CH 1

The spring sun shone through the windows of the large tearoom. Feng Yi looked at the pile of papers in front of him, his face tense as drops of sweat trickled down his forehead. An hour ago, he was a hardworking young man who was in trouble because of his associate’s betrayal, and he owed a huge debt. But now…

Feng Yi glanced at the old man across the table. From his clothes to his hair, everything was meticulous like a gentleman of old. He had a smile on his face, and even the curve of the corners of his mouth seemed to be well measured; any higher would look too deliberate, any lower would look unfriendly. It was as if what was placed on the table was just a restaurant menu instead of a property transfer agreement worth over fourteen million USD.

When Feng Yi was in desperate trouble, this old man appeared in front of him and told him that he had a great-aunt he had never met who had recently died and left him a huge inheritance. As an adult who had just experienced the blows of society, Feng Yi didn’t believe that money could grow on trees and thought it was too coincidental! So when he first encountered the matter, the first thought in Feng Yi’s mind was—

Fucking liar!

But now, facing the property transfer agreement on the table, Feng Yi was about two-thirds of the way to believing it. Of course, there were also three lawyers sitting not far away. These three were famous lawyers in this city. One could find a lot of information about them on the Internet, and Feng Yi had some brief dealings with one of them previously.

Why did he not fully believe it?

What was placed in front of him was a property transfer agreement instead of a will. According to the old butler, the aunt, whom Feng Yi had never met, gave the part of the property that was divided and left to him directly to the old butler. The old butler would then transfer these properties to Feng Yi in batches. There was no time limit or specific amount.

Such a method of operation seemed very confusing to Feng Yi. He couldn’t understand why the great aunt would give away her inheritance like this. Was the old butler that trustworthy? Moreso than her own children? If it had been one of her children or grandchildren, he could understand it, after all, they were somewhat related by blood. But an old butler?

And the first batch that the old butler wanted to transfer to Feng Yi was fourteen million. The premise was that Feng Yi had to do one thing – go to the Feng Family Ancestral Home and write his own name in the genealogy record.

Setting aside the “Feng Family Ancestral Home”, which Feng Yi had never heard of…

“Genealogy record”?

Such a thing still existed in this modern age? Besides, just by finding the ancestral home and writing his name, he would get fourteen million, wasn’t that too easy?

He didn’t believe it. But fourteen million… Considering that he was in debt right now, he could really use it.

After a while, Feng Yi struggled to take his eyes off the paper and wiped the sweat from his hands on his pants. “…I need to use the restroom.

The old man sitting across from him smiled understandingly and gave a slight nod. “Please go ahead.”

Feng Yi walked stiffly out of the tearoom. Once outside, he lost all his composure and became short of breath. He quickly walked into the bathroom, closed the door, rushed to the sink, turned on the faucet, and splashed cold water on his face.

The cold water did not wake him. Great, so it wasn’t a dream. Feng Yi looked at himself in the mirror.

Sleepless nights and the pressure of debt had prevented him from resting for a long time. His bloodshot eyes turned a terrifying scarlet red under the emotional stimulation. After splashing water on his face again and hastily drying his hands, Feng Yi took out his phone from his pocket. The more than ten missed calls displayed on the screen were all payment reminders. Ignoring them, Feng Yi opened the address book and looked at the two phone numbers listed there. He hadn’t dialed these two phone numbers since he left the Feng family five years ago. After some hesitation, he dialed one of them. It rang for a long time and no one answered. He tried the other one, and it cut off after two beeps.

Unsurprising.

Feng Yi exhaled lightly. It was better to rely on himself!

He put the phone back in his pocket. Splashing his face with cold water once more, he cleaned himself up, and returned to the tearoom.

His overheated brain had cooled a bit. A closer listen would reveal the slight tremble in his voice, but he didn’t stutter as he had before. When facing the old butler, his smile also became more natural. Actually, he was still in a confused state of mind, but he had to show composure on the surface.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“It’s no problem.” The old butler looked at Feng Yi’s current state, and his smile deepened. “Have you thought about it?”

