Yu Pingfeng didn’t know what he was thinking either.
He told himself ten thousand times in his heart that such superstitious nonsense couldn’t be believed. What charlatan, what fake immortal, they were all just scams, nothing more than an idiot tax. The person who talked him up to the skies and strongly recommended him to come here must be an accomplice. The kid in front of him was still so young, his feathers not even fully grown, what skills could he possibly have? For all he knew, it was some new type of fraud scheme.
But for some reason, when the kid held up the QR code to him for the second time, he didn’t slap the card away on a whim like he had mentally rehearsed. Instead, he gritted his teeth, scanned the code, and paid the price the other party had set.
Because, no matter how furious he was, no matter how unwilling he was to accept it emotionally, he had to admit that what this person said made a lot of sense…
He had no reason to scam him.
If he were really a swindler, this person could have just said some nice words, made him happily hand over the money, and sent him off full of hope to keep looking. There was absolutely no need to pull this kind of stunt, offending the customer and getting cursed out in return. If he didn’t have real skills, then the only explanation was that he was both stupid and malicious.
Six hundred wasn’t a huge sum for Yu Pingfeng either; it wouldn’t make him poor nor make anyone else rich. He wanted to see what this kid could possibly come up with after taking the money.
“First,” Under Yu Pingfeng’s watchful gaze, Fu Sang closed his eyes.
He recalled the fragmented feelings and images that had flashed through his mind when the talisman burned earlier.
“From here as the center, head northwest. He’s in a very cold place.”
“Cold?” Yu Pingfeng couldn’t help repeating.
“Yes.”
Fu Sang frowned slightly, a chill spreading bit by bit from his chest:
“Cold, much colder than the current temperature, cold enough to form frost. And the space is narrow and cramped. I’m inclined to think it’s someone’s refrigerator or freezer. Also… it’s not necessarily an intact body.”
Yu Pingfeng’s face turned pale.
He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. When he spoke, his voice was already unsteady:
“A-and then?”
“Second,” Fu Sang opened his eyes and told him two words:
“Woman.”
“What?” Yu Pingfeng was stunned.
“His death is related to a woman, and moreover…” Fu Sang paused slightly, then, after confirming it, raised an eyebrow slightly:
“A dead woman.”
“What are you talking about…” Yu Pingfeng felt this was getting absurd:
“You’re not going to tell me my brother was killed by a female ghost, are you?”
Fu Sang shrugged:
“Unlikely, but not entirely impossible. Given that it involves the dead, it’s a special case, I can take on this case to the end. But this is more expensive, starting at five figures, and requires an upfront payment. If you accept, we can discuss it in detail.”
“…Oh, so you were waiting for me here?” Yu Pingfeng exploded again:
“So it’s still a layered scam, right? Six hundred to throw out a brick and attract jade, then plan to make a big killing? I’ll report you for fraud, do you believe me?!”
“Calm down, Mr. Yu. I didn’t force you to pay, nor did I stop you from leaving. I’m just telling you about this possibility.”
Fu Sang raised his hand and made a six with his fingers: “Six hundred yuan for three leads, our business is complete. If you want to inquire about other services, you’re always welcome.”
“But you didn’t tell me anything useful! Northwest, freezer, woman. The capital is so big, how many freezers and women are there? Am I supposed to check every single one?!”
“That’s your problem, Mr. Yu. I said from the start that I can only give leads, not an exact location, and I can’t guarantee a hundred percent success. You accepted all of that. Now that the deal is done, it’s not really appropriate to complain, is it? As for how to find him, that’s not a problem included in this price range. I did say I could take full responsibility, it’s just a matter of whether you accept it or not.”
Fu Sang’s hand rested on the edge of the counter, his fingers tapping lightly:
“Don’t worry, my shop is legal and compliant. Everything is registered under my real name, I can’t run away. I hope you find your brother soon. When that happens, you’ll know whether I was telling the truth today or just making up a story.”
After a pause, Fu Sang added: “Oh, and don’t easily go to others for calculations just to compare prices. Outsiders may not be as skilled as I am, but they’ll definitely charge more than me. However, if you just want to buy some psychological comfort and emotional value, then by all means, go ahead.”
