Chapter 42

Seeing that he couldn't persuade Ke Xingzhou, the old housekeeper had no choice but to call Ke Zhengye with a long face.

Ke Zhengye had just finished bandaging his left hand, and the intern who had made a mistake was apologizing to him with a pale face. He was already holding back a lot of anger, wanting to scold someone. When the housekeeper called at that moment, it only made his anger flare up even more.

"What is it?!"

After all, the old housekeeper had worked in his family for many years, so Ke Zhengye didn't explode immediately. He suppressed his anger for a moment.

But if the old housekeeper couldn’t give a good reason, he would have to give him a good lesson today.

He had planned everything out, already showing his authority as the head of the family, but then he heard what was going on at home and immediately lost his composure. "What! That brat moved something of mine?! That’s a piece of blue and white porcelain!! You tell him to put it back right now!!"

The old housekeeper repeatedly apologized for Ke Xingzhou, then cautiously suggested in a low voice, "Sir, I think Young Master Xingzhou is just throwing a little tantrum. I remember the water jar wasn’t very expensive. If you really don’t want to give it to him, why don’t you give him some money instead…"

Ke Zhengye: "???"

"Do you even hear the nonsense you’re saying?!" Ke Zhengye finally couldn't suppress his anger anymore. "He tore down the door of my study and barged in to take things! And now you want me to pay him to comfort him?!"

Is he some kind of fool?!

The old housekeeper let out a long sob and, amid Ke Zhengye's furious roar, switched the phone to speaker and handed it to Ke Xingzhou.

Without the old housekeeper’s obstruction, Ke Xingzhou had no trouble moving the water jar. Seeing that the housekeeper’s efforts were in vain, he simply spoke to Ke Zhengye himself: "I took the water jar from your study. It’s affecting your fortune. Who gave it to you?"

Upon hearing Ke Xingzhou’s voice, Ke Zhengye immediately exploded: "What the hell do you know?! That’s something I specifically bought from an auction, placed in the study as part of the Feng Shui setup! It attracts wealth!! And you came here and ruined it! Are you trying to piss me off?!"

"You don’t believe in metaphysics, do you?"

"..." Ke Zhengye paused and didn’t respond.

He had indeed claimed not to believe in metaphysics to the outside world, but as a businessman, no one could truly avoid believing in the God of Wealth.

If he believed in the God of Wealth, then what’s the harm in believing in the wealth-attracting Feng Shui arrangement as well?

But while he could say this to others, he had previously scolded Ke Xingzhou many times for his spiritual nonsense, so now it was impossible for him to admit his superstition in front of him.

Ke Xingzhou didn’t care whether he answered or not, but simply asked, "The central position has the five elements of earth, and earth conquers water. Not only will it not attract wealth, but it will destroy wealth. Even a novice Taoist wouldn’t set it up like this. You didn’t go to the night market again to buy a cheap one from some stall and get tricked, did you?"

Ke Zhengye hesitated a bit after hearing the earlier part of the sentence, but when he heard the last part, he became even more enraged: "Who got tricked?! Stop spouting nonsense!"

"Then who set up your Feng Shui arrangement?"

"I did my own research online, what’s wrong with that?!" Ke Zhengye yelled angrily, "You little brat, you used to fool other people with your nonsense, but now you want to pull that crap on me? What kind of nonsense is that?! Hurry up and put it back in the study, do you hear me?! I have a business deal to discuss tomorrow. If you ruin it, I won’t let you off the hook!!""......" Just as he reached the corner of the stairs, Ke Xingzhou paused. "The plants in the jar are half-dead, where do you get the confidence that it can revive your fortune?"

At this point, Ke Zhengye also started to feel something was off. He even thought about the few failed business deals after he placed the water jar and began to have doubts.

But as the head of the family, there's no way he's the one at fault!

Ke Zhengye, feeling both angry and ashamed, yelled, "……I don’t care!! Anyway, I’m coming home tonight, and I’m giving you until I return to restore everything to its original state, or you’ll regret it!!"

