By the time Xu Chen arrived at the hotel with his entourage and joined the others, hashtags like #MrsHanJoinsGuessWhereItIsProductionTeam# and #HanFengchenTeamsUpWithStepmotherForGhostMountainExplorationLivestream# had already climbed onto the trending charts.
Xu Chen’s partner was a fairly well-known Daoist priest, referred to as Master Wuchen. He wore a long robe and Daoist attire, with a goatee and his hair tied in a bun on top of his head, secured with a simple wooden hairpin.
On his back, he carried a peachwood sword and a dusty gray satchel. The bag was heavy and bulging, when the production team had livestreamed its contents earlier for the audience, it was shown to be full of talismans and various magical tools.
Laypeople couldn’t make sense of it all, but they felt it was impressive. So far, Master Wuchen had the highest popularity in the livestream.
Master Wuchen had an ethereal, otherworldly air about him and rarely smiled. At that moment, he sat off to the side, not saying much.
The other team consisted of a D-list actress paired with a feng shui master.
The actress’s name was Luo Mengmeng. She was a relatively unknown actress who had been forced to join the show due to a lack of fame, resources, and good variety show offers. But after arriving, she was internally shocked.
She had no idea what kind of dumb luck she had stumbled into, actually being in the same livestreamed show as two top-tier celebrities!
Her partnered master was named Li Zhende, a feng shui master and geomancy expert from Hong Kong.
He had assessed ancestral feng shui for countless wealthy businessmen, determined the foundations of their luxury mansions, and performed fortune-telling and luck-altering rituals for many people.
He wore a yellow [1]Tang-style jacket (唐装, tángzhuāng) refers to a traditional Chinese jacket that combines elements of Qing dynasty Manchu riding jackets with modern tailoring. Despite its name, it actually … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2072797_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2072797_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Tang-style jacket and glasses, with a slightly plump, round face that looked friendly to everyone. When he saw Chu Mingjia and Han Fengchen, he gave Chu Mingjia a once-over and asked, “Are you two a team?”
Han Fengchen nodded. “Yes, Mr. Li.”
Li Zhende nodded, then suddenly pulled a business card from his pocket and politely handed it to Chu Mingjia. “Hello, Mrs. Han. Pleased to meet you. I’m Li Zhende.”
Chu Mingjia took the card. “I’ve long admired you, Mr. Li.”
Li Zhende was well-known and had even made cameo appearances in various TV dramas, so many people recognized him.
Facing Chu Mingjia, Li Zhende was very humble. “Not at all, not at all. It’s nothing worth mentioning.”
Xu Chen still had gauze wrapped around his forehead. After entering and exchanging a few words with Director Zhang Song, he walked over and sat down on the sofa in front of the main livestream camera. His expression was tense and unsmiling. It was rare to see him like this, and the crew was a bit worried he might lose his composure in front of the livestream.
Many people online were mocking Xu Chen now. His assistant held the phone, not daring to show him the trending topics and comments.
Xu Chen looked at Han Fengchen across from him and said with a mocking smile, “Only the young master of the Han family has the confidence to go without a master.”
His tone was dripping with sarcasm. Obviously, he hadn’t taken Chu Mingjia’s warning to heart at all.
Han Fengchen rolled his eyes at Xu Chen, then quietly scooted closer to Chu Mingjia and said, “Of course I have that confidence. I have my… my sister here.”
Chu Mingjia: “…”
The livestream exploded with comments: 【Call her “mom,” not “sister”!】
【LOL, Mr. Han is away on a business trip for a week, and when he comes back, his wife and son have become sworn siblings.】
【This Xu X left his brain at home, didn’t he? LOL.】
【Sister Chu can’t even be bothered to look at him. She didn’t even lift an eyelid.】
…
At 7:00 PM, the livestream warm-up ended, and the production team began assigning tasks to the three teams.
Han Fengchen received the task card and read it aloud to Chu Mingjia: “The guests must find a place to set up a fortune-telling stall. They need to tell fortunes for at least three customers and receive their recognition to complete the task. If they fail, there will be a penalty.”
Chu Mingjia stood up and asked casually, “What’s the penalty?”
Han Fengchen lowered his voice nervously. “They said we’ll be assigned to stay in a haunted house.”
On the other team, Luo Mengmeng was panicking. “What? Stay in a haunted house? I don’t want that!”
Li Zhende chuckled and said, “Little girl, don’t worry. This is what I’m best at.”
Xu Chen, on the other hand, politely followed Master Wuchen out the door. Master Wuchen was a man of few words, but he had long been interested in Qishan. He had only come because of the show’s invitation. However, the production team was too troublesome, too many procedures, too many celebrity guests. He was getting a bit impatient.
Now that he had received the task card, he simply took Xu Chen and left.
As Xu Chen was heading out, Chu Mingjia looked up as if sensing something. She happened to see the three cameramen following behind Xu Chen. Among them was one tall man with his baseball cap pulled down very low. Sensing Chu Mingjia’s gaze, he turned his head and looked back at her.
