Gregory Quinn’s mother also nodded repeatedly, "I also think he must have run into something evil. Gregory was just fine, but after a nap, he ended up . He must have run into something evil. — Gregory, why don’t we find a powerful master to help calm your nerves?"
Grace quickly said, "Our family knows a very famous master. Everyone in our area calls her the ’Fairy Lady.’ She’s over sixty now and is said to be excellent at calming nerves."
"That sounds great. Grace, quickly have your parents get in touch. When should we see her?" Gregory’s mother asked eagerly.
"No rush, I’ll call my mom. She’s quite familiar with the Fairy Lady. Tomorrow, it’s perfect, the second day of the new year. Gregory will come home with me..." Grace said, looking shyly at Gregory Quinn.
Gregory, concerned about his injury, readily agreed.
On the second day of the new year, he got up early, anxiously and hastily heading to Grace’s parent’s home with her.
Grace’s family lived in a suburb not far from River City, and Gregory drove there smoothly.
Grace’s family had everything prepared as well.
The family sat together for lunch, and then the "Fairy Lady" arrived.
Gregory saw she was an elderly woman with dark skin, yet her hair was surprisingly jet black, long, and straight, like that of a young person, giving her a very incongruous but mysterious look.
Grace’s mom warmly introduced, "This is the most famous Lady Huang from our county. A few years ago, during the Qingming Festival, she had an encounter with an immortal, and her hair turned black overnight. She’s exceptionally skilled!"
Gregory asked skeptically, "Can she help check on me?"
Lady Huang, who had already conspired with Grace’s mom, glanced at Gregory a few times, then suddenly started shaking her head like crazy as if possessed, her whole body twitching as if electrified.
After a while, she calmed down, her eyes became staring and voice low, looking at Gregory and said, "Brother, your wife brings misfortune. You’re unlucky now because of your wife! Divorce her immediately and find a wife with a strong fortune to break away from bad luck and get promoted and wealthy!"
She then pointed towards Grace’s direction and said, "There’s a girl in this very room with a particularly strong fortune. If you marry her, your luck will change instantly!"
Gregory was stunned, "What? What does this have to do with my wife?" He glanced at Grace and wondered what was happening, thinking if this was a setup.
"... Haven’t you been married to your wife for six or seven years, and she hasn’t even laid an egg?" Lady Huang continued, revealing things that Grace’s mom had told her.
Gregory finally realized and angrily said, "That’s enough! I only got married this year, what six or seven years? — Are you even a real ’Fairy Lady’?"
Lady Huang misspoke, but without any embarrassment, kept hopping around and spouting nonsense, "Being with her is marriage; even the book of fates at Yama’s palace has it recorded! You’re married in Yama’s eyes!"
Although Gregory was desperate to try anything for his ailment, he wasn’t foolish. Watching this sixty-plus-year-old country woman dressed gaudily, bouncing around with that "black long straight" wig was really an eyesore.
"What the hell are you hopping around for?" he grabbed the "black long straight" wig flailing around and scolded, "At least act like a professional shaman! You and your whole family can go marry in front of Yama!"
As he tugged lightly, the entire "black long straight" hair came off, revealing the thin and graying short hair stuck to her scalp.
Gregory was stunned, "This is the Fairy Lady who turned her hair black overnight?! You could at least get a better quality wig!"
Then he threw the wig he just pulled off and turned to glare at Grace before walking away.
Seeing her cover blown, Grace was terrified and at a loss.
Her mom quickly pushed her to follow him, repeatedly urging her, "Catch up with him quickly! You already have his child, he can’t just walk away!"
Grace finally chased after him.
Luckily, Gregory, mindful of the child in her belly, stayed parked, waiting for her.
Only after she got into the car did he drive off.
The two argued the whole way back.
Grace wailed, "Brother Gregory, it’s my fault. I just... I just really wanted to marry you and came up with this plan. Please don’t leave me!"
Gregory glared at her, fuming with rage at her stupidity.
If it weren’t for the fact that her unborn child was a boy, he would have made her get an abortion.
Stepping heavily on the gas, he sped towards the River City Area, cursing Grace Day along the way: "You’re so capable, you even set me up! Tell me, did you hire someone to beat me up?!"
Grace was so shocked she forgot to cry, "What? Me hire someone to beat you? Weren’t you the one who fell and got hurt? How did it turn into a beating?!"
Gregory Quinn was speechless, realizing he had misspoken.
He was proud. After being beaten for no reason that night, he didn’t tell anyone, only telling his family he accidentally fell down the stairs.