After a pause, he added, "Including the study door!"

With that, he angrily hung up the phone.

Ke Xingzhou: "......"

The housekeeper, who had listened to the entire conversation, could clearly tell that the master was especially angry today. He had said some harsh things, and couldn't help but glance at Ke Xingzhou with concern.

He quietly advised, "Young Master Xingzhou, why don’t you listen to the master and put the jar back… I’ll find you something small that the master won’t remember, and I guarantee it will be just as valuable."

"......" Ke Xingzhou looked confused. "Why would I want something like that?"

Living in the Ke family in his younger years almost cost him his life. The jar was worth at least a few million. If he dared to take it, that would be courting death.

The old housekeeper was taken aback, realizing that Ke Xingzhou probably wasn't trying to exchange the jar for money to anger the master. Could it be that he just moved it because he thought the Feng Shui was bad and wanted to change its position?

Before he could finish his thoughts, Ke Xingzhou interrupted with his footsteps, walking ahead.

The old housekeeper suddenly saw Ke Xingzhou drop down a bit and was immediately shocked. "There’s stairs ahead! Young Master Xingzhou, be careful!"

--

When Xie An arrived, what he saw was a ceramic water jar the size of a person walking down the stairs.

He stood there, dumbfounded, for a moment before realizing that it seemed to be Ke Xingzhou.

"Brother?!" Xie An greeted the old housekeeper and quickly rushed over to help. "Are you doing a big cleanup? This jar is so huge, why didn’t you ask for help... Oh my God, this is so heavy!"

As soon as he touched the jar, Xie An was taken aback.

Seeing how easily Ke Xingzhou was carrying it, he thought the jar must be empty. But when he reached out, he realized the jar was full, not only with water but also plants. Caught off guard, he couldn't steady it, and the water inside started sloshing around, nearly spilling out.

Luckily, Ke Xingzhou quickly stretched out his arm to stabilize it, preventing any disastrous consequences.

Xie An stared in shock at Ke Xingzhou’s frail frame—

His brother has this much strength?!

Coming back to his senses, Xie An stepped forward to help and, together with Ke Xingzhou, moved the water jar into the yard. Once they confirmed it was stable, Xie An shook his hands.

The jar must not have been cleaned for a long time, and it gave off the distinct odor of decaying aquatic plants. Not to mention, it felt icy cold, as if it had just been taken out of a freezer.

Quickly rubbing his hands together and blowing on his palms, Xie An finally felt his fingers warm up.

Looking at his brother, however, he seemed to be completely unaffected, only curling his fingers and warming them in his palms.The housekeeper immediately turned and went inside.

Ke Xingzhou looked at the expensive water jar on the ground, thought for a moment, and reluctantly took out a talisman, sticking it onto the mouth of the jar.

It wasn't because he was worried about anything else, but he didn't want Ke Zhengye to come and nag him again.

Besides, this wasn’t something Ke Zhengye had asked him to destroy, and if he directly destroyed it, it would affect his merits.

A water jar worth millions could cost him his life many times over.

After placing the talisman to eliminate evil spirits, the old housekeeper came out holding the newly filled hot water bag.

"Young Master Xingzhou! Oh, your hands are so red from the cold, you should warm them up with this hot water bag!" The housekeeper looked at Ke Xingzhou's hands with pity, almost crying, and then remembered Xie An was nearby. He handed him a few heat packs too. "Sorry, this is the only hot water bag in the house. You’ll have to make do with this."

Xie An quickly waved his hands to show it was fine. Finally, after holding the heat packs, he felt some sensation returning to his fingers.

Once the housekeeper left, Xie An looked at Ke Xingzhou enviously and said, "Brother, your housekeeper treats you so well!"

They didn’t have a housekeeper in their home. Xie Zhiwen insisted that only family was truly warm, and they only hired part-time workers who left once they finished their tasks.

With the strained relationship with his grandmother, Xie An had never experienced the care of an elderly relative and couldn't help but feel envious.

