“Old Madam, please accept my condolences. President Pei has passed away.”
In the VIP ward of a private hospital, Old Madam Pei held the young man on the bed in her arms and wept as though her heart were being torn apart.
“My good grandson, wake up! Don’t leave Grandma behind. Open your eyes and look at me!”
“What a good man the Young Master was. He didn’t even have time to marry and have children before he was gone. Old Madam raised him herself, too. How could she ever get through this…”
“Mother, please take care of your health. The most important thing now is that someone has to take charge of Pei Corporation!”
At that moment, a clear voice came from the doorway, shattering the atmosphere of grief—
“Make way. This Palace… ahem, I need to have a private word with that young gentleman… my subject… that… person!”
Xiao Ciyou pushed her way through the crowd.
She was wearing a loose hospital gown, her thin frame nearly lost inside it. A bandage was wrapped around her forehead, and bright red blood had seeped through, setting off her pale, delicate, palm-sized face.
She was also receiving an intravenous drip.
A needle was inserted into her left hand and connected to the IV bottle. She pushed the IV stand along as she approached, nearly catching the tubing on the button of the person beside her.
Assistant Qi Jia explained, “Old Madam, this is the young lady who was hit when the president was being brought to the hospital yesterday. The moment she woke up, she kept calling herself ‘This Palace’ and demanded cinnabar and yellow paper.
“Last night, during his rounds, the doctor found that she’d gone downstairs by herself. She said she was absorbing the essence of moonlight. The doctor said she might have been knocked silly.”
Old Madam Pei looked into Xiao Ciyou’s clear, shining eyes and burst into tears again.
“Ayan may be frail, but he has always been gentle and kind. He must feel guilty toward this girl. Give her some money for medical expenses, and have the doctors examine her head properly. Let her leave once she’s recovered. They’re both such pitiful children.”
The middle-aged woman who had tried to persuade Old Madam Pei moments earlier was the wife of the Pei family’s fourth son. Seeing this, she immediately objected.
“Mother! You’re far too easy to deceive!
“That wild girl clearly intends to use this accident to throw herself at Ayan. Now that Ayan is gone, she’s come here to extort money. You mustn’t give her anything!”
The Pei family’s fourth son also backed up his wife.
“That’s right, Mother. Since Ayan has already passed away, there’s no reason for us to keep wasting time at the hospital. Let’s return to the Pei family and discuss who will inherit Pei Corporation.”
“Inherit, inherit! You’re Ayan’s own uncle and aunt, at least! He’s only just taken his last breath, and you already can’t wait to carve up the family property!”
Old Madam Pei clasped her grandson’s hand, tears streaming down her face, as though she were waiting for him to open his eyes at any moment.
Xiao Ciyou looked at the faint golden light surrounding Old Madam Pei. It was clear that the old woman had spent her entire life doing good deeds and accumulating virtue.
As a successor of the Xuan Sect, Xiao Ciyou had escaped being scattered by heavenly lightning and had been reborn into this body only because the man on the hospital bed had held her hand on the way to the hospital.
That single clasp had given her a wisp of purple energy, stabilizing her soul.
Cause and effect came full circle. She had to repay him.
So the moment she opened her eyes, she had busied herself absorbing spiritual essence, rushing to recover her spiritual power. But her benefactor was even weaker than she had expected—
He was already at death’s door early this morning.
Xiao Ciyou forced her way over and said, “His soul has merely left his body for now. He isn’t dead yet. I really can save him.”
Old Madam Pei asked through her tears, “Are you a medical student?”
Xiao Ciyou immediately pushed the IV stand over.
“I studied ghost-hunting.”
Everyone in the ward fell silent.
The fourth son and his wife were about to start cursing again, but Old Madam Pei waved her hand and sent everyone outside.
The ward suddenly became spacious and quiet.
Old Madam Pei looked at the “foolish” Xiao Ciyou with affection.
“Child, just sit here for a while. Later, go outside and tell them you tried, then take the money and go home to recover properly.
“If you run into something like this again, don’t talk such nonsense in front of the family. You’ll get beaten, understand?”
Xiao Ciyou no longer bothered to explain. She pulled the yellow paper from her pocket—the paper she had asked a family member of the patient in the neighboring bed to buy for her yesterday. She had already drawn talismans on it using cinnabar.
Yet after only one night, the color had already faded. It was clear just how little spiritual energy she had at present.
She pulled the needle from her IV, dabbed up the blood that welled from the puncture, and traced over the talisman once more.
As she finished the final stroke, golden light flashed once and vanished.
Xiao Ciyou pressed one of the talismans into Old Madam Pei’s hand.
