Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor- Koneko, Proofreader- Spring Flower
October 4th, Monday, late at night, 10:52 PM.
Father Wei, Mother Wei, Bei Quan, and Wei Fuyuan were sitting on the sofa on the east side of the master bedroom, silently waiting for midnight to arrive.
No one spoke, and the room felt unusually quiet, with only the faint and rhythmic sound of the air conditioning running.
The atmosphere in the room inexplicably became eerie.
“Bei, Bei Quan.”
Finally, Father Wei couldn’t bear the silence any longer and spoke up:
“Is, is this really, okay?”
Although he tried his best to appear calm and composed in front of someone nearly thirty years younger than him, his unintentional stammering and the trembling in his voice at the end betrayed his true feelings.
Indeed, it would be difficult to maintain composure in the middle of the night, sharing a room with a paper person—especially when the person knows they will soon ‘meet a ghost.’
While speaking, Father Wei gaze couldn’t help but drift towards the large bed in the center of the room.
At this moment, lying on the double bed where he and his wife sleep every night, there was a boldly displayed paper dummy.
Mother Wei spent a lot of money to have the paper shop near the funeral home rush to make it overnight.
At that time, she went to the shop with Father Wei’s photo and asked the master to make it look as much like him as possible. The master was scared and even said, “Madam, this is too bad for your karma. We can’t accept this business!”
There was no other way, so Mother Wei had to use her business skills, appeal to reason and emotion, repeatedly assuring them that it was only for dispelling disasters and resolving difficulties. She even threw a lot of cash, using both persuasion and money, finally convincing the master to make a paper person that looked like Father Wei.
Perhaps that self-proclaimed master with 30 years of experience had exceptional skills, as the paper person looked incredibly lifelike.
Even though the materials used were just rough bamboo strips and thin oil paper, you could still see about 60-70% resemblance to Wei’s dad in the facial features and positioning of the features. It created a somewhat eerie uncanny valley effect.
When Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan moved the paper person onto the bed and positioned it in a lying posture, Wei’s dad, who was watching nearby, felt weak in his legs and narrowly avoided kneeling on the spot.
He cursed Taoist Master Wang for being a despicable and sleekly person, while secretly swearing in his heart that he wouldn’t keep the bed, mattress, bedding, and pillows. Once he passed this ordeal, he would have someone throw them away, the farther the better!
Anyway, no matter how scared Wei’s dad was, Bei Quan’s plan continued smoothly.
According to Bei Quan’s analysis, the reason why Taoist Master Wang was causing so many convoluted things is to transfer certain difficult-to-get-rid-of techniques or evil objects onto Wei’s dad.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Vbwfbcf tjr ajwqfgfv klat sbeg tberf.”
Tfrafgvjs, Dfl Hejc mjgfoeiis raevlfv j mfgajlc vfajli bo atf wjcrlbc klat Qfl Mesejc jcv tlr qjgfcar.
“Obbx tfgf.”
Dfl Hejc ifv atf atgff bo atfw ab atf vbbgkjs jcv qblcafv ja atf akb ubivfc kbbvfc ybgvfgr yfrlvf atf vbbg.
“Ktlr atlcu lr atf ‘agjq’ atja Kjblra Zjrafg Qjcu rfa eq lc sbeg tberf.”
Upon hearing this, Wei’s dad and Wei’s mom furrowed their brows and crouched down to examine it carefully.
There were two wooden decorative edges, exquisitely crafted, with shallow copper coin-shaped reliefs on the surface, painted with champagne matte paint, presenting a soft and delicate light gold under the light. They were both luxurious and exquisite and could be considered a highlight of the floor.
The two golden borders were parallel and symmetric, cleverly avoiding all furniture and cabinets, extending from the front door to the handrail of the staircase in the back of the living room.
When the interior decoration of this villa was being done, Taoist Master Wang specifically explained to Wei’s parents the purpose of these two golden borders: one was for aesthetics, and the other was for attracting wealth. It symbolized paving the way with money and bringing in abundant financial resources.
Wei’s father and mother were very satisfied when they saw the design effect, praising Master Wang as a truly talented person who even went beyond the ordinary in improving the Feng Shui of the house with clever ideas.
They never imagined that this ‘clever idea’ would hide a murderous conspiracy.
“Is this… is this true?” Wei’s dad took a step back, looking at those two exquisite wooden borders as if they were ferocious beasts.
“Just these two wooden borders can harm someone?”
“Of course it’s true.”
Bei Quan smiled and took out a small knife from his suitcase.
In front of the two elders, he pried open a section of the wooden border next to the door. Then, with a snap, he broke the brittle and thin wooden board and flipped over the broken piece.
“Please take a look here.”
“Gasp!”
Both of Wei’s parents both took a sharp inhaled breath.
They saw that behind the wooden board, there was a layer of grayish-white paint, and on top of the paint, there were strange characters written in black ink that they couldn’t recognize at all.
“How could we not see through this trick? We’ve lived for so many years in vain!”
Wei’s parents exclaimed in unison, “What on earth is this?!”
