The black shadow began to be thin and weak, obviously without eyes, but it still made Chen Ruize feel that it was staring eerily at him.
He was sitting in a motorized wheelchair, and the entire room had been made accessible, implying that the person in the dream was a person with limited mobility.
At one point, Chen Ruize thought about running away when he realized he was sitting on a wheelchair. The motorized wheelchair might race faster than he could run. But he couldn’t actively control his body at all, and no matter how hard he tried or how scared he was, he couldn’t move a finger.
Chen Ruize knew that the black shadow watching him was very dangerous. He obviously didn’t dare to turn back and didn’t want to turn back, but there was a force that was forcing him to turn back to look.
He was so scared in his dream that his liver and gall bled, even in reality, he had never been so scared, Chen Ruize slowly turned back and saw that the black shadow seemed to move forward a little bit.
The magnitude of the movement was so weak that Chen Ruize wondered in his dream whether the black shadow approaching him was an illusion in his dream or something that really happened.
After waking up that morning, Chen Ruize felt especially tired.
Although he was already tired during filming, being tired was not the same as being tired.
After that day, he had the same dream every night.
He would always turn his head back little by little in extreme fear while the black shadow moved forward little by little.
When this dream had been going on for seven or eight days, it became obvious that the black shadow had come about half a step closer.
Sometimes he shot big night scenes and stayed awake the whole night, so he had thought that he could avoid the black shadow in this way, but he slept during the day and dreamt about the black shadow just the same.
Chen Ruizhe was clearly in fear again as he spoke, and he kept wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
Qiong Ren brought the milk tea to his mouth, “Have a sip of hot tea to calm your nerves.”
Chen Ruize was a bit hesitant, and Qiong Ren shoved the straw into his mouth, “You’re already too skinny compared to what your character needs, so drink it.”
Chen Ruize’s prototype of Chen Tao was Emperor Song, how could Emperor Song be skinny to this shapeless appearance.
“Little Meng, Little Wang, what do you two think?”
Meng Qingxuan and Wang Boduan had personally resolved incidents less often, but after all, they had grown up following their teacher’s experience and had seen a lot, the two of them glanced at each other, and Meng Qingxuan looked towards Qiong Ren: “Teacher Qiong, can we speak straight?”
Qiong Ren nodded, “Speak directly about what you know, there’s no need to hide it from Ruize.”
Meng Qingxuan said, “Mr. Chen, is it convenient for you to take off your clothes, we want to see your back.”
“Why do you want to see my back?” Chen Ruize didn’t suspect the people Qiong Ren had brought in, he just found it baffling, “Can you tell from the back if I met a ghost?”
Meng Qingxuan: “You didn’t hit a ghost, you were victimized.”
“Who would harm me?” Chen Ruize didn’t quite believe it, “Even though I did joke that I have the right enemies, I don’t think someone like Miao Zheyan should be so bad as to want me dead.”
Qiong Ren could understand Chen Ruize’s feelings, knowing that between having a living person wanting you dead and somehow being haunted by a ghost, the former was much more terrifying and harder to accept.
He patiently asked: ”No matter what, bumping into ghosts is mostly from an opportunity, has anything more special happened recently? For example, going to a place with graves, buying antiques of unknown origin, Ming and Qing vases, or wearing someone else’s old costume while filming or something like that.”
Chen Ruize seriously thought for half a day and shook his head with an ugly expression.
He was busy shooting every day, he was thankful for half an hour’s sleep, where else would he be in the mood to mess around with antiques and Ming and Qing vases. This month he hadn’t been out of the theater, the costumes of the theater were all newly made and then made to look old.
And although Chen Ruize’s costumes were many, there weren’t many styles, and many sets of the same style were made, and then different wear effects were made according to the script process.
It was simply impossible to wear a costume that was old.
“Is someone really trying to harm me?” Chen Ruize’s breath was shaky.
Qiong Ren’s voice was calm and soft, which had a particularly soothing effect: “Let Xiao Wang and Xiao Meng check your back first, they are professionals, you have to trust the experts.”
Chen Ruize no longer hesitated now, and took the initiative to lift up his clothes.
He was so thin that his ribs were bulging, Qiong Ren felt uncomfortable looking at him, he didn’t know how much torture Chen Ruize had suffered during this period of time, but he didn’t take a vacation, and he still stayed up every day to shoot the movie.
He was really dedicated.
Meng Qingxuan carefully pulled his clothes to the back of his neck and said, “Teacher Qiong, come and look.”
There was a faint green shadow on Chen Ruize’s back, especially like a less serious bruise. Qiong Ren saw that the green shadow was going in a regular pattern and retreated to a distance to take a picture.
Meng Qingxuan put Chen Ruize’s clothes down.
Chen Ruize was particularly anxious: “What’s on my back?”
Qiong Ren showed him the photo, if this was in the near distance, it might just look like there were some bruises on his back, but once he took a shot from a distance, and Qiong Ren also adjusted the contrast and color saturation, he was able to see that the green shadow on his back was actually a word.
