Chapter 68: Grave Relocation 1; Ominous
Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
After Chen Yang came back from Guangdong, he felt that the atmosphere of the branch office was inexplicably strange. He had only been in Guangdong for half a month. Mao Xiaoli, Kou Xuanling and Zhang Qudao were almost invisible, running outside all day long. They also hurried through dinner as if there were many important things to do.
It was understandable for Kou Xuanling and Zhang Qudao to be so busy, since they often took orders. Mao Xiaoli, who has been practicing Taoist arts, should be the most idle. But in fact, she was often missing as well. Chen Yang called out to Ma Shanfeng, who was about to sneak out to the community square to dance with his wife, “Uncle Ma, what orders have they been taking lately? All of them are so busy that they barely finish their meals.”
Ma Shanfeng said, “They didn’t take any orders. July is coming and they are busy preparing to head home and pay respect to their ancestors. Although July is when the hell officials pardon and open the gates for some ghosts to leave. Most of the fierce demons are guarded by the ghost soldiers, they dared not cause any trouble. Some young people might be reckless and bump into ghosts, but there are many folk Tianshis and diviners who can help to drive them away. Therefore, many Tianshis from big families will rush home to pay respect to their ancestors in July.”
If Ma Shanfeng did not mention this, Chen Yang would have forgotten the noble family background of his three colleagues. They were all from a long line of Tianshis, each family occupying an important position in Taoism and having made significant contributions. Chen Yang asked, “They are all going back?”
“Yes. Mao Xiaoli is going back to Mao Mountain, Zhang Qiudao is going back to Longhu Mountain, and Kou Xuanling is going back to Ping City. They are all preparing their luggage now, and their leave slips have been with me for two days. Later I will have to trouble Yang Yang to stamp your approval.” After replying he quickly headed out. If he is late, his wife will dance with that old guy again.
“Hey wait, what did you just call me, Uncle Ma?”
Ma Shafeng looked confused, it took him a while to understand, “Yang Yang, if you don’t like that I can also call you Chen Xiao Yang, which do you prefer?”
Chen Yang: “???”
Ma Shanfeng laughed: “The older generation Tianshis all like to call you this way, they know about your fight with the Wu Lingjiu in the Deserted Village. Although you did not go head-to-head in battle, your attitude and spirit was commendable. Don’t mind them, they like to use a nickname to show their closeness.” In fact, those elderlies learned about Du Shuo and Chen Yang’s relationship, then heard Du Shuo often calling him ‘Yang Yang’ and ‘Chen Xiao Yang’, so they followed in on the nonsense.
When Chen Yang wanted to ask Ma Shanfeng to stop calling him that, he had already slipped through the door. Fatty jumped off the wall and saw the tasty leftovers on the dining table, “Chen Xiao Yang, where is my fish?” Due to his bald head, Fatty was unwilling to appear in front of people recently. Fatty often waited for the dark to sneak in and ask Chen Yang for small dried fish.
Hearing this, Chen Yang crossed his arms and said: “Where are your manners? You should lose some weight, Fatty.”
Fatty wagging his tail: “I’ve lost weight. After the trip to Guangdong, I noticed I’ve gotten thinner.”
Chen Yang brought out a big pot of dried fish: “How much weight did you lose?”
“Two hundred grams.” Chen Yang immediately took back the big pot of small dried fish, instead he picked up two thumb-sized fish and said, “This is dinner.” Then he went back to the kitchen with the big pot of dried fish. Fatty picked up the two small fish and chased after Chen Yang: “I weigh two grams less? That is also thinner, you can not discriminate…… Didn’t you say there was enough dried fish here before?”
Fatty felt deceived. When they met him, he was only twenty kilograms. But because the food here was too good, he accidentally gotten to twenty-five kilograms. Now everyone no longer loved him. He was always faced with insults on his weight, forcing him to lose weight. Now that he has lost weight, not only was he not fed with a lot of fish, he was given even less than before!
