Chapter Thirteen: Expelling Evil?

  I have never lost my temper at Wenjing since I can remember, but suddenly I blew up and scared her so much that she was speechless and cried silently. No matter what I said, she admitted her mistake and promised not to do it again in the future.

  Don't pinch me hard, hand a towel to Wenjing and push her away, while scooping up the crucian carp and scolding me, saying I've entered menopause and joined the ranks of neurosis.

  I said that Wenjing must remember this lesson, the other day I told her not to associate with strangers, but she didn't listen at all. This time it was thanks to the four-faced Buddha's divine intervention that we discovered these two catfish; otherwise, who knows what would have happened tonight when driving out ghosts? I was desperately trying to save her in front, while she was dragging her feet behind, and in the end, she was the one who suffered.

  "You're still babbling on, aren't you? Is the mistress a stranger to us? Wen Jing is the only one here who knows her besides us two. The little girl came from her hometown to play with you, and not only did she not go out for fun, but also had to cook and do laundry for you every day, working tirelessly without complaint. And yet, you still take advantage of her from time to time. Now that something's happened to her, it serves you right to be at the forefront of this mess! You should take her on a month-long trip, she'd probably be haunted by ghosts!"

  Like a string of pearls falling on me, I also got a bit angry and retorted: "If I don't make money, who will support her?"

  "Can you still put on a face? How much money has Wenjing spent on you? You'd be better off hiring a nanny! Even I, who dislikes my sister the most, can't bear to watch this. She's always trying to please you, but you're not happy with her finding a boyfriend. Now you're being hypocritical again, hiding from everyone and taking it out on Wenjing. Do you think she'd let your mother-in-law in? You want to play the game of silently sacrificing, but when you can't take it anymore, you take it out on Wenjing. If I had a sister like that..."

  Before I could finish speaking, I shouted: "If you have the guts, go find Yuao, don't take it out on me!"

  The reason I didn't tell Wenjing the truth is that it's simply unspeakable. Do you think I should have told her: "Sister, you're being followed by a ghost! You don't believe me? The other day when your brother got food poisoning, it was actually because he ate the dish you cooked!"

  It's true that Wen Jing must be extremely guilty, with her soft and weak appearance but a pervertedly strong personality, the most likely thing she would do is to negotiate with ghosts alone and sacrifice herself to protect me!

  But what he couldn't bear to hear the most was his cousin You Diao's name. As soon as it was mentioned, he would freeze for a second, grab the catfish and smash it on me, curse "I'm not serving you anymore", and storm out of the door in anger. Wen Jing heard us arguing and hastily wanted to go after him, I said stop, don't mind him!

  Wen Jing turned around, her eyes red like a big white rabbit that had been hungry for several days, looking pitiful and apologetic. She kept saying it was all her fault and asked me to hurry up and call You Wu back. Seeing her guilty and wronged expression, I felt heartbroken and comforted her with a few words. Wen Jing rushed into my arms and cried even louder, wanting to call You Wu to apologize.

  I said it's nothing, brother made a bet with you, at most one hour, that cheap person will come back.

  As soon as the words fell, there was a loud banging on the door. I opened the door with a cold smile, and Yu Mo came in with an arrogant attitude, not even looking at me. As he passed by my side, he cursed me with a "stupid cunt". Then, he grabbed a kitchen knife and rushed into the bathroom, venting his anger on the carp.

  The minced carp rushed into the toilet, and the four-faced Buddha easily put it up. I thought this was truly amazing, and I had even more admiration for the master of the construction team. I didn't dare to neglect his method, so I opened and closed the bathroom door three times before gently closing it.

  On the tea table, a bowl was placed with a mixture of rice and millet inside. A cup with half a cup of water had a green willow leaf inserted into it. Yu Mo also made a soul-guiding banner, and at 11 o'clock, the three of us would perform a small ritual at home.

  It's a very simple ritual, knowing the method is just like doing it personally, but a sentence said by a middle-aged person made my heart tangled.

  He said that before or after 12 o'clock, someone will come to knock on the door. No matter what the person says, I shouldn't open the door. Remove the peephole, this person should give me money, then I'll make way for the entrance, kneel down and kowtow until the person outside leaves.

  He said so, obviously there is a ghost coming, I asked him what if that person doesn't want to leave.

  He smiled and said, "Of course he won't leave, but if you put the mirror facing the door, reflecting all the bad luck and misfortune, he will only know to retreat. After tonight, I guarantee he will never appear again!"

  At eleven o'clock, I asked You Wu and Wen Jing to start working. The three of us stood in a row at home, with me in the front holding the soul-guiding banner, You Wu in the middle sprinkling glutinous rice and millet in every corner of the house, and Wen Jing last, she used willow branches dipped in water and also sprinkled them on the ground.

  It's a very simple little trick, it can even be said to be crude. This afternoon I told Yu Wu that this method is too childish, he advised me to try it out as if it were a distant mountain, and there's no harm in trying.

  The problem is that I've seen people doing this before, and what we're doing now is similar, but the tiny difference makes me feel like there's a huge gap between us.

  I don't remember what grade I was in, but a distant relative from my hometown village passed away. The family invited monks to hold a water and land Dharma assembly, which included rituals such as scattering rice and splashing water. When it was time to eat, the monk even explained some rules to me and asked if I was interested, saying he wanted to take me on as an apprentice!

