Chapter 61
"I'm back!"
Hong Ye kicked off her shoes, threw down her school bag and rushed towards her father, climbing onto him in just a few strides.
He Sheng followed behind and entered the house, smiling at Cheng Zhou who came out of the kitchen. He put away his shoes that had red leaves on them in the shoe cabinet, changed into slippers, closed the front door, and carried a bag of food into the living room.
"What did you buy?"
"When will you take me to grandma's place?"
The father and son's voices sounded at the same time.
Chengzhou carried a small butt with red leaves and walked towards the sofa, saying perfunctorily: "In a few days, I've been busy to the point of madness during this period."
"The Qingming Festival is coming soon, aren't you going to sweep the tomb with your grandmother?"
"Hmm, when the time comes, I'll go with your grandmother to that kind of place, a cemetery. You kids don't have enough yang energy, so it's better not to go."
"Can't go to the grave?" Hong Ye's expression was strange.
Chengzhou pretended not to hear and turned his head towards He Sheng.
He Sheng put the food bag on the coffee table, took out a few bags of snacks and a large box of small cakes from inside, and smiled: "I saw that the cake house at the door was discounted when I came back, so I bought some. What do you want to eat tonight?"
Cheng Zhou sat down on the sofa with Hong Ye, "I've chopped up the duck in the fridge, just waiting for you to come back and cook it. Tonight we'll have the braised duck meat you made last time, it was absolutely delicious. I'll stir-fry two vegetarian dishes, I've already washed the mushrooms and green vegetables. There's also some bean sprouts, let's stir-fry them too tonight."
"Good." He Sheng smiled.
"You rest for a while, dinner is not urgent, it's only four thirty, still early." Cheng Zhou moved his son to sit on his own lap and leaned forward to open the cake box.
Hong Ye pushed the cake box over to He Sheng's side.
Cheng Zhou pinched him.
"You coward! Are you going to hide me for a lifetime? You have to tell Grandma about my things!"
"I'm not hiding you, isn't this hard to explain?"
"Are you going to make me a black household forever?" Hong Ye shouted.
"...you have a registered permanent residence."
"But I didn't get recognition from all of my family!"
"You just need me to acknowledge it, why does everyone in the family have to acknowledge it?"
"Dear father, am I your illegitimate child?"
"Huh?!"
He Sheng couldn't help but laugh, and with a hint of shyness, he opened the cake box and took out the exquisite little cakes one by one.
Hong Ye glanced at the cake, then looked up and said seriously: "Dad, illegitimate children are prone to psychological abnormalities. Do you want me to become a sadist, a prodigal son, or a cruel demon?"
Cheng Zhou was stunned, "Not going to see your grandmother has such severe consequences?"
"There are. Those illegitimate children who were not acknowledged by their grandparents and were either driven out of the house or grew up in depression at home, and when they grew up, they started to take revenge on society!"
"What TV shows have you been watching?"
"TV is not the point, the point is that you hurt my innocent and pure heart, making me feel like a bastard child who can't see the light of day."
"...it would be more effective if you didn't put all your favorite cakes in front of yourself when saying this."
"Your words have already hurt me so much, must you also torture my stomach? Daddy, I think you don't love me."
What's so funny?
Cheng Chou's mouth twitched at the corners. "You just love me? In fact, you didn't treat me as a father, but as food."
Hong Ye opened a cake and picked out the small cherries inside, sending them to Cheng Chou's mouth, "Ah."
Cheng Zhou opens his big mouth.
Hong Ye handed over and stuffed the cherry into her own mouth, leaving a stem to give to his father, "You have a good memory, I knew you would always remember."
Cheng Zhou,"......"
"Ding dong ding dong."
Just as Chengzhou was about to say something, the doorbell rang.
He got up and went to open the door.
The door opened and Saito Masayuki, who lived across the street, stood at the entrance with a box of cake.
"Hello, is Mr. Cheng at home?"
"Oh, Mr. Saito, what can I do for you?" To avoid being driven mad by his son, Cheng Zhou dropped the topic he had just brought up and put Hong Ye on the sofa to sit down, then got up and walked towards the door.
He Sheng saw Cheng Zhou come out and silently stepped aside.
"Hello Mr. Cheng, sorry to disturb you. Do you still remember what I told you last time?" Saito Masayuki said, handing over the cake box with both hands before speaking.
Chengzhou had no choice but to take over the box of exquisite cake with a familiar logo, "Sorry, what was it you said last time..."
"Sorry, I didn't get a chance to explain last time. First of all, I want to apologize to you. I wasn't intentionally trying to attack your Shiki, it's just that your Shiki is too powerful and I thought it was a malevolent spirit that could harm people. It was only later that I found out it was a Shiki you raised."
