New Times, New Hell

Chapter 20 - An Advanced Way to Invite Gods

Yu Zhengdu’s hometown was Jintan Village, located in the neighboring province’s Shu City. Jintan Village was in the suburbs of Shu City, so was relatively closed off geographically. There were no important local businesses, so many people chose to make their living elsewhere. Because they were good at business, quite a few became rich and turned around to help their fellow villagers. Thus, even though Jintan Village’s local economy was average, the families that lived there were comparatively well off.

Yu Zhengdu was the only child in his family. His grandparents had passed away when he was young, so after he went to Fu City for school, only his parents lived at home. Their lifestyle was a little solitary, so when he told them over the phone that he was bringing a coworker home for Qingming, they thought it was a bit strange, but were still quite welcoming.

……

“Dad, Mom, I’m back,” Yu Zhengdu called out from beyond the security door.

“You’re back la, the news said there was traffic today. Is it true?” Mother Yu wore an apron and wiped her hands as she unlocked the door. As soon as the door was opened, her eyes lit up and her voice raised two octaves, “This must be your coworker?”

“Yes.” Yu Zhengdu introduced them to each other, “This is my mom, this is Shang Que.”

“Aiya, Xiao Shang is too handsome. He’s even better looking than celebrities.” Mother Yu’s eyes were curved into crescents as she smiled. She spoke as she moved out of the way to let them in, “Hurry, come inside and sit.”

Shang Que seemed a little awkward. He stayed slightly behind Yu Zhengdu and nodded expressionlessly, “Hello.”

His response couldn’t be considered very polite, but his good looks blinded Mother Yu’s reasoning, so she didn’t see any issues with it. She even smiled and brought out a platter of fruit for them.

“Where’s Dad?” Yu Zhengdu asked.

“He went to the clan gathering. Apparently Yu Manchuan had some proposal or something.” Mother Yu looked at Shang Que as she spoke. “I’m cooking right now, so you guys watch some TV first. We’ll be able to eat soon.”

“Un.” Shang Que’s body was a bit stiff. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, before pulling out a bag and handing it over. “This is for you guys.”

“Ey, just coming is enough, no need to be so polite.” Mother Yu suddenly started smiling even more and reached out to grab the item.

Next to him, Yu Zhengdu froze. He looked at Boss in surprise, “You brought a gift?”

Shang Que’s expression was a bit unnatural as he asked in confusion, “Don’t you mortals normally bring a gift when it’s your first time at someone else’s residence?”

That’s true, but you’re a ghost ah. And a poor ghost with an attitude at that……

Yu Zhengdu secretly roasted him in his head, but quickly realized something. He quietly questioned in shock, “This isn’t your first time as a guest at someone else’s home right?”

Shang Que sat up straight and remained unmoving, only glancing at him from the corner of his eye. “……In the Underworld it isn’t in fashion to go to other people’s homes. And most ghosts can’t afford to invite me.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……You’re right.”

Mother Yu took out the item from the bag, only to discover that it was a set of four little black bowls around the size of an infant’s fist. Their forms were simple and unsophisticated, and the glazed surfaces were covered with thin designs. They appeared to be have been purposefully made to look antique, as the little bowls all appeared somewhat old.

Yu Zhengdu’s family was your classic average family. None of them had any sophisticated hobbies, so knew nothing about ceramics. Mother Yu looked at the four little bowls left and right, then stated very enthusiastically, “These bowls look very useful. How about we use them for lunch?”

Though Yu Zhengdu thought there was nothing special about those bowls, he gave his Boss a lot of face and immediately responded, “Okay, sounds good. And there’s four bowls for four people, simply perfect.”

The corner of Shang Que’s mouth slightly twitched. He tried to hold himself back, but couldn’t, so slowly opened his mouth. “Those are tea cups.”

Mother Yu: “……”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

The scene suddenly became very awkward, but Yu Zhengdu very quickly picked up the tea cups and gave him a thumbs up without even blushing. “You can tell with just one look that they’re good tea cups. I’ll go wash them first and then bring them out for some tea.”

Mother Yu calmly stood up straight. “Let me get you guys some tea leaves.”

Shang Que’s mouth twitched once more, but he ultimately didn’t speak again.

Yu Zhengdu finished washing the tea cups rapidly, and made a cup of tea for both himself and Shang Que, pretending nothing had happened. Mother Yu continued preparing lunch in the kitchen.

Yu Zhengdu saw that his mom wasn’t around, so leaned over to ask his boss, “I didn’t see you carrying anything on the way over. Where did you pull the tea set out from?”

Shang Que glanced at him. “Have you ever heard of the qiankun in the sleeve?”

