Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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The tall, thin guy was being questioned even in his own field, and to make matters worse, the method he used to summon the underworld messenger had somehow gone wrong, preventing him from clearing his name. The humiliation was worse than being called ugly to his face. Just then, the faint sound of a sirens drifted in from outside. The tall, thin guy’s face changed drastically, and the chubby guy realized what was happening and panicked: “Senior, what do we do! This is bad!”
Their group was essentially a combination of a cult and a pyramid scheme; if they ran into the police, they were doomed.
How could the tall, thin man know what to do? He himself was still confused. He originally just wanted to come to the Wei family to perform a ritual, and everything was fine. But he didn’t know where the problem occurred, and suddenly it turned out like this.
When the police rushed in and detained them, they asked the group about their scamming methods. Wei Tianyi was furious at the thought of almost being scammed, and pointed directly at Xing Kai, who was standing next to him, and said, “Ask him, it was this brat who introduced them.”
Xing Kai had a clean record and certainly couldn’t be included in a cult group, so the police labeled him as a brainwashed citizen and started recording his personal information. They planned to take him back for anti-brainwashing political classes later, but it would only be classes and wouldn’t interfere with anything else. Tuan Tuanyi seemed to remember something and asked Wei Xi, “Master, I heard that this Mr. Xing used to be your good friend.”
Wei Xi remembered Xing Kai; the guy had treated him to a big meal a while ago. Although he couldn’t remember how they parted after getting drunk, he had a good impression of this generous old friend, the little unlucky guy. He nodded upon hearing this, “That’s right.”
Tuan Tuanyi’s face lit up with a smile as he happily went up to shake hands with Xing Kai.
Xing Kai: “?”
Tuan Tuanyi: “You truly deserve to be my master’s good friend, Mr. Xing. You’ve done a great service this time. My junior brother said that these people might be hiding. We’ve checked so many hotels recently but haven’t been able to find their whereabouts. If it weren’t for you, how could we have caught them so easily!”
Xing Kai: “…”
The tall, thin man who had been held to one side suddenly raised his face.
Good friends?! Xing Kai and this Wei Xi were good friends?! The other party had never mentioned it before!
As soon as he thought about it, his mind cleared up instantly, and he felt that his inexplicable failure was explained— it turned out that everything was planned by them! He had been caught in a trap from beginning to end! No wonder! No wonder! No wonder Wei Tianyi had prepared a fake birth certificate to fool him in advance, no wonder the underworld messenger who had been sent to track him down had suddenly disappeared without a trace!
Unbelievable… Unbelievable…
The tall, thin man couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh, then glared menacingly at Xing Kai: “Mr. Xing, no wonder you agreed to help us so easily. Good, very good, your acting is truly excellent, absolutely superb!”
Xing Kai panicked upon hearing this: “!!!!”
I didn’t mean it, I really meant it from the bottom of my heart. Don’t listen to their nonsense!
He immediately tried to explain, but the next second Tuan Tuanyi pulled him into his arms: “Don’t say anything! Brother Xing! Friends for life! We must have a drink sometime!”
Xing Kai: “…”
Tuanyi’s strength was so great that Xing Kai was completely speechless from being held so tightly. He could only watch helplessly as the three brothers were handcuffed and taken away by the police. Before leaving, the tall thin one even turned back and gave him a sinister look, his eyes saying, “You just wait!”
The chubby boy, his hands cuffed, followed behind his senior brother, sobbing, “I told you he was an unlucky fellow, but you wouldn’t believe me, and now we’ve been ruined like this, waaaaaah…”
The tall, thin man said coldly, “I underestimated him. I never expected that after my master helped him move his family’s ancestral graves, he would repay kindness with enmity… Just watch, I won’t let him get away with this.”
The chubby boy wasn’t comforted at all and kept crying: “Senior brother, don’t talk tough. With your skill level, we might as well pool our money and hire someone to give him a good beating!”
Tall and thin guy: “…”
Xing Kai’s chest pounded and his mind went blank when the tall, thin man gave him that final look. He was completely flustered.
Tuan Tuanyi showed no intention of letting go of him, continuing to pat him enthusiastically on the back: “Hero! Friend! Brother Xing! Awesome!”
Xing Kai was so suffocated by the slap that he almost couldn’t catch his breath, his eyes rolling back in his head. He watched the three tall, thin men being led away until their figures disappeared from sight, and a deep despair welled up in his heart once again, just like after the incident at the state guesthouse.
What the hell have I done to deserve this?!
