After a great deal of shameless persistence, Ye Chenyan finally managed to get into the Yu residence.
However, once the servants showed him into the reception hall, they stopped attending to him entirely. Ye Chenyan lifted the lid of the teacup and glanced inside. Even the tea was cold, making it abundantly clear that he was unwelcome.
But he had not come to win the Yu family’s favor, so he did not care. He focused entirely on the red cord in his hand.
Qingzhu glanced at him. “Well?”
“Closer.” Refusing to give up, Ye Chenyan cracked the door open and peeked outside. “He should be very close. Could he be right outside the door?”
There was no one in sight. The household had probably left them alone on purpose to slight them for a while.
Ye Chenyan closed the door again, then lifted the tablecloth and checked underneath.
“Surely he didn’t turn into some little animal too?”
He nudged Qingzhu aside.
“Watch where you step, Senior. Don’t crush any ants. One of them might be him.”
Qingzhu fell silent.
“I have a theory.”
Ye Chenyan turned toward him.
“The life one experiences inside this Reincarnation Pill may be connected to one’s innermost desires,” Qingzhu said, turning his head to look at him. “Though in a somewhat distorted fashion.”
“I longed for the life of a carefree wanderer, so I became a waterbird.”
“And as for you, now that you have become an idle young master born into wealth...” He considered it. “Perhaps you yearn for the affection of parents.”
For an instant, Ye Chenyan’s expression became subtly complicated.
“Innermost desires...”
He quickly composed himself.
“I hope that’s true.”
“If so, then at least I won’t have to worry about him being in danger. I wonder whether the Yu family keeps some little creature that spends all day eating, drinking, and playing...”
Following the red cord’s guidance, he circled the room again, trying to narrow down Yu Qingtang’s location.
The cord was not a particularly high-grade artifact and could only provide a vague sense of direction. At present, it merely told him that Yu Qingtang was nearby, without indicating anything more precise.
Had Yu Qingtang been there, he would probably have said it was like navigation ending with the message that the destination was nearby and telling you to find it yourself. Whether it was in the building next door or underground was anyone’s guess.
Ye Chenyan tapped the wall, his expression shifting slightly.
“Is there another guest room next door?”
“Probably.” Qingzhu had originally intended to sit on a chair, but unfortunately chairs were designed for humans and were ill-suited to birds. He could only abandon the idea regretfully and pace slowly around the room.
“He does not seem to be in here. If he were, and saw that only the two of us were present, he would certainly find some way to make a sound... unless he no longer has a mouth.”
He paused.
“Though even without a mouth, he should still be able to speak. My current body is merely that of an ordinary waterbird, yet I can speak human language... Where are you going?”
Ye Chenyan had already opened the door.
“He isn’t here. I’m checking next door.”
Qingzhu followed him wordlessly.
“...You came to someone else’s home to apologize, yet now you are wandering around without permission. If you are caught, your mother may not be able to protect you when you return.”
Ye Chenyan raised a brow.
“It isn’t as though I truly came here to undergo reincarnation.”
Qingzhu gave him a sidelong look.
Ye Chenyan looked away.
“At the very least, I have to find him first. We can deal with everything else afterward.”
He pushed open the door to the neighboring room.
The furnishings inside were largely the same as in the previous room, so it was probably another room used for receiving guests. Only a few minor details differed.
The moment Ye Chenyan stepped inside, he felt a gaze settle upon him.
Sensing something, he turned instinctively toward—
A statue of the God of Wealth hanging on the wall.
Ye Chenyan fell silent.
Qingzhu squeezed through the doorway and looked up as well. After three seconds of silence, he asked, “Did he want to become the God of Wealth?”
Ye Chenyan answered with some difficulty, “Maybe he only wanted to get rich.”
The God of Wealth statue on the wall remained silent.
Ye Chenyan slowly approached it and called tentatively, “Qingtang?”
The statue did not move.
Perhaps it could not move.
But at last, it deigned to speak, producing a tiny, mosquito-like “Mm.”
The corners of Ye Chenyan’s mouth curled upward. He could not hold back.
“Ahem—hahaha!”
