Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

"Your neighbor is a jinx to your family!"

—Snap—

Jia Zhangshi slapped her hip!

"Oh my god! I knew it was him!"

------------

Granny Wang wandered around the front and middle courtyards for a long time, and even went to the side room of the Jia family's courtyard to rummage around for a while, which scared Qin Huairu so much that she ran out with Xiao Dang in her arms.

After calculating for a long time, Granny Wang nervously told Jia Zhangshi, "Her neighbor is cursed to bring misfortune to their family!"

That really struck a chord with Jia Zhangshi!

It's Zhang Dabiao who's a nemesis to the Jia family!

Granny Wang was smug. If she couldn't even figure this out, then she had been wasting her life.

She pointed to the wall in the Jia family's house and muttered in a mystical tone, "As long as you draw a talisman on this wall and cast a spell forty-nine times..."

Before she could finish speaking, Jia Zhangshi tugged at her sleeve in confusion: "Master, that person who brings me bad luck lives in that side room over there..."

Granny Wang was embarrassed. Why didn't you say so earlier?!

You knew who was messing with you, why didn't you say so earlier?

Do you expect me to calculate or guess?

How could I possibly calculate that?

Wouldn't that make me look bad?

She said calmly, "Of course I know that the culprit who harmed your family comes from the northeast, but this wall is the way he used it to harm your family!"

"If this wall isn't destroyed, do you even know that the men in your family won't live past the end of next year?!"

At first, Jia Zhangshi suspected that the sorceress was just trying to scam her, but when she heard "the male offspring won't live past the end of next year?!"

Jia Zhangshi's eyes widened in surprise!

It matches up!

That matches perfectly!

—Snap—

Jia Zhangshi slapped her thigh and cried out, "Oh dear! Master, you have to save me!"

"That grandson also said my son wouldn't live more than two years! That matches up perfectly!"

No problem! Zhang Dabiao really said that, and everyone in the hospital can testify to it!

The master said the same thing, and it all matched perfectly!

Moreover, I was afraid of this very thing, so I asked a master to come and break the curse!

The male heir—isn't that Jia Dongxu, the eldest son?

Banggeng is still too young; he's just a child, not a boy.

Granny Wang stared in disbelief—this…makes sense?

Is that such a coincidence?

Right, I meant that her neighbor is unlucky for her. There are neighbors all around her, and it's not wrong to say that she has neighbors in all directions, even above and below! And I didn't say that there was only one—I'm not wrong!

Granny Wang composed herself and continued in a pretentious manner, "Then it's definitely true. I sense a strong malevolent aura emanating from this wall, and there seems to be a karmic entanglement between it and the northeast side..."

"The house across the wall, and the one in the side room... what was it called again?"

"Zhang Dabiao!"

"Yes, is there some connection between them and Zhang Dabiao?"

[Zhang Dabiao, why does that name sound so familiar?]

—Snap—

"That's right!" Jia Zhangshi exclaimed anxiously, slapping her hips again!

"They all match up! There really is a connection!"

"The two west-facing rooms across the street originally belonged to Zhang Dabiao; I'm his third aunt! But he rented them out to the Liu family across the street and moved into a small side room himself!"

"Not only did he refuse to give the house to our family, but he rented it to the unrelated Liu family. He even became sworn brothers with Liu Guangqi and became the godfather of the Liu family's youngest daughter!"

"Do you think they have some kind of connection?"

Granny Wang – [What nonsense is this?]

Just because you're his third aunt doesn't mean he has to give up the house to your family.

Two side rooms! No normal person would just give away their best rooms like that!

However, driven by greed, she cruelly declared, "That's right—"

"In my opinion, he cast a harmful spell on this wall, and moved to the side room partly to distance himself from the situation."

"Secondly, this was, after all, a heinous act, and it would have a backlash against the residents on the other side of the wall. So he fled, but rented out houses to others to shield them from the disaster."

"So all we need to do is—"

Granny Wang's idea was to extend the spellcasting time, taking forty-nine days to resolve the "problem" with the wall. Money didn't matter; being able to get a free meal every day would be ideal.

Grandmaster?

A fortune teller?

It doesn't matter—having food to eat is the most important thing!

But Jia Zhangshi misunderstood, and she slapped her thigh again.

—Snap—

"Wow, Master, you got them all right! You're amazing!"

"My nephew severed all ties with our family, vowing never to see us again, and then immediately sublet the house to the Liu family across the street!"

"Just like you said, he's using the Liu family as a scapegoat! This wall has a backlash!"

A gleam of excitement, as if she had seen through the truth, shone in Jia Zhangshi's eyes!

"That's why Liu's wife ended up having a child as a burden! She actually helped Zhang Dabiao avoid disaster!"

"Zhang Dabiao adopted Liu's daughter as his goddaughter, I think it's partly as compensation—it all makes sense!"

"Master, you are truly amazing! You are a god!"

Granny Wang was a little embarrassed—[How come we matched up again?]

[That's not what I meant, is it?]

[She was saved from disaster so she had a daughter? What kind of logic is that?]

[Please stop making things up, I'm starting to panic.]

Enraged, Jia Zhangshi grabbed a kitchen knife and charged out the door, yelling, "You, Zhang Dabiao, even after moving out, you haven't forgotten to harm our family! You even left a trick on the wall!"

"I'll kill you!"

Madam Jia was truly anxious. Zhang Dabiao's words were coming true one by one, and the sorceress they had invited also said so. How could she not be anxious?

Granny Wang grabbed her arm. "I only came here to ask for money—to ask for a bite to eat, not to instigate murder!"

"You can't lay a hand on them, murder is against the law!"

As if possessed, Jia Zhangshi ignored her and dragged her toward the door.

Having no other option, Granny Wang lied to her, saying, "Even if you kill him, the problem with the wall won't be solved, and the men in your family will still die!"

Hearing this, Jia Zhangshi calmed down.

"wall?"

Granny Wang wiped the cold sweat from her brow—[Don't fill in the blanks with your own imagination, don't fill in the blanks with your own imagination!]

[If I had a third aunt like you, I'd run away too!]

【Are you kidding me?!】

"The key issue is this wall! If the evil energy in this wall can be neutralized, your family will be safe, and Zhang Dabiao will suffer a backlash from the magic—he'll be crippled if not killed!"

Only then did Jia Zhangshi put down the kitchen knife: "Master, what should we do?"

For the next half hour, Jia Zhangshi was extremely busy. The sorceress wanted red cloth, so she cut up the red headscarf that Qin Huairu had given her as part of her dowry; she wanted cinnabar, so she searched all the nearby general stores before finally finding it; she also needed three willow branches, seven copper coins, and even a handful of glutinous rice. There was also chicken blood, human urine extract, lightning-struck wood, and boy's urine…

Qin Huairu tried to offer some advice, but was met with a scathing rebuke from Jia Zhangshi: "What do you know! This concerns Dongxu's life. If you ruin the master's plans, I won't forgive you!"

What Qin Huairu wanted to say was—

I can understand why you guys use cinnabar, willow branches, copper coins, and glutinous rice.

But what's the point of a roast chicken, half a pound of pork head meat, and a steamer full of white flour buns?

Do we really need all these things to make this?