Chapter 3: If I Can’t Catch the Ghost, I’ll Compensate You with Myself

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a birth date and time; you can perform divination using the bamboo sticks in the container next to you.

Divination symbols emerge from the interplay of yin and yang, with the contrasting sides of bamboo sticks embodying these concepts. Additionally, not just bamboo sticks, but also the leaves around you and the keys in your pocket—any two-sided objects—can act as mediums for divination.

Before seeking divination, it’s essential to calm your mind and clarify your questions, whether they pertain to others or yourself. Historically, Xu Huai employed various divination techniques, having learned from Zhang Daoquan since childhood and observed them extensively. He also possessed some innate talent, which made his approach to divination even more relaxed than that of Zhang Daoquan.

——But at this moment, Xu Huai couldn’t perform divination.

Without even taking out any medium, Xu Huai knew that he couldn’t even do the first step. His brain was like an old TV with a lot of noise and static, unable to calm down at all.

“I can only calculate the divination tomorrow.” Xu Huai looked at the roadside not far away, “It’s too noisy over there, it will interfere with me. Now I can only take a quick look for you, so it’s free.”

The man was stunned for a moment, saying, “Ah, I’m embarrassed to trouble you, boss,” but his body had already leaned toward Xu Huai.

Xu Huai looked at the young man whose eyes visibly lit up after catching the keywords “take a look” and “free,” and thought to himself that this person was quite simple, wearing everything on his face.

He wouldn’t even know if he was being scammed.

Xu Huai: “What’s your name?”

The man wasn’t puzzled as to why he needed to say his name even for a quick look, and had no sense of caution at all.

“Xie Jing.” Xie Jing’s lips curled up slightly, making him look innocent and harmless: “It’s the ‘Jing’ from ‘spring breeze and bright scenery’.”

“Xie Jing.” Xu Huai repeated in a low voice.

The correctness of the name doesn’t matter, even if it’s the “Jing” of a water well, it doesn’t matter.

He wasn’t planning to use the name for divination anyway; he just wanted to confirm once more whether he knew this person.

He subtly extracted the person’s name and reflected on it again.

Xu Huai trusted his intuition. He always felt that he had seen this person before, and this feeling of familiarity grew stronger as they spent more time together.

However, his feelings were completely different from his memory.

This was very contradictory and had never happened before.

Xu Huai: “Spread out your left hand and just give me your palm.”

The palmistry of the left hand corresponds to innate destiny, while the right hand corresponds to acquired destiny. After examining the left hand to determine the guest’s general personality, you can reference it and continue to speak.

Xu Huai’s habit was not to directly touch the guest’s skin. He would prepare a clean tissue to pad his hand before his fingers touched the other person’s wrist. But now the conditions were limited. Xu Huai came here to set up a stall at night on a whim, so he didn’t prepare so much.

So, when Xu Huai gently held Xie Jing’s wrist, his index finger pressed against the pulse, and he came into contact with the other person, his first reaction was that this person’s body temperature seemed slightly lower than normal.

Also at this time, at Xu Huai’s feet, unnoticed, the shadow formed by Xie Jing blocking the street lamp had completely enveloped Xu Huai’s shadow. It twisted excitedly on the uneven road behind Xu Huai, entangling the relatively slender shadow that was trying to resist, little by little.

“Drip.”

The surrounding sounds had quieted down at some point. Even the police car’s siren had disappeared, and only the sound of water droplets could be heard clearly.

Xu Huai saw a man lying on the traffic lane not far away. He seemed to have just crawled out of the water, and even his limbs were showing an abnormal bluish-black color and swelling.

A strong smell of blood rushed from the flower beds along the roadside, and with it came a dark, thick liquid. Something buried in the soil broke through the ground: a severed limb missing three thumbs.

The only nearby street lamp began to flicker. After going dark for a moment and then lighting up again, a slender woman in a white dress appeared under the lamp, her complexion unnaturally pale.

The creaking sound of chewing also rang out behind him, gradually approaching.

Xu Huai’s eyelids twitched. Even if his emotions were stable and he was knowledgeable, he couldn’t help but curse in his heart when he saw this scene.

Damn it, ghosts.

In the past, during the events he handled, the ghosts that could entangle people must have had some connection to that person when they were alive. What Xu Huai needed to do was resolve the conflicts between them and politely ask the deceased who had become vengeful spirits to leave, so they could return to their world and not disrupt people’s everyday lives.

In most cases, Xu Huai couldn’t see the entities of those ghosts. He could only catch a glimpse of their outlines when he was “lucky” enough to encounter vengeful spirits with powerful emotions.

