Han Fengchen’s fists clenched again. Xu Chen was three years older than him. A few years ago, when Han Fengchen was at the peak of his fame, Xu Chen was just a trainee at the company. Later, Han Fengchen went abroad, and because Xu Chen’s personal style resembled Han Fengchen’s, the company promoted him to take over Han Fengchen’s position.
Now, Han Fengchen has returned. Feeling threatened, Xu Chen has been causing trouble for him at every turn. Han Fengchen, hot-tempered by nature, can’t stand being provoked. Often, after just a few words, he can’t help but pin Xu Chen down and punch him, which has gotten him into trouble more than once.
But now, with so many media reporters below, no matter how young and impulsive Han Fengchen might be, he knows this is not the time to let his fists do the talking.
Just then, Chu Mingjia, who was walking ahead and about to descend the steps, suddenly turned around. Her gaze fixed intently on the heavily disguised Xu Chen.
Xu Chen paused slightly when their eyes met.
Is this really Han Fengchen’s assistant?
Xu Chen was captivated. The girl had strikingly beautiful features, yet her eyes were incredibly sharp. There was a very unique aura about her, hard to describe, but it held Xu Chen’s attention firmly.
Han Fengchen noticed and growled under his breath, “Tch, who the hell are you staring at?”
Although he didn’t acknowledge this stepmother of his, she was still his father’s woman. Whoever dared to set their sights on her would have him to answer to first.
Before Xu Chen could respond, Chu Mingjia spoke: “You should be worried about yourself.”
Looking at Xu Chen, she said meaningfully, “Instead of blaming your misfortune on others, you’d better think long and hard about what shady things you’ve done.”
Xu Chen had been rather taken with Chu Mingjia at first, but hearing her say this made him flush with anger. “What do you mean by that?”
Putting on her cap, Chu Mingjia replied coolly, “Exactly what I said.”
Xu Chen stiffened, his expression shifting. But he couldn’t afford to show it. Instead, he turned to glare at Han Fengchen. “Han Fengchen, what’s the matter? Is this all you’ve got? Can’t win a fight, so you send your assistant to mess with my head?”
Seeing that the two were going to keep arguing endlessly, with the media reporters below the police station steps already snapping photos like crazy outside the cordon, Xu Chen’s agent quickly had his assistants pull Xu Chen away. As they hurried off, the agent said, “They’re just trying to get under your skin. If you let them provoke you, aren’t you playing right into their hands? Don’t be an idiot.”
Because Xu Chen was famous and his entourage was large, the group’s hurried exit immediately drew the attention of most of the media reporters. The crowd surged as a large portion broke off to chase after Xu Chen.
Meanwhile, Chu Mingjia led Han Fengchen down the steps and toward the Han family’s car.
The reporters who tried to block them suddenly realized that about two meters away from Chu Mingjia, there seemed to be an invisible barrier preventing them from getting any closer.
The sensation was brief, lasting only a second or two. The people pressing at the front faltered, and before they could react, they were knocked over by those pushing from behind.
“Damn it, my camera!”
“Who stepped on me? Damn it, get off!”
A group of reporters instantly descended into chaos, all tumbling to the ground, pushing and shoving each other. They clutched their equipment, terrified it might get crushed. How could they still worry about blocking Han Fengchen?
After getting into the car, neither of them spoke for a moment.
Just then, his agent, Hao Lan, called. “Little ancestor, have you gone back?”
Han Fengchen replied through gritted teeth, “Of course! What, did you expect me to wait for you to teleport here?”
Hao Lan: “…”
What’s wrong with him? Why is he so angry?
Hao Lan said helplessly, “About that supernatural reality show… you’d better not participate. Mr. Han won’t agree to it.”
Han Fengchen’s face turned cold. “What does it matter if my dad disagrees? He’s not the one going. I don’t care, I’ve made up my mind to join this show. While you were away in France, I already got in touch with the director and signed the contract.”
