A farm tool store in the cracks
In order to find the farm implement store that said "turn right when you go out the door," Tian Baozhu asked several stores, but the owners and clerks all told her to turn right. When she asked a pair of clerks dressed as children, they started discussing:
"It's the farm implement store. Isn't it right when you go out?"
"You forgot that due to poor performance, their store moved further to the right corner."
"Yes, yes, I remember now. Excuse me, Master Bai Wuchang, you have to go to the far right corner."
Well, I can only go to the rightmost corner to look for it.
On the way, Tian Baozhu asked Hei Wuchang:
"Senior, you've lived in the underworld for so long, don't you know the location of the farm tool store?"
"As a ghost messenger, I'm not familiar with this place."
Come to think of it, if Hei Wuchang had not been assigned by Lord Yama to work on the farm, his previous work as a ghost catcher would not have had anything to do with the farm tool store.
Tian Baozhu thought of another question, which she had ignored before. Now that Hei Wuchang mentioned his position, she remembered it -
"Our ghost officials have gone to work on the farm. Who will take care of those ghosts?"
"Ordinary ghosts will automatically go to the underworld after death. Usually, it is enough to assign them to the Ox-Head and Horse-Face to watch over them. The ghost messengers are sent out for those evil spirits who resist."
"Evil spirits? Although my main job is farming, I'm still a ghost catcher. If I have to control evil spirits, can I do it?"
"Evil spirits are rarely encountered."
It wasn't a matter of less or more. Farming was her forte, but she had no experience in catching ghosts. After all, she was just an ordinary agricultural university student! Tian Baozhu prayed that she could always farm peacefully and never encounter such a ghost.
※※※
During the conversation, the two walked to the door of the shop at the far right end. The shop didn't even have a signboard. There was only a wooden sign facing the street with the words "Farm Tool Shop" written on it.
The farm tool shop was a small space, with only three square meters left for receiving customers. From this direct comparison, it was clear that the underworld didn't have much demand for agricultural supplies.
A man was sleeping on a reclining chair in the store, fanning himself with his eyes closed. The store was not big to begin with, and with this long reclining chair, the space was even more cramped.
"Boss, we need to buy some farm tools. Do you have any recommendations for useful tools?" Tian Baozhu asked.
"It's all fine. You two adults can take your time to look around." He lay on the recliner without even moving his eyelids.
In stark contrast to the clothing store owner's enthusiastic and proactive work attitude, the farm tool store owner was blatantly slacking off.
I don’t know whether it is the passive resistance that leads to the decrease in sales, or the decrease in sales that leads to passive resistance, or maybe it’s both.
Tian Baozhu didn't like the way high-ranking officials bullied others, but the owner of this farm tool shop was different; he was too lazy. If she didn't use some of the power of a first-level employee, he wouldn't even bother to move.
"Boss, Lord Yama said that if Hei Wuchang and I need help, we can ask you for help. You are the owner of the farm tool store, and you must be more familiar with the products in the store than I am."
"I don't know. Lord Yama saw that I had extra hands and thought I was suitable for heavy work, so he suddenly assigned me this job as a farm implement store owner."
I don't know, I don't understand, I don't understand.
Tian Baozhu could understand why the King of Hell would erupt like a volcano from time to time, and now she also thought about it!
Could this employee of the underworld show some energy?
But there is no point in arguing with him any further, it would just be a waste of time.
Tian Baozhu saw that Hei Wuchang had no intention of paying attention to the boss and was looking for goods himself.
She also planned to pick it herself.
Are the agricultural tools in the underworld similar to those in the human world? She'd thought before coming here that she shouldn't use tools that are too short, as they can be difficult to use. She'd planned to buy a rake to loosen the soil and weed, but it was tucked away at the very bottom of the shelf, so deep she was afraid someone would buy one and she'd have to bend down to get it.
"Ding-ling." Just at this moment, the spirit-calling bell fell from her pocket to the ground.
Although the spirit-calling bell was good, it was too troublesome to carry around. If she had to work frequently in the future, it would probably get in the way. But when she looked at Hei Wuchang, he didn't seem to have this problem.
Yes, how did Hei Wuchang collect his magical instruments? And she had never seen what Hei Wuchang's magical instruments looked like.
She squatted down, wanting to talk to Hei Wuchang, but she could only twist her waist and ask him briefly:
"Can you show me your..."
"Yes. Lord Bai Wuchang, please tell me what you would like to see."
She had intended to speak to Hei Wuchang, but unexpectedly, the person who answered her was the owner of the farm implement shop. He had already stood up and walked over to Tian Baozhu, waiting obediently for her orders.
The owner of the farm tool store was so obedient, could it be because of the magic power of the soul-calling bell that just rang?
Tian Baozhu reacted immediately: "Boss, I need a rake. It's too deep to reach. Can you help me choose some? Do you have any seeds for sale in the store? If you have any, please bring them out. Also, what kind of fertilizer does the underworld use? Do you have any compound fertilizer for sale?"
She made her demands all at once, fearing her boss would ignore her once he sobered up.
