Chapter 11
At 8 a.m. today, Xu Dian, an actor from Changfeng Film and Television, turned himself in to the police.
On the day of the car accident, Xu Dian had been drinking and was far from sober, casually chatting on the phone with Xue Sibo. Suddenly, Xue Sibo urged him to get out of the car, his tone urgent. For a brief moment, Xu Dian’s mind cleared; he realized he couldn’t remain in a vehicle driven by someone drunk. It took considerable effort before he finally managed to persuade the intoxicated Chen Pangle to stop the car.
He wanted Chen Pangle to get out of the car as well, but Xue Sibo told him not to, holding Chen Pangle back for a few seconds and instructing him to hit the accelerator only when given the signal.
It was early that day, with few people on the road. Had Chen Pangle maintained his original speed, he would have been the only vehicle reaching the intersection, resulting at worst in a fatal crash destroying both car and driver. However, Xu Dian got out of the car midway. When Chen Pangle passed through the intersection, a line of cars approached from the west;若非 Wang Ping had braked in time, a chain-reaction collision would have been inevitable.
Although Xu Dian could no longer claim the benefits Xue Sibo had promised, having narrowly escaped death, he dared not expose Xue Sibo.
The Changfeng Film and Television Building stood right beside the intersection. Every morning, Xue Sibo would stand by the window there, waiting for Xie Yubo’s car to pass by punctually, pondering how to extend his borrowed fate.
On the phone, Xu Dian said he was on Changfeng Road, and sure enough, Xue Sibo spotted a sports car speeding along unsteadily.
Opportunities favor the prepared, and Xue Sibo felt his moment had arrived.
Even if the probability of a chance collision was infinitesimally small, he would not hesitate to sacrifice the lives of passersby.
The investigation is still ongoing, but the complete audio recording submitted by Xu Dian proves that Xue Sibo did indeed interfere with the car accident.
The news is utterly explosive; a young idol turned into a legal criminal in the blink of an eye. Online public opinion has shifted once again: “As for what those people who seized the opportunity to viciously curse high school seniors, wishing nothing more than for them to fail their college entrance exams, were thinking—perhaps only the stinking rats in the gutters know. Children, study hard and strengthen your hearts, and you will be invincible.”
The students of Class Two finally wiped away their past shame. Mindful that Xue Sibo was now deceased and unable to express their feelings openly, they merely exchanged restrained remarks: “Actually, I was never afraid of being scolded.”
Among the online spectators, many were quick to insult but few offered apologies. After a few stubborn retorts, they immediately plunged into intense discussions aimed at condemning Xue Sibo via keyboard verdicts.
Liu Fei muttered, “How can these people be so illogical?”
Huo Mingming, the study committee member, adjusted his rimless glasses: “Surveys show that ninety percent of netizens don’t have a bachelor’s degree.”
Xie Yubo said, “Under normal circumstances, you will all surpass them in the future.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the overall sense of happiness in Class Two surged dramatically.
Xie Yubo asked in puzzlement, “But if you all surround me, will your academic qualifications automatically improve? High school seniors?”
“Yes, yes, yes! Study, study!” The group scattered back to their desks, diving into their books as if injected with boundless energy.
Their boss couldn’t even see yet insisted on reading every single day; they, with only mild nearsightedness, had no idea how to cherish the opportunity to study!
When Zhou Qiang entered for history class, she checked the room number three times before confirming she hadn’t walked into the wrong classroom.
Has the bottom-ranking Class Two suddenly turned over a new leaf?
She had heard whispers about the online incident and thought to herself that young people truly need to weather some storms before they can grow.
..
Xie Yubo made a special call to Xie Chenbo to express his gratitude. He now fully identifies as part of the Xie family; calling him “Big Brother” with such sweetness and obedience made Xie Chenbo feel thoroughly pleased.
The elder brother modestly replied, “Not at all, not at all; just focus on your studies and don’t worry about anything else,” making no mention whatsoever of President Shang’s contributions.
It was clearly President Shang who had arranged both Xu Dian and the botanical garden surveillance.
Shang Yange silently took a sip of coffee. After all, if he wanted to know what had happened on the rooftop on the anniversary day, he needed to provide concrete evidence to make Xie Chenbo believe him.
Xie Chenbo had always felt that there seemed to be an invisible barrier between Xie Yubo and the Xie family; now he realized that barrier had vanished. It was completely understandable that his younger brother, having just begun to accept this world, would have reservations.
Xie Chenbo attributed the change to his younger brother experiencing, for the first time, the feeling of being protected by an older sibling.
Therefore, this credit must be even more firmly claimed.
