Chapter 151: Disrupting the Geomancy

Wan'er was cleaning the courtyard while I tidied up the room. When I cleaned out the closet, I surprisingly found seven or eight thousand yuan inside, which must have been left behind by my mother or my second uncle. Today happened to be the market day in Anzhuang, so I needed to head down to the fair to buy some things. Besides purchasing food, I also needed to buy some clothes for Wang Ying and Wan'er. Although it was already autumn, both of them were still wearing summer clothes. Even though they didn't feel cold, the season had changed, and it wouldn't look appropriate if anyone saw them.

After having a simple breakfast, just as I was about to go out to borrow a bicycle to head to the market, the front gate opened and our neighbor, Granny Sun, walked in.

"Dachuan is back! I saw the gate open and wondered who it could be," Granny Sun walked in with a smile. Granny Sun was getting older, but she had always had a good relationship with my mother.

"Granny, I'm back for a few days," I said.

"Oh my, who is this? Is this my nephew's wife?" Upon seeing Wan'er, Granny Sun's eyes lit up as she tiptoed over toward her.

"Granny, she is my girlfriend, not my nephew's wife," I hurriedly explained.

"My, what a pretty young lady! Where are you from, child?" Granny Sun walked right up to Wan'er and examined her closely. Elderly rural folks were always like this—enthusiastic and warm.

"Wan'er, this is Granny. She has taken very good care of me since I was a child," I explained to Wan'er.

"Granny, I'm from the county town," Wan'er replied warmly.

"Child, I have something to attend to so I'm heading home first. Come over to my house to play with Dachuan in a bit!" Granny Sun cast one more admiring and affectionate look at Wan'er before tiptoeing away.

Seeing Granny Sun leave, I gave Wan'er a few instructions, telling her to try not to go outside. Although her physical body wasn't afraid of anything, the outside world was unpredictable after all. It was better to stay inside whenever possible. Wan'er nodded in agreement, saying she wouldn't go anywhere without me, and if she wanted to go out, she would only do so when I led the way.

Walking out and looking at the familiar streets, it really felt good to be back. Yet, involuntarily, thoughts of my second uncle and my mother surfaced. Thinking about them brought a headache; trying not to think about them was impossible. My heart felt quite heavy.

Turning right and then right again, I arrived at Li Xiaofei's house. Li Xiaofei was my childhood friend. We had studied together from elementary school all the way through junior high. He managed to get admitted to Ju County No. 5 High School while I dropped out. Later on, he attended some lousy school, studied for half a semester, and then came back. His girlfriend got pregnant, causing a massive scandal, so he stopped studying altogether.

When I was at home, the two of us often hung out together. Today, I came to find him because I wanted to borrow a bicycle to go to the town market.

Upon seeing me, Li Xiaofei froze for a moment before rushing over and landing a punch on my shoulder. "You brat, you still remember how to come back?"

I chuckled, "Aren't I back now?"

"Are you leaving again?"

"Not for the time being. We'll see after the New Year." That was genuinely what I thought. Wang Ying wasn't fully recovered yet; once she got better and was properly settled, if both of them wanted to live here, I wouldn't leave. I was done with the underworld trade, but I had plenty of strength left, and farming could easily support me. Besides, neither of them needed to eat anyway, so I only needed to keep myself well-fed and plump.

Hearing that I wanted to borrow a bicycle to go to town, Li Xiaofei patted my shoulder and said, "What bicycle are you talking about! We have a motorcycle, let's go together."

Li Xiaofei pushed his motorcycle out, kicked it to start, and revved the engine. We headed straight for Anzhuang Town. Sitting behind him, the autumn sunlight shone upon my body while a gentle breeze swept past, carrying a slight chill. By the roadside, fiery red sorghum, ripe corn, and patches of peanuts and sweet potatoes had mostly reached harvest time. Gazing into the distance, it was a picturesque landscape. I thought to myself that returning was indeed the right choice—simple rural customs and a tranquil life away from worldly disputes. This was precisely what I wanted.

Once we reached the town, I bought two full sets of clothing for Wang Ying and Wan'er from head to toe. The countryside wasn't like the city, and clothes were relatively cheaper here.

Li Xiaofei looked at me in confusion. "Brother Chuan, why are you buying so many women's clothes?"

"What else would I do with them? Wear them!"

"Who's going to wear them?"

"Your sister-in-law, of course!"

"You brat, you're not playing fair! You have a wife and you didn't even let me know?" Li Xiaofei punched my shoulder again.

"You didn't ask!"

"Let's go home, I'm going to see my sister-in-law." Li Xiaofei was beaming with excitement. As my closest buddy, he naturally cared about these matters of mine.

