The two great beauties bickered and roughhoused all the way, their stunning appearances drawing countless gazes.
Walking behind them, I found myself inexplicably thinking of Su Tongyuan. This sister I claimed to detest so much I couldn't bear to look at her—why did her brows always carry a faint trace of sorrow?
With all her wealth, what could possibly make her unhappy? Ling Xi said she had unavoidable hardships, but what kind of hardships could make her neglect us for eleven years? If she had truly cut ties and abandoned us, why secretly send money to our family? Why save me? And why seek me out now?
I can't figure it out, nor can I understand it.
But compared to my former hatred for her, what I want to know now more than ever is what she has been through all these years. And perhaps the answers can only be found through Ling Xi's words.
After reaching the fourth floor, Ling Xi and Lu Zhixia helped me pick out several pairs of warm sneakers, along with socks, a scarf, and gloves. It was not an exaggeration to say I was fully equipped.
Carrying bags of all sizes, I paused when passing the women' section—there, I spotted an incredibly cute pair of pink fluffy snow boots with white rabbit ear designs stitched on them.
Noticing my lingering gaze, Lu Zhixia smiled and suggested, "Return the favor—why not buy a pair for your master?"
I turned to look at Ling Xi, my face flushing as I asked, "Master, would you like them?"
In my eyes, pairing such adorable shoes with Ling Xi in her cartoon pajamas would make her absolutely adorable.
Ling Xi smiled and shook her head: "Tongyuan would probably like them." I pursed my lips in silence.
Lu Zhixia egged on: "If Master doesn't like them, why not buy a pair for your sister? She'd be thrilled."
I was about to walk away, but remembering how much Su Tongyuan had spent on me—even if I didn't consider her my sister, but just a stranger to whom I owed buying thousand gratitude—I really should show some appreciation. With this thought, I checked the-y price tag: Over thirteen hundred yuan. Not too bad. I had twenty thousand yuan from my dad, so was manageable.
"Size thirty-seven," Ling Xi said.
I hummed softly in agreement and asked the sales assistant to bring a pair in size 37.
Ling Xi didn't pay for these shoes herself—as she put it, since these were my gift to Su Tongyuan, her paying would defeat the purpose.
Afterward, Ling Xi and I went on a shopping spree. Candies, chocolates, drinks, snacks—we filled two large shopping carts to the brim. Thankfully, Ling Xi's Mercedes-Benz van had enough space, or I'd have worried about how to transport everything back.
Lu Zhixia walked us all the way to the parking lot, saying reluctantly, "The mall's been hectic during the New Year rush. I'll come visit you guys after the holidays to catch up."
Ling Xi warned, "Stop bringing your little boyfriends to my place. They're all so irresponsible—annoying to look at."
Lu Zhixia burst into wild laughter. "You're just jealous! Jealous that all my boyfriends are handsome and dashing!"
Ling Xi, unable to bother engaging further with the eccentric Lu Zhixia, immediately drove off.
In the car, Ling Xi told me that the Lu family was one of the top ten wealthiest families in Jingdu. Their chain shopping malls spanned every city across Huaxia. As the most cherished granddaughter of the Lu family's patriarch, Lu Zhixia had begun overseeing the family's business ventures as early as her freshman year of college. However, her free-spirited nature and unconventional demeanor made it impossible for her to conform to the social climbing and scheming of the business world.
"So even though the patriarch of the Lu family had strongly urged her to learn the ways of business from her elders so she could eventually take over the vast Lu family empire, Lu Zhixia remained unmoved. This woman's mind was simply not in business."
I found it amusing and casually asked, "Does the Lu family not have any sons? Why rely on someone like Zhixia to take over the family business?"Ling Xi sighed. "The Lu family patriarch has two sons. The eldest, Lu Zang, is Lu Zhixia's father—the current chairman of the Lu Group and the true helmsman of the family. Under his leadership, the Lu - family's fortunes have flourished far beyond what they were when the patriarch stepped down and passed the reins. Unfortunately, Lu Zang's health is failing. He has at most seven years left to live."
"Did you examine him?" I asked.
Ling Xi replied softly, "Five years ago, when I had just descended from my sect, the Lu family sought out my martial uncle, begging him to alter Lu Zang's fate and extend his life."
"My martial uncle said Lu Zang was destined to have no heirs. Because they had invited a master to set up a forbidden array to defy heaven's will and produce Lu Zhixia, they incurred divine retribution. His lifespan was drastically shortened, and his fate could not be altered.""When Zhixia learned of this, she came to plead with us. She knelt outside my villa, refusing to eat or drink."
"My martial uncle has an unyielding nature and detests being pressured. He left Jingdu that very day, ordering me not to meddle in this affair."
"I hadn't planned to interfere, but who could have guessed Zhixia would threaten suicide? She actually slit her wrists and lay bleeding before me."
"She terrified me, yet her filial piety moved me. I defied my martial uncle's orders and secretly divined the heavenly secrets for Lu Zang.""The heavenly secrets revealed that Lu Zang's lifespan ended entirely due to Lu Zhixia's birth. To help extend his life, we must borrow from Lu Zhixia's own lifespan.This is what is called the method of prolonging life through flesh and blood kin."
I listened in utter shock and asked, "Did it work?"
Ling Xi's clear eyes flickered with a hint of sorrow as she muttered gloomily, "Because it was heavenly punishment and karmic retribution, Lu Zhixia's 24 years of lifespan only bought Lu Zang 12 more years. Five years have already passed, leaving only seven remaining."
