Chapter 45 The Master's Suicide
She quickly turned around and put the brazier down.
The moment the brazier touched the ground, all the lights in the corridor outside the door went out.
Everything was pitch black as far as the eye could see, and the only sound was the frantically pounding of bells.
Chu Ci: "..."
The endless darkness enveloped her, and most of the excitement that had welled up inside her vanished, replaced by a sense of panic.
She had seen underworld messengers who took people's souls away before, but compared to ghost messengers, they were more like ferrymen.
Could it be this time too...?
Wow! There's so much money!
"I found money! I found money! I'm going to strike it rich!"
Suddenly, a sinister, yet shrill, voice appeared in my ear.
Perhaps it was because his voice was so down-to-earth, but Chu Ci's tense body relaxed a lot.
She exhaled, and the shrill, joyful voice in her ear suddenly stopped, filled with doubt:
"Hmm? Such high-quality gold ingots, and silver notes too?"
He read out the birth date and time on the banknote, pausing when he got to the name, "...Chu Ci?"
As the last word fell, Chu Ci felt the darkness before his eyes recede like a tide.
I looked up and met a pair of eerie, ghostly eyes.
The other person had a square face, shifty eyes, and a pouty lip, stroking his chin with an extremely greasy expression.
"Chu Ci? You?"
He could tell at a glance that Chu Ci's soul and body did not match, and he clicked his tongue as he looked her over.
A pair of narrow, small eyes that kept darting around.
"Tsk, were we in the same profession in your past life? So much merit, you must have saved countless lives in your past life?"
Chu Ci was surprised that he could see through her, and she pursed her lips, unsure of how to answer.
Finally, he bowed his head and said, "Hello, senior."
He grinned, his shifty-eyed face beaming, "Alright, alright, you too."
After saying that, without any attempt to hide it from Chu Ci, he took a few small gold ingots, put them to his lips, and bit them.
"Hey, this little gold ingot of yours is pretty good!"
His ghostly face lit up with joy, and he quickly stuffed the gold ingot into his pocket.
After receiving the money, his expression changed, and he abandoned his approachable demeanor, giving Chu Ci a disdainful look based on his height.
"Since I've taken your money, tell me what you need my help with."
"No need to trouble you, Lord Ghost Messenger."
Chu Ci smiled and shook her head, "It's nothing, I just heard about this method today and wanted to give it a try."
"Don't you need my help?"
The ghost messenger frowned, clutching the small gold ingot on his chest like a precious treasure.
Even if you don't need my help, once the money is in my pocket, I can't possibly pay you back.
"No need to return it." Chu Ci waved his hand. "Consider it a reward for your hard work, sir."
The ghost messenger grinned, "Good, good, you young man know how to talk."
His eyes darted around, and he pulled out a worn-out wooden plaque for her.
“But of course I can’t take your money for nothing. If you ever need me in an emergency, just burn this wooden plaque.”
He held up a "1" with his finger, saying, "You only have one chance."
"Thank you, sir."
Chu Ci took the wooden plaque, but didn't take his words to heart.
That ghost is incredibly greedy; as long as there's money involved, she's not worried he won't be tempted.
The same thing applies to both the underworld and the living world.
The ghost messenger took out the gold ingots from his pocket, happily biting them one by one, and gradually disappeared into the darkness.
After a while, Chu Ci could still hear his eerie yet joyful voice coming from a great distance:
"Wow, I'm rich! I'm rich!"
She suppressed her smile, retreated into the house, and hid the wooden plaque.
I slept soundly until dawn.
The next morning, she told the fortunes of a couple who were about to get married.
These two are colleagues, but they are a perfect match.
Chu Ci looked at the two tense people and smiled sincerely.
"You two are destined to be together, your personalities are compatible, and you'll definitely have a great future together. However..."
The newlyweds had been exchanging smiles when they heard the "but" that followed, and their hearts jumped.
"Master, but what is it?"
Chu Ci smiled and reassured them, "Don't worry, it's nothing serious."
"It's just that you two work in the same company and the same department, so it's inevitable that work-related issues will affect your relationship in the future."
"If possible, I suggest you don't work together."
The two men breathed a sigh of relief when they heard her say that.
The man took the initiative to say, "We plan to have a child in the third year after we get married. We'll need money for all sorts of things, so I'm thinking of switching jobs to another company."
"The salary there is higher, which will allow us to save more money."
Both newlyweds are practical and down-to-earth, so there shouldn't be too many changes in the future.