No wonder Situ didn't get along with you, Chengzhou finally figured out the reason.
"Mr. Saito, I think you may need to apologize to Mr. Szeto instead of me. Although exorcising ghosts might be your specialty, taking action without distinguishing right from wrong is a bit... If Mr. Szeto wasn't strong enough, wouldn't he have been gone by now?"
"Sorry! I was completely on instinct at that time, I really didn't mean to." Saito seemed a bit flustered.
Chengzhou raised his hand and put the cake box on the shoe cabinet. "Is there anything else you want to ask me besides this?"
"Yes, there's something very important." Saito took out a delicate invitation from his bag and handed it to Cheng Chou Dao with both hands: "This is the invitation letter for the 100th World Onmyodo Conference, which will be held at Hakone Shrine in Kanagawa Prefecture. Please ask Mr. Cheng to attend with your honorable son."
"Onmyouji Convention?"
"Yes. This is the greatest gathering of Onmyodo practitioners in the world, held once every ten years, and has been going on for a thousand years. In the past, this convention was only for Onmyodo practitioners within our country, but over the past hundred years it has spread to the entire world. Currently, this convention can be said to be the most authoritative among all Onmyodo gatherings in the world, with the largest number of participants." Saito's expression showed a slight excitement.
"Sorry, I'm no fortune teller." Cheng Zhou waved his hand and smiled, not taking the invitation.
"No, no, no. The term 'Onmyodo' is just a general expression; it actually includes all people with spiritual power. As long as you have spiritual power and reach a certain level, and get some kind of recognition, you can participate in this great gathering."
"What recognition did I get? Or can you sense that my magical powers have reached what level?" Cheng Chou laughed.
Saito's expression turned serious, "You have gained the recognition of the Divine Tree, this is more important and authoritative than anything else."
"Uh, thank you, I'm very busy with work and probably won't be able to take time off to visit your country. Thank you for the kind intention, let's talk about it again when there's a chance, how does that sound?"
Cheng Zhou's words were truly sincere, he was indeed extremely busy. Work was getting intense, and he couldn't let the department head continue to misunderstand that he wanted to transfer or quit; he was also studying Taoist rituals and talismans, and Yuanyuan and Trainmaster Zhang's wife were waiting for his help with their transcendence; there was also the matter brought up by his old classmate Wang Fei, which he was investigating and learning about.
Saito said anxiously, "Cheng sir, I hope you will reconsider carefully, okay? This time's conference is the 100th session, so many important figures will come and some precious spells, talismans, etc. will be made public or exchanged. If you give up this opportunity, it would really be a pity."
Chengzhou looked at Qi Teng and held up the invitation with both hands, feeling a bit embarrassed, "But I'm really busy..."
"Then can you receive the invitation first?"
"......Alright." Cheng Zhou reluctantly stretched out his hand to take the invitation letter.
"Bang!" Cheng Zhou's body was knocked to one side, and suddenly, out of nowhere, Situ appeared between the two of them, forcibly pushing that invitation card to the ground.
Situ Shun pushed Cheng Zhou into the door, turned around and expressionlessly said to Qi Tong: "I'll count to three, if you don't disappear, I can guarantee that you will never return to your hometown again, including your soul."
Saito took a step back in shock. This vengeful spirit was even more terrifying than the last time he saw it! How did it cultivate? Its power had increased so rapidly?!
"1, 2..."
Saito didn't give Szeto a chance to count to three. He bowed slightly to the people in the house and quickly turned around and left.
"Take out your trash!"
The invitation flew up, like a flying knife, and was inserted straight into the anti-theft steel wooden door opposite.
"Bang!" The big gate of the house closed.
Cheng Zhou shook his head, "I'm telling you, Situ brother, he's at least an international friend... Alright, alright, he's not a true friend, but do we need to make things so difficult for him? That person is a yin-yang master, you're not afraid of him, but what about He Sheng?"
He Sheng smiled lightly, "I couldn't deal with him before, but now..."
"Alright, alright, you're all great! But I think it's better to offend fewer people if possible. Even if you're all very powerful, our ancestors said it well: a visible spear is easy to dodge, but a hidden arrow is hard to guard against. What if others secretly plot against us?"
Situ sneered, "If you don't offend him, he won't secretly plot against you?"
"What does it mean?"
"Idiot, Sze-to is saying that there's something wrong with the invitation." Hung Yip chimed in.
Chengzhou turned his head, eyes wide open, and roared: "Hongye! How many cakes did you eat? You won't be having dinner tonight?"
Considering Hongye alone finished four small cakes, Cheng Dad forbade Hongye's internet time for that evening.
Hong Ye was unhappy and rushed over to bite his father several times.
