Today they were recording the fifth episode of “The World of Strange People,” and as usual, Fan Jialuo went to pick Xu Yiyang up from school first. His streamlined sports car was eye-catching, but in the parking lot near the school, a foreign limited edition Rolls Royce attracted everyone’s attention. A beautiful and luxuriously dressed woman with a slim figure stepped out of the car wearing exquisite and expensive high heels. She walked gracefully, and the sound of the high heels hitting the ground let out a very clear da da da, da da da, from the parking lot to the school gate.
When she passed by Fan Jialuo, she glanced at him casually before taking off her sunglasses with a surprised gaze. She didn’t expect to meet a big star at the gate of the elementary school. Yes, Fan Jialuo was already considered a hot star. Although he hadn’t participated in any activities, nor any popular works, his fans numbered as high as 40 to 50 million, and he appeared on the Hot Search almost every month, causing him to be very popular.
The woman looked at him for a while, and then looked around at all the parents who were bustling around to pick up their children from school with a dumbfounded expression. She couldn’t understand why such a tall man standing at the crowded intersection didn’t cause any chaos and congestion. Were all the surrounding people blind?
Immediately afterwards, the woman remembered that the other party seemed to have participated in a reality show called “the World of Strange People.” He had performed very well and was considered to be an extremely capable psychic. He went out alone, but didn’t bring any bodyguards or disguised himself. He stood amid the crowd, but everyone around him seemed to be unable to see him other than herself. Did this bizarre scene not indicate that his actions on the show were not an act, but the real thing?
Thinking of this, the woman’s face paled and she hurriedly walked away on her high heels to squeeze into the crowd, trying to stay away from this mysterious star.
The woman’s presence was actually noticed by Fan Jialuo, but he ignored her until she had walked far away, only then turning his head and staring at the woman’s slightly panicked back with an obscure light in his pupils. The woman seemed to sense something and forced her way into the densest part of the crowd, until she soon disappeared.
Ten minutes later, the school gate opened, and a group of lively and lovely elementary school students walked out one by one in a neat line. The children standing at the front held up a wooden sign with their grade and class written on it. The parents could use these signs to find their own children. Additionally, a teacher watching to the side prevented strangers from taking any children away.
Today, the child holding the [Class 2, Year 4] wooden sign had been replaced by a young girl with a round face, large eyes, and curly hair, appearing like a delicate doll. She seemed to be very likable, and not only did the teacher frequently flash a thumbs up at her and praise her for her good performance, but the children behind her kept pushing forward, trying to talk to her. If anyone said more than a few words to her, the other children would work together to push that person away, just to occupy the closest position to her.
The little girl smiled and her large eyes curved into crescent moons, making her appear even more sweet and lovely. Xu Yiyang was probably the only child in the class who wasn’t interested in her. He just stood on tiptoe, stretching his neck and looking around.
Fan Jialuo’s gaze was fixed on the little girl, but when the other party looked over, he naturally moved away to look at Xu Yiyang. Instead of pushing and shoving others in an embarrassing manner, the people around him would automatically get out of his way as he approached, allowing him to walk unhindered to the open space that Class 2 Year 4 were standing in.
Xu Yiyang hurriedly flattened out a 100-point English test paper and held it high, shaking it from side to side lest his big brother didn’t see it.
Fan Jialuo couldn’t help but laugh quietly, his handsome face instantly emitting an astonishing charm. However, the only people who noticed him were the little girl holding the wooden sign and the teacher for Class 2 Year 4.
The young girl stared straight at the outstanding young man with a fiery light in her dark eyes. Her covetous and eager expression was really unlike that of a naive child. The teacher’s expression was also happy, but compared to the little girl, they seemed much calmer.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Mr. Fan, Xu Yiyang scored 100 points on the English test today! He only scored 67 points on the last exam, so he has made great progress. Look at this child, he already took out his paper since he couldn’t wait for you to see.” The class teacher beckoned, and Xu Yiyang immediately ran out of the line, the huge backpack bouncing up and down behind him in a comical manner. He ran to the young man’s side and hugged his thin waist with his short arms. After rubbing against him affectionately, he held up the paper held in his palms.
