Chapter 195: Playing Tricks With Ghosts
As soon as they saw Lu Xin coming over, the crowd all bowed to him and made way for a path.
Lu Xin then saw that Lu Yun and Lu Bai were messing around with some paper figures and paper horses in front of their own house, while Lu Xiang, Lu Ying, and several guards with varying expressions watched from inside the doorway.
Lu Xin then breathed a sigh of relief, but also slightly frowned, not knowing why Lu Yun had brought these ominous things to their own doorway. However, he also knew that Lu Yun’s time was precious and he would never waste it on fooling around, so he quietly stood to the side, wanting to see what exactly these boys were up to.
Not long after, the boys stood up and clapped their hands to the watching clan members, saying: “Alright! Everyone, open your eyes wide and take a good look at how the ghost appears!”
After saying that, Lu Lin ran off into the distance, and no one knew what trick he used, but those paper figures and paper horses started moving on their own. No one was pushing them, no one was pulling them; they just wobbled toward the doorway of Lu Xin’s house, looking truly like they had come alive.
“Ah!” Even though she knew it was a trick her younger brother had come up with, Lu Ying was still startled.
“That night it was just like this!” Several guards who had seen the ghost that night shouted out upon seeing it.
“Actually, this is the same principle as shadow play.” Lu Song laughed and tugged at a barely visible silk thread on top of his head, saying: “Someone tied a thin rope like this at Lu Yun’s doorway, then hung these paper figures and paper horses on it. By turning the wheel at the other end, these lightweight paper figures and paper horses can sway and move to his doorway.”
“And when drawing these paper figures and paper horses, they used slip knots,” Lu Song said, snapping his fingers. Over there, Lu Lin yanked the rope in reverse, and the paper figures and paper horses slipped off the thin rope. “Then by pulling the silk thread like this, no trace of human intervention can be seen at all.”
Lu Lin gave it a light shake, and the silk thread hanging on the wall of Lu Yun’s house silently fell down, quickly collected by him.
“So that’s how it is.” The watching clan members suddenly understood. Lu Xiang cursed loudly: “What shameless thing dares to play ghost like this! Watch me skin him alive!”
“Then what about the ghost fire?” a clan member asked.
“This is even simpler.” Lu Song smiled and looked at Lu Bai. Lu Bai gave a grim smile, shook his hands that were hidden in his sleeves, and two clumps of eerie blue ghost fire suddenly leaped out. And as he lightly pushed with his hands, the two clumps of ghost fire followed, drifting along. When he moved fast, the ghost fire moved fast; when he moved slow, the ghost fire moved slow, scaring the crowd into retreating repeatedly.
“This is the same as seeing ghost fire in a graveyard—nothing special about it.” Lu Song smiled easily. He certainly wouldn’t tell the others that to collect this bit of ghost fire, they had gone to the chaotic graveyard in the middle of the night, spending who knows how much kung fu to gather two small jars of stinking gas from the cracks atop countless graves.
“As for the ghostly wailing and howling, no need for us to demonstrate it live, right.” Lu Song smiled as he said to the crowd.
“No need, no need,” the clan members shook their heads: “We know this one too.” Someone laughed: “Of course, if Young Master Song demonstrates it, we’d be happy to listen.”
“Dream on.” Lu Song laughed and cursed, then said seriously: “So the haunting at Lu Yun’s doorway was not Lu Jian’s ghost coming for revenge at all, but someone deliberately playing tricks to achieve their dirty purposes!”
“It must be that!” The crowd nodded deeply in agreement. The haunting had caused extremely bad impact on Lu Xin’s family. Now everyone understood it was someone deliberately framing them. “So who exactly did it?”
“Do I even need to say?” Lu Song sneered: “Whoever has it in for their father and son—that’s who did it.”
“That’s like saying nothing at all.” The clan members laughed.
“Alright, alright, we’re just here to catch ghosts, not solve cases. Everyone disperse.” Lu Song waved his hand to signal the show was over.
