Chapter 11: The Descendants of Yin and Yang Masters - Tian Ji

  I tentatively asked him: "Tianji, you little brat, aren't you just trying to fool me with all that talk?", I still didn't want to believe it.

  "Hey, I'm telling you, brother, I wouldn't dare to cheat anyone, let alone you! I really don't know if your grandfather's brain was rusty when he built this house. Nowadays, some people might not care about feng shui or believe in it, but back then, people would definitely consider feng shui when building a house... either your grandfather had a rusty brain or he hired a feng shui master with a rusty brain!"

  I'm so furious that even my grandfather scolded me, I couldn't take it anymore: "Damn you, your dad and grandpa's brains are rusted!"

  The pheasant said solemnly: "Brother, if you don't change the layout of this garden, just wait for me to come and collect your corpse."

  He didn't look like he was joking, so I didn't dare scold him. I asked him: "Then what should we do?"

  The toad's face was expressionless, and he spread his two hands: "The only way is to pull out all the pagoda trees, willow trees, and mulberry trees in the garden, burn them, and then think of a way to disperse the grievances that have condensed in the air."

  The young man's casual tone belied the grand gesture. Before I left, the old man repeatedly warned me not to touch a single blade of grass or tree in the garden, saying that his success today was all thanks to the blessings of this plot of land.

  Now, however, the auspicious land in the old man's mouth has become a haunted house in the eyes of the frogs.

  The pheasant saw my face turn red and white, and scolded: "You bastard, make up your mind quickly, is the tree in the garden important or is your life important?"

  Nature is important, but without asking the old man, I absolutely dare not move anything in this old house. I took out my mobile phone and dialed the old man's number.

  The old man, seeing me call him proactively, was somewhat excited. He simply asked about my recent situation and then instructed me to take good care of the old house, absolutely not allowing any damage to the feng shui inside. Before I could even discuss this matter with him, he hung up the phone.

  I'm dizzy, this old man always cares about his company, his career, when did he ever care about my feelings? Care about me, his only son?

  My face was extremely ugly, and Tian Ji asked in a low voice: "Brother, what did the old man say?"

  I suddenly burst out laughing, and the hairs on his arms stood on end. He looked around, thinking I had seen something in the garden, and gave me a weird look: "Dude, are you possessed or what?"

  "Girl, you've gone mad!", I leaned into Tianji's ear and whispered in a tone that sent chills down his spine: "Tianji, my old man just told me not to destroy anything in this garden. So I've decided, I'll stay here until the day the old man comes to collect my corpse. Are you satisfied with this outcome?"

  The paddy bird retreated in fright, and I burst out laughing again.

  The paddy field frog asked me in a low voice: "What can we do?"

  I shouted loudly: "Are you deaf? What else can be done? Nothing in this garden can be moved!"

  The paddy bird looked at me with a mixture of sympathy and pity, as if it had seen my impending doom.

  I couldn't take his gaze, and fiercely shouted: "You damn turtle, if you keep staring like that, I'll dig out your eyes! I'm a people's police officer, I don't believe in evil or ghosts, don't spout nonsense here!"

  The paddy bird saw me with a fierce and sinister look, and didn't dare speak for half a moment.

  I suddenly realized that Tianji was innocent, being called to the old mansion to drive out evil spirits and even scolded by me. I felt a bit guilty. I said to Tianji: "Brother, sorry about that, I shouldn't have lost my temper with you."

  The paddy field suddenly let out a long breath, this kid is still the same as when he was in police school, as soon as I get angry, he becomes timid.

  He looked at me with tears in his eyes, as if it wasn't me asking him, but he was asking me: "Brother, are you still going to drive out the evil spirit or not?"

  "Of course I'm driving! Why would they call you if not?!", looking at his cheap appearance, my temper flared up again.

  The frog hurriedly took a bag of things from his store and went away busily.