“Clutch this tightly. When I tell you to start, call your grandson’s name and tell him to come back. You must sincerely ask him to return, all right?”
The old lady was surrounded by the light of accumulated merit. She could give Xiao Ciyou a little buff. Hehe.
With that, Xiao Ciyou slapped a talisman onto the man’s forehead and formed a hand seal.
“Blood as the guide, talisman as the pact. Souls of the cycle of reincarnation, heed my command! Return to your body at once—start calling!”
“Call his name!”
Old Madam Pei had still been in a daze, but now she shouted as though wailing for the dead.
“Xiuyan! Xiuyan! Don’t leave Grandma behind! Open your eyes and look at Grandma one more time!”
The next second, a fierce wind swept through the room. Even the cup on the table rattled twice.
Like a drowning man drawing his first breath of fresh air, Pei Xiuyan sucked in a sharp breath and opened his eyes in confusion.
The heart monitor beeped, its wildly fluctuating line gradually settling into a regular rhythm.
“Beep—beep—beep—”
Pei Xiuyan saw the tear-streaked face of Old Madam Pei and instinctively tried to soothe her.
“Grandma, don’t worry. I’m fine…”
Old Madam Pei burst into tears and hugged him tightly as though she had just recovered a priceless treasure.
The people outside the ward heard the commotion and assumed something had happened. The fourth son’s wife was the first to rush inside, intending to deal with Xiao Ciyou.
Pei Xiuyan and Old Madam Pei shouted in unison:
“Stop!”
Only then did everyone see that Pei Xiuyan had woken up.
Some were shocked, others overjoyed. They all assumed the doctors had made a misdiagnosis and never considered that Xiao Ciyou actually possessed the ability to save people. They jostled her all the way to the doorway.
Pei Xiuyan lowered his head and saw a barely visible red thread around his wrist.
The red thread moved without any wind, passing through the crowd and winding around Xiao Ciyou’s left wrist.
As the girl left the ward, the red thread vanished as well.
…
“President Pei is no longer in any danger, and all his vital indicators are even better than before. He can be discharged.”
The hospital director gave a few instructions and left. He needed to go back and give those doctors a thorough dressing-down. How dare they misdiagnose the president of Pei Corporation as dead? They had no medical ethics at all!
Old Madam Pei sighed.
“This time, Heaven really was looking after us. Who would have thought the Song family’s daughter would possess such abilities?
“Although she’s only the Song family’s adopted daughter, she didn’t hold a grudge over your car hitting her. Instead, she saved your life. That shows how well the Song family raised her.
“Tonight is the homecoming banquet for the Song family’s biological daughter. I had Qi Jia obtain an invitation. You’ll represent the Pei family and take Miss Song home…”
Pei Xiuyan was looking down and picking at his wrist.
Had his eyes deceived him? Where was that thread?
“Ayan! Grandma is talking to you. Did you hear me?”
Pei Xiuyan raised his head helplessly.
“Grandma, even if ghosts and deities really exist in this world, do you truly believe that an eighteen-year-old girl knows how to summon a soul back to its body?
“The doctor already said a malfunction in the equipment caused the misdiagnosis. That girl just happened to be there when it happened. I’m fine now, aren’t I?”
Old Madam Pei’s expression hardened.
“Nonsense! At my age, what strange and unusual things have I not seen? She is definitely no ordinary person!
“I’ve already sent the Song family one hundred million yuan in cash, along with jewelry and jade, as a token of our gratitude. The Song family happens to be discussing one of our projects with Pei Corporation. Tonight, take Miss Song home and bring the project contract with you. You can thank President Song in person as well!”
Pei Xiuyan sighed helplessly.
“All right, all right. Whatever the truth about ghosts and deities, my car did hit her, so I should apologize and make amends.
“And I have a feeling she isn’t doing well in the Song family. If taking her home this time helps her, then it can count as compensation.”
Old Madam Pei hurriedly asked, “What do you mean?”
Pei Xiuyan explained, “When I met her yesterday, not only were her clothes very old, but her forehead was also battered and bloody. Both her eyes were swollen like walnuts.
“Other than her identification documents, she couldn’t even produce a hundred yuan. Even the servants in our household are dressed more respectably than she was.”
Old Madam Pei immediately flew into a rage and struck the floor hard with her cane.
“No wonder! The nurse said her name was Song Zhien! What kind of parents demand that a newborn child repay them with gratitude?
“Go with her and take a look. If the Song family is truly treating her badly, bring her back to the Pei family! We absolutely cannot let the benefactor of both of us suffer any mistreatment!”