When Chen Ruize saw that he actually a handwriting inexplicably appeared on his body, he immediately shivered, grasping Qiong Ren’s wrist, he couldn’t shaking: “What kind of word is this? It can’t be the word for death, right ……”
Qiong Ren had never seen this character either, it looked curvy, like a seal script or oracle bone script or something like that.
“Above it seems like two people surfing, below it looks like a big water tank with an open lid,” the more Qiong Ren looked at it, the more familiar it looked, and frowned, “Is this the word for substitute?”
Wang Boduan immediately took his cell phone and did a thousand degrees, and said admiringly, “It’s the word for substitute, Mr. Qiong you’re so smart.”
Qiong Ren was still frowning, “This for, does it mean to catch a substitute? Since you two knew that there would be a mark on his back, did you already know what exactly Ruize had been hit by?”
Wang Boduan said, “It’s a writing technique.”
Word worship could be traced back to a very long history, such as cauterizing tortoise shells and using the cracked lines for divination, which was actually a primitive form of worship.
Since Chinese characters evolved from hieroglyphics, many people believed that Chinese characters contained the supreme principle of the unity of heaven and man, and that they were able to predict good and bad fortune through words, and that a person’s name would also have an effect on his fortune in life.
Character magic was also a kind of magic that used words to communicate with heaven and earth in order to achieve one’s own purpose, the core of which laid in the words used by the practitioner, and the effects that could be achieved were very wide-ranging.
For example, if the spell caster wrote the word “rich”, what Chen Ruize saw might not be a black shadow, but a big red god of Fortune that came a little closer to him every day, and he wouldn’t be weakened, but would start to have good fortune.
If the practitioner had written the word “beauty”, Chen Ruize might have dreamed of a plastic surgeon.
Meng Qingxuan said, “The material for this kind of writing technique is very difficult to find. The ones that carry the characters cannot be ordinary paper, but rather the silk clothes on the bodies of the dead, and can only be used with the vest. The owner of the silk clothes should have been buried in the coffin for no less than ten years.”
Modern people advocated cremation, and anything worn must be sent to be burned into ashes. Even in some remote areas where there was still burial, there weren’t many people buried in silk clothes.
Not to mention that this silk clothing must be buried for ten years, the undershirt piece must still be intact, but also couldn’t be too small, even small lowercase characters would affect the effect.
Meng Qingxuan continued, “The ink used for writing also needs to be intricate, using the fragrance of aged chicken bones, the pine smoke burned from the old tomb towards the shade, and a pair of unnamed finger bones from people born in the shade of the year, month, and day. All of them need to be ground into powder and buried in a place of great calamity for three to five years before they can be used.”
Meng Qingxuan looked foolish and unreliable, but he was actually from a noble family. When speaking of these things, he was clear and reasonable, which made Qiong Ren slightly change his view on him.
The more Chen Ruize listened, the cooler his heart became: “Such a troublesome thing just to harm me …… Is he sick, is it not good to write some auspicious words for himself?”
Qiong Ren: “I’m afraid that the auspicious words written in this kind of thing are not auspicious ……”
Wang Boduan nodded: “Teacher Qiong is right. We know the general material of the writing spell, but the specific method has long been lost. What’s more, these types of spells are all hemlock to quench thirst, using them will never end well, and no proper Xuan Sect monks or Taoists will learn to use them.”
The stronger the effect of any spell, the wider the scope of its effect, and the greater the requirements for the caster. Being able to harm people with writing skills was probably not something that ordinary celestial masters and demons could do.
Just look at the Thunder Part incantations they wanted to learn with Qiong Ren, one effect and one incantation, it was arranged in a clear way, yet even so, they still couldn’t learn it.
Because of the wide range of meanings of words, it was difficult to say what exactly was meant by “substitute”, but judging from Chen Ruize’s situation, it must be the meaning of “substitute for life” or “substitute for a body” or something like that.
Chen Ruize’s heart went cold, he anxiously asked: “Then what should I do?”
When he was dreaming last night, he suddenly realized that the black shadow had given birth to five senses, and the pair of invisible eyes showed their shape for the first time. Chen Ruize intuited that if he didn’t ask for help, it might be too late, which was why he called Qiong Ren.
Qiong Ren sighed softly, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier, you had to suffer alone for so long.”
Chen Ruize: “Your career is just on track, I saw that your daily schedule is so busy, I didn’t want to disturb you. Besides …… Zhang Hao said every day that it was me who was overthinking it, so I thought that it might really be me who was overthinking it. Recently filming is so tiring, in order to play Chen Tao I have to diet all the time, and then sleep poorly at night, it seems that a little bit of emptiness is normal. I’ll just ……”
Qiong Ren listened in anger, Yan Mo was chased away by him yet he still knew to fill his refrigerator with ingredients and bring him fresh milk.
This Zhang Hao, what was going on ah? Regardless of whether or not Chen Ruize saw a ghost, walking a few more steps would make him exhausted, yet he didn’t know how to care.
