Records of the Halls of Ten Thousand Affairs: Chapter 81: The Hopeless Romantic (Part 11)

Zheng Kai’s face turned extremely ugly. Fifty thousand gone just like that, washed down the drain?

But it was already getting late. He would see that face again, that dead gray face. It was too terrifying. He never wanted to see that woman again in his life.

He took a deep breath, resigned himself to fate, pulled out his phone, and forced a twisted smile at Chen Jiu: “Another one.”

As the notification for another fifty thousand transfer rang out, Chen Jiu and Chen Wu smiled and escorted him out the door of Wan Shi Zhai.

“Thank you for your business.”

“Welcome back next time.”

That’s right, this was VIP treatment at its finest.

Once Zheng Kai was out of sight, Chen Wu finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. She burst out laughing, covering her stomach and giggling for ages.

“Little Jiu, how did you do it?” She wiped away tears of laughter, curiously following Chen Jiu back into the shop.

Chen Jiu pulled out a talisman paper, flicked it toward the air with a snap of her fingers, and then snapped again.

There was a soft puff sound from the talisman, and soon green flames rose. The entire talisman instantly turned into powder invisible to the naked eye, completely dissipating into the air, colorless, odorless, and without heat. The whole process took less than three seconds. If you hadn’t seen it with your own eyes, no one would have noticed its disappearance.

Chen Wu’s mouth formed an O shape. She frantically tried to recall the textbook knowledge from her studies back on the mountain, but she couldn’t remember this technique for the life of her.

Chen Jiu scoffed: “Don’t bother thinking about it. These are crooked methods. You don’t need to learn them.”

“Anything that helps people is the right path!” Chen Wu said. “If we keep doing this back and forth a few times, won’t we be rich?”

“You can only use it once in a short period. Using it twice this quickly would make him suspicious. Fifty thousand isn’t pocket change.” Chen Jiu scribbled in the ledger, speaking casually: “The talisman does have some effect, but the effect is limited. When he can’t stand it anymore, he’ll still come back to us.”

Chen Wu: “Great! Then we’ll drain every last penny he has!”

She was all fired up, rattling on about the scene of Zheng Kai losing everything and being brought to justice.

Completely draining him was a bit difficult, but Chen Jiu didn’t pour cold water on her enthusiasm. She just nodded along cooperatively,顺手 petting Chen Xiao Xuan who had come over to rub against her.

Later, things unfolded just as Chen Jiu predicted. Zheng Kai, for the first few days, found the talisman useful, and the effect was quite good. When even medication couldn’t help him sleep, this mysterious talisman actually worked.

Now there was no stopping it. Zheng Kai’s trust in Chen Jiu shot up like a skyscraper built from flat ground. Overnight he classified her as a master. So when he started seeing Xu Wei’s hallucinations again a week later, he hurried back to Wan Shi Zhai to find Chen Jiu.

Because the situation was special during this period, Chen Jiu specifically told Su Xiaoyu to temporarily help arrange a place for Xu Wei’s mother, in case Zheng Kai suddenly showed up and the two of them ran into each other, blowing the whole thing.

This time when Zheng Kai came, color had gradually returned to his face. He wasn’t as pale as the first time he came, which showed how powerful the talisman was.

This was exactly the effect Chen Jiu wanted. Give him a little sweetness to keep him hooked. Otherwise, if there was no hope at all, Zheng Kai would run.

“Master Chen, your talisman really works. I’ve been sleeping great these past few days.” Zheng Kai said with difficulty: “But, I dreamed about her again last night. Though my emotions were pretty calm, not as intensely sad as before… Hmm, I don’t know what to make of this. Will she still enter my dreams in the future?”

Chen Jiu poured him a glass of water and pushed it across the table: “Mr. Zheng, rest easy. The talisman is already working. She can’t easily get close to you. The reason you can still dream about her is probably because you’re too deeply in love, missing her too much. It’s a case of thinking about her during the day and dreaming about her at night, not her actively entering your dreams. Am I right?”

Her expression was sincere, her gaze earnest, as if she truly admired his devoted and loyal side.

Zheng Kai listened to her words, stunned for a long while, thinking to himself: I’m talking to you about the supernatural, and now you’re talking to me about science?

But the logic did make sense. The Xu Wei he dreamed about last night wasn’t as scary. It really could be that his subconscious had some habitual attachment to past scenes, which then projected into his dreams.

Ridiculous. He himself had been single mindedly studying psychology, yet now he was so scared by Xu Wei’s ghost that he couldn’t tell anything apart anymore.

Seeing him remain silent, Chen Jiu added: “Don’t worry. If anything really happens, call me right away. I’m pretty good at driving.”

“Ah, got it.” Zheng Kai smiled: “Thank you.”

Chen Jiu smiled again and watched him leave.

In the middle of the night, Chen Wu was sleeping in a daze, turning over, vaguely seeing Chen Jiu stretch out her hand and snap her fingers again.

Early the next morning, Zheng Kai’s pounding on the door startled the neighbors.

“What are you doing this early?! Calling back the dead?!” The old lady next door shouted from the second floor.

