Tomb raiding: A mere 20 is nothing!

The expected supernatural scene did not appear. Instead, a round, calico cat slowly walked in from behind the door.

Oh, it's San San.

Shen Mingchao patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

Honestly, she's starting to regret it.

We shouldn't have let Qi Qiu in.

This kid is pure mental pollution; he wouldn't be out of place in a horror movie.

Shen Mingchao looked disgusted and pushed the messy things on the table away.

"I have no interest in these things, Qi Qiu. Don't waste your time. Your half of the family fortune is more than enough to pay for your life. In other words, you've already paid back what you owed me. From now on, we'll go our separate ways, you..."

At this point, Shen Mingchao suddenly choked up.

The boy's eyes reddened, and tears streamed down his face like a broken string of pearls, unstoppable.

He didn't say a word, not even a sound, just watched you cry silently, and the crying got louder and louder.

Shen Mingchao: "..."

For the first time in her life, she realized that men could also be made of water.

It's like a tap that's never turned off.

"not enough."

"That's not enough at all."

Qi Qiu stubbornly shook her head, wiped away her tears, and carefully took something out of her bosom.

It was an old-fashioned wooden box with worn patterns.

Inside, a bead lay quietly, as red as blood, gleaming eerily and alluringly in the light.

"Sister, look."

Shen Mingchao frowned slightly: "What is this?"

Qi Qiu suddenly raised her head, bursting into laughter through her tears, a smile that concealed a hint of near-obsessive madness.

This is why he disappeared for so many days.

He traveled all the way to Hunan, trekking over several mountains to visit an elderly Miao man who lived in seclusion deep in the mountains.

He was a highly skilled Gu practitioner nearing seventy.

The old man looked at him with a deep gaze, his eyes having long lost their former luster, now dull and cloudy, as if shrouded in an impenetrable fog.

But when that gaze fell upon you, it was astonishingly deep, as if it could see right through to the most hidden corners of your heart.

With just one glance, Qi Qiu felt a pang of sadness, remembering his grandfather who had long since passed away.

Grandpa was the same way back then, looking at him with eyes that had seen all the ways of the world, gentle and calm.

Qi Qiu felt a lump in her throat and was somewhat dazed, as if an old friend was standing in front of her again.

His expression unconsciously became respectful: "The younger generation is lost and confused. Because there is a secret letter left by our ancestors, we have come here to seek a way to break the spell. We hope that you can guide us through our confusion."

The old man was silent for a moment, then slightly parted his lips, his voice carrying the vicissitudes of time.

"Young man, your ancestors were kind to our clan. The cycle of cause and effect has brought about the consequences of the seeds sown in the past, and you will bear the fruits of those seeds."

"Keep this safe. You need to nourish it with your own blood and essence, and then let the person you love take it. Then you will be able to be in love with each other."

"But remember, there is no cure for this curse. As the one who cast the curse, you must not change your mind or betray the other person, otherwise the person afflicted will suffer excruciating pain."

The old man's earnest words of advice still echoed in my ears.

Qi Qiu snapped out of her daze, looking intently at Shen Mingchao, and said gently, "Sister, this is a Gu. A love Gu from Miao territory."

A love potion?

It doesn't sound like a good thing at all.

Shen Mingchao immediately picked up his phone and searched for it.

Lines of explanations popped up on the screen:

[Gu is made by placing hundreds of poisonous insects together and letting them kill each other. The one that survives is the Gu. The most poisonous Gu in the world is the Love Gu.]

Once afflicted by the love spell, a person loses their true self, wholeheartedly submitting to the one who cast the spell, loving and protecting the other person without regard for anything else.

The moment the thought of the beloved arises, the venomous insects will gnaw at the heart; only the sight of the loved one can alleviate the pain.

After reading this text, Shen Mingchao's face turned cold. He looked up at Qi Qiu, his voice carrying a chilling edge:

"Are you going to use a curse on me?"

She asked the question, but in her heart she was thinking: if Qi Qiu dared to nod, she would immediately roll this person into a ball and throw him out the window.

But Qi Qiu shook his head.

"No. Sister, you've misunderstood."

Qi Qiu's demeanor gradually became frantic.

"This poison wasn't cast on you by me."

"It was you who attacked me."

"In this way, I will always, always belong to you. And I will never, ever betray you."

"This is the only way I can think of to prove my feelings."

Every word and phrase was clear and easy to hear.

Shen Mingchao could hear the seriousness in the words, but he still couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart.

She is not someone who can be easily swayed by a few sweet words.

"Qi Qiu, to be honest, more than your sincerity, what I care about is, since you've gone to such lengths, why did you still join them in hiding this from me?"

Faced with the questioning, Qi Qiu sighed deeply: "Sister, this wasn't my intention. Just like when I knew I would die, I still chose to go to Russia. My first thought was to tell you the truth, but..."

"But I also calculated that if I told you the truth in advance, it would cause even more serious consequences, and might even endanger your life. For this reason alone, I would rather die than tell you."

Upon hearing this, Shen Mingchao raised an eyebrow.

I really didn't expect to hear such a thing.

Could it really be life-threatening?

That's an interesting way of putting it.

Shen Mingchao fell silent for the first time. Logically speaking, this was only Qi Qiu's one-sided statement, and it was impossible to judge whether it was true or false. However, this was someone who had helped her meet her family, and she was willing to give her some trust.

Faced with Qi Qiu's revealed emotions, she chose to respect them and also revealed her own true thoughts.

Even so, Qi Qiu, my feelings for you are more of a... indescribable emotion.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm making it clear that this isn't love."

"Everything has changed too fast, and I can't figure out my feelings for you, nor do I have the heart to sort them out right now."

"So I may not be able to reciprocate your feelings in the same way. This period could be indefinite, or even after I've sorted things out, I might fall in love with someone else. Would you still be okay with that?"

"certainly."

Qi Qiu did not hesitate for a moment.

He was even somewhat excited. He could understand the implication in Shen Mingchao's words: it meant he had a chance to rise in rank, even if it was without any official title and was merely a subordinate relationship.

Shen Mingchao wasn't particularly happy.

She doesn't want anyone to make any decisions irrationally, especially when it concerns a person's entire life, due to momentary impulses or hormones.

Placing bets without careful consideration is the easiest way to lose everything.

She closed the box containing the Gu and pushed it back, then casually made a joke, afraid that Qi Qiu's eyes would start watering again.

"Divorce has a cooling-off period, so so should witchcraft."

"Qi Qiu, I'll give you a month to think it over. If you still insist on this idea after a month, then I'll consider it as you've thought it through. Come find me then."

If it really comes to that, she'll just consider it gaining a loyal and useful subordinate, since he's the one who came to her.