Chapter 19: Neighborhood Conflict

For most students, life during the summer vacation was happy and free.

Su Chunfeng, however, seldom went out to play. He spent more time studying, chatting with his parents, and helping them discipline his mischievous younger brother.

Even though his childhood friends from the same village often came to find him after the holidays, and his middle school classmates from other villages occasionally visited too, and even though Su Chunfeng wanted to blend in with his peers, he ultimately had the mature mindset of someone in his thirties. So, no matter what, it was very hard for him to play with these big kids—to put it simply, there was a real generation gap!

Luckily, his youthful-minded friends didn’t hold it against him. They just thought he was a good kid who wanted to focus on his studies.

Time flew by…

One day, after lunch, Su Chunfeng had reviewed his lessons for a while and was about to lie down on his bed to rest when he suddenly sensed an unusual fluctuation in the energy field.

Driven by an occultist’s instinct, he frowned deeply, got up, and walked out of his bedroom.

His parents were already taking their afternoon nap at this time.

The outer living room was quiet, and the surrounding energy field showed no abnormalities. It was very calm, as if the energy field fluctuation Su Chunfeng had sensed earlier was just an illusion.

He thought for a moment and walked into the courtyard.

It was the hottest time of the day. The blazing sun was scorching, and the dappled white light filtering through the lush leaves made it hard to keep one’s eyes open. The leaves on the elm tree and the grape trellis were curled and wilted from the heat. Clusters of pearl-like grapes looked even more mouthwatering under the sunlight.

Everything seemed perfectly normal.

But Su Chunfeng still felt something was off. He knew that, with his mental perception, he shouldn’t have mistaken something for a strange energy field fluctuation.

Actually, in the world we live in, it’s quite normal for an area, or even a small spot, to experience brief magnetic field fluctuations occasionally due to some special reasons. And nature quickly smooths them out and restores stability.

So there was no need to make a fuss or worry unnecessarily.

But with his strong mental cultivation, Su Chunfeng was sure the abnormal fluctuation he sensed earlier contained elements harmful to the human body, and there was a faint trace of esoteric technique within it.

Why would an occultist appear here?

In Su Chunfeng’s memory, although the Pingyang City area of Yuzhou Province had many occultists since ancient times, and there were a dozen or more occultists of various schools in this era that Su Chunfeng didn’t know about, within Hetang Village and even the entire Guanmiao Township, aside from him, Su Chunfeng, he had never heard of any other occultists.

Could it be…

related to his rebirth?

Su Chunfeng, who was extremely sensitive to this, shivered in the sweltering heat. He frowned tightly and jogged to the kitchen, bringing out a bowl of water which he placed in the middle of the courtyard. He squatted down, pinched two chopsticks between the index, middle, and ring fingers of his right hand, recited a spell incantation softly, and gently crossed them as he inserted them into the water bowl.

The two chopsticks, crossed and slanted in the water bowl without touching the sides, began to rotate slowly in the water…

When the two chopsticks finally came together and remained completely still, they pointed to the southwest.

Su Chunfeng formed a seal with his left hand and lightly flicked the exposed ends of the two chopsticks with his right hand. With a soft “zing,” the chopsticks flipped out of the bowl, splashing water, and fell to the ground.

The magnetic field was stable. No abnormalities.

Weird!

Su Chunfeng frowned. Logically, if an occultist was casting an art, the energy field fluctuation couldn’t be that small. And was it just to send a signal? Puzzled, he stood up and looked towards the southwest—the abnormal energy field fluctuation came from that direction.

Between the toilet and the west room at the southwestern corner of the courtyard stood a grape trellis. The grape vines and leaves were lush, casting a thick, green shade.

Su Chunfeng collected the bowl and chopsticks and put them back in the west room kitchen. Then he came out, walked to the corner between the east wall and the main house, and climbed onto the roof using a ladder.

The harsh sunlight was blocked by the thick elm branches, leaving large patches of shade on the roof.

However, the view was much more open.

Walking slowly to the western edge of the roof, Su Chunfeng looked towards the southwest at the roof of the main house belonging to the Liu Jinming family, which stood diagonally opposite his own home. He then showed a helpless, wry smile. “I was being too sensitive. It’s just a tiny bit of folk sorcery, and I mistook it for an occultist causing trouble.”

Su Chunfeng’s house was at the northeastern corner where two alleys intersected, while Liu Jinming’s house was at the southwestern corner.

At this moment, at the northeastern corner of Liu Jinming’s main house roof, a black earthen jar was secured with a few red bricks. It was the kind of small earthen jar commonly used in the countryside for pickling eggs. The reddish-brown jar mouth was about ten centimeters in diameter, and the black jar belly was over thirty centimeters in diameter.

The mouth of the jar was tilted slightly downward, directly facing the entrance of Su Chunfeng’s main house.

Due to the intense sunlight and the angle and distance of the jar’s opening, Su Chunfeng couldn’t clearly see what was inside.

But he knew there should be something like an iron nail inside.

