Chapter 0058 A Loss-Making Business
To avoid any further incidents, I simply turned my body to the right, leaning against the car door, and crossed my arms over my chest, pretending to sleep. But as the saying goes, "what you fear is what happens." As soon as the car rounded a corner, my left hand shot out like a puppet on a string and reached for Ms. Bao's leg again. Before Ms. Bao could react, Mr. Bao turned his head and asked me: "Brother Tian, do you have a Bank of Communications card? Can you transfer directly at the counter--" His voice stopped. He had seen me touching Ms. Bao's thigh.
Mr. Bao's face changed. He slammed on the brakes, stopping the car, and glared at me fiercely: "What the hell are you doing?"
I didn't know how to explain, and Ms. Bao was also at a loss. Mr. Bao parked the car in the middle of the road, got out, and dragged me out of the back seat, ready to hit me. A traffic policeman on a motorcycle came over, both maintaining order and trying to break up the fight. A crowd quickly gathered. Mr. Bao's eyes were blazing with fury. He cursed: "A few days ago, my second uncle told me that my mother appeared in his dream and said she saw someone seducing my wife in my house! I never expected it to be you, you scoundrel!"
More and more people gathered. The traffic policeman called his colleagues for help on the walkie-talkie. Ms. Bao also came up to mediate. Mr. Bao pointed at her: "I'll deal with you when we get home!"
Ms. Bao said feeling wronged: "I didn't do anything! He was the one acting like a pervert!"
Seeing the situation, I knew the money was lost. Mr. Bao was definitely not going to pay me the remaining 20,000 yuan. I took advantage of the chaos and, under the mediation of the police, squeezed out of the crowd, called a taxi, and headed to the train station. As I got into the taxi, I could still hear Mr. Bao's furious shouting: "You better hope I don't run into you again, or I'll kill you..."
On the train, my frustration was immense. This affliction chose to strike right when I was about to collect the payment. Thinking about Mr. Bao's dog abuse only intensified my hatred for him. At the same time, I cursed Sun Xicai. If it weren't for his meddling, I wouldn't have this problem. What exactly was going on? Clearly, the Male Undead Spirit (Mo Yang Nan) Zheng Yonggui was still influencing me, deliberately causing me misfortune. But if it wanted to ruin me and had the ability, it could have made me rob or even murder someone. Wouldn't that be a more complete misfortune?
My cooperation with Uncle Xie was relatively smooth this time, but I didn't earn a single penny. The reason wasn't Uncle Xie, but me. The reason I kept going back to him for business, even after being deceived, was because there was money to be made, and Frank Fang was either inconvenient or unwilling to take the job. Uncle Xie also controlled the pace of business well; after scamming me once, he would immediately give me a small profit, making me feel that the previous unpleasantness was truly a misunderstanding. Ultimately, it was all about the money. If I were the type of person who followed their feelings, I wouldn't have been fooled a second time. But I was too greedy back then, always holding onto the fantasy that I could use the money earned from the current collaboration to make up for the previous loss.
Exhausted and depressed from several days of work, I fell asleep on the train. I don't know how long I slept, but I was suddenly shaken awake. I looked out the window, and the sky was completely dark. I was surprised. I had departed at noon, and I should have arrived in Shenyang around 4 p.m. It shouldn't be dark. Had I missed my stop? I looked at the person next to me, and my scalp tingled with fear. I clearly remembered sitting next to a middle-aged man when I boarded, but now it was Mr. Bao's mother, Old Mrs. Bao.
She glared at me fiercely and said, "You dared to seduce my daughter-in-law! See if I don't beat you to death!" She slapped me. I wasn't fully awake, and the blow landed right on my face. The old woman's strength was considerable; my ears were ringing. Before I could react, the old woman slapped me a few more times, leaving me dizzy. I dodged and stood up, shouting for the conductor. It was then that I realized the entire carriage was empty except for Old Mrs. Bao and me.
I was terrified and tried to jump to the back seat. Old Mrs. Bao grabbed my hair and wouldn't let go, slapping me repeatedly. I couldn't take it anymore and yelled, "If you touch me again, I won't be polite!"
In a flash, the view outside the window returned to daytime. Old Mrs. Bao in front of me turned back into the original middle-aged man. He was standing in the aisle, and the surrounding passengers were observing from a distance, looking at me like I was mentally ill. The conductor and chief conductor squeezed in: "What's going on? Why the noise? ... Comrade, who hit your face?"
I was panting heavily. My face was burning, and when I touched it, it was visibly swollen. The chief conductor asked: "Who hit you? Was it him?" He pointed at the middle-aged man.
The man quickly waved his hands: "No, no, I didn't hit him! He was sleeping the whole time, then he suddenly jumped up and shouted, and his face just... got like this."
