Edited—

First it was fingernails, then eyeballs. What would be sent next? Lin Jue was quite curious. But clearly, she was the only one in the room who was curious. The others all had expressions of if you open that box, I’m leaving.

“Since they aren’t human eyeballs and fingernails, isn’t it quite interesting?” Lin Jue was a bit aggrieved and complained to Zhou Jiayu. “Guan’er, you aren’t willing to share the joy with me either?”

Zhou Jiayu hugged the yellow weasel and the little paper person, carefully searching for appropriate words. “Shibo, I can’t relate to this kind of joy.”

Lin Jue slapped the table. “How can you not relate? You open a box without knowing what’s inside, and discover things you’ve never seen before. Isn’t that quite interesting?”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Are eyeballs and fingernails within the scope of “interesting”???

Looking at Lin Jue’s expression, she had quite the air of how lonely it is to be invincible. In the end, since no one would accompany her, she grabbed the yellow weasel over, saying that when the third box came, she would have Little Huang accompany her. For each accompaniment, Little Huang could stay here for three more months.

The yellow weasel maintained a deadpan expression the entire time. In its bean-sized eyes was an aura of having nothing left to live for. But it also couldn’t resist the temptation of staying here a few more days, so it could only shrink into the corner of the sofa with a bitter face, looking like a miserable creature being violated by Lin Jue.

Zhou Jiayu was powerless to help.

About half a month later, the third box that Lin Jue had been waiting for arrived. At the time, everyone was still eating. After receiving the call, she rushed out like the wind. The people at the table all had a rather bad premonition upon seeing this.

Over ten minutes later, Lin Jue returned satisfactorily hugging the package. Zhou Jiayu silently put down his chopsticks and said he was full.

Shen Yiqiong was a bit desperate, stuffing the chicken cutlet Zhou Jiayu had made today into his mouth like crazy. The chicken cutlet tasted incredibly good—crispy outside, tender inside, full of juices. If left until the next meal, it definitely wouldn’t taste this good.

After Lin Jue returned, she discovered that everyone at the table was eating frantically. She said, “Wow, why do you all have these expressions?”

Shen Musi wiped his mouth and said, “Shibo, are you going to open it?”

Lin Jue waved her hand. “I know what you’re all thinking. Right now, there’s a multiple-choice question before you…”

Zhou Jiayu weakly asked what the multiple-choice question was.

Lin Jue smiled gently. “Tell me, should I open it alone right now, or wait for you to finish eating and accompany me in opening it together?”

Everyone fell into silence.

Zhou Jiayu discovered that when Lin Jue was scheming against people, her expression was at least seventy to eighty percent similar to Lin Zhushui’s. The two truly deserved to be siblings by blood—the sly expression in the corners of their eyes and brows was practically carved from the same mold.

Zhou Jiayu said, “I’m full. I don’t want to watch the unboxing. I’m going upstairs first.” After saying this, he slipped away, completely ignoring Lin Jue’s resentful gaze.

Shen Musi and Shen Erbai also wisely put down their chopsticks, indicating they were about done.

But Shen Chaosan and Shen Yiqiong, the two with the biggest appetites, weren’t full yet. The two looked at each other and saw the taste of despair in each other’s eyes.

“Shixiong.” Shen Yiqiong said, “Shall we face this together?”

There wasn’t much expression on Shen Chaosan’s face, but his eyes revealed his current mood. He gripped his chopsticks and reached a consensus with Shen Yiqiong.

Lin Jue’s scheme succeeded. She giggled with delight and shared the last supper with Shen Yiqiong and Shen Chaosan.

Zhou Jiayu didn’t know what came out of the third box that night. He had slipped back to his own room with the little paper person halfway through. Downstairs was actually quite quiet the whole time; it seemed nothing particularly strange had come out of it.

It wasn’t until after nine o’clock that Zhou Jiayu came downstairs wanting a midnight snack, only to see Shen Yiqiong and Shen Chaosan standing at the doorway with deep expressions. Shen Chaosan had a cigarette in his mouth; Shen Yiqiong didn’t know how to smoke yet, so he was just standing there in a daze.

“What came out of it?” Zhou Jiayu took a sip of yogurt and asked.

Shen Yiqiong turned his head, saw Zhou Jiayu, and said listlessly, “Guan’er, I regret it. You were so smart…”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Huh?”

Shen Yiqiong said miserably, “Damn, seeing what was in that box, I threw up everything I ate for dinner.” The result was that he lost more than he gained, and he still felt nauseous.

