Volume 2 Chapter 1 Part2 (2/2)
”Company?” The taxi uncle chuckled. ”I guess you could call it a company. It's run by a great master!”
… Great master?
Hearing that, Jiang Ziya's expression darkened, and he asked, ”What kind of master?”
”A feng shui1 master!” The driver seemed to find it peculiar as he asked, ”Ah, you didn't know? That great master specializes in looking at feng shui for people. I heard that he's pretty good. There's no fraud involved.”
Feng shui, huh… Jiang Ziya heaved a sigh of relief. That sounded okay, as long as it wasn't the kind of master who vanquished demons. So, his brother-in-law worked an a.s.sistant to a feng shui master. No wonder his sister would say that he goes to look at houses.
After he got out of the car, Jiang Ziya raised his head to stare at the new, towering building. A strange feeling arose in his heart, not at all losing to how he had felt when he had discovered that Lu Yang's home was a temple. He had originally thought that a feng shui master would be living in an area that looked more traditional, but it was very far from his expectations.
This kind of place looked like it would suit Lu Yang more. However, it just so happened that the reality was the opposite. The model-like Lu Yang lived in a temple, while the feng shui master worked in a modern, high-rise building. This was a true example of the phrase, ”Don't judge a book by its cover.”
As he rode the elevator up, Jiang Ziya began to feel a little nervous. What if I can't find Jiěfu here, either? What if something happened to him?
Although his brother-in-law hadn't been around back in high school, at that time, his father still occasionally returned home. In recent years though, he was outrageous to the point that he wasn't coming home at all. If even his brother-in-law were to go missing, who knew how terribly gloomy the atmosphere at home would become.
After following the copied address and reaching the floor indicated, he nervously stepped out of the elevator. This level was rather bright, until he saw that the signboard of his destination read ”Feng Shui Master Wu Ming Liang,” in which the name ”Wu Ming Liang” sounded the same as ”no brightness.”2
Jiang Ziya was rendered speechless. Thankfully, the office did not truly have ”no brightness”—the lights inside were still on—or it would be a disaster.
He pressed the doorbell and heard it ring inside. However, even after he rang the doorbell numerous times, there was no reply.
Could it be that they've all gotten off work? Jiang Ziya started to panic. He was just about to call home to ask Jiang Yu if his brother-in-law had returned, when he finally heard a voice from the intercom of the doorbell.
”Who is it?”
This voice is Jiěfu's! Jiang Ziya revived with vigor and quickly answered, ”Jiěfu, it's Ziya.”
”Ziya?” Jiang Qibing actually snorted at that. He answered, ”Your lie is too absurd.”
Jiang Ziya froze. He had never heard his brother-in-law speak in this kind of tone before. Moreover, to say that he was lying? Which part of it was a lie? The only thing he had said was ”It's Ziya,” and he couldn't possibly be lying about that, right?
”Ziya is still in the hospital. He can't possibly be here!”
”Jiěfu, that's because you didn't come home, but we couldn't contact you by phone either. Sis was very worried, so I came over to take a look.”
Jiang Ziya started to sense that something was wrong. He could recognize his brother-in-law by his voice, so why would his brother-in-law suspect him? His voice wasn't that hard to tell, right?
”Save your breath. I won't believe you. No matter what you try to do, I won't make any moves and will stay here until you run out of strength to maintain this barrier dimension!”
Jiang Ziya stood rooted to the spot, stunned shocked as though he had been hit by lightning.
His brother-in-law actually knew about ”barrier dimensions” too.
Then, does he know about the two girls at home?
”Jiěfu, Jiang Jiang and Xiao Xue—”
”If you dare touch my family, I definitely won't let it slide, and will make you die a horrible death!”
Jiang Ziya s.h.i.+vered. After being used to his brother-in-law's gentle ways, hearing him show such ferocity was hard to accept. If he was this harsh just from his voice, then if he were to actually go in, would his brother-in-law really treat him as a demon and beat him up?
Thinking it over, Jiang Ziya felt that it might possibly happen. He had heard Lu Yang mention the events that had led up to him being hung on the rooftop. From what he had heard, the other had disguised itself as him, which was why Lu Yang had been tricked.
Lu Yang had even warned him, that as long as something felt off, he was never to agree to any ”invitations.”
Jiang Ziya didn't dare to mention that he had already agreed to help Xiao Xue come ”true.”
Right now, his brother-in-law was obviously treating him as an imposter. Jiang Ziya pondered for a moment, and then decided it was in his best interest not to rashly head in. Getting beaten up was not the big issue here. If his brother-in-law also had a sword like ”Slay” and chopped him with it directly, then it would be comically tragic.
”Jiěfu, are you in any danger right now?” He asked, still unable to stop worrying.
A cold snort was all he heard from the doorbell.
