Go all out

Chapter 8: Talismans, Roosters

Being stared at by this woman made me feel a little uneasy, but I didn’t let it show. If she really wanted to cause trouble for me, she probably would’ve brought a bunch of people in to beat me up already—why would she be here asking me to read her palm? The woman stared at me for a moment. Noticing my surprising composure, she shifted her gaze and let out a strange, cold snort. “Don’t worry. I’m not here to cause trouble. It’s a good thing you told my husband—now I don’t have to go through all that trouble sneaking around anymore. Now I can go on dates with men out in the open.” I was speechless at those words. With a wife like that, Zhang Hao really is unlucky. That said, I didn’t mean to look down on her too much. Zhang Hao’s not exactly up to par in that department, and he’s always out partying—their marriage was probably just a formality long ago. This woman was lonely and unfulfilled, so she sought out a man when she needed one; as an outsider, I could understand that. After she said that, she pulled out a stack of red bills and tossed them at me. While I stood there dumbfounded, she suddenly leaned in, glanced at my waist, and blew a breath of perfume my way. “You’re actually pretty handsome, Master. Want to hook up?” My face immediately flushed bright red, and I quickly shook my head. The woman gave a coquettish laugh and sashayed out, swaying her long legs. I breathed a sigh of relief, took the money in my hand, and counted it. I was pleasantly surprised—she was quite generous, after all. There were two thousand yuan. All things considered, I’d made over five thousand today. I carefully tucked the money into my pocket, but before I knew it, the woman from earlier walked back over. “I’d like to ask you one more thing.” I looked up at her. “Go ahead.” She hesitated for a moment, then sat back down. “Do you know anything about… that sort of thing?” She spoke a bit softly, almost tentatively. I knew exactly what she meant by “that sort of thing.” Could it be that she’d encountered a spirit? “I know a little,” I said after a moment’s thought, nodding. The woman let out a sigh of relief before continuing, “My best friend hasn’t been acting right lately. We used to go out drinking together every night, but recently when I’ve called her, she hasn’t picked up. At first, I thought she was just busy, so I didn’t think much of it. But the day before yesterday, I went to her place without calling first. When I opened the door, I found her there, talking to herself. When I called out to her, she just turned to look at me—and her eyes were terrifying. Do you think my best friend has encountered something evil?” As she said this, the woman shuddered slightly. Hearing her say that, it was pretty much a sure thing. Setting aside whether her best friend had encountered a ghost or something else, even though I know a little about these kinds of things, it’s definitely not my forte. To be honest—and this is embarrassing to admit—I’ve never seen a ghost in my entire life. This really wasn’t something I could handle. I thought for a moment, then shook my head. “She probably did run into a ‘dirty spirit,’ but I can’t help with this.” “Aren’t you a fortune-teller? Don’t you know about these things?” the woman asked, her voice tinged with skepticism. “Sweetheart, there are nine schools of Qimen Dunjia in the world, and they’re divided into many different branches, okay? It’s hard enough to learn and master just one—trying to master them all is harder than climbing to the heavens,” I said helplessly. As the saying goes, “One trade is as different from another as mountains are apart.” Did this woman really think that just because I read fortunes, I’d automatically know about matters of the spirit world? I wish I did, but even my master doesn’t know much about it—let alone me. “But my best friend is in this state—is she going to die?” the woman asked, looking worried. I glanced at her, speechless inside. She could be so heartless toward her own husband, yet so concerned for her best friend—women’s hearts really are as inscrutable as the depths of the ocean. With a resigned sigh, I walked over to the cabinet, grabbed a bundle of incense sticks used for worship, and handed them to her. All I could do was tell her what I knew: “Here’s what you do: Go to your best friend’s house right now. Without waking her, light three sticks of incense at her doorstep. Once they’ve burned out, take a photo of it, then come back and show it to me.” “Master, aren’t you coming with me?” The woman continued, “My best friend is very wealthy. If you help her resolve this matter, I guarantee you—she’ll definitely give you at least 20,000 as a thank-you fee.” Twenty thousand was very tempting, but would I even be alive to collect it? I shook my head awkwardly. I needed to know whether