Ma Li San may have noticed that my expression was off, so he explained to me, saying, "Li Ge, Director Wang must have been guided by my ancestors."
"What?" I really didn't understand much about this ghost card, and I didn't understand what Ma Li San meant.
This time, Wang Tianlai didn't beat around the bush and said to Ma Li San, "Yes, someone did guide me."
Then, Wang Tianlai told me, "Do you know? Just now, it felt like there was an old person speaking to me in my mind. He said that recently my spirit has been down, and to remove this downcast spirit, I should first relax my whole body and stand straighter, called 'upright form.' When the form is upright, the spirit is positive, and with a positive spirit, evil spirits won't invade."
Damn!
If I had known it would have this effect, I would've bought the ghost card myself.
So buying this ghost card is equivalent to having a master guiding your behavior.
This effect is too miraculous. I definitely don't believe that Wang Tianlai could come up with words like "upright form" and "spiritually positive" on his own.
It must be that the ghost card immediately showed its powers as soon as it was put on.
I turned to Ma Li San again and said, "Why didn't you say earlier that the ghost card was so spiritual?"
"Hey, Li Ge, I thought you already knew. The last Hong Kong tycoon also immediately asked for four pieces at twenty thousand each, after carrying the ghost cards for a few minutes!" Ma Li San said.
Alright, I was confused. Turns out I called the price too low, and I ended up letting Ma Li San make an extra five thousand.
Ma Li San didn't mind, saying that the ghost cards don't always work, and they only appear to those who are destined. Since Wang Tianlai brought them out, it meant he had a connection with Ma Li San's ancestors.
Since they had a connection, the money was a trivial matter.
"Oh, I really like these ghost cards. Okay, I'll transfer the money to you now," Wang Tianlai saw how excited I was about the ghost cards and immediately realized that what he bought was worth the money, even taking out his phone in excitement.
Ma Li San quickly raised his hand: "Wang Dao, no need to rush to pay."
Wang Tianlai had already opened his online banking and, hearing Ma Li San's words, immediately looked unhappy: "What? Changing the price on the spot?"
Once the buyer and seller agreed, the money should be paid. It's not right for the seller to raise the price when the buyer is interested. Wang Tianlai thought Ma Li San was about to raise the price on the spot, and he was instantly displeased.
Ma Li San quickly waved his hand, saying he wouldn't dare raise the price; he actually wanted to lower it, from fifteen thousand to five thousand.
The ghost cards were already being sold at a loss of five thousand, and now he wanted to lower it to five thousand? Was Ma Li San crazy?
I stared at Ma Li San in astonishment.
Wang Tianlai was also confused and involuntarily said, "I heard of people changing the prices on the spot, but I've never heard of someone lowering the price on the spot? Brother, your character is really noble."
Then Ma Li San raised his hand and said, "This five thousand, you can give it all to Li Ge. You don't need to give me any money. I just need Wang Dao to agree to help me with something?"
Oh, no wonder he wants to lower the price, it turns out he wants Wang Tianlai to help with something.
I also became interested, wanting to see what kind of thing Wang Tianlai could help with for ten thousand.
Wang Tianlai also thanked me.
I told Wang Tianlai not to rush to thank me, as I still had things to do today.
"You have something else to do?" Wang Tianlai looked at me with a puzzled expression.
Hey, you've gotten hold of a good set of ghost cards, and you've pushed my matters completely to the back of your mind?
I told him about having my cousin audition.
Only then did Wang Tianlai slap his head: "Oh, oh, I remember now, the girl you brought, she does have good looks. I'll have her audition."
"Hurry up then, I'm not boasting to you, that little girl is from the mountains, she's got real skills." I gestured with both hands: she's a big strong girl, and if she were to fight, she'd be using real weapons.
"Stop promoting her, I'll know when I see her."
Wang Tianlai returned to the set, where Zhu Ying sat straight, not saying a word.
He saw her and immediately clapped his hands: "It's this girl, I want this kind of cool style!"
"What role do you want Zhu Ying to play? If it's just a small role that says one line and dies, then don't bother arranging it. Give her a bigger role," I interjected.
Wang Tianlai glared at me and said that having Zhu Ying play a small role that says only one line and then dies would be a waste, he wanted her to play a role that doesn't say anything at all.
I almost spat out blood at Wang Tianlai's statement, as he intended to have Zhu Ying play a role where she dies without saying a word? It was even worse than what I had suggested.
