Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 222 Is the curator a charlatan?
Chen Miao frowned as he looked at Yang Jiuhua. Regardless of whether he was being haunted by a ghost or not, his current state was definitely not right.

Looking around, Chen Miao bought a bottle of water and asked the shopkeeper for a disposable paper cup.

"Take it."

Chen Miao handed the paper cup to Yang Jiuhua, whose half-open eyes, weary from the exertion, looked somewhat lost.

"Chen Miao, I'm not thirsty."

Chen Miao ignored Yang Jiuhua, took out a talisman to ward off evil spirits, and asked, "Do you have a lighter?"

"Have."

Taking Yang Jiuhua's lighter, Chen Miao lit the talisman in his hand, letting the ashes fall into the water glass.

"Stir it with your finger and then drink it."

Yang Jiuhua paused for a moment, staring at the water glass in his hand, now covered in ashes.

After glancing at Chen Miao again, Yang Jiuhua didn't hesitate and gulped down the water with his eyes closed!
With that bite, Chen Miao felt a chilling aura emanating from Yang Jiuhua's body.

Yang Jiuhua also looked at the cup in his hand with a shocked expression.

"Chen Miao, this water is still hot when you drink it!"

Chen Miao shook his head.

"It's not that the water is hot, but that you have too much yin energy in your body. After drinking a cup, the yin energy will be driven away, and you will naturally feel warm."

Upon hearing Chen Miao's words, Yang Jiuhua's complexion, which had just regained some color, suddenly turned pale again.

"Chen Miao, are you saying that I'm haunted by ghosts?"

"No, it's just that you were entangled last night and some yin energy was left in your body. If you don't leave there and lie in the graveyard for a few more days, you probably won't have the strength to come here."

As Chen Miao spoke, he walked towards his car.

Yang Jiuhua quickly followed.

"Chen Miao, help! Help! Help!"

"Alright, those ghostly things aren't anything special. They won't follow you to Shannan City. As long as you don't do anything stupid and run back, everything will be fine."

Hearing Chen Miao say that, Yang Jiuhua breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking at his former classmate, Yang Jiuhua suddenly felt at ease.

After getting into the car, Chen Miao led Yang Jiuhua towards Tianmen County.

Yang Jiuhua asked many questions in the car, and Chen Miao answered them all.

"So you were already good at catching ghosts? How come you never mentioned it at school?"

Chen Miao smiled.

"There's nothing supernatural about the school, would you believe me if I told you?"

Yang Jiuhua thought about it and felt that it made sense.

If he hadn't experienced what happened last night, he would probably still be on the path of debunking the authenticity of certain folk supernatural events.

But Yang Jiuhua couldn't understand why he had only encountered a ghost this time after doing live streaming for so long.

Chen Miao shook his head after hearing Yang Jiuhua's question.

"Maybe it's not that you didn't encounter them, it's just that you were lucky. When you went there, those places that were originally haunted had already been dealt with."

Although Chen Miao was only guessing, it was probably pretty close to the truth.

Based on Yang Jiuhua's live streaming style, he either searches for paranormal locations online or hears about them from viewers all over the country.

And how could the Administration Bureau not investigate these haunted locations that have been passed down by word of mouth for so long?

If it's true, the management bureau can resolve it themselves.

When Chen Miao hadn't encountered any paranormal events recently, he had also searched for any paranormal locations near Tianmen County.

A search revealed several such cases, including even rumors about the twins who had fallen into the water.

However, when Chen Miao saw the car with the words "Emergency Affairs Administration" on it in a ghost story, he knew that even if the place was haunted, it wouldn't be haunted anymore.

At the time, Chen Miao wondered why the Administration Bureau did not stop the spread of those rumors.

Later he realized that those rumors and urban legends were either false or had already been resolved, so why should he stop their spread?

Isn't this a great way to debunk rumors?

Some skeptical people went there and found no ghosts. Does that mean they will stop believing in ghosts altogether?

Another example is ghost-hunting streamers like Yang Jiuhua. The reason they aren't banned is because the places they go to are basically free of ghosts.

They were able to use their skills to "debunk" the rumors for netizens.

What if you actually encounter a ghost during a live stream?
Chen Miao believes that unless someone is killed directly in front of the camera, the Administration Bureau will most likely not intervene.

After all, there are too many streamers doing silly things these days, and the audience's eyes are 'sharp'.

Like that company that once showcased a robot wearing clothes.

Because it was dressed and walked in a way that resembled a human, various interpretations were sought to find evidence that it was actually a human.

This search actually yielded a lot of evidence.

But when the company brought the robot back up and cut open its clothes, the sound stopped.

Therefore, even if it were true, viewers would still be able to find inconsistencies.

Of course, if a real paranormal event occurs, the Management Bureau will naturally take action, which is one of the reasons why Chen Miao sent Yang Jiuhua instead of going himself.

If he went there and ran into the management bureau that was handling the situation on site, wouldn't that be a bit awkward?

They chatted along the way until they arrived at Tianmen Funeral Home.

"Chen Miao, your funeral home is really quite large!"

"Well, it's alright, just a bit old. I'm planning to renovate it this year, we renovated one dormitory building last year."

Chen Miao looked towards the dormitory building next door. After returning from Fengmen Village, Chen Miao kept his word and carried out the dormitory building repairs that he had previously announced.

"Are there still dormitories? Are people living there?"