After receiving the divination fee, Chu Ci saw them off.
As they left, the newlyweds held hands, and the bride looked at Chu Ci with gratitude.
“My relatives live in this building and said that Master Chu, you are very accurate. They told me that you once saw through a family’s son-in-law who was a murderer and even saved them.”
"Ever since I heard about this, I've really wanted to come and have my fortune told by you. Unfortunately, my mother has been insisting that I go to Master Hui in Wong Tai Sin District, otherwise my fiancé and I would have come here a couple of days ago."
“Oh, right,” she suddenly remembered something and asked somewhat nervously, “Master, could you please tell me if my mother will attend my wedding?”
Her eyes dimmed. "Some things happened before, and my mother and I had a big fight."
Chu Ci shook his head, "Each person can only have one divination per day, but I see that your parents' palace is very round and full."
"Even if your relationship with your mother is strained now, it will get better in the future."
Hearing her say that, the woman breathed a long sigh of relief and smiled.
"Thank you so much, Master."
Chu Ci smiled, blinked, and suddenly asked, "By the way, is the Master Hui you mentioned the old lady Hui who recently moved to Wong Tai Sin District?"
The woman was taken aback and suddenly realized that she had said the wrong thing.
How could she mention being a colleague in front of others?
But seeing that Chu Ci seemed easy to talk to, she relaxed and nodded.
"Yes, it's that Granny Hui. I heard that Granny Hui recently helped the Han family's son get rid of his possession problem, and she even used her connections to get him on a TV show!"
The reason she knew about this was because the show that Hui Po had gotten on through connections was the company her husband was about to switch to.
Chu Ci was somewhat surprised, "She resolved the matter of the Han family's son?"
The woman assumed that she and Grandma Hui were from the same circle, and that's why she was curious about the Han family's son.
Seeing that her husband acquiesced, she said a few more words.
"Yes, I heard that the Han family took their son to many places, but no one would accept him. Only Master Hui dared to stand up."
"Because of this incident, Master Hui's shop became incredibly popular. I passed by there a couple of days ago and saw that the line of people stretched from the shop all the way to the street."
Chu Ci smiled and nodded, but a question arose in his mind.
Grandma said that this Granny Hui didn't have any real skills, and given how ruthless Granny Guo was, she shouldn't be able to handle her...
She said a few auspicious words and saw the two people out.
Before leaving, the woman told her that the entertainment program that Hui Po had appeared on would be broadcast that evening.
Moreover, Hui Po is very confident in herself and has requested that the live broadcast take place, so it will most likely be very exciting.
She left the name of the entertainment program, thanked Chu Ci, and then left arm in arm with her fiancé.
Chu Ci looked at the neat handwriting on the note and went to find Grandma.
Grandma had just finished burning paper money in the room, and when she came out, she was covered in the lingering smell of yellow paper money.
Hearing her words, Grandma waved her hand: "I know her best. This is definitely not something she can solve."
"But this is for the best. Granny Guo will not let those who killed her granddaughter get away with it, and the Bai family will not escape either."
"With Grandma Hui leading the way, you don't need to worry about anything else."
After saying that, she noticed that it was already quite late and pointed to the window: "Aci, the stalls outside are all up now, go and buy some fruit and bring it up."
Chen Xinxin offered to go out together, and Chu Ci, thinking that she had been cooped up at home for the past few days, let her come along.
Downstairs, next to the newspaper stand, a small shop selling sweet soup has opened.
Seeing Chu Ci approaching, Bao Liang quickly pulled the young owner of the dessert shop aside to introduce him.
"Master Chu, this is my son!"
He patted his son's shoulder with a smile, "Look, doesn't he look just like me?"
Chu Ci glanced at Liang's features in the newspaper, then at his son's features, and hesitated to speak.
These two people don't look alike at all, and judging from their appearances, they might not even be father and son.
She moved her lips, hesitating whether to speak, when a nun, about the same age as the newspaper's owner, patted him on the back.
She frowned slightly, then chuckled and scolded, "Master Chu is truly skilled; how could he not tell that you and he aren't related by blood!"
She turned her head and met Chu Ci's somewhat bewildered gaze, and took the initiative to explain: "Master, I am in my second marriage. My son is the child of my previous husband."
The newspaper grumbled discontentedly, "So what if he's not my biological son? I raised Ah Yong from a baby!"
He held his son's shoulder tightly, insisting that Chu Ci see him.
"Master, look, isn't my son's demeanor and mannerisms just like mine?"
He wasn't wrong.
