Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 94: Paper Figure in Straw Clothes
The cold moonlight silently fell on the edge of the dry well. The fallen leaves swayed in the wind, slowly drifting across the old and dilapidated streets, and gradually drifted to a deserted yard shrouded in darkness.

In the yard, where moldy wood chips were piled, a strange brown moss grew on the ground.

A deep, dark well stands quietly in the rotten and smelly soil.

The dark wellhead was like a whirlpool that devoured the soul, eerie and creepy.

Even the fallen leaves drifting in the night wind seemed to be afraid and avoiding the wellhead, trembling and falling in the corner of the yard.

In the distance, a broken city street lamp flickered in the moonlight. In the flickering dim light, the blood-red word "Life" jumped out from the shadows.

The pale lantern hanging at the gate of the dilapidated courtyard seemed to have sensed something, and the white lantern trembled in the cold wind.

But the red [life] seemed to have life, jumping into the yard, lively and weird.

Even after it climbed to the edge of the dry well, the lantern trembling in the cold wind still did not respond.

Standing crookedly at the mouth of the well, the bloody word "life" was shaking, and the connected strokes were twisted and deformed.

It was like a human with its head tilted, looking "down" at the dark wellhead in front of it, as if thinking.

The lanterns hanging at the gate of the courtyard shook more eagerly.

The character "命" standing on the edge of the well suddenly let out a strange laugh.

The next second, the word "Life" jumped up and jumped into the dark well.

A chilly wind blew in from the bottom of the well. The rapidly falling character "命" saw a pale white face floating at the bottom of the well.

Amid the sound of splashing water, the human face seemed to raise its head as if aware of something and looked towards the word "life".

A man and a ghost looked at each other...

"?!"

Ran Qing, who was sleeping, suddenly took a breath of cold air and woke up instantly.

A chilling feeling like ants crawled all over my body.

The scene in the dream was so real, that eerie feeling of falling, as if he had really come to the well and jumped into that strange well...

"Is the experience of being cursed by the destiny card so terrifying..."

Ran Qing muttered with an ugly expression.

The nightmare just now was clearly from the perspective of the natal card, where I saw the curse fall into the well with my own eyes.

The strong sense of immersion made Ran Qing feel creepy.

After turning on the lights in the room, Ran Qing took out the fortune-telling cards from the canvas bag.

The blank wooden sign now became cold and heavy.

But the center of the wooden sign was still empty, with no red words.

But the curse of the lord's card has been successfully planted.

We can start tonight...

Ran Qing carefully put away the fortune-telling card, got dressed and got out of bed.

The clock on the bedside table read 03:27.

He had only slept for two hours, but he no longer felt sleepy.

From Mo Li's room next door, the faint sound of a TV drifted over.

It was still that weird Japanese accent, and Mo Li and Xiaomianhua stayed up late to watch cartoons again.

Ran Qing shook his head, walked over and closed the door leading to the main room, completely blocking out the noise from next door, then took out the teaching materials from the table and started studying.

Although studying "Witchcraft, Ghosts and Magic" and reading "The Trial of the Second Miss and the Demon Slayer" took up a lot of his time.

But considering the time I free up from sleeping, the time I spend in and out can be made up for.

Ran Qing's life seemed to be the same as before.

After studying with the lights on all night, Ran Qing went out to have breakfast at dawn and then went to school.

But after school in the afternoon, Ran Qing returned home to have dinner, then changed out of his school uniform and went out to take the bus.

As a ghost walker, you really can't wear school uniform everywhere you go, as that would be too conspicuous.

Ran Qing followed Aunt Liu's advice, bought a cheap set of clothes, and got on a minibus heading to Changba with a canvas bag on his back.

Lao Yangpi’s paper-making shop is right in the direction of Changba, not far from Banan Road.

After a half-hour of swaying in the diesel-smelling minibus and another short walk, Ran Qing and Little Mianhua arrived at Old Sheepskin's secluded courtyard. Night had already fallen over Yuezhao City. Under the dim light of the paper-making shop, the rugged-looking Old Sheepskin was making a paper horse.

