Chapter 528

Inside the low wall, a four-story dilapidated building stood, mottled and ruined, like an old man leaning on a cane standing in the bleak wind. At the top of the courtyard hung a yellowed plaque bearing the three large characters 'Tongyuan Bay'. However, the ink had faded in the washing of time; although the plaque remained steady, the ink on it showed a tendency to fade.

This was the third day since I returned home; over those three days I lay in bed tossing and turning, unable to sleep peacefully. Whenever I closed my eyes, dirty, sallow smiling faces would appear in my mind, and I felt I ought to do something, so I came here.

Inside the courtyard, an old man with white hair sat in a chair, threading fine needles, attaching a small lamp to a green button. I recognized this work—it was handicraft from an electronics factory, threading one earned only a few cents.

"You are…?" the old man raised his head, his cloudy eyes filled with doubt.

"Oh, I am a friend of Han Duo; may I ask if she is here?" I replied politely.

Upon hearing Han Duo's name, the old man's face instantly broke into a smile.

"Why, you are Little Rice's friend! Come, come, please sit." The old man's wrinkled face relaxed, his eyes slightly narrowed, reminding me of the loving mother in the story 'Starry Lights'.

"Auntie, I'd like to return something to Han Duo, but I don't know if she's here." After sitting down, I glanced left and right, then got straight to the point. Since the old man directly used Han Duo's nickname, he must be quite familiar with her.

"You mean Little Rice? She went out this morning to run errands and hasn't come back yet."

Hearing that Han Duo wasn't there, I felt a slight disappointment and handed the items in my hand to this auntie, saying to her: "Auntie, since Han Duo isn't here, I won't disturb you. Please be sure to give these things to Han Duo, and… this is the balance I owe her for buying things at her place; please pass it along to her as well."

The bag contained the Chinese medicine I prepared for Han Duo, and the envelope held ten thousand yuan of my personal savings.

I handed the items to the auntie, looked around the courtyard, and couldn't help feeling doubtful—this Child Fate Bay is an orphanage, right? How come from the moment I entered until now I haven't seen a single orphan.

"Auntie, are you the director of this place? Where are the children?" I felt puzzled; how could there be no children in the courtyard at all.

"Oh… you mean the kids? They've gone to the park to play." The auntie handed me a cup of water, smiling, and said: "A kind boss from a company donated money for a trip, taking our orphanage's children out to play."

The old man poured a cup of water from the room and handed it to me, saying her surname was Lan, that she was the director of this orphanage, and the children of Child Fate Bay all called her Lan Auntie or Xiang Auntie.

After chatting a few casual words with her, I felt this auntie was a decent person—kind and warm.

"By the way, Lan Auntie, I wanted to ask you—Han Duo isn't a Daoist, is she? How could she be an orphan? Could her abilities have been taught by people at your orphanage?" I asked suddenly, perhaps because I had run out of things to say.

"Oh, you even know that?" Lan Auntie raised her head, glanced at me with slight surprise.

"No, I'm also a Daoist; I only met Han Duo because of a certain matter." I twitched my nose, giving a silly smile.

"Ah…… Lan Auntie sighed for no apparent reason, muttering to herself: "It's been hard on this child too."

Later, in our casual chatter, I learned Han Duo's background. Han Duo was an orphan, abandoned at the orphanage's gate.

However, when Han Duo was thirteen, the orphanage received a strange old nun. She wore ethnic minority clothing, came from Yunnan, and said she wanted to adopt Han Duo.

At that time Lan Auntie found it strange and grew wary. Normally, anyone wishing to adopt an orphan must first look over all the children before deciding; how could this old nun know the name without even seeing the person?

What's more surprising, Han Duo didn't resist the old nun at first sight; instead, she showed such affection that even Lan Auntie was astonished. After verifying her identity and completing the procedures with the relevant authorities, the orphanage let the old nun take Han Duo away. After all, an orphan being adopted is like finding a family, which is not easy. As the director, Lan Auntie, knowing the other party's background was legitimate, naturally wouldn't add further obstruction.

What Lan Auntie hadn't expected was that, ten years later, Han Duo returned to the orphanage and formally settled here, using her own earnings to selflessly support her younger brothers and sisters' studies.

"Ah, this Little Rice child is one who values feelings and knows how to repay kindness; back then she was only thirteen. You say, what thirteen‑year‑old would understand such things, but Little Rice not only understands, she keeps it in her heart."

Lan Auntie said, over these years Han Duo has sent almost all of her earnings back to the institute, funding the orphans' studies and providing them with clothing and daily necessities. This large orphanage, aside from help from some kind-hearted people in society, receives the most assistance from Han Duo and others who have left the orphanage.

"Actually, I've advised her many times already not to take up this line of work that cuts off descendants. But this child is stubborn; she just won't listen to my advice. If she were like ordinary people, marrying properly, having a child, living a plain and simple life—that would be wonderful."

