Part 2
Seeing his features, Jiang Si instinctively knit his brows. After watching him for a while, he waved his hand. “Since you know, go back and wait for a death certificate before coming to find me. I only handle funeral matters.”
“Mr. Jiang, if you can help me, I will provide a reward of no less than a million yuan.” When the man spoke, it sounded as though the words were being squeezed directly from his lungs. Without needing to open his mouth, he produced a sticky, muffled tone.
Had Jiang Si not been listening intently, he might not have heard him clearly.
Jiang Si remained unmoved. He liked money, but he only took money he earned rightfully. He wouldn’t touch a single cent of money he shouldn’t take.
He maintained a flat expression. “Taking this money would be damaging to my karmic merit and shorten my life. I truly cannot afford it.”
“Boss Jiang—” Seeing that negotiations were stalling, Sun Yu hurriedly explained, “It’s really not what you think. My friend hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s the victim of an unwarranted calamity; I can guarantee it.”
Jiang Si’s gaze swept over to him, and he gave a cold laugh. “How can you guarantee it? By making an oath? Mr. Sun, you can know a person’s face but not their heart. How do you know what he told you is the truth?”
“A living person, forced to the point of being unable to touch a single ray of sunlight. I’m afraid that isn’t something easily achieved.”
Even a powerful ghost like Xiao Fengxian could move freely under the sun, yet a living person could not. One could only imagine how much karmic debt they were carrying.
Sun Yu wanted to struggle further.
To prove himself, the man in the black robe actually tore open his long robe. He pulled back his sleeve to reveal an arm covered in red pustules.
The moment it was exposed to the light, these pale red bumps turned dark red at a speed visible to the naked eye. The large and small pustules began to pulsate, and a yellowish-white liquid slowly oozed out, dripping down his arm and onto the floor.
The man seemed long accustomed to this pain, as his expression didn’t change at all. However, in the eyes of Sun Yu and Jiang Si, one broke into a cold sweat from the gore, while the other knit his brows and looked away.
“Mr. Jiang, if you can help me through this crisis, I will use my entire fortune to help you become famous in the entertainment industry. No matter what movie you want to film, I will invest everything to help. I know you are no ordinary person and that you have connections with the rumored Celestial Master Association. You must have a way to help me.”
Jiang Si’s eyes flickered. “You’ve investigated me.”
“Yes. My life is on the line; I didn’t dare entrust it to just anyone. I’ve already suffered such a loss once; I truly don’t dare gamble with my life a second time.”
“Enough.” Jiang Si told him to put his clothes back on. Seeing that the dense clusters on his arm extended into his shirt at the shoulder, he could only imagine the state of the man’s body. “Make it short. These… how did these tumors come about?”
Sun Yu was very observant. He brought two chairs for them and, while they were talking, pulled the curtains over the glass walls to block the direct sunlight from outside.
After the curtains blocked the light, the man’s expression noticeably improved, though he remained deathly pale. His lips trembled incessantly as he spoke, looking like a stroke victim who couldn’t control his facial features.
“Two months ago, I began to feel as though insects were biting my body. Especially during the day, my back would always feel itchy and numb. At first, I thought it was just ill-fitting clothes or a fabric allergy, so I didn’t pay it any mind. Later, it gradually worsened and even started affecting my work. Because the itching on my back was unbearable, I couldn’t help but reach out to scratch it, even during meetings with clients.”
“I couldn’t take it anymore, so I went to the hospital for an examination. But after a full physical, my body was perfectly healthy. There was nothing wrong, and I wasn’t allergic to any fabrics. So, I began to wonder if it was my mental state. I went for a psychiatric evaluation, but the results were still normal.”
“Not long after the check-up, my wife developed the same symptoms, and hers were even more severe. It took only half a month to go from itching to full-body ulceration. She can’t stand the light at all; she becomes terrified the moment she sees sunlight. As for me, it was only in the last few days that I truly became unable to face the sun.”
“The hospital couldn’t provide any explanation, so I started looking for various masters.” At this point, he gave a bitter smile. “As you know, in today’s society, everything is a mixed bag. More than half of those who call themselves masters are frauds. It would be fine if they were just useless, but some even made things worse.”
“My wife’s flesh has already started to rot and fall off in chunks. A perfectly fine person now looks like a ghost. And as you’ve seen, I’m not faring much better.”
Sun Yu hadn’t seen the state of the man’s wife with his own eyes, but just hearing the description made his skin crawl. He couldn’t sit still. Looking back at Jiang Si, he found that despite his youth, he was more composed than anyone. He listened to the man’s words without a change in expression, earning Sun Yu’s secret admiration.
Seeing that the man had finished his piece, Jiang Si spoke. “Your wife—”
The man immediately interjected, “My surname is Shi. My name is Shi Danxing.”
“What did Mrs. Shi do that caused her condition to deteriorate so suddenly?” Jiang Si gave a slight nod.
Shi Danxing gritted his teeth. “There was a Master Wei who said that if we burned talismans into ash and mixed them with water he provided to apply to the body, she would recover. But that man was a fraud. Seeing that my wife didn’t get better but instead grew worse, he actually ran off with the money.”
Surname Wei? Jiang Si felt it sounded familiar.
He seemed to have heard of a Master Wei somewhere before.
However, he couldn’t recall it for the moment, so he didn’t bother. He said to Shi Danxing, “Stretch out your left hand and let me see.”
Under the light, Jiang Si examined the lines on his palm. Fortunately, this area wasn’t covered in tumors or pustules, allowing the lines to be seen clearly.
Palmistry primarily looked at the career line, the life line, and the marriage line. The more chaotic lines there were, the more it indicated an unstable life. The personality would either be prone to outbursts or melancholy, with negative emotions predominating.
But Shi Danxing’s lines were unexpectedly clean. From the base of the thumb to the wrist, it ran straight down with very few fluctuations.
Jiang Si had a rough idea in his mind. “The first half of your life was smooth sailing, with everything going your way. It is indeed quite good.”
Shi Danxing felt a bit embarrassed. “You’re too kind.”
Raising his eyelids to glance at him, Jiang Si followed up with a smirk. “There’s a saying: ‘The tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind.’ It’s only natural for a destiny as smooth as yours to attract envy.”
“Are you saying?” Shi Danxing was startled. He lowered his voice and said, “I have thought about it, but I’ve always been kind to others in business and haven’t offended anyone. I truly can’t imagine who would use such a cruel method.”
“That’s just what you think.” Jiang Si released his hand, stood up, and went to the shelf. He took out a small bundle of incense and candles, placing them in the bronze tripod censer.
Dim sparks crawled along the incense, and wisps of white smoke rose, dissolving into the air before traveling far. Only a rich fragrance began to spread throughout the shop.
After finishing this, Jiang Si turned to the two confused men. “This incense can temporarily suppress the things inside your body.”
Before Shi Danxing could offer his thanks, Jiang Si waved his hand to tell him to be quiet.
“As for what you just said, I don’t believe a single word of it.”
The smile on Shi Danxing’s face froze. Sun Yu’s heart skipped a beat, and he jumped up, pacing anxiously.
“Boss Jiang, you—his life is on the line! What reason would he have to lie?”
Jiang Si’s gaze was calm, like a sharp blade dissecting Shi Danxing’s heart and exposing it to the sun, leaving no room for hidden thoughts to hide.
“Mr. Shi, you only spoke of your wife’s condition worsening. What about yours?”
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