Volume One, Chapter Ninety-Two: Father Xing’s Decision

Xing’s father and mother stared at their son in disbelief.

“Ah Liang, how can you think such a thing? She is your sister.”

“Shut up!” Xing Liang gritted out, his face twisted with fury as he roared at his parents. “All money is meant to be left to the son. Why are you different? Why must you spend it on that fool? When you’re old, do you expect a fool to see you off in your final years?”

Xing’s mother covered her mouth, eyes wide, as though meeting her son for the very first time.

“Ah Liang, how can you think this way? Lele and you are both our children, we—”

“Enough with the nonsense!” Xing Liang cut her off. “If Xing Le weren’t stupid, you’d only need to give her a dowry and marry her off. The rest of the property would all be mine!”

Silence fell.

After a long while, Xing’s father finally said, “Ah Liang, I understand what you’re thinking now.”

“Before, we were persuaded by you and felt that over all these years we had put nearly all our effort into your sister and neglected you, so we agreed to send Lele to a psychiatric hospital. After that, we would focus on taking care of you, and when you got married, we would look after your children as well, as compensation.”

His voice was calm, but Xu Mingyue felt that in just those few minutes, he had suddenly grown much older.

“We never expected that you didn’t really need us at all—only our money. If that’s the case, we’ll give you what you want.”

He turned to look at his wife and saw support in her eyes. He knew that whatever decision he made, she would stand with him.

“This house, the one we live in now, will be left to Lele in the future. Your mother and I will spend our own money to buy you another place. The rest of the money will be split evenly between you and Lele. We’ll take care of Lele, and from now on, everyone should live separately.”

“Hey…” Xing Liang suddenly felt the situation slipping beyond his control.

“As for your mother’s and my pensions, don’t bother thinking about them. You also won’t need to support us in our old age in the future. Let’s keep everything clearly divided.”

Xing Liang fell silent. He stood there quietly, as if weighing whether this arrangement was favorable to him or not.

Xing’s father no longer looked at him, turning instead to Chi Xingwan.

“We won’t send Lele to the psychiatric hospital. Tell me, is there really a way to wake Lele up?”

Chi Xingwan said seriously, “I can’t guarantee it completely, but there’s about a ninety percent chance.”

Xing’s father said, “All right, we’ll entrust Lele to you. May I ask how much compensation you require?”

Chi Xingwan shook her head. “No compensation is needed. If everything goes smoothly, she’ll be one of us in the future. Since she’ll be a companion, there’s no need for formalities.”

Xing’s father did not insist, and instead asked, “Sorry, our family is a bit chaotic today. Could we trouble you to wait one more day and bring Lele away tomorrow?”

“No problem,” Chi Xingwan replied.

Xu Mingyue finally came back to herself. She bowed slightly to Xing’s father and mother and said, “Uncle, Auntie, we’ll be heading back now.”

Back at the Xu residence, the four of them sat together in silence.

After a while, Chi Xingwan said to Jin Feng and Chu Fangfei, “Could you please go to the association and let them know that the person will arrive tomorrow? Ask them to make preparations.”

“Okay, we’ll go right now.” Jin Feng stood and pulled Chu Fangfei along with her as they left.

That left only Chi Xingwan and Xu Mingyue.

Xu Mingyue leaned on the sofa for a long time, and Chi Xingwan stayed by her side throughout.

“Xingwan, actually I never liked Brother Liang much, but I never imagined his thoughts were so filthy,” Xu Mingyue said suddenly.

“Everyone has a dark side. Xing Liang merely released his without restraint,” Chi Xingwan said as she flipped through a fashion magazine in her hands, her tone utterly calm, as if they were simply chatting as usual.

Xu Mingyue let out a bitter smile. “You’re right. No one in this world is perfect. I just still think he was too cruel.”

Chi Xingwan gave no reply.

She wanted to say she had seen people who were even crueler, but after thinking it over, she decided there was no need to tell Xu Mingyue.

After a moment, Xu Mingyue asked, “Xingwan, if Sister Lele recovers, what will happen to her in the future?”

Only then did she realize she and Xing Liang had thought the same thing.

Xing Le had only been in her teens when disaster struck. Even if she regained consciousness now, she had already been cut off from the world. How was she supposed to live from here on?

Would she have to spend another decade or more relearning everything, finding her way back into this world?

But she had already lost those years. She had already been left behind for more than a decade. Could she truly catch up?

For Xing Le, for her parents, that would be far too cruel.

She remembered that Sister Lele had been a spirited girl. If waking up meant she would suffer because of how far “behind” she was, then perhaps remaining asleep forever would be happier.

“You don’t need to worry,” Chi Xingwan said. “I told you before, once she wakes, she will become one of us.”

Chi Xingwan looked into Xu Mingyue’s eyes.

“She will become a spiritual master.”

“A spiritual master? But—”

“Mingyue, you may not yet understand spiritual masters.” Chi Xingwan cut her off. “Xing Le doesn’t need to learn the kind of knowledge that ordinary people spend more than ten years, even decades, acquiring. She only needs to be able to take care of herself.”

Self-sufficiency—let alone teenagers, even children as young as a few years old could manage that.

“The world she will face after waking has already changed. Like other awakened spiritual masters, she will enter the introductory class of the Department of Taoist Studies at Yanjing University.”

“There, there are many people like her who did not grow up in the mystical world. Some awakened in their teens; some awakened only when their hair was white with age. But no matter their age, once they enter the mystical world, they must abandon their previous lives and the knowledge they once had.”

“So Xing Le is no different from them. Xing Le is not behind. Do you understand?”

Xu Mingyue’s mind was in a whirl, but she grasped one thing clearly: the Department of Taoist Studies at Yanjing University was Xing Le’s only choice.

There, even if Xing Le possessed only the mind of a teenager, it would not matter, because no matter how old they were, she and everyone else would be standing at the same starting line.

“Mingyue, don’t overthink this. This is Xing Le’s life. When she wakes up, she’ll make her own choice.”

Xu Mingyue looked at Chi Xingwan.

Chi Xingwan met her gaze. “Don’t worry so much about other people. The same goes for You Dongli, and the same goes for Xing Le.”

Xu Mingyue smiled, and the dark haze between her brows finally dispersed completely.

“Xingwan, you’re right. I seem to have become obsessed. I shouldn’t be meddling in so much. As long as Sister Lele wakes up, she’ll make her own choice. Why am I fretting over it?”

Chi Xingwan also smiled.

She was now quite interested in Xing Le. What had happened to her to leave her in such a state, and even affect Xu Mingyue like this?

If she was not mistaken, that thing should try to keep Xing Le from entering the tower.