Chapter 9

I had not even graduated from college. How could I simply look for someone to marry? Discounting the number of officials who could possibly still be single, in this day and age, how many youngsters would be deeply religious? Would I have to look for some old man in his thirties or forties to marry?

I thought it was not very realistic, but I could not think of a better way so I asked Yinggu if she had any cases for me.

Seeing that I intended to help her solve her cases, she quickly turned around and retrieved a few contact details from the drawer of her bedside table. She told me that the few houses were more urgent as they were last month’s cases. It was not convenient for her to head out, so she could only rely on me.

I took contact details she had in hand, and before I could even ask Yinggu for more details, people started shouting at Yinggu from the outside to hurry up. Yinggu muttered a few curses in frustration. Not having enough time to give me more details, she just asked me to call those people and tell them she sent me. She instructed me once again that these few cases were all exceptionally urgent, so there should be no delay. After saying her piece, she immediately exited.

I had initially wanted to avoid working with Liu Longting for the foreseeable future after what happened last night and was looking forward to properly resting at home for a few days. Alas, I now had a few more cases.

It was not too bad though since there were only two cases. If all went well, I could probably finish it before the new year.

I kept the two strips of paper and got ready to leave. At that moment, it felt as if something was staring at me, so I turned my head around swiftly. My eyes caught a wisp of a shadow that quickly disappeared into the wall before I could even get a good look at it.

It was still broad daylight, so surely it could not be some ghost causing trouble. That was not quite right. Usually houses that had sages also received their protection, so it could never be haunted. Could it be a spirit? If it was a spirit that wanted to get to know me, why would it hide away like that?

Yinggu did not have time to entertain me so I did not look for her. I chalked it up to my imagination and laid the matter to rest.

When I got home, Grandmother had a feast ready and showered me with praises—probably because Grandma Li told her about what happened.

Seeing how happy Grandmother was, I forced myself to act happy as well. After all, I could not let her know what happened between me and Liu Longting. I did not want to cause her unnecessary worry.

After dinner, I sat on the sofa and refused to look for Liu Longting. I did not feel like talking to him, and he did not know about the favor Yinggu asked of me. I was afraid he would not agree and that might lead to a nasty argument.

Grandmother had urged me to go to bed early a few times, to the point where she was getting annoyed. I had promised Yinggu to handle this matter, yet I still did not have a solution. I could not sleep and was puzzled over the matter for some time before deciding to ask Liu Longting the next day.

Just as I got up to head to bed, a small white snake suddenly dropped out from the coffee table in front of me. The white snake raised its head and gazed at me with two round, tiny eyes, and asked me, “You had something you wanted to talk to me about?”

It was Liu Longting.

I stared at him for a moment, and sat back down. “Yes, that’s right. Yinggu asked me to help her sort out two cases today and it’s quite urgent. I wanted to ask you if you were free the next few days.”

The snake slithered across the floor and climbed onto my knee. “I’m free anytime, but that old lady is a Sitting Practitioner. Why is she accepting cases meant for Running Practitioners?”

Hearing what he had to say, I became quite curious. “What are Sitting Practitioners and Running Practitioners?”

“A Sitting Practitioner is someone who does business at home. They don’t go out and rather wait for people to look for them. A Running Practitioner is more like us, going around performing exorcisms.”

Helping people from your own home? To a shut-in like me, that sounded great. My mood suddenly lifted a little, and I asked Liu Longting, “Then could we also become Sitting Practitioners? From now on we could just do things here and not run around everywhere!”

The little snake shook his tiny tail. “We can’t. Humans each have their occupations and so do sages. We do what we’re good at. The animal spirit within that old lady’s home was passed down by her ancestors. It’s good at helping other sages communicate and curing supernatural illnesses, so it’s suited to be a Sitting Practitioner. My talents lie with drawing talismans and exorcising evil, so we need to travel more. As you gain experience from this field, you’ll start seeing more and more professions such as Fengshui experts and those specialized in fortune-telling. Every profession tends to mind their own business, and the old lady was no different in the past. I wonder why she decided otherwise this time around.”

Listening to Liu Longting’s explanation, it hinted that Yinggu was overstepping her boundaries this time, but she still asked me to help out. I asked, “Are we still able to help her?”

“Since she asked you for help, we’ll complete these two cases in her name and treat it as a gift to repay her for bringing the two of us together.”

I did not expect Liu Longting to be so amicable that day, but because he was, my dissatisfaction with him earlier mellowed a little bit. After we were done talking, I could not find any other topics to bring up and it became awkwardly silent.

Just as I was trying to figure out a way to break the awkward atmosphere, Liu Longting suddenly said, “About what happened last night, if you aren’t willing in the future, I won’t force you anymore. However, if you want it, you can come to me anytime. I’m always around.”

Before Liu Longting uttered those words, I was very conscious of what had happened. However, the calm manner in which he said it made me feel like what he did with me was very normal—like eating or drinking—and it was my fault that I could not let it go.

I did not know how to answer Liu Longting at that moment. Nodding was out of the question and so was shaking my head, so I could only awkwardly grunt in agreement with what he said.

The next morning, I took out one of the paper slips with the contact for Ma Jianguo and called the number on it. A middle-aged man answered the phone. The moment he heard I was sent by Yinggu, he was so moved he started crying and told me Yinggu was a saint and their savior. If they did not receive a reply from her, their entire family would be destroyed!

“Why don’t you first tell me what the problem is. It’ll be easier for me to make preparations if I understand the situation,” I told the man. I then put the phone on speaker mode so Liu Longting could listen in as well.

Ma Jianguo swallowed his tears, and started, “This matter started 60 years ago. At that time, my grandfather was the head of the family. He went out to the wastes to gather grass for the pigs to eat. When he was swinging his scythe, he noticed two black snakes in the middle of mating hiding in the grass. His mood was very sour at the time, so he spit at the snakes and scolded them for being animals with no shame. After that, he took his grass and left. Who knew that those words would bring such calamity to my family.”

When Ma Jianguo explained the situation, it made me think of my situation with Liu Longting. He said that in order to save my fetus, my parents killed his mate. All Ma Jianguo’s grandfather did was spit at them and shouted a few words so the consequences should not be too bad. After all, all Liu Longting did was cause my parents to divorce and made me his shaman.

“And what happened after that?” I asked Ma Jianguo

“After that, those two snakes killed three from my family and rendered two insane. The next day after my grandfather got back, my grandmother suddenly went crazy, stripped off all her clothes, and ran around the village while uttering all sorts of sexually explicit things. After that, she said there would be revenge on our whole family and ran into a wall, which killed her. My second sister and eldest brother committed adultery and went mad when they woke up the next day. My dad is dead and my uncle also died two years ago. Lately, those two snakes have been talking to my daughter in her dreams, saying they’ll destroy my whole family…! Miss shaman, please save my family!”

I was shocked to hear Ma jianguo’s story. I was shocked to the point of speechlessness for quite some time. What an act of utterly heartless revenge for the ill-mannered actions of an old man!