Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 106 Ancient Copper Coins

The cold night wind blew silently over the ruins.

On the loess road in the center of the ruins, two pale candles burned quietly in the night breeze. The wax flowed down the candles and solidified in the mud, piling up into strange shapes.

Only half of the incense stick was left burning, and the rising smoke swayed gently in the wind, bending like a twisted snake shadow.

A burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came, shattering the tranquility of the night.

Immediately afterwards, a hurriedly running figure and a big yellow dog fleeing in panic, a man and a dog suddenly emerged from the shadows of the narrow road.

Four stiff paper figures followed closely behind, their pale cheeks looking like eerie corpse spots in the moonlight.

Standing in the ruins, Ran Qing smelled the breath of the world of the living again. He finally stopped and breathed a sigh of relief.

“…It’s out.”

Ran Qing murmured, and instead of rushing to rest, he squatted down and began to clean up the burning incense and candles on the ground.

Four strange paper figures stood behind Ran Qing, like four strange corpses.

Ran Qing glanced at them and approached with a burning candle.

"Go."

Ran Qing's fingers shook lightly in the candle flame, and he actually picked a burning flame at his fingertips, and used the flame at his fingertips to light four paper figures.

In an instant, the paper man burst into flames.

In the rising black smoke, four blurry figures floated out and fled in a hurry.

Little Cotton was still a little out of breath as he watched the four wild ghosts being released.

She looked back as if she had just survived a catastrophe, and was filled with doubt and uncertainty: "Ran Qing, those things in there won't chase me out, right..."

Ran Qing shook his head, extinguished the unburned candle sticks and incense sticks and put them into the canvas bag, and began to deal with the remaining wax and incense ash on the loess road, as well as the ashes of the burnt paper man.

Ran Qing cleaned up the scene while answering Xiaomianhua: "Don't worry, you can't get out."

"This ghost market was created by the water ghosts in the well. Now that the water ghosts have been captured by us, the negative energy and resentment in the ghost market will gradually diminish."

"It's like a balloon that keeps losing air and shrinking."

"And the wandering ghosts trapped inside will completely disappear as the ghost market dries up."

"Once they get in, they don't even have the ability to escape."

As he finished speaking, Ran Qing had already cleaned up all traces at the scene.

No matter who comes here, they will not be able to find out that it was a ghost who came here.

After listening to Ran Qing's explanation, Xiao Mianhua was just happy.

"So we can be considered to have returned victorious tonight?"

Hearing that the wandering ghosts in the ghost market would not chase them out, Xiaomianhua immediately rushed to Ran Qing and became concerned about another thing.

"Show me what you pulled out of the well."

"It's so important that you have to take the risk to get it..."

All the wandering ghosts in the ghost market came over, and Ran Qing still wanted to go down the well to fish them out. In Xiaomianhua's opinion, it was a desperate move.

The thing that Ran Qing cares so much about must be some treasure!
In the dark ruins, Ran Qing also turned on the flashlight, wanting to take a closer look at the copper coin in his hand.

Under the dim light of the flashlight, the bronze coins were covered with green rust, and the rough edges of the coins were full of the breath of erosion by time.

When it was at the bottom of the well, this copper coin emitted a strong and cold aura.

But as Ran Qing brought it out of the well, the copper coin became ordinary and no longer cold.

Ran Qing and Xiao Mianhua looked at the coin for a long time under the flashlight, but they couldn't make out the details. "...It must be quite old," Xiao Mianhua said, half-comprehendingly. "I can't understand the words on it at all!"

Xiaomianhua has some education, but it is not high.

She felt that the words she couldn't understand must be very ancient.

Ran Qing, who was looking through the copper coin, couldn't understand what the words on the strange lines on the coin meant.

But when he held the copper coin, for some reason, he had a strong urge to eat the coin.

And the longer I stare at the copper coin, the stronger my desire to eat it becomes...

Ran Qing suddenly closed his fingers, not daring to look at the coin again.

"Put it away first and study it slowly later," Ran Qing carefully put the copper coins into the canvas bag, his heart beating inexplicably.

This copper coin gave him a very dangerous feeling.

But the little cotton ball beside him was normal and didn't feel anything.

Ran Qing packed up his things and left with Xiaomianhua, not wanting to stay around any longer.

In the city in the second half of the night, almost all the street lights were off.

Ran Qing and Xiaomianhua returned to Lao Yangpi's paper-folding shop in the dark, and saw from afar that the lights in the shop were still on.

Before leaving, Lao Yangpi and Ran Qing agreed that if they succeeded, they would come back to say hello to Lao Yangpi.

It just so happened that Ran Qing wanted to find out about Hu Laowu.

Lao Yangpi lives near the field, and a charlatan like Hu Laowu must be famous in the surrounding area.

After arriving at the door and knocking on it, Ran Qing repeated the secret code they had agreed upon in advance to prove that he was not possessed by a ghost.

Old Sheepskin opened the door in surprise and was very happy to see Ran Qing intact.

"That's great, Boss Ran! You helped get rid of a pest!"

Old Sheepskin was very excited.

Anyone who lives in a place where a fierce ghost lurks would be afraid. Now that the fierce ghost has been eliminated, it is definitely a great joy.

But Ran Qing was more concerned about Hu Laowu: "Boss Yang, do you know there is a Mila named Hu Laowu nearby?"

"He was in his thirties or forties, skinny, less than 1.7 meters tall. He had a black mole on his chin, and there was hair inside the mole."

Hu Laowu's image features are extremely distinctive, and coupled with his special identity and occupation, people who have seen him will probably never forget him.

Sure enough, after hearing Ran Qing describe Hu Laowu's identity characteristics, Lao Yangpi nodded immediately.

"There was a man like that, in his thirties or forties, with moles and hair, and his last name was Hu... But he was a pickpocket. Although some people said he was Mila, almost no one believed him and said he was a liar. No one would seek him out for help."

Lao Yangpi really knew Hu Laowu. After hearing Hu Laowu's identity information, he was a little confused.

"But Boss Ran, you want to find him? You don't need me to find him, right?"

Ran Qing was stunned by Lao Yangpi's words: "What do you mean?"

Old Sheepskin spread his hands and said, "This Hu Laowu died last year. His gang of pickpockets had a brawl with another gang of pickpockets over their territory last year."

"This Hu Laowu was stabbed six times. His intestines were all over the floor. He died before he could even be taken to the hospital..."

"Looking for the dead is something you're good at, Boss Ran, right?" Old Sheepskin looked confused. "Boss Ran, don't you know he's dead?"

Ran Qing was stunned by Lao Yangpi's answer.

"Is Hu Laowu dead?"

And died so hastily?
Isn't Hu Laowu, the man who killed the lame woman Xiao Chunlan's entire family and allowed the female ghost to retain her sanity after her death, the mastermind behind all this?
(End of this chapter)