Chapter 5
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Chapter 5: The Jade Pendant
He slept carefree until the sun was high in the sky. After getting up, he sat on the edge of the bed in a daze, thinking about how incredible it was to transform from Guo Jianjun into Yue Qianchou. He muttered to himself: “Yue Qianchou, this name has a good meaning—it means ‘free from worries,’ right? I still don’t know what I actually look like.”
With this thought, he called for the maid Qingcao to help him wash up and change clothes. Afterward, he sat in front of a bronze mirror. The bronze mirror wasn’t as clear as the mirrors from his previous life, showing only a blurry reflection. Yue Qianchou deflated a bit—even with the unclear image, he could roughly make out his appearance. Compared to the handsome and dashing Big Brother Guo from his previous life, his current appearance was utterly ordinary. The only advantage was that he was younger than in his previous life, only sixteen years old this year.
He consoled himself, thinking, ‘It must be the mirror’s problem.’ He then instructed Qingcao to prepare a basin of ink. That plain, ordinary face reflected in the basin. Yue Qianchou completely lost hope. Last night he had been dreaming of being with the immortal sister, a perfect match of talent and beauty, intimately together. Now it seemed those could only remain dreams.
Someone reported to the authorities that a male and female corpse had been discovered outside the city. After official examination, it was confirmed that the deceased were Xue Gaibao from the Yue mansion and his personal maid, likely victims of bandits.
After receiving the news from the officials, the Yue family sent people to confirm the identities of the deceased. Upon learning of Xue Gaibao’s death, Xue Erniang cried inconsolably, but the officials couldn’t determine who the murderer was. When Yue Qianchou heard about this, he couldn’t help but admire his father’s ruthlessness—he hadn’t expected that Yue Changgui, fearing leaks, would also kill the maid.
A few days later, the Yue mansion was draped in white for the funeral, with many monks and Taoist priests creating a commotion for several days. The father and son also put on sorrowful appearances, which they didn’t need anyone to teach them how to do—they performed quite convincingly.
Xue Erniang spent several days with tears streaming down her face, lamenting that the Xue family line had been cut off. Later, after hearing someone’s ill-advised suggestion, she pulled Yue Qianchou aside and begged him to have several sons in the future, with one being adopted into the Xue family to continue their lineage. This request made Yue Changgui’s face turn green with a severe toothache. Yue Qianchou responded with hesitation and managed to evade the issue.
A few more days passed. After Xue Gaibao’s burial, Xue Erniang’s intense grief subsided, and she sent someone to summon her son. When Yue Qianchou heard his mother’s call, his scalp tingled—these past few days he had truly been frightened by his mother’s crying. He even regretted killing Xue Gaibao. His father had been smarter, finding an excuse about social engagements to hide outside.
Seeing that his mother wasn’t crying anymore, Yue Qianchou breathed a sigh of relief and obediently sat down beside her. Xue Erniang held a crystal-clear jade pendant in her hand, staring at it in a daze. Before long, her eyes reddened again, with tears welling up. Yue Qianchou panicked, saying everything he could to comfort his mother, finally calming her down while breaking out in a cold sweat himself.
“Mother, you called for me. Is there something you need?” Yue Qianchou quickly changed the subject, fearing she would cry again. Xue Erniang nodded and slowly explained why she had summoned her son.
It turned out that the Xue family had risen to prominence during Xue Erniang’s great-grandfather’s generation. According to legend, that Xue ancestor had once saved an immortal. In gratitude for saving his life, the immortal had helped the Xue family establish a business and left behind a jade pendant. Before leaving, he told the Xue family that he would help them once more in the future—if they had any request, they could break the jade pendant, and he would naturally come.
The Xue ancestor was still young at that time, not yet married, and was honest and straightforward. He never intended to ask the immortal for anything else, so the jade pendant was naturally passed down as a family heirloom from generation to generation. By the time it reached Xue Erniang’s father’s generation, seeing that his eldest son had a wicked nature, he didn’t dare tell him about this. On his deathbed, he gave the jade pendant to his daughter and told her that if there was someone of good character among her brother’s descendants, she could pass the pendant to them. If not, it would be better to let the jade pendant become an ordinary object rather than disturb the immortal.
Now even the only heir of the Xue family had died, and there was no way to pass down the jade pendant. Xue Erniang’s intention was to make a deal with her son—if he agreed to have children in the future and adopt one to the Xue family to continue their lineage, she would be willing to give the jade pendant to her son instead of passing it to the Xue family.
After hearing his mother’s words, Yue Qianchou’s eyes immediately lit up with a green light as he stared at the jade pendant in his mother’s hand, swallowing hard. Ever since learning that this world had immortals, he had been obsessed with the idea! The path he had been desperately seeking was unexpectedly in his mother’s hands.
But when his mother had previously mentioned adoption, it had met with strong opposition from his father. In this world, the responsibility of continuing the family line was as important as the sky. The Yue family wasn’t blessed with many descendants—for three consecutive generations, there had been only one heir. When Yue Qianchou went missing last time, Yue Changgui was so anxious that blisters formed around his mouth. If his son truly had promise and could have one or two more children, he would be overjoyed and unwilling to give any away for adoption. He had immediately rejected the idea.