Shang Yange said, “Regarding the incident on the rooftop, no clues have surfaced yet. If any evidence is ever uncovered, it will likely be pinned on Xue Sibo.”
Xie Chenbo replied, “The driver involved in the accident is suspected of attempting to silence witnesses, yet he insists it was merely an accident.”
There is also Xue Sibo’s motive, a puzzle that neither of them could figure out.
Granted, they were only distant cousins; how could there be such deep-seated hatred? Both Xie Chenbo and Shang Yange leaned toward the theory that Xue Sibo had been bought off. Given that his popularity had plummeted just days before the incident, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone had extended an olive branch, prompting him to take a desperate gamble.
The former Imperial Astrologer knew all these details clearly, but he was not yet ready to speak.
Xue Sibo’s motive was tied to an event from eighteen years ago. If Xue Jing learned that her son’s eighteen years of mental impairment stemmed from her own momentary weakness, she would be consumed by guilt.
Although Xie Yubo’s fate was stolen, it had no direct connection to his foolishness; the true cause of his mental state was a scattered soul, a lingering issue from his previous life. Without his destined fate, he would at most have lived an ordinary and insignificant life like an ant, yet Xie Yubo dared not underestimate a mother’s capacity for self-reflection.
Hulan Road.
All projects related to Xue Sibo went up in smoke, forcing both the company and Liu Meiping to pay enormous compensations.
Liu Meiping had just left the company. Who could have imagined that at eight o’clock she was still giving an interview to a television station, portraying herself as a sorrowful yet rational and great mother, only to be surrounded by a crowd of reporters at ten o’clock, questioning whether she knew about the Black Foundation and the charges brought against Xue Sibo?
After finally escaping, her hair was disheveled and her eyes lifeless; the deathly pale makeup she had applied specifically for the radio appearance now made her look neither human nor ghost.
A car was parked by the roadside. As Liu Meiping approached, the window suddenly rolled down. Thinking it was another lurking reporter, she flinched, but upon seeing a high school student in uniform, she breathed a sigh of relief.
The next question nearly made her soul flee in terror.
“How many people know about your fate?”
With so many people born every day in the world, who would bother to study each individual’s destiny and status? The fact that this Imperial Astrologer’s fate was highly coveted must have been leaked after Liu Meiping accidentally succeeded in her attempt.
Liu Meiping collapsed onto the ground; she seemed to finally realize who this person was.
“It’s not my fault; it was the shaman’s idea. I… I didn’t do anything.”
Xie Yubo: “Your son has already confessed. I’m not here today to settle accounts from eighteen years ago. Just answer one question truthfully.”
Liu Meiping shook her head like a madwoman: “I never told anyone! Siboi only found out recently! I haven’t spoken to others about this. Please spare me! I have neither money nor a son anymore… It must be that big-mouthed shaman; she loves boasting about herself…”
Xie Yubo frowned. If it was indeed the shaman, things would become complicated. These dubious characters loved gathering together. Xie Yubo had no idea whom the shaman had told, or who among them had recognized his value and set their sights on him.
Xie Yubo asked Liu Meiping, the spirit medium, for her real name and address, and his heart sank—the medium had actually died three years ago after falling to her death while performing a ritual dance.
The mastermind behind the scenes had impersonated the spirit medium and given Xue Sibo an ugly jar to collect his soul and destiny.
Xie Yubo tapped his knee; with Xue Sibo no longer serving as a scapegoat, those people would likely keep a low profile for a while.
Wang Ping looked at this madwoman, who was still shifting blame everywhere; thinking of how the lady’s health had been ruined for twenty years, he felt like kicking her several times.
Xie Yubo closed the car window and comforted, “Uncle Wang, don’t be angry; she will get her comeuppance.”
Ten days later, Liu Meiping will be diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her husband, clutching the little money they have left, will refuse to throw it into a bottomless pit, leading to an utterly ugly confrontation between them.
She will suffer ten thousand times more than Xue Jing.
..
As a high school student burdened with heavy studies, the Grand Imperial Astrologer could only sneak in some clandestine activities during his lunch break.
Uncle Wang had been making inquiries for a long time and finally found a renowned traditional Chinese medicine doctor who practices from his own home; this doctor has not yet treated Xue Jing.
On weekdays, there aren’t many patients, so Xie Yubo quickly got his number and sat in the lobby waiting with Uncle Wang.
Qian Kaikang stepped out to use the restroom, passing through the lobby along the way. There, he spotted a father accompanying his high school son for a medical consultation. The boy was strikingly handsome, with rosy lips, pearly white teeth, and a fair, well-behaved appearance that caught Qian Kaikang’s attention, making him glance twice.
