The year was Jiawu, the month Guiyou, and the day Jiashen. The day was inauspicious for those born in the Year of the Tiger, with bad luck in the south. It was said that Jia days were unfavorable for opening storehouses, leading to financial loss, and Shen days were not for setting up beds, as lurking spirits might enter the room.
Recommended: Groundbreaking, Construction, Travel, Burial.
Avoid: Logging, Arranged Marriage (Groom), Marriage (Bride), Stele Erection.
Upstream of the Min River in Rongcheng, yellow paper rained down, falling weakly into the river and drifting with the current, quickly swallowed by the churning waters.
"Three celestial wonders in the sky, the sun, moon, and stars, piercing heaven and earth, astonishing gods and spirits. All deities bow their heads in reverence, and malevolent forces flee without pause!"
On the bank of the Min River, at a bridge construction site, a strangely dressed sorcerer, holding a treasure sword and a golden whip, chanted incantations. He wore a red cloth headband, a green jacket, and a blue skirt, his bare feet dancing on the gravelly shore without apparent pain.
This was the attire of a sorcerer from the Lushan Sect. While the Lushan Sect might not be well-known in other regions, in Jianzhou Province, and specifically in Rongcheng, it was a local, indigenous religion. It inherited the essence of schools like Jingming Dao and Lingbao Pai. This particular sorcerer was a "Red-Headed Sorcerer" of the Lushan Sect, specializing in warding off evil, capturing demons, and resolving disasters.
After dancing for a while, the sorcerer suddenly picked up a bowl from the altar, inverted it on the ground, let out a loud shout, and then shattered it with his sword. He then exhaled a breath of turbid air, placed his ritual implements on the altar, closed his eyes, and remained silent.
The sorcerer could remain patient, but the people around him could not. A middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes, unable to bear it any longer, asked, "Master Huang, is it done?"
The sorcerer remained silent for about ten seconds, causing those around him to break out in a cold sweat despite the hot weather. This new Xinyie Bridge had collapsed three times during its construction. No matter how the experts from the design institute studied it, they couldn't find the problem. The most recent collapse, three days prior, had even killed a worker. This incident had escalated considerably. Not only had relevant departments ordered a halt to construction for rectification, but the workers were also in a state of panic.
Since ancient times, rivers, lakes, and seas have always been accompanied by bizarre and frightening stories. Previously, a worker had seen a female ghost dancing in the river in the dead of night, scaring him into a state of mental distress, leading him to resign and go home. Now, the workers suspected that there was something unclean in the water obstructing their bridge construction. If they continued to build, who could guarantee that they wouldn't be the next to have an accident?
The workers were afraid, but their boss, Zhang Guodong, was even more distressed. The reason for building this bridge was to secure the government's approval for him to develop the land on the opposite bank. If the bridge couldn't be built, he wouldn't get the land, resulting in a loss of both wife and soldiers. Zhang Guodong was merely the boss of a small real estate company and could not afford such a loss. Therefore, he had spent a large sum of money to invite Huang Hai, a Red-Headed Sorcerer of the Lushan Sect, to perform a ritual, hoping for the project to proceed smoothly.
Master Huang remained silent for a long time before opening his eyes, stroking his mustache, and explaining, "I have already spoken with the lingering lonely spirits in the vicinity. They are not the ones causing trouble. The real problem lies with the land beneath our feet."
Zhang Guodong's brow furrowed. "Master, what do you mean by that?"
"The location you chose is low-lying, a place where yin energy gathers. It lacks a supportive mountain behind it, making it not a propitious site for feng shui. Most importantly, building a bridge here will create a fire-shaped sha between the bridge, the riverbank, and the water. Water and fire have been incompatible since ancient times, and your bridge cannot suppress this fire-shaped sha. Naturally, it collapses every time it's built. Furthermore, in the Eight Trigrams, the fire-shaped sha corresponds to the Li trigram, which represents fire. It brings calamity of bloodshed. If you continue to build, the number of deaths will not be as simple as one or two!"
