07. Weiqi, open the door right now. I know you are in there!
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While Weiqi was confronting this new threat, Tao Fenhua and Feng Chunhua were walking down the stairs.

Tao Fenhua was very sullen and unresigned; he did not like to give in to Weiqi at all and felt he lost face in that last dispute.

But when thinking about evicting him in just a couple of hours, Fenhua's mood was positive again. He planed to be present at the time and see that look on Weiqi's face.

As soon as they reached downstairs, Chunhua pulled his shirt while peeking behind, ensuring that Weiqi did not follow.

She then questioned softly:

"Fenhua, what happened earlier with Weiqi? When did you get back? Were you able to find it?"

Tao Fenhua furrowed his brows and looked at Chunhua in surprise. His mind felt foggy, and as soon as he heard her questions, he had the impression that something was amiss but found it hard to grasp.

"What are you talking about? Get back from where? Find what?" He asked.

"I am talking about the Feng Shui coins. Didn't you go and follow Weiqi after he left earlier? I looked all over and tried to even divine their location, but they were definitely not in the apartment. But that is to be expected; he must always carry such an important item on his person; I would do the same."

"I went and followed Weiqi?" Fenhao questioned, and then repeated "I went and followed Weiqi, that is right." He frowned.

His mind was starting to get clear, yet he still felt some pieces were concealed like someone poured ink into his brain, and some memories were covered in black splotches, unreachable and obscured.

"I went out after Weiqi left the apartment, you stayed behind to divine, and I went home to grab--"

"--What did I go home to grab?"

Fenhao's back is starting to get cold, and he is shaken to the core.

"That's right. I went home to grab our clan's treasure, but I cannot remember what the treasure is." His head is hurting and he panics.

"Chunhua, what is my clan's treasure?" With terrified wide eyes, he grabs her hands and starts to shake her.

His eyes frightened Chunhua, and his hands gripped hers so tightly that they left imprints.

"I don't know, I asked you once, and you told me that only immediate clan members have that knowledge. It is forbidden to speak of it to anyone."

Replied Cunhua, slightly wincing at the pain.

Tao Fenhua takes his phone out and opens that call history; he sees he placed a call to Weiqi at 11:15 Pm. He does not remember making that call, but it must have been after he took out his clan's treasure, he remembered leaving Chunhua after 10 Pm to go home.

Something happened to his memory, and he is convinced that Weiqi is the culprit. Was he robbed of his treasure?

He cannot even fathom that thought; his family depended on that treasure to be where they are now. He does not remember what the treasure is, but he is sure it must be very powerful. Why can't he remember? It must be all Weiqi's doing.

He wants to call his father right away but stops himself in time. If he did lose the treasure, his father would break his legs.

He then turns around and thinks it is better to confront Weiqi, this weak chicken, and runs back up the stair.

Feng Chunhua and the bags are abandoned pitifully on the sidewalk, but Fenhao does not care. His clan's treasure is the priority; without it, he is probably dead or disowned. Yes, death is preferable to being disowned.

Chunhua is quietly rubbing her red sore hands; her knuckles are likely bruised. But, from the short conversation earlier, she perceives a problem with the Tao's clan treasure, which seems to be missing. Did Weiqi take it?

She looks at Fenhua's departing back, and she is slightly trembling. If something happened to that treasure, she knows she cannot escape if implicated; the Tao clan is too powerful. She wishes she never instigated Tao Fenhua to go after Weiqi.

They tried to steal Weiqi's treasure and ended up losing their own.

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Back at the apartment, Hu Weiqi is staring at Heng Taio. He just finished one hurdle, and here comes another; he thinks he should stop calling himself Weiqi and change his name to Hen Daomei from now on.

A/N Hen Daomei means "very unlucky" in Chinese.

"King Yama is requesting your presence. I am here to bring you to him." Says Heng Taio as he reaches for Weiqi.

"Wait, stop." Weiqi makes a pause motion with his hands. "I have a couple of questions."