Chen Yang said, “Fatty, have you ever seen a cat that is 20 kilograms?”
“…… I am a cat ghost.” Not to mention that he has lived for more than a thousand years. A cat more than a thousand years old, there is nothing wrong with being 20 Kg? It’s only twenty kilograms !
Chen Yang thought for a moment: “You’re right.” Fatty was a cat ghost, so why would he be afraid of cholesterol and high blood pressure? So he went to get the big pot of dried fish back for Fatty. Mao Xiaoli happened to walk down the stairs and saw the dried fish, so she automatically sat down at the table ignoring Fatty’s indifferent gaze and picked up the dried fish and chewed.
Mao Xiaoli: “Fatty, want a glass of wine?”
Fatty took back his indifferent gaze and drank a bottle of wine with Mao Xiaoli. Mao Xiaoli didn’t see anything wrong with eating dried fish and drinking catnip wine. She had already drunk all the red wine imported for the cat, and now she had purchased two boxes of catnip wine online. The scariest thing was that Mao Xiaoli would drink the wine with Fatty, and after drinking it, she thought it’s okay.
Mao Xiaoli said to Chen Yang, “Brother Chen, Kou Xuanling and Zhang Qiudao told me that they are going to pay respects to their ancestors around mid-July. Their families invited you to go visit, and my family also invited you to go to Mao mountain. So, what do you think?”
Chen Yang sat down and said: “I can go. I’m not taking orders in mid-July, and Du Shuo is also busy. I have nothing to do, it is good if I can tag along.”
Mao Xiaoli said, “Then Maoshan, Longhu Mountain and Ping City, where do you want to go?”
“I can’t make a decision so soon.” As Chen Yang spoke, he saw Kou Xuanling walking out from a room with his phone in his hand talking. It would seem that he was talking to someone very fondly. Chen Yang raised his eyebrows in surprise, “At this time, shouldn’t Kou Xuanling be worshiping his Zushiye?” Staring at Kou Xuanling’s blushing face, Chen Yang asked hesitantly, “Kou Xuanling… is in love?”
Mao Xiaoli mysteriously whispered, “See? The whole branch can see it. But Kou Xuanling still refutes that saying they are just brothers. Tch, tch, just listen to him. “BROs.” Don’t people usually say they are friends? Hehe! “bromance” we all understand, but he is just so innocent and straight. He even postponed paying respect to his Zushiye for a date with his bro.”
Chen Yang opened his eyes wide: “Brother? It’s a guy?”
“Yes. Kou Xuanling himself exposed his partner’s gender on the first day.” Mao Xiaoli was so saddened and said, “Oh, pure steel straight Kou Kou, please don’t get scammed. Did you know that guy still refuses to come to the office? We said we could check the guy out for him, but that person keeps refusing. You know how straight Kou Xuanling is, he may be deceived and wouldn’t even know it.”
Kou Xuanling stood behind Mao Xiaoli, and a kick came flying towards her chair. It was as if Mao Xiaoli’s eyes were growing on her back, she slammed her palms on the table and pushed herself up to squat on the table with Fatty, “Kou Xuanling, you are becoming more and more cunning.”
Kou Xuanling sneered, “You were making up stories about me in front of my face. You are lucky I didn’t break your legs.”
Mao Xiaoli made a face at him, Kou Xuanling said to Chen Yang, “Do not listen to her nonsense, he is just a good brother of mine. He is a very good person. Super good! And he treats me well too. When we met it was like we had known each other forever already. Don’t think of such obscene things like her.”
Chen Yang smiled gently, “Got it.” As soon as Kou Xuanling went upstairs, he immediately said to Mao Xiaoli, “He didn’t even hang up his phone as he walked up the stairs. He says it was as if they’ve known each other forever…… so suspicious.”
