I Trick Even the Lames to Stand Up for Me-Chapter 18 - Why does having a daughter mean you’re losing money?

Translator : KuroShinji

TL Checker & Editor : VelvetCakeHat

Editor & Proofreader : Mariabel

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Thirty years ago, the capital had a water conservancy project that required construction of a bridge. When they set the last pile for the bridge, it wasn’t stable. The construction company tried every method to stabilize it but nothing worked. This was the last section of the bridge left, how could they hand over the bridge if the pile was faulty?

At that time, people’s mindset was still relatively backward. The constructor invited a Feng Shui Master to take a look, and that Master said that breaking the soil there had disturbed the Earth Deity and River Spirit. To solve this, it was necessary to build a living foundation by sacrificing a person.

A living foundation is built when a living person is offered as sacrifice and sealed into the pile. In this case, it means a person will be sealed into the concrete column while they’re still alive. Such a cruel practice, where do one search for a sacrifice? If even one step went wrong, they could get indicted in a murder case.

It was at this juncture that someone gave them the idea to search for a sacrifice in the remote mountain area villages.

The person in charge of the construction was immediately moved by the idea. If they buy someone from the remote mountain area far from the capital, no one would notice the missing person. So the person in charge found a poor family with five children in the mountain.

The family was so poor that even three meals a day were not a guaranteed luxury. As soon as they heard that the amount of money they will gain for selling one of their children would be enough for the entire family to live off for several years, they decided to sell their second daughter whom they disliked. They wanted to send their three sons to school. Their eldest daughter will be able to get married in two years, after raising her for so many years it was time to get some returns on the bride price.The remaining children were all sons and will be the continuation of the family line. They were treasured and cannot be sold off.

The second daughter was 18 years old, with a mole on her forehead, and was not fond of talking. This kind of dull personality was really not popular with people. She didn’t even have a matchmaker interested in arranging a marriage for her. From the look of things, she wouldn’t fetch a high bride price even if she gets married, so it was better to sell her off for some extra money. The middleman said they’re buying a girl to marry her off with a fool, so the girl’s parents didn’t even hesitate to take the money and kick her out of the house.

Just like this, an 18-year-old girl was sealed into the concrete pile by a black-hearted constructor, and amazingly, the bridge was really successfully completed after that.

However, strange things started happening ever since. First, the workers died one after another and the people who walked on that bridge often had accidents. The constructor realized that something must have gone wrong and went to find the Feng Shui Master but found out that man was a fraud! The Feng Shui Master had heard of such a method in passing and simply proposed it as a solution. He didn’t know that they would really take a human’s life. He quickly ran away in fear.

A few days later, the constructor also died in a tragic manner at home. Everyone who was involved with the live sacrifice met a tragic end.

Gradually, the rumor about the bridge’s evil nature spread and many people dare not take the bridge. Later, the abandoned bridge was filled up as no one used it anymore, and there had been no accidents since. As time passed, except for the local elderly, no one knew that there was a bridge there.

With the money, the poor family sent their three sons to school, and started a business, and gradually became rich. Their sons had good careers and were able to buy a house in the capital. Maybe it was fate, but the house they bought was right next to the bridge.

Just as the family’s life was getting even better, strange things started happening.

First, their little grandson hit his head when he was pushed down the stairs. After he recovered from his head injury, he was locked in the cabinet. He was so traumatised from the incident that he nearly became a fool. The child said those things were done by a ‘big sister’. The family was shocked by his description of that ‘big sister’ because she sounded like the second daughter whom the parents sold away many years ago.

Soon after that, more strange things happened. Flower pots fell from out of nowhere, the sound of people laughing in the middle of the night, the gas stove lit up on its own, and the chopping board suddenly got covered in blood. All the children in the family said they saw a young girl doing it.