Only then did the clan members reluctantly disperse. Even after walking far away, they were still excitedly discussing what they had just seen. It was certain that by tomorrow morning, the whole clan would know the truth about the haunting at Lu Xin’s doorway.
Once the crowd had dispersed, Lu Song and the others finally noticed Lu Xin and hurriedly bowed to him. Lu Song grinned at Lu Xin: “Tenth Uncle, how are you going to thank me for what you saw?”
“Have you no shame?” Before Lu Song finished speaking, Lu Lin exposed him: “The idea was all Lu Yun’s, the ghost fire was found by Lu Bai, the mechanism was made by me. You just show off in front of everyone, and all the merit becomes yours?”
“Heh heh, you’re no fun.” Lu Song said without batting an eye: “I wanted to draw out Tenth Uncle’s signature skills for everyone to see. If you won’t cooperate, fine.”
“I’ve already taught you my signature skills,” Lu Xin laughed heartily: “Come on, sit inside the house.”
“No can do, we’ve been up several nights and need to hurry back for some sleep, or else Sixth Uncle will blow up tomorrow.” Lu Song and the others shook their heads with smiles, winking at Lu Yun: “You’re lucky, hiding at home every day living the easy life, while we’ve had it rough.”
Lu Yun could only shake his head with a bitter smile. These past few days, he had been even more exhausted than them…
Once Lu Song and the other two left, the family went into the courtyard. Lu Xiang was still angrily cursing the one who played ghost, clearly he had been quite frightened before.
After soothing the old master, the father and son finally had a chance to talk alone. Lu Xin then told Lu Yun about what had happened today.
Although Lu Yun hadn’t been in North of the Luo River all day, he had already heard about it from Lu Song and the others before. He said softly to Lu Xin: “As long as we recover the money, Father will have truly secured his position.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to ask you—how’s the progress?” Lu Xin looked at Lu Yun with full expectation. Before, vying for this steward position had felt somewhat forced by Lu Yun. But now, Lu Xin felt a heavy sense of mission; he had to contribute to the Lu Clan’s revival!
Very clearly, securing the steward position would allow him to better contribute to the Lu Clan.
“These days, Uncle Bao and I have secretly investigated hundreds of ships inside and outside the Capital City, and we can basically confirm that Lu Jian did not hide the money on a ship.” Lu Yun answered softly.
Lu Xin nodded. If he were Lu Jian, he wouldn’t likely flee carrying so much bulky, cheap copper coins either—that would make the target way too big.
“So now there’s only one possibility left: he already exchanged those copper coins.” Lu Yun said in a deep voice: “And within the Capital City, the only one who can exchange such a large sum of wealth and has the guts to take this deal is one family alone.”
“Merchant Family.” Lu Xin said softly. The Merchant Family was rich enough to rival a country; in terms of wealth alone, even the Seven Great Noble Clans couldn’t compare. Moreover, the Merchant Family had opened multiple gold shops and money houses in the Capital City; even the Great Xuan standard currency was cast for the Ministry of Revenue by them. Swallowing three or four million strings of copper coins was naturally no problem.
“Right, it’s the Merchant Family.” Lu Yun nodded with a complicated gaze. He recalled the name Gao Guangning had mentioned to him before dying—wasn’t it the Merchant Family’s patriarch? After a pause, Lu Yun said softly: “Tomorrow, I plan to go meet the Merchant Family.”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Lu Xin said unoptimistically: “Although the Merchant Family isn’t an aristocrat, they have extremely good relations with the various clans, and their status in Great Xuan is no less than the various clans. Even if you go asking in the name of the Lu Clan, they may not be willing to reveal their client’s secrets.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. How will you know without trying.” Lu Yun smiled indifferently: “I hear the Merchant Family’s young lady is personally stationed in the Capital City. Lu Song and them say she’s quite the extraordinary woman.”
“Then you go take a look.” Lu Xin didn’t hold much hope. He glanced at Lu Yun’s face and couldn’t help but rarely tease him: “You could try the charm offensive; it might just work wonders.”
“Father…” Lu Yun felt utterly helpless. Who said Lu Xin couldn’t joke around?