The qiankun in the sleeve was an interesting spell that allowed one’s sleeve to hold an infinite amount of items. Though Yu Zhengdu didn’t know much about spells, he had watched Journey to the West before. Upon hearing this, his eyes lit up and he reached his hands over excitedly to touch Shang Que’s sleeve. “I know that spell, it’s the one where you can put a bunch of stuff in your sleeve right. That’s amazing, let me take a look.”

Shang Que was dressed casually; on top, he wore a thin cardigan sweater over a collared shirt. The sleeve of the cardigan was tight and really didn’t seem like the legendary large sleeve that could contain a qiankun.

Yu Zhengdu finally tugged open the sleeve of his cardigan a little bit and peeked in, only to say in confusion, “I don’t see anything……”

Shang Que reached a hand out to push his head away. His expression was speechless. “That’s only the name of the spell. You don’t necessarily have to use a sleeve……”

Yu Zhengdu was hit with this realization. He asked curiously, “Then where is yours?”

Shang Que was about to speak when the sound of angry complaining drifted in through the door. “Yu Manjiang is really too much. He even convinced the clansmen to get rid of the public ancestral temple……”

Yu Zhengdu lifted his head and called out, “Dad.”

Father Yu noticed just then that his son was home, so stopped speaking. He switched to a cheery expression and walked over. “When did you get home?”

Then his eyes lit up. He looked at Shang Que and sighed, “This must be your coworker? What a striking young man!”

Shang Que’s back was still straight; he nodded at Father Yu. A moment later, he slowly added a slightly unnatural smile. “Hello.”

After they greeted each other, Yu Zhengdu inquired, “What happened with Yu Manjiang?”

Father Yu sat down across from them and sighed. He said, “Today the clansmen gathered the representatives from each family to go to a meeting. They said Yu Manjiang received an order in his dreams from the Three Gods to enlarge the Three Gods Temple. The villagers want to remove the public ancestral temple and use that space to build the main hall of the Three Gods Temple.”

Yu Zhengdu was dazed. “How can that be? How can you just demolish the public ancestral temple so easily?”

Jintan Village was located in a closed-off area, and was small, so many traditions were still held to the standards of the past. For example, during the paying of respects for large holidays, everyone still went to the same public ancestral temple if they shared the same surname.

The Three Gods Temple that Father Yu spoke of was a small temple located on the side of the Yu Clan’s public ancestral temple. It worshipped the ancestors of the Yu Clan; this practice originated during the Ming Dynasty. According to legend, three brothers of the Yu Clan were rich as could be, but also generous with their wealth. They helped the village by doing many good deeds. In their later years, there was a natural disaster and famine struck. The three brothers of the Yu Clan donated all their riches to help provide disaster relief, and thus saved a lot of people. Because of their kindness, hundreds of years later, local villagers erected a temple and carved statues for them. Even to this day, they still had an abundance of worshippers.

Which was to say, the Three Gods weren’t gods in the traditional sense. Instead, they were the guardian gods of the Yu Clan. The Three Gods didn’t fail the Yu Clan’s faith in them, though. Throughout the years, miracles often occurred as they protected their village. Thus, they held great authority in the Yu Clan.

But even though they were local gods believed in by the local people, that wasn’t reason enough to demolish the public ancestral temple and enlarge their temple.

Speaking of this, Father Yu looked like his liver hurt. He slapped his thigh and said angrily, “The other village representatives and I said that too, but Yu Manjiang said the Three Gods appeared to him in a dream. He even asked the tongji to fuluan. The result of the fuluan was that they truly did want to demolish the public ancestral temple. How are we supposed to respond to that!”

Upon hearing this, Yu Zhengdu understood. A troubled expression appeared on his face. “If the tongji actually made that command, then it’s likely that no matter what you say, it’ll be of no use.”

The tongji they spoke of was the spirit medium of the Three Gods Temple. He could use fuluan (a type of divination used by the common people, also called fuji) and invite the Three Gods to possess him so he could consequently relay the Three Gods’ directions. Because of this, he held a bit of authority locally.

If it was an order issued by the tongji during fuluan, then as a village protected by the Three Gods, it was quite difficult to reject this demand.

Father Yu said, “This isn’t a small issue. Even if it’s a command made during fuluan, the clansmen still won’t nod their heads so easily. They argued for a whole morning before deciding to each take a step back. Yu Manjiang’s idea was to have the tongji summon the Three Gods again tomorrow, and if the result is still the same, then nobody will say anything more. The clansmen are currently preparing to invite a religious master from a big temple to communicate with the Three Gods to try and see if there’s any room for maneuver left.”

Yu Zhengdu nodded and poured him a cup of tea. “Then forget your anger for now. Think about it when that time comes.”