Hao Lan: “…”
Her vision went dark. She felt like her entire career was about to be ruined by this little ancestor.
“Han Fengchen!”
Hao Lan was so furious she felt a heart attack coming on. “Your grandmother goes to great lengths every year to get you all those protective amulets. You should understand what she means by now. She’d practically mount a Bodhisattva on you if she could, and yet you’re voluntarily running off to Qishan?”
Guess Where It Is was the first supernatural reality show on the internet. The production team would invite three celebrities and three feng shui masters to form three exploration teams, heading to Qishan for a month-long livestream.
Having been forced by his family for years to worship gods and Buddhas, to carry all sorts of strange trinkets, and to meet every kind of master, Han Fengchen had long developed a rebellious streak. That rebelliousness had reached its peak when, after becoming a top-tier star with one hit song, his family had forcibly sent him abroad.
To prove to his family that ghosts didn’t exist in this world, he had taken the initiative to sign up for this show.
Han Fengchen was famous, came from a good family, and had millions of fans. Of course, the director agreed. Afraid Han might change his mind, the director had him sign the contract while his agent wasn’t present.
Hao Lan couldn’t control this young master of the Han family, and she was absolutely livid.
Han Fengchen said stubbornly, “Yeah, the show is set in Qishan, but Qishan used to be a sacred mountain. That so-called ghost shrine was originally a divine shrine. Haven’t you read history? It’s all recorded. All the spooky legends that have built up over the years are probably just due to the climate changes in the mountains. Or maybe there’s some kind of wild animal?”
His imagination ran wild. “Sister Lan, what do you think? Could there be wild men living on Qishan?”
Hao Lan: “…”
At that moment, Chu Mingjia, who had been sitting silently in the car, suddenly looked up at Han Fengchen. “You’re going to Qishan tomorrow?”
The moment she spoke, Han Fengchen lifted his chin and said loudly, “Don’t even think about stopping me! It’s no use tattling to my dad either. I’m definitely going to this show!”
Chu Mingjia nodded. “Fine. I’ll go with you.”
Han Fengchen: “???”
He stared at Chu Mingjia, momentarily forgetting about his call with Hao Lan. He turned off his phone and looked at her with a complicated expression. “You don’t actually believe all that stuff Grandma said, do you?”
Chu Mingjia raised an eyebrow. “What stuff?”
Han Fengchen got angry again. “Don’t play dumb. That nonsense about my spiritual weight being too light.”
Han Fengchen’s spiritual weight was light, and the only way he’d be safe was if Chu Mingjia stayed by his side to shield him. Grandma Han had emphasized this countless times!
Chu Mingjia was silent for two seconds, then nodded. “What, you don’t believe it?”
Han Fengchen: “…”
See? This was exactly why he didn’t like his stepmother!
She had no mind of her own!
She believed whatever anyone told him. Han Fengchen rolled his eyes, but Chu Mingjia had just spoken up for him and driven Xu Chen away, so now he felt a bit conflicted. His expression toward her was very unnatural, after all, he couldn’t bring himself to be hostile anymore.
But he also didn’t want to be nice to his young stepmother, so he kept a stiff face.
After a long pause, Han Fengchen said through gritted teeth, “Fine, whatever.”
Not that it mattered anyway, his family always decided everything without giving him a say!
Seeing that he had agreed, Chu Mingjia looked back down at her phone. The screen was open to a text message from a contact saved as “Mr. Han,” who had written: 【Hao Lan says Xiao Chen is going to Qishan for an adventure reality show. Handle it and have a proper talk with him.】
The sender was, unsurprisingly, Chu Mingjia’s current convenient husband, Han Fengchen’s father, the head of the wealthy Han family in the southern city, Han Jinfeng.
Mr. Han was currently on a business trip abroad. If she remembered correctly, he had been away from home for a week.
