Chapter 32

Lu Deben's actions once again made everyone furious. Old Second was ready to drag him out from behind Xie An.

Old Third also suppressed his anger and asked, "So what happened next? You must have used it more than once, right?"

With the previous incident as a lead-in, it was much easier for Lu Deben to speak now.

Lu Deben began spilling everything like a bamboo tube spilling beans: "After that day, I realized it was really effective, so I followed the instructions and started feeding it fresh duck blood every day, until it was satisfied. At first, it only needed a little bit, like a shot glass full, but later it gradually became a whole bowl, and then a basin. I had no choice, so I went to the slaughterhouse and bought freshly slaughtered poultry meat to feed it. That's how I smoothly advanced to the live competition."

He paused here, carefully glancing at everyone, a bit hesitant to continue.

However, after saying so much, the rest of the story was obvious to everyone, even without him explaining it further.

—After joining their team, Lu Deben found that he still had no audience appeal, and even his teammates were better than him, constantly at risk of being eliminated. So, he resorted to his old trick and made another deal with the ghost.

But they couldn’t understand why, if Lu Deben had such abilities, he still sent them red ropes?

The three of them untied the red ropes, looking them over carefully but seeing nothing special, so they turned their pleading eyes toward Ke Xingzhou.

Ke Xingzhou: "…"

He was starting to feel sleepy. If they hadn't asked, he really hadn’t planned to say anything.

But since they had asked, Ke Xingzhou wouldn’t deliberately conceal the truth for Lu Deben: "The red ropes he gave you are the ghost baby’s obsession. You can think of them as tools used to attract the ghost baby."

Old Second stared warily at the red ropes: "Does this thing have any harmful effects?"

"Not really," Ke Xingzhou paused, glancing at the stiff Lu Deben, his expression cold, "But having a ghost baby stay on you for a long time will not only subtly affect your shoulder and neck health and balance, but it will also drain your yang energy. Over time, it's not unusual for you to end up becoming mentally unstable or even insane."

Old Second and Old Third: "!!!"

No wonder they had been practicing for days and still felt their dance movements weren’t precise enough!

With something like that on their shoulders and heads, how could they stay balanced?!

Thinking of this, Old Second and Old Third looked at Lu Deben with eyes full of venom.

If it wasn’t for the ghost baby suddenly acting on its own today, trapping them all with a ghost wall and exposing their whereabouts, they probably would still think it was just muscle soreness from overtraining like before.

That was the mild part. Even if they couldn’t perform at their full potential on the stage tomorrow, getting a lower rating or even being eliminated wouldn’t be a big deal.

The key point was Ke Xingzhou’s last sentence—Lu Deben even wanted to turn them into mental patients!!

Old Second gritted his teeth, glaring at Lu Deben with a sinister look: "What else do you have to say for yourself?"Even the ghost baby over there turned its head to look at him, its pupil-less eyes staring at him without blinking.

Lu Deben broke into a cold sweat in an instant, but still tried to argue: "But today, this wasn't caused by me. Besides, I just wanted to debut, I didn't intend to do anything evil..."

Ke Xingzhou's ghost baby made his scalp tingle as it stared at him, and he covered his face, crying out of fear, but quickly stopped.

It wasn't that he wasn't scared anymore.

Rather, it was because Old Second, who was always the most afraid of ghosts, was now consumed by anger, completely ignoring the ghost baby, and started taking frantic photos of his face with his phone.

The flashes and "click-click" sounds were relentless, and no matter how scared he was, he couldn't cry anymore.

Old Second’s actions had somehow dulled his fear.

Old Second, however, was still angry, and when he saw that Lu Deben wasn't crying anymore, he became even more annoyed: "Cry! Why aren't you crying? Cry for me!"

Lu Deben: "..."

Everyone else: "..."

After a pause, Lu Deben became a little defensive: "And besides, nothing happened to you guys, right? Once I debut, I'll figure out a way to end the deal and have it recall the little ghost it released to harm you."