“Yes. After thinking calmly for a while, I still have a lot of doubts. The timing of your appearance is quite coincidental, I almost suspect that you did it on purpose.” Feng Yi said tentatively.

“No, I originally planned to observe you for one to two years. I started following you last month, and this is the second month. After I found out that you were in a lot of trouble, I contacted you in advance.” The old butler calmly explained.

Feng Yi didn’t know if the words were true or not, so he decided to ask about the aunt he had never met.

The old butler gave him a simple explanation.

Feng Yi learned that his aunt went abroad a long time ago and had children. Her main focus was developing abroad, but she also had properties inland. When the property was divided, she left Feng Yi a part of it. After her death, she was also buried abroad. Feng Yi wanted to go abroad to pay his respects.

And that was it. The old butler didn’t want to say anything more.

“The Feng family is a large clan. There are so many of my generation here, why did she choose me?” Feng Yi asked.

The old butler looked at him with a smile on his face, as if he was looking at a kitten that had just been picked up from the side of the road. “Madam Feng said, your appearance is the most pleasing.”

Feng Yi touched his V-shaped face. “She has good eyesight!”

It was the first time he heard an old man tell him he was cute! He had heard a lot of things like he looked “fickle in love and unlucky”, but to be praised for having a “pleasing appearance” was quite surprising.

Feng Yi also thought that he was quite handsome. In the entertainment world, there were many celebrities with V-shaped faces that were much sharper than his. However, the elders seemed to prefer the traditional “lucky face” or a face that looked more stable and upright.

Anyway…

No matter what his face looked like, good looks were all that mattered!

Feng Yi wasn’t completely narcissistic.

When he was a freshman, he went to a barbershop. The manager personally asked him for a partnership. He also often received invitations to events from various clubs at school. In his sophomore year, he expanded the scope of his partnerships to earn money for school and buy a house for himself. Barbershops, photography studios, clothing accessory stores, and even the largest hotpot restaurant on the commercial street outside the school, all asked him to take pictures for advertising billboards. In the second semester of his junior year, he teamed up with someone to open a small work studio. He no longer had to work alone. He saved enough money to buy his first apartment. Among his peers, he was considered a winner in life. In his senior year, he was lucky enough to squeeze into a web drama crew, playing the minor role of a “snake spirit”. Unexpectedly, he got even luckier later! Earlier this year, the online drama went viral. He also used this character to create a sense of presence on the Internet and could be considered to have one foot on the edge of the entertainment circle.

Everything was going well and his career was on the rise. He planned to take advantage of the situation to enter the entertainment circle to make some money. In an unexpected turn of events, he was betrayed at a critical moment — his associate caused a series of accidents and then ran away with the money.

Feng Yi was left alone to deal with angry partners, massive liquidated damages, and various kinds of compensation. Therefore, given he was currently in heavy debt, he really needed the money urgently.

If it weren’t for the difficult situation, even if fourteen million was put in front of him, he would think twice. His experience had taught him not to be too naïve. If he didn’t have the ability to bear it, even if money fell from the sky, he would be crushed to death.

Because he had a pleasing appearance, she left him a large sum of money?

Who were they trying to fool!

Fourteen million… How big was the pit waiting for him behind it!

But even though he knew that there was a pit, he still had to step into it.

Regardless of his inner complaints, Feng Yi just smiled and continued to ask, “Where is the ancestral home of the Feng family? Is it the century-old villa in Yangcheng?”

The old butler chuckled, as if dismissing the hundred-year-old villa that Feng Yi was talking about.

“It’s in the outskirts of Yangcheng, in the Mount Xiaofeng.”

As expected, Feng Yi had never heard of it. He was born and raised in Yangcheng, and he had never left it until he left the Feng family after the college entrance examination. He then came to Rongcheng to attend university, and he never returned to Yangcheng. He had a vague impression of Mount Xiaofeng. But this was the first time hearing that the ancestral home of the Feng family was there.

