strangeness……
When I first saw this bowl of water, there were no red paper money yet. When did it float in?
The funeral procession was quite far away from us at the time, so how did it end up here?
I didn't think much of it; these paper moneys are so light, they probably just floated into the bowl when I wasn't looking.
I took the paper money out of the bowl and ignored it, then turned and went to the toilet.
After I came out of the restroom, I saw a rather old Taoist priest looking at the paper figures and horses in the shop.
Although he was dressed as a Taoist priest, I still took a closer look at him.
I looked at the paper wind chime hanging on the door again, and when I saw that it hadn't moved, I breathed a sigh of relief.
It looks like a living person.
Otherwise, no matter how strong the wind is, this paper wind chime won't flutter.
Now that I've become Yingniang's apprentice, and I'm here eating and drinking for free, I should naturally help her run the shop.
I looked at him carefully for a moment, and vaguely remembered that he seemed to be with the funeral procession in front of us.
However, at the time I was mainly looking at the bright red sedan chair and didn't notice the Taoist priest.
I forced a smile and asked the old Taoist priest.
"Master, what do you need?"
The old Taoist priest glanced at me and asked with some confusion, "Where is Xiao Ying?"
It seems he and Yingniang are old acquaintances.
I told him that my boss was still in the hospital, and I would help watch the shop.
He was even more surprised when he heard that I was Yingniang's apprentice.
He looked me up and down, clicking his tongue in disapproval.
"Your soul is incomplete, or you're born with a fate that brings misfortune to people and ghosts, yet she actually took you as her disciple? Isn't she afraid of bringing misfortune to herself?"
That's what I meant.
Although what he said was true, the truth is the last thing people want to hear.
Moreover, who wants to hear a stranger say, "You'll bring bad luck to people" as their first words?
Perhaps noticing my somewhat unpleasant expression, the old Taoist priest seemed about to say something, but ultimately remained silent.
He went straight to the point, asking, "Do you have cinnabar and red string?"
Although I had a bad impression of this old Taoist priest from my previous interactions, there was no reason not to do business with him since he came to my door to buy things.
I nodded to him to wait a moment, then turned around and walked to the cabinet behind me. I opened a small drawer, took out a box of cinnabar, and handed it to him.
The old Taoist priest took it, opened it, examined it for a moment, frowned, and shook his head repeatedly.
"Not this kind. I want cinnabar that is the color of a rooster's comb, has a fine texture, and is purple in the sunlight."
I was startled. I had heard my grandfather talk about the properties of cinnabar.
This kind of cinnabar is extremely precious and ordinary people never see it. It is mainly used to suppress corpse transformation and prevent the corpse from becoming evil.
Let alone a small paper craft shop like ours, even shops several times larger might not have the goods.
Just as I was about to say no, the old Taoist priest suddenly raised his hand, pointed to a cabinet without any markings, and said confidently, "It's right there."
I followed his instructions with some skepticism and opened the cabinet, only to find a small metal box inside.
The box is decorated with a picture of a courtesan with alluring eyes; at first glance, it looks like a box for rouge.
Upon opening the box, a unique aroma wafted out—it was the cinnabar the old Taoist priest had requested.
"That's it."
The old Taoist priest's eyes lit up instantly, and he rubbed his hands together excitedly.
Give me three coins.
As he spoke, he took out 18 red 100-yuan bills from his pocket and handed them over.
The cabinet had never been labeled, and I didn't dare to sell the contents without permission, so I quickly dialed Yingniang's number.
"Yingniang, a Taoist priest has come to the shop. He wants to buy cinnabar."
“My surname is Zhou,” the old Taoist priest interjected.
I quickly added, "Master, he is a Taoist priest surnamed Zhou."
Yingniang's voice came from the other end of the phone: "I know him. Sell it to him. How much do you need?"
"Three coins."
"Three coins?"
Yingniang was clearly taken aback, and then asked me to hand the phone to Master Zhou.
The two exchanged a few words on the phone, but I couldn't hear the specifics.
After hanging up the phone, Yingniang instructed me to sell the cinnabar to Master Zhou, and to take the red string from the altar, and not to collect any money.
I walked to the altar, bowed respectfully to the portrait of the patriarch, and whispered, "Patriarch above, today I use the red rope, hoping to bless the shop with peace."
Then, he picked up the red string, turned around and told Master Zhou, "Master, I won't take the money for the red string."
"Alright, alright, then please thank Yingniang for me."
The old Taoist priest thanked him and then turned and left.
He had only been gone for less than 10 minutes when I was about to play a couple of games on my phone, and then Yingniang called.
"Xiao Chen, is there a funeral procession on the street today?"
I said yes.
"What was the funeral like today? Tell me about it."
I could tell from Yingniang's serious tone that she wasn't hiding anything, and there was nothing to hide anyway.
I told her about the Four Reds landing that Qian Laoguan had told me.
"This isn't a funeral procession, it's a procession of the coffin."
Coffin tour?
This is the first time I've ever heard of such a thing. Does a coffin need to go shopping?
Although she didn't hear me speak, Yingniang sensed my confusion.
He explained, "The woman in the coffin must have died a violent death, and she harbored immense resentment. The coffin was paraded through the streets so that it could absorb more sunlight and human yang energy."
After a pause, Yingniang continued, "If the situation hadn't been so critical, Old Zhou wouldn't have come to me to buy cinnabar. Listen carefully, close the door in a moment and don't open it for business again."
I realized how serious the situation was and assured them that we definitely wouldn't open for business tonight.
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