“Han Fengchen! Explain this to me, how did going surfing with your friends end up with you in a police station?”
Han Fengchen’s lip was split, his hair a complete mess. He sat on a chair inside the station, glancing out the window at the media reporters and paparazzi waiting outside. Irritated, he slammed his hand against the chair.
The police officer, who had been buried in paperwork, immediately looked up and glared at him sharply: “What are you doing?”
Han Fengchen shrank his neck, put on a serious face, and switched to another chair. Irritably, he ran his hands through his hair. “Sister Lan, have you seen the trending searches?”
His agent, Hao Lan, sneered. “Oh, so you know you’re trending?”
Hao Lan was so angry her heart felt like it might give out. “I gave you a break, considering you just wrapped filming and have been working hard with your studies, so you could relax. And what do you do? In less than half a day, you start a fight in public and end up in a police station! Tell me, what exactly were you thinking?”
Han Fengchen knew he’d done wrong but stubbornly refused to admit it. “If he hadn’t talked trash, I wouldn’t have hit him.”
Hao Lan, holding a video conference with the company’s PR department, asked, “What did Xu Chen say to you?”
For someone to make Young Master Han this angry, he didn’t even care about his image.
Han Fengchen gritted his teeth. “He said I… raised—”
He paused, glanced at the police officer, and whispered extremely quietly, “He said I raise little ghosts, and that only by relying on them could I get lucky, become popular again, and land Director Zhang’s film.”
Han Fengchen had started as a child star. At ten, he already had a hit song, making him widely famous across the country. Later, due to personal reasons, he went abroad to recuperate for five years. When he returned, it was two years ago.
At that time, he had just returned and his health wasn’t fully recovered yet, and on top of that, the climate in Nancheng didn’t suit him. So he didn’t take on many projects, and everyone thought his career was completely over. Yet in the blink of an eye, he landed Director Zhang’s film.
But that role wasn’t handed to him, it was earned through endless days and nights of studying acting and going through the proper audition process!
How could Xu Chen casually dismiss all of his effort with a single offhand comment?
That’s why he lost his temper and ended up wrestling with Xu Chen at the beach. But he didn’t come out worse for wear, Xu Chen’s half face was swollen, and he only had a little blood at the corner of his mouth.
Hao Lan sighed helplessly when she heard this explanation.
She asked quietly, “Is it really just that? Just because he denied your efforts?”
Han Fengchen pressed his lips together, saying nothing.
Of course, that wasn’t the whole story. The main reason he was angry was that Xu Chen had crossed his bottom line.
Seventeen years of life had taught him what he hated most: first, his biological mother; second, superstitious beliefs!
It wasn’t really Xu Chen’s fault for speaking out. The truth was, Han Fengchen had grown up surrounded by all sorts of protective charms and rituals. The media often caught the Han family offering incense at temples and hiring feng shui masters to give guidance at home. In Nancheng’s upper-class circles, everyone knew that the Han matriarch was deeply devoted to such practices.
As the eldest grandson of the Han family, Han Fengchen was weak and sickly from a young age. For reasons no one seemed to question, the family had followed the advice of some master and, when he was just three, performed a ritual that made him “worship” the [1]Great Emperor Huaguang (华光大帝) is a deity in Chinese folk religion and Daoist tradition, often identified with Ma Yuanshuai (Marshal Ma). He’s regarded as a powerful protector figure, … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1898375_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1898375_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Great Emperor Huaguang as his grandfather.
And that still wasn’t enough. They said his fate was too “light,” making him prone to attracting evil spirits. The family insisted that a stronger, more grounded elder had to protect him. Using that flimsy excuse, Han Fengchen’s single, long-time CEO father obeyed his grandmother’s arrangement and married a stepmother completely unsuitable for him, a nouveau riche woman with no proper family background.
