Moonlit: I changed Su Laiqin to Su Laijin. You’ll find out why in this chapter.
As soon as Bai Songyin followed the great-great-grandfather’s instructions and burned the paper money for the old lady in the underworld, he returned home—only to come face-to-face with Su Ran in the living room. Startled, he blurted out his first thought: “Holy crap, it really worked!”
Su Ran was immediately on guard. “What worked?”
Bai Songyin didn’t answer right away. Instead, he handed over the paper bag in his hands. “Here, Great-Grandfather asked me to buy this for you.”
Su Ran’s expression twisted the moment he saw the bulging paper bag. His stomach churned violently and his face darkened as he pushed the bag away. “No need. I’m not hungry.”
Bai Songyin looked at him with sympathy. “It’s not food. It’s emetic medicine.”
Su Ran: “…”
Damn it!!!
Of course, his great-great-grandfather knew everything. For all he knew, the old man might even be the one behind all of this! A man could be killed but not humiliated—Su Ran’s anger surged as he looked around. “Where’s Great-Grandfather? I need to have a talk with him today—”
“I’m eating.”
A cold, tranquil voice came from behind him.
Su Ran turned his head and immediately locked eyes with those deep, abyss-like black pupils. His voice cut off instantly.
Su Weisheng sat at the dining table on the balcony. He put down his chopsticks, tilted his head slightly, and gazed at Su Ran with a calm, leisurely expression. “What do you want to talk to me about?”
Su Ran straightened up and said righteously, “Of course, I want to discuss repaying my debt as soon as possible! Even though you’re my ancestor and don’t hold it against me as a junior, I can’t just irresponsibly drag my feet on paying it back!”
He handed over the contract in his hand, speaking with conviction. “I’ve already negotiated with the company. I’m joining that godforsaken variety show, and I must win the championship to win back the Jade Bone Fan for you!”
One second ago, he was ready to go down fighting with his ancestor. The next second, he had transformed into a sincere and dutiful great-great-grandson. Even Su Weisheng had to give him credit for how fast his expression changed. With acting skills like this, who dared say Su Ran had no talent for acting?
Su Weisheng smiled slightly but didn’t expose him. Instead, he casually took the contract and glanced over it, his expression turning somewhat strange. “You want me to join the variety show with you?”
“It’s a family-themed variety show. I didn’t have much of a choice.” Su Ran spread his hands. “I heard we have some distant relatives, but my father’s generation already lost contact with them. The only family member I can ask to join me is you.”
He spoke with complete seriousness, but the corners of his lips twitched upward involuntarily.
Su Weisheng shot him a sidelong glance. Su Ran immediately reined in his smile, putting on an earnest and upright expression.
Of course, Su Weisheng knew that this unfilial great-great-grandson was scheming to drag him into this absurd show just to mess with him. However, there was one thing Su Ran hadn’t lied about—he truly had no other family.
And Su Weisheng… didn’t find the idea entirely repulsive.
These younger ones might think that Great-Great-Grandfather would reject a show that was essentially “performing like a monkey for others to watch”. But for Su Weisheng himself, he didn’t have such a strong sense of maintaining an “idol image” nor did he feel the need to act overly dignified due to his status.
Su Ran reminded him, “Great-Grandfather, this is just a draft contract. If you agree to participate as a guest, I’ll notify my agent to contact the production team, and we can have all three parties sign the official contract together.”
Su Weisheng casually tossed the contract aside, leaning against his chair with a leisurely tone. “I have no objections, but according to your system here, don’t you need an ID card for contracts like this?”
—He didn’t have one of those.
Su Ran’s victorious smile froze.
Assistant Bai also blurted out, “Oh crap, I totally forgot—Great-Grandfather is undocumented!”
#GreatGrandfatherIsUndocumented
The issue suddenly became tricky. After all, if they went to apply for an ID, they couldn’t exactly tell the authorities, “Our family went bankrupt. Our ancestor was so furious that he couldn’t stay in his coffin.”
That would be way too terrifying.
Su Ran thought about it for a while and decided to shift the burden onto his agent.
“You’re telling me your great-grandfather doesn’t have an ID?” He Heng was utterly baffled when he got the call. “He’s never been registered since birth?”
“…No. Back when Great-Grandfather was born, Youguo was still in power.”
Problems don’t disappear—they just get transferred. Now, the burden shifted from Su Ran to He Heng. As a manager, he already felt like a babysitter, constantly handling his artist’s ridiculous problems. But no matter how annoying this ID issue was, it was still better than Su Ran acting in trashy films.
So, in the end, He Heng came up with a plan and reluctantly took them to the local household registration office.
From what he knew, there was a special policy for reissuing IDs. In some remote and underdeveloped areas, many people from previous generations had never been officially registered. As technology and digital records improved, authorities have been gradually addressing these cases.
