Lanting, and asked, “Did that guy coerce you?”
Lanting obediently took the warm milk from the auntie, finished it, wiped away a circle of milk mustache, and radiated a soft vibe that made him look exceedingly easy to bully.
He tilted his head: “No.”
No coercion meant it was voluntary.
Lan Lin frowned deeply: “Why?”
Lanting did not mention the female ghost and instead said, “I want to check what actually happened when I had my accident.”
Hearing this reason, Lan Lin’s tightly knitted brow finally relaxed a bit.
Yet he still remained uneasy: “Just leave it to the police and detectives, there is no need to muddy the waters yourself.”
However, Lanting merely smiled and retorted, “Have they found out any news after all this time?”
Lan Lin was left speechless by the question, after which Lanting shook his head. Though his expression was gentle, his tone left no room for argument.
“I have my own judgment, you and Mom and Dad do not need to worry.”
After a while, facing his younger brother’s stubborn and cold face, Lan Lin let out a heavy sigh.
“Stay safe.”
His younger brother had grown up.
In fact, the Lan family members did not feel relieved at all. They hired plenty of bodyguards to follow Lanting openly and secretly.
It was not that Lanting failed to notice; he simply could not be bothered to care and let them be.
When the bodyguards reported Lanting’s whereabouts daily and confirmed that he always maintained a distance from Gu Guixi, the elders finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Although Jingchuan rumored that the two were getting re-engaged, in reality, Lanting had only opened the door over the past few days to listen to Gu Guixi utter cheesy, cringeworthy words with an infatuated face.
It went in one ear and out the other. Often, when Gu Guixi was moved by his own words, Lanting would rather look at the rusted sword beside him than spare him a single glance.
Lanting originally wanted to see if there was anything fishy about Gu Guixi, but alas, Gu Guixi had far too much junk on him.
Jade Buddhas, talismans, five-emperor coins, and even grains: anything in metaphysics that offered the slightest protective utility, he was desperate to wear on his body.
There was too much miscellaneous clutter, and the accumulation severely interfered with judgment.
Since there was no immediate progress on Gu Guixi’s end, they would start by investigating his relationship with Xu Xiaoyu.
Thus, Lanting exceptionally agreed to Gu Guixi’s invitation to attend a gathering with his friends.
The gathering took place in Jingchuan’s extravagant upper-class district, where many high-end nightclubs on East Third Street were exclusively open to wealthy young masters with memberships like theirs.
Gu Guixi drove to the Lan family estate to pick him up, but Lanting completely ignored the other person’s hand and instead opened the back door to get in.
Following right behind him was the baby-faced Mu Chun. Hearing that Lanting had once again strayed down the wrong path, this guy was utterly heartbroken. After airing his grievances, he insisted on coming along, claiming he needed to guard against Gu Guixi and protect Lanting.
Lanting ignored him, leaving Gu Guixi with no opportunity to refuse.
At this moment, seeing Lanting sit in the back, Mu Chun looked thoroughly satisfied. He walked over and deliberately bumped Gu Guixi aside with his shoulder.
Plonking himself down right next to Lanting, he barked aggressively, “What are you staring at for, drive!”
Gu Guixi: “…”
Enduring and enduring again, Gu Guixi ultimately said nothing, though his gaze remained dark and his expression ugly.
“Why hasn’t Brother Gu arrived yet?”
The three of them had just reached the entrance of the private room when they heard the group of second-generation heirs chatting.
Someone replied, “He brought the Lan family’s young master along, of course.”
“Who doesn’t know that the Lan family’s sickly invalid is blind? Right now he’s probably out on the road poking the pavement with a blind cane.”
“Hahaha.”
Laughter filled the private room. The next second, the door was pushed open, and Lanting, the very center of their discussion, walked right in with complete poise.
As he passed one of them, he deliberately coughed a few times, leaned forward, and as if by accident, gave the fellow’s knee a solid whack with his ornamental blind cane.
“Damn it!” The man instantly cried out in pain.
Yet immediately after, his companion covered his mouth and dragged him away.
People could gossip privately and share a tacit understanding behind closed doors, but the Lan family was powerful and doted on Lanting to the core, so disrespect could not be shown to his face.
While Lanting played dirty, Mu Chun went straight out in the open.
Heaven knows how this guy learned to curse, but unlike those polished second-generation heirs, his insults were as filthy as they came.
The second-generation heirs were all left dumbfounded. Wanting to curse back, they found themselves completely outmatched by Mu Chun’s aggression, inadvertently letting Mu Chun project the aura of a lone scholar debating a crowd of Confucians.
Lanting acted as if he heard nothing, taking his seat leisurely. After a long while, he finally said calmly, “Mu Chun, sit down.”
Mu Chun had been ranting for a long time and was feeling thirsty by now. He walked over, sat down, and pointed around like a boss: “You, hand me that unopened bottle of water.”
The person called turned red in the face with anger, but knowing they were in the wrong, they pinched their nose and complied.
The atmosphere in the private room grew increasingly stiff with Lanting’s arrival.
Soon, however, everyone realized that Lanting was just a blind man sitting quietly without saying a word, and they gradually began to let down their guard.
They shifted topics from luxury cars and fine wines to women and arranged marriages, and eventually the conversation veered back to the past.
One person had consumed a fair bit of alcohol, and as the liquor kicked in, his tongue grew thick as he cursed: “The people who used to fawn over me could form a line from Jingchuan all the way abroad.”
“And now look at this: my dad dug up some illegitimate child. Oh right, he’s more successful than me, a legitimate son, so they’re all running off to fawn over that bastard instead.”
“Damn it.”
Drink after drink went down, and even Gu Guixi became slightly tipsy.
As the sole two sober individuals, Lanting and Mu Chun stood apart, one watching coldly while the other muttered insults.
When the atmosphere peaked and the timing was right, Lanting suddenly asked a second-generation heir nearby who was rambling drunkenly: “Who did Gu Guixi date back in college?”
As soon as he spoke those words, Mu Chun instantly looked heartbroken: “Why are you still asking about this?”
Lanting ignored him. The second-generation heir was practically slumped over the table, taking a long time to register what had been asked.
So Lanting pressed on with a few more questions. Before long, the man blinked dazed, recalled for a moment, and actually nodded.
“There… there was!”
Lanting’s gaze paused.
The other man tried hard to squint; the single Lanting before him had suddenly split into two. He wanted to shake the double images away, only to find shaking his head created even more.
Emotions rolled indistinctly in Lanting’s eyes, yet his expression grew increasingly gentle as he asked, “What is his name?”
“What?”
The drunk second-generation heir slapped his head, drew in a sharp breath, and after pondering for ages, finally spat out a name.
“His… what was, um, his name again?”
Lanting was not in a hurry. The next second, the man’s tone turned enlightened.
“Oh, I remember!”
“His name is Bai Heng.”
Bai Heng, an unfamiliar name.