Jin took a small sip of tea and looked at me with his eyes half-closed.
a long time.
He sighed softly and said, "Fine, fine. Since I promised to save your life, I will make a move. As for whether you live or die, that depends on your own fate."
When I first came in, he said he would save me.
But what does this mean now?
Can I understand that he originally intended to save me, but changed his mind after hearing that my grandfather was Chen Laogou?
But you saved me because of a promise you made?
Considering that he burst into laughter after hearing the news of my grandfather's death, I wonder if he had some grudge against my grandfather.
"Master Jin..."
I had barely uttered two words when Boss Jin raised his hand to interrupt me: "If you want to live, leave your birth date and time, a drop of blood from your middle finger, a tuft of hair, the nails of both index fingers, and 25,000 yuan."
Upon hearing that he wanted these things, I quickly asked, "Master Jin, are you going to 'cross over to the underworld'?"
Passing through the underworld is also known as going down to the underworld or going to the netherworld.
Simply put, it means that people in the living world want to know about the affairs of the underworld, so they go to the underworld to "visit".
Jin Ye wants to travel to the underworld, probably to ask the ghost bride who's been haunting me and Su Mingyang to come up and find out why she's been bothering me, or rather—
negotiation.
Jin looked at me with surprise: "I didn't expect you to know about 'spirit communication'. Did your grandfather teach you that?"
I said I had heard him mention it before.
Master Jin smiled faintly: "That's right, I do need to 'go through the underworld' to ask that thing why it's haunting you."
Logically speaking, even though you have a three-edged bone needle, if the other party really wants to take you away, you can't escape.
I suspect it wants something from you, so I thought I'd call it up and ask it directly.
After a pause, Jin continued, "As for the 20,000 yuan, it's to help you find someone who can 'pass on to the underworld.' You don't want that thing to possess you, do you?"
The 20,000 yuan is a friendly price for you; most people would pay 50,000 to 80,000 yuan to have someone perform a "spirit mediumship".
After all, being possessed by a ghost will shorten one's lifespan; at best, it will cause illness, and at worst, it can be fatal.
The remaining five thousand dollars is for items to be purchased during the 'spirit crossing' ritual; any overpayment will be refunded and any underpayment will be collected.
If you think it's too expensive, you can find someone else to buy the things yourself; I don't mind.
Although I suspect this old man is trying to extort money from me.
But since things have come to this point, my life and Su Mingyang's life are in their hands. We have to go no matter how expensive it is.
I quickly lit a cigarette for Mr. Jin, and said with a smile that everything was up to him. We two young people didn't know anything about these things. We were like a lone boat lost in the vast ocean, and could only rely on him as a guiding light.
Mr. Jin was very pleased with my compliments.
"Mr. Jin, I understand the 25,000, but what's the extra dollar for?" I asked.
Jin gave a forced smile: "This extra piece is naturally my reward."
"You only charge one dollar?" I looked at him suspiciously.
Could it be that I've misunderstood him?
He really didn't intend to scam me?
Jin grinned, revealing his teeth stained yellow from smoking, and asked me in return, "Didn't your grandfather teach you that?"
I shook my head.
"It's better not to teach it, because I'm afraid that if you knew, it would be better if you didn't know!"
I didn't understand, but I didn't ask again.
I took out my phone to transfer the money.
But as soon as I picked up my phone, I realized I only had a little over one dollar left in my account.
Last night, I thought I was going to die, so I gave all my money to Su Mingyang.
By the way, where's that kid Su Mingyang?
When I asked about Su Mingyang, Jin Ye's expression became a little strange, and he gestured towards the door with his lip.
“Go out and turn right, walk to the end of the street, then turn left and you’ll find him.”
...
The funeral supplies wholesale market is busiest in the morning.
It's only nine in the morning, and the whole street is already packed with people.
When I walked to the end of the street as Jin Ye instructed, I saw Su Mingyang gesticulating wildly and haggling with the owner in front of a funeral supplies store.
"Boss, your price is too high. We're here to buy things sincerely, so you have to give us some discount."
The shop owner, all smiles, replied calmly, "Young man, the goods in my shop are all top-quality products, absolutely top-notch. The price I quoted you is truly fair and honest."
Look at this life-size paper doll you're planning to buy. It looks so real, with its eyebrows, eyes, and overall shape.
Let me tell you, your brother Bao likes it.
If he doesn't like Dilraba's looks, we also have Western-style girls here, blonde and blue-eyed, with perfect proportions, they're really attractive! These two are our best-selling items, and we get quite a few people asking for them every day!
Looking at those two lifelike paper figures, I felt a chill run down my spine.
Is this prepared for me?
Su Mingyang pursed his lips impatiently: "Alright, alright, I'm not a newbie in this business. Stop rambling on. If you don't lower your price, I'll go look at other places."
As he spoke, he made a move to leave.
The shopkeeper quickly grabbed him: "No, no, no, young man, let's talk this over. How about this, I'll add an electronic wooden fish for you. It's a new arrival and it's very popular."
It's a solar-powered model, directly embedded in the tombstone, saving you the trouble of changing the batteries every few days.
Su Mingyang's eyes lit up: "Electronic wooden fish? What's that?"
The boss retorted, "You're an amateur when it comes to this, aren't you? Don't you usually go to temples to have monks chant sutras to help the deceased find a good home?"
"Mmm!"
The boss chuckled: "With the electronic wooden fish, things are different. When someone comes to burn incense, it automatically strikes the wooden fish to accumulate merit. It can also be set to automatic mode, so we don't even need to find monks, saving a lot of money."
Moreover, this electronic wooden fish has a crisp and pleasant sound, and can be adjusted to various rhythms and sound effects. Once you accumulate enough merit, your brother will definitely be reincarnated into a good family! If I weren't still alive, I'd want to get two for myself.”
The more I listened, the more outrageous it became.
I'm afraid if I keep listening, they'll even arrange punk tombstones and electronic coffins for me.
Seeing that the boss was trying to sell Su Mingyang the "underworld-specific driver's license" again, I quickly stepped forward and stopped him.
"Stop buying, I'm not dead yet!"
Upon seeing me, Su Mingyang's eyes instantly reddened. He took a few steps to me and hugged me tightly, his voice trembling.
"Old Chen, you...you're really still alive? I was just about to buy you some things, afraid you weren't doing well over there."
I looked at him helplessly: "Is this how you repay me?"
Su Mingyang chuckled: "Of course! We've got the yacht and all that ready for you, just waiting for you to die!"
The way he's saying that makes it sound like I'd be doing him a disservice if I didn't lose a single one of my lives.
I asked him, "Are you alright last night?"
Jin said that Su Mingyang is also haunted by a vengeful spirit. I almost got into trouble last night, so I imagine he's probably not doing much better.
Su Mingyang shivered violently, and his face turned pale instantly.
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