"Go ahead and bite, I know you're up to no good, you're always thinking of how to eat me out of house and home! Last night you even drooled on me in your sleep!"
"Dad, I love you so much, how can I bear to eat you?" Hong Ye sat on his father's thigh, hypocritically licking his father's neck. Every lick, he would squint his eyes in satisfaction and then lick again.
Cheng Chou felt like his neck had been licked by a dirty son's saliva.
"You love me? You can't wait to get rid of me every day! Get up, stop licking, are you a dog?" Cheng Zhou slapped Hong Ye's butt.
The red leaves twisted and turned, refusing to get up.
"Tell me, what's on the invitation? Is Saito really going to harm us?"
"Red Leaf raised her face, 'Harm us? He doesn't have that kind of guts. He just wants to know something through that invitation.'"
"What's going on?"
"Who am I, who are you."
"Huh?"
"He's just wasting his effort, that kind of petty trick I can see through, let alone Hong Ye." Si Tu sat down on the sofa opposite him, casually picked up a cake and started eating.
He sent him a cup of milk tea.
"I want some too!" cried Akane.
Cheng Zhou slapped him and carried him towards the kitchen.
He Sheng sat down beside Sito.
Situ gave him a glance and pushed a cheesecake on the tea table over to him.
He Sheng waved his hand and asked in a low voice, "What have you been up to lately?"
Situ's hand holding the small spoon paused for a moment.
"Your strength has increased very quickly, too quickly... it's not normal. And I feel that there is a very heavy aura of death on you, every time you go out, it gets heavier again. Sito, I don't know what you're doing, but since I can sense it, Hongye and Li Jiacheng can't possibly not sense it either. Hongye doesn't say anything because he doesn't care. Li Jiacheng hasn't come to find us this whole time, so he hasn't noticed, if he notices, even with Hongye around, he won't just ignore you like that."
"Situ raised his head and said, 'What do you want to say?'"
He Sheng said seriously, "If you commit a great taboo, Li Jiacheng will definitely invite the powerful people below to capture you. You might think that with Cheng Zhou's personality, he won't ignore you at that time. As long as Cheng Zhou cares about you, Hong Ye can't not lend a hand. But have you thought about it? No matter how strong Hong Ye is, he is only one person. If he makes a mistake, what will happen to Cheng Zhou?"
"Do you think I would indirectly hurt Cheng Zhou?"
"Yes."
"He Sheng, you're really breaking my heart by saying that." Si Tu said, feeling deeply hurt, and pulled over the cheesecake, dug out a mouthful and swallowed it.
Chengzhou took out a thermos and cup, while Hongye climbed onto his back, her legs clamped around his waist.
Chengzhou kept muttering to himself without stopping.
Hongye would pull her father's face one moment and then tug at his ears the next, occasionally even biting him a couple of times, playing to her heart's content.
Cheng Zhou's mouth was grumbling, but his eyes were full of smiles.
Red leaves... no one can tell what's on red leaves' mind.
Situ looked at the father and son, with complex emotions in his eyes.
Chengzhou put the cup on the tea table, and the red leaves slid down from his back.
Cheng Chou poured milk tea for several people together.
Situ lowered his eyelids, as if in thought.
"Situ, although I may not be able to defeat you in a fight, if you dare to harm the master of the boat, I will die trying to make sure you pay for it."
Upon hearing the words that were meant for his ears alone, Situ chuckled and spoke directly: "You shouldn't be threatening me, you should just tell Hongye that I have ill intentions towards Chengchou. Do you think Hongye would believe it and immediately devour me?"
He Sheng was shocked.
Hong Ye and Cheng Zhou looked at Si Tu together.
Hong Ye asked curiously: "Situ, do you have an unfavorable heart towards Cheng Chou? What do you want to do to Cheng Chou? Are you going to cook and eat him?"
"......won't that be a bit of a waste?"
"Right, it's better to eat it raw."
"Slap!" Cheng Zhou was so angry that he slapped the back of his son's head, "Damn it, how could I have given birth to such a cruel little brat like you?"
"I wasn't born by you anyway! Can you give birth to me?" Hong Ye glared at him. Stinky old man, how dare he hit me?
"How could I not have given birth to you? You dare say you're not my son?" Cheng Zhou glared back. Come on, hit me! How about it? Didn't you say I'm your father? Then shouldn't I be the one scolding you?!
"Turns out you like to attack and suffer yourself, no wonder you can't find a wife."
Cheng Chou took a deep breath and shouted loudly: "Hong Ye!"
"Ding dong ding dong." The doorbell of the Cheng family rang again.
Author's words: Thank you for the love from all the cute masters! I will work harder and write more ^^
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