Chapter 11

Chapter 11

By morning, Uncle Ye had made me a huge spread of food.

This time, it was Soul Summoning, not Calling Back the Spirit. There was no need to raise a Soul Summoning Banner. A set of Tang Dong’s clothes would be enough.

Tang’s Mother came early that morning to bring me the clothes. I hadn’t seen her for half a month, and she looked like all the life had been drained out of her. Even when she saw me, she acted timid and deferential.

“Changdong, our whole family has wronged you. The two of us old folks don’t really understand all those things Dongzi did. We scraped together a hundred thousand yuan. Please don’t think it’s too little.”

Uncle Ye sat to the side, looked at the bag Tang’s Mother had brought, and said coldly, “If you people had even a shred of conscience, then however much Dongzi swindled out of Changdong back then is exactly how much you should pay him back!”

Tang’s Mother shrank her neck at his words and lowered her head. “Dongzi’s things are all in his wife’s hands. They have a child too. The two of us old folks really don’t have any other way…”

Uncle Ye turned his head away and knocked the pipe in his hand with a series of sharp bangs. “Your family… You’ve truly brought this evil on yourselves.”

I had long since stopped hoping the Tang family would return the company to me. Tang Dong had run it badly, and there wasn’t much capital left in his hands to begin with.

I said bluntly to Tang’s Mother, “Tang Dong has already dragged two lives down with him. I can’t guarantee the Soul Summoning will succeed, but I will protect the people in the village.”

If there was truly no other way, then in the end we would have to destroy the coffin, smash the altar, grind his bones to dust, and scatter the ashes. If it came to that, Tang Dong could only blame his own bad luck.

Tang’s Mother cried and looked like she wanted to kneel to me, but after thinking it over, maybe she realized it would no longer mean anything. In the end, she nodded in despair.

Tang’s Mother had only just left when the village descended into chaos again.

A small car came swerving crookedly into the village, and the person who got out was actually Lai Zhi.

Everyone knew Zhou Banshen had been brought here by Lai Zhi. The moment several villagers saw him, they immediately twisted his arms behind his back and marched him to Uncle Ye’s house.

Even now, Lai Zhi was still stubbornly refusing to admit fault. He shouted that he had been tricked too, that he had thought Zhou Banshen really did have some ability.

Besides, Tang Dong’s Soul Summoning Banner really had been brought back by Zhou Banshen.

Lai Zhi was shoved into Uncle Ye’s house. When he saw me, he even straightened his back on purpose, as if he were a real man ready to take responsibility for what he’d done.

But I noticed his calves were trembling. He was clearly terrified.

“Tang Dong came looking for you, didn’t he? You can’t leave now either.”

I said it straight out, and Lai Zhi’s expression changed instantly.

He shot me a glance, thought for a moment, then snapped angrily, “If we can’t escape, then neither can you! The person Tang Dong hates most is you!”

“Shut your mouth!”

Uncle Ye looked like he wanted nothing more than to beat Lai Zhi to death with a stick. “Do you know what you’ve done to this village?”

“How can you say I did this? How was I supposed to know he was a fraud?”

Lai Zhi was clearly planning to deny responsibility to the bitter end. “I’m back now, aren’t I? At worst, you can beat me to death. I’ll pay for your lives with mine!”

He made it sound so noble, but who would actually dare beat him to death?

The villagers were so angry they were practically fuming from every orifice. Even Uncle Ye was too furious to speak.

I glanced at the clothes Tang’s Mother had left behind, then turned to Lai Zhi. “No one needs to beat you to death. Tonight, I’m going into the mountains to perform Soul Summoning for Tang Dong. You’re coming with me.”

Lai Zhi froze. This time, he nearly dropped to his knees. “I-I-I’m not going!”

“You don’t have a choice!”

I stepped forward and grabbed Lai Zhi by the collar. “Either you come into the mountains with me like you’re told, or I stuff you into that coffin myself!”