Watching Xing Kai and Tuan Tuanyi get along well from a distance, Wei Xi shook his head and said, “I thought he looked unlucky, like he was under a dark cloud, as if something big was about to happen. But I didn’t expect him to be such a kind-hearted person. I guess my physiognomy skills are still not good enough.”
Shuo Zong: “…”
Before he could finish speaking, he saw that his second apprentice didn’t respond. Wei Xi turned to look at him and saw his second apprentice staring at him with that familiar helpless look. Then, the apprentice suddenly raised his hand, curled his fingers, and lightly flicked his forehead: “You really are…”
Wei Xi: “?”
What is “real”?
Shuo Zong didn’t finish speaking. He just chuckled and touched the spot where he had been flicked before turning his eyes away.
….
The three tall, thin men were apprehended and put into a car. Police officers surrounded the door taking statements, and Butler Zhou began leading his men to bustle about, taking stock of the damaged items in the living room. While doing so, he found it rather strange. The fight between Wei Tianyi and the tall, thin man had been quite loud, leaving the area around the coffee table in a mess, even the sofa was knocked askew. Yet, the shrine to the deity Wei Xi had kept in the corner remained completely untouched, not even a drop of the broth from the braised pork offering had spilled.
Wei Xi offered incense to the Heavenly Venerable, and then finally had time to receive Black Impermanence: “You flatter me, sir.”
Black Impermanence shook his head: “Not at all, it’s our City God’s department that’s been lax in its governance, causing trouble for your office.”
Hearing this official tone, Wei Tianyi couldn’t help but turn around and sized up the stranger his eldest son had brought back. He was handsome, dressed in a suit and tie, and looked like a business elite, which made a good impression on him.
The eldest son had finally associated with a respectable person, and he subconsciously asked Wei Chengshu, who had come in with him earlier, “What does that person do? What’s his relationship with your brother?”
Wei Chengshu: “…”
Wei Chengshu put down his large bucket, folded a rag, and turned back with a gloomy expression, saying, “He’s a lunatic too.”
Wei Tianyi: “???”
Wei Xi was naturally unaware of their conversation. After they were seated, Black Impermanence blessed the certificate that Taicang Sect had framed, and then asked, “Judging from the situation, Director Wei’s family is in business?”
Wei Xi nodded: “Yes, why?”
Black Impermanence pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, seemingly hesitant, but after a moment of thought, he spoke up: “To be honest, I came all the way from Fengdu this time. Besides admiring Director Wei for pioneering a solution to a large number of employment problems for us, I also wanted to see if Director Wei had any connections to help us with our urgent needs.”
Wei Xi: “What urgent matter?”
Black Impermanence cautiously asked, “…Could you perhaps act as a go-between for us with the local government departments?”
Wei Xi: “What?”
Black Impermanence, thinking he was in a difficult position, quickly explained, “It’s not that we meant anything else. It’s just that the mortal realm is becoming increasingly prosperous, and our underworld also wants to learn from its advanced experience, promote reforms, and develop the economy. Also, some policies issued by the mortal realm in recent years have had a great impact on us. If possible, we hope that the relevant departments of both sides can sit down and have a good talk about the issue of the two realms developing together in the future.”
Tuan Tuanyi looked at his junior brother in bewilderment: “What policy? Can we, the higher-ups, influence those below?”
His junior brother ignored him, but Black Impermanence sighed deeply: “The main problem is still the population issue. Hasn’t the gender ratio in the mortal realm become somewhat unbalanced in recent years? In short, our Underworld Department has suddenly seen a large number of single ghosts in the past ten years or so, and cases of female ghosts being harassed are frequent, which greatly affects public security. Moreover, the mortal realm doesn’t seem to pay much attention to moral education, and their legal awareness is also weak. Yet, they have a more rebellious spirit than before, which has led to a considerable number of the new ghosts we’ve summoned in the past ten years being extremely unreasonable. There are frequent cases of them forcibly seizing ghost houses, faking accidents on the street when their families don’t have enough offerings and gathering to dance in the square outside the main gate of the Yama’s Palace. These things have caused us a lot of trouble in our management work.”
“…” Tuan Tuanyi murmured, “That is indeed quite troublesome…”
Black Impermanence chuckled: “So the education problem mainly needs to be addressed in the mortal world from a young age. By the time it reaches our place, it’s already too late, isn’t it?”
This was quite a worry. Tuan Tuanyi nodded, then asked curiously, “Master Hei, all these years… don’t you have any connections in the mortal world? I see the City God Temple is quite lively.”
Upon hearing this, Hei Wuchang sighed: “There used to be, but now your mortal government requires people to have no religious beliefs. You’re just causing us trouble every day. I don’t know what you’re up to.”
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