“That house is haunted!” the old broker said in a low voice, sitting down and leaning forward slightly.
“It started about two years ago. The house originally belonged to a wealthy family. One night, they suddenly heard a woman crying in the courtyard, it was extremely eerie. The servants went out with lanterns to check and saw a woman in white sitting by the well, weeping with her face covered.
“When the servant asked who she was, she didn’t answer, just kept crying. The servant thought it might be one of the household’s women who had been wronged and came to the courtyard to vent. So, he raised his lantern to get a better look, but then…”
At this point, the old broker’s voice became even lower, putting on airs as if he had personally witnessed the terrifying event.
“What happened next?” Chu Caiwei clenched her small fists, her big eyes blinking, looking both nervous and expectant.
Xu Qi An was reminded of the women from his previous life who were scared but still wanted to watch horror movies. She was a seventh-rank feng shui master.
“At that moment…” the old broker’s voice became ethereal, his expression dark and frightening: “The woman raised her face. Her features were a bloody mess, her eyeballs hanging on her face, leaving two black holes with maggots crawling in and out. Her mouth was blackish-purple, with dark blood oozing out…”
Xu Qi An saw goosebumps rise on Chu Caiwei’s fair neck, her delicate body shivering slightly.
The old broker was very satisfied with Chu Caiwei’s reaction and smiled with a sense of accomplishment: “After the first wealthy family moved out, the next two or three buyers encountered the same incident. There were even stranger things. It was as if they were cursed with bad luck, with problems occurring one after another. If it wasn’t someone in the family getting hurt, it was their business plummeting, their wealth dwindling, forcing them to move out of the house.”
This broker seems to have a conscience… Xu Qi An asked, “Did they report it to the authorities?”
“Of course they did. But because no one died, the officials came a few times and then stopped caring. The previous wealthy families did invite masters to help. It was peaceful for a while at first, but it soon flared up again. The female ghost’s mournful cries at night made everyone in the household anxious.
“The bad luck didn’t improve either. Those who were meant to be unlucky remained unlucky.”
Xu Qi An tapped the table and smiled, “Sounds like an interesting house. We’d like to see it first.”
The old broker was very surprised, thinking this young couple must be fools, young and arrogant, not knowing their own limitations, always thinking they were special and would be treated differently.
“Alright, I’ll take you to see it now. We can take our time, there are plenty of houses,” the old broker said with a humble smile on his face.
…
The house was only three li away from the Courtesans’ Quarters. To the east of the house was a winding river, and to the west was a garden. It was several dozen meters away from the main street, neither too far nor too close. During the day, there was neither noisy clamor nor was it too far to go out for a stroll.
Quiet amidst the bustle, it was a good location.
The old broker unlocked the gate hanging on the house door and laboriously pushed open the heavy main door. While dusting off his hands, he made a gesture of invitation:
“This way, sir and madam.”
“Sir and madam” was a very respectful form of address, like being called “Mr. and Mrs.” on formal occasions. “Young master and young miss” would correspond to “handsome guy and beautiful lady”.
“Mm!” Xu Qi An nodded, leading Chu Caiwei in, and looking around. The courtyard had an air of desolation and decay, with gray dust covering the ground, and the paint on the pillars and walls peeling off. If they had come in summer, they might have seen the yard full of weeds.
There was an earthy smell coming from the garden.
The old broker led them around the front courtyard and front hall. Xu Qi An was quite satisfied; whether in layout or architecture, it was more spacious and grand than Second Uncle’s house.
But the old broker was dead set against taking them to the inner courtyard, rubbing his hands and saying, “Let’s just look up to here. We can’t go inside, it’s inauspicious.”
I find you more of a hindrance… Xu Qi An waved his hand: “You wait outside. We’ll come out later. I’ll take my wife to have a look.”
It was morning now, with the sun shining brightly. The old broker felt a bit more at ease and advised, “Come out soon, okay?”
Chu Caiwei belatedly looked at Xu Qi An, frowning, “Who’s your wife? Stop talking nonsense.”
It’s just a matter of time…
“You’re strange. With savings, shouldn’t you be buying land? Why are you buying a house instead?”
“When you experience the fear of being controlled by housing prices, you’ll be the same as me,” Xu Qi An said while vigilantly surveying the surroundings. “I know that except for Taoists, the primordial spirits of cultivators from other systems linger in the world for a long time after death, specifically judged by the strength of the primordial spirit. Does this house have the remnant primordial spirit of a powerful person who died?”
Xu Qi An calmly took out the small jade mirror, tapped its back, and drew out the black gold long saber.
Meeting Chu Caiwei’s widened beautiful eyes, he smiled and said, “This is my treasure, and also my secret. Don’t tell others, okay? I’ll treat you to some delicious food later.”
“Oh.” Chu Caiwei just curiously looked at it for a few moments before losing interest. After all, her deerskin waist pouch was also a magic item for storing objects.
Trading a broken mirror for a delicious meal was too good a deal.
Chu Caiwei leaped onto the roof ridge. Her pretty almond eyes rippled with clear light, like Iron Man’s eyes.
She carefully scanned the house, leaping and changing positions on the roof ridge, not missing any corner.
Finally, her clear-light eyes fell on the well in the inner courtyard. She saw faint black qi dispersing.
“It’s here.” Chu Caiwei’s heart leaped with joy. She gracefully landed and pulled Xu Qi An to the well:
“There’s resentful qi here, the kind that can nurture ghosts and demons.”
Xu Qi An was startled inwardly, showing a wary expression, and pulled Chu Caiwei away.
“It’s okay!” The beautiful woman shook her head, “The resentful qi is very weak. It seems the vengeful spirit or demon inside isn’t strong. I can handle it alone.”