Zhang Guodong's frown deepened. The matter of human lives was not trivial. However, where the bridge was built was decided by the government; he had no authority to make such a decision. Moreover, with the bridge half-built, the cost of rebuilding would be astronomically high. Were there no other solutions?
Fortunately, Master Huang followed up by saying, "There isn't no solution." Resolving a fire-shaped sha was not difficult. The simplest method was to suppress it with a statue of the Black Tortoise. If one bridge couldn't suppress your fire-shaped sha, could the divine beast representing water, the Black Tortoise, not do so? Master Huang immediately instructed Zhang Guodong: burying a Black Tortoise statue beneath the third bridge pier would allow the bridge construction to proceed smoothly. Zhang Guodong, having found a solution, was overjoyed and deeply grateful to Master Huang, wishing he could kneel and kowtow to him.
As Zhang Guodong thanked Master Huang, a voice suddenly drifted from among the workers: "The problem isn't the fire-shaped sha, it's this bridge pier..." The voice was not loud, but in such an atmosphere, it was particularly jarring.
Master Huang immediately glanced in the direction of the sound. He saw a simply dressed young man standing there, carrying a shoulder bag with a peculiar wooden bird perched on his shoulder. The young man had a clean crew cut, healthy wheat-colored skin, and a strikingly white set of teeth. Despite being on a construction site, he was spotless. However, his faded clothes made him appear somewhat shabby.
Just as the troubles at the construction site were being resolved, an discordant voice was heard. Zhang Guodong was annoyed. "Which foreman's crew are you from? You haven't even grown all your hair, what do you know?"
Immediately, a foreman emerged, angrily scolding, "Who gave you permission to speak to Mr. Zhang like that? Who do you think you are!"
Master Huang, with an air of profound wisdom, replied, "It's alright. I, Huang Hai, have been in this profession for many years and have received much doubt. The study of feng shui is profound and unfathomable. Young people think they understand it after reading a few novels online, unaware that the intricacies within might not be fully grasped even in a lifetime."
The young man spoke with some displeasure, "If it's wrong, it's wrong. You can't see it because your cultivation is shallow. If you don't listen to me, the construction site will still have problems sooner or later!"
"You brat! If it weren't for the fact that you're almost starving, would you even get a chance to do manual labor? Stop talking nonsense here and get lost!" The foreman was furious, wishing he could kick the young man away. This little rascal had only been hired at noon, ate three boxed lunches, and hadn't done any work yet. Now he was speaking nonsense in front of Zhang Guodong. The foreman regretted not having a sharper eye. If he angered Mr. Zhang because of this kid, he, as the foreman, might be implicated.
"If you don't believe me, so be it. Just don't blame me if something happens later!" The young man was also angry. Seeing that no one was willing to believe him, he turned to leave.
The foreman seemed to have a thought, his expression suddenly changed, and he grabbed the young man's hand, "Don't go!"
The young man turned back and smiled, "Asking me now? It's too late!"
The foreman pointed at the boxed lunches in his arms. "You haven't done any work, and you're still taking three boxed lunches from me. Are you a hungry ghost reincarnated?"
The young man's face flushed red. He coughed twice, abandoned the boxed lunches, and quickly ran away. The foreman, still not appeased, cursed the young man's retreating back, "Little beggar, you can eat food casually but not speak nonsense. Don't let me see you again!"
At the construction site, the remaining people exchanged glances. Although Master Huang had given his assurance, the young man's interruption had made them somewhat worried again. Zhang Guodong pacified them, "Everyone, don't worry. The Black Tortoise statue is already on its way. If it's buried tonight, we can resume construction tomorrow morning. With Master Huang's intervention, it will surely be foolproof!" However, even so, the workers' anxieties had not completely dissipated.
Master Huang smiled slightly, his demeanor that of a master. "I, Huang Hai, am considered a top feng shui master in Rongcheng. The Sect Master of Lushan Sect is my grand-uncle. Do you trust me, or that young kid?" Master Huang's calm and confident tone was more effective than Zhang Guodong's reassurance. The workers then put their worries aside and began to get back to work.
