Chapter Seven: The Tian Family's Paper Shop

  I drove away from the Shen family's old house, and I felt an unprecedented sense of relief. This feeling is particularly strange to me. Logically speaking, the old house should be my home, and staying there should feel like returning to a safe haven. Why do I have this feeling? I couldn't explain it either.

  In short, after leaving that eerie garden, I felt much lighter all over.

  To be honest, in the eyes of my old man, I am not a good son. In my own mind, I am not a good man either. I like to hang out with girls and go to bars. Anything related to "hanging out" I enjoy. I don't know if this bad habit of mine will bring shame to my current position.

  In the eyes of Lao Tzu's friends, everyone knows that I am a notorious playboy and a professional in corrupting good girls. From high school to police academy graduation, I have had countless girlfriends.

  This time when I came back, the old man also instructed me that if I met a good girl, don't just have a playful attitude like before, but consider getting married and starting a career.

  I'm going! Looking at the old man's serious face, I almost vomited. Damn it, just teaching me, since Mom passed away, haven't you been dating a bunch of girlfriends and finally married a stepmother who is only a few years older than me?

  Of course, I dare not say this idea out loud. If I say it out loud, the old man will definitely beat me to death. Even if he doesn't beat me to death, if the old man cuts off my financial resources, I'll have no way to survive, since I'm used to spending lavishly.

  Actually, as an old man's son, I don't want to give him a bad name and make him worry, but this really can't be blamed on me, because apart from flirting with girls, I'm useless.

  I don't have the dare-to-fight spirit of my old man, fortunately, I have a face that looks like Gu Tianle's and a pair of long legs like those of Korean stars, no matter where I go, I can attract the attention of girls.

  At police school, I frequently dated beauties, changing girlfriends faster than changing phones. After a long time, in the eyes of friends, I became a big flirt.

  In the police school's social circle, there was a classmate named Tian Boguang, who was from Fenghuang. Because we were from the same hometown, I got along particularly well with him. Although this kid wasn't as lecherous as the Tian Boguang in "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer", he wasn't far off either. As soon as we started talking about some chick's figure and how big her breasts were, his eyes would light up, and we'd have a whole night of conversation. I gave him the nickname "Tian Chicken".

  Although the wild chicken is lecherous, it has nothing to do with my feelings. In the three years of police school, almost all of this guy's midnight snacks were paid by me, I don't care about that money, the old man has a lot of money.

  When I knew the old man wanted me to return to work at Fenghuang Police Station from Shenzhen, I called Tianji and said that I was coming back to work in Fenghuang. Unexpectedly, Tianji was even more excited than when I agreed with the old man on the phone, shouting loudly: "Brother, you're coming back to work! As a brother, I will definitely not let you down..."

  He told me that one night, when he was hanging out in a bar, he met a girl who was absolutely stunning and promised to introduce her to me as soon as I arrived in Phoenix. He even patted his chest to guarantee that I wouldn't be disappointed.

  At that time, I was in a state of unwillingness to return home, and I responded with a sentence: "I'm just a humble person, how can I be so punctual? The women you've been in contact with, I don't dare to touch!"

  "Damn it! I've been following you for three years, through thick and thin, don't you trust me yet? Maybe I'd dare to cheat others, but how could I possibly cheat you, my brother Yu?"

  No matter whether what Tianji said is true or not, at this moment I think it's really a bit moving. This kid won't cheat me, will he? If nothing happens at the criminal police team today, go find that guy to catch up.

  When I arrived at the criminal police team, Zhou saw that I was still insisting on coming to work despite my awkward appearance and seemed very moved. He immediately said to me: "Comrade Shen Shangyu, you are injured, if there is nothing urgent in the team, you can rest at home, come back to work after your injury heals, if something comes up, I will notify you."

  I was overjoyed and pretended to be deeply grateful, thanking him repeatedly.