"Of course there are people like us... in my line of work, who don't go home very often."

"Right."

"If you don't have a place to stay for the next couple of days, you can stay in the dormitory. After we finish eating, we'll go buy some bedding and clean out a room for you."

As they spoke, the two arrived at Chen Miao's office.

"Okay, thank you so much. I'm going to take a break for a while and won't be doing anything else during that time." "Didn't you say you wanted me to be a figurehead? I'll use this time to familiarize myself with the role and see if I can host it."

Yang Jiuhua thought for a moment and then said.

This was something he had planned long ago; he couldn't just stubbornly stay at Chen Miao's place.

It's inappropriate to give money to someone who has a relationship with Chen Miao. If you really use money to measure their relationship, then that relationship is about to end.

Let's work here for a while first, and then figure out a way out.

“That works too. But I just hired another emcee. There isn’t much work for him. You can help him out with Luo Zhiyong.”

"By the way, I'll call Luo Zhiyong over. Let's go have dinner together later."

Chen Miao said.

"Sure, I didn't expect him to come here. I never realized you two were so close."

Chen Miao smiled but didn't say anything.

To be honest, his relationship with Yang Jiuhua wasn't particularly good before.

If it weren't for this incident, the only time the two would cross paths again would probably be in the live streaming room.

Soon, Luo Zhiyong arrived at Chen Miao's office and was taken aback when he saw Yang Jiuhua.

But the two quickly became acquainted.

Strangely enough, Chen Miao discovered that the two people who weren't particularly close to begin with quickly developed into good friends after not seeing each other for several years and having a chat.

It wasn't just Yang Jiuhua; Chen Miao's encounters with Luo Zhiyong and Zhao Gongzi were similar.

Chen Miao couldn't figure it out either.

After chatting for a long time, the three of them somehow ended up changing their plans from going out to eat to having a meal together in Chen Miao's office.

Chen Miao did not refuse and directly called the cafeteria chef to prepare a meal. When Shi Manman came to the office, Chen Miao asked him to buy some beer.

Yang Jiuhua looked at Shi Manman with curiosity in his eyes.

Chen Miao could see the meaning in Yang Jiuhua's eyes. After thinking for a moment, he revealed for the first time his master-disciple relationship with Shi Manman.

This surprised Luo Zhiyong as well.

But what happened next was even more surprising.

When Luo Zhiyong heard that Yang Jiuhua had encountered paranormal events, he became very curious.

But as he listened, Luo Zhiyong sensed something was wrong.

Why is Yang Jiuhua keeping talking about the peach wood charms and talismans that Chen Miao gave him?

What does this have to do with Chen Miao?
He wasn't a talkative person; he had doubts in his mind, but he didn't ask.

But soon, he wouldn't need to ask anymore.

Chen Miao accepted the broken peach charm that Yang Jiuhua handed him.

There wasn't just one crack on the peach charm; next to the largest crack, there were four shallower cracks, not enough to break the charm completely.

With his Yin-Yang Eyes activated, Chen Miao saw the Yin energy emanating from the marks on the peach talisman.

"Where are your talismans?"

Yang Jiuhua hurriedly took out the peach charm.

Chen Miao took a look, saw that it wasn't activated, and returned it.

"Next time you find a cracked peach charm, don't hesitate, activate the charm immediately."

Yang Jiuhua carefully accepted the three talismans and nodded emphatically.

Having already witnessed the effects of the talisman water Chen Miao had given him, he naturally wouldn't disobey Chen Miao.

"Chen Miao, how do you think I got involved with those things?"

Chen Miao looked surprised.

"Don't you have any thoughts at all?"

Yang Jiuhua was a little embarrassed.

"Was it really me who did those things?"

"Hmm, most likely. Otherwise, why would they look for you out of so many people that night?"

Chen Miao looked at Yang Jiuhua.

"After this, will you still do live streaming?"

Yang Jiuhua's face fell.

"What live stream? After knowing this situation, how could I dare to do a live stream?"

Chen Miao nodded.

"It's best not to go, after all, we can't always be this lucky."

Yang Jiuhua nodded, then seemed to realize something.

"By the way, Chen Miao, I was chatting with my viewers last night and it was going really well. Were those viewers, and the policeman who answered the phone, ghosts?"

"No, it should be considered something you've imagined, like you're dreaming. The people in your dreams will take seemingly reasonable actions based on your subconscious."

"So actually, the things like using a child's urine and wearing underwear on your head are probably just some weird and nonsensical methods of warding off evil that you already knew in your heart."

Hearing Chen Miao say that, Yang Jiuhua blushed.

So, you can't blame the ghost for peeing on yourself?

After speaking, Chen Miao suddenly noticed Luo Zhiyong's bewildered expression and realized that Luo Zhiyong was unaware of his situation.

Chen Miao went back to his bedroom, retrieved the peach wood charm and talisman, and placed them in front of Luo Zhiyong.

"I thought that since you were staying in the museum and I would take care of you, there shouldn't be any problems, so I didn't tell you."

Chen Miao's next words left Luo Zhiyong stunned.

Much later, Luo Zhiyong finally understood what had happened.

Now, recalling what Yang Jiuhua had just said, Luo Zhiyong felt a little dazed.

So, his old classmate, now his boss, is actually a god... a fortune teller?
Luo Zhiyong opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

……

(End of this chapter)