PCJ – Chapter 256 Unveiling the Truth

Zhang Jiagen returned home and picked up a pair of water buckets, heading towards the village well.

“Jiagen, you just got back, why are you going to fetch water already?” Zhang Jiagen’s mother, Zhou Qiaohong, was very pleased with her son’s recent changes. Others used to say that her son was beyond help, but now, who would dare say that he hasn’t made something of himself?

“It’s nothing, I’ll be back in a bit,” Zhang Jiagen replied cheerfully as he carried the water buckets on his shoulders.

The villagers usually fetched water in the early morning or late afternoon, as the well water was clearest at these times. Because many people fetched water at these times, the path was filled with others carrying water buckets.

Zhang Hanggou and Zhang Wenrong also came out with their water buckets, and when the three of them met, they couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, brothers, there’s nothing much to say, let’s just hurry and get the water home,” Zhang Wenrong said with a smile.

Zhang Jiagen used to struggle with just one bucket of water, always spilling water along the way, a sign of insufficient strength. But now, with the pair of water buckets on his shoulders, although they swayed slightly with the pole, not a single drop spilled out.

Zhang Qigao complimented Zhang Jiagen, “Jiagen, you’ve improved a lot. You’ve definitely toughened up under Jiaohua’s guidance.”

“Of course! Nowadays, even if someone wants to go to the horticultural farm, they might not get in,” Zhang Jiagen said proudly. He didn’t feel ashamed at all about being trained by a younger boy; in fact, he felt quite proud. He had learned real skills at the horticultural farm, something money couldn’t buy elsewhere. He couldn’t care less about what others thought.

“You guys better work hard for Jiaohua. Let me tell you, if you don’t, there are plenty of people ready to take your place,” Zhang Qigao said.

“Definitely. Nowadays, we don’t even wait for Jiaohua to assign tasks. We just go ahead and do the work at the horticultural farm on our own,” Zhang Jiagen added.

When Zhang Jiagen returned home, he emptied the two buckets of water into the water tank, then made two more trips to the well until the tank was full, before finally taking a break.

“Jiagen, why did you come home today? Did you do something wrong and get sent back by Jiaohua?” Zhou Qiaohong asked with some concern.

“If you’re so useless, you shouldn’t come back home. You might not mind losing face, but I do,” Zhang Cunlin said angrily, slapping his face, clearly enraged.

“Nothing of the sort. Mom, did you go to Dui Men Shan to consult the spirit?” Zhang Jiagen asked.

“Yes. Why? Was it because of that that Jiaohua sent you back?” Zhou Qiaohong asked worriedly.

“I told you not to go consult the spirit. Now look what you’ve done. Jiagen finally made some progress, and now because of your spirit consultation, he got sent back,” Zhang Cunlin, being a hot-tempered person, started scolding even before he had fully understood the situation.

“Dad, Mom, can you just let me finish speaking?” Zhang Jiagen snapped.

“Go ahead,” Zhou Qiaohong said, giving Zhang Cunlin a stern look. One good thing about Zhang Cunlin was that when he realized he was in the wrong, he wouldn’t get mad if his wife glared at him.

“I’m not here because I got sent back. Jiaohua heard that you went to Dui Men Shan to consult the spirit and figured something might be wrong. He sent me back to bring you some protective talismans. You must wear them on your person. Jiaohua said that Liu Fengying became a spirit medium because she was possessed by something unclean. If you consult the spirit, that thing will drain your yang energy. If you lose too much yang energy, at best you’ll hurt your health; at worst, you’ll fall seriously ill or even die,” Zhang Jiagen explained, finally getting the chance to clarify the situation.

“Ah!” Zhou Qiaohong gasped in shock.

“No wonder you kept having nightmares last night and were so sleepy during the day. It must have been because of the spirit consultation. I told you not to consult the spirit, but you just wouldn’t listen. Where in the world is there such an easy fix? Jiagen, did Jiaohua say he has a solution?” Zhang Cunlin immediately started blaming his wife.

“Yeah, Jiaohua must have a way,” Zhou Qiaohong said, brightening up and quickly asking.

“Of course Jiaohua has a way. Otherwise, why would I have come back just for this? Jiaohua sent me back to give you these protective talismans. As long as you wear them, you’ll be fine. But whatever you do, don’t go consult the spirit again for a while. Even the talismans won’t be able to protect you then,” Zhang Jiagen warned.

After something like this had happened, Zhou Qiaohong couldn’t hold back. After dinner, she immediately went to Zhang Xianyi’s house. She had gone to consult the spirit with Zhang Xianyi’s wife, Xia Cuiying, and wanted to find out if she had experienced the same symptoms.

Zhang Xianyi’s family had been brewing alcohol for years, and as soon as Zhou Qiaohong approached their yard, she could already smell a faint scent of wine.

“Cuiying, Cuiying, are you home?” Zhou Qiaohong called out loudly from the road, not wanting to intrude since it was already evening.

Hearing Zhou Qiaohong’s call, Xia Cuiying came out, “Sister Qiaohong, what’s up? I was feeling a bit tired and just lay down for a while.”

“What? You’re feeling sleepy too?” Zhou Qiaohong, hearing this, became even more convinced that her son was right. It seemed Jiaohua hadn’t made up anything, and Liu Fengying from Dui Men Shan was indeed possessed by something unclean.

“Why? Are you feeling sleepy too?” Xia Cuiying picked up on the oddity in Zhou Qiaohong’s words.

“Yes. I knew I shouldn’t have gone with you to consult the spirit. This wasn’t consulting a spirit, it was almost like asking for death. I had nightmares all night and thought it was just because of the spirit consultation. But now I realize there was more to it. I’ve been sleepy all day, and if it weren’t for my son coming home specially to tell me, I would have just assumed it was because I didn’t sleep well last night,” Zhou Qiaohong said, still shaken.

Xia Cuiying listened, bewildered, “Sister Qiaohong, do you know something?”

“Cuiying, we should go around the village and ask if others who consulted the spirit are experiencing the same thing. Let me tell you, Jiagen came home and told me that consulting the spirit is dangerous. Everyone who goes to Dui Men Shan to consult the spirit has their yang energy drained by that thing. That’s why we’ve been having nightmares and feeling sleepy,” Zhou Qiaohong quickly explained everything to Xia Cuiying.

“Ah!” Xia Cuiying gasped, her face turning pale. “What should we do? How did your son know about this?”

“How could Jiagen know? Who does Jiagen work for? Of course, it was Jiaohua who said so,” Zhou Qiaohong recounted everything Zhang Jiagen had told her.

Zhou Qiaohong and Xia Cuiying walked around Meizitang, and it turned out that just as they had suspected, everyone who had consulted the spirit had experienced similar symptoms. The severity varied, but everyone had been plagued by nightmares at night. This naturally confirmed that Jiaohua was right: Liu Fengying, the spirit medium, wasn’t a divine being but someone possessed by something unclean.