As though a tremendous weight had suddenly lifted from him, he sat down with his back against the table and laughed so hard at the God of Wealth statue that he bent double.
Yu Qingtang’s voice sounded ancient and weary.
“Go on. Laugh. Laugh all you want.”
“You have no idea how terrified I was when I closed my eyes, opened them again, and discovered I’d been hung on a wall without being able to move.”
“Before you two came in, I didn’t even know I was a God of Wealth statue. My thoughts went straight to horror stories. Dried human skin, eyeballs mounted on walls as decorations...”
“They even lit incense and smoked me with it. I couldn’t open my eyes—no, wait, now I can’t close them...”
The more aggrieved he sounded, the faster Ye Chenyan got to his feet.
He first extinguished the incense in front of him, then stepped onto a stool and lifted him down from the shrine.
Perhaps it was only his imagination, but now that he knew it was Yu Qingtang, even the excessively festive God of Wealth statue seemed rather adorable.
A smile lingered in Ye Chenyan’s eyes.
“Now you know. You didn’t turn into anything frightening. You became a God of Wealth statue. Very auspicious.”
Yu Qingtang sighed gloomily.
“You’re still laughing. What’s so funny?”
“Think about it. If becoming a God of Wealth statue is possible, then finding the old Pill King will truly be like searching for a needle in the ocean.”
Ye Chenyan raised a brow.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I managed to find you even after you became a God of Wealth statue. If fate allows it, we’ll meet him too.”
“Fine.” Yu Qingtang relaxed considerably now that he had found them. “Not being able to move is still uncomfortable, but a person has to look forward... By the way, that bird wouldn’t happen to be Senior, would it?”
Qingzhu answered calmly, “Yes.”
Yu Qingtang immediately found the bird much more endearing.
“What a coincidence, Senior. You stopped being human too!”
Qingzhu fell silent.
Yu Qingtang then directed Ye Chenyan, “Turn me around. My field of view is limited now, and I can’t move my own head. Let me look at Senior.”
Ye Chenyan obligingly rotated the God of Wealth statue.
Qingzhu extended his long, elegant neck and did not mind being inspected.
Yu Qingtang praised him.
“Senior, you’re so white! You’re a wild bird, yet you’re still this clean. You must be a little bird who really loves cleanliness!”
Qingzhu tilted his head.
The praise felt somewhat peculiar, but he reluctantly accepted it. While he was at it, he demonstrated how birds groomed their feathers with their beaks.
“This Reincarnation Pill is indeed unusual. After becoming a waterbird, I instinctively understood how to use this body without being taught. If one willingly immersed oneself in the experience, perhaps one truly could gain something from it.”
Yu Qingtang pondered that.
“Then can I really bless people with wealth now?”
“You can make people rich after we return.” Ye Chenyan laughed, picked up the God of Wealth statue, and headed toward the door. “Come on. I’m taking you home.”
Qingzhu suddenly let out a birdcall.
Ye Chenyan stopped and looked toward the depths of the Yu residence.
That direction appeared to lead toward the rear courtyard, where a noisy commotion could be heard.
Qingzhu spread his wings and flew ahead to watch the excitement. Ye Chenyan pretended to chase after him, giving himself a perfectly natural excuse to follow.
Several guards were restraining a young servant boy.
The boy looked terrified and kept shouting things like “Let go of me!” and “I saw a ghost!” while flailing his limbs in a desperate struggle.
Ye Chenyan’s expression shifted.
He hurriedly asked, “What ghost did you see?”
Before the boy could answer, an older maidservant came rushing over from behind, shouting, “Move aside!”
She held a damp cloth in one hand.
The moment she spotted the God of Wealth statue in Ye Chenyan’s arms, she cried, “God of Wealth, bless us!” and slapped the wet cloth across Yu Qingtang’s face.
Then she turned and stuffed it into the servant boy’s mouth.
Yu Qingtang fell silent.
Ye Chenyan silently raised a hand and wiped the droplets from his face and body, then looked up wordlessly at what they were doing.
The older maidservant wiped the sweat from her forehead.
