23
Yun Zhong had cast a tracking spell on the night pearl, allowing him to pinpoint its exact location.
That night pearl definitely belonged to Yun Li—there was no mistake about it.
After discussing with his brothers, Yun Jian decided to return home first to see if Yun Li was there, while Yun Zhong followed the direction to investigate further.
He always felt that Fu Qingheng was not simple and was hiding something.
The thought that their younger sister might have something to do with him weighed heavily on all three brothers.
Yun Zhong quickly located the night pearl—it was inside a tall skyscraper.
His expression grave, Yun Zhong looked up toward the night pearl’s location, estimating it to be on the top floor.
If Yun Li really was in the human realm and in danger, there was no way she would be locked up here.
It seemed he would have to start with Fu Qingheng.
Meanwhile, Yun Jian returned to the demon realm.
The house was empty—no one was there.
Yun Li might have gone out with her little friends. She had always been wild since childhood and never came home before dark.
As for their parents, he had no idea where they had gone either.
He tried the transmission bell, but there was no response.
Where had those two gone?
Yun Jian stepped outside, intending to ask the neighbors if they had seen his sister or his parents.
By chance, he ran into Qing Ling along the way.
Qing Ling had just finished his training and was about to head home. When he saw Yun Jian, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Only when he got closer did he ask in surprise, “Second Brother, why are you back? Where’s Ah Li? Didn’t she come with you?”
Yun Jian happened to run into someone familiar, and he silently thanked the heavens.
But after hearing Qing Ling’s words, Yun Jian was confused. “Isn’t Ah Li in the demon realm?”
“Yun Li went to the human realm a month ago!” Qing Ling said. “I personally sent her to the Administration Bureau.”
The two stared at each other for several seconds, then both grew solemn.
It seemed Yun Zhong’s guess was right—Yun Li might be in danger in the human realm.
“What exactly happened? Didn’t our parents forbid Yun Li from going to the human realm?”
Qing Ling explained the whole story of why Yun Li went to the human realm. The more Yun Jian heard, the uglier his expression became.
Yun Li was naive by nature, unsuited for life in the human realm. She was also pretty, easily trusted others, and could be easily fooled.
How could their parents, just to enjoy some time alone together, indulge Yun Li in going to the human realm to find him?
“This is bad. Yun Li’s night pearl is in someone else’s hands. She might be in danger. I need to get back!”
Yun Jian couldn’t afford to worry about anything else. He had to hurry back and inform Yun Zhong and the others.
Hearing that Yun Li might be in danger, Qing Ling insisted on coming along.
Qing Ling had long held a pass to the human realm. The two quickly rushed to the Administration Bureau.
The Fu Residence.
After learning that Fu Qingheng had slept with little Yun Li last night, Yang Qing felt both happy and a bit concerned.
After all, in his eyes, Yun Li was still a child. How could his young master not control himself?
One look at Yang Qing’s vivid expression and Fu Qingheng knew exactly what kind of nonsense was running through his head.
“You’re overthinking it. We just slept—literally slept. Nothing like what you’re imagining happened.”
In fact, Fu Qingheng had been run ragged by Yun Li all night.
Not to mention the hugging and kissing—she had also pestered him to roast fish for her and had even wanted to climb a tree to look for bird eggs.
It gave him a good idea of just how much trouble she used to cause.
Climbing trees was far too dangerous, so Fu Qingheng naturally forbade it. Unsurprisingly, Yun Li burst into loud wails.
Between sobs, she clutched at his clothes, alternating between tearfully begging him not to abandon her and fiercely declaring that he was hers.
Fu Qingheng spent the whole night coaxing her. Only after promising to buy her chicken legs the next day did she finally calm down.
In total, he had managed only about ten minutes of sleep.
Fu Qingheng was utterly exhausted. He felt that working through the night wouldn’t have been this draining.
Yang Qing was dumbfounded. He was dying of curiosity about what exactly had happened last night!
Yang Qing woke Yun Li up. She rubbed her eyes, still terribly sleepy.
During breakfast, Yang Qing wanted to ask several times what had happened last night.
Yun Li yawned and nibbled absentmindedly on her bread. “Uncle Yang, how did I get home?”
