Chapter 463: Chapter 463: Not a Monk
Zhang Dadan was stunned when he heard that the old lady’s husband had been killed by those things. He didn’t know what to say.
He had fought with those things before and knew their ferocity. Now, seeing the victim’s family firsthand only strengthened his resolve to exorcise them.
To eliminate them, he must understand their dependencies, their weaknesses, and even their methods of killing people.
Zhang Dadan hesitated for a long time before finally asking, “Old lady, how did your husband die? How do you determine that he was killed by those things?”
Before the old lady could reply, Bai Jie quickly stopped him by saying, “Zhang Dadan! That’s enough! You’re going too far now!”
Fortunately, the old lady had lived for more than seventy years and had met countless people. Although she didn’t know Zhang Dadan’s exact intentions, she could see that he wasn’t a bad person and wouldn’t intentionally poke at others’ wounds.
“It’s nothing… nothing! It’s been over twenty years; there’s nothing that can’t be mentioned!” The old lady sighed.
With that, she wiped the corner of her eye with a flowery handkerchief and explained to Zhang Dadan, “One day, the factory invited a mage to come and perform an exorcism. They called for nine people with yang life configurations to assist.”
“In the end, nine people went in total, but only six returned. My old man was one of the three who didn’t come back.”
Zhang Dadan, upon hearing this, fell into contemplation again. A yang life configuration? His father belonged to the dragon zodiac, which corresponds to the Earth branch, and Earth is yang, so his father’s life configuration was indeed yang Earth, fitting the criteria perfectly.
So, it seems that his father’s injury back then must have been accidental and not done deliberately. But why did his father harbor such hatred for Wang Zhanbei?
His father was always generous and magnanimous, never a petty person. He would never hate someone for some trivial matter for so long.
Unless his father knew about the factory owner’s ghost cultivation and something else happened afterward that remained unknown.
Recollecting past events, the old lady again advised Bai Jie to get off halfway and not to go to such a troublesome place like Stone Town.
But there are thousands of people in Stone Town; would all the people there face misfortune? Clearly, that’s impossible!
“Grandma, I appreciate your kindness, but I have legitimate business in Stone Town and must go!” Bai Jie reassured her.
After discussing some inconsequential matters, the bus had already reached the Stone Town boundary. The old lady got off at Ma Village, near Stone Town.
After the old lady left, Bai Jie felt a bit sad and sighed, “The old lady is really a pitiful person!”
“Everyone has their fate; losing her husband in middle age is her fate!” Zhang Dadan sighed helplessly.
Bai Jie didn’t know that Zhang Dadan could foresee destiny and read life configurations, so she thought he was mocking and her face turned dark instantly.
“Zhang Dadan! How can you talk like that? Her husband was also a colleague of your father. How can you be so indifferent?” Bai Jie snapped in anger.
Seeing that she misunderstood him, Zhang Dadan didn’t defend himself, only sighed, “What do you mean by indifferent? I can’t change anything!”
“Besides, didn’t I leave her my phone number? If she encounters any difficulties, she just needs to call me, and I will definitely help!”
Zhou Yong saw them arguing and quickly intervened to mediate, “We’re almost at the bus station. Why are you two arguing?”
Before they could speak, Zhou Yong comforted Bai Jie, “Miss Bai, men and women handle things differently.”
“Though Zhang Dadan didn’t say much, didn’t he leave her his phone number? He doesn’t count as indifferent, does he?”
“Hmph! You two are such close friends; of course, you would speak for him!” Bai Jie said discontentedly.
However, before she could complain further, the bus reached the station, the driver stopped the bus, and urged everyone to get off.
Zhang Dadan got off the bus, left the station, and headed straight for Jiji restaurant. As he approached the street corner, he already heard the bustling noise from the shop.
As he turned the corner, he saw a large crowd of men, women, and children gathered at Jiji’s entrance, all craning their necks to look inside.
Zhou Yong, seeing this, excitedly shouted, “Holy crap! This could be a big windfall! Business is so good today?”
Although Jiji was the most popular restaurant in town, business had declined due to recent ghost occurrences, making it impossible to have so many customers.
Even before the incident, there hadn’t been such long lines at Jiji’s entrance, let alone people standing in a swarm without lining up.
The three walked to Jiji’s entrance but were blocked by the crowd and couldn’t squeeze in.
Helpless, Zhang Dadan had to ask a man on the edge of the crowd, “Buddy, what’s happening inside Jiji? Why are there so many people?”
The middle-aged man who was jumping to look inside glanced at Zhang Dadan and replied impatiently, “An old master is having a meal in Jiji?”
Old master? Could it be someone invited to exorcise the ghosts? Zhang Dadan had never interacted with a mage and was quite eager.
But now, the entrance of Jiji was completely blocked, and they couldn’t get in!
Seeing the large crowd, Zhou Yong felt a bit scared and suggested, “Dadan, why don’t we use the back door?”
“Use the back door? That’s not my style! Just watch!” Zhang Dadan boasted proudly.
With that, he turned around and shouted, “A truck loaded with apples overturned on the next street, and apples are rolling all over the place…”
The crowd craning to look inside Jiji stopped their noise upon hearing Zhang Dadan’s shout, hesitated for a moment, and then dispersed like a flood.
Although they were interested in the old master, the old master wouldn’t leave anytime soon, but the apples on the next street were different. If they didn’t go and grab some now, they’d be gone soon!
As the crowd dispersed, Zhang Dadan smiled proudly at Zhou Yong and Bai Jie and asked, “How’s that? Considerably wise and brilliant, right?”
Although Bai Jie admired his wit, she didn’t want to praise him and snorted lightly, saying disdainfully, “Just opportunistic!”
Before Zhang Dadan could retort, several waiters rushed out from the store and complained to Zhang Dadan and Zhou Yong:
“Bosses, you’re finally back. If you hadn’t, our store would have been trampled flat!”
Zhou Yong heard this and furiously cursed, “Damn it! Why is the old monk in our store? Is he here to cause trouble?”
Xiaoyu cleared her throat and cautiously explained, “Mr. Zhou, the mage in the store is a Taoist, not a monk!”
Zhang Dadan led Zhou Yong and Bai Jie into Jiji slowly, only to see an elderly man with white hair but a youthful face, dressed in a Daoist robe and with his hair tied up with a jade hairpin, sitting in the middle of the hall, enjoying his meal.
Two middle-aged men were sitting at the same table. Zhang Dadan didn’t recognize them and had never seen them before. The other guests in the store were all glancing at the mage with admiration.
Little Li, standing behind the counter, saw Zhang Dadan and Zhou Yong enter and hurriedly came forward to greet them, briefly explaining the situation in the store.
This mage, who paid no attention to his image, was named Master Sande, and the two middle-aged men at his table were the deputy manager and secretary of the slaughterhouse.