After Hu Bingbing and Zhu Li left, I hurried into the room to find Aizixing sprawled out on the bed, soundly asleep, surrounded by tissues under the bed. The fellow was indeed lucky; with his dwarfish stature, he even managed to sleep with Zhu Li, making off quite cheaply.
No wonder he turned off his phone, fearing I might ruin his good time.
I quickly woke up Aizixing and asked him how the investigation went and if he had found anything.
Aizixing woke up looking entirely drained, as though someone had sucked the life out of him, but hidden within that exhaustion was a sense of contentment.
"I didn't find anything; my legs are still weak, how could I investigate?" he mumbled upon waking.
"What?" I said sternly.
"Cough, well, I did check last night, and there was no problem, neither with the person nor the house," Aizixing quickly corrected himself.
"So, is it a haunting or resentment from an unborn child?" I pressed on.
Aizixing hesitated for a long time before finally managing to get out, "Ghosts, probably ghosts. Hu Bingbing must be right; she has no reason to deceive us."
Since it's a ghost, then it's settled. I'll give her a yaksha tattoo of red lotus to ward off evil spirits!
I originally thought about giving her the "Ghost Begging Yaksha," but that one is too fierce; it's known for eating ghosts. The unborn child's spirit isn't evil; it just lingers around Hu Bingbing, never intending to take her life. It's just a small ghost, and if it doesn't escape fast enough, it may be caught by the Ghost Begging Yaksha and lose any chance of rebirth.
That would be too tragic for it, denied life once before birth, and now to be denied even a soul.
Therefore, I decided against the Ghost Begging Yaksha and chose the Red Lotus Yaksha instead.
The red lotus signifies Buddhism as well as the power to ward off evil spirits, and this Red Lotus Yaksha is even more special as he is an enforcer among ghosts, feared by them all.
Compared to the demon-eating yaksha, the Red Lotus Yaksha is naturally not as cruel or fearful, but its effect isn't much weaker, given the authority of an enforcer.
At this point, Aizixing had no opinion and said whatever I decided would be fine. After saying that, he lay back down and fell asleep. I kicked him, asking if he planned on staying put, which scared him into getting up and following me downstairs promptly.
I don't know if it's because Aizixing has weak kidneys or just weary legs, but he struggled to descend just one flight of stairs, shaky and gasping for breath, causing Hu Bingbing and Zhu Li to giggle behind their hands.
When I saw Hu Bingbing, I told her to come with me to the tattoo shop. It was decided; I would give her the Red Lotus Yaksha tattoo for dispelling ghosts and warding off evil, for the price of twenty thousand.
Hu Bingbing said money was no issue as long as it worked; twenty thousand yuan was like pocket change to her.
As we were about to leave, I noticed that man again, still in the same white shirt, standing on the second-floor corridor. His gaze was strange, just like last time, his mouth wide open as if he was saying something, but no sound came out.
"Don't believe her!"
Reading his lips, I understood his message, but when Hu Bingbing looked towards the corridor just like I did, the man turned and ran.
This time, I noticed something different—there was a red stain on the collar of his white shirt, as if touched by blood.
I had an uneasy feeling that something was amiss. This could not be a man kept by Hu Bingbing, for his behavior was too strange.
"Don't run!"
I shouted, and this time, I decided to chase after him.
"Tang Hao, what are you doing? What's wrong?" Hu Bingbing called after me, unable to stop me as I dashed up the stairs, intent on catching that man.
But when I reached the top of the villa, the man was gone; I searched all the rooms and found no trace of him.
Impossible, where could he be hiding? I scoured the second floor and found nothing.
"Tang Hao, what's going on?" Hu Bingbing seemed a bit angry. After all, as a guest, I turned her second floor upside down, and she held back her temper only because she wanted a ghost tattoo from me.
"It's odd, I clearly saw a man on the second floor, now where did he disappear?" I scratched my head, puzzled.
Hu Bingbing impatiently said, "I'll say it one last time, there's no other man in this villa. Aren't you thinking too much?"
Left with no alternative, I would have been able to confront Hu Bingbing had I caught the man, but now that he was nowhere to be found, I just awkwardly smiled to ease the tension and left the villa with her.
The mysterious man in the villa had piqued my curiosity, but for now, I had to set aside these thoughts and focus on Hu Bingbing's tattoo.
The Red Lotus Yaksha's design was large, featuring a massive lotus with a fierce, fanged ghostly face that could only be tattooed on someone's back.
Hu Bingbing had no airs about her and didn't even ask for a covering cloth during the tattooing process, allowing me to work freely. Her figure was also quite impressive, and from the angle of her back, one could glimpse something lovely.
A first-rate female star like Hu Bingbing, worshiped by so many, and here I was, truly fortunate.
The tattoo session lasted about five hours, and in the end, the Red Lotus Yaksha looked more appealing than the Ghost Begging Yaksha, especially the red lotus, which looked almost real on Hu Bingbing's beautiful back.