Zhou Jiayu was starting to get curious.

“Rotten birds came out of it.” Shen Chaosan spoke gloomily. “They even had maggots.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” At this moment, he was extremely grateful for his decisiveness. “What was Shibo’s reaction?”

Shen Yiqiong said, “What other reaction could there be? She excitedly took the box and threw it away. When will this end?”

Zhou Jiayu sipped his yogurt. “Let’s keep our distance from Shibo when she’s opening boxes from now on.”

It seemed this was the only way. A woman lost in some hobby was terrifying. Other girls opened clothes, snacks, and cosmetics. But their Shibo excitedly opened cursed items, indulging in it and unable to stop, forcing others to share the joy with her.

“Opening boxes is like a gacha game.” Shen Yiqiong said. “You never know what the hell kind of thing will come out of it.”

Because of the box-opening issue, the usually popular Lin Jue received the cold shoulder and became the person in the house that everyone was least willing to approach.

Fortunately, Lin Zhushui still protected his few disciples; otherwise, they probably would have long since completely fallen into Lin Jue’s clutches.

However, because of this, everyone developed an indescribable anger toward the person sending the boxes. Shen Musi once again had people go investigate this address, but discovered that the address didn’t exist at all. Although there was a place in the general direction, the specific address was fictional.

“Sanyan Village.” Shen Musi said. “There’s no such village there.”

“Totally normal.” Shen Yiqiong said. “If I were sending these things, I definitely wouldn’t dare leave a real address either.”

Shen Musi said, “So why exactly are they sending these here? For the curse? Or deliberately disgusting people as a prank?”

After Lin Zhushui’s inspection, it was confirmed that the boxes had indeed been cursed with some trivial minor curses. These curses were just as Lin Jue had said—they practically wouldn’t take effect. Any ordinary positive talisman could resolve them. For feng shui masters like them, they basically had no effect.

“I don’t get it.” Shen Yiqiong sighed. “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t opened the door to a new world for Shibo…”

It was also thanks to Lin Jue being able to think of finding thrills in express deliveries.

A box came every half month, and the contents grew increasingly strange: animal phalanges, moss-covered stones, sand and soil packed in bags—all sorts of bizarre things that seemed to follow no pattern, as if sent on a whim.

Just like this, two months passed. It was October now, and the weather had cooled down. Lin Zhushui no longer had to be forced to stay at home and could move around freely.

The little paper person had grown quite a bit over the two months. Besides the yellow weasel that was dragged by Lin Jue to open boxes, everyone else in the house was enjoying peaceful days. The yellow weasel looked like it had been excessively tortured. Whether it was because of too much stress or because autumn had arrived, it had begun shedding fur crazily again. However, having accompanied Lin Jue in opening boxes a few times, it could at least freeload at the Lin residence for a few more months.

Around mid-October, Lin Po of the Lin family came over once, seemingly to discuss something with Lin Zhushui.

He naturally mooched another meal from them. During this time, he once again praised Zhou Jiayu’s culinary skills greatly and casually asked why the yellow weasel had gotten thinner.

Hearing this, the yellow weasel forcefully slapped its own plate and glared at Lin Jue.

Lin Jue said, “Hey, why are you glaring at me? Wasn’t this something we both agreed on? You weren’t saying this last night.”

Lin Po: “…”

Yellow weasel: “Kaka kaka kaka.”

Lin Jue and the yellow weasel immediately started arguing into a ball.

The next day, the few people who had been idle at home for three months were informed by Lin Zhushui that there was another matter. They had to go to a small city in the southwest; it was said that something had happened there that needed to be resolved.

Zhou Jiayu found the address somewhat familiar. Lin Jue, however, immediately reacted. “This place seems quite close to where the packages were sent from. Can we go take a look when we’re there? Maybe we can even find the person sending the packages.”

Everyone quite liked hearing this, because everyone in the room besides Lin Jue completely didn’t want to receive those things. Being able to find the person sending the packages would solve the problem at the root.

That small city in the southwest was the wartime capital during the Republican era. It had quite a few folk legends related to the supernatural. Zhou Jiayu had a pretty good impression of the place. The only thing he worried about was not being used to the food. Because it seemed that every meal there was spicy without exception…

The trip was scheduled for three days later. This time when they went out, Lin Zhushui told Zhou Jiayu that he could take the little paper person out for some training. The moment it heard it could go out, the little paper person was incredibly excited, like a child about to go on a trip. It didn’t sleep the entire night, bouncing around in Zhou Jiayu’s room. Fortunately, it was just a piece of paper and didn’t weigh much, so when excited it wouldn’t disturb Zhou Jiayu.