It seems like he isn't in any danger. Jiang Ziya relaxed, and then decided to wait until Lu Yang came over before he did anything. He was really thankful that he hadn't rejected Lu Yang's help earlier, or he really would have no idea what to do.
Jiang Ziya called his sister to report that all was well, spouting nonsense like how Jiěfu had been sent out on a business trip at the last moment, the place was very remote, and perhaps the phone signal there wasn't very good. It was to put his sister's heart at ease before anything else.
After he hung up, he waited for a long while, before he couldn't take it anymore and called Lu Yang.
”Sorry, I've been trapped again.” Lu Yang sounded embarra.s.sed. ”It might be a while before I can get out.”
Jiang Ziya froze and asked, ”You're trapped by a barrier dimension again?”
”Yeah.” Lu Yang affirmed, and then followed up quickly with, ”Don't worry, this happens often. It's no big deal. Once the artifact demon who is trapping me in here is unable to maintain this 'barrier dimension' anymore, I can take care of him.”
… It even happens often.
Jiang Ziya was rendered speechless. The exorcising abilities of his good friend… sounded very unreliable!
”Then, can you talk with me over the phone?”
”Yup.” Lu Yang said, relaxed, ”Since I've been trapped, there's not much for me to do. I tried looking around a little just now, but I didn't find the weak point of the barrier dimension. I'm tired of looking for it, so chatting with you to pa.s.s the time suits me just fine. Have you found your brother-in-law?”
”I'm outside my brother-in-law's company and discovered that he's also trapped in a barrier dimension like you. We talked over the intercom of the doorbell. He treated me as an imposter.”
”…”
In an incredulous tone, Lu Yang exclaimed, ”If it were your sister, I wouldn't feel as shocked, since special abilities are hereditary. But isn't your brother-in-law originally just a normal teacher?”
”Right now, it seems like he's an a.s.sistant to a feng shui master.” Jiang Ziya weakly answered, ”Perhaps he got involved because of the feng shui master?”
”I'll help ask about the background of the feng shui master afterwards. Is he in danger?”
”I don't think so. He's just been trapped. Also, he intends to wait until the barrier dimension disappears, like you.”
Jiang Ziya felt vexed as he complained, ”It seems like my brother-in-law isn't simple either! What exactly is going on? Ever since I found out about Xiao—about you, it feels like this world has gone completely bonkers!”
Thankfully, he had made a good save. He had just nearly reminded Lu Yang about Xiao Xue again.
”These kinds of things are always like this. Originally, when you didn't know about them, even if you discovered something strange, you would convince yourself otherwise with all sorts of reasons, and then you would forget it completely after two days. Now that you know, there is no way you can ever deceive yourself again.”
Lu Yang sighed, and then weakly said, ”Ziya, there is no way that you will be able to return to the ordinary world anymore. Actually, given that left eye of yours, you wouldn't have been able to continue playing dumb all your life anyways. The fact that you managed to hold on until age twenty before you stepped into this world is already quite strange. I've always suspected that someone has been protecting you from the shadows, the most likely suspect being the boss of Jiu Ge Bookstore.”
”… Can't you just let me have someone normal around me?”
”Uh, I initially thought that your brother-in-law was a normal person.” At this moment, Lu Yang suddenly laughed and said, ”Looks like they can't continue anymore. Hold on, I'll take care of this artifact demon and head over.”
Jiang Ziya could only continue to wait, but all of a sudden, he heard sounds coming from the office behind him. He immediately turned his head to look. The lights inside were flickering non-stop, and there was even the occasional rattling sound.
”Jiěfu? What's wrong?” Jiang Ziya leaned on the doorbell and pressed it desperately, but he heard nothing except for the sound of the bell.
I can't wait anymore!
Jiang Ziya banged on the door hard. The door was an automatic sliding gla.s.s door, but it was currently locked and would not slide open on its own. He was at a loss as to what to do. Though he wanted to smash the door open and had tried several times banging against it with his non-injured shoulder, he still wasn't able to knock it open. The gla.s.s was simply too st.u.r.dy.
He then looked around for things he could use to smash open the door. There was a flowerpot to the side, but it was too huge for him to pick up with one hand.
With no other options, he pressed his whole body to the door, trying to see what was happening inside on both ends. Instantly, he noticed that something was wrong with the left corridor. It was aglow with red flames from a sea of fire, as though it was the site of a fire. Inside the huge flames, he could vaguely see a human silhouette.
No, that can't possibly be real. Jiang Ziya forced himself to calm down. With such a large fire, he should be able to feel the heat from his side too, but he didn't feel anything different about the temperature.
That's not real!
The fire immediately extinguished, revealing a person who was continuously patting himself down with his hand. When the fire vanished, he froze, said ”Eh,” and then ceased his patting motions.
”Jiěfu!” shouted Jiang Ziya.
Jiang Qibing was startled. He seemed dazed as he looked at Jiang Ziya outside the gla.s.s door, and then at his surroundings. He appeared to be lost as to what to do.
