Chapter 32: Feng Shui Arrangement

Shui Miao had always been quite curious about all this, often wondering in his heart why fortune tellers were so accurate. After his grandfather’s explanation, he finally understood.

So there were still so many amazing things in this world!

“Grandpa, if I meet these monsters in the future and they cause me trouble, how should I deal with them?” Shui Miao then thought deeper. He felt that feng shui masters were only good for examining feng shui, and were completely ineffective in dealing with ghosts and monsters. Indeed, when his grandfather faced the villa’s evil spirit in the Sun family, he actually used his hands to pinch the spirit—what a strange way to fight!

Seeing they were nearly there, Xiong Ying didn’t want to continue the lengthy conversation. He waved his hand and said, “It’s too early for you to understand this now. Dealing with ghosts and monsters is actually like dealing with people—as long as you respect them, they will also respect you. When you encounter such situations in the future, just keep a respectful heart. Many people get haunted by these impure entities because they have offended them or someone else in some way. Okay, no more talking—we’re almost there. Take a look at the feng shui of this house. This is the place I often come to gamble.”

Xiong Ying pointed toward the house still dozens of meters away.

The foundation of this house was lower compared to the surrounding area, but the courtyard was quite large. Overall, it faced south with three small rooms built on each side, making it resemble a quadrangle courtyard house, though without a front wall. On the left side of the front yard stood a money tree, while the right side was a concrete courtyard—nothing particularly unusual.

Shui Miao felt his grandfather was just brushing him off and felt quite dissatisfied.

“Grandpa, just teach me one trick so I can handle emergencies!” Shui Miao insisted. To push his grandfather into revealing something, he paused and then used a provocation tactic: “If you don’t tell me, maybe you just don’t know how?”

“Don’t know how?” Xiong Ying snorted in disdain.

Shui Miao immediately replied, “I’ve seen others using talismans and stuff. But you, Grandpa, you just used your hands to fight the evil spirit at the Sun family villa, just like a regular fight. Can that even be considered knowing how?”

“You little brat!”

Offended by Shui Miao’s mockery, Xiong Ying’s face turned red with embarrassment. He stopped walking and looked at Shui Miao seriously, saying, “I didn’t really intend to kill that evil spirit at the Sun family villa. That poor girl was killed by Sun Jihong. How could I just easily scatter her soul? Would I even still be considered human if I did that?”

“…”

Hearing this, Shui Miao was deeply moved. At that time, he hadn’t really considered all this—he had only wanted to destroy the evil spirit.

“You’re still too young. Teaching you too much might not be a good thing,” Xiong Ying sighed. “I’ve written all my lifelong knowledge and experiences in my notes. I’ll give them to you later, but you must promise me to only read one page per day.”

So everything is in the notes? Why did I go through all this trouble?

But Shui Miao hadn’t expected his grandfather to only allow him to read one page a day, which felt quite frustrating.

“One page? One page is way too little! I can’t possibly master anything immediately just by reading, nor can I apply it right away. I just want to broaden my knowledge a bit,” Shui Miao, a very trustworthy person, always strictly followed his grandfather’s instructions once he promised.

Xiong Ying was somewhat helpless with Shui Miao. “Okay, then at most two pages.”

“Fine, two pages it is.”

A thought struck Shui Miao: his grandfather didn’t specify where he should start reading. Choosing randomly should still count, right?

※※※

When they arrived at the house, Xiong Ying softly asked Shui Miao to carefully examine its feng shui and then tell him what he had realized.

Then, Xiong Ying led Shui Miao inside.

Shui Miao was puzzled. This house looked so ordinary—what could there possibly be to contemplate?

But since his grandfather had already asked twice for him to take a good look, maybe there really was something special?

Following his grandfather into the courtyard, Shui Miao immediately heard a loud noise. Each room inside had tables and stools. The three small rooms on the left were specially set up for Mahjong, while those on the right were for card games. The main house was for playing Pai Gow, dice, and Niu Niu, and it was extremely lively.

