In the silent air, Aunt was the first to react, letting out a piercing scream: “Nian’er…”
The couple worked together to rescue their precious son, who showed no will to live. Aunt held her son, crying her eyes out. The second Uncle stood nearby, sighing deeply.
Liu Qi’an looked at his soul-crushed cousin, understanding completely.
A young man’s three most embarrassing situations: are being caught by parents in slow motion with both hands occupied; being overheard commenting on a female teacher’s large bottom; and having a cringeworthy fantasy novel exposed to the public.
Any one of these could make a person want to curl up and die from shame.
While he hadn’t achieved physical death, he had certainly attained social death.
I’m trained not to laugh no matter how funny it is… Liu Qi’an started chuckling “ku ku ku” on the side.
Liu Lingyue turned her head, giving her elder brother a reproachful glance, silently accusing him of gloating. Liu Ling’yin, who had wanted to ask her brother for candy, saw the scene and didn’t dare to ask anymore.
Liu Xinnian, true to his scholarly nature, quickly thought of a coping strategy. He rolled his eyes back and kicked his legs, fainting on the spot.
…
In Liu Qi’an’s small courtyard, he removed his clothes and soaked himself in a large bathtub in the side room. The cold water seeped into his pores, refreshing his entire body.
With a physique at the peak of Qi Refinement, his cold resistance was excellent.
The greatest advantage of being a martial artist was having tough skin and endurance.
Having escaped a life-threatening crisis, he could finally immerse himself in contemplating some philosophical questions about life.
“Why don’t I have any memories of the original owner’s death or coma?”
Liu Qi’an clearly remembered how he had died, likely from alcohol poisoning. But the original owner seemed to have no such memories.
As for Liu Qi’an himself, the cause of death was alcohol poisoning because he had been celebrating a promotion and salary increase, drinking himself into oblivion.
After resigning from the police force, he had chosen to start a business. The second year, he suffered a harsh lesson from society and, after careful reflection, started from the bottom.
He became a diligent corporate slave.
With his talent for working himself to death and the resolve of “sitting alone in an empty room with his hand as his wife,” he finally gained his boss’s recognition, got promoted, and successfully joined the middle class.
Liu Qi’an had laughed heartily and gone out to celebrate with friends at a bar. After all, his future life was predictable now – able to afford a mortgage, pay a bride price, marry, and have children… As long as the neighbors weren’t named Wang, life would be peaceful and smooth.
“Splash!” He slapped the water surface, splashing water, and grumbled irritably: “Just when I finally got a ticket to the middle class, I get hit with a dimensional reduction attack and am banished to a feudal society… This is too unlucky.
“There was still sixty thousand yuan for a house down payment in my bank card. Is the most tragic thing in the world that the person is gone but the money is still there? No, no, it’s that the person is still here, but the money is gone…
“Forget it, I’ll consider it an inheritance for my parents. I wonder how high the inheritance tax is… Give me one more season and I definitely would have made it to King rank.
“I still haven’t watched the last season of Attack on Titan… The national football team hasn’t won the championship, I can’t die in peace… Oh, forget about that one.
“Crap, I didn’t delete the 120GB of ‘wives’ on my computer hard drive…”
If my parents discover that, I’ll also suffer social death!!
He fell asleep without realizing it. When he woke up, it was already dusk.
His whole body was pale from soaking, and his fingertips were wrinkled. Liu Qi’an changed into clean clothes and tied up his hair in front of the bronze mirror.
The bronze mirror reflected the face of a young man with thick black eyebrows and sharp eyes. Due to years of martial arts training, his facial features were hard and angular.
“Although it’s far from being as handsome as my previous life where I put Liang Chaowei to shame, made Gu Tianle feel inferior, and was handsome enough to alarm the Party, it’s passable…” Liu Qi’an nodded silently.
Moreover, his body was incomparably stronger than in his previous life.
After all, he was a martial artist now.
“But that might not necessarily be a good thing. I’d rather have transmigrated to a normal ancient era. That way, everyone would be equally weak. Unlike here, where there are too many experts. You might lose your head before you even realize what’s happening.”
This world not only had demon clans but also various cultivation systems. Apart from the martial artists’ system, notorious for its bad luck, there were also Sorcerers, Confucians, Buddhists, Taoists, Wizards, and Gu Masters.
Six hundred years ago, when the Great Feng Dynasty was established, the first Director of the Bureau of Astronomy and Calendar classified the various systems into ranks.
Liu Qi’an was at the Ninth Pin Qi Refinement realm of the unlucky martial artist system; Second Uncle was at the peak of the Eighth Pin Qi Practice realm; the Seventh Pin was the Spirit Refinement realm.
Liu Qi’an didn’t know about the ranks beyond that.