At this time, the old couple were both afraid. They suspected that something must have happened to their second daughter after they sold her away. Maybe she had lost her life and came back for revenge. They asked a Master to take a look. That Master said to calm her anger, they needed to have a ghost marriage for her and let her live a good life in the other world. And the husband should not be a deceased man, but a living one. It would be best if he was a good looking lad close in age. These all lead to Zhao PengYu, who found the pouch. In fact, when he found that pouch, someone had been observing him the whole time.

Yu Ze was quite petty. Someone nearly cost his nephew’s life, how could he let this slide? He immediately found someone to deal with this matter. On the same day, the road was closed, and the bridge was excavated. They found that there was indeed a set of human remains inside the foundation. After examining the remains, they concluded that this was the skeleton of an 18 years old female.

The police quickly joined the investigation and unearthed this tragic case that had been buried for thirty years.

The constructor and the workers who were involved in this case had all died. It was said that the Feng Shui Master who proposed the sacrifice had also died a few years after the bridge was built so they couldn’t make a convict a dead man.

That Master who proposed the dumb idea for ghost marriage on the other hand couldn’t run away from his crimes. The girl’s parents are also still alive. Human trafficking even when they are your own daughter is still a crime. So the old couple was escorted to the police station for questioning.

The couple made use of their old age to stir trouble for several days. They pretended to faint so they got sent to the hospital, and after recovering, they were brought back to the police station. After being shuttled back and forth like this a few times, they ended up back in the hospital, exhausted.

The police came to their ward and handed the investigation results to them before saying, “Do you want to read the process of your daughter’s death yourself or do you want me to read it for you?”

The couple were both reluctant to listen. The old woman no longer pretended to be sick but tried to reason instead, “She’s our daughter who I gave birth to and raised. Who would want her to die? But if I don’t sell her, my three sons would starve to death. Don’t you think she should contribute to the family that raised her? Now that we all have a good life, she, that unfilial daughter, came back to torment my little grandson. Our Liu Family only has that one little grandson, the seedling that will continue our family.”

Hearing this perverted reason, the police officer held down his anger and said, “Then you should identify the body and bring her back for burial.”

“That won’t do.” The old man was unhappy, “We have rules in our hometown. Daughters can’t enter the ancestral graves; it will bring bad luck. Find her an in-law. She has been dead for years, we don’t want much, just 20,000 yuan is enough as a bride price.”

The police officers in charge of the case got so angry that he temporarily stopped the questioning to leave the room. He breathed in some clean air outside the ward to prevent himself from going ballistic.

No one saw that after the officer left, a dark shadow leaned against the wall. Its dull grey eyes quietly stared at the two old people in the ward. Before long, two lines of blood flowed from its eyes.

Gu Ye, who was at school, felt his heart jump wildly. He pinched his fingers to calculate the situation and his expression instantly changed. After class, he immediately went to a public phone in the school, “Zhao PengYu, give me your uncle’s phone number. Something went wrong.”

Zhao PengYu had already been discharged from the hospital. After resting for several days, he had already recovered and was packing his stuff to go back to school. Hearing Gu Ye’s obviously anxious tone, he ran to the window and shouted, “Uncle, Gu Ye wants to talk to you!”

Yu Ze, who already had one foot in the car, stopped and turned around after hearing this. Zhao PengYu was confused by this. Since when did his uncle become so tolerant?

“This is Yu Ze speaking.”

As soon as he heard Yu Ze’s voice, Gu Ye hurriedly said, “Mr. Yu, the ghost girl might have been stimulated by something. I can sense that she is going out of control, and the possibility of her harming innocent people is high. You have the Zi Qi, she’s afraid of you. Can you go to her house and check on the situation?”

Yu Ze’s expression darkened before he calmly said in response to Gu Ye’s expectations, “Okay.”

Gu Ye let out a relieved sigh, “Thank you! Sorry to trouble you! Ah, I have to go to class! Goodbye, Mr. Yu!”

Hearing the dial tone after the call being hung up in a hurry, Yu Ze shook his head helplessly. After leaving the house, he immediately made a phone call. “Find out where Liu Qiao’s parents are and what have they just done.”