  I sat on the sofa in the hall, recalling what the old man said on the phone, and I was furious. Unexpectedly, in the old man's mind, my life was not as important as an old house?

  Actually, I had heard about the haunted house from Tianji before.

  When he was in police school, he told me something that happened near their village. There was a place called Niutou Village, where a family had just built a new tile-roofed house. But after they moved into the new house and started using a new stove, everyone in the family felt that something was off. Every time they tried to cook rice, it would either suddenly go out and become undercooked or the flames would surge up and boil all the water away, which was very strange.

  The man works outside, the woman is at home in distress. Every night when she sleeps, she vaguely sees the bamboo pole on top of the mosquito net above her bed tilted, with a pair of feet that seem to be covered in plaster, without luster, and drained of blood, swinging wildly. She can even see the fine texture on them... At first, she thought it was an illusion, but as time went on, she realized the severity of the problem, and the dazed mistress finally invited Tian Da Shi, the old father of the field chicken, to come over.

  Master Tian went to her home and took a look, at a glance, he saw the clue, pulled out the bamboo pole on top of the mosquito net, picked up an axe and split the bamboo pole in half, and saw a yellow paper flying out from the bamboo pole. Master Tian picked up the yellow paper and showed it to the hostess.

  The hostess took a closer look and found it was a yellow paper cut into human shape, with symbols drawn on it, which were her birth eight characters. Her eight characters were actually written on this yellow human-shaped paper.

  Tian Dashi then dismantled the stove in her new tile house, and under a brick, he also found a talisman with her birth eight characters. From then on, the hostess never saw those feet again, and the rice was cooked.

  In just a few days, Li the carpenter from the east end of the village died. He had been fine all along, but one morning, his wife's wailing was heard, and it turned out that Li the carpenter had slept to death...

  I remember when Tianji said this, I even asked him back, now that your old man has solved the mystery of this haunted house, what does it have to do with Li the carpenter's death in the east of the village?

  The frog's proud smile, you don't understand this, that house was built by Li Mujiang. This is called "Lu Ban technique", do you know? Lu Ban technique can be reversed.

  If someone who has undergone the technique is deciphered by others, they will suffer from backlash. If their physical body is weak, they may die instantly.

  Good grief, Tianji exaggerated this matter so much that it scared me for three years in police school, and I never dared to look at the bamboo pole supporting the mosquito net even when I was sleeping.

  Now, the real estate agent is saying that our old house is a haunted house. I wonder if it was because of some carpenter casting a spell when my grandfather was building this house back then?

  The pheasant brought out a bowl of steaming hot meat, which he had cut into square pieces and cooked by steaming. He placed the bowl at the main entrance of the hall, lit a bundle of incense sticks, filling the front of the hall with fragrance, then tore up a handful of paper money and set it alight. The flickering flames cast a glow on his pointed chin and monkey-like cheeks.

  I suddenly found that in the rising cooking smoke, the pheasant's thin face became mysterious.

  As the pheasant was about to leave, it posted two yellow paper symbols on the door of the hall again, and then patted its hand to tell me: "Brother, I've done my best, you can have a good night's sleep tonight......"

  Is it really that amazing? I'm a bit skeptical, but seeing Tian Ji's serious face, I held back again.

  The pheasant didn't let me send him off, he went back to the county town by himself.

  After I burned all the paper money, I put away the dishes and wine cups at the entrance of the hall, fearing that Shen Lan would be frightened when he came back.

  I randomly ate a few mouthfuls of rice, waiting for Shen Lan to come back in the house, but until nightfall, he still didn't return. Damn it, he said he would cook dinner for me every night, now who knows where he ran off to? Waiting for him to come back and cook, I'd have starved to death by then, could he have run off with my 1,000 yuan?

  After all, they're just country folks who haven't seen that much money before...

  The sky turned dark, I decided not to wait for Shen Lan's return. Because, I remembered Qin Su'er.