In the morning, after leaving the Meizhou Club, I headed straight to Kangcheng Garden.
Following the usual routine, I first burned incense and then performed acupuncture.
After a week, Li Li's condition had noticeably improved, but she had become increasingly silent, as if swinging from one extreme to another.
"Mr. Feng, this isn't good for Little Li!"
After the acupuncture session, Mr. Li pulled me aside, visibly worried.
"Mr. Li, don't worry. We'll first expel the evil wind and then stabilize her mind," I said.
"What do you mean?" Mr. Li asked.
"The Governor Vessel Thirteen Needles primarily calm the mind, relieve spasms, and strengthen the waist and spine. What we're doing now is consolidating the foundation and calming the mind. Only after the foundation is solid and the mind is calm can we use the Four Spirits Formula to awaken her spirit," I explained.
"When will she be awakened?" Mr. Li felt somewhat reassured.
"In about five days," I estimated.
When removing the needles, I checked Li Li's pulse. Physically, she was no longer in any danger.
"Alright, Mr. Feng, thank you!" Mr. Li said.
"No problem," I replied softly.
At four in the afternoon, Mr. Li drove me back to the clinic.
As soon as I got out of the car, I saw Bai Xue and her mother waiting at the clinic entrance.
"Mr. Feng, last night, that fox spirit came back again!" Bai Xue's mother immediately approached me as I reached the door.
"Is everything alright?" I asked, glancing at Bai Xue.
"Yes, Mr. Feng, your protective amulet is very effective. It tried to possess me but failed!" Bai Xue said.
"Good to hear!" I said as I opened the clinic door.
After inviting Bai Xue and her mother inside, I hung a "Closed" sign on the door.
Once inside, I got straight to the point with them: "Bai Xue, Auntie, as you can see, this is my clinic. I specialize in health conditioning, not in exorcising ghosts or demons. If you want to sever ties with that fox, I can't help you."
Seeing their anxious faces, I continued, "Although I can't do it, a Daoist friend of mine can. The Beifeng Ghost-Slaying Seal I used to drive away the fox yesterday, and the protective amulet I lent you, were both given to me by him."
"Mr. Feng, could you introduce us to this Daoist friend?" Bai Xue's mother asked eagerly.
"No problem!" I said with a smile. "I'll call him right now."
I took out my phone, opened the call log, found Fatty Lin's number, and dialed.
"Xuanjing Daozhang..."
"Xuanjing Daozhang, can you handle this?" I asked seriously.
"No problem, I'll be home for the next few days. Let them come over," Lin Xuanjing, also known as Fatty Lin, confirmed.
I had already discussed Bai Xue's situation with Fatty Lin in the morning.
Fatty Lin was eager for the job; as he put it, if he didn't get more work, he wouldn't even have money to go to Da Fuhao.
Like me, Fatty Lin is also from the Northeast.
He's from Chuncheng, the northern city known as the "Spring City."
Due to frequent visits to Da Fuhao, Fatty Lin's health had inevitably declined, and his wallet had followed suit.
Fatty Lin was open about this, claiming his two great loves in life were drinking and bathing.
I met Fatty Lin at a bathhouse.
He's three years older than me. Back when my grandfather took me to his house for acupuncture on his grandfather, his grandfather asked him to show me around, and he took me to Da Fuhao, even to the second floor.
What left me speechless was that I ended up paying the bill, as he said it was only fair since he had broadened my horizons.
After my grandfather passed away, I continued giving acupuncture to his grandfather, and later to him after his grandfather passed.
That's how our friendship gradually developed.
After hanging up, I explained some precautions to Bai Xue and her mother.
"When you go, give the medicine and the Beifeng Ghost-Slaying Seal to Xuanjing Daozhang. He'll know what to do."
After finishing, I took a few boxes of prepared pills and the seal from the drawer and handed them over.
"Alright, thank you!" Bai Xue's mother nodded repeatedly, took out a red envelope from her bag, and handed it to me, saying, "Mr. Feng, this is a small token of our appreciation."
I glanced at the red envelope, accepted it, and added, "If you encounter any issues after you go, feel free to contact us anytime."
Seeing me accept the red envelope, the mother and daughter visibly relaxed and took their leave.
After they left, I opened the red envelope to find exactly ten thousand yuan.
"What a profit!" I smacked my lips at the money in the envelope. The earnings from these few days were equivalent to what I'd make from acupuncture in several years.
Don't be fooled by the 1,200 yuan house call fee I quoted Mr. Li. I usually charge just twenty yuan for acupuncture, and even then, the elderly in the neighborhood complain it's too expensive!
Without Da Cheng introducing Mr. Yang to me, I'd barely make ends meet in a year.
Thinking of Mr. Yang, I took out my phone, found his number, and dialed.
Forty minutes later, Mr. Yang and Mr. Ou arrived together.
Besides that, they were curious.
They asked how much I knew about Long Po and how Bai Xue's situation would be handled.
My answer was straightforward: I knew nothing about Long Po and didn't want to know.
In the underworld, probing into others' affairs is a taboo.
As for Bai Xue, I told them I had referred her to Lin Xuanjing Daozhang, also known as Fatty Lin.
Mr. Yang seemed a bit disappointed, hoping for some drama to unfold.
Mr. Ou remained indifferent; compared to Mr. Yang, he preferred to keep a respectful distance from ghosts and spirits.
To avoid attracting such things, Mr. Ou took a cinnabar bracelet from me.
Seeing this, Mr. Yang, intrigued, also took one.
I only had three cinnabar bracelets, each inscribed with the Grand Supreme Elderly Lord’s Peace Mantra by Fatty Lin himself.
These bracelets are quite labor-intensive to make.
Mr. Yang and Mr. Ou were generous, each giving me fifty thousand yuan.
That's another hundred thousand in hand.
In these few days, I've earned over two hundred thousand yuan. With a bit more saving, I could buy a decent house in Beijing.
As I was calculating, my phone suddenly rang. I glanced at it; it was an unfamiliar number.
"Hello, this is Fengsheng Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic," I answered directly.
"Little Feng, it's Ma Shuai!" the caller said.
"Uncle Ma, I can't help you with this," I said after a moment of silence.
"My request is simple; I just want to condition my body," Ma Shuai replied.
"Uncle Ma, be honest with me, have you been transporting again?" I asked.
There was no response from the other side.
"Uncle Ma, you're the king of comedy now. With your current status, even if you do nothing, you won't have to worry about food and drink for the rest of your life. Why put yourself through this?" I said.
"Little Feng, in the world of Jianghu, one can't always do as they please," Ma Shuai sighed.
"Little Feng, rest assured, this time it's just about conditioning my body, nothing else!" Ma Shuai continued after his sigh.
"I don't have time right now. You can either come to Beijing or wait ten days," I said.
"I can't leave, and I can't afford to. I can wait ten days," Ma Shuai replied.
"Alright, see you in ten days," I said and hung up.