A watered-down expert is still an expert. As the old saying goes, having many skills won’t weigh you down. Don’t wait until you really need a skill then regret not working hard earlier.

With this thought, Pan Yao made up her mind. She had to become an apprentice!

Besides, who hadn’t dreamt of slaying demons and eliminating evil, becoming a hero of the martial world?

“Dad, I want to learn.” Pan Yao nodded in agreement, giving Old Yu the Spirit Medium a sweet smile.

She wasn’t shy, and immediately, holding the ghost-beating stick, she called out crisply.

“Master!”

“Yes!” Old Yu the Spirit Medium was overjoyed, his unkempt beard bristling. “Good, good, good apprentice, good apprentice.”

“Sanjin, it’s late today. Tomorrow morning, you prepare properly, and we’ll perform the apprenticeship ceremony.”

Late?

Pan Sanjin and Pan Yao looked up at the moon.

The ghostly energy had faded, and the large, round moon was once again shining brightly, illuminating the area around the small temple. It was just as the ancient poem said, “Before my bed, the bright moon shines, I think it is frost upon the ground.”

The two looked at Old Yu the Spirit Medium, then exchanged a glance.

They’d been living together for this period of time, and although they were a makeshift father and daughter, their tacit understanding was perfect, not discounted in the slightest.

Pan Yao understood the subtext in Old Yu the Spirit Medium’s words. To perform the apprenticeship ceremony, they needed to “prepare properly.” This meant the old spirit medium wanted something good, wanted them to offer a generous gift. And her naturally frugal Dad Sanjin would definitely be thinking about how to save as much as possible.

Sure enough, the next moment, Pan Yao saw Pan Sanjin take action.

He waved his hand, looking casual.

“It’s not late, it’s not late. They say to strike while the iron is hot. Let’s perform the apprenticeship ceremony tonight.”

He looked around, not picky about the location. He moved a high-backed armchair from the old temple and placed it in the open space, not forgetting to bring out the rush-woven cushion that the old spirit medium often sat on while dozing.

“Alright, with Heaven above and the moon as our witness, I, as the father, will join in the fun.” He clapped his hands and pressed Old Yu the Spirit Medium onto the armchair. “Today, I’ll have Panpan offer you tea. From now on, she’ll respect and care for you.”

The tea was also ready-made, a large enamel mug on the Eight Immortals table in Old Yu the Spirit Medium’s room, still two-thirds full of cold tea.

Old Yu the Spirit Medium was a particular person, and the cold tea he brewed wasn’t ordinary.

Hedyotis diffusa, Phyla nodiflora, Bidens pilosa, three kinds of herbs dried and brewed into a pot of summer cooling tea. The tea was placed in the enamel mug, cool and dark, looking especially refreshing.

“Panpan, come, offer tea to your master.” Pan Sanjin called to Pan Yao.

“Okay!”

Pan Yao was polite and well-behaved. She held the cold tea in both hands, offered it to Old Yu the Spirit Medium, and smiled, her eyes curving slightly. “Master, please drink tea.”

Old Yu the Spirit Medium was a little stunned. He had just sat down on the chair, and now it was as if there were nails on the chair, and he was about to stand up again.

Pan Sanjin was enthusiastic and polite. “Hey, sit, sit. Quickly accept the tea. The child’s arms are short, they’re getting tired from holding it up.”

“Ah? Drink tea, drink tea.” Old Yu the Spirit Medium took the tea, frowning, still a little dazed. “Is this it? We’re apprentices now?”

“Isn’t it enough?” Pan Sanjin looked around, puzzled. “A high stool, offering tea, isn’t that all there is to it?”

Old Yu the Spirit Medium glanced at Pan Sanjin, suspecting that he was playing dumb.

How could there be an apprenticeship ceremony without an apprenticeship gift?

Being stared at with this faint gaze, Pan Sanjin couldn’t hold out any longer. He slapped his head, looking regretful.

“Oh dear, look at me, I’m so muddled, so muddled. I was so focused on having Panpan offer tea that I forgot the apprenticeship gift.”

Old Yu the Spirit Medium was satisfied.

That’s right. How could there be an apprenticeship without an apprenticeship gift? Even with a good seedling with a Yao Bone, there still had to be an apprenticeship gift for the apprenticeship.

However, what kind of apprenticeship gift should he accept? It couldn’t be too light a gift.

Old Yu the Spirit Medium held the cold tea, leaned back in the armchair, and began to daydream, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan.

He began to daydream.

Spicy stir-fried pig’s head, chicken stewed with small mushrooms, duck with taro… hiss, fragrant, so fragrant, all so fragrant.

