Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 56: Water Rushes the Wujiang Dam, Moon Moves Over the Wumeng Mountains

Aunt Six became nagging.

As she became more familiar with Ran Qing, she began to assign odd jobs and housework to Ran Qing, and treated Ran Qing as a laborer, and she began to talk more.

Although he was still sarcastic, his voice was not as harsh when he scolded Ran Qing's father.

He no longer called Li Hongye "little bitch" or "little mistress".

She had become an unkempt rural woman, wearing a dirty old batik skirt, the navy blue pattern on it almost covered by stains.

Every day she lay in a bamboo rocking chair, smoking leaf tobacco. She was too lazy to even turn on the light in the dark room, and asked Ran Qing to help her pull the light cord.

Crude, mean, but friendly.

Just lazy.

There is incense ash in front of and behind the house every day, but we have to wait for Ran Qing to come and clean it up every day.

While cleaning, Ran Qing found that there were fewer broken red ropes.

I don’t know if it’s because there are fewer dirty creatures bothering Aunt Liu, or if Aunt Liu has become accustomed to dealing with them.

Ran Qing could vaguely feel that Sixth Aunt's symptoms were improving.

The two shadows behind her haven't been together for a long time.

This made Ran Qing breathe a sigh of relief.

Sixth Aunt's sinister and terrifying look really made him uneasy.

Aunt Liu's condition improved, and Ran Qing became more confident about the upcoming rescue.

Soon, the final exam arrived.

The two-day exam starts on Thursday morning and ends on Friday afternoon.

Four exams, six courses.

When the last exam was over on Friday afternoon, every student who walked out of the classroom breathed a sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from their shoulders.

Ran Qing also felt much more relaxed.

on vacation.

Two days of vacation is short, but for the prison-like high school life, two days of vacation are precious.

According to Sixth Aunt's arrangement, Ran Qing did not go to Sixth Aunt's house during the two days of the exam, and took the exam alone with peace of mind.

Now that the exams were finally over, Ran Qing couldn't wait to go to his sixth aunt's house and declined Liu Lei's invitation to go to the bookstore together.

In the 1990s when entertainment was scarce, one of the few pastimes available to these poor students was to read free books in large bookstores.

But now Ran Qing has more important things to do than entertainment and relaxation.

He came to Aunt Liu's house with his schoolbag, but was surprised to find that the door had changed.

All the bottles, cans and waste paper that were piled up in the corner of the yard were cleared out.

Instead, there were several paper people and horses, some gold ingot candles, and colorful funeral supplies piled up by the door.

The area in front of Aunt Liu's house has been transformed from a scrap recycling station into a paper-making shop.

Ran Qing was stunned when he saw this scene, and almost suspected that he had come to the wrong place.

If Little Mianhua hadn't run over to rub his feet with its tail wagging happily, Ran Qing would really have thought he had walked into the wrong door.

Those colorful paper figures stood at the door with a sinister look on their faces, their faces painted in bright and festive red, and their mouths drawn in a high grin, perhaps to express joy.

But when Ran Qing looked at it, he only felt eerie.

After entering the dark and gloomy main room, Ran Qing turned on the light bulb, and thick smoke floated in the room.

The smoke in this room is even thicker than the fog outside.

Aunt Liu's figure was vaguely lying on the bamboo chair in the corner. She had obviously been lying there for a long time, smoking leaf tobacco in big puffs, and was the culprit for the smoke in the room.

Ran Qing, a non-smoker, nearly fainted the moment he stepped into the main hall. The already pungent, hot air, coupled with the rising smoke, made the atmosphere seem as terrifying to him as a rickety minibus reeking of diesel.

He quickly opened the main door to let in some fresh air, allowing the dim light of the foggy day to fall into this main room that never saw the sun all year round.

Aunt Liu lay lazily in the smoke, not caring at all about Ran Qing opening the door.

She just chuckled strangely and said, "Judging from your appearance, you should have done well in the exam."

Ran Qing nodded and said honestly: "I feel okay, I can do all the questions, but one or two are more difficult."

Aunt Six said in the gradually dispersing smoke, "I'm almost ready here."

"If nothing unexpected happens this time, I should be able to kill that female classmate of yours."

At this point, Aunt Six snorted coldly and returned to her sarcastic tone: "You, a female classmate, want to harm me, but you're still far from being capable enough!"

"It's a pity that I don't know how to raise a little ghost. Otherwise, after I take care of her, I can refine her into a little ghost and keep her by your side. Then you won't be alone... Hey..."

Sixth Aunt laughed strangely and mocked Ran Qing.

Ran Qing was a little embarrassed, but that was all.

After all, he had been with Aunt Liu for more than a week, and he had heard so much of this kind of vulgar and mean teasing that he was almost immune to it.

"Then Sixth Aunt, shall we take action tonight?" Ran Qing wanted to ask about the specific rescue plan.

After all, Aunt Liu only told Ran Qing the approximate time, but did not tell him what to do specifically.

In the smoke, Aunt Six shook her head and said, "It's too late today. Let's do it tomorrow."

"Come to my place tomorrow at noon, and we'll go to the Wujiang ghost world to rescue Ran Lao San."

"After you finish your meal, go back and have a good sleep. Get enough rest tonight and come back tomorrow."

As Aunt Liu spoke, she suddenly looked behind Ran Qing, frowned, and sat up.

"...Wait, you brought friends here?"

Aunt Liu's tone was a little unhappy.

Ran Qing was stunned and quickly turned around, and found that in the fog behind him, there was a blurry figure standing quietly in the yard.

The thick fog in Yuezhao City made it impossible to see his face and clothes.

He stood there neither too far nor too close, just enough distance for someone to see his figure but not his face.

For some reason, the moment he saw the figure in the fog, Ran Qing felt a little uneasy and terrified.

He calmly put his left hand into his pocket and said, "I came here alone, Aunt Six."

Not only him, even Xiao Mianhua, who was lying at the door, didn't notice when the figure came.

It was not until Aunt Liu spoke that Little Mianhua, who was lying at Ran Qing's feet, started barking frantically at the figure in the mist.

Ran Qing was even more frightened when he heard Xiaomianhua's intense reaction.

——The last time Little Cotton was so fierce was when he was facing an evil mountain cat.

Could the figure before him be some terrifying evil ghost, or a monster following him?

Ran Qing's mind was working rapidly. In the main room behind him, Sixth Aunt came out with a pipe in her mouth.

She walked up to Ran Qing with a gloomy expression and patted the barking dog's head.

Then, coldly gazing at the figure in the mist, Sixth Aunt said, "Water rushes over the Wujiang Dam, and the moon moves across the Wumeng Mountains. I am a disciple of the Zangke [Shen Ping Po], Miss Shen Er. I burn three-foot incense and open a hundred-step altar. I usually stay within the Wujiang area and never cause trouble in the mortal world. I wonder what brings you here today?"

Aunt Liu, who was always rude and mean, suddenly spoke a long string of fluent and half-literate words in her poor Mandarin.

It was completely beyond her previous level of education.

Ran Qing was shocked and looked at Aunt Liu in disbelief.

I didn't expect Aunt Six to have such a side to her...

(End of this chapter)