“Cling to him and interfere with your engagement, right?” Jiang Lai finished Gu Qianhe’s words for her.
Gu Qianhe instantly looked even more wronged. “Sister, that’s not what I meant. Please don’t misunderstand me.”
“Qianhe is just worried about you.” Gu Anchang frowned as he stepped forward and wiped Gu Qianhe’s tears. “The Pei family’s waters are deep — with your ability, you simply can’t handle it.”
Jiang Lai pretended to be shy and hesitant. “But when he called me out just now, he said he would definitely protect me.”
“He also said that if you keep treating me differently, he wouldn’t mind making the whole world know how the Gu family mistreats their own biological daughter.”
For a moment, Gu Anchang had nothing to say.
Given Pei Jingchuan’s character of keeping his word, if Jiang Lai really went to complain, the Gu family wouldn’t end well.
“Your matters are no longer something the Gu family can manage. Take care of yourself!” Gu Anchang said through gritted teeth after a long pause.
Jiang Lai ignored him and turned to take a taxi to Liu Guohong’s home.
When she arrived, Liu Guohong was packing. Several sealed cardboard boxes were piled in the hallway.
He opened the door nervously and wiped his hands. “You are…?”
“Jiang Lai. I’m the granddaughter of the old lady you hit.” Jiang Lai introduced herself calmly, her gaze fixed on his face.
He had a square-shaped face, drooping eyelids that half-covered his muddy eyes, a reddish wine-soaked nose, and thick lips tinged with purple.
He had grown up in an ordinary family, squandered money in his youth, was addicted to smoking and drinking, and by middle age his fate had become increasingly bleak — faint signs of bankruptcy and early death were visible on his face.
Yet a faint golden light lingered between his eyebrows — a sign that someone had temporarily altered his destiny. But wealth gained this way would never truly belong to him; even at death, he wouldn’t be able to hold onto it.
Jiang Lai spoke gently, “As far as I know, you resigned two days before the car accident. Did someone pay you to deliberately cause last night’s crash?”
“You can’t talk nonsense!” Liu Guohong was so startled that the ceramic bowl in his hands smashed onto the floor.
“The police already investigated everything. The old lady didn’t even plan to hold me responsible. What are you trying to do now?!”
Jiang Lai folded her arms. “Grandma may not care, but the Gu family intends to pursue this to the end. Can’t you even give a reasonable explanation?”
His eyes darted around and his lips trembled. “I… I resigned because I was going back to my hometown to open a shop!”
“Not a single true word.”
Jiang Lai’s patience finally snapped. She formed a hand seal, and a Truth Talisman flew from her pocket, firmly sticking to Liu Guohong’s forehead.
“Explain.” Jiang Lai repeated coldly.
“I already said — I resigned because… a few days ago a boss found me and said there was a big job. As long as I transported his goods to a designated place last night, he would give me 500,000 yuan!”
The moment he finished speaking, Liu Guohong clamped his mouth shut in horror, eyes wide like copper bells.
Why did he just blurt that out uncontrollably?!
Jiang Lai clicked her tongue. “If you’d been honest earlier, you wouldn’t have had to suffer.”
A Truth Talisman was commonly used in the mystical world to interrogate criminals — it forced the person to speak the truth and made them feel as if ants were gnawing at their heart.
Seeing sweat pouring down Liu Guohong’s face, Jiang Lai continued, “Who contacted you about the delivery?”
“We only communicated through a single channel. I don’t know his identity, but there’s a transfer record in my phone!” Liu Guohong panted heavily.
Having gotten what she wanted, Jiang Lai removed the talisman.
Liu Guohong collapsed to the floor, drenched in sweat like a drowning dog.
Jiang Lai picked up his phone, unlocked it, found the transfer record, and photographed it with her own phone.
She then reached out and yanked off the Thangka pendant around his neck — and the golden glow on his forehead instantly vanished.
“You—!” Liu Guohong’s eyes turned bloodshot as he tried to snatch it back.
Jiang Lai squeezed lightly, and the pendant crumbled into powder between her fingers. “What are you so anxious for? That was never yours to begin with.”
The pendant carried both a fortune-changing talisman and a stolen mystical technique — but the caster had used someone else’s merit as the price, a sinister method.
Liu Guohong was furious. “You broke into my house! I’ll call the police to arrest you!”
“Better think about yourself first.” Jiang Lai wiped her hands with a tissue. “Regarding the car accident, the Gu family will sue you to the end. Wait for our lawyer’s letter.”
She left immediately.
To her, Liu Guohong was nothing more than a pawn.
By the time Jiang Lai returned to Maple Lotus Villa, it was nearly midnight.
She opened the attic door — and froze.
The creamy-white blanket was thrown onto the floor, and dirty water mixed with hair and dust was smeared everywhere.
She turned toward the two servants standing at the stairwell. “Who did this?”
One servant sneered, “Miss Jiang, don’t you know in your heart? You’ve attracted dirty things — we’re just cleaning up!”
“Exactly. We’re not targeting you. Don’t go running off to complain again,” the other added sarcastically.
Without arguing, Jiang Lai picked up the half-bucket of dirty water left in the room and splashed it directly over them.
“You—!”
Their voices trembled.
They had done worse before, but every time Jiang Lai had swallowed it silently — why was she acting like this now?!
“Why are you yelling at this hour?!” The butler hurried up the stairs in a wrinkled suit, then froze at the scene.
After regaining his composure, he forced a smile. “This room can’t be lived in anymore. The others haven’t been cleaned yet, so Miss Jiang will have to sleep in the living room for now.”
“And them?” Jiang Lai pointed at the soaked servants.
“They’ll have their salary deducted this month,” the butler said casually.
Jiang Lai’s eyes turned cold. “They trashed someone’s room, and you think a simple salary deduction is enough?”
At that moment, Gu Qianhe came upstairs in a pink silk nightgown, pinching her nose. “Sister, it’s not a big deal. There’s no need to be so aggressive.”
Jiang Lai silently formed a hand seal behind her back. “So you ordered them to do this? You sound very generous.”
Gu Qianhe’s expression stiffened. “I didn’t. Don’t jump to conclusions.”
The moment she finished speaking, the two servants suddenly pointed at her in unison:
“It was Miss Gu who told us to do it!”