Saving people, while there's the saying "save a person to the end, send Buddha to the west," truly great philanthropists who can achieve this are quite rare.
Ye Tiancheng didn't consider himself such a great philanthropist. What he could do was limited, and he couldn't dedicate too much energy to Ou Xiaoxue's matters. His primary objective was the Fuxi Qin fragments, and nothing else.
Regarding saving Ou Xiaoxue, not helping her investigate the matter thoroughly, but merely helping her resolve the evil spirits in the villa, would have been considered doing his best. Some things are favors, while not helping is just fulfilling one's duty. Ye Tiancheng didn't owe Ou Xiaoxue anything, and they were not familiar with each other; they were merely chance encounters. Ye Tiancheng wouldn't risk his life for Ou Xiaoxue.
If Ou Xiaoxue hadn't been a decent person, Ye Tiancheng would have considered his help in resolving the evil spirits in the villa to be the end of their interaction. If Ou Xiaoxue encountered any further trouble, it would have nothing to do with Ye Tiancheng; he had no responsibility or obligation to be accountable.
Perhaps good deeds do sometimes receive good rewards, which is why Ou Xiaoxue was fortunate enough to meet Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, having a chance to save her life. Otherwise, Ou Xiaoxue would have certainly been harmed to death by those evil spirits long ago.
It was also because Ye Tiancheng was willing to help Ou Xiaoxue along the way that the little fox would also put her heart into Ou Xiaoxue's affairs. Every one of these events was interconnected.
After dinner, Ye Tiancheng received news from Hou Mingzhu. Hou Mingzhu had already arrived with her daughter, Ye Qingcheng, and was waiting for an opportunity to connect with Ye Tiancheng and hand over her daughter. However, along with this, Hou Mingzhu also conveyed some other information to Ye Tiancheng.
The world outside the formation was beyond Ye Tiancheng's current reach, so he relied on Hou Mingzhu to investigate many things. In fact, after receiving this final piece of information, Ye Tiancheng had basically confirmed certain facts.
It was unclear who started this trend. A perfectly good school was shrouded in black energy. Within it, many people played those inappropriate games, including teachers and students.
In Ou Xiaoxue's class, there were many people who played those inappropriate games. The teachers and classmates who visited Ou Xiaoxue that day had all played them, including Song Chuyue.
Song Chuyue had indeed lied. She had lied to everyone. She had deceived Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, and similarly, she had deceived Ou Xiaoxue.
When classmates invited Ou Xiaoxue and Song Chuyue to play those inappropriate games, Ou Xiaoxue had refused, and had even helped Song Chuyue refuse. However, behind Ou Xiaoxue's back, after Ou Xiaoxue helped Song Chuyue refuse the game invitation, Song Chuyue herself agreed to play.
And because of this, she became entangled with something bad. What was even more unfortunate was that Ou Xiaoxue's predicament was likely inextricably linked to Song Chuyue.
Song Chuyue was also running out of ways to hide it. She even intended to continue deceiving people. She truly believed that Ye Tiancheng and the others couldn't get out, which was why she thought they were easier to fool. The talismans that Ye Tiancheng had given Song Chuyue earlier, drawn by the little fox for her self-defense, she had used them all to protect herself.
However, Song Chuyue soon discovered that these were not enough, and they were merely treating the symptoms, not the root cause.
But she dared not speak the truth, so she could only choose to conceal it. She feared that if she revealed the truth, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox would not help her. Therefore, outwardly, she still maintained the pretense of everything being for Ou Xiaoxue, but in reality, she only wanted to protect herself.
She had shown some flaws earlier. After Ye Tiancheng tested Song Chuyue, Ye Tiancheng had already suspected that Song Chuyue was problematic.
Encountering bad things and wanting to conceal them, due to guilt or other reasons, wanting to protect oneself – these were not major issues. Therefore, when Song Chuyue asked for talismans, even the little fox, who had suspected Song Chuyue earlier than Ye Tiancheng, had not exposed Song Chuyue's true face beforehand. Instead, they still drew talismans, but made some minor adjustments.
However, it was precisely because of these minor adjustments made by the little fox that they had played a role in recent days.
When the little fox set up the traps, they did not have any intention of harming anyone. Therefore, Song Chuyue, without malicious intent, would not have triggered those traps.
But Song Chuyue, being truly impure, triggered the consequences of those traps this time. The problem was immediately discovered by the people sent by Hou Mingzhu, who were investigating the situation outside. Then, this was compiled and sent to Ye Tiancheng, delivering the most fatal blow.
Although the Fuxi Qin fragments were indeed difficult to obtain, for people like Ye Tiancheng, uncovering the truth behind such childish schemes, excluding the supernatural elements involved, was not a difficult task at all.
After reading the reports, Ye Tiancheng had a clear understanding of the situation, with a confidence of over ninety percent in his judgment of the truth.
