Chapter 439: Everyone's Happy

I came to in a headache so severe it made me want to commit suicide; upon waking, I discovered I was lying on a hospital bed, with people crowding nearly all four sides.

Apart from Yuan Qiu, Pangzi, and QingSongShu, Chen Zheng, Dong Yumin, and a person completely wrapped in bandages were also present.

The first to speak was Pangzi, who was biting into an apple. Seeing me wake up, Pangzi, mouth full of apple, said indistinctly: "I told you not to learn from me—you've slept for five days and five nights, even more than a pig."

Although his tone was teasing, his expression could not hide his fatigue and worry.

I twitched the corner of my mouth, gave a weak smile, then shifted my gaze to the others.

Although they had only been unconscious for a few days, Chen Zheng and Dong Yumin seemed like different people—radiant all over, as if reborn; the sickly pallor had vanished from Dong Yumin's face. And Chen Zheng, aside from his hair turning black again, even while I lay in the hospital bed I could feel the steady qi within him.

Obviously, thanks to QingSongShu's treatment, they had all recovered! It's a pity that I had been unconscious these past days, missing this perilous process.

"By the way, how is Shishi?" I slapped my forehead, as if recalling that before I passed out, Pangzi had called me.

"Oh, you mean our adopted daughter? She's at our place now," Dong Yumin said, linking arms with Chen Zheng, her face full of happiness.

Her words left me dazed for a moment, even completely bewildered. When did Shishi become their adopted daughter?

Seeing me lying on the bed, dazed and at a loss, Yuan Qiu, amidst the joyful atmosphere, told me the whole story.

During the days I was unconscious, quite a few things happened. First, a Yin Master prepared to forcibly possess little Shishi, injuring Granny Hong in the process.

After Pangzi's injuries healed, he arrived just in time; he fought the Yin Master who was just a step away from attaining the Yin God fruit position, the battle being indecisive until the next day, when QingSongShu leapt forward, angrily struck, and finally drove that stubborn Yin Master away.

When leaving Granny Hong behind, I had already worried that Shishi might be harassed by ordinary wandering spirits, so I set up a spirit tablet at her home—though it was a knockoff—but it could still deter ordinary wandering ghosts.

After all, possessing a spirit tablet and a talisman symbolizes being invested by the netherworld and having attained the Yin God fruit position; ordinary wandering spirits dare not offend it, and no one would be foolish enough to test its authenticity.

But, despite all my calculations, I always overlooked one thing: among wandering spirits and Yin Gods there exists a type of spiritual entity that straddles both realms.

Such entities are Yin Masters; after death, having accumulated merit, they are just one step away from attaining the Yin God fruit position. Because they were Daoists in life, their abilities are also considerably greater than those of ordinary netherworld-employed Yin officers and Yin Gods.

Given Shishi's constitution, it's no surprise that these Yin Masters would risk taboo to drive away the Yin Gods; the prospect of survival is too tempting for them, and even if they cannot gain merit, they will not let slip any chance to be reborn as humans.

In short, it all happened because they failed to secure a lucky omen and establish a contract.

I was sighing when Pangzi laughed and told me that, during the days I was unconscious, they had already taken care of everything.

First, QingSongShu used his last Eight Treasure Purple Gold Burst to cure Shishi's Spirit-Aperture blockage. Then, the obedient Shishi willingly took Granny Hong as her teacher, making the old water ghost who had spent half her life eating pond water so happy her eyes could barely see.

In Cantonese slang, this is described as "laughing so hard you see teeth but not eyes."

Of course, this isn't the only joyful thing. Perhaps it was fate, but Dong Yumin and Shishi actually fell in love at first sight……

Well, that description isn't quite fitting. More accurately, the older and the younger felt an immediate kinship.

From the moment Dong Yumin first saw Shishi, maternal love welled up uncontrollably. Shishi's pitiful appearance moved Dong Yumin to tears, and she cried for well over half an hour.

What's strange is that Shishi, who usually fiercely resists strangers, actually let Dong Yumin hold her like that, and moreover, she sensibly fetched a tissue to wipe Dong Yumin's tears dry.

