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Originally, he thought that two big bowls of noodles would be enough to send the person away, but they stubbornly refused to leave. Not only that, but they also boasted about being able to catch ghosts.
Shen Binghan looked at Ding Li, and the more he looked, the more he liked her.
The pure and adorable little girl was exactly his type.
Ye Chenfeng watched the foolish Shen Binghan staring at her. Who stares at someone like that? His gaze was sharp, as if he were peeling away layers of clothing from the beautiful girl—
“Foolish boy, stop bragging. If you think you're so great, prove it,” Ye Chenfeng hinted to Shen Binghan, suggesting he shouldn’t stare so openly; otherwise, the beauty might think they were up to no good and chase them away.
However, Shen Binghan ignored Ye Chenfeng and reached out to grab Ding Li's small hand, holding it affectionately as he said, “I can read palms, tell fortunes, and catch ghosts. My specialty is interpreting characters.”
Ding Li blushed deeply as she pulled her hand away from Little Monk Shen Binghan. She glanced suspiciously at Ye Chenfeng and asked hesitantly, “You can interpret characters?”
Shen Binghan replied confidently, “Yes.”
Ye Chenfeng saw that Shen Binghan was just trying to take advantage of the situation. He quickly grabbed Ding Li's hand again.
“Shen Binghan, you can't do this.”
Without even looking at Ye Chenfeng, Shen Binghan gestured for Ding Li to write a character in his palm.
It was something that could only be understood implicitly.
If he could figure out what character she wrote and interpret its meaning, then she wouldn’t be able to doubt his abilities anymore.
“What’s so impressive about your skills? My grandmother gave me a book that has everything in it.”
Ye Chenfeng's words had an effect; Shen Binghan suddenly turned around, releasing Ding Li's hand in surprise and loudly questioning him, “What’s the name of that book you mentioned?”
"Forgot."
Ye Chenfeng truly forgot the name of that book; he found it hard to remember because it was awkward and unmemorable. He hadn't read it seriously, so how could he recall so much? Strangely, Shen Binghan seemed particularly interested in that book.
Unable to recall the title, Ye Chenfeng watched as Shen Binghan continued to give Ding Li a fortune-telling.
Suddenly, there was an urgent knocking at the door.
Ding Li suggested it might be a neighbor checking on her, but she didn’t get up to look.
"Don't answer it," Shen Binghan urged them not to open the door.
However, the ever-curious Ye Chenfeng decided to go against Shen Binghan's wishes. He stood up and walked to the door, peering through the peephole. The empty hallway outside revealed no one.
Just like in a clichéd ghost story, there was no one outside, yet the knocking persisted.
It was still broad daylight, nearing nine o'clock in the morning. It had been nearly two hours since the accident at the alley entrance.
Ye Chenfeng got up to check again; the knocking ceased. He turned back, barely settling onto the couch when the knocking resumed.
After several rounds of this, Ye Chenfeng grew annoyed.
Little Monk Shen Binghan was playfully holding a beautiful girl's hand while he had gotten up and sat down several times just to check the door.
This time, out of spite, he stomped over to the door without looking through the peephole and flung it open in frustration.
A rush of cold air hit him squarely in the face, and then the lights in the room flickered ominously as if there were a short circuit. Shen Binghan, who had been waiting for Ding Li to draw characters, wore an expression of shock and fury. She lifted a foot from the sofa and kicked into the empty space, shouting, "Get lost! I told you before that I don’t believe you; now your persistence is useless. Just wait for Black and White Impermanence to take you to report to the Underworld!"
Ding Li let out a piercing scream, curling up in the corner of the sofa, trembling uncontrollably.
Ye Chenfeng was taken aback by the sight. Although he couldn't see anything, he felt that Shen Binghan was indeed kicking something.
He reached out to support Ding Li, who was so frightened that she stammered, "Ah... what are you doing?"
Ye Chenfeng helped Ding Li up.
Shen Binghan pulled out an ugly gourd from his waist and slammed it onto the coffee table, saying, "If you don't leave, do you want me to put you inside this gourd?"
A sudden gust of cold wind slammed the door shut. It felt as if an invisible person had rushed out and closed the door behind them.
The room fell silent. The three people inside, except for Shen Binghan, stared in horror at the door that had closed on its own.
Gulp—Ye Chenfeng's swallowing sound broke the silence. He forced himself to calm down and managed a faint smile, saying, "Little Monk, let's not beat around the bush. Stop scaring people with your tricks; I'm not afraid of you anyway."
"Is that so?" Shen Binghan tucked the gourd back at his waist and shouted towards the door, "Ye Chenfeng wants to help you."
As soon as Shen Binghan shouted, the door opened silently, revealing nothing but emptiness outside. The lights in the room flickered chaotically, dazzling their eyes.
Ye Chenfeng shivered, while Ding Li hugged her head, too scared to look at the doorway.
Shen Binghan appeared unconcerned and continued to support the trembling Ding Li as if nothing had happened. "You can continue," he said.
Ye Chenfeng anxiously scanned his surroundings, glancing at the half-open door which still revealed nothing outside.
He suspected that Shen Binghan was playing tricks; that foolish kid must understand some esoteric arts and could manipulate strange occurrences, like making doors open and close on their own.
Ye Chenfeng stared blankly at the door, suddenly feeling a weight on his shoulder as a chill swept past his ear, like someone was blowing cold air right next to him.
