I woke up the next morning.
I looked even worse than the day before, and I felt increasingly drained.
Even Meng Yifan was startled when he saw me.
"Damn, didn't you sleep pretty well last night?"
"How did you end up looking like this?"
I sat dazed on the bed, unable to get my brain working for a long time. I kept thinking about the dream I'd had last night.
The person plastering the wall was the one who killed Li Xiumei. Why did he have my dad's face?
Could my dad be Lü Zhengxian?
Impossible!
That was just ridiculous!
It was only a dream, after all. How could I take it seriously?
Maybe I'd had that dream because I was worried about Dad being summoned by the police.
Dreams never made sense anyway. I'd once had an even more absurd dream in which my dad killed a whole bunch of people, all to prolong my life.
So I couldn't take dreams seriously.
"I'm fine. Probably just had a nightmare last night."
I didn't tell Meng Yifan what the dream was about. I didn't think there was any need.
After we got dressed, we left the bathhouse, grabbed some breakfast outside, and got ready to find Seventh Master Zhao.
The place where Seventh Master Zhao lived was rather telling, too: Huangshikou.
I'd heard of it ages ago. People around here jokingly called it Superstition Street.
Why Superstition Street?
Because the place only dealt in two kinds of business: antiques and the occult.
By the occult, I meant feng shui, fortune-telling, face reading, divination, exorcisms...
Naturally, those who didn't believe in such things called them superstition.
Of course, plenty of people did believe, and they flocked there in a steady stream.
It was a remarkable place. I'd been there once before, and it was absolutely packed. I hadn't expected so many people to still believe in superstition in this day and age.
Back then, I'd been ignorant and shortsighted.
After experiencing it firsthand, I believed. That place wasn't Superstition Street. It was a gathering place for masters.
Meng Yifan and I drove over and soon arrived.
But Huangshikou was essentially an old neighborhood. Places bustling with everyday life like this were always crowded, and finding somewhere to park was nearly impossible.
We finally found parking after a lot of effort. Once I'd parked and gotten out, I discovered that Meng Yifan had actually started arguing with an old man.
The old man looked about fifty, with graying hair, though his face looked somewhat younger.
He was certainly built like a tank, though, and stood a little taller than Meng Yifan, who was already six feet tall.
"Hey, old man, ever heard of first come, first served? I saw this parking spot first!"
"Young man, ever heard of respecting your elders? Who gives a damn if you saw it first? I pulled my car in first."
Meng Yifan was already in a bad mood, and he immediately lost his temper.
"Look at the size of you! Have you no shame? Don't throw your age around to act like an ass. Move your car right now. I've got important business to take care of!"
"Heh, what if I don't? What are you gonna do?"
The old man leaned against the door of his Mercedes with a mocking expression, not taking Meng Yifan seriously at all.
I knew Meng Yifan's temper. If he got angry, he really would hit the old man.
I hurried over to talk him down. "Forget it. There are other spots. We've got important business to take care of. There's no need for this."
Meng Yifan listened to me, shot the old man a glare, and went off to find another parking spot.
After getting out, he was still swearing under his breath, clearly annoyed. "If we didn't have business to take care of, I'd beat that old bastard to death!"
I said nothing.
These days, throwing a punch landed you in a police station. If he actually hit the man, he'd probably end up with another lawsuit on his hands.
Huangshikou was packed with people, inside and out.
The place was actually made up of several streets.
It wasn't big, but the sheer number of people was astonishing.
Maybe Brother Liu was right. Something that had survived five thousand years of scrutiny and was still being passed down today had to have something to it.
But Meng Yifan and I had important business to handle and no time to explore any of it. We simply followed the address Brother Liu had given us, asking for directions to Seventh Master Zhao along the way.
I'd assumed that someone Brother Liu recommended would be an expert, and surely he'd have a place among all the masters gathered here.
Perhaps not a large shop famous throughout the city, but at least a small one bustling with customers.
To our surprise, Seventh Master Zhao wasn't even within Huangshikou itself.
There was a small park right next to Huangshikou, and near the park stood a number of privately built houses-small, low-rise buildings in what was already a residential neighborhood.
Meng Yifan was puzzled. "Instead of putting up his sign on a busy street, this master set up in a residential neighborhood? Wouldn't that hurt his business?"
I smiled. "The greatest recluses hide in plain sight. Maybe experts don't care about that sort of thing."
At last, we found Seventh Master Zhao's residence.
It was a privately built three-story house with no sign outside. If I hadn't checked the address again, I really wouldn't have believed Seventh Master Zhao lived here.
And in the yard outside, an old man was washing vegetables.
The moment I saw him, I began to panic.
We'd met him earlier. Meng Yifan had nearly come to blows with him.
The old man noticed us too. He paused, then narrowed his eyes and looked us up and down.
Meng Yifan froze on the spot. I worked up the courage to step forward and ask politely, "May I ask... are you Seventh Master Zhao?"
He sneered. "What, you've followed me all the way home? Still want to beat me up?"
I groaned inwardly.
What kind of mess was this?
This wasn't just a coincidence. It was a fucking unbelievable coincidence!
"No, Seventh Master. My buddy just had a little misunderstanding with you earlier."
I immediately swallowed my pride and apologized. "We're really sorry. Please don't hold it against him. We've come to ask you to save our lives."
"Save your lives?" Seventh Master Zhao was still angry, his expression mocking. "Go die, then. I'm not helping."
I was speechless.
Brother Liu had been absolutely right.
This old man really did have a bad temper.
Meng Yifan's face turned green. He was mortified too, but making him apologize was worse than making him eat shit.
I had a thick skin and couldn't afford to worry about anything else. I quickly pleaded, "Seventh Master, if you don't save us, we really will die. We've gotten tangled up with something unclean. You're an expert. Please help us."
Seventh Master Zhao glanced at me. "Am I your father? I'm neither your father nor some living bodhisattva. What the hell does it matter to me whether you live or die?"
I was speechless.
Holy shit!
This old man was something else!
After that, I knew he wasn't going to help us, so I turned around and pulled Meng Yifan along, ready to leave.
At worst, we could find another expert. With so many masters in Huangshikou, surely someone could help us.
"Wait!"
Just as we turned to leave, Seventh Master Zhao suddenly called us back.
We looked at him, and he looked at us. "I was only joking," he said casually. "Why do you young people have no sense of humor? Come inside with me."
Before you continue