IMGH Chapter 61

Jiang Yi Possessed

Clearly such a gentle and warm tone — so why did it sound so unsettling?

Jiang Yi was still mulling this over when, in an instant, everything before him went dark.

Jiang Yi realized that Qiu Rui had kicked him out.

This time, Qiu Rui had done it with precision and ruthlessness, without the slightest trace of mercy.

Jiang Yi stumbled and sat down in the void for a long while before he finally came to his senses. He let out a soft sigh — Qiu Rui was taking revenge on him! Revenge for his recent arrogant words, revenge for his relentless pursuit.

Jiang Yi grew tired of sitting, so he simply lay down in the endless darkness and, mustering every last ounce of strength, bellowed: “Qiu Rui, you just wait! You possessed my body today — one day I’ll possess yours!”

Qiu Rui, who had just finished settling into Jiang Yi’s body, suddenly heard those shameless, rascally words echoing through his mind. Fury flooded his face red, and he slammed his hand on the table and shot to his feet.

Crack!

The teacup and its lid on the table rattled and buzzed from the impact.

Han Yuancheng had never seen Qiu Rui so out of control. Alarmed, he asked, “Ryan, what’s wrong?”

Qiu Rui collected himself and worked hard to regain his composure. In his mind, he issued a stern warning to the restless someone within: “Jiang Yi, behave yourself! If you dare spout any more nonsense, I will take over your body and make sure you never come back out!”

Qiu Rui’s warning sent Jiang Yi leaping three feet in fright — not that he was truly afraid Qiu Rui would fly into a rage and actually seize his body permanently, but because he had never imagined, not even for a moment, that Qiu Rui could hear his thoughts!

Good heavens — I’m done for, absolutely done for!

Knowing Qiu Rui’s temper, he’ll definitely torment me to death!

Once Qiu Rui saw that Jiang Yi had settled down, he raised his head and said to Han Yuancheng, “It’s nothing. Just a minor disturbance. What did you want to see me about today?”

Han Yuancheng pushed down his inner bewilderment and said, “Qiu Chen wants to meet with you.”

Qiu Rui showed a flicker of surprise, but quickly returned to his usual composure. “Qiu Chen? I only know Qiu Rui.”

The words carried an unmistakable arrogance, making it clear he didn’t think much of Qiu Chen at all. Qiu Chen had planted a listening device on Han Yuancheng, so his every move was under surveillance. Qiu Rui said what he said precisely because he was certain Qiu Chen would hear it — to provoke him, and to make it known that even if Qiu Chen had taken control of the Qiu family and Shengqiu International, it was useless. Certain clients only dealt with him, Qiu Rui.

Qiu Rui’s words did indeed reach Qiu Chen’s ears, and afterward, Qiu Chen flew into a towering rage over it.

Having spent many years at Qiu Rui’s side, Han Yuancheng naturally understood the intent behind those words. He feigned unease and, taking care not to slight an important client, explained, “Mr. Jiang, you may not be aware — our Chairman Qiu has been in poor health of late, and has handed over full management of company matters to Acting Chairman Qiu Chen.”

Qiu Rui put on a show of displeasure and kept his expression stiff. “So this is your company’s idea of good faith — sending someone I don’t even know to discuss a partnership? As far as I’m concerned, there’s no point in continuing these negotiations.”

With that, Qiu Rui stood and made to leave. Han Yuancheng hurried after him, smiling apologetically. “Our two companies have worked together for years — you know perfectly well what our company’s reputation is like. If Chairman Qiu hadn’t fallen suddenly ill, we would never have been so remiss toward you.”

Han Yuancheng saw the other man’s expression soften and spent a good while coaxing and reassuring him before finally smoothing things over.

The two men looked at each other, and both broke into a sly smile.

This little performance would surely send Qiu Chen into a frenzy — and it counted as collecting at least a small measure of interest for what Qiu Chen had done to harm Qiu Rui.

Han Yuancheng relayed the details of the scheduled meeting to Qiu Rui. Qiu Rui picked up the pen and paper that had been prepared and wrote: “Having Jiang Yi impersonate Wellman’s China representative is still a bit of a stretch. I’m worried something might go wrong along the way. Is there any way you can get Qiu Chen to drop the idea of meeting?”

He passed the paper over. Han Yuancheng took it, smiled wryly, and wrote back: “Qiu Chen and I have had a falling out, and he’s been increasingly guarded against me. If I oppose him meeting Jiang Yi, it will likely raise his suspicions.”

Qiu Rui furrowed his brows with worry and looked at Han Yuancheng with concern: “That bastard Qiu Chen hasn’t done anything to you, has he?”

Not wanting Qiu Rui to worry, Han Yuancheng said nothing about Qiu Chen’s confrontations with him, shook his head, and replied with feigned ease: “No, he wouldn’t dare.”

Qiu Rui knew Han Yuancheng was no pushover, so he had no doubts about what he said. Relieved, he then asked: “Any news on Taoist Cao’s whereabouts recently?”

Han Yuancheng replied: “Not yet. Taoist Cao seems to have vanished into thin air.”

Qiu Rui’s expression grew increasingly grave. He asked: “Has Qiu Chen shown any suspicion of Jiang Yi’s identity? Taoist Cao gave the formation to Jiang Yi, and Jiang Yi just happens to be Wellman’s representative — hasn’t Qiu Chen questioned that?”