Chu Mingjia typed back: 【Don’t worry, Mr. Han. I’ll take care of it.】
Mr. Han had complete confidence in his young wife. Even though her abilities were still lacking, she was very obedient.
But who could have guessed that when his young wife said she would “handle it,” her solution would be to go on the reality show together with her stepson?
Half an hour later, the two returned to the Han family’s old residence. Butler Zhao was already waiting there. The eldest young master of the Han family was the old lady’s precious treasure. Having gotten into a fight outside today, Butler Zhao didn’t even dare let the old lady know. As soon as the trending topic appeared, he immediately contacted the company’s PR team to have it taken down.
Both Xu Chen and Han Fengchen were extremely popular, and so many people were discussing the incident that it couldn’t be suppressed all at once. Butler Zhao was deeply worried.
Han Fengchen, however, was in a fairly good mood.
Butler Zhao hurried over. “Young Master, the family doctor is already waiting. Please let him check your wounds.”
Han Fengchen waved it off. “I’m fine. They’re just scratches.”
Butler Zhao thought to himself that if the old lady saw those “scratches,” it would be a monumental disaster. He was already at a loss for how to explain things to her.
Chu Mingjia got out of the car, and Butler Zhao quickly stepped forward. “Thank you for your trouble, Madam.”
Chu Mingjia nodded. As she entered the old residence, she paused at the doorway for a moment, glancing at both sides of the gate. Suddenly, she asked, “Why aren’t there any incense sticks burning at the door shrine?”
Butler Zhao was taken aback. “Huh?”
He looked at both sides of the gate and suddenly realized what she meant. He quickly explained, “Madam, in the past, the old lady instructed us to offer incense to the door gods on the first and fifteenth of every lunar month. But after the young master returned, he strongly disliked it and wouldn’t let us continue.”
Chu Mingjia frowned slightly. “Better to follow the old lady’s wishes. The offerings of incense oil on the first and fifteenth can’t be skipped.”
Butler Zhao quickly agreed, though he was a bit puzzled. He wondered why the madam, who had never concerned herself with such matters before, was suddenly taking an interest in them.
Chu Mingjia didn’t explain. Instead, she added one more instruction: “Lock the doors and windows tightly tonight. Don’t let the young master go out.”
Butler Zhao was confused. He hesitated, then asked, “Madam, is the young master planning to run away from home again tonight?”
The young master had a terrible temper. Once, right after his father remarried and brought home a stepmother, he had stormed off in anger and stayed away for an entire day.
That day, Han Jinfeng hadn’t sent anyone to look for him. The teenage boy had nowhere to go, so he had pitifully hidden in the family’s husky’s doghouse. To make matters worse, in the middle of the night, the husky had kicked him out. He had frozen all night long. Even now, he wouldn’t let anyone mention it, and if someone did, he’d fly into a rage.
Chu Mingjia didn’t nod in confirmation. She hesitated for two seconds. “Something like that.”
Butler Zhao: “!!!”
Butler Zhao immediately locked every window upstairs and downstairs.
Han Fengchen, who was having his wounds checked by the doctor, noticed and casually asked, “What are you doing, Uncle Zhao?”
Butler Zhao glanced at him and shook his head. “Madam said it gets chilly at night and told me to close the doors and windows tightly.”
Han Fengchen snorted. “How delicate.”
Butler Zhao silently continued closing the windows and said nothing.
Chu Mingjia had only recently transmigrated here. Her soul had not yet fully merged with this body, so her movements and expressions were still a bit stiff. After dinner, she immediately went back to her room to rest. Only with plenty of rest could the fusion proceed more smoothly.
However, in the middle of the night, she was still awakened by a dense, heavy ghostly aura.
Her room was on the second floor; Han Fengchen was on the third. She didn’t know how long the presence had been there, but the cold, thick ghostly aura had already seeped into her room.
Chu Mingjia lay in bed, drowsy, for a while. Then she remembered the agreement between the original owner and Han Jinfeng.
