The sage was determined to die.

"Steal someone else's child and throw them into the river?" Ji Bai asked. "Why would you do that?"

The girl shrugged, not answering the question directly. After thinking for a moment, she said, "It's said that they had a personal grudge against that family. Taking advantage of the busy autumn festival, they stole their child, intending to throw him into the river to drown him. That was their way of getting revenge."

"Things can't be that simple, can they?" Ji Bai looked at her and said, "According to the usual logic of story development, there must be another hidden story behind this, right?"

The girl nodded, trying to look surprised at Ji Bai, but the latter didn't fall for it.

"Yes," she said. "Of course it wasn't that simple. He personally strangled someone else's child unconscious, threw him into the river, and watched as the child was swallowed by the icy water."

"He was naturally feeling guilty for doing such a bad thing. He didn't wander home until evening, but to his surprise... his enemies didn't rush to look for their child."

Upon hearing this, Ji Bai paused for a moment, then said with certainty, "Because that child has not gone missing."

The girl looked at him, nodded, and said, "Yes, the child is not missing."

"Not only did he not disappear, but his personality changed drastically. He became smart, sensible, and even his appearance became more and more handsome. He was completely unlike the dull and silly person who only knew how to dig for earthworms and tease crickets before."

"The child's parents were overjoyed and emptied their savings to send their child to a private school. The child lived up to their expectations and consistently ranked at the top of his class."

Ji Bai frowned more and more as he listened: "Are you sure it's not a replacement?"

The girl said, "I heard it from someone else, and the story does sound quite bizarre."

"Human greed knows no bounds. Seeing the changes in that child," the girl paused, then said, "the fisherman was naturally filled with envy. You can probably guess what happened next; it was the beginning of a complete disaster..."

Ji Bai was silent for a moment, then said to her, "Could all of this be related to a literary heart?"

The girl gave him a look that said, "After all this build-up, you finally understood," smiled, and said, "Yes."

"Well, it seems this literary talent isn't anything special," Ji Bai shrugged.

……

Dark clouds loom over the city, threatening to crush it.

Chu Ze looked up at the sky, where dark clouds seemed to be clenched into a giant hand, ready to unleash a storm. A barely perceptible excitement flickered in his calm eyes.

He looked down at Wang Zhixuan, whose body was visibly repairing itself. He turned his head and suddenly blurted out, "Do you think you have to use the best bait to catch a big fish?"

Wang Zhixuan asked in a hoarse voice, "What do you mean?"

"It's nothing," Chu Ze said calmly. "Actually, I lied to you just now. There was no chicken, duck, fish, or meat in that story at all."

"Oh." Wang Zhixuan said calmly, even with a hint of sarcasm, "I thought you were going to say that I'm now at your mercy."

Chu Ze seemed amused by his words, and he slowly said, "That story is true, but no one has been able to capture that Wen Xin. Over the years, many people have tried to investigate, but unfortunately, no one has found a trace of it..."

"So you think you'll end up here."

Wang Zhixuan spoke sarcastically, but after a while, he suddenly distanced himself, saying, "You should know that our Wang family has nothing to do with that village."