Volume One, Chapter 95: The Onlookers' Brigade

“Did I step through the wrong portal? Why is it a pretty young lady?”

“That’s right, it’s her! Zhiqiu is a woman!”

Qin Yu looked at the dazed comments scrolling across the screen and raised a hand in greeting. “Hi, everyone who just came into the stream. Hello there~”

Her white teeth showed faintly, her eyes curved into crescents, and her smile was sweet and obedient, almost endearing.

“Why are you spreading rumors about Green Breeze Temple?”

“Apologize to Green Breeze Temple now! We’ll let it go since you’re a woman.”

“Say sorry, girl! Green Breeze Temple is not someone you can afford to offend.”

Qin Yu’s smile froze. She straightened her back and said, word by word, with unyielding resolve, “An apology is impossible.”

“???”

“Tsk, look at this era. Even scammers can be this brazen now? Impressive.”

“Why are you so shameless? Do you have to wait until Green Breeze Temple sends you a lawyer’s letter before you start crying?”

Qin Yu gave a cold snort, utterly dismissive. “Who’s going to be crying is still up for debate.”

Many viewers disliked her even more after seeing how arrogant she was, and the comments filled with vicious abuse.

Qin Yu merely smiled and let it pass, paying them no mind.

“Did everyone hear the latest statement from Master Falling Blossoms? He said Zhiqiu killed those people because she wanted to keep the Luo family’s antiques for herself.”

“Bullshit! The streamer was purifying reclaimed antiques. She was going to help Luo Tianshang donate them to the museum!”

“I happen to work at a museum. How come I’ve never heard of anyone donating antiques?”

“Does purification not take time? Don’t accuse people so casually!”

“You murderous thief! Go die!”

“Brothers and sisters, don’t be afraid! I’ve already called the police! She can just wait to face the law!”

Before Qin Yu could say anything, she heard the rapid clatter of keys behind her.

But even if Lu Hualing had the eloquence to stand against a crowd, that was only because he had one mouth. The other side had ten thousand mouths……

Qin Yu drew in a breath and stared at a comment that cursed her ancestors for eighteen generations, her brows knitting together.

“To the friend called Loving Family, please mind your tongue. Your son is already doomed to be single for life because of you. Do you also want your daughter to never marry?”

Loving Family: “You murderer, and you still dare curse me and my family! Have you no shame?”

Qin Yu sneered, sending chills down the spine of the person behind the screen.

“Whether I’m cursing you is something you know best.”

Whether that person had truly listened or not, they left the stream either way.

Qin Yu clapped her hands. One down, next!

“To the friend called Serious Zhouzhou, I advise you to shut up now! Otherwise, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

Serious Zhouzhou: “Do you take me for a three-year-old child?”

Serious Zhouzhou: “First, I’m not married. Second, I don’t have children. You can’t threaten me!”

Seeing that Qin Yu only shook her head slightly and said nothing, Serious Zhouzhou continued to stir the crowd. “Everyone, don’t be fooled by this scammer. He’s just trying to scare us! Don’t be afraid. We have Green Breeze Temple behind us! If anything bad really happens, Green Breeze Temple will definitely help us solve it!”

Qin Yu gave a soft laugh, mocking his ignorance and stupidity.

But very quickly, this Serious Zhouzhou was no longer able to say another word.

A rival in the company had taken screenshots of his extreme and inappropriate remarks in Qin Yu’s livestream and sent them to the HR department. Fearing it might bring the company a bad reputation, HR fired him on the spot.

Serious Zhouzhou stared at the dismissal notice from the company, then looked up at Qin Yu’s livestream, unable to speak for a long time.

Qin Yu looked coldly at the barrage of insults. From beginning to end, she never bothered to defend herself.

Instead, she randomly selected a viewer from the livestream and very “kindly” gave them a reading.

This move delighted her fans the most.

One earth-shattering scandal after another left them unable to close their mouths.

Fan 1: “As expected, men can’t be too handsome. Otherwise, not only are they likely to have girlfriends, they’re also likely to have boyfriends!”

Fan 2: “Hahahahaha, this girl looks so innocent, and yet she turns out to be such a player. Even funnier, she doesn’t even know who the father of the baby in her belly is! That’s wild!”

Fan 3: “……”

Fan 4: “……”

The popularity of Qin Yu’s livestream did not drop at all.

So much so that the Bud Sprout platform directly pushed her stream onto the trending page.

And the new viewers who came in every one had a scandal to feast on the moment they entered, reluctant to leave.