The old lady believed that Chu Mingjia’s spiritual fate could shield Han Fengchen from misfortune, that only with her around could Han Fengchen safely reach adulthood, given how prone he had been to disasters since childhood.
So Han Jinfeng had married her. But it was a marriage of convenience, with the contract lasting until Han Fengchen came of age. At that point, Han Jinfeng would pay Chu Mingjia a sum of money.
Only the two of them knew about this agreement. Even the old lady and Han Fengchen were kept in the dark. Perhaps Han Jinfeng also disliked being told what to do and marrying some woman just because he was ordered to.
Thinking about this agreement, Chu Mingjia wasn’t sure whether the original owner could truly shield Han Fengchen from misfortune, but she certainly could.
She lay with her eyes closed for a long time before finally frowning, putting on her fuzzy pajamas and slippers, and opening her bedroom door. The lights in the hallway and on the stairs were on. The vast, luxurious mansion stood empty and silent, eerily so.
The air around her was cold and damp, as if icy water were seeping into her bones, making her entire body uncomfortable.
Standing in the second-floor hallway, Chu Mingjia looked down at the first-floor living room. The warm yellow lights were on. The front door was tightly shut, with no signs of having been opened.
She turned and walked up the stairs.
When she reached the third floor, she saw that Han Fengchen’s bedroom door was open. She didn’t walk toward it. Instead, she continued climbing.
The Han family’s old residence had only three floors. Above that was the attic, from which one could go up to the roof.
Chu Mingjia made her way up the stairwell and finally stepped out onto the rooftop terrace.
The early autumn night wind carried a thick chill with it. Han Fengchen, dressed in thin pajamas and barefoot, stood on the rooftop with vacant eyes, muttering something under his breath that was impossible to make out.
Not far behind him stood a blurry, indistinct figure. The moment Chu Mingjia appeared, the shadow panicked and vanished in an instant.
But Han Fengchen still hadn’t woken up. He continued walking slowly toward the edge of the rooftop, a pained expression on his face. Only when Chu Mingjia drew closer did she hear that the word he seemed to be murmuring was “Mom.”
Chu Mingjia stood to the side, her expression unchanged, and watched as he reached the railing at the edge of the rooftop. It looked as though he was about to climb over.
Chu Mingjia spoke coldly, “Han Fengchen, what are you doing?”
Her voice wasn’t loud, and it was icy, but every word reached Han Fengchen’s ears with perfect clarity. His hands gripping the railing, the vacant-eyed Han Fengchen froze mid-motion.
Chu Mingjia called out again, “Han Fengchen!”
Han Fengchen’s entire body jolted. He blinked a few times and looked down, seeing the garden lights below the building. The night wind rustled the leaves of the trees. He was stunned for a second, then yelped, “Holy crap!” He stumbled back two steps in a rush and landed hard on his backside.
Han Fengchen stared at the scene before him in disbelief. It took him a long moment to process what had just happened. Several seconds passed, but he still kept his head lowered.
Chu Mingjia, a little worried, stepped closer. “Han Fengchen, what’s wrong?”
Still keeping his head down, Han Fengchen got to his feet. Ignoring Chu Mingjia, he turned to leave.
Suddenly, Chu Mingjia said, “Are you crying?”
Han Fengchen’s temper flared. He immediately spun around and glared at her. “Who’s crying? I am not!”
His eyes were rimmed red, and his face was pale. Whether it was because of what had happened in his dream or because he was frightened by the situation just now was unclear.
After all, if Chu Mingjia hadn’t called him awake in time, he would probably have already jumped off the rooftop by now.
Although Han Fengchen had suffered many illnesses and misfortunes since childhood, he had never encountered anything like this before. This kind of thing was completely beyond his understanding. Prior to this, he had never believed in the supernatural or feng shui, in fact, he had despised them with a passion.
