In mid-October, the results for the Daoist Association’s Basic Examination were finally released.
Zhang Xianyu logged onto the website that Xie Dingxin had sent her and entered her exam number to check—seventy-one points.
Out of a hundred, this score was neither high nor low, just in the middle, but enough to pass.
Although she had passed the exam, the Daoist Certificate still required submitting information to the Daoist Association for processing and registration.
It wasn’t until late November that the certificate was finally delivered to Zhang Xianyu.
At that time, she was in class.
After finishing her noon session, she picked up the package.
The small Daoist Certificate lay in her palm, symbolizing that she was officially a legitimate Daoist now.
She wondered if Zhang Jianguo downstairs would be furious to the point of yelling at her if he found out.
She opened the Daomen APP and scanned the Daoist Certificate, filled in the basic information, and successfully registered an account.
Before this, she hadn’t been able to register without the certificate, and she didn’t want to bother Xie Dingxin repeatedly, so she hadn’t explored the APP properly until now.
With the account set up, she browsed through a few sections, her eyes settling on the Transaction Board.
Just then, someone was selling Zhu Red Talisman Paper—twenty sheets in a batch, at a rather low price of three thousand yuan each.
The seller seemed eager to offload them and didn’t sell them individually; buyers had to purchase the entire lot at once.
Zhang Xianyu felt tempted.
A single drawn Zhu Red Fulu usually sold for over ten thousand yuan, depending on the type and buyer, so the price of talisman paper itself wasn’t cheap either.
Normally, it went for around five thousand yuan a sheet.
Although talisman paper wasn’t as rare as completed Fulu, it was hard to buy that many at once without connections.
According to Xie Dingxin, these paper makers mostly supplied their primary clients—long-term cooperating Fulu artists.
Only occasionally would they sell small amounts separately, which was why Xie Dingxin had specially told Zhang Xianyu to come to him if she ran out of talisman paper.
He had the right connections.
But until today, Zhang Xianyu had just registered her account and coincidentally found someone selling the paper at a notably lower price.
She checked the posting time—it had only been up for five minutes.
Because the seller didn’t offer individual sheets, no one had bought them yet.
After a moment’s thought, Zhang Xianyu decided to snap up the entire batch.
Sixty thousand yuan was no small sum, but after saving up for several months, she had some money set aside.
Once the talisman paper arrived and she finished drawing the talismans, she could resell them, so she wasn’t too worried.
Zhang Xianyu’s straightforward purchase surprised the seller.
The Transaction Board required real-name registration, so both buyers and sellers could view each other’s information—no one feared being scammed.
Qu Gaolai assumed that anyone who would splurge on twenty sheets of Zhu Red Talisman Paper must be a well-known Fulu artist.
But this buyer’s name was unfamiliar.
He clicked into the buyer’s profile and saw—freshly passed Basic Examination.
The seller himself was in a rush for cash and had put all his stock up for sale, but he wouldn’t take advantage of a newcomer who didn’t know any better.
So he sent a message.
[“Daoist, is this talisman paper for your own use or to buy for your elders?”]
Zhang Xianyu was still exploring the APP’s functions and hadn’t figured them out yet when she received the seller’s message.
She glanced at it and casually replied that it was for her own use.
Unexpectedly, the seller responded immediately.
[“For your own use? This Zhu Red Paper isn’t something ordinary people can draw well. You just passed the Basic Exam, so you probably won’t be able to use these properly yet. Little Daoist, think carefully. If you want to change your mind, you can still return them now.”]
Zhang Xianyu realized the seller probably thought she was a clueless newbie and was kindly warning her not to buy something she couldn’t handle and get stuck with it.
After coming to terms with this, she earnestly replied: [“Thanks for your concern, Daoist. These are all for my own use.”]
Qu Gaolai snorted, shaking his head.
He thought the younger generation was really going downhill—each one more clueless than the last, running headfirst without knowing the heights of the sky or depths of the earth, recklessly squandering their family’s money.
Since she didn’t mind spending this much, he wouldn’t foolishly push the sale away.
He immediately packaged the twenty sheets and sent them out.
Zhang Xianyu’s big expenditure of sixty thousand yuan emptied her bank account.
Although she would soon make the money back, having no cash on hand made her uneasy.
So she went to the Hiring Board to look for available jobs.
Since it was still November and she was attending classes, she could only search for tasks in Jiangcheng or nearby areas.
But there was a problem—her rank wasn’t high enough.
Most tasks posted on the Hiring Board were difficult and at least four-star level.
As a newly certified Daoist with no rank or grade, she didn’t even meet the minimum requirements.
Zhang Xianyu felt troubled.
She scrolled through several four-star tasks.
Although the pay was definitely less than what the Sun family would offer, a little money was better than none!
After some thought, Zhang Xianyu remembered that Xie Dingxin had told her low-rank Daoists could team up to take on tasks one rank higher.
Maybe her situation could be negotiated.
She clicked into a few four-star tasks and found one in a village below Jiangcheng—a household reportedly haunted by a ghost.
At midnight, the house became especially cold, and sinister black shadows frequently appeared.
The family had called a local Daoist for help, but he found nothing and the situation worsened.
That Daoist was responsible enough to admit he couldn’t handle it and posted the job on the Hiring Board, seeking assistance.
The Daoist was named Chen Yang.
