We Weren’t Fated, I Just Played My Cards Right - Chapter 46

“I haven’t forgotten. That still stands.”

Fang Chuan pouted. “Why the double standard? What does Master Liu have that I don’t?”

Yan Xiu replied calmly, “Probably thicker skin.”

Fang Chuan pondered this and found it reasonable, sighing, “True, our Master Liu does have thicker skin than most. That said, aside from occasionally causing trouble, she’s quite adorable!”

This remark earned him another glance from Yan Xiu. For some reason, Fang Chuan felt a chill down his spine.

“Get out.” Before he could analyze the feeling further, Yan Xiu’s cool voice cut through.

Looking out the window, Fang Chuan saw they’d arrived at his place. The departing car soon vanished into the night. Wrapping his coat tighter against the biting wind, he stood there disappointed—another failed attempt to pry gossip from Yan Xiu.

As the year-end approached, everyone was swamped. The Special Cases Division had it relatively easy; wrapping up a major case before New Year’s meant their bonuses were secure.

After transferring Xu Yongshuang to Beijing’s jurisdiction, Qingcheng’s involvement ended, officially closing the case. Xu Yonglin remained—his expertise in gu poison was needed, and his voluntary surrender with merit led Fang Chuan to postpone his sentencing per official request.

Before Xu Yongshuang’s transfer, he’d demanded to see his brother. Upon Xu Yonglin’s consent, Fang Chuan arranged their meeting.

The reunion unfolded as expected. Xu Yongshuang, betrayed by his own flesh and bl00d, seethed with hatred. Restrained physically, he could only glare and snarl at Xu Yonglin: “Xu Yonglin, you’ll die horribly. I won’t let you off—neither will they.”

“Even if I hadn’t turned you in, you’d never have spared me, would you?” Xu Yonglin suddenly countered.

He wasn’t foolish. The fortune-teller had predicted his short lifespan. While his luck was poor, his health had always been robust. What could abruptly end his life? Only someone’s intent to kill him.

Xu Yongshuang glared at him fiercely, saying nothing.

Xu Yonglin didn’t expect an answer and continued speaking on his own. “I always thought you sought me out because I was your brother. But later, I realized that wasn’t the case. It was only because I had been sent to the main family and raised by Uncle for a few years, wasn’t it? You couldn’t find him, so you turned to me.”

Back then, the main branch of the Xu family was thriving, and many talented children from the collateral branches were sent to be raised together—him included.

But soon, disaster struck the main family. He survived, yet his parents never came for him. His uncle arranged for him to be adopted, and after that, they never saw each other again.

During his days at the police station, he kept recalling the things his elder brother had said to him after finding him. At the time, he hadn’t paid much attention, but now, looking back, it was clear those words had been probing for information about their uncle.

He didn’t want to think so poorly of his own flesh and bl00d, but the truth was, there had never been any real familial affection—only self-interest.

Later, he wasn’t “abandoned” again, likely because of his talent for refining gu. He had improved the Longevity Gu, minimizing its harmful effects on humans. In his brother’s eyes, he had probably become valuable.

After a brief fit of madness, Xu Yongshuang finally regained his composure. His bloodshot eyes fixed on Xu Yonglin, and when the latter finished speaking, he bared his teeth in a chilling grin. “You’re right. You were just an accessory to the Longevity Gu. Even if you stole the incense burner from me, you can’t save those fools who’ve been poisoned. They’ll all die—and so will you.”

He sneered at the two officers behind Xu Yonglin. “Did you think betraying me would make these cops see you as a good person? They’re just using you. Once you’re no longer useful, your fate will be the same as mine.”

Xu Yonglin met his brother’s gaze. “Those people won’t die, and I won’t end up like you.”

“We’ll see about that.”

The two brothers were led away separately, likely never to meet again in this lifetime.

After Xu Yongshuang was taken away, Xu Yonglin threw himself entirely into researching the Longevity Gu.

The two gu masters from the capital had spent days studying it but made no progress. Their schools of thought were different, and their methods of refining gu were entirely distinct. The Longevity Gu was a half-finished product passed down by the Xu family, and only the Xus truly understood it. In the end, the two had to step back and become Xu Yonglin’s assistants.

However, they provided him with a new perspective. If the goal wasn’t to control the gu but to achieve healing, perhaps they could abandon the idea of manipulation and focus instead on making the gu more stable.

The more active the Longevity Gu, the greater its impact on the human body. The gu in Zhuo Ran’s body was from the earliest stage—immature and highly active.

After Xu Yonglin’s improvements, it had become much more stable. If they could make the Longevity Gu enter a decades-long dormant state where it couldn’t be awakened or controlled, it would still slowly affect the body during its slumber. This method was slower but far safer.

After dozens of experiments, this approach proved effective.

Through special refining techniques, the dormant Longevity Gu was introduced into test animals with various diseases. Within days, the animals’ mobility gradually improved, and their test results even surpassed those of healthy specimens.

The crucial point is that once the Longevity Gu is put into slumber, it cannot be reawakened, and thus cannot be extracted through the incense burner as before.

