Edited—

Ye Zhen’s behavior made everyone involuntarily feel a bit creeped out, to the point where the atmosphere remained somewhat oppressive.

By lunchtime, Ye Zhen’s abnormality had reached its peak. She took a few bites of food and showed a dissatisfied expression, muttering, “Why doesn’t this taste good at all? Eating it makes my stomach feel completely empty.”

“Want to eat meat?” Ye Zhen’s uncle was still sitting beside her, speaking extremely slowly.

“Eat meat…” A trace of confusion appeared in Ye Zhen’s eyes. As if casually giving up on thinking, she said earnestly, “Yes, eat meat. I want to eat meat. Lots and lots of meat.”

So fresh meat was brought before Ye Zhen the next moment. Most of this meat was beef, roughly cooked without sauce or side dishes, as if it existed solely to satisfy the most primitive appetite. It didn’t look appetizing at all. But it was this kind of meat that Ye Zhen ate with great relish. Zhou Jiayu roughly estimated her food intake—she ate at least seven or eight jin before stopping. After letting out a light burp, she revealed a satisfied smile.

The others at the table had no appetite at all. Everyone’s gaze was fixed on Ye Zhen. She also noticed everyone’s eyes, but she seemed completely unaware of her own abnormality, looking puzzled. “Why are you all looking at me? Why aren’t you eating… Do you also want to eat meat?”

“No, no.” Shen Yiqiong waved his hand from the side and hurriedly lowered his head to shovel rice into his mouth, afraid that Ye Zhen might get the urge to share food with them. Fortunately, Ye Zhen didn’t have that intention. Right now, she was completely focused on the food, entirely unaware of what was happening to her body.

Everyone had a rather difficult time eating this meal. When Ye Zhen finally left, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Sir, do we really have to stay here for a week?” Shen Yiqiong had no appetite; his whole person was listless.

“Depends on the situation.” Lin Zhushui didn’t give a definite answer.

Shen Yiqiong made an “oh” sound and didn’t dare raise any objections.

By dinner, everyone had experience. They didn’t sit at the table first but waited for Ye Zhen to finish her beloved meat before they gradually began eating their own food.

“I looked into the Ye family’s matters this afternoon.” Shen Yiqiong said while eating. “I already felt that Ye Zhen’s uncle was weird. Turns out someone told me that Ye Zhen’s mother was an only daughter. Ye Zhen doesn’t have a maternal uncle at all.”

Zhou Jiayu was startled when he heard this. “Then who is this man?” This person wasn’t Ye Zhen’s uncle? Why hadn’t anyone in the room shown any reaction? But speaking of which, he had felt something was off when he first arrived. The Ye residence was so large, yet the only ones living here were Ye Zhen and her so-called uncle. Not a single other relative of Ye Zhen was visible. Now that he thought about it, this situation was indeed extremely abnormal.

“How would I know?” Shen Yiqiong continued. “Also, Ye Zhen’s parents have gone missing. This matter should have caused quite a stir, but for some reason, the Ye family suppressed it.”

Lin Jue said, “Suppressed?”

Shen Yiqiong said, “Yeah, it’s still considered an inside story. But they’ve been missing for so long; no matter how much it was suppressed, someone would find out…” He took a bite of rice and said vaguely, “The Ye family’s dog farm was probably opened by Ye Zhen’s father. She just inherited it. Their whole family likes this stuff. I don’t get it.”

The information Shen Yiqiong provided was too crucial. With this, the identity of the man beside Ye Zhen now had a huge problem. Zhou Jiayu remembered his yellow eyes, and an extremely absurd guess formed in his mind.

“Then I suspect Ye Zhen’s uncle is one of the dogs Ye Zhen killed.” While Zhou Jiayu and the others were discussing, Lin Zhushui hadn’t spoken the whole time. Now he looked at Lin Zhushui. “Sir, what do you think?”

Lin Zhushui only said one sentence. He said, “Underworld dogs can be dogs, and they can also be people.”

The moment these words came out, the table instantly fell silent. Lin Jue let out a light sigh. “I just felt something was off.” She also suspected that among those several dozen monstrous dogs in the cage, there weren’t only dogs that Ye Zhen had harmed, but also other creatures mixed in—such as… humans.

If what Lin Jue and Lin Zhushui said was true, then didn’t that mean there were people who had transformed among that cage of monstrous dogs? Then were these people related to the missing Ye family members…?