So a few days later, Zhou Jiayu folded the little paper person a few times and stuffed it into his pocket to board the plane.

Who knew that when passing through security, the little paper person was directly pulled out of his pocket by the security staff, shaken open in their hand, and they asked Zhou Jiayu what this was.

Zhou Jiayu was startled, afraid that the little paper person would start moving. He hurriedly explained that this was a paper person he needed for ancestor worship, to take back and burn for his ancestors.

“Oh.” The security staff member was a young, handsome guy. He reached out and touched the little paper person a few times, saying, “It’s quite realistically made. The facial features are vividly lifelike.”

Zhou Jiayu let out two dry laughs and reached out to take it back.

But this little brat of a paper person actually took the opportunity to touch the security guy while the two were handing it over. The security guy was stunned, then looked up at Zhou Jiayu.

Zhou Jiayu: “…” It wasn’t me who touched you, really.

Security guy: “Add WeChat?”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” What kind of development is this.

In the end, forced by circumstances, Zhou Jiayu quietly added the security guy on WeChat. Fortunately, he was the last one to come out; otherwise, if the others had seen this scene, who knew what they would think.

But because he was delayed for a moment, after coming out, Shen Yiqiong still asked what had happened.

“Nothing.” Zhou Jiayu fudged. “Xiao Zhi was pulled out.”

Shen Yiqiong said, “Oh, it wasn’t discovered, right?” He touched Xiao Zhi’s head. “Xiao Zhi, you absolutely must not move. If discovered, you’ll be taken away.”

Then he heard Xiao Zhi whimper.

Fortunately, they safely boarded the plane next without any further incidents. It was Xiao Zhi’s first time on a plane, and it was extremely excited, squirming around in Zhou Jiayu’s pocket. Zhou Jiayu was helpless and could only wait until after takeoff when the lights on the plane dimmed to pull Xiao Zhi out of his pocket and place it by the window.

Xiao Zhi pressed its face against the window, looking at the scenery outside and letting out small exclamations from its mouth, appearing to be in very high spirits.

When lunch was served midway, Zhou Jiayu hurriedly put it back into his pocket, afraid that the flight attendants would see it and cause some unnecessary misunderstanding.

A few hours later, they finally arrived at their destination safely.

Xiao Zhi had been holding it in the whole way. The moment it got in the car, it started bouncing around the car like crazy, causing the driver who came to pick them up to frequently look at the back seat through the rearview mirror. Fortunately, this driver was also an insider sent by the people there; otherwise, Zhou Jiayu was really afraid he would be so engrossed in watching the little paper person that he would drive the car into a ditch.

Although it was October, the weather here still couldn’t be considered cool. People wearing short sleeves could still be seen on the road. Zhou Jiayu had originally worn a somewhat thick jacket, but now looking at the bright sun outside, he took it off again.

The people picking them up sent them directly to the booked hotel. Zhou Jiayu walked in hugging Xiao Zhi, but saw a familiar face.

“Yo, long time no see.” The one greeting him was actually an opponent he had competed against in the previous competition. Zhou Jiayu remembered his name was Yu Xiaomian. “You’re here too.”

There were also a few older people standing beside Yu Xiaomian, currently greeting Lin Zhushui. Judging from their temperament and appearance, they should be Yu Xiaomian’s elders.

“Long time no see.” Zhou Jiayu said.

Yu Xiaomian said, “What are you holding in your hand? A paper person?” He leaned over, quite interested in the little paper person in Zhou Jiayu’s hand.

“Yes.” Zhou Jiayu touched Xiao Zhi. Seeing that no one was around, he said, “Xiao Zhi, say hello to gege.”

Only then did Xiao Zhi climb up from Zhou Jiayu’s arms and call out to Yu Xiaomian, “Hello, gege.”

Yu Xiaomian was startled by the suddenly moving paper person and bounced away like a cat. But he quickly rushed back and said excitedly, “Can I hug it?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Of course.”

So the little paper person was hugged into Yu Xiaomian’s arms.

While they were talking, Shen Yiqiong had been standing nearby without speaking. Zhou Jiayu glanced at him and discovered his face was completely gloomy. Puzzled, he said, “Yiqiong, what’s wrong?”

Shen Yiqiong said, “How is he so white?”