“That’s the only way.” Father Yu sighed and took the tea cup from him. He took a sip, then let out a sound of “yi”. He looked at the black tea cup in his hand and said, “Isn’t this that black glazed tea cup? The kind popular during the Song Dynasty……”

Shang Que had previously been silently drinking tea and listening to their conversation. After hearing this, he lifted his gaze and asked in confusion, “You recognize it?”

Yu Zhengdu was surprised too. “Dad, when did you learn about tea sets?”

“Hai, how would I know anything.” Father Yu shook his hands, “Today we met at Yu Manjiang’s house and I saw the same set there. That Yu Manjiang, he’s currently learning the ways of tea, so the cabinets in his house are full of tea leaves and tea sets. He specially took them out for the clansmen to admire and use. One of the kinds he took out was identical to this one. Apparently, he went to a lot of trouble buying it from some kiln and some pottery expert. It’s an imitation black glazed tea cup from the Song Dynasty.”

Father Yu pointed at the designs on the cup in his hand. “Aiyo, it’s exactly the same as this one. He even specially introduced it to us, saying this kind is called Rabbit Fur. The craftsmanship is really expensive; he said his set cost over 100,000 RMB.”

“So specific?” Yu Zhengdu picked up a tea cup and looked at it left and right. He wasn’t able to notice anything out of the ordinary. “Really?”

Shang Que nodded. “The one you’re holding right now is called Golden Rabbit Fur.”

“Exactly.” Father Yu started selling what he had just learned, pretending to be a professional. “These are classified as Golden Rabbit Fur or Silver Rabbit Fur by the design and color. Apparently the people of the Song Dynasty liked to have tea fights, and that, uh, what was it&#k2026;&#k2026;Which is why they used these black tea sets&#k2026;&#k2026;”

Yu Zhengdu after seeing his dad use “what was it” to finish his completely non-educational explanation: = =

Shang Que seemingly couldn’t bear to let this conversation go on, so finally spoke up: “The Song people used very finely ground tea dust to make their tea. When they placed it in the water and stirred, foam would appear. Good teas ‘touched the cup but left no watermarks’, meaning they wouldn’t leave marks on the side of the cups. They used black tea cups because it was easier to tell if there were any markings.”

“Yes yes yes, exactly.” Father Yu looked at him in praise, “It’s still Xiao Shang who can explain it clearly. Yu Manjiang talked for half a day, citing classics and bringing up ancient literature; I forgot it as soon as I heard it.”

“……That’s because your cultural background is shoddy,” Yu Zhengdu scorned, then added, “And Yu Manjiang too, imitating those high class people. As if we won’t know who he originally was.”

“Who knows.” Father Yu smiled happily at Shang Que. “I didn’t expect for Xiao Shang to know so much seeing as he’s so young. So cultured.”

Shang Que looked at this interesting father-son pair and was rendered temporarily speechless. A moment later, he finally squeezed out two words: “Common knowledge.”

……

After lunch, Mother Yu shooed Father Yu off to go wash the dishes while she started to prepare the offerings needed.

The traditional burial offerings of Jintan Village had been passed down from generation to generation. Every year, each family would hand-make some local desserts and fruits. Yu Zhengdu watched as his mom started preparing the filling, and so took the initiative to start kneading the dough.

Yu Zhengdu sat next to Shang Que as he kneaded the dough. Shang Que was watching TV, so they chatted occasionally.

Mother Yu was on the side preparing the filling for the desserts. She asked Shang Que as she mixed, “Xiao Shang, what does your hometown normally prepare for Qingming? Tell me, and if I can make it, I’ll make some for you too?”

Shang Que was engrossed in a recently popular historical idol drama called《Old Dreams of Bianliang》. When Mother Yu spoke, he was in the middle of vigorously slapping Yu Zhengdu’s thigh and yelling, “What is this stupid screenwriter! How could you do that during the Song Dynasty! And that background scenery, those clothes, their eating utensils, none of them are right!!!”

Yu Zhengdu covered his thigh. “……Can you hit lighter.”

Shang Que took his hand back, but felt that this wasn’t good enough yet. He also took out his phone: “This plot is too exaggerated. I’m going to go online to cuss out the screenwriter!!!”

Mother Yu couldn’t help laughing at his angry expression as he watched TV and teased, “Xiao Shang must be a history major, otherwise how would he know the drama is wrong?”

Shang Que hrmph’d. “This is all common knowledge, the screenwriter is an idiot!”

Mother Yu: “……” The handsome young man is really very unreasonable.

She smiled, then repeated her previous question.

This time Shang Que finally heard her. He looked a little lost, then pointed directly at the TV. “Then make me some date cakes like the ones in there.”

