Catching Monsters

Chapter 9 Government Office
In the early morning, in the Jiang family courtyard, the snow on the ground had not yet completely melted.

At daybreak, Jiang Qiaoqiao went out and asked neighbors along the street if they had any worn-out clothes that needed mending.

Soon Jiang Qiaoqiao discovered that something was wrong with her aunts and they were too enthusiastic towards her.

Although on weekdays, the aunts from each family sympathized with the brother and sister, treated her very well and often asked about her well-being.

But this time, he was too enthusiastic and asked her indirectly, curiously about Xu Suwen's identity.

Of course Jiang Qiaoqiao didn't know. Seeing that she didn't say anything, the aunts immediately smiled and said that she was old and had a distant nephew...

Jiang Qiaoqiao was so scared that she picked up her clothes and ran away.

Jiang Yun naturally didn't know about all this.

He meditated for another night, although some meager magical power was accumulated in his body.

But with this amount of magic power, it is difficult to use even a palm thunder.

So we have to make other preparations. After all, there is an evil spirit hiding in the government office. If we encounter it again like last time, we will not be at a loss.

Jiang Yun was busy preparing many things.

First, Jiang Yun found Uncle Wang who was selling live poultry. He smiled and said, "Good morning, Uncle Wang. I want a rooster."

The middle-aged uncle, who was covered in bird meat and squatting at the door of the shop, raised his head and grinned, "Hey, Jiang Yun, a rooster, right? Fifteen copper coins."

Jiang Yun's eyes widened. He didn't expect that a rooster would cost so much money.

He touched the dozens of copper coins he had taken from the cabinet at home, forced a smile, and said, "Then I only want blood, not the chicken, so I'll give you two copper coins."

Uncle Wang was stunned. When a chicken is killed, the blood is discarded and is usually worthless. He asked in confusion, "Why are you buying chicken blood?"

Jiang Yun did not answer this question. He counted out two copper coins and handed them over with some heartache: "Save all the rooster blood for me in the future."

I am not a stingy person. On the contrary, I was very generous in my previous life. When I was short of money, I would grab some from my own merit box.

The elders in the temple turned a blind eye to this. After all, even if they died, the Taoist temple still belonged to Jiang Yun.

Later, the young monk from the neighboring temple heard what Jiang Yun said and followed suit, grabbing some money from the donation box whenever he had nothing to do.

The monk who used to eat meat every meal changed to a vegetarian diet for a long time.

In short, he is not a stingy person, but now he is really penniless, and these copper coins were earned by his sister.

Jiang Yun was too embarrassed to be generous.

"Uncle Qi, are you doing carpentry work? Do you have an inkwell that you don't need? Lend it to me."

"Uncle Miao, do you have any unused chopsticks in your restaurant? It would be best if they are the ones that are used by many diners."

"Aunt Huang, open the door, it's me, is my uncle home?"

"Among the trees Uncle cut down, are there any century-old trees?"

By getting free stuff along the way, Jiang Yun finally collected a bunch of miscellaneous items.

When he returned home, it was just daybreak and he prepared these things.

There is one biggest difference between Taoism and Buddhism, Confucianism and other cultivation systems.

Perhaps it is to popularize the art of exorcising demons or to delegate technology, so let's call it that.

In short, Taoism has some methods that can be used even by ordinary people who do not have any magic skills.

Although these are not even entry-level stuff, they can allow ordinary people to have means to deal with evil spirits. Perhaps these means are not very powerful and can only be used to deal with weak demons.

But this is already an exaggeration.

When Jiang Yun thought of this, he couldn't help but secretly wondered, perhaps, this was one of the reasons why demons appeared everywhere after the Taoist sect disappeared?
When everything was almost ready, Qian Buchou's hearty laughter came from outside the courtyard: "Brother Jiang."

When you open the gate of the courtyard, you will feel happy and energetic as you walk with vigor.

"What about the mission that Lord Xu ordered?"

Jiang Yun thought for a while and said, "We found the demon we dealt with that day."

Qian Buchou took a deep breath, pointed at his nose, and asked, "Are you asking us to deal with the evil spirits?"

Jiang Yun shook his head and said, "That's not the case."

Qian Buchou breathed a sigh of relief. What he said yesterday about climbing a mountain of swords and jumping into a wok of oil was just nonsense imitating an opera.

"But it's pretty much the same."

"Ah? Deal with monsters? Me?" Qian Buchou pointed at himself.

Afterwards, Jiang Yun quickly told Qian Buchou the outline of the mission.

Although Xu Suwen didn't want too many people to know about this, it was impossible to hide it since he had no worries about money and help.

