Returning from the Immortal World

The hazy and misty moonlight shined down, accompanied with a caressing warm breeze of the spring blooming of flowers, sending their faint fragrance to the air of Qinglin County. Several house sparrows flew out of buildings’ windows as though they wanted to race with an SUV that was slowly traversing the road ahead.

“What do you think about Wang Tao, Awu?” asked Tang Xiu while sitting in the back seat, smoking. A faint smile hung on his handsome face while he unfocusedly looked outside.

“He’s a shrewd and astute one with a silver tongue,” answered Mo Awu while driving. “He may have tried to restrain his personality when he met us, but his pride and arrogance as a second generation nouveau-riche can occasionally be seen in his speech and manners. His achievements in life will be limited unless he undergoes some tribulations in life.”

“It’s indeed the common problem among the second generation of the rich,” Tang Xiu nodded and smiled. “It’s good to have a unique personality, but if you’re too arrogant and domineering, you’ll need a huge tribulation to temper yourself, else that arrogance will only invite a lot of troubles. Nevermind it for now, though. Let’s not talk about him. Let’s stop by the cigarettes and alcohol store on the way back, I need to buy some cigarettes.”

“Alright,” replied Mo Awu.

Seven-plus minutes later, the SUV was parked near the entrance of a tobacco and alcohol store. Four young men with gaudy attire and boorish complexions were playing mahjong at the entrance of the store. When Tang Xiu waltzed inside with Mo Awu, he found nobody inside and immediately shouted at the door, “Hey, who’s the owner here? I wanna buy some cigarettes.”

“Serve yourself, then take it to the counter and put the money there.”

A youth with blonde bleached hair that was playing cards around the table at the door shouted back without moving his eyes from his mahjong cards at all.

Tang Xiu secretly shook his head. How could this be called doing business? This guy virtually ignored his job and business. After hesitating for a moment, Tang Xiu spoke again, “I want a lot of them, so you’d better come in.”

The yellow-haired youth frowned and looked at the store. He unwillingly came while taking the cards in his hand and swayed back to the store and asked, “How many is a lot? And what cigarette do you wanna buy?”

“I’ll take the Soft China ones, however many you have in the store,” said Tang Xiu.

Soft China?

The yellow-haired youth smiled, yet observed Tang Xiu and lamented, “Soft China is quite an extravagant taste, buddy! I have dozens of packs in my store, do you really wanna take them all?”

“Yup.” Tang Xiu nodded.

The yellow-haired youth smiled and said, “Wait a sec.”

A few minutes later, Tang Xiu and Mo Awu held dozens of Soft China packs and left the cigarette and alcohol store. They threw all of them into the back seat and then quickly left the premise.

The yellow-haired youth walked out of the store and watched the SUV leaving. Then, he returned to the table and grinned, “I just bumped into some county money-bags, guys. He didn’t even ask the price but directly bought all the Soft China in my store.”

A young man with a green snake tattooed on his neck curled his lips and hummed, “Hmph, what a shitty county money-bags, it’s just dozens of Soft China packs. Still, that young master was way too reckless to wander around his grave, though. To think that he spent all of his money to buy hundreds of Soft China, damn it. Anyways, stop spitting out bullshit, will ya? Just get back to your cards and play mahjong!”

Unusual light gleamed in the eyes of the yellow-haired youth as he grinned, “Hehe, you should bring us brothers when you go grave robbing, Huzi Bro! We’ve really wanted to broaden our horizon with you for a long time, you know.”

“No shit!” The tattooed youth rolled his eyes and shouted, “Are you fucking not afraid that Zongzi will tear you apart? Or have the Yang energy in your body swallowed by those ghosts?”

The yellow-haired youth shrunk back but immediately said with a dry smile, “That’s what I mean, Bro Huzi!”

“It’s not impossible if you wanna have more experience by tagging along with me. But let’s have make an agreement first: if any of you were to experience an accident or danger in the tombs, I will have nothing to do with it,” said the tattooed young man casually with a proud smile. “Also, each of you can only take up to 10% of the treasures you’ll get from there.”

“Fine.”

“No problem!”

“Heard you loud and clear, Brother Huzi!”

The three youths immediately looked excited and complied happily.

****

Senbao 5-star hotel.

When the SUV stopped at the hotel entrance, Tang Xiu spoke to Mo Awu, “Do you still remember the place we just bought the cigarettes at? Go back there and beat that guy with the tattoo on his neck. Remember to break one of his legs and be confined to bedrest for the next few months.”

“Understood!” Mo Awu still respectfully complied despite feeling confused.

Tang Xiu spoke again, “Also, tell that fellow to never deal with the dead or rob tombs again. Else he will not only lose his Yang energy, but also will implicate his family, be it getting sick, disabled, or even death!”

“Boss, you ordered me to break one of his legs… meaning you want to… save him?” Mo Awu was amazed.

“It is to save him from that predicament,” answered Tang Xiu. “The more he keeps robbing tombs, the more his body will be contaminated with Death Qi. He’ll die in the tomb in two months at the most.”

After saying that, Tang Xiu got off alone and entered the 5-star Senbao Hotel. Then he remembered that Zhang Xinya also checked into this hotel and somewhat felt helpless inside.

