Chapter Sixteen: The Utterly Innocent Fool

“Hey, wretched spirit, show yourself at once!” Chen You’an shouted, brandishing a peachwood sword and lunging straight at Nan Xian’s chest.

Nan Xian didn’t even flinch, letting the wooden sword pass through from front to back.

“Hmm? What kind of master can’t see me?” a taunting voice came from behind. Chen You’an swiftly swung the sword, striking with lightning speed.

With a crash, a teacup by the door shattered on the floor.

Xu Si’s eyes lit up instantly. Holding up his phone, he displayed the digitized appraisal: “An antique Tang dynasty teacup, valued at twenty-eight hundred.”

“That’s obviously something from a two-dollar store, you…” Si Jincheng recalled the cup’s origin but swallowed his words, his chest heaving violently with frustration.

“Oh? Mr. Si seems to doubt the value of this cup?” Xu Si casually pulled up a chat app. Seeing Si Jincheng’s pale face, he began, zero hesitation: “Sisi, this teacup has been in our family for generations. Today’s your eighteenth birthday, and I have nothing better to give you…”

“Enough! I’ll compensate!” Si Jincheng cut in.

“Tsk, why didn’t you say so earlier? No need for me to utter such embarrassing words. Are you too immersed in the role, Mr. Si? Want to reminisce with me?”

“Xu Si!” Si Jincheng’s face darkened.

“Xu Si!” Nan Xian’s cheeks flushed.

“Not deaf,” Xu Si said, scratching his ear. Then his gaze shifted, and he ran over to the hard sofa that the original owner had scavenged from the trash.

His voice brimmed with excitement: “Nan Xian, how about we get a new sofa?”

“We?” Nan Xian brightened immediately, clearly pleased: “Mission guaranteed!” Hmph, the little mischievous spirit wants to go furniture shopping with me and set up our love nest.

Xu Si’s words gave Chen You’an a sudden ominous feeling. Just as he was about to retreat, his right hand moved involuntarily, seizing the peachwood sword.

He struck hard at the short, stiff sofa.

“No worries, no worries, my sword is wood, so…”

“Smack!” The solid wood sofa split in two.

The silence that followed was deafening. Chen You’an swallowed hard. “Peachwood can split a sofa?”

“Ah! My golden nanmu sofa!” Xu Si wailed theatrically, then quickly stood up and pulled out his phone.

With a deadpan, businesslike tone, he reported: “Mr. Si, damage to one golden nanmu sofa, valued at eighty-eight thousand!”

“You’re talking nonsense.” Si Jincheng stared at the sofa, then recalled clearly he had never bought such a thing. He smirked, “I never gave you any golden nanmu sofa!”

“Oh? Really?” Xu Si feigned surprise, scrolling through his phone with a tightening brow.

Just as they relaxed, Xu Si continued dramatically: “Sisi, in my heart, it’s a hundred times better than a golden nanmu sofa, not hard at all, really comfortable. When I have money, I’ll…”

“Stop, I’ll pay!” Si Jincheng interrupted.

“Enough, Nan Xian, next is the refrigerator!” Xu Si waved his hand grandly, and Nan Xian immediately sprang into action.

Chen You’an was dragged forward by the peachwood sword, screaming in terror.

“Mr. Si, it wasn’t me, really not me…”

“Smack!” The refrigerator split in two.

“Nan Xian, the bed!”

“Nan Xian, the door’s no good either.”

“Nan Xian, balcony, washing machine, TV, phone—cough, cough, the phone next time!”

“Got it!”

Nan Xian wielded the peachwood sword like a swarm of locusts, leaving nothing intact in their path.

The five people too frightened to enter the room had gone from heartache in anger to stunned silence, lips twitching, unable to speak.

Inside, Xu Si fanned the dust from his nose, feeling something was still missing.

Suddenly enlightened, he seized the moment.

“Nan Xian, the house!”

“Yes!”

This time, Nan Xian didn’t act directly but stood with one hand behind his back and the other pointing forward, his potent spiritual energy sweeping over Chen You’an’s body.

With the middle and index fingers pressed together and slightly raised, the peachwood sword flew upward. Chen You’an panicked, the sword in his hand becoming like a hot potato.

He tried to shake it off but couldn’t, forced to watch as the sword sliced left and right, up and down, swinging him wildly through the empty room.

‘Is this the power of a god?’ Xu Si’s gaze darkened as he watched Nan Xian playing gleefully, his heart pounding wildly.

In an instant, Nan Xian landed and, before Xu Si could react, leapt forward, grabbing him by the waist and pulling him out of the room.

“Nan Xian?” Xu Si frowned, about to ask.

Then came a thunderous crash behind them—the house collapsed.

Dust billowed into the air. The corridor fell silent to a terrifying degree until Chen You’an, unable to bear it, clutched his peachwood sword and fled to a corner.

“Ugh—Mr. Si, ugh—please believe me, ugh—it really wasn’t me…”

“Shut up!” Si Jincheng, as if smelling something sour, feigned calm and stepped back two paces.

Subtly distancing himself from Xu Si, he was about to speak when Si’s mother stepped forward trembling, respectfully handing over a bank card.

“Miss Xu, please forgive us. Here, this is two million. Two million is the Si family’s compensation to you.”

“Please, just pretend we never came here, okay?”

“Hmm—” Xu Si grabbed the right hand reaching for the card with his left, eyes sharp. “You’re not going to accuse me of extortion after I take it?”

“N-no.” Si’s mother continued to lower her voice, her eyes murky and cold, much like Si Jincheng’s.

“And you won’t report me for blackmail?”

“As long as Miss Xu stops thinking about our Jincheng, the Si family promises never to trouble you again.”

“Hmm—” Xu Si pondered, “Then I need to record a video saying this money is compensation for your damage to my house.”

“Xu Si, don’t push your luck.” Xu Yi’s eyes reddened.

Breaking free from her mother’s embrace, she spread her hands, blocking Si’s mother: “Wah, if you have a grudge, take it out on me. Auntie is innocent, wah.”

“Sister, please don’t keep making mistakes, okay? Let’s study hard, be filial to Mom and Dad, and to you, sister. Wah, blame me, hit me, it’s all my fault. I admit it. I just beg you not to keep making mistakes, sister!”

Xu Yi cried her heart out. Her words deeply moved everyone to tears, even Si’s mother nodded repeatedly.

“Jincheng, this daughter-in-law, I…”

“Three million.” Before Si’s mother finished, Xu Si cut in coldly. “One million more for every minute wasted.”

“Sister, you!” Xu Yi’s expression twisted as she tried to continue her tea ceremony.

Si’s mother pushed her aside sharply. “Si Jincheng, I do not recognize this daughter-in-law. The Si family will never take a woman so lacking in propriety.”

“A-Auntie, no, that’s not what I meant.” Xu Yi panicked, on the verge of tears.

“Brother Jincheng, please tell Auntie I’m not like that, I…”

“Four million.” Xu Si’s voice was icy.

Xu Yi immediately fell silent. Xu’s father glared fiercely, while Xu’s mother quickly pulled her back into her arms, soothing her.

Having lost two million in vain, Si’s mother now despised the Xu family as well.

She hurriedly took out her phone: “Miss Xu, I don’t have a four-million balance. Can I transfer it to you?”

“Sure. Make sure to note it’s a voluntary gift.”

Xu Si pulled out his phone. Si’s mother scanned painfully, and it seemed the matter of the demolished house was finally settled.

Unexpectedly, in the dim corridor, a blinding beam of light suddenly shone.

“Don’t move, police!”