Old Second could barely hold himself back, and hearing such shameless words from Lu Deben, his eyes widened in shock.

He gaped for a while, then finally found his words: "What’s wrong with you? Don’t you have any shame? What do you mean 'nothing happened to us'? We’re fine because of Ke Xingzhou’s abilities! If it weren’t for him, we’d all be done for, you included!"

His anger burned, and he shouted with all his might: "You’re a damn murderer! Debut? Go to prison instead!"

His voice echoed down the empty road, creating the illusion of it ringing far and wide.

But it didn’t wake the ones pretending to sleep.

Lu Deben lowered his head, still unwilling to admit his wrongs: "Your family’s so rich, even if you missed this opportunity, you could still debut through other means. Why do you have to take mine?"

Old Second nearly exploded in anger: "You talk nonsense! Just because my family’s rich, I’m supposed to die to give way for you? With your ability, why don’t you go after some foreign president? Is it because you don’t want to be president?!"

Lu Deben didn’t reply.

But he showed no remorse. His silence was merely because he didn’t want to be further scolded.

His expression only fueled the anger.

Old Second felt a rage burning inside his chest, nearly bursting with frustration.

However, before he could act, Old Third, who had been silent all this time, suddenly stood up, kicked Lu Deben in the back, and for the first time ever, cursed loudly: "Damn you! I’ll beat you to death, you bastard!"

He was always the calmest and most rational one in the group, so when this happened, the others didn’t react fast enough to stop him.

Lu Deben was still dazed when his face slammed into the ground. As he lifted his head, he suddenly felt a heavy weight on him. Old Third had jumped on top, pinning him down with his towering frame, and then a punch filled with fury came crashing down!

The punch was incredibly strong, and with a sharp "crack," Lu Deben's head was knocked sideways, his neck making a "crack" sound, his head ringing.

Lu Deben was stunned for a moment, before he finally reacted with a shrill scream: "Old Third, what are you doing?! Hitting people is illegal! Do you think I won’t sue you?!"

Only then did the others react and quickly rushed to stop Old Third.The second one’s brain hadn’t responded yet, but his body had already blocked the third one’s path, and his mouth quickly started to advise, “Third! Stop, stop, it’s not worth it to send someone to the station for such a person!”

Although he said that, he didn’t hold back when trying to stop the third one, and even kicked Lu Deben heavily twice.

Both of them hated Lu Deben to the core. When they beat him, they didn’t hold back at all. Their fists and feet hit his flesh, and if they weren’t worried about actually causing him severe harm and turning it into a criminal case, they would have almost wished to beat him to a half-paralyzed state.

When the crowd dispersed, Lu Deben’s face was already bruised and swollen, and his head felt as if it had gotten bigger.

The second one spat fiercely before being pulled away: “Deserved!”

Once they calmed down, the second and third ones stood on either side, and they noticed that Xie An was still standing beside Lu Deben, making them frown deeply.

It had to be said that Xie An hadn’t said a word from the beginning. He, who usually wore all his emotions on his face, now had an expressionless face, making it difficult for them to tell what was going on in his mind.

They originally thought Xie An was furious, extremely disappointed, but now, why did he still seem to want to help Lu Deben?

Knowing Xie An’s personality, it didn’t seem entirely impossible for him to act this way.

But Lu Deben had already treated them like this, and if Xie An, as before, forgave him like an innocent fool, they would definitely be pissed off on the spot.

Lu Deben clearly also knew that among all these people, only Xie An was the easiest to deceive. After struggling to get up, facing the second and third ones who looked like they were about to eat him alive, he shamelessly hid behind Xie An.

“This thing today wasn’t something I made happen. I just wanted to scare you guys so you couldn’t perform at your best. How could you still hit me?” Lu Deben posed as a victim, speaking as if he suddenly found some extraordinary backing, and directly turned to Xie An, “Captain, can you control them? Tomorrow is the stage performance, and in this condition, how can I go on stage?”

