The fortune teller paced back and forth, pointing at the stone pillar:
“I can tell you the method. First, you need to put the blood of someone from another family on a pillar to suppress his soul, so that he will carry this pillar for you every day.”
Mr. Zhang's uncle didn't run into it on his own; he was secretly pushed during the argument, and his forehead hit the stone pillar.
No matter how much the wronged soul carrying the stone pillar struggled, it couldn't actually get into the house.
Lu Mingran's master knew about this. Ever since he saved Boss Zhang, he had been dreaming every night of a young man with blood all over his forehead, lying in the backyard with a very heavy stone pillar on his back.
Master Tongrong only wanted to ensure Mr. Zhang's safety, but he forgot his bottom line.
"I think that Master Mingran you mentioned would probably do the same. Don't you agree? Keep it down."
Lin Jiansheng did not give an answer immediately.
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The next morning, the Zhang family got up and went to the villa.
Zhang Yongdu paused deliberately, wanting to wait for Lin Jiansheng, but when he saw Lin Jiansheng's dark circles, he was startled:
"Dr. Lin? You...didn't sleep well last night?"
"It's nothing, I just had some tea."
As Lin Jiansheng was about to leave, Zhang Yongdu grabbed him, pulled him aside, and whispered:
"Dr. Lin, did the photo I showed you yesterday scare you?"
For some reason, Lin Jiansheng sensed an expectation in Zhang Yongdu's tone: "What did you see?"
"I...I didn't see anything."
"That's a lie."
Zhang Yongdu laughed: "I saw your reaction yesterday. Did you notice that my sister seemed to be holding hands with someone?"
"To tell you the truth, our Zhang family has offended some people. My sister was harassed by some unclean things when she was a child."
As if afraid Lin Jiansheng wouldn't understand, Zhang Yongdu said heavily, "Ghost."
Lin Jiansheng gave a timely surprised reaction. In fact, he already knew very well who this family had offended and what bad things they had done.
Interestingly, Zhang Yongdu gritted his teeth and said, word by word:
"What wrong have we Zhang family members done? Let me tell you, even if we, the Zhang family, are all wiped out, even if each of us dies a more gruesome death than the last, the Zhang family will never admit our mistakes!"
The morning sun was calm and warm. Servants were busy tidying up, and outside there were lively voices and birdsong.
In a shady corner of the living room, the usually smiling eldest brother was forcefully stubbing out a cigarette, each word he uttered landing on the floor.
Our Zhang family did nothing wrong.
Lin Jiansheng looked at him and recalled the year he carried the student who had fallen into the ditch to his home. His parents locked the door and refused to open it, shouting that he should be thrown back into the ditch because they had no money to treat him and could not afford to. Otherwise, the remaining children in the family would starve to death.
Those people kept telling him, "We did nothing wrong."
Lin Jiansheng often wondered: Why do people who have done wrong always hold their heads high until they die?
At that moment, he could only remain silent, silently getting into the car and going to the villa with those people.
Lu Mingran was waiting for them there.
They had already met once last night, and Lin Jiansheng felt a little awkward when they saw each other again, while Lu Mingran was very calm and looked over with an unperturbed expression.
For some reason, Lin Jiansheng always felt that Lu Mingran was asking him with this kind of gaze:
"How much money are you planning to give as a red envelope?"
Thinking of this, he could no longer look directly at Lu Mingran and turned his head to look at the villa.
As the male protagonist of the ghost story, Lin Jiansheng immediately noticed the most strange thing about the villa—an eight-immortal table was placed in what should have been the living room.
The octagonal table stood out awkwardly in the spacious area behind the sofa. Even more awkward was the thin wire strung above it, from which hung five hooks used for hanging curtains.
Lu Mingran knew what this place was used for.
At the end of this supernatural scenario, the youngest daughter, Zhang Xingwei, returns.
In truth, Zhang Xingwei was innocent, as she was the youngest and unaware of what her family was doing. But unfortunately, just as Zhang Yongdu said, Zhang Xingwei had been harassed by strange things since childhood, and she had become the "daughter" of a ghost couple in the villa.
At the end of the story, outside the villa, amidst thunder and rain, Zhang Xingwei, with a dazed look in her eyes, walked to the wide-open door and saw a man and a woman dressed in funeral clothes sitting at an eight-immortal table, each with a bowl of white rice stained with blood in front of them.
Both of them had their faces turned towards the rice bowl, while their arms were limply raised and waving at Zhang Xingwei.
It's a call for the child to come home for dinner.
Above the octagonal table, five iron hooks each hooked around a person's neck. Boss Zhang and his four children were hanging on these hooks, their heads tilted and swaying.
“Boss Zhang, this iron hook is…” Lin Jiansheng began uneasily.
Mr. Zhang said nonchalantly, "It's for hanging meat. It's a local custom. You might be scared to hear it, but it's raw meat dripping with blood, haha."
