Chapter 35

The first client Yuan Qiu introduced us to was the boss of a real estate company, except he didn't come to us for the feng shui of a property, but for the feng shui of his home.

This boss surnamed Liu, besides being a real estate businessman, is also a collector who loves antiques and cultural relics. When Pangzi and I went to his house, we were immediately stunned.

Bronze tripods, calligraphy and paintings, porcelain—dazzling arrays; even without careful counting, the antiques in the house numbered at least three figures. Pangzi and I have also visited wealthy homes with QingSongShu, and those rich merchants also had some antiques, but compared to Boss Liu, it was practically petty sorcery meeting great sorcery.

When we first went to Boss Liu's house, his attitude toward us was neither cold nor enthusiastic. Why? Because Pangzi and I looked far too young to be capable people.

However, Pangzi and I didn't mind much. Our line of work has a bad habit: judging by age. Feng shui daoists, the older they are, the more popular they become; the younger they are, the more likely people suspect them of being charlatans.

"Two young masters, this time I hired you to come and see if there's any problem with the feng shui of this house, and whether it needs fixing." Without much idle chatter, Boss Liu quickly got to the point.

Beforehand, Yuan Qiu had already told us that Pangzi and I were the eleventh batch of feng shui masters invited. Before that, Boss Liu had already hired ten batches of feng shui masters, who kept altering the gate, garden rockeries, and warding objects, making quite a fuss. Yet no matter how they tinkered, they could never solve the Liu family's problem.

According to Yuan Qiu, a year ago the Liu family began having inexplicable dreams in which family members were often covered head to toe with snakes, insects, rats, and ants, causing the whole family to sleep poorly and lose their appetite over the past year.

Pangzi and I took out the compass and began observing the surroundings of the house.

The essence of feng shui lies in "form" and "vital energy." Form refers to the innate terrain; vital energy refers to whether the house's orientation matches the environment's feng shui, whether it shelters wind and gathers water.

The schools of feng shui consist of "form school" and "vital energy school." The form school focuses on innate terrain, dragon lairs, sand and water. The vital energy school focuses on house orientation and the Nine Palaces Flying Stars. Combined, they use vital energy based on the innate terrain to align the house's feng shui with naturally formed mountains and waters, selecting auspicious years, months, days, and hours to construct dwellings, harmonizing the facing direction to achieve the unity of heaven, earth, and man. Thus, even though the feng shui world today is divided into form and vital energy schools, both are indispensable in feng shui geomancy.

The two schools do not rely solely on one geomancy method; each emphasizes one aspect while using the other as a supplement.

From Liu's house layout, it's easy to see the handiwork of experts versed in both form and vital energy. Moreover, the land's innate feng shui is excellent: ahead lies the Azure Dragon bringing water, behind stands an elegant mountain as support—naturally a most auspicious spot. The house sits on this feng shui treasure ground; as long as its sitting and facing align with the land, bringing wealth and prospering descendants is not difficult.

Pangzi and I walked around inside and out several times, yet found no issues; the house's feng shui layout is naturally good, its orientation was set by an expert, and there are no temples or graves nearby to exert influence, so there shouldn't be any yin spirits causing trouble.

After a while, Pangzi said to me, "Hai Sheng, should we ask Boss Liu for his eight characters?"

I shook my head and said, "Probably not needed; judging by his house layout, the feng shui master who advised him must be quite capable—how could they overlook such a simple matter?"

In geomantic feng shui, one must examine not only the feng shui of the residential building but also the homeowner's eight characters. One life, two lucks, three feng shui. Even the finest feng shui of a dwelling must suit the occupant's eight characters. That's why a house with good feng shui can make Zhang San rich and noble, while Li Si living in the same house may plummet. Ultimately, if the eight characters don't match, feng shui cannot help.

This is the most crucial, yet also the simplest. If a feng shui master can't even handle this simple matter, they might as well quit the trade.

In my view, the house's orientation, doors and windows, and even the placement of each room perfectly match the terrain and the Nine Palaces Flying Stars' vital energy; how could such a person overlook the most basic issue?

