Chapter 36: Swapping the Cat for the Crown Prince

At the Red Flag Hotel in Lutou Town.

“I have an idea to kill two birds with one stone, so your brother-in-law won’t send people everywhere to look for his son anymore. It could solve this trouble once and for all,” Zhang Min said to Li Guoqing.

“What idea?” Li Guoqing quickly asked Zhang Min.

“Your brother-in-law’s son is twenty-one this year. I have a distant relative whose son, named Zheng Fan, is also just twenty-one. That boy is quite honest and always listens to me. Why don’t we do a ‘swapping the cat for the crown prince’ trick and bring Zheng Fan to your brother-in-law? As long as he thinks his lost son has returned, he won’t keep sending people to search anymore. As long as we control Zheng Fan, the Yida Group will be under our control in the future,” Zhang Min explained her plan to Li Guoqing.

“Swapping the cat for the crown prince? Do you think this is ancient times? Have you heard of DNA testing?” Li Guoqing replied to Zhang Min with contempt.

“You’re such a blockhead! We know your brother-in-law is looking for his son, but he doesn’t know that we already know about it. And recently, I managed to bribe his most trusted personal assistant, Huang Weisen. He handles most of the search for the son. If DNA testing is needed, your brother-in-law is too sick to handle it personally. We just have to bribe the doctor conducting the test with a lot of money. What else can’t we manage?” Zhang Min poked Li Guoqing’s forehead hard with her finger.

“My brother-in-law is very sharp. How could he believe that a stranger we bring out of nowhere is his missing son? He would definitely be suspicious…”

“Hmph! Let me show you a few things. I’m not afraid he won’t fall for it.” Zhang Min opened her mobile phone, flipped through a few photos, and showed them to Li Guoqing.

“What are these…” Li Guoqing looked at the old-style jewelry, bracelets, and other items in the photos and asked Zhang Min curiously.

“These are things I sent someone to dig out from the graves of Tian Qiaohui and Lü Xiuzhen. They must have been their personal belongings,” Zhang Min answered Li Guoqing proudly.

“Who are Tian Qiaohui and Lü Xiuzhen?” Li Guoqing was even more puzzled.

“For your Li Family, I’ve done my homework thoroughly this time! Liu Jianhao originally didn’t have the surname Liu; he had the same surname as you—Li. His original name was Li Dewang. Tian Qiaohui was his unofficial wife when he was twenty, and Lü Xiuzhen was his mother-in-law! Hmph! Back then, he left his wife and child and fled far away because of gambling debts. Actually, he never forgot his first wife. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have named his current daughter Liu Hui!”

“Wait, what does all this have to do with our ‘swapping the cat for the crown prince’ plan?” There were too many names, and the relationships were complicated. Li Guoqing was confused and quickly interrupted Zhang Min.

“Fool! I’ll have my distant relative Zheng Fan take the personal belongings of your brother-in-law’s first wife and original mother-in-law to claim kinship. As long as Chairman Liu recognizes these items, do you think he’ll still be suspicious?”

“Wow… wow…”

“What are you ‘wowing’ about?”

“Wow! This idea is brilliant! You’re amazing, dear wife!” Once Li Guoqing understood, he couldn’t help but give Zhang Min a thumbs-up. This level of cunning was way beyond him.

“If we can keep this from your sister, that would be even better… That way… the Yida Group will truly belong to the two of us…” Zhang Min reminded Li Guoqing again.

“That… won’t be easy, will it?” Li Guoqing was a bit stunned.

“You! You’re hopeless!” Zhang Min poked Li Guoqing’s forehead again, very dissatisfied.

“Let’s take it one step at a time. When it comes to the DNA matter, we might actually need my sister’s help to hide it from my brother-in-law,” Li Guoqing discussed with Zhang Min.

“Don’t tell your sister about our plan for now. I’ll think of something later. If we can hide it for a while, that’s good. If we can’t hide it anymore, we’ll deal with it then.”

“Okay.”

Li Guoqing responded. Just then, his mobile phone rang. Li Guoqing quickly picked it up and looked—the caller’s name shocked him. It was his sister, Li Tingting.

“Sis, what’s up?”

“…”

“What happened?” Seeing Li Guoqing frown after the call, Zhang Min quickly asked him.

“Xiao Hui ditched her bodyguards and ran off. She’s been out all day and still isn’t back. She’s not answering her mobile phone. My sister asked if she had contacted me.”

“What could happen to her? That girl is getting wilder. Don’t worry about her; let’s continue with our business.” Zhang Min clearly didn’t have a good opinion of Liu Hui.

“Oh, right, dear. What if Chairman Liu’s real son shows up later after we bring a fake one?” Li Guoqing thought of something else and quickly brought it up to Zhang Min.

“This… I’ve thought about it… I’ll send someone to wait by his mother and maternal grandmother’s graves. On Qingming Festival next year, when he goes to pay respects, we’ll send him to meet his mother and maternal grandmother.” A cold, sinister glint appeared in Zhang Min’s eyes.

…

Hundreds of kilometers away from Lutou Town, Lü Yang suddenly shivered for no reason. Of course, he had no idea that he had somehow become involved in the huge inheritance dispute of the Yida Group and that someone wanted him dead.

After leaving Yi Ya’s place, Lü Yang went to the small supermarket outside the residential area and bought a few packs of instant noodles. Then he returned to his rented room.

Back in his rented room, Lü Yang first called Sister Mei. From their conversation, Lü Yang realized that she knew nothing about what happened in the Mysterious Domain tonight. This made Lü Yang feel once again as if he had traveled from another Parallel World.

“Hopefully it won’t rain tonight. Come early tomorrow, Xiao Lü! Those porters talk too much; I can’t handle them alone.” Sister Mei reminded Lü Yang again at the end, her tone no different from usual. This disappointed Lü Yang slightly, who had some fantasies about what might have happened between them after dinner.

“Okay, I’ll get there.”

After hanging up Sister Mei’s call, Lü Yang couldn’t help but think of the five porters. They died in the Mysterious Domain—would they still exist in reality? Were they completely erased, just like Yi Yi?

He would only know when he saw them tomorrow.

Everything felt so weird and eerie, and the source of all this eeriness was the Eerie Computer.

Lü Yang still remembered the voice prompts that echoed in his ears when the Mysterious Domain ended tonight. He sat on the sofa and tried closing his eyes. Sure enough, the Eerie Computer screen appeared in front of his eyes as commanded.

All the operations responded to his thoughts. However, when Lü Yang thought about holding it in his hand, it could still appear physically in his grasp.

Whether it was high technology or supernatural, Lü Yang couldn’t tell.

Opening the Mysterious Domain option, Lü Yang checked his account and found he now had eight Eerie Points in total. Completing Yi Yi’s Task gave him two, but that only offset the penalty for Yi Yi’s unfinished Task. Completing his own Task gave him two. Killing four porters gave him six. Completing the Main Quest gave him two, but a Healing Card costing two Eerie Points was automatically used.

Additionally, there was one Eerie Stone in his account. He also earned the title of Mystic Scholar, but his Mystic Scholar rating was Beginner.

In the Mysterious Domain, the previously grayed-out Eerie Card system became selectable. Entering the Eerie Card option, many types of Eerie Cards appeared on the screen for Lü Yang to choose and exchange.