Mother Yu: “……” Weren’t you just cussing out the screenwriter?

Yu Zhengdu looked at Boss, then looked at his mom who was now in a tough spot. He very resolutely took out his phone and searched up a recipe. He sent it over to her, and said, “Mom, jiayou.”

Mother Yu: “……Fine.”

A moment later, Yu Zhengdu finished kneading the dough. Mother Yu looked at Shang Que who was deeply engrossed in the TV drama and nodded in her son’s direction. “We’re still missing some paper money and incense at home. Go out and buy some, and take Xiao Shang out to walk around a bit while you’re at it.”

Yu Zhengdu agreed, then pulled at Shang Que. “Xiao Shang, let’s go buy some things.”

Shang Que swatted his hand away. “Wait, that Bai Mudan’s fake pregnancy is about to be exposed. Let me finish watching!”

Yu Zhengdu: ……Weren’t you just cussing out the screenwriter?

Finally, the evil supporting female character Miss Bai Mudan’s true face became known to the world, and she got kicked out of her home. After this, Shang Que stood up and went with Yu Zhengdu to go shopping, satisfied. Before he left, though, he didn’t forget to cuss the screenwriter out on Weibo.

……

Yu Zhengdu took out a Little Sheep electric motorbike and swung a leg on, then patted the backseat. He said to Shang Que, “Get on, I’ll take you for a ride.”

Shang Que stared at the little motorbike for a while before slowly climbing on. His voice was full of dislike. “I would never ride this kind of transportation device in the past……”

Yu Zhengdu cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t understand, this kind of car is the king in our town.”

Shang Que hrmph’d. “Next time you need to switch to a car with a roof.”

Yu Zhengdu paused for a moment. “You’re already starting to plan for next time?”

Shang Que: “……” A little upset, how come it just came out of my mouth!

At least Yu Zhengdu managed to immediately continue the conversation. “Fine fine fine, next time I’ll get an umbrella to cover the top of this car.”

Shang Que hummed.

Ten minutes later, Shang Que said as he hugged Yu Zhengdu’s waist, “Drive faster. This is so fun.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……I’m about to get jolted to death, we really can’t go any faster.”

Jintan Village was your typical 38th tier little town. The town center was comprised of what had previously been the old village; all the houses here had grey roofs and grey walls. After the innermost circle of old houses were those a cross between urban and rural styles, built in the 80s and 90s.

The roads were a mess too, especially those in the town center that had not been maintained in over ten years. They were small and bumpy, and truly the land of the electric motorbikes. But, several traditional old shops were still located in this area.

Yu Zhengdu took Shang Que to an incense shop. The shop was an honorable old brand, so everytime the holidays or New Year rolled around, business was exceptionally good. The employees in the shop were all busy, but as soon as they walked in, their outstanding appearance immediately caught the attention of the boss lady.

The boss lady urgently finished grabbing the items another customer wanted, then squeezed her way in front of Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que, smiling as she spoke, “These two young men, you must be shopping for your family?”

Yu Zhengdu nodded, then read off the list of items that Mother Yu wanted to buy.

“We have that, wait a moment.” The boss lady smoothly grabbed a bag and began filling it with stuff. Not much later, she brought the completely full bag back and said, “We just got two new shipments of paper money with large denominations. If you burn it for your ancestors, they’ll have the most face.”

Yu Zhengdu used to run errands for his mom in the past too, so knew what large denominations meant. He opened the bag and pulled out a wad of paper money to look, then immediately went “oho”. He laughed, “Goodness, one of these must be about a million. Aren’t you scared about the inflation down under.”

In his hand was a bill of paper money that was largely similar to regular dollar bills, except instead of a real person’s face printed on it, there was a picture of the Jade Emperor. On the corner, “Underworld People’s Bank of Huaxia” was written. The denomination was ridiculous, there were so many 0’s after the 1 that Yu Zhengdu almost thought there was no fee necessary for using ink.

This type of paper money started appearing when Yu Zhengdu was young. Because it was new and noted the worth of the bill, it quickly became extremely popular. Though it was less popular now, most people still liked to buy a wad to burn as an offering. But as time passed, the denomination on the paper money became larger and larger; in the beginning, they only printed hundreds or thousands. Now, they were up to millions.

The boss lady said, “We all burn money like this these days. Even if you’re poor, your ancestors can’t be poor, right?”

The two started seriously talking about nothing, only for Shang Que to suddenly reach his hand out and grab the paper money from Yu Zhengdu’s hand. He took the rest out of the bag too and put them back on the counter. He furrowed his brows, saying, “We don’t need these, just the gold foil yellow paper is fine.”

