Chapter 53 Nighttime Investigation of the Rag Doll in the Box
Bai Yan spent a day and a half reviewing the accumulated account books, during which time Jiang Yuzhi stayed with him at the cloth shop.
During the day, Bai Yan reviewed the accounts, while Jiang Yuzhi chatted with Manager Miao and dealt with Huai'an, who came to visit and eat.
At night, Jiang Yuzhi secretly observed the funeral clothing shop from a distance of about one cubicle from the neighboring shop.
She was genuinely curious; a female ghost, a funeral clothing shop—anyone who didn't know better would think they'd opened a branch of this place.
He seemed to have a great appetite for the food next door.
Since Chichi stayed by Jiang Yuzhi's side, she hasn't shown her appetite so obviously.
Jiang Yuzhi wanted to go there alone with Chichi to find out what was going on, but Bai Yan wouldn't allow it. He always sat in the small mountain of account books, looking at her with a mournful gaze.
Tonight, after Bai Yan finished reviewing the account books, the man, the ghost, and the sheep were finally able to set off under the cover of night!
They carried Manager Miao on their backs and climbed over the wall to enter the funeral clothing shop next door.
The courtyard was deserted; it was the height of summer, yet a chilling emptiness permeated the air.
The stone-paved ground was damp from the rain, but there hadn't been any heavy rain recently.
The owners didn't even want to leave a guard, and the unattended courtyard accumulated a thin layer of dust and fallen leaves that seemed to have blown in from nowhere.
Bai Yan couldn't help but shiver; he could tolerate the heat, but not the cold.
"Why don't we go back..." Jiang Yuzhi was worried about him. This courtyard was indeed unusual, and there was probably a ghost here. If it was an ordinary ghost, that would be fine, but what if it was a powerful one that could take advantage of his illness and kill him? She hadn't protected Bai Yan, causing his ghostly power to enter his body. She didn't know if the Sheji Tu would react. If it didn't, then they would really be going to see each other in the underworld.
"I remember there's a cloak in Yuzhi's bag, could I borrow it?"
Jiang Yuzhi suddenly realized that the cloak was the one Bai Yan had worn when she went to help Zhang Chen's husbands take their measurements last time, and it could be put to use again now.
As the human and ghost busied themselves searching for clothes and putting them on, Chichi glanced at them disdainfully, its nose barely touching the ground as it moved swiftly, as if searching for something.
Bai Yan put on his cloak, and Jiang Yuzhi finally noticed that Chichi had walked away. She tried to keep her voice down so as not to alert Chichi, "Chichi! Don't wander off."
He ate without looking up, and just bleated.
Finally, it stopped at a corner.
The foot of the house, nestled between the base of the house and the outer wall, slammed its hooves powerfully against the stone brick several times. Unable to withstand the force, the stone brick shattered miserably into small, fragmented pieces.
Chichi kicked the pieces aside with its hooves, revealing a faint hint of crimson in the dark brown soil.
Jiang Yuzhi followed closely behind, just in time to witness the lamb destroying someone's house, and thought to herself, "Oh no!"
It ate without a care in the world, stubbornly digging in the dirt with its hooves.
Jiang Yuzhi noticed something was wrong; she smelled something like rust.
Upon closer inspection, there was blood in the soil.
Jiang Yuzhi frowned and stopped stopping Chichi's actions. Bai Yan also saw this at this time, "Don't worry, at worst our family will spend some money to compensate this family."
Jiang Yuzhi pulled Bai Yan down to squat down, "There's something wrong with the soil."
Bai Yan tried to reach out and pick up a bit, but Jiang Yuzhi grabbed her wrist in time. "Don't touch it, come behind me first."
"Blood?"
Bai Yan stood obediently behind Jiang Yuzhi, looking down at the muddy ground where a small pit had been dug.
"Mmm," Jiang Yuzhi replied, watching Chichi's movements intently as she took out a small shovel for planting flowers from her bag and joined in.