Just in case, Pangzi still asked Boss Liu for his eight characters. He was born in 1964, the year of Jia Chen, an Eastern Four Li trigram destiny person. Meanwhile, the house sits east facing north, making it an Eastern Four Zhen residence. Li belongs to fire, Zhen to wood; in the Five Elements wood produces fire, so the residence supports and strengthens the person. The furnishings inside the house also have no conflicting placements; there is absolutely no mismatch between his eight characters and the house's feng shui.

"Pangzi, do you think his house might have been fitted with a warding object, or that he brought something back from outside that's causing trouble?"

At that moment, I considered these two possibilities aside from feng shui. A warding object, plainly speaking, is a house‑guarding item—such as Zhong Kui images, heavenly master images, trigrams; even a leaf or a gourd can serve as a feng shui warding object. However, whether it is auspicious depends on how and where it is used; otherwise it can be not only inauspicious but actively harmful.

For example, placing three bamboo leaves in the southern part of the home can bring peace and good fortune to the family, because bamboo leaves belong to Zhen wood, wood produces fire, and three bamboo leaves represent the number of Li fire; anciently there is also the saying "bamboo reports safety." But if those bamboo leaves are placed in the northeast or northwest, they could at any time cause gastrointestinal ailments for mother and son. This is a kind of feng shui magnetic field response that can affect a family's luck.

Furthermore, a feng shui warding object need not be installed only by insiders; even some old potters understand the way of warding objects just as well as we practitioners.

Why? Because the ancestor of warding objects is Lu Ban himself; the earliest practitioners of warding objects were his disciples, and the most detailed records of warding object techniques are found in the Lu Ban Manual. Lu Ban was born a carpenter, so some old carpenters, even if not his disciples, may understand warding objects just as well as a feng shui master.

I once heard a story: a family surnamed Xu, while building their house, withheld the carpenters' wages and humiliated them in every way. In anger, the carpenters placed a tiny figure holding a bow and arrow on the beam. Not long after the Xu family moved in, they began having nightly nightmares of a bow‑wielding general shooting their hearts every night. Later, the Xu family developed heart disease and died in despair.

The scene in that story is remarkably similar to what is happening in Boss Liu's home, so I guessed that his problem might not be feng shui at all, but rather that someone had placed a warding object in his house.

After hearing my words, Pangzi shook his head: "That can't be right; logically, if a warding object had been placed, moving in would cause trouble right away. Didn't he say the nightmares only started a year ago?"

"You forgot, some warding objects require activation by the luck of the year. For instance, if you draw a demonic figure on a metal lock and place it in the southeast, then whenever the owner enters a metal luck period, the eldest daughter in the household will suffer misfortune and death."

Upon hearing that, Pangzi also thought it made sense.

"Then let's look everywhere, and incidentally ask Boss Liu whether he had any conflicts with anyone while building this house. If not, it's possible he brought something back from outside."

We searched every corner of the house, especially the beams and such. Unfortunately, we found no warding objects—not even any decorative items.

We asked Boss Liu again; he said that when building the house he had actually paid the carpenters extra, so it was utterly impossible for him to have had a dispute with anyone. Moreover, during this period he has been staying at relatives' homes, so there is no chance he brought back any unclean thing.

The second possibility also failed; Pangzi and I simply could not find the cause, and we reached an impasse.

At that moment, Boss Liu offered us words of comfort.

"Two young masters, you don't need to worry too much. I've invited so many feng shui masters to look; they kept changing things but still couldn't fix it. At your age, not seeing any problem is perfectly normal."

Perhaps our dedicated attitude moved Boss Liu, and his tone toward us became gentler.

Yuan Qiu also whispered beside us: "Hai Sheng, Weiqiang brother, you don't need to strain yourselves; if you really can't help, just forget it. I asked you to come only to look at the feng shui, and I don't want you to feel embarrassed on my account."

I gave Yuan Qiu a grateful glance, but I really have taken charge of this matter. This is the first time Pangzi and I have struck out on our own; we simply cannot lose the reputation of Chan Yi Tang.

The best way is to experience for ourselves the sensation of being torn by snakes and insects in the dream; only after going through it can we get to the root of the problem.

Thinking of this, I asked Boss Liu whether we could spend a night in his house so we could also experience that nightmare.

Boss Liu blinked, then said, "Naturally welcome; there are plenty of spare rooms in the house—pick whichever you like and stay as long as you wish."

