Chapter 0064 The Wrath of the Earth Guman Thong
Sister-in-law Jiang immediately said, "Yes, he keeps saying that one sentence. What does it mean?"
I briefly recounted the events of last night. She replied, "So he just got lost and took a wrong turn? And that turned him into this? Who are you kidding?" I smiled wryly, saying there was nothing I could do if she didn't believe me. We had definitely encountered something malevolent last night.
She remained skeptical: "What kind of malevolent thing?"
"He didn't make the offerings to the Earth Guman Thong properly. The infant spirit must have been enraged and took its resentment out on Brother Jiang," I answered.
Sister-in-law Jiang immediately flared up: "Fine! I was wondering why Old Jiang turned into this mess. So it was all caused by this Guman Thong thing you gave him. You jinx! I'm not done with you! Of all the things you could sell, you had to sell this kind of deceptive trash. Where is your conscience?"
I was so angry I laughed: "You're truly unreasonable. Why don't you mention the good luck the Guman Thong brought? Finding phones, finding money—you're still using that N95, aren't you? Who was the one who insisted on using it, saying they'd never had such a good phone?" She froze. Before she could speak, I pointed at her: "And look at you, how comfortable those 'Three Golds' look—the necklace, the bracelet, the ring!"
She curled her lip: "So what? Didn't our Old Jiang spend money on that fat doll just to change our luck? Finding a phone or some money is only normal, otherwise, who would waste their hard-earned cash?"
I explained how the offerings had been swapped by Brother Jiang's shift-partner, finally adding: "He didn't follow the rules for the offerings; you can't blame others for that, can you?"
She glared at me: "That wasn't his fault! It was that Old Tang from the other shift who did it!"
I said, "It's still related to Brother Jiang. If he didn't have such a temper, constantly arguing and threatening to fight, the other guy wouldn't have held a grudge. Why did Old Tang target him and not someone else? Impulsiveness is a devil. You can't blame anyone else. The biggest flaw of us Northeasterners is our foul tempers."
She sneered: "Northeasterners have foul tempers? Aren't you a Northeasterner too? Have you no shame saying that!"
I replied, "I'm speaking the truth. If our own people have flaws, we should say so." She continued to argue stubbornly. I told her to stop trying to evade responsibility and pushing everything onto others, as it wouldn't help solve the problem.
"Didn't I call you here to find a solution? I don't care, you have to fix Old Jiang. It's not like he's never worked the night shift before. How can a man turn out like this just from getting lost? I don't believe it!" she said huffily. I had no choice but to say I would call the supplier in Thailand to ask for a solution. She was afraid I would trick her and insisted I use the speakerphone, so I complied.
Once the call connected, I recounted the events in detail to Frank Fang. After I finished, Frank blurted out: "You kid actually crossed into the underworld!"
Sister-in-law Jiang interjected: "What does 'crossing into the underworld' mean?"
Frank asked who the woman was, and I told him it was the client's wife. Frank said, "It means a living person going to the netherworld and coming back. Many shamans and spirit mediums in rural China can do it."
She and I looked at each other. She was clearly terrified, while I was mentally prepared, though I hadn't been certain until now. Frank continued: "You're lucky. That client named Jiang actually should have died last night. If he hadn't managed to drive the car back onto the main road while crossing over, he'd be lying in the funeral parlor right now."
This made her scream in terror. I signaled her to be quiet and asked, "Does it have to do with that Earth Guman Thong?"
Frank snorted: "Is that even a question? Offering the Guman Thong white liquor, condoms, and a used menstrual pad—it'd be a miracle if it didn't get angry!"
I asked how Brother Jiang could have died. Frank explained: "Your car hit a big tree last night, right? He actually died at that moment. But because you carry a lot of Yin energy, you could see him while others couldn't. He saw a boy crossing the road while you didn't; that boy was a karmic obstruction formed by the Guman's resentment to take revenge. His physical body died, but his spirit wasn't completely gone yet. Plus, with someone of your 'Yin-type' constitution nearby, he still maintained human consciousness. But his destination while driving was no longer home."
