Chapter Fifteen: The Li Family's Large Compound

  As for why Liu Yanshui's coffin was made of wood, Nan San didn't understand at first, but later on, after calculating his birth date and time, he realized there was a problem. His purpose in coming here was just to make an announcement. Thinking of this, Li Datou was a powerful figure in Jinyuan Town, feared by all who saw him. Nan San asked if the two had any solution.

  Lao Da Bao originally had a small temper, didn't have much of his own opinions, and sat silently to one side. Instead, Liu Suo Chang spoke up: "I know that guy, I heard he's a local tyrant, these past two days he even came to me asking for loans, pestering me nonstop, and was chased away by me."

  "What is it?" asked Nan San curiously.

  But Liu saw the director's face with hesitation, glanced at Nan San, as if making up his mind, then walked to the office desk, took out a wooden box and handed it to Nan San: "This is a wooden box from the Qing Dynasty, which I found during an archaeological excavation in the southwest region. It is said to be very valuable, so I kept it."

  Nan San took over the wooden box and carefully observed it, discovering that the surface was covered with dense lines, emitting a strong incense smell. Director Liu said that this smell had been present since it was excavated, no matter how it was cleaned, it couldn't be driven away. Unfortunately, he couldn't find a way to open the wooden box, so he had to put it aside for now. He also didn't know how Li Da Tou knew about this thing and what he wanted to use it for.

  This wooden box is indeed strange, Nan San weighed it and found it to be somewhat heavy. He didn't dare open it randomly, so he asked: "Director Liu, can this wooden box be left with me for now, and I'll return it to you after researching it?"

  Now, Director Liu was in a dilemma. After all, this thing, although unknown what it's used for, is at least an antique. At present, it's just scrap metal, but as long as it's from the earth, it belongs to the state or private ownership. If someone discovers that he lent it out, his position might be gone like a knife being taken away.

  Nan San saw Liu Suo's concern and comforted him, "Don't worry, this thing is useless to me too. I'm mainly afraid that Li Datou will resort to unscrupulous means, it's better to leave it with me."

  Liu saw this and couldn't refuse, so he had to let Nan San keep it for the time being. The three of them went inside to discuss Li Datou's matter, but soon heard someone knocking on the door. A young man from the cultural relics department rushed in, pointing outside and saying: "Director, something's wrong! Li Datou is here again."

  The words had just fallen, and before Nan San and the others could react, a bald middle-aged man pushed open the door with one hand, his eyes narrowed, and from those eyes, Nan San felt an oppressive atmosphere, but his face was very pale, pale to the point of being bloodless.

  "Haha, Director Liu, I knew you were in here. You're not very kind to your subordinates!" This bald middle-aged man was Li Datou, who didn't even give Nan San a glance when he came in. Indeed, with his power and influence, he was considered a big shot in this town, and ordinary people wouldn't dare to provoke him.

  Liu seemed to be a little afraid of Li, although he was the murderer, but there was no evidence, and it wasn't good to lose his temper, so he suppressed the anger and panic in his heart and said: "How can that be? This is not something to be discussed!" After finishing speaking, he didn't forget to take a glance at Nan San.

  Li Datou saw Liu Suozhang's gaze and couldn't help but curiously size up Nan San. Before he could speak, Nan San hastily said: "You're Li Datou, right? I observe that your facial features are pale, with a black aura on your forehead, I'm afraid you have symptoms of insomnia?"

  As soon as this was said, except for Lao Da Dao and others who were used to it, Li Da Tou was greatly surprised. He indeed had symptoms of insomnia, which had lasted for over a decade, resulting in baldness on the top of his head. Upon hearing Nan San's words, he revealed a curious expression.

  Liu, who was standing beside him, hastily introduced them. These two are not easy to deal with. One is a mysterious Taoist priest and the other is a local snakehead. Neither of them is someone you'd want to mess with. Li Da Tou's expression changed when he heard that one of them was a Taoist priest. He stroked his beard, eyeing him: "You're really a Taoist priest, do you have any real skills?"

  "Let's just try and see!" Nan San also remained calm and composed, facing such people, the most important thing was still momentum, if the momentum weakened, they would be in a passive state.

  Li Datou was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing and patted his forehead, saying: "Alright, if you really have the skills, can you come to my house and take a look? This house has had some feng shui problems lately, and I've been worried about finding someone to fix it."

  Liu Suo Chang and Lao Ba Dao were both staring at Nan San. Just as they wanted to say a few words, he waved his hand: "Please, take me to see."

  Li Daitou saw that the young man's words were full of confidence, neither arrogant nor humble, and he became curious, forgetting his original purpose. He led Nan San out the door, with Lao Ba Dao and others following behind.

  As for why Nan San agreed to go, he had actually been thinking about it for a long time. He wanted to find Li Da Tou, but couldn't just confront him directly about the murder. Luckily, this was an opportunity to sneak in under false pretenses. Originally, he thought that based on his impression, Li Da Tou would probably be some kind of wealthy landowner with a large estate and many henchmen, but when he got there, he was stunned.

