The second book in the Oolong Wizard series, titled The Normal Mind - Chapter 11
The name Xiaoyue, which had just been carved next to me, had vanished without a trace, and instead of being artificially smoothed out, the bark was restored to its original smooth state.
Suddenly, the image of the ghostly girl in green flashed through my mind. I instinctively realized, "She did it, but why? What was her motive?"
---janeadam
Reply [20]: At this moment, several of my cousins ran over. Among them, my eldest cousin, Ah Long, shouted breathlessly, "Ah Xin, what's wrong with you? You suddenly ran around in the crowd as if you were possessed. The clan chief and your father were very worried and told us to catch up and keep an eye on you. What happened?"
I shook my head, then thought for a moment and said, "When you came from over there, did you see a girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen? She was wearing a green dress and looked quite pretty and cute."
They stared at me blankly for a long time, then shook their heads in unison, saying that there was no such girl, as if they were staring at a monster. Only my cousin A-Jian, who was the same age as me, seemed to understand.
I shook hands with my brother Dang, who I used to study with, and he laughed and said, "Ah Xin, it seems you've seen a ghost again. I remember when we were little, you often told us that there was an older sister in green who played with you and taught you to write poetry and dance. I remember it very clearly. Our clan shaman said you were possessed by a ghost, which scared Grandma so much that she asked him to perform a ritual for you for a month."
"Is that so?" I have a vague impression of it, but why can't I remember it at all?
For the first time, I felt an eerie chill.
As soon as the festival was over, I rushed home to find Xiaoyue. She was knowledgeable and experienced, and she would surely be able to help me understand the cause and nature of this matter.
But Xiaoyue wasn't there. My mom laughed and told me, "It's not like you're newlyweds. You haven't even seen her yet, and you're already this anxious. Sigh, I wish your dad was like you!"
My face flushed red, and I said, "No, I only contacted her because I needed something."
“Still lying? Look at your blushing face, do you think you can fool your mother?” She still didn’t believe me, but told me about Xiaoyue’s whereabouts: “A monk surnamed Xu was looking for Xiaoyue. They went out together, saying they were going to the Luo Zhongsheng clan chief’s house. The Luo clan chief’s grandson, Aqiang, had an accident, and the monk asked Xiaopeng for help.”
As I stamped my foot to leave, I suddenly noticed that the more than twenty potted plants on the shelves on both sides of the courtyard were as fresh as ever, even more lush than they were ten years ago. Because I had gone to bed early last night, I hadn't noticed them at all.
I was greatly surprised and exclaimed in delight, "Wow, I haven't watered it for over ten years, how did it survive?"
“This is a good sign, child. Your uncle comes to clean it once a month and waters it, but that’s far from enough. He says that lush flowers and plants bring good fortune to the family. It’s as if heaven is blessing our family to prosper.”
My mood immediately improved. These flowers and plants were the result of a lot of hard work back then; some I dug up from the mountains, some I asked relatives and friends for, and some I bought with money. When I was a child, I dreamed of living in a beautiful garden, composing poems and living a carefree and happy life.
Oh, and in my earliest dream, there was also a girl, dressed in green, singing and grinding ink for me.
Then, a delicate, emerald green, and crystal-clear orchid-like grass, swaying without wind, quietly came into view.
I rushed over, overjoyed, and couldn't help but gently stroke the smooth, jade-green leaves. I said to my mother, "Mom, this little grass is still here, just like before, it hasn't grown at all. Do you know, it's something that Grandma and I dug up from under that wishing camphor tree thirteen years ago."
"Okay," Mom said, a little impatiently, as she was busy in the kitchen. "Didn't you want to see Xiaoyue?"
Her reminder made me gasp and jump up again, rushing towards the door.
"You're already a teacher, yet you're still so impulsive and lack perseverance!" my mother sighed behind me.
Upon entering the clan chief's house, one immediately senses the oppressive and gloomy atmosphere within. Indeed, a sinister spiritual force shrouds the house.
Xiaoyue and Master Xu stood in the courtyard. The afternoon sun slanted down, making Xiaoyue's snow-white dress shine brightly, like a small sun on the ground, so dazzling that I almost couldn't open my eyes.
When Xiaoyue saw me, she said something to Master Xu, then came up to me with a smile and said, "You're here! Is everything alright over there? Will you come with me here tonight to perform the spirit-catching ritual?"
I nodded hurriedly and said yes.
She stuck out her little tongue at me and said softly, "I used to find spirit catching quite annoying, but now it's more interesting than boring and useless things like ancestor worship."
