Guai Dao Hu Zong Ren

  I gave Hu Zongren a white eye, then went to the inner room and poured him a cup. Old Lady Huang continued to say that since this woman was so successful in business, it means that she is at least not stupid. In fact, her husband's messy and disgusting things, she knew them all in her heart, but tolerated them one by one, pretending not to know. When her husband came home, he still acted as if nothing had happened, continuing to take care of his life. However, there was once when Mr. Yang said he would go to Guangdong on a business trip for some time, coincidentally during the year-end, so Mrs. Weng organized the company's employees to have dinner together to celebrate the New Year. At a high-end restaurant, while having dinner, she got up from her seat and went to the bathroom. In the corridor of the bathroom, she ran into her husband.

  Mrs. Weng said that if she could tolerate everything before, it was because she hadn't seen it with her own eyes. But on that day, she really couldn't bear it anymore. In the corridor outside the toilet, her husband was drinking and hugging a young girl's waist, making some very indecent movements. After witnessing all this, Mrs. Weng could no longer tolerate it, and she rushed up to fight with her husband. The noise of their fighting startled the security guard in the restaurant. At that moment, Mrs. Weng didn't care about her strong woman image anymore, and she completely looked like a shrew, and all of this was seen by her colleagues who came after hearing the noise.

  After that, Mr. Yang knelt on the ground at home and begged for her forgiveness, speaking with conviction, tears streaming down his face, and slapping himself in the ear nonstop. Mrs. Weng gritted her teeth and endured it again, but she lost her trust and confidence in him. Mrs. Weng said that after that, Mr. Yang behaved well for a while, despite being extremely attentive, there was always a scar in her heart, and the feeling was like swallowing someone else's spit, making her feel sick. In order to maintain the integrity of the family, she not only had to continue facing this man every day but also had to endure the gaze of her colleagues who knew but pretended to be stupid. At the same time, she had to take care of her company's affairs. Mrs. Weng said that during that period, she was very weak, and what was most frightening was that she started losing hair.

  As her hair loss worsened, her scalp became visible through her black hair, so she dyed her hair blonde to make it less noticeable that she was losing hair. However, this was only a temporary solution. Eventually, she bought herself a wig in the same color as her dyed hair, also to avoid drawing attention to herself. Moreover, she gradually got into the habit of not going to the office during the day and would only go there after her colleagues had left work to do some accounting.

  But by 2009, her husband's strange phenomena began to reappear. However, Mrs. Weng had already lost interest and didn't even want to think about it. That day she went back to the company to work overtime, and at around 8 pm, a heavy rain started pouring down. Mrs. Weng was not used to driving herself, but the company always had an office car parked in the garage, so she took the key and prepared to drive home, only to see a familiar car when she walked into the garage.

  That car belonged to Mr. Yang, the engine was still running, and although the lights were not on, the sound of a man and woman laughing and joking could be heard. As expected, inside the car were Mr. Yang and another woman. In a fit of rage, Mrs. Weng grabbed a fire extinguisher from beside the elevator and smashed it into the car, shattering the glass and knocking out the two half-naked people inside.

  Mrs. Weng said that at the time, Mr. Yang was hastily putting on his pants, so Mrs. Weng rushed over and started fighting with the woman. Mrs. Weng told Old Lady Huang that the woman had long black hair, but she couldn't remember what she looked like. Because after all, she was older, and her heart had just been deeply hurt, she was at a disadvantage when fighting with the woman, and during the scuffle, her wig was pulled off by the woman.

  I had seen similar scenes in some movies, where a wig falls off during a fight, and it's always a comedic moment. But when Old Lady Huang said that, I couldn't laugh at all, instead, I felt an overwhelming urge to punch someone. I turned my head to look at Hu Zongren, who was also there, puffing out his cheeks, looking like he wanted to eat someone up. I completely understood him, and I think anyone would find it hard to control themselves in such a situation. As a top-notch, high-quality busybody, I had already begun to look forward to the meeting with Mr. Yang the next day.

  The old woman continued to say that when the wig was pulled off and fell to the ground, Mrs. Weng suddenly felt extremely naked. She heard the voice of the black-haired young woman mocking her, saying that it's no wonder her husband wanted to have an affair, because she was actually bald. However, what Yang Mr. didn't know was that Mrs. Weng's baldness was entirely caused by him. At this moment, Mrs. Weng, who had always been very strong, couldn't hold back her tears and cried in front of the couple. But this cry brought a slap from Yang Mr. After slapping her, Yang Mr. said, "You think you're something special? I've tolerated you for so many years, that's enough! You can't live like this anymore, let's get a divorce!"

