As a ghost, Ji Xingchen did not need sleep, so he found several suitable rental houses in one night and reminded Chi Shen that he had already made the classification when he woke up.
Chi Shen looked at the houses chosen by Ji Xingchen. They ranged from studios to three-bedroom apartments. The locations were all close to Ledao Culture, and the prices ranged from one thousand to several thousand.
Chi Shen only took a quick look and said, "It seems a bit expensive?"
Ji Xingchen pushed his glasses up, and the screen of his phone on the table moved, automatically popping up another house. He said in a calm tone as if he was making a product report, "It's in a prime location, facing north and south, with a 30-square-meter terrace, and the rent is only 500. I believe this is what you want."
Chi Shen clicked on the page and took a look. It turned out to be a three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment, just over one kilometer away from the Tengfei Building where Ledao Culture was located. It was not an old community or an urban village, but a newly built community in recent years.
"Is the boss doing charity?" Gui Lian and Ji Xingchen spent some time choosing a house last night, but finally gave up because they felt too bored and went to rest. Now he has a general understanding of the rent, and when he saw this house, his eyes flashed with a strange light, "There must be some conspiracy!"
Chi Shen didn't say anything. He just picked up his phone to contact the landlord and prepared to confirm the time to view the house with him.
The call was quickly connected, and when the person on the other end heard that Chi Shen wanted to rent a house, he was very surprised: "Are you really going to rent a house?"
Chi Shen glanced at Ji Xingchen, who had no expression on his face, and asked, "Is there something wrong with the house?"
"No! No! There's nothing wrong with the house!" The landlord answered very quickly, even a little excitedly. Then he seemed to realize that he was a little too excited, and he coughed twice and said in a more moderate voice: "The house is good, but it's empty. We don't live there anymore, so we want to rent it out. Can you... see when you are free to come and see the house?"
Chi Shen seemed not to hear the strange meaning in the landlord's words, and said calmly: "Then let's do it this afternoon. I happen to be free."
"Okay... wait, this afternoon? I'm not in Gangcheng this afternoon and won't be back until tomorrow. Can it be tomorrow?" The landlord said, as if he was afraid that Chi Shen would run away, and said quickly, "Don't worry, there is no problem with the house! It's fully furnished and ready for you to move in! It's fully equipped with appliances such as washing machines, air conditioners, and televisions. The toilet doesn't leak and there is floor heating in winter. The neighbors are not noisy and don't have children. There is a large supermarket downstairs, and it's a ten-minute walk to the subway station and a twenty-minute walk to the shopping mall!"
Chi Shen was silent.
This guy was about to write on his face that there was something wrong with my house, but Chi Shen pretended not to hear it and said happily: "Then tomorrow night, I'll get off work at five, and I can come to see the house at half past five."
The landlord's voice became happier, and he said as if he was relieved: "Okay!"
After agreeing on a time, Chi Shen hung up the phone, and saw the red-dressed female ghost dancing beside him... well, she didn't have feet, she was just gesturing with her hands: "House, a big house!"
Chi Shen smiled and asked her, "Do you want to move away too?"
The red-dressed ghost suddenly stopped dancing with her hands. She turned around and stared at Chi Shen blankly. After a while, she said, "Moving away without me?"
Two bloody tears suddenly flowed from her eyes, and she burst into tears: "Why didn't you take me with you!"
Chi Shen immediately said: "I'll take you with me."
The red-clothed female ghost was happy now, she stopped crying and kept saying happily: "Big house!"
Chi Shen looked at her silently: "Her happiness is so simple."
However, this also reminded Chi Shen that some friends did not seem to want to live in the old house, so he could help them move out.
I will ask my friends when I get back in the evening who wants to move out, and make a statistic to see if there is room for them in the new house, Chi Shen thought.
After confirming the house viewing, Chi Shen packed up and went out to find Yuan Yiping. He also made an appointment with Yuan Yiping to learn some basic exorcism techniques today.
The two met in the park next to the Special Security Bureau and occupied a stone table to discuss related matters.
Yuan Yiping briefly talked to Chi Shen about the theory of yin and yang, and then gave Chi Shen an introductory textbook - "Tao Te Ching".
"When you encounter danger, scriptures have the ability to defend against ghosts and monsters. If you recite them continuously, ordinary ghosts and monsters cannot get close to you." Yuan Yiping said.
Chi Shen nodded to show that he understood, and carefully put away the "Tao Te Ching".
"If you are chased by ghosts, you can run to a crowded place. There are many people and the yang energy is strong, so ordinary ghosts will not chase you." Yuan Yiping said again.
Chi Shen once again expressed that he understood.
After saying almost everything that needed to be said, Yuan Yiping looked at Chi Shen with some concern and asked him, "How much do you know about the Bai family?"
Chi Shen said truthfully: "I basically don't know anything. I just came back to Hong Kong City and didn't know the Bai family before."
