Translator: CKtalon
Zhou Wen’s face darkened as he explained, “Why would I have an illegitimate daughter? I picked her up.”
“Picked her up? I thought she was your daughter. I thought my life would be more fun with her in the future.” Ouyang Lan was greatly disappointed as though she wished Zhou Wen had ten illegitimate children.
“If you like children, why not adopt one yourself?” Zhou Wen said.
Ouyang Lan rolled her eyes at him. “I have two sons and a daughter. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if I adopted a grandchild? That punk, Tianzuo, is a disappointment. He only knows how to work every day and doesn’t even have a partner. I’m counting on you and Little Jing now. Don’t be like Tianzuo. Find a wife early and give me a grandchild to play with.”
“Sis Lan, I’m only a sophomore. There’s no rush, right?” Zhou Wen was rendered speechless.
“Why not? Girls in school are most gullible. If you can’t even fool them in school, it will be even harder to find a partner in the future,” Ouyang Lan said.
“Uh!” Zhou Wen didn’t know what to say.
“Anyway, give it some thought. I think that Wang Lu is quite good. Unfortunately, she will definitely be in charge of the Wang family in the future. It’s impossible for her to marry out of the family. By the way, didn’t you have a female classmate from Guide High School who was admitted together with you? Her name is Fang Ruoxi, right? I think she’s quite a nice person. She has a huge butt, a sign of being fertile...”
“Sis Lan... Have some tea...” Zhou Wen hurriedly poured a cup of tea for Ouyang Lan, finally stopping her.
Ouyang Lan drank a mouthful of tea and glanced at Ya’er who was sitting there. She asked, “This girl looks pretty good but too bad she’s not your biological daughter. What’s her name?”
“She doesn’t have a name yet. I gave her a nickname—Ya’er,” Zhou Wen answered.
Ouyang Lan sighed and said, “In this era, too many people have died. There are also many orphans. It’s still alright in Luoyang because of the orphanages. At the very least, they still have a way out. If their parents were to die in smaller cities, the orphans would really have no way out. They might be able to live if they were adopted by good people, but in this world, how can there be so many good people?”
“You still need to cultivate and study now. Furthermore, you are still a child yourself. What do you know about bringing up a child? I’ll help you take care of her. If you have the time, come home and visit her,” Ouyang Lan said as she walked in front of Ya’er wanting to hug her.
“Sis Lan, Ya’er isn’t an ordinary child. She’s very sensible. There’s no need for me to take care of her. She knows everything and will do it herself.” Zhou Wen hurriedly stopped Ouyang Lan.
Zhou Wen had seen how ruthless Ya’er was in destroying the Xiao family. He didn’t dare let Ya’er follow Ouyang Lan to the An family. If someone from the An family made her unhappy, the consequences would be unimaginable.
“What can a young child like her know? Don’t worry. I raised Tianzuo and Little Jing myself. I have experience,” Ouyang Lan said as she revealed an amiable smile. She spread open her arms and said to Ya’er, “Ya’er, be good. Come home with Pretty Sister, alright? Pretty Sister has many delicious sweets and beautiful clothes at home.”
Ya’er sat on the sofa and looked at Ouyang Lan before turning her head to the side.
The corners of Ouyang Lan’s eyes twitched before she took two steps to be in front of Ya’er’s face again. She continued, “Follow Pretty Sister, and there’ll be many toys and delicious food.”
Ya’er turned her face to the other side and Ouyang Lan followed.
Zhou Wen was rendered speechless when he saw this. Ouyang Lan had just said that it was meaningless taking care of another person’s children, but now, she was insisting on taking Ya’er back.
“Sis Lan, how’s the investigation on Chu He?” Zhou Wen was afraid that this awkward situation would continue, so he hurriedly changed the topic. Furthermore, Zhou Wen really wanted to know if the Chu He who went to Zhuolu was real or fake.
“On the surface, there’s nothing wrong with the Chu He who went to Zhuolu. All the chronological events matched. If you hadn’t discovered Chu He in Netherworld City, no one would suspect that there was anything wrong with Zhuolu’s Chu He.”
Ouyang Lan paused before continuing, “However, because everything about this Chu He is too perfect, it makes me feel that something is amiss, but our investigations have been fruitless. Therefore, I changed the direction of my investigation and investigated all the members of the team. All of them were clean and looked fine on the surface. However, I realized that all of them have something in common.”
“What was that?” Zhou Wen immediately asked.
“After these people arrived in Zhuolu, most of them didn’t or seldom contacted their families. Although communication isn’t very convenient now and there’s no signal in Zhuolu, they will return to the encampment at times. It’s only natural for them to want to call their family and friends. Even if there are a few workaholics or heartless people among them, it can’t be that most of them are such people. I went to visit their relatives and confirmed this matter. They rarely receive calls. Even if there were calls, they were the ones who called. Furthermore, the other party said that they were very busy. They hurriedly hung up after a few sentences.”
Zhou Wen frowned when he heard that. “Could it be that many of the people in the former principal’s team were impersonated like Chu He?”
“From the looks of it, it’s very likely.” Ouyang Lan nodded.
“Who did this? What motives does he have?” Zhou Wen said after some thought.
“This is also what puzzles me. Many of those people are authoritative figures in their respective fields. It’s not easy to get someone to impersonate them. Furthermore, they have to do it flawlessly. Such a huge setup isn’t something an ordinary person can do. Doing all of this should be a ploy, but what are they plotting? Zhuolu has already been mostly explored. From the looks of it, there doesn’t seem to be anything that’s worth going to such great lengths,” Ouyang Lan said.
Zhou Wen felt that Ouyang Lan was right. The motive behind such a huge scheme was definitely extraordinary, but what was worth such a setup in Zhuolu?
The former principal and company were only studying Zhuolu. They didn’t have the ability to kill Torch Dragon and Qiongqi. Ignoring Torch Dragon and Qiongqi, even Aoyin could kill them all.
If the other party had the ability to set up such a grand scheme, he could have organized an expedition team himself. There was no need for him to follow the former principal.
“What does the former principal and company have that others don’t?” Zhou Wen asked.
“I’m also thinking about this question. Based on the information we have so far, there’s no valid answer,” Ouyang Lan said helplessly.
Zhou Wen suddenly thought of the passcode left behind by the former principal and the metal slab that contained a strange coin.
Could it be that what they want is that coin? Zhou Wen thought.
On second thought, Zhou Wen thought of the silver-haired Companion Beast locked in Qin Xiyuan’s shop. The huge metal piece connected to the chain had a corresponding relationship with the small metal piece Zhou Wen had obtained. If he hadn’t seen the huge metal piece, Zhou Wen wouldn’t have imagined that the string of numbers the former principal had given him was a passcode.
Could there be something inside that huge metal slab? Zhou Wen thought to himself.