Han Yuancheng offered a reassuring smile: “Qiu Chen doesn’t know that your soul is trapped near Jiang Yi’s. He’s likely been misled by Taoist Cao. Qiu Chen has brought in many renowned international physicians, ostensibly to treat your illness, but in truth just to see how much time you have left. Those physicians all said you still had a faint breath remaining and would regain consciousness in time. After learning this, Qiu Chen sent people to search for Taoist Cao. The matter was handled discreetly, but it still couldn’t slip past our shadow unit.”

Qiu Rui had cultivated a private group of people dedicated solely to gathering intelligence and monitoring situations for him — an assembly of elite operatives of all kinds. Tracking Qiu Chen’s movements was particularly easy for them.

Because of this, even though Qiu Rui’s soul was trapped, he didn’t feel especially panicked. As long as the formation could be broken, he was confident of a decisive victory.

Seeing that Qiu Chen was also searching for Taoist Cao, Qiu Rui’s instinct told him that things weren’t as straightforward as they seemed.

After a moment of thought, he wrote: “Cheng Cheng, have the shadow unit look carefully into Jiang Yi — and also a girl named Chen Yuhe, who works in the planning department at Shengqiu International.”

Chen Yuhe — how was it her!

Han Yuancheng was visibly startled. He looked up at Qiu Rui, puzzled, then quickly wrote back: “Qiu Rui, how do you know Chen Yuhe too?”

The word “too” caught Qiu Rui’s attention. “Oh? You know her?”

“She’s the person I mentioned who has knowledge of the supernatural. I went to find her, but she wasn’t willing to help.”

“How do you two know each other?”

“Quite by chance. She was being chased by someone and ended up stumbling into my car.”

Han Yuancheng recounted his encounter with Chen Yuhe in full detail. Qiu Rui fell into deep thought, and it was quite a while before he replied: “Look into them carefully. Find out whether they’re connected to what happened.”

Though Han Yuancheng didn’t understand why Qiu Rui was suspicious of Jiang Yi and Chen Yuhe, he nodded and agreed.

Qiu Rui thought further and wrote: “At this point, not letting Qiu Chen meet Jiang Yi is bound to arouse his suspicion. I recall that among Wellman’s shareholders there is one of Chinese descent. We can have Jiang Yi impersonate him — that person rarely appears publicly in the industry. As long as we arrange things in advance, Qiu Chen shouldn’t question Jiang Yi’s identity.”

After thinking it through from every angle, this was the only viable option Qiu Rui could see, and Han Yuancheng, after some consideration, agreed there was no other way.

Han Yuancheng hesitated, his fingers hovering for a long moment before he slowly wrote: “Qiu Rui, are you… doing alright?”

Qiu Rui looked at him, puzzled, and replied: “I’m fine. What’s the matter, Cheng Cheng?”

As though steeling himself to great resolve, Han Yuancheng drew a deep breath and wrote: “You and Jiang Yi…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, but Qiu Rui understood exactly what he was asking.

Being asked about his relationship with Jiang Yi made Qiu Rui feel somewhat irritated. He wanted to distance himself from Jiang Yi, yet he kept being influenced and even dragged into things because of him.

Qiu Rui pushed down the agitation and anger stirring inside him and kept his expression perfectly natural: “Jiang Yi and I are just ordinary friends. He likes to joke around — what he did just now was probably just messing with you.”

Han Yuancheng stared steadily at Qiu Rui. He felt that Jiang Yi’s feelings toward Qiu Rui were not as simple as Qiu Rui made them out to be. The way that man had looked at him carried both aversion and provocation — the feeling of someone whose cherished possession had been taken away.

Han Yuancheng had noticed this the very first time he met Jiang Yi, yet they had never known each other before — one could say there had been no point of connection between them at all. Why Jiang Yi regarded him with such a look was something Han Yuancheng found quite baffling.

Today’s meeting had made him realize that Jiang Yi’s attitude toward him must have everything to do with Qiu Rui.

Although Han Yuancheng couldn’t see where Qiu Rui actually was, he could judge his location from the direction in which Jiang Yi’s gaze kept falling.

That man’s eyes always drifted to the right, and his unconscious movements were all tinged with a protective instinct — tense and attentive toward Qiu Rui in every word and gesture. An observant eye would have caught the strangeness of it easily enough, and Jiang Yi’s feelings for Qiu Rui were not difficult to read from all of this.

Han Yuancheng wrote with undisguised concern: “Qiu Rui, I’m afraid Jiang Yi’s intentions toward you might not be… you’d best keep your guard up.”

A chill swept through Qiu Rui’s heart. He stretched the corners of his mouth into a strained smile: “I’ll be careful.”

Qiu Rui did not withdraw from Jiang Yi’s body quickly. Instead, he occupied it and chatted idly with Han Yuancheng for a long while longer.

It was entirely deliberate on his part. He needed an outlet — to vent his mounting dissatisfaction with that man, to release all the pent-up frustration that had been nagging at him without relief.

And all the while, Jiang Yi, trapped in the void, felt worse and worse.

His body grew lighter and lighter. His consciousness grew hazier and hazier.

When Qiu Rui forcibly took over Jiang Yi’s body, he, as the dominant presence, could control its movements and speech. What he hadn’t known was that having two souls inhabiting one physical body placed an enormous burden on it, and at the same time exerted a tremendous toll on the souls themselves. Qiu Rui could sense the state of Jiang Yi’s body, but by the time he realized that his moment of impulse was causing Jiang Yi harm, Jiang Yi had already been worn down to the brink of death.

Qiu Rui bade Han Yuancheng a hasty farewell and swiftly withdrew from Jiang Yi’s body.