  Mrs. Weng told Old Lady Huang that after she finished speaking, Mr. Yang drove away with the woman in the car with the smashed glass.

  Mrs. Weng picked up her wig, crying, and put it on her head in a mess. She cried as she went back to the office. On the way up in the elevator, she had trouble breathing several times, almost choking from crying. After returning to the office, the suppressed emotions of so long were finally released, but her body couldn't take it, and she collapsed.

  The old woman stopped talking at this point, and her living room fell silent. After a while, Hu Zongren spoke up, "So the time she died was around 7 to 8 o'clock, right? That's why she always appears at that time?" The old woman nodded without answering. Hu Zongren continued, "And every time she appears, she pulls on girls' hair. I can understand this - it's because her own wig was pulled off by someone, which is a great shame. Plus, the one who pulled her hair was a woman with long black hair, right?" The old woman nodded again. Hu Zongren asked her, "What does it mean when she cries in front of those old people?" The old woman sighed and said, "Maybe she also wants to find someone to confide in, just like me. As we get older and know more things, we become more understanding and can comfort others better. Maybe she wants to tell her own sorrows."

  The old woman continued to say, but what's the use of saying it? Those people can't understand anyway, and even if they did, what could be done about it? In the end, it's all just death. The old woman's tone was always calm and gentle, but to me, it seemed like such a helpless thing, and yet she spoke so smoothly, adding an extra layer of sorrow.

  Hu Zongren nodded and said he understood, knowing what to do. After finishing speaking, he pulled me away, preparing to leave. When Old Lady Huang saw us off at the door, she said to Hu Zongren and me, "As for this Mrs. Weng, after you've handled things, remember to give me a call. I'll make her a memorial tablet and chant some Buddhist scriptures for her. She's already pitiful enough, and has been wandering outside for so long. I'm afraid the King of Hell won't accept her, and if she goes down, she'll probably suffer..."

  To be honest, I didn't really believe in the Yan Wang Ye and the underworld that Old Lady Huang talked about. Even Old Lady Huang herself had told me before that these kinds of sayings were just passed down from previous generations, and even though she was the most powerful and capable "yin pao" (a person who can communicate with ghosts) among all my masters, she could only communicate with ghosts and had never seen Yan Wang Ye or the underworld with her own eyes. A long time ago, when I was still learning from Master Wu Dao, she had gone to report a "yin zhuang" (a kind of ghostly phenomenon) because of that **person on my body. She said that all she did was stand in front of a big stone and talk to it for a while. But Old Lady Huang had been chanting Buddhist scriptures her whole life, and when she was young, her skills were far beyond what I or Hu Zongren could ever hope to achieve. So if she said something like this, there must be some truth to it, and since she spoke with kindness in her heart, it was also a way of clearing things up for both others and herself.

  After bidding farewell to Huang Po Po, I walked with Hu Zongren to the bottom of her building. Every time I come to Huang Po Po's place, I must eat Bi Ge beef noodles. Hu Zongren is a Taoist priest, and according to reason, eating beef is basically a behavior that deceives one's master and destroys one's ancestors. It is said that this is because the Supreme Old Lord rides an ox, and most Taoists have stubborn temperaments, so they are commonly called "ox noses". However, Hu Zongren never bothered with these things. So we walked into the store and each ordered three or four bowls of noodles. During dinner, we didn't say anything to each other, but instead harbored our own thoughts.

  At that time, I kept thinking in my heart that Old Lady Huang would not deceive us, and the deceased had nothing to lose anymore, so there was no possibility of framing Mr. Yang, so what Miss Weng's ghost said to Old Lady Huang should be absolutely true, even if it was mixed with some subjective ideas of Miss Weng, but the course of events would not differ too much. From this, we can judge that Mr. Yang, even if he is successful in his career, is ultimately a despicable person. I am also a person who hates evil, so for such a guy, even if I couldn't let him suffer any substantial harm, I want to make him understand how he harmed his poor wife and trampled on her soul, living a self-satisfied life.

  Hu Zongren's silence surprised me, as he usually talks a lot and can't keep still. In the past, when we were waiting for our noodles to arrive, he could finish half of the toilet paper in the roll by tearing it into pieces. But today, he was unusually quiet. After finishing our noodles, we paid the bill and walked outside, lit a cigarette, I noticed that it was already quite late, so I suggested to Hu Zongren that we should head back for today.

  Hu Zongren nodded and suddenly gave me a sly smile, then said:

  "Tomorrow, have fun with that old rascal, what do you think?"

  "Alright! Let's play him to death!" I replied with a smile.