“…” Fu Sang had blocked all of Yu Pingfeng’s retorts, leaving him standing there for a long time without coming up with a response.
He felt that his biggest mistake today was walking into this gloomy shop and meeting such a strange person. It was truly a case of paying money to suffer.
Yu Pingfeng turned and left.
But before he left, he heard the kid call out to him again:
“Wait!”
Yu Pingfeng paused in his steps.
“You and your brother are very close, right?”
“Of course!” Yu Pingfeng’s tone wasn’t very good.
“Your brother isn’t a good person. He died a violent death, and there are still karmic debts unpaid. Because you were very close to him, part of his unresolved bad karma has turned into a malevolent energy and transferred onto you. Lately, have you been feeling dazed, forgetful, pessimistic, lost interest in everything, and have bad luck, with everything seemingly going wrong?”
Fu Sang didn’t wait for Yu Pingfeng to answer, continuing on his own:
“These are the effects of the malevolent energy. Even though you didn’t plant the cause, you have to bear the consequence on his behalf. So, if not intervened in time, you might face a disaster involving bloodshed. But, it won’t be life-threatening, of course.”
Yu Pingfeng snorted: “What? Are you going to say you can fix it, but it’s a new service and requires a separate fee?”
Fu Sang nodded honestly: “That’s right.”
This indeed sounded exactly like a con artist who makes things sound terrifyingly scary just to find ways to extract money. Yu Pingfeng didn’t take it seriously at all and walked away without another word.
The door opened and closed again, bringing a jingling of bells.
Qi Changying watched Yu Pingfeng’s figure disappear behind the glass door, not looking away for a long time.
“What are you looking at?” Fu Sang glanced at him: “If you have nothing to do, go back to sorting the inventory.”
“…” Only then did Qi Changying come back to his senses, “The smell on him was very unpleasant, and his entire body was surrounded by a black aura. Is that what you call malevolent energy?”
“Yeah.”
Hearing Fu Sang chatting with Qi Changying again, Huo Wei was too curious to resist, so she secretly cast a Spirit-Communication spell on herself to try to join their conversation.
“That smell is very strong. Although it may not threaten his life, he will likely encounter a bloody disaster soon.” Qi Changying withdrew his gaze and indeed walked back to open another cardboard box, continuing to count the goods for Fu Sang.
Fu Sang pulled the chair over and sat down, yawning: “It’s none of my business.”
“But you told him.” Qi Changying said.
“So what?”
“If you really didn’t want to help him, you could have not told him. Telling him means you wanted to help him and could have helped him, so why didn’t you?”
“Are you deaf? Because he didn’t want to pay.”
After saying this, Fu Sang remembered that, as Huo Wei had said, there was a barrier between humans and ghosts. Qi Changying indeed couldn’t understand what Yu Pingfeng was saying.
The ghost didn’t elaborate, only continuing to ask: “Does it always require payment?”
“Are you willing to work for others for free without taking money?”
“…” Qi Changying thought for a moment: “If I can help him, I’m willing.”
“Wow, then you have such a noble character. I’m ashamed of myself. This year’s Blind Cat Alley’s Top Ten Most Inspiring Figures’ will reserve a spot for you.”
Fu Sang couldn’t even be bothered to lift his eyelids, not intending to continue dealing with this talkative, curious, and overly saintly Red Crimson.
But Huo Wei couldn’t help speaking up:
“It’s because of karma.”
“Karma?” Qi Changying was slightly taken aback, turning his gaze to her.
This was the first time Huo Wei was speaking with Qi Changying face-to-face, and she was a little nervous inside. She tried hard to explain to him: “Yes, for people in our line of work, karma is heavier than heaven. For example, just now, San You saw the malevolent energy on that man. That’s the cause. If he kept quiet and the man later met with a bloody disaster, then he would bear responsibility and would become entangled in the consequence of that event.
“He can only remove himself from the karmic chain by informing the other party. If the other party knows the situation but, for his own reasons, doesn’t take it seriously, then any harm that befalls him has nothing to do with San You. If the other party takes it seriously and pays a fee, and San You helps him avert the disaster, then they’re also settled. But if the other party says he doesn’t need help and San You forcibly intervenes, that also counts as interfering in someone else’s karma.”
