Chapter 0072 Sun Xicai's Sly Plan
Even the young woman was stunned. Old Qiao shoved me toward the void with all his might, while I desperately gripped his clothes. He tried to pry my fingers loose, growling through gritted teeth, "You screwed me over and left me with no way out. I'm not letting you off easy. If I'm going down, you're coming with me!"
The woman cried out in panic, "Old Qiao, what are you doing? Pull him back! He'll fall to his death!"
Old Qiao turned and roared, "That's exactly what I want! I'm finished anyway. If I fall, it'll be a life for a life!" The woman rushed forward to stop him, but Old Qiao was possessed by a frantic strength; she couldn't pull him away.
With my upper body hanging out of the window, I accidentally caught a glimpse of the ground far below. Dizziness washed over me instantly, and I reflexively locked my legs around Old Qiao's waist with a death grip. I screamed, "Pull... pull me back! Old Qiao, I didn't set you up, I really didn't..." Old Qiao wasn't listening. His eyes were bloodshot as he tried to heave me over the ledge. The woman ran out of the apartment to scream for help, and two men from next door rushed in.
Old Qiao bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Don't touch me! Anyone comes close, and I jump! We die together!"
The two men froze. I begged Old Qiao for mercy, tears streaming down my face. Old Qiao sobbed, "You... you ruined me! My mother borrowed money and used every favor she had to get me into that bank. I worked so hard to get where I am. Once they investigate, it's all over! Everything is gone!"
I was crying too. "Brother, it really wasn't me! Even if you drop me, it won't fix anything!"
"I'm taking you to the grave with me!" he snarled. Just then, one of the neighbors hooked an arm around Old Qiao's neck in a chokehold. Old Qiao had to release me to deal with them, but my hands slipped. I lost my grip on the frame and my upper body fell backward into the open air. I was dangling precariously, held only by my legs wrapped around his waist. The sound coming out of my throat wasn't human—it was a pure, primal shriek. I clawed at the air, but there was nothing to grab. As I swung in the wind, I saw a crowd gathering below. I could even hear people shouting, "Jump! Just jump already!"
A man's voice yelled, "Hold on with your legs! Don't let go, I'm pulling you in!" He didn't have to tell me twice; I wouldn't have let go even for a hundred million dollars. I felt Old Qiao's body being dragged backward. The neighbors were hauling him away from the window. Old Qiao kept cursing, "Let me go! Let us die!"
Strength in numbers prevailed. The two men and the woman dragged Old Qiao away, and I was pulled back inside with him. My upper body slammed onto the floor. I was safe, but my legs were still locked around his waist like a vice. "Hey, buddy, relax! It's over!" the neighbors said.
I was gasping for air, babbling incoherently, my legs refusing to let go. The two men had to pry them off me. Even after being released, my legs remained frozen in an 'O' shape as if my nerves had been paralyzed. I was drenched in cold sweat and shivering uncontrollably.
After returning home, I fell seriously ill, suffering from a high fever for three days. My parents were frantic. Once they found out the truth, they forbid me from ever selling amulets again. Old Qiao's fate was even worse. The bank uncovered the scandal with the President and his history of embezzlement. He was fined hundreds of thousands of yuan and sentenced to five years in prison. I heard he could have paid a higher fine to get a suspended sentence, but Ms. Xia's husband was a man of influence. The humiliation of his wife's affair with a subordinate led him to pull strings behind the scenes to ensure Old Qiao went to prison.
Though Old Qiao brought this on himself, the business with the amulet weighed heavily on my conscience. Months later, at a high school reunion, everyone was tight-lipped about him. The male classmates who had been close to him gave me cold looks. Nobody said anything to my face, but I knew they were whispering behind my back. After that, I stopped attending reunions altogether.
As soon as I recovered, I sent a text to Wang Jiao, asking about the day Old Qiao picked up his amulet. She called me back while Sun Xicai was in the shower. "The night before your classmate came to get it, Xicai was counting the stock. I remember him picking up the amulet you left for your friend and staring at it for a long time. I asked him what was so special about it, and he just chuckled and said, 'It didn't have anything before, but it will now.' He talks like that lately—all mysterious and weird. I didn't understand, so I didn't ask."
Hearing this, I was even more convinced something was wrong. I asked if Sun Xicai had any other suppliers besides me. Wang Jiao was certain: "Absolutely not! After being scammed by that funeral shop owner, he's incredibly cautious. He won't even buy trinkets from a night market stall, let alone stock for the shop."
I lay in bed for hours that evening, trying to make sense of it. Could a regular Positive Amulet, blessed by a Lung Phor, turn into a Yin Amulet just by passing through Sun Xicai's hands? It was possible—if Sun Xicai was possessed by Zheng Yonggui's spirit, maybe that spirit could infuse the amulet with Yin energy. If so, Sun Xicai had basically become some kind of amateur Arjan Master.
Just as I was thinking this, Sun Xicai called me. He asked when I was heading back to Thailand. I told him in about ten days. He said, "Two customers returned their amulets. One wore it while being intimate; the other was even worse—they dropped it into a latrine pit while on a farm trip. Can we send them back to the original temples for a re-blessing?"
"I can get them re-blessed for free, but it'll take about a month to get them back," I said. Sun Xicai said that was fine and offered to bring them to my house. Terrified of being reinfected by his energy, I declined. He suggested I pick them up, but I didn't want to go to the shop either and struggled to find a valid excuse. Sun Xicai was confused. "Then how do I get them to you?"
I made up a story on the spot: "How about this—have Wang Jiao meet me at the entrance of the Middle Street Mall tomorrow. My sister is going clothes shopping and wants Wang Jiao to help her pick things out. She can bring the amulets then. Women take forever to buy clothes; it's better if she has a companion. You stay and watch the shop." Sun Xicai agreed.
The next day, I arrived at the mall early. Wang Jiao was on time, but I was stunned to see that Sun Xicai had come along too.
Wang Jiao asked, "Brother, where's my cousin?"
I had to scramble: "Er... something came up and she couldn't make it. I just came to grab the amulets first." Sun Xicai handed me the amulets wrapped in red cloth. I took them gingerly, careful not to touch his skin. Sun Xicai looked at me with a puzzled expression, which then shifted into something else. He scanned me up and down for just two seconds—but I caught it. I made a quick excuse and left.
On my way home, I used my Five Venoms Oil necklace to test the returned amulets. They were clean. Recalling Sun Xicai's look, I wondered: Could he sense that the Yin energy in my body had been cleared?
That evening, I was discussing a potential trip to Thailand with my parents to visit my cousin when Sun Xicai and Wang Jiao suddenly showed up at our door.
I was caught completely off guard. Although Wang Jiao is my cousin, it's a distant relation, and she rarely visited my parents. Having them both show up was a surprise. As we chatted in the living room, I watched Sun Xicai like a hawk, terrified that the spirit of the old lecher would infect me or my parents. I kept a smile on my face, but my left hand was gripping a heavy purple clay teapot. I had decided that if he did anything weird, I'd knock him unconscious with the teapot immediately.
But Sun Xicai acted perfectly normal. His speech, mannerisms, and expressions were exactly like they were before the urn incident. Not only that, but the Five Venoms Oil in my necklace remained perfectly transparent.
What was going on? Was the spirit of Zheng Yonggui gone? While I was dazed, Sun Xicai smiled and said, "Brother Tien, it's been over six months since you let us run the shop. Business is getting better and better, and we are so grateful to you. Since National Day is coming up, Jiao and I were thinking: why don't we all go to Beijing for a trip? We'll cover all the expenses."
My father immediately chimed in, "Oh, we couldn't possibly let you do that!"