After running out of the abandoned factory and reaching the main road, Ruan Qiuping finally put the child down, estimating that the large man would not chase them any further.
"Why are you here? What's your parents' phone number? Where do you live?" Ruan Qiuping asked.
The child looked down at his toes and said, "...I don't know."
Ruan Qiuping looked the child up and down and let out a deep sigh.
To think that the mighty God of Fortune, after descending to the mortal realm, would end up in such a state.
Well, there was no helping it. It was only because his own power was too strong - even a slight dispersal of his fortune had overwhelmed the God of Fortune's good luck, reducing him to this sorry state.
Ruan Qiuping thought to himself with a hint of smugness.
"Who is that person?"
"Could he be a child trafficker? How did the kid end up looking like that..."
"Should we call the police?"
Various comments from passersby reached Ruan Qiuping's ears.
Looking at the child's appearance, Ruan Qiuping also realized it might seem inappropriate. He glanced around and noticed a small supermarket not far away.
As he led the child towards the supermarket, Ruan Qiuping asked again, "If you don't know your parents' phone number or your home address, you at least know your own name, right?"
The child shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Ruan Qiuping: "But you look like you're four or five years old. How can you not even know your own name?"
Even three-year-old Ruan Dongdong knows his name.
The child was silent for a moment, then said, "Because I'm stupid."
...
To think that the once-in-a-millennium genius, the mighty God of Fortune, had gotten lost because he was too stupid to remember his home address or even his own name...
Ruan Qiuping almost laughed out loud at the thought.
The child glanced at Ruan Qiuping and said, "My brain is stupid. Why do you look so happy about it?"
Ruan Qiuping: "..."
"Ahem..." Ruan Qiuping composed himself and said seriously, "You're mistaken. How could I be happy? I'm just very worried... We're at the restroom now, hurry up and wash yourself."
The child turned on the faucet and began washing the dirt off his body.
Ten minutes later, all the grime on the child's skin had been washed away, revealing a beautiful face with fair, delicate skin.
"Not bad, not bad," Ruan Qiuping couldn't help but nod approvingly. "In the future, remember to wash up properly before going out. Being clean and tidy will help you find a wife."
The child looked up at Ruan Qiuping and asked, "Why do I need to find a wife?"
Ruan Qiuping: "..."
How should he answer this? He couldn't exactly say, "You need to date properly in the human world so you can break off your engagement with my sister"...
After pondering for a moment, considering the child's level of intelligence - he couldn't even remember his own name - Ruan Qiuping casually fibbed, "All men need to find wives. It's a law of nature and humanity's mission."
The child pulled out a tissue from a nearby box, wiped his hands, tossed it in the trash, and said, "If marriage and reproduction to continue the species is humanity's mission, why do humans have a ten-month gestation period and usually only one child per pregnancy? Shouldn't humans have evolved to be like ocean sunfish, producing 300 million eggs at once, or at least like lemmings, giving birth to over 80 offspring a year?"
...What fish? What mouse?
Ruan Qiuping frowned, still trying to convince him: "Well, you see, falling in love is actually a beautiful thing..."
"Have you ever been in love?"
"...No."
"So it seems it's only beautiful in your imagination."
"..."
Ruan Qiuping was at a loss: "...Well, you'll understand when you grow up."
The child muttered softly, "That's not necessarily true. You look quite old, yet you still don't seem to understand anything."
"..."
Ruan Qiuping was speechless.
Suddenly, Ruan Qiuping narrowed his eyes at the child: "Wait a minute, you lied to me earlier about being too stupid to remember your own name, didn't you?"
The child: "..."
The child lowered his head, clutching his clothes, and said quietly, "...The paint on the clothes won't come off, and they got wet when I was washing my face and arms."
Ruan Qiuping: "Don't try to change the subject. You actually know where your home is, don't you?"
"...It's chilly, I feel cold. Am I going to have a fever?" the child pretended to mutter to himself.
Ruan Qiuping, at a loss with the child, had no choice but to take him to buy some cheap clothes first.
When the child came out of the fitting room, he looked like a different person.