When Xie An really looked at his wounds as he spoke, Lu Deben pushed further: “Besides, you know my family situation, if I miss this chance, there won’t be another one. Can’t you understand my difficulties?”

As he spoke, he wiped away tears, as if he had committed such a huge crime due to being forced by life.

Xie An seemed to really be swayed, his expression flashing with hesitation.

Compared to the others, Lu Deben’s family situation was indeed the worst. His family didn’t run any business, his mother was a housewife, and his father was a traditional carpenter who worked independently, occasionally struggling to even get paid.

Such a family was not even considered affluent by ordinary standards, let alone for someone like Lu Deben who harbored dreams of becoming a star.

Before "All-round Idol," Lu Deben had already participated in several talent shows, all of which he was eliminated from in the later stages. According to him, it was because he couldn’t afford the entry fee for the semi-finals.

Now, he was the oldest member in the group, and in the idol industry where youth mattered, his competitiveness was very low. Even the growth of his fanbase was visibly slower than others.

With his parents getting older, if he didn’t succeed this time, he would truly have to go home and find a job, working honestly.

Lu Deben had told them about his struggles long ago, and it was because of this that they had been more tolerant of his “lack of emotional intelligence” behavior.

Xie An was the one who had helped Lu Deben the most, not even knowing how many times the camera had been pointed at him because of Xie An.

Just as Xie An was about to fall into the moral trap set by Lu Deben, the second and third ones became anxious and were about to stop him when they saw Xie An suddenly raise his head.

His face was expressionless, and he stared at Lu Deben calmly: “Can I ask you a question?”

Lu Deben’s expression brightened, and he quickly nodded: “Of course! As long as you don’t tell the production team about today, I’ll tell you anything!”

But to his surprise, as soon as Xie An spoke, Lu Deben wished he could take his words back—

“I want to know, was it you who caused my brother to be slandered the day before the personal live stream?”Lu Deben’s expression froze.

“This is already an old issue, that incident has passed, hasn’t it? What’s the point of bringing it up now…” Lu Deben tried to change the subject, but his voice slowly lowered under Xie An’s unyielding gaze.

It was then that he noticed Xie An’s unusual behavior.

Xie An had a likable baby face, and even when he wasn’t speaking, there was a natural smile at the corners of his lips. But now, his lip line was tightly drawn into a straight line, his expression serious to the point that it was almost unrecognizable.

Anyway, he had admitted to so many things before, and compared to the selection contestant back then, this issue with Ke Xingzhou seemed trivial and not worth making a big deal out of.

Lu Deben gritted his teeth and nodded, “I did it. But I just wanted to teach him a lesson! He clearly doesn’t know anything, not even hard work, so why should he stand on the same stage as us?”

“Is that the only reason?” Xie An’s expression didn’t change, and he continued to stare intently at Lu Deben’s eyes. “Is it not because you tried to harm Ke Yuanbai and then realized he was from the Ke family and nearly got exposed yourself?”

Lu Deben was shocked. “How do you know?”

After speaking, he realized what he had said and quickly covered his mouth, looking at Xie An with a face full of fear.

Old Two and Old Three were also confused, not understanding how the matter had anything to do with Ke Yuanbai.

Zhu Chu, who was an assistant, quickly recalled, “The day the second young master was recognized by the Ke family, they started investigating that incident. But they only traced the IP of someone from the show team who sent photos to marketing accounts, and when they tried to go further, the account that sent the photos disappeared without a trace. We thought it was strange at the time!”

He paused and glanced over at the others, his mood somewhat complex.

As it turns out, it was really strange.

Old Two and Old Three now understood.

Old Two exploded, “Damn! He did this too? And he’s still pretending like he doesn’t know anything, always asking me about the details?!”

