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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 15: The Ghost Curse
As night fell, Grandpa and Pang returned home.
Pang entered the house with a distressed expression and shouted at me, "Qii, do you see a mark on my back? It feels numb and painful."
I looked at Pang's back while Grandpa asked, "Did anything happen today?" I shook my head, indicating that there was nothing particularly unusual.
On Pang's back, a strange boil had formed, and when he pressed it, it felt soft, like an extra lump of flesh.
"Is it nothing serious?"
"Ouch, it hurts..."
"Stop whining." Grandpa was tired too and muttered something about eating, washing up, and going to bed.
Pang remained as usual in the room separated by a curtain. With nothing to do, he flipped through some old magazines, particularly interested in the covers featuring beautiful women. He wasn't really reading the magazines; he was just enjoying the sight of the women, amusing himself.
I thought that with that boil popping up on his back, he should take it easy and rest well tonight.
Grandpa didn't rest when he entered his room. Hearing me pass by, he called out, "Qii, come in for a moment."
I went inside and noticed that Grandpa hadn't changed out of his clothes; it seemed he was waiting specifically for me.
"Close the door." After I shut the door and walked over, he said, "Sit."
I sat down.
Grandpa had quit smoking long ago, but unexpectedly lit up a cigarette today. He took a puff and coughed uncontrollably, having to extinguish it while giving me a wry smile. "Getting old means being useless."
"Grandpa, you're as strong as ever; you should live to be over a hundred."
"Over a hundred is a curse," Grandpa coughed lightly, then said seriously, "Listen, I have something to tell you."
I smiled and replied, "I'm all ears!"
"It was many years ago on a rainy night. The rain was pouring down, and I was alone in this shop without a care in the world. But just after the rain eased up a bit, I heard the sound of a baby crying at the door."
Hearing Grandpa's story, I chuckled, "It was Fatty, right?"
Ignoring my comment, Grandpa continued, "When I heard the child's cries, I hurried to see what was happening. I found a basket at the door with a child kicking and flailing inside. When he saw me, he actually smiled—poor thing."
"It was Fatty, wasn't it?"
Grandpa still didn't respond to me and went on, "The child seemed fine; why would anyone want to abandon him? It was strange. I picked him up and brought him inside when I realized..."
I grew anxious and stood up quickly, asking, "Realized what?"
"He had Demon Eyes." Grandpa's gaze fixed on me intensely, as if he could see straight into my soul.
I felt uneasy and fidgety.
"That child was you. You are pure Yang according to your Ba Zi but have these Demon Eyes—black pupils with no white at all. It scared me back then. It also frightened your parents; they abandoned you at my doorstep because they couldn't bear to let you be taken away by wild animals.
That night, I rushed to find a master who used magic to seal your Demon Eyes. But still, strange things happened around you. For instance, you might see things others can't; you can Mediumship. I've used your Mediumship abilities to help many people and made quite a bit of money from it."
As I listened to Grandpa speak, I suddenly stood up in shock and exclaimed, "Grandpa, you've got it wrong! I'm your biological grandson! My last name is Ma too!"
"You are not my biological grandson; Fatty isn't either. He is pure Yin according to his Ba Zi, which is the exact opposite of yours. If given even the slightest chance, evil spirits could easily attach themselves to him and cause trouble. However, in the future, you can use his abilities for many things. So you two need to look out for each other."
Grandpa had become a bit muddled, and Fat had something to discuss. The way he was talking about his final arrangements made me speechless. I was slowly processing everything, wondering where my biological parents were and what their names might be.
"Qi, from now on, you’ll have to take care of Fat. This Funeral Home can only be inherited by you. Fat doesn’t have much luck; he’s facing a calamity that you’ll need to help him with. I’ve opened your Demon Eyes to assist him. Are you willing?"
I have Demon Eyes? Seeing the bewildered expression on my face, Grandpa poked me with his finger and continued to ramble, "This isn’t about seeing; it’s about calculating. Fat has a calamity in his fate."
"Oh, is it that Boil? Is it really Boil?"
"I'll give you credit for being clever this time."
As Grandpa spoke, he picked up a talisman paper, lit incense, and began chanting. The talisman circled the incense burner as he muttered incantations, waving it in front of my eyes. I felt a burning sensation approaching my eyes, and I noticed the frequency of his chanting increasing.
Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in my eyes, and I opened them to see—
The Demon Eyes were open? It looked no different from normal vision!
Grandpa's deep-set eyes gazed at me seriously: "Qi, you’re grown up now. You can control the power of the Demon Eyes. Since you haven’t manifested their abilities yet, everything you see appears just like usual. To utilize the power of the Demon Eyes, you must operate it yourself."
Honestly, I didn’t feel that there was anything wrong with the Boil on Fat’s back.
However, after hearing Grandpa recount what happened during their ritual for Ji Xiaoying, I realized things weren’t so simple.
During the ritual for the deceased, something had occurred.
Fat had been helping Grandpa at that time—doing odd jobs like serving tea and running errands.
Grandpa thought Fat was foolish and didn’t understand anything; he was single-minded.
Yet Fat was curious about Xue Grandpa's Mystical Arts and couldn’t resist looking when he shouldn’t have and getting too close when he ought not to. His luck was weak, making him susceptible to Evil Energy. While performing the Ritual for Ji Xiaoying, he lost his balance and bumped into the corner of the Ice Coffin. At that moment, Grandpa saw that he had only a small bruise where he hit it, but when they returned home, it turned into a boil the size of a finger.
The Boil was coming on strong, and it couldn't be a good sign.
"It's a curse," he said.
"You were cursed?"
"Yes."
"Should I go take a look now?"
"Mm." After taking a few steps, I turned back to ask Grandpa, "How do I activate the Demon Eyes?"
"Clear your mind of all distractions and unify your spirit."
"Oh."
I hadn't walked far when Grandpa called out to me, "Activating the Demon Eyes will attract more Evil Energy. If the Evil Energy takes hold and you can't control it, things could go wrong."
It seemed that Grandpa hadn't wanted to tell me this before, but now he felt compelled to share it, perhaps because I had called him Grandpa for over ten years.
"What will happen then?"
"It will be terrifying. You'd better not delay too long; the Demon Eyes are quite malevolent."
Hearing this reminded me of what Xiuxian had said: "Don't talk to him; he has Evil Energy."
It seemed that aside from my own ignorance, those around me were somewhat aware of my situation. I was just an Abandoned Child, a child of the Demon Eyes discarded by my parents.
Grandpa had found me but never revealed the truth; all these years, he had been using me to make money.
It was frustrating to think about.
But then again, if it weren't for my grandfather, I might not even exist right now. My heartless parents abandoned me without any intention of bringing me back. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known about all this for so many years.
Silently, I left my grandfather's room and walked toward the room of the chubby guy.
From a distance, I could hear him calling out in pain. When I walked in, I saw him holding a magazine in one hand and playing with a bird in the other; his expression was utterly ridiculous.
"Ma Qi, are you laughing at me?"
"You're such a fool; why are you still playing around?"
"Enduring pain while finding joy, it makes it a bit easier. Maregebi, can you help me see what kind of monster is on my back? Put some medicinal alcohol on it." The chubby guy grinned through his teeth, arching his back for me to see.
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