Not long after, the shovel seemed to hit a hard object. Jiang Yuzhi quickly released the force and pushed Chichi to the side to signal it to stop.
Chichi probably knew that something had been found, so she obediently took a step back and waited for Jiang Yuzhi to take it out.
To make digging easier, several bricks around the pit were pried off. Jiang Yuzhi gently brushed away the surface soil with a shovel, revealing a rough wooden box.
"Yuzhi, be careful, this box is emitting black smoke."
Jiang Yuzhi turned around in surprise, "You can see the black aura?" Then she suddenly realized, "I forgot you're no longer an ordinary mortal."
I called out impatiently twice, hoping she would hurry up.
Jiang Yuzhi shifted her attention back to the wooden box, first poking it with a small shovel, but there was no response.
She gritted her teeth, wrapped her hands in a layer of ghostly power, and cautiously reached out to touch it.
Upon contact, the bell at her waist glowed faintly, and Jiang Yuzhi felt a heat emanating from the spot she touched, realizing what was happening.
The box was probably made of peach wood, and judging from the color, it might even be wood struck by lightning. Fortunately, she wasn't an evil spirit and had the map of the land and the soul-soothing bell to protect her, otherwise she would have been burned.
Jiang Yuzhi placed the box on the flat brick ground, immediately let go, and then poked it twice with the shovel. This time, the box moved.
Because Chichi leaned in so close, her pink nose almost knocked the box over.
Jiang Yuzhi and Bai Yan clearly saw that after the box was pushed back a little, Chichi didn't touch it again, but the box itself moved back a small distance.
The human and the ghost stood speechless.
Jiang Yuzhi: "Mingze, stay away from the box, but don't stray too far from me."
Bai Yan: "Okay."
Chichi was never afraid of eating and even thought the two of them weren't very smart. She rolled her eyes, approached the box, and bit open the lock with one bite.
The towering black mist was about to rise from the ground.
Jiang Yuzhi hurriedly set up a barrier with one hand and protected Bai Yan with the other, taking him back several steps.
While eating, he didn't stop. He glanced at Jiang Yuzhi with admiration, then took a bite. Adhering to the principle that waste is shameful, he even sucked in every last bit that escaped.
It was a close call, but no real danger.
Even the chill in the air dissipated considerably.
"Meow~" Still feeling it wasn't enough, she jumped up and down twice, urging Jiang Yuzhi to come over quickly.
Jiang Yuzhi gripped Bai Yan's wrist tightly, picked up the shovel that had fallen to the ground, pointed the tip at the box, and took small steps forward.
Bai Yan knew the timing was wrong, but he still wanted to laugh.
"Do not approach me until I am sure it is safe."
"good."
Jiang Yuzhi turned around and added several barriers to Bai Yan's body, but she was still afraid it wouldn't work. However, she had no other choice. She hoped that when danger really occurred, the Sheji Tu would give her some face and protect them.
The peach wood box lay forlornly on the ground, its clasp bearing teeth marks and signs of decay, the lid long since popped open.
Inside the box was a long, narrow object wrapped in a white cloth.
It was wrapped so thickly that the object was not visible.
Jiang Yuzhi didn't touch it rashly, and continued to use the shovel to pry open the white cloth, but the space inside the box was too small, making it difficult to operate.
"Baa~" Chichi got even more anxious and stomped its front hooves twice.
"Should I get it out?"
He nodded and ate.
"Oh well."
Jiang Yuzhi, imagining the act of eating and inhaling the black energy, boldly reached the shovel into the box and picked it out.
The object fell to the ground without making a sound.
The shovel tip pulled back the white cloth, and a rough rag doll rolled out.
The doll's head was wrapped in jet-black hair, and a white cloth strip around its neck was tied in a tight knot. The character "生八" (birth chart) was written on its white clothes, and silver needles were inserted into its head and limbs, emitting only the smell of needles.
Jiang Yuzhi's breathing became labored.