”Jiěfu!” Jiang Ziya anxiously called once more, as he banged against the gla.s.s door. ”Hurry and come out!”
Once Jiang Qibing heard that, he hesitated for a few moments, before he then slowly opened the door and went out.
In this time period, Jiang Ziya was practically burning from anxiety, though he did not blame his brother-in-law for his slow movements. He understood that Jiang Qibing was still questioning whether he was real or fake, and perhaps was worrying even more that this was a trap and a fatal invitation.
No matter how slowly he went, Jiang Qibing still finally managed to open the gla.s.s door and walked out.
Jiang Ziya went up to him and sized him up. Seeing that he was completely unhurt, he finally relaxed.
”Ziya?” Jiang Qibing forced himself to put on a smile as he asked, ”Why are you here?”
”I came to look for you. It's past ten PM. Sis is really worried about you!”
”… Were you really the one talking to me just now?”
”Yeah,” replied Ziya as he nodded his head.
An awkward expression showed on Jiang Qibing's face, and he vaguely muttered, ”This-That… My work is a bit complicated, so I was a little suspicious just now. But nothing major is going on, so don't worry about it.”
He paused, and then, almost begging, he said, ”It's best if you don't tell your sister. I don't want her to worry too much about my work.”
Jiang Ziya agreed with a nod. He also did not want to make his sister worry.
”Jiěfu, drive me back to the hospital, and then go home. I told my sister that you went on a business trip, and that your phone didn't have any signal, so you couldn't call home to inform them. Remember not to get that wrong.”
Jiang Qibing had not thought that it would be this easy to convince Jiang Ziya, and furthermore, he had not asked any questions on the matter. He looked profoundly at his wife's brother, and then agreed, ”Okay.”
When the two of them went downstairs, they coincidentally ran into Lu Yang. All three of them momentarily stared at each other.
”Jiang-gē.” Lu Yang greeted with a smile as he took the lead, making Slay appear at his side. This attracted a glance from Jiang Ziya, but gathered no attention from Jiang Qibing.
… So he can't see it? Lu Yang thought and didn't bother to put away Slay, letting it float between the three of them.
Jiang Qibing acknowledged him with a ”Mn,” not daring to ask him too much due to his guilty conscience. He merely asked him politely, ”Did you come here looking for Ziya? How is your hand injury?”
Lu Yang chuckled as he said, ”It's a lot better. No big deal.”
No big deal? Jiang Ziya couldn't help but want to roll his eyes at him. Those two donuts have already become strawberry-flavored, and you still dare to say you're fine. Do you think that we are all blind?
”Come with me to the hospital to get it wrapped again! The nurses will surely give you the scolding of a lifetime.”
Lu Yang scratched his head and rea.s.sured him, ”It's really fine. I've got to go back and write my English essay. It's due tomorrow in cla.s.s!”
”Come to the hospital. I'll write it for you!”
”Really?” Lu Yang's eyes sparkled as he immediately agreed, ”Okay, I'll go to the hospital with you.”
Jiang Ziya muttered in annoyance, ”You… If you didn't want to write essays, why take a writing cla.s.s? It's not even a required cla.s.s!”
”Oh, I chose my cla.s.ses based on your timetable; otherwise, who would help you with— Otherwise, no one would help me with the roll call!” Lu Yang quickly corrected himself.
To think that he had nearly said, ”Who would help you with the roll call” in front of Ziya's brother-in-law… If he were to say that, Jiang Qibing would surely get angry, and then Jiang Ziya would never help him write his essays for the rest of his lifetime.
Jiang Ziya shot him a fierce glare. Thankfully, Lu Yang had corrected himself in time, or else Jiang Ziya would have been tempted to perform the act of killing one's friend on the spot.
Jiang Qibing looked at the bickering duo in amus.e.m.e.nt. Within his heart, he was very glad that he had insisted on Ziya going to university, instead of agreeing to Ziya's request of letting him work immediately after graduating high school.
Don't joke around. For such a clever child like Ziya, it would be too much of a pity for him not to further his studies.
Actually, Jiang Yu should have continued her studies, too.
Thinking of his young wife, Jiang Qibing hated himself for not having enough ability to make it happen. Perhaps, he could wait until Jiang Jiang was a little older and was in kindergarten, then he could reconsider having Jiang Yu go back to school.
”Jiěfu?”
Jiang Qibing raised his head and saw the two boys currently staring at him. He quickly broke into a smile and said, ”Let's go. It's very late already.”
Footnotes
1 ”Feng shui”: Feng shui is the practice of arranging and positioning buildings and objects within it to harmonize with spiritual forces for prosperity.
2 ”Wu Ming Liang”: The name of the feng shui master 吳明亮 (wú míng liàng) sounds the same as ”no brightness” 無明亮 (wú míng liàng).
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