Damn Shen Binghan! Playing tricks on me again. Ye Chenfeng feigned calmness, clearing his throat as he watched Ding Li stabilize a bit under Shen Binghan's comforting presence. It seemed she had actually drawn a character in the palm of Shen Binghan's hand.
Shen Binghan spoke slowly and clearly, "What you drew is 'home,' with the radical for 'empty' on top. Something has happened at home; it's not about the house itself but rather human factors. It's July now, a time of crisis and turmoil, with everything going awry. There will be a major disaster in October."
Ye Chenfeng listened to Shen Binghan with a serious expression.
Ding Li looked astonished, her eyes filled with admiration, which made Ye Chenfeng extremely frustrated. If he had known that memorizing the book his grandmother gave him would allow him to impress others like Little Monk, he would have done it long ago instead of just memorizing it.
As this thought crossed his mind, Ye Chenfeng suddenly felt a sharp pain in his ear, as if someone were pinching it. He quickly raised his hand to protect his ear, but the back of his hand made a sharp sound as if something icy had brushed against it.
Damn it—he felt guilty seeing Ding Li staring intently at Shen Binghan, her face full of reverence, which only annoyed Ye Chenfeng further. Looking at Shen Binghan's smug smile made him grit his teeth. "Ding Li, don't listen to him; he's just a fake monk practicing some shady tricks."
Slap—this time the sensation came from an invisible hand that struck him across the face with a chilling touch. He covered his stinging cheek and looked at Shen Binghan, who was now watching him along with Ding Li.
"Enough! I didn’t ask you to hit him; hitting him is like going against me."
Shen Binghan's words were not directed at Ding Li or Ye Chenfeng; he was speaking to the air.
"What are you playing at, Shen Binghan?" Ye Chenfeng felt that Shen Binghan was too mysterious and must have used some unspeakable dark arts against him.
"I'm not playing tricks. If you want to see her, you can."
As soon as Shen Binghan finished speaking, Ye Chenfeng abruptly felt another presence in the room.
A figure appeared before him—bloodied and torn clothing, with a distorted face that swayed unsteadily as if struggling to stand. She—she was the Sanitation Worker Aunt who had been crushed to death just hours earlier at the alley entrance.
Ye Chenfeng felt a dizzying sensation, and he fainted.
He didn't know how long it had been, but when Ye Chenfeng slowly woke up, he was hit by a foul smell in his mouth and a dryness in his throat. He opened his eyes and realized he was curled up on a chair, which was not inside a room but next to a street tree.
Shen Binghan was wearing a set of slightly oversized clothes.
Ye Chenfeng recognized them as belonging to Ding Li's family, either from her father or one of her mother's online friends.
Ding Li was telling Shen Binghan stories about what had happened at home.
The two of them sat side by side on the grass in the park like a couple.
Ye Chenfeng boldly plopped down between them.
Shen Binghan grinned, "You're awake?"
"What did you make me eat? And that..."
"Dog poop mixed with Cinnabar. Otherwise, would you have woken up so quickly?" Shen Binghan said as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world, making Ye Chenfeng grit his teeth in anger. Was dog poop something people should eat? However, recalling the female ghost he had seen earlier, he had to hold back—
Shen Binghan said the ghost had already left.
"Aren't you supposed to be able to catch ghosts? Why couldn't you catch her?" Ye Chenfeng said as he tried to dig into his mouth, attempting to spit out the dog poop he had ingested. After several attempts that brought tears to his eyes, nothing moved; it just sat heavy in his stomach.
Shen Binghan remarked, "There’s always something detestable about those who are pitiful." A sanitation worker aunt was sweeping the ground when she found some money but didn’t return it; instead, she kept it for herself.
The money belonged to a rural elder.
Ding Li can testify to this.
Due to changes at home, Ding Li, who was originally cheerful, became gloomy and withdrawn. The previous week, the streets were nearly empty. Two hundred meters from the alley entrance stood an Agricultural Bank, where she witnessed a Rural Elder withdrawing money. She saw the cash fall to the ground right after he took it out, and she watched as a Sanitation Worker Aunt picked it up.
Tired of life, Ding Li remained indifferent to everything happening around her. She observed the elderly man searching back and forth along the path between the alley and the bank. As night fell, he was still looking. Suddenly, a car sped by and struck the elderly man who was searching for his lost money.
The spot where the elderly man was hit was precisely where the Sanitation Worker Aunt had died.
In less than half a month, two people had died in one place. Ding Li watched everything unfold, and coupled with the turmoil at home, she was terrified and filled with dread.
The changes in Ding Li's family stemmed from the internet.
Ding Li's mother was beautiful, but even beauty could not shield her from being scorned by her husband.
When Ding Li was eight years old, her father, who was often away on sales trips, inevitably found a new love but never admitted it. He spent less time at home, even skipping his daughter Ding Li's birthday to spend the weekend with his new partner.
Over time, her lonely mother became infatuated with chatting online and making friends on the internet. She transferred all her resentment and love onto the virtual world, confiding in a man she had never met face-to-face. One night, unable to sleep, Ding Li got up and noticed her mother's bedroom door was ajar. Curious, she tiptoed to take a look.
What she saw shocked her: a naked woman was chatting with that man on the computer, speaking intimately and making some particularly inappropriate gestures.
Ding Li screamed in terror, startling the woman who turned around. To her astonishment, this naked woman was none other than her beloved mother.
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