“Dad, didn’t we bring a gift for the Great Immortal? We specifically brought it tonight.” Pan Yao spoke, emphasizing her words, shattering the old spirit medium’s beautiful dream.

Between Sanjin Dad and Old Yu the Spirit Medium, Pan Yao naturally chose her Dad Sanjin.

Hearing Pan Yao’s words, Pan Sanjin immediately understood.

He swept away his dejected appearance, slapped his head again, and beamed. “Right, right, right, we brought a gift for Old Spirit Medium today. It’s all because of that scary ghost, I almost forgot about the gift for Old Spirit Medium.”

Pan Yao snickered, watching Pan Sanjin briskly retrieve the two pieces of watermelon placed under the big banyan tree.

Pan Sanjin: “Panpan, come, show your respect to your master.”

“Okay!” Pan Yao took the watermelon, held it in both hands, and said in a loud voice, “Master, eat watermelon!”

Old Yu the Spirit Medium: …

…

Two slices of watermelon, a cup of cold tea. Pan Yao had acknowledged a watered-down expert as her master.

Old Yu the Spirit Medium reluctantly ate the watermelon.

Well, well, well, he wasn’t experiencing Sanjin’s stinginess for the first time.

Just then, the person lying on the ground woke up, groaning in pain. Pan Yao and the other two were drawn by the noise and turned to look.

“Ouch, what happened to me? Why does my whole body ache?” The man on the ground clutched his waist and sat up, looking around, completely bewildered. “Where am I?”

His opera costume had fallen off, and he was only wearing shorts and a white vest. His embroidered shoes were also gone, and his two big feet were bare. As he sat up, his face was still covered in makeup.

“Ah!” He cried out in alarm, startling Pan Yao and the other two. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?”

The next moment, he saw himself clutching his flesh, looking at the red welts on it. He was both tearful, bewildered, and furious.

“Who hit me?”

Pan Yao: …

…It was her.

She had just started using the ghost-beating stick and hadn’t controlled her strength properly. Sigh, those marks, they looked a bit painful.

Pan Yao secretly hid behind Pan Sanjin.

“Was it you!” Whoever was at the scene was a suspect. The man sat on the ground, tearfully accusing Pan Yao and the other two.

Finally, Pan Yao was too young, and Old Yu the Spirit Medium was too old, so he pointed the finger at Pan Sanjin and shouted.

“Sanjin, tell me, was it you?”

Pan Sanjin was surprised. “You know me? Who are you?”

The man rolled his eyes. “Really, a noble person forgets things easily. It’s me, Li Yaozu from Bailuwan.”

“It’s you, kid.” Pan Sanjin was enlightened.

“Don’t, it’s not that I’m a noble person who forgets things easily. With you looking like this ghost, even your own parents wouldn’t recognize you.”

Pan Yao nodded in agreement. “That’s right, Uncle, you look scary.”

She followed Pan Sanjin’s instructions, went into Yu Daxian’s room, and took out a round mirror. The mirror wasn’t large, and on the back was a picture of a wavy-haired Hong Kong star, a very popular and fashionable item, very beautiful.

Pan Yao was intrigued and looked at it for a few extra moments.

Pan Sanjin took it, also glancing at it for a moment. Then, he glanced at Yu Daxian and chuckled teasingly. “Oh, a beauty’s portrait! I knew you, Old Spirit Medium, had some romantic thoughts.”

Yu Daxian bristled his beard; Pan Yao snickered.

…

“Here, don’t say we hit you earlier. Take a look at yourself in the mirror. Shouldn’t you be beaten?” Pan Sanjin held the mirror up to Li Yaozu.

Afraid he wouldn’t be able to see clearly, Pan Sanjin turned on his flashlight, thoughtfully providing him with a beam of light.

The oval mirror showed everything clearly. Under the flashlight’s beam, the made-up face was extremely frightening, a deathly, lifeless white, the lips a red that verged on black, and even the normally ordinary eyes seemed to exude an evil aura.

“Mommy, a ghost!” Li Yaozu flailed, crying and howling.

Pan Sanjin said irritably, “That’s you.”

Pan Yao held the ghost-beating stick. “Uncle, don’t be afraid. If the ghost possesses you again, I’ll help you beat it.”

After a good while, Li Yaozu regained his senses, found his tongue, and stammered.

“Beat, yes, I should be beaten… Thank you, little sister. Later, Uncle will buy you something tasty.”

In this area of Bajiao Village, little girls were called A-mei, and little boys were called A-di.

“You’re welcome, Uncle.” Pan Yao smiled shyly.

Li Yaozu was terrified by his own appearance, and after listening to Pan Sanjin and the others explain what had just happened, he knew he had been possessed by a ghost. Seeing the opera costume placed to the side, he let out a “Mommy!” and scrambled behind Pan Yao, far away from the costume.