"All right, we'll impose on you," Pangzi said, beaming and without hesitation.

Boss Liu arranged for a servant to cook dinner, while Pangzi, I, and Yuan Qiu, feeling bored, wandered aimlessly around the house.

"What fine calligraphy! The brushstrokes have the grand momentum of a splashed‑ink master, the handling of the brush carries the expansive interest of a seasoned writer—fine calligraphy, truly fine." Suddenly, Yuan Qiu's loud shout startled us.

I walked over; Yuan Qiu was fervently staring at a piece of calligraphy in the display case, which turned out to be the "Participation in Government" scroll by the Song dynasty calligrapher Mi Ti.

Pangzi also walked over, saw the scroll, and curled his lip: "What's there to look at? It's a messy scrawl—less useful than a chamber pot shaped like a cup. I wouldn't want to drink from it; I could use it to piss."

Hearing Pangzi's clueless remark, Yuan Qiu flushed, turned his head, and glared angrily. His reaction is not strange; I've seen old calligraphy sellers in Lao Wei Village who, when encountering people who don't understand calligraphy and spout nonsense, often jump up, face red and neck thick, arguing with others. There's no other reason—only that their passion for calligraphy has reached a frenzy beyond ordinary comprehension.

But after turning his head, Yuan Qiu also froze.

"Um, Weiqiang brother, that's not a cup or a chamber pot; it's a li gui, used for eating rice."

Pangzi blinked, pointed at the object in the display case, and said, "This thing can actually be used to eat rice? You're not joking, are you?"

Yuan Qiu nodded and explained: "This object is called a li gui. Its origin goes back to King Wu of Zhou's campaign against the Shang. Legend has it that on the day of Jia Zi, when the Sui star was in position, he announced victory, greatly defeated the Shang, and in the army at Lan Di awarded copper to an official named 'Li'. That official used the copper granted by King Wu to cast this gui in memory of his grandfather; since it was cast during King Wu's triumph over Shang, it is also called the King Wu Conquest Shang gui."

"Just a moment"—while Yuan Qiu was boasting about his strange tale, I shouted to interrupt him.

"Hai Sheng, you've also noticed how precious this li gui is, haven't you!" Yuan Qiu said proudly.

I shook my head and pointed at the compass in Pangzi's hand: "Pangzi, look carefully at the compass you're holding."

Pangzi let out an exclamation, lowered his head, and looked at the compass.

"Damn, how can this be? Why is the compass needle turning so erratically?"

At that moment, the needle of the compass in Pangzi's hand was spinning extremely fast.

The compass is a tool for geomantic feng shui, used to probe magnetic fields; the needle in the heavenly pool can become chaotic and spin for basically three reasons. First, lodestone. Because lodestone has strong magnetism, if many lodestones are placed around the house, they will inevitably disturb the magnetic field and interfere with the compass's search.

Second, because this land is either extremely yang or extremely yin, with yin and yang out of balance, if one goes to such an extreme, the compass will also become disordered there.

However, Boss Liu's house had nothing like a magnet, and it was even less likely to be an extreme yin-yang site. After eliminating those two possibilities, only the last one remained.

Inside the house there existed a yin-like substance such as a spirit; when the compass encountered these things, its needle immediately became disordered.

When Pangzi took the compass and left the display case, the compass instantly returned to normal; bringing it close again caused disorder. Everything in the display case were bronze objects, which could not contain iron or magnet to affect the magnetic field.

"Hai Sheng, the problem probably isn't with this thing, is it?"

"It's a ritual vessel." Yuan Qiu added from the side.

"Never mind big or small ghosts, the problem likely lies right here." Pangzi pointed at the ritual vessel and asked me.

I shook my head and pointed my finger at something beside the ritual vessel. Because, according to my observation, when the compass approaches this thing, the needle becomes most disordered.

The thing I pointed to is something similar to a rice bin; people call it a weng. If I'm not mistaken, the problem should be on this thing.

Yuan Qiu furrowed his brow, blankly asked Pangzi: "Does this antique have a problem?"

Pangzi also shook his head, blankly looking at me.

I sighed and said: "It seems that you and I have both misplaced the focus; it's not that the house's feng shui has a problem, nor that we've provoked something unclean, but because this weng is an antique with spiritual energy, it is causing trouble."