There was originally an invisible barrier between the living and the dead. The living couldn’t see the dead, and the dead wouldn’t disturb the living for no reason.

But now it was completely different. Nothing had happened around him, but the ghosts simply wandering under this overpass… hanging, buried, crawling, and those staring at him not far away, eager to move, he could see them all.

It was as if the barrier separating him had been broken.

“Boss?”

Xie Jing’s somewhat puzzled voice sounded, pulling Xu Huai back to his senses. Xu Huai then realized that he had been holding Xie Jing’s wrist and pondering for a long time without speaking.

In addition, the scene before him was genuinely shocking, causing the strength in his hand to increase unconsciously. Now, as he realized something was wrong and wanted to remedy it in time, he found that it was slightly too late.

A circle of red marks had appeared on Xie Jing’s wrist, which was a bit glaring on his fair skin.

Xu Huai: “…” This is bad.

Seeing this, Xie Jing’s face also changed slightly.

Xu Huai wanted to apologize, but he heard Xie Jing say, “No wonder I haven’t had a partner and have been single for more than twenty years. It seems that my love life is really…”

It wasn’t so bad that it was difficult to talk about.

Xu Huai felt a little guilty when he heard this, but not much.

“Sorry, I hurt you.” Xu Huai tried to ignore the strangeness around him and interrupted the other party’s imagination, “The light is a bit dim, I didn’t see clearly just now, I’ll take a closer look.”

Xie Jing: “Okay.”

Xu Huai’s gaze was fixed on Xie Jing’s palm, while the owner of the palm never took his eyes off Xu Huai’s face.

The slightly drooping eyelashes trembled unconsciously, like feathers, and the tense corners of his mouth, along with the hint of alienation in his pupils, made Xu Huai look a bit more aloof.

With a face that could be printed on posters for appreciation, he was doing the job of helping people tell fortunes and solve problems.

As if he were examining his possessions, Xie Jing’s gaze swept across Xu Huai’s face inch by inch, and finally landed on Xu Huai’s left pupil.

“It’s okay.” Xie Jing’s voice seemed a little lower and hoarser, and he said, “I’m not in a hurry, boss can take his time.”

Xie Jing had leaned closer again at some point. When he said “I’m not in a hurry,” Xu Huai could even smell a faint herbal fragrance emanating from the other person.

Not strong, but faint. It resembled a special herbal scent blended with various types of medicinal materials, where the bitterness of the herbs intertwined with the soft and gentle woody notes… Xu Huai was surprisingly not repulsed.

Even so, Xu Huai still habitually leaned back a little, widening the distance between the two.

Generally, a person’s marriage line is found below the little finger and is a short, clear line. Beneath the marriage line is the love line.

If the marriage line is located in the middle of the little finger and the love line, it indicates that the individual is likely to get married at a suitable age. Lower and higher, respectively, mean early marriage and late marriage.

Combining what Xie Jing himself said just now —that he had been single for more than twenty years —if there were no accidents, the marriage line would be higher, closer to the little finger, and the time to meet the right person would be later.

Xu Huai had already prepared his speech: ‘You will have a wife; you just need to wait longer than others, etc.’

Suddenly, Xu Huai’s eyes froze.

No, Xie Jing doesn’t have a marriage line.

There are two situations in which such a palm reading would occur. The first is that this person is not interested in marriage and relationships, but this possibility is unlikely. If they are not interested in marriage and relationships, why would they take the initiative to ask for a fortune telling?

After excluding this item, there is another possibility – this person’s sexual orientation is a bit unusual.

If this is the case, then this person, who has favorable external conditions, has been single for more than twenty years and is now taking the initiative to assess their love life; it all makes sense.

“Don’t worry too much.” Xu Huai looked up, “It’s a bit special, and it does take more time to meet the right one… but the ending is always good.”

Xu Huai held the back of the other person’s hand with his left hand, and pressed the pad of his index finger on Xie Jing’s palm with his right hand.

Xu Huai’s index finger pad had a thin layer of calluses from holding a pen and drawing talismans throughout the year. Xie Jing felt a layer of fine itching when the other person slid across his palm, and the fingers of his other hand, which were hanging down naturally, bent unconsciously.

“Your love line is clear and continuous, and there are not many breaks in the middle. You have strong leadership skills, judge things objectively and neatly, treat people and things seriously and responsibly, and are mostly calm when interacting with people, able to control your emotions.”

Xu Huai withdrew his hand and sincerely suggested, “In this case, I think… don’t restrain your behavior too much. It’s better to be frank when you meet someone you like.”

