Chapter 4
Is it time? It’s time, it’s fate.
Zhang Wei coughed twice and tried to lift the curtain with his dry hands to see what the man looked like, but the housekeeper mistook him for a handkerchief. The moment the curtain was lifted, Zhang Wei opened his cloudy eyes wide.
"So it's Master Shi." Zhang Wei raised his eyelids and said solemnly, "Master, do you have a solution?"
Shi Ye suppressed the restless paper figurines in his purse and asked in return, "Who are they that the prefect is talking about?"
The person behind the curtain paused, then said angrily, "They're just unlucky bitches. Master, just get rid of them. Isn't that what you're supposed to do?"
Shi Ye frowned. The smell here was almost making him sick. Even his father-in-law flew away from a distance at first.
He stood up and said goodbye without any hesitation: "I will find out the right and wrong myself. From now on, I hope the prefect will order his servants to cooperate with me."
He turned and left. Zhang Wei flung open the curtains and collapsed on the edge of the bed. He looked greedily at the cold figure, grabbed the butler's sleeve and asked, "Go, go ask, go ask quickly."
The housekeeper had served him for many years and naturally knew what Zhang Wei was going to ask. He said with great embarrassment, "Sir, how can this be done? Not to mention that Master Shi is a man, he's also a ghost exorcist. If we offend him rashly, who will solve the strange problems in the mansion?"
Zhang Wei pushed him away, "Trash."
.
Shi Ye walked out of the range of the incense, and his father-in-law flew over and stood on his shoulder. Shi Ye drew out a thunder talisman and was surprised to see that it was intact.
He placed a sub-talisman on the fake Taoist priest early in the morning. As long as the fake Taoist priest was two miles away from him, he would activate the Thunder Mother Talisman, and the sub-talisman would emit a bolt of lightning that would strike him half to death.
He thought that Wang Sheng would escape.
Before he could sit in his room for long, Wang Sheng rushed in breathlessly, poured himself a full cup of tea and drank it all in one gulp, then pointed at him and couldn't say anything for a long time.
Shi also glanced at him, and Wang Sheng finally caught his breath and said, "Guess what I found out?"
Shi Ye took out the thing called Wuliang Scale again and did not respond to him. However, Wang Sheng never needed anyone to respond to his words. He could chat with himself enthusiastically.
"This prefect Zhang has married fifty concubines and one wife so far. Now, only his wife and the three newly married concubines are left." Wang Sheng was dumbfounded, as if he had said something extremely extraordinary.
"There are fifty-one of them! I heard that each concubine gave her family fifty taels of silver, but they only spent a hundred taels to hire me. I thought they were paying a high price to hire me out of retirement, but I didn't expect it was just a small amount of money left in their pockets!"
Wang Sheng showed a small section of his fingers. He had been living in the business for more than ten years and couldn't even afford a house in a good location. Yet, the man had so many concubines that he couldn't even count them. It was really frustrating to compare oneself with others.
"Furthermore, this wife is extremely jealous. She can't stand seeing the beautiful women around Zhang Taishou, so she spent a lot of money to send them away. Now she only has three concubines left."
When he saw this, he put a hair on one side of the Wuliang scale. He was curious and came over to take a look. Just then, one side collapsed instantly.
Wang Sheng picked up the hair and looked at it in front of his eyes. The hair had many branches, was dry and dull, which reminded him of Zhang Wei.
He asked Shiye: "What does this mean?"
Shi Ye snorted coldly: "Aren't you a ghost hunter? Don't you know what this means?"
Wang Sheng raised his head and said, "I, how could I not know? I was just testing you."
Shi Ye raised his hand, and the hair in Wang Sheng's hand instantly caught fire. He was startled and stood up, looking at Shi Ye angrily, "What are you doing!"
Shi Ye: "This hair is full of bad luck. Are you sure you want to keep holding it?"
What? Bad luck! Wang Sheng quickly wiped his hands on himself and asked, "Whose hair is this?"
"Zhang Wei."
As soon as he entered Zhang Wei's room, he released a paper man, controlled the paper man to quietly climb onto Zhang Wei's bed and cut off a hair from him. The other hair that Wuliangcheng had was Shi Ye's own.
Wuliang Scale never weighs things by weight, but judges who is heavier and who is lighter by soul, good and evil. He observed that there was nothing wrong with Zhang Wei's soul during the day, so it could only be that Zhang Wei's hands were stained with things that shouldn't be stained.
Wang Sheng coughed. Heavy hair was definitely not a good thing. He plopped down next to Shi Ye and asked, covering his mouth with his hands, "I've always felt that Zhang Wei is not a good person. He's lustful and greedy. What are you going to do next?"
He patted his chest and said righteously, "If you want to investigate, I will definitely accompany you. I am not a coward. Even if he is a prefect, what does it matter? What I hate most in my life is people who occupy positions without doing anything!"
If he could get lucky, maybe he could live a life of having many wives and concubines, hahaha!
Just as Wang Sheng was showing an obscene smile, a lump of something warm fell on his head. Wang Sheng touched it and suddenly retched. It was bird poop!
Shi Ye couldn't drink his tea anymore, it was really offensive. He frowned, looking sullen and ready to explode. He glared at his father-in-law, who was happily swaying his plump, chicken-like body from the beams of the house.
"You damn fat bird! If you're brave enough, come down and fight me one on one! What kind of character do you have! I saved you last night. Come down, and don't blame me for my mean tactics later!"