this evil spirit was good or evil before I could decide if I could help. If it was truly malevolent, I’d have to think about saving my own skin. “My best friend is really pretty,” the woman added. I smiled but said nothing. Seeing that I wasn’t swayed, the woman could only walk out, looking resigned. After she left, there were hardly any customers until I closed up for the night. I shut the door with a sense of satisfaction, slept soundly that night, and early the next morning, I took a bus to the hospital to pay the bill. Sure enough, my master was still in a coma. Looking at his pale face, my heart ached and I felt guilty. If it hadn’t been for my mom, my master wouldn’t have gone up the mountain in the first place… Sigh. Mom, no matter how heartless you are, you shouldn’t have hurt my master like this—the man who raised me from childhood. Feeling distressed, I took a bus back. Before I even reached the shop, I spotted a luxury car parked right in front of the entrance from a distance. Inside was the woman who’d come for a palm reading the previous afternoon. When she saw me return, she got out of the car with a look of anxiety on her face and immediately handed me her phone. It was a photo showing three incense sticks—two short and one long. This indicated that the malevolent entity tormenting her best friend wasn’t too dangerous. Since it wasn’t a vengeful spirit, it must have some unfulfilled wish; once that wish was granted, the entity would naturally leave her best friend alone. For the sake of those 20,000 yuan, I didn’t hesitate much. I opened the shop door, grabbed some yellow paper, a brush, and some red string, then got into the woman’s car. As we passed the farmers’ market, I got out to buy a live rooster and a piece of beef, and then we headed straight to her best friend’s house. The woman looked at me curiously and asked why I’d bought the rooster. I replied, “To communicate with the spirit.” She looked just as confused and didn’t ask any further. On the way, the woman told me her name was Zhang Jingwen, and her best friend was Ye Zhi. The two were pretty close, so she’d come over early that morning to wait for me. I made some casual small talk in return and, while I was at it, fed the rooster a little beef. Soon, Zhang Jingwen drove to a villa complex in the city center. With the rooster tucked under one arm, I followed her upstairs. Zhang Jingwen had a key to her best friend’s apartment, so when she opened the door, a blast of cold air rushed out. I couldn’t help but shiver, and the rooster I was holding let out a cry right away—there really was something evil there. It was pitch black inside. Zhang Wenjing tentatively poked her head in and turned on the light. Only then could I see the room; I took a deep breath and followed her inside. Zhang Wenjing led me to a bedroom door, then pointed inside to indicate that’s where she was. I gently turned the doorknob and peered through the crack. A woman was pacing around the bed like a puppet. She was wearing a nightgown, her hair was a mess, and she kept muttering to herself. She looked practically like a madwoman. After I entered, the woman merely glanced at me over her shoulder before continuing to pace around the bed as if nothing had happened. This made me breathe a sigh of relief; if she’d stared at me as if I were her mortal enemy, I would have bolted without a second thought. I didn’t speak to her; instead, I gently closed the door. Zhang Wenjing asked me how it went. I replied, “It’s fine,” implying that I was fairly confident I could handle the situation. Zhang Wenjing breathed a sigh of relief. I took out the yellow paper and a brush, bit my middle finger to draw blood, dipped the brush in my own blood, and wrote my birth chart on the yellow paper. Then I crumpled the paper into a ball and stuffed it into the rooster’s mouth. Next, I tied a red string around the rooster’s comb, tying a double knot on the other end of the string around my thumb. I gently opened the door to Ye Zhi’s room and let the rooster inside. After the rooster strolled in leisurely, “Ye Zhi” still ignored me, continuing to walk with her strange gait. I covered my mouth and gave a dry cough, then hid outside the door and said in a deep voice, “You audacious wandering spirit! Seeing this ghost officer, why don’t you surrender immediately? Follow me to the Palace of the King of Hell to confess your crimes!” “Ye Zhi” suddenly fixed her gaze on the rooster that had walked in. She immediately panicked, as if she’d seen something terrifying, and hurriedly hid in a corner, screaming, “Lord Ox-Head, don’t catch me! Don’t catch me! I’ll leave her body right now!” No sooner had “Ye Zhi” finished speaking than Ye Zhi’s body went limp and she collapsed to the ground. A wisp of light smoke suddenly rose from where she had been, and a figure slowly materialized.