“It feels so disgusting.” Shen Yiqiong voiced what everyone was thinking. He said, “Right now, I don’t care at all about what happens to the Ye family. I just want to know, if Ye Zhen is really pregnant, whose child is it? It couldn’t be…”

He didn’t say that crucial word, but everyone knew what he wanted to say.

“Impossible, right.” Shen Musi’s expression was also a bit stiff.

As they were speaking, that man who should have left with Ye Zhen suddenly returned to the dining room. Seeing him, everyone fell silent and stopped talking.

“Mr. Lin, thank you.” The man slowly walked over, found a chair, and sat down. Compared to a few days ago, he spoke much more clearly and even had some tone in his voice.

Lin Zhushui said indifferently, “You’re too kind. We each took what we needed, that’s all.”

“Ye Zhen is pregnant.” The man continued. “What happens next won’t need Mr. Lin to worry. Everyone can go back tomorrow.” Sentences this long were still somewhat difficult for him, but he managed to make it clear. “From here on, I can take care of her.” When he mentioned Ye Zhen, his expression was gentle. If one only looked at his expression, probably everyone would think he deeply loved the woman he spoke of.

Zhou Jiayu ultimately couldn’t hold back and softly asked, “Is the child yours?”

The man nodded.

When he gave the answer, he didn’t hesitate in the slightest, as if he already knew that Zhou Jiayu and the others had guessed his identity.

The man said, “She’ll have a hard time now, but it’s fine. It’ll be easy soon.” Speaking to this point, he smiled. His eyes were full of satisfaction. “We will be very happy.”

No one spoke. Everyone was digesting this massive amount of information.

Lin Jue, however, breathed a sigh of relief and muttered, “At least what she’s pregnant with is human.”

Hearing this, the man said softly, “Of course it’s human. Humans and dogs—how could they be together? Never.”

From this sentence, Zhou Jiayu detected a cold indifference.

“Since it’s already fine, then leave tomorrow.” Lin Zhushui said indifferently. “Musi, prepare the plane tickets.”

Before Shen Musi could speak, the man said, “Mr. Lin, I’ve already prepared them for you. When the children are born, could you… name them?”

Lin Zhushui shook his head. “Something as important as a name is best left to the parents.” He refused the man’s request as expected.

But the man didn’t look disappointed either, as if he had long anticipated this. He said to Lin Zhushui, “Alright, but thank you still, Mr. Lin.”

The topic ended here. Everyone prepared to leave. But when Zhou Jiayu was about to leave the dining room, he heard the man’s final words. He said, “Forgot to tell you, my surname isn’t Ye. It’s Wang. My name is Wang Diyang.”

These words were spoken to Zhou Jiayu, who was walking at the very back. Zhou Jiayu’s footsteps paused slightly. Hearing this name, he sighed in his heart. His guess had been completely confirmed. Diyang—just another name for dog. The man sitting expressionlessly behind the table before him seemed to be that brave dog king from Zhou Jiayu’s dream. It was just unknown what method he had used to turn himself into a human, and to transform the Ye family members one by one into underworld dogs.

But if that was the case, what exactly was the content of the deal Lin Zhushui made with those underworld dogs? Zhou Jiayu really couldn’t figure it out, so he couldn’t be bothered to think about it anymore.

The next day, Lin Zhushui and the others left the Ye residence.

Ye Zhen didn’t stop them either. She sat lazily on the sofa, leaning in the arms of the man beside her. She no longer seemed to care that their relationship had been discovered. She said, “Mr. Lin, thank you.”

Lin Zhushui didn’t speak and turned around and left directly.

Zhou Jiayu had originally thought that Ye Zhen, upon learning she was pregnant, would have a huge negative reaction, but he was clearly wrong. Because at this moment, Ye Zhen was touching her stomach with happiness-filled eyes, whispering sweet nothings to the man beside her. Zhou Jiayu’s mood was a bit complicated watching this scene, but he remembered Lin Zhushui saying that cause and effect follow each other—what cause you plant is what fruit you reap. Ye Zhen’s current situation was completely inseparable from the things she had done before.

After that, they left. However, Zhou Jiayu always kept the Ye family’s matter in his heart. Ten months later, one day, Zhou Jiayu’s phone received a text message from an unknown number. On it was written an email address and password. Driven by curiosity, Zhou Jiayu logged into the email and saw what was inside.