  Why, because Li Datou's home was just a two-story Li family courtyard, and only three people lived in the inner house, one of whom was his elderly father, and the other was his wife. Nan San couldn't understand why this person was so feared. Since he came to inspect the feng shui, he naturally had to put on a show, holding an eight trigrams compass, observing the feng shui momentum of the small courtyard, after one circle, his expression was shocked.

  Li Datou's family is located on the edge of Jinyuan Town, according to him, this Li family compound was left by his ancestors, and it was originally built here because of its good feng shui. However, Nan San does not think so. This is obviously a place with bad energy, if he guessed correctly, this place used to be a slaughterhouse, the air is extremely heavy, although small ghosts are afraid of the smell of pigs being slaughtered, but over time, people may become irritable and emotionally unstable, no wonder Li Datou has a bad temper, it's probably related to this.

  Nan San's guess was also confirmed by Li Da Tou, this place used to be a slaughterhouse, later bought by his father. He looked at Nan San in shock, unable to understand how this young Taoist priest had such abilities, and treated him with great hospitality.

  To investigate whether Li Da Tou would go astray, Nan San reluctantly agreed to stay with Lao Ba Dao. However, when Li Da Tou's wife and father saw outsiders entering their home, they seemed extremely frightened and hid in their room, refusing to come out, which left him perplexed.

  Later, Nan San heard that Li Datou's father had a strange illness and couldn't see the light of day, so he stayed in the inner room for many years. As for his wife, she was introverted and didn't like to go out either. The whole family relied on him alone. Fortunately, Li Datou was ruthless enough, although his reputation wasn't great, he managed to support a family. Perhaps due to sensitivity, Nan San always felt something was off when approaching the house of these two people.

  It wasn't until that night that San San discovered the problem.

  Nan San went to the Li family's mansion under the pretext of investigation, wanting to see who was practicing evil magic and mixing Liu Yan Shui's bones in the coffin. After a day of searching, he didn't find anything and let Liu Suo Chang go back, then returned to his room to rest. At night, the originally quiet Li family mansion had a faint green glow flashing, followed by Nan San hearing light footsteps outside.

  His vigilance rose, and the Li family's courtyard was indeed strange. He hurriedly got out of bed and leaned against the door to look outside through the gap, finding that it was as quiet as dead water outside, but the footsteps he had heard earlier were real. Just as San was about to break out of the door, he suddenly saw the old man with a knife push open the big gate and walk outside.

  Nan San found that Lao Ba Dao's body was a bit strange, walking unsteadily, and his limbs were extremely incoordinated. He hurriedly followed behind him, not trying to stop him, wanting to see who was controlling Lao Ba Dao and where he was going. But just as they reached the gate, he found that Lao Ba Dao had turned back again, repeating this process several times, making Nan San wonder if he was sleepwalking.

  Just as he was about to cast a spell to test if it was a ghost, he inadvertently saw a pair of eyes staring at him from the room on the second floor where Li Da Tou's father lived. The eyes blinked not once, and their gaze was devoid of emotion, cold enough to make one's hair stand on end. This stare lasted for over a minute, and Nan San felt that there was something wrong with this old man, who didn't sleep at midnight and instead stared secretly.

  He dispelled his doubts and hastily walked to the back of Lao Daogou, pinched his temples with both hands, and Lao Daogou fainted on the ground. Nan San exerted himself again to carry him into the house, then sat on the bed thinking about the scene just now. The more he thought, the more suspicious it seemed, and he thought of using paper cranes to probe a bit.

  He pinched the paper in his hand, folded it into a paper crane, and recited an incantation. The paper crane flew out of the house, although its original purpose was to search for wind and water treasures, it could also be used for exploration purposes. Nan San controlled the paper crane to fly towards Li Da Tou's room, but at this moment, he felt that the paper crane seemed to have been destroyed by someone, and hurriedly went out. He found some ashes on the ground not far away, which was the remains of the paper crane.

  Nan San looked around and found that this Li family's courtyard was too quiet, so quiet that it made one's heart feel anxious.

  So who was it that destroyed, Nan San couldn't help but think of Li Da Tou's father, his cold eyes and the strange habits hidden in the house made him feel that this matter was a bit tricky. It seems that there is someone in the Li family compound who understands magic, otherwise how could they make paper cranes turn into scraps of paper?

  When the sky brightened, Nan San got out of bed and called Lao Ba Dao to go find Li Da Tou. After they went out, they found Liu Suo Chang and told him what had happened last night. When Lao Ba Dao heard about his own actions last night, he opened his mouth wide and said: "You say I was controlled by someone? No way!"

  Nan San nodded slightly, a serious expression on his clear face: "I guess someone in the Li family's compound is warning us not to interfere with their affairs."

  This might be possible, but if that's the case, then something is fishy about this Li family compound. The biggest suspect would be Li Da Tou's father. However, Nan San wasn't so easily intimidated and insisted on going to take a look. This time, Lao Ba Dao refused to go no matter what and stayed at Liu Suo Zhang's place instead.