The boss lady turned to look at this cold young man who had an exceptionally beautiful face. She teased, “Ey, how could you not want them. Gold foil paper isn’t enough; later everyone else’s ancestors will be worth over a hundred million, and what will your ancestors do then.”

Shang Que completely ignored the boss lady, turning his head to explain to Yu Zhengdu, “Those are useless. Just gold foil yellow paper is enough.”

Yu Zhengdu was stunned too, but then realized. The man standing in front of him was the big cheese of the Underworld. In regards to what could be used in the Underworld, who would know more clearly than him?

It’s all because Boss looks too much like a handsome human!

……

After they walked out of the incense store, Yu Zhengdu didn’t immediately head home. Instead, he parked the electric motorbike on the side of the road and took Shang Que to walk down the old alleyway and experience the style of a small village.

The road in the old alleyway of Jintan Village was made of cobblestone, and though the surface was uneven, it had a unique style of its own. On both sides of the road were stalls selling all sorts of snacks and knick-knacks, and the street was loud with the bustle of people passing by.

The two slowly strolled down the cobblestone road. Shang Que’s eyes darted to and fro among the goods sold at each stall while he explained the correct way of using Underworld currency to Yu Zhengdu.

“……There’s no production or business in the Underworld, so you can’t use money to buy anything. The mortal realm believes that when you burn paper money for your ancestors, it’s for them to spend, but this is actually a misunderstanding. Since the early times till now, the purpose of burning paper money was only to portray the faith of the living.”

Both the ghosts and gods had heavily relied on the mortal realm’s belief in them. Compared to sacrificial offerings, what they needed more was the faith of humans.

A small question mark popped up on Yu Zhengdu’s forehead. “If that’s the case, then we don’t need to burn paper money. Wouldn’t it be more direct to just send our love?”

The corner of Shang Que’s mouth twitched. As if unwilling to respond to his question, he paused before reluctantly continuing, “……The gold foil yellow paper of the past was used to bribe the Underworld workers or other ghosts and gods.”

The gods in the heavens often liked to cover their statues with gold, but other than using the gold foil from their believers for this purpose, carrying gold foil yellow paper that held the faith of a living person could increase one’s cultivation level. Thus, it was popular in the Underworld too.

So later on, because of certain misunderstandings, the mortal realm started printing a bunch of strange Underworld currencies. But, if there was no gold foil on it, no matter how large the denomination was, it was useless.

“Before the Underworld collapsed, there was a useless money mountain. Paper money from the mortal realm that didn’t meet regulations, silver that had more paper than silver, no matter how much you burn, they’re useless in the Underworld. We threw them all onto the useless money mountain.”

Yu Zhengdu was hit with sudden epiphany and couldn’t help praising, “You ghosts are really so smart, even having that kind of mountain. Then the scenario of bad money driving out good money won’t appear in the Underworld!”

You ghosts……Bad money driving out good money……

Shang Que glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “Please stop summarizing.”

Yu Zhengdu elbowed his Boss and blinked. “How about this, when our company earns more money, I’ll burn you a whole truckload of gold foil. This way you can become a man who truly owns a mountain of gold!”

“That’s not necessary. I already have a mountain of gold.” Shang Que lifted his chin. The arrogance in his eyes was obvious.

Yu Zhengdu was slightly shocked. “……Really?”

“Really……What’s that?” Shang Que suddenly changed the topic, his eyes staring directly at a little stall on the side of the road.

Yu Zhengdu followed his line of sight and looked over to see a local snack known as “lion candy”. It was made from fried peanut pieces wrapped in caramelized sugar; after the sugar hardened again, it would be shaped into a little lion. They looked exceptionally cute lined up one by one in the stall.

The smell of caramelized sugar and fried peanuts mixed in the air to become even more tantalizing, making one secrete saliva faster.

But the taste could be described with one word……oversweet.

That was essentially a big lump of sugar and peanuts. And because they were honest about the quantity of ingredients used, the price was pretty high too. In Yu Zhengdu’s mind, this was the equivalent of Jintan Village’s local “rice cakes”.

Yu Zhengdu spoke without thinking, “Ah, rice cakes.”

Shang Que: “……?”

“Ah no, it’s lion candy,” Yu Zhengdu corrected. He furrowed his nose, “This stuff is grossly sweet. It takes me half a month to finish one lion.”

Shang Que stared at the lion for a while, then raised his chin at Yu Zhengdu. “Buy one for me.”

Yu Zhengdu: ……Is this something a ghost who has a mountain of gold would say?

A lion is only thirty dollars! And he wants the employee to pay!

Boss can really bluff!

