Chapter 87 - 86: A Little Surveillance

Chapter 87: Chapter 86: A Little Surveillance

The lesson didn’t finally wrap up until nine o’clock.

Gu Qingyin taught Huo Xingchen how to meditate and cultivate, focusing mainly on building a foundation. But a foundation isn’t built in a day, and it was uncertain when the next lesson would be.

This was exactly the effect Gu Qingyin was going for.

’No need to get up early tomorrow! (＾－＾)V’

She went back to wash up, then came down for brunch.

Mao Mao came running in from outside with a black cat in tow. Gu Qingyin took a closer look. Wasn’t that Little White?

She’d been wanting to pet the cat since yesterday, and now she could finally have her wish.

Gu Qingyin bent down, scooped up Little White, and settled it on her lap for a good petting. "Here to deliver the documents?"

Little White squinted and meowed, then suddenly opened its mouth wide. With a couple of retching sounds, it spat out a palm-sized, red-covered pet certificate.

The smile on Gu Qingyin’s lips froze. Her hand hovered in midair, unsure if it should continue its petting.

The certificate Little White spat out was perfectly clean, with nothing on it, but the process had been deeply unsettling to watch.

"Sweetie, be a dear. Next time, find another way to get things out of your little pocket dimension."

After a few seconds of psyching herself up, Gu Qingyin finally picked up the certificate. With this, Mao Mao was now officially registered in human society.

’Huh?’ She idly flipped through the pet certificate and was surprised to find a note tucked inside.

[The Elder Council has agreed to give you the Soul Mirror as compensation. The date is set for the ninth of next month.]

It was just a short sentence, but Gu Qingyin read it over and over, her eyes wide with disbelief. "This world has finally gone completely insane."

That was a Divine Artifact! When she’d brought it up, she never imagined the Mystic Association would actually agree. It was completely absurd! She had been waiting for them to refuse so she could back down and make a different, more "reasonable" big demand.

’Never in a million years... Have those old geezers at the Mystic Association finally lost their minds?’

The more Gu Qingyin thought about it, the more she descended into conspiracy theories. She even started to wonder what it was about her that the Mystic Association coveted so much.

’They’re dangling such incredible bait... They’re not trying to kill me, are they?’

Huo Xingchen came downstairs to find Gu Qingyin staring into space on the sofa, her expression grave. He stopped in his tracks, his heart lurching.

"What’s wrong?"

Gu Qingyin snapped out of it. Seeing the backpack on his shoulders, she asked, "Are you heading out?"

"No," Huo Xingchen said. "I’m going to find a place for a scrim."

"Don’t we have a gaming room here?"

Huo Xingchen shook his head. "Not in this house."

The old mansion had been sitting empty before Gu Qingyin returned. Why would it be equipped with a gaming room?

"Go on, then. Just remember to eat properly," Gu Qingyin said with a wave of her hand, slumping back into her previous contemplative pose.

’Wait a minute,’ Huo Xingchen thought, realizing what had happened. ’I was the one who asked first. How did I get sidetracked?’ He pursed his lips, annoyed. ’Fine, if she doesn’t want to tell me, I won’t ask.’

But as he walked out the door, he saw Mao Mao and Little White roughhousing on the distant lawn.

’Ah,’ Huo Xingchen realized. ’Is it about the Mystic Association?’ He frowned and strode away, silently adding another hour to his daily cultivation training.

’He was still just a small fry,’ he thought, ’but if he worked hard enough, he’d be able to help Gu Qingyin one day.’

He didn’t notice that the moment he turned, Gu Qingyin’s gaze locked onto him. With a flick of her finger, a thumb-sized Little Paperman shot out like an arrow and landed squarely on his backpack.

The Little Paperman scrambled to its feet, shook its tiny head, and made a great journey across the backpack’s surface to hide itself in a side pocket. Now perfectly concealed, it was ready to relay intelligence to its master at a moment’s notice.

Gu Qingyin raised an eyebrow, pleased with herself. She hadn’t forgotten that she still hadn’t found the source of the Evil Qi clinging to Huo Xingchen.

The Mystic Association’s business could wait. Her son’s problem came first.

Huo Xingchen went to the garage, started up a Cullinan, and sped off.

The Little Paperman poked its head out of the backpack and peeked at the address on his phone’s GPS.

On the other end, Gu Qingyin instantly received the information. "’Fulong Bay? A residential complex? That must be his place in the city...’ Something felt off to her. ’If he’s just going home, why say he was "going to find a place"? Is he afraid of me knowing he’s going home?’"

Gu Qingyin narrowed her eyes. "He’s not hiding something he’s not supposed to have, is he?"

She settled in, watching TV while she waited for Huo Xingchen to reach his destination.

Meanwhile, Little White, having had enough playtime with Mao Mao, ran back and started pawing at her, meowing insistently.

It took Gu Qingyin a moment to understand what it wanted. A reply.

Amused and exasperated, she found a pen and paper and wrote a brief reply, confirming she would be there on time.

Little White swallowed the slip of paper and departed, satisfied.

Mao Mao, having lost its playmate, also settled down, lying next to Gu Qingyin to watch TV with her.

The TV drama was painfully melodramatic. Gu Qingyin found it increasingly boring, and she was on the verge of dozing off when her phone suddenly began to buzz, the repeated vibrations jolting her awake.

Gu Qingyin frowned, pulled out her phone, and froze.

It was the group chat from the show. Lin Tian had spammed it with several links, all about Fu Zimo and Feng Xia.

[Fu Zimo Makes First Appearance After Waking from Coma!]

[Fu Zimo Responds Publicly!]

[Fu Zimo: I Don’t Blame Her.]

Gu Qingyin raised an eyebrow, clicked on a random link, and was completely floored.

With his head wrapped in gauze, Fu Zimo leaned against his hospital bed, looking haggard as he gave an interview with a pained, compassionate expression.

"She is my birth mother, after all. She gave me life..."

Gu Qingyin couldn’t help but shudder. She hit the fast-forward button.

"...I’ve decided to drop the case."

’Huh?’ Gu Qingyin was surprised. From what she had observed, Fu Zimo and Feng Xia’s relationship had seemed mediocre at best. Otherwise, Feng Xia wouldn’t have harbored enough resentment to actually attack him.

’Is he dropping the case for the sake of the Fu Family Company? But wasn’t it already acquired by the Huo Family?’

A moment later, a message from Huo Xinghai popped up in the chat. Reading it, Gu Qingyin had a flash of insight.

Huo Xinghai: Fu Zimo is curating his public image. When he had the Fu Family to back him, he made quite a few enemies. Now that the Fu Family has collapsed, he has to rely on his fans to survive in the entertainment industry.

Fans love to see those "shining moments of humanity" in their idols.

If anyone other than Feng Xia had been the one to hurt him, Fu Zimo’s fans would have crucified him for this move. But it was Feng Xia, his own mother. As soon as the news broke that he was dropping the charges, his fans would only pity him more, seeing him as kind and filial.

The video wasn’t over. Later, with red-rimmed eyes, Fu Zimo continued, "I want to sever my relationship with Ms. Feng Xia. Her support payments will be deposited into her account on schedule... From now on, we should never see each other again."

With that statement, even the small, remaining faction of fans who had been indignant on Fu Zimo’s behalf were satisfied.

’He really should stay away from her. Who knows if Feng Xia will have another psychotic break? Next time, their Zimo might not be so lucky.’

Gu Qingyin sighed, lamenting just how difficult every industry was to navigate.

Just then, a new report came in from the Little Paperman: Huo Xingchen had just gotten on an elevator.