He didn’t know how to care. The miller didn’t even call the donkey that pulled the mill like this.
Chen Ruize’s assistant knocked on the door and probed: “Director Zhang asked me to ask if you’re ready?”
Chen Ruize nodded, “I have to go shoot, do you guys want to follow?”
The Peach Blossom Fan had already reached the part where Song Yuncheng was seriously ill and died, and Chen Tao was overly heartbroken, Chen Ruize didn’t even need to put on his makeup, he already looked like he was about to follow his lover to his death.
“Of course.” Qiong Ren said, “I’m going to watch you.”
Chen Ruize smiled gratefully.
Walking to the door, Zhang Hao was actually there, Chen Ruize didn’t raise his eyes at all when he saw him, Zhang Hao smiled awkwardly, “If you really don’t feel at ease, let’s go to the temple to ask someone to do a puja when we finish work today.”
Chen Ruize said coldly, “No need. Qiong Ren is here.”
Zhang Hao raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Qiong Ren?”
Qiong Ren thought to himself what are you surprised about, I have two little Taoist priests around me who have entered the world to cultivate, all the Xuanmen are calling and canvassing for me, and all the temple monks have to play my singing of the Mantra of the Past Life, so isn’t it normal that I’m here to solve Chen Ruize’s problem of seeing ghosts and the like?
Ah …… Listening to Chen Ruize, Zhang Hao shouldn’t believe in this type of things, so he should take all the metaphysical news on him as hype.
Chen Ruize was now frighteningly thin, and he didn’t need Zhang Hao to make way, he directly slid past him, and Qiong Ren also wanted to follow him, but was pulled by Zhang Hao.
Qiong Ren then signaled Meng Qingxuan and Wang Boduan to follow, turning his head, “What’s the matter?”
“Xiao Ze has been having very serious psychological problems lately, always dreaming that he is a patient who can’t move, probably because he is too deep into the drama of playing Chen Tao, can you help me persuade him to go to the doctor,” Zhang Hao looked very distressed, “If there is a disease, it has to be cured, and hee can’t avoid treating it. He can’t sleep well every night, he has lost weight, and he doesn’t listen even when I talk.”
Qiong Ren said, “Obviously it is he who speaks yet you don’t listen. I know some people don’t believe there are ghosts in the world, and that’s fine, but you’d know if you’ve had a serious conversation with him that the person in his dream is in a motorized wheelchair. Chen Tao is from the eighties, he was very sad because of Song Yuncheng’s death, but he is not paralyzed, he neither needs a wheelchair, and where would Chen Tao buy the kind of wheelchair that can fly on the road nowadays?”
Qiong Ren’s tone was impulsive, and Zhang Hao was stunned for a moment, apparently hearing the details from Qiong Ren for the first time.
“Also, since you guys live together, didn’t you notice the bruise on Ruize’s back?”
Zhang Hao froze, “He had a few scenes where he got into an argument with someone, the bruises were gotten then, I think, it’s inevitable for an actor to get bruises, I put medicinal wine on him.”
Qiong Ren’s fists hardened, although Zhang Hao was a good director, he sucked as a boyfriend.
He pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and pulled up the photo he just took to show Zhang Hao, “You can get this kind of bruise from filming?”
Zhang Hao was worthy of being a great director, he was indeed a bit more cultured, and at a glance, he could tell that it was “Substitute” in seal script.
“How can it be a word …… for “substitute”?” said Zhang Hao, frowning tightly.
Did he really see a ghost?
At this time, Zhang Qingqing called Qiong Ren, probably because he hadn’t returned his message, so he took the initiative to contact him.
Qiong Ren made a gesture to Zhang Hao to pause the conversation.
“Dad, ahem, Mr. Qiong, have you seen the headset photo? Are you full of satisfaction, this is something I pushed a big patron’s list to rush out for you.”
Qiong Ren actually hadn’t had the time to look at it seriously, but he trusted Zhang Qingqing’s ability, “You definitely can’t go wrong with what you’ve done.”
Zhang Qingqing hemmed and hawed on the other end of the phone.
Qiong Ren asked in passing, “What big patron?”
“I have estimated the surplus of these 500 items. You can do a portion first, and postpone the rest for a period of time. It’s a pity for you miss the big order.”
His earphones just needed to be made sure to be used by the prison guards first, and the rest wasn’t an emergency.
Zhang Qingqing said, “They are the big customers of those celebrities like Wang Yaoqing who were customized with me.”
Qiong Ren clenched his cell phone in an instant, and his spine tensed.
Zhang Qingqing felt at ease on the phone, “I would be very angry if I found out about a customer or colleague ordering your paper tie. I now know that infringing on someone else’s portrait rights is not good, so I will give up this business. I don’t plan to do this kind of business in the future.”
Qiong Ren’s throat tightened: “Who did he book with you?”
Zhang Qingqing said, “He ordered custom made ones of Meng Qingheng and Fu Jiaze before, but now he has urgent needs for it. Aren’t they both in prison now? Why is he still obsessed?”
TN:
See ya Monday ✌️
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