Yu Zhengdu silently pulled out his phone to pay. Shang Que picked up a lion, pleased. Yu Zhengdu was just about to tell him to break a piece off and eat it slowly, bit by bit, only to see Shang Que open his mouth and directly bite the lion’s head off.

Yu Zhengdu couldn’t help but remind him, “……Xiao Shang, pay attention to your image!”

The lion’s head had to have been around 10 centimeters in diameter. Shang Que held it in his mouth and looked over, his back straight and posture elegant. He asked, “Ith my image weally bad wight now?”

Yu Zhengdu looked at his cheek that was bulging out because of the lion’s head and listened to his lisp. He lied, “……Definitely not.”

Shang Que kept the candy lion in his mouth as they continued walking. Soon after, another snack caught his eye. He turned a practiced gaze on Yu Zhengdu, avidly hinting at something.

Yu Zhengdu: “……Buy it.”

With a lion candy in his left hand and snacks in his right hand, Shang Que was finally satisfied.

Yu Zhengdu saw that he finished the lion’s head in only a moment and couldn’t help but ask, “Don’t you think it’s too sweet?”

Upon hearing his question, Shang Que paused and thought about it, then nodded. “A little bit. Buy me a bottle of water then.”

Yu Zhengdu: ……Why did he have to ask?

He admitted defeat and bought a bottle of water, handing it to Shang Que. “Here.”

They stared at each other for a moment, and then kept silent.

Only to see Shang Que had a lion candy in his left hand and snacks in his right hand. He had no more hands to spare.

Yu Zhengdu was just about to say I’ll hold your snacks for you when he saw Shang Que open his mouth and go, “Ah——”

Yu Zhengdu: I surrender!

He kind of wanted to refuse, but Boss was generally quite petty. Who knew if he would keep note of it if he refused.

Yu Zhengdu thought about it some more and finally caved under the threat of turning into a chicken. He silently opened the bottle……but he didn’t expect Shang Que to keep doing it. The rest of the way, he stopped every few steps to have him feed him a drink of water!

Boss looked quite happy, but he was on the receiving end of passersby’s strange looks.

Sigh, work, is really so difficult.

A moment later, they made it to the end of the alley; there was a fork in the road here. The fork led to the residential area and so was harder to walk through.

Shang Que had already finished the candy lion and looked like he still wanted more. Yu Zhengdu was scared that if he walked back the way they came, he would want something else, so turned into a small side alley and said, “Let’s take these side roads back, there’ll be less people.”

Shang Que didn’t mind either way. Without his snacks, he seemed to have lost his soul, and followed mindlessly behind Yu Zhengdu, strolling along slowly.

In the front, Yu Zhengdu had just turned onto a small road, when he suddenly went “yi” and asked, “Why is there an old person here?”

Shang Que lazily looked over after hearing this, then slightly narrowed his originally inattentive eyes.

They saw on the corner of the little street an old man dressed messily curled up into himself. He leaned against the wall and was sleeping, his hair unkempt; the silvery white hairs also seemed to glow golden. The strands covered his entire face, making it unable to see his appearance.

Yu Zhengdu was perplexed. “I’ve never seen this person before. Is he from out of town?”

He looked at the old man’s head full of white hair and couldn’t tell how he had made his way to this village. He felt pity in his heart, so reached into his pocket and dug around before finding some spare change. He then squatted in front of the old man and called out, “Grandpa, hello.”

A moment later, the old man slowly opened his eyes. He peered at him through his hair, eyes filled with confusion. “You can see me?”

Yu Zhengdu: ????

The old man was just about to say something when someone else squatted in front of him too, a smile that wasn’t quite a smile on his face. “Hello, Village God.”

***

The next morning, after breakfast, everyone followed Father Yu to the Yu public ancestral temple.

The surname Yu was common locally and had a large population. The old village was in the southwest area of Jintan Village, with its cramped houses. The Yu Clan’s public ancestral temple was located in the very front of the village. The ancestral hall alone took up a large area of land. If you kept going forward from there, you would see a pond. On the right would be a small temple. It formed a right angle with the public ancestral temple.

The temple was home to three godly figures, the Three Gods that the Yu Clan worshipped.

When Yu Zhengdu and them reached their destination, the previously empty area was already filled with people. They naturally stood in a semicircle and were in the middle of several heated discussions. Upon listening closely, the main reason for their battle was whether or not they should remove the public ancestral temple to enlarge the Three Gods Temple.

As a village representative, Father Yu walked into the public ancestral temple by himself. Yu Zhengdu and the rest had to squeeze their way to the front of the crowd.