Mao Xiaoli said, “Right? Even Uncle Ma noticed it, that mysterious “nosy-head” smile of his. I have known Uncle Ma for many years and he is the most discerning when it comes to people. Before Zhang Qiudao and I asked Uncle Ma if Kou Xuanling was in love. He did not answer, but that smile was exactly the same as when we asked him about you and the Director Du.”
Chen Yang was surprised: “What did Uncle Ma’s smile look like when you asked him about us?”
“Like this,” Mao Xiaoli slowly smiled. It included the meaning of ‘everything is said in silence’, ‘no need to say, everyone understands’, ‘special relationship’, and other meanings of the like. Chen Yang’s eye twitched as he saw Mao Xiaoli’s performance, “You’ve exaggerated, right?”
“Really. Uncle Ma is like that. That person is the most cunning.”
Chen Yang changed the subject, “I see that you have good reflexes lately, very quick reaction.”
Mao Xiaoli really followed Chen Yang’s topic: “I have to go home to pay respect to my ancestors so I have to practice my skills and Taoist arts. Otherwise, when you get back, you’ll have to face the aunts and grandmothers, and all kinds of comparisons. Don’t think that there aren’t people like this in a Tianshis family, they are all common people. They all know that my father’s lineage has to wait for an epiphany to get stronger, but they will still gossip around.”
Chen Yang did not have these troubles, Mao Xiaoli looked him up and down then said, “Brother Chen, how about you go to Ping City? It’s good to see Kou Xuanling’s ‘brother’ along the way. Anyway, in October you still have to go to the ancestral temple in Mount Longhu, so you don’t have to go again. Why not go to Ping City first, and I think if you go back to Maoshan with me, they will think you are my boyfriend. If the director hears of that, I’m sure – snap.”
Chen Yang was amused, “Brother Du is not that cruel.”
“Tsk, tsk. Number one dangerous person is Director Du’s real name.” Mao Xiaoli shook her head and sighed, she hugged Fatty and said, “We are both single dogs, we are fat cuz we ate too much dog food.”
Fatty said, “No, I ate a lot of cat food that was made with love.”
“!!! Fatty, you can actually beak!” It scared Mao Xiaoli so much that even her pronunciation was incorrect. Fatty rolled up his eyes and drew a clear line between him and her, “Please note that you and I are not the same. You are single, but my cat girlfriends have come from throughout China for a thousand years.”
“Cats…… should also have normal judgment of aesthetics?” Mao Xiaoli laughed and pointed at Fatty while saying, “What did your cat girlfriends like you for?”
Chen Yang: “Don’t say that, Xiaoli.” He looked at the meat mountain and said, “Maybe…… It’s his sense of security.”
Fatty picked up a piece of small dried fish and walked away from them. Chen Yang rushed to coax Fatty, “Here, here I will let you eat.” Then he turned back to Mao Xiaoli and said, “When will you leave?”
“There are still a few days left, I will leave the day after tomorrow. Zhang Qiudao has already started to pack, he will probably leave tomorrow. His home is far from the imperial capital, and he is part of the capable generation in the Zhang family, so he should go back earlier to meet his elders. Kou Xuanling’s home is nearby, so he could head out later.”
Chen Yang said, “I’ll go back and stamp on your leave slips and also tell Kou Xuanling about our plans.” In the evening Kou Xuanling himself came knocking on Chen Yang’s door, he opened the door and let him into his room.
Kou Xuanling said that the elders of his family had invited Chen Yang to the ancestral temple in Ping City, and Chen Yang agreed. He asked him in passing, “Have you just finished making offerings to your Zushiye?”
Kou Xuanling replies, “Yes. I came back late.”
Chen Yang nodded his head and did not ask more questions until Kou Xuanling was about to leave. In fact, Mao Xiaoli had told him that recently Kou Xuanling kept coming home late, it seemed that he had gone out with that ‘brother’ and put off worshiping his Zushiye for an hour. In the past, this was totally unthinkable. After all, they all thought that Kou Xuanling would spend his life with his Zushiye.