Ke Xingzhou pursed his lips but didn't respond. Instead, he lowered his head and texted Ke Zhengye to tell him not to touch the water jar when he came back. Then, before the other person could scold him, he blocked him again.

Ke Zhengye: ............

After sending the message, Ke Xingzhou looked up and saw a medium-sized truck parked at the gate.

Ke Xingzhou raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What's this?"

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Xie An slapped his forehead. "Wasn't it because my dad didn’t give me the red envelope yesterday? He thought about it all night and decided he still needed to show some appreciation. He heard I was coming to see you, so he asked me to bring the gift over."

A gift?

The housekeeper, who had been listening, was a bit curious. Since Mr. Xie cut ties with the Ke family more than a decade ago, he hadn’t had any dealings with them for all these years. But now, he not only suddenly showed up but was also acting so enthusiastic.

But what could Mr. Xie have bought that was so big it needed a truck for transport?

Xie An waved at the movers waiting over there, "This way!"

A few workers, seeing the signal, took turns entering the truck.

The housekeeper was still speculating about how big the gift could be that required so many people to move it. Then he thought of how Young Master Xingzhou had just moved the water jar, and now there was a new item coming in. Since it was from a former competitor, he needed to consult with the master about where to place it.

He called Ke Zhengye again.

—The call was immediately ended by the furious Ke Zhengye.

Ke Zhengye was so angry he felt like exploding. At this moment, he didn’t want to hear anything from this person who was going against him. But he was still worried that Ke Xingzhou had emptied his study, so after thinking it over, he decided to open the remote surveillance.

As soon as he opened it, he heard the noisy scene. A white delivery van had stopped at the door, and Xie Zhiwen's son was flailing his arms, talking to Ke Xingzhou about something.

He couldn't help but think back to the phone call from Xie Zhiwen earlier, and his heart skipped a beat. He quickly switched to a closer camera feed.The camera was positioned at the rear of the truck, and after turning up the volume, the voices inside the cargo area were clearly audible.

Ke Zhengye heard the sound of grunting, and when the workers appeared again, they brought out a giant—

Incense burner.

Ke Zhengye: "............"

Suddenly, the voice of an intern came through the surveillance: "Boss! Boss, wake up! Ah, how did you suddenly fall to the ground? Someone, help! Boss, you’re going to kill me with your anger!!!"

Moving worker: "...!?!"

Old housekeeper: "???"

—

Ke Zhengye's fainting did not affect the landing of the incense burner.

Following Xie Zhiwen's instructions, Xie An had the workers place the incense burner in the spot he had already chosen—the center of the Ke family's courtyard, in front of the fountain pool that Ke Zhengye was so proud of.

It was unknown whether it was fate, but the location turned out to be quite coincidentally right next to where Ke Xingzhou had placed the water jar.

Ke Xingzhou: "......"

Originally, Ke Xingzhou had refused, but after hearing the movers say that to return it would cost them 200 yuan per person, including the driver, plus 2000 yuan in transportation fees, he gave up on that idea.

He sized up the incense burner and had to admit that its aesthetics were a little better than Ke Zhengye’s, but the position...

Under the old housekeeper's expectant gaze, Ke Xingzhou spoke again, "Let’s move it to the other side, by the house."

It wasn’t for any particular reason, mainly because the fountain had been built a long time ago. Previously, due to the high maintenance costs of the statue, Ke Zhengye had the statue dismantled, leaving only three solitary water jets.

If placed in front, it would look too much like offering incense to the people inside.

Not auspicious.

The cost paid to the movers already included installation, so they didn’t charge extra. The three movers, drenched in sweat, moved the incense burner to the other side of the fountain. After taking photos to confirm the work, they left.

Just as the old housekeeper thought the matter was over and was about to relax, he saw Xie An suddenly walk out and open the trunk of a nearby private car.

A moment later, he returned with a giant incense stick, the size of an adult’s thigh.

Xie An’s baby face was filled with innocence as he smiled and said, "My dad said, since the incense burner has just arrived, we should light the first incense stick to bring good fortune and prosperity to our family this year!"