To have someone attached to him with such heavy affection was not something Tang Xiu could bear or enjoy. He couldn’t promise to give the said women a future she wanted, let alone have special preference or love for them. Rather than making Zhang Xinya have a sad and painful life in the future, he would rather opt to sever the relationship between them earlier. Thus, he already made up his mind the moment he received her phone call.

And this time, no matter how sad she would feel, he must thoroughly tell her to completely sever this doomed love and karma.

Inside the presidential suite 1208, Zhang Xinya was leaning drowsily on the sofa. On the contrary, Zhang Xiaoyu looked very energetic and fiddled with her mobile phone. There was no trace of Long Zhenglin and only his faint snore could be heard in the next room.

“Ding, dong…”

As the doorbell rang, Jin Shi quickly opened the door and looked at Tang Xiu standing outside, and hurriedly reported, “Boss, Miss Zhang is still waiting for you.”

Tang Xiu nodded in response at his report. He strode to enter the room and looked at Zhang Xinya, whose spirit immediately jolted up, whereas Zhang Xiaoyu hurriedly took back her mobile phone. He nodded at them and said, “It’s so late now; you haven’t gone back to rest? We can still talk tomorrow if there’s time for that.”

Zhang Xinya strode to greet Tang Xiu, shaking her head and said, “I’m not tired; I wanted to see you quickly. I learned from Zhenglin that you came to Qinglin County specifically to buy a very important herb, right?”

“There’s a medicinal herb I want to buy indeed, but I didn’t expect that you’d come here too.” Tang Xiu nodded and said, “Anyways, I just saw two suspicious guys nearby when I came in. Are they your bodyguards?”

“The company did give me two bodyguards to follow me closely. But they won’t appear unless I’m in danger,” said Zhang Xinya.

“I see. But it’s too late now. Since we already met, go back and have some rest!” Tang Xiu nodded and said, “Let’s talk tomorrow if you have something to say.”

“…”

Zhang Xinya’s eyes turned dark. Tang Xiu’s intention to drive her away was obvious and it made her feel a bit upset inside. Tang Xiu didn’t hide his whereabouts when she called him and she felt that he was no longer repelling her. But now, the feeling of rejection she felt from him was much more intense.

She didn’t leave and looked at Tang Xiu instead, “Don’t tell me you don’t like to see me that much?”

“It’s not that I don’t like to see you, but I just don’t want to see you,” said Tang Xiu. “You are a famous big star and the man who appears with you is bound to be noticed and paid attention to by others, thus creating a misunderstanding. You also know that I already have a girlfriend and we’ll get married in the future, so I don’t want to make her misunderstand things.”

In that instant, Zhang Xinya felt a shearing and stabbing pain in her heart. She couldn’t care less about being misunderstood by others, but looking at the apathetic and indifferent look on Tang Xiu’s face, she really wanted to tell him that she loved him so much even if he already had a girlfriend.

However, she swallowed back those words as they reached her mouth because Tang Xiu still cared about the idea even if she didn’t.

Such a situation made her really have no face to express the feelings she had inside.

Zhang Xiaoyu, who stood nearby, looked at Zhang Xinya’s upset expression along with the tears that were looming in her eyes. She immediately paced forward and loudly said, “Mr. Tang, this may be our first meeting, but I know my big sister likes you. But why do you want to hurt her heart? Do you know all the things she does all day? She speaks about you, watches your picture in a daze, and even the wallpaper on her mobile screen is you!”

“Shut up!” Though he felt apologetic, at the moment, Tang Xiu steeled his heart and scolded her, “I’m speaking to Zhang Xinya. You have no right to interrupt us.”

“I don’t have the rights to do so, indeed. But I’m angry to see my sister distressed!” Retorted back Zhang Xiaoyu angrily. “Aren’t you too cruel a man? My Sis has been waiting for you for five-plus hours here, and you drive her away right as you come back. You really have no heart!”

“Whether I’m unfeeling or not is not yours to judge,” snorted Tang Xiu and coldly said, “Leave this room immediately, else don’t blame me for throwing you out forcefully!”

“You…”

Zhang Xiaoyu was still wanting to talk back, but Zhang Xinya stopped her.

Tears were now flowing out of her eyes, but she quickly raised her hand to wipe them off. Her eyes deeply stared at Tang Xiu and she even lifted her hands to gently wipe away the traces of dust from Tang Xiu’s left shoulder, and then softly said, “If you’re tired, then we’ll go back to rest first. You can be at ease that I won’t bring any more trouble to you. Although you don’t want to accept me, my heart will still be satisfied as long as I can still see you from afar.”

After saying that, she turned around and headed to the door while enduring the pain of her broken heart.

While watching her back, Tang Xiu sighed inwardly. It was never his intention to hurt Zhang Xinya’s heart. Yet, it was something he must do. It was just like what her sister, Zhang Xinyue, said. He couldn’t give her happiness in life, so why should he hold her up? Maybe in the future, she would run into a much better man who could love her dearly.

As the women left, the next room’s door opened and Long Zhenglin stared at Tang Xiu with disbelief, though his eyes were still filled with sleepiness.

“Aren’t you… way too cruel?”

“You see, it’s not half bad for you being a bystander,” said Tang Xiu lightly.