Since there was precedent, He Heng spent a long time explaining the situation. The registration officials were skeptical but ultimately followed the procedure, collecting blood samples from both Su Weisheng and Su Ran for a DNA comparison.
As he watched the staff take their samples, He Heng felt uneasy. His gaze shifted back and forth between the grandfather and grandson pair. After a moment, he asked nervously, “You two… aren’t hiding anything from me, right? Mr. Su, you’re absolutely sure you’re this kid’s great-great-grandfather? If this turns out to be fake, we’re all going to get a serious lecture—maybe even end up on the news…”
Su Ran shot him an impatient look. “Are you stupid, or do you think I am? You think I’d go through the trouble of hiring a fake grandpa just for some lousy variety show?”
Su Weisheng calmly pressed a cotton swab against his fingertip wound, his tone indifferent. “Great-grandson, mind your manners.”
Su Ran looked like he had swallowed a bitter pill. “…Got it, Great-Grandfather.” A few seconds later, he turned to He Heng with a warm smile and repeated in an overly gentle tone, “Brother He, are you feeling unwell? Otherwise, why would you imagine that I’m trying to scam you? If you’re sick, you should get it checked. I have a health insurance card—I can lend it to you.”
He Heng: “…”
This brat had some manners, but not much.
Before long, the kinship verification report came out. It confirmed that Su Weisheng and Su Ran were indeed blood relatives across generations. Additionally, Su Weisheng’s blood sample had never been recorded in the household registry before, making him eligible for ID registration as an undocumented citizen.
This result shocked not only He Heng but also the staff, who double-checked multiple times to be sure.
Su Weisheng could now apply for an ID card. However, in the registry, he obviously couldn’t use his original generational ranking—that wouldn’t make sense. He flipped through the family genealogy and saw that four generations had come after him: his son, Su Laijin; his grandson, Su Yinian; his great-grandson, Su Cheng; and his great-great-grandson, Su Ran.
Back in the day, in order to exploit a loophole, he had sneakily recorded the name Su Tiao under his older brother’s name. Now, with the same shameless confidence, he directly listed Su Weisheng under his son, Su Laijin, making himself equal in rank to his grandson, Su Yinian.
Su Ran was so stunned by this maneuver that his eyes nearly popped out. He kept his voice low as he whispered, “Great-Grandfather, this means that, on paper, you’re now Su Laijin’s descendant. Doesn’t it feel weird being your own son’s son?”
Su Weisheng propped his chin up with one hand, his expression solemn and thoughtful. “It does feel a little off.”
Su Ran nodded. See? I knew Great-Grandfather still had a sense of dignity—
Then, Su Weisheng suddenly turned to the staff and asked, “Excuse me, can I change my brother’s name? Su Yinian sounds really inauspicious. Now that my name is next to his, I’m worried his bad luck will affect my feng shui. I’d like to rename him.”
Su Ran: ???
He Heng: ???
The staff: ????? What? What did he just say?
“You want to… rename your already deceased brother?” The staff repeated the request, struggling to process it.
Su Weisheng nodded matter-of-factly. “Yes. I’m satisfied with my father’s name, but Su Yinian’s name is terrible. If possible, I’d like to rename Su Cheng and Su Ran as well.”
Su Ran bristled. “My name sounds perfectly fine! You can change my dad’s name if you want, but I’m not changing mine!”
Su Weisheng stared at him, expressionless.
Su Ran looked utterly humiliated. “…What do you want to change it to?”
The staff couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m sorry, sir, but we can only process your identity registration. We cannot modify other people’s names.”
The great-great-grandson breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Su Weisheng regretfully shook his head but didn’t argue further. “Fine.” What a pity. I should’ve decided all my descendants’ names in advance—now I can’t even change them when I want to.
The underworld, which had always been shrouded in an eerie silence, suddenly became lively.
Bolts of heavenly lightning tore across the sky, accompanied by deafening thunderclaps. Everywhere, ghosts screamed in terror as they fled for their lives.
“Help—! Damn it. Is some hundred-lifetime sinner reincarnating or what?! I’m gonna get caught in the crossfire!”
“Run, run! If we don’t run now, we’re gonna get struck too!”
Amidst the chaos, three generations of the Su family were also desperately running for their lives. However, it didn’t take long for everyone to notice something strange—wherever these three ran, the lightning followed.
Another bolt of lightning came crashing down. Instinctively, the three of them scattered in different directions. Yet, the lightning struck directly at Su Laijin’s head. Thick smoke billowed into the air. His charred figure was left twitching—clearly, this divine punishment was meant for him alone.
“F*ck!” A moment later, Su Laijin spat out a puff of black smoke and cursed, “Which bastard is messing with me?!”