They were photos of Ye Zhen one after another. She was lying in a hospital bed, with small cribs specially for babies placed beside her. What was rather eye-catching was that there were actually five of these cribs, and on each one was a sleeping infant.

Zhou Jiayu was dumbfounded. He hadn’t expected Ye Zhen to get pregnant with quintuplets in one go.

Ye Zhen’s expression was happy. She seemed completely unaware of what these children meant. And the man sitting beside her looked at Ye Zhen gently, his eyes full of love.

Zhou Jiayu actually sensed a kind of harmonious atmosphere between the two of them, as if the two were really an ordinary couple in love, now happily welcoming their beloved children. He also saw the names the two had given the children: Dabai, Erhuang, Sanhua… These names hung at the head of the cribs, making him not know whether to laugh or cry. He didn’t know what these children would feel when they grew up and integrated into human society and saw these names.

However, Zhou Jiayu could imagine that Ye Zhen would definitely continue getting pregnant. The Ye family would probably also become a large clan with many people.

They had originally just gone out to attend Shen Yiqiong’s birthday banquet, but unexpectedly encountered Ye Zhen’s matter. Everyone was a bit tired after returning, and it took a few days to recover.

After recovering, everyone was quite idle, so they simply set up a mahjong table on the first floor and happily started playing.

Among them, Lin Jue’s mahjong skills were the best. Zhou Jiayu’s were the worst. Every time he sat at the table, within half an hour he would definitely lose until not even his underwear was left.

Shen Yiqiong ruthlessly mocked Zhou Jiayu, saying that even the combination of the yellow weasel and the little paper person was stronger than him.

So in the end, it became Zhou Jiayu with the yellow weasel on his lap and the little paper person holding a small stool and sitting beside him, playing mahjong together.

Lin Jue giggled watching this scene, asking if Zhou Jiayu looked like a bad dad dragging his children along to gamble.

Zhou Jiayu actually felt a bit embarrassed being teased. He said, “Xiao Zhi, why don’t you go do something else instead of accompanying me to play mahjong?” For the paper person’s education, he had even specially gone to buy a few encyclopedia books suitable for children.

The little paper person put its hands on its waist and said, “I won’t, I won’t.” It stuck to the mahjong table, whimpering. “Don’t want to read books, want to play cards.”

Zhou Jiayu showed a helpless expression.

The yellow weasel didn’t belong in the child category anymore. According to Shen Yiqiong’s research, this yellow weasel was probably the oldest among them. After all, it was an animal about to become a spirit; without thirty to fifty years, it definitely wouldn’t be possible.

So in the end, Zhou Jiayu failed to persuade Xiao Zhi, and the three of them continued sitting at the mahjong table to battle.

The hottest time had finally passed. Lin Zhushui no longer had to stay in his room every day, and those jade stone formations were dismantled one by one.

With nothing to do, Zhou Jiayu cooked every day, attended classes with Lin Zhushui, and lived a blissful life. He was still in contact with Xu Ruwang. These past few days, when he saw the photo Xu Ruwang sent, he was startled and asked Xu Ruwang why he had kept a small braid.

Xu Ruwang complained bitterly that his master didn’t know what medicine he had taken wrong, insisting that he grow his hair long and even using Lin Zhushui as an example.

Zhou Jiayu nearly burst out laughing when he saw it. With Xu Ruwang’s temperament, growing his hair long didn’t make him look like someone who had just come out of prison; instead, he looked like a social vagrant. Zhou Jiayu said, “Hahahaha, are you trying to make me die laughing?”

Xu Ruwang said, “Hey, stop laughing already. During this period, every time I go out to take on a job, someone cautiously asks, ‘Master, are you also into art? How trendy.'”

Zhou Jiayu laughed so hard he couldn’t speak, holding his stomach and trembling all over.

Xu Ruwang said, “When do you think my master will return to normal?” He just wanted to quietly keep a normal short haircut. Was that so hard?

Things likely reversed because they reached an extreme. Xu Ruwang’s master, after the Xiaomi baldness incident, deeply understood the importance of hair. Then, taking inspiration from Lin Zhushui’s hairstyle, he had a sudden idea to make Xu Ruwang also grow his hair long, attempting to let his disciple use his looks to reach the pinnacle of life. He didn’t know that Lin Zhushui’s long hair wasn’t something that could be casually pulled off. Especially for someone with Xu Ruwang’s fierce temperament, probably no one who saw him would think he was in feng shui; everyone would think he was playing heavy metal rock.

