Chapter 52: Hezi Xinniang 3
Hai Moyun hurriedly went to the balcony to make the calls, leaving Jiang Si to be observed by Hai Furen and Qi Shanmu.
After a long while, Hai Furen finally asked, “I didn’t have time to ask earlier, Xiao Jiang, are you a Daoshi?”
“No.” Jiang Si shook his head. “My family is in the funeral business. I grew up influenced by what I saw and heard, so I learned a few things. But my university major was film directing, and I worked in Ningshi before. I quit my job a few months ago and returned to Rongcheng to develop my career.”
“That’s still considered a family legacy,” Hai Furen sighed with emotion. “When you went back to Rongcheng later, did you do freelance work in film and television? Or what?”
Jiang Si smiled, “I opened a Zhizha (paper funeral offerings) shop, and I still shoot some videos when I’m free.”
“That’s quite nice,” Hai Furen said. “Being your own boss is definitely much freer than working a regular job.”
Looking through the glass doors of the balcony, she revealed a bit of worry, “What was that Jubensha you were talking about just now? Is Xiao Yun really being haunted by something?”
Beside her, Qi Shanmu wore a face full of distrust. His wife wouldn’t let him grab just anyone to discuss his profession, but she never said he couldn’t question someone else’s profession.
“Did you see something attached to Xiao Yun?” he asked.
Jiang Si ignored the slight hostility radiating from Qi Shanmu. It was perfectly normal for materialistic people not to believe in these things; he had seen people with much more intense reactions than this in the past. He explained earnestly, “I didn’t see anything attached to him, I can’t be certain.”
“Then—”
A loud “Bang, Crash!” rang out. A ceramic flower pot fell from the sky, bursting in mid-air like scattering flowers. Hai Moyun was squarely hit by the shards. Fortunately, his reaction was fast, and he was wrapped in a towel. A piece of porcelain merely grazed past his face, leaving behind a bloody scratch.
“Fuck, fuck!” Startled into a daze, he stood frozen in place. Once he reacted, he hurriedly pushed open the door and returned inside with his phone. Still reeling from the shock, he leaned against the wall and looked toward the equally startled group.
“The flower pot, it fell!” Hai Moyun said quietly.
“We saw.” Hai Di was the first to get up to check. He stood where Hai Moyun had just been standing, holding the railing and leaning out to look.
Above the first-floor balcony was the second-floor flower room. The design of this flower room was semi-enclosed; in the winter, the outside windows could be completely sealed shut, while in the summer, they could be opened for ventilation. It was currently early autumn, and the weather wasn’t that cold yet. Hai Furen occasionally went to the flower room to read. For ventilation and natural lighting, she simply left the windows open all the time.
The autumn begonias, which had been blooming vibrantly, were now smashed onto the ground mixed with reddish-brown soil. The bright red petals blanketed the floor; from a distance, it looked just like a pool of fresh blood.
“This position…” Jiang Si also stepped over, looking up and down, his complexion equally poor. “If he hadn’t dodged in time, it probably would have hit him right on the head.”
“Zhang Ayi!” Once Hai Furen recovered her wits, she hurriedly called the Ayi over to inquire. “Was there anyone upstairs just now?”
“No. You instructed us today that there would be guests visiting, so after the few of us finished cleaning the upstairs rooms, we went to the back kitchen to help,” Zhang Ayi rushed over. Not knowing what had happened, and seeing everyone with solemn faces, she was both confused and a bit apprehensive.
“Did something happen?”
“Are you certain?” Hai Furen asked coldly. “If someone hadn’t intentionally pushed it, how could my pot of begonias have fallen down? It was placed very far from the windowsill!”
“There really wasn’t anyone!” Zhang Ayi anxiously clarified. “If you don’t believe me, you can check the security cameras. No one went to the second floor.”
Hearing their conversation, Jiang Si walked over to Hai Moyun and asked, “When you were on the balcony just now, did you notice anyone upstairs?”
Hai Moyun was still in shock, his trembling lips shaking uncontrollably like grass leaves swaying in a biting wind. “I didn’t notice, I was on the phone the whole time. But nobody, nobody picked up the phone.”
“Nobody picked up? Was it just one person who didn’t pick up, or could none of them be reached?” Hai Di suddenly interjected. Jiang Si took a moment to glance at him, knowing that Hai Di was thinking the exact same thing he was.
“None of them could be reached.”