Yes, what was hung up later was indeed raw meat.
Lu Mingran glanced at the hook again, then turned and went to the meditation room. Not long after, Boss Zhang knocked on the door of the meditation room.
"Master, I've been having nightmares lately."
Lu Mingran nodded. He had recently relaxed his suppression of the undead and had long anticipated this outcome.
Mr. Zhang pulled over another prayer mat and sat down. Looking at the young monk before him, he felt as if he were seeing the old monk again.
After a long pause, Mr. Zhang said, "Actually, I've been waiting for your master to say something."
Lu Mingran remained motionless, head bowed, counting her prayer beads.
Mr. Zhang continued, "If he tells me one day that he can't hold back anymore, then I'll feel relieved that I don't have to keep going like this. I've wanted to admit my mistake for a long time."
These were words he never uttered in the novel. Lu Mingran's hands, which were counting the prayer beads, finally paused for a moment.
"Recently, I've been dreaming about many people, including those who worked with me and the beggar who shared his bread with me..."
It seems that Boss Zhang has been completely lost in his memories lately. Now that the undead are no longer suppressed, the flood of memories has given him something to reflect on.
As Lu Mingran listened, something occurred to her, and she suddenly said:
"Mr. Zhang, wait a moment."
Mr. Zhang, whose sorrowful memories had been interrupted, was completely bewildered. He looked up and saw Lu Mingran getting up to rummage through her small suitcase, pulling out a piece of paper with many squares.
"The 'Four Lessons of Fan' mentions a merit and demerit record. Starting today, why don't you write down whatever comes to mind?"
Lu Mingran blinked: "I heard that this can change your fate."
However, given that you've only done bad things and never good deeds, well, these things will only be used as evidence in court.
After seeing Boss Zhang off, Lu Mingran suddenly realized that Boss Zhang was actually quite easy to deal with. The reason he was able to act so arrogantly for so long was simply because of the lenient master.
Lu Mingran hadn't had a chance to relax for long when there was another knock on the door.
This time it's Lin Jiansheng.
Lin Jiansheng stood at the door, curiously wanting to see what was inside Lu Mingran's room, yet hesitant to speak. Finally, when Lu Mingran stared at him, he said:
"Zhang Yongdu wants you to come to his room with me."
Just thinking about Zhang Yongdu and Lu Mingran gives me a headache; I can't understand how this character is thinking now.
Lin Jiansheng was still standing at the door, blocking Lu Mingran's way. He only realized his mistake after Lu Mingran passed by, but just as he was about to move aside, he suddenly heard Lu Mingran say to him:
"I know very well which path I want to take."
Lu Mingran was still bothered by the conversation between Lin Jiansheng and the fat man last night, so he told Lin Jiansheng that he always knew which path to take and would never lose his way.
"Huh?" Lin Jiansheng was stunned for a moment, not understanding.
Lu Mingran then laughed:
"I mean, this house has a rather yin energy. Since you don't believe in Buddhism, I suggest you memorize the core values to boost your courage."
"Alright, he's still waiting for us, let's go."
Ten minutes later.
"That's how it is. I hereby formally announce that you two have passed my initial assessment and are now candidates to become my brother-in-law."
"Oh, right, just remember to avoid cutthroat competition."
Zhang Yongdu looked at the two of them with concern.
Ding—Lu Mingran's WeChat buzzed.
"Tell me quickly how much money you need in the red envelope."
Author's Note: 10,000 words per day for the next two days.
Chapter 47 Want to get on the small boat? No way (6)
No, no, really no one wants to be part of your family. There are only five hooks on the eight-immortal table downstairs, no more than that. One hook can't hold two people; it's too crowded.
Besides... what you're really thinking about probably isn't actually finding yourself a brother-in-law, is it?
Lu Mingran stood up, holding her prayer beads:
"Mr. Zhang, if there is nothing else, this humble monk will take his leave."
Lu Mingran said this awkwardly, especially when he said the words "this humble monk," he felt like he was Tang Sanzang, or rather, Tang Sanzang who was being forced to marry the Queen of the Women's Kingdom.
After saying all that, he quickly walked out the door, saying to the system as he went:
"I don't believe he's interested in me and Lin Jiansheng."
"But he really loves his brothers and sisters. Speaking of Zhang Yongdu, he can be ruthless to everyone, but he loves his own family."
Tsk. Lu Mingran turned around and saw an awkward but polite smile on her face, while the back of her ears was almost completely red.
Lu Mingran was enjoying the joke when suddenly someone patted him on the shoulder.
She is the second daughter of the Zhang family.
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The second daughter married a lawyer, and it's said their relationship wasn't good from the start. Now, she stood at the top of the stairs, slowly smoking a cigarette. After exhaling a smoke ring, she flicked her newly permed hair and said to Lu Mingran: