Box of Demons

Chapter 15

Upon hearing this, the mother bowed her head again and apologized.

They even grabbed Lai Zi and forced her to bow her head and apologize.

This caused Lai Zi to forget to ask about Jia Cai Zi's condition.

Is Jia Cai Zi still alive?

"Mother."

Lai Zi called out that name again after who knows how many months.

Then, in a barely audible whisper:

"Mom, you big idiot."

"Mom should just die."

I don't know why I said such a thing.

The mother, with her keen ears, heard this and a look of extreme sorrow and disbelief appeared on her face.

My mother started acting strangely the day after that day. She couldn't calm down and kept looking around the room as if she were afraid of something. She was constantly restless.

Lai Zi had never been interested in what his mother wanted to do, so he didn't care. But sometimes when he saw her eyes before going out... they weren't his mother's eyes.

The eyes were cloudy and unclear, yet possessed a vivid sharpness. The gaze was unfocused, yet fixed intently on one spot. The whites of the eyes were bloodshot, a bright red color.

"Lai Zi, you really are a demon."

"Huh?"

"It's all your fault, you ruined me..."

"What?!"

"Get out! You monster!"

His mother suddenly lunged at him, as abruptly as the lid of a wind-up toy—yes, a scary box—opened. Her ugly face, covered in dark spots and wrinkles, became crystal clear to Lai Zi. More than horrified, Lai Zi felt nauseous, reflexively dodging and shoving his mother. Losing her target and then caught off guard, his mother fell forward to the ground. She remained motionless in that position.

As Lai Zi was escaping, he crushed the heads of several Girls' Day dolls and samurai dolls.

The mother was unable to move for a moment.

Soon, she began to sob. Lai Zi felt a little sorry for his mother. But at the same time, he was even more disappointed in her filthy and ugly appearance.

What's wrong with this woman?

Kanako—what exactly happened?

The man arrived on the afternoon of the third day after the incident.

Whether it was Sasagawa or her mother who brought the man, Raiko didn't know; perhaps the two of them came together.

The man was wearing a white robe and a hat that looked like a mountain hermit's hat—I think it was called a hood?

The strangest thing was the box he was carrying on his back—it seemed to be called a "ji"?

Lai Zi wanted to see what the sudden visitor looked like, so he hid behind the crack in the paper door and watched his every move.

The mother kept her head down and kept bowing.

Sasagawa also wore a amiable expression.

The man strode into the living room, his sharp eyes scanning the room like those of a tax officer conducting an investigation. Every time the man turned his head, the mother became timid and uneasy, like a startled bird.

"Is there anything wrong with this house?"

Sasakawa asked.

"not good."

The man gave a brief answer.

The mother let out a soft, mournful cry.

When did it start?

"Hey, Kimie—you said you've been living here ever since you came back from wartime refuge?"

Sasakawa answered for his mother, who nodded and said in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible:

"It's been six to seven years, hasn't it?"

"It's been long enough."

"So it really is there—?"

"have."

“Wang, Wangliang”.

The mother let out a short cry, as if she were having a spasm.

The man, with a vengeful gaze, looked around the room again and shouted gruffly at his mother:

"A house or room is also a kind of box! A box is a container; no matter how sturdy it is, it's useless if it's empty. The key is how to fill it with contents. The same principle applies to people. No matter how beautifully decorated the exterior is, it's useless if the contents are full of emptiness and ugliness. Listen carefully!"

The man recited a string of opera lines as he slowly approached the mother. The mother panicked completely, her expression changing drastically. Sasakawa's eyes darted around, constantly wiping away sweat; his entire body was covered in dirty perspiration.

"No matter how we try to seal away the filth, we can't seal it all off. This can't go on. If we continue to stay here—"

"You mean you want us to move? That's too cruel, isn't it, Kimie?"

Sasakawa asked both the man and his mother questions at the same time.

"Your appearance is not good, and your circumstances are not good. This is because you have earned your wealth unjustly."

The mother's body was stiff.

