Chapter 151 That's a fox spirit skin
The first month of the lunar calendar is almost over, and the festive atmosphere has completely dissipated. Every household is already busy preparing for the new year's livelihood.
After being approached by customers to buy incense for several consecutive days, Achan had no choice but to start considering opening her shop for business.
Before opening the door, she first gathered all the money in the house, then took out two thousand taels of silver notes and went to the West Market.
This time, she had a clear goal and headed straight for the largest hunting shop in the West Market.
This shop is much larger, with several counters.
Achan walked towards the counter with the animal character sign. The shopkeeper, who was standing behind the counter, smiled slightly at her as she approached and asked, "What would you like to buy, young lady?"
"Longzhi's fifth brain."
The dragon has nine heads and nine tails, much like a nine-tailed fox, but its many heads make it seem less intelligent, making it an easy target for predators.
The shopkeeper was taken aback. This request was indeed quite unusual, but there was a corpse of a dragon in the storeroom.
"Please wait a moment, young lady."
The shopkeeper went to the storeroom and returned about fifteen minutes later carrying a black jar.
The jar was not sealed, and it emitted a strange, indescribable smell—both sweet and fishy—with black bloodstains on the rim.
"Look at this, young lady, is this the right kind? Freshly dug dragon brains, guaranteed fresh." The shopkeeper placed the jar on the counter, letting Achan inspect the goods.
Ah Chan covered her nose in disgust and peeked inside. She then asked the shopkeeper for a twig and poked around in the jar a couple of times. The black brain inside was very elastic and didn't break even after being poked twice.
She nodded to the shopkeeper, indicating her satisfaction, and then asked, "How much?"
"The nephew's cultivation level is at the third realm. The price of a nephew's brain is one thousand taels. Moreover, the young lady has specified a fifth brain, which will require an additional five hundred taels."
The price was close to the estimated price, so Achan didn't haggle with the other party and handed over the silver note directly, receiving a jar of dark, murky brains in return.
Before she left the hunting lodge, the shopkeeper sealed the jar for her and tied it with a rope so she could carry it by hand.
Achan carried the pig brains home. After arriving home, she placed the jar next to the well, then went to the kitchen to get the salt jar, put three large spoonfuls of salt into it, and filled it with well water.
After that, she changed the water every day until the seventh day, when the water was emptied, and a black film floated on the brain in the jar.
Achan used chopsticks to pick out the black membrane. The membrane didn't look big, but it was quite large when unfolded.
She spread the black film out flat on the clean ground and waited for it to air dry.
During this period, the incense shop finally officially opened for business. The number of customers coming to the shop each day was just right, but it always kept her very busy.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, the first month of the lunar calendar quietly passed, and the second month arrived.
That evening, after closing the shop, Achan went back to the backyard to check on the black film that had been left to dry in the corner of the yard. The film had become dry and hard, and a layer of white crystals had appeared on it.
She used scissors to cut the black membrane into small pieces, put them into a prepared wooden box, and then ground them into powder for use.
After dealing with the black membrane, Achan rubbed her stomach. She had been busy for so long and hadn't been able to eat her evening meal on time. She was both tired and hungry.
She sighed heavily, feeling increasingly that being a person was so difficult.
Just as she got up to put the wooden box away before going to the kitchen to find some food, she heard the sound of the door being opened.
As soon as Achan turned her head, she saw Chen Hui walk out of the house.
"Hui Niang, you're finally awake!" She rushed to Chen Hui, almost bursting into tears of joy.
A smile appeared on Chen Hui's face. Although she was not exactly alive, the feeling of waking up again was still very good, especially since there were people at home waiting for her.
"Actually, I had some consciousness a few days ago, but I hadn't completed the advancement yet, which is why I woke up a little late."
"How are you feeling? Is there anything that's bothering you?" Achan asked.
Chen Hui shook her head: "No, everything is normal."
"That's good." After saying that, Ah Chan seemed to remember something and lowered her voice, "Do you see the land deed I put on the table?"
Chen Hui's smile faded, and she sighed softly, asking A Chan, "Did you see? Did Ru Hui pass away peacefully?"
"She passed away peacefully, and all the things that had troubled her have been resolved."