Ktf sbecu wjc abbx atf qjqfg jcv rjlv j ofk kbgvr bo qgjlrf, geyylcu tlr tfjv. We Tlsjcu qeiifv bc atf akb ragjqr bo tlr yjmxqjmx klat j mbcafca jcv rliis rwlif.
Ktf sbecu ulgi tjv cfnfg ybatfgfv ab ibbx ja We Tlsjcu yfobgf, yea cbk gjlrfv tfg tfjv jcv jrxfv j mtliv yfrlvf tfg, “Qtja’r atf cjwf bo atja weaf? Pr atja tlr ojatfg?”
“His name is Xu Yiyang. The teacher won’t let us call him a mute. He can talk, but just doesn’t speak much. That man is his brother, Fan Jialuo, who is a big star!” A little boy enthusiastically provided the information.
The little girl snorted with a disdainful expression, but her gaze seemed to be firmly hooked on the handsome young man not far away. However, Fan Jialuo seemed unable to sense her gaze as he bid farewell to the teacher and left with the child. When he was far away, the noble lady who was hiding in the crowd just now squeezed out and waved to the little girl, her glamorous appearance now slightly messed up.
“He’s so beautiful. I want him to play with me!” The little girl walked up to the woman unhurriedly and commanded coldly.
The woman immediately revealed a bitter expression. She clearly wanted to refuse, but she didn’t have the courage. Their appearances were very similar, and appeared to be mother and daughter at first glance. However, their positions were somehow reversed: the daughter bossed the mother around, and the mother was full of fear and respect towards the daughter.
“He might be a psychic. You know what a psychic is, a person with supernatural powers. He is very dangerous to us, so you’d better stay away from him. He might be able to see something,” the woman tried to persuade.
“I don’t care, I want him to play with me! He is more beautiful than the doll I just bought. I want him, I want him, I want him…” the little girl repeated willfully. She stamped her feet as she spoke, walking away reluctantly. It was unknown whether they finally reached an agreement.
On the other hand, Fan Jialuo helped Xu Yiyang to fasten his seatbelt and asked, “Your class has a new student? What is her name?”
“I, don’t, now (know).”
“Then there’s no need to know. Stay away from her in the future, and don’t let her approach you,” Fan Jialuo warned solemnly. He was just about to fasten Xu Yiyang’s seatbelt when Xu Yiyang snatched it away and did the work himself. They had only been together for a little over a month, but the relationship between the two of them had gone from being strangers to being dependent on each other.
Fan Jialuo looked at the child’s fuzzy little head lying on his chest with a genuine smile in his eyes.
After getting to the TV station, Fan Jialuo suddenly received a call from Bai Mu, who he hadn’t heard from for a long time. He said that there was a business dinner tomorrow, and wanted to invite him to attend. This was secondary, and the most important thing was that he wanted to ask whether he could treat him, and that he felt a little uneasy since it had been a while.
“Don’t worry, you can hold on for a long time. I will inform you when the time comes.” Fan Jialuo was about to reject the invitation when he suddenly thought of something and asked, “Will Fan Kaixuan attend the dinner tomorrow? I saw on the news that he has already returned to China, and Fan Luoshan seems to be preparing to let him take over the Fan Group.”
“Mr. Fan, please wait a moment. I’ll ask my assistant.” The other side of the call was silent for a while before he replied, “Yes, Fan Kaixuan will also attend the business dinner tomorrow. I’m sorry, I didn’t think carefully and forgot to inquire about the Fan family’s situation. If you find it inconvenient…”
Fan Jialuo interrupted him and said, “No, it’s very convenient. I will attend tomorrow’s dinner on time, thank you for the invitation.”