Xu Ruwang said irritably, laugh laugh laugh, laugh my ass. He then asked if Zhou Jiayu had encountered anything interesting recently.

Zhou Jiayu wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and told Xu Ruwang about the Ye Zhen family’s matter. Of course, he didn’t mention Ye Zhen’s name and only spoke of the general situation.

“There’s this kind of operation?” Xu Ruwang was also a bit surprised when he heard about Ye Zhen’s pregnancy. “She really got pregnant with a dog’s child?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Can’t really count as a dog, right? They all turned into people.”

Xu Ruwang said, “That’s true.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Then have you encountered anything strange?”

Xu Ruwang: “Nothing particularly strange. It’s just that the weather has been hot recently, and a cemetery near us had a small problem.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “What small problem?”

Xu Ruwang said, “The urns buried in the soil suddenly caught fire.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…What was the cause?”

Xu Ruwang said, “Sigh, we researched this matter for a long time, from the angle of souls to corpse reanimation, and finally found the cause.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “What cause?”

Xu Ruwang said, “The crematorium staff hid white phosphorus in the urns to get revenge on society.”

Zhou Jiayu fell silent.

Xu Ruwang said, “Why aren’t you speaking?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “I don’t know what to say. I feel like I just listened to an episode of Approaching Science.”

Xu Ruwang laughed heartily twice.

Life without incidents happening was always so beautiful. The few of them, addicted to playing mahjong every day, were basically useless. Even Lin Jue, who had always paid attention to her image, began slumping on the sofa with the appearance of someone living a middle-aged retirement life.

However, some people were destined to be unable to enjoy peace. The package that Lin Jue had previously told the gatekeeper to watch out for was delivered again.

The same phone number, the same address, the same crude packaging method. Lin Jue’s mood was complicated when she received the gatekeeper’s call, and she put down the mahjong tiles in her hand.

Shen Yiqiong said, “What’s up? Going to the restroom?”

Lin Jue said, “Do you still remember that package you mistakenly received when you bought sunscreen?”

Shen Yiqiong said, “The one full of fingernails? What about it?”

Lin Jue said, “I had the gatekeeper pay attention to the package’s address. Sure enough, they’ve sent another one.”

Shen Yiqiong was quite unhappy after hearing this. “Have them send it back. Opening this kind of package really makes people uncomfortable.”

Lin Jue said, “Let’s take a look first. If there’s really something going on, since we know about it, we can’t ignore it.”

She said this and got up and walked out, looking like she was going to get the package.

Shen Yiqiong sat beside the table and said regretfully, “I was so foolish, truly. If I weren’t this dark, I wouldn’t have gone to buy sunscreen. If I hadn’t gone to buy sunscreen, I wouldn’t have grabbed the wrong package. If I hadn’t grabbed the wrong package…”

Zhou Jiayu threw out a four-bamboo tile: “If you keep talking nonsense, no dinner for you tonight.”

Shen Yiqiong quietly shut his mouth.

Before long, Lin Jue came back hugging a box. This box wasn’t large; it looked like it couldn’t hold much. She placed the box on the table and said, “Opening it.”

The other three watched eagerly. The little paper person tightly hugged Zhou Jiayu’s arm; it was unclear whether it was excited or afraid.

Lin Jue tore open the tape on the package, slowly opened the cardboard lid, and revealed what was inside.

Although he had already mentally prepared himself, when he saw what was inside the package, Zhou Jiayu still broke out in goosebumps. Inside the not-large package, neatly arranged were spherical objects. At first glance, they looked like small balls used for playing, but upon careful observation, one would discover that these weren’t toys at all—they were clearly eyeballs that had been completely dug out.

Shen Yiqiong’s scalp directly exploded, and he couldn’t control himself from cursing.

Lin Jue furrowed her brows, reached out, and directly picked one up. “Is this a provocation toward our Lin family?” The pupils on the white eyeballs had already dilated, and behind the spheres one could still see pink nerve tissue.

Zhou Jiayu also saw some black mist on these eyeballs. This mist carried an ominous aura, making people not want to touch them at all.

Shen Musi was also playing mahjong with them. Seeing this box of eyeballs, his expression was quite calm. He looked for a moment and said, “Shibo, these eyeballs have been cursed.”