Although the father and son don't look alike, they behave very similarly, clearly a result of spending a lot of time together.
only……
Chu Ci's gaze swept over Liang's son's face in the newspaper, and she reminded him, "I see something's off about your marital palace. Are you married?"
The newspaper's maker and his wife's expressions changed, and they quickly said, "No, no, we were just saying we were going to help him make arrangements!"
The good wife kept hearing her husband talk about how capable this young Master Chu was, and since it concerned her son, she dared not be negligent in the slightest.
He quickly grabbed a hundred-yuan bill and stuffed it into Chu Ci's hand. "Master, Ah Liang and I only have this one child. Could you please take a look at him?"
"No need for the money."
Chu Ci waved her hand, refusing the money she was offered.
"Come see me again after the marriage is settled. Pay more attention when you go on blind dates and find out more about the woman."
The newspaper and his wife nodded seriously.
Their son, A Yong, also turned pale. As Chu Ci and Chen Xinxin were leaving, he insisted on giving them a cup of sugar water.
Chen Xinxin drank her sweet soup and took Chu Ci's hand as they entered the building.
I couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, Brother Yong's cooking is amazing! This sweet soup is so delicious!"
"Yeah?"
Seeing her bright, sparkling eyes, Chu Ci smiled and spoke.
"Anyway, it's right downstairs in our building, so you can go down and buy it anytime you want to drink it."
Chen Xinxin's eyes curved into crescents as she nodded emphatically.
Grandma looked down on Grandma Hui, but when she heard that Grandma Hui was going to be on TV, she still sat in front of the TV early in the morning.
During the ten minutes of waiting, I checked the time three times.
"It's this time, why hasn't it aired yet?"
"Did that gossipy old woman know she wasn't good enough, so she ran away at the last minute?"
"Hmph, so arrogant, and they even want to do a live stream, how embarrassing!"
Grandma mumbled to herself, but her two hands were clasped together nervously.
Chu Ci searched through her memories but found no recollection of any conflict between her grandmother and Hui Po.
It seems that ever since she could remember, her grandmother and this kind old woman had never had a good relationship.
"Grandma," she thought for a moment and then asked directly, "Do you have any grudge against this old woman?"
Grandma's expression froze, as if she found it difficult to speak.
But when faced with their curious gazes, he simply gave up and went all out.
"There wasn't much of a conflict between us, except that she had a senior apprentice who originally planned to become my apprentice, but later became her apprentice instead."
"I was already over forty back then, and she had just finished her apprenticeship! Because of this, I was the butt of many people's jokes, and she even made sarcastic remarks..."
Grandma clenched her fists tightly, remembering the look on Hui Po's face when she said that she was "not skilled enough".
"It's obvious that she's not skilled enough, and not only is she not skilled enough, she's also lying!"
"I'd like to see how she performs today!"
Chu Ci: "..."
She looked at Chen Xinxin beside her, who was clenching her fists in solidarity with her enemy, and touched her nose somewhat awkwardly.
Judging from the original owner's memories, Grandma seemed to be half a fraud, getting about 30% of her divinations wrong...
But as the live stream began, she quickly lost interest in thinking about these things.
The live streaming of this era can't compare to that of her time, but it's still quite novel.
Three ordinary people and two popular female celebrities were called to the stage to draw lots for Hui Po to calculate.
It was at this moment that Chu Ci finally saw what this old woman Hui looked like.
Her hair was mostly white, and she was half blind. Although she was younger than Grandma, she looked much older.
It has to be said that her appearance is more in line with the traditional image of a "fortune teller".
When the order of the draw was announced, Grandma Hui correctly predicted the order for two people.
Grandma's face turned pale, and Chen Xinxin couldn't help but exclaim, "How is she so amazing!"
Chu Ci laughed.
This live stream was clearly scripted, but people of this generation haven't seen many of these kinds of things, so they can't tell.
She stood up listlessly, intending to get a glass of water, when the live stream, which had been going smoothly, suddenly went into chaos.
When she rushed over from the kitchen, all she saw was a chaotic scene at the live broadcast site.
"What's wrong?"
Chen Xinxin and her grandmother were both deathly pale.
It wasn't until she patted them on the shoulder that the two of them came to their senses.
Grandma looked pale and seemed dazed, as if she was still caught up in what had just happened.
Chu Ci: "What just happened?"
She grasped Chu Ci's hand, her voice trembling: "Grandma Hui..."
"Grandma Hui just suddenly committed suicide during a live broadcast..."
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