In front of the old butler, Feng Yi took out his phone and searched for information about Mount Xiaofeng in Yangcheng. He soon fell silent. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, but he hadn’t expected it to be such a challenge.

Mount Xiaofeng was also called Snake Mountain by the locals because there were many snakes there. When he saw the pictures on the Internet, he got goosebumps all over his body. Feng Yi hated snakes, but in order to overcome this difficulty, what did it matter? Besides, most of the snakes in Mount Xiaofeng were non-venomous king ratsnakes, and there was an isolation zone for them.

“Is the ancestral home guarded?” Feng Yi asked.

The old man seemed quite satisfied with Feng Yi’s reaction and smiled slightly. “Of course, someone has to take care of it. But don’t worry, I’ve already informed the guards.”

Feng Yi nodded. If that was the case, the difficulty wasn’t too great.

“I need to clarify something. I left the Feng family after the college entrance exam.” After a pause, Feng Yi added. “I didn’t agree with their ideals.”

As someone who had left the Feng family only to go to the ancestral home of the Feng family to add his name to the genealogy record, it was like a slap in the face. Thinking back to the historical dramas he had watched on television, the difficulty would be extremely hard. Feng Yi had to plan carefully.

The old butler understood Feng Yi’s unspoken concerns and said, “Don’t worry, the genealogy record has nothing to do with the Feng family over there. Back then, Madam Feng placed the genealogy record in the Feng family’s ancestral home, and no one else knew about it.”

Feng Yi raised his eyebrows. That didn’t sound right. The genealogy record placed in the Feng family’s ancestral home had nothing to do with “the Feng family over there”? Was this drawing a line? He wondered whether there was any “separation” conflict between grandpa and great-aunt’s generation.

The old butler sitting across from him handed over a zodiac flower coin.

Feng Yi was no stranger to this kind of jewel-like coin, and he even had one around his neck, having worn it from childhood to adulthood.

On one side of the coin were the twelve earthly branches and the corresponding zodiac signs, and on the other side were the eight divinatory trigrams. In the Feng family, only people born in the Year of the Snake had such a zodiac flower coin.

When Feng Yi took out the flower coin he was wearing, he saw the one that the old butler was originally holding fly out of his hands and stick to his own flower coin. The two coins overlapped, and the patterns on them rotated.

A golden light flashed across the surfaces, dazzling Feng Yi so much that he couldn’t see the patterns on the flower coins clearly. After a faint click, it stopped.

Looking at it again, there was no trace of the overlapping of the two flower coins at all. Compared to before, the thickness of the coins had slightly increased, and the original side with the twelve earthly branches and the zodiac was left with only a snake pattern!

Feng Yi couldn’t control his expression this time. His eyes widened, and he took off the flower coin to take a good look at it, turning it back and forth and even picking at it with his fingers.

It really was two in one!

“This is… new technology?” Feng Yi held up the flower coin, asking the old butler opposite him.

“It’s old technology.” The old butler said. “Take it with you when you go to the ancestral home. It is the key to open the genealogy record.”

“Key?”

Feng Yi realized that maybe this “genealogy record” was different from what he thought.

He had never paid attention to the technology sector, and he didn’t know what amazing technologies existed today. When he heard what the old butler said, he briefly lamented that technology was changing every day. Whether it was new or old technology, as long as it had a shocking effect, it was great.

At least he was shocked.

At the same time, he felt a sharp sense of caution. If such an amazing technology was being used, then things wouldn’t be as easy as they seemed on paper. But he would still sign the contract. For his current situation, this was the best solution.

The old butler left soon after the contract was signed. Before leaving, he left a phone number and asked Feng Yi to contact him if he needed anything.

After the old butler and the lawyers left, Feng Yi sat alone in the tearoom for a while. He had to calm down before he left, otherwise, if he was too distracted while driving, he could easily get into an accident.

But as soon as he left the shop and felt the cool breeze, Feng Yi suddenly stopped and remembered something. He slapped his forehead.

“I forgot the most important thing!”

He quickly took out his phone to send a message to the number he had just saved.

[Are you there?]

[Can you lend me a little money first?]