Old Three thought further, “The production team only has these people, and the staff and contestants don’t have direct competition with each other. You were afraid the Ke family would eventually trace it back to you, so you decided to divert the public opinion onto Ke Xingzhou?”

The reasoning lined up perfectly, and with Lu Deben’s guilty expression, the truth was obvious.

Old Three immediately showed disgust, unable to imagine that he had previously offended other contestants for such a scheming person—thinking about it from another angle, Lu Deben’s cunning meant that his previous “bluntness” was just a cover for his manipulations.

His seemingly mindless words were actually intentionally aimed at getting them into trouble!

Old Two and Old Three became more furious, their fists clenched so tightly they were making a cracking sound, almost wanting to hit him again.

Lu Deben, seeing this, was scared out of his wits and shrank behind Xie An, shouting, “I had no choice! What do you expect? You’re all so young, and you ended up on such a great show! If the shows I’ve been on didn’t have dirty tricks, I wouldn’t still be in this mess. It’s all because of those heartless capitalists! If they hadn’t stopped me from debuting, would I be in this situation…”

“Enough,” Xie An interrupted his rambling, “I understand. I can sympathize with your difficulties.”

“Xie An!” Old Two couldn’t help but call out to him, frustrated and disappointed.

Old Three also looked at him with disapproval, as if reproaching Xie An for having a soft heart at the wrong time.

But then they heard Xie An’s second sentence: “Then you should also understand our difficulties.”

Lu Deben froze, “What?”

“I said, today’s issue was your fault first, and Old Two and Old Three were too angry when they hit you. When the police arrive later, remember to sign a release form.” After speaking, Xie An grabbed Lu Deben’s collar, yanked him out from behind himself, and pushed him forward.

Turning to Old Two and Old Three with an impassive expression, he said, “Take it easy, don’t actually beat him up.”Second and Third: "......"

Lu Deben: "???"

Zhu Chu was also dumbfounded, staring in shock as Xie An truly ignored Lu Deben, running over to Ke Xingzhou’s side to the sound of the other’s cries.

The moment he turned around and saw Ke Xingzhou behind him, his face froze, and he became hesitant. "Brother..."

He hesitated, looking extremely ashamed, completely different from the way he had behaved earlier with Lu Deben, which made Zhu Chu stare in confusion.

Ke Xingzhou, however, showed no surprise, lightly responding with "Mm."

Xie An suddenly looked up, his eyes bright with surprise and disbelief.

But when he met Ke Xingzhou’s gaze, he deflated, his entire demeanor wilting. "Brother... I'm sorry. I shouldn’t have acted on my own. I should've made you endure him. He really deserves a beating."

Ke Xingzhou couldn’t help but laugh. "You said before that the performance was important and that once today passed, it would be fine."

Xie An's face turned red, filled with embarrassment, but he still shook his head. "It’s different."

He didn’t explain what was different, but suddenly remembered something and looked at Ke Xingzhou with eager anticipation.

"By the way, brother. Lu Deben is easy to catch, but this little demon should be hard to handle, right? Do you need my help?" Before Ke Xingzhou could speak, he began explaining, "My parents know a Taoist priest from a temple, who is said to communicate with the afterlife, even having connections with ghost messengers. He should be able to handle this kind of demon, right?"

His eyes were full of expectation, and he looked just like he usually did, with clear and untainted eyes, as if nothing that had just happened had disturbed him.

However, at that moment, Lu Deben suddenly let out a particularly wretched scream.

Xie An's brows instinctively furrowed, his expression showing some harshness. But when he met Ke Xingzhou's eyes, his expression returned to calm as he quietly waited for Ke Xingzhou's response.

Zhu Chu: "......"

Zhu Chu was dumbfounded, glancing between Xie An and the beating Lu Deben, thinking, Can an innocent-looking person really have two faces?

Ke Xingzhou wasn’t surprised by Xie An’s change.

Xie An was indeed pure-hearted, but he wasn’t an easily deceived fool. On the contrary, he always had his own ideas and ways of handling things.