On the other hand, he knew quite a bit about the Sorcerer system of the Bureau of Astronomy and Calendar.
This was because the Bureau of Astronomy and Calendar was a cultivation system unique to the Great Feng Dynasty, and it was exceptionally high-profile. The inventions and creations of Sixth Pin Alchemists had been integrated into thousands of households.
The Sorcerer system: Ninth Pin Physician, Eighth Pin Aura Reader, Seventh Pin Feng Shui Master, Sixth Pin Alchemist.
Liu Qi’an didn’t know what came after that.
Having lived in the capital since childhood, Liu Qi’an’s knowledge of other systems was limited.
At this moment, a girl in a green dress entered the courtyard. She was Aunt’s maid, called Lü’e.
“First Young Master, the Master has called you to dinner,” Lü’e said, her eyes and brows filled with joy, but her gaze revealed exhaustion and haggardness.
She had been sold to the Liu family at the age of ten to serve Aunt. After the Liu family’s downfall, the servants were dismissed, and she had been worried about her future livelihood.
Unexpectedly, after just five days, the Liu family had turned their fortunes around. She had heard from the Young Miss that it was all thanks to the First Young Master’s efforts.
The eighteen-year-old charming little maid now appeared somewhat shy in front of Liu Qi’an.
“Um, don’t call me First Young Master,” Liu Qi’an said, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
“But First Young Master is First Young Master, isn’t he?” Lü’e asked, puzzled.
… Never mind, it’s not like my surname is Wu anyway.
The two walked side by side, leaving the small courtyard and entering the Liu mansion. Lü’e hesitated for a moment before saying, “Just now, Master and Madam were arguing.”
“What happened?” Liu Qi’an asked.
“It seems Madam was insistent on knowing how the tax silver was swapped and who did it. Master couldn’t answer, and one thing led to another until they started arguing,” Lü’e said in a low voice. “First Young Master knows about it, right?”
On the way back, Liu Qi’an had told Second Uncle that the tax silver wasn’t stolen, but swapped by someone.
At that time, Aunt hadn’t said anything, but apparently, she had been keeping it in mind all along.
…
Inner Hall!
As soon as Liu Qi’an stepped over the threshold, he heard loud crying. The tiny Liu Ling’yin, no bigger than a bean sprout, had her little arms stretched behind her, leaning her body forward with her head up, launching a shrill sonic attack at her mother.
The second Uncle was calmly drinking his wine, Liu Lingyue was eating with her head down, and Liu Xinnian, still not recovered from the shock of his persona collapse, was eating in silence.
Aunt held her forehead, looking headache-stricken. Seeing Lü’e approach, she immediately said, “Take her away, take her away!”
Liu Qi’an glanced at his wailing little sister and asked gently, “What’s wrong?”
“Mother lied, Mother said if we could come home, she’d take me to Osmanthus Moon Tower,” the little bean sprout cried loudly. “Father just mentioned Osmanthus Moon Tower.”
Osmanthus Moon Tower was a top-tier restaurant in the capital, frequented only by high officials and nobles, not open to commoners or wealthy merchants.
For a child who couldn’t even remember her brothers’ and sisters’ names, to remember Osmanthus Moon Tower, it was mainly because she had been there once before.
It showed that this child wasn’t stupid, but rather had used her talents in the wrong place.
Old Liu, you’re something else, aren’t you? You know how to divert trouble, even using your daughter as a tool. Liu Qi’an glanced at Second Uncle, who was drinking wine nonchalantly, and at Aunt, who was suffering from a headache but helpless.
The little bean sprout was Aunt’s weak spot.
“It was just a casual remark at the time, given our situation then…” Aunt sighed.
“Deceiving even a young child, Aunt, you don’t keep your word,” Liu Qi’an instinctively retorted, making the beautiful mature woman’s chest heaved with anger.
“Big Brother, Big Brother take me!” Seeing Liu Qi’an’s kind and gentle face, and that he was speaking up for her, the little bean sprout ran happily to Liu Qi’an’s feet, grabbing his pants and trying to climb up.
Osmanthus Moon Tower, at least one tael of silver per person… Liu Qi’an said sternly, “Lü’e, take her away!”
The little bean sprout was taken away.
Aunt kicked her husband lightly, subtly gesturing towards Liu Qi’an with the corner of her mouth.
Second Uncle felt somewhat embarrassed. He glanced at his son, who had always been very curious, but unfortunately, Liu Xinnian had suffered social death, and dead people couldn’t speak, they could only eat.
The food was mediocre, mainly due to the lack of rich stock. After all, everyone had just returned home. Liu Qi’an ate as if chewing on wax. He irritably stared at his pretty sister: “Lingyue, why do you keep sneaking glances at your brother?”