They saw that outside the Three Gods Temple and public ancestral temple, an incense table had already been prepared. Aside from offerings, there was also cinnabar and yellow paper placed on the incense table. In the very front, there was a giant incense burner; it had been invited out from inside the Three Gods Temple. There was a giant incense the width of an arm with a length of one meter in the incense burner.

Behind the incense table, close to the Three Gods Temple, was a taishi chair that was painted red.

Unlike a normal taishi chair, on the seat, back, armrests, or any other part of the chair that could touch the body of this one, were long nails pointed upright. The nails were about a finger’s length and were placed sharp side up. The ends glinted ominously in the sunlight.

Yu Zhengdu explained to Shang Que, “The tongji of the Three Gods Temple is naked from the waist up when he does fuluan. If it’s successful, he sits on the chair with nails and communicates with a pen and ink.”

This ceremony was a reason why the Yu Clan believed in the Three Gods so much. Unlike other jitongs who communicated with the gods simply using their mouths, the tongji of the Three Gods Temple had to sit naked on a chair with nails, and those nails were made of real iron. Simply touching one could cause you to bleed, so unless someone was protected by godly power, how could they safely sit on the chair.

But before Yu Zhengdu started working at Luofeng, he always thought that when the tongji performed fuluan, it was some kind of illusion. Thinking back on it now, he was only glad that he wasn’t the type of person to run their mouth; even though he never believed in it, he also hadn’t publicly displayed disrespect.

The corners of Shang Que’s mouth lifted in despise. He coldly said, “Allegedly, real gods don’t possess people. If it so easily possesses someone, how could it be a real god.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……Don’t speak so loud!”

Right now they were surrounded by the believers of the Three Gods!

As expected, several villagers heard him and turned around to look at them, rage in their eyes. Someone even directly yelled, “Where did this person talking bullshit come from!”

Yu Zhengdu sneakily stepped away from Shang Que, then used the same condemning gaze to look over: It was him! I’m innocent!

Shang Que furrowed his brows and pulled him back over. “Why are you standing so far away?”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Okay, now the villagers were angry at him too.

A moment later, the voices around them slowly died down. Yu Zhengdu looked up, only to see a group of people exit the public ancestral temple. The man leading them was middle-aged and dressed in a suit. Following him were the village representatives and clansmen. In the center of this large group of people was a young Daoist monk.

Someone in the crowd said, “That’s the religious man from Minan right. I heard he’s a master from Danyang Temple.”

“It can’t be, he looks too young to be a Daoist.”

“See, you’re ill-informed. Apparently this Daoist is extraordinarily talented. Though he looks young, he has seniority. He’s the shidi of Danyang Temple’s temple master. His cultivation level is even higher than the temple master’s.”

“That’s him. I heard he’s very difficult to invite, and it’s only because Old Mr. Yu and the temple master of Danyang Temple are privately acquainted that he reluctantly came on Old Mr. Yu’s behalf.”

“No wonder.” There was only one person in their town who deserved the title “Old Mr. Yu” and he was the leader of the clansmen.

Yu Zhengdu also explained to Shang Que who the man in the lead wearing a suit was. “That’s Yu Manjiang, the richest man in our town.”

Actually, about 20 years earlier, Yu Manjiang’s family was only a regular family with the surname of Yu. Later on, he somehow became exceptionally lucky. Whatever he did was successful, and his riches immediately started piling up. Not long after, he became the richest man in the area; his authority in the village also became much greater.

According to Yu Manjiang, this was because he truly believed in the Three Gods and thus received their blessings several times. After he became rich, he also became more faithful. Every year he would donate a considerable amount of money to the Three Gods Temple. The reason they wanted to remove the public ancestral temple and enlarge the Three Gods Temple this time was because he said he had received a message from the Three Gods in his dreams.

They watched as Yu Manjiang and the young Daoist spoke for a few minutes, then personally walk into the Three Gods Temple and invite a man with dark skin out. The man wore nothing on his torso. His chest and back were covered with charms drawn on with cinnabar. He was the tongji of the Three Gods Temple.

The tongji walked up to the Daoist, clapped his hands together, and bowed. The Daoist hurriedly returned the bow.

Following this, Yu Manjiang took a step forward and spoke to everyone gathered below. “Villagers, I’m sure you all know, a few days ago the Three Gods spoke to me, saying that they wished to enlarge the Three Gods Temple. But there’s no suitable empty land in the Old Yu Village, so the only solution is to demolish the public ancestral temple. These are also the Three Gods’ orders. As of right now, though, not everyone’s opinions are the same, so Old Mr. Yu specially invited Daoist priest Kou from Danyang Temple in Minan. Later, the tongji will invite the Three Gods down, and Daoist priest Kou will communicate with the Three Gods for us. Nobody has anything against this plan, right.”