It was just like when they first met, Xie An had been inclined to believe that Ke Xingzhou could predict the future, but when Ke Xingzhou mentioned his parents, Xie An suddenly got angry, and all trust was instantly wiped away.

Now, it was the same situation.

Xie An had probably noticed that Lu Deben’s usual behavior was intentional, but since they were all in the same team, he had been too lazy to bother with it.

But this time, Lu Deben had gone too far, completely crossing Xie An’s bottom line.

From the moment Lu Deben admitted his actions, he was no longer considered part of Xie An's "group," and Xie An naturally would not show any tolerance.

Moreover, he dared to harm Ke Xingzhou!

Xie An might appear innocent, but he was very strict about the people in his circle and was incredibly protective.

Ke Xingzhou had saved his family’s lives, and to him, Ke Xingzhou was his most important friend. If Lu Deben dared to harm Ke Xingzhou, there would be no room for negotiation.The screams from behind were endless, some even begging Xie An for help. Usually, Xie An would be the first to rush to help others, but now he turned a deaf ear, simply staring at Ke Xingzhou with a determined look in his eyes.

"I remember that Taoist priest said that exorcism is a troublesome process, involving incense, bathing, and several days of rituals. Brother, you need to raise a cat and record a show, so let someone else handle this troublesome task!"

Zhu Chu: "......"

While what was said wasn't wrong, it felt like there was an unnamed unfortunate soul in the middle of it all.

Ke Xingzhou remained silent for a moment.

Although he had no intention of participating in the second phase of the recording, Xie An’s words really made him a little tempted.

He glanced at the obediently hanging ghost infant in his hand and indeed didn’t want to deal with such troublesome matters.

—Whether for him or his peers, a refined ghost was one of the hardest kinds of evil spirits to deal with.

If it were dealt with as a fierce ghost, this little ghost didn't have any concept of good or evil; everything it did was due to the greed of its refiner and the offering, and the karmic consequences were all from those actions.

But if handled as an ordinary good ghost, it was obviously not possible.

The little ghost had no concept of good or evil, and leaving such a ghost in the human world was bound to bring disaster. If it encountered anyone with ambitions, the damage could be even greater.

Ke Xingzhou didn’t want to waste brainpower dealing with such troublesome matters and had originally planned to leave this little thing to Lu Li to handle.

However, Lu Li had indeed been busy recently, and his soul seemed to be on the brink of being drained. Even if Ke Xingzhou were extremely lacking in both money and morals at times, there was still a slight hesitation at this moment.

Now, though, since Xie An mentioned that he had someone who could help, he could save a few ghost summoning talismans.

So, Ke Xingzhou agreed readily. "Alright, then have someone take it to him."

Saying that, he raised his hand and tossed the ghost infant towards him.

Xie An: "?!"

Xie An was startled, flustered and confused, not having time to think whether he should be afraid and dodge or catch the ghost infant, his body instinctively stretched out his hands.

—The ghost infant passed right through his body without any resistance.

Xie An only had time to feel a chill through his body, and then the ghost infant passed through him and dropped onto the ground like a weight, even rolling two full circles in accordance with the laws of physics.

Ke Xingzhou glanced at the hands Xie An had extended and explained, "He’s playing a game of 'Statues' with you. I told him to wait until he sees his father to move. He broke a rule just now because of Zhu Chu, so now it’s punishment time."

Xie An: "......"

"But, wait... wasn’t it you who asked him to take this ghost infant to the master?!"

Ke Xingzhou replied matter-of-factly, "He’ll walk by himself."

Xie An: "......"

Don’t talk, he’s thinking.

--

While Xie An started contacting his family to have his parents help reach out to the master, the second and third finally vented their anger on Lu Deben, calmed down, downloaded two forgiveness letter templates from the internet, and asked Lu Deben to sign his name.Lu Deben: "......"

When the police, followed by the security of the filming base, arrived, they saw Lu Deben with his face covered in blood, his head swelling up to twice its size.