But even now, he still vividly remembered how, in his dream, his mother had stood at his door, spoken to him, and told him to come out because she had something to say to him.
The dream had been so real, so vivid, that it felt as if it had actually happened. But he had been raised by his grandmother. His mother had abandoned him the moment he was born. Over all these years, he had only ever seen photographs of her.
It was too bizarre. What was more, in the dream, he hadn’t questioned anything or refused. His body had seemed to move beyond his control, defying his own will, step by step following her up to the rooftop.
Why had that happened?
Han Fengchen couldn’t figure it out.
But he was deeply saddened.
Chu Mingjia looked at his expression, then thought about the upcoming trip to Qishan. She took off the smooth jade bracelet she was wearing on her wrist and handed it to Han Fengchen. “The yin energy is strong on Qishan. If you don’t want what happened tonight to happen again, wear this.”
Han Fengchen’s eyes were still red. He was trapped in a state of shock, confusion, and panic, and for a moment, he couldn’t react at all. He just stared blankly at Chu Mingjia, feeling sad and hopeless.
Chu Mingjia clicked her tongue in mild annoyance. She grabbed his hand and slipped the bracelet onto his wrist. Then she said, “Come on, are you going to sleep or not?”
Yawning, Chu Mingjia headed down from the rooftop. The jade bracelet had originally belonged to the body’s previous owner. The jade was of excellent quality, rich in spiritual energy, and had been blessed at a temple. Now infused with Chu Mingjia’s own aura, it would certainly ward off evil and protect against misfortune, at the very least, those things wouldn’t dare get close to him.
Chu Mingjia didn’t think the bracelet was particularly precious. At that moment, what she valued most was a good night’s sleep.
But Han Fengchen stared at the bracelet in disbelief, unable to process what had just happened for a long time.
If he remembered correctly, Chu Mingjia had never taken that bracelet off. He had heard that before marrying into the Han family, knowing she would need to shield him from misfortune, she had used all her savings to buy it. Then, she had devoutly prostrated herself with every step all the way to [1]Mount Wutai (also known as Qingliang Shan, or “Cool Mountain”) is one of the most sacred sites in Chinese Buddhism. It is considered the earthly bodhimanda (spiritual abode) of Manjushri, the … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2072793_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2072793_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Mount Wutai, begging a master to bless it.
This bracelet was the most precious protective charm Chu Mingjia had ever sought for herself. How could she, someone who believed so deeply in the divine, give away her protective charm so easily?
Han Fengchen had grown up without ever experiencing a mother’s love. He didn’t know what it looked like when a mother cherished her child. But as far as he understood, when someone was willing to selflessly give away their most precious possession, it could only be to someone who truly mattered to them.
Staring at the lustrous, pure white mutton-fat jade bracelet on his wrist, Han Fengchen was frozen for several seconds. Then, suddenly snapping out of it, he realized he was standing alone on the pitch-black rooftop.
Damn, that’s terrifying!
Han Fengchen bolted back inside.
He was scared. He didn’t even dare go up to his own room on the third floor. He stood at the second-floor landing, hesitating for a long time. Finally, unable to resist, he decided to go to the garden to find his dog brother, the two of them could spend the night together in harmony.
That’s what brothers did, they shared the tough times!
But the front door was locked. Butler Zhao had padlocked it.
Han Fengchen: “???”
He couldn’t very well call Butler Zhao to open the door. What would he say if Butler Zhao asked?
I’m scared to be alone right now, so I want to go squeeze in with my dog brother?
Hell no. His pride wouldn’t survive that.
Han Fengchen crouched by the window facing the garden and called out to his dog brother’s little house for ages. Finally, the dog just poked his head out lazily, squinted at him, then tucked himself back in and went back to sleep.
Han Fengchen: “…”
Ha. What a waste of a brother.
In the end, Han Fengchen turned on all the lights in the living room by himself, put on a Stephen Chow comedy, and cried his way through the entire night.
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