A knock sounded at the door.
Ke Xue opened it to find Ke Yang, the cheap younger brother of his current body. Instantly annoyed, he said, "What do you want?"
"Just checking how you've been lately. Never imagined that being kicked out of the Ke family would land you in a hotel this shabby," Ke Yang replied with an infuriatingly smug smile, trying to step inside to further mock Ke Xue.
Ke Xue slammed the door shut, nearly hitting Ke Yang in the face and startling him into a hasty, clumsy retreat.
"Are you insane?! How dare you treat me like this?!"
If not for their identical faces, Ke Yang would never believe this was his spineless older brother who never dared talk back.
Ke Xue reopened the door, looking at the disheveled Ke Yang and laughing heartily. "Now I know you're the little brother. Get lost!"
Ke Xue knew Ke Yang hated being called 'little brother' due to his younger age. The original Ke Xue, afraid of being targeted, never dared mention it, but Ke Xue had no such concerns.
Sure enough, hearing the term, Ke Yang gritted his teeth. "You!"
Furious, Ke Yang suddenly switched to a concerned expression. "You've been out of touch. Rongrong's been really worried. She asked me to tell you that even though your engagement is off, we're still family. We'll all be living under the same roof; it's best not to make things too awkward."
Just as Ke Xue knew Ke Yang's sore spot, Ke Yang knew the original Ke Xue cared most about his fiancée, Xu Rongrong, deliberately mentioning the broken engagement to twist the knife.
Unfortunately, this Ke Xue was not that Ke Xue.
Ke Xue leaned against the door, making it creak loudly. Ke Yang watched warily, fearing another slam.
Ke Xue stared at Ke Yang for a few seconds, then suddenly chuckled. "Didn't Old Man Ke send you to give me money? Where is it? Hand it over."
Ke Yang instinctively covered his pocket and stepped back.
Though officially he was delivering money to Ke Xue, Ke Yang understood his mother had him take the job so he could pocket the cash. Money in his pocket wasn't coming out.
Ke Xue, initially in a bad mood seeing this cheap brother, suddenly felt sunny again.
Someone delivering money? That's hitting the jackpot!
"If you're that desperate for money, just say so. As family, I'd be happy to help you out a bit," Ke Yang continued to bluster.
"Delivering money? Great! I love people who bring me money!" Ke Xue said, stepping forward to grab Ke Yang's hand, tapped a few points on his body. Ke Yang froze, unable to move, and could only watch as Ke Xue took the bank card from his pocket.
Ke Yang could only glare, furious and helpless. "What did you do to me?!"
"Let me go!"
Ke Xue examined the bank card with satisfaction. "Five hundred thousand. Old Man Ke is quite generous."
Only then did Ke Yang notice Ke Xue called Ke Mao 'Old Man Ke.' "What 'Old Man Ke'? That's your father!"
"I'm not a Ke anymore. Old Man Ke is your father alone," Ke Xue corrected his wording.
Unable to move anything else, Ke Yang could only glare to express his displeasure.
But this action seemed to be misunderstood by Ke Xue.
Ke Xue, holding the card, looked wary. "Even though I'm also a Ke, I'm not your father, and I don't have a son as big as you."
"Even if you came all this way to give me money, don't go claiming relatives!"
"..."
Ke Yang felt visiting Ke Xue today was the stupidest decision of his life, bar none!
He'd tell his mother when he got back: Ke Xue has gone crazy from the broken engagement!!!
"You've got the money. Now let me go, okay?" Ke Yang forced a fake smile. Though he didn't know when Ke Xue learned this weird immobilizing trick, he was clearly at a disadvantage.
He didn't know worse was yet to come.
Ke Xue also took out his phone. "I just remembered you borrowed money from me before, said you'd pay me back double. Perfect time to settle up now."
This was a game Ke Yang often played with the original Ke Xue as kids. Unfortunately, money that went into Ke Yang's pocket was hard to get back. Now Ke Xue would collect it for the original.
Ke Yang watched his phone being taken, heart sinking.
"Password, let me see—" Ke Xue felt the number string was familiar. "Oh, it's xxxxxx."
Ke Yang, who had been relatively calm, suddenly paled. "How do you know my password???"
Ke Xue felt inwardly smug. Thinking a grandmaster of metaphysics like him would be stumped by a little password? Preposterous!
"You have a crush on me!"
Ke Xue paused entering the password, remembering what the number string was. "Using your birthday as a password? So narcissistic!"
Ke Xue descended like a swarm of locusts, opening Ke Yang's mobile banking apps one by one, transferring all the money to himself.
Ke Yang watched, heart bleeding. "That's mine!"