After talking herself dry, Qin Yu subconsciously reached out, and a cup of throat-soothing tea appeared there.

Lu Hualing was practically about to bow down in admiration. He silently mouthed: “Amazing!”

Qin Yu took a sip, moistening her throat, then hooked a finger at the screen with a look that said bring it on. “Anyone else want to curse me? Come at me together.”

“……”

“Can’t outcurse her, and don’t dare.”

“Good heavens, is this even a human being?”

“Are there still any iron-headed fools in the livestream? No, enthusiastic netizens, give us all another scandal to chew on!”

“Hahahahaha, my wife is mighty!”

“As expected of my Master Zhiqiu. I bow to you!”

“Stop while you can. She’s a woman you cannot afford to offend!”

“@Green Breeze Temple, Master, please stand up for us! This demon woman cursed us!”

“@Master Falling Blossoms, Master, come out and crush her!”

“@Master Falling Blossoms”

“@Green Breeze Temple”

Qin Yu drank tea and lifted her chin at the screen, her arrogance utterly unhidden.

“My wife looks so good even like this~”

“What wife? You’re lesbians?”

“I want to, but my wife won’t let me……”

Qin Yu’s eyelids twitched hard at the beastly comments filling the chat.

On the other side of the screen:

“Senior brother, that girl was clearly showing off to us just now! No! I’m going to meet her myself!”

The man addressed as senior brother wore a Taoist robe like Falling Blossoms, though he looked much older.

He glared at his hot-tempered junior disciple, exasperated beyond measure. “What are you rushing for? Just watch!”

The words had barely fallen when there was movement on Qin Yu’s stream.

“We’re from the Imperial City police station. We received a public report. You’re suspected in a murder case, so come with us.”

“Hahahahaha, evil people will always meet their match! Thanks to our police officers! Hurry and take this demon woman away.”

“Exactly, exactly. Take this murderer away already.”

“What are you barking about like dogs? My wife is only going to cooperate with the investigation. No one said she’s the murderer! Clean up your filthy mouths. Haven’t you been taught a lesson enough by my wife?”

“Right! I still remember your wife cheated on three people! Green-horned husband!”

“!!!”

Qin Yu looked at the screen just in time to see the comments defending her.

Her heart softened.

She walked unhurriedly up to the camera. “I’ll be back.”

With that, she cut the livestream.

As Qin Yu was taken away, Lu Hualing paced anxiously back and forth in the hotel.

He had wanted to step forward and help just now, but Qin Yu had stopped him with a look.

After thinking it over for a long time, he made a phone call.

—

Outside the police station.

Qi Huairou got out of the car with Su Jin, but when she saw the low-key yet luxurious Bugatti Veyron parked at the entrance, she froze in place.

Su Jin frowned. “Rourou, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Let’s go in.”

Though her heart gave a jolt, Qi Huairou comforted herself that it must be a coincidence.

“Hello, we are Qin Yu’s parents. We’ve come to act as guarantors for her. May I ask where she is?”

The young female officer on duty returned their documents. “Sorry, someone has already posted bail for her.”

As she spoke, she pointed to the tall, imposing man not far away. “There, that Mr. Lu did it. The procedure has already been completed. Qin Yu should be out in no time.”

The two of them followed the direction she indicated, and just then Lu Jinyuan also sensed a glance. He looked up, and six eyes met.

Su Jin was stunned.

Wasn’t this the notoriously eccentric CEO of the Lu Group?

How did Yu Yu know him? And why had he come forward to guarantee her release?

Qi Huairou guessed that the man behind Qin Yu was not simple, but she had not expected him to be someone of such stature. Uneasily, she tugged at Su Jin’s sleeve.

“A Jin, at this point, I won’t hide it from you anymore. Back then, Yu Yu abandoned us for this man.”

“What?”

Su Jin had only woken up after hearing Qi Huairou say that the two had argued, and that was why Yu Yu ran away from home.

Thinking of the male voice that answered the phone when he had called Yu Yu last time, Su Jin felt a surge of anger rise straight to his head.

The daughter he had finally found, the one he had held in the palm of his hand for only a few days, had been deceived away by some outsider’s wild boy?

Ignoring Qi Huairou’s attempts to stop him, Su Jin strode over fiercely. “Lu Jinyuan, what do you want?”

Lu Jinyuan leaned against the wall, lazily turning the prayer beads in his hand.

Hearing Su Jin address him by full name, he slowly lifted his eyes.

Those pitch-black eyes, bottomless and cold, made one’s blood run cold.

With just one glance, Su Jin felt a crushing pressure come down from above his head.

