Chapter 100: The Gluttonous Golden Bee Gu

I quickly finished packing my things, moved my few personal belongings to another bedroom, and when I came back, I saw that the carpenter had already set up the incense holder.
It was placed on a table in the center against the wall.

And even the freebies he mentioned, the sacrificial utensils, he had already arranged.
On both sides were two lotus-shaped candlesticks for holding candles, and in the middle was a mini bronze tripod for inserting incense.
There were also celadon wine cups and a red high-footed fruit platter.
It was indeed a very professional set of ritual vessels.

“The enshrinement of the parents’ tablets should be done by the children themselves.”
“You first bow three times, then place them inside.”
“This process must be done with reverence, and then you light an incense stick,” the carpenter explained the rules to me.

“Okay.”
I had already handled Xia Yubing’s parents’ paper figures once before.
Now, I just needed to do it again.
I first bowed three times, then held up the two paper figures and respectfully placed them in the incense holder.

The paper figures showed no unusual signs, but when they were placed inside the incense holder, for some reason, I felt as if they had breathed a sigh of relief, or rather, a sense of relaxation.

A faint yin energy flowed from the incense holder, clearly conflicting slightly with the surrounding aura, blocking out some of the faint spiritual light.
It seemed it was this ubiquitous faint spiritual light that was oppressing the two paper figures and making them uncomfortable.

Then, the carpenter handed me a bundle of incense.
This seemed to be one of the freebies he had given me.
The incense also emitted a faint yin energy, similar to the soul-pacifying incense Mo Qingyan had given me, but the yin energy seemed far less dense.

‘I’ll just use this for now,’ I thought, lighting the incense from the tripod, bowing three times, and then inserting it into the tripod.
Green smoke curled upwards, and I could see the smoke being drawn into the incense holder.

“You can close the doors when you’re not worshiping to prevent the ghosts’ resentful energy from coming out and affecting you.”
“Just place the offerings on the fruit platter,” the carpenter said.

I nodded to show that I understood.
Then he went to set up the Pixiu wood carving.
This was quick.
The carpenter had already measured the Eight Gates positions of this home.
He placed the Pixiu in the vacant study.

“This is the Gate of Injury, which, along with the Gate of Death and the Gate of Fear, is one of the three inauspicious gates.”
“A Pixiu is a fierce beast, and the Gate of Injury is suitable for seeking wealth, which also fits the Pixiu.”
“So it’s placed here,” the carpenter said.

“Miss, in the future, it’s best to keep the study door closed as well.”
“Do not let the Pixiu see blood qi.”
“Bow to it before entering the room, and then open the door.”
“Do not do anything disrespectful to the Pixiu, and he will protect you.”

“Okay, thank you, master.”
“Please stay for dinner,” I took the opportunity to extend an invitation.

The carpenter was stunned for a moment, then he was reminded of the old custom in his trade and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Miss, treating workers to a meal is a custom from the old society.”
“It’s not popular anymore.”
“Besides, this is just a fair trade, not employment.”
“So I’ll be leaving now.”

“Wait, I’ve already bought all the groceries.”
“And I have many things I want to ask you about the incense holder and the vanquishing objects,” I said, trying to get him to stay.
I really did want to hear more from the carpenter about the Art of Vanquishing Sorcery.

“No, no, miss, if you have any questions, just ask me in the group chat.”
“And all the wooden items I sell come with after-sales service.”
“If you have any problems, just give me a call.”
“But I have to go pick up my child from kindergarten later, so I won’t stay long,” the carpenter said, taking out his phone and showing me a QR code to add him.

I was quite surprised that buying an incense holder and vanquishing objects came with after-sales service.
As for whether the carpenter’s reason was true or not, I didn’t know.
But since he had used the excuse of picking up his child, I couldn’t really stop him anymore.
I could only see the carpenter to the door.

Back in the kitchen, Xiao Qing had already put the chicken on to stew and was washing vegetables.
I hurried over to help.
“I’ll cook with you.”

“You couldn’t get the carpenter to stay?” Ou Zhiqin turned her head and asked.

“No, he said he had to go pick up his child from kindergarten, so he left right away.”
“It seems it’ll just be the two of us for dinner tonight, even though I bought so many groceries,” I sighed.

“That’s nice too.”
“I was worried that Brother Xiao would eat too simply and suffer from malnutrition living alone.”
“It’s good to eat a bit more,” Xiao Qing said, looking somewhat happy.

So we started cooking together in the kitchen.
Of course, I could basically only be a helper; the head chef was Xiao Qing.
Wearing an apron over her school uniform and holding a ladle in her hand, her movements were skilled and swift.
She looked so virtuous.

“Brother Xiao, come and taste it, is it seasoned enough?” Xiao Qing said, bringing the ladle to my mouth after tasting the soup herself.

I took a sip, and the flavor filled my mouth.
It was so delicious.
Because Xiao Qing’s parents had opposed our relationship, I couldn’t go to her house, so I never had the chance to taste Xiao Qing’s cooking.
Now that I was fortunate enough to taste it, her skills were leagues above mine.

“Delicious.”
“Xiao Qing will definitely be a good wife in the future,” I said, half-jokingly.

“Don’t talk about that.”
“I can’t anymore…” Xiao Qing’s tone suddenly became low.
For some reason, her mood seemed to have dropped quite a bit.

The result was that the atmosphere in the kitchen suddenly became awkward.
Xiao Qing didn’t speak, and I didn’t know what to say, so I could only silently hand her things.
Until Xiao Qing let out a cry, “Ah!”

“What’s wrong?!” I instantly became nervous.
Following Xiao Qing’s gaze, I saw that a bag containing groceries had torn.
The meat inside had been gnawed into a pitted mess, and blood was leaking out.

“What, what happened?”
“Wait, this seems to be the ostrich meat I bought,” I said.
The problem was that it was a whole, complete piece of meat when I bought it just now.
How had it turned into something like rotting flesh gnawed by maggots in the blink of an eye?

I soon discovered the culprit.
The Golden Bee Gu flew out from the meat, and then, as if it hadn’t had enough, it landed back on the ostrich meat and started gnawing on it again.
It quickly bit a hole and burrowed inside.

“You! I specially prepared chicken blood and beef for you, and you won’t eat it.”
“What are you doing gnawing on this ostrich meat?” I said angrily.
This Golden Bee Gu was really picky, choosing to eat the rarest meat.

And its appetite was too exaggerated.
A body of about one millimeter had actually eaten a whole jin of ostrich meat, leaving only scraps, in such a short time.
This far exceeded its body size.
This wasn’t scientific.
Why didn’t I see it eat this much yesterday?

And this Golden Bee Gu was actually starting to disobey me.
I had clearly ordered it to stop eating and fly out, but the Golden Bee Gu had burrowed into the meat scraps and was still gnawing away, turning a deaf ear to my commands.

“This, a perfectly good piece of meat, has been completely ruined by it,” I said, feeling dejected.
Although this ostrich meat wasn’t actually expensive, only thirty yuan, if the Golden Bee Gu wanted to eat it, I could just buy it for it.
But it had silently gnawed away the meat I had bought to try for the first time, which was still upsetting.

“Forget it, Brother Xiao.”
“We have enough food anyway, we don’t need this extra dish,” Xiao Qing comforted.