The chief conductor didn't believe it: "No one hit him, yet his face is swollen like this? Did he hit himself?" Several surrounding passengers confirmed that no one had hit me. The chief conductor asked if I wanted to call the police. Knowing exactly what was happening, I quickly said no, claiming I had accidentally bumped my face against the window. The chief conductor and conductor exchanged glances, finding it hard to believe, but since neither party had an issue, they didn't pursue it. The middle-aged man sat next to me until the train stopped in Shenyang, keeping his eyes glued to me the entire time, as if I were a thief.
I finally arrived at Shenyang North Station. As soon as I exited, I received a call alert. Checking the messages, I saw Uncle Xie had called me several times while I was on the train. I quickly called him back. Uncle Xie asked if the business was resolved. I said yes, and I was on my way back to Shenyang. Uncle Xie laughed: "Brother Tian is truly impressive! I admire you for being able to handle such a complex job!"
"Impressive my ass," I said irritably. "You made money, but I didn't earn a single penny. Do you still admire that?"
Uncle Xie asked curiously: "How is that possible? Did the client refuse to pay the remaining balance?"
I explained the situation to him. Uncle Xie said: "My friend, this Male Undead Spirit you've provoked is really troublesome. But it's solvable. Come to Thailand. I'll find an Arjan master to remove the spirit from your brother-in-law, Sun Xicai." I asked for the approximate cost. Uncle Xie told me to wait for his call.
After returning home, Uncle Xie texted me. The quote for removing the Male Undead Spirit from Sun Xicai's body was 500,000 Thai Baht. Wow, that's 100,000 Chinese Yuan! Although Sun Xicai caused the trouble, and between his lottery winnings and finding money, he had tens of thousands of unexpected cash, with Sun Xicai's greedy nature, he definitely wouldn't pay that amount. If I had to pay, it would hurt. Amulet business wasn't easy back then. How many amulets would I have to sell to make 100,000 yuan? Opportunities for lucrative jobs like spirit removal and curse-breaking weren't available every day.
I replied via text that it was too expensive and asked for a discount. Uncle Xie said no, that was the lowest price. I reminded him that he had promised me a 50-50 split of the profits from his business. Since I hadn't earned a penny from this job, shouldn't he give me a share? The old fox started playing evasive games, saying he hadn't made much, only 10,000 Thai Baht, and could split 5,000 with me. I thought, how could this old fox only earn 10,000 Thai Baht, but I had no proof. 5,000 Thai Baht was 1,000 Chinese Yuan—better than nothing.
A few days later, I was taking a taxi to the Civil Affairs Bureau for an errand. While in the car, Sun Xicai called. He said business at the store had improved, and he wanted me to wholesale a dozen more Positive Amulets and Guman Thong to him. He asked me to send him quotes and pictures, mentioning that many customers were specifically asking for Thai Dark Amulets .
I said: "I'll send you the quotes tomorrow. Of course, I have Thai Dark Amulets, but I don't want you to handle them. A physical store is not like an online business. Although Dark Amulets are effective, many customers are too greedy, and there's often trouble. When customers come to you for damage control, you definitely won't be able to handle it, and I don't want to clean up your mess."
I hung up the phone. I thought that the Male Undead Spirit was not yet in complete control of Sun Xicai; he was still relatively normal sometimes. But then I considered that solving this problem would cost 100,000 yuan, and my heart ached as if it had been stabbed several times. Just then, the taxi driver spoke: "My friend, do you sell Thai amulets?"
"That's right," I immediately switched into work mode. "I just got back from Thailand, and a friend is already asking me for more inventory."
The taxi driver was a man around forty, tall and strong. He said: "I heard those Thai amulets are very powerful. I often pick up passengers who wear amulets, especially young people, pretty girls. They all wear one around their neck and say they got it from some temple in Thailand, or from some old lady. They say it brings good luck in romance. I wonder if it's true."
I laughed heartily: "Not an old lady, but a Luang Por. Thai people call high monks Luang Por."
The taxi driver gave a hearty laugh: "How would I know! By the way, are those things really effective? Do you have any amulets that can change luck?"
I said: "That depends on how you want to change your luck."
The taxi driver was chatty. He picked up a bottle of mineral water next to a lucky cat figurine on the dashboard and took a few gulps. He said: "Don't even get me started! Logically, people in my profession don't have much upward mobility, but other taxi drivers always find things—wallets, phones. Even useless IDs can fetch a few hundred yuan as a reward. The guy I share shifts with hasn't bought a phone in over five years of driving a taxi; he finds them all! He finds four or five a year at most. Not only does he use them himself, but his wife and parents also have phones now!"
I laughed: "Luck is good and bad. You can't be envious or jealous. You don't drive a taxi to find phones and wallets, do you?"
The taxi driver: "That's true, but I still want some good luck. Driving is too tiring, the pay isn't great, and fares are hard to get."
I said: "I have amulets for changing luck in stock at home. They range from over 1,000 to over 3,000 yuan, guaranteed to be genuine Positive Amulets personally consecrated at the original Thai temples. They can turn the tide of bad luck and ensure safety."
The taxi driver asked: "What kind of thing can attract wealth?"