A deep, solemn voice suddenly rang out.
“That is the Heavenly Punishment of Ethics.”
All the ghosts turned toward the source of the voice, only to see the Gatekeeper, draped in a black hooded robe, approaching at a steady pace. At once, they bowed their heads in reverence.
“My lord.” Su Laijin called out, disbelief in his voice. “The Heavenly Punishment of Ethics? What the hell does that mean… What did my father do this time?”
The Gatekeeper raised a hand and unfurled a celestial screen. The image displayed was none other than Su Weisheng’s ID registration process.
For a moment, the expressions of all three generations of Su family members twisted in horror.
“He… registered his name under mine?!” Su Laijin was on the verge of a breakdown. “No wonder I got struck by lightning! He really is my biological father—only he could pull something like this!”
Su Cheng, the youngest of the three, was equally horrified. “If Old Ancestor lives for a few hundred more years, is he gonna put his next ID under my name? Am I gonna get struck by lightning next?!”
“Not just that… He even tried to change our names… Luckily, the staff stopped him.”
At the mention of renaming, Su Laijin’s expression grew even more twisted. He gritted his teeth and said, “You’re celebrating too soon. Knowing my father, he’s never gonna give up on this renaming nonsense.”
“Back in the day, the Grand Elder of the clan gave me the name Su Lianyue—a refined and poetic name. But then he became my father and said, ‘What’s the point of scooping up the moon? It’s all just empty talk.’ So he insisted on renaming me Laijin and my brother Laiyin, saying ‘Gold[mfn]Jin[/mfn] comes, silver[mfn]Yin[/mfn] follows—how lucky and prosperous!’”
Silence fell.
Even the Gatekeeper’s lips twitched slightly. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Only you, Su Weisheng, could stay true to your nature even after two hundred years of sleep.
Su Laijin turned to his son with a cold smirk. “Just you wait. Before long, you two will probably end up renamed Zhaocai[mfn]Attract Wealth[/mfn] and Jinbao[mfn]Bring in Treasure[/mfn].”
“!!!”
“Nooo!!!”
The three ghosts in the underworld had already foreseen their tragic fate, while the great-great-grandson in the land of the living was still immersed in the excitement of signing a contract. Once the contract was signed, there would be an advance payment. With that money, he could finally film a low-budget web drama. The plan was flawless!
Su Ran was completely lost in his grand vision, utterly unaware of what lay ahead.
The next day, the production crew arrived downstairs at Su Ran’s building, cameras in tow. They planned to start filming from the moment he prepared for the contract signing.
He Heng, accompanied by the assistant director, went upstairs. The two exchanged pleasantries, their faces beaming with confidence. After all, it was a win-win situation. Everyone was optimistic about the future.
The assistant director even asked a few questions about Su Ran’s great-grandfather. “How old is the old gentleman this year? Can he handle six hours of live streaming a day? If not, we can make some adjustments.”
He Heng hesitated slightly. “…Not that old. Six hours should be fine.”
The assistant director patted him on the shoulder and chuckled. “Look at you, being all modest. He’s a great-grandfather! How could he not be old? Don’t worry, even though Director You likes to throw curveballs in his shows and catch celebrities off guard, he’s always considerate toward the elderly!”
As he spoke, he took a gift box from one of the staff members before entering the apartment. “See? Director You even prepared this health supplement as a gift for the old gentleman.”
He Heng said nothing, merely pushing the door open in silence.
The living room was filled with noise.
Curious, the two of them peeked inside—only to see three young men sitting on the couch. Among them, the notoriously wild and untamed top idol was fully engrossed in a mobile game, occasionally shouting at his assistant, Bai Songyin: “What the f*ck are you running for?! I’m the marksman, you’re supposed to protect me! Why are you babysitting Great-Grandpa?! He’s the top laner! Top laner! He doesn’t need you sticking to him all the time—mmph!”
Before he could finish, Su Weisheng casually picked up a book and smacked it over his mouth. His voice was calm and indifferent: “Shut up. You’re hurting my ears.”
That one sentence held an undeniable authority.
In an instant, the entire room fell silent.
The cameras captured the scene in crystal-clear detail.
The assistant director stood there, mouth agape, pointing at Su Weisheng. He turned to He Heng and stammered, “Who is that? How can he completely overpower our top idol? He just took a smack to the mouth and didn’t even dare fight back? Is this really the same Su Ran I know—the guy who once splashed red wine all over an industry senior on a live broadcast?”
“Who is this guy? Introduce me! I want to invite him to join the show too!”
He Heng glanced at the health supplement in the assistant director’s hand, his expression difficult to describe.
“…That’s the person you brought the gift for—Su Ran’s great-grandfather.”
Assistant Director: …?
