Zhang Family

Biodata

Households and Members

The context does not establish a genealogical connection between the five village brothers and Zhang Yucheng’s family.

Village Household

Zhang Yucheng’s Family

Background / History

Origins of Zhang Yucheng’s Family

During the late Qing dynasty, the Zhang family lived in poverty in Yongfeng County. An ancestor rescued a starving Taoist by giving him his only two steamed cornmeal buns. In gratitude, the Taoist located an auspicious burial site and specified how the family’s deceased forebears should be buried there, promising several generations of wealth and standing 39.

The family’s fortunes improved after following his instructions. During the Republican era, one descendant became a wealthy magnate with businesses throughout the country. Although the family later declined, some assets survived and enabled Zhang Yunyao’s grandfather to rebuild its wealth 39.

The business reached its peak under Zhang Yucheng. He founded Dragon Gathering Group, one of Yanbei’s largest companies, and accumulated a net worth of at least several billion yuan 39.

Holdings and Resources

• Dragon Gathering Group — Zhang Yucheng’s major business enterprise in Yanbei 39.
• Old residence in Yongfeng County — A renovated family house with a courtyard large enough to accommodate a car; used as the base for the grave-relocation operation 43.
• Ancestral burial ground — Contains more than a dozen high-quality gravestones, including joint graves and Zhang Yunyao’s grandfather’s grave 40.
• Dragon-tiger exorcism acupoint — The cemetery lies between hills resembling a reclining dragon and a charging tiger. Wu Jie finds the original feng shui sound despite the disasters occurring there 40.
• Corpse-preserving burial conditions — The burial ground preserves bodies exceptionally well, but its disturbed corpses are vulnerable to becoming undead 42 43 49.
• Commission payment — Wu Jie and Uncle Huzi confirm that the bank card provided for the job contains 100,000 yuan 39.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Wu Jie’s Six-Year Tribulation

• Land seizure and assault: The youngest village brother takes the Wu family’s vegetable plot to build a house before marrying. After losing a fight with Wu Jie’s father, he returns with all four brothers. They beat Wu Jie’s father, shove his mother down, and slap Wu Jie after the child bites the youngest brother 11.
• The brothers retreat: Wu Jie’s father drives them away with Grandpa Wu’s broadsword. Granny Liu warns that striking Wu Jie has offended the Immortal within him and will provoke retaliation from his fox and weasel protectors 12.
• Failed warning: Grandpa Wu tries to pass on Granny Liu’s protective advice: loose village dogs in the courtyard and well-fed white geese in the bedroom. The brothers mistake his visit for an attempt at revenge and avoid him, leaving the warning undelivered 12 13.
• Youngest brother’s death: The eldest brother finds him hanging from a roof beam beside a dead weasel. Granny Liu rejects the brothers’ accusation that the Wu family killed him, explaining that they offended a Yellow Immortal 13.
• Escalation: The second brother smashes the weasel’s corpse with a shovel despite Granny Liu’s warning. That night, the youngest brother’s corpse sits up and laughs during arguments over funeral expenses 13 14.
• Corpse possession: Granny Liu identifies Second Master Yellow as the possessing spirit. It threatens to torment the whole family and demands chickens. After the corpse eats a hen raw, she invokes the Chang Immortal and expels the possessor 14 15 16.
• Second brother targeted: The family pays Granny Liu 100 yuan, and she warns the second brother to keep dogs and geese at home. He later kills another weasel after finding his chickens attacked, then becomes deranged and nearly dies 16.
• Rescue and settlement: Granny Liu releases a lump of malevolent energy from his abdomen, but a stronger white-tailed weasel continues controlling him. Wu Jie’s eight-tailed Fox Immortal manifests and orders the retaliation to stop 17 18.
• Aftermath: The second brother remains bedridden for three days before recovering completely. Granny Liu explains that both brothers were poisoned by hallucinatory weasel fumes; the second survived because his wife sought help 19.

Ancestral-Grave Sabotage

• Warning signs: More than twenty days before Wu Jie’s investigation, the cemetery’s pines and cypresses wither overnight. Red water seeps from the ground, while Zhang Yunliang repeatedly dreams of jumping from a building 39.
• Wu Jie accepts the commission: He initially refuses Zhang Yucheng’s request because his master has prohibited jobs in Yanbei. Learning that the ancestral graves are in Yongfeng County allows him to accept without violating that restriction 32 38 39.
• Buried ritual objects: Excavation uncovers boxes containing a dead cat, headless snakes, and a fresh human skull carved with talismanic inscriptions—a grudge bone. Wu Jie identifies these objects as the cause of the cemetery’s ruined feng shui 40 41 42.
• Trap for investigators: Opening the grudge bone’s box exposes Zhang Yucheng to nearly fatal baleful energy. Wu Jie explains that the object both sabotages the graves and threatens anyone attempting to investigate them 41 42.
• Relocation ordered: Wu Jie instructs the family to burn the boxes and their contents, exhume every coffin at midnight, keep the coffins at home for three days, and rebury the ancestors at a suitable site 43.
• Possession at the residence: A female ghost possesses Zhang Yucheng and then Steward Wang, threatening to kill the entire family. Wu Jie drives it away and protects the household with Evil-Warding Talismans 44 45 46.
• Unauthorized excavation: Despite instructions to wait, Zhang Yunliang offers the workers extra pay to resume digging while Wu Jie is away 44 46.
• Mind control and corpse oil: Wu Jie and Zhang Yunyao find Zhang Yunliang rendering oil from an ancestor’s corpse with a red candle. An evil spell controls him; Zhang Yunyao strikes him with a rock, giving Wu Jie an opening to break the spell 48 49.
• Ancestor becomes a jiangshi: The corpse develops fangs and long claws. Wu Jie identifies both the grave tampering and the transfer of Zhang Yunliang’s living energy through corpse oil as possible triggers 49.
• Latest documented outcome: Zhang Yunyao evades the jiangshi among the coffins while Wu Jie fights it. He immobilizes it with tongue-tip blood and corpse-suppressing talismans, suffering deep shoulder wounds that she bandages 50.

The saboteur’s identity and motive remain unresolved. Wu Jie suspects a connection between the female ghost and the grudge bone, but Zhang Yucheng denies having offended a young woman 45 46.

Relationships

• Wu family — Neighbors of the five village brothers. Despite the assault, Grandpa Wu repeatedly intervenes to prevent further deaths 12 14 16.
• Granny Liu — Exorcist and rescuer of the village household; expels the spirit from the fifth brother’s corpse and treats the second brother 16 17.
• Yellow Immortals — Retaliate against the village brothers for striking Wu Jie and desecrating a weasel’s corpse 12 13 14.
• Eight-Tailed Fox Immortal — Ends the village household’s ordeal by ordering the white-tailed weasel to withdraw 18 19.
• Wu Jie / Young Master Wu — Hired investigator and protector of Zhang Yucheng’s family during the ancestral-grave crisis 39 42 45 50.
• Uncle Huzi — Assists Wu Jie’s investigation and alerts him when Zhang Yunliang resumes excavation against instructions 39 46.
• Unnamed Taoist — Benefactor whose burial-site advice establishes the foundation of Zhang Yucheng’s family’s prosperity 39.