"......"

Looking at the giant incense stick engraved with the name of the Xie family’s company, and thinking back to the days when his master and Mr. Xie had once competed fiercely, the old housekeeper fell into a long silence.

The phone in his pocket started vibrating violently, and the old housekeeper, exhausted, for the first time wanted to avoid answering the master’s call.

He could already imagine the fury when the master returned and saw the head incense from the rival company standing in their courtyard.

—

After completing his father’s task, Xie An took a photo of the incense burner in place and sent it to the family group chat, finally explaining his purpose for coming."Brother, have you checked your phone? The production team said they’re recording a special program and want us, the local contestants and those who haven’t left yet, to go over and shoot. They’re filming tonight!"

He had come over to pick Ke Xingzhou up and take him to the production team.

He had even driven over himself.

Ke Xingzhou, under Xie An’s urging, took out his phone and checked the message from the production team. It was vague, from a virtual number, and he ignored it immediately.

The message mentioned that a mysterious guest would be attending, and the person behind the largest investor of the program would also be present.

The largest investor...

That must be the Wanli Group.

Thinking about meeting Nie Chen again, Ke Xingzhou felt a bit overwhelmed.

He frowned, not particularly eager to go. "The results from the first episode's voting should have come out, right? Do I still have to go if I got eliminated?"

Ke Xingzhou didn’t pay much attention to online news, but since the Ke family had specifically paid for him to participate in this program to highlight Ke Yuanbai’s debut, it was clear that the more useless he seemed, the better. Logically, they probably wouldn’t let him make it through the first episode.

So, his original plan was to solve the Ke family’s feng shui problem in the next few days, as a repayment for their care in his early years, and once the voting results came out, he would just leave on his own.

But Xie An grinned at him. "Who said you’d be eliminated, bro? Ta-da! Here’s the voting page that just closed an hour ago. Take a look and see what rank you’re in."

Despite saying that, the kid couldn’t wait for Ke Xingzhou to look himself. His finger almost pointed directly at the edge of the phone screen.

Ke Xingzhou followed the direction of his finger and easily saw his rank—

23rd place.

Not a particularly high ranking, but since the first episode would directly eliminate 50 people, this rank was considered mid-range among those remaining, a solid upset.

Ke Xingzhou: "......"

Before he could even wonder how the Ke family hadn’t made sure to vote him off, he was already being excitedly dragged into the car by Xie An.

"I told you, bro, you could do it! Looks like I was right!" Xie An was practically bouncing with excitement, happier than if he had won the top seat himself. He smiled and reminded Ke Xingzhou to fasten his seatbelt. "And I’ve heard that this project has a high chance of commercialization. If the live broadcast does well, they might even turn our image into an IP!"

Then more people would recognize his brother!

"......" Ke Xingzhou, seeing how excited he was, didn’t have the heart to dampen his spirits. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Wait, Ke Yuanbai should be there too. We might as well bring him along."

Fifteen minutes later, Ke Yuanbai quickly showered and got into the car, still dripping with steam, looking both surprised and flattered.

He hadn’t expected Ke Xingzhou to ask him along.

Since learning that Ke Yuanbai had "bullied" Ke Xingzhou, Xie An had never liked him. Even though he had agreed to bring him along, his expression was still unpleasant as he sniffed and snorted in disdain.

Ke Xingzhou, however, didn’t feel anything was wrong. He rejected An He Guang’s request to pick them up and glanced at the time, waving his hand forward. "Let’s go!"

The car finally set off toward the filming base with the three of them.

But Xie An’s bad mood quickly faded. On the way, seeing that Ke Yuanbai had been quietly behaving and not acting high and mighty like he had with Ke Xingzhou, he managed to cheer himself up.Since his brother didn’t mind, Xie An couldn’t let it go, making it seem as though his brother was being petty.

As a die-hard fan of Ke Xingzhou, Xie An always prioritized Ke Xingzhou above everything else. Being a chatterbox, he couldn’t stand the weird silence in the car and intentionally brought up yesterday’s events: "By the way, bro, where’s that haunted house we’re collaborating with for the show?"