Chen Hui was taken aback for a moment before asking, "You helped her?"
The things Ru Hui cared about, she probably didn't have time to resolve before she died. Ah Chan said that, which must be because something happened afterward.
Achan did not deny it: "She is your friend, helping her is just something I did on the spur of the moment."
Besides, it's not a loss that the half-chain around my neck was completely broken just for making a candle.
Now, only one of the six chains remains.
When Hui Niang woke up, A Chan felt as if she had come back to life.
Chen Hui made her a bowl of chicken wontons. Achan sat at the table, eating the steaming hot wontons with satisfaction, while Chen Hui crushed the black film in the box one by one with her hands.
"It smells so good, what is this?" The black membrane originally had no smell, but after it broke, it filled the whole room with a sweet fragrance.
After finishing the last wonton, Achan replied, "This is the main ingredient of the Soul-Suppressing Incense. I found making that kind of incense troublesome and ineffective, so I used this directly."
"What...why would you use it for?"
Achan said, "My old friend will be coming to the capital soon, this is a gift for our first meeting."
Chen Hui carefully put the crushed powder into a cloth bag, tied the bag with a rope, and then asked, "What kind of old friend is it?"
"Someone who... saved my life."
More than ten days have passed since Achan mentioned "a while," and in the blink of an eye, it will be the Flower Festival on the twelfth of February.
At this time last year, she and Xiaolin went to the Flower Goddess Temple in Yongshan to worship the Flower Goddess. This year, Huiniang came with her.
The area in front of the Flower Goddess Temple was teeming with people. Achan bought two plum blossoms and gave one to Chen Hui.
After offering incense to the Goddess of Flowers, she threw the flower branch in her hand into the jade vase in front of the statue.
The area around the pair of jade vases was covered with fallen flower branches, and the flower branch that Achan threw over landed right into the jade vase.
Seeing this, many people around her congratulated her, and some even stuffed flower branches into her hands, as if in doing so they could also receive some of the Flower Goddess's blessing.
When Achan came down from Yongshan Mountain, she was carrying a huge bunch of plum blossom branches in her arms, almost completely submerged in the flowers. On the way back, she was in a good mood, feeling that something good was about to happen that day.
The carriage swayed and wobbled as it drove into the city, then suddenly stopped not far from Yongding Gate.
"Huiniang, what's wrong?"
Achan felt the carriage stop, lifted the curtain and looked out, only to see many carriages and people entering the city blocking the way.
Chen Hui stood up on the carriage, looked in the direction of the city gate, and after observing for a while, said to A Chan, "There are guards blocking the city gate. It looks like a noble person is about to enter the city."
"What kind of important person is making such a grand entrance?"
"The convoy has arrived."
Upon hearing Chen Hui's words, A Chan immediately climbed out of the carriage. She took Chen Hui's arm and stood on the carriage, looking into the distance. Sure enough, she saw a large, dark procession heading towards the city gate.
As the caravan approached, the carriages that had been blocked in front of them suddenly started moving. The horses, which had been very obedient, seemed to have been stimulated and became very restless.
The coachmen were trying to calm the horses pulling the carriages, but it didn't seem to be working.
Seeing this, Achan narrowed her eyes slightly and said to Chen Hui beside her, "Hui Niang, stop the carriage here and let's go take a look ahead."
"Okay." Without asking why, Chen Hui helped Achan out of the car, and the two walked forward together.
They pushed through the carriages and passersby blocking their way, only to be stopped by armed guards.
These guards were dressed in black cloth armor, carrying long spears. They were all wielded by men with sharp eyes and were not like ordinary guards at all. They looked more like soldiers who had experienced many battles.
Achan's gaze swept over the spears in the guards' hands, noticing the black circular totem on each spear shaft. She slightly twitched the corner of her lips.
Today is indeed a good day; the old friend I've been waiting for has arrived.
The convoy finally came into Achan's sight, and the first thing that caught her eye was four white horses.
The white horse had a single horn on its head, and its four hooves were like tiger claws. When it opened its mouth, you could see its ferocious fangs. It was not a horse, but a mongoose that could hunt tigers and leopards.
