The lady from the house revealed that her eldest son had fallen victim into the current mysterious catastrophe afflicting their community. In response, her two remaining children had retreated into the safety of their room, going out of their room only when necessary for basic needs such as using the restroom or grabbing a meal. "They've become recluses," she confided, her voice heavy with stress. "Refusing to step foot beyond these walls."
Xiao Yi is the best one in regard of social skills among them, she did most of the talking when they were in that house. Inquiring about details of the current catastrophe.
Turns out, the information they had gotten before was accurate. A few years ago, a wealthy family had moved into their village. The family consisted of the parents and their little girl. However, both parents are a working parents, so they hired a nanny to keep their daughter company. The children in school weren't fond of this rich family's little girl.
"Why is that?" Lai Yuan asked.
"I'm not sure either. I've asked my children about it, but they've never said anything," the lady replied.
"They're probably scared that if they say something, the ghost of the little girl will come and haunt them or even worse, kill them," Huang Peng said, his words almost a murmur as he gazed downwards, lost in thought.
Lai Yuan rolled his eyes. "Good job, Sherlock."
Watching from the side, Qi Wei sighed. He wondered why Lai Yuan dislike Huang Peng so much.
After a few more inquiries, they learned that the girl is named Zhong Xiuying. She is the same age as the lady's middle child. If she were still alive now, she would be around 10 years old. She appears a little chubbier than the average village girl her age, but she is not overweight. In fact, she maintains a healthy body weight while most other girls her age in the village are underweight.
Qi Wei connects the dots of the information in his mind and comes to a conclusion that she must be bullied for her physique. Children and teenagers are prone to envy. This little girl has a seemingly fortunate life in their eyes; she comes from a wealthy family. Since there's nothing overtly negative about her, other children may resort to targeting her for being different.
In the end, after they feel like they have gathered as much as information as they could, they ask for a permission to see her kids.
Qi Wei has this weird sentiment when it comes to kids. It's not that he hates children, but he'd rather not be too close with them most of the time. This is rooted in the fact that he has always been a kid-magnet all his life. Every child around him really loves him and clings to him even when he does nothing to flatter their favor. At first, Qi Wei took pride in this natural skill of his. He would take care of younger siblings and the little kids around him whenever they were around. But, some people then started to call Qi Wei acts like a 'mom', and for some reason, Qi Wei hated that.
Since then, Qi Wei deliberately distanced himself from kids as much as he could so he wouldn't be said to act like a mom.
Qi Wei clicked his tongue; Lai Yuan loves to poke fun at him. Qi Wei would really be put into a bad mood if Lai Yuan called him a mom or something.
The lady called her kids out to meet them in the living room. The children were quiet and looked rather depressed. They had their heads down most of the time, looking like they were too scared to be seen.
"Uh… hi?" Xiao Yi greets them awkwardly.
Qi Wei sighed.
They can't count on Xiao Yi on this. It seems like Qi Wei really does need to unleash his children charm.
"Can you reach out your hand?" Qi Wei asked the children as he reach out his hand first, giving an example to the kids. His voice is soft and friendly. It's like love vibrates from the sound that he makes.
Slowly the children lift up their head, their expression was confused but they comply in the end. Shyly pulling out their hand and opens up their palm, as if ready to receive something.
Qi Wei smile on his face was soft, not too bright but it doesn't look too dull for someone to notice how fake it was too.
Unprovokedly, Qi Wei hand make a quick move and pluck a few strands of hair from the person sitting beside him; Lai Yuan.
"Ow! Wha-"
"See this scary looking gege?" Qi Wei asked the children who then nodded their heads, agreeing that the gege whose hair just got stolen is indeed scary looking.
Lai Yuan, finding the situation quite amusing and thought that losing a few strands of hair isn't that big of a lose, just sighed and play along with Qi Wei. He wanted to see what is the man he currently has his eyes on is up to.
"This gege is invited by the head of the village to help you guys. He is a great shaman from the faraway mountain." Qi Wei made up the story, sounding somewhat believable, "His job here is to protect all the villagers and bring peace to your village again. His body is pure and blessed by the heaven." Qi Wei then shows the children the strands of hair on his hand, "If you carry a part of his body, which in this care the easiest we can get from the great shaman's body is his hair, you will forever be protected by the heaven."
Qi Wei smiled as he put the strands of hair on the palms of the children. He then turns his head to Lai Yuan, a wicked smile playfully paint his handsome face, "Right, The Great Shaman?"
Lai Yuan felt his eyebrow twitching. Do Qi Wei plans distribute his hair to every villager? Will Lai Yuan come out of this realm bald? However, Lai Yuan find it hard to resist to the evil smile of Qi Wei's. Plus, he doesn't have the heart to put the wicked plan of his down to the failing hole.
With a smile that is crooked from worries, Lai Yuan answered, "Yes."