It was lunch break, yet the boy was still in his school uniform, suggesting a demanding academic schedule. Qian Kaikang, who always strictly adhered to the registration order, couldn’t help but pause, curious about what ailment brought them there.
He appeared perfectly healthy.
Then, a single movement by Wang Ping made Qian Kaikang’s eyelid twitch; this high schooler was actually blind.
Qian Kaikang fetched two glasses of water, handed them to the father and son, and tactfully suggested, “Don’t you have classes this afternoon? Perhaps you should take the child home.”
Wang Ping suddenly realized that the traditional Chinese medicine practitioner had mistaken Xie Yubo’s visit as being for eye treatment, subtly implying that his condition was incurable.
Feeling somewhat disheartened by the old man’s remarks and worried that the young master might become upset, Wang Ping quickly interjected, “No, our young master is here for…”
“Quack! Pay up! I’ll have you thrown in jail!” a shrill voice burst in from outside the door. The next moment, two men carried in a stretcher, upon which lay an elderly woman wailing in pain.
The man in the floral shirt grabbed Qian Kaikang by the collar, nearly lifting the old man off his feet.
“My mother has rheumatic back pain; she received acupuncture from you yesterday and couldn’t get up this morning! You quack—if anything happens to her, I won’t let you off!”
Qian Kaikang coughed a few times and patted the man’s hand: “Let go of me first, so I can take a look.”
Another person blocked the stretcher: “You think I’d still let you near my mother? You’d turn a minor issue into a disaster!”
The man in the floral shirt shoved Qian Kaikang, sending him stumbling; fortunately, Wang Ping caught him.
The elderly woman lay on the stretcher, clutching her lower back with a pained expression that seemed genuine. Her cries of agony echoed through the hall, prompting patients who had already registered to gather their belongings and prepare to leave upon seeing the situation deteriorate.
The two burly men insisted emphatically that the quack doctor compensate them. Unable to see the old woman’s condition clearly from a distance, Qian Kaikang could only conclude that her back injury was real, leading him to ponder the acupuncture points he had needled the previous day.
“Let me take a look!”
“What kind of quack doctor are you? Pay up! I’m taking my mother to the Capital Hospital immediately. If anything happens to her, you’ll be heading straight to prison.”
Qian Kaikang felt a throbbing headache; at his age, being called a quack and barred from approaching the patient felt nothing short of robbery.
The man in the floral shirt shouted, “What’s there to gawk at? Nobody call the police today! I’m settling this privately with the old man!”
The two burly men shot a fierce glare, and the person who had pulled out their phone shrank back in fear, continuing to watch from the sidelines.
Qian Kaikang cried out to heaven with no response, wondering if he should just pay compensation to settle the matter. At seventy years old, he truly couldn’t endure such commotion; it would surely shorten his life.
At that moment, a clear youthful voice cut through, like a fresh breeze dispersing the chaotic, foul air.
“Your mother clearly slipped at the doorway yesterday on her own and injured her coccyx. What does this have to do with Doctor Qian?”
The old woman stopped her wailing and shrieked in a piercing voice, “Children who lie should have their mouths sewn shut with needles.”
Xie Yubo replied, “Why not go to the hospital for verification? The state has its laws; where does this notion of private settlement come from?”
The man in the floral shirt faltered momentarily but then resumed his menacing demeanor. “Even if my mother fell, it was because of this quack doctor’s malpractice. After seeing him, she could barely walk, which is why she fell. Normally, she has no trouble going up and down stairs. Are you saying he shouldn’t compensate us for this?”
Qian Kaikang retorted, “You are nothing but a scoundrel!”
Xie Yubo: “Your mother returned home quite agile, brewed and took her own medicine, then dumped the dregs at the doorway—a superstitious practice meant to let passersby carry away the illness. So, if she slipped on her own medicinal waste, how does that concern Doctor Qian?”
“You’re slandering me!”
“Given your shamelessness, you’ve probably already cleaned up the dregs. But if professionals were to collect evidence, do you suppose there would still be traces of sliding caused by those medicinal remnants on the ground?”
“You’re barely out of diapers, yet you dare show off your little knowledge in front of me—”
Qian Kaikang was released, and the man in the floral shirt turned to grab Xie Yubo’s shoulder instead.
Wang Ping stepped in to block him, inwardly groaning, wondering how things had escalated to the young master directly confronting him.
Xie Yubo remained completely unfazed: “The police are coming.”
The wail of sirens grew louder as they approached from afar. The three medical troublemakers’ faces changed dramatically. Especially the man in the floral shirt; meeting Xie Yubo’s gaze, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine and found himself unable to move.
No evil can hide from these eyes.
