Chapter 18

Alright, I understand. Seeing that I was hesitating to agree, Zhao Qian felt a bit disappointed, but then, for some unknown reason, she suddenly smiled.

It seemed that she thought my willingness to go home with her might be an opportunity, so her mood improved.

When the car started, Zhao Qian's phone rang. Zhao He, who was in the front, thought we were driving too slowly, so he called to ask about the situation.

Zhao Qian said she had encountered a white-robed ghost, which surprised Zhao He greatly. However, when he heard that I had dealt with it, he felt relieved and didn't plan to come back. We agreed to meet in the city.

It was still several dozen kilometers to the county town. On the way, I saw several white-robed and even flower-robed ghosts trying to stop my car. I was very angry, as it seemed that the heavy yin energy made it impossible to reason with them. Without my sister-in-law to keep them in check, they all came to me.

Fortunately, I still had a little girl ghost on my shoulder.

As soon as she saw the ghosts trying to stop the car, she bared her sharp teeth, scaring them away.

I secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but I wasn't sure if this was a blessing or a curse.

I missed the quiet when my sister-in-law was around, but I didn't think she missed me. For example, she called me an idiot just now, which means she's around but doesn't want or can't protect me.

Soon we drove into the city. Captain Hu woke up, though he was still sick, he could recognize people. After learning about what happened, he thanked us repeatedly and regretted not listening to me.

After sending him to the hospital, we left together in a SUV. Zhao He, who knew the area well, found a restaurant called Da Ruyi for us to eat.

Since everyone was very tired, we ate quickly. Only Yu Xiaoxue was in high spirits, as she had been sleeping on the way back and didn't even notice the ghosts sitting next to her.

After finishing our meal at Da Ruyi, Zhao He asked where we were staying. Zhao Qian said she would stay with us. Although Zhao He felt it was inappropriate for his sister to stay with a stranger, he didn't say much because Yu Xiaoxue was also staying with us.

Lao Hai had a house in the county and only left his contact number after inviting us to visit him next time.

We drove to the luxurious Long Yuan residential area in the county. The houses there were all small villas with their own gates, each occupying more than 200 square meters and having two floors.

Even though the price per square meter was around 7,000 to 8,000 yuan, which was quite high compared to the average 2,000 to 3,000 yuan in the county, these villas were still very luxurious.

There were small gardens outside the villas, with some grand plants in pots. If it weren't dark, the yang energy would be very strong.

Although I couldn't see the unique feng shui layout around the area, since Zhao Qian said it was buried underground, I didn't investigate further.

What a big house! Yu Xiaoxue whispered to me in amazement. She had never seen such a nice house before, and everything was very new to her.

Looking at the huge LCD TV in the living room and the leather sofas surrounding it, she didn't dare to sit down.

Her family was poor, and the clothes she wore were all washed until they were white. After the events of the past two days, her clothes were already too dirty to look at.

"Quick, sit down. I'll tidy up your room," Zhao Qian said, not minding the situation. Seeing Yu Xiaoxue standing dumbfounded at the entrance, she pushed her onto the sofa.

Yu Xiaoxue stood up again, feeling embarrassed, and patted the mud off her buttocks, asking where the bathroom was.

We were all from the village, and I felt very sorry for Yu Xiaoxue.

"Xiaoxue, do you want to take a shower? You didn't bring any change of clothes. If you want to shower, you can wear mine. I have many clothes that I haven't worn yet, and our sizes are similar, so they should fit you." Zhao Qian said and led Yu Xiaoxue to the second-floor bedroom.

Yu Xiaoxue looked at me for approval, as it was her first time at someone else's house, and she felt a bit awkward.

"It's fine, go ahead. Take a shower and rest early. You must be tired. It's not early, and we can talk about your matters tomorrow. I'll watch TV and wait for your sister Zhao's arrangements." I nodded and encouraged her.

Zhao Qian, realizing I was still there, said awkwardly, "Brother Tian, please wait a moment. I'll be back soon."

Then she took Yu Xiaoxue upstairs.

I didn't hesitate, turned on the TV, and took a drink from the fridge. After seeing Yu Xiaoxue go upstairs, I let the little girl ghost out, as I had promised her I would let her out when no one was around.

The little girl ghost initially tried to hang onto my neck, but when she smelled the orange soda I opened, she changed her target.

"Do you want to drink?"

The little girl ghost nodded eagerly and reached for the soda.

I immediately handed her the soda and let her have a few sips, and she showed a very happy expression.

I was surprised, but then I remembered that the chickens at home often disappeared when I was young, and my grandmother never cared, so I understood that she was different from other ghosts.

"Drink this and don't follow me around. Take whatever you like from the fridge and sit at the bar. If you want to eat something, come over." I pointed to a bar near the living room and took another can of soda for myself.

I didn't feel uncomfortable eating and drinking at someone else's house. After all, I thought that since we were staying here, I would eventually have to deal with Zhao Qian, so I might as well enjoy myself while I could.

