Chapter 35
The construction of the new site for City No.1 High School, under the planning of Zhang Wenlun from the Zaoxing School, first filled an ominous spot, opened up an auspicious area, adjusted the Feng Shui layout of the buildings, and then constructed a Bagua diagram and five elemental pillars in a certain inauspicious spot for suppression.
In theory, with these efforts, everything should be auspicious. However, the construction workers at the site complained of hearing strange sounds at night. Moreover, just yesterday, a worker fell from the scaffolding, breaking his leg and was rushed to the hospital.
Building a school on a cemetery site was already prone to criticism, and now with this incident, unless the school could come up with a convincing explanation, no matter how many benefits they offered to students, parents wouldn’t be willing to send their children there.
“Mr. Shang, take a look. Where did we go wrong here?” Liu Defa wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, unsure if it was due to the heat or his anxiousness.
Shang Tingzhi held the construction plan in his hand, studying the map while surveying the surroundings. Xia Leyang stood behind him, sneakily observing Liu Defa, pondering if the female ghost would like this type.
Men carrying handkerchiefs were becoming rare, reflecting cleanliness, which should be a positive trait.
Xia Leyang silently noted this and planned to ask the female ghost about it later.
“I transformed the Feng Shui here into a prosperous dragon’s ascent, as you can see from the drawings. It’s a sign of great fortune,” Zhang Wenlun, with a round face, stood on Shang Tingzhi’s other side, speaking calmly as if not bothered by Liu Defa’s call to Shang Tingzhi.
“The architectural layout does seem reasonable,” Shang Tingzhi commented after reviewing the construction plan. He then turned to Liu Defa and asked, “Do you have the layout plan for the previous cemetery?”
“We don’t,” Liu Defa said, looking a bit helpless. “Should I ask Mr. Zhou for it?”
“Sure,” Shang Tingzhi agreed.
Liu Defa stepped aside to make the call. The Feng Shui experts from opposing schools, standing together to discuss Feng Shui, was a rare sight. Zhang Wenlun asked, “There are no traces of the cemetery here anymore. Why do we need the previous layout?”
“This place used to be a cemetery,” Shang Tingzhi paused for a moment. “Some auspicious places may have turned inauspicious. We need to confirm.”
“That’s a possibility,” Zhang Wenlun nodded.
Xia Leyang, trying to discreetly assess Liu Defa, couldn’t decide if he was the female ghost’s type. On one hand, Liu Defa seemed like an educated person, and the female ghost might appreciate that. On the other hand, considering the female ghost’s flirtatious nature, Liu Defa didn’t seem to have a vibe of being proficient in a certain aspect.
Unable to reach a conclusion after much contemplation, Xia Leyang gave up on playing detective and walked over to Shang Tingzhi’s side. He peeked at the construction plan, and finding nothing to say, he remarked casually, “This playground is really large; we didn’t even have a playground in our time.”
Shang Tingzhi calmly put away the construction plan as if Xia Leyang didn’t exist. Xia Leyang, who easily got angry, had been feeling like he was on a roller coaster this morning. Every time Shang Tingzhi ignored him, his anger soared to the top, though it subsided on its own after a while. But if Shang Tingzhi continued to ignore him, the anger would surge again.
In the current situation, surrounded by others like Tang Fengyi, Zhang Wenlun, Liu Defa, and more, Xia Leyang wouldn’t act recklessly. He didn’t want to show temper in front of these people, so he forcibly suppressed his anger, noting it down in his mental grudge ledger.
After a short while, Liu Defa returned with a phone call, explaining that Zhou Runhua didn’t have a professional layout plan, but he did have a map of the cemetery.
Shang Tingzhi took Liu Defa’s phone and looked at it for a moment, then asked, “Where is the mass burial ground?”
Liu Defa looked puzzled, “Mass burial ground? What’s that?”
Shang Tingzhi returned the phone to Liu Defa and explained, “Before Mr. Zhou built the cemetery, this place was a mass burial ground.”
“I know about that,” Liu Defa said, “but didn’t Mr. Zhou transform it into a cemetery?”
“Not completely,” Xia Leyang chimed in. “At that time, he retained a part of the mass burial ground.”
This information was obtained by Xia Leyang from Xu Zhiruo. For ordinary people who had no connection to mass burial grounds, it was understandable not to be aware.
“Does that mean part of the cemetery was paid, and part was free?” Liu Defa asked in surprise.
“It wouldn’t be accurate to say it’s free,” Shang Tingzhi explained. “The mass burial ground buried nameless and unknown individuals. Perhaps only employees from the crematorium would bury the ashes here if they couldn’t be processed.”
“So, are people from the crematorium still bringing ashes here?” Liu Defa asked, wide-eyed.
“It’s not entirely impossible,” Shang Tingzhi pondered. “With advances in scientific technology, identifying a person’s identity is not difficult. So, such situations should be rare now.”