A 35-yuan white shirt and 25-yuan black trousers somehow exuded an indescribable air of nobility when worn by him.
Ruan Qiuping suddenly felt that the child looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he had seen him before, no matter how hard he tried to remember.
After buying the clothes, Ruan Qiuping also purchased a bag of salt.
Leaving the supermarket, he was left with only 38 yuan from the money his teaching assistant had given him before his descent to the mortal world.
"Why did you buy salt?" the child asked.
"Why so many questions? Now, tell me, what's your name? Where do you live?"
The child lowered his head, staying quiet and not saying a word.
Ruan Qiuping slowly crouched down, sighed, and asked in a gentler tone, "Tell me, what's your name?"
"...Yu Huan," the child finally spoke.
Ruan Qiuping was somewhat surprised that the name hadn't changed at all.
"So where do you live?"
Yu Huan fell silent again for a while. When he finally raised his head, his dark eyes were brimming with tears, sparkling like shattered glass in the light: "...I don't have a home. I ran away from the orphanage."
Tears fell from his eyes as he spoke, his small body trembling slightly: "They wouldn't... wouldn't let me eat, and they beat me. I don't have any family left, nobody wants me, and I have nowhere to go... Could you... could you take me with you? Please take me with you, big brother—"
That "big brother" tugged at Ruan Qiuping's heartstrings. He felt flustered and instinctively reached out to wipe the tears from the child's face, but stopped halfway.
This child was already unfortunate enough; if he touched him, who knows what further misfortune might befall him.
Yu Huan tilted his head back, seemingly trying to force a smile, but tears continued to stream down his face: "I don't eat much, and I can help you with chores. I won't cost you much money, please, I'm begging you, take me with you—" His voice became hoarse, his entire face flushed red. He reached out, trying to grab Ruan Qiuping's wrist as if grasping for a lifeline—but Ruan Qiuping dodged him.
Yu Huan froze, looking at Ruan Qiuping as his expression gradually calmed.
For a moment, Ruan Qiuping really did consider taking the child with him... if he were human.
But he was a deity, and Yu Huan was undergoing his mortal tribulation. There was no way Ruan Qiuping could take Yu Huan back to the heavenly realm.
Ruan Qiuping scratched his head, unsure of what to say. Finally, he stammered, "I'm sorry, I can't take you with me... It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I have a special situation... My home isn't here, it's very far away, but I can't take you there..."
Yu Huan wiped away his tears, his expression quickly returning to its previous composure.
He bowed to Ruan Qiuping, said goodbye, and then continued walking forward.
"Where are you going?" Ruan Qiuping asked him.
"To find someone who will take me in."
Yu Huan's voice was cool and detached, carrying a sense of desperate loneliness.
Ruan Qiuping felt a headache coming on.
He quickly stepped in front of Yu Huan to block his path: "Where do you think you're going? You're just a five-year-old child... You wouldn't even know if you were being kidnapped."
"That's no longer your concern."
"How is it not my concern? I'm an adult, and I have a responsibility to protect the safety of a minor like you!"
Yu Huan was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke: "When I tried to grab your hand earlier, you dodged me. When I begged you to take me away, you refused. Since you're so afraid of me becoming a burden to you, why are you now pretending to be a good person?"
Ruan Qiuping's headache intensified: "I swear to..."
Ah... stay calm.
Don't swear in front of a child.
Ruan Qiuping took a deep breath.
"Didn't I tell you? My situation is special, and I can't possibly take you with me. In fact, I..." Ruan Qiuping looked down at the countdown on his wristband, "I'll be leaving in 28 hours and 17 minutes, so you definitely can't come with me. As for why I avoided your touch... it's because I have terrible luck. Anyone who touches me is bound to have misfortune."
"You're lying. There's no such thing."
"Didn't you just ask me why I bought salt? That's exactly why! You... I mean, we humans always say that salt can ward off evil and bad luck, right? I thought when we part ways, I could sprinkle some salt on you to drive away any bad luck..."
"Superstitious nonsense," little Yu Huan's voice had softened a bit.