The TV was showing "Empress Wu's Legend." Although I wasn't very interested, the beautiful women with high beauty standards and revealing clothes caught my attention.

I ended up switching back to this channel after trying several others.

After watching for a while, Zhao Qian came downstairs and saw the main character wearing a tight-fitting top, her face turned red.

Seeing her expression, I immediately coughed and turned off the TV. "Ah, this TV is indeed big and clear. When I turned it on, it was a high-definition movie."

"Not really," Zhao Qian said, a bit embarrassed, and sat down opposite me.

She probably thought I was ridiculous, as I saw the words "high-definition pay channel" at the bottom of the screen before I turned it off. It's not easy to find such a pay channel, and the default channel when I turned it on was an educational channel. Zhao Qian is a well-behaved child at home and wouldn't look for such content like I do.

"Brother Tian, what do you think about my matter? Do you want to go with me tomorrow?" Zhao Qian stared at me, waiting for my nod.

Earlier in the car, she had roughly explained the current situation of the mystic sects in the county.

The Zhao, Li, Zhang, and Wang families are the four major mystic sect families in the county.

The mystic sects are derived from Daoist traditions, inheriting some of the Daoist essence but also having their own unique spells, so they are considered small sect families.

Zhao He and Zhao Qian are the children of Zhao Xi, the son of the Zhao family's patriarch.

Recently, the Zhao family's patriarch was cursed, and he could see ghosts even during the day, who came to take his yang energy. No matter where he was or how well the feng shui was arranged, he couldn't drive the ghosts away.

The Zhao family is a prestigious family, well-known before the founding of the country. Even now, they know many mystic experts. The county has many enterprises and mines, and the Zhao family, being feng shui experts, have shares in many of them. Therefore, they are the wealthiest among the four major mystic sect families. Unable to solve the problem themselves, they hired several powerful Daoist masters to perform rituals.

However, strangely, even after the ghosts were driven away, they would return after a few days, sometimes at night, sometimes in dreams, as if they couldn't be completely eliminated.

It's unclear if the ghost has a deep grudge against the old man, but it doesn't intend to kill him, just to torment him, making him act crazy or dazed.

The old man has a large family, with two sons and a daughter. Seeing that the old man was in trouble, they started looking for experts to save him.

The old man was so thin that even if he were saved, he couldn't manage the family affairs. The old lady announced that whichever child could find an expert to save their father would have the right to discuss the position of the family head.

Therefore, the eldest son, Zhao Xi, not only hired a powerful Daoist master but also sent his children to invite Zhou Xianniang, who had a good relationship with my grandmother, for help.

The second son, Zhao Zhou, was not to be outdone and sent his son to invite a powerful Daoist master from his wife's family, the Wu family.

As for the third daughter, Zhao Yuan, although she didn't inherit the Zhao family's feng shui knowledge, she managed to invite the abbot of Piantian Temple and his followers from the city.

The competition among the three families to diagnose and save the old man was getting more intense, and they even chose a lucky day for the rituals. Although the powerful Daoist masters hired by Zhao Qian's father were ready, she wasn't very confident that her father would win.

Moreover, there are many people who claim to be authentic mystic sect members. They read a few feng shui books from street vendors and a few mystery novels online, and claim they can drive away ghosts and understand feng shui. Who knows if they are real or not, and if they can succeed?

Zhao Qian had seen me drive away tigers and wolves with her own eyes, so she trusted me and insisted that I go with her tomorrow.

With so many high-level Daoist, mystic, and Buddhist masters, they could scare away the ghost just by showing up. I don't think I need to go and just add to the numbers. I found it a bit amusing that a family matter could be so complicated, with such a grand setup just to drive away a ghost.

"Brother Tian, if you have nothing to do tomorrow, please go with me. Grandpa was very kind to me when he was clear-headed. I can't let him suffer like this. My father said it might be the work of competitors." Zhao Qian pleaded.

Actually, as a famous female feng shui master, although Zhao Qian isn't highly regarded by the older generation, she is well-known among the younger generation in the county and has a solid footing. She is also not short of money.

Many young men try to find various reasons to see her for feng shui consultations, such as saying their office is in a prime location but still losing money, or that their ancestral graves are too expensive and need to be moved, or that they dreamed their grandfather pinched their buttocks and asked if the grave should be moved.

Therefore, whether her father becomes the family head or not doesn't really affect her. From her expression, she was just concerned about her grandfather.

Unable to resist Zhao Qian's persistent pleading, and thinking that I wasn't going to be her indentured servant, I agreed to go and see what was happening: "Alright, I'll go with you tomorrow. It's a way to thank me for letting Yu Xiaoxue and me stay here. Of course, I'll just be there as a friend, and whether I help or not is up to me."

"Great!" Zhao Qian clapped her hands happily.

"Don't be too excited. As for your request for me to work for you and catch ghosts, I haven't agreed to that. I have many things to do, and I might leave the county after settling Yu Xiaoxue." I immediately cooled her enthusiasm.

"Alright, I understand." Zhao Qian dragged out the last word, not really convinced, and was probably already planning her next move.

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