Zhou Jiayu: “…”

If Shen Yiqiong hadn’t said it, Zhou Jiayu wouldn’t have noticed. The contrast between Yu Xiaomian’s and Shen Yiqiong’s skin tones was simply obvious to the extreme—one was white and glowing, the other was dark and dull. With Yu Xiaomian as a contrast, Shen Yiqiong had clearly suffered a devastating blow.

Hearing the two’s conversation, Yu Xiaomian said unhappily, “So what if I’m white? I want to get darker. I sunbathe every day until I’m almost getting skin cancer, and I’m still like this.” He was actually quite dissatisfied with his fair and tender skin tone.

Shen Yiqiong immediately expressed that if possible, he was truly willing to exchange with Yu Xiaomian.

The two immediately felt a kinship for each other, and the air was filled with a strange harmony.

Zhou Jiayu thought to himself, truly, what you can’t get is always in unrest.

While the juniors were chatting here, the elders nearby were also discussing matters.

“Mr. Lin, do you think this matter can be resolved?” The one speaking now was an old man who looked to be over sixty, with completely white hair and beard, but full of energy. His words carried a local accent; at first listen, it was a bit hard to understand.

Lin Zhushui said, “Let’s go take a look at the scene first.”

“Yes, yes.” The old man said happily.

Zhou Jiayu had been by Lin Zhushui’s side for so long and seemed to have never seen a matter that Lin Zhushui couldn’t resolve. However, even so, every time he agreed, Lin Zhushui seemed to be somewhat reserved.

“Right, Mr. Lin, I haven’t introduced him yet. This is my grandson Yu Xiaomian. He previously participated in the feng shui competition together with your disciple Zhou Jiayu.” The old man smiled.

Yu Xiaomian obediently called out “Mr. Lin.” Honestly speaking, he looked delicate, and his skin was fair and clean. He truly looked like a shy, bashful youth—if Zhou Jiayu hadn’t seen his street-cursing display before, he probably would have thought so too.

“These are my disciples Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong, and my older sister Lin Jue.” Lin Zhushui slightly nodded and also introduced Zhou Jiayu.

“You must be tired today. We have already prepared meals. Let’s discuss the details of the scene tomorrow morning.” The old man smiled and said.

Lin Zhushui nodded and agreed to the old man’s proposal.

So the group ate and rested, storing up energy to prepare for checking the situation the next day.

Zhou Jiayu hadn’t known why Lin Zhushui had come this time until Lin Jue told him about the matter here in the evening.

It turned out the city was building a new subway line, but when they reached a certain section, workers suddenly disappeared. At first, the construction party thought this was man-made, but after checking the surveillance footage, they discovered that this matter wasn’t so simple.

In the surveillance footage, workers constructing the subway tunnel would suddenly, as if possessed, walk toward the depths of the subway tunnel. One could see from the surveillance footage that whether in limb movement or facial expression, these walking people looked abnormally stiff. They moved their feet and walked slowly, their movements looking like lifeless zombies.

The worker would keep going forward like this until reaching the end of the tunnel. At this point, he would turn around and wave at the camera, as if saying goodbye to someone. Then, the worker would walk to the wall at the end and slowly, forcibly squeeze into the cracks of the dirt wall before him.

Just hearing the description made one’s hair stand on end. One could imagine that the surveillance footage would be even more terrifying.

“We also investigated.” The old man sighed. “We couldn’t find the cause. This subway is a major project. Every day of delay is trouble. It must be resolved as soon as possible.”

Lin Zhushui nodded. “We’ll go take a look tomorrow.”

So the group prepared to eat and rest first.

The food here was indeed excessively spicy. Shen Yiqiong, who had an average tolerance for spice, was horrified to discover that even stir-fried vegetables had chili peppers in them.

Zhou Jiayu had mentally prepared himself beforehand, so he felt alright now. But Shen Yiqiong was a bit spice-drunk.

At this time, the benefit of Lin Zhushui not eating was revealed. Anyway, everyone knew about this quirk of his, and no one tried to persuade him otherwise. So Zhou Jiayu watched Lin Zhushui silently eating pickled cucumbers the whole time—that was the only dish that didn’t have any chili peppers.

This meal moved everyone very much, because by the end, their eye sockets were basically all red. Lin Jue was no exception, silently wiping the corners of her eyes with a tissue.

They formed a sharp contrast with the locals. Zhou Jiayu personally saw Yu Xiaomian picking out chili peppers to eat, his lips red and swollen from the spice, yet still laughing and telling them not to be polite and to keep eating.