Bai Yan was considerably taller than her, and even from behind, he could roughly see her height. He immediately became serious. "A curse?"
Jiang Yuzhi's face was solemn. "Hmm, no wonder it was made of peach wood struck by lightning and nailed with silver needles. But there's one strange thing about it."
Bai Yan: "Wrapped in white cloth?"
Jiang Yuzhi nodded, "If you really hate this person to the core, why use a white cloth to separate the doll from the box?"
Bai Yan: "Will ghosts get hurt if they touch the box?"
Jiang Yuzhi squatted down and observed carefully, then casually pinched the doll in her mouth as if she wanted to gnaw on it. "Yes, both lightning-struck wood and peach wood are used to ward off evil spirits."
Bai Yan's expression turned serious. "Yu Zhi, you just took the box out of the pit..."
Jiang Yuzhi turned back and gave him a reassuring look, then continued to observe the doll whose head was covered by hair, trying to untangle the hair with a shovel. "I'm fine, I'm not an ordinary ghost."
Bai Yan was still worried, "But... what if..."
Jiang Yuzhi didn't care at all, "Don't worry, I'll be careful."
Bai Yan truly hated himself for being a weak and powerless mortal, unable to help his wife and even distracting her.
The doll whose hair was touched vibrated a few times.
Jiang Yuzhi quickly retracted the shovel, waiting intently for the doll's next move.
Chichi, whose mouth was pinched, jumped up and down anxiously, unable to make a sound.
A wisp of black smoke drifted out from the doll, gradually coalescing into a human figure.
She was slightly plump, dressed in brand-new silk clothes, her face was swollen and bluish-purple, there was a mark on her neck, and her hair was disheveled. At this moment, she was lying helplessly on the ground.
Jiang Yuzhi became even more vigilant, even though the ghost before her was extremely weak.
"Cough cough... Ahhhhh, ahhhhh..." The female ghost opened her mouth but couldn't utter a complete sentence. Blood kept flowing from her eyes, quickly forming a large dark red patch beneath her.
Chi Chi took two steps back with a look of disgust, not bothering to move forward.
Jiang Yuzhi could tell that she wasn't in good condition. Indeed, being sealed in a peach wood box, unable to speak, meant that she had either been given drugs or had her tongue cut out before she died.
There should still be some of Meng Po's medicinal soup in the bag. Jiang Yuzhi rummaged around for a while and found a ceramic bowl that looked exactly like Meng Po's. She placed the medicinal soup not far from the female ghost.
"Drinking this might make you feel better."
A hint of gratitude managed to peek through the female ghost's dark, hollow eyes as she picked up the medicine, still dripping with blood, and drank it all in one gulp.
The pool of blood on the ground disappeared, and the female ghost's purplish-blue face seemed to have improved.
Logically speaking, Meng Po's medicinal soup shouldn't have such an effect; most of the ghosts who drink it can regain their sanity and return to their healthiest state from their previous lives.
Aside from being able to speak, the female ghost did not change much.
"Thank you for your help. My name is Xue Yi. I hope you weren't frightened by me."
Jiang Yuzhi: "That's good. What's your relationship with this family?"
Xue Yi seemed to be in another world, with little resentment left. "This is my family, my benefactor. My family's wine is good, and we've made a lot of money. My parents only have me as their daughter, and they love me very much."
Jiang Yuzhi suddenly found it difficult to speak. Xue Yi didn't seem to remember the cause of death, otherwise, how could she be so calm?
As Bai Yan listened, he quietly moved closer to Jiang Yuzhi.
No one noticed that Chichi took a few steps forward and "woofed" into the entire unsightly rag doll.
Suddenly, a thick fog rolled into the courtyard.
Jiang Yuzhi wanted to get used to it, but Bai Yan was still by her side, so she subconsciously took Bai Yan's hand to prevent them from getting separated.
He licked his lips contentedly after eating and followed them with light steps.
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Author's Note: [Hugs]
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