The gluttonous little boy is four and a half years old, and even the wealthy family kneels down and

"Then I'll thank your uncle and aunt on her behalf." Yun Ziang bounced Xiao Jin up a bit, changing her position to make her more comfortable. "I'm leaving now. Don't forget about the amulet."

"Tell Kailu not to go out, look in the mirror, walk at night, or go near water for the next few days. Leave a light on in the room at night, and don't eat meat for three days."

"Also, you'd better find out who he hung out with before and what he did."

"Some things can't be resolved simply by calling the soul back."

Liu's mother listened carefully and remembered everything. As she saw him to the door, she couldn't help but ask again, "Zi'ang, is the young master... really alright?"

Yun Ziang looked down at Xiao Jin in his arms.

Xiao Jin was sleeping soundly, breathing evenly, and her complexion was better than before.

He was also a little unsure, but he didn't want to show it.

"It's nothing." He looked up and smiled at Liu's mother, his tone relaxed. "My little aunt is very capable; she just loves to sleep. Once she's had enough sleep, she's a good man again."

After saying that, he picked up Xiao Jin, turned around, and went downstairs. His steps were light and quick, and his back view looked quite dashing.

Liu's mother stood at the door watching them leave, and only closed the door and returned to her bedroom after the footsteps in the hallway disappeared.

In the bedroom, Liu Kaile was already able to sit up against the headboard.

His face was still a little pale, but his eyes were clear. He took small sips of the hot water that his father handed him.

The amulet hung around his neck, and a yellow cloth bag pressed against his chest, carrying a faint sandalwood scent.

Liu's mother sat down on the edge of the bed, looking at the talisman on his neck, and then thinking of Xiao Jin's pale face, she felt both sad and scared.

She reached out and tucked the blanket around her son, her voice trembling, "Lele, tell Mom the truth, what exactly did you do outside?"

Liu Kaile paused for a moment while holding the cup.

"mom......"

"Don't lie to me." Liu's mother's tone suddenly hardened, her eyes reddening. "You almost lost your life, do you know that? If Zi'ang hadn't brought his little miss over, you would be... you would be..."

She couldn't continue, so she covered her mouth and turned her face away.

Liu Kaile lowered his head, remained silent for a long while, and then spoke in a hoarse voice: "It's a group chat."

"What group?"

"It's... a circle." Liu Kaile gripped his cup tightly, his fingers trembling slightly. "The people in the group all like to seek thrills, and they usually make plans to go on adventures to haunted places."

"I joined for about half a year, went to abandoned factories and unfinished buildings a few times, but didn't really encounter anything. I just found it quite exciting."

He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing, and his voice lowered further: "A few days ago, someone in the group taught me a new game—coin divination."

"Take a red string and hang a coin on the table. Ask yourself what you want to ask, and the coin will spin by itself. One clockwise rotation means 'yes,' one counterclockwise rotation means 'no,' and more than three rotations... means no answer."

Liu's mother's face turned pale instantly.

"You...you people are..." Liu's father, listening from the side, was furious, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked. "Isn't this just that Ouija board thing?! How dare you do this?!"

Liu Kaile shrank back, his voice weak: "I... I thought it was just a little psychological suggestion game. Lots of people online play it and say it's really effective. I haven't heard of anyone getting hurt..."

"Nothing happened? Then what are you doing lying here?" Liu's mother trembled with anger, tears streaming down her face again. "Do you know you almost didn't make it back!"

"What am I supposed to do? If you don't come back, how can I live?"

Liu Kaile was stunned.

He looked down at the red thread still tied to his wrist, then touched the amulet on his chest, his lips trembling slightly.

He genuinely didn't know these things could be true.

The people in those groups spoke so casually; no one told him he would lose his soul, no one told him this thing could really kill him.

"Mom, I'm sorry." His voice was hoarse, and his knuckles were white as he gripped the amulet. "I really didn't know."

Mr. Liu took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and said in a deep voice, "Leave that group now."

"Delete all those people, and don't contact any of them again. Don't touch any of those things again—no Ouija boards, no spirit boards, no coin spirits, absolutely nothing."

"I know, I'll back down." Liu Kaile nodded quickly, then hesitated for a moment, "Dad, Mom, you just said...who saved me?"

Liu's mother wiped away her tears, her voice filled with gratitude and lingering fear: "It was Zi'ang and his little aunt. Yun Zi'ang, your good friend. He's the one who brought that little monk here. That little monk was only four years old, and he was so exhausted from saving you that he fell asleep in Zi'ang's arms."

"Zi'ang still refuses to accept payment."

She couldn't help but scold again, "Look at Zi'ang, how loyal he is. And look at the scoundrels you've made, they almost got you killed!"

Liu Kaile was stunned for a long time.

Yun Zi'ang?

He never expected that the person who saved him would be Yun Zi'ang.

Liu Kaile lowered his head and looked at the thin red line on his wrist, and suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

"Mom," he said in a hoarse voice, "I'll go and thank him myself when I'm better."

Liu's mother nodded, reached out and straightened the amulet for him, then stuck it to his chest: "The young monk said that you can't go out, can't look in the mirror, can't walk at night, can't go near water, leave a light on when you sleep at night, and don't eat meat for three days."

"You better remember this well."

"I've got it." Liu Kaile held the talisman and nodded solemnly.

Liu's mother got up to go to the kitchen to heat up some porridge. Liu's father sat by the bed for a while, pulled the blanket up for him, and then quietly closed the door and left.

Liu Kaile lay alone on the bed, staring at the ceiling, his fingers unconsciously stroking the small yellow cloth bag on his chest.

