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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 100: Bad Luck
The next morning, unable to contain my curiosity, I returned to Qianjing Village and found Old Zhao's home. Before I even entered, I saw white banners posted at the Zhao family's entrance, a spirit banner hanging at the door, paper figurines and a paper horse adorned with white flowers placed in front of the house, and the sound of mournful music playing continuously. It was evident that someone from the Zhao family had recently passed away.
I approached a villager to inquire about what had happened to Old Zhao's family. The villager told me that Old Zhao had suddenly been struck by lightning while sleeping in bed last night. It was tragic; his body was burned to a crisp. With Old Zhao gone, only his wife remained in the household, which was unfortunate for such a beautiful woman who would now live as a widow.
Hearing this, I couldn't help but smile wryly. It seemed I hadn't misjudged the situation; he had committed too many wrongs and faced divine retribution.
However, what surprised me was that when Old Zhao had begged me for help before, he had claimed to be so pitiful, with an eighty-year-old mother above him and a young child below, along with a sickly wife in between. But how could this villager say that only a wife was left? So I asked the villager if Old Zhao had no parents or children.
The villager replied that Old Zhao's parents had long since passed away, having been driven to death by him. He had just married a wife this year, and now he was gone without leaving behind any offspring. What a pity!
Upon hearing this, I sighed. It seemed that Old Zhao truly died with an unclean heart, deceiving even me. However, for someone who harmed others and could even drive his parents to death, it seemed he truly deserved his fate.
At that moment, I decided not to linger any longer. I didn't even light an incense stick but turned around and left for the city...
In fact, there are many examples of divine retribution through lightning strikes. I once heard my grandfather recount a story from the reign of Emperor Ren of Song about a man named Zhang Jibao. Originally surnamed Xue, he became separated from his biological parents during times of war and chaos while fleeing for safety. Fortunately, a kind man named Zhang Yuanxiu took pity on him and adopted him as his son. This child from the Xue family changed his surname to Zhang from then on. Zhang Yuanxiu and his wife had no biological children and treated their adopted son Jibao with great affection, raising him as if he were their own son and providing him with education to cultivate him into an educated man.
One day, while Jibao was out exploring, he unexpectedly encountered his biological mother. He completely forgot about the kindness of his adoptive parents and left without saying goodbye. Zhang Yuanxiu and his wife were heartbroken over losing their son and spent their days waiting for Jibao's return. However, after waiting in vain for so long without seeing any sign of their beloved son, they were filled with despair and cried endlessly.
Later on, as their fortunes declined, the elderly couple became impoverished and desperately sought news of Jibao's whereabouts, asking everyone they met. After several years, they learned that Jibao had gone to the capital and achieved top honors in the imperial examination before becoming an official. Overjoyed by this news, the elderly couple borrowed money for travel expenses and hurried to the capital to find their beloved son.
After much difficulty in reuniting with their long-lost son, they were shocked when Jibao saw them in tattered clothes and seemed embarrassed by their appearance. He completely forgot about their nurturing kindness; not only did he refuse to acknowledge them but also ordered his subordinates to drive them away. The elderly couple was filled with rage and grief and ended up dying by banging their heads against the wall. Shortly after, dark clouds gathered in the sky accompanied by thunder and lightning; with a loud clap of thunder, Zhang Jibao met his demise.
Regardless of whether this lightning truly has eyes or not, those who commit numerous wrongs in life will inevitably face retribution.
Returning to the city, I found myself with nothing to do. Perhaps I am someone who cannot sit still; when I have something to occupy my time, it's fine, but once I have a moment of idleness, my mind starts to wander, and I feel that the days are hard to endure.
I was thinking about why Senior Brother Cao Qilong hadn't returned yet. After all, more than a month had passed in the blink of an eye. During this time, I had nearly ruined Master Ma's business. Many people came seeking fortune-telling and disaster relief, but most were turned away by me. I did this for their own good; I didn't want to deceive them for money. However, they all left cursing me under their breath, clearly upset that I wouldn't help them.
As a result, my shop's reputation suffered. People began to think of me as eccentric and ill-tempered, only willing to help based on my mood. Consequently, business declined naturally; even sales of Paper Figurines and Paper Horses dropped. With less business, I became even more idle and couldn't help but think of Lin Xiaoqi suffering in the Underworld's Wangchuan River, which made my mood quite heavy.