Yang Qing: …She doesn’t even remember how she got home, let alone what happened last night.
It seemed the only one who remembered clearly was the young master himself.
Yun Li had completely forgotten everything she had done to Fu Qingheng last night—the kissing, the hugging. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and trudged off to school in low spirits.
When she got to the classroom and sat down, Ouyang Mengyao leaned in and asked, “That brother Fu of yours didn’t yell at you, did he?”
Yun Li gave a confused “Huh? Why would he yell at me?”
“About… what happened last night? You don’t remember?”
Yun Li shook her head honestly. She had just taken a few sips of alcohol because she craved the taste, and then she had passed out.
Ouyang Mengyao sighed heavily. “Your alcohol tolerance is way too low!”
Then she launched into a dramatic retelling of last night’s events. “You have no idea how fierce your brother Fu looked. He scared us all so much we broke out in cold sweats and didn’t even dare to breathe loudly.”
Hearing this, Yun Li felt a bit scared afterward.
Last time, her poop scooper had explicitly forbidden her from skipping class. If she got caught, she would be punished.
But… when she woke up this morning, nothing had happened at all!
Yun Li bit her lip. Did her poop scooper not care about her anymore?
Thinking this, Yun Li grew even sadder.
After Yun Li left, Fu Qingheng had intended to go back to his room and sleep.
But the moment he closed his eyes, images from last night of Yun Li hugging him flooded his mind.
Her tearful dark eyes had held so much grievance. She had clung to him tightly, fiercely declaring he was hers. When he didn’t hold her back, she cried even harder.
Yun Li had rolled around in his bed quite a bit last night. The sheets were saturated with her scent. The moment he lay down, her fragrance seeped into every sense, as if she were still holding him.
He simply couldn’t quiet his mind enough to sleep.
He let out a helpless sigh and got back up.
Breakfast had been kept warm. Seeing Fu Qingheng up, Yang Qing quickly had the servants bring it out.
Fu Qingheng didn’t have much of an appetite. He took a sip of black coffee and overheard a servant say to Yang Qing, “Uncle Yang, I think we’ve had a thief.”
Yang Qing was shocked. “What was stolen?”
In all these years, nothing had ever been stolen from the house—unless there was an inside job.
“The two fish in the refrigerator are gone. I just bought them yesterday!”
“What?” Yang Qing had thought something valuable was stolen. Hearing it was just fish, he was dumbfounded.
Fu Qingheng, sitting nearby, also overheard the conversation between Yang Qing and the servant. He nearly spat out his mouthful of coffee.
This was all Yun Li’s doing!
Fortunately, he had disposed of all the evidence from last night. Otherwise, if Yang Qing and the others found out, they would probably tease him about it forever.
“The fish are gone? Are you sure you didn’t misremember?”
“No, I specifically bought those two fish to make soup today…”
The two of them argued back and forth. Fu Qingheng listened with a headache and casually said, “Maybe a stray cat snuck in.”
That seemed more likely.
If a person had stolen something, they wouldn’t have taken only two fish.
It must have been a little stray cat.
Yang Qing muttered to himself, “When did a stray cat sneak into the house? We really need to find it!”
Last week’s monthly exam results came out. Seeing their scores, the classroom erupted into wails of despair.
Ouyang Mengyao looked at her math test paper, which had a bright red score of 59. She was so angry she wanted to rip the paper to shreds. She had worked so hard the night before, studying and doing practice problems, only to get a 59—just one point short of passing. She felt like she was having a heart attack.
Her parents had told her that if she didn’t pass this time, they would cut off her allowance. She was doomed!
Ouyang Mengyao asked Zhang Zihan and a few others about their scores. They were all similar to hers—in any case, none of them had passed.
But Yun Li, sitting next to her, didn’t seem troubled by her score at all.
Curious, Ouyang Mengyao leaned over. “Yun Li, how many points did you get?”
Yun Li generously handed her test paper over. On it was a big, heavy, red zero.
Ouyang Mengyao’s eyes widened. “Yun Li, how did you manage that?”
Her outburst drew everyone’s attention.
Yun Li had seemed so relaxed during the exams that everyone assumed she was a genius and would score high.