After hearing this, Qian Buchou took a deep breath and couldn't help asking, "That monster is hiding in our government office? Damn it, hurry up, go back to the government office!"

After saying that, Qian Buchou turned around and was about to leave. Seeing this, Jiang Yun quickly put on his cloth bag, trotted after him, and said, "Hey, Captain Qian, don't be anxious, wait for me."

Outside the yard, a fast horse was parked, with Jiang Yun holding Qian Buchou behind it, and the horse galloped all the way.

Jiang Yun was so dizzy that he was completely confused.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Qian Buchou stopped the horse, frowned, and led Jiang Yun into the government office.

"Captain Qian, why are you here so early today?"

"Captain Qian..."

Along the way, the clerks from the government office greeted Captain Qian, but Captain Qian ignored them.

This was Jiang Yun’s first time entering the government office. It was very, very big!
Following Captain Qian, there are large and small courtyards stretching across a vast area with beautiful scenery.

There are flowers and green grasses, exotic trees and plants, butterflies and insects flying everywhere.

He didn't know why Qian Buchou was so anxious, so he could only follow him to a small courtyard.

Entering the small house in the yard, Qian Buchou opened a half-meter-long box. After seeing a pile of glittering silver inside, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fortunately, the money was not lost."

"what?"

Jiang Yun, who had traveled all the way here exhausted, was stunned when he heard this. So this bastard was worried about his money?

Qian Buchou held his money and said, "Excuse me, brother, this is all I have."

"Why would you keep your money in the government office if you don't keep it at home?"

Qian Buchou said as a matter of course: "I live in the government office, so of course the money should be kept here."

Jiang Yun glanced at the box in his arms and said, "You must have made a lot of money over the years. Can't you afford a house?"

"Stop talking." Qian Buchou waved his hand, with a strange look on his face, and sighed, "At that time, I was still young and full of vigor. I became the youngest captain of the police in Nanzhou Prefecture, and I was very proud of myself."

"and then?"

"Then I took one wife and seven concubines."

Jiang Yun was puzzled: "Isn't it a good thing to enjoy the happiness of all the people? What does it have to do with moving to the government office?"

"I can't bear it, I really can't bear it." Qian Buchou showed shame on his face: "I just went to bed and went to the third brother's room. After a while, the fourth brother came to knock on the door."

"Just as I finished my work at the fourth child's room, the seventh child started to act like a spoiled child again."

"I fought hard and finally fought with Lao Qi again."

"Thinking that I can finally get some sleep."

"The wife has sent someone again."

"In one year, I lost 30 kilograms and could barely lift a knife."

"There is really no other way. I have to hide in the government office and live there. It's a little quieter now."

Jiang Yun was a little stunned after hearing Qian Buchou's words. He shook his head, came to his senses, and said, "Okay, let's get down to business."

"Which important figures live in the government office?"

"The one who lives here is probably the most suspicious."

Qian Buchou pointed at himself and said, "I live in the government office, the biggest one."

"The masters all have their own houses and usually don't live in the government office. If there is nothing important, they will normally come to the government office in the afternoon or just before dark."

"Take me around first." Jiang Yun said.

"Do you really want to catch monsters?"

"Captain Qian doesn't want to make progress?"

Qian Buchou took a deep breath, hesitated for a moment, and then had no choice but to bite the bullet and take Jiang Yun with him to tour the entire government office.

Jiang Yun took out some chicken blood, smeared it on his eyelids, and looked around.

As I walked along the way, I found it strange that there was nothing wrong in the entire government office.

There is no evil spirit or demonic energy.

Jiang Yun was a little confused. The power of that evil spirit was not that strong, and it was impossible for it to hide its evil spirit so tightly. If it was in the government office, it would definitely reveal its flaws.

I walked around the government office almost twice but found nothing.

"Captain Qian, is there any place we haven't visited yet?" Jiang Yun asked.

"That's all." Captain Qian shook his head. "I've taken you around."

"Where is the prison?" Jiang Yun asked. He didn't see any prison cells during his whole journey.

Logically speaking, a place like a government office should have prison cells.

"Yes, there is a dungeon." Qian Buchou suddenly became a little stuttering: "But I didn't bring the key, how about we go another day?"

"Let's go now." Jiang Yun said, "Of course, if Captain Qian is unwilling, I can only ask Miss Xu to come over."

"Okay, okay."

Seeing Qian Buchou's strange behavior, Jiang Yun followed him.

I became a little wary. Could it be that this Qian Buchou guy also has a problem?
(End of this chapter)