When I heard that Song Laosan was in Zhou Zhicheng's hands, and thinking of his armed men and his previous evasive attitude, I knew things were going to get bad: "What have you done to Song Laosan?"
Zhou Zhicheng shook his head: "I'm in the antique business, not a gangster, so of course I wouldn't do it myself. After arresting him, I handed him over to the local gang."
Upon hearing the whole story, the monkey clapped his hands and exclaimed, "It's over! Three days have passed already, and Song Laosan's corpse is probably stiff by now!"
Zhou Zhicheng picked up his teacup: "The person should still be alive. If they were, I would have received the news."
I finally grasped a glimmer of hope and said quickly, "Boss Zhou, since we each have our own needs, let's be straightforward. I'll help you resolve the Four Tribulations, and you hand over Song Laosan to me, how about that?"
"Song Laosan's life is worthless and he's of no use to me, but he's a bad person, and I don't really trust his friends."
Zhou Zhicheng raised an eyebrow at me: "Mr. Duan, you brought up the Four Rounds and Two Tribulations earlier, so you must know what that means, right?"
I understood that Zhou Zhicheng was testing my strength, so I replied, "The evil and calamities in the world are nothing more than the Five Evils and Three Deficiencies, the Four Deprivations and Two Calamities, the Seven Stars and Four Auxiliary Stars. The Five Evils and Three Deficiencies mostly refer to the Feng Shui and Yin-Yang schools, which suffer divine punishment because they have revealed too many heavenly secrets. The so-called Five Evils are widowhood, widowhood, loneliness, solitude, and disability. The Three Deficiencies are simpler to explain; they are the three things that are indispensable in a person's life: money, life, and power."
Zhou Zhicheng poured me some tea: "Most people only know about the five deficiencies and three lacks of Feng Shui, but few know about the four tribulations and two calamities."
"Yes, such calamities often strike the antique trade, especially those who deal in funerary objects. People who handle too many funerary objects have weak yang energy and are surrounded by yin energy, making them almost demonic and prone to calamities."
I gently held the teacup with my fingers: "The so-called two tribulations are the tribulation of killing the body and the tribulation of falling into demons. The four abodes are the abodes of mind, abodes of grain, abodes of emotion, and abodes of form. I see that you are in good health, but your complexion is pale and you have become emaciated. You must have been afflicted by the abodes of form among the four abodes."
"Mr. Duan, you are wise. I was just trying to test you. I was being presumptuous! If you can dispel the evil spirits in my Zhou family, my grudge with Song Laosan will be wiped clean!"
When I explained the details, Zhou Zhicheng continued, "My grandfather spent half his life in the antique business, but when he was fifty, he made a mistake and lost all his life savings. He was unwilling to give up, so he took a crooked path. The reason our Zhou family was able to prosper was because my grandfather disguised human bones as ivory artifacts and sold them to those who didn't know anything about antiques, and slowly made back the money he lost."
Years ago, a wise man saw my grandfather and said that his deeds were so immoral that he had been possessed by a ghost. To save his life, he had to take a risky path and enter the underworld! From the day he switched to making funerary objects, the Zhou family was prepared for two calamities. In his later years, he went mad, committed a murder, fell into the demonic possession calamity, and died violently in a mental hospital, thus avoiding another calamity that would kill him.
I nodded, signaling Zhou Zhicheng to continue.
Zhou Zhicheng continued, "Since I became an adult, I've had several marriages, all of which ended in failure. My health has also been poor, which has led to my current state. Originally, I thought that I would have earned enough from the family business in my lifetime, so I came abroad to develop my career, hoping to leave a legacy for my child and prevent him from entering this industry again. I took over the fourth branch myself. Who would have thought that the other two branches would bring retribution upon my son?"
I looked at Zhou Zhicheng with some sympathy: "Of the four types of 'shexin' (heart) and 'shegu' (grain) are the most serious. Ordinary people can't bear even one of them, yet your son has two?"