"Get lost, get lost."
Wang Sheng took off his shoes and threw them towards the beam. One of them missed and bounced back and hit the servant who was carrying lunch. The servant was afraid that the lunch would spill, so he covered his head with his hands.
Wang Sheng was startled. He quickly picked up his shoes, put them on, and went to take the food. He looked at the servant apologetically and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, brother. It's really my fault. Are you okay? Do you want to go to the clinic to get some medicine to apply on it?"
The servant waved his hands repeatedly. Regardless of whether it was a small matter, even if there was something wrong, he could not let the distinguished guest take the charge of wounding others, otherwise he would still be punished by the housekeeper.
"It's okay, it's okay as long as the food isn't spilled. Masters, please eat first. Call me if you need anything."
When he was about to leave, he found that the red seal in his sleeve had just fallen out, so he bent down and picked it up.
Shi Ye stopped him and asked, "Brother, may I ask what is inside this red envelope?"
The servant scratched his head and said embarrassedly, "The mansion has a new concubine today, and the backyard wants us servants to share in the celebration. We gave fifty coins each, and the mistress's personal servants and maids can get a hundred coins."
Wang Sheng: "She's the fifty-first concubine!"
He approached Shi Ye excitedly, but was frozen in place by Shi Ye's sharp eyes. Only then did he remember that there was bird droppings on his hands and head.
When Wang Sheng followed the servant out to wash his hands and came back, Shi was also preparing to go out with his sword on his back.
"Hey, where are you going? Aren't you going to wait for me to come back and eat together?" He glanced inside and didn't touch the food.
Wang Sheng ignored him. His stomach was growling with hunger. Seeing that everyone had walked away, he gritted his teeth and followed them. I'm impressed. Could it be that these masters have all practiced fasting and transcended the world? They don't even need to eat.
Along the way, Wang Sheng saw that the prefect's mansion was the same as usual, without any major movement, and there was no sign of joy at the addition of a new concubine.
After they had inquired, they arrived at the main hall and saw the new concubine offering tea to the governor's wife. The governor's wife had a dull expression, showing neither joy nor disgust, which startled the new concubine.
When the prefectural governor sent a matchmaker to propose marriage, their family was happy. The gift the governor offered for a concubine was so generous that even being accused of selling their daughter was worth it. She was also happy. Her family was very poor, so if she could get a gift by marrying into the family, she would naturally be willing.
But later on, people gradually heard that the wife of the prefect was extremely jealous, and she would find ways to send away any concubine who was beautiful and favored. It was also rumored that she even beat and scolded the concubines, but whether this was true or not was unknown.
Thinking of this, the new concubine's neck shrank, and the pearl hairpins on her head rustled. She kowtowed and expressed her sincerity: "It is my blessing to marry into the prefectural governor's mansion. From now on, I will follow the madam's lead and fulfill my duties."
Wang Sheng and the others were standing outside the door. He tutted his words, touched Shi Ye's arm, and said, "It's only natural for the wife of the principal house to act so arrogantly. After all, who would want their husband to be lingering around with a young and beautiful concubine while they stay alone in the empty room? Do you think the wife killed this female ghost?"
He rolled his eyes and touched his chin: "But then again, this is another hundred taels of silver given out..."
Shi Ye glared at Wang Sheng, but seeing that the man was absorbed in calculating the wealth of the prefect's mansion and did not sense his anger, he could only give up and stand a little further away.
The prefect's wife sat in the upper seat, twirling Buddhist beads in her hand. A hint of mockery crossed her well-maintained face when she heard the new concubine's words. She took a sip of tea and said, "Get up. You won't have to pay your respects to me from now on. Just stay in your own courtyard."
"I will follow my wife's instructions."
The prefect's wife saw two people standing outside. One had an immortal appearance and a distinguished figure, and the other was someone she had met yesterday. They didn't shy away from each other, so she said directly, "Come in, both of you."
The new concubine was quite considerate. Seeing the guests, she stood up and left. When she met He Shiye, she blushed and stepped aside to let them pass first.
The wife of the prefect: "You two are the guests of the master, right? The master should be in the study now. If you have anything, please go to the study." She spoke lightly, as if the sky falling was a trivial matter to her.
Shi Ye greeted the greetings and replied, "Seeing that there is a happy event in the mansion, I wanted to come and share in the joy. I hope I didn't offend the lady."
The wife of the prefect was rarely surprised. Why didn't these two perform rituals instead of coming to share in the good fortune?
She waved her hand and said, "In that case, wrap the two guests in red cloth as well."
Wang Sheng, who was standing by, was the happiest. He said thank you and took the heavy red envelope, wondering how much money was inside.
Seeing her beading in her hand, she asked, "Madam, do you still believe in Buddhism?"
The prefect's wife had the same expression again: "I'm sorry to offend you, Master. You two have already been invited to your feast. I'm a little tired, so I won't entertain you any more."
After she finished speaking, a maid came to help her leave.
Everyone had left, but Wang Sheng saw him still standing there, so he asked him, "What's wrong?"
Shi Ye said perfunctorily: "Nothing."
Wang Sheng followed him out of the main hall, imitating him from behind, pouting his lips and mumbling, "Nothing."
A red envelope slammed towards him, and his expression instantly changed: "Fellow Daoist, you truly despise money as dirt! I must follow your example and improve my body and mind in the future."
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