When she mentioned spirit catching, I remembered my own troubles and said, "I encountered a very strange thing." Then I told her everything from yesterday to noon today, including the green-clad girl I saw in my dream, including how Xiaoyue's name was just erased from "Pandora's Box".
Xiaoyue listened with interest at first, but when I mentioned dancing with her in my dream and Xiaoyue's name being removed from my name, a slight resentment immediately appeared on her face. In her view, all my romantic affairs should be with her; dreams and names have symbolic meanings of lovers, and she would never allow a third party to interfere.
At that moment, Xiaoyue pondered seriously for a long time. Then she raised her head, forced a gentle smile, and said, "This should be a minor emotional obstacle. The reason I came with you this time was because I had anticipated this and wanted to help you get through it."
---janeadam
Reply [21]: Chapter Ten The Cursed Bell
"What are you doing now?" Knowing that Xiaoyue was prepared, I breathed a long sigh of relief, completely unaware of the fear she was trying to suppress.
Xiaoyue immediately got excited, pulled me to the courtyard, pointed to the four large mirrors and said, "This room is of unclear direction and has too much yin energy. It belongs to the four yin places in feng shui. Evil spirits can increase their power here, while the human world will be weaker in terms of resistance."
"So how do we solve this problem?"
"Use reflective energy, use mirrors to draw sunlight into the house to increase yang energy. I originally wanted to lift the roof tiles to let the sun shine on it and then attract lightning, but Chief Luo's son was afraid that people would find out and it would affect his father's status in the clan, so he insisted on not doing it and had to resort to this inferior measure, which was far less effective."
At this moment, I also saw that Master Xu was placing two strings of mantra gourds on the left and right corners of the window. In some places, he also placed two strings of five ancient coins with white jade mantras, which is said to increase the range of the reflective effect of the evil spirit.
As for the house, it was covered with all kinds of talismans for exorcising evil spirits, but Xiaoyue said that they were not very effective because the talismans only worked on spirits weaker than themselves, and were not very effective against stronger spirits.
"What kind of evil spirit is so powerful?" I asked.
Then Master Xu led a pale-faced, thin-looking man named A-Qiang to greet me, and he respectfully bowed to me.
Ah Qiang was also a childhood playmate of mine, and we knew each other very well. Then Master Xu and Ah Qiang told me the whole story.
The incident occurred a month ago. One day, A-Qiang, the grandson of Luo Zhongsheng, went to his girlfriend's house in the west of the town as usual.
It was 7 p.m., and the sky was just beginning to darken, shrouded in a gray gloom. Inside Taiping New Village, there were few lights, and the roads were narrow and winding.
Ah Qiang said, "Was it unusually dark that day? And so quiet all around?" Suddenly, a gust of cold wind swept over him, blowing his hair and making the hairs on his entire body stand on end. The cold wind chilled him to the bone...
"Ah!" A-Qiang's shoulder seemed to bump into something, startling him. He thought he had encountered someone in the darkness, but he couldn't see anything or anyone. Everything around him was still calm, but the atmosphere was extremely strange. Then, a very strong pressure pressed down on him. With no wind blowing, everything around him suddenly became still. This pressure pressed against his chest, and A-Qiang began to feel short of breath. His loud panting kept echoing around him. At this moment, A-Qiang had a very strong feeling of unease...
He quickened his pace as he walked through the alley toward his girlfriend's house. Soon... Ah Qiang began to find it difficult to see the road ahead. The road ahead became blurry, and it seemed that he had no control over his consciousness and vision. He could see things, yet he couldn't. With no other choice, he could only follow his memory and walk toward his girlfriend's house.
When A-Qiang arrived at his girlfriend's house, he felt relieved. His girlfriend was still taking a shower, while A-Qiang went inside to watch TV. In the living room, A-Qiang sat in front of the TV, watching and chatting with his girlfriend's family.
As we talked, things suddenly started to blur before my eyes, and my body began to go numb—or rather, I felt detached from my physical body. Meanwhile, the voices of my girlfriend's family grew softer and softer…
Later, his girlfriend told him that Ah Qiang suddenly grabbed his own neck with his hands, as if he were trying to strangle himself uncontrollably. His face was turning blue. His girlfriend's family was terrified. Several men immediately grabbed his hands, trying to pry them apart, but his hands seemed locked and they couldn't be separated. At that moment, Ah Qiang was incredibly strong. They had no choice but to take him to the clinic…