"You've misunderstood. I want the girl to play my female second lead, a cold-blooded female assassin with deep emotional entanglements with the protagonist. Assassins are naturally mute and won't speak," Wang Tianlai said.
I shook my head, thinking that Wang Tianlai had really been corrupted. How could such an honest and simple person learn to be so cunning?
Wang Tianlai himself acted out a few scenes of the female assassin and asked Zhu Ying if she knew how to use a knife.
Zhu Ying raised her head, revealing the glint of a knife, a curved blade she used when hunting, and held it against Wang Tianlai's neck.
Wang Tianlai had a mix of painful and delighted expressions. He slapped his thigh, "Wow, this girl is exactly it, cold-blooded to the core. Ah, Xiao Li, can you tell this girl not to keep the knife on my neck?"
"Heh heh, she's your actress, you deal with it yourself, I'm busy." I smiled mischievously at Wang Tianlai and then left.
After leaving the set, I drove to the city to find Cheng Yan. While waiting at a traffic light, I sent a text to Wang Tianlai, asking him to call me if he encountered anything unusual.
After all, encountering the "taboo of the living" was no small matter. It's okay if you don't confess, but you can't be lax!
Wang Tianlai replied with a "okay."
When I arrived at the training building for Cheng Yan and Huang Xin, I called the two girls to come down and take me to find the director of the music video.
The last time that director of that music video made Chengyan sleep inside a fox demon coffin.
It is highly likely that this fox demon coffin is the same one mentioned by the Northeast Fox King Zhulong.
Zhulong said that inside the fox demon coffin lies a black fox that cannot speak or move, but can make spiritual foxes kneel.
I guess that black fox must be a relative of Chengyan's fox spirit Xiaocui.
Just as Xiaocui's family was killed, that black fox must have died as well.
Who killed the black fox? It must be the person who retrieved the stone coffin.
So, I need to follow the clues and find out where this stone coffin came from.
Only the director of that music video knows this, whether he bought it, stole it, or dug it up from the ground, I need to know the source of the coffin in order to continue the investigation.
While grappling with this question in my mind, Chengyan and Huang Xin knocked on my car window.
As soon as she saw me, Huang Xin asked, "Hey, did your sister Zhu Ying pass the audition? I guess she did, otherwise it's not logical."
Hearing Huang Xin's question, I got a headache. How many times do I have to say it, we don't follow the logic!
Of course, although I find Huang Xin's "logical" questioning bothersome, what really gives me a headache is Chengyan.
This curious baby bombarded me with all kinds of questions.
"How do they shoot the movie? Is it the same as shooting the music video with me?"
"What does the director look like, is he talented?"
"Do they let you watch when they shoot the movie? Do you have to keep it a secret?"
These kinds of questions were like waves crashing onto my face.
And those waves were quite strong, almost giving me a nosebleed.
I really want to beg for mercy: Ladies, please stop talking, I want to be alone, and don't you dare ask me who "alone" is.
Under the verbal onslaught of the two girls, I finally arrived at the "Zhonggulou."
Zhonggulou is not a building.
It's a place name here, on the outskirts of the city, belonging to a small village.
At the center of Zhonggulou village, there is a particularly famous "Warehouse Apartment."
This warehouse used to be a large real estate developer's warehouse, but after that real estate company completely withdrew from our city and entered Beijing and Shanghai, the warehouse became vacant.
Later, the owner of the warehouse felt it would be a waste to tear it down and couldn't sell it for a good price, so they renovated the warehouse, partitioning it into many rooms and renting them out to others.
Believe it or not, most of the people living in this warehouse are artsy types.
Musicians, artists, figure drawing artists, they're all a group of people whose minds are a bit different from the average person.
It's really not easy for these people to make money, sometimes they can't even afford instant noodles and have to squeeze into the cheap "Warehouse Apartment."
The music video director we are looking for, Yue Yun, is one of the directors who doesn't make much money. It's a northeast trick:
He's a part-time music video director, and when he's not working, he's actually an art enthusiast.
We arrived at the entrance of the warehouse apartment, and according to the room number, we found Yue Yun's room.
His room had a rusty iron door.
I knocked on it: Is anyone inside?
After knocking three or four times, I felt something was wrong, and I turned to Chengyan and Huang Xin and said, "Did you smell something?"
"What smell?" Chengyan asked.
I said: The smell of blood!