After saying goodbye, Fan Jialuo politely hung up the phone and led Xu Yiyang towards the lounge, only to be intercepted by a group of staff halfway. They made him wear a thick blindfold and handed the child over to his manager, Cao Xiaohui. They apologized as they pushed him out the door, “Sorry, Mr. Fan, please bear with me. This episode isn’t being recorded at the TV station, but outside. As for where exactly, you’ll have to sense it yourself, we can’t say. Don’t worry, the child will also go with you, and we have a lot of people to help you watch him. Oh, yes, the test has started now, so our cameras are all turned on. Please manage your words and actions.”
Fan Jialuo was pushed into a car and taken an unknown distance away.
Meanwhile, in an old and dilapidated ancient building complex in the southern suburbs, several gray-haired old men were accompanying Song Wennuan and Song Rui on their tour. They pointed to different parts of the dilapidated palace, where it was still easy to see its previous grandeur and majesty. “I think you all know that this building complex was originally the imperial palace of the Wu Dynasty, known as Ziwei Palace. It was much larger than the Forbidden City, but was later abandoned for various reasons and sealed for 1,400 years. After the Wu Dynasty was overthrown, emperors of other dynasties moved here, but they all fled after not living here for long, and after a few generations, this glorious palace city was completely abandoned. Without being repaired by artisans, it gradually gained its current dilapidated appearance. I can show you the restoration plan from our Cultural Relic Conservation Bureau. Its magnificence is beyond the world’s comprehension.”
The leading old man took out a tablet and clicked play, causing a 3D panoramic view to appear on the screen. The golden glazed tiles, colorful Feige Liudan, the deep curved corridors of eaves, and exquisite layers of pavilions could really be described as heaven on earth.
Even the well-informed Song Wennuan was stunned and gasped in admiration. The photographer who was in charge of taking photos of them focused his lens on the scenery for a long time, so that the audience could appreciate the architectural miracle created by ancient society.
“As far as I know, Ziwei Palace was abandoned because of a curse, right?” Song Rui asked, “And the fall of the Wu Dynasty also seems to be related to this curse. Is the reason you guys invited us to record the program here in order to determine whether the curse was true? You also believe in psychics?”
The old man smiled awkwardly and said bluntly, “Yes, we really want to unravel the truth of the curse. It’s a mystery that has been passed down for more than 1,400 years. Those who are familiar with history would know that 200 years before the fall of the Wu Dynasty, many generations of its emperors died of madness. None of them survived past the age of forty, until one emperor made the decision to move and completely sealed the palace, allowing subsequent emperors to escape the fate of an untimely death. According to historical records, no matter how wise and powerful an emperor was, he was bound to go crazy within three years of living in this palace. The most widely known incident being when Emperor Hui beheaded his ministers in anger. Think about it. An emperor suddenly picked up his sword and beheaded all of the civil and military officials who came to listen to the morning court. What stimulated him to perform such an absurd and terrible act? What stimulated all of the emperors of the Wu Dynasty?
Song Wennuan gossiped, “Isn’t it because of the curse of the abolished Empress Luqiu? Empress Luqiu hung herself on Cuiping Mountain, with her dark eyes looking in the direction of Jinluan Hall until she died. Since then, the emperors of the Wu Dynasty began to go crazy and were short-lived. When she died, she said that she wanted the emperors of the Wu Dynasty to die of exhaustion, for the Wu Dynasty’s mountains to be shattered and blood to flow in its rivers. Before her death, the emperors of the Wu Dynasty all lived well, and the longest-lived Emperor Tai Zu lived to be 78 years old!”
It seemed that she was also very knowledgeable about this period of history.
Song Rui added, “According to historical records, Empress Luqiu’s original words were, ‘All those whom I see will be devoured by me.’”