Their eyes met. Chu Mingjia saw his yin-yang eyes.
She raised an eyebrow.
This person looked somewhat familiar.
Jiang Meng immediately lowered his head and, without pausing, strode away.
Li Zhende and Luo Mengmeng were also preparing to head out. Li Zhende cheerfully waved at Chu Mingjia. “Mrs. Han, I’ll take my leave first.”
Chu Mingjia waved back. “Goodbye.”
Han Fengchen looked at Chu Mingjia anxiously. “Um… you can definitely complete the task, right?”
He didn’t want to stay in a haunted house either!
The young master of the Han family, who had once sworn he’d rather die than call Chu Mingjia “Mom,” was now sticking to her like a burr. At this point, if Chu Mingjia could complete the task, he would probably call her “ancestor” without hesitation.
Chu Mingjia picked up her phone and small bag and headed out with Han Fengchen as dusk fell, saying as they walked, “That kind of thing depends on fate. Nothing’s certain.”
Han Fengchen: “…”
Now he was really scared. Pitifully, he said, “But I don’t want to stay in a haunted house, QAQ.”
Chu Mingjia glanced at the sky. The sun had already set. It was twilight, and it would soon be dark. They were very close to the Qishan mountain range. Gazing into the distance, she could see a layer of gray, murky ghostly aura hanging over Qishan.
In the past, the sky above Qishan had been filled with auspicious spiritual energy. How badly must it have been ravaged to end up like this?
Chu Mingjia felt a bit agitated. Without the protection of a mountain god for over a thousand years, Qishan was probably overrun with evil spirits, its spiritual vein damaged.
She glanced at Han Fengchen, reached out, and patted him on the shoulder. “May fortune favor you.”
Han Fengchen: “…”
The livestream audience was getting anxious watching the two of them.
【Oh, hurry up! The other team, Xu Chen’s group, has already found a customer!】
【To be honest, I’m worried Sister Chu won’t get any customers. The way they’re dressed, they don’t look like fortune-tellers at all.】
【And she didn’t bring any magical tools at all. When I look at Master Wuchen, I really feel anxious for her.】
【No way, no way… surely no one actually believes she understands the supernatural? The signs of scripting are so obvious. Can’t you all see it?】
…
With night about to fall, the two followed the route provided by the production team, with two cameramen following behind them.
This street was the main street of Wushi Town. There weren’t many shops, and the buildings on both sides were decades-old structures, giving the place a lived-in, everyday feel.
At first glance, it looked like any ordinary small town, nothing special. But it was said that because this town was so close to Qishan, hauntings weren’t uncommon.
As a result, the people here were generally very superstitious and believed strongly in feng shui and the supernatural.
The group walked through a dark, narrow alley. The livestream audience could feel the eerie, gloomy atmosphere.
Han Fengchen grew increasingly nervous. The farther they walked, the closer he pressed himself to Chu Mingjia.
Suddenly, he spotted something in a corner of the alley, a small gap between two buildings, barely over a foot wide, with a child wedged inside.
Han Fengchen’s face went pale. He let out a shriek and threw himself into Chu Mingjia’s arms.
Caught off guard by his lunge, Chu Mingjia nearly lost her balance.
The cameraman instinctively turned the lens toward the gap, and now the livestream audience could see it too.
In the crack between the walls, a child was crouched. Her hair was messy and messy, partially covering her face. Only one dark, gleaming eye was visible, staring at them with a hollow, eerie gaze.
The alley was dark, lit only by a dim streetlamp at the roadside. The group stared at the child. For a long moment, no one spoke.
Livestream: 【Holy crap, that’s terrifying. Is that a person or a ghost?】
【Chenchen, you’re a boy, you’re supposed to protect your mom!】
【I know, I know, but seeing Han Fengchen like this is just hilarious. LOL.】
…
Chu Mingjia pushed the panicked Han Fengchen away with a look of exasperation. “It’s not a ghost. What are you afraid of?”
Han Fengchen was mortified. All his previous aloofness and awkwardness had vanished. Right now, he was just a scared, helpless kid. He lowered his voice. “How do you know if it’s a person or a ghost?”
Ever since the rooftop incident, he had been on edge. Now he looked at everyone as if they might not be human.
Chu Mingjia glanced at the child wedged in the gap, then tugged at Han Fengchen. “Let’s go.”
Han Fengchen quickly followed her out of the alley. But then he hesitated. “That kid… why is she crouched there? Shouldn’t we help her find her family?”
It didn’t feel right to just leave her there. The young master of the Han family, who had grown up in luxury, couldn’t imagine what kind of life that was, or what must have happened for a child to end up filthy and hiding in a wall crevice.
Chu Mingjia said, “That’s not your problem. You’d better think about what you’re going to do when we have to sleep in a haunted house tonight.”
Han Fengchen: “…”
The fortune-telling stall the production team had set up for them was located in an alley within a residential area. Each of the three teams had their stall in a different spot, to avoid uneven customer distribution. Besides, no one had ever heard of several masters setting up fortune-telling stalls right next to each other.
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