She was frightened into tears by Frank's words and began to wail. Frank told her to shut up as he wasn't finished. After I managed to calm her down, Frank continued: "The warning signs you saw on the road were also a 'ghost-wall' illusion to lead you onto the road of the dead. The couple you picked up died in a car accident at the hospital; they knew he was headed for the Gates of Hell, which is why they hitched a ride. Honestly, I'm surprised. Usually, in a situation like yours, it's very hard to come back. Many people who encounter such malevolence report directly to the underworld when they cross over."
This reminded me of a distant uncle from the countryside my mother mentioned. He used to sleepwalk to the night market every night and died before he was forty. They said he was healthy the night before, but the family found his body stiff the next morning with a peaceful, almost smiling expression. No one knew exactly when he had died.
"Oh my god, so is our Old Jiang a person or a ghost right now..." she wailed.
Frank said impatiently, "Can you be quiet for a second? If he were a ghost, could you still see him? What nonsense!"
She froze: "You mean he's not dead?"
Frank was annoyed: "Can you let me finish?" He continued, "Though he came back to life, his soul was forcibly pulled back into his body, so it often drifts out—what we call an out-of-body experience. We need to find a way to return his soul to his body properly."
"How do we do that?" she asked.
"I'll ask the Arjan master here to perform a soul-calling ritual, but the subject needs to come to Thailand in person, otherwise it's very difficult," Frank replied.
I said, "But Brother Jiang can't even speak right now. Taking him to Thailand would be way too difficult."
Frank said, "Then the Arjan master will have to go to China. This kind of soul-calling ritual is very hard to perform and the fee is high. I'll check and get back to you."
After hanging up, Sister-in-law Jiang started shaking her husband, but he remained like a wooden log with his eyes open, making no sound no matter how she called. About half an hour later, Frank texted saying Master Arjan Pai could come to China. The fee was 400,000 Thai Baht—half as a deposit upfront, the rest upon completion. If it failed, the deposit wouldn't be refunded.
I showed the text to her. She quickly asked how much that was in RMB. I told her about 80,000. She was stunned: "80,000 yuan? Oh my god, why so expensive?"
I said helplessly, "You really value money over life. How much do you think Brother Jiang's life is worth? If I hadn't gone out to eat with him last night, he'd already be at the Gates of Hell waiting for reincarnation. You haven't even said thank you, and now you're complaining about the price?"
She was defiant: "This has something to do with you too! If you hadn't sold him that cursed Guman Thong, would any of this have happened?"
I snorted: "The transaction was voluntary. It's not like I held a knife to his throat to make him buy it."
She stood up and pointed at my nose: "I don't care, you have to pay for this, or I'll call the police on you!"
I laughed: "On what grounds? Do you think the police would believe what happened last night? You were happy enough to enjoy the extra wealth the Guman brought. You were the one who insisted on keeping the found bag. Now that trouble has come, you want me to pay to clean up the mess? You've got a lot of nerve!"
She went silent and started wailing over her husband again.
Crying aside, the matter had to be handled and the man saved. Driven by desperation, she withdrew all the thousands of dollars from the found bag from the bank. Since they had already spent quite a bit, she was still several thousand short; she withdrew her own savings to make up the 40,000 RMB and handed it to me. I immediately sent the international transfer to Frank to make the arrangements.
While waiting for Frank and the Arjan to arrive, I went to a hospital specializing in trauma to treat the injuries on my face. Strangely, after several days of anti-inflammatories and ointments, there was absolutely no effect. I thought the hospital was incompetent and tried two others, but the results were the same. The external injuries were like tattoos that wouldn't fade, and the pain made it difficult to sleep. When the neighbors saw my injuries, they whispered among themselves. Because they knew I was a womanizer, rumors spread that I had seduced someone's wife and been caught and beaten by the husband.