Chapter 19: Fellow Traveler?

When the sky was just beginning to lighten, Chen Yan opened his eyes while lying in bed, picked up the phone beside his pillow, and checked the time.

Six in the morning.

Last night, he had found a novel and read until past twelve.

Calculating that he had slept for less than six hours, Chen Yan nevertheless felt clear-minded and full of energy.

Chen Yan recalled that in the past, to wake up in such a state, he would have needed to sleep for over ten hours, completely and thoroughly rested, to feel this kind of comfort.

Clearly, after the primordial energy entered his body, it had greatly benefited him; his physical condition must have improved significantly.

He got up, fried two eggs for himself, sandwiched them between two slices of toast, paired them with a carton of milk, and finished everything in a few quick bites.

Wiping his mouth, Chen Yan remarked that toast was not as chewy and fragrant as fried mantou slices.

Glancing at the time, it was already past eight; Chen Yan put on his outer clothes and went out.

In the morning, Chen Yan went to the building and decoration materials market again.

After picking and choosing, he finally found a merchant selling decorative stone materials.

Yesterday, Chen Yan had already decided not to be a laborer—carving the stone himself was truly too much suffering.

He had calculated that for such a large courtyard, including the villa where he lived himself—setting up such a massive Spirit-Gathering Array would require over one hundred meters of basic material: green stone strips.

Over one hundred meters, carving the runes on each strip by hand, bit by bit... he estimated that by the time he finished, the lease on the house would have expired!

He went directly to the merchant and placed an order.

Green stone strips, two meters long, forty centimeters wide, and twenty centimeters thick; he ordered fifty of them.

Then he took out two images he had prepared in his phone.

"Carve patterns on both the front and back sides of the green stone strips.

According to these two images I give you, carve one with intaglio and the other with relief."

Chen Yan was not afraid of the runes being leaked.

The patterns he left were incomplete; at several key positions, he had held something back.

Chen Yan would personally complete the missing parts himself when he set up the array.

Therefore, even if someone obtained this pattern from the merchant and carved the same design, they would not be able to produce anything.

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So, after glancing at the pattern, the boss was not surprised in the least.

These days, when ordering stone materials for decoration, patterns are carved on them for aesthetics; all kinds exist.

He quickly calculated the material costs and labor costs, then quoted a price.

Chen Yan, estimating the degree of unscrupulousness in the decoration materials market, first attempted to cut the price in half.

The boss smiled and nodded readily: "Deal!"

Chen Yan: "..."

Damn, I quoted too high!

Cursing in his heart, Chen Yan did not go back on his word.

He did not intend to use a Fortune-Interception Technique or anything similar on this boss either.

But doing business is like this; when it comes to bargaining, once a move is made, there is no regret.

The price is negotiated between the buyer and the seller; willing to fight, willing to suffer; there is no forced buying or forced selling.

Having insufficient experience and paying too much money was his own lack of skill, and also the boss's capability.

He had to accept it!

The delivery time was set at seven days—though the boss, seeing that Chen Yan paid readily, also spoke the truth: if fast, about five days would suffice. The agreement of seven days was to leave some margin for error for the workers.

Chen Yan was quite satisfied with this timeframe!

With so many green stone strips, if he were to carve the runes by hand himself... before carving, he would first need to learn the craft of stone carving, practice until his skills were proficient, and only then could he begin.

If he carved even one strip incorrectly, two meters would be wasted, and he would have to start over.

Where would he get so much time?

But the merchant was different.

Cutting fifty green stone strips would take at most one day.

And the carving work... their business uses machines to carve!

Scan the pattern into the computer, then create a template, and use the computer to control the machine.

Place the green stone strip onto the machine, turn it on, and in a short while, one strip can be carved.

Chen Yan had heard that the boss's own stone factory had four of these machines!

Walking out of the materials market, Chen Yan was in high spirits.

Cultivating immortality still requires scientific methods!

Huh?

Chen Yan remembered that the booklet had introduced the art of formation arrays as extremely difficult to learn and practice, a path that consumes vast amounts of time and effort, and one in which even studying diligently until old age would barely yield minor success.

Was it because the ancients, when cultivating this thing, had no machines and carved the materials entirely by hand?

He was only making a Shanzhai simple version of a Spirit-Gathering Array, yet carving it was already so time-consuming and labor-intensive.

If he were to create something like the Yellow River Great Array or a Qimen Dunjia Array...