Song Wennuan immediately added, “That’s right, that’s exactly what she said. All those whom I see will be devoured by me! Cuiping Mountain was the highest mountain near Ziwei Palace, and she hung herself from the tallest pine tree at the top of the mountain. She could see the entire palace city, which meant that everyone in the city was within the range of her curse, especially the emperor. Because of this, when she was buried, Emperor Min personally dug out her eyes in an attempt to break the curse. However, one couldn’t blame her. Emperor Min obtained the throne with the help of her family, and her son was supposed to be the crown prince, but Emperor Min was a scum man. For the sake of his favorite concubine and her unborn child, he wiped out Empress Luqiu’s entire clan, put their two sons and daughter to death, and abolished her position as empress, imprisoning her in the cold palace to suffer forever. It is said that even a tiger isn’t cruel enough to eat its own children. Emperor Min is even crueler than a tiger!”
The more Song Wennuan spoke, the angrier she became, but the old man waved his hands helplessly. “You read unofficial historical accounts, right? How can you believe in those unofficial accounts? I think that the madness should be a hereditary disease, and the fall of the dynasty also followed the general trends of history, completely unrelated to the curse.”
Song Wennuan challenged him, “If it wasn’t for a curse, then why did those emperors return to normal after moving away? Why didn’t the subsequent emperors dare to live there? Why did you ask us to record the program here? I heard that the day the palace was unsealed, one of your staff members inexplicably fainted in Jinluan Hall, yes, the same place where Emperor Hui beheaded all his officials in anger. When you found him, he was lying on the emperor’s throne, thus showing that whoever tries to sit in that position will suffer the curse of Empress Luqiu.
It was apparent that she had previously investigated the Cultural Relic Conservation Bureau.
The old man’s lips twitched, but he was speechless. Those things were indeed bizarre. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come up with this plan.
An old man standing behind him sighed and said, “Forget it, Old Liang, let’s tell them the truth. Miss Song, Dr. Song, hello, my surname is Lu, and my daughter was Mr. Fan’s neighbor, so I had heard about Mr. Fan. It was due to him that I strongly supported this recording taking place. You are right, and there is indeed something odd about this palace.”
The old man pointed to the most dilapidated part of the palace behind him and said, “This is Jinluan Hall, the place where the emperors of the Wu Dynasty held morning court, and also the place where people were most strictly prohibited from entering. Towards the end of the Wu Dynasty, imperial guards stood guard constantly, and non one was allowed to enter or leave. After the fall of the Wu Dynasty, other emperors also continued this practice. This is a new era, and no one believes in ghosts or gods anymore, but these halls have fallen into disrepair and are not suitable to be opened to the public, so we have always kept them closed. A while ago, we obtained a huge sum of money to restore this palace city and were able to set foot here again after more than 1,400 years. However, on the first day after the ban was lifted, the staff responsible for restoring Jinluan Hall had an accident. The doctor was unable to determine a concrete diagnosis, and the one with the most serious symptoms still hasn’t woken up. People who stepped foot into the hall after that also experienced various degrees of discomfort, such as dizziness, weakness, nausea, nightmares, and so on. Faced with this desperate situation, we had no choice but to ask for your help.”
The leading old man added, “That’s right, we are at our wit’s end, and figured we might as well try another method and give medicine to a dead horse.”
Song Wennuan smiled on the surface, but secretly slandered them in her heart: Fuck your giving medicine to a dead horse! Once our psychics take action, you’ll doubt your own life! Especially Mr. Fan, who specializes in teaching you how to act as a person!
t/n: I typically keep names of places (Ziwei Palace, Cuiping Mountain, Jinluan Hall in pinyin. Let me know if you would want t/n for these like the ones above. These type of t/n’s are more like fun facts and not integral to understanding the story, so if you’d like to know but would rather have it in a footnote at the end of the chapter so it’s optional to read (like below), let me know as well!
Additional Info
Palaces and Halls can technically be used interchangeably as they share the same character (Dian). Palaces typically refer to residences of the emperor and his wife/concubines, while Hall is used for places like the outer court or ancestral halls in the inner court.
I think that kind of t/nis fine!
Thank you for the chapter!! <3
Yes, for places, I prefer pinyin too. Thank you for your hard work (~￣³￣)~
Ooo, love the mystery being set up with the little girl, and this ancient palace.