Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 102 Don’t Play Ghost

The picture in the darkness is the obsessive memory of the water ghost.

For this resentful and miserable female ghost, her strongest obsession and resentment was the night she died.

In the darkness, the middle-aged man with a rat-like face came to the door of the wooden house and called out the old woman who was cursing her daughter-in-law.

Ran Qing understood that this middle-aged man was the so-called "Hu Laowu" and observed him carefully.

The scorched triangular face was like dried orange peel, full of small potholes, and the sparse stubble scattered around the mouth like weeds, looking inexplicably wretched.

The most eye-catching thing was the hairy mole on Hu Laowu's chin. Long hairs sprouted from the center of the mole, trembling as Hu Laowu spoke.

After he called the old woman out of the house, he whispered to her stealthily outside the door for several words, and finally handed her a triangular talisman paper with red lines written on it.

After completing these, Hu Laowu said happily to the room.

"Okay, Third Aunt, I'll be leaving now."

"This is a magical talisman that I specially obtained from another place. It can cure diseases and save lives!"

"I heard there was a lame man who drank this magic water and his feet were healed!"

"Your daughter-in-law is good in every way except her leg. If you can cure her leg, then everyone won't be so happy."

The middle-aged man with a rat-like face deliberately spoke loudly, and then left amid the old woman's profuse thanks.

The old woman generously took out a blue hundred-dollar bill and stuffed it into the middle-aged man's hand.

The two men struggled for a while at the door, and the woman in the room wiped her tears and hurried out to invite the middle-aged man who came to visit on New Year's Eve to have dinner.

But the middle-aged man laughed and waved his hand, then left with the hundred-yuan bill: "I'm going home too, I just happened to get off the train and came to give you the talisman paper on the way."

"Anyway, your family will be fine now that they have this magical talisman."

"The master who drew this talisman is so effective!"

The rat-looking Hu Laowu laughed heartily, turned around and walked into the darkness.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law looked at each other at the door, but the atmosphere was a little stiff.

After the outsider left, the smile on the old woman's face suddenly disappeared and turned into a cold and sour face.

She directly stuffed the triangular talisman into the woman's hand and said, "Burn this talisman, dissolve it in water and drink it. If it can cure your lameness, it will also save you from suffocating my eyes by wandering around every day!"

The old woman walked into the house with a sullen expression. The old man wearing a black dog-skin hat stood by the door curiously and asked, "Is this the magical talisman you mentioned? Does it really work?"

The old woman snorted coldly and said, "Who knows if it will work? Anyway, I've already told Xiao Jincai that if it can cure her lameness, I won't drive her away."

"Otherwise, after the New Year, let her pack up and go back to her parents' home."

"Even a lame man is treated as a treasure and married home, causing unrest in the family... With my little Jincai's status and ability, what kind of woman can he find?"

"It was you, old man, who made the promise back then. I told you not to marry a cripple!"

The old woman came into the house cursing.

The old man in the dog-skin hat was inexplicably scolded. He looked at his daughter-in-law at the door awkwardly and said, "Um... well, come in first. It's cold outside."

"Listen to your mother first and try Hu Mila's talisman. It would be great if it works."

The old man persuaded his daughter-in-law.

The lame woman wiped her tears, nodded, and limped into the house.

She filled a bowl with cold water and then lit the triangle symbol with many red lines drawn on it.

When the flame had almost burned the talisman paper, the woman threw all the ashes into the water and stirred it quickly.

Soon, a bowl of turbid talisman water was dissolved.

Even the old woman, who was cursing loudly, watched nervously from the sidelines. Only after she saw her daughter-in-law drink the talisman water in the bowl did she quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

Ran Qing, who was watching this scene from outside the door, had a cold look in his eyes. The pale water ghost, whose throat he was pinching, was no longer moving.

The water ghost looked at the scene in the house with resentment and hatred, staring at the wrinkled old woman, as if he wanted to rush up and eat her alive.

There was a brief silence in the wooden-tiled house.

When the old woman saw her daughter-in-law drink the talisman water, she stopped scolding her.

This big family finally got some temporary peace on New Year's Eve.

But the daughter-in-law, who was carefully cleaning the dishes on the table, gradually covered her stomach and seemed to feel pain.

At first she tried to clear the table.

But in the end, the pain seemed too intense. The lame woman covered her stomach and sat down on the ground in agony, sweating profusely from the pain.

"It hurts... Dad, my stomach hurts... Like a knife cutting..."

The woman was shaking with pain and begged for help from the old man beside her.

The two old men in the room were also startled when they saw the woman's strange behavior.

The old man quickly stood up and wanted to help his daughter-in-law, but as soon as he stretched out his hand, he hurriedly withdrew it.

"No, I'll go get Xiao Jincai back!"

The older generation, who pay great attention to the separation between men and women, dare not touch their daughter-in-law for fear of being seen and gossiped by others.

He nervously held a flashlight and ran into the darkness outside the door to call his son home.

The old woman who stayed in the wooden house was also horrified and panicked as she looked at her daughter-in-law, who was shaking in pain and had a pale face. She was at a loss.

"What's going on? Why do I suddenly have a stomachache?"

The old woman cursed in panic, "Are you pretending, you little bitch? Why does drinking the magic water give me a stomachache?"

"I'm warning you, don't act like a ghost on New Year's Day! Get up now!"

"If you don't get up, I'll beat you to death!"

The old woman cursed out of habit, and as she cursed she became more confident, as if she really believed that her daughter-in-law was pretending to be sad.

She hurried to the wall, tore off a bamboo stick from the broom made of thin bamboo strips, and beat her daughter-in-law hard.

"Get up now! Stop playing tricks!"

The old woman beat and scolded him, and was extremely angry.

Trying to force the daughter-in-law to get up by beating and scolding her.

But the woman, whose whole body was shaking with pain and whose lips turned pale, did not even utter a scream even after being beaten with the thin bamboo stick.

Her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

Seeing her daughter-in-law faint, the old woman was really panicked.

She was frantically walking and jumping around, totally bewildered.

"What should I do? I just drank a bowl of talisman water, how could something go wrong?"

The old woman's face was filled with fear.

At this time, there were footsteps outside the door.

The old man who ran out with a flashlight finally called his son over.

The father and son rushed into the house. The honest-looking man quickly squatted down and picked up his wife who had fainted on the ground.

"Mom, what's going on? How come I became like this after drinking a bowl of talisman water?"

(End of this chapter)