"I think it's mostly the money of men—their souls are corrupted. They probably won it through gambling—"

The mother clutched a head of unkempt, disheveled hair, her fingertips trembling.

"Yes—it's my second husband's house—he was a scoundrel. He got into a gambling dispute—and when we divorced—he left me this house."

"That man was utterly corrupt. So he left because of a dispute? In any case, this house harbors some rather unfortunate karma."

"Can the master tell?"

Sasakawa asked. The man shouted and closed his eyes.

"He had a scar on his right cheek. His eyebrows were thin and long, his nose straight, and he was missing two front teeth. His left little finger probably wasn't lost in the war. This house—he swindled it from a destitute old man through gambling—his name was Ogi… no, it was Naoyama—"

My mother almost fainted.

Sasagawa, somewhat flustered, continued to ask:

"That can't be right, can it? Kimie, wasn't your ex-husband named Ogiwara something?"

"Yes—I only found out when I went to register that it was a pseudonym. My real name is—Naoyama Riichi, and everything the master just said is true."

The mother was trembling uncontrollably, and her words were unintelligible.

Lai Zi still remembered that man—Zhi Shan—and the several times he had beaten her up. He was a very unpleasant person, reeking of alcohol. But Lai Zi didn't know that her mother had a brief marriage with that man.

Does that kind of person count as a father?

"Please, please tell me what to do, Your Excellency!"

The mother seemed even more flustered. The man stared sharply at the paper door—Lai Zi's room. Lai Zi jumped in fright, thinking the man had seen her, but seemed not to notice.

"The best way is to give up unclean wealth. Sell this house and donate the money as clean wealth, and one day you will be able to recover."

"This is too..."

"If it's not possible, there's nothing I can do."

"My Lord!"

"So!"

The man shouted again.

"There is no other way but to seal all the evil spirits and demons hiding in the house into the deep and secret sacred box."

"Please, I'll pay any price, no matter how much it costs—"

"Stupid! This isn't a problem that can be solved with money!"

The man spoke in an even more rude, deaf voice. The mother was so frightened that her legs went weak, and she staggered, almost falling, but Sasakawa caught her.

“Junzhi, you can’t say such rude things in front of the Master. Master Dunzhu doesn’t seal monsters for money. By saying that, you’re practically implying he’s profiting from it—that’s despicable. Haven’t you heard the Master’s admonitions several times already?”

"Ah ah."

"Hidden good—demons and monsters do not dwell in clear and transparent places; they appear specifically in stagnant and murky areas. When there are barriers in the heart, emptiness arises, and evil hides within that emptiness. Demons and monsters are born from the gaps in the mind—"

"The barrier of the mind."

"The wall of the heart is evil thoughts and material desires, which is why demons crave wealth. Therefore, one must relinquish all impure possessions, break down the barriers, and allow the mind to flow freely. I am merely temporarily holding onto your impure possessions and cleansing them."

The man walked towards the toilet.

"The same principle applies to buildings. Poorly ventilated places breed evil things and monsters."

Then he knocked loudly on the bathroom door and shouted:

"The Ghost Gate (Note: the direction where ghosts enter and exit in Yin-Yang philosophy, also known as the Gen corner [northeast]) is an unclean place!"

Turn back to face your mother and the others.

“Inauspicious things flow in, and there is a mysterious gate at the Kun corner! Evil flows in from the main street and has nowhere to go, so it lingers here, hence the ghost gate gives birth to demons.”

"Ahhh."

The mother screamed in alarm.

"good!"

The man stomped his foot on the floor in an exaggerated manner.

“The Heavenly God Emperor issued a decree: If there is any pain, let this reed's hollow ear be deeply hidden in the Jade Basket, and say one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and then put on the cloth, the cloth, the cloth, the cloth, the cloth.”

If I haven't heard of it, is it a foreign language?

Lai Zi's heart was pounding with nervousness. Perhaps it was a bad feeling about what might happen, or maybe it was because the man was speaking too loudly.

The man chanted in a foreign language, accompanied by strange movements as he stomped his feet on the floor several times.