Cheng Lulu, who had been secretly pleased with her own decent score, thinking no one could surpass her, heard Ouyang Mengyao’s shout and instinctively craned her neck to look.
She had observed that Yun Li never paid attention in class. There was no way she could have gotten a perfect score.
Ouyang Cheng Lulu grabbed Yun Li’s test paper, nearly tearing the delicate sheet apart in her excitement.
She flipped through it several times. “Damn, you handed in a blank paper. That’s impressive!”
The test paper was completely clean—aside from the name “Yun Li” written on it, there wasn’t a single mark.
Ouyang Mengyao couldn’t help but give her a thumbs up. “I take my hat off to you. You win!”
So this was why Yun Li didn’t study and didn’t care about exams—she just handed in blank papers.
Blank papers?
Hearing this, everyone crowded around to look at Yun Li’s exam papers. After exchanging glances, they all directed looks of admiration toward Yun Li.
That was amazing!
Even those of them who were just coasting through school weren’t that bold.
At least they went through the motions and scribbled something down to fill the paper. Yun Li hadn’t written a single character.
What a fierce wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Cheng Lulu’s anxious heart settled, and she let out a mocking snort.
She had thought Yun Li might have done well, but instead, she had scored a big zero. How laughable.
In Cheng Lulu’s eyes, Yun Li was nothing but a pretty face with an empty head—a useless woman.
“How could you not write a single word?”
“I don’t know how.”
Yun Li answered so sincerely that Ouyang Cheng Lulu didn’t know how to respond.
After a moment of silence, she said, “Even if you don’t know, you could’ve just scribbled down a couple of random numbers!”
The bell rang. The first class of the day was math.
After every exam, their homeroom teacher was in a bad mood.
The reason was simple: the math scores for their class were always the worst in the grade.
This time, they had outdone themselves. The new transfer student had handed in blank papers for every subject, causing all the teachers who taught their class to be called in for meetings with the administration.
The homeroom teacher’s face was dark. He swept his gaze across the room and landed on Yun Li.
After class, the homeroom teacher called Yun Li to the office.
Zhang Zihan whispered to Ouyang, “It’s over. Yun Li is definitely getting her parents called in.”
No kidding!
Yun Li looked completely fearless, as if the person about to be scolded wasn’t her.
The homeroom teacher sat down in his chair and poured himself a cup of tea. “Yun Li, why did you hand in blank papers?”
“I don’t know how to do it.”
“If you don’t know how, couldn’t you have just written something down?” The teacher’s head ached at her response.
Yun Li’s background was unusual. He had heard her family was extremely well-connected, and she had been personally placed in the school by the principal.
Having her in his class was like holding a hot potato—he couldn’t be too harsh.
Suppressing his anger, the teacher tried to stay calm. “Your attitude toward studying is unacceptable. I need you to have your parents come in tomorrow.”
Yun Li responded with a flat, “Oh. Is there anything else, teacher?”
Even though he had a thousand things he wanted to say, the teacher didn’t know where to start.
He waved his hand helplessly. “No. Go back to class.”
After returning to class, Yun Li didn’t mention anything about having to call her parents.
The homeroom teacher, still uneasy, called Fu Qingheng directly.
Fu Qingheng never imagined he would one day have to go to school because of Yun Li’s academic performance.
Before meeting her homeroom teacher, he had assumed Yun Li’s grades were just poor. But after arriving, he learned that “poor” didn’t even begin to describe it—she had handed in blank papers for every subject.
The homeroom teacher phrased it delicately: Yun Li’s focus wasn’t on her studies. She slept through every class and had skipped school twice.
He hoped Fu Qingheng would discipline Yun Li at home and help her concentrate on her studies.
Fu Qingheng’s face darkened. He left the school with the stack of blank exam papers in hand.
Yun Li came home from school as usual.
She had no memory of what she had done while drunk and assumed she was still in a cold war with Fu Qingheng.
During dinner, Yun Li devoured her chicken legs with her head down. After she had eaten her fill, she headed back to her room to play games.
Fu Qingheng called after her. “Come to the study.”
