Chapter 158: 158

158 "Why didn't Second Granduncle say it earlier!"

Tushan Jiu raised her cup and took a sip of red wine.

Lu Ze Yuan smiled and said, "Xiao Yan, you don't know, I've also been covered by my sister-in-law, feeling totally safe!"

Kang Yan downed the drink in his cup, then responded to Lu Ze Yuan's words, "It really does feel safe!"

He poured himself a second cup, then turned to Qi Chen and said, "Minister Brother, I toast you with this second cup. Thank you for looking after me since I joined the army, and if it weren't for you getting me credit for a knife, I probably couldn't have stayed in the unit. I, Kang Yan, owe you a big favor!"

Qi Chen snorted, clinked his cup against his, a smile playing on his lips as he said, "Affected!" then downed the white wine in one gulp.

Kang Yan downed two cups in a row and got flushed.

He poured a third cup, saying, "Finally, this third cup I toast to Brother Yuan and Brother Yu. Thank you for truly treating me as a friend—it's all in the wine. I'll finish it; you do as you like."

After finishing that cup, Kang Yan's face and neck turned red, his gaze a little hazy.

Qi Chen glanced at him, then shook his head helplessly, silently counting in his heart: three, two, one.

As soon as his heart settled, he heard a "bang!"

Tushan Jiu, who was earnestly eating the vegetables Xie Shiyu had picked for her, was startled by the sound, looked up, and saw Kang Yan slumped over the table.

She looked at Xie Shiyu; his expression was quite normal.

She then glanced at Lu Ze Yuan, who raised an eyebrow, accustomed to it.

Finally, when she looked at Qi Chen, he had already skillfully lifted the person onto the sofa.

Noticing Tushan Jiu's bewildered gaze, Xie Shiyu explained to her, "Xiao Yan passes out after one cup; today he's really overperforming."

Tushan Jiu understood, then lowered her head and continued eating.

What was originally a gathering of five people ended up with only four.

Although Qi Chen was also on leave, he still adhered to military regulations and didn't drink much.

When the meal was about to end, he also settled the bill with Tushan Jiu.

Tushan Jiu sensed that a page had opened up in the ledger; she was overjoyed.

The feast ended with host and guest satisfied; only Kang Yan was asleep, a smile on his lips, looking extremely happy.

That night, after returning to the old residence and being affectionate with Xie Shiyu for a while, she went back to her room to light the summoning incense.

This year's Credit Knife KPI is completed; I must definitely tell my grandfather.

But as soon as Tushan Tu arrived, his face looked extremely grim.

Tushan Jiu asked him, "Who provoked you?"

"I just heard that spirit mediums have appeared, and you've come up against them?" Tushan Tu, who had gone with his old partner to sightsee on the River of Forgetfulness these past few days, came back to hear about a female ghost named Chang Mingxi, whose parents had pawned something with the spirit medium.

That spirit medium, when he was alive, would always inquire about their whereabouts whenever he went out to buy on credit.

As a result, after all those years he still never managed to find out.

If you try to calculate it, don't bother—because the cursed spirit medium and the credit buyers have too deep a grudge, so they can't be figured out.

I also don't know where these people have been hiding; now they suddenly appear, surely with ill intent!

Tushan Jiu nodded, "Yeah, we've crossed paths."

"Then why didn't you tell us!" Tushan Tu said angrily.

Tushan Jiu said, "They haven't surfaced yet; telling you would be useless. Can you figure it out?"

Tushan Tu: "......"

"Oh, don't worry, old sir—I'm not stupid. When the time comes to fight, I'll surely say, 'Ancestors above,' and summon you all."

Tushan Tu: "No need to summon all the ancestors, really."

The Tushan family's eighteen generations of ancestors alone number 530,000.

That's just the main line; we haven't even counted the branches.

Discarding those who chose reincarnation, even half of that number remains.

That line of Tushan Jiu's, "Ancestors above," could at least summon 200,000.

Oh, no, that's 200,000 ghosts.

Seeing Tushan Tu's expression less grim, Tushan Jiu smiled and said, "Do you still think this is a big deal? Once they show their tails, we just catch them—no need to worry needlessly."

Tushan Tu looked at her and instructed, "Fine, just keep it in mind, but they'll surely rely on your curse to keep provoking us—like flies that don't bite but annoy, a bit irritating."

Tushan Jiu neither agreed nor disagreed.

In the metaphysical world, which sect doesn't have some signature skill or secret technique?

Back then, their spirit medium was defeated by the credit buyers; all their trump cards were revealed, so naturally the sects know their weaknesses.

They vanished without a sound for decades, and no one knows what they've been plotting.

Now, if they want to regain a foothold in the metaphysical world, they definitely need new trump cards.

However, given their current actions, she feels they don't seem to want to properly return to the metaphysical world.

They seem to have a bit of an ambition to be the "big boss"?

But no matter what, their goals surely include her, the Tushan family's sole heir.

Tushan Tu suddenly remembered and asked her, "By the way, why did you summon me up here?"

"???" Tushan Jiu thought for a moment, then recalled: "Ah, I just wanted to tell you that I've completed this year's KPI."

Tushan Tu: "Done is fine, but you still need to make a trip to Yun Shi."

"What for in Yun Shi?" Tushan Jiu wondered.

"Haven't you forgotten again? On that white ledger in your Second Granduncle's house, the old He family in the village behind our Hou Shan is about to die out—hurry up and collect the debt, or else the ledger will go blank and the Tushan family will be left with only you; if you don't suffer misfortune, who will?"

Tushan Jiu stared blankly for a while, then let out a wail: "Ah!"

"Why didn't Second Granduncle say it earlier!"

"Who let you be so careless? Don't you know to occasionally open the ledger and check?"

"......" Tushan Jiu's smiling face.

She wants to get married again, what's going on?

After the Tushan disciple left, she sensed the ledger a bit, then took it out and turned to that page.

That knife was loaned out by her the year she was just born.

It was He Chenggong who voluntarily came to loan it.

The words left by his second elder uncle were: when his family line dies out, go collect the debt.

The prophecy has come true; she indeed should go collect the debt.

However, their old He family is no longer just small villagers in Yun Shi.

Oh, no, to be precise, the old He family back then wasn't any small villagers either.

They only went to stay in that small village for a while to avoid disaster.

The He family's hidden virtue has been exhausted, naturally cutting off the incense and ending the line.

After all, the business their ancestors engaged in—although he halfway quit in his generation—how could he end up any better?

Those who do such things, once involved, are involved; even if they rein in at the precipice, it's of no use.