  As I left the Criminal Police Brigade, I drove that half-new and half-old BMW directly to the old city area. Tian Ji told me before that he didn't go find a job after returning home, but instead helped his father take care of a paper mache shop.

  The frog told me that opening a paper shop in the county town is better than other businesses, which means fooling both the living and the dead. The price is set, and no one will haggle with him; if they do, it would be impolite to the deceased.

  At that time, I was moved to think that this kid was born to do business, so clever and cunning. But Tianji disagreed with me, whispering that his old man had been running a paper mache shop in Fenghuang County for many years, and was the most famous yin-yang master, corpse driver, and Taoist priest within hundreds of miles. Whenever any family had troubles with ghosts or monsters, his old man could cure them with ease, so business was booming.

  He made his old man sound so mysterious, although I had also heard rumors about the Xiangxi corpse driving, but I also sneered at him and refuted him. Nowadays, your father's skills are outdated, where can you find so many corpses for him to drive?

  "Who would have thought that this little guy, Tian Ji, had a smug look on his face: 'You don't know this, but my old man is not only a hearse driver, but also a master who can travel between the yin and yang realms, able to help people summon souls and drive out ghosts...'"

  I'm a spiritualist, and after hearing that young man's words, I didn't dare to refute him again, fearing that I would offend the gods. However, I know that no matter how powerful his father is, this young man is uneducated and only knows how to idle around and eat and drink.

  Thinking of Tian Ji, I still feel warm in my heart. After all, he is my fellow student and old friend, the first friend from my hometown.

  I stopped the car in front of his house, "Tian's Papercraft Shop", and when I opened the door and walked out, that little guy widened a pair of eyes smaller than those of Du Haitao, the host on Hunan Satellite TV, staring at me tightly as if looking at an alien from outer space. After half a beat, he excitedly shouted: "Damn it! My Shen Da Gongzi... my Jade Brother, you've finally appeared..."

  The pheasant's appearance of being reunited after a long time, with tears streaming down his face, really moved me. I walked up to him, hugged him, and patted his shoulder, saying: "Pheasant, we meet again."

  Tianji hugged me tightly, turned around in circles at the entrance of his "Tianshi Paper Store", then put me down, carefully sizing me up with his eyes and exclaimed: "Brother, your skin is so cool! Damn it's cool, find an opportunity to borrow it from you. Hmm... I think about it, with you in our county city police department, then later on, we'll have to rely on you for things like bars... I won't be bullied by others either, from now on, you're my protector."

  The chicken and ducklings chirped on and on, I righteously told him: "Damn it, this uniform can't be lent out casually, don't you know that as a police academy graduate? And don't think I'm your guardian angel, if you break the law, you'll still get caught!"

  The paddy field frog opened his small eyes wide and shouted: "Brother, you've only been a cop for one day, how can you talk like that?"

  "Haha......" Seeing Tianji's terrified expression, I burst out laughing and patted his shoulder: "Dude, just kidding, you're so serious?"

  The pheasant smiled reluctantly and said, "Yu Ge, let's go to the best restaurant in Feng Huang to eat. Today I'll treat you as a guest, consider it my way of welcoming you..."

  I shrugged hard and laughed: "You little guy, forget it, I'll treat you today, how about that? You're new here, still need your care."

  Perhaps the following sentence was very enjoyable for Tian Ji, and that little guy climbed up along the pole: "Yu Ge, it's not me bragging, in this Feng Huang County City, there really isn't anything I, Tian Ji, can't handle. Both black and white ways are under my control."

  I'm going! This kid said he's fat and really started panting, I laughed so hard my waist couldn't straighten: "Alright... alright, my frog brother, you're talking nonsense, do you think you're the big boss? Stop bragging, didn't you just say you needed me to take care of you earlier?"

  As soon as I said this, Tianji immediately shut his mouth and didn't make a sound.

  I put my arm around his waist and said, "Let's go, I'll treat you to dinner."

  The wild chicken didn't even have time to close the store door, got into my BMW, and sped away.