Yu Manjiang had quite a bit of authority locally, and his plan was reasonable, so naturally everyone agreed.

Only to see Daoist priest Kou walk up to the incense table and bow in the direction of the Three Gods Temple. He chanted a few incantations, then lit the giant incense in the incense burner. He then made a “please” gesture towards the tongji.

The tongji nodded and walked around the incense table to the chair with nails on it. He began the fuluan ceremony, simultaneously reading the incantations and grabbing a few yellow talismans, burning them into ashes and throwing the ashes into the holy plant water. Then, he made a hand gesture and spoke, “Gods come down and show your presence, from the left, follow me and turn, from the right, follow me and walk, just as the wind accompanies a fire and helps it soar……”

Only to hear Shang Que scoff and mock, “Your village invites gods using these methods?”

After the tongji began fuluan, the entire plaza had quieted down. Thus, Shang Que’s voice was exceptionally noticeable. Everyone followed the sound to look over at him.

Shang Que’s voice was full of disdain. “What era is it, still using these unorthodox ways. How aberrant must the god be?”

Yu Zhengdu’s entire body was on high alert. He really wanted to remove himself from Boss’s vicinity, but Boss had already notified everyone else that they were on the same side earlier.

As expected, someone in the crowd who recognized him began to reprimand him. “Isn’t this the son from Yu Chuan’s family?”

“What were you talking about? You dare to speak bullshit in front of the Three Gods? Do you want to die?”

“What a sin, these young people really know nothing these days.”

Someone nearby even pushed him. “Hurry and apologize to the Three Gods to ask for forgiveness, otherwise when they become angry, you’ll be in big trouble.”

Yu Zhengdu had his guard down for a moment and was directly pushed out of the crowd, becoming exposed to everyone.

The tongji stopped the ceremony too. His face was dark as he looked over and asked, “Was it you who spoke such lies just now?”

“Correct.” Shang Que took a step with his long legs, gracefully making his way out of the crowd.

Yu Zhengdu was immediately unimpressed. “How come you didn’t get pushed out of the crowd?”

Shang Que raised an eyebrow. “They pushed, but missed.”

He scoffed in disdain, “Mortals.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

The tongji looked at the two of them and coldly said, “If you kneel now and apologize to the Three Gods, I can consider asking them for forgiveness on your behalf.”

Shang Que arrogantly glanced at him. His voice was scornful, “How do you plan on asking for forgiveness? Drinking talisman water, inhaling incense ash, and inviting the godly power?”

The tongji’s face turned dark. His voice was icy, “Young man, have you read so many books that you’ve now become stupid? You have been brainwashed by the supposed materialists and scientists, believing that a tongji performing fuluan is only a superstitious activity. You will know how naive you were when I successfully invite the Three Gods here later.”

Shang Que scoffed. “You’re saying your unorthodox methods aren’t based on outdated superstitions?”

As soon as he spoke, the crowd in the plaza immediately became displeased, and started making their annoyance known. Yu Manjiang walked over too and glared at Yu Zhengdu. His expression was pissed, “Zhengdu, what are you doing? I know you read a lot of books so now don’t believe in this stuff, but to specially hire someone to cause a commotion is too much.”

As he spoke, he turned around to look at Father Yu. “Yu Chuan, you need to keep an eye on your son.”

Father Yu didn’t expect for his son to suddenly charge out, or for his son’s coworker to begin lecturing everyone. His face was full of sweat and he urgently said, “Zhengdu, hurry and apologize to the Three Gods!”

Yu Manjiang also turned to look at Shang Que. “And you too, thinking you understand the truth just because you got a couple more years of education. You really think the tongji can’t successfully invite the gods?”

Shang Que glanced at him disdainfully. “Who said that he couldn’t invite the gods? I said, what era is it, to still use these outdated methods, what a joke.”

Yu Manjiang didn’t understand what he was saying at first; a couple of question marks popped up above his head.

The tongji was confused too. “What does that mean?”

Shang Que hummed coldly. “Your god clearly can’t keep up with the times. Still needing to drink talisman water and sit on nails. It wouldn’t make a difference whether or not you pay your respects to him.”

The tongji was furious. He kept his rage in and bitterly asked, “What, you know how to invite gods too?”

“Do I need to invite them?” Shang Que’s tone of voice was contemptuous. He looked at Yu Zhengdu, “Tell him, how do we send messages in the Underworld these days?”

Yu Zhengdu: ……Boss, can you please discuss with me first before you cue me.

Thankfully he was someone who had witnessed many things before, so followed his Boss’s normal train of thought and stated quite confidently, “Text messages!”

Shang Que: “……”

Actually, he wanted to say that he directly called for the ghosts and then beat them up……