Chapter 103

Chapter 103

The Bai Family was a vast and wealthy clan, far beyond anything the Pawnshop could compare to.

The Bai Family Medical Hall had closed for seven days. On the side that belonged to the Medical Hall, every door and window was shut tight.

Inside and outside the residence, white mourning silk hung everywhere. Beneath the front veranda were eight white lanterns.

At the main entrance, people had been assigned specifically to guide guests here to offer condolences. They accepted the condolence gifts, asked about the visitor’s background, then shouted toward the Main Courtyard behind them, “Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu of Wufu Town Pawnshop has come to offer condolences!”

The mourning hall had been set up in the Main Hall, while the ritual site was on the west side of the Main Courtyard. A two-tier platform had been erected there. On the first tier stood an Altar Table, laid with Offering and all the required ritual implements.

In front of the Altar Table sat a barefoot, heavyset monk, legs crossed. Around the second tier, seated cross-legged in a circle, were all Bai Family members.

These Bai Family members clearly hadn’t been chosen at random. Every one of them had cultivation.

I paid particular attention to that heavyset monk.

He was indeed just as Li Qingying had described: fat head, large ears, and Facial Features that looked somewhat fierce.

But today, what hung around his neck was a strand of Eighteen Arhat Beads, not the skull-carved beads, each as large as a chicken egg, that Li Qingying had mentioned.

When I entered, he still had his eyes closed, striking the Wooden Fish as he chanted sutras.

The moment I approached the ritual site, his eyes snapped open, and he stared straight at me.

The Bai Family residence was brightly lit at the moment, but a canopy had been erected over the ritual site, with red and green sutra banners hanging everywhere. The only light there came from the Eternal Lamp on the Altar Table.

So when the Evil Monk opened his eyes and looked at me, I saw his eyes reflect a ghostly green glow under the dim light of the Eternal Lamp.

In that instant, the sight made me think of a cat lurking in the grass at night.

Yes. The Evil Monk’s eyes looked very much like a pair of cat’s pupils.

But that feeling vanished in the blink of an eye. The Evil Monk’s eyes quickly returned to normal.

Then he closed them again and continued chanting with full concentration.

As for me, I was led by the Bai Family members into the mourning hall.

Old Lady Bai’s coffin rested on two long benches in the Main Hall. Beneath the coffin was an Eternal Lamp.

At one end of the coffin stood Old Lady Bai’s memorial portrait, and before the portrait was a bowl of plain, uncooked rice.

Below it and along the sides were piles of paper money, Gold Ingot, and other funerary offerings.

Wreaths, paper servants, paper horses, and the like had all been set up beneath the veranda in the Main Courtyard.

Bai Jingmo was kneeling in front of the coffin. He paused in the middle of burning paper money and lifted his face to look at me. “Xiao Jiu, you’re here.”

I nodded. “Please accept my condolences.”

Bai Jingmo’s eyes were red and swollen from crying, and his knees were filthy from kneeling for so long.

He nodded at me, then took a stack from the paper money I had brought and tossed it into the Fire Basin, letting it burn slowly.

Following custom, I knelt and kowtowed three times toward Old Lady Bai’s coffin.

As a family member, Bai Jingmo returned three kowtows in response.

Once that was done, I turned and left the Bai Family residence.

I didn’t know if it was all in my head, but though nothing had happened, the whole way back, I kept feeling as if something were following behind me, its sharp gaze fixed on me the entire time.

That night, I was restless, and Li Qingying was inexplicably uneasy as well.

A little after ten, we closed the doors of the Pawnshop.

We even shut the small street-facing door of the Southern Study.

After washing up separately, Li Qingying came to my room to talk. Neither of us wanted to sleep.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

But unexpectedly, the entire night passed in peace.

The next day, even more people came to the Bai Family residence to offer condolences. Wufu Town was a small place, and it truly hadn’t been this lively in many years.

I had always known that the Bai Family Medical Hall was famous, but I had never imagined it was this famous.

No wonder Bai Jingmo could say to my face, “You may not know the Bai Family’s standing among the Five Great Immortal Families.”
From the look of things now, apart from the Hu and Liu families, the Bai Family was actually the head of the remaining three.

That day, every kind of luxury car was parked outside the Bai Family Medical Hall. Guests coming to pay their respects arrived in an endless stream, and even the handful of small inns in town were fully booked.

The third day would be Old Lady Bai’s funeral procession, so none of these people would be leaving Wufu Town that night.

For the entire day, Li Qingying and I never left the Pawnshop.

At one point, I made a few trips to the Main Hall and told the Black Coffin about what was happening with the Bai Family, but there wasn’t the slightest movement from inside.

After that trip to Wangting Mountain, Liu Junyan had looked rather unwell when he returned.

Was he in seclusion?

But if he were, he would always tell me in advance.

Maybe he was just asleep?

That night, we kept watch over the Pawnshop until almost midnight.

After two days and two nights without proper rest, both Li Qingying and I were getting drowsy.

But the town was far too lively. A single funeral in the Bai Family seemed to have revived the entire economy of Wufu Town. Not only the Teahouse, but the small restaurants, inns, and even the open-air food stalls were packed to capacity.

When we closed the doors at midnight, I could still hear voices drifting from the barbecue stalls to the east.

I fell asleep almost the moment my head touched the pillow.

I had no idea how long I had slept when a sharp pain came from the burn mark on the inner side of my left arm. Half-asleep and half-awake, I seemed to hear footsteps moving across the roof.

The sound was very, very light.

Like a cat.

I jerked awake. In the darkness, I opened my eyes and held my breath, listening carefully for any movement on the roof.

After a long while, I heard nothing.

Had I just been dreaming?

But the stinging pain from the burn mark on my arm was real.

I turned on the light, rolled up my sleeve, and took a look.

That burn mark had grown even larger. The center had already split open. If this kept going, something terrible was bound to happen.

Maybe I should find a chance to tell Liu Junyan and have him think of a solution for me?

Just as I was thinking that, a shrill cat’s cry suddenly rang out from the street outside.

The sound seemed very far away, yet also right above my head. It pierced straight through the air, startling me so badly that I jolted.

Immediately after, I heard Li Qingying’s hurried footsteps rushing over.

She had just reached my door and hadn’t even opened her mouth when a howl suddenly came from outside. “Old Lady Bai… Old Lady Bai’s corpse has risen!”

Right after that, the outside seemed to fill with footsteps and shouts from every direction.

Those people must have run out from the Bai Family Medical Hall and were now scattering wildly through the streets.

Some of them weren’t locals of Wufu Town. They were pounding on doors everywhere, begging to be taken in.

Begging for their lives.

Before long, the front doors of the Pawnshop were being pounded on as well.

A woman’s voice cried for help outside. “Old Lady Bai’s come back to life! Please, kind souls, save me!”

Li Qingying instinctively wanted to answer, but I grabbed her and shook my head.

Tonight, people were definitely going to die.

But no one could say for certain, amid all this chaos, how many of them were people-and how many were something else.

Especially when our Pawnshop was already at the center of the storm. A moment of softheartedness could very well invite a fatal disaster.

After several waves of people pounded on the door and cried for help, a faint patter of footsteps came from the front corridor roof of the Rear-facing Room.

Li Qingying said softly, “A cat?”

Yes.

That catlike footstep had come again.

It seemed it could only move along the front corridor roof. It couldn’t cross over the roof of the rooms, let alone reach the back.

But even just passing through like that was enough to set every alarm bell in my head ringing. A fine layer of sweat broke out across my palms.

Just then, the small door of the Southern Study was knocked on.

Knock… knock, knock…