Chapter 39: Sudden Turn of Events

I could understand what Li Yifeng meant. There is a certain beauty in the guarded affection between sisters.

"My sister and I lost our mother when we were young. My father has always been a businessman, but my third uncle worked in your line of business. My sister has been with him since she was a child, often roaming around, while I stayed with my father and went to school."

Li Yifeng had just laid out her family background to me.

"I understand. My mother also passed away early, and my father never paid any attention to me. I’ve lived with my grandfather since I was little," I sighed. We were both castaways in this world.

"So, in the future, if my sister goes out to do something, could you let me know in advance?" Li Yifeng asked.

"No problem!" I nodded in agreement; it was just a small favor.

...

The following few days were finally a bit more peaceful.

I had taken a week off, and when I went to cancel my leave with the counselor, he was worried I hadn't had enough fun and told me to use up the full seven days before coming back. It took a lot of persuasion for me to convince him that I truly didn't need the rest of the time.

After that, it was back to class, moving between the academic building and the dormitory. Liu Qingya seemed to have vanished these past two days; she hadn't been paying much attention to me. The old man was busy setting up our studio and had temporarily cast me aside as well.

Li Yifeng, on the other hand, seemed to have opened up after our talk that night. Whenever she had free time, she would run over to find me for tea, coffee, or just to chat.

If you asked me if college life was boring, it certainly could be; once you were idle, you didn't know what to do. But if you said it was meaningless, it was still far more interesting than staying back home. Recently, my roommates were always gaming together online, and occasionally, I would join them. As Fatty Wang would put it, this was "fashion." Could you even call yourself a young person if you didn't play games? I found myself becoming a bit interested in it, wanting to play a few rounds whenever I had the chance. As for my studies, the freshman curriculum was basic, and there wasn't anything too profound to deal with.

By mid-October, the old man came to find me at school. I had just finished class when I saw him standing under the teaching building.

Once I got downstairs, the old man immediately sidled up to me. "Young Master Jiang, I've got another job. A big one—a thirty-thousand-yuan fee!"

???

This counted as a big job?

Well, for the old man, it certainly did. Before he knew me, he would take jobs for one or two thousand yuan at most. It wasn't until Uncle Wangcai’s incident that Uncle Zhenggui hired him; only after the old man insisted on raising the price did he manage to get a few tens of thousands. After we partnered up a few times, we took on jobs worth fifty or a hundred thousand. To me, that was just a starting point, but for him, those sums were once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. In the past, he wouldn't have dared to touch such jobs.

Because high pay meant there was a real supernatural occurrence. The old man was just a con artist; if he ran into such things, he would be nothing but a sacrifice. He was self-aware enough to know he couldn't handle them and might even lose his life in the process. But things were different now—with me by his side, the old man’s courage had increased by more than a few levels.

"I can't explain it clearly over the phone, let's talk as we walk," the old man said, walking beside me as he filled me in on the details.

Southwest of the ancient capital, near the Qinling Mountains, there was a small town. The town wasn't large, and on the east side of the street lived a family surnamed Zhou. A few days ago, the man of the house suddenly fell ill. He was checked at all the major hospitals, but nothing worked. When he was brought back from the hospital, the man suddenly woke up.

If it were just waking up, that would be fine, but he suddenly developed a monstrous appetite, eating at least a dozen bowls of rice per meal, and even then, he constantly complained about being famished, shouting every day that he needed to eat. How could that be? Eating that much every day would surely lead to death by overeating. His relatives tried to take him to the hospital again, but the man refused to budge, staying locked in his room. Later, someone suggested he might have been possessed by something evil and that he should find a master to take a look. Somehow, the matter fell into the old man's lap.

As we chatted, I arrived at the building where Liu Qingya stayed; our studio was located there. I usually kept my ritual implements there as well. Originally, I kept them in a wooden chest, but finding it troublesome, I had thrown them all into a large cardboard box.

"Pack the gear, find a way to get a car, and let's head over," I told the old man.

"Get a car? We might as well borrow one from Miss Qingya," the old man suggested.

"Forget it!" I shook my head, refusing. Liu Qingya hadn't reached out to me for two days, and I didn't have the face to contact her either.

"Young Master Jiang, if I were you, I'd just apologize to Miss Qingya. You're a young couple; lovers' quarrels are resolved in the bedroom. I don't believe she could turn you away if you apologized in person," the old man said with a smirk, offering his advice.

"To hell with 'young couple.' If you don't know how to talk, keep your mouth shut," I glared at him. Heaven is my witness, there was no illicit affair between Liu Qingya and me; we were just friends with a slightly better relationship. Besides, I hadn't done anything to upset her, so why should I apologize?

"Young Master Jiang, are you playing dumb or do you really not know?" The old man grew anxious. "This matter..."

"Keep babbling and I'll seal your mouth with duct tape," I snapped. The old man immediately fell silent.

Downstairs, we managed to hail a cab that took us to the southern suburbs of the ancient capital, still some distance from the foot of the Qinling Mountains. We then had to find an unlicensed taxi to drive us the rest of the way. The nerve of that driver; for a thirty-kilometer trip, he demanded three hundred yuan! But there was no helping it; to save time, we had to be fleeced.

At that moment, I truly realized the convenience of having my own car. Those in our profession often had to run around, and some of our gear couldn't even pass security checks, let alone be taken on subways or buses. You either had to hire a car or drive yourself. I had enough money to cover driving school, but I didn't want to buy just any car; I wanted a decent SUV so that navigating mountain roads or dirt paths would be easier. In short, it all came down to one thing—I was broke.

By the time the old man and I reached the village at the foot of the Qinling Mountains, it was already past five in the afternoon. The Zhou family lived in a large courtyard with a red iron gate locked tight. Dogs were barking frantically from inside.

"This is the place." The old man paid off the driver, and we stepped out.

I knocked on the door. Before long, a woman walked out, her face full of anxiety as she spoke to us, "Masters, you've finally arrived. Just a moment ago..."