Not long after they left, ten men suddenly appeared in the military camp, carrying baskets and bags, and driving a mule cart loaded with goods directly to the gate of Baolinju.

Lin Xiaoqi, who had returned, jumped out of the car and said to his men, "You split into groups. One group goes to the backyard to pick vegetables, and the other group carries acorn flour. This is a private residence, so you all behave yourselves."

"yes!"

With synchronized steps, a line of soldiers entered the courtyard.

In the backyard, Song Liyun and Song Zhenping had already cleared out the area where the vegetable seedlings could be harvested.

As soon as Lin Xiaoqi's men arrive, the vegetables can be loaded into the baskets.

Han Ming led his men to move shelled and soaked acorns. These acorns only needed to be ground into flour, which could then be mixed with fine grains to make cakes and steamed buns.

Wang Qi didn't rest either, and came again with Lin Xiaoqi.

Upon seeing Han Ming's bruised and swollen face, he burst into laughter: "Big Han, are you convinced now?"

Han Ming was busy with work and didn't want to compete with Wang Qi anymore, so he just smiled faintly and said, "If Wang Xiaojiang hadn't wrapped himself in strips of cloth, I would have been convinced."

Wang Qi glanced at his arm, which he had been bandaged up by the army doctor as soon as he returned to the garrison, and almost broke from the twist. He snorted and said, "What's a little injury? It'll be fine tomorrow!"

Two large baskets of tender cabbage, two hundred catties of acorns, and dozens of catties of acorn flour were sent back to the garrison. Commander Luo personally stood at the gate of the barracks to welcome them.

As soon as the mules and horses approached, Luo, the centurion, immediately stepped forward and lifted the cotton cloth covering the basket. When the fresh, tender vegetable leaves came into view, he laughed heartily and said, "Pass down the order: everyone in the station will have an extra meal tonight, a large vegetable bun for each person."

If Song Liyun knew that her little cabbage had been made into steamed buns, she would definitely be heartbroken.

The garrison has over 120 staff members, but only 50 jin of vegetables in the basket, which is far from enough.

The cooks at the garrison were naturally reluctant to waste such good food, and with the careful planning of professionals, the entire garrison was finally able to eat fresh vegetables for several days.

The dumplings that Lin Xiaoqi brought back were cooked separately and became a "special supply" for Luo Baihu and several officers.

As he savored the taste of the first-harvest chives inside, Luo Baihu slammed his fist on the table and cursed, "Those two bastards, Zhou Xiang and Lin Tao, didn't even invite me to lunch!"

"Tomorrow morning during drills, make those brats who ate at the Song family's house today run ten extra laps."

Inside the barracks, the ten flag bearers gathered together. Zhou and Lin were wrapped in blankets, tied up tightly, and thrown into a corner, while the others scrambled for vegetables around a basin.

Lin Xiaoqi cursed loudly from inside the fold: "Wang Qi, you bastard, who eats alone and then brings back food?"

No one paid any attention to what he said.

"These two guys are dishonest." A bearded man with a small flag stared wide-eyed as he searched for pork intestines in the basin.

"Exactly, they don't even know to bring back more rotten meat." Another flag officer grabbed a piece of fatty intestine and quickly stuffed it into his mouth.

"What's even more infuriating is that they ate rotten meat and drank alcohol!" the third person accused.

Half a basin of leftovers, two baskets of fresh vegetables—everything at Suijinwei was as lively as if it were Chinese New Year.

In the town, Xue Zhuang, with a gloomy face, drank his wine in silence, sip by sip.

He didn't know that Zhou Xiaoqi and the others had lunch at the Song family's house today, but he only heard about it later when the garrison went to get the vegetables.

He was immediately filled with regret.

After being harassed by the drunkard at noon, Granny Cui cried and made a fuss for a long time.

She cursed Xu Yan'er for being blind to jump into this fire pit, cursed Xue Zhuang for deceiving her into marriage, and cursed Song Liyun for ruining her daughter. Now she's still not being proper, attracting men to her at home.

