Sudden.

With a loud "bang," it sounded like something had exploded.

The green flames went out instantly, and a plume of black smoke rose from the pile of offerings.

The outline of a baby could be vaguely seen in the smoke.

Baldy the Third seemed to have gone mad, reaching out to grab the cloud of smoke while shouting, "My darling, come and help me, let me get rich!"

However, the plume of smoke did not fall into his hands as he had hoped.

Instead, it began to spin rapidly, forming a black vortex.

The vortex grew larger and larger, sucking in the surrounding leaves and branches.

Baldy San was so frightened by this sudden turn of events that he collapsed to the ground, his face filled with terror.

Although I don't really understand it, judging from the scene before me, I know that Baldy Third has failed.

"Yingniang, what should we do?" I asked.

Yuan Ying took a deep breath, pointed behind her, indicating that she had seen enough and could leave.

We tiptoed back until we were at a safe distance before turning around and walking quickly toward the taxi.

Driven by profit, the driver had already turned the car around and was waiting for us.

As soon as we returned, the driver couldn't wait to get out of the car and open the door for us.

"Big brother, big sister, you're finally back! Let's hurry up and leave, this place is so scary, so cold and eerie!"

I quickly smiled apologetically and said, "Master, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting."

"fine!"

Yuan Ying and I sat down, but the driver didn't start the car for a long time.

I asked, puzzled, "Sir, why aren't you driving?"

The driver turned his head to look out the window and said, "Isn't the person still on the bus? Tell that kid to hurry up."

child?

Where did this child come from?

I looked back, but there were no children, not even a ghost in sight.

"Master, where is that child you mentioned?" I swallowed hard.

The driver rolled down the car window and pointed outside: "Wasn't that child who came with you?"

Yuan Ying's face turned pale instantly. She grabbed a handful of glutinous rice from her pocket and threw it out the car window, urging the driver repeatedly.

"Master, let's go quickly."

Taxi drivers often drive at night and encounter a lot of dirty things, so they know a bit about these things.

Seeing my strange expression, and then seeing Yuan Ying scattering glutinous rice out of the car window, how could he not understand what he was seeing?

With a loud "whoosh," the driver floored the accelerator, and the car roared forward.

When we got back to the shop, I handed the driver the other three hundred-yuan bills.

The driver was still trembling and kept asking me if I was joking with him.

I know that the driver already knew what was going on, but he just wanted some psychological comfort.

I nodded and smiled apologetically: "Don't mind it, young man. I was just joking with you!"

Clearly, the driver breathed a sigh of relief, muttered something about someone so old still making jokes, and then drove away.

...

After the driver's headlights disappeared around the street corner, I followed Yuan Ying into the shop.

"Yingniang, did Baldy Third fail?" I asked.

Yuan Ying didn't answer, but told me to go and offer incense to the ancestral master.

I responded and was about to walk over when Yuan Ying pointed to the copper basin in the corner: "Go scoop some well water to wash your hands. Don't offend the ancestral master if you get tainted by yin energy."

"Uh... where's the well water?"

I scratched my head. In this alley of reinforced concrete, apart from the dry well on the mountain, I really haven't seen any other houses with wells in their yards.

Even if there are any, they were made a long time ago, and now they are basically not used for drinking; they are mostly used for solar pumping.

Yuan Ying raised her chin: "Just push aside the stack of gold ingot paper at the back of the warehouse."

As she turned, her sleeve brushed against the shrine, and incense ash fell softly onto the offering table.

I lifted the curtain and entered the warehouse.

The coffin is still lying there perfectly still, but I have this feeling.

And it's even stronger than before.

There was a pair of eyes staring at me from inside.

I shook my head and ignored it.

In my opinion, as long as I don't look at it or touch it, everything will be fine.

Yuan Ying must have had her reasons for placing this coffin here.

Moreover, she made me sleep next to this coffin, which means she must have known that the thing inside wouldn't come back to life or harm me.

Then what reason do I have to be afraid?

I walked around the coffin and headed toward the pile of gold ingots, half a person's height, in the corner.

I had noticed this pile of gold ingot paper before, but there was too much of it, so I never touched it.

I tried to push it, and the pile of papers slid silently to both sides as if it had been waiting to be moved, revealing a wooden door with mottled paint.

The doorknob was wrapped with a faded red cloth strip.

The moment the door creaked open, a cool, damp draft rushed out.

In front of me is a small courtyard of less than ten square meters.

The ground was paved with bluestone slabs, with sparse moss growing in the cracks.

The well was more exquisite than I had imagined; the well rim was carved from a single piece of bluestone, with indistinct Bagua patterns engraved on it.

An old-fashioned wooden pulley sits at the wellhead, and the well rope wrapped around it still gleams with the luster of new wood.

Beside the well stood a bamboo curtain, the bamboo strips already yellowed, yet hanging neatly as if someone had taken special care of it.

I don't know why Yuan Ying is digging a well here.

On the stone slab beneath the curtain lay a woman's dress, its pale blue fabric embroidered with faded peace patterns, and a rusty brooch pinned to its collar.

This is clearly not modern clothing.

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