Qiao Peiyu had been anxious and preoccupied all along since the night before, and she had barely slept. This morning, she woke up very early and went to check her flowers only to find that all of them had died overnight.

Qiao Peiyu was taken aback. In the afternoon, He Changchun returned from his trip.

"Changchun, what do you want for dinner? I"ll go and prepare it." Qiao Peiyu hurriedly rose from the sofa, went to the doorway and took He Changchun"s coat.

But she noticed that there was something distinctly wrong about He Changchun, who had some kind of inexplicable grief on his face.

"Peiyu, tell all our kids to come back."

Qiao Peiyu"s smile froze, her heart sinking uncontrollably. "Why do you want them back? Qin is fully occupied dealing with business affairs in the company. Yu and Jin are still at school."

As if something occurred to her, she looked at He Changchun with a somewhat wary expression on her face. "Changchun, was it that He Zheng did anything? What was it this time?"

"This time it"s not He Zheng."

He Changchun walked to the sofa with a heavy heart, dejectedly slumped down in the sofa, slowly pressed his palms onto his face hard and said in a quivering voice, "Last night, in a nightclub, Jin came into conflict with someone..."

The middle of Qiao Peiyu"s forehead involuntarily twitched and her face paled visibly. In an anxious tone of voice, she queried, "Is Jin okay?!"

He Changchun shook his head in deep grief. "No harm came to Jin during the conflict, but on his way back, he encountered a fleeing Yōkai corrupted by demonic Qi and got... got devoured by it. There"s nothing left of his body."

The teacup in Qiao Peiyu"s hand dropped as she slumped to the ground, face ghastly white. She held her chest, panting heavily. He Changchun couldn"t bear to look at her. However, man"s fate is as uncertain as the weather. It was relatively easier for people from a family of exorcists to accept losses of this kind than it was for common people.

An abrupt wail of despair was heard in the living room, poignant and full of grief and broken-heartedness. Qiao Peiyu on her knees wept aloud, too limp to rose. He Changchun tried to raise her to her feet but failed.

Though not a nice person, Qiao Peiyu was a competent mother. She loved her children. He Jin"s sudden death was a disaster for Qiao Peiyu.

He Qin and He Yu were immediately informed; both of them hurried back without any delay.

All people in He family had a sorrowful look. Qiao Peiyu, face deathly pale, hair awry, was sitting on the ground with He Jin"s clothes in her arms. "Where"s the Yōkai that killed our son?"

Slowly dropping the words one by one, she asked this question through gritted teeth.

"People of the Supernaturalism Management Bureau (SMB) have already eliminated it." He Changchun shook his head. "It was for this matter that I made this trip today."

Qiao Peiyu felt a stab of heartache. The long wail had drained her strength. The whole He family was shrouded in an atmosphere of sorrow and distress, making an uncommonly poignant scene.

Considering that news of his son"s being killed by a Yōkai after getting drunk, if spread out, would shame He family, He Changchun hushed up this matter. Qiao Peiyu fell ill and it took her three days to recover.

The third night, Qiao Peiyu summoned her eldest son.

During the past three days when she was ill and having dizzy spells, Qiao Peiyu"s grief caused by the loss of her son had been gradually allayed, and she had thought of a lot of things.

"Mother." He Qin pushed the door open with a heavy heart.

"Close the door."

"Mother, please restrain your grief."

"He Qin, your brother was murdered." Face ghastly pale, dark circles under her eyes, Qiao Peiyu looked like a female ghost.

"Mother, calm down."

Qiao Peiyu managed to sit up on the bed, gripped He Qin"s hand and, with insanity on her face, claimed, "It was He Zheng. He did all this!"

Qiao Peiyu had thought this matter through. He Zheng had once accused He Jin of collusion with demons, and on top of that, He Jin"s behavior had been rather abnormal during those days, so she believed that maybe He Jin had indeed colluded with demons. He Jin definitely had tried to kill He Zheng, but now, it was himself who had ended up dead.

Qiao Peiyu"s heart was sinking deeper and deeper, as if into an icy cold lake, her fingers involuntarily quivering. He Jin"s death had come as a terrible blow to Qiao Peiyu. She helplessly looked at He Qin, her voice shuddering.

"That cheap b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s started taking revenge."