The temperature of the other person’s palm remained on the back of his hand. When he heard “don’t restrain” and “frank,” Xie Jing unconsciously pressed the tip of his tongue against his slightly sharp canine teeth, and nodded with a completely normal expression: “Okay.”

Xu Huai glanced to the side and quickened his pace: “I can’t help you analyze the others for the time being. I have some urgent matters and need to go back first.”

Those unfriendly dead people around him had already noticed something was wrong and were approaching him. It’s better to have less trouble than more, and he had to run away early.

Xie Jing: “Why don’t we add each other as friends first?”

It didn’t take long to add a friend, and Xu Huai had no reason to refuse, so he took out his phone and scanned the QR code.

Seeing that Xie Jing on the opposite side hadn’t moved for a long time, Xu Huai asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”

“Actually… I came to the boss because I heard the boss say that he can peek into the destiny, calculate feng shui, and exterminate evil ghosts.”

When he said the last three words, the black shadows under Xu Huai’s feet began to surge again, as if something had excited them.

Xie Jing lifted his hand and slightly rolled up his sleeves: “There is an evil ghost in my house that has been haunting me for a long time. I wonder if the boss can help me solve it.”

In addition to the marks Xu Huai had accidentally made earlier, some bruises of varying sizes appeared on Xie Jing’s arm, where the sleeves had initially covered it. At first glance, it looked like he had been beaten, which was very frightening.

Xu Huai was shocked when he saw this, and frowned and asked, “How long has it been? When did these marks appear?”

“It’s been going on for a month. This appeared the night before yesterday.” Xie Jing pointed to other parts, “Previously, my thighs and chest would inexplicably have these marks.”

Xu Huai tilted his head and glanced to the side, then decisively took out a yellow paper product folded into a square from his bag and pinched it between his fingers.

——With just this action, those inhuman things that wanted to approach stopped in their tracks, as if they were intimidated and dared not approach Xu Huai.

“Anything else?” Xu Huai turned his head and held his other free hand above Xie Jing’s arm. “Besides these?”

Xie Jing: “I hear some strange noises at night, and I wake up in the middle of the night when I sleep…”

These were some of the most common ghost disturbances.

From Xu Huai’s perspective, a wisp of dark color floated out from Xie Jing’s wound, naturally winding around his fingertips like smoke.

So much yin energy remained in the wound left from the night before yesterday?

Just looking at the purity of the yin energy, Xu Huai knew that the level of the ghost that had found Xie Jing was not low.

Xu Huai didn’t hesitate much and withdrew his hand.

Although he also felt sorry for this unknown passerby, wanting to solve a ghost of this level would be mentally and physically exhausting, and might even cost him his life.

A security guard did not do this kind of work for a salary of three thousand yuan. He still had to keep his life to find his master.

If someone else came, he would be a pushover.

Xu Huai lied without changing his expression, preparing to decline: “It’s not easy to handle. I’m better at feng shui. I’m not sure if I can handle this. Why don’t you contact someone else and try?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Huai’s phone vibrated in his pocket.

Xu Huai took out his phone and saw a message showing that money had been received on the unclosed page.

[Received 100,000 yuan – Payer: Xie Jing.]

Xu Huai’s pupils shook.

It seemed that wearing sunglasses every day had caused him a bit of astigmatism; otherwise, how could he see so many 0s on his phone?

Xie Jing’s voice sounded at the right time: “Boss, the deposit has already been transferred. Can’t you help me deal with it?”

Xu Huai, who had reacted, realized that he had just turned the QR code for adding friends into a payment code.

One hundred thousand, bro.

Did he understand the temptation of a windfall of one hundred thousand for a wage slave with a monthly income of three thousand who occasionally had to pay out of his pocket?

Seeing that Xu Huai didn’t reply, Xie Jing thought that the price wasn’t high enough, so he continued to speak:

“There is still a balance of five hundred thousand. If it’s this price, can you help me deal with the evil ghost in my house?”

Xu Huai’s pupils shook again.

He! He was still adding money!

He couldn’t take it anymore.

At this moment, Xu Huai’s eyes were more determined than ever: “Help.”

Even the words he spoke lost their proper measure: “Catch ghosts?”

The joy of money heavily disrupted the scale in Xu Huai’s heart that maintained emotional stability at this time, and began to tilt.

Xu Huai spoke seriously and made a promise: “If I can’t catch the ghost, I’ll compensate you with myself.”

At this moment, the corners of the man standing under the street lamp curled up, suggesting that he, too, was feeling very pleasant.

“Then it’s settled, boss.”