He even secretly glanced at the rearview mirror, and sure enough, he saw confusion and cautious curiosity on Ke Yuanbai's face.

He’d never heard of it!

This was an exclusive memory between him and his brother—unless you didn’t count Mr. Nie.

It wasn’t until yesterday, when he left the filming base with Ke Xingzhou, that he belatedly realized that Ke Xingzhou’s trip back seemed to be for solving the issue of accommodating the good ghosts.

But neither Ke Xingzhou nor Assistant Liu had mentioned the haunted house’s location or promotion. They just said the good ghosts would wait for notice and then come back to work on time.

Were there any haunted houses near the filming base?

Xie An later searched on his phone but couldn’t find any commercial haunted houses. He was puzzled—was the production team really so wealthy that they built a haunted house just for the collaboration?

But why a haunted house?

Xie An was baffled, but Ke Xingzhou didn’t offer him an explanation. He just looked a bit strange and vaguely said, "You’ll know when the time comes."

When the time came?

When would that be?

A few dozen minutes later.

Standing at the entrance of the now completely transformed base, Xie An looked at the black gates covered in rust and creeping dead vines that had overrun the place in just one day. He fell into a long silence.

"......"

Now he understood where the collaborative haunted house had come from.

Ke Xingzhou suddenly felt a lingering gaze and turned to meet Xie An’s big, round cat-like eyes. He thought Xie An was upset that he knew about the haunted house’s content before him.

Just as he was about to explain and calm him down, he saw Xie An pout, his expression suddenly turning resentful. "So, bro, you’ve got another little secret with Mr. Nie that I don’t know about?"

The footsteps beside them suddenly stopped. An He Guang, who had just arrived, hadn’t caught his breath yet and was now staring at the two of them in shock.

"No way, you two... no, three???"

Ke Xingzhou: "............"

There was no time to explain the complicated relationships behind Xie An’s words before the production team’s staff came over to attach the mini cameras and microphones, signaling them to enter the adventure map with the teammates who had already arrived.

Unexpectedly, the first people they saw after entering the gate were not any of the contestants from the production team.

Nor was it Nie Chen.

Seeing the other person’s face, Ke Xingzhou secretly let out a breath of relief, but his gaze involuntarily swept over the filming base that had drastically changed.

It could only be said that money really worked wonders. The filming base now looked completely different from when he had been here yesterday. From the entrance, the wide road had been transformed into a narrow path that could only accommodate two people passing side by side.To create a spooky and eerie atmosphere, the surroundings were filled with dead plants and tattered cloth strips, aside from the temporary walls that were set up, completely blocking the view and leaving only the narrow path ahead as the only option.

Ke Xingzhou withdrew his gaze and turned back to look at the "teammate" assigned to them by the production team.

He never paid attention to the entertainment industry and, to save on expenses, rarely even used the internet. So, he didn’t recognize the person in front of him.

But it seemed Ke Yuanbai and the others knew the person, and they greeted him as they approached.

After a brief introduction, Ke Xingzhou learned that the person’s name was Ji Han, a special guest invited by the production team for this special episode.

Ke Xingzhou gave Ji Han a puzzled look.

Over the past few days, he had learned quite a bit about the entertainment industry from Xie An, and he knew that guests invited for special episodes were usually big-name celebrities, known for bringing a lot of popularity to the show.

It’s said that being popular makes people look better, and generally, highly popular stars always look much healthier than regular celebrities.

However, when he looked at Ji Han, he noticed a faint sense of gloom in his eyes, and his expression was very weary. Despite wearing a smile and being very friendly, Ji Han subconsciously avoided eye contact with others, and his reactions were a bit slow.

He didn’t seem like a hugely popular star at all; he looked more like someone going through an unimaginable low point in life.

Ke Xingzhou couldn’t help but feel curious and glanced toward the corner of the entrance.