That would require how many vast quantities of materials!!!

Relying on a single array master to carve the runes on each piece by hand...

It would take until the Year of the Monkey or the Year of the Horse.

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Having solved a major difficulty in the morning, Chen Yan was in very good spirits. After leaving the materials market, he ran to find a large warehouse supermarket and went on a massive shopping spree.

It's nearing the end of the year; I need to buy some New Year's goods too.

Chen Yan thought that the Old Grandma was already gone—well, now when he thinks of this, he feels no sadness at all.

This Chinese New Year, he will spend it alone.

He thought he should still return to the countryside for a visit.

He grew up in the village since childhood; the relationships with the villagers were quite good, with occasional minor conflicts, but generally harmonious.

Moreover, during the Old Grandma's funeral, the villagers helped out quite a bit.

The memorial couplets were written by the Old Village Head, and the funeral shelter was erected with the villagers' help.

When the coffin was carried out for burial, several families from the village lent their hands to help Chen Yan carry it.

These favors must be repaid!

Things like chickens, ducks, salted fish, and cured pork are unnecessary; during the New Year, people in the countryside will slaughter pigs themselves, so there is no shortage of these items.

Chen Yan bought a box of good cigarettes and several boxes of milk powder for the elderly, and so on.

He decided not to buy alcohol yet, as he couldn't bring it onto the high-speed train upon return; he would buy it in the county town after arriving.

Buying things along the way and calculating, he then went to the clothing and luggage section and picked out a black leather men's briefcase.

This leather bag was prepared for the Old Village Head.

To this day, every time the village holds a meeting or something, the old man still carries a bag with peeling leather.

Printed on the bag was: "Commemorating the XXth Anniversary of the Victory of XX..."

That bag is older than Chen Yan.

Chen Yan thought he should get the old man a new one for the New Year.

The Old Village Head had treated him well; when he was a child, he was mischievous, climbed onto the roof, and stepped on and broke the tiles of the Village Head's house roof.

After the Old Grandma found out, she chased him to beat him, but the old man smiled and blocked her.

The year he got into university, it was the old man who helped find a car and accompanied the Old Grandma to send him to the train station.

The leather bag Chen Yan bought was not expensive, only two hundred yuan.

The village doesn't need anything too fancy; the Old Village Head uses his bag just to carry a teacup inside along with two packs of cigarettes or something similar.

If he really bought him a donkey or something, it wouldn't fit.

Actually, Chen Yan wasn't unwilling to show more filial piety to the Old Village Head.

But... the money was left by the Old Grandma!

The letter left by the Old Grandma stated that money earned through occult arts could only be spent by members of the sect.

If given to others, spending a little within normal limits is acceptable, but squandering or being extravagant will bring a curse.

He is the Old Grandma's grandson, yet he has been poor for so many years.

·

That large warehouse supermarket offered a delivery service; Chen Yan, too lazy to carry back the several boxes of goods he purchased, left the villa's address, paid a fee, and had the supermarket deliver the goods the next day.

Leaving the supermarket, he checked the time; it was already past lunch hour, a little after one o'clock.

Chen Yan found another braised food shop, ordered half a roasted duck and half a jin of duck liver, bought a few steamed buns, and headed straight home.

When he arrived home, it was just past one thirty. Walking into the residential compound, he strolled to the main gate of the villa...

He saw a business van parked in front of the villa gate.

Standing in front of his own gate were two people.

One of them, dressed in a grey suit, looked quite business-like. Chen Yan recognized him at a glance; it was precisely that "Someone from Some Year."

This person was looking down at his phone, but suddenly looked up and saw Chen Yan, immediately put away his phone, forced a smile onto his face, and strode over with a beaming expression.

"Mr. Chen, sorry to disturb you, sorry to disturb you! I was just about to call you."

Chen Yan smiled: "Didn't we agree on three o'clock this afternoon?"

This person felt slightly embarrassed but politely said: "I apologize. The appointment was indeed for three o'clock. However, due to some special reasons, I had to come early and disturb you; it was my work error, causing you trouble!"

As he spoke, he looked into Chen Yan's eyes: "Shall we go inside to talk? Is that convenient?"

Chen Yan nodded and unlocked the gate to the courtyard.

·

The courtyard gate opened; walking in, the scene inside the yard became clear at once.

Originally, the courtyard wall was over a man's height, so standing outside, one could not see the situation inside.