Right now, only her biological parents can stimulate Liu Qiao. After his staff reported the old couple’s deeds to him word-by-word, Yu Ze made another call. “Find the Liu Family’s little grandson and bring him along with his parents to me.”

Yu Ze’s thinking was quick and accurate so he immediately grasped Liu Qiao’s thoughts. Liu Qiao was hurt by her parents’ words and had lost control. Right now, she wanted to kill the little grandson her parents loved so much. But he had been taken away and she had no way to approach him as she was afraid of Yu Ze’s Zi Qi. In her anger, she went back to the hospital and stared at her parents who were lying on the bed, pretending to be sick. Her pupils were already dyed red with blood.

Why do her parents treat her like this? Because she’s a girl, therefore she was naturally a money-losing proposition? From a child till adult, why did they never care about her? Why can’t she get praised no matter what she did? Why should she be sold for the betterment of the whole family? Don’t they know how cold the cement was? That feeling of being suffocated slowly, it was very excruciating. Don’t they know that she’s making such a fuss just to hear them say they regretted what they did to her? That was all she wanted but why can’t she ever get what she wants?

Liu Qiao slowly approached her parents, until she was in between their beds. She then reached out and covered their mouths and noses, watching as they struggled to breathe and tried to escape her hold. But they could do nothing. Their faces distorted in pain, much like her expression before her death. The corners of her lips gradually curled up into a strange smile. Undeniably, at this moment, she was very happy.

The next day, the nurse who was on duty found the two patients dead on their beds. After forensic examination, their cause of death was ruled as asphyxia. The strange thing was, when the surveillance was checked, there were no visitors whatsoever in the ward.

The good thing was, Gu Ye never sensed Liu Qiao’s ghost anymore after the old couple died. The Master who proposed the absurd ghost marriage had also received his due. It was a calm period and Gu Ye concentrated on his studies for the college entrance examination.

As soon as Yu Ze got involved in this matter, the whole incident spread quickly in the high society’s circle. Gu Ye, an 18-year-old child, actually solved a problem many famous Masters couldn’t. The Third Young Master of the Gu Family got his brain cured after visiting their hometown. Not only did he get first place on an exam, but he could also do fortune-telling now?

The high-society circle felt this was too magical, no, it was simply impossible! It was only after hearing rumors that Zhao PengYu’s parents paid a visit to Gu DeCheng that they believed the news about Gu Ye and they were really shocked by this. Did the third son of the Gu Family hide his ability for 18 years? How could a child have such a deep mind? What did Mrs. Gu do to him that made him turn out like this? Without her knowing it, Mrs. Gu, the stepmother, was carrying the blame.

Meanwhile, Gu DeCheng was actually worried about another thing. Many people said that Feng Shui Masters and fortune tellers would more or less had something missing in their destinies. Now that Gu Ye was working in this line and getting better and better, will it have an impact on his future? No matter how he thought about it, he can’t feel assured.

“We can’t let him do this kind of thing anymore later.” Gu DeCheng said, worried, “Let’s choose a course for him at the university that doesn’t have anything to do with this field.”

As the stepmother, Mrs. Gu didn’t have the right to make decisions for Gu Ye so she said, “How about discussing it with Lao Da and Lao Er first? Didn’t they say they will come back when Lao San and Lao Si are on holiday?”

Gu DeCheng pondered for a while before saying, “No, let Lao Da take him abroad. No one in other countries would believe in this thing.”

Thinking of Gu Ye’s rebelling personality, Mrs. Gu subtly hid all the fragile ornaments in the house. Gu Ye certainly won’t obey his father’s arrangement and when Lao Da and Lao Er come home, he would dare to fight against the three of them. At that time, the house would be chaotic. After some thoughts, Mrs. Gu also hid things that can be used to hit people. Better safe than sorry.

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Huge thanks to Velvet for helping me TL Checking this chapter. There’s a lot of confusing paragraphs that I couldn’t make sense of. And special thanks to McJohnston for your donation! Thanks for reading!