What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

"Thank you for your concern, it was just a minor injury, I've already been discharged from the hospital."

I picked up my teacup, took a sip, and said slowly.

"You're such a busy person, calling me in the middle of the day, you can't be calling just to check up on me, can you? Just say what you need to say."

On the other end of the phone, Jin Wanliang chuckled twice, his tone becoming relaxed and casual.

"Actually, it's nothing serious."

Brother, I know you must have been exhausted these past two days, so you must be resting at home today.

Well, I happen to have an easy little job that doesn't require much effort or brainpower.

"Just asking if you want to go relax and maybe earn some extra money for tea?"

Hearing that it was a "small job," my tense nerves relaxed.

That fat guy Jin Wanliang, every time he contacts me, it's never for a simple reason.

I have only recently made some progress in my spiritual practice, and my meridians have widened. I need to completely relax my body and mind to adapt to this new state.

Only in this way can one be in a better state to condense the elixir.

If Jin Wanliang were to create some terrible predicament for me right now, I would definitely refuse without hesitation.

But if it's a minor matter that doesn't require any serious action, going for a walk and a change of pace is a good option.

"How small is the job? Tell me about it."

I tapped the rough edge of the wooden table lightly with my fingers and asked casually.

"Here's the thing, I have a regular customer I know well, whose surname is Ma."

He was a well-known figure in Jiangcheng's antique circle, specializing in old objects and calligraphy and paintings.

Jin Wanliang recounted the story over the phone.

"This Boss Ma has a sharp eye; he has a lot of good stuff in stock."

But if you walk by the river often enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet.

A few days ago, he bought an old camphor wood chest from a tomb raider in the countryside.

"Ming artifacts?" I raised an eyebrow slightly.

In the antique trade, items dug up from underground are called funerary objects.

These things are rarely exposed to the light of day, so they will more or less carry some yin energy or corpse energy.

"It's not entirely accurate to call them funerary objects."

Inside the box was a perfectly preserved Qingyi (a type of female role in Peking Opera) costume.

Jin Wanliang smacked his lips.

"According to that tomb raider, this was the costume of a famous actor in Beijing during the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China period."

The material is excellent Shu brocade, and the gold thread embroidery on it has not faded even now.

Mr. Ma was immediately captivated by its condition and bought it for a hefty price.

"As a result, as soon as the costume was brought home, strange things started happening at Boss Ma's house."

Jin Wanliang lowered his voice a little, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of telling a ghost story.

Every night around midnight, you could hear a woman singing opera in Mr. Ma's villa.

The sound wasn't loud, but it kept lingering.

At first, Boss Ma thought it came from outside and didn't take it seriously.

For three consecutive days, not only did the opera singing continue, but his wife also inexplicably fell ill.

He even had nightmares every night, dreaming of a woman in a blue dress standing at the head of his bed, crying.

Hearing this, I roughly understood what was going on.

This is a very common thing in the folklore world.

Old items, especially clothing worn close to the skin, are most likely to absorb the scent of their owner.

If the owner died a violent death, or died with great resentment, this resentment would cling to the clothing and linger for a long time.

Ordinary people have weak yang energy, and if they come into contact with it for a long time, they will be invaded by resentful energy.

It can cause auditory and visual hallucinations, and even lead to a serious illness.

"Didn't Boss Ma have someone take a look?" I asked.

"I've looked for it," Jin Wanliang sighed.

"Boss Ma first went to the temple to get a peace charm, but it didn't work."

Later, they spent money to hire a feng shui master who was said to be quite capable to perform a ritual at their home.

The man set up a ritual and burned talismans, and things seemed to calm down at the time.

The next evening, the opera singing became even louder, and even Boss Ma himself started to feel dizzy and lightheaded.

"He really had no other choice."

This morning, he came to me in a panic, asking for 200,000 yuan, begging me to find a real expert to help him settle this matter.

He said that money was no object as long as the evil connotations of the costume could be removed.

Two hundred thousand? For someone as shrewd as Jin Wanliang, that's a pretty simple amount of money.

Judging from the situation, Boss Ma and his wife were just frightened; it was clearly not something powerful causing their mischief.

"Alright."

I smiled and looked at the bustling crowd outside the tea stall.

"I took the day off today, and it's pretty boring to just wander around the streets."

I'll take this job; consider it a visit to Boss Ma's house to admire his antiques.

"Alright! I knew you were a straightforward guy, bro!"

Jin Wanliang slapped his thigh happily on the other end of the phone.

"Where are you now? I'm out running errands, I'll drive over and pick you up, then we'll go to Boss Ma's house together."

"I'm at the open-air tea stall under the big banyan tree at the entrance of the City God Temple."

"Okay, ten minutes at most, please wait a moment!"

After hanging up the phone, I drank the rest of the cold tea in my bowl in one gulp.

Less than ten minutes later, a black Mercedes-Benz slowly pulled up beside the tea stall.

The car window rolled down, revealing Jin Wanliang's chubby face.

"Brother, get in the car!" Jin Wanliang greeted him warmly.

I stood up, left the money for the tea, opened the car door, and got into the passenger seat.

"Brother, I heard about what happened in Zhoujia Village the night before last."

After starting the car, Jin Wanliang glanced at me out of the corner of his eye while turning the steering wheel.

"The commotion was huge. You went in all by yourself, not only did you escape unscathed, but you also rescued the people."

Brother, that's what I'm saying to you now!

As he spoke, he freed one hand and gave me a thumbs-up.

I leaned back in my chair, my expression calm: "He was just lucky. Zhou Ming is a lucky guy."

I didn't want to dwell on this topic any longer, so I changed the subject and steered the conversation toward today's "little job".

"By the way, Lao Jin."

You just said on the phone that the costume was worn by a famous actor from the late Qing Dynasty.

Since Boss Ma is an expert, didn't he notice anything wrong with the clothes when he accepted them?

Jin Wanliang sighed, shook his head, and said, "Brother, the antique business is a deep and complex place."

Some objects may appear clean and tidy on the surface, but the karmic entanglements and resentments within them cannot be discerned with the naked eye alone.

I was there when Boss Ma took the clothes.

The clothes were folded neatly and placed in that old camphor wood chest.

Camphor wood itself has the power to ward off evil spirits and purify the air. In addition, there were several yellowed talismans pasted on the box, which suppressed the resentment.

Boss Ma was so focused on the Shu brocade material and the gold thread embroidery that he didn't think about anything else.

Jin Wanliang paused, as if remembering something, and his expression became somewhat wistful:

"Later, when something happened to Boss Ma's family, he had someone investigate the background of the clothes."

Guess what? The owner of that dress was a very popular leading lady in the capital back in the day.

Later, a warlord took a liking to her and insisted on taking her as his concubine.