There was a barrage machine set up at the entrance, but Ke Xingzhou had gotten used to ignoring it and hadn’t paid much attention. It was rare that he looked at it now, and as expected, Ji Han had just appeared on screen and received a barrage of comments.

But none of the comments were good.

Ke Xingzhou blankly stared at the live broadcast screen for a while and noticed the swirling dark energy of malice. It was far more intense than when he was attacked by netizens earlier.

He didn’t even need to read the specific words to feel the rising anger.

He couldn’t help but wonder what Ji Han had done to provoke so much hatred, causing so many people to curse him.

Xie An, who was sulking because he had once again been excluded from the friendship, stood so close to Ji Han in a huff that he didn’t notice Ke Xingzhou’s gaze.

Ke Yuanbai, on the other hand, noticed Ke Xingzhou’s confusion but didn’t like to gossip behind people’s backs, especially since they were on a live show, so he didn’t say anything.

An He Guang, however, didn’t have the same reservations. He directly muted the microphone and seized the opportunity to move closer to Ke Xingzhou, whispering to him, "This guy is Ji Han. He debuted on a talent show two years ago and was extremely popular. This year, he should have been able to make it into the top tier."

Ke Xingzhou wasn’t very concerned about the entertainment industry, but since joining the show, he had heard Xie An and the others talk about it a lot. He had picked up some entertainment industry jargon and understood what the term "top tier" meant.

—It basically refers to the most popular group of artists in the industry.

But shouldn’t this popularity mean he’s well-liked?

Ke Xingzhou looked at the increasingly negative comments around the barrage machine and became curious if all top-tier stars were as easy to insult.

Seeing his confusion, An He Guang lowered his voice and explained quietly, "It wasn’t like this before. But last month, something happened to him. That incident... Forget it, I’ll just show you the trending summary."

An He Guang pulled out a phone from somewhere, fiddled with it, and handed it to Ke Xingzhou.

Ke Xingzhou took the phone and glanced at it. With An He Guang’s explanation, he quickly understood what had happened.

To put it simply, Ji Han’s career had collapsed.Ji Han debuted as a contestant on a talent show two years ago. The show was similar to the current "All-round Idol," also focused on selecting male idols, but it was organized by multiple entertainment companies in partnership, and there were no set debut spots—only the top three were chosen.

Only the champion could enjoy all the debut resources prepared by the production team, and Ji Han was the champion.

As the only winner of that competition, Ji Han lived up to expectations and quickly rose to fame in just two years. The songs he released and the idol dramas he filmed were very popular with his fans. If he had continued developing at this pace, he would have undoubtedly become one of the brightest new stars in recent years.

However, about a month ago, the situation suddenly took a sharp downturn.

First, paparazzi and big influencers exposed photos of him interacting intimately with a child, claiming he had secretly married and had a child, which caused an uproar among his fans.

In the minds of many fans, idols and entertainers are two completely different concepts. Entertainers can date, marry, and have children, but idols are like the male protagonists in otome games, "pushed" onto the stage by fans’ support. During their active period—at least in front of the camera—they should not have any romantic scandals, let alone a secret marriage and child.

This news was like a bombshell to his female fans, and the situation quickly spiraled out of control, hitting the trending topics.

Fortunately, Ji Han was the champion, and his agency was well-known and reputable. His team responded quickly, issuing a clarification, stating that although the photos were real, the child was not Ji Han’s, but an orphan he had been sponsoring.

The secret marriage and child story quickly turned into a story of charity, and Ji Han's reputation was quickly restored, but he still lost some of the more radical fans.

However, in a strange turn of events, this scandal led to Ji Han landing a few child-related charity endorsements, and his status in the industry grew, with signs of further advancement.

By this point, everything seemed perfect. Ji Han had made a successful comeback, and aside from his rival and the paparazzi, everyone else was happy.

However, if things had ended there, Ke Xingzhou would not have seen such intense negative energy today.

—After Ji Han filmed the children’s charity commercial and his team was celebrating, preparing to move forward with his career, another bombshell was dropped.