In the small rooms, two were already occupied by people playing Mahjong. Through the windows, he could see they were all elderly people in their seventies and eighties, playing for small stakes just for entertainment.

The main house was bustling with loud voices and laughter.

As Shui Miao followed his grandfather into the house, he saw many uncles, aunts, and elders from the village.

This was the moment Shui Miao disliked the most.

Because everyone would call out: Hello, Uncle Li! Hello, Auntie Zhang! Hello, Uncle Wang!…

Everyone stopped, as if time had frozen, until Shui Miao greeted each one. Then everyone resumed their normal activities.

Some continued gambling, others chatted, though they all lowered their voices.

The homeowner, Li Dafu, came forward, gently patted Shui Miao’s head, and loudly and cheerfully said to Xiong Ying, “Old Brother Xiong, looks like you came well-prepared today to win all of us dry! Brought little Shui Miao along to carry the money for you?”

“He’s grown up now and has nowhere to play. I brought him along to have some fun and get involved,” Xiong Ying replied casually while eyeing the poker game on the table. A large group of people were playing Niu Niu, creating a very lively atmosphere. “How’s the game going today?”

Xiong Ying always first observed the situation when he came, then found a favorable moment to jump in.

After asking Li Dafu, he turned and told Shui Miao to play around on his own.

Still thinking about his grandfather’s words, Shui Miao made up an excuse to go to the restroom and walked out to examine the feng shui around the house.

Not knowing where the restroom was, Shui Miao decided to find it himself.

To the east of the main house was a pile of firewood, neatly stacked with bricks around the outside, though only knee-high. Behind the main house grew a grove of bamboo, with a one-meter-wide path leading directly to the west side, where there was a small room. Two aunts were chatting at the entrance, with two large black cats sunbathing beside them.

Seeing Shui Miao approach, Li Dafu’s wife recognized him immediately. “Oh my! Isn’t this Shui Miao? Come over and sit down. You came with your grandpa, right?”

Li Dafu’s wife was very warm and kind-hearted.

The other woman, Mrs. Wu, was in her fifties and a neighbor of Li Dafu’s. Uninterested in gambling, the two often chatted together. Seeing Shui Miao, Mrs. Wu was surprised. “Oh my! I didn’t even recognize you. You’ve grown so big and handsome!”

Whether sincere or not, Shui Miao found the words pleasant to hear.

As a response, Shui Miao greeted them both: “Hello, Auntie Li! Hello, Auntie Wu!”—delighting the two kind-hearted women with his sweet talk.

Unwilling to chat with the two aunts about himself, Shui Miao scratched his head and asked where the restroom was.

Mrs. Wu immediately pointed to a grass-covered shed about thirty meters north. “It’s over there. Just follow the path.”

“Okay, thank you, Auntie.”

Another round of compliments followed Shui Miao’s polite thanks. “What a well-mannered young man!”

The restroom was the most ordinary rural one—a grass-covered shed with a large jar buried in the ground, reeking of filth and swarming with flies. Shui Miao quickly came out and turned westward. There was a large reed field to the west, with shallow water only reaching his ankles. Since no one came to catch fish or shrimp, Shui Miao saw many crayfish clinging to the reed roots, blowing bubbles…

If he were a child, he would definitely take off his shoes and go catch some crayfish to cook.

But now, Shui Miao had no appetite for crayfish at all.

Looking at the reeds gently swaying in the breeze, Shui Miao began to ponder. The Li family’s house seemed ordinary, yet something felt unusual. Besides the restroom, he sensed a special atmosphere elsewhere. It was strange—it gave him a particularly warm and familiar feeling. As he thought, he looked at the house from different angles and suddenly noticed a half-exposed bluish stone in the low-lying northwest corner of the foundation. Walking closer, he discovered that the stone was engraved with the Eight Trigrams!

“This house has a feng shui formation!”

Shui Miao’s heart pounded. What did this mean? Was this feng shui formation not set up by his grandfather?