Chapter 145

Chapter 145

Even more disturbingly, a ring of blood had pooled beneath the Blood Jade, as if it had seeped out from inside the jade itself.

As I stared at the photo, a terrible premonition rose in my heart.

Guo Zaimin’s daughter… Someone had sent her betrothal gifts. She truly was going to be married off.

The Eight Characters on the red paper were meant for the exchange of betrothal cards.

The Blood Jade was the pledge of love.

This must have been going on for quite some time. If we delayed any longer, it might become nearly impossible to save her.

I hurriedly called Li Qingying over. Just as we were heading out, I paused and asked, “Should we bring Hui Moqiong along? He should be able to help.”

“He already went out with Seventh Master. He’s not at the Pawnshop,” Li Qingying replied.

After locking the door, the two of us got into the car.

Li Qingying drove while I sat in the passenger seat. Curious, I asked, “Those two seem awfully busy lately. What have they been up to?”

“Ever since the door to the West Room opened, Seventh Master has seemed like a completely different person. He has more work than he can ever finish,” Li Qingying said. “Old Fifth Hui may be a chatterbox, but when it comes to things he isn’t supposed to talk about, not even a crowbar could pry his mouth open.”

Well, I felt exactly the same way.

Guo Zaimin lived in Xucheng, west of Wufu Town. The drive took close to two hours.

The Guo Family’s retirement home was enormous: a three-story townhouse with spacious front and back courtyards. It wasn’t far from downtown Xucheng and was a very pleasant place to live.

By the time we arrived, night had completely fallen. The courtyard was brightly lit, and Guo Zaimin and Jin Wuya were already waiting for us at the gate.

The moment we entered the Guo Family residence, I went straight upstairs to Guo Zaimin’s daughter’s room.

His daughter’s name was Guo Zhen. She should have been at school preparing for her final exams, but because of this incident, she had spent nearly the entire past month on leave at home.

The room was dim, illuminated only by a bedside lamp.

Guo Zhen sat on the bed with the Buddha Head cradled in her arms, her cheek pressed tightly against it. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying.

She looked like one half of a pair of lovers who had been forcibly torn apart and had finally reunited.

Every so often, Guo Zhen would kiss the Buddha Head and mumble something under her breath.

We all stood silently in the doorway, not daring to enter and disturb her.

I noticed that Guo Zhen’s left wrist was wrapped in gauze.

After we withdrew to the living room, Guo Zaimin and Mother Guo joined us.

Mother Guo’s eyes were red, her face haggard, and she looked utterly exhausted.

I asked what had happened to Guo Zhen’s left wrist.

“She cut it herself,” Mother Guo choked out. “I always thought she was sick and had a tendency to self-harm. I even took her to see a psychologist. It wasn’t until her father came home today and found this jade in her room that I realized I’d been wrong.”

A piece of red cloth bearing Guo Zhen’s Birth Date and Time lay on the table, with the Blood Jade resting on top of it.

Only after seeing the Blood Jade up close did I realize I had been mistaken earlier.

The jade had originally been transparent. It had only turned blood-red after Guo Zhen fed it with her own blood.

That was also why blood had spread beneath the Blood Jade.

There was no longer any doubt.

Guo Zhen had fallen under an evil influence. One of the Dirty Things had sent her betrothal gifts and claimed her.

Mother Guo clutched my hand and sobbed. “Master Jin told me that Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu is extremely capable and even has Immortals watching over her. You must help my daughter! As for payment, you don’t need to worry. Once this is resolved, we’ll reward you handsomely.”

“Let’s set payment aside for now,” I said. “Our Pawnshop has a rule. If I intervene in your family’s affairs, your family must pawn the evil object causing the trouble to our Pawnshop. Only by establishing a business transaction between us can I avoid taking on your family’s karma without cause.”

Mother Guo nodded repeatedly. “We’ll pawn it! Of course we will. You can take that Buddha Head whenever you want. We don’t need a single penny for it.”

“Mrs. Guo, that’s not how pawning works,” Jin Wuya explained. “A pawn is a business transaction. There are two types: a Live Pawn and a Dead Pawn. When you pawn something to Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu, you may ask for money or exchange it for something else.”

