Chapter 16: The Secret Folk Curse Rituals
Page (1/3)
On the way back to Qingzhou City, Ye Mengyao’s expression was no longer cold and frosty. She had already realized that she might have misunderstood Li Chengfeng.
She had begun to question whether the things Hu Yansong, vice president of the Qingzhou Metaphysics Association, had said were true. Had her father and aunt really fallen ill because Li Chengfeng had cursed them?
As she drove, she asked curiously, addressing him once again as Mr. Li.
“Mr. Li, do folk curses really exist?”
Li Chengfeng had started playing with his phone the moment he got into the car. He had not expected Ye Mengyao to take the initiative to speak to him, let alone ask such a question.
He put down his phone, nodded, and answered seriously.
“Folk curses do indeed exist, but cursing someone with such arts is extremely complicated.
“It isn’t possible to turn someone mute or lame just by casually saying a few words.
“If that were all it took to make someone lame or mute, the world would have descended into chaos long ago.”
Li Chengfeng also wanted to take this opportunity to explain that her father and aunt becoming blind and mute had nothing to do with him.
Only then did Ye Mengyao suddenly realize that she really had misunderstood him.
If a few casual words could turn someone blind and mute, then surely only an immortal could accomplish such a thing.
She could only blame herself for being too anxious at the time. On top of that, Hu Yansong, the vice president of the Qingzhou Metaphysics Association, had said that her father had been cursed. In her panic, she had placed the blame on Li Chengfeng.
A faint blush appeared on Ye Mengyao’s handsome face as she spoke apologetically.
“I’m sorry. I misunderstood you.”
“It’s all right. I don’t mind. After all, ours is merely a business transaction.”
Li Chengfeng spoke without the slightest concern, but a trace of embarrassment flashed across Ye Mengyao’s face. She then asked curiously,
“Do you really know how to cast curses?”
“I do.”
“But people of the Esoteric Arts have never used such spells to harm others, because anyone who does so will suffer Heaven’s retribution.”
Before the Tang dynasty, curses were extremely prevalent in China. Because they were intended to harm others, successive dynasties expressly prohibited their transmission, which eventually led to their loss.
The curses still passed down among the people today were limited to such rudimentary practices as making effigies, sticking pins into them, and cursing one’s enemies.
Page (1/3)
Page (2/3)
The sorcery of the Nanyang region and the evil gu magic of Thailand had both evolved from curse arts and were branches of the ancient Chinese tradition.
To curse someone, one needed a medium—for instance, the target’s hair, fingernail clippings, saliva, blood, or birth details.
Ye Mengyao listened with rapt attention. She had never expected curse arts to be so complicated.
Because she was trying to drive and listen at the same time, she accidentally ran a red light and nearly collided with a car coming from the right. Frightened, Ye Mengyao slammed on the brakes, leaving a dark skid mark on the road.
Li Chengfeng had been speaking animatedly from the back seat. Because the sudden braking force was so strong, he was thrown directly into the front seat, smashing his nose hard enough to make it bleed. He said furiously,
“Miss Ye, could you please drive properly?”
“You can’t blame me for that. What you were saying was so fascinating that I became absorbed in it.”
“So you mean this is my fault?”
“Yes.”
“Heh…”
Seeing the blood pouring from Li Chengfeng’s nose, Ye Mengyao felt not the slightest bit guilty. Instead, she was so delighted that she burst out laughing.
Clutching his injured nose, Li Chengfeng thought bitterly that the ancients had been absolutely right: there was nothing more venomous than a woman’s heart.
He suspected that she had done it deliberately. Otherwise, how could she possibly laugh at a time like this? She was clearly taking pleasure in his misfortune.
Ye Mengyao’s mood improved considerably. Humming a tune as she drove, she soon returned to the urban district of Qingzhou.
By the time they reached the city, it was already noon. Li Chengfeng had not eaten breakfast and was ravenously hungry. He wanted to find somewhere to eat, but Ye Mengyao refused.
Instead, she drove him straight to Qingzhou Hospital.
Ye Mengyao had just received a phone call. Since her father’s illness was the most serious in the family, and her aunt had suddenly fallen ill as well, the family had attached great importance to the matter. They had sent a collateral relative, Ye Wuming, to Qingzhou City with five experts and professors from the family’s medical team to examine Ye Gucheng and Ye Wushuang.
Half an hour earlier, Ye Gucheng and Ye Wushuang had both been brought to Qingzhou Hospital for examination.
By the time Ye Mengyao arrived, the examinations were over. Ye Gucheng lay exhausted on the bed, while Ye Wushuang’s complexion was equally dreadful.
It seemed the two of them had been put through quite an ordeal.
Seeing her father and aunt suffer so terribly, Ye Mengyao felt a pang of heartache. She walked to the bedside and clasped her father’s hand.
Page (2/3)
Page (3/3)
Though Ye Gucheng could not see and still could not speak, he could nevertheless sense that the person holding his hand was his daughter, Ye Mengyao.
“Ah…”
Unable to speak, he could only make a strange sound.
“Dad, it’s me, Mengyao.”
Ye Mengyao hurriedly answered, then continued,
“Dad, I’ve found a way to cure you.”
Although he could neither see nor speak, hearing that his daughter had found a way to cure him inevitably stirred him. He desperately wanted to know what that method was.
Ye Mengyao waved to Li Chengfeng, and he walked over to Ye Gucheng’s bedside. He explained that something had gone wrong with the feng shui of the Ye family’s ancestral grave.
Most importantly, he emphasized that the reason Ye Gucheng had fallen ill was entirely related to the feng shui.
At first, Ye Gucheng did not believe him. He recognized the voice as belonging to the swindler who had visited his home two days earlier.
But when Li Chengfeng said that the feng shui of the Ye family’s ancestral grave formed a Golden Turtle Hatching Eggs configuration, astonishment appeared on Ye Gucheng’s face. Someone who knew nothing about feng shui could never have identified such a configuration at a glance.
When he had finished speaking, Li Chengfeng said solemnly,
“Mr. Ye, if you agree to have that tree moved, please nod your head. If you disagree, then forget it.”
Ye Gucheng lay on the hospital bed and pondered for a moment before nodding. He did not want to remain blind, mute, lame, and afflicted with wasting disease.
He would not let go of even the slightest hope. Even if he were being deceived, he no longer cared.
But at that very moment, a voice suddenly rang out from the doorway, its tone overbearing.
“Who dares touch my family’s ancestral grave? The Ye family will never rest until we have settled accounts with them.”
It was Ye Wuming, the collateral relative sent by the family. Two doctors in white coats stood behind him, both members of the Ye family’s medical team.
Li Chengfeng and Ye Mengyao turned simultaneously toward the three people at the door.
Page (3/3)