Saying this, she reached into her deerskin pouch and took out various items: black dog blood, cinnabar, gold, and other strange objects that Xu Qi An couldn’t recognize.
Then, with the well as the center, she used a dry branch to draw on the ground, vaguely forming an Eight Trigrams array.
After drawing the Eight Trigrams array, she placed those objects symbolizing extreme yang and extreme hardness at specific positions.
“Is this a formation?” Xu Qi An watched with great interest.
“No, this is a feng shui array. Strictly speaking, it’s not a formation. I use the well as the center to set up this pure yang feng shui array. Where the Eight Trigrams diagram covers, the feng shui changes, becoming extremely hard and yang, which perfectly counters the resentful qi in the well,” Chu Caiwei explained.
It’s like a rudimentary version of a formation… Feng shui masters are the predecessors or foundation of formation masters. Xu Qi An’s understanding of the system of Imperial Astronomers deepened another step.
After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Chu Caiwei opened her clear-light eyes and nodded with satisfaction: “It’s gone.”
Xu Qi An smiled, “Thank you, Miss Caiwei.”
They gathered the materials together. Chu Caiwei patted her deerskin waist pouch, looking quite proud of her achievement, and said, “I’ll accompany you to check the feng shui of other courtyards first, then, um, I want to go to Guiyue Tower tonight.”
“Alright!” Xu Qi An readily agreed.
The two walked side by side towards the exit. After a few steps, Chu Caiwei suddenly stopped, making a sound of surprise. She turned her head back, her pupils rippling with clear light.
In her vision of observing qi, faint black qi was rising from the well again.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Qi An asked, seeing her unusual expression.
“It wasn’t completely purified… No, the black qi has appeared again. There’s something strange at the bottom of the well,” Chu Caiwei ran back, leaned over the well, and stared for a moment, unwilling to accept defeat. She set up the pure yang feng shui array again to dispel the black qi.
But the result was the same as before, the black qi emerged again.
“What should we do?” Xu Qi An hadn’t expected the situation to be even more troublesome than anticipated.
“The simplest and most effective way is to invite monks from Qinglong Temple to perform a ritual to eliminate the black qi…” Before Chu Caiwei could finish, she saw Xu Qi An running to the well.
With a serious expression, he made hand seals while muttering:
“Audacious demon, playing tricks! Great Majestic Heavenly Dragon, World-Honored One, Ksitigarbha! Great Luo Dharma Spell, Prajna Buddhas! Prajna Paramita! Flying Dragon in the Sky! Be gone!”
Nothing happened. Not even the wind stirred.
Chu Caiwei stared at him blankly: “What are you doing?”
“This is a demon-catching spell from my hometown. I was just giving it a try,” Xu Qi An shrugged. “The demon-catching spells from my hometown aren’t reliable.”
Chu Caiwei said, “I hadn’t finished speaking earlier. Didn’t that broker say that the previous wealthy families had invited monks to perform rituals, but after a period of peace, it returned to its original state?
“This matches what just happened to me.”
“Then what should we do?” Xu Qi An asked.
“I have a guess now. Let’s come back tonight,” Chu Caiwei said confidently. “But you need to eat more.”
Eating more is no problem, but I always feel you’re not reliable. Don’t forget you’re a poor student, little sister Caiwei… Xu Qi An smiled and said:
“With Miss Caiwei taking action, what do I have to worry about? If you say eat more, then I’ll eat more.”
The two then left the place and followed the old broker, rushing east and west to see other houses.
For Xu Qi An, there were many choices, and he wasn’t in a hurry to make a decision.
…
Warm sunlight shone on the watchtower. Wei Yuan, dressed in a gray robe, bathed in the sunlight.
His face glowed with a warm jade-like luster, the silver hair at his temples reflecting the sunlight, more dazzling than silver.
“The Princess Pingyang case completely crushed the Liang faction, the tax silver case, and the Sangbo case caused heavy losses to the Wang faction. Now the Yan faction and Qi faction remain relatively intact on the court,” Wei Yuan pulled out a secret letter from his sleeve and smiled:
“And this secret letter can break one wing of the Qi faction.”
Nangong Qianrou smiled coldly: “Father, take advantage of the imperial examination to get rid of these annoying stumbling blocks early. So you can flex your muscles freely.”
“No hurry!” Just as Wei Yuan was about to continue, footsteps were heard on the stairs. An official came up and said:
“Lord Wei, His Majesty summons you.”
…
Nangong Qianrou slowly parked the carriage outside the palace city. Wei Yuan alighted from the carriage and, accompanied by this adopted son more beautiful than women, headed towards the Imperial Study.
Emperor Yuanjing rarely attended court, but occasionally he would hold a small court meeting in the Imperial Study. Usually, this was infrequent, but during the imperial examination period, these small court meetings became more frequent.
After all, he wasn’t truly deaf to affairs outside the window, solely focused on cultivating longevity.
Arriving outside the Imperial Study, and stepping over the high threshold, Wei Yuan’s footsteps paused imperceptibly before returning to normal.
“Your subject Wei Yuan pays respects to Your Majesty.” The grand eunuch bowed, his gaze instantly sweeping over the Emperor’s face and those of the ministers on both sides.
He sensed danger.
Emperor Yuanjing’s face was expressionless as he said in a deep voice: “Wei Yuan, why did I let you lead the Night Watchmen?”
Wei Yuan replied: “To protect Your Majesty and protect the capital.”
“Well said.” Emperor Yuanjing nodded, then suddenly grabbed a memorial from the table and threw it violently at Wei Yuan, speaking harshly:
“Is this how you protect me? I trusted you wholeheartedly, is this how you repay me?”