Chapter 26 — TVF Chapter 26

The Unlucky One in a Crematorium-Style Story (7) Simply transferring the male lead halo would have been one thing. In the previous world, after Qin Jingzhou finished off the male lead, Prince Jing, the halo had transferred straight onto that idiot emperor.

Back then, he’d already guessed that the halo’s transfer mechanism might be fairly mechanical: once the male lead croaks, it looks for a male supporting character.

Fine, the foolish son counted—but did the fake young master, Quan Ruilan, count as a male supporting character too?

After all… he hadn’t just been an informant once.

Thinking this through, Qin Jingzhou felt as if he’d had an epiphany.

So it turned out Jiang Ruitong had been a drug lord running a full “production–distribution–transport” pipeline. For the sake of this business, he’d spared no expense in raising a private mercenary force.

And the new-type LSD he produced, when combined with several secret drugs circulating in Huaguo—just look at the kidnappers who’d taken Jiang Bowu and Xiao Min as an example—high endurance, explosive strength, simple-minded, fearless of death. Basic firearms couldn’t inflict disabling damage on them at all…

When the authorities uncovered this much, several people in charge broke out in a cold sweat at the scale of Jiang Ruitong’s ambitions.

A decision was made on the spot. After careful advance deployment, an experienced commander led several elite squads and took Jiang Ruitong down in one fell swoop.

The news Qin Jingzhou received was simply “Jiang Ruitong successfully apprehended,” but behind that word successfully were real casualties and losses.

Moreover, Jiang Ruitong’s case was deeply entangled. The entire Jiang family, along with their lovers and subordinates, all had to cooperate fully with the investigation.

Jiang Bowu and Xiao Min were no exception.

The difference was that unlike Chairman Jiang and Miss Jiang, who had to go to the station for questioning, Jiang Bowu and Xiao Min could choose the time and place for routine inquiries. Jiang Bowu deliberately chose the Martial Artist Association’s Beijing headquarters. With his dad there to hold the line, he felt no fear at all.

Ever since his dad had publicly shown his hand, his treatment had jumped straight to the top-tier martial artist level.

After answering a few questions and wrapping up, Jiang Bowu followed his dad to the smoking area. Watching him finish half a cigarette, he gently tugged at his dad’s sleeve. “Dad… I’m a little scared after the fact.” He gave a bitter smile. “With a shitty family like the Jiangs, internal fighting is nothing more than money, shares, and influence. If you lose, you just take some family trust money and stay away from the core of power…”

Qin Jingzhou chuckled and picked up the thread. “You never imagined Jiang Ruitong would go for lives?” He briefly told his foolish son about his experience in Eastern Europe when he’d first arrived in this world. “What kind of business do you think makes mercenaries take assassination contracts? I decided to come back immediately. And just days after I returned, you little bastard had a car accident right in front of me.”

Jiang Bowu’s eyes lit up. “Dad—if it weren’t for me, would you even have bothered registering as a martial artist?”

Qin Jingzhou flicked ash from his cigarette and rubbed the foolish boy’s head with the hand holding it. “What do you think?”

Back then, I just wanted to pull enough hatred through registration and related moves. I didn’t really consider you… Saying it outright would’ve sounded emotionally tone-deaf. So he said instead, “If I called you back from your mom’s place without any respectable industry to hand you, would that work?”

Jiang Bowu gave an “Oh.”

Qin Jingzhou withdrew his hand and slung an arm around the boy’s shoulders, smiling. “The Jiang family’s in chaos now, and with official backing for your dad, those capitalists have watched long enough. It’s about time they started sending their kids to our martial arts hall.”

Jiang Bowu wiped his tears and laughed. “Yeah, Dad—since the leeks are delivering themselves, we might as well start harvesting! And for the ones with real talent… differential treatment!”

Qin Jingzhou burst out laughing. “You’re teachable.”

Xiao Min walked out of the Association’s main office building and saw the father and son chatting and laughing under the trees.

Even though she was in a terrible mood, she couldn’t help but be a little infected by their bright smiles. “I’m done too.” Then she bowed deeply and said solemnly, “Thank you, Uncle Shangguan!”

Qin Jingzhou stubbed out his cigarette. “You’re a good girl. My son likes you—helping you was just a small effort.”

Xiao Min nodded repeatedly. “Yes.”

The foolish son’s face turned red, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of reluctance.

Qin Jingzhou continued, “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself either. Who hasn’t been blind enough to fall for a couple of scumbags when they were young?” His tone as someone who’d been there made it extremely convincing. “You two wait for me a moment.” With that, he walked toward the person standing at the office entrance, smiling and signaling at him.

Back when the Association had readily certified and registered him, it wasn’t so much that they valued him as a person—it was that their sharp eyes had recognized the worth of that sword technique.

A casual check by the reviewers revealed that he’d once been the Jiang family’s live-in son-in-law living off his wife. Though in hindsight, it looked more like he’d used the Jiang family’s big name as cover to cultivate quietly, the reviewers had still underestimated him to some degree.

He hadn’t lacked the basic treatment due a martial artist—but everything had been delayed. What happened afterward shocked everyone.

So Qin Jingzhou followed the official who’d come to receive him to the fourth-floor conference room and met the Association’s elders.

The elders admitted they’d misjudged him and shouldn’t have judged by appearances. After sincerely apologizing, they presented their compensation.

Qin Jingzhou accepted everything with a beaming smile.

Although he’d already completed his mission, he still had at least thirty years before leaving this world at the end of his lifespan. He didn’t need the resources the Association gifted him—but that didn’t mean his foolish son didn’t.

Besides, the Association handled matters well enough. He looked at the official who’d been liaising with him all along. “You can send three students over.”

The official’s face lit up instantly.

Several elders smiled as well.

It wasn’t just that they coveted the sword technique inheritance—more importantly, his response meant he’d accepted the Association’s olive branch.

After chatting briefly with the elders, Qin Jingzhou was again escorted out by that same official.

Once they exited the elevator, the official finally spoke again. “My daughter’s boyfriend… also wants to learn martial arts from you. But his identity’s a bit sensitive, so he was embarrassed to say it directly.”

Qin Jingzhou frowned slightly, sensing something. “Go on.”

The official gave an awkward smile. “His name is Quan Ruilan.”

Qin Jingzhou suddenly stopped and looked the righteous, thick-browed official up and down. Aside from being bald, he really had no flaws. “You lucked out.”

That solved his confusion. The male lead halo in this world seemed a bit more flexible—capable of shifting appropriately with circumstances.

After a few more words, Qin Jingzhou drove home with his son, stopping first to send Xiao Min back to her hotel.

At the hotel entrance, Jiang Bowu didn’t linger sentimentally. He only said, “If you need anything, come find me. If you don’t… you can still come find me.” After waving goodbye, he quickly got into the car.

He didn’t even look back to see if Xiao Min had gone inside before opening his laptop and racing to reply to emails. Now that their martial arts hall was officially registered, it naturally had its own small section on the Association’s website, listing entry requirements, a contact person, and contact details.

Before, their hall had only attracted troublemakers and gawkers. Now… with a quick scan, he saw over a hundred people willing to pay to take the entrance assessment.

His dad drove steadily while his fingers flew over the keyboard. While dealing with these enthusiastic clients, Jiang Bowu complained softly, “Dad, you say I’m the heir to the martial arts hall, but I don’t even know what our family inheritance specializes in.”

Qin Jingzhou replied unhurriedly, “Wasn’t the pain-relief medicine patent entirely handled by you?”

Jiang Bowu felt a little aggrieved. “Dad, do you want me to focus on alchemy? I know your carefully prepared soup not only relieves pain but accelerates bone growth and healing. If not for the reinforcement on my leg being a bit inconvenient, I’d almost forget my left fibula was fractured… But I still want to practice martial arts with you.”

He’s actually starting to act spoiled…

Granted, after being rescued from kidnappers, the foolish son’s affection for him had skyrocketed.

Qin Jingzhou understood it well. The boy had lacked love since childhood and didn’t really know how to interact with elders. And though he was already a senior in college, he wasn’t even twenty-one yet due to skipping grades.

Qin Jingzhou glanced at him through the rearview mirror. “Alright. When we get home, start on the basic coursework first. Before the apprentices officially enroll, you need to learn a couple of moves yourself.”

Jiang Bowu froze for a second, then beamed. “Mm!”

Qin Jingzhou added deliberately, “If you want anything, just tell Dad. Reasonable requests—I’ll agree. Unreasonable ones—I’ll try my best to solve.”

Jiang Bowu flashed a mouthful of white teeth. “Dad, you’re the best!”

The system watched, amusement flickering in its eyes. “You weren’t like this with your cheap eldest daughter in the last world!” Qin Jingzhou replied, “I’m openly biased. Is this your first day knowing me?” System: ……

…

After getting home, while waiting for takeout, Qin Jingzhou wrote out a basic mnemonic for his foolish son.

Jiang Bowu treasured it like a priceless relic. After dinner, the father and son practiced together in the small living room, following the mnemonic under Qin Jingzhou’s watchful eye.

After barely completing three movements, Jiang Bowu felt dizzy and fell backward—only to be caught in time by Qin Jingzhou and dropped neatly onto the big sofa.

Jiang Bowu was deeply dejected.

Qin Jingzhou laughed. “Not bad—some talent. Our hall uses this same mnemonic to assess disciples. There are nine movements total, but completing just two is enough to enter. You managed three—that’s quite good, especially in this age of declining spirituality.”

Jiang Bowu instantly perked up. “So that’s how it is.”

Unfortunately, he only got to bask in his talent for half a day. The very next day, Quan Ruilan came knocking.

After some pleasantries, Quan Ruilan got straight to the point. “My girlfriend… Uncle Shangguan, you know her. I sincerely want to spend my life with her, but right now I’ve only got a bit of money. In Beijing, I’m nothing. How could I reach for the precious daughter of a Martial Artist Association elder with real power? I want to marry my girlfriend with dignity.”

Jiang Bowu nearly sprayed out his tea. “You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.”

Quan Ruilan replied calmly, “Uncle Shangguan doesn’t care about things like that.” Top-tier martial artists usually had the magnanimity to match their status.

Qin Jingzhou really didn’t care. What did your subtext about Shangguan Jingzhou have to do with him, Qin Jingzhou?

“Don’t want to live off a woman? Son, he’s yours to handle.”

Quan Ruilan’s comprehension was excellent. Right in front of the father and son, he completed five movements.

In this era of declining spirituality, someone like Quan Ruilan could only be called heaven-sent genius.

Qin Jingzhou looked at the two sons with very different expressions—one cheap biological son, one cheap adopted son—and felt that splitting the male lead halo in two actually made a lot of sense.

At noon, Xiao Min arrived on time carrying a pile of lunchboxes. Seeing Jiang Bowu pouting like he might burst into tears at any moment, she couldn’t help laughing, despite her own recent low spirits.

Three months later, Jiang Ruitong’s case concluded. He ate peanuts far more cleanly and decisively than in the original story.

Another half month passed. In a scenic, secluded garden, a graceful figure suddenly appeared out of thin air.

The owner of that figure—a tall young woman—surveyed her surroundings, then spoke while trying to control her emotions. “System, this is what you meant by ‘directly placing me beside the male lead in a reasonable way’?” She pointed at the gravestone at her feet. “Jiang Ruitong—wasn’t he the story’s male lead?”

The system’s mechanical voice even stuttered for a moment. “I’ll check that for you.” After a pause, it continued, “The situation has changed. Jiang Ruitong is no longer the male lead, but the ‘eliminate the male lead’ task has not been updated.”

The woman replied briskly, “Lead the way, then. Take me to find the current male lead.”