Seeing Ran Qing appear with Little Mianhua, Old Sheepskin quickly stood up and greeted them.

"It's already been done as you requested, Boss Ran. Four straw raincoat paper figurines were hung under the eaves last night, blowing in the cold wind all night long."

"After daybreak, they were placed in those two coffins, and the lids have been kept there ever since."

Old Sheepskin took Ran Qing to the back of the paper-making shop and found the two coffins where people were buried in a small shed behind the shop.

As an old friend of Aunt Liu, the rough-looking owner of the paper-folding shop was very enthusiastic towards Ran Qing.

By helping to make some paper figures, occasionally giving a hand, or running errands, you can make friends with a ghost walker. No paper-making shop owner will refuse such a good thing.

After pushing open the coffin, Ran Qing saw a paper man lying in the coffin.

The bamboo frame is pasted with paper, paper clothes are attached, a paper hat is put on, and then the eyebrows, eyes and facial features are drawn to make a three-dimensional paper figure.

Although it looks weird up close, it's even a little creepy.

But after being carried out of the coffin, placed in the shadows and viewed from a distance, it looked like four living people standing there.

The craftsmanship of Lao Yangpi is really good.

The only anomaly was that these four paper figures were wearing simple straw raincoats.

——It may not be accurate to say it is a straw raincoat.

Strictly speaking, the paper figure is made of many withered palm leaves, making it look like it is wearing a straw raincoat, but this simple "straw raincoat" cannot keep out the rain.

Ran Qing placed the four paper figures in the yard, rowing them side by side.

Then, Lao Yangpi was asked to turn off all the lights in the yard and the paper-making shop.

"You and Xiaomianhua go into the house first and close the doors and windows tightly. No matter what sound you hear later, don't come out or look," Ran Qing instructed seriously.

These four paper figures in straw raincoats are used by Ran Qing to summon ghosts.

The water ghosts are dangerous, so Ran Qing wants to "invite" a few wild ghosts to help.

Soon the yard will be full of wandering ghosts. Except for Ran Qing, the ghost walker, even Xiaomianhua is not suitable to watch.

After listening to Ran Qing's explanation, Lao Yangpi nodded repeatedly, ran quickly into the paper-making shop, and closed all the doors and windows.

Soon, a cold wind was howling in the yard, and strange footsteps were heard wandering back and forth outside the paper-making shop.

There were also many scratching sounds on the doors and windows, as if the things outside were trying to come in.

Old Sheepskin sat nervously in the corner and heard Ran Qing's whispers coming from outside.

"...The gates of heaven and earth open, and the wandering souls from all directions come home."

"From the east comes the Green-Faced Ghost, from the west comes the Red-Haired Lady, from the south comes the Heartbroken Man, and from the north comes the Headless King."

Amid the howling cold wind, the man's voice was low and strange, as if there was some strange echo, as if many people were whispering outside at the same time, which made Old Sheepskin shudder all over.

He huddled in the corner, and was horrified to see that the paper figures in the paper-making shop seemed to come alive and wanted to move.

until--

Jingle Bell--

A series of rapid and clear bell sounds suddenly rang outside the door, accompanied by a loud shout from Ran Qing.

"...The five wandering souls have arrived home, please return to the guillotine tonight!"

"receive!"

In an instant, all the paper figures in the paper-making shop fell silent.

The sound from the yard outside also disappeared instantly.

The strange footsteps, the harsh scratching sounds, the whistling wind...all of these disappeared.

Little Cotton jumped up happily, opened the door and ran out.

Under the cold moonlight, Old Sheepskin saw the young Boss Ran squatting in the yard, holding a bell used for driving corpses in his hand.

Four pale and strange paper figures surrounded him, wearing shriveled and yellowed straw raincoats.

After hearing the sound of the door being pushed open, the four strange paper figures suddenly turned their heads and looked towards the paper-making shop.

Old Sheepskin clearly saw that the strange faces outlined with ink on the four paper figures were actually smiling at him...

(End of this chapter)