PCJ – Chapter 88 Collision

“I didn’t curse you,” Zhang Jiaohua said, scratching his head while looking at Zhang Enzhong.

“It’s impossible. If you didn’t curse me, how could a whole pot of tofu go bad in my house? I’ve been making tofu for so many years, and it has never gone bad,” Zhang Enzhong said firmly, refusing to believe.

“If I had cursed you, wouldn’t I know? Cursing has its rules; you think you can just say anything and curse someone?” Zhang Jiaohua didn’t see any traces of cursing on Zhang Enzhong. When someone is cursed, there are usually visible traces left behind. Magicians can use these traces for control. Since Zhang Jiaohua didn’t curse him, how could there be any traces on Zhang Enzhong?

“Enzhong, my son wouldn’t lie to you. You should go back and carefully check what went wrong. Maybe it’s something with your plaster or something added to the wooden barrel. Anyway, find the cause. Don’t just come over here and blame my son when something goes wrong,” Zhang Youping advised.

With Zhang Enzhong rushing back home, Zhang Jiaohua was dragged into the house by Liu Qiaoye. “Tell me honestly, what happened?”

“Mom, what do you mean? I really don’t know. Anyway, I didn’t curse him, and it’s not my fault if their tofu went bad,” Zhang Jiaohua said confidently.

Liu Qiaoye smiled, “Did I say it was you? But you know what happened, right?”

Zhang Jiaohua grinned, “Mom, how did you know? Can you tell fortunes?”

“Mom can’t tell fortunes, but you’re my son, and how could I not know what’s on your mind?” Liu Qiaoye laughed.

Zhang Youping, seeing the two acting mysteriously, followed them in, not understanding what was going on.

“Their inability to make tofu has nothing to do with me, but there is indeed something strange about it,” Zhang Jiaohua chuckled.

“What exactly happened, son? Tell Mom quickly,” Liu Qiaoye felt relieved that her son had nothing to do with it.

“He must have collided with misfortune and brought it back with him. With such misfortune, it’s no wonder their tofu went bad,” Zhang Jiaohua joked.

Seeing Zhang Jiaohua’s schadenfreude, Liu Qiaoye couldn’t help but grab his ear, “Then why didn’t you say so earlier?”

Zhang Jiaohua protested, “Mom, he came over early in the morning making a scene and blaming me. Why should I tell him? Anyway, it wasn’t me.”

“Then who was it?” Zhang Youping asked curiously.

“How would I know? Misfortune is something unpredictable. I’m not an old Taoist. Old Taoists would know. I haven’t dreamt of the old Taoist for a long time. Maybe he forgot about me?” Recently, Zhang Jiaohua had fewer and fewer strange dreams. Instead, he started missing the old Taoist. Despite his strictness and nagging, the old Taoist cared for him like his parents did in his dreams.

“If you haven’t dreamt of him, you haven’t. When the time comes, you’ll meet again,” Liu Qiaoye sighed with relief, but she couldn’t show too much emotion in front of her son.

Zhang Youping also sighed in relief, then couldn’t help asking, “Is there any way to lift the misfortune on Enzhong?”

“Of course, but it’s troublesome. Since there’s nothing wrong with him right now except for the tofu, the misfortune will naturally dissipate over time,” Zhang Jiaohua said indifferently.

After breakfast, Zhang Jiaohua went to school with his backpack.

Interestingly, he met Chen Dianzi on the way. Chen Dianzi was wearing the clothes given to him by the Qigao family yesterday. Seeing Zhang Jiaohua’s smiling face, Chen Dianzi started singing:

“Ten thousand ants march together, ten thousand mountain songs recite the sutras, eighteen hundred books of songs, four books weigh one jin, born in the fields, nurtured in the water, picked from the mountains, stored in the house, Lu Ban cuts the branches with an axe, Zhang Liang tunes the strings, Huang Daopo spins the wheel, Cai Lun records his original self, the ancestral song is from Meng Jiangnv, taught to the brothers of Meishan, teaching men and women, the old teaching the young, passing from generation to generation, singing echoes through the Five Lakes and Four Seas.”

As soon as Zhang Jiaohua heard the words “sutra,” he became spirited. Who knew Chen Dianzi would leave right after singing? Watching him walk away, Zhang Jiaohua felt puzzled, but Chen Dianzi’s speed was extremely fast.

“Jiaohua, what song did Chen Dianzi sing to you just now?” The dumb boy ran up to Zhang Jiaohua, panting heavily.

“How would I know? He’s probably having another episode,” Zhang Jiaohua scratched his head.

The dumb boy nodded, “Definitely. He’s been running around lately. The night before last, I heard him singing on Meizi Mountain. By the way, did he become a relative of the Qigao family yesterday?”

“Yeah. He’s still wearing the clothes the Qigao family gave him,” Zhang Jiaohua nodded.

“How much money did the Qigao family give you?” The dumb boy looked at Zhang Jiaohua enviously. In his opinion, being able to earn his own money meant being able to buy candy whenever he wanted. There were plenty of delicious snacks in Liu Baoyi’s family’s consignment store. Unfortunately, not many little brats had money in their pockets.

“Twenty. I gave it to my mom,” Zhang Jiaohua didn’t understand the dumb boy’s meaning yet.

The dumb boy sighed, “You should have kept some to buy delicious food.”

“My parents want to go to Guangdong to work. I want to earn more money so they don’t have to go to Guangdong,” Zhang Jiaohua revealed his plan.

“My dad says there’s gold everywhere in Guangdong. Anyone who goes there can make a fortune. If my parents want to go, I won’t stop them. The more money they make, the more they can buy me delicious food,” the dumb boy’s thoughts differed from Zhang Jiaohua’s.

Everyone has their own aspirations, and Zhang Jiaohua didn’t force the dumb boy to think like him.

Zhang Jiaohua’s visit to the Qigao family spread quickly. Even the fact that the Enzhong family couldn’t make tofu was blamed on Zhang Jiaohua by those gossipy folks. The classmates were both envious and afraid of Zhang Jiaohua. They envied him for being able to earn money on his own but feared being cursed like Zhang Enzhong.

Now, Gong Ziyuan’s attitude towards Zhang Jiaohua was completely different. He firmly believed that Zhang Jiaohua was a genius, capable of extraordinary feats at such a young age. There were talents in this small mountain village. There were indeed remarkable people. Gong Ziyuan naturally didn’t believe that Zhang Jiaohua learned Meishan arts in his dreams. He thought that there must be a highly skilled master teaching Zhang Jiaohua.

Gong Ziyuan called Zhang Jiaohua into his room and brought out some snacks from home for Zhang Jiaohua to eat.

“Eat here. There isn’t much. With so many people in our class, it’s not enough to share. My family asked me to bring this over to thank you. Without you last time, I would have been in big trouble,” Gong Ziyuan thought the charms he bought from Zhang Jiaohua were worth every penny.

“Gong teacher, my parents said I can’t take money from you anymore. I dare not eat these things,” Zhang Jiaohua said so, but his eyes were fixed on the delicious snacks. There was a bottle of cola and many snacks he had never seen before, but he could tell they were delicious just by looking at the packaging.