  Sheep, chicken and cow have a bad aura on their bodies. In ancient times, there was a custom of scattering grains on the ground. When these three animals lowered their heads to eat, they had no time to harm people. This is the origin of scattering rice, which is also a way of praying for blessings.

  Glutinous rice and ordinary rice, one white and the other yellow, symbolize true gold and silver. When someone in a family passes away, the family will accumulate stagnant yin energy and death energy, easily attracting lonely spirits and wild ghosts. By scattering these two types of rice on the ground, it serves three purposes: firstly, to keep the ghosts busy eating and prevent them from harming people; secondly, to use the rice as gold and silver to send off the wild ghosts; thirdly, since humans have vital energy and rely on food for survival, rice also contains vital energy, so scattering rice can be used to drive away evil spirits with its vital energy.

  The ceremony of dipping leaves in water is called sprinkling, its effect is similar to throwing rice. This is quite powerful, the monk who explained it to me at first said: "Guanyin Bodhisattva used this trick to save the ginseng fruit tree, isn't that awesome?"

  No matter whether it's scattering rice or water, there is a prerequisite that is to worship. When I first saw those monks placing Buddha statues on the incense table and burning incense, they would then place the rice and water on the incense table. Then one monk would chant scriptures beside them while another made hand seals facing the rice and water, constantly changing the seals. The monk's mouth was reciting mantras, occasionally making a "hong" "hong" sound. The scene looked quite intimidating.

  But now we don't burn incense or worship, nor do monks chant sutras. We're just like three fools running around at home. Is this really useful?

  Moreover, the soul-guiding banner is used on the day of the funeral procession to lead the way for the deceased's spirit at the very front of the procession, but we are driving out ghosts!

  Not to mention that there is also a name written on the soul-guiding flag - Li Dazhuang, I'm really afraid of summoning Li Dazhuang's dead spirit!

  I told the quiet things to the middle-aged man, and then asked him if the old man was a ghost or not, why the old lady in Shifu's house became a human during the day and turned into a ghost at night. He didn't know anything about it, just let me follow the method to do it, even if they were all ghosts, I could still be safe. Finally, he said that the name Li Dazhuang should be written on the soul flag, I asked who this guy was, and he said he was the one helping me, then he left.

  Dazedly wandered around the house for seven or eight minutes, and a problem arose. The rice and water were all spilled. Wenjing asked me if I should stop and get some more, or just not sprinkle any more. But I didn't know either. At that time, I only remembered the method, who could consider it so thoroughly?

  I gritted my teeth and said I wouldn't cry anymore.

  Wen Jing is a bit nervous, telling me not to be rash, this is related to my happiness.

  At night, I have to be at home being silly, and naturally Wenjing won't let me off the hook. So I said that a fat woman of over 300 pounds used evil magic to harm me and forced me to marry her, so I need to perform a ritual to break the curse. Wenjing didn't suspect anything else, and was even more anxious than me.

  The three of us discussed it and originally had a try-it-out attitude, so we simply sat down and waited for someone to knock on the door.

  I don't know why, but my heart is racing fast, with a sharp pain like a knife cut, I tightly hold Wen Jing in my arms, and only feel slightly better when she's close to me. Her face is red, but she doesn't resist, leaning against my shoulder like a little bird. You Mu also isn't joking around, his face gloomy as he walks back and forth in the room, and I don't have the heart to ask him what he's thinking about.

  The room was silent and it was almost 12 o'clock when I wanted to light a cigarette, someone knocked on the door.

  Wen Jing didn't know someone would knock on the door, and she jumped off my leg to open it. I quickly pulled her back, telling her and You Wu to hide in the house and not come out. Then, I tiptoed to the door and nervously shouted: "Who is it?"

  Strangers outside ignore me, but I still knock on the door with force.

  In the afternoon, I removed the cat's eye and inserted it again. At this time, I turned my head to take a look at the mirror, standing upright, and prepared to pull out the cat's eye and wait for him to give me money.

  The middle-aged man only told me not to open the door no matter what, but didn't say I couldn't look or speak. So I withdrew my hand and pressed my face against it, holding my breath to see what this ghost looked like.

  This guy looks just like You Wu, even his clothes are the same. No wonder middle-aged people got vaccinated in advance and told me not to open the door. It turns out this ghost wanted to disguise itself as You Wu.

  Peeking through the cat's eye, I saw a ghost, which made my heart beat faster and excited. The one outside the door, Youmo, was already impatient, kicking the door several times, taking two steps back, pointing at the cat's eye and saying: "Wang, have you seen enough? Hurry up and open the door for me!"

  Wow, this little rascal's temper is quite authentic! I burst out laughing and said through the door: "Dude, you still owe me money!"

  "You want an egg? I'll give you a hell note, do you want it?"

  I replied to him, "Alright, you keep it for yourself, if it's not enough I'll give you some more," He transformed into You Wu's appearance, and my fear also decreased a lot. After speaking a few words, he hastily collected his thoughts, coughed twice, and said: "Don't cause trouble, even if you do, you can't come in. I've removed the cat eye, you gave me money, I'll kowtow a few times to send you on your way, let's just forget about past matters, whether you want me or Wen Jing, it's best to give up that idea now!"