"Yes! Three months ago, my son suddenly became demented and his memory rapidly declined. No matter how many doctors we saw, it was no use. I knew then that he had been afflicted by a mental tribulation. During this time, we visited many feng shui masters, but to no avail."
Zhou Zhicheng wiped his eyes: "Half a month ago, my son suddenly stopped eating and drinking, and now he's only kept alive by IV fluids! Mr. Duan, my Zhou family has had only one son for seven generations. If you don't help, my Zhou family will truly be ruined in my hands!"
"Don't worry, although the Four Tribulations and Two Calamities are fierce, it's not like there's no way to deal with them."
Thinking of the contents of the notebook, I said bluntly, "Since you're in the business of funerary objects, finding an ancient tomb in China shouldn't be too difficult, right?"
Zhou Zhicheng nodded repeatedly: "This is not difficult! To save my son, I can do anything, no matter how difficult!"
"You're not looking for an ordinary tomb, but the tomb of an official. Any official from any dynasty will do, but they must be a civil official! The tomb of a civil official has a scholarly aura that can dispel evil spirits and eliminate resentment!"
Zhou Zhicheng picked up a pen and paper to take notes: "Please continue."
"What I teach you must not be written down."
I told Zhou Zhicheng to put down his pen and continued, "Your son is residing in the civil official's tomb, so the tomb passage needs to be sealed with rooster blood to prevent wandering spirits from moving in! At the same time, two male dogs need to be tied up at the entrance, and they must be unbreeded!"
"Okay, I've got it!"
"Besides these, you also need to sew a vest for your son with five emperor coins so that he can live in the tomb. The food you bring him every day must be the offerings taken from the grave, and it must be left overnight and without any human presence."
After giving these instructions according to the records in the Judge's Record, I added, "Your son must live in the tomb for forty-nine days and must not see sunlight, otherwise his soul will not enter the tomb and all previous efforts will be in vain."
"Forty-nine days?"
Zhou Zhicheng looked at me with heartache: "Mr. Duan, given my son's current physical condition, I'm really afraid that if he stays inside for so long, this grave will become his tomb!"
I knew this was no joke, so I didn't pretend to be profound: "There are indeed risks involved, but I've already told you the method. Whether you do it or not is entirely up to you. The most important thing is that if your son survives this ordeal, you must regress and never get involved in the antique business again."
Zhou Zhicheng kept rubbing his palms together: "I've tried every possible method over the years, but this one is too unorthodox. I need to reconsider it."
I nodded: "Mr. Zhou, I have already told you the solution. Now it's your turn to speak."
Zhou Zhicheng picked up the phone: "Mr. Duan, rest assured, I, Zhou Zhicheng, keep my word! I'll contact the gang right now and take you to pick them up!"
I exchanged a few pleasantries with Zhou Zhicheng, then, without delaying his phone call, I took the monkey and headed outside.
On the way, Monkey whispered to me, "Young Master Duan, weren't you a bit too ruthless just now? You practically stuffed someone's eldest son into a grave. There's a limit to how much we can fool people, this kind of thing is no joke..."
I didn't tell the monkeys about the origin of this method, but based on my understanding, I think it's still useful.
I think the so-called "four rounds and two kalpas" refers to the constant contact with artifacts and thinking about all sorts of random things, which can frighten one into developing mental illness.
Living in the tomb is a way of fighting poison with poison, which can keep Zhou Zhicheng's son conscious under stress. Moreover, when a person is alone, their will to survive is very strong, so this is forcing him to eat.
As for whether there are any more sinister explanations involved, I have no idea.
As soon as I stepped into the main hall of Huiwang Pavilion, Wei Shengnan quickly came up to me: "How did it go? Did you get any answers?"
This was the first time Wei Shengnan had spoken to me on her own initiative. Seeing her expression, I raised an eyebrow and smiled: "Oh, I didn't expect that Miss Wei, whom I've never met before, would take the initiative to talk to someone."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com