Chapter 22: Background and consequences

Without any unnecessary chatter, I explained my purpose as soon as I saw Master Chen. I asked about the person’s curse and where that person was from.

Because it was too hasty that day, I had the intuition that Master Chen had not explained everything clearly. This time, because the meat was poisoned by the parasite, I wanted to ask him clearly.

“Do you have a cigarette?” In response to my question, Master Chen said a classic line that prisoners would ask.

Qin Huai heard this and threw a cigarette to this Chen Master. Chen Master took the cigarette and took a drag, then said, “I have been working with him for 10 years. When he found me, he was only 16 years old. I do know a lot of things, but I am like this now. Why should I tell you?”

Qin Huai and I looked at each other. This Master Chen was so confident. He must know something. I have no experience dealing with this kind of situation, but Qin Huai does.

He laughed twice and said, “Yeah, buddy, I don’t know why you have to say anything. If I were you, I’d just accept my fate. What good would it do to say anything?”

Master Chen, with a cigarette in his mouth, looked uncertain. He didn’t understand what Qin Huai meant.

Qin Huai continued, “Anyway, you’re in this situation now. I don’t have the power to get you out of prison, but I do have the power to make you sit in prison for a few more years. You think about it. Why are you in a detention center and not in prison yet, and we can still come to see you, even in person? Buddy, if I were you, I would be smart and stop stalling. I don’t think that person is a good buddy of yours, otherwise he wouldn’t have left you alone and run away.

I applauded in my heart. Qin Huai’s words were really wonderful. In fact, how could this kid make someone sit in jail for a few more years? He didn’t have the power, it was his grandfather’s. But his grandfather couldn’t do this for him, could he? He was just trying to scare people.

Then he instigated, instigated… the children in this mixed-up compound are different.

Sure enough, Master Chen was moved, and he smoked desperately. After he finished one cigarette, Qin Huai handed him another one, and he continued to smoke three cigarettes in a row. Then Master Chen sighed and said, “Okay, I’ll talk.”Taoist priest

Ten years ago, Master Chen was not yet Master Chen. The familiar neighbors called him Chen Taoist.

This Taoist priest was not a real Taoist priest, but one who specialized in arranging funerals for people. For example, when someone in the family passed away, people would invite him to help with the funeral, playing and singing.

There are many of these Taoist priests all over China. They are not true Taoist practitioners, and they don’t know any specific Taoist methods. They just do the funeral business, and in addition to handling the funeral arrangements for people, they also sell funeral supplies such as money paper and candles.

Master Chen is one of these thousands of Taoist priests.

But Master Chen, whose real name is Chen Zhongxiu, is a little different from those people. What is the difference? It is in his appearance and temperament. He gives people a feeling of righteousness, and there is also a hint of the otherworldly in him. So Master Chen’s business is better than others.

In short, the neighbors in this neighborhood love to find him to do things for them, and he has almost monopolized the “business” in this neighborhood. Life is also going well.

Originally, Chen Zhongxiu thought that life would go on like this, not particularly rich, but also worry-free, but it was on a certain day ten years ago that a young man came to the door.

When this young man came to the door, Chen Zhongxiu didn’t have a good impression of him. It was simple, because this young man gave the impression of being a hungry wolf. His eyes revealed a hint of ferocity and hatred.

Who could have a good impression of such a person?

And when the boy came to the door, he said to Master Chen, “I heard that you are very famous in this area. Let’s cooperate. I will give you a chance to get rich.”

Is this not nonsense to say such things as soon as he arrives? Anyone with a normal IQ would not believe this, not to mention that Chen Zhongxiu already had a bad impression of this child.

The result is self-evident. Chen Zhongxiu definitely rejected him, and because of his slippery personality, the rejection was relatively tactful.

The young man didn’t say much, but he told Chen Zhongxiu, “In three days, you’ll be crying and begging to see me. I’ll give you one more chance. I’ll be back in three days.”

This was too rude, and even Chen Zhongxiu, who was so cunning, almost lost his temper. However, he still endured it, politely asked the boy to leave, and then continued to eat with his family. Everything was normal.

But that night, everyone in the Chen family felt unwell. They all had diarrhea and couldn’t eat. By the next day, their stomachs were all swollen. Under their clothes, it wasn’t obvious, but when they lifted their clothes, it looked like they were three months pregnant.

This is not good. Chen Zhongxiu immediately took his family to the hospital, but the doctor didn’t say anything, just said it was abdominal distension or something, and casually prescribed some medicine and sent Chen Zhongxiu away.

The truth is that the medicine had no effect. The next day, the symptoms of the Chen family became more and more serious. They didn’t have diarrhea anymore, but only vomited. Their stomachs were so bloated that they were afraid to be seen by others.

At this point, Chen Zhongxiu remembered what the child had said before he left: “Three days later, you will come crying to me!”

Chen Zhongxiu was originally a Taoist priest for funerals, so he may not know much about it, but in this line of work, he knows more or less about various legends and taboos. Chen Zhongxiu knew he had been tricked.

In this kind of situation, going to the hospital is generally not a solution. You can only wait patiently for the person who did this to you to come and solve it.

Just as the child said before he left, now Chen Zhongxiu was desperate to cry and beg him to come to the door.

On the third day, the child really came to the door. After entering the house, he didn’t say anything, but only gave each member of the family a bowl of green liquid at Chen Zhongxiu’s pleading.

After drinking the potion, Chen Zhongxiu had a reaction in less than five minutes and felt like vomiting! Then, he experienced the most terrifying thing in his life.

He saw white worms coming out of his mouth and his family members spitting out worms just like him.

The white worms were soft and small, about the length of a pinky, and they were all tangled together. From a distance, they looked like a white mass, and that’s how the Chen family members vomited them up.

The Chen family was so scared that they cried out for their parents. Although many people at the time had roundworms in their bodies, these worms were not as terrifying as these worms.

The child was very calm, and said, “These are just little things, parasites like roundworms. They are not poisonous and do not bite, but they do need a lot of nutrients to survive, and they reproduce very quickly. They don’t pick their place, as long as it is a warm place, they can reproduce. If I don’t come today, these worms will take root in your stomachs, block your intestines and stomachs, and desperately absorb all the nutrients in your bodies, making you unable to eat, and then they will suck you dry, and finally they will come out of your noses and mouths. Do you think it’s funny?

The child was speaking in a strange accent of Mandarin, and it didn’t sound like Sichuanese. Where was he from? Why was he doing this to himself? To his own family?

Chen Zhongxiu was full of anger, but he dared not act. The child’s methods were simply beyond his imagination. Similarly, Chen Zhongxiu’s family dared not act, and they all watched the child with trepidation.

After resolving the matter, Chen Zhongxiu dared not ignore the child. He asked the child in a despondent tone, “What do you want? Do you just want me to cooperate with you?”

The child said unceremoniously, “You have a reputation as a Taoist priest and you look gullible, which is the result of our investigation. We need money, so you can be our front man. Of course, you will also be given a share of the benefits. Do you still need to think about it?”

At this point, I was like fish and meat, and what else could I do? Chen Zhongxiu sighed and said, “There’s no need to think about it. Just cooperate. What do you need me to do?”