Bei Quan smiled and gestured for them not to panic.
“The stuff brushed behind the wooden board is just ordinary plaster, but it’s mixed with some materials that carry heavy Yin energy.”
Although Wei’s father and Wei’s mother didn’t know what materials had heavy Yin energy, just hearing the name made it clear that it wasn’t something that should be placed in a house where people reside.
“As for the characters written on top, they are runes meant for ghosts and evil spirits to see. So, this is a ‘ghost path’.”
Bei Quan continued to explain, “In short, you can think of these two wooden borders as a ‘blind path’ for impure entities. Once they enter the villa, they just need to follow this specially created ‘ghost path’ all the way.”
Bei Quan paused for a moment.
“The sides of your handrail staircase are also decorated with similar golden borders…”
He gestured with two fingers in a walking motion, “Actually, these two golden borders extend into your bedrooms, right?”
Wei’s father and mother: “!!”
——Someone had laid a ‘ghost path’ in their own home and extended it into their bedrooms!
——This meant that they were likely sleeping with ghosts every night for over seven years!
Just the thought of it made the couple feel dizzy, and they had to support each other to avoid passing out on the spot.
“我￥@#￥!”
Getting extremely angry, instead of being scared, Wei’s father jumped three feet high.
While cursing, he grabbed the long-handled umbrella at the entrance and wanted to rush out to find Master Wang and give that troublemaking spirit a beating he wouldn’t recover from.
Wei Fuyuan, quick to react, grabbed his father’s arm and pulled him back. “Dad, calm down for now!”
Wei Fuyuan, being strong, easily subdued his enraged dad.
“Beating someone up won’t solve the problem. It’ll only make them more cautious!”
Wei Fuyuan turned to his boyfriend and said, “Let’s hear what Bei Quan has to say!”
“Don’t worry,” Bei Quan chimed in at the right moment.
“The ‘ghost path’ in your house hasn’t been used so far.”
Wei’s dad stopped struggling and turned to Bei Quan, asking, “What do you mean?”
Bei Quan stood outside the door and pointed towards the courtyard, saying, “I guess Master Wang has placed some protective talismans or spiritual objects at the entrance of the courtyard, preventing the ‘external spirits’ from entering the yard and naturally unable to enter the house, thus blocking the ‘ghost path’.”
Both of Wei’s parents breathed a sigh of relief.
But at the same time, they were also puzzled, “If it’s not to let the outside ghosts bother us, then why did he create this ‘ghost path’ in our house?”
Bei Quan chuckled and replied, “Of course, it’s because Taoist Master Wang wanted to send a specific ‘something’ into your house.”
Wei’s father shivered and asked, “W-what kind of ‘something’?”
“I don’t know,” Bei Quan shook his head with a smile.
“But since he’s using such methods, there are only two possible reasons. One is that he’s been plagued by a powerful evil spirit and can’t get rid of it, so he came up with this method of luring the trouble away.”
Wei’s mother noticed something that didn’t quite make sense and said, “But this house was built over seven years ago. If that evil spirit was trying to get rid of something, wouldn’t it be a bit unreasonable to wait seven years before taking action?”
“You’re right,” Bei Quan nodded with a smile.
“That’s why I lean more towards the second speculation.” He raised a finger and gently shook it.
“That Taoist priest wanted to ’nurture’ something powerful and dangerous, but was afraid of the consequences, so he hesitated to carry out his plan.”
Bei Quan smiled softly, his voice gentle, but his words had a chilling effect. “It wasn’t until he was guarding your house’s Feng Shui that he came up with this solution to ‘transfer’ the consequences. He decided to shift the ‘backlash’ onto your home.”
Wei’s parents: “…”
The two of them exchanged a glance, both seeing the same fear reflected in each other’s eyes.
As well-known entrepreneurs in Fengxing City, this couple had certainly heard their fair share of rumors, both true and false, circulating in the business community.
Whether it was about raising little ghosts, inviting biased deities, or borrowing a money toad, they were willing to bring anything related to “getting rich” into their home, even if it was a dead body or a coffin.
Of course, when there were too many ‘things’ being invited into the home, the homeowners would inevitably have trouble keeping them under control.
And it is said that many of these ‘things’ can ‘grow’ and when they reach a certain point, they start causing trouble. It can range from minor disturbances in the house to serious consequences like the destruction of the family. The consequences can be extremely severe.
Wei’s parents, relying on their business acumen, became wealthy. Of course, they disdained such occult methods. However, having heard of similar rumors before, when Bei Quan mentioned it, they immediately connected the situation with what they had heard and were immediately scared.
“What should we do then?”
Wei’s father was on the verge of tears, “Can I just have someone dismantle this ‘ghost path’ right now?”
“No, that would only be a temporary solution, not addressing the root cause.”
Bei Quan shook his head,
“Taoist Master Wang has set his sights on your family. If we can’t completely resolve this matter this time, we’ll have to be on guard every day. I’m afraid it will be hard to prevent.”
Looks like TNT has new cover art. It looks nice!