His small, swollen eyes, now narrowed into slits, burst with a strong hope when they saw them.

The people who had just arrived felt a chill in their hearts. The security guard’s phone rang with the anxious voice of the person in charge: “Officer, there must be something wrong here! Our show management is very strict, and there's absolutely no bullying incident like what you're imagining!”

Everyone: "......"

They hadn't thought about it in that direction until the person in charge mentioned it. Suddenly, they noticed the positioning of the other contestants, who were clearly keeping a distance from the one who had been beaten into a swollen mess.

The old officer’s sharp gaze flashed briefly, and he immediately sensed that something was unusual. He raised his hand to turn off the speakerphone, adjusted his collar, and stepped forward with a serious expression.

Before he could ask for an explanation, two release letters were shoved in his direction.

The police and security: "......"

These weren’t even formal written documents, but instead were downloaded into the gallery, with the name "Lu Deben" hastily scribbled in the signature section using a graffiti pen.

It was so perfunctory it was unbelievable.

What was even more ridiculous was when the police officer tried to pull him aside and hinted that if he had faced any unfair treatment, he could ask the police for help, Lu Deben actually showed no gratitude. Instead, after they said this, he looked horrified and started shouting at their shoulders, "Ah! Ah! Ah! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!! I’ll quit the competition right now!!"

Police: "......"

The righteous police officer’s mind went into overdrive, glancing cautiously at Xie An and the others. Ignoring the person in charge’s repeated objections, he insisted on checking the surveillance footage to get to the bottom of the situation and ensure justice for the victim.

However, to their surprise, the wounds on Lu Deben’s body weren’t actually caused by these contestants.

The surveillance footage clearly showed the contestants arriving at this location one after another for reasons unknown, then all stopping in unison. After that, they started playing a game they couldn’t understand.

Lu Deben, acting as the "black hole" in this game, kept crashing into things while running away—sometimes into trees, street lamps, or benches—resulting in injuries all over his body.

What was strange was that even though he screamed in pain, he refused to stop, continuously insisting that others keep playing with him.

He even used his tragic past to morally blackmail the others.

The group was helpless and had no choice but to continue. Thus, this game, where only Lu Deben was injured, continued until half an hour ago, when someone finally couldn't take it anymore and called the police.

Everyone: "......"

They really didn’t know where to start complaining.

The police officer, not wanting to believe it, rewound the footage two or three times. Even at the slowest speed, there was no evidence that the contestants had caused the wounds on Lu Deben’s body.

The latest high-end surveillance cameras provided by the wealthy production team were so clear that they captured the cause of every single wound on his body. Even the process of him crashing into the corner of a bench and giving himself a swollen face was faithfully recorded.

All the people present were cleared of suspicion.

On the contrary, during the game, Lu Deben suddenly began sobbing uncontrollably, confessing to having used superstitious items to frame other contestants from the same selection area. The malicious intent and bizarre process of his actions immediately raised the police’s alertness.

The sharp gaze instantly shifted from Xie An and the others to Lu Deben himself.Two minutes later, Lu Deben was handcuffed and taken away on suspicion of involvement in a cult organization, in front of the program's director.

Finally, the director, now hoarse from shouting, had the security guard turn the speakerphone back on: “…”

The good news is that, with Lu Deben looking like this, even the best makeup artist wouldn’t be able to make him appear on stage tomorrow. So, whether he was taken away or not didn’t matter.

— It didn’t affect the fact that tomorrow morning he would be trending on the accident news again, having hanged himself on the set of his own show.

The director was on the verge of tears. Upholding his professional integrity, he briefly reassured the contestants to return to their dorms and rest, then decisively took out his phone and began searching for the most effective temple nearby.

Since taking over this show, various accidents had occurred one after another.

He felt it was necessary to ward off the bad luck.

As the program director gradually went from arguing with the police in a righteous manner to pinning the show's hope on seeking divine intervention, another piece of news began to spread online.