And before Heng Taio can say anything, he continues, "First, will seeing King Yama get me killed? Second, can I eat this sandwich? I am starving."

Weiqi then opens the box and grabs the sandwich.

 Heng Taio twitches his lips, thinking, why bother asking?

"King Yama would like to meet you, he does not plan on killing you, and though it is rare, human beings have visited the Underworld and were still alive after they left."

"As for the second question, King Yama does not like to be kept waiting. So if you still want to be alive after meeting him, I suggest you take that with you." Says Heng Taio while pointing to the sandwich with his chin.

Weiqi then gets up and steps toward Heng Taio while holding his sandwich thinking, fine, what will come will come.

As he approaches Taio, Weiqi notices it is getting even colder and says. "Wait." making the pause motion again.

Heng Taio impatiently replies. "What now? You want to bring the whole refrigerator?"

"You can do that?" asks Weiqi curiously. He doesn't know how long he is leaving for, and there is probably no food in the Underworld; he thinks it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

Heng Taio rolls his eyes and says deadpan. "No."

"Oh," replies Weiqi dispiritedly. "Then why mention it?"

"But wait, no. I did not mean the fridge. I got sidetracked by you. Let me grab a jacket; the Underworld is probably worse if you are this cold." Weiqi says and quickly walks around. Heng Taio thinks, again, why bother asking?

Weiqi then goes to one of the rooms and opens the door. The smell of perfume lingers on his nose, and he sees a couple of cute knickknacks on the nightstand, it looks pleasant but this room should belong to Chunhua, so he turns and opens the door to the next room, then he is astonished.

The room looks like a disaster zone; drawers are pulled out, clothes are thrown everywhere, and one cabinet is even knocked over. This cannot be his room; he turns around and looks for another door.

When he opens the third door, he sees a bathroom; he silently closes that one and thinks to himself. Yep, that previous room must have been mine, but what the hell happened?

Then he thinks of those two shameless people and figures they did that on purpose to mess with him. Such petty people. He shakes his head.

He goes back and opens the door to the previous room.

Heng Taio sees him going back and forth and says, "You have one minute to pick your jacket, then we are going. Stop delaying things, or you might really end up being a permanent guest in the Underworld. I don't think you will fare well in there."

Hu Weiqi then quickly searched through this disaster zone for a jacket.

He notices a backpack with things piling out in the corner and grabs it.

He then finds two sweaters and a jacket and stuffs them in the backpack; then, he opens the front pocket to put his sandwich in and notices a wallet. Ah, finally, my wallet. He is excited and wants to check to see if he has cash but hears Heng Taio say:

"Ok, let's go."

Weiqi quickly zips up the backpack and takes a last glance at the room, he notices a puffy white winter jacket in a corner and promptly takes it.

Heng Taio touches him as soon as he puts on the jacket, and they disappear.

The knock at the door was loud enough to shake the hinges, but no one was inside to care anymore.

"Weiqi, open the door right now. I know you are in there!" Yells Tao Fenhua.

Seeing that he is ignored, Tao Fenhua is enraged and reaches into his pocket, pulling out a yellow talisman.

This is a powerful talisman made by his brother, and he had it only in case of emergencies. But this regards his clan's treasure, so he uses it without a second thought.

He posts the talisman on the door and yells, "Break!"

A strong force hits the door and splinters it apart, shooting fragments all over the apartment. If anyone had been inside, they would have been seriously injured.

Tao Fenhua walks inside the apartment yelling Weiqi's name, but no one answers, so he starts frantically searching the rooms.

Weiqi is nowhere to be seen; he was downstairs and did not see anyone passing him. It hasn't even been 10 minutes since he left; where could Weiqi have gone?

Tao Fenhua's face darkens thinking. Ah, that good for nothing must have used the Tao's clan treasure and escaped; he probably had it on him while parading it in front of me. He must have been laughing at me the whole time. Oh, what guts you have Weiqi, I will tear you apart next time I see you.