He glared at Grace, saying, outwardly fierce but inwardly weak, "Since you can find a fake Fairy Lady to trick me, how could you not set up obstacles on purpose to make me fall and get hurt?!"
"I didn’t! I swear I didn’t!" Grace swore to the heavens, and it wasn’t until they got back to the old district cotton-spinning factory home that she finally stopped talking.
Gregory returned home angrily, and his mother quickly came up to ask, "How did it go? What did the Fairy Lady say?"
"What Fairy Lady? Just an old fraud!" Gregory plopped onto the sofa, tiredly rubbing his leg.
"Not real?!" Gregory’s mom glared fiercely at Grace, seeing her looking pitiful and considering the baby in her belly, ultimately holding back from scolding her.
Gregory’s father, who was sitting on the side, thought for a moment and said, "Isn’t there a particularly famous Heavenly Master in our city? Why not try finding him.—I heard he’s been doing big business with many big bosses, so he shouldn’t be a fraud."
Particularly famous Heavenly Master?
Gregory suddenly thought of the Osborne Family’s old neighbor Nick Zeller the Great Heavenly Master, clapping his hands together: "Yeah! We can go to Nick the Great Heavenly Master!"
He first tried calling Brooke Osborne many times but couldn’t get through, then realized Brooke must have blocked him.
Gregory immediately picked up someone else’s phone, first sending Brooke a text, saying that he had something to call her about and telling her not to continue blocking him, to pick up immediately, then started calling Brooke with someone else’s phone.
Brooke saw the text and definitely didn’t want to answer his call.
She just wanted to get through the New Year and then get divorced; she didn’t want to see Gregory’s face anymore.
Unexpectedly, Gregory persistently kept calling her without stopping.
Brooke, harassed by him with no option, wiped her hands on her apron and came out of the kitchen to take the call.
"... Are you crazy, why are you calling so many times?" Brooke asked angrily, "What do you want to accuse me of now? Wasn’t yelling at me on New Year’s Eve enough?"
Gregory didn’t expect Brooke to still dare to get mad at him, which made him even angrier, but realizing he still needed her to find Nick Zeller, he had to swallow his anger and said quietly, "I didn’t call you on New Year’s Eve, don’t blame it all on me.—Now tell me, are you familiar with Nick Zeller or not?"
"Not familiar. Uncle Nick is the Great Heavenly Master, I’m just a lowly employee, which eye of yours sees me being familiar with him?" Brooke asked guardedly, completely unwilling to drag her neighbor into her mess.
Besides, Lawrence Winters had already helped her a lot.
"Don’t fake detachment with me. You guys have been neighbors with the Winters Family for years. They buy a house and move, you buy a house and move, but still live in the same building, and you tell me you aren’t familiar with them? If you weren’t familiar, why did that Little Heavenly Master stand up for you that day?" Gregory dragged Lawrence Winters into it.
Brooke was a bit frightened that Gregory would really latch onto Lawrence Winters, so she hurriedly said, "What exactly do you want?! Uncle Nick is not someone to mess with, don’t target Lawrence!"
"Ha, still say you’re not familiar? Lawrence, Lawrence, calling him so affectionately!" Gregory threatened Brooke with a few words, then said, "I’m not doing anything bad. The thing is, I’ve been possessed recently, and I want to find a Heavenly Master for an exorcism. Aren’t you familiar with Nick Zeller? Can you arrange something for me? I can go find him now."
"You must be crazy!" Brooke shouted, looking very tense: "Today is the second day of the New Year! Who is still working?! Besides, Uncle Nick has always been doing feng shui for homes, never heard of him doing exorcisms, don’t target them, go find another master yourself."
Then she asked: "Besides, how are you possessed? How do you know you’re possessed?"
"How do I know? Ever since a few days ago when I inexplicably fell at the old district cotton-spinning factory and half my face froze, and my leg’s been acting up, I walk all wonky.—You tell me, if it’s not possession, what is it?" Gregory said sarcastically, "I’m warning you, if you don’t help me, I won’t divorce you!"
Knowing Brooke’s close ties with Nick Zeller and Lawrence Winters, how could Gregory not seek her out?
He was the type who could squeeze oil from a stone, convinced he’d already "tamed" Brooke, calling her was just a formality, notifying her to get ready to "welcome his arrival," never thinking she’d refuse.
Without allowing a word in edgewise, he stood up: "It’s settled then. You call them immediately, I’m driving over, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes."
Saying that, he hung up the phone, grabbed the car keys, and immediately went downstairs.