He hid his expression without a trace, then slightly turned and told Qi Huairou, “Rourou, go ask around and see how Yu Yu is doing now. I’ll talk to Lu Jinyuan alone.”

Qi Huairou was worried at first, but seeing the resolve in Su Jin’s eyes, she could only cast him a concerned look before leaving.

Lu Jinyuan watched Su Jin walk toward him as if marching to his death and found it a little amusing. “Putting on this heavy, grieving-father act now—who exactly are you trying to fool?”

Su Jin’s expression twitched. Lu Jinyuan’s words were like scattering sea salt over his heart, the pain making his organs seize violently.

“If you hadn’t used sweet words to deceive our Yu Yu, would she have run away from home?”

Lu Jinyuan turned his head slightly, organizing his thoughts. Suddenly understanding something, he gave a soft scoff. “So, you think Qin Yu’s leaving was because of me?”

Su Jin’s face darkened. “My daughter grew up in the mountains and has a simple heart. If it wasn’t you deceiving her, was it she who decided to leave on her own?”

Looking at Su Jin’s genuinely angry face, Lu Jinyuan felt a faint bitterness in his chest.

He had indeed had such thoughts, but Qin Yu simply had no awakening to matters of love between men and women.

He wanted to abduct her, but she would not be abducted.

“She did not leave because of my influence.”

Lu Jinyuan spoke each word with seriousness.

Su Jin was half convinced, half doubtful.

Lu Jinyuan’s eyes turned cold, carrying a touch of killing intent. “I, Lu Jinyuan, am not so low as to tell that kind of lie.”

If it was not because of Lu Jinyuan, then Rourou must have hidden something else from him.

Su Jin rose to his feet, and Lu Jinyuan’s voice came from behind him.

“If you cannot give Qin Yu a love and protection built on complete trust, then ending things here is the best outcome.”

“When she needed a father’s and mother’s love most, you were not there. So perhaps, not disturbing her is the best love you can offer her now.”

Lu Jinyuan had investigated the Su family and knew they also had an adopted daughter.

Qin Yu’s character would certainly not allow her to quarrel with that adopted daughter, but not quarreling did not mean she would not be hurt.

Su Jin stood frozen in place, his heart twitching with indescribable pain.

He did not turn back, only stiffened his spine in stubbornness. “This is my Su family’s own business, so there’s no need for Mr. Lu to trouble himself!”

Qi Huairou was waiting around the corner. When she saw Su Jin come out, she hurried over at once.

“How was it? What did Lu Jinyuan say?”

Looking at the wife he had lived with for decades, Su Jin hesitated, but still asked, “Rourou, are you hiding something from me?”

Qi Huairou’s eyes flickered away. “I……”

“Rourou, after so many years as husband and wife, we’re already one. Your mistakes are, to some extent, my mistakes too. Tell me, and we’ll bear it together, all right?”

Qi Huairou’s eyes reddened. At last, she could pour out everything that had weighed on her heart these past days, one word at a time.

“I was panicked and confused then. I didn’t believe our Yu Yu was that kind of girl! I just wanted him to leave that man!”

Su Jin looked at her in disappointment. “Rourou, did you ever truly understand Yu Yu?”

Qi Huairou could not say anything. She could only keep crying.

“Do you know why I learned today that Yu Yu had come to the police station? It was Uncle Lin who told me! Yu Yu is a mystic livestreamer. After leaving the Su family, she began reading fortunes and catching ghosts for people in her livestream……”

Qi Huairou stared at him in shock, unable to speak.

“So when Yu Yu talked about ‘doing business,’ you mean……”

Su Jin nodded with deep pain. “It was just helping people catch ghosts and see things.”

His heart hurt even more.

He thought of Qin Yu during those days in the Su family.

She always looked so obedient and sensible, doing her best to match their pace of life; as for them, not a single one of them had wanted to truly understand her……

They had personally pushed Yu Yu out themselves!

Lu Jinyuan’s words kept replaying in his mind, and Su Jin felt as though his heart were bleeding.

Qi Huairou shook her head in remorse. “It’s all my fault. I was wrong. I’ll explain it to Yu Yu right now! I’ll bring Yu Yu back!”

Su Jin grabbed Qi Huairou’s arm and shook his head. “Rourou, let her go. Yu Yu has her own mission to complete.”

Qi Huairou’s heart ached unbearably. “But…… but she’s the flesh and blood I finally found again……”

Su Jin steadied her swaying body. How could he not be in pain?

But for Yu Yu, the vast sky and boundless sea were her true home.