The stepmother had nothing particularly admirable about her. She had just graduated from college, was only six years older than Han Fengchen, wasn’t from Nancheng, had come from another city to study, and her family was newly wealthy with no roots.
Someone like her was easy to manipulate. Grandma liked her. It was said that the Han matriarch had brought a stack of photos to a master, and out of dozens of pictures, the master picked one and decisively said, “She’s the one.”
And just like that, as soon as Han Fengchen returned to the country, the family gained a stepmother.
Two years had passed, and in that time, Han Fengchen had spoken no more than ten sentences to her.
Irritated, he tugged at his hair. “Stop talking nonsense. When are you actually coming to pick me up? No one’s home, and the police won’t release me.”
After all, Han Fengchen was still a minor. Xu Chen was an adult, but he was popular, and the company treated him like a treasure. Whenever something happened, his agent would rush over with the driver, assistants, and bodyguards. Right now, they were throwing a tantrum in another office.
And sure enough, even before they left, a legal notice had already been sent to Han Fengchen’s agency.
Han Fengchen just gave them a cold laugh. “Cowards are dogs, this isn’t over!”
Hao Lan sighed. “I already told you, I’m in France. How am I supposed to come pick you up? Do you think I can teleport or fly?”
Han Fengchen: “……”
Damn, what bad luck, his dad was also away on a business trip, and had been gone for several days. He didn’t dare contact his grandmother either; if she found out he’d gotten into a fight and ended up in the police station, he wouldn’t have any freedom for the next year.
Hao Lan hesitated for two seconds, then tentatively said, “Well… don’t you still have a step—”
Han Fengchen immediately exploded. “I said two years ago that I don’t acknowledge that person! The only way I’ll accept her is if a real ghost rides me!”
All these years, his family had gone on about mystical stuff, but he had never encountered anything strange, so he didn’t believe in it, and he was tired of all the nonsense his family made up.
Stepmother this, stepmother that… Ha! It was clearly just his grandmother’s way of tricking his father into marrying. And his father, someone so smart, actually believed it.
He really was disappointed in his dad!
“Fine, I’ll figure something out myself.”
After saying that, Han Fengchen hung up.
But before he could even think of a plan, he heard the police officer who had just scolded him say, “Han Fengchen, your mom’s here to pick you up.”
Han Fengchen: “???”
Who? Who came to pick him up?
He spun his head around and, sure enough, amidst a crowd of media, a young woman wearing a yellow dress and a sunhat was slowly walking up the steps toward him.
The young woman looked barely over twenty. Her long, wavy hair cascaded down to her waist, her skin was fair, her features delicate, and her steps were slow but graceful.
As she walked closer, Han Fengchen finally got a clear look, it really was his “[2]“flower-pot” stepmother is a sarcastic or slightly mocking way of saying she’s purely decorative—pretty to look at but useless or lacking substance. It emphasizes that she’s there for … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1898375_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1898375_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });flower-pot” stepmother.
But Han Fengchen was suspicious; somehow, today’s stepmother didn’t quite match the memory he had of her.
In his recollection, she always kept her head down, avoided eye contact, and didn’t dare look anyone in the face. In the vast Han mansion, she lived cautiously every day, meek and timid. Perhaps due to insecurity, she never approached Han Fengchen, afraid of upsetting him.
Now, even before she entered the room, daggers seemed to shoot from her eyes.
Han Fengchen: “……”
Chu Mingjia was in a slightly bad mood. She had been guarding her Qishan peacefully for hundreds of years without incident, but because of a once-in-five-hundred-years tribulation, she was injured and fell into a deep sleep. She thought a few years of rest would suffice.
Instead, she woke up to find herself in the frail body of a human, with not only a husband fourteen years older who existed in name only, but also a seventeen-year-old rebellious son.
Ha! She, a mountain deity, becoming human would have been bad enough, why did she also have a ready-made husband and son? Couldn’t she have chosen a little wolf-dog herself?
