Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 39 Little Cotton

"These mountain monkeys come so quickly..."

Ran Qing muttered to himself as he looked at the stairwell which had become quiet again.

Mountain monkeys not only come quickly, but also leave quickly.

This time, Ran Qing paid all four eyeballs that the evil leader wanted, and the mountain monkeys disappeared without a trace, without leaving any entanglement.

As the mountain monkey left, the light bulb in the stairwell lit up again, and the dim light once again shone on Ran Qing's face.

Aunt Six glanced at him from behind and said, "Go back and change your clothes, and remember to eat your fill. Moving the corpse tonight is going to be a tough job."

After saying that, Aunt Liu said to the dog lying in the corner of the living room, "You come with me."

The sick dog quickly got up and followed Ran Qing with its tail between its legs.

Ran Qing turned around and said goodbye to Aunt Liu, closed the door of Li Hongye's house very quietly, and left with his schoolbag and the dog.

His school uniform was stained with blood, but the uniform of No. 3 Middle School was a black and white striped tracksuit, with the top mostly black and the pants completely black. Plus, it was dark, so even if someone stood in front of Ran Qing, as long as they didn't look closely, no one would notice the blood on him.

But to be on the safe side, Ran Qing took off his blood-stained coat and only wore a gray short-sleeved shirt that was washed to a pale color.

Carrying his schoolbag and Aunt Liu's props, Ran Qing walked out of the old residential area where Li Hongye lived.

The moonlit streets of the night were as deserted and empty as ever, with few people walking around. The daytime fog had dissipated, and darkness enveloped the city.

The two bars and dance halls on Renmin Road have blurry neon lights flashing from afar.

Ran Qing walked around there and headed towards the rental house in the shantytown on Qingyuan Road.

The girl in dog skin followed him, walking on all fours, without any trace of a human being.

After walking for a while, seeing that there was no one around, Ran Qing couldn't help but ask, "How long have you been like this?"

The walking dog was stunned for a moment, looked up at Ran Qing, and seemed to be hesitating and thinking.

After a few seconds, the dog shook its head.

"I...I can't remember clearly..."

From under the dog skin came the hesitant reply of the little girl.

Her voice sounded a little confused, as if she herself didn't know what she was talking about.

Ran Qing was relieved to see that she didn't run away this time.

It seems that when she was at Li Hongye's house just now, the girl was not scared away by Ran Qing. Is she afraid to talk to Ran Qing in front of Aunt Six?

Ran Qing asked again: "What about your name? Do you remember your name?"

Ran Qing really wanted to know how to address her. He couldn't just keep calling her a dog, right?
He always felt weird about treating a lively girl as a dog.

But Ran Qing's question made the girl stunned again.

She stood there in a daze, thinking blankly for a long time, as if the problem was extremely difficult.

After a while, she looked up at Ran Qing and said, "I don't remember... I... I don't remember my name..."

The girl stammered, "But my aunt calls me Little Cotton."

Ran Qing was surprised when he heard this: "Little Cotton?"

What a weird name...

This name was chosen by Aunt Liu, but the elderly in the Qiangke area generally like to name their children with names like Xiaohongmei, Xiaohongyan, and Xiaochunmei.

This was the first time that Ran Qing heard such a strange name as Xiaomianhua.

But Little Cotton turned his head happily and said cheerfully: "Yes, Little Cotton. My aunt calls me Little Cotton because I like to eat cotton candy." Speaking of candy, Little Cotton suddenly became excited, shaking his tail happily, and no longer looked sick.

She said excitedly: "Ran Qing, do you know where I can buy cotton candy? I secretly hid some money, but I can't buy it myself, and I can't find anywhere to buy it."

"I'll give you the money when the time comes, and you can buy it back for me, okay?"

Little Mianhua looked at Ran Qing nervously and expectantly. Suddenly, she remembered something and quickly added in a low voice, "Oh, this is our secret. You can't tell Auntie... She hates my greed the most and rarely buys candy for me."

Little Cotton's eyes were filled with tension and anticipation.

It was clearly a dog's eyeball, but at that moment it looked incredibly vivid.

Ran Qing felt strongly uncomfortable being looked at by such an old dog with such a sharp gaze.

Caishengzheguai... The Caishengzheguai that Aunt Six mentioned is so evil that it completely turns a girl into a dog?
He had read the legend of mutilation at a storytelling session. It said that there were cruel criminals who would dig out the eyes of people, especially children, or chop them with knives and axes to turn them into strangely deformed beings. They would also artificially create monster beggars to gain sympathy and defraud people of their alms.

There are also bizarre claims that one can drape a person with a hot, freshly peeled dog or bear skin. Once the blood dries, the animal's hide will fuse with the person's skin, making it impossible to remove it. People wearing these animal skins would then be taken to perform and scam people.

Although Ran Qing was shocked by this kind of folk mystery story full of loopholes and unreasonableness, he did not believe it.

But the little girl in front of him really turned into a dog.

Aunt Liu said that it was done by a bald man from Southeast Asia.

That bald guy was even killed by Aunt Six...

Recalling the cold and calm expression on Aunt Six's face when she said this, Ran Qing felt a little horrified.

Aunt Liu said it lightly, but behind this simple and light sentence was a bloody and brutal horror story.

Ran Qing sighed and said, "I'll buy it for you when I see it later."

"But there are only a few people selling cotton candy. They don't appear every day. They rarely show up..."

Ran Qing explained.

The little girl followed him closely and nodded, "Yeah, yes, that's what Auntie said."

The two walked for a while, and Xiao Mianhua suddenly said, "By the way, Ran Qing, don't tell Auntie that you talked to me."

"Auntie doesn't let me talk to others."

The little girl then remembered Aunt Six's instructions and quickly reminded Ran Qing.

Ran Qing glanced at her with a complicated look.

Will being turned into a dog affect her thinking and cognition?
Why does this little cotton ball seem a little silly...

When Aunt Six scolded her before, she seemed to have said that she had been a dog for too long and really treated herself like a dog...

Aunt Liu told her not to talk to others, but this "others" definitely did not include Ran Qing.

Ran Qing sighed with a complicated look in his eyes and nodded: "I remember, I won't tell Aunt Liu."

A man and a dog had arrived at the intersection of Qingyuan Road.

Further in, there is a dark and narrow alley.

A bumpy sloping path extends from the crooked old concrete houses.

At this point, Ran Qing could no longer talk to Little Mianhua. If someone caught him talking to a dog, it would be too horrifying.

It will cause unnecessary trouble.

(End of this chapter)