"No way! We still need to buy daily necessities!"

While the two of us were chatting, a person suddenly stepped right in front of me. I recognized him immediately; he was Old Li from Huangjiahe Village, also known as Li Jun's older brother. His name seemed to be Li Zheng. He was the very person whose son had undergone a ghost marriage, and after I matched Wang Ying with his deceased son, a whole series of subsequent troubles had broken out. Although this man was a farmer, he was extremely arrogant. Back then, he had slapped my second uncle and extorted tens of thousands of yuan from him, so I had zero favorable feelings toward him.

"Wang Jun's son, I've finally found you." The moment Li Zheng saw me, he lunged forward and grabbed me by the collar.

"Let go of me! Whose son is Wang Jun? My dad's name is Wang Liang, and Wang Jun is my uncle." I forcefully pulled his hand away from my collar.

"Whether he's your uncle or your dad, you both have to compensate me! You ruined my family's Feng Shui. Now even the crops in my fields won't grow, and the two pigs in my pigpen have died." Li Zheng tightly grabbed my arm as if he was afraid I would run away.

As for Feng Shui, it was indeed possible for it to be disrupted, but that was hardly our fault. Furthermore, my second uncle had already compensated him at the time. If he hadn't been so arrogant back then, my second uncle could have resolved the issue completely without any trouble, yet he chose to extort my second uncle instead. Given my second uncle's abilities, letting two pigs die from his ruined Feng Shui was already letting him off easy. If my second uncle had wanted Li Zheng dead, it would have been as easy as crushing an ant. Of course, I was just thinking to himself; whether his family's Feng Shui was actually ruined was another matter entirely.

"Uncle Li, would you mind letting go? My second uncle gave you compensation back then, and whatever happened afterward has nothing to do with us!" I didn't want to lose my temper. Since I had washed my hands of the Yin-Yang underworld and stepped out of that arena, I no longer wanted to meddle in those affairs. Therefore, I was just an ordinary farmer now, living in harmony with others.

"Your second uncle is you, and you are your second uncle! I've been to your house several times and nobody was home. You need to give my family an explanation. Give me another hundred thousand yuan, and this matter will be settled, otherwise, I'm calling the authorities." Li Zheng was acting quite belligerent.

"Uncle Li, please don't be like this. Some things can't be blamed on us either. There's a drainage ditch right above your ancestral tombs, so naturally, the rain will wash over them—that's the root cause." I wasn't spouting nonsense; the placement of his ancestral tombs was indeed geomantically flawed. My improper matching of a ghost marriage for his son was merely a catalyst; even if I hadn't arranged it, his family would have run into misfortune sooner or later due to the improper burial site of their ancestors.

"I don't care, you have to compensate me! If not, I'm dialing 110 right now." As Li Zheng spoke, he pulled out his phone and actually dialed the emergency number.

Seeing that persuasion was useless, I stopped talking and simply stood there. Li Xiaofei shot a sideways glance at Li Zheng and said, "Mister, don't go looking for trouble when there is none!"

"This is none of your business! We're dealing with a serious matter here, step aside." Fearing that I might escape, Li Zheng firmly planted himself there, clinging to my leg.

"Are you going to let go or not?" Li Xiaofei's expression darkened with displeasure.

"Xiaofei, it's fine. Didn't he call the police? Let the officers handle it." I couldn't be bothered to argue with such a person. If he wanted to call the police, so be it; I had nothing to hide, and I could just treat it as a pastime.

The surrounding marketgoers gathered around to watch the spectacle, all chattering at once.

A few minutes later, a Santana police car with flashing lights drove over. Two junior police officers stepped out and escorted us back to the police station. After questioning us about the situation, they indiscriminately fined each of us 500 yuan under the pretext of "spreading feudal superstition" and "disregarding the laws of natural science." I had no choice but to pay the fine.

Sometimes, the truly ignorant are not the unpolished folk, but rather those very people with so-called knowledge. They held fast to their own scientific worldview and had no inkling of what the seven parallel spaces were. Naturally, I wouldn't bother explaining it to them; explanations were futile because they would never believe such things.

In human existence, there were simply some things that science could never explain. Yet, in my eyes, they were effortlessly clear.

Walking out of the police station, Li Zheng glared at me viciously and spat, "Wang Jun's son, you wait and see! I'm not done with you. If you don't bring me one hundred thousand yuan, I'll tear your house down."

Li Xiaofei said indignantly, "You're all talk! Try it if you've got the guts."

"Just watch whether I dare or not! You'd better go home and get the money ready." Li Zheng refused to back down.

I didn't even spare Li Zheng a glance. Pulling Li Xiaofei along, I said, "Stop getting angry, let's go!"