Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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Old Dong and Old Liu arrived at the Zhuang family’s door one after the other.
The two held the amulet tightly in their hands, then kicked the Zhuang family’s gate together, yelling for Zhuang Tian’er to come out and confront them.
Perhaps fearing Zhuang Tian’er’s eerie methods, the two simultaneously raised their voices, summoning the entire village: “Folks, come out and see! Zhuang Tian’er is indeed an evil spirit! Everyone come and see, so that you will not be deceived by her again! What the scholar said is true! Today, we will expose Zhuang Tian’er’s true colors! Everyone come and listen!”
As more and more people gathered around, the scene gradually became noisy and bustling, which finally made the two feel a little more at ease. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zhuang Tian’er wouldn’t dare to lay a hand on them.
The two shouted one after another, attracting everyone’s attention. Zhuang Tian’er couldn’t pretend she didn’t hear them, so she had no choice but to step out of the house and into the yard under the shoving of Zhuang Lao Da. She asked with a sweet smile, “Uncle Liu, Uncle Dong, what’s wrong with you two?”
“Ah!”
She suddenly cried out in surprise, then quickly walked to the wooden gate, pointed at Old Liu’s face with her fingertip, and said worriedly, “Uncle Liu, why is your forehead black? Have you been possessed by an evil spirit?”
Her sudden shout was also a hypnotic technique, intended to interrupt the subject’s train of thought and draw their attention. Then, she extended her finger, drawing the subject’s gaze to her fingertip and then to her eyes.
The hypnosis was considered successful once the subject made eye contact with her for two seconds. She expected that Old Liu, who was currently roaring at her madly, would be apologizing to her in the next instant and then obediently go back.
Next, she would use the same method to deal with Old Dong, and finally just say “the two of them had been possessed by evil spirits” to easily smooth over this crisis.
Her plan was perfect, but unfortunately, Old Liu, who was staring into her eyes, only dazed for a moment before clenching his fists and coming to his senses.
The psychological anchor that Zhuang Li had planted came into play at this moment, allowing Lao Liu to completely break free from Zhuang Tian’er’s control.
“Pah! You’re the one who’s possessed!” Old Liu spat a mouthful of phlegm at Zhuang Tian’er’s face.
Zhuang Tian’er nearly suffocated when her face was covered in thick, foul-smelling phlegm.
“Ptooey!” Old Dong spat in Zhuang Tian’er’s face and angrily cursed, “We are indeed possessed, but it’s all your evil! You are a demon!”
“Everyone, come and hear what good things Zhuang Tian’er has done! I almost died in the mountains because of her!”
“Me too! The ginseng she sold was picked by me! I almost fell into the ravine and drowned that day!”
“The game she usually brings back is all hunted by me!”
“She’s a demon. Once, she met me on the road and stared into my eyes for a while, and I was completely bewildered. Then she asked me to give her the prey I hunted every day, and I actually agreed. After that, I forgot about this incident and became like a puppet every day, leaving all the prey I hunted on her usual route for her to pick up. That’s how she got her reputation as a lucky charm!”
“That’s how I fell for it too! I met her in the mountains, and after she stared into my eyes for a while, I lost my senses and promised to give her all the precious medicinal herbs I had gathered. The ginseng she sold was the one I picked! I also picked a Ganoderma lucidum and a Dendrobium, and she took them all. I have no memory of it at all. When I got home, I thought I was just unlucky and had gained nothing!”
“She is truly an evil spirit! She can control our minds and erase our memories!”
“The dog that hanged itself in front of Zhuang Lao Er’s house must also have been possessed by her!”
“This afternoon, we went to the Western Hills to find the scholar, who broke Zhuang Tian’er’s spell, and that’s when we remembered everything!”
“Otherwise, even if we died in the mountains, working like slaves for Zhuang Tian’er, no one would know…”
The two of them took turns listing all the things that Zhuang Tian’er had taken from them over the years, and then recounted the dangers they had encountered and the many scars they had brought back in order to find these things.
The villagers had all witnessed and remembered what had happened to the two men. They often returned injured, but with nothing in their pockets; who wouldn’t find that strange?
Old Liu and Old Dong were originally the two richest people in the village, but after Zhuang Tian’er became known as a lucky star, they gradually fell into poverty to the point where they could hardly afford three meals a day. This was too strange!
The villagers were usually brainwashed and wouldn’t think much of it, but now, as the two parties involved recounted the past events one by one, and Zhuang Li had also repeatedly instilled the psychological suggestion that Zhuang Tian’er was an evil spirit into everyone’s subconscious, everyone quickly woke up and pointed out Zhuang Tian’er’s strangeness.
“I used to be the best at catching fish. In the summer, I could always catch one or two big grass carp from the river every day to take home and eat. Ever since Zhuang Tian’er became a lucky star, I haven’t caught a fish at all! What’s even stranger is that my hands smell of fish and my clothes are covered in fish scales, but I always come back from the river empty-handed!”
“I hadn’t even thought of it until you mentioned it! Zhuang Tian’er always manages to find big, fat fish whenever she goes to the river! Could it be that you’re the one catching those fish?”
“And me! Once I went to the mountain to pick chestnuts, and my hands were covered in chestnut thorns. But when I came back, my basket was empty! My mother scolded me for wasting my time!”
As everyone chimed in, the strange stories they told kept coming up.
Zhuang Tian’er didn’t even have time to wash her face. She hastily wiped away the foul-smelling saliva and anxiously shouted, “Nothing’s wrong, nothing’s wrong, everyone please listen to me! Look at me, everyone look at me!”
This was her specialty.
With just a glance, she could easily bewitch people’s minds and then control their behavior.
However, she had now been branded as an evil spirit by Zhuang Li, and her authority had been greatly reduced. So when she used group hypnosis, who would listen to her or look her in the eye?
Her hypnosis would completely fail as long as everyone developed a negative attitude towards her. She only knew how to use this ability, but didn’t understand the underlying principles, so when problems arose, she didn’t know how to resolve them.
She could only repeatedly order everyone to listen to her, but later, the tone of the order turned into a plea, and finally into a choked sob of fear.
“I beg you, please look at me! Just once! I’m not an evil spirit!” For the first time since her rebirth, Zhuang Tian’er cried in front of everyone.
However, this show of weakness only diminished the people’s fear of her. As a result, the villagers who were initially somewhat afraid of her now all showed expressions of contempt, disgust, and hatred.
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