Peng Zu's matter was confusing for the moment, so I set it aside and moved on to my second question.
"Where did my parents go? What happened to them?" I asked.
That's when Webster held up two fingers and said, "That's two questions now. Are you sure you want to ask them both at once?"
This cunning old man was counting carefully. Since I still had one final question to ask later, I couldn't use up all my chances now. So between these two questions, I could only choose one.
After some thought, I settled on the first one: where exactly did my parents go?
Webster answered immediately without hesitation: "Coffins!"
"Coffins? Where are these coffins?" I pressed.
This was a follow-up to the original question, not a new one, so Webster had to answer.
"A coffin in the deep mountains. Don't ask me which mountains - I don't know, and probably neither do your parents themselves," Webster said.
Deep mountains? Coffins? Then I remembered Philip's words.
Philip had come to our village to ask my grandfather for Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts because three coffins were dug up deep in the mountains. The corpses inside had bitten him, giving him corpse spots and growing corpse hair.
But when he saw my family photos, he realized the three bodies in those coffins were my parents and my grandfather.
Now Webster tells me my parents are in coffins deep in the mountains - doesn't this match Philip's story exactly?
Could those bodies Philip dug up really be my parents? Have my parents become jiangshi? Or transformed into some kind of monster?
I remember my grandfather said if my parents ever came to me, I must kill them and burn the bodies. The words sounded strange at the time - what grandfather would tell his grandson to kill his own son and daughter-in-law? But my grandfather isn't crazy. If he told me to kill them, there must be a reason. Most likely my parents have become some kind of demons, and grandfather feared they would return to harm people, so he told me to take drastic measures.
I wanted to ask why, but knew that question had already passed. For Webster to answer it again would use up my last question.
I felt uneasy knowing just fragments about my parents' fate. I didn't want to waste my final question, and though many other questions swirled in my mind, I knew I'd uncover these truths eventually and would have to face them.
"There's one last question - ask it!" Webster said.
"Do you know Jennings?" I asked.
Webster frowned. "The one who made a bet with your grandfather and lost, forcing him to promise his child to you?"
I nodded. "Yes, that's him. Where is he now?"
Webster asked with some confusion, "Kid, you didn't turn down Daphne just for this, did you? Is it worth it? She's the eldest granddaughter of the Dai family, and not bad-looking in every way."
I replied, "What do you know?" Then I held up two fingers and said, "Jennings' wife had a litter - twins. My grandfather won me two wives."
"Tsk tsk tsk..." Webster couldn't help but get excited for me after hearing that. "Brat, no wonder you're willing to give up Daphne. I underestimated you. Why do you think your romantic prospects are so prosperous?"
"Prosperous my ass," I grumbled. "Jennings moved away. The ocean's vast - where am I supposed to find him? There's no trace of him now. Just tell me, where is Jennings?"
This question was actually very important to me because my grandfather had said before he left that continuing the Tang family line was most important!
"Do you know why Jennings moved away?" Webster asked.
I shook my head.
"To avoid your Tang family!" Webster said.
Now I get it - this guy was trying to weasel out of his debt. What the hell? There are actually people like that?
Webster explained that Jennings lost back then because he fell for my grandfather's tricks. In his eyes, my grandfather was a scoundrel. Besides, who would want to marry their twin daughters to one man? What father could stand that? So Jennings moved away early to avoid the Tang family.
Furthermore, as far as Webster knew, Jennings hadn't just moved - he'd changed his last name too, just to eliminate any possibility of the Tang family tracking him down. He was trying to cheat his way out of the marriage agreement.
How shameless! If you lose, you should honor the bet. I never said I absolutely had to have both twins - I'd be satisfied with just one. But this Jennings was so shameless he even changed his surname to avoid me.
Fine then! If I find him, I'll take both as promised! Don't expect any kindness from me this time!
"Enough talk. Find him for me right now and tell me where he is!" I demanded.
But unexpectedly, after telling me all this, Webster finally shook his head and said, "I don't actually know where he moved to, kid."
"What? You don't know? I thought you said you'd answer my three questions?" I grew agitated.
"Yes, I did promise to answer three questions," Webster said, looking innocent. "But I have to know the answers first. How can I answer if I don't know?"
This Webster - was he playing me? "If you don't know, then calculate it! You're so powerful at fortune-telling - I refuse to believe you can't find one person!"
Webster said he could calculate it for me, but there was a catch - fortune telling requires payment. Pay him, and he'd do it for me.
Fine, money it is. For the sake of my two future wives, I'd bite the bullet. I quickly asked Webster how much he wanted.
Webster held up one finger. Without even asking, I gave him a hundred.
The blind old man felt the money, then shook his head. "Not a hundred," he said. I froze - surely he wasn't charging a thousand?
Webster said I was half right. "It is a thousand," he admitted, "but with more zeros after it. Ten million!"
"Pfft—" I nearly spat blood in his face. "I've done so many Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts and still haven't earned ten million! You're charging me that much? Could my grandpa return to the living realm with that money?"
"You rotten old man!" I cursed. "You charged Yellow Hair two hundred bucks just now, but want ten million from me? Are you fucking kidding me?"
Webster shook his head. "Apples and oranges," he said. "Yellow Hair would've climbed into that rich woman's bed without my help - that was his destiny. I didn't change anything."
"But your case is different. If I help you find Jennings, that would alter fate itself. Ten million barely covers it, because I'm taking enormous risks by interfering."
"After all," he added solemnly, "it would be me changing your destiny!"
Damn this blind man and his talk of fate and karma! Whatever - he could keep his philosophy. But at the very least, shouldn't he tell me what Jennings' new surname is?