"It might be superstition, but it could actually work. How would we know if we don't try?"
Although sprinkling salt would have absolutely no effect in the celestial realm, who knows, maybe it would work wonders in the human world.
Yu Huan didn't speak again, but his expression had visibly softened.
Ruan Qiuping scratched his head and finally came up with a less-than-ideal solution: "Don't run off, and I won't send you back to that awful orphanage. I'll do my best to find you a good family. Don't worry, you're so good-looking and smart, there will surely be many people who want to adopt you."
"How do you know it'll be a good family?"
It seemed he'd have to make an exception and use a bit of the one-tenth of his magic that remained. He could use his magic to see where there were kind-hearted people who wanted to adopt a boy, to try and find a good place for Yu Huan.
The wristband was on his right hand. If he used magic with his left hand, would the wristband still be able to detect it?
As Ruan Qiuping pondered which spell to use, he answered Yu Huan, "Don't worry, I'm an excellent judge of character."
"What if you're wrong? What if that family mistreats me too?"
Ruan Qiuping said, "I'll be back next year. If anyone mistreats you, I'll come and take you away immediately."
"Well... you have to keep your word."
"I always keep my word."
.
Ruan Qiuping's magic was already weak, not to mention that nine-tenths of it had been sealed away. At this moment, relying solely on himself, he was unable to sense which family had an urgent desire to adopt a child.
But a temple could help him accomplish this task.
If there were celestial beings residing in the temple, that would be ideal. Even if there weren't, Ruan Qiuping could touch the incense ash in the temple and naturally hear the urgent wishes of those who came to pray.
Then he could find a family for little Yu Huan with both a good background and good character.
After asking passersby, Ruan Qiuping learned that the nearest temple was about ten kilometers away.
Ruan Qiuping's bad luck struck again, and the 38 yuan he had left in his pocket had somehow disappeared, but this didn't stop them from continuing on their journey.
Ruan Qiuping took out the fake "God of Fortune's jade pendant" he had. Although it wasn't really from the God of Fortune, it was at least real jade. Ruan Qiuping sold it to the owner of a nearby jewelry store, but only got a little over 200 yuan for it.
First, Ruan Qiuping and Yu Huan had a good meal together.
After leaving the restaurant, to dispel bad luck and ensure a smooth journey, Ruan Qiuping opened the salt bag and sprinkled some salt on both Yu Huan and himself. He pointed forward with fighting spirit and exclaimed, "Let's go!"
Little Yu Huan imitated his gesture and shouted cheerfully, "Let's go!"
Seeing Yu Huan like this, Ruan Qiuping's lips curved into a smile... this kid was quite cute when he smiled.
.
But it seemed that bad luck hadn't left them after all. Soon after Ruan Qiuping and Yu Huan got into a taxi, it broke down halfway to their destination.
The driver refunded their fare and waited in the car for a tow truck.
On the desolate road, Ruan Qiuping and little Yu Huan had no choice but to walk towards their destination.
"So you weren't lying, you really are quite unlucky," Yu Huan said.
He lowered his head and counted on his fingers, one incident after another: "The taxi broke down on the way to the temple, the waiter brought the wrong dish at the restaurant, 'no cilantro' was heard as 'extra cilantro', we got ripped off by the owner at the jewelry store, money was lost once, and we've tripped three times in total..."
Yu Huan looked up at Ruan Qiuping, his eyes curved into crescents as he smiled: "How can you be so unlucky?"
"See, I told you I was unlucky, but you didn't believe me." Ruan Qiuping took out the bag of salt from his pocket and sprinkled some more on Yu Huan.
He felt that this salt-sprinkling method was quite effective for humans.
After all, Yu Huan had been with him the whole way but hadn't encountered any misfortune. Perhaps it was the salt they sprinkled before setting off that had worked...
"Now that you know how unlucky I am, why are you still so close to me? Be careful, you might catch it!" Ruan Qiuping moved two steps to the left.
But Yu Huan pitter-pattered four steps to the left, sticking close to Ruan Qiuping: "If I catch it, then so be it! Pass your bad luck on to me!"
