Volume 2, 4: This Bookstore’s… Part 1—Boss

Translator: lucathia (proofread by Trespasserby)

When Fu Taiyi picked up the new books the deliveryman had just delivered, a hefty thirty something in number, he was greatly shocked. Either these authors all published nothing, or they would all release books at the same time! They gave no consideration to how the reader would have to buy so many books all at once. It’s very hard for them, okay!

As he offhandedly flipped through them, looking to see if there were any novels he was currently following, Fu Taiyi came across a familiar title. He immediately made a sound.

“What a rare occurrence. I thought Yu Shu would drag it out for a few more months before releasing more in this series. I’ve been pestered to death by the readers. She’s finally willing to release the next volume.”

Spirited, Fu Taiyi directly tore off the plastic around the book, too lazy to even take inventory of the rest, and immediately began reading.

The book’s genre was futuristic sci-fi, depicting a story about heroes. He was truthfully not all that interested in this kind of material, but he liked the main character in the story a lot—actually, it couldn’t really be considered “like.” It was just that every time he read about the main character dithering over an insignificant problem, in addition to having a strange persistence in several matters, Fu Taiyi would have the urge to reprimand the guy severely. Usually, he would finish reading the book while berating the main character the entire time.

It was a rare reading experience to yell while reading yet still not dislike the book. Therefore, Fu Taiyi did quite like the book.

After he made tea to ready his throat, he opened the novel. Just as Fu Taiyi was about to scold the main character, he saw someone rush into the bookstore.

He frowned as he lifted his head, thinking it to be some kind of demon. He was thinking of hollering to chase it out, but he saw that the one who had run inside was actually his son, who had skipped class for once.

“Xiao Dong, you’re back?” Fu Taiyi was elated. He said, “Perfect. Watch the store for me. I’m going to read—”

“Like hell you’re reading!” Fu Jun was furious. He scolded, “Isn’t that book on sale in the store? Why did you unwrap it?”

“I collect this series. I always order an extra one to keep for myself. It’s not like you don’t know that.” Fu Taiyi felt wronged and said, “Why did you suddenly scold me? You know, I’m still your father when it all comes down to it.”

Fu Jun glared at his so-called “father.” He never had the air of a father, so how would he be able to treat him as one?

“If you’re my father, then close the shop. Come with me to find Peilun.”

Fu Taiyi lifted a brow.

“We shouldn’t get involved in matters of the surface world. We can’t use our powers against normal people. Haven’t I told you that? It’s fine if you want to search for Peilun, but you must use your own eyes and feet in the search. The addition of my eyes and feet wouldn’t make a difference.”

Fu Jun shook his head. “But Xie Peilun could have gotten involved with the innerworld. When Jiang Ziya and I went to search for him—”

When he said that, he saw Fu Taiyi stand up abruptly. His face is frightening!

Although Taiyi was usually always fooling around, once he grew serious, even Fu Jun would pull back, no longer daring to put on the airs of a little adult toward his father.

“Who did you say you were with?” Fu Taiyi actually used a serious tone to ask.

“Ziya-gē…”

It was evident that Jiang Ziya had not come with Fu Jun. When he heard Fu Jun’s words, Fu Taiyi felt uneasy. This is definitely not a good sign.

His complexion was terrifying as he asked, “Where is he?”

Fu Jun didn’t dare keep it hidden. He immediately recounted everything in detail.

“The one inside the alley is Fortune Misfortune Hand in Hand—Old Man Huofu.” Fu Taiyi felt his head hurting a lot as he said, “The alley was sealed off a long time ago. Why did you head inside for no reason?”

“To find Peilun…” Fu Jun answered quietly.

Fu Taiyi felt his head hurt even more.

If he knew this would happen, he wouldn’t have let Fu Jun take a day off to search. At first, he had thought that it was great that Fu Jun cared about his classmate. This could be a good life experience, no matter if he could or couldn’t find the kid in the end. If he could find him, that was of course a happy ending. If he couldn’t find him, Fu Jun might feel dejected, but that was a normal thing to feel in this world. Fu Taiyi was very content to let Fu Jun experience that.

He didn’t think that Fu Jun would run into Jiang Ziya. If he hadn’t, with Xiao Dong’s powers, there was no way he could have opened that pathway.

Fu Taiyi had prepared for every contingency, but he just had to have overlooked the variable known as Jiang Ziya.

…Sigh, Old friend Jiang Shang, this responsibility you’ve left behind really is too heavy.

Seeing Fu Jun’s puzzled and dissatisfied expression, yet he didn’t dare to retort, Fu Taiyi couldn’t help curbing his cold demeanor. No matter how mature Fu Jun usually acts, isn’t he still just a kid?

Even though he had told Xiao Dong that Jiang Ziya was very special before, and he had also instructed him not to tell that fellow anything, not to involve him in the innerworld, recently, Jiang Ziya had walked inside on his own. Therefore, he had also told Fu Jun that he could slowly start telling Jiang Ziya some things, but not to tell him too much just yet…

Even Fu Taiyi felt that he was being contradictory, let alone Fu Jun, who was a kid.

“Ziya must have found your classmate already. That’s good fortune. But he has definitely run into trouble. That’s misfortune. Once you have heard Old Man Huofu’s words, fortune and misfortune come hand in hand. That’s why that pathway was sealed. Even though both fortune and misfortune happen, it’s always misfortune more than fortune.”

Hearing that Jiang Ziya had run into trouble, Fu Jun’s face immediately paled. Then, when he heard that misfortune happened more than fortune, he really couldn’t keep calm anymore. He hurriedly said, “I-I told him to find Lu Yang-gē to go with him. Taiyi, didn’t you say that Lu Yang-gē is very strong?”

Fu Taiyi said unhappily, “Aren’t you forgetting something? I said ‘for his age.’ He is rather strong, with rare, innate talent. It’s not common to come across that anymore in this age. However, if this were long ago, he would have just been considered one of the stronger ones and not a rare talent.”

Fu Jun cared little about “long ago.” He only cared about right now!

“Then, can Lu Yang-gē protect Ziya-gē or not?”

“I can’t be certain.” Fu Taiyi was serious as he said, “From what you told me, your classmate seems to have been taken away by someone after getting chased by a demon. However, that alley doesn’t have any demons residing there. There’s also no way he could have entered Old Man Huofu’s barrier dimension. Also, logically, a child that’s only in elementary school couldn’t have disturbed too powerful a demon. With all these points considered, I believe that a practitioner is involved.”