When the police arrived, Xie Yubo smiled warmly and asked, “Officer, can the identity of the whistleblower be kept confidential?”
“Yes.”
Xie Yubo extended his index finger, pointing at the man in the floral shirt: “I want to report him—”
The man in the floral shirt broke out in a cold sweat. Wasn’t it supposed to be kept confidential by the police? How could they say it right in front of the accused and still call that confidentiality?!
Does turning myself in lead to a lighter sentence?
He rapidly recalled his past misdeeds; various memories crowded in all at once, leaving him momentarily unsure which one Xie Yubo was referring to.
He shouted loudly to stop Xie Yubo: “Officer! I want to turn myself in!”
“I stole the e-bike batteries in the neighborhood! I poisoned the dogs! I smashed the security office windows!…”
The police officer, at a loss for words, replied, “Do not commit evil even if it seems small.”
“Exactly, exactly…” The man in the floral shirt confessed while glancing at Xie Yubo, only to see the young man’s fingers shift two inches, turning toward his younger brother who was about to leave.
“I report that his brother is involved in a murder case.”
The moment the words left his lips, the person at the doorway flinched and bolted. He was fast, but the police were faster; within five seconds, they had him pinned down.
“Didn’t Team Leader Lin find a female corpse by the river yesterday? Was there male DNA on her teeth?” Officer Lin immediately connected the dots to the recent homicide. Rolling up the suspect’s sleeve, he indeed found a deep bite mark. “Collect a sample.”
“Young friend, could you come back to the station with us to assist in our investigation?”
Xie Yubo shook his head. “Wasn’t it agreed that this would be kept confidential? If I go to the police station, my family will find out. Based solely on his behavior and speech, I have no other leads to offer at the station.”
The man in the floral shirt: “…” So this is what you meant by keeping it secret; it wasn’t about fearing retaliation from the murderer at all.
No, so the person you’re identifying is my brother.
No, so my brother is a suspect in the murder case.
The man in the floral shirt and the old woman exchanged bewildered glances.
The old woman, forgetting even her back pain, muttered to herself, “How could this be? My sons are good people… It’s impossible!”
She slapped the man in the floral shirt: “Why don’t you control your younger brother! How did I raise you? If you all end up in prison, how am I supposed to live!”
Suddenly, the man in the floral shirt felt as innocent as a little white flower.
The onlookers: “…” When the upper beam is crooked, the lower one goes askew—truer words were never spoken.
As the police car drove away, every whisker on Qian Kaikang’s face trembled with shock.
“Thank you, young master, but my skills are inadequate…” Qian Kaikang said, his face flushed with shame, stammering awkwardly. Doctors were not omnipotent, yet this was the first time he had ever hated his own limitations so intensely.
“It’s alright; I’m not asking you to cure my blindness.” Xie Yubo waved his hand. “I simply wish for you to help regulate my mother’s health.”
Qian Kaikang straightened up. “Very well.”
“Let’s discuss the details inside.”
Xie Yubo left Wang Ping outside, pulled out a piece of paper, and said, “It’s simple. I need you to follow this prescription to treat my mother.”
Had anyone else made such a request to Qian Kaikang, he would have immediately imagined a dramatic saga of aristocratic intrigue. Who brings their own prescription to a doctor? It reeked of an attempt to administer poison in secret.
A doctor would not casually adopt an unknown prescription, thereby exposing themselves to unnecessary risk.
But the person before him was different; Qian Kaikang, without hesitation, first praised him as “filial,” and only then began to examine the prescription.
The more he read, the brighter his eyes became: “Balancing yin and yang, harmonizing the five qi—this truly represents the pinnacle of traditional Chinese medicine’s essence.”
With his old face flushed, Qian Kaikang whispered softly, “Young master, I accidentally memorized it.”
Such a top-tier prescription, once seen, takes root instantly in one’s mind.
There is a suspicion of plagiarism.
Xie Yubo replied indifferently, “It doesn’t matter; once you remember it, it becomes yours.”
Qian Kaikang said, “The young master is magnanimous and compassionate, practicing medicine to save the world; I deeply admire him.”
Wait, why does he assume it was written by the young master?
“Did the young master open this?” Qian Kaikang asked cautiously.
Xie Yubo gazed vacantly out the window, offering no reply.
“Practicing medicine to save lives can also benefit the world,” “In the future, healing the sick will atone for past wrongs”… But must a tyrant be excluded from metaphysics?
“Young master?”
Xie Yubo snapped back to reality: “I opened it.”
Qian Kaikang nervously scratched his white hair. What should he do? At his advanced age, he had no idea whether they would accept him as an apprentice.