Volume One, Chapter Sixty-six: The Second Successor

The door to the rented apartment slammed shut with a rough bang. Wei Shi’an staggered to her feet and hurried to check her computer. For convenience, her agent had formatted the entire computer, and even several hard drives and USB sticks had been wiped clean. Everything she had stored there was gone.

Wei Shi’an sat on the floor, tears falling one after another. What pained her wasn’t the loss of her work—those were her own creations, etched in her mind, untouchable by anyone. What truly grieved her was that the song “Adrift and Sinking” had left her completely.

Knock, knock, knock.

There was another knock at the door.

Wei Shi’an wiped away her tears, stood up, and, clinging to a final sliver of hope, opened the door.

A stranger stood at the threshold—a girl with a gentle smile on her lips. “Are you Miss Wei Shi’an?” she asked.

“I am. And you are?” Wei Shi’an stared in surprise. She had never seen anyone so beautiful.

“My name is Chi Xingwan. May I come in?”

Wei Shi’an hesitated. She was afraid to let anyone else inside. But looking at Chi Xingwan, she found her resolve wavering. Something in her heart told her that this person was different from the others—that she meant her no harm.

She had nothing left to lose. There was nothing left for others to covet. Bracing herself, Wei Shi’an invited Chi Xingwan in.

The apartment was a mess.

Wei Shi’an fetched a stool for Chi Xingwan, while she herself sat on the bed.

“Miss Chi, I’ve thought it over. I don’t know you, and I’ve never known anyone with the surname Chi. Why have you come to see me?”

Instead of answering, Chi Xingwan asked, “How is your illness these days?”

“How do you know I’m sick?” Wei Shi’an’s mouth fell open in shock.

Chi Xingwan replied, “You’ve been ill since you turned twenty. So were your grandfather and father. Do you believe it’s a hereditary disease?”

Wei Shi’an answered, “Isn’t it?”

“It actually isn’t.” Chi Xingwan offered no explanation and shifted the topic. “Are you familiar with a family named Nalan?”

Wei Shi’an’s body visibly trembled, and her gaze towards Chi Xingwan grew wary.

Chi Xingwan smiled. “So you do know. I’ll be direct, then: I’m here because you are a descendant of the Nalan family.”

Wei Shi’an was not surprised. She had long known her ancestors bore the surname Nalan. She asked, “Why are you looking for the descendants of the Nalan family?”

Chi Xingwan raised her hand in a gesture of goodwill. “My ancestor was once indebted to the Nalan family, and I’ve come to repay that debt.”

Wei Shi’an was skeptical. “Gratitude and debts—time changes everything. Old grudges and favors fade away. Besides, the Nalan family no longer exists.”

“How can you say it doesn’t? Aren’t you still here?” Chi Xingwan countered.

Wei Shi’an smiled faintly. “My surname is Wei, not Nalan.”

“Blood ties aren’t changed by a surname,” said Chi Xingwan.

Wei Shi’an was momentarily taken aback, then laughed softly. “You’re right, but I still don’t think you owe me anything.”

Chi Xingwan asked, “Are you sure? It must be hard when your illness flares up.”

“Are you a doctor?” Wei Shi’an asked.

Chi Xingwan shook her head.

“Then there’s nothing you can do for me. Even if you were a doctor, it wouldn’t help. I have a hereditary disease—my grandfather and father both died from it. They sought every possible cure, but nothing worked.”

“Doctors couldn’t save them because it wasn’t a hereditary disease at all. It was a curse. The Nalan family was cursed.”

Wei Shi’an froze for half a second before exclaiming in disbelief, “There’s no such thing as curses in this world.”

Chi Xingwan asked, “Then do you find what happened to your family strange?”

“My family…”

“What kind of hereditary disease strikes everyone on their twentieth birthday and kills them on their thirtieth?”

Wei Shi’an was dumbstruck. Moments earlier, she hadn’t believed a word, but with that one question, she found her heart leaning uncontrollably toward Chi Xingwan’s explanation.

Her grandfather, her father, and, she’d heard, even her great-grandmother—all had suffered exactly as Chi Xingwan described. Even she herself had her first attack on her twentieth birthday.

So it wasn’t a hereditary disease, but a curse. If the curse could be broken, did that mean she wouldn’t die so young?

At that moment, Wei Shi’an realized just how strong her will to live truly was.

She didn’t want to die. There were so many things she still wanted to do, so many more songs she wanted to write.

“Can you help me?” she asked in a trembling voice.

Chi Xingwan leaned forward, took her hand, and spoke softly, “I came here to help you. Trust me.”

Though it was their first meeting, Wei Shi’an chose to believe her.

Having made her decision, Wei Shi’an was not one to hesitate. When Chi Xingwan said she wanted to take her to Yanjing, she agreed without a second thought.

But before leaving, there was one place Wei Shi’an had to visit.

She took Chi Xingwan on a bus ride of more than an hour, returning to her old home.

The little village was desolate; all she saw along the way were the elderly and children—the young and able had all gone to work elsewhere.

They stopped before a dilapidated cottage. Wei Shi’an took out her key, unlocked the door, and led Chi Xingwan inside.

She went straight to the kitchen and, asking Chi Xingwan to keep watch, knelt by the stove and dug for a long while before finally unearthing a wooden box.

“This is my family’s heirloom. When I went to work in town, I was afraid it would be stolen if I left it in my apartment, so I buried it here before I left.”

She opened the box, revealing an exquisite golden ruyi scepter. The word “Nalan” was engraved upon it.

The golden scepter was in perfect condition and clearly valuable. Even though the Wei family was so poor, they had never sold it—a testament to how important it was to them.

Wei Shi’an wrapped the scepter carefully and placed it in her backpack.

“Let’s go. I’ve got everything I own with me now.”

The two of them took another bus out of the village and reached the county seat, where at last there was a high-speed train. After a long journey and several transfers, they finally boarded a plane.

At dawn the next day, their flight arrived in Yanjing.

Chi Xingwan’s driver was already waiting at the airport. Once in the car, Chi Xingwan instructed, “Go straight to the Xiao family.”

Grandma Xiao had already received word from Chi Xingwan. Half an hour earlier, she’d had the servants tidy up for Xiao Yue and was now personally waiting with him in the villa’s living room.

As the car drove into the Xiao family estate, Wei Shi’an gazed out the window, her mouth agape in astonishment.

“Xingwan, the other descendant of the Nalan family you mentioned—does he really live here?”

Chi Xingwan smiled. “He does. You’ll meet him soon.”