I was now quite familiar with my cultivation techniques. After a night of resting and meditating, I had recovered around seventy to eighty percent by morning.
However, Huang Jiu hadn't returned yet, which made me a little worried.
Around 10 AM, my second uncle came to bring me lunch and handed me a newspaper.
I glanced at it and saw that it was about Mr. Zhang's ceremony to purify the ghost building.
I sneered and said, "These rich people, they're always afraid others won't know when they do something good."
My second uncle replied, "If you think like that, your perspective is too narrow. Mr. Zhang and Mr. Wang have already teamed up to acquire the land for the ghost building at a low price. Once the water and land ritual is completed, they'll probably start the construction right away!"
I was stunned by this move.
Putting aside the issue of acquiring land cheaply, just a few hours had passed, and they had already made it to this stage.
No wonder they were capitalists—ordinary people wouldn't even dare to imagine such things, yet they could probably solve everything with a single phone call.
My second uncle poured me a cup of soup and said, "Mr. Zhang said he'd give us 5% equity once the building is completed, and the best storefront will be ours. He wants us to move Li Ji to the new place. What do you think?"
I couldn't help but laugh in anger.
Mr. Zhang's maneuver was the kind of thing you'd expect from someone who would even dig up a coffin if it served his interests.
But for us, this was still a good opportunity.
After all, it was equity, and our role would just be to help him eliminate the negative impacts and take a leading position.
Capital may be despicable, but at least there was something to gain by aligning with it.
No wonder Chen Kai was so flattering.
It was then that my second uncle realized Huang Jiu wasn't around and asked me about it.
I said with concern, "It went out last night, sneaky as ever, and hasn't come back yet!"
"Do you think it ran off?" My second uncle asked, his expression odd.
I replied, "Impossible. Its wife is scarier than the ghost from last night. It won't run."
My second uncle sighed in relief. "That's good. Having it around saves us a lot of trouble."
At noon, my second uncle mentioned that he was taking Tingting swimming and left the shop to me.
I hadn't seen Tingting in a while and missed her, but I understood why Aunt Su Yimei didn't bring her to the shop.
Being away from family is one of the most unfortunate aspects of our line of work.
After my second uncle left, I spent the time testing out some of the secret techniques from the scrolls. With my cultivation progressing, I was able to connect the first and second volumes. While I hadn't mastered everything, I had at least understood about fifty to sixty percent of it.
By nightfall, Huang Jiu still hadn't returned, and I was starting to feel anxious. But when I remembered the phone Chen Kai had given me, I distracted myself by playing with it.
At around 9 PM, I had closed the shop when Huang Jiu finally sneaked out from the back room.
Seeing it, I grabbed it and immediately started questioning where it had been.
Huang Jiu grinned and said, "Good stuff! I'll tell you tomorrow at noon!"
Looking at its mischievous grin, I gave it half-raw old hen and some chicken blood from the fridge.
That night passed without incident.
The next day, my second uncle arrived with lunch and told me about a major incident in the city: a vajra wheel from the Western Regions had been stolen from the provincial museum. It was even on the news.
At first, it seemed unrelated to us, but for some reason, I felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
After my second uncle left at noon, Huang Jiu poked its head out from the back room, looking sneaky, and gestured for me to come in.
I went inside, and it immediately shut the door, pulling a golden, gleaming cylindrical object out from under the counter in the warehouse.
"Holy crap!" I jumped back in shock, my hands and feet trembling.
I grabbed Huang Jiu by the collar and said, "Are you trying to get me killed? You dare to touch this thing? Do you want me to have an even worse life?"
The object was a prayer wheel. When my second uncle had mentioned the museum robbery earlier, I immediately understood.
I shook Huang Jiu vigorously to snap it out of its trance and then ordered, "You better get this back right away, or take your stuff and get lost."
Huang Jiu, dizzy from being shaken, murmured, "Don't panic. This is a sacred treasure of Vajrayana Buddhism. Inside it is a secret mantra, the Nine-Syllable Mantra. Those old scholars wouldn't understand. If we can figure out how to open it, we can take the contents and return it. There won't be any trouble."
"The Nine-Syllable Mantra?"
Huang Jiu nodded vigorously like a chicken pecking at grain.
No wonder it had been disappearing every night lately—turns out it had been eyeing these treasures.
I felt a bit intrigued and picked up the prayer wheel from the ground. However, I didn't realize it was a storage container.
With Huang Jiu's guidance, I finally noticed the hidden mechanism. The scriptures on it worked like a combination lock—without understanding the text, it was impossible to open it.
Prompted by Huang Jiu, I called my second uncle.
Twenty minutes later, he returned.
When he saw the prayer wheel, his reaction was even more intense than mine. He switched it from his left hand to his right, then back again, and finally threw it on the floor, cursing, "Are you trying to get us killed? The special patrol is already out there, and you guys…"
My second uncle rushed out, pulling down the roll-up door and locking the glass door before returning.
After hearing Huang Jiu's explanation, my second uncle said, "Huang Xian, forget the Nine-Syllable Mantra—whether it's a Da Luo mantra or whatever, you can't be messing with this. You may be fine, but me and Yang Yang will be ruined."
"Quit wasting time. Open it now, or I'll learn it from you and Yang Ge," Huang Jiu urged.
My second uncle took a long time to calm down before carefully examining the scriptures on the wheel.
He used his phone to compare the text, and after a while, he said, "This is the 'Kanjur' from the Vajrayana Tripitaka. Luckily, it's in translation. If it were in Tibetan, even I wouldn't be able to read it."
We spent the entire afternoon searching the internet and deciphering the scriptures. By dinner time, the prayer wheel finally clicked open.
Huang Jiu eagerly grabbed it and pulled out a piece of glowing white silk.
I leaned in to look, and sure enough, it contained the hand gestures for the Nine-Syllable Mantra.
My second uncle also became interested. Neither of us had eaten a single bite, both of us too absorbed in studying it.
The next morning, both my second uncle and Huang Jiu looked exhausted but wore satisfied smiles.
The Nine-Syllable Mantra truly lived up to its name.
But mastering it would still take some time.
The secrets within were recorded in extreme detail, as though the creator was afraid the person who found it wouldn't be able to learn it. It was all meticulously documented.
Huang Jiu smugly said, "Once we've mastered this, dealing with that female ghost will be no problem."
I looked at Huang Jiu speechlessly. No wonder it had been practicing the "Lin" hand gesture all night.
It was clearly planning to run away when the time came.
My second uncle carefully reassembled the prayer wheel, asked me to keep the silk safe, and sternly told Huang Jiu to return the wheel today.
With the Nine-Syllable Mantra in hand, Huang Jiu agreed readily and said it would have one of its "little brothers" return the wheel to the museum.
I was afraid it didn't understand the seriousness of the situation, so I personally supervised and had Huang Jiu call over its "little brother."
When I saw it, I was shocked to find that its "little brother" was actually a giant rat.
Its fur was smooth and shiny, larger than a cat, with a bit of spiritual energy.
After a brief conversation, Huang Jiu had the rat take the prayer wheel, which I had washed over ten times, and leave.
By noon, the news reported that the stolen prayer wheel had been returned to the museum.
Only then did the anxiety in my heart finally subside.