He then kicks a piece of debris angrily and punches the wall.

"Freeze, police. Don't move!" Comes a shout from the door, startling Fenhua, making him turn around so suddenly he almost slipped and fell.

In front of the door are 2 policemen, their guns are drawn and they are staring at Fenhua vigilantly.

Tao Fenhua's explosive temper almost boils over, and he stares at the policemen with red eyes. One of the policemen's hands trembles a little at that sight, and Fenhua calms down when he sees that; he does not want to get shot by this stupid cop because of a misunderstanding.

"I am young master Tao; what are you doing pointing your guns at me? Do you not want your jobs anymore?" Tao Fenhua says between clenched teeth, still trying to calm down.

As soon as the policemen heard his name, they lowered their guns, the Tao clan was a very powerful figure in the city, and it was best not to tangle with them.

"Apologies young master Tao, we received a noise complaint earlier. When we arrived and noticed the destroyed door, we were on alert." Said one of the policemen.

Tao Fenhua figured a nosy neighbor probably called the police because of Weiqi's earlier outburst and silently cursed in his heart. This Weiqi is the bane of my existence.

"Was there a phenomenon here?" Asked the policeman again, looking around at the destroyed apartment.

All police know that sometimes unexplained phenomena happen and can only be handled by special and powerful people.

There are even special police departments dedicated to that. But since this was a regular noise complaint, they sent the regular police.

"No phenomena." Gritted Fenhua through his teeth. "The apartment occupant stole something from the Tao Clan, and I came here looking for it."

Tao Fenhua knew that Weiqi had taken his treasure and disappeared. There is nothing he can do now but try to find it. His family will also be told, but as long as he makes a police report, then between his Tao clan and the police, Weiqi will have no chance but return it.

When the policemen heard that someone dared to rob the Tao clan, they were left bewildered.

Does someone actually dare to steal from one of the most powerful clans in this city? Were they afraid they would die too slowly or was their life too peaceful? Some people sure have guts. Both policemen thought the same, but none of them dared to voice that out loud.

"We can help make a report." Said one of the policemen helpfully, then asked:

"What was stolen?"

Tao Fenhua glares at the "helpful" policeman.

The policeman then gives a slight cough and continues:

"When was it stolen? Are there maybe any witnesses?"

Tao Fenhua's eyes were getting red again, he was breathing deeply, and his fists were clenching and unclenching.

I would like to tell you, okay? But I don't know either, he thinks frustratedly.

His phone rang as soon as he was about to snap at the policeman.

Who is calling me this late at night? Fenhua looks at the phone.

When he sees the name "Tao Chaoxiang," he freezes. Why would his brother be calling him this late? He quickly answers.

His brother speaks first before he can say anything:

"Fenhua, Fenhua, do you remember our treasure? Or clan's treasure? Do you remember what it is?"

His brother's voice is full of urgency, and his panic comes through the phone.

"What?" Asks Fenhua.

His mind is racing. Did they already find out the treasure is missing? So soon. Do they know he took it? But why ask him what it looks like? Something sounds wrong.

"Our Tao clan's treasure. No one remembers what it is. Not grandpa, not dad, and not me either. None of us do. Something is very wrong. Do you remember what it is?" Tao Chaoxiang rapidly speaks, shocking Fenhua with every word.

"No, I don't remember either," responded Fenhua weakly.

His brother says, "Come home immediately. This is a catastrophe." then hangs up.

Fenhua finally realizes that this is a much bigger problem than he thought. This could be the end of his clan's prosperous era.

How can they find something that no one knows what it is or what it looks like?

Even looking for a needle in a haystack is easier. At least you know you are looking for a needle.

But what about them? What are they looking for?

If Weiqi took it, how can they force him to give it up? How will they know that what he gives them back is their treasure?

As his brother said, this is truly a catastrophe, and he sits blankly on the ground amongst the debris.

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