Jin Wuya then carefully explained the Pawnshop’s procedures and rules to the Guo Family couple.
Guo Zaimin immediately said, “Dead Pawn! It has to be a Dead Pawn! We were planning to send the Buddha Head away anyway. I-”

“It’s not the Buddha Head,” I interrupted. “There’s nothing wrong with the Buddha Head, and you were right to wrap it in red cloth and bury it in the mountains. The problem was most likely where you buried it. That may have brought Evil Spirits into your home. The Buddha Head was only a medium. These are the real evil objects.”

I pointed at the red paper and Blood Jade on the table. “If you’re going to pawn anything, pawn these.”

The Guo couple were both taken aback.

Then Guo Zaimin said with even greater determination, “We’ll pawn them! Make it a Dead Pawn! As for the pawn payment…”

He considered his words before asking cautiously, “Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu, does the Pawnshop have anything that can ward off evil? I’d like to take such an item as the pawn payment — a protective charm for my daughter.”

Mother Guo hurriedly added, “We can pay extra. Just consider it a purchase.”

The Guo couple truly loved their daughter. Everything they did was with her in mind.

I thought for a moment, then nodded. “We do.”

Yu Nian had previously given me plenty of things like sheets of Talisman Paper, and Liu Junyan was sure to have protective artifacts as well.

An ordinary person like Guo Zhen wouldn’t need anything especially valuable. A modest artifact would be more than enough for her.

Guo Zaimin was overjoyed, but he still couldn’t put his mind completely at ease. Pointing at the Buddha Head, he asked, “Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu, then what about this Buddha Head…?”

I glanced instinctively at Jin Wuya.

If he modified the Buddha Head and resold it, it could easily fetch several million yuan.

However, Jin Wuya discreetly waved his hand at me, signaling that he didn’t want it.

That made sense.

It was easy to invite a god in, but hard to send one away. A Buddha Head-especially one with spiritual power-might not possess any evil aura of its own, but not everyone had what it took to keep it under control.

Apparently, even Jin Wuya couldn’t handle it.

After a moment’s hesitation, I took out my phone and called Master Hui Quan. I told him the entire story from beginning to end, then asked whether I could donate the Buddha Head to Qingquan Taoist Temple.

To my surprise, Master Hui Quan didn’t want it either. “Girl, it’s a fine object, and of course I’d like to have it. But we’re a Taoist temple. Wouldn’t it be a little… strange for us to enshrine a Buddha Head?”

Right. How had I forgotten that?

Master Hui Quan continued, “It wouldn’t be suitable here, but it would be perfect on the Buddhist shrine in the Pawnshop. Seventh Master would probably like it.”

Fine. It seemed I would have to take it after all.

Once I hung up, I looked at Guo Zaimin and said, “I’ll take the Buddha Head and pay you the market price. Is that acceptable?”

Guo Zaimin waved his hands repeatedly and refused to accept any money no matter what I said. After much persuasion, I finally got him to take five thousand yuan. He insisted that it was only gold-plated and wasn’t worth much.

Once those loose ends had been dealt with, we set off to inspect the place where they had initially buried the Buddha Head.

That was the root of the problem.

We drove west for another two hours or so before stopping at the foot of a mountain.

The place truly was remote. Even at the foot of the mountain, we could smell the faint scent of sandalwood permeating the air.

In the darkness, a single light halfway up the mountain glimmered hazily through the mist.

Guo Zaimin said it came from a Temple inhabited by ascetic monks.

The Buddha Head had been buried not far beyond the wall around the Temple’s rear courtyard.

At the time, he had thought that being closer to the Temple would be better for the Buddha Head’s cultivation.

We climbed halfway up the mountain and quietly circled around behind the Temple’s outer wall, stopping a little farther downhill. Guo Zaimin pointed to a small patch of disturbed topsoil and said, “This is the place.”

There didn’t seem to be anything particularly wrong with it.

I surveyed the surroundings.

It was the dead of winter, and all the vegetation on the mountain had withered away. In daylight, we would have been able to see a long way at a glance.

But at night, in such a remote place, everything as far as the eye could see was pitch-black.

Yet amid that darkness, I spotted a place near the western foot of the mountain that was lit up as bright as day.

It was a sprawling compound, and right in the middle of it, a five-star red flag fluttered unmistakably in the air…