During this time, 

I had no business cases 

and my life was so boring. Even the people that often came to talk nonsense 

with

 me 

stopped

 visi

ting

. Every day, I looked 

into

 the void

 and stayed idle

. 

Li Mazi had to stay 

by

 Ru Xue’s side for twenty-four hours a day to 

support

 her through her puerperium. 

As such, 

I decided to drive to the nearby countryside villages to see if I 

was

 lucky enough to collect one or two otherworldly items. However, after 

looking around

, I 

didn’t find anything. Feeling h

elpless, I returned to my antique shop 

empty-handed

. 

After a week, I almost felt mold growing on my body. I couldn’t stand it anymore

. I thought 

about 

walking over to 

the antique market

 when all of a sudden, m

y phone rang

. 

It was a strange number registered in Guangxi. I immediately pulled myself together. Not many people knew my phone number. Except for my friends and 

family

, the 

rest of the people 

who called me were customers with troubles. 

Indeed, as soon as I picked up the call, the other party blur

ted,

 “Excuse me, are you Mr. Zhang? I am Hong Tianbao. Recently, I’ve bumped into something very strange. I got your number from a friend. He told me that you’re a real master. I would like to invite you to come and help me…” 

Although Hong Tianbao spoke 

quickly

, 

I could still understand what he was saying

. After he told me about the situation, I roughly got 

the picture. 

Hong Tianbao 

worked

 in the jade business in Guangxi. A week ago, he received his brother’s call saying that there could be something wrong with his father, Mr. Hong. At night time, the old man 

ran

 to the field

, and w

hen he came back in the morning, he 

couldn’t

 remember anything. At first, Hong Tianbao thought it wasn’t a big deal

. H

e had some urgent business cases 

on his plate, so h

e 

didn’t pay

 attention to the matter. However, an event happened the other day, which made him hand over the jade business to his wife

. He had to 

return home. 

His father had 

set

 the house of a rich family in the village on fire. Moreover, he laughed crazily 

in front of

 the big fire. 

Luckily,

 people 

stopped him immediately

. Otherwise, the consequences would 

have been

unimaginable

. 

Murder 

and

 arson are both felonies. If this case 

was

 brought to the Police Bureau, his father would be jailed for sure. Hong Tianjiang, Hong Tianbao’s brother, had to beg the victim

’s

 family for a long time and paid them twenty thousand

 renminbi

 as compensation, which kept them from reporting the case to the police.  

Hong Tianbao had been working away from home for years, and he had encountered many 

strange

 situations. When he came home, he knew his father had probably met something foul. As such, 

h

e used his channels to 

obtain

 my phone number. He called me 

for

 help and promised to pay me a big commission. 

Since

 I had almost 

lost my mind

to

 boredom and 

was

 promised a great payment, I 

c

ouldn’t deny this case. I booked the flight ticket immediately. When I arrived at Guangxi Airport, Hong Tianbao came to pick me up personally. Then, we got in the car

 and drove 

to Hong Tianbao’s hometown

. The

 village 

was c

alled Jintian. 

Hong Tianbao was burly and strong. At first glance, he looked around three hundred pounds. As soon as I got into the car, he asked me 

in an urgent voice,

 “How 

will

 you solve this?” 

I gave him a reluctant smile. “

I need to see the victim first.

” 

“I’m sorry, sir. I’m too worried.” 

I looked at the dark circles under his eyes

. 

I didn’t blame him. 

Strange things were happening

 to his father

. As his

 son, it 

would be

 strange 

if

 he wasn’t worried.

Along the way, I closed my eyes to regain my composure. Hong Tianbao 

was sensible

. He was restlessly anxious, but he didn’t disturb me. 

After hours of 

traveling

 by car, Hong Tianbao woke me up. I opened my eyes and 

saw that

 the car had stopped. 

“Mr. Zhang…” Hong Tianbao rubbed his hands

 and looked 

hesitant. 

I intervened, “Brother, you’re a few years older than me. Just call me by my name. You don’t need to be 

too 

polite.” 

Hong Tianbao was a true talent amongst businessmen. He immediately changed

 and started calling

me

“B

rother Jiulin.

”

He 

was worried

 because his fat

her, 

Old Hon

g, 

had lost his mind

. Moreover, the old man hated 

when people 

told him that he was being

 pestered by something evil. Old Hong deemed that he was all right and that everything was fabricated by Hong Tianbao

 because he

 didn’t want to take care of hi

m

. Hong Tianbao was worried that Old Hong 

w

ould assault me 

once

 we 

entered his

 house. 

“It’s all right. In this business of mine, people often doubt us. I’ve learned how to be calm and aloof.” 

Anyway, otherworldly items weren’t ordinary items that people could accept. Moreover, Hong Tianbao said that his father didn’t remember anything. It was reasonable that he would 

be

hostile

. 

Seeing that I didn’t care about that, Hong Tianbao heaved a sigh of relief and got out of the car first. 

Hong Tianbao’s home was a normal 

three-bedroom

, tiled house. There was a yard in front of the house

, where 

they had dried some 

food

. 