Kou Xuanling asked him, “Does the Director let you go? Or is he coming with us?”
Chen Yang shook his head: “No, he’s got a lot going on over there. After all, it is the time when the hell officers pardoned the sinned and opened the ghost gate, so the situation needs to be stabilized.”
Kou Xuanling was the only one in the branch office besides Chen Yang who knew Du Shuo’s identity, so he knew what Chen Yang was talking about when he said Du Shuo was busy. When the Ghost Gate was opened, all the ghosts in hell would flock to the Yang realm, so naturally, Fengdu was the busiest.
A few days later, Chen Yang closed the door to the branch office. He and Kou Xuanling were the last to leave the office. Zhang Qiudao left early, followed by Mao Xiaoli, and even Ma Shanfeng took his family back home to pay respect to their ancestors. For Tianshis, mid-July was the time to go back home and pay respects to their ancestors, or build graves or other funeral-related matters.
Only Chen Yang never paid his respects to his ancestors, nor did he burn any paper money. Because he already knew that his relatives have been reincarnated, except for Grandpa Wu. Speaking of Grandpa Wu, he hadn’t talked with him for a long time. Maybe this time he could talk with him during the Ghost festival in July.
Chen Yang got into the car and found a young man in the passenger seat, the youth seemed not very eye-catching at first, but when you noticed his existence, it was hard to take your eyes off of him. The young man was about twenty-five years old, he had long hair and was wearing a new white Tang suit. He had a handsome face, as if he came out of a painting, with a layer of ancient charm that does not fit in with modern society.
Kou Xuanling introduced the young man to Chen Yang: “This is Lu Xiuzhi, is a part of the Tianshi division and his name is recorded under the Taoist temple, he is cultivating at home.” Then he introduced Chen Yang to Lu Xiuzhi, Kou Xuanling added, “Xiuzhi also wanted to return to Ping City with me.”
Chen Yang continued his sweet smile, then once they turned their heads on the road, he pulled out his phone which was constantly busted with notifications. He opened the group chat named “Old Kou’s most important life-matter concern group”. Mao Xiaoli came up with the group name, but the group was made by Ma Shanfeng. Zhang Qiudao was responsible for pulling Chen Yang into the group.
Tianshi Zhang’s 67th generation: [I heard that old Kou brought his ‘brother’ back home to Ping City to meet his parents?]
Hehe Mao Master: [Zhang Qiudao, weren’t you in Longhushan already?]
Tianshi Zhang’s 67th generation: [Uncle Ma told me.]
Ma Shanfeng ShanShanSlow – Buddhist Elder: [A friend told me about it.]
Friends? Ma Shanfeng’s friends are indeed spread all over the world.
Chen Yang: [You are all quite concerned about the lifelong event of old Kou.]
They were all back home to pay respect to their ancestors, but still remember to follow closely on old Kou’s situation.
Mao Xiaoli and Zhang Qiudao did not reply for a long time, only Ma Shanfeng replied: [Old Kou is not enlightened in the aspect of feelings. He is easy to be cheated on, you should pay more attention to that ‘brother’ of his.]
Ma Shanfeng’s eyes were poisonous and accurate in reading people. He has not yet met Lu Xiuzhi, but only based on Kou Xuanling’s reaction and the way they got along, he knew that something was not normal about Lu Xiuzhi. They couldn’t be sure what his goal is at this point, but it’s always good to pay attention.
Chen Yang returned the ‘ok’ gesture and then described Lu Xiuzhi’s appearance and demeanor: [He doesn’t look like a bad person, his eyebrows are calm, he doesn’t seem like a violent person. His eyes are bright, and does not seem like a person who harbors evil intentions.] The most important thing was that whenever Kou Xuanling spoke, Lu Xiuzhi would listen closely, the way he looked at Kou Xuanling was full of happiness.