That night, unable to sleep, I left the shop and wandered the streets alone. Before I knew it, I found myself on a large bridge at the edge of the city.
During the day, this bridge was bustling with traffic, but at night it was quiet with few people around. The boats that had been dredging sand from the river during the day had also settled down for the night.
Gazing at the rushing river and feeling the cool breeze carrying a hint of fishy scent, perhaps due to nostalgia triggered by the scenery, I thought of Wangchuan River in the Underworld and fell into a daze.
I don't know if it was my bad luck or if I had offended someone, but while I was lost in thought, someone suddenly ran up behind me and kicked me hard in the back. The force sent me flying off the bridge and straight into the river!
You must understand that this bridge is over ten meters high! To be kicked off like that—what kind of hatred must one have? I screamed in shock; fortunately, the water was deep, and after falling in, I emerged almost unscathed. In my heart, I cursed whoever had done this for being so malicious; this was practically murder!
When I swam to the riverbank, a middle-aged man rushed over and pulled me out. Seeing that there were still kind-hearted people in this world, I managed to catch my breath and prepared to thank him properly. However, he looked apologetic and said, "Um, I'm really sorry; it was me who kicked you down."
Upon hearing this, I nearly laughed out of anger. So it turns out that it was this guy who kicked me off the bridge! I didn't even know him; we had no grievances against each other. Why would he kick me off without reason? This was definitely attempted murder!
Just as I was about to explode with anger, he hurriedly explained himself. Apparently, this area often experienced hauntings; people frequently fell from the bridge into the water. Some said there were water ghosts looking for souls.
Last night, as this Brother was passing by the bridge, he suddenly saw someone standing where I had been—dressed in white with their back to him facing the river. Concerned since it was already late at night and knowing that this spot often saw water ghosts claiming lives, he intended to approach and advise the person in white to go home early and not linger on the bridge.
However, when he got closer and tried to speak to the person in white about leaving early, they completely ignored him. He then asked why they weren't responding and if they could hear him.
Yet that person continued to disregard him. Seeing this behavior, our kind-hearted Brother stepped forward to see why they were ignoring him. But when he leaned his neck closer to look at their left side, they turned their face away to the right; when he leaned closer to look at their right side, they turned their face away to the left—essentially refusing to let him see their face at all.
The Brother was puzzled and thought to himself that this person was quite strange. He became a bit angry, slapped the white-clad man's shoulder, and shouted, "Hey, why are you so rude?"
When he slapped him, the white-clad man actually turned around. However, when he did, it terrified the Brother because the white-clad man's face was not that of a living person; he had no facial features at all, just a flat, white surface like a blank sheet of paper.
At that moment, the Brother screamed in fright, "Oh my god, it's a ghost!" and then ran home as fast as he could. Once home, others told him that the white-clad man he encountered on the bridge must have been a ghost.
After hearing his story, I was confused and said, "You encountered a ghost; what does that have to do with me? Why did you kick me into the river?"
The Brother sheepishly replied, "Well, just now I passed by here again and saw you standing here. I called out to you several times, but you didn't respond. So I thought I encountered that ghost again. Remembering how scared I was last night, I got angry and... kicked you into the river."
Upon hearing this, I looked at my clothes—completely white. I suddenly felt like I had been struck by lightning and thought to myself how unlucky I was to be wearing white today.
However, I also understood that the reason he kicked me was that at that moment, I was lost in thought while gazing at the river below the bridge, thinking about Lin Xiaoqi, which is why I didn't hear him calling me earlier.
At this point, the Brother said, "It wasn't until you were kicked off that I realized you were alive; by then, you had already fallen off the bridge..."
I couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. I thought to myself, "Brother, can we not play like this? You dare to kick a ghost!"
It's not entirely his fault; after all, he had called out to me several times before. It was my own fault for not responding. Fortunately, I knew how to swim and didn't suffer any major issues; it was just quite a scare. Being suddenly kicked off the bridge while simply trying to enjoy some fresh air wasn't pleasant at all. In the end, I accepted his apology and returned to the shop.
However, what I didn't expect was that because of falling off the bridge, I would attract a water ghost!
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