“No, I have to clarify with Mr. Zhou,” Liu Defa said before going to the side to make a call. Zhang Wenlun awkwardly spoke up, “I overlooked the matter of the mass burial ground. If the corpses or ashes from the mass burial ground are still buried here, it could indeed be a problem.”
Shang Tingzhi agreed with a few words. At this moment, Xia Leyang tugged on his sleeve and whispered, “The female ghost sister is buried here.”
Xia Leyang’s eyes showed no signs of sulking or anger. It seemed that his previous irritation had disappeared, and now he appeared as usual.
Shang Tingzhi couldn’t help but feel a bit soft-hearted. This little troublemaker was indeed annoying at times, but most of the time, he was quite cute. Shang Tingzhi lowered his head slightly and whispered, “I know.”
Seeing that Shang Tingzhi finally acknowledged him, Xia Leyang quickly seized the opportunity, saying, “Should we go and find her?”
“It might not be that easy to find her,” Shang Tingzhi replied. “The crematorium staff don’t know her name, and it’s impossible to erect a tombstone for her.”
“Oh, okay.” Xia Leyang felt a bit disappointed, but he immediately lifted his head, blinked his big eyes, and looked at Shang Tingzhi. “You’re not mad at me anymore?”
In fact, Xia Leyang didn’t know why Shang Tingzhi was upset, but he was carefree and didn’t bother to find out the reason. As long as Shang Tingzhi wasn’t angry, everything was fine.
Little did he know, Shang Tingzhi was upset about his carefree attitude.
“Let’s talk about it when we get back,” Shang Tingzhi gave a vague response, and Xia Leyang, not giving up, continued to ask, “You’re not angry, right?”
Shang Tingzhi was too lazy to continue the conversation. Just then, Liu Defa finished his call and came back, pushing Xia Leyang to the back.
“Mr. Zhou said that the mass burial ground has been abandoned for over ten years. According to national regulations, unclaimed ashes are kept by the funeral home for three years. Afterward, the staff follows the regulations to handle them. In fact, those staff members just deal with it casually to avoid trouble.”
“Where exactly is the mass burial ground?” Shang Tingzhi asked.
“He said it’s in the northeast. Follow me,” Liu Defa said, taking steps toward the northeast corner of the construction site.
Shang Tingzhi glanced at Zhang Wenlun. The northeast direction coincided with the auspicious area opened up by Zhang Wenlun. Knowing he mishandled the situation, Zhang Wenlun didn’t try to provide explanations and silently followed Liu Defa towards the mass burial ground.
According to the original plan, this auspicious area was supposed to be transformed into a small garden for students to rest or read. In the center of the garden, there was supposed to be a man-made fountain to enhance the spiritual energy of the place.
Currently, the fountain had taken shape, and Shang Tingzhi signaled to lift the pipes out to continue digging. After a short while, they unearthed more than ten dark brown ceramic urns.
Some of these urns were already broken, and when the workers shoveled around them, a pale green ghost fire immediately emerged, scaring off many onlookers.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid,” Liu Defa hurriedly explained. “These are phosphorescent lights, just self-ignition of white phosphorus, a natural phenomenon.”
The workers with shovels took a few steps back, hesitating. Liu Defa looked at them and said, “Principal Liu, should we continue digging?”
Liu Defa was also in a dilemma. He wasn’t sure how many dead people were buried here. The longer the years, the more bones might be dug up. However, if they didn’t dig, they might just end up building a garden on a pile of dead people.
“Let’s stop for today,” Liu Defa couldn’t make an immediate decision. “I’ll go consult with the leaders in the city.”
The worker with the shovel quickly came out of the pit. On the other side, Xia Leyang had been hiding behind Shang Tingzhi, observing the pit. As Shang Tingzhi had mentioned, these urns didn’t even have numbers, let alone names and photos.
However, at this moment, Xia Leyang suddenly noticed a strange crack in the corner of the pit. Pointing at the crack, he asked, “What’s that?”
The crack seemed like a collapsed corner of a cube, drawing the attention of people around the pit. The worker with the shovel was also curious. He walked back to the pit and poked the crack with his shovel. This time, the crack collapsed completely, revealing a space about the size of a washing machine.
Inside the collapsed space were some strange wooden structures. Most conspicuously, at the bottom of the space, there was a separate urn that seemed to be specially made for this space.
This urn was different from the scattered urns outside. The lid was pasted with a yellow talisman, and the entire body of the urn was covered with square-shaped ink lines, as if they were applied with a brush, and the color resembled oxidized fresh blood.
“What kind of seal is this?” one worker said, sounding a bit delirious.
“Definitely a fierce ghost buried in there!” echoed another worker.
Xia Leyang looked at the pile of wooden structures in the space, and the more he looked, the more familiar they seemed.
The rectangular stairs, the room between the first and second floors… Even though some parts had collapsed, the structure of this space seemed to be the Gu Family Mansion!
