Chapter 51 – Things Were Just a Bit Too Bizarre

Tu Shanju just gave him a faint glance over her shoulder.

Goudan’s palm halted half a meter behind her—unable to move a single inch.

She let out a soft laugh and bit down on the lollipop in her mouth.

As the sharp crack-crack sound of the candy being crushed echoed, a corresponding snap came from Goudan’s arm—bone fracturing.

“Ah—my hand!”

Goudan fell to his knees, powerless, clutching his now-limp arm in agony.

Tu Shanju looked down on him from above with disdain. “As long as the light of righteousness doesn’t shine on you, I’ll keep beating you. You better hope my daily routine doesn’t become: eat, sleep, beat up Goudan!”

She withdrew her gaze and tilted her head at Xie Shiyu’s camera with a mischievous smile. “There are many forms of education, Uncle Gou. Didn’t you want to know what method I used to make him obey?”

Tu Shanju paused for a moment, then flashed a customer-is-always-right smile and said again,
“Of course—it was by beating him into submission.”

Maybe worried Uncle Gou wouldn’t believe her, she turned back to Goudan and asked, “Do you yield or not?”

“I yield! I do, I do, I yield!”

“See? He said he yields.”

Everyone else in the room was so stunned they didn’t even dare to breathe. “……”

She went to the bathroom to wash her hands.

This company’s bathroom didn’t provide hand towels, but Tu Shanju didn’t care. She just flicked off the water from her hands casually.

Then she stepped outside and got straight into the car.

As soon as she was seated, Xie Shiyu said, “I’ve sent you the video.”

“Mm, okay, thanks.” She took out her phone, saved the video, and forwarded it to Gou Sheng.

Gou Sheng had added her on WeChat after the knife-credit deal.

After sending the video, she followed up with a voice message:
“Uncle Gou, your son really has a temper. He might’ve yielded with his mouth, but not in his heart. He still needs a couple more beatings. I’ll let you know once the transaction is fully completed.”

Without waiting for a reply, she turned to Xie Shiyu—who still hadn’t started the car—and smiled, “Let’s go.”

She still had to swing by the old house to change clothes for the party tonight.

But Xie Shiyu didn’t move. He just lifted his chin toward her and said, “Seatbelt.”

Tu Shanju froze for a second. She’d been so busy sending messages, she’d forgotten to buckle up.

She scolded herself silently—capable in everything except memory.

After fastening her seatbelt, the car slowly started to move.

…

At 8:00 PM sharp, Xie Shiyu brought Tu Shanju to the bar.

Colorful lights pulsed in time with the music.

The volume was moderate—not loud enough to give headaches. Tu Shanju let out a breath of relief.

She’d been to bars before, but most of the time it was for “work”—because bars were one of the favorite haunts of lustful ghosts.

But this bar was pretty clean. Aside from the usual trace of yin energy, there was nothing dirty around.

Xie Shiyu noticed from the corner of his eye that Tu Shanju was scanning the place and leaned in to ask,
“What’s wrong? What are you looking at?”

Tu Shanju hadn’t expected him to catch such a small detail.

She smiled and shook her head. “Occupational hazard.”

Xie Shiyu was amused by her candid response. She really was charming in a straightforward way.

He picked up on her words with a smirk, “So? Is it clean?”

Tu Shanju looked at him and seriously answered, “Very clean.”

“Good. The stairs are a little dim—don’t look around too much. Watch your step.”

“Mm.”

The private room was on the second floor. Usually it wasn’t open to the public—only for when the three of them met up.

Lu Zeyuan and Qi Chen were already there.

The moment Xie Shiyu pushed open the door, he was greeted with a wail.

“Chen, you have no idea—I was scared stupid at the time.”

“I mean, seriously, do superpowers actually exist in this world?”

“How else could that woman shoot electricity from her palms and summon lightning? What normal person gets struck by lightning multiple times and walks away unharmed?!”

He was so caught up in his story that he hadn’t noticed Xie Shiyu and Tu Shanju entering.

Qi Chen, on the other hand, had noticed right away.

He kicked Lu Zeyuan under the table to remind him: someone’s here—stop talking or you’ll scare Xie Shiyu’s fiancée.

Lu Zeyuan looked up at Xie Shiyu, then at the girl standing next to him, and instantly dropped his wailing expression.

He was the outgoing type and cheerfully extended a hand to greet her,
“Hi, sis-in-law. I’m Lu Zeyuan, Xie Shiyu’s classmate and good buddy.”

Qi Chen wasn’t much of a talker. With his tough-guy looks and concise tone, he introduced himself,
“Sis-in-law, hello. Qi Chen.”

“Nice to meet you. Tu Shanju.” She shook hands with them one by one, but her gaze lingered on Lu Zeyuan’s face for a few seconds longer, her brow slightly raised.

Xie Shiyu didn’t miss her little action, but since she didn’t say anything, he didn’t ask—for now.

He nudged her lightly on the arm.

She looked at him, and he nodded toward the sofa.
“Go sit. Take a look at the drink menu—see what you’d like. I’ll have someone bring it over.”

Xie Shiyu knew her personality well—she was slow to warm up. Better to let her get comfortable first.

She picked a low-alcohol plum wine. Xie Shiyu called someone over and even ordered a few snacks for her to nibble on.

Lu Zeyuan and Qi Chen exchanged glances like they’d seen a ghost.

When had they ever seen Xie Shiyu take care of someone like this?

And with such obsessive attention to detail—even the tissue box was placed right by her hand.

What do people online call this?

A “dad-type boyfriend”?

Tu Shanju caught their odd expressions but couldn’t figure out what they were surprised about, so she just gave a polite smile and listened intently to their conversation.

With no outsiders present, their conversation was relaxed and casual.

Xie Shiyu asked Lu Zeyuan, “What were you howling about just now?”

Lu Zeyuan opened his mouth, about to tell the bizarre story he witnessed earlier—but Qi Chen gave him another kick.

Xie Shiyu frowned, sensing they were hiding something. He scanned the two of them suspiciously.

Qi Chen explained, “It’s just… the story is a bit too unbelievable. I wasn’t sure if sis-in-law would get scared, so I stopped him.”

“Too unbelievable?” Xie Shiyu repeated the phrase, then relaxed his brow.

Seeing that someone was already leaning in with curiosity, he smirked.
“It’s fine. She’s not afraid of that kind of stuff.”

In fact, she’s very interested in it.

Xie Shiyu knew Tu Shanju well—and she was definitely intrigued.

As for his friends, Tu Shanju hadn’t taken the liberty to read them or pry into their fates—after all, they were his people, and it would’ve been inappropriate to invade their privacy.

When she’d looked at Lu Zeyuan earlier, she had just caught a curious detail in his face—but hadn’t delved deeper.

So—

She definitely wanted to hear the story!