Yun Li didn’t want to go. Yang Qing, still unaware of the blank papers, thought that his recent nagging had finally convinced Fu Qingheng to change his mind and that he was finally going to cheer Yun Li up.
“Hurry upstairs and see. Maybe there’s a surprise waiting for you.”
“I don’t want to go. He’s definitely going to yell at me.”
“How could that be? If he yells at you, come find me. Uncle Yang will have your back.” Yun Li pressed her lips together, Yang Qing finally coaxed her upstairs.
She knocked on the study door and stepped inside.
The study light was on. Fu Qingheng sat at his desk, a stack of exam papers laid out before him.
Yun Li thought to herself, as long as her poop scooper was willing to comfort her a little, she would stop being angry.
After being upset for the past few days, she had noticed that her poop scooper hadn’t reacted at all—meanwhile, she just kept feeling worse.
The atmosphere was quiet. The two of them looked at each other.
Fu Qingheng tried to soften his voice so he wouldn’t sound so harsh. “What’s going on with this month’s exam? Why did you hand in blank papers?”
Yun Li blinked, her expression falling with disappointment. So, he wasn’t here to comfort her.
Like a frost-bitten eggplant, she drooped her head. “I don’t know how to do it.”
“If you don’t know how, then why don’t you study properly?”
Fu Qingheng recalled what her homeroom teacher had said. “Your teacher said you sleep through every class. I sent you to school so you could learn, not sleep.”
“I never wanted to go to school in the first place,” Yun Li retorted unhappily.
She had handed in blank papers, scored last place in the entire grade, and still had the nerve to talk back.
Fu Qingheng’s blood pressure shot up. He lost control of his volume and snapped, “Yun Li!”
Yun Li immediately felt wronged. Uncle Yang had lied to her.
Her poop scooper wasn’t comforting her at all—he was just being mean.
Bad poop scooper!
“I never wanted to go to school anyway, and now you’re yelling at me. I’m never talking to you again!”
In a fit of anger, Yun Li burst into tears and ran downstairs.
Yang Qing was waiting by the stairs. When he saw Yun Li running down crying, he asked, “Yun Li, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to stay here anymore!”
Her poop scooper didn’t like her anyway. She might as well leave!
Sooner or later, when that wicked woman Shi Jie moved in, she would be kicked out anyway.
Yun Li was a proud little fox. She would rather leave on her own than be driven away.
Yang Qing was startled. “Why don’t you want to stay here anymore? Everything was fine!”
“Did the young master yell at you? Uncle Yang will stand up for you and yell back at him!”
Yang Qing grabbed Yun Li’s arm, refusing to let her leave.
She didn’t understand anything. Where could she possibly go in the middle of the night?
Fu Qingheng came downstairs and happened to hear Yun Li’s words. He was so angry that he spoke without thinking.
“Don’t stop her. Let her go. Fine, leave! And don’t you dare come back!”
Fu Qingheng had spoken in anger, but Yun Li took him seriously.
She looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes, unable to believe what she had just heard. She was furious.
“Fine, I’ll leave!”
Yun Li was incredibly strong. She pried Yang Qing’s hands off her and stormed outside.
Yang Qing looked at Yun Li’s retreating figure, then back at Fu Qingheng. “Young Master, Yun Li was just speaking in anger. How could you take her seriously?”
Fu Qingheng: “…”
Wasn’t he also speaking in anger? And yet Yun Li had taken him just as seriously.
But once the words were out, he couldn’t exactly take them back.
Fu Qingheng still had his pride. “Let her go. Don’t worry about her.”
The original plan had always been to let her leave once she regained her memories anyway.
Fu Qingheng walked back to his room with heavy steps, but he still felt uneasy.
He glanced downstairs. Yang Qing had rushed out to look for her.
That Yun Li ran incredibly fast. Who knew where she had gone!
Yun Li didn’t run too far. She wandered aimlessly in the vicinity.
The night grew deeper. Yun Li looked left and right—the streets were empty.
She let out a heavy sigh, not knowing where to go.
Her poop scooper had told her to leave and not come back. He must have planned all along to drive her away.
If she shamelessly went back, wouldn’t she have no pride left?
She didn’t want to go back!
