Chapter 116

Chapter 116

What truly caught me off guard was that Dou Zhile’s return caused quite a stir.

Early the next morning after uncle and nephew came down from the mountain, a line had already formed outside the Dou Family Coffin Shop.

At first, the people lining up were all villagers from Wufu Town. Most of them were elderly, or seriously ill.

By noon, outsiders began arriving one after another as well. They drove luxury cars, brought bodyguards, and handed over calling cards with fawning smiles, all hoping to meet Second Master Dou.

I had once heard Granny say that coffin making was one of the Four Yin Trades, and it came with a great many rules.

An ordinary coffin maker, someone like Dou Jinsuo, could only make coffins for the dead.

Ninety-nine percent of coffin makers in this world belonged to that category.

The remaining one percent were divided by skill into four ranks: Black Ink Bucket, Red Ink Bucket, Gold Ink Bucket, and Blood Ink Bucket.

The so-called “bucket” referred to the ink line reel.

It was said that for a truly formidable coffin maker, the very first line snapped by his ink reel could distinguish good from evil, determine fortune and misfortune, and judge life and death.

Gold Ink Bucket and Blood Ink Bucket coffin makers were nearly impossible to find. It was said that coffin makers of that level could freely walk between Yin-Yang, appearing and vanishing like spirits. Their temperaments were strange and demanding, and they were extremely difficult to get along with.

A Black Ink Bucket coffin maker could make coffins for the living. If one reached Red Ink Bucket, then in this world, they were already as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

I did not know which rank Dou Zhile belonged to, but judging by the commotion his return had caused, he was probably far more than a simple Black Ink Bucket.

The people from Wufu Town who came looking for Dou Zhile all wanted coffins made for the living. Their goal was to ask Dou Zhile to look at how much longer they had left to live, so they could prepare in advance.

As for the later arrivals and what they wanted from Dou Zhile, I had no way of knowing.

But I could more or less guess. It was nothing more than wealth, power, or fame.

Of course, there might also be some who wanted to defy fate and change their destiny. But whether Dou Zhile had that ability, and whether he was willing to shoulder that kind of karma, was another matter entirely.

For the entire day, the entrance to the Dou Family Coffin Shop was noisy and chaotic, but its doors remained firmly shut.

Li Qingying had been keeping an eye on what was happening over there. It was not until dusk that she came running back and said to me, “Xiao Jiu, Dou Jinsuo has stated his condition.”

“Huh?” I asked, confused. “What condition?”

Li Qingying said, “Just now, Dou Jinsuo released a message. He said the first commission after Second Master Dou’s return will go to whoever brings out the Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook.”

“Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook?” I frowned. “What’s that?”

“Something similar to an anchor,” Li Qingying said. “Do you know what a Ruthless Hook is?”

I nodded.

The so-called Ruthless Hook was a tool used only when salvaging corpses from the water and there was truly no other way to retrieve them. Most bodies dragged up by a Ruthless Hook were torn to pieces.

Li Qingying said, “The destructive power of the Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook is roughly double that of a Ruthless Hook.”

My heart shook with horror. I asked, “Why would Dou Jinsuo set such an absurd condition?”

“I asked around. It has to do with how his parents died,” Li Qingying said. “Apparently, back then, Dou Jinsuo’s parents were haunted by a vengeful ghost because they made a coffin. In the end, both of them threw themselves into the river and died. Second Master Dou brought people to search the river for days. When they finally found the bodies… their deaths were too horrible to look at. Second Master Dou recognized at a glance that his elder brother and sister-in-law had not committed suicide. They had been caught by someone with a Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook, then dragged through the water and tortured to death.

“Second Master Dou couldn’t find the killer. He blamed himself too much, and that was why he moved into the mountains and stopped involving himself in worldly affairs.”

So that was what had happened.

Now that Dou Zhile had returned, this first thing he was doing was not merely about establishing his authority.

I murmured, “Second Master Dou is using his first commission after his return to trade for his enemy’s life!”
Li Qingying stroked her chin and nodded, then immediately questioned, “That was probably his original intention, but there’s one problem with it. The real killer doesn’t have to show his face, does he? He could just buy himself a scapegoat to come forward in his place.”

Li Qingying was right, but she hadn’t considered everything.

“Old Dou may not be ignorant of who the real killer is,” I said. “What he wants isn’t to pinpoint the enemy with perfect accuracy. He wants to strike the mountain and scare the tiger.”

The other party was willing to bring out the Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook, which meant he urgently needed this deal.

Since he was willing to take that step, then he and the Dou family would be entangled forever.

Revenge was only a matter of time.

Dou Zhile wasn’t afraid of waiting. After what had happened last night, the fact that he was willing to return to the Dou family meant he had already thought things through.

At that moment, I was still feeling lucky. At least he wasn’t my enemy. Otherwise, my days would only get harder.

But who could have known that I had long since become the most important part of his revenge plan?

The line outside the Dou family gates lasted a full three days.

Three days later, just as the sky was about to darken, the doors of the Dou Family Coffin Shop opened. Dou Jinsuo carried out a white lantern and hung it beneath the front eaves, then said to the crowd, “Second Uncle’s first order has already been sent out. Everyone, please go home. The Dou Family Coffin Shop will reopen in one week. When the time comes, make sure you arrive early.”

The crowd lingered outside the coffin shop for a long while, but in the end, they had no choice but to leave and come back a week later.

Just as Li Qingying and I were speculating about who had managed to deliver the Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook to the Dou family so quickly, Dou Zhile stepped through the front door of the Pawnshop.

Li Qingying and I both froze. We watched as he carried a cloth bundle straight to the counter, set it down, and said, “Girl, I’ve come to pawn something.”

With a clang, the heavy object inside struck the counter with a loud impact, shaking the entire surface.

A bad feeling rose in my heart right then.

Out of courtesy, I still said, “Old Dou, please have a seat. Sister Qingying, pour Old Dou a cup of tea.”

Li Qingying immediately went to do it.

I opened the cloth bundle and glanced inside.

The first thing I saw was the cold, hard gleam of pitch-black metal. It was piled together in one large mass, making it impossible to see the whole shape clearly, but I had already realized that this was most likely the Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook.

Li Qingying placed the teacup in front of Dou Zhile. Dou Zhile didn’t take it. He merely stared at me and asked, “Well? Girl, do you dare accept it?”

Not “will you accept it,” but “do you dare accept it.”

The pressure came crashing down all at once.

Dou Zhile was a living person, so this deal counted as a Yang Pawn. I had the right to refuse outright.

But back on the mountain, I had been the one who deliberately persuaded him to come down and take revenge. Now that he really had come down, if I didn’t dare accept his item, I would have nowhere to put my face.

I had lifted a rock only to drop it on my own foot.

My mind raced as I analyzed Dou Zhile’s purpose in doing this.

This Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook was the murder weapon used to kill Dou Jinsuo’s parents. It was also Dou Zhile’s first order after returning to the coffin shop. Its significance was extraordinary.

Yet now, Dou Zhile wanted to pawn it at the Pawnshop. And once the Pawnshop accepted this thing, it would be responsible for helping the Dou family find the killer.

So… Dou Zhile wanted to use this Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook to bind the Dou family and the Pawnshop tightly together.

He wanted to become my ally!

And after observing this ally over the past few days, I was quite satisfied with him too.

Thinking of this, I smiled. “I’ll accept it! If Old Dou dares pawn it, then I, Xiao Jiu, dare accept it!”