Chapter 73

Within a day, the news spread throughout the village, and everyone was telling the story with details.

The old village chief returned in the afternoon, and I noticed a complete change in his personality. Perhaps it was his retirement; he was less snobbish. He told me that Wang Laosan was lying in the hospital, unable to hear anyone, staring blankly without blinking.

I knew immediately that this was a clear sign of soul loss. As the saying goes, "scared to death," that's exactly what it means. I wanted to help, but the problem was that I couldn't feel the magic power I'd gained from practicing the Yin Fu Lu, and I didn't have the Yuhao Stone on me either. I felt no different from an ordinary person.

If I were to summon a soul without magical powers, I would suffer the same fate as ordinary people would if they encountered evil spirits. My only advantage is that I'm used to seeing these things and am braver than them. But being brave is useless. When I summoned Maomao's soul, I really encountered many lonely ghosts.

Since the methods relying on magic power in the "Yin Fu Lu" don't work, we can only look for folk methods.

After much thought, I finally came up with a solution that wasn't really a solution. Back at Mount Longhu, I often discussed these things with Zhang Jingzhi. While we were comparing their Taoist techniques with those in my Yin Fu Lu, we'd also bring up some folk remedies for dealing with similar situations. But at the time, I considered these to be insignificant tricks and didn't take them seriously.

And now, these little tricks might actually be of help to me.

"Village chief." I said.

He felt a little uncomfortable when he heard me call him village chief.

"Wang Laosan's soul has been frightened away. We need to call it back."

"Do you have any idea?" asked the village chief.

"There is a way, but I don't know if it will work."

"Who cares so much now? Even if it doesn't work out, it's still better than what he has now."

What the village chief said is quite right. No matter how bad it is, it is still better than his current situation.

"How do we do it? Tell me, I'll contact someone to prepare it."

"First, we need to find a paper craftsman to make a paper figurine. Then, we need to prepare some money and take Wang Laosan home. The rest can be left to me."

Yellow money is yellow paper, which is usually burned for ghosts and gods.

"Okay, I'll do it now."

In fact, our small village hospital didn't have much to offer and was eager for the family to take him home. Wang Laosan's physical indicators were normal, but he was mentally ill, which is medically considered hysteria, also known as dissociative conversion disorder. After hearing what the old village chief said, his family wanted to discharge him from the hospital. They were broke, and the hospital didn't want to admit him. If he died in the hospital, the hospital would be held responsible. The two sides hit it off, and Wang Laosan returned home smoothly.

When the old village chief took me to Wang Laosan's house, his wife looked at me shyly, but she was still quite enthusiastic. She brought me some fruit and tea. She also said, "Little sister, do you think there is any hope for my son Wang San?"

As she spoke, she wiped away her tears, sat down next to Wang Laosan, touched his face and said, "There are only the three of us in our family. We have lived half our lives without a child. If he passes away, I don't want to live anymore."

Seeing her like this, I was still very sad. Although the whole village disliked me before, I really didn't have much impression of her. Wang Laosan's home was quite far from mine. Although we were from the same village, we had never interacted with each other.

"Don't worry, Auntie. Let me see what's going on with my uncle first."

After listening to what I said, she immediately made way for me and said, "Take a look."

I walked up to him and saw that Wang Laosan's eyes were dull, his eye sockets were black, and his face was pale, which was a typical sign of someone who had lost his soul.

"Aunt, I'll have to trouble you to call back Uncle Wang's soul tonight."

"Why are you calling?" Living in the countryside, she had heard of the sound of soul-calling, so she was not surprised.

"After 11 o'clock tonight, go to the intersection in front of our village, light three yellow coins, and then shout Uncle Wang's name, followed by 'Go home' three times. After that, just keep walking straight towards home. Remember, don't look back. When you get home, burn three more yellow coins on the ground facing Uncle Wang's head. I'll take care of the rest."

"Okay." She was about to kneel down in front of me, muttering, "You must save our third child."

I couldn't bear to see this, so I held her arm and comforted her, saying, "Don't be like this, Auntie. We're all from the same village. Don't worry, Uncle Wang will definitely be fine."

In fact, I have no idea whether I can call back Wang Laosan's soul, but I can't show my fear, because once I show uncertainty, she will be more worried, which will be more detrimental to calling back the soul tonight, so I can only say this to her.

"Village chief, what's the situation with the paper figurines?" I asked.

"I asked the guy in Liujiaao to make it. He said it will be ready by 5 or 6 o'clock. I'll take it to you then. When do you want it?"

"That's still in time. I'll use it tomorrow."

After saying this, before leaving, I gave the amulet Qingyun gave me to Wang Laosan's wife and said, "Aunt, just take this amulet and put it in your pocket. Don't forget to bring it with you when you call back the soul at night."

She was very grateful to me, with tears in her eyes.

The village chief and I walked out of her house, and he asked me, "Are you sure?"

"Half and half, this is my first time using this method," I said.

Back home, I sat in the yard. My method was actually very simple: I used a paper figurine as a stand-in to protect Wang Laosan from this disaster. Why did I have to protect Wang Laosan from this disaster when he had clearly lost his soul? It was because the soul I had called back using this folk remedy wasn't at peace. I was afraid the ghost would return to claim Wang Laosan's soul, so I used this paper figurine to get caught in his place, creating a deception.

I hardly slept that night, and I was always worried about Teacher Wang. Before I knew it, it was dawn.

I got up early and went to Wang Laosan's house without eating. When I arrived at his house, I saw his wife helping Wang Laosan eat.

Seeing me come in, his wife said happily: "Little sister, look at my third child, is he okay?"

I saw that Wang Laosan looked much better than yesterday, and I knew that she had successfully called back the soul. I didn't expect that this folk remedy was so effective, and I couldn't help but feel happy.

"Aunt, this is just the first step. Whether Uncle Wang can recover completely depends on whether we can trick him these past few nights."

"Him? Who are you trying to fool?" she asked in confusion.

"It's the thing that scared Uncle Wang."

When I mentioned that thing, she was shocked and asked, "Will that thing come to find our third child again?"

"I should be back, but I have also prepared some measures, so I'll have to trouble you later."

As I was talking to her, the old village chief opened the door and came in, holding a paper figurine. Seeing me there, he said, "I went to your house and saw that no one was there, so I knew you were coming."

I took the paper figure and said, "Whether it succeeds or not depends on this."

Wang Laosan's wife came over and said, "How do we do this?"

I asked for Uncle Wang's hair, tied it with a red string, and placed it inside a paper figurine. I wrote Uncle Wang's birth date on the back of the figurine, and finally dressed it in Uncle Wang's clothes. I said, "Wait, you'll know the result tonight."