Lin Jue said, “Yes, I know. Don’t touch them.”

Cursed? Zhou Jiayu said, “Shibo, what kind of curse is on these?”

Lin Jue said, “A little prank. People who touch them will easily have their luck decline—losing wallets during the day, having nightmares at night, that sort of thing.”

When Zhou Jiayu heard this, he thought to himself that it had nothing to do with him anyway. He didn’t have a wallet to lose.

Lin Jue was still studying the eyeball she held and finally came to a conclusion. “These eyeballs aren’t human, right?”

“How can you tell?” Shen Yiqiong felt the size was about the same as human ones.

Lin Jue said, “Because I see that the color of a few pupils isn’t right.”

The moment she said this, the three grown men beside her all looked at her with admiration. To be able to say such calm words before a box of eyeballs—probably only Lin Jue in this room could do that. Ever since entering the feng shui profession, Zhou Jiayu completely couldn’t sense that girls were timid anymore…

“Look, there’s even a red one here.” Lin Jue reached her hand in, fished around, and pulled out an eyeball with a big red pupil, happily placing it in her palm. “It’s quite pretty.”

The three beside her fell into a mysterious silence, their moods too complicated to know what to say.

“So what exactly was the point of sending these to us?” Lin Jue pondered. “I’ll discuss it with Zhushui tonight.”

Zhou Jiayu and the others agreed. Watching Lin Jue put down the eyeball in her hand, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

That night, when Lin Zhushui came over to eat, Lin Jue told him about the box of eyeballs. As the one telling the story, she didn’t mind at all, but the few beside her listening to her somehow felt that the food before them was a bit hard to swallow, and they all stopped their chopsticks.

Lin Jue even pretended not to know and said, “Eat, why aren’t you eating? Today’s soup-filled beef balls are really fresh.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Shibo, how did you become like this?

As expected of someone from the Lin family, Lin Zhushui continued eating without changing his expression. After hearing Lin Jue out, he only asked one sentence: “Did you wash your hands after touching them?”

Lin Jue let out two awkward laughs. “I probably washed them.”

When the others heard the word “probably,” their eyes went round, their expressions full of terror.

Regarding these matters, Lin Zhushui also seemed a bit of a headache when it came to Lin Jue. He let out a light sigh. “Go wash your hands first before talking to me.”

Lin Jue stood up and turned around to go into the restroom.

Zhou Jiayu was speechless. “Shibo really didn’t wash her hands?”

Shen Yiqiong looked like he was about to faint. “Don’t ask me, I don’t know, I don’t want to know.”

Some women appear so exquisite before others, making people feel that their lives are as meticulous as a novel’s female lead. But if you get to know them deeply, you’ll discover that they’re actually so slovenly that even men feel fear.

By the time Lin Jue came back after washing her hands, everyone except Lin Zhushui had left the table, sitting limply on the sofa nearby.

“Zhushui, do you think the person sending these things is provoking us?” Lin Jue asked.

Lin Zhushui said, “Hard to say.”

Lin Jue said, “Why is it hard to say?”

Lin Zhushui said very gently, “How could it be a provocation? What if he actually just wants the person who opens the package to die?”

Lin Jue: “…” What he said actually made a lot of sense.

Lin Jue said helplessly, “Shui, are you angry at me?”

Lin Zhushui put down his chopsticks and said indifferently, “You opened the box behind my back, and now you’re coming to ask me about this?” After saying this, he paused for a moment. “If you want to do this kind of thing in the future, do it yourself. Don’t bring them along.”

Only then did Lin Jue discover that Lin Zhushui seemed to be angry. She hurriedly explained, “I inspected it before opening the box.”

Lin Zhushui said, “So inspecting it means you can pick them up with your hands?”

Lin Jue let out a dry laugh.

Lin Zhushui said, “The last time.”

Lin Jue hurriedly nodded and said okay, guaranteeing that next time she opened a box, she would definitely find Lin Zhushui so they could all share the joy of opening the box together.

The four disciples sitting nearby plus Zhou Jiayu were all a bit broken, probably thinking in their hearts that it would be better to let Lin Jue enjoy this express delivery alone.

__

Author’s Note:

Lin Zhushui opened a box and found a little fish curled up inside. He picked up the little fish, petted it, and kissed it.

The little fish happily nuzzled Sir’s face.