When we got out of the car, a middle-aged man that looked similar to Hong Tianbao came out to welcome us. Hong Tianbao introduced 

me to

the

 man

. He

 looked older than Hong Tianbao, but he was actually his younger brother. H

is name was 

Hong Tianjiang. 

Hong Tianjiang was a genuine person and a farmer. He was simple

, 

friendly, and spoke politely. He invited me to enter the house and poured me tea. He even offered me some steamed 

cake

. 

I’d been living in the city for 

so

 long that 

I found these

 countryside snacks refreshing and

delicious. We sat in the living room

 and chatted

. 

“Where’s your father?” We

 ha

d been talking for a long time, but I hadn’t seen Old Hong yet. I 

thought

 it

 was

 strange. 

The brothers exchanged looks then sighed. Hong Tianjiang blushed. He seemed to be struggl

ing

 mentally but couldn’t make a sound. I felt thi

ngs were

 even stranger. Did something happen to Old Hong again? 

Anyway, Hong Tianbao was an experienced businessman. 

After hesitating

 for a while, he told me the truth. 

Since

 they were afraid that the old man would go and burn people’s 

homes

 at midnight again, they decided to lock him up in his room. Old Hong

 caused trouble

 the whole night yesterday

. H

e 

should

 be sleeping now. 

I looked around and found a locked room. 

It was no

 wonder why they were reluctant when they talked to me. Locking up their father in the house was considered very unfilial behavior in the countryside. 

However, I thought it was normal. Arson 

was a big

 crime. 

Even if he

wasn’t

 put in jail, he 

could

 end up in an asylum. 

It was a little late in the afternoon, so I told them that I wanted to res

t

 and that they should wake me up at nightfall. 

The brothers nodded

and arranged a clean room for me

. T

hey would stay in the living room to rest. I didn’t 

waste time. I got 

on the bed and 

drifted

 into sleep. 

At around midnight, Hong Tianbao woke me up. When I opened my eyes, I saw 

that he had placed

 a finger 

over

 his mout

h. He sighed and signaled at 

me to keep silent. Then, he carefully pointed at the locked room. 

I immediately recognized that Old Hong had started to take action. I got off the bed, tiptoe

d

 to Old Hong’s room, 

and put

 my ear 

to

 the door. 

I heard heavy footsteps inside the room. I guessed Old Hong was trying to find 

a

 way out. I even heard his heavy breathing

. It sounded like 

a wild beast

’s

 pant

s

. 

It seemed he was being pestered by 

a

 spirit. That spirit 

realized

 that he couldn’t leave the room so he had become hot-tempered. 

I silently asked Hong Tianbao to open the door. Hong Tianbao nodded. When he inserted the key into the lock, he 

accidentally

 created a low noise. The footsteps inside immediately stopped. 

“Move aside!” I recognized that it wasn’t good

 and pulled 

Hong Tianbao to hide to one side. 

Hong Tianjiang rubbed his eyes

 and walked 

toward us. “Guys, what happened?”

He had just woken up and saw us in the corner

.

I 

didn’t have

 time to explain

. Before I could speak, t

he room was kicked ope

n

. An old man around seventy or eighty years old boldly stormed out of the room. 

He shot us a glance

. H

is eyes were bloodshot as if he had just seen his arch enemies. Hong Tianbao walked forward. He seemed to want to talk to his father, but I pulled him back. 

I knew the otherworldly item had got

ten 

the best of Old Hong and

 was c

ontroll

ing 

him. If Hong Tianbao 

went

 to him, it would be very dangerous. 

“Father, you… Are you okay?” 

I had just grabbed Hong Tianbao 

when I

 saw that Hong Tianjiang was

pulling Old Hong’s arm

; he 

was worried. 

An uncomfortable feeling 

rose 

in my heart

. I secretly held a talisman in my left hand

 and was ready 

to save Hong Tianjiang at the critical moment. 

Unexpectedly, as soon as I 

took 

the talisman out of my pocket, Old Hong’s eyes turned to me. He was moving slowly

, 

but I could hear his bones 

crack 

like a rusted robot. 

His eyes lingered at my hand. Perhaps he had recognized I was holding a spirit talisman. However, he wasn’t scared

 and

 just snort

ed

.

I felt worried

 and pulled 

Hong Tianbao behind me. I was ready to 

teach

 this bold

 and 

haughty old man a lesson

, but b

efore I could take action, Old Hong suddenly grabbed Hong Tianjian by his collar

 and lifted 

him. 

An old man around seventy years old could easily 

lift

 a grown man! 

This

 was 

too

 strange.

He hurled Hong Tianjiang toward us. Hong Tianbao and I hurried to catch Hong Tianjiang. As soon as we put him on the ground, Old Hong slowly spoke. 

“You are no good.” 

I was startled. It was strange that he didn’t want to hurt us

 as h

e suddenly left the house.

I asked Hong Tianbao and Hong Tianjiang to stay and protect their families. In the 

meantime

, I got up and chased after him!