Strictly speaking, this could be considered a kind of esoteric technique. From the perspective of esoteric technique theory, a jar with a small, round opening and a large interior capacity, when placed in one spot for a long time, will form a small energy field vortex inside. If there are sharp metal objects inside, they will, to some extent, affect how this energy field vortex interacts with the external greater field, creating a weak tearing effect on the greater field in the direction it points.

Such a weak effect would naturally be easily smoothed out by the vast natural magnetic field.

But under specific circumstances, when the surrounding energy field experiences a disorder of the five elements or some drastic change, this weak tearing effect could act like a small force leveraging a large one, triggering energy field fluctuations harmful to the human body. For example, during overcast, rainy, or thunderstorm weather, or during sudden extreme heat, cold, or humidity.

Even so, the harm to humans isn’t great, as humans have their own immune functions, and nature’s balancing ability is quite substantial.

This situation is commonly referred to as “malignant qi.”

Having identified the cause, Su Chunfeng climbed down from the roof.

He knew that someone in the Liu Jinming family must have had some conflict with his own family. So they probably heard a small folk remedy, similar to sorcery or witchcraft, passed down from ancient times among the common people—maybe from some village sorceress or charlatan, or even from an ordinary person. They used it to vent their dissatisfaction and resentment. Perhaps they themselves didn’t even know that this thing could, under rare circumstances, cause significant harm.

Although, the chance of that happening was extremely low.

Liu Jinming was in his forties with an average family condition. Besides farming, he did odd jobs to earn money. He had a daughter and a son. The daughter was already married, and the son, after finishing middle school, went to work in another city through an introduction. These days, working away from home really didn’t earn much money.

As for Liu Jinming’s personal character…

He always relied on his large, powerful family and was strong-willed and domineering. In the village, he was one of the most overbearing figures. Sometimes, when vendors from other villages came to Hetang Village, Liu Jinming would casually take a couple of their apples to eat or carry off a bundle of vegetables, and he definitely wouldn’t pay. If the vendor dared to ask for money, they could expect threats, intimidation, or outright provocation and a beating.

Anyway, Liu Jinming was no good person.

However, there was usually no conflict between his family and the Su Cheng family.

So this matter probably had nothing to do with Liu Jinming himself. Being a strong, domineering man, he wouldn’t do something regular people would consider pure nonsense.

Then who could it be?

Liu Jinming’s wife?

Or Liu Jinming’s mother?

Su Chunfeng shook his head with a bitter smile. With his methods, he could easily counter such a minor folk sorcery. But doing so would be overkill. Because when any art, big or small, is cast, if it’s countered, ordinary people simply can’t withstand it. In severe cases, it could even be fatal.

During dinner, Su Chunfeng brought it up casually at the table as if making conversation. “Dad, Mom, is there some conflict between the Liu Jinming family and ours?”

“Huh?” Su Cheng was startled. “Not really. Why?”

“Nothing. It’s just that when I went out today, I ran into Liu Jinming’s mother. The old woman looked at me strangely,” Su Chunfeng said offhandedly.

Su Cheng smiled. “Don’t talk nonsense.”

But Chen Xiulan sighed softly. “Sigh, Liu Jinming’s mother is definitely unhappy with our family because of that temple renovation fundraising.”

“Temple renovation? What temple?” Su Cheng asked.

“I didn’t tell you about this…” Chen Xiulan showed a helpless, bitter smile. “Those old ladies in our village are at it again, saying they want to renovate the Guandi Temple on the main street. Liu Jinming’s mother is in charge. The other day, she came to me asking to raise some money, saying every household in the village would contribute.”

Su Cheng smiled indifferently. “If everyone’s paying, then just give it to her.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t give,” Chen Xiulan said, somewhat annoyed. “Other families are giving twenty yuan, but she wants our family to give two hundred.”

“What for?” Su Cheng asked, puzzled.

“She said our family made money this year, so we should properly thank the Guandi Temple and contribute more than others.” Chen Xiulan put down her chopsticks. “How can there be such a thing? Isn’t it hard enough for you to go out and earn some money? Enduring wind, sun, and rain, sometimes not even having time for a proper meal or drink… If she said our family should give thirty or fifty more, I’d have given it. But asking for two hundred yuan straight out? That’s just extortion!”

Hearing this, Su Cheng also got angry. “So what happened in the end?”

“I argued with her a bit, but still ended up giving her thirty yuan in the end.” Chen Xiulan shook her head helplessly. “That old lady’s words were really unpleasant. She even cursed, saying our family earned so much but was stingy about offering to Lord Guan, that we’ll find it hard to earn money in the future, and any money we do earn will have to be spent to ward off disasters.”

Su Cheng angrily slammed the table. “Give her nothing! Not a single cent! Let her find someone else if she wants!”

Chen Xiulan fell silent then.

Su Chunfeng also felt resentment brewing inside. He had been well aware since childhood of the character and scolding skills of those superstitious old ladies in the village. After some thought, he said while eating, “All this feudal superstition should be overthrown!”

Su Cheng glared at his eldest son, initially wanting to warn him not to stir up trouble over this. But thinking of his son’s timid character since childhood, he didn’t say more. Instead, he picked up his chopsticks and said, “Forget it. No need to stoop to that old woman’s level. Since we gave it, we gave it. Let’s eat!”