Yuan Yiping rubbed his frowned brows and said, "Stay away from the Bai family in the future. It's best if you can move out of the old house. The Bai family... is not a good family."
"Thank you for the reminder. I'm looking for a house." Chi Shen said.
Yuan Yiping asked again: "Do you need help?"
Chi Shen expressed his gratitude and said, "No need, I should have found a suitable one."
Yuan Yiping nodded. He thought about it and seemed a little worried. He said to Chi Shen, "You saw what happened last night. The Bai family really acted for the benefit of their family. They don't care about the lives of ordinary people. Bai Ran also confirmed this. However, we only have Bai Ran's testimony and no key evidence. We can't do anything to the Bai family yet."
Chi Shen understood. It seemed that Bai Ran must have sold out a lot of things from the Bai family for his sake last night, but he didn't know what made him not sell out completely.
"I used to think that the Bai family was a family that we could cooperate with. They were just a little conservative and stubborn, and we needed time to communicate with them," Yuan Yiping sighed and shook his head. "I have always respected these noble families. They guard the peace of their area. Now it seems that I was wrong. Not every family is like this."
Chi Shen was slightly surprised.
Yuan Yiping also noticed his surprise and said, "Are you also surprised that a thousand-year-old family would do such dirty things?"
Chi Shen shook his head: "No."
He was just a little surprised that Yuan Yiping actually had expectations for the Bai family, but unfortunately his expectations were now dashed.
It was almost noon, and Yuan Yiping was about to leave. Chi Shen felt his shadow move. He smiled and asked one last question: "Brother Yuan, I want to know how to save the souls of the dead. I want to do something for my friends."
Chi Shen himself was also very curious about this matter. It seemed that the ghosts in the old house had not been liberated, and every ghost was living in the pain of death. He wanted to help alleviate some of their pain.
Yuan Yiping said: "There are quite a lot of methods, please record them."
Chi Shen took out his mobile phone and recorded all the methods.
According to Yuan Yiping, the method of redeeming ghosts is mainly to cleanse their resentment, soothe their pain, let them get rid of their obsessions, and accept the fact of their own death, so that their souls will return to heaven and earth.
There are two main ways to cleanse resentment: one is to cleanse it forcefully, and the other is to gently untie their knots.
Forced cleansing mainly involves performing rituals or reciting scriptures for ghosts in order to forcibly influence them and liberate them.
A more gentle approach is to ask the ghosts what they want to do and resolve the obsession that makes them exist, and they will disappear on their own. However, Yuan Yiping does not recommend this because many ghosts' obsessions are not gentle. They usually want to kill someone, or watch someone die in a specific way. Ghosts' obsessions are usually bloody.
Chi Shen even added a third method. Since the ultimate goal is to make the soul disappear between heaven and earth, wouldn't direct physical destruction save trouble and also be a form of salvation?
When he finished expressing his opinion, he looked up and found that all the ghosts were three meters away from him, and the female ghost in red was already clinging to the window, ready to jump out and escape!
Only Ji Xingchen was still standing beside him, and he said calmly: "We can start with the ghost with only a face, to reduce his pain."
The ghost face...the ghost face tried hard to stick to the bottom of the cup and pretend that it didn't exist.
"Then what is his obsession?" Chi Shen directly gave up one or two methods. He felt that as a friend, Gui Lian should naturally start with the gentlest approach.
Chi Shen thought about it. Ghost Face’s ability was to make others experience the feeling of drowning in their dreams. He was also a drowned ghost, but because he had been dead for too long, he even forgot his body, so his body disappeared. In the end, only a painful face was left. He should have been immersed in the pain of his own drowning.
Thinking about this, Chi Shen made a judgment: "You probably want to see someone drown?"
The ghost face gurgled and spit out bubbles under the water cup, and said in a sharp voice: "I will be very happy when I see people drowning. I want them to experience the pain I have experienced."
Chi Shen: "So do you want them to die?"
Ghost Face was silent. He felt that this was a life-threatening question. After a long while, he said cautiously, "I actually really want to... it's just that killing people isn't a good idea, right, hahaha."
Ji Xingchen said pointedly: "He is too weak to kill anyone, and he can't make people have nightmares for more than three days."
The ghost face cried: "Enough, enough, stop talking."
"I've figured out a solution!" Chi Shen tapped a few times on his phone.
Ghost Face immediately shrunk himself. He felt that what Chi Shen had come up with would not be a good idea. He shouted, "I don't really want to be saved! I think Glasses needs it more. Let's start with him! He is a wandering soul, which is much easier than me!"
Ji Xingchen said calmly: "I have no bad memories, and no obsessions, so I'll start with you."
Ghost Face shouted loudly: "How is it possible? There is no obsession without ghosts! You are lying! No, you are lying to ghosts!"
The author has something to say:
Maybe you don’t believe it…
When I wrote Ghostface, the image of him in my mind was Thomas the Tank Engine.
It is indeed a shadow of childhood.
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