He picked up his phone, opened the group chat, glanced at the familiar and unfamiliar avatars in the group member list, and then looked at the talisman around his neck.

Then he opened the group settings, scrolled down to the bottom, and pressed "Leave Group Chat".

The phone screen went dark. He flipped the phone over and placed it face down on the bedside table, closed his eyes, and let out a long breath.

-

On the other side, Yun Ziang carried Xiao Jin downstairs and observed her for a while. He found that Xiao Jin was really sleeping, and after looking at her face, which was gradually regaining its rosy color, he felt relieved.

He carried Xiao Jin back to the car and first called Qiu An.

As soon as the call connected, Yun Ziang said directly, "We've already resolved the matter."

"You actually let an old man chase you so hard you almost peed your pants."

Qiu An couldn't help but curse, "Get lost!"

"Is the straw doll that Xiao Jin is to take on this calamity ready?"

Yun Ziang glanced at Xiao Jin, who was sleeping soundly, and said, "I don't know, she's sleeping."

"Then wake her up, we don't have much time to waste."

Yun Ziang hesitated for a few seconds, then reached out and touched Xiao Jin. "Little Aunt?"

He called out twice, but Xiao Jin just rubbed her face against him and fell into a deeper sleep.

Seeing this, Yun Ziang leaned close to Xiao Jin's ear and whispered, "There's a big glass of iced cola, it'll be gone if you don't drink it soon."

The next second, Xiao Jin's eyelashes fluttered twice, and then she opened her eyes. Not fully awake, she began to mutter to herself:

"Where's my iced cola?"

He looks exactly like a little glutton.

Yun Zi'ang couldn't help but chuckle twice, pulling Xiao Jin into his arms and asking, "How is it?"

"Are you feeling unwell anywhere? Why did you suddenly fall asleep?"

"It was so warm inside that Xiao Jin fell asleep as soon as she felt sleepy," Xiao Jin explained slowly.

Qiu An's voice came through the phone, "Is the straw doll that will take Yun Zi'ang's place in the calamity ready?"

"Ah!" Xiao Jin was much more awake and answered truthfully, "Not yet, Xiao Jin will do it now!"

"Okay, don't forget." Qiu An said and then hung up the phone.

Xiao Jin fully woke up, rubbed her eyes, and the first thing she did was grab Yun Ziang's sleeve and ask earnestly, "Where's the iced cola?"

Yun Ziang suppressed a laugh, took a can of Coke out of the car, and handed it to her.

Xiao Jin took it with both hands, tilted her head back and took a big gulp, then let out a small, satisfied burp, and finally came back to life.

"Let's go back to the hotel and make straw figures." Yun Ziang started the car.

Back in her hotel room, Xiao Jin dumped the contents of her backpack onto the bed: dry straw, red thread, cinnabar, yellow talisman paper, and a calligraphy brush, all lined up in a row.

She knelt by the bed, rolled up her sleeves, and began to work.

She took three straws, folded them in half, wrapped them three times with red thread to make the head and body, separated the two sides to make the arms, and gathered the bottom to make the legs.

With nimble fingers, a tiny straw figure the size of a palm was formed in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Then she looked up and waved to Yun Ziang: "Grand-nephew, wave."

Having learned from his previous experience, Yun Ziang obediently extended his index finger.

Xiao Jin quickly pricked the straw doll with a toothpick, squeezed out a bead of blood, and smeared it on the doll. Then she picked up a pen and wrote Yun Zi'ang's birth date and time on the yellow talisman paper, folded it up, and stuffed it into the red thread seam on the straw doll's chest.

After doing all that, she pinched a small amount of cinnabar, dipped her fingertip in water, and placed a red dot on the straw figure's forehead, chest, and back. Then, she held the straw figure in her hands, brought it to her lips, whispered a short incantation, and blew on it.

"Is this all right?" Yun Ziang looked at the straw man curiously.

Xiao Jin didn't answer immediately. She examined the straw figure from all angles, then suddenly stopped, her little face slightly furrowed, as if trying to recall something.

After a few seconds, she opened her schoolbag, looked through all the small cloth bags inside, and then frowned and said, "Something is still missing."

"What's missing?" Yun Zi'ang leaned closer and asked.

"A straw doll needs five things to be complete," Xiao Jin counted on her fingers, "straw for bones, red thread for tendons, cinnabar for blood, and birth date for soul. All four are there."

"But there must be one more thing—metal as the essence."

"Golden energy can stabilize the soul. With golden energy placed inside the straw effigy, it will not mistake the person when calamity strikes."

She looked up at Yun Ziang and said seriously, "The best ones are copper coins, especially ancient copper coins. The older the better, as they have more human influence and have circulated more widely. Their metal energy is also deep and stable."

Yun Zi'ang thought for a moment: "Don't you have copper coins?"

"That won't do," Xiao Jin shook her head and said frankly, "I can't bear to let you use it."

"Once this calamity is over, the copper coin that stabilized the soul will definitely be useless."

"All the copper coins in my possession were left to Xiao Jin by my master."

She looked at Yun Ziang and instructed, "Grand-nephew, go to the old street and look for old antique shops or secondhand stalls where copper coins have been handled by others."

Yun Zi'ang hadn't expected Xiao Jin to be so blunt, but he reluctantly agreed, "Okay."

Yun Ziang checked the time; it was a little past four in the afternoon, still a long way from dark.

"Let's go together then," he bent down, picked up Xiao Jin, weighed her in his arms, and walked towards the door. "Let's go, I know an old street nearby with a few secondhand shops, we should be able to find her."

Xiao Jin, held in mid-air, nodded her head. "Let's go!"