Could he make this decision himself? With this thought, Yue Qianchou said awkwardly: “Mother, why not ask Father? I’m afraid I can’t decide this matter.”
“You child, if I could reason with your father, why would I be talking to you? I’m telling you this because I want you to beg your father. Your father always gives in to you; it’s better if you ask than if I do,” Xue Erniang said angrily.
‘Ha! Even using indirect tactics now.’ Yue Qianchou smiled inwardly and said: “Why doesn’t Mother tell Father about the jade pendant? Perhaps Father would agree then.”
Xue Erniang said through gritted teeth: “How could I not have told him? That night when he disagreed, I immediately told him about the jade pendant. That stubborn man still wouldn’t agree.”
“Hehe!” Yue Qianchou scratched his scalp, laughing awkwardly: “If Father doesn’t agree, then I can’t do anything either.” As soon as he finished speaking, Xue Erniang’s tears began to fall steadily.
‘Damn it! Here we go again.’ Yue Qianchou’s scalp tingled, and he quickly pleaded: “Mother, don’t cry. I’ll go beg Father, alright?”
“Really?” Xue Erniang asked, wiping her tears. Yue Qianchou didn’t dare say anything else and nodded repeatedly in agreement.
…
Two days later, the father and son sat at a stone table in the back garden.
“Father, an immortal! How can you refuse such a good opportunity? It’s just adopting out one son. I’ll have seven or eight children by then, and you can pick any one,” Yue Qianchou said anxiously.
“Nonsense! How can a Yue family descendant be casually given to others? If word got out, where would I put my old face? After I die, how could I face our ancestors!” Yue Changgui was furious.
‘The old man is stubborn as a mule. I’ve talked until my mouth is nearly worn out!’ Yue Qianchou cursed silently, then spoke plainly: “I want to get the jade pendant from Mother.”
“Foolish!” Yue Changgui scolded, standing up and pointing at his son: “If you don’t agree now, do you think the jade pendant will run away? After your mother and I are gone, won’t everything in the Yue family be yours? Do you need to trade your own son for it? Idiot!”
“Uh…” Yue Qianchou was stunned, finally understanding his father’s intentions. He thought to himself: ‘Ruthless! The old man wants to have it all! He doesn’t want to give up anything. Too black-hearted!’ He stood up and said solemnly: “Father, I want to cultivate immortality!”
Yue Changgui was startled, then shook his head: “No! Although immortal cultivation is good, I’ve never heard that immortals can continue the family line. The Yue family has only you as a son. If you leave, who will continue our lineage?”
So that’s what the old man was worried about. It seemed that in the web novels from his previous life, immortals could have children. Yue Qianchou’s mind turned, and he had an idea. He then fabricated a story about an encounter with immortals, claiming to have learned from them that immortals could not only have children but that there were cultivation families that had existed for thousands of years. In short, he spoke until Yue Changgui was dumbfounded. Finally, Yue Qianchou asked: “Father! Don’t you hope that our Yue family can also become an eternally existing cultivation family?”
Yue Changgui hadn’t thought his son would lie to him. The way he described cultivators was so fascinating that it didn’t seem false. How could an ordinary person know these things? He asked with surprise: “My son, are you telling the truth? You’re not deceiving me?”
Yue Qianchou knew he was wavering, so he added more fuel to the fire, embellishing his guarantees. Yue Changgui immediately agreed. The two of them went straight to find Xue Erniang.
…
‘I’ve struck it rich! I’ve struck it rich!’ Holding the crystal-clear jade pendant in both hands, Yue Qianchou was extremely excited—he had finally obtained it through deception. He wanted to smash the jade pendant right then and there, eager to follow the immortal immediately. ‘Damn it, that was an immortal! What did it matter if he lost hundreds of millions in his Swiss bank account? Even if it were tens of billions or hundreds of billions, I wouldn’t give it a second glance.’ If Yue Changgui hadn’t held him back, insisting that he bathe and burn incense to show respect to the immortal, he would have done it right away.
When Xue Erniang first heard that her son wanted to follow an immortal and no longer wanted to provide an heir for the Xue family, she refused to hand over the jade pendant. But how could she resist these two united father and son? The old and the young, using both coaxing and trickery, finally managed to get the jade pendant after great effort.
In the back garden, an incense altar was set up. Yue Qianchou, who had bathed, knelt there, both excited and nervous, holding the jade pendant with trembling hands. As the moment approached, he became anxious again. One moment he wondered if the jade pendant was really effective, the next he worried whether the immortal would take him away if he came. All sorts of strange thoughts emerged.
With her son about to leave, Xue Erniang leaned against her husband’s embrace, wiping away tears. Yue Qianchou, kneeling there, turned his head to look at the two and said: “Son is going to smash it!” In fact, he had already said the same thing three times, each time only speaking without acting. It was evident that he was indeed quite nervous.
When he said the same thing for the seventh time, Yue Changgui lost his patience. He walked over and snatched the jade pendant from his hand, then “Bang!” smashed it on the ground. Instantly, the entire back garden became extraordinarily quiet. Even Xue Erniang stopped crying and stared around with wide eyes.