Hearing this, Xue Zhuang simply thought the old woman had gone mad, without giving it any real thought.

If he had known beforehand that the Song family had invited two junior officers and several soldiers from the garrison to dinner today, he would have shamelessly gone to join in the fun and establish connections with everyone.

That's bad; a great opportunity has been lost.

……………………………………

In a two-courtyard house in the town, the doors were tightly closed, and the air inside, with thick cotton curtains hanging, was stuffy and oppressive.

Jin Sanzhong lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), groaning as he covered the gauze around his neck.

A woman in her thirties brought tea into the room.

Kim Sam-jung asked irritably, "Have you called them yet?"

The woman lowered her head and whispered, "I called him. Master Huang said he'd be here soon."

"Hmph! I'm saying you're a mosquito that died and was reincarnated! Waaah, do you need to die or pay money to talk? I can't even hear you."

Kim Sam-jung grew increasingly agitated and cursed angrily, but as soon as he spoke loudly, the bloodstains on the gauze around his neck began to spread again.

That damned monster really wanted to kill me.

Two days have passed, and the wound is still bleeding.

The woman was clearly terrified of Kim Sam-jung; his scolding only made her more frightened, and even her hand holding the teacup trembled.

Seeing that the gauze on Jin Sanzhong's neck was soaked with blood again, she quickly whispered, "Third Master, your gauze needs to be changed again."

Jin Sanzhong snorted: "You know you should change it and you still won't? Are you dead? Hurry up and find some wound ointment."

The woman got up and stumbled out to find ointment and boil water.

As she was changing Jin Sanzhong's dressing, there was a knock on the courtyard gate. Soon, a middle-aged man wearing a sheepskin robe, with a goatee and a somewhat dignified appearance, entered the house carrying a small dark bag.

"Master Huang, help me!"

Upon seeing the newcomer, Jin Sanzhong, disregarding the bleeding wound on his neck, turned over and knelt on the kang (heated brick bed) before kowtowing to the middle-aged man.

"Hey! What happened to you?" Huang Changsheng stepped forward and helped Jin Sanzhong up, asking with concern.

“Master Huang, a few days ago I was collecting firewood outside the town when I encountered something unclean. I was injured by a fierce ghost!” Jin Sanzhong said, his face full of fear.

"Hey! Come on, let's take a look first. I brought all my things with me."

Huang Changsheng opened the small bag and took out a stack of yellow paper, a few chicken feathers, and a brush dipped in cinnabar.

Upon seeing those things, Kim Sam-jung felt reassured and quickly lay back down with the woman's help.

Huang Changsheng first muttered something to himself, then picked up the cold water next to him, held it in his mouth and sprayed it back and forth, and then removed the gauze from Jin Sanchong's neck.

At first glance, Huang Changsheng felt a chill run down his spine and gasped.

Jin Sanzhong had a deep blood groove on the back of his neck, and his scalp was rolled up. Although he had applied ointment, the wound was white and blood was seeping out.

He makes a living by exorcising evil spirits in Broken Gold Town, and has never seen a "ghost" harm people like this.

"W-what is this? It doesn't look like it was caused by a ghost."

"Never mind what kind of injury it is, just treat it for me quickly!" Kim Sam-jung urged.

Ever since he was injured by a ghost outside the "haunted house" that night, he has been hiding at home and afraid to go out. His wife has been applying ointment to the wound on his neck, but after two days the wound did not get better and started to swell and bleed, becoming increasingly painful.

He realized that since he was injured by a malevolent spirit and the ointment couldn't cure him, it would be best to have Master Huang perform a ritual to exorcise the evil.

Huang Changsheng frowned as he looked at the wound: Jin Sanchong must have gone to the Ji family's haunted house.

The two people who died outside the town a few years ago had similar wounds, with the flesh torn open and bleeding profusely until they died.