For a moment, Chi Mu stared at Lin Zhang's daughter in a trance.
It was not until Lin Zhang coughed weakly a few times that Chi Mu came back from his daze.
"Boss Chi, do you sell candy here? Miaomiao...cough cough, has been pestering me these past two days, asking me to buy him candy, cough cough."
Lin Zhang's speaking speed was already very slow, and he kept coughing while saying this.
Chi Mu looked at the weak Lin Zhang and a trace of sympathy appeared on his face.
"Yes, wait a moment..."
Chi Mu took out a small box of candy from the glass cabinet, then squatted on the ground and put it in Lin Miaomiao's hand.
After Lin Miaomiao got the candy, her originally dull expression instantly turned into joy, and when she smiled, two dimples appeared on her face, which was very cute.
"Thank you, Boss Chi, and thank you, Dad!"
Lin Miaomiao held the candy high and jumped happily.
Seeing his daughter's happy look, Lin Zhang's face finally showed a hint of color. He took out crumpled money from his pocket and handed it to Chi Mu.
"Lin Zhang, use this money to buy medicine. Consider this candy as a gift from me to Miaomiao."
Chi Mu refused Lin Zhang's money because he knew that Lin Zhang had no income at all after he fell ill in these years.
He and Lin Miaomiao barely got by on the minimum living allowance provided by the village.
Although this small box of candy was not valuable, Chi Mu did not have the heart to take Lin Zhang's money, even though this was a world of ghost stories and Lin Zhang and Lin Miaomiao were just NPCs.
"Boss Chi, we can't take your things for free..."
Before Lin Zhang could speak, the petite Lin Miaomiao spoke first.
Chi Mu smiled and rubbed her head: “Boss Chi doesn’t want your money, but there is a request… You can only eat one candy a day. You are still young and you are in the process of changing your teeth.
If you eat too much candy, you will get cavities. When you grow up, your teeth won’t look good and no boy will like you.”
Chi Muben thought the little girl would smile shyly.
Unexpectedly, when Lin Miaomiao heard this, she immediately shrank behind her father and the smile on her face completely disappeared.
Chi Mu was a little confused. Could it be that what he said was too cruel and scared the girl?
"Ahem, Boss Chi, please don't mind... Miaomiao has never liked getting along with the opposite sex. Apart from me, you are the only one she can talk to.
Other than that, she barely talks to other boys or men and doesn’t want to go to school these days.”
Lin Zhang smiled at Chi Mu with an apologetic look on his face.
Chi Mu then remembered that Lin Miaomiao was the same age as his younger brother Xiaoxin, and it should be school time now.
After Lin's father and daughter left, Chi Mu didn't think much about it. He closed the door of the convenience store and walked towards Li Tiezhu's house.
While walking on the road, Chi Mu kept observing the scenery on the road.
The village is full of dirt roads and the houses around are very dilapidated. Only the house next to the school at the end of the village is unique.
Chi Mu remembered that it was the home of the village chief of Tuobei Village.
"It seems that bribery also exists in this small mountain village..."
Chi Mu took a deep look at the village chief's house. He had a vague guess that since he could kill so many people in the village in succession, his identity and status must be very high.
The village chief is now the biggest suspect.
Of course, this is just an objective suspicion. If you want to determine who the murderer is, you cannot use this as a basis for judgment.
"After we get out of Li Tiezhu's house, we can go to the village chief's house and hang out. Maybe we can find some clues."
After saying that, Chi Mu also walked to the door of Li Tiezhu's house.
As soon as he stood at the door, Chi Mu smelled various spicy oils and the smell of burning fire.
It is now past eleven in the afternoon. Although the sun is high in the sky, Chi Mu feels cold all over.
"Is this sun fake? Or is it that the yin energy in Li Tiezhu's family is too strong?"
Chi Mu couldn't help shivering, and then knocked on Li Tiezhu's door.
"Who is it? Come on, stop knocking, you're the death-chasing ghost!"
An old voice came from the room, sounding very impatient.
Soon the door was opened, and Chi Mu saw an almost bald old man standing at the door. He was short and hunched over, and looked ugly no matter how he looked at him.
When the hunchbacked old man saw that it was Chi Mu, his impatient expression changed instantly, and he smiled and welcomed Chi Mu in.
"It's Xiaomu, you haven't been to your lame uncle's house for a long time, come in, come in... As the saying goes, a guest should not stand in front of the door for long periods of time.
If this guest stands at the door for four minutes, he will be targeted by dirty things!"
This person is Li Tiezhu's father, Lame Li.
Chi Mu was welcomed into the yard by Lame Li. While Lame Li was pouring him some water, Chi Mu looked around at the items in the yard.
Among these were paper shrouds, paper cars, paper money for the dead, and paper figures without eyes that were used in funerals.
Seeing these paper figures, Chi Muqing couldn't help but think of the rule about paper figures.
[3: If you see a paper figure with eyes painted on it, you must not ignore it, but immediately throw it into the river at the west end of the village.]
Fortunately, these paper figures had their eyes not painted, but when facing them, Chi Mu still felt a chill.
Soon, Lame Li limped out of the house carrying hot water.
"Xiao Mu, drink some hot water to warm yourself up. Don't be fooled by the bright sun, but our village has been too gloomy lately. It's cold and damp."
Lame Li was very enthusiastic, which made Chi Mu a little uncomfortable.
He originally thought that this Cripple Li was a person with a strange personality. After all, most people working in funeral services deal with the dead.
Over time, I am no longer so enthusiastic about living people.
After taking a sip of hot water, Chi Muzhi stated his purpose.
"Uncle Cripple, I won't beat around the bush with you. Can you sell me some paper money?"
Lame Li's expression changed slightly. He didn't ask any more questions and quickly found a bag of paper money from the pile of wreaths.
"It just so happens that I made all this paper money yesterday. If you want it, take it all away...
But Uncle Cripple has something to advise you. The village has been in turmoil recently. If you burn paper money at this critical moment, I’m afraid it will attract unclean things.”
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