Chapter 299
Chapter 299
Dou Jinsuo’s parents… had come back in the night?
But they had been killed by the Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook years ago!
Dou Zhile had dredged the river for ages back then without finding their bodies. And anyone killed by the Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook would have been torn to pieces. How badly mangled must they have been?
After all these years, even in the best-case scenario, there should have been nothing left but two sets of bones.
As he spoke, Dou Jinsuo’s eyes reddened. Then he suddenly turned away, covered his mouth, and began to retch.
Dou Zhile raised a foot and kicked him in the backside. “Look at yourself! Get to the back and clean yourself up before you come out again.”
Only after Dou Jinsuo left did Dou Zhile continue. “I used to pray that I’d find their bodies. Over the years, I can’t count how many times I dreamed that they’d come back on their own. But now that they really have… I… I don’t know how to accept it.”
“Are their bodies still intact? They haven’t decayed?” I asked.
“They haven’t decayed, but they’re not intact.” Dou Zhile pointed to his temple with his long-stemmed pipe. “Their heads are mostly intact, but something pierced straight through their temples, leaving two black holes.
“Nearly all the flesh on their bodies was shredded by the Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook. Tattered skin and mangled flesh are still hanging from them, and their entire bodies have turned blue-black.
“They must have been lying submerged somewhere at the bottom of Zhu Pan River all these years, or else trapped there by a Seal. Their bodies have already undergone corpse transformation. I have no idea why they suddenly came out on their own. Ah, what a tragedy!”
I sat on the bench with my hands braced on my knees. After a long silence, I said, “The two of them may not be the only ones who have suddenly returned.”
Dou Zhile jolted, and his expression changed instantly.
He was a clever man who had been through a great deal, and his family even enshrined a Gray Immortal. A single hint was enough for him to understand.
I continued, “I promised you two drops of Lamp Oil. You intended to use them on those two, didn’t you? If you need it, you’d better act quickly.”
That was the main reason I had come to the Dou Family Coffin Shop tonight.
The Seal on the Copper-Coin Figure was beginning to fade. Something could happen at Pawnshop before long, and when it did, many things would be beyond my control.
Dou Zhile’s face turned grave. “Seventh Master didn’t return with you? What does he think about this?”
“He hasn’t returned yet,” I said. “You should know more than I do about the recent changes in Wufu Town. Old Dou, is there anything you want to tell me?”
Dou Zhile fell silent for a moment before saying, “Just as you said, Jinsuo’s parents may not be the only ones to have returned. There should be others at the Bai Family and the Town Head’s Residence as well. The Town Head’s move involving Great Hall may be connected to this.”
He had reached the same conclusion I had.
It was getting late, so I stood to leave. “I’ll keep an eye on them. Old Dou, whenever you need the Lamp Oil, come to me and collect it.”
Dou Zhile agreed at once.
He walked me to the door, then suddenly seemed to remember something and called after me. “Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu!”
I turned back to look at him.
With a grave expression, he said, “Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu… if Jinsuo’s parents could return, then I think… those who were carried out of Pawnshop might return as well.”
Those who had been carried out of Pawnshop…
My heart lurched. Dou Zhile meant my eight predecessors as Female Shopkeeper.
“Thank you for the warning!”
If Dou Zhile hadn’t mentioned it, the thought would never have occurred to me.
After all, I had seen those eight women in Zhu Pan River. Each had sat astride a Red Coffin. Later, Liu Junyan suppressed them beneath the river along with Chen Ping.
But there was no guarantee they wouldn’t appear again. Wufu Town was quietly changing, and anything was possible.
If they came back… should I hide?
No. Not only could I not hide, I had to face them head-on.
Without Liu Junyan’s protection, I would have been the ninth Sacrifice!
They were bound to come after me.
I hurried back to the Pawnshop. Li Qingying had returned as well and was sitting on the sofa in the Rear-facing Room, checking her phone.
As soon as she saw me, she said, “Old Fifth Hui messaged me back. He said that after escorting Seventh Master into the Great Dharma King Temple, Seventh Master went to see Abbot Kongji. The two of them shut the door and have been talking ever since. They still haven’t come out, and no one is allowed anywhere near Abbot Kongji’s meditation quarters.”
It seemed Hui Moqiong wouldn’t be able to find out anything else.
I told Li Qingying to get some sleep while I kept watch in the Southern Study for a while.
She said she couldn’t sleep and would stay with me.
Just like before, she folded Gold Ingot offerings while I sat behind the counter making paper effigies.
I had a feeling these things were going to sell very well in the days ahead.
At first, all was quiet outside.
Then, sometime after midnight, the faint slap and splash of footsteps through water came from the direction of the West Street Entrance.
The sound wasn’t loud and came only intermittently, but in the stillness of the night, it was impossible to ignore. Just hearing it made my scalp prickle.
Li Qingying and I stopped what we were doing at the same time and stared fixedly at the Southern Study’s entrance.
Before long, two figures, one man and one woman, appeared on the street outside.
Their clothes hung in tatters… No. Those weren’t clothes hanging from their bodies. They were strips of skin and flesh!
Aside from their heads, not a single part of their bodies remained intact.
Ragged strips of skin and flesh, some long and some short, dangled from them, all a sickly bluish-black.
They were drenched from head to toe and walked barefoot, with the bones of their feet exposed in places.
With every step they took, four sopping-wet footprints appeared on the ground.
They slowly passed along the street in front of the Pawnshop and continued onward.
Li Qingying sprang to her feet and was about to go outside to investigate, but I grabbed her. “Don’t. Those are Dou Jinsuo’s parents. I went to the Dou Family Coffin Shop earlier tonight. Old Dou said this isn’t the first night they’ve appeared.”
Li Qingying stared at me in disbelief. “Now I’ve really seen a ghost. Xiao Jiu, aren’t we going to do anything?”
“There’s nothing we can do about them yet,” I said. “Let’s wait and see.”
With that, I lowered my head and resumed making paper effigies.
Li Qingying, however, had lost all interest in her work. She remained at the Southern Study’s entrance, peering outside.
Sometime after two in the morning, the Dou Family couple passed the Pawnshop once more, heading all the way toward the Zhu Pan River.
The Pawnshop closed at three. I returned to my room and fell asleep almost the instant my head hit the pillow.
Li Qingying was worried about me, so she slept in my room with me.
Nothing else happened that night.
At breakfast the next morning, Li Qingying said, “Xiao Jiu, my people reported back this morning. Do you know where else the Dou Family couple went last night, besides standing outside the Dou Family Coffin Shop for a while?”
I froze. “They went somewhere else?”
Li Qingying’s expression was grim. “And they weren’t the only ones. There were others too.”
I stared straight at her, waiting for her to continue.
“My people couldn’t make out exactly who they were. They said every one of them was bloody and skinless, five or six in total.” Even Li Qingying’s voice was taut. “They came from different parts of Wufu Town and converged in one place. Eventually, they showed up near the Great Hall and stood there blankly for a long time.”
I could feel my heartbeat quickening.
Li Qingying continued, “And you were right. There was movement at the Town Head’s Residence last night. They transported a Red Coffin to the Great Hall. It was covered from end to end in Talisman Paper. It should be the one suppressing Mei Linshuang…”