After finishing the tattoo, Hu Bingbing was extremely grateful and paid me before leaving. Aizixing, however, was asleep on the sofa, snoring like a hog.
I shook my head helplessly and then took out my phone to order him ten beef ribs, as a sort of care for my employee.
Just then, Su Qing returned and immediately asked who had just left.
I told her it was Hu Bingbing, a top-tier female celebrity. "Haven't you seen any of her films? What about her?" I inquired.
Su Qing covered her nose and made a disgusted face, mentioning that Hu Bingbing had a foul smell coming from her mouth which was really off-putting.
I was surprised. "Really? Such a big star has bad breath? But why didn't I notice it before?"
Su Qing remarked that she didn't know why, but not only did she smell it, she also felt it was a very unusual kind of bad breath, not typical halitosis.
I quickly stopped Su Qing and said that discussing someone's bad breath was too trivial and rather disgusting. I didn't want to continue the topic.
"Oh yeah, what about the senior brother you mentioned inviting? Did you manage to invite him? It couldn't be that lad Zhang Qing, right?" I changed the subject urgently as this was a key matter. With another Taoist master's help, maybe we would stand a better chance. That ghostly woman was too malicious and deceptive, and regardless of Xu Meng's situation, I wanted to fight her to the end.
Su Qing confirmed it wasn't Zhang Qing but rather our elder martial brother who was ranked highest in the lineage. He had promised to come on the fifteenth, as he usually spent his time in deep meditation in the mountains and seldom came out. Just his agreeing to come was already impressive.
The fifteenth? That's when the morning dew is collected to destroy the carcass of the fetus. Surely the ghostly woman would come out to stop us then. The key issue now was Xu Meng...
I related everything that had happened last night to Su Qing, and she was so angry, it looked like her eyes might pop out. She cursed out the ghostly woman repeatedly, insulting her ancestors thoroughly. Su Qing was truly ruthless when she cursed, to the point where I had to cover my ears.
Just then, someone arrived at the door—a woman wearing a dress adorned with lace.
Judging by her figure and attire, I thought she might be a beauty, but upon looking up, I almost got the fright of my life—I thought I'd seen a ghost in broad daylight.
"Holy crap!" Su Qing had the same reaction upon seeing her.
This woman had an extremely ugly face; her features looked like they were in disagreement with each other, making her appearance awkward and unpleasant to look at. Especially with her crooked nose and mouth, she was unattractively ugly. Could it be that she landed face-first when she was born?
The woman asked if I was Tang Hao, known for making ghost tattoos.
I confirmed, and then asked her what made her seek a ghost tattoo.
Introducing herself, she said her name was Cui Meixi, referred by a friend who had claimed the ghost tattoos were miraculous and had unexpected effects, so she came with a hope to give it a try.
Cui Meixi's reason for getting a ghost tattoo was simple—she pointed to her face.
Beauty, something determined by genetics, is hard to influence personally, and Cui Meixi seemed to have been born into the wrong body. Born ugly, she remained so throughout her life, sometimes even despised by her own parents.
In an age where appearances are so important, Cui Meixi faced scorn everywhere she went because of her extreme ugliness, which caused a lot of unnecessary trouble.
Finally, when she grew up and saved enough money, she mustered the courage to get plastic surgery, which, regrettably, also failed!
Cui Meixi then pointed to her twisted nose and mouth, results of the failed plastic surgery. Though the beauty clinic compensated her handsomely, the unsuccessful procedure made her already unattractive face even worse.
Already plain before, her appearance now had cost her her job, as many of her colleagues complained that just seeing Cui Meixi's face made them want to vomit and unable to concentrate at work.
Cui Meixi didn't blame them, admitting that even she wanted to vomit when she looked in the mirror. Her boyfriend, who relied on her financially because of his lazy habits, preferred to please himself rather than touch her.
Cui Meixi did not yearn to be stunningly beautiful; she only wished to look normal. Due to her ugliness, life had become too painful. She even contemplated ending it all.
After speaking, Cui Meixi looked at me with hope, wishing I could rescue her from her plight.
Su Qing told Cui Meixi that there was no need to feel inferior, remarking that if someone as unattractive as myself could live happily, then she can too—it's about confidence, and there're always people who don't judge by looks. Besides, there's nothing that can cause an earth-shattering transformation in beauty; if there was, it would be worldwide news already. She admitted the ghost tattoos were indeed miraculous, but there were limits to what they could achieve, and that Cui Meixi's hopes were delusional.
I gave Su Qing a look of disapproval, arguing whether my appearance was really so unattractive and hinted she might be delusional.
However, there indeed was one ghost tattoo that could make a person beautiful, a tattoo known as "Hua Pi"—the Skin Painting. It's an underworld tattoo, and as for how beautiful it could make someone, I couldn't say. Moreover, this ghost tattoo had one very peculiar characteristic.