Chapter 9: Where did that lipstick mark on your face come from?

“Chen Fan, do you even deserve to talk about feng shui?” Jiang Yueshan roared angrily. “Do you know who I hired for this?”

“Honey, why bother telling him? He wouldn’t understand even if you did,” Su Juan rolled her eyes.

“You’re dragging Master Zhang’s reputation down!”

Chen Fan replied calmly, “That’s all I have to say.”

With that, he turned and left without a trace of hesitation.

No sooner had he stepped out of the gate than agonized cries and wails erupted from the villa behind him. Yet he didn’t look back—he just kept walking straight ahead.

Even the Jiang family’s mystical feng shui, suppressed by the Celestial Bone Talisman, was beyond their recognition. After Chen Fan’s warning, they still insisted on tampering with the feng shui. The backlash from such mystical feng shui was not something an amateur who had only dabbled in it for over ten years could withstand.

Without the aid of a master, the young man in the Taoist robe was doomed.

Chen Fan reached the entrance of the residential area just as his phone rang—it was Jiang Xiao.

“Chen Fan, what exactly is going on? How did Master Zhang suddenly collapse and start coughing up blood? If you know anything, just tell me!”

Listening to the urgency in Jiang Xiao’s voice, Chen Fan’s reply was succinct: “See you at the civil affairs bureau at 10 a.m. tomorrow.”

“You—”

Chen Fan hung up, then got into Xiao Li’s car and headed back to the Fu family estate.

...

“Back already?”

“Mm.”

Fu Xueyue had taken a rare day off today. After surviving such a close call, a few days of rest were well deserved.

Chen Fan was tactful enough not to pry into the strained relationship between Fu Xueyue and her biological father, Fu Ankang. After all, he respected his clients’ privacy.

“Tomorrow is Zhang Qiankun’s apprenticeship banquet. The invitation has already arrived here,” Fu Xueyue said, tilting her chin slightly and pointing to the gold-embossed invitation on the table.

“Zhang Qiankun is really going all out this time, throwing the most extravagant apprenticeship banquet in Qingcheng’s history.”

“Mr. Chen, your name is about to become famous in Qingcheng.”

Chen Fan shook his head. “I’m not interested.”

He genuinely wasn’t. He agreed to accept Zhang Qiankun as his disciple only because the old man didn’t have many years left.

As for fame, the name Chen Daoshou had already resounded throughout Daxia years ago.

“Then how about cuddling with me tonight, Mr. Chen? Interested?”

What a shameless proposition!

“No thanks, I’m going to bed!”

Fu Xueyue watched Chen Fan head straight for the bedroom and couldn’t help but smile.

Chen Fan lay in bed, idly turning the Celestial Bone Talisman over in his hand.

“The Celestial Bone... back then, I nearly tore through the Daoist sect to retrieve this talisman.”

“Good thing I didn’t sign any contract to revive the sect,” he mused.

After a restful night on the soft bed, Chen Fan received a call from Zhang Qiankun early the next morning.

“Master, I’m sorry. The apprenticeship banquet has to be postponed.”

“My useless little grandson insisted on taking a strange feng shui job and suffered a backlash from it...”

Listening to the lament over the phone, Chen Fan immediately thought of the young man in the Taoist robe at the Jiang residence.

Jiang Yueshan and company called him Master Zhang.

Zhang Qiankun also bore the surname Zhang; a prodigious youth with feng shui skills always had elders in the family who studied geomancy.

That guy was probably Zhang Qiankun’s grandson—there was no doubt about it.

“No worries, postpone the banquet as long as needed.”

“Master, I’m at Qingcheng First Hospital now. I’m afraid I can’t handle my grandson’s backlash.”

Chen Fan checked the time. “Alright, I’ll come over after finishing my errands.”

After hanging up, he walked into the living room.

Fu Xueyue, dressed not in pajamas but a crisp white women’s suit, looked cool and capable.

“Where are you headed? Want me to see you off?”

“No need.”

Chen Fan shook his head, stepped in front of her, and studied her face intently.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Reading your face.”

“If it’s not for face-reading, then I wouldn’t mind you looking at me like that.”

Chen Fan turned away.

She was clearly a poised and aloof female CEO, yet she kept saying such shameless things every day!

“So, what do you see?” Fu Xueyue asked with a smile.

A dense black aura swirled between her brows.

A sign of imminent death.

Yesterday she narrowly escaped death alongside Fu Ankang; today, someone came to finish off Fu Xueyue.

What had the Fu Corporation provoked?

Cai Zeming, who died with Ku Sha yesterday, was definitely not the mastermind.

Just from Ku Sha using Cai Zeming as a test subject to see if his sorcery still worked, it was obvious the real enemy was well hidden.

Chen Fan shook his head with a smile. “Don’t worry. After I dealt with that person yesterday, you won’t face any life-threatening danger in the near future.”

Tonight, he intended to eliminate the threat.

“Phew, that’s a relief...” Fu Xueyue said, wrapping her slender arms around Chen Fan’s neck and standing on tiptoe.

Her crimson lips brushed lightly against his cheek.

“I’m going to the office now.”

After teasing him, she turned and walked away briskly.

After a couple of steps with her back to Chen Fan, her face flushed deeply and her legs felt weak.

She never imagined she could be so bold.

Chen Fan touched the lipstick stain on his cheek, utterly helpless.

“There should be a clause in the contract that says she can’t tease and then run off.”

He wiped it off casually, ate the breakfast the butler brought him, glanced at the time, and set off for the civil affairs bureau.

At 10 a.m., the civil affairs bureau was bustling with couples coming to get married or divorced.

Chen Fan waited patiently for a few minutes before Jiang Xiao’s car finally arrived.

“You’re late,” Chen Fan said coolly.

Jiang Xiao frowned. “It’s only been a few minutes.”

“You would never have minded so much before.”

Chen Fan glanced at her. “Because before, we were a business couple. Now, we’re not.”

“You—”

Jiang Xiao bit her lip, not understanding what ‘business couple’ meant, but Chen Fan’s attitude, and the lipstick mark still on his face, made her feel as if a giant hand was squeezing her heart mercilessly.

“You—”

“Where did the lipstick on your face come from?”