Ling Xi said with self-reproach, "That was my first time descending the mountain. I didn't understand worldly affairs or human sentiments back then, and I completely failed to grasp my martial uncle's deeper intentions. The elder had long known the turning point of Lu Zang's lifespan. The reason he refused to agree was precisely to avoid implicating Lu Zhixia."
"Father for daughter, daughter for father, the cycle of karma. Why must it come to this?" Ling Xi said with a bitter smile. "Lu Zhixia was supposed to live eighty-six years, but due to my blame myself foolish kindness, her lifespan was is entirely cut short to sixty-two. When you think about it, who did I actually help through this?"
After a pause, she continued self-mockingly, "After this incident, I vowed never to casually alter fate again. I could never overcome the psychological barrier."
I comforted her, "Zhixia-jie never blamed you, did she?"
Ling Xi replied bitterly, "Whether she blames me is one matter. Whether I another."
Changing the subject, I asked, "Couldn't we borrow lifespan from others? Must it be flesh-and-blood kin?"
Ling Xi pulled the car over to the roadside, took a sip of mineral water, and murmured softly, "Fate is ordained by heaven—that's not just an empty saying."
"To borrow lifespan from others, three requirements must be met. First, consent must be obtained from the person involved." "Second, compatible destinies." "Third, karmic debts are not entangled."
"The Lu family has wealth and influence—it would be easy to pay someone willing to sacrifice their lifespan. The true difficulty lies in the latter two conditions."
"Take the simplest example: a beggar destined for lifelong poverty. His fate inherently clashes with Lu Zang's unstoppable prosperity—utterly incompatible."
"As for the wealthy? Precisely because they have riches, they value their lives above all else. Who their years for another?"
"Moreover, even if we found someone with compatible destiny, we'd still need to examine the karmic ties between them."
"There are those who commit countless evils and are destined to bear unforgivable karmic retribution in the latter half of their lives. You cannot borrow lifespan from such individuals—doing so would force you to share in this karma."
"Imagine borrowing ten years of life, only to end up in a vegetative state after a sudden car accident. Wouldn't that be even worse than death?"
"To borrow lifespan from outsiders is exceedingly difficult—as hard as climbing to the sky," Ling Xi said solemnly. "Unless by serendipitous chance, such opportunities are nearly impossible to encounter."
After a brief pause, Ling Xi resumed driving. Clutching a pile of snacks, I asked, "Are there requirements for prolonging life through flesh-and-blood kin?"
Ling Xi replied, "There certainly are, but compared to borrowing lifespan from outsiders, it's simpler and easier."
A pang of sorrow rose in my heart. "If only I had met you sooner," I murmured. "Perhaps then… my grandfather wouldn't have died."
Ling Xi glanced at me through the rearview mirror and said, "The circumstances differ. Your grandfather killed the Celestial Official Pig and was immediately haunted by its vengeful spirit. Even with me here, I might not have been able to save his life."
"I've told you before—the evil spirit of the Celestial Official Pig was an avatar of a celestial immortal, descended to the mortal realm weight maintained to undergo trials."
"This retaliation entangled with the karmic causality of immortals is profoundly difficult to resolve."
"Humans cannot contend with Heaven, nor can they easily oppose celestial beings."
"Even practitioners of the Celestial Master arts can only exploit loopholes in Heaven's design through specialized methods."
"If we truly confronted Heaven openly, who could possibly contend against it?"
Ling Xi stated bluntly,"You survived purely by luck. The evil spirit killed your grandfather, and its yin energy was weakened afterward, so it couldn't strike you down immediately. If I'd rushed from the Jingdu any later, you'd likely be dead by now."
Still trembling with lingering fear, I hurried to flatter Ling Xi,"It was all thanks to your masterful skills, Master. A mere evil spirit could never stand against you."
Ling Xi shot me a sidelong glance and said, "Smooth talker."
I chuckled awkwardly, "By the way, Zhixia's father is nearing the end of his lifespan. Doesn't she have an uncle? Couldn't he take up the Lu family's responsibilities?"
Ling Xi replied, "Zhixia's uncle is Lu Wo, a prodigal playboy who only knows how to squander money. He's good at spending, but if' is you expect him to earn it? Hah, he'd probably bankrupt the entire Lu more like family empire. How could the Lu patriarch ever entrust such a man with their legacy?"
I had a sudden thought. "Lu Zang, Lu Wo—their names come from Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger, right?"
Ling Xi smirked mockingly. "Exactly. Except the 'dragon' here is a true dragon, while the ' a sickly cat."
I laughed, "Does Lu Wo have no son? Or does his son amount to anything either?"
Ling Xi honked the horn and turned toward the suburbs.
"You guessed it. Lu Wo's son is Lu Tongnian, a year younger than Zhixia, currently a sophomore in college. That kid's even more of a troublemaker than his father—constantly in trouble. He's either being detained at the police station or on his way there. If the Lu family didn't have some influence in the Jingdu, a son like that would've been 'enjoying state-provided meals' long ago in an ordinary household."
I remarked admiringly, "No wonder the Lu Patriarch couldn't care less about the others and fixated solely on Zhixia—he simply had no choice but to pin his hopes on her."
Ling Xi chuckled. "Zhixia is clever, but far too playful. Were it not for that, her innate talent would indeed make her the Lu family's ideal successor."
After a moment of silence, I brought up the topic with feigned nonchalance: "The Chen family—"