However, Ye Tiancheng did not forget that his ultimate goal was still the Fuxi Qin fragments, and the little fox had not yet finished questioning Ou Xiaoxue.
As long as the Fuxi Qin fragments were not obtained, this matter, though it might not be entirely fair to Ou Xiaoxue, could not be concluded by Ye Tiancheng for even a day.
Therefore, after learning the entire truth, Ye Tiancheng suppressed the report in his hand. The intelligence he had obtained from Hou Mingzhu before would have been shared with Ou Xiaoxue to help her discover the truth faster. But now, he would not let Ou Xiaoxue see the report in his possession immediately.
Ou Xiaoxue could not learn the truth at this time, and Ye Tiancheng could not let anyone detect his true intentions. He also had to consider external factors, so he absolutely could not let Ou Xiaoxue's matter be resolved at this moment.
Whether for the safety of Hou Mingzhu and the others, or for the peace of himself and the little fox, he absolutely needed to be extremely cautious and not make any rash decisions.
However, this matter, although it could not be told to Ou Xiaoxue for the time being, could be told to the little fox.
Therefore, Ye Tiancheng summoned the little fox and showed him the report. The little fox, with wisdom far exceeding his age, was able to understand the situation clearly and distinctly.
After the little fox understood the situation, he didn't say much, only telling Ye Tiancheng, "Brother Ye, don't worry. With this, I'll have more confidence. I'll resolve this as quickly as possible. Brother Ye, please rest assured."
Ye Tiancheng looked at the little fox's determined and serious expression, smiled, and gently ruffled the little fox's hair. "I believe you. What I said before was true, little fox. Don't put too much pressure on yourself."
"Also, little fox, aren't you going to call me Big Brother anymore?" Ye Tiancheng's gaze was very gentle.
Hearing Ye Tiancheng say this, the little fox immediately looked up at Ye Tiancheng, his dark, large eyes shining, filled with surprise. Then, he tentatively asked, "B-Big Brother...?"
Ye Tiancheng replied, "Yes, good boy. With Big Brother here, you can do anything you want. We are close brothers now, aren't we?"
The little fox nodded quickly, so happy he could jump three feet high. He immediately rushed out of the house, and Ye Tiancheng, unable to stop him, could only watch the little fox run away, his excited words fading into the wind.
"Big Brother, leave Ou Xiaoxue's matter to me. I will definitely help you find the Fuxi Qin fragments!"
Ye Tiancheng withdrew his hand that had half-reached out to stop the little fox, feeling a bit amused and exasperated. However, the little fox's energetic demeanor was quite lively and adorable.
Watching the little fox's receding figure, after a chuckle, Ye Tiancheng thought this to himself.
The little fox was too happy today; his enthusiasm got the better of him, and he couldn't wait to do things for Ye Tiancheng. After running out of the room, he went to talk to Ou Xiaoxue.
Ou Xiaoxue was surprised when the little fox came to find her. However, she quickly remembered that the little fox and the others still had questions for her. They had only stopped because they were eating, so they hadn't finished. The little fox coming to find her likely meant nothing else.
As expected, after greeting Ou Xiaoxue, the little fox got straight to the point and resumed his questioning.
The little fox asked Ou Xiaoxue some more questions, gathering some seemingly insignificant details.
In any case, Ou Xiaoxue couldn't distinguish which questions were meaningful, which were meaningless, and which were intentionally misleading. The little fox asked such a variety of questions to confuse matters and avoid appearing too deliberate. Even in his excited state, the little fox remained cautious and calm overall.
After asking most of the questions, he slowly steered towards the main topic, as if it had just occurred to him, and then asked the question spontaneously.
"By the way, Ou Xiaoxue, when doing things like eliminating factors, one needs to be thorough. I didn't think of this earlier, so I'm asking you now."
"During those two days you were in the villa, were you able to save your life because you had some kind of protective charm?"
"Or perhaps, does your family worship anything, like statues of deities? And because of this, you were more protected, and even when subjected to persecution by evil spirits during these two days, you managed to survive and were not seriously injured?"
The little fox sat opposite Ou Xiaoxue, always appearing to be in deep thought, as if he could come up with new ideas at any moment and ask any kind of question.
Therefore, at this moment, facing the questions asked by the little fox, Ou Xiaoxue didn't think much about it and pondered carefully. "As for protective charms, there are actually quite a few. For girls like us, we have many similar things. Speaking of protective charms, they are basically jewelry."
"If you're talking about proper protective charms, my parents did get one for me before they passed away. It came from a very famous temple, and I've been wearing it. Could it be because of this?"
"As for statues of deities, that's unlikely. My family doesn't worship such things, and I wouldn't know how to do it. I never thought these things actually existed before."
After hearing Ou Xiaoxue's account, the little fox said, "Well, at least after this matter is resolved, you should add two door gods to your door. They can ward off evil and keep all those evil spirits outside."