After walking in, the staggered-design yard required climbing two steps along a pebble path laid with patterned stones.

Originally, a row of flowers and plants was planted along the base of the wall in the yard, but after many years of neglect, they had all been abandoned.

The lawn was also not tended to much; a large patch of the turf had turned yellow and withered.

Not far away, the swimming pool was close to the house, but the pool was empty, filled with fallen leaves and withered branches.

Since moving in these past few days, Chen Yan had only been busy with his own affairs and hadn't paid much attention to these things—he was a young person, and few of his generation liked tending to flowers and plants.

As for the swimming pool, the temperature would drop to near zero in a few more days; who would swim outdoors in such weather?

Since it wasn't needed, he was too lazy to clean it.

Coming in with the other person was another fellow who looked neither old nor young.

Why say neither old nor young?

This person wore a traditional front-fastening jacket on his upper body; the material seemed to be silk, with subtle patterns on it, looking quite expensive.

His head was full of silver hair, combed into a meticulous slicked-back style; judging by how neat the hair was, he must have applied some product.

With hair of that color, one would have to be seventy or eighty years old to be white so uniformly.

Yet, this person's complexion looked quite ruddy and smooth; judging by his appearance, he should only be in his early forties.

He had a plump, round face; perhaps because he was fat, the flesh was stretched tight, so no wrinkles were visible.

Chen Yan glanced at the man and was certain.

This fellow was either born with premature white hair.

Or he had deliberately dyed his hair white.

His attitude was high; when entering, he didn't even look at Chen Yan, following "Someone, Certain Year" inside.

As he walked, his chin was raised slightly.

·

Passing through the courtyard, he invited the two into the room and had them sit in the living room.

Chen Yan had no tea at home, so he took two bottles of mineral water and placed them on the coffee table before the two.

The white-haired middle-aged man seemed about to take out cigarettes, but seeing no ashtray on the table, he frowned slightly.

Chen Yan pretended not to see it—he disliked others smoking in his home.

Chen Yan sat opposite "Someone, Certain Year" and said slowly, "Sorry, when signing the contract that day, I was in a rush, remembered the homeowner's name on the contract, but forgot how you were addressed."

"Oh, oh, my surname is Yan, the Yan in strict. I am the assistant following Director Fang, helping Director Fang manage some asset-related trivial matters."

Speaking, he took out a business card and handed it to Chen Yan.

Chen Yan took it and looked; Yan Zhaoxing.

And the Director Fang he mentioned was the boss who originally bought this haunted house, and is now Chen Yan's landlord.

"Good, then I shall address you as Assistant Yan."

Chen Yan smiled politely and put away the business card.

Actually, they must have introduced each other when signing the contract that day; Chen Yan didn't remember the person's name—it was originally quite awkward.

But Chen Yan knew that with many awkward things, the more you hide and cover, the more awkward it becomes. It is better to say it openly; that is more convenient for everyone.

Assistant Yan pondered for a moment: "Coming to your door today is indeed a disturbance. However, I will just speak plainly."

Chen Yan said nothing, smiling and looking at the other, with an expression of listening attentively.

"As for our house, there are some special circumstances; I believe you must have known this beforehand," Assistant Yan said slowly, "Although this matter is somewhat awkward to speak of, the special circumstances do exist. So..."

After Director Fang acquired this house, he also carried out some handling.

For instance, deep cleaning the rooms, replacing some indoor fixtures, and redoing the decoration in some local areas...

Of course, we also invited a master to perform a ritual.

We came today also related to performing the ritual."

Performing a ritual?

Chen Yan raised an eyebrow—if you are talking about this, I am familiar; my family does this for a living.

Ahem!

The white-haired middle-aged man beside him suddenly deliberately cleared his throat, attracting both their attention, then deliberately smiled and spoke slowly:

"Little Yan, how about I say it? I'm afraid you won't explain the professional things clearly."

Assistant Yan nodded quickly and said politely, "Yes, yes, yes, Uncle Qing, you are the master, you speak, you speak!"

Pausing for a moment, Assistant Yan looked at Chen Yan and said seriously, "Mr. Chen Yan, let me introduce, this is... Uncle Qing, the master teacher invited by our Director Fang."

Chen Yan looked at this master teacher...

A colleague?

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【Please give some tips as a New Year's red envelope~ Not much, just for good luck.】

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