Even more remarkably, Shishi, who hadn't spoken in years, actually said to Dong Yumin the first words of her life.

"Don't…… cry"

Although this sentence only has three words, and because she hadn't spoken for years her enunciation isn't clear and her voice isn't melodious, still it made Granny Zhao overjoyed, and left Pangzi standing nearby dazed for a while.

Originally Pangzi and QingSongShu thought that even if the Purple Gold Burst cured Shishi's ailment, according to their estimate she would need at least a year or so to adapt before speaking like a normal person.

After all, by common sense, anyone who hasn't spoken for over ten years would have a curled tongue and needs time to readjust.

Yet Shishi, who had resisted strangers and hadn't uttered a word in nearly ten years, at the moment she saw Dong Yumin opened the mouth that had stayed shut and silent for a decade.

This made Pangzi marvel at the wonder of worldly affairs; perhaps it's just fate.

Afterward, Chen Zheng, who had no sons or daughters, directly adopted Shishi as his foster daughter and also took in Granny Zhao.

With Chen Zheng raising these two ill-fated granddaughters, their latter half of life finally had a proper settlement, no longer needing to endure a life of constant displacement and irregular meals…… All this seems like a perfect ending.

"Sigh..." Amidst this joyful atmosphere, Fan Wuchang suddenly let out a meaningful sigh.

"Old Fan, what are you doing? Aren't you happy?"

Fan Wuchang gazed at everyone, drew out the ending, and let out another long sigh; in his sigh one could see his sorrow over life's great ups and downs, its twists and steep falls.

"I'm just happy to see Brother Zheng and his wife doing well! Everyone's safe, I feel glad! I'm sighing over the events of this period, which almost equal half a lifetime of my own adventures."

Everyone also silently felt the same; then Pangzi took a deep breath, stared oddly at Fan Wuchang, and pretended to be mysterious: "I just knew……"

Everyone was a bit curious about Pangzi's expression—what did he know? It seemed like a huge, earth-shattering secret.

"I just knew you had designs on Brother Zheng—from the day I first saw you, I knew you'd been secretly in love with him and never let go. Now that his wife is healed and the lovers have finally united, you're instead feeling heartbroken and dejected." Pangzi said proudly.

Everyone: "……"

Including QingSongShu, everyone had black lines across their foreheads, looking at Pangzi speechless.

Fan Wuchang's face flushed red as he roared at Pangzi, declaring he would fight a life-or-death battle in which one of them must fall, to clear his name.

In response, Pangzi flirtatiously flicked his hair—less than two inches long—beckoned Fan Wuchang with a finger, and without thinking directly taunted: "Come on, I won't run, and I'll let you have one hand and two feet."

Fan Wuchang's face flushed red with anger; the bandages wrapped around his body rose and fell with his chest, like a leaking tire being inflated and deflated by the atmosphere, very rhythmic.

Finally, Fan Wuchang glanced at the bandages around him, sighed helplessly, and then the wise Fan Wuchang made a very smart decision: he chose not to fight Pangzi head-on, but silently used his will and gaze to kill Pangzi from afar.

Faced with Fan Wuchang's gritting-teeth stare, Pangzi not only seemed oblivious to death, but also lowered his head in dejection, stroking his forehead which had no bangs, his weathered eyes gazing straight at the heavens.

Pangzi, now in the state of a lonely master, sighed desolately while gazing at the ceiling: "In my life I seek only one defeat; I ask the heavens, who can withstand my overlord's aura?" As he spoke, he propped the iron rod from the next bed on his shoulder…… If all went well, he was fantasizing himself as Du Gu Qubai, treating the IV stand's iron rod as…… Du Gu Qubai's giant sword.

Everyone…… felt a chill.

QingSongShu, sitting at the head of the bed, was even more angered by Pangzi's appearance; besides his chest heaving more violently, his face had turned a dark bluish-black.

"Get lost……"

An earth-shaking roar echoed through the ward, and in his Tang suit he kicked out a big foot straight.

All that could be seen was a round object presenting a semicircular arc, flying splendidly out of the ward, landing with hands and feet on the ground and buttocks pointing upward.

The overlord's aura…… at this moment completely turned into turtle aura.