Chapter 217 - Chapter 217: Chapter 217: Shame (1/2)

Chapter 217: Chapter 217: Shame

Translator: 549690339

“You can see for yourselves,”

The villagers, upon hearing this, all leaned in to take a look.

Indeed, within the water bowl, a chopstick stood upright, identical to when Qi He claimed that there was a Water Ghost in the lake.

“That’s not all.”

Zhuang Qingning took out another two chopsticks and stood them in the water bowl together: “When water is present, the chopsticks will stick together. Three chopsticks are more stable.”

“Observe, this is just like two extremely smooth stones which stick together when a drop of water is added.”

Upon seeing the three stable standing chopsticks, the villagers’ faces were filled with sudden realization.

Some folks began to search the ground for smooth sticks or small branches and went to the lakeside to give it a try.

When someone managed to steadily stand a twig as thin as a chopstick on a stone near the riverbank, he excitedly shouted, “Come and see, it’s really true! What the girl said wasn’t false, this can indeed be done by anyone, Qi He is a liar!”

“It’s simply a most basic illusion, or you were just scared of the Water Ghost and hence thought this trick was real.”

“Finally, let’s talk about fetching water with a bamboo basket.”

Zhuang Qingning took the bamboo basket handed over by Shi Bao and showed it to the villagers: “As you can see, this is a perfectly ordinary bamboo basket.”

While speaking, Zhuang Qingning received a bucket of water from Shi Bao and poured it into the bamboo basket.

The bamboo basket, because of the gaps, could not hold the water, causing it to splatter onto the ground.

“Obviously, this bamboo basket cannot hold water, but if we do this…” Zhuang Qingning fumbled around inside the basket with her hands, grabbed another bucket of water and slowly poured it into the same bamboo basket.

This time, however, the water remained entirely inside the basket and did not scatter everywhere like it did before.

“The water did not spill out like it initially did, but not because I possess supernatural powers or magic, it’s because I have this…”

Zhuang Qingning showed everyone what she had in her hand.

The villagers all leaned in for a closer look, but could only see a sticky, transparent thing and did not know what it was.

“This thing is very common. It’s frog eggs. Take the eggs of a frog, remove the black dots, leave the transparent mucus, coat it inside the bamboo basket, then this basket can carry water.”

Zhuang Qingning explained, “At this time, frog eggs are very easy to find, and the steps are simple. As the frog egg has no color, it naturally can trick people easily.”

“Be it fetching copper coins from boiling oil, standing chopsticks in a bowl, or carrying water with a bamboo basket, these are all simple illusions. Because they are different from what we see every day, you mistake them for supernatural powers. But they are not.”

“Even the method of calling fish, gathering rats, and ghosts knocking on the door are nonsense. It’s just using things that fish and rats love as bait to attract them. And the horrifying ghost knocking on the door is nothing more than blood of eel smeared on the door. Bats smelling the blood will come and hit the door, creating noises. When you open the door, you can’t see the bats, so you think it’s a ghost knocking.”

“In fact, these things all have causes. You just didn’t understand and became fearful, then you imagined that it was ghosts causing the troubles. Moreover, when more and more people spread the ghost stories, they became more scary. But in reality, they are all just human imagination.”