“There, there. Now that it’s been touched by an immortal’s blessing, it’ll definitely suppress the evil.”
“Go to the apothecary. Have Physician Sun prepare some medicine to ward off evil, then make him drink it. He’ll be fine afterward.”
Ye Chenyan frowned.
Neither Yu Qingtang nor Qingzhu could conveniently speak at the moment, so the burden of extracting information fell entirely on him.
“How did he come to see a ghost?”
Only then did the older maidservant look up and realize he was an outsider. She gave two perfunctory laughs.
“He merely suffered a fright. He’s still young, and his yang energy isn’t strong. If he can’t suppress it, evil forces can easily enter his body. It’s nothing, nothing serious.”
She signaled to the others to take the boy back to his room.
“Please return to the guest hall. I apologize for letting a guest witness such a scene!”
Ye Chenyan did not move. He merely stared at her.
“You seem very practiced at this. Is this not the first time someone here has been possessed?”
The older maidservant looked back and laughed.
“Young Master Ye, what are you saying? Surely this is not the first time you have seen soul-loss sickness in Pill City?”
Ye Chenyan gave her a long look and committed the servant boy’s face to memory. Then he cupped his hands and turned to leave.
“...Farewell.”
He had only made it halfway across the courtyard when the older maidservant suddenly called after him, her expression turning strange.
“Wait!”
She pointed at the God of Wealth statue in his arms.
“You... Why did you take the immortal down from the shrine?”
“Tch.”
Ye Chenyan clicked his tongue softly.
He had hoped to take advantage of the chaos and smuggle Yu Qingtang away, but she had noticed after all.
Ye Chenyan turned around with a smile.
“Ahem. I felt that this God of Wealth statue and I shared a destined connection, so I’ll be taking it with me. I’ll buy you ten replacements later.”
Without waiting for a reply, he turned and ran.
The older maidservant froze.
This was probably the first time she had ever seen someone enter another person’s home and rob them of their God of Wealth statue. For a moment, she failed to react at all.
Only after Ye Chenyan had covered some distance did she begin shouting.
“Hey! Someone—someone stop him!”
“This is absurd! Who steals an immortal statue? Stop him! All of you, stop him!”
“The God of Wealth! Damn it! Someone stole the God of Wealth!”
Ye Chenyan ignored her completely and sprinted away with Yu Qingtang in his arms.
Held against Ye Chenyan’s chest, Yu Qingtang spoke weakly.
“...It’s a little bumpy.”
Ye Chenyan turned him around, hoisted him over his head, nimbly dodged the people rushing to intercept him, rammed open the Yu residence’s front gate, and fled toward the Ye residence at full speed.
“Stop!”
The Yu family guards were one step behind.
They came charging out in a mighty wave, startling pedestrians across the street into scrambling aside and gathering along the roadside to watch.
Ye Chenyan left everyone in the dust.
Beside him, a white waterbird alternated between running a few steps and flying, occasionally sweeping roadside objects into the path of their pursuers with its wings.
Yu Qingtang kept watch in every direction.
“Where are we going? Is your family rich here?”
Ye Chenyan ducked under a potato thrown at him like a hidden weapon.
“Probably.”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes lit up.
“Then pay the bystanders to stop them! Anyone who helps can go to your house and collect money!”
Ye Chenyan froze.
“You can do that?”
When it came to fighting, he was accustomed to relying on himself. He was not used to asking for help, so the idea had genuinely never occurred to him.
Yu Qingtang sounded smug.
“You’re holding the God of Wealth over your head, and you still didn’t think of solving the problem with money?”
“Perfect. I’ll test whether I can bless you so that the more money you spend, the more you gain. Let’s see whether it works.”
Ye Chenyan laughed and raised his voice.
“Everyone! Lend me a hand! The Ye family will pay anyone who helps!”
The surrounding crowd went silent for an instant.
Then everyone surged forward like floodwaters bursting through a gate, noisily throwing themselves between Ye Chenyan and his pursuers.
They stood united, steadfast, and utterly loyal.
Ye Chenyan glanced back.
Yu Qingtang spoke in a profound tone.
“Do you see? This is the power of money.”
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