When Kou Xuanling looked at Lu Xiuzhi, his eyes also smiled unbeknownst to himself. These two people gave off an atmosphere that completely excludes Chen Yang. At last, they arrived at the airport, Kou Xuanling went to get the boarding pass, while Chen Yang and Lu Xiuzhi took care of the luggage.
Chen Yang tried to talk with Lu Xiuzhi, not about Kou Xuanling, but about Taoism. Without realizing it, their conversation got deeper and deeper. Lu Xiuzhi seemed to be quite familiar with Ghost Art techniques as well. Chen Yang was quite surprised about that. Soon after, Kou Xuanling asked them to take their luggage to be checked in.
After checking in their luggage and getting their boarding passes, Kou Xuanling gave Chen Yang his pass and said, “Your seat is not connected to ours, they are three or four rows apart. I wanted to have three seats together, but they only had two connected seats at most.”
Chen Yang took the boarding pass and looked at Kou Xuanling, who had put himself in the same block with Lu Xiuzhi without even thinking about it. Lu Xiuzhi even smiled after hearing about his seat, and raised his eyebrows: “It’s fine.” After boarding the plane, Chen Yang quickly typed on his phone to reveal old Kou’s actions.
[Who says old Kou is a steel straight man, his skills are obviously very high.]
Mao Xiaoli and the others sighed. They didn’t think Old Kou was such a person. She suggested gathering more information on Old Kou; she entrusted this important mission to Chen Yang. Chen Yang shutdown his phone and found that Kou Xuanling’s description was quite subtle. As he reached his seat on the plane, he realized that the distance was not only a few rows, but much further away. Just looking at his seat, Chen Yang has to strongly disagree with Kou Xuanling’s description of a ‘brotherly’ relationship.
The plane arrived at Ping City airport and then they rode to the Kou family’s ancestral temple. Ping City was an ancient city with many ancient towns. The ancestral temple of the Kou family was located in a Taoist temple in an ancient town, built not like a Taoist temple but more like an ancient mansion, quietly hidden deep in a small town.
Kou Xuanling and co. got out of the car and Kou Xuanling knocked on the door. Someone opened the door from the inside and shouted when he saw that it was Kou Xuanling: “Fifth young master Kou is home!”
“I’m back, Uncle Ping.” Kou Xuanling answered and when he saw that Uncle Ping still insisted on leading them in, he said directly, “Uncle Ping, you can continue what you were doing, I will bring my friends to see my parents.”
Uncle Ping didn’t insist further, he only nodded his head while smiling. Kou Xuanling led the two from the courtyard to the living room. As he walked he said, “Uncle Ping has served our family for over two decades. He is just used to calling us young masters, it isn’t necessary. I’m actually not even the fifth, my parents only had me and my sister, but we have a lot of cousins.”
The front hall was a dojo, through the front hall and door was the small hall, it was quieter there. As soon as Kou Xuanling entered the small hall, he found all of the Kou family’s seniors, they all had a grim look on their faces. When Kou Xuanling’s father saw him, he looked much more relaxed, but he only asked him a few questions and then asked him to stand aside for a while. When he saw Chen Yang, he also said a few words of greeting. Next to Kou Xuanling’s father were his brothers and other senior members of the Kou family, they were all nice when they saw Chen Yang.
Lu Xiuzhi however had almost no presence after entering the small hall, he somehow got everyone to ignore him.
The Northern Tianshi Sect had no outstanding disciples since their ancestor Kou Qianji, and then gradually due to the defeat of the Buddhist-Taoism’s teachings to the Buddhist’s teachings, the Northern Tianshi Sect declined even more. As a result, many branches of the Northern Tien Shi Tao have evolved, and the Kou family, as a large family of Northern Sect, was relatively the only representative.
Therefore, all the people present at the Kou family ancestral temple were Kou family members.