"Aren't you afraid?" Ruan Qiuping smiled and moved another two steps to the left.
"I'm not afraid! If it passes to me, does that mean you won't be unlucky anymore?" Little Yu Huan grabbed Ruan Qiuping's hand tightly and ran a few more steps to the left with him.
Perhaps it was because of the connection between their hands, but Ruan Qiuping felt a warm current flow from his hand, climbing along his blood vessels, and reaching his heart. It made the tip of his heart feel all warm and cozy.
This time, he didn't dodge. Instead, he enveloped the child's entire small hand in his own.
.
Perhaps it was because the two were walking hand in hand, chatting as they went, but before long, they had left the highway and arrived at a sparsely populated small town.
Ruan Qiuping estimated that they still had quite a distance to go before reaching the temple, so he stood by the roadside, preparing to hail a taxi.
Suddenly, Yu Huan seemed to spot something, and his face turned pale. He tugged at Ruan Qiuping's clothes and said in a small voice, "The people from the orphanage are here to catch me... Quick, take me and run..."
Orphanage?!
Ruan Qiuping didn't have time to think, but from the corner of his eye, he saw several men in black suits walking towards him in unison.
Were these the people from the orphanage? What kind of orphanage was this? They looked more like secret agents...
Ruan Qiuping looked down at Yu Huan's urgent expression, gritted his teeth, scooped him up, and ran quickly in the opposite direction from the group of men in black. To run faster, he even secretly used some acceleration magic.
Ten minutes later, Ruan Qiuping found himself surrounded by five black sedans.
It turned out... human cars were much, much faster than his half-baked magic.
Ruan Qiuping had no choice but to stop, panting heavily. He put Yu Huan down on the ground and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
At the same time, two police cars also arrived on the scene.
Ruan Qiuping breathed a sigh of relief, ready to expose the true face of this evil orphanage in front of the human police.
Two righteous-looking police officers got out of the police cars.
Ruan Qiuping walked towards them with an expectant look on his face.
The next second.
Cold handcuffs were placed on Ruan Qiuping's wrists.
The half bag of salt in his hand spilled all over the ground.
Ruan Qiuping: "???"
"We've finally caught you, you damn child trafficker! You have the right to remain silent! But you..."
"No, wait! I'm not a child trafficker!" Ruan Qiuping shouted.
"Then why were you running with the child? You were caught red-handed and still dared to run? You've got some nerve. And you run pretty fast too," said the police officer who had handcuffed him, looking fierce.
"That's because these heartless orphanage people abuse children, and they wanted to take this child back. I was trying to save him..."
"What orphanage? What nonsense are you talking about? Mr. Yu has gone to such lengths to personally come and find his missing son, and you're calling him a heartless orphanage?"
Mr. Yu? Son?
Little Yu Huan stepped forward and tugged at the police officer's hand, saying, "Officer, you've got it all wrong. I ran away from home on my own. This person isn't bad."
Ruan Qiuping: ???
Ran away from home? Weren't you escaping from a heartless orphanage that abused you and didn't feed you? How did it turn into running away from home?
Yu Huan lowered his head and said softly, "I'm sorry."
The scene of this kid crying and begging him to take him away flashed through Ruan Qiuping's mind. He still couldn't believe it: "You lied to me... why?"
"...I thought if I said that, you'd be willing to take me with you." Young Yu Huan's face was expressionless as he slowly lowered his eyes, his thick black eyelashes trembling slightly. He no longer looked into Ruan Qiuping's eyes, but asked softly, "Will you appear again next year? You've already promised me."
A man dressed in a black suit opened the door of a sedan.
He urged Yu Huan to get in the car quickly.
Under his urging, Yu Huan walked forward step by step. As he put one foot in the car, he hesitated for a moment and turned back.
He looked at Ruan Qiuping and said:
"I'll be waiting for you."
The car door closed, and it quickly sped away.
Ruan Qiuping stared in the direction the car had gone, his mind still in a daze.
He suddenly felt that this Yu Huan might not be as pure and harmless as he appeared on the surface.