Even worse, on her way to the police station, she had searched for her Qishan on her phone. The search results all read “Ghost Mountain,” “Ghost Shrine,” “Mysticism Enthusiasts’ Adventure Site,” “Number One Scariest Place in the Country,” and so on.
Chu Mingjia could not believe it. The sacred mountain she had guarded for centuries, since when had it become a ghost mountain?
So they really think that the mountain lord is dead, huh?
Chu Mingjia’s thoughts were still on her Qishan, and naturally, she had no interest in dealing with this stepchild’s nonsense.
But the police officer had called her phone, and the family butler looked at her with reddened eyes, so for the moment, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse.
After all, she was using the original owner’s body; any responsibilities left behind by the original owner, she had to fulfill.
Chu Mingjia completed the formalities, listened to a few admonitions from the police, and finally turned around, crossing her arms as she looked Han Fengchen over from head to toe. Noticing blood at the corner of his mouth and bruises on his forehead and neck, she asked, “Hospital or home?”
Han Fengchen’s face was stiff, and he sneered, “Who told you to come?”
Chu Mingjia also sneered. “Guess.”
Han Fengchen choked, staring at her in shock, unable to believe she actually spoke to him like that.
“You—” Han Fengchen was furious. “Don’t think that just because you married my dad, you can boss me around. I haven’t accepted you! Who knows, maybe one day my dad won’t want you anymore.”
Chu Mingjia, having finished the paperwork, walked straight toward the door. Seeing the reporters outside, she smiled and said, “Then I’ll take your kind words as a blessing.”
Han Fengchen: “……”
With the media outside, Han Fengchen was a little panicked. “You’re just letting me walk out like this? You didn’t even bring bodyguards or assistants?”
How the hell is he supposed to get out of this?
He suspected Chu Mingjia was doing it on purpose.
Chu Mingjia said, “I thought that if you dared to fight in public, you’d be prepared to handle situations like this.”
Han Fengchen’s cheeks burned at her words, feeling a little guilty, but at the same time he tried to sound confident: “There’s naturally someone to handle this kind of thing for me. I don’t need to prepare myself.”
Chu Mingjia walked down the steps. “Then what are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
Han Fengchen: “……”
He hesitated, then followed behind his stepmother, thinking to himself: But the people who usually handle these things for me aren’t here, how am I supposed to deal with this alone?
Just then, Xu Chen came out from another office. Because his face had been hit pretty badly, Han Fengchen’s punches were vicious, and his face was swollen, he, a fresh-faced guy in his twenties, had every reason to be upset.
Han Fengchen had actually swollen up his face!
That’s why Xu Chen was particularly angry. Earlier in the office, he had vented at his agent and assistant. Now, wearing sunglasses, a mask, and a hat, he came out and saw Han Fengchen again. He was even more furious, but with all the media watching, he couldn’t just blow up.
He was the “victim” here. He had to stay composed and couldn’t give the media any scandalous material.
Xu Chen saw Han Fengchen following a girl without a single bodyguard and assumed Chu Mingjia was Han Fengchen’s assistant. He walked up to Han Fengchen and whispered, “Han Fengchen, come on… looking this shabby, do you want me to lend you a couple of bodyguards?”
Han Fengchen’s face stiffened. “Mind your own business and get lost.”
Xu Chen: “……”
“Damn it,”
Xu Chen couldn’t help himself. He grabbed Han Fengchen’s shoulder, gritted his teeth, and whispered, “Han Fengchen, don’t think no one knows you’re raising little ghosts. I’m warning you, be careful you don’t get bitten back. I’m waiting to watch the show.”
Xu Chen was convinced that Han Fengchen was indeed raising little ghosts. Ever since Han Fengchen returned, Xu Chen’s luck had been unusually bad, and he often heard the sound of a baby crying in the middle of the night, which made him suspicious.
Moreover, the Han family had always believed in these kinds of things.
References[+]