“Of course, whether to warn a stranger you happen to pass by on the road doesn’t matter much, but that Mr. Yu had already gone through one round of karmic exchange with him through the earlier transaction. So he couldn’t just pretend he didn’t see it. After all, our line of work deals with fate and spirits every day; we are in the metaphysics business. If we inadvertently get entangled in karmic fate that’s hard to resolve, and it can’t be settled in this lifetime, it will cling to you life after life until it’s finally resolved.”
“Ghosts don’t get entangled in karma. Why bother explaining so much to him,” Fu Sang raised an eyebrow slightly:
“Are you bored?”
“Hey San You, listen to yourself. He’s someone you’ve studied for half your life from books. Could you at least be a bit nicer to your research subject?”
Huo Wei really couldn’t stand Fu Sang’s mouth: “The same goes for doing business. Could you be a bit nicer to your customers too? Choose your words more carefully before speaking, be more tactful. What good does it do you to piss people off like that? What if they get angry and beat you up?”
“I would call the police.”
Fu Sang clicked the plastic lighter in his hand with a “click, click, click”. Seeing this, Huo Wei felt in her pocket, pulled out a cigarette pack, and tossed it to him:
“Stop clicking, it’s so noisy!”
Fu Sang caught the cigarette pack, casually said thanks, pulled out a thin cigarette, lit it, took a drag, and then said:
“He doesn’t say what I like to hear, so why should I say what he likes to hear? I’m just poor and need to make money, not someone who lacks fatherly love and wants to play the son.”
“Damn it…” Huo Wei instinctively felt Fu Sang was using a twisted logic, but after thinking about it carefully, she really couldn’t find a strong counterargument.
‘Forget it, this guy’s weird temper wasn’t something new. I’m not going to bother with him.’
“Studying me?”
After half a second of silence, a certain ghost suddenly spoke.
How novel. Their conversation had already moved on several topics, yet there was still someone lingering in the last century.
Huo Wei subconsciously looked at Qi Changying, only to see that the ghost, who was beside the box just a moment ago, had vanished like smoke and reappeared next to Fu Sang: “Why study me?”
“It’s none of your damn business,” Fu Sang held the cigarette in his mouth, looking down and scrolling through his phone.
“What is ‘damn business’?”
Fu Sang thought for a moment, then asked in a more refined way: “What’s it to you?”
“It involves me, so it naturally concerns me.” Although he said that, Qi Changying didn’t press further. Instead, he was drawn to the phone in Fu Sang’s hand: “Fu Sang, I see you holding this brick-like glowing object every day. What use does it have?”
“I’m practicing yansheng magic.” Fu Sang kept his eyes down, rapidly tapping the screen of his phone playing the Klotski puzzle game.
“… Yansheng arts? Curses?” Qi Changying was taken aback.
**Yansheng (厌胜), meaning “to suppress and overcome,” is an ancient Chinese ritual practice of using charms, talismans, or effigies to either ward off evil spirits and disasters, or to cast curses on enemies.
“Yes. It means that right here, right now, at this moment, if a certain ghost says one more word to disturb the peace, he can go back into the seal and never be reincarnated for all eternity.”
Qi Changying then understood:
“So Fu Sang finds me noisy. I’m sorry, the people and things here are vastly different from a thousand years ago. There’s nothing here that I’m familiar with. Before this lady activated the spell, I only knew you, and could only understand you.”
Fu Sang, who was about to flick the ash from his cigarette, paused at these words.
He looked up and glanced at Qi Changying.
He thought his previous words were harsh enough. Did this ghost have no temper at all?
As it turned out, Qi Changying indeed didn’t seem to have much of a temper.
When Fu Sang looked over, Qi Changying was leaning close to him, lowering his head to smell his scent. Caught in the act, he only froze for a moment, before raising his lips and smiling at Fu Sang:
“People used to say I talked too much too, but I could never change it. If it helps you vent your anger, a curse is fine. I’ve already been sealed for a thousand years, with no hope of life in a thousand deaths. One more curse from Fu Sang won’t make a difference.”