Pan Yao held the ghost-beating stick, providing Li Yaozu with immense support, despite her small size.

Pan Sanjin was curious. “Where did you encounter this ghost? It even ran to our village to cause trouble. You don’t know, just now you were grabbing Old Yu Daxian, wanting to kiss and hug him. The Great Immortal was almost violated by you.”

Old Yu the Spirit Medium, Li Yaozu: ……..

Both of their faces were a mix of green and white. Glancing at each other, they could even add a touch of red and green. Pan Yao looked at their expressions; they could open a dye shop.

Clearly, her Dad Sanjin had stepped on both of their sore spots.

Li Yaozu was so embarrassed that he didn’t want to talk to Pan Sanjin anymore. However, he was also afraid. If the root cause wasn’t dealt with, what if another ghost came to possess him?

After all, there had been a Xiao Lanxiang, so there might be another Xiaomoli Xiang^[1]Little Jasmine Fragrance.

Not only was Old Yu the Spirit Medium worried about his reputation, he was worried too.

Li Yaozu spoke heavily, “This matter, speaking of it, it also has something to do with you, Sanjin.”

“Me?” Pan Sanjin was surprised.

Hearing that it was related to Pan Sanjin, Pan Yao’s expression immediately became serious, and she tightened her grip on the ghost-beating stick.

With the implementation of the household contract responsibility system, production brigades across the country were gradually being disbanded these past few years. In early July of this year, Bajiao Village’s production brigade was also disbanded. From then on, Bajiao Village implemented household contracting, dividing the land among households.

Pan Sanjin’s family had few members, so he received less land than others. He thought about clearing some wasteland.

Bajiao Village was located near mountains and water. The mountain behind the village was called Minya Mountain. The mountain range was continuous, lush and verdant, rich in natural resources and abundant water sources. Pan Sanjin chose a spot at the foot of the mountain to dig. By chance, he dug up a tomb.

…

Pan Sanjin saw that Pan Yao was listening intently and chimed in.

“That’s right, it was a tomb. There was no tombstone on it, otherwise I would have seen it and avoided it. Actually, it didn’t take much effort. After a few strokes of the hoe, I realized something was wrong. It was hard, like bricks. After digging a few more times, I jumped down into the pit to take a look. It looked like a tomb, so I stopped.”

Digging up someone’s grave, how unlucky!

“And then?” Pan Yao listened with great interest.

Pan Sanjin spread his hands. “And then, and then I reported it to the brigade, and I even got a reward.”

He was quite proud. “It was the pair of enamel mugs and the red towels, the new ones that Dad used for you the other day. They’re useful, right?”

“They’re useful! Thank you, Dad.” Pan Yao was supportive.

Pan Sanjin smiled happily.

Li Yaozu wiped his face. “You all know Chen Toutou, the captain of your Bajiao Village’s production brigade. He’s my uncle. I heard him talking about the tomb, so, so I wanted to go take a look.”

He was a bit hesitant, his eyes darting left and right, avoiding looking at anyone.

“And after taking a look, who knew I’d be bewitched.”

Pan Yao and the others were enlightened. Looking at Li Yaozu’s expression, he wasn’t bewitched after looking; he was bewitched from the start, thinking about going to the tomb to rummage around and see if he could take advantage of the dead!

“Deserved!” Pan Sanjin spat.

Pan Yao nodded in support. “Deserved!”

Old Yu the Spirit Medium also thought for a moment. “Chen Toutou… No wonder that ghost called me Changlang.”

The others were drawn in by his exclamation, and all turned their heads, their gazes fixed on Old Yu the Spirit Medium, clearly waiting for his explanation.

Old Yu the Spirit Medium cleared his throat twice. “What are you all looking at me for? Alright, it’s actually not something that can’t be said.”

He turned and went into the small temple. When he came out again, he was holding a wooden box.

Pan Yao looked closely. The box was dark red, with two soaring wild geese carved on it. It looked quite ancient and rustic.

Old Yu the Spirit Medium opened the box. Inside was half a phoenix hairpin, made of gold, with small gemstones in the style of red beans as tassels.

“This was given to me by the brigade leader.”

Pan Yao raised her head.

Old Yu the Spirit Medium’s mouth twitched. He didn’t know why he felt flustered, and he instinctively explained.

“Wrong, wrong, it wasn’t given to me by him. He placed it with me. How could he give me this thing? It looks like a love token. I’m already so old.”

Pan Yao: …

It’s all because of that Xiao Lanxiang. Look how scared he’s made her high and mighty master, he’s become so cautious!