Outside the construction site, the young man with the shoulder bag walked along, looking back. "Grandpa, you told me to do more good deeds. I wanted to obey you, but good words cannot persuade a stubborn fool. They don't believe me, and there's nothing I can do!"
Just then, a thin, gaunt worker caught up. "Little brother, don't, don't rush off!"
The young man was startled and instinctively covered his shoulder bag. "I only took those three boxed lunches earlier, I have nothing else!"
"Uh... I'm not looking for boxed lunches from you," the worker said awkwardly.
"Are you perhaps here to pay me my wages? That's unlikely, I haven't even started working yet..." The worker in front of him was around thirty, not particularly old, but his skin was so tanned that he looked older.
The worker said, "My name is Wu Yuchun, what's yours?"
Yan Shouyi glanced at the worker's face; he didn't seem like a wicked person. So, he puffed out his chest and replied, "Yan Shouyi."
"Little Brother Yan," Wu Yuchun scratched the back of his head, seeming a bit unaccustomed to interacting with people, but he still tried to speak. "I don't have much education, but I'm a good judge of character. I think you seem like someone with real skill, so I have something to ask of you..."
Yan Shouyi chuckled and asked, "Tell me what it is first, and then I'll consider whether to agree."
Wu Yuchun took out a crumpled cigarette pack, offered Yan Shouyi a cigarette, then lit one himself. A trace of sadness appeared in his cloudy eyes. "The person who died at the construction site a few days ago was my younger brother. He was the only one working on the bridge that day. After the bridge collapsed, he fell into the river, and his body hasn't been recovered yet. The foreman gave me two hundred thousand yuan and told me not to recover the body, otherwise, it would slow down the construction progress. I thought that even though my brother was gone, I could at least use the money to support my parents, so I vaguely agreed."
"But in the following days, I kept dreaming of my brother. I dreamt he was soaked and said he was very cold, wanting to go home, and asked why I didn't find him..." Wu Yuchun, a grown man in his thirties, couldn't help but shed tears. "I can't swim, and I don't know how to find a body. They say there are strong currents at the bottom of the river, and the body might have been washed downstream, making it impossible to find. But every time I think of my brother's remains being lost, I can't help but feel sad."
Yan Shouyi took a drag from his cigarette and asked, "So, you want me to help you recover the body?"
Wu Yuchun nodded quickly. "If Little Brother can recover my brother's body, I'm willing to give you all the money the foreman gave me."
Yan Shouyi pointed in the direction of the construction site. "Isn't that Master Huang skilled? Why don't you ask him?"
"Master Huang's fees are too high."
"..." Yan Shouyi sighed. Did he look cheap?
He glanced at the construction site and said indifferently, "How much money do you have on you right now?"
Wu Yuchun was taken aback. After searching his pockets, he only found about eighty yuan in crumpled change, all small bills, not even a fifty.
"I only have this much now. If it's not enough, I can go to the bank to withdraw..."
"No need, this is enough," Yan Shouyi said. "I can't accept too much money; it will incur divine retribution."
Yan Shouyi then instructed, "The yang energy is too strong during the day, making it too difficult to find your brother's body. We'll come at night. Prepare your brother's clothes from when he was alive, and then break off a few branches of phoenix trees by the river. Do you understand?"
Wu Yuchun nodded quickly.
The construction site called for work again, and Wu Yuchun hurried back. Yan Shouyi went to the riverbank and looked thoughtfully at the water. Suddenly, he took down the lifelike wooden bird from his shoulder, lowered his head, whispered something into its ear, then made a hand seal and threw the bird away. To his surprise, the wooden bird did not fall into the river but flapped its wings and flew up! Faintly visible, the words "Lu Ban" were carved on the bird's back.
[Author's Note]
The same familiar recipe, the same original taste. The protagonist's surname is still Yan. Fellow book friends, guess who I am?