After one night, the next morning, Mrs. Ke gathered her mysteriously reconciled plastic sisters together in a private theater to watch the stage performance of her two sons, the real and fake ones, for the first time.

Rich housewives with too much time on their hands often had little to entertain them, so they talked mostly about beauty and gossip. Mrs. Ke had gone out to instruct the kitchen to prepare fruits and drinks for later, and when she came back, she found everyone gathered, excitedly discussing something.

“By the way, do you all remember the national goddess from our youth, that Hang Huining? I heard she had a falling out with her family,” one lady suddenly brought up.

Celebrity gossip always grabs attention, especially when it’s about former idols. Everyone’s focus was immediately drawn to the conversation.

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure about the details, but one of my friends said she was traveling and saw a familiar face at the high-end apartment building downtown. The woman looked great, but she was stopped outside the door. She thought it was some kind of discrimination, so she went over to help. It turned out the woman looked exactly like our idol goddess from back in the day!”

The lady mentioned the name of a country, and immediately, someone else remarked that Hang Huining had indeed moved there after retiring, and someone had met her there.

Everyone was curious: “So why was she kicked out?”

“My friend thought it was strange, so she helped her contact the family. When the family saw her, their faces instantly turned dark. They told my friend that this wasn’t Hang Huining, but their relative’s daughter, a fraud.”

“No way?” Everyone was skeptical. “How can a relative’s child look so much like her? Are they trying to scam her?”

“Maybe she didn’t look like her before, but she’s in her fifties or sixties now, and as people age, they tend to look more alike,” the lady said. “But the key point is that my friend exchanged contact information with Hang Huining’s family, and after chatting a few more times, she found out that Hang Huining had already died!”

“Ah? How come no one heard a thing about it?”

“I was surprised too, but the strangest thing wasn’t that—apparently, Hang Huining was killed by someone, and her family didn’t know about it for all these years. They only found out that this person wasn’t her after the ghost of Hang Huining came to them in a dream!”

“Such a thing happened?”

Everyone had assumed that Hang Huining had passed away after retiring, and after some reflections on foreign security, the conversation quickly moved to other topics.

“Stars from back in the day were really low-key. A goddess like Hang Huining passed away quietly without anyone noticing. I was still hoping she’d perform on the Spring Festival Gala one year…”

It wasn’t until the images on the screen moved that the program for "All-around Idol" began, and they stopped talking, all looking up at the screen.

Several of Mrs. Ke’s friends, sitting next to her, especially flattered her by saying, “I really envy you, both your sons are so successful. One manages the company, and the other is about to become a big star.”

“Yeah, yeah, your husband doesn’t care about your spending, and both sons are so capable. No wonder people say you’re lucky.”Mrs. Ke found it strange. She thought to herself, even if Ke Xingzhou’s relationship with his family wasn’t good, and outsiders didn’t know that they were about to sever ties, how did these ladies seem to already know about it?

Thinking about how her husband had mentioned that Ke Xingzhou’s reputation had recently improved, and the sudden news of him cutting ties with his family might affect the company’s stock price, Mrs. Ke covered her lips and chuckled lightly, then complained, "What is this? Two, two big star sons! Xingzhou was raised by all of you, you can’t be biased!"

The lady who spoke before scolded, "Look at you, starting to talk nonsense again. Isn’t your fake son already..."

Before the lady could finish her sentence, she raised her gaze and happened to meet Ke Xingzhou's eyes on the live broadcast. His astonishingly handsome face was unforgettable, so there was absolutely no possibility of mistaking him—

The lady stared at the person who should have already "passed away," her heart stopped suddenly, and her voice cut off.

The other ladies, confused, followed her gaze, and immediately, everyone was shocked. The home theater was silent.

The group remained silent for an unknown amount of time before someone finally took a deep breath: "Ah, ah, ah, ah, a ghost!!!"