Jiang Si thought to himself: It seems that thing is truly vicious, not even willing to wait a single day before making its move. Hearing Hai Furen still questioning the servants, he walked over and shook his head at her, signaling her to let these people leave first.
Receiving his look, Hai Furen was slightly taken aback. She dismissed the people and asked, “What did you want to say, Xiao Jiang?”
“It has nothing to do with these people; they didn’t do it,” Jiang Si explained concisely, before asking, “Ayi, since Hai Di’s health was poor in the past, did you ever invite any ritual implements or deity statues into the house?”
“There were some, but none of them were of any use, so I put them away. Are you implying that this was done by the ghost haunting Xiao Yun?”
“Them being useless refers to them being ineffective against Hai Di’s Lihunzheng. But if it’s a genuine artifact invited from a Daoist temple, it will definitely be effective right now,” Jiang Si said. “As for whether it’s a ghost… I didn’t see it.” He looked at Hai Di, who also shook his head, “I didn’t see anything either.”
Hearing this, Hai Furen said no more and personally went upstairs to retrieve the item.
Leaving Qi Shanmu still skeptical, “Is this real or fake? What if it’s an accident? Isn’t Xiao Yun perfectly fine right now? He didn’t faint or anything.”
The only supernatural phenomenon he had encountered so far was his son frequently falling into sudden comas from which he couldn’t be awakened. Thus, he assumed everyone’s reaction to encountering such things would be exactly the same.
“An accident wouldn’t cause a flower pot to smash directly toward his head. It’s too coincidental.” Jiang Si took off the red sandalwood beaded bracelet from his wrist and handed it to Hai Moyun to hold. Who knew that the moment they made contact, the beads on the bracelet instantly heated up, becoming scorchingly hot. It burned Hai Moyun so much that he instantly jerked his hand away, howling, “What is this thing, why is it so hot!”
“…” When Jiang Si’s fingers touched it, the temperature was normal; at most, it had absorbed some of his body heat.
He picked up the bracelet strangely, inspecting it repeatedly, and muttered in confusion, “This is weird. The Yin energy on your body is so heavy, why can’t I see it?”
“You can even see that?” Hai Moyun blew on his fingers, suddenly realizing the implications and hurriedly asked, “Since I was almost smashed to death, doesn’t that mean my friends have all encountered something similar? Could they already be…?”
“It’s hard to say.” Jiang Si didn’t know either.
“Do you remember what the soul-summoning ritual was at that time? Describe it briefly; let me see what region’s custom it is.”
Hai Moyun slightly tilted his head up, his eyes rolling to the right as he entered a state of recollection. After a long while, he frowned and said, “It was roughly us inside the Citang, kowtowing a few times towards the ancestral tablets. Then we wrote our birthdays on a piece of paper and burned it. We used the water with the burned ashes to extinguish the candles, and then everyone gathered together and bowed their heads in silent tribute. There was a host chanting an incantation; the incantation was unclear, it wasn’t Mandarin, it sounded a bit like a Southern China dialect and a bit like… a foreign language.”
“Just that?” Jiang Si asked. “Did you feel there was anything amiss with the venue?”
“Not really… It all seemed quite normal. Classic horror scenarios are just those few: either a school or a mental hospital. Chinese-style horror is usually these kinds of retro wooden rooms. Wait… there is one thing: behind the ancestral tablets was a very large box, which was quite strange.”
Jiang Si thought for a good while but still couldn’t figure out where this custom originated from. If it was fabricated, it was normal that he hadn’t heard of it. But since this kind of ritual could summon something real, it must exist in reality; it made no sense that he hadn’t even heard of it.
While he was racking his brains, Hai Furen had already come downstairs holding a wooden box. Hai Di went over to help her take it, smoothly opening the box to reveal the item inside.
“This is…” Jiang Si raised his eyebrow, “Taishan Shi?”
“I heard before that a Shi Gan Dang could suppress evil and stabilize energy, so I specially requested a stone from over there, and hired someone to carve a Yinyangyu out of white jade and black ink jade to inlay on top of it. But after bringing it home, not only was it useless, but it also attracted quite a few strange occurrences, so I packed it away again,” Hai Furen said.
It was obvious how deeply she cared for Hai Di, having tried all sorts of methods to cure his illness. Even now, she spoke of matters from years ago as if she knew them like the back of her hand.