Lan Auntie's words left me feeling somewhat blocked; although her view of the Daoist profession is as extreme and mistaken as most people's, her overall meaning isn't wrong—Han Duo's age suggests she's no longer young, and a woman truly doesn't have many years in her twenties.

As for Han Duo, one‑third of her life has been devoted to the orphanage—what kind of belief has kept her steadfast all this time, never leaving or abandoning it?

My heart felt somewhat blocked; I slowly walked out of Child Fate Bay. I didn't see Han Duo, but at least the money was donated—no matter what, it counts as my own act of kindness.

After returning to Chan Yi Hall, I continued doing my usual things, cultivating before the altar, until a boy about my age burst into Chan Yi Hall, putting an end to my cultivation.

He told me his father had been entangled by a ghost and was on the verge of death, begging me to go save him.

I had a vague impression of this boy; I thought he had come to see QingSongShu a few times, but I couldn't recall exactly who he was. Still, seeing his urgency, my instinct drove me—I grabbed my weapon and followed him out.

When I arrived at his house, I finally remembered his identity clearly. He is the son of a wealthy furniture‑factory owner; his father had come to Chan Yi Hall several times before. What left a deep impression on me was his father's stinginess.

His surname is Zhou, named Zhou Zhenzhen—a big man who took a very artistic female name. He has millions in wealth, but he is extremely stingy. Once I personally saw his daughter wanting to go back to her hometown; in his factory she took a brand‑new cardboard box to pack her clothes, but as soon as she picked it up he yelled at her half to death, scolding her in front of everyone until she cried, leaving her no choice but to use an old, worn‑out cardboard box instead.

I went with QingSongShu to look at his matter; he first pretended to invite us to a meal, but in the end we had lunch together with the workers in the dining hall. Under the blazing sun we examined feng shui for half an hour, and there wasn't even a bottle of chrysanthemum tea—just two cups filled with pure water that we drank.

Those who have worked with him all know his stinginess—it's almost a case of money going in but never coming out. When delivering materials, he acts like a grandson, all respectful; when settling accounts, he becomes a grandpa, dragging things out, delaying you by a month and a half regardless of whether you live or die.

Thus Zhou Zhenzhen acquired a nickname, 'Stingy Three', and though he isn't a major evil, he is excessively miserly.

Zhou Zhenzhen is now in a terrible state, his condition very serious. Lying on a large bed, twitching like a chicken's claw, he resembles an epileptic patient, frothing white saliva from his mouth.

"Yaksha and evil spirits… damn it, how could it be this thing?" Since Zhou Zhenzhen's son came to find me while I was still cultivating before the altar, my qi sense had not yet dissipated, so my spiritual eye remained open.

As soon as I entered, I saw a green little demon the size of a palm, continually stabbing Zhou Zhenzhen's occiput with a fork; this little demon had two bulging bumps on its forehead, hardly different from the yaksha often seen in paintings.

This is likewise a higher‑rank warrior among the Twenty‑Four Directional Warriors; there's hardly need to judge—it must be that someone is using sorcery to harm Zhou Zhenzhen.

Zhou Zhenzhen's son, while straightening his father's limbs, anxiously asked me what to do.

I had his family bring a pair of red chopsticks, placed them in Zhou Zhenzhen's mouth to prop it open and prevent him from biting his tongue, then spread out yellow paper and, with a brush dipped in cinnabar, drew two talismans.

After the talismans were drawn, I took the talisman and circled it a few times around Zhou Zhenzhen's head, then lit it. In fact, all of this was merely for show to the little yaksha.

The Twenty‑Four Directional Warriors are also living beings; whether they are Five Fluctuations and Five Crystals or ordinary wandering souls, we drive them off if we can, and if we cannot, we never resort to lethal force.

This little yaksha is highly sensitive to the talisman's information; almost as soon as the talisman burned, he smelled its incense, sensed its aura, and immediately fled.

"Take good care of your father and help him calm his qi."

Seeing the little yaksha flee, I didn't bother further with Zhou Zhenzhen, but instead followed its footsteps.

In the dark, I had a feeling lingering in my heart that the master who summoned the little yaksha ought to be someone I know, for the aura on the little yaksha gave me a sense of familiarity that was not strange.

Following the traces left by this yaksha, I ran westward. The direction it fled was precisely the Gate of the Five Ghosts of this day, and, according to my guess, the person dispatching the warriors would be in a place rarely frequented, especially a dilapidated City God Temple, or a neglected Earth God Temple.

As expected, following his trail I found, in a ruined temple, the master who had cast the spell on Zhou Zhenzhen.

A damaged altar, complete with candles, yellow paper, incense, and grass figurines, stood before which a pretty figure in red robes stood.

It was Han Duo, who was wielding a peach‑wood sword, striking down at Zhou Zhenzhen's crown—this was a failed spell attempt, the prelude to preparing another.