Zhang Xianyu contacted him to ask if she could try helping.
After seeing her profile, Chen Yang initially refused, but after Zhang Xianyu sent a photo showing a stack of talismans she had drawn, he readily agreed.
With talismans like that in hand, how could she be afraid of a minor problem?
They agreed that Zhang Xianyu would visit the village over the weekend.
The next day was Saturday, so Zhang Xianyu told Lin Wushui and packed her bag to take a bus to the village.
Lin Wushui heard she was going out and casually asked where.
“To Sanming Village. It’s a village under Yang County, below Jiangcheng.”
Zhang Xianyu checked the route—it would take nearly three hours by bus.
“Yang County? There aren’t many buses going that way,” Lin Wushui said.
“I can drive you.”
His leg had finally come off the cast, so he didn’t have to spend all day in a wheelchair anymore.
“No need to trouble you. That’s too far,” Zhang Xianyu politely declined.
“There’s only one bus at 2 PM. If you go alone, you’ll arrive in the afternoon—waste a whole day.”
Lin Wushui’s tone was calm.
“I haven’t been to the countryside yet. This will be a good chance.”
Hearing this, Zhang Xianyu hesitated.
She had assumed there would be morning, noon, and evening buses, like in her hometown.
Not expecting only one bus, she was a bit stunned.
Seeing her hesitation, Lin Wushui’s lips curled in a faint smile, then he reached out and rubbed her head gently.
“We’ve known each other so long. Don’t be so formal with me. I’m a few years older, it’s only right I look after you.”
Zhang Xianyu still hesitated, but Lin Wushui already grabbed his car keys and gave her a warm smile.
“Let’s go. If we wait for the bus, we can’t leave until noon.”
With that, Zhang Xianyu couldn’t refuse and went with him to the garage.
Lin Wushui started the navigation and put on some music.
The two of them headed toward Yang County in the soft tunes.
Yang County wasn’t close to Jiangcheng and was a relatively poor county.
Its highway had only recently been completed.
After leaving the urban area and taking the highway, they entered Yang County.
The road conditions alone showed how poor Yang County was.
The cement road was only three to four meters wide, barely enough for two cars to pass, and full of potholes.
There were no trees on either side, and the passing dust rose thickly.
Worried Zhang Xianyu might get uncomfortable from the bumpy ride, Lin Wushui softly told her to rest and that he would wake her when they arrived.
Zhang Xianyu wasn’t bothered; she was used to this scenery from her trips between home and Jiangcheng.
She rested her head on the window, curiously watching the outside.
On both sides of the road were rice paddies, already harvested in November, leaving behind yellow stubble.
The car rolled steadily along, but suddenly, several impatient honks came from behind.
Zhang Xianyu looked in the rearview mirror and saw a white bus with red lettering on the front reading “Jiangcheng—Yang County.”
She blinked in surprise.
“Didn’t you say there were only buses at two in the afternoon?”
Lin Wushui saw it too and pursed his lips but remained calm.
“Hmm? Maybe they added an extra bus today? The one I know about only runs that one.”
Zhang Xianyu didn’t question him further.
At a fork in the road, Lin Wushui pulled over and let the bus pass first.
After the bus was out of sight, he secretly glanced at Zhang Xianyu and exhaled in relief.
They arrived at Sanming Village around eleven in the morning.
Two men stood at the village entrance—one was a lean, dark-skinned middle-aged man, and the other was a short man in a Daoist robe with a shaved head.
Zhang Xianyu rolled down the window and confirmed, “Chen Yang?”
Chen Yang had been half-leaning on the motorcycle belonging to the middle-aged man.
Hearing his name called, he straightened up immediately.
When he saw the dusty black luxury car, he seemed a little unsure, “…5K?”
Zhang Xianyu nodded.
“I came to pick you up.”
Chen Yang looked her over oddly but nodded.
The middle-aged man was more enthusiastic, pulling out a cigarette and offering it.
“Little Master here to help? Thanks for your hard work.”
Zhang Xianyu waved her hand, saying she didn’t smoke.
“Let’s go see the situation first. Hopefully, we can solve it early and not bother anyone.”
The middle-aged man chuckled and got on his motorcycle.
After Chen Yang settled behind him, he led the way.
Sanming Village was divided into several squads.
Their destination was in the fifth squad, also surnamed Chen, called Chen Xifa’s family.
There were five members: an elderly mother in her seventies and ten-year-old twins below.
The Chen family’s house was at the end of the fifth squad, near the rice paddies.
The place was remote and sparsely populated.
From a distance, their two-story small building was visible.
The car stopped in the open space outside Chen’s house, where Hu Fenglan immediately came out carrying four cups of water.
The group sat in the main hall, with Chen Yang explaining the general situation.
Chen Yang came from a small Daoist temple in Yang County.
His master had a ritual to perform in the coming days and couldn’t spare anyone to deal with this case, so he was sent to investigate.
He had stayed overnight there but hadn’t found anything unusual.
Apart from the nights being colder, there were no ghostly shadows as Chen Xifa’s wife claimed.
But the cold nights weren’t definitive proof—
November nights were naturally chilly.
Still, Chen Xifa and his wife insisted there was a ghost.
They were terrified and demanded a solution.
Chen Yang, a kind-hearted Daoist, saw that their fear was genuine and not faked.
Plus, the family offered a decent reward, so he invited outside help.