“Keep screaming and I’ll dump my foot washing water on you!” Another aunt chimed in.

Zheng Kai trembled, leaning against the closed door of Wan Shi Zhai, his face terrified, his hair a mess, completely bloodless. He pulled out his phone again and frantically dialed Chen Jiu’s number.

It was only a little past six in the morning. Chen Jiu turned over. Her phone, on silent, lit up on the nightstand and then went dark, lit up and then went dark.

Finally, the sun rose. Zheng Kai leaned against the door like a beggar, his eyes half closed, his head lolling weakly to the side, as if he might faint at any second.

Chen Jiu opened the door of Wan Shi Zhai, stretched lazily. Losing his support, Zheng Kai slid softly to the ground, falling at Chen Jiu’s feet.

“Master Chen… save me…” He grabbed Chen Jiu’s foot.

Chen Jiu’s face darkened. Reflexively, she kicked him flying, sending him rolling several times across the ground.

This time Zheng Kai had no strength left at all. He lay completely still in the middle of the road.

The old lady next door asked uncertainly: “Who is this young man? Here to collect a debt?”

“Ah, it’s nothing, nothing. I thought he was here to rob the place, got the wrong person.” Chen Jiu rolled up her sleeves, walked over, and dragged Zheng Kai back like a dead dog: “This is my client. He’s dressed a bit shabby today. Didn’t recognize him at first, hahaha, my apologies.”

The old lady showed a look of understanding: “I see.”

After some acupuncture and pinching his philtrum, Zheng Kai slowly came to.

Where was he? Was he dead?

“Mr. Zheng, why were you lying at my shop door so early in the morning?!” Chen Jiu played the villain first, accusing him right off the bat: “People who don’t know better might think our shop did something to you. I was so scared I almost called 120. Luckily, besides feng shui and the occult, I also know a bit of medicine. Otherwise the consequences would be unthinkable!”

Zheng Kai sat up blankly. He wasn’t sure if the kick he took that morning was also part of a dream, since his whole body hurt.

But seeing Chen Jiu, his heart settled by half.

Zheng Kai broke down in tears: “Master Chen, please save me. The talisman is gone again. Did she steal it? Can the talisman not suppress her?!”

Hearing this, Chen Jiu’s expression changed. She asked seriously: “What did you do after you went home yesterday?”

“What did I do…” Zheng Kai recalled, trembling: “Nothing much. Went home, ate, took my medicine.”

Chen Jiu asked: “Where did you take your medicine?”

Zheng Kai: “At home… oh, in the bedroom.”

“Water by the headboard?” Chen Jiu continued.

Zheng Kai nodded: “Yes, yes. How did you know?”

Chen Jiu remained silent, closed her eyes, and put on an act of calculating with her fingers: “When you drank water, did you accidentally get some drops on the talisman?”

Zheng Kai: “…”

Did he? Didn’t he? Did he accidentally spill some while drinking? But that position…

He frowned with a terrible headache, covering his face and thinking for a long time. He really couldn’t remember. Yesterday had been too chaotic. His brain cells couldn’t process it.

Seeing him unable to be certain, Chen Jiu immediately seized on the issue and ran with it, her tone extremely dramatic: “That talisman cannot touch water! If it touches water, it will self combust! You can’t let your guard down just because time has passed, thinking that female ghost won’t come for you anymore. She’s actually been watching you from the shadows this whole time, waiting for her chance!”

Zheng Kai, frightened by her like this, his thoughts completely scrambled, on the verge of collapse: “Master, please save me. What do I do now? I know I was wrong. I can make it up! I beg you, I’ll give you money. I still have money.”

“Naturally there is a way. I have higher level talismans here, but…” Chen Jiu sighed: “As for the price, you understand.”

Zheng Kai hurriedly said: “I understand! I get it! Name your price!”

Chen Jiu seemed extremely reluctant, then raised her hand and made a fist.

Zheng Kai showed a look of understanding, rapidly transferred a hundred thousand to her, thought about it, and transferred another sum, saying grandly: “Two!”

So Zheng Kai left Wan Shi Zhai once again, clutching two beautifully packaged talismans.

“What’s our target?” Chen Wu, pen in her mouth, flipped through Wan Shi Zhai’s ledger on the sofa.

Chen Jiu said: “It’s about time to close the net.”

That night, she reorganized the recovered data on her phone, put the three most crucial files into a newly created folder, named it with the date of Xu Wei’s fall, and copied everything onto a USB drive.

After finishing, she took out pen and paper, sat at the desk, and began writing a letter. The content was only four lines.

Materials related to Xu Wei’s fall from the building, involving psychological control and mental abuse, location at XX Street XX Number.

Deceased Xu Wei, boyfriend discovered related materials. This incident occurred on XX year X month X day.

Materials include Xu Wei’s self recorded audio of being victimized, remaining records include a photo of the victim’s fall, and WeChat conversation screenshots not provided to police.

Please relevant units receive and verify. If materials are true, you must open a case and investigate. Otherwise all content will be published on major online platforms within one month.

After writing, she put the USB drive and letter into a new envelope, and wrote “Criminal Investigation Detachment, For Your Attention” on the back of the envelope with her left hand.