Gu masters’ research on Gu is not particularly rigorous, as it involves knowledge that defies conventional explanation. At this stage of experimentation, success could essentially be declared.

However, another issue arose.

Xu Yonglin did not conceal the method to induce the Longevity Gu’s slumber—he taught it to two other Gu masters. Yet, when they attempted the same technique, it proved completely ineffective.

In the end, they concluded it was a matter of bloodline.

It was possible that during the initial refinement of the Longevity Gu, the Xu family had incorporated something like bl00d in its cultivation, causing the Gu to recognize only the Xu bloodline.

Thus, even though Xu Yonglin had made his research public, in the end, this remained his exclusive formula.

A safe, worry-free method that could restore patients to normalcy—even offering a chance at extended life.

Initially, the research had only been meant to rectify his own mistakes. But upon completion, it represented immense, unimaginable benefits.

No one would object to living a better life. Even if longevity couldn’t be extended, achieving a higher quality of life—free from illness and hardship until old age—was an extravagance most could only dream of.

And there would certainly be many willing to pay a steep price for such an opportunity.

Upon learning of the research results, Gu Lan wasted no time reporting to headquarters, which dispatched personnel the very next day.

The Longevity Gu could not possibly remain in Xu Yonglin’s hands, yet he alone knew the refinement technique. This collaboration was mutually beneficial.

In the metaphysical world, immunity to disease was not uncommon, nor were methods to prolong life—but the costs were usually exorbitant. Xu Yonglin’s approach was comparatively affordable, making it all the more valuable.

If the Longevity Gu were ever to be applied to humans, years of further experimentation and cultivation might still be necessary.

But this was already an excellent beginning—and ending.

Fang Chuan could never have dreamed that Xu Yonglin, arrested as a suspect, would leave with a groundbreaking research achievement in hand, escorted back to headquarters. And when the day came that the Longevity Gu was approved for sale, a portion of the profits would belong to him.

Xu Yonglin left Qingcheng on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, bundled in thick cotton clothing as he waited with headquarters staff for the flight to the capital.

In the capital, his gravely ill sister awaited him. The money he had scammed as a fraudster hadn’t cured her, nor had the funds borrowed from his brother. But now, he had a better solution—one he had devised himself, a way to ensure her survival.

A verdict also awaited him, but Xu Yonglin was no longer afraid. Just as the master had once said, he had reshaped his own destiny. From this moment onward, everything would be different.

On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, Fang Chuan tricked Liu Mumu into coming out for barbecue.

He didn’t actually have much to ask—it was just that Xu Yonglin’s case had left him too shocked. He needed to see the master in person and hear a few words of guidance from her to calm down.

He had always thought that after witnessing Xu Yonglin’s surrender, nothing could shock him anymore. Only later did he realize how naive he had been.

Liu Mumu told him to see for himself. Fang Chuan did, and then felt as though he were witnessing some extraordinary piece of history—something almost too unbelievable to accept.

Liu Mumu arrived at the barbecue shop on time, only to find the square-faced Captain Fang sitting there, an eyesore in his own right, with no sign of Yan Xiu.

“Where’s Yan Xiu?” Liu Mumu tried to look around.

Fang Chuan cleared his throat. “He had business out of town and will go straight back to Beijing for the New Year. He won’t return until after the holidays.”

Liu Mumu instantly puffed up like an angry pufferfish, nearly ready to take Fang Chuan down with her.

In the end, Master Liu was moved by Fang Chuan’s excessively sincere flattery and, ten minutes later, decided to grace him with the honor of treating her to barbecue.

As she gnawed contentedly on a chicken neck, listening to Fang Chuan’s lavish praise, Liu Mumu felt today’s barbecue tasted especially delicious.

“Will Xu Yonglin be sentenced?” Liu Mumu asked.

Fang Chuan shook his head. “He wasn’t involved in the murders. Before negotiating cooperation with him, headquarters consulted three masters for divination, all confirming his innocence. Plus, he made significant contributions. The most likely outcome is probation.”

The longevity gu on the victims had all entered a dormant state. The police hadn’t disturbed them, and they might never know what they had once gone through.

The only thing this incident left them with was many years of good health, lasting until their natural deaths.

“Not bad,” Liu Mumu nodded. It was pretty much what she had expected.

“Not bad? If nothing goes wrong, he’ll probably become a special consultant for headquarters. It’s like he’s skyrocketed to the peak of life in the blink of an eye.”

Fang Chuan couldn’t help but feel a little envious of Xu Yonglin. This kind of skill was truly beyond most people’s grasp—all he could do was admire it.

But what impressed him most was Liu Mumu. There were whispers at headquarters that after the divinations, those masters all said Xu Yonglin’s fate had been particularly bleak. He shouldn’t have surrendered, and the research to improve the longevity gu should never have happened. But his destiny changed completely after his surrender.

While shifts in fate occasionally happened, a transformation this thorough was exceedingly rare.

Watching Liu Mumu as she poked at the beef on the grill with her chopsticks, Fang Chuan thought to himself—Xu Yonglin’s greatest stroke of luck in life was probably that morning when he ran into Liu Mumu.