But if she didn’t, she would have to sleep outside tonight.
It’s hard to go back to a life of frugality after living in luxury. Accustomed to sleeping in a soft, comfortable bed, Yun Li knew she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep if she had to spend the night on the streets.
Not far behind Yun Li, two sneaky men were following her.
One of them compared the woman in the photo. “That’s her, right?”
“For sure. With such a pretty face, there’s no mistaking her.”
“Let’s go.”
The two men exchanged a glance, checked their surroundings to make sure no one was around, then quickly approached Yun Li.
Yun Li was lost in her own world, completely unaware that anyone was getting near her.
She was definitely going to have to sleep on the streets tonight. She looked left and right, searching for a decent spot to settle down, just for one night.
As she was thinking this, the two men silently closed in on her. A cloth was pressed over her face.
Yun Li had no time to react. She instinctively struggled, inhaling the knockout drug on the cloth.
One man was shoved away by her forceful push, the cloth falling to the ground. “Who are you?”
The other man didn’t speak. He pulled a stun gun from his pocket and jabbed it at the back of Yun Li’s neck.
Yun Li felt the familiar jolt of electricity. Before she could process it, she lost consciousness.
“Hurry up!”
The two men worked together to carry Yun Li into a nearby grove of trees. One of them paused mid-step and went back to pick up the cloth.
Yun Li drifted in and out of a daze for a long time before finally waking up.
She found herself in a dark, cramped space that felt like a metal box.
Where was this?
Her mind went blank for a moment, then she remembered what the two men had done to her.
She began to struggle. A piece of cloth had been stuffed into her mouth. To be safe, they had also tied her hands and feet with rope.
The box was very small. Yun Li was almost curled up inside, unable to move.
It seemed they were really afraid she would escape.
Using human methods, there was indeed no way to free herself.
Fortunately, she wasn’t human!
Enduring the backlash, Yun Li used magic to untie the rope and climbed out of the box.
Those two bad humans had even put a padlock on the metal box to keep her inside.
Who were they? Why had they done this to her?
Yun Li searched her memory, certain that she didn’t know them.
She was already furious. Since they had come after her first, they had no right to blame her for what came next.
Yun Li didn’t rush to escape. Instead, she decided to teach these two bad humans a lesson—to make them understand that not just anyone could be kidnapped.
She waited patiently for half an hour. Finally, she heard movement outside.
“They’re really generous. Paying so much just for this girl—this is enough for the two of us to live it up!”
“That woman told us to dump her somewhere random. Boss, where should we take her?”
Hearing their conversation, Yun Li frowned. There was another woman behind these two humans?
Who was that woman, and why was she targeting her?
The sound of footsteps grew closer. Yun Li quickly found a corner to hide in.
Once they came in, she would catch them and interrogate them about who had sent them.
The iron door creaked open, and the two men walked in from outside.
They turned on the light, and the room instantly brightened.
When they entered, their first reaction wasn’t to check on Yun Li in the iron box but to take off their backpacks and dump a pile of cash onto the table. The brothers began counting the money, their faces beaming with joy. Neither of them noticed Yun Li hiding in the corner watching them.
“We’ve really hit the jackpot!”
“Hey, boss, where should we dump this girl? Some desolate outskirts?”
“Dump her? This girl is so pretty. It would be a waste to just leave her in some wilderness. I have a good place in mind.”
“Where?”
The two men whispered to each other, then let out a lewd chuckle.
They mentioned a place Yun Li had never heard of, but her intuition told her it was definitely not a good place.
She would teach them a lesson.
“Is that so? Well, that depends on whether you have what it takes!”
Yun Li suddenly leaped out from behind them, startling the two men.
This run-down place was their secret base. Almost no one knew about it.
Just as they were feeling smug, a voice suddenly came from behind them, nearly scaring their hearts to a stop.
When they focused their eyes, they were even more stunned.
Finally, the man called “Boss” was the first to react.
He pointed at Yun Li, dumbfounded. “H-How did you get out?”
They had tied her up tightly with rope and locked the outside of the box. There was no way she could have escaped.
Yun Li sneered. “You think your little tricks could trap me? Don’t you know who I am?”
**