“Carving a Yinyangyu to allow the Qi to flow is indeed a great method.” Jiang Si sighed in admiration. He reached out and touched it; it felt warm and smooth to the touch. It was evident that the jade used was top-tier material.
“Is this useful?” Hai Di asked. “A Taishan Shi should be placed at home to be effective, right? We can’t have Moyun carry it around with him all the time.”
“A Taishan Shi is fine just like this, no need to carry it.”
Jiang Si turned to look. Thanks to Hai Di’s house being large enough, the location selection was also quite good. The North, South, East, and West orientations were extremely accurate without the slightest deviation.
“Place it there.” Jiang Si pointed to a spot. Seeing their confusion, he explained, “The Taishan Shi Gan Dang is called a Shi Gan Dang, but it is essentially a miniaturized Mount Tai. Placing it in the southwest corner is equivalent to building a mountain on the Kun Gua of the Bagua. As the ancient saying goes, ‘The earth’s terrain represents Kun; a gentleman, with profound virtue, carries all things.’ The Kun Gua signifies the earth, the mountain connects with the earth, and with the Yinyangyu circulating the Qi, everything will go smoothly. It’s perfectly suited to help him dispel the evil aura.”
“So that’s how it is.” Hai Furen nodded repeatedly as she listened. “I really didn’t know that much before.”
Hai Di personally picked up the Shi Gan Dang and placed it on the entryway cabinet that had been cleared off. After confirming it was placed properly, he turned to look at Jiang Si. “What next?”
Jiang Si gave Hai Moyun a push. “Your turn. Go pay respects to Mount Tai. I won’t say you need three kneelings and nine kowtows, but you must be perfectly sincere; you cannot have the slightest distracting thought.”
“This, this, I still have to kowtow?” Hai Moyun was put in a difficult spot. “This isn’t good, is it? I haven’t even kneeled to my own parents.”
“Haven’t you heard of the Taishan Fengshan ceremonies? In ancient times, even emperors had to bow. Bowing now won’t make you lose a piece of meat. Think about your little life, aren’t you afraid of stepping outside and encountering another flower pot falling from the sky?”
Hearing “flower pot”, the unhealed wound on Hai Moyun’s face throbbed faintly. He swallowed hard, steeled his heart, and resolutely tossed the towel blanket aside. Kneeling heavily towards the Taishan Shi, he rigidly kowtowed solidly several times.
At this moment, the wind fluttered the gauze curtains, and the orange-yellow sunlight pierced through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The light and shadow struck the grayish-white Taishan Shi and the black-and-white Yinyangyu. In that instant, it seemed as if they had come alive. There was a faint circulation of vital energy flowing through them. Just looking at it made one feel a warm current pouring into the bottom of their heart, flowing through their limbs and bones, making their entire body feel unobstructed.
Qi Shanmu, who also sensed the anomaly, widened his eyes, staring incredulously at this scene.
While Jiang Si was watching Hai Moyun kowtow forcefully, he suddenly felt someone approaching. Without looking, he knew who it was. Hai Di quietly grasped his palm and asked in a low voice, “Where are you going next?”
“…” Seeing that the two elders ahead had no intention of looking back, Jiang Si also lowered his voice, “Do you have telepathy? You know whatever I’m thinking?”
“It’s because I understand you quite well.” Hai Di smiled, “You want to go play Jubensha?”
“What, you want to play too?” Jiang Si shot him a glance.
“That script requires at least three people. If I don’t go, who else do you plan to team up with?”
“Even if you go, we still won’t have three people,” Jiang Si had just finished speaking when he caught sight of the person in front of him out of the corner of his eye, and suddenly paused. He said hesitantly, “Let’s not, making him go again… wouldn’t that be a bit bad?”
“He’s the one who stirred up this mess. If he doesn’t go, who will?” Hai Di said, “You already want to insert yourself into the game, he can’t just stand by and watch.”
“You’re right.” Jiang Si was convinced. “Anyway, with me there, he won’t die.”
Hai Moyun, still kneeling on the ground earnestly praying for his own survival, had no idea he was already being targeted. Having finally finished kowtowing and stood up, he suddenly let out a loud sneeze.
“No way, did I really catch a cold?” Doubting his life, he raised his eyes only to meet his cousin’s expressionless stare, making him shudder violently.
Fuck, why is he looking at me like that?
Jiang Si smiled at him: “Moyun, come here, let me tell you something.”
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