"What's yours is mine? Clearly, it's all mine!" Ke Xue ignored him, continuing transfers, not even sparing the Yu'ebao balance.
"Every birthday, the money Old Man Ke gave me, Chi Rou never gave me a cent, right? Not that I mind—I don't want the Ke family's money anyway—"
"But the Qi family's money? My mother's family's money. I can't let you spend it for free. Pay it back now."
Ke Yang, too pained by the large sums leaving him, forgot to scold Ke Xue for calling their parents by name. "That's too much!"
Ke Yang was only engaged to Xu Rongrong; whether they'd marry was uncertain. Chi Rou, to help Ke Yang win Xu Rongrong sooner, had given him a large private fund to charm her. Sadly, that money now benefited Ke Xue.
Ke Xue rolled his eyes. "You think I'm stupid? Money in the bank earns interest. The extra counts as years of interest."
Interest more than the principal? Ke Yang felt like vomiting blood.
Ke Xue looked pleased at the number on his bank card. "Five million. I like that number!"
Having lost both the money and face, Ke Yang angrily said, "Aren't you afraid I'll tell Father about this?"
Ke Xue looked at him like he was an idiot. "Weren't you sent by Ke Mao to give me money?"
"Who called security?" The security guard, belatedly arriving after a call.
Ke Xue raised his hand. "Me. I report this stranger knocking on my door for no reason and behaving strangely outside!"
"Look, he's still standing here, won't leave!"
Ke Yang, immobilized and blocking the doorway: "..." If Ke Xue hadn't weirdly tapped those points, would he be blocking the door?!
The security guard looked Ke Yang up and down, expression doubtful.
As the child of Chi Rou, who won Ke Father with her looks, Ke Yang was quite handsome.
Now, Ke Yang's eyes teary from the slammed door and robbed money, his suit jacket slightly disheveled from the card grab, his body trembling slightly from holding one pose too long—
The guard sensed something off. "This is a proper hotel. You can't... play these games out in the open like this."
"Most importantly, the other party isn't willing!"
Ke Yang, who played around a lot, instantly got the guard's implication and was furious. Whether spurred by the guard's look or not, Ke Yang felt control return to his body.
But maintaining one pose too long, in his excitement, he actually knelt on the spot.
Ke Yang looked horrified. "No~"
"Ah!"
The guard immediately barked, "Get up! If the police come, this won't look good!"
Ke Xue watched with amusement. "See, he's kneeling to me now! He's threatening me!"
"My legs were just numb from standing too long," Ke Yang said, struggling up using the wall.
The guard pointed nervously at the hallway ceiling. "We have surveillance here!"
Ke Yang's face flushed red. "I said my legs were numb! Don't you understand?!"
"I think it's better for hotel guests to have one room each," the guard said, eyeing Ke Yang with disbelief as he left.
Ke Xue waved at the guard and Ke Yang's retreating back. "Brother, make sure you escort him to the entrance. Otherwise, if he comes back, even with surveillance, it'll be hard to explain!"
The guard looked at Ke Yang with even more suspicion.
Leaving the hotel, Ke Yang was both financially pained and humiliated, especially by Ke Xue, whom he hated most.
Utterly infuriating!
Although his first attempt at drawing talismans wasn't ideal, having gotten a large sum from his cheap brother put Ke Xue in a good mood.
Resting that night, he noticed an increase in ghostly faith energy and felt even better.
Calculating, he realized it was a chain reaction from the ghost encounter during yesterday's live stream.
Though many who hadn't watched still didn't believe in ghosts, that didn't stop them from making offerings to their ancestors. As they said: you can not believe, but you must not disrespect.
These people were staunch materialists most of the time, yet also the ones kneeling forever in the Temple of Wealth, firmly believing ghosts can't attack people under blankets.
Some ghosts had been hungry underground for years, decades, even centuries. Suddenly getting a full meal—wouldn't they be moved?!
Even wandering lonely ghosts got a sudden feast.
Learning that the living made offerings after watching Ke Xue's stream, merit points flowed in from all directions.
Ke Xue never expected one live stream could yield so much merit.
But those who made offerings weren't shortchanged either. Ke Xue glanced at the comments under his account on Xingguang App; many returned to give thanks after burning paper.
One commenter said after burning a pile of stuff for his ancestors at noon, that night his ancestor scolded him in a dream for not sending money all these years, making it too expensive to even send a dream, then grumpily told him the pickle jar they used was actually an antique.
In short, Ke Xue gained merit, the ghosts below got sustenance, the living could meet dearly missed relatives in dreams—everyone won.
With so much merit backing him, Ke Xue felt he could draw more advanced talismans—
So he chose to sleep!