Zhou Jiayu couldn’t take it a bit and said in a small voice, “Can you handle it the next day eating like this?”

Although he asked tactfully, Yu Xiaomian still understood and laughed heartily. “Of course we can’t handle it. Otherwise, the colorectal hospitals here wouldn’t be so popular…”

Zhou Jiayu was speechless.

Eating chili peppers means suffering twice—once when it goes in, and once when it comes out.

That very night, Shen Yiqiong had a bout of diarrhea. He howled like ghosts and wolves in the restroom, saying no wonder his shixiong wasn’t willing to come—it turned out to be because of this.

Zhou Jiayu asked him how he felt.

Shen Yiqiong said it felt like he had been gang-raped by ten thousand burly men.

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Why are you so experienced at describing this?

They hadn’t even encountered any dirty things yet, and this one meal had already greatly damaged their vitality. When they went to see the scene the next day, everyone was listless. Even Lin Jue didn’t talk much. When Zhou Jiayu asked, he found out that her stomach also seemed to have been affected.

Compared to the lively and vigorous Yu Xiaomian beside them, Zhou Jiayu felt like they had practically suffered from mass food poisoning.

Lin Zhushui ate the food Zhou Jiayu had specially made for him, so he was completely fine, as calm and unperturbed as ever.

The subway construction was still in the tunneling phase, but because of the disappearing workers and the bizarre footage, the project had currently been halted. Only a gatekeeper guarded the entrance to prevent people from entering; there were no other workers inside the tunnel.

This was Zhou Jiayu’s first time entering an unfinished subway tunnel. Going from above ground to underground, although there was no air conditioning, the moment he entered he could feel a refreshing coolness. At the entrance of this tunnel, Zhou Jiayu saw wisps of black mist floating in mid-air. Where there was this black mist, there were usually dirty things.

Humans felt uncomfortable entering this place, but the little paper person quite liked it. However, Zhou Jiayu was afraid it would scare others, so he kept it in his pocket the whole time. Only after confirming inside the tunnel that the surveillance had been turned off did he take it out from his arms.

“It seems to quite like it here.” Yu Xiaomian saw the little paper person sticking to the wall beside it and rubbing against it, and said in surprise.

“Yes, there’s heavy yin energy here. Xiao Zhi, stop rubbing. The wall is so dirty—if you keep rubbing, I’ll give you a bath when we go back tonight.” Zhou Jiayu felt like an old nanny.

Hearing that it would get a bath, the little paper person immediately stopped rubbing. Although ordinary water wouldn’t have any negative effect on it, like all naughty children, it also extremely disliked bathing. Heaven knows how difficult a task it was for Zhou Jiayu to throw it and the yellow weasel into the bathroom together.

“Was a section of this tunnel built previously?” Lin Zhushui suddenly asked halfway through.

“Yes.” Yu Xiaomian’s grandfather Yu He nodded. “A section here used to be an air-raid shelter.”

Lin Zhushui raised an eyebrow, not knowing what he had thought of.

The further they walked inside, the lower the temperature. Zhou Jiayu rubbed his arms and even felt a bit cold.

But besides the cold, there wasn’t anything abnormal in this tunnel. Lin Zhushui walked to the end and lightly touched the wall with his finger.

The old man asked in a small voice upon seeing this, “Mr. Lin, did you see something?”

Lin Zhushui shook his head. “It’s noon right now; the aura is too faint. We need to come back later.”

The old man said, “That’s fine too.”

“Then let’s go back and look at the footage, and come back tonight.” Lin Jue proposed. “Anyway, we can’t see anything right now.”

The matter was settled just like this. Everyone decided to leave first and return to investigate when the timing was appropriate.

__

Author’s Note:

Zhou Jiayu: Wuwu… Sir, don’t bully me…

Lin Zhushui: Who told you to add him on WeChat?

Zhou Jiayu: Wuwu… I was wrong…

Explanation of the previous story: After the dog king was killed by Ye Zhen, it was resurrected and became human. It transformed Ye Zhen’s family members, who also ran the dog farm, into underworld dogs and locked them up together with the other dogs that had turned into underworld dogs, and Ye Zhen personally killed them with her own hands. In the end, Lin Zhushui had the underworld dogs that Ye Zhen killed all reincarnate in Ye Zhen’s belly and become human, making her give birth to them one by one. Um… five per year, after giving birth for several decades, it should be about complete.