As Kou Xuanling’s friends came over, the Kou seniors quit their grim looks and turned to treating the guests with hospitality. However, Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling could see that they were preoccupied with something, and it was likely a family matter, so Chen Yang could not ask. That night, Kou Xuanling and Kou’s father talked for a long time and both came out with a frown on their faces.
Chen Yang took a shower and lay down on the bed to rest. As usual, he sent a message to Du Shuo to report his safety. After sending the message, he suddenly wondered if Fengdu had WIFI and if Du Shuo could receive the message. There probably was, otherwise Du Shuo would not have been able to reply to him in seconds.
Just as he thought, he saw a message from Du Shuo, it was a period sign.
After seeing the message from Du Shuo, Chen Yang was at ease and put down his phone to sleep. When the day dawned, Chen Yang heard noisy footsteps coming from outside and suddenly opened his eyes. He got out of bed to open the door and the stony-faced Kou Xuanling was walking right in, followed by the almost non-existent Lu Xiuzhi.
Chen Yang: “What’s going on? What happened?”
Kou Xuanling stopped in front of Chen Yang: “There is something happening in the Bijia mountain, the elders of the family are rushing to assess the situation.”
The Kou family’s ancestors were almost all buried in Bijia Mountain. So if something happened there, it was understandable why Kou Xianling was so worried. Chen Yang also thought back to yesterday when the Kou family seniors were all gathered in the hall, all having cloudy expressions.
There is an old saying: The life of the living is determined by the burials. The first important thing in Feng Shui was the ancestral grave, let alone the ancestral grave of such a large family. If something happened to the ancestral tomb, the whole Kou family will be in turmoil.
Chen Yang: “I will also go over to see.”
“Okay. Then let’s go together.” Kou Xuanling started walking in hurried steps, but because he was too rushed, he almost tripped. Lu Xiuzhi supported him and whispered, “Careful, don’t be too rushed.” Kou Xuanling laughed and then lifted his steps towards the outside.
Chen Yang looked at Lu Xiuzhi’s back, Chen Yang always found him very familiar. Not only his appearance and temperament, but his whole aura. Lu Xiuzhi happened to meet Chen Yang’s gaze and returned him a gentle and light smile.
Chen Yang’s heart jumped and he found him even more familiar.
The Bijia mountain was located outside the small town, and is not far away, just half an hour’s walk. From a distance, the mountain was shaped like the hand gesture of a Tianshi pinching his fingers, and this mountain was known as the Master’s Pen in Feng Shui studies.
If an ancestor was buried in a Feng Shui pattern of the Master’s Pen, a high Taoist or monk will appear in the next generation. This pattern has always been a favorite of the Tianshi families.
The mountain was surrounded by many other peaks with lush grass and trees. In the middle of the mountain, there was a spring flowing out and the water above and below the river was crystal clear. Standing halfway up the hill and looking at the mountains from afar, a faint mist seemed to be hanging over the greenish peaks. The center was wide, hiding the wind and gathering Qi. It was indeed a place with good Feng Shui. Even if the Bijia mountain was not shaped like the Master’s Pen, it would still be a wonderful place with good Feng Shui.
When Chen Yang arrived at the Kou family’s ancestral tomb, he saw almost all of the Kou seniors and some of the younger ones present. Kou Xuanling walked over to his father. Chen Yang followed him and saw that the Kou ancestral tomb was showing signs of collapse. The grass around the ancestral tomb withered and blackened, which showed that the place had lost its vitality and the earth was not flourishing.
But this should not be the case, because the feng shui of Bijia Mountain was excellent and it was definitely a place of great Feng Shui. Looking at the rest of the mountain, everything was still vibrant, at least it would seem that there would not be anything that could destroy the Feng Shui in a few decades. If Bijia mountain was full of life, the soil should also be full of vitality. A closer look reveals that only the Kou ancestral tomb was in a situation where the grass has withered and blackened and the vitality has been cut off.
The ancestral tomb collapsing for no reason and the grass withering abnormally, all those were ominous signs.
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