After the appearance of the mythical beast, the restless horses suddenly knelt down, causing the people in the carriage to scream repeatedly.
As chaos reigned on both sides of the road, a mythical beast slowly passed by, pulling an extremely luxurious carriage.
The frame also had black circular patterns.
This is Shangjing, and not many people recognize this totem, but in the Northern Wilderness, everyone knows this totem.
This is the symbol of the Northern Wilderness King's Palace.
The King of the Northern Wilderness was not allowed to enter the capital without an imperial edict, but the Queen Dowager of the Northern Wilderness was from the Upper Capital, so she was naturally allowed to return to the capital to visit her relatives.
The woman sitting in this carriage is the most distinguished woman in the Northern Wilderness.
Achan's gaze shifted from the luxurious carriage to the young man riding a mythical beast beside it.
The man had fair skin, handsome features, and was dressed in all black. He was cautiously scanning the crowd on both sides.
The man's gaze swept over Achan without lingering.
Just then, he seemed to sense something and suddenly gripped the longsword in his hand tightly.
The next moment, thick smoke billowed from under the carriage of the Northern Wilderness King's Consort, quickly enveloping the carriage. Several figures could be vaguely seen in the smoke, along with the sound of weapons clashing.
This was clearly a premeditated assassination.
When this unexpected incident occurred, the guards who had been blocking the way rushed forward to help. The passersby who had been stopped earlier did not dare to move forward, but instead retreated, fearing that they would be implicated.
Chen Hui helped A Chan to the side, but A Chan was still looking in the direction of the car frame.
The commotion over there came quickly and subsided just as quickly.
Finally, all Achan heard was someone shout: "Zhao Yin, you bastard!"
Then, a head flew into the air.
As the thick smoke gradually dissipated, the man called Zhao Yin stood beside the beast. Because of the distance, A Chan could not see his expression, but she could see that the long sword in his hand was stained with blood, and the blood dripped from the tip of the sword onto the ground.
Four corpses lay around the carriage, three of them killed with a single sword strike, and the remaining one was decapitated, resulting in a lot of blood splattering on the luxurious carriage.
The Dowager Princess of the Northern Wilderness was assassinated outside the city gate. The general guarding the city dared not be negligent and immediately led his troops out of the city to meet her, just in case.
They intended to escort the people directly into the city, but unexpectedly the carriage curtain was suddenly lifted, and two beautiful young maids stepped out of the carriage first. Then, two light coughs were heard, and a woman wearing a white fur coat with a graceful demeanor walked out of the carriage.
Upon seeing the noblewoman, the city's garrison commander immediately knelt down and performed a grand salute: "This humble official greets the Imperial Concubine."
The Dowager Princess of the Northern Wilderness should be over fifty years old this year, but judging from her appearance, she looks no more than thirty or forty. There are no wrinkles on her face, and her eyes are sharp and cold. When she looks at people, they feel like tiny ants.
She ignored the group of people kneeling on the ground and turned to look at Zhao Yin, who was standing next to the carriage.
When Zhao Yin saw the Dowager Consort step out of the carriage, he immediately stepped forward, bowed, and knelt down in front of the carriage. The Dowager Consort then stepped on his back to get out of the carriage.
The fur coat worn by the Northern Wilderness King's Dowager Princess dragged on the ground, stained with bloodstains that had not yet been wiped clean. A maid behind her let out a soft cry, and the Dowager Princess noticed it, turned around and glanced at it, immediately frowning.
Zhao Yincai stood up, but upon seeing this scene, he immediately knelt down again to beg for forgiveness: "Please punish me, Your Highness!"
"stand up."
Zhao Yin obediently stood up, and then received a heavy slap.
The slap was loud, leaving a clear handprint on Zhao Yin's face. He heard the person in front of him coldly utter two words: "Trash!"
After being slapped, Zhao Yin knelt down again.
The Dowager Princess of the Northern Wilderness didn't even glance at him, letting the maid beside her take off the fur coat and throw it away.
Seeing this, Chen Hui asked curiously, "I wonder what kind of leather that fur is made of, given how bright the fur color is?"
Asan looked at the scene not far away and answered softly, "That's a fox spirit's skin."
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