Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Jiang Haoyan pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and handed them to the old man.

Seeing the brand name “Zhonghua” on the packaging, the old man’s eyes lit up. He unceremoniously took the entire pack and tucked it into his sleeve.

“That Li Yuan kid is a bad seed!”

The old man tilted his head and spat on the ground, a look of disdain flickering across his face.

“That kid is nothing like Zhu Zi. Zhu Zi was honest since he was little and was always bullied by Li Yuan. Whenever Li Yuan’s mother gave him chores, he’d always slack off and trick Zhu Zi into doing all the work. He even swindled Zhu Zi out of his pocket money. You absolutely cannot believe a word he says.”

The old man went on and on, listing a litany of Li Yuan’s faults-how he had been a cheat and a thief since childhood, lazy and gluttonous. It matched my impression of him; on our very first night here, he had dared to sneak into my room to steal things.

We made a circuit around the village. Jiang Haoyan, acting like he’d done this a thousand times, handed out cigarettes and fished for information. Without exception, whenever anyone mentioned Li Yuan, not a single word out of ten was good.

“Why did Li Yuan lie? He mentioned those chocolates and instant noodles, implying someone else gave Li Zhu money. And that figure standing under the tree at the end-was he trying to lead our investigation in that direction?”

Jiang Haoyan rubbed his chin in thought.

“Yuan Fang, what do you think?”

“Think about what? We’re here to catch ghosts, not to solve crimes.”

I shot Jiang Haoyan a glare.

“When did you learn to smoke? You’re getting quite bold, aren’t you!”

“I’m innocent! When have you ever seen me smoke? I specifically went to the store to buy these before we came, thinking I’d need them to get people talking in the village.”

Jiang Haoyan looked at me with a pained expression, his bangs slightly ruffled by the wind, looking like a well-behaved large dog.

Huh. Despite his wealthy background, this kid actually knows how the world works. He doesn’t have that arrogant air typical of rich heirs. Apprentice score: +1.

Li Family Village wasn’t large. It didn’t take long for Jiang Haoyan and me to get a full picture of the situation.

We returned to the vicinity of Li Yuan’s house and stood under a large tree across from the old residence. This was the tree where Li Yuan claimed to have seen the other figure.

It was an ordinary scholar tree, the kind seen everywhere in the countryside.

However, this tree was quite old; its circular canopy was almost as large as half a house. The trunk was thick. As I reached out to touch the bumpy bark, I was shocked to find something that absolutely did not belong there.

I picked at it with my fingernail and scraped a small piece of yellow paper out of a crevice in the trunk.

This was yellow joss paper used for sacrifices. In ancient times, people regarded yellow paper as gold; using it in rituals was meant to represent an offering of gold.

But that was just folk belief. In Taoism, yellow symbolizes Earth among the Five Elements. Only by using yellow paper as a medium can one connect directly to the Underworld, allowing the deceased to receive the offerings from the living world.

I held the small scrap of yellow paper between my fingers and held it up to the sunlight.

The intense light made the yellow paper translucent. Through the light, I could see white impurities evenly distributed within it.

“This is rice. They grind rice into powder and mix it into the yellow paper so the spirits can have a full meal during the sacrifice.”

“A true professional made this. In all of Chongqing, you won’t find a second shop that produces this kind of yellow paper.”

Nowadays, most yellow paper is just ordinary bamboo pulp paper. The only place that still knows to add rice to the mix is the Zhu Family Funeral Shop.

The Zhu Family Shop is located in Daxigou. The man who runs it is named Zhu Neng. When I was very young, my master took me to his shop once.

More than a decade had passed, but Zhu Neng didn’t seem to have changed much. He was still fair and plump, with the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes sagging loosely. He was currently sprawled over the counter with his eyes closed, napping.

I slammed the Thunderstruck Wood Talisman onto the table.

“Boss, I want to ask you something.”

He waved his hand impatiently, a trail of drool still hanging from the corner of his mouth.

“Take whatever you want and scan the code to pay.”

“If you don’t open your eyes right now, I’m going to strike you with lightning.”

“Where did this little brat come from, daring to run into Old Man Zhu’s-”

Zhu Neng opened his eyes and stared blankly at the token in front of him. He stared intensely at the token, then looked up at me. A moment later, he practically leaped out of his seat.

“Aya, Qiao-Qiao Moyu!”

“You’ve become the Sect Master? Is your master dead? Congratulations!”

I fell silent.

“It’s been years, and Uncle Zhu is still as charming as ever.”

Zhu Neng scratched his head.

“Now, now, I’m just… you know, high emotional intelligence, well-read, hahaha-”

I handed him the yellow paper and asked which customers had bought items from him recently.

Because of the rice mixed into the paper, the production cost was much higher than usual, so ordinary people rarely bought it. Those who patronized the Zhu Family Shop were either wealthy idiots who only cared about the price tag, or people from the Taoist sects.

Zhu Neng opened the computer next to him, searched for a while, and clapped his hands. “What a coincidence. Business hasn’t been great this month, and no ordinary walk-in customers have come by. The only big order recently was for yellow ritual paper supplied to the Ghost Market.”

Jiang Haoyan’s eyes widened.

“What’s the Ghost Market?”