The boss squatted down and took out a rake with his two front hands. He had two more hands on his back, and he passed the rake from his front hands to his back hands without having to stand up, and then handed it to Tian Baozhu.
Wow, what a convenient way to grow.
Tian Baozhu was just about to take it and say thank you when the boss's hand loosened with a "click" and the heavy rake rolled into her hand. Fortunately, she reacted quickly enough and grabbed the rake firmly.
"Oh, my back hurts..."
The boss stood up and rubbed his back while complaining. It seemed that he had come to his senses.
Tian Baozhu knew that the spirit-calling bell had limited effectiveness. If the bell was rung for five minutes without further ringing, the person controlled by the ringing would wake up from their trance-like state.
But perhaps because he had heard the summoning bell once before, the boss was more proactive than before. He told Tian Baozhu that the seeds were available, but she had to go to the warehouse at the back to check for stock.
"Alas, I haven't planted anything in hundreds of years. I wonder what has become of the seeds in the warehouse. Some people have tried to grow things, but apart from Lady Mengpo, I've never seen any successful examples. Oh, Lord Yama is suddenly talking about transforming the underworld. It's really caught us off guard."
The underworld shrouded in death can easily destroy your hopes. When your attempts are decayed, all that is left is disappointment. Doing nothing is the best way to survive in the underworld.
"In the human world, there are lotus seeds that are hundreds of years old and can sprout and bloom again under suitable conditions and temperatures. Perhaps we can also hold out some hope and find such seeds in the warehouse."
"Alas, I hope to borrow your auspicious words from Lord Bai Wuchang."
The owner of the farm tool store didn't know how many times he had sighed today.
"Stop sighing! If you do, all hope will slip away. How can you be so unmotivated as an agricultural worker?" Tian Baozhu patted him on the back and encouraged him.
Of course, all this is just in Tian Baozhu's imagination.
Sorry, the agricultural spirit of the agricultural student has come up.
In life, they, the classmates, would pat each other on the back when extreme weather destroyed crops, and would also celebrate with a pat on the shoulder when the experimental fields had a good harvest. However, she was afraid that the people in the underworld were like Hei Wuchang, and a pat on the back would be a serious act in the underworld, so she didn't dare to do it rashly.
Her hands were about to move, but she held herself back.
※※※
The owner of the farm tool store went to the warehouse to look for seed inventory, and Tian Baozhu wiped the spirit-calling bell that had fallen to the ground.
"Senior, why haven't I seen your magic weapon? Where do you usually keep it?"
"There's no need not to take it out."
She was a bit stingy, but she was also curious. The magic weapon, the Soul-Summoning Bell, that Bai Wuchang handed over to her was so powerful, so the magic weapon of Hei Wuchang should not be inferior.
"Really can't watch it?"
"I advise you not to be curious."
Once Hei Wuchang's magic weapon is used, it will always absorb something from the surroundings. If it is light, it may be your hair or your connected fingers; if it is heavy, all your essence will be greedily plundered by it, and your body will fall apart.
"Well, you can at least tell me how you put it away. I see Old Bai Wuchang can make clothes appear out of thin air with just a flick of his hand. Do you all have a hidden space?"
She held up the spirit bell and rake. "I want to put them away so I can move around easily and have them ready to go when I need them."
“Imagine a tear in front of your eyes. Put your hand in there and open it.”
Hei Wuchang's description was very abstract. Tian Baozhu concentrated:
Opening, opening, imagine, stretch out your hand, and stretch it open.
Open up——
Tian Baozhu saw a gap appear in front of her hand. She concentrated her mind again, and the gap opened to about the size of a palm.
Tian Baozhu carefully placed the soul-summoning bell into the palm-sized gap. The soul-summoning bell naturally merged into the space and did not fall to the ground when she let go.
Did she succeed?
"Did I succeed?" She was super happy when she saw Hei Wuchang nod.
Well, she is amazing. I didn’t expect that she could develop special abilities after death.
Continuing her efforts, she put the rake in.
"Bang!" The rake fell heavily to the ground.
The rake doesn't work. Is it because I haven't been exposed to the aura of the underworld long enough...
"Senior, what should we do..." Tian Baozhu asked for help pitifully. At this moment, she really looked like a wet puppy.
“…”
Hei Wuchang's mouth twitched, and just as he was about to say something, a man came out with a huge cloud of dust.
"Master Wuchang, I've taken out everything I can from the bottom floor of every corner of the warehouse. Can you guys see if it's still usable after opening it here?"
There was a lot of dust. The owner of the farm tool store had just moved the packages a few times when the dust came towards them.
Hmm!
Tian Baozhu and the owner of the farm tool store sneezed at the same time.
"The dust is so heavy, don't you have masks here? Such heavy dust is not good for the body."
"Master Bai Wuchang, you are already dead, do you still need to worry about your health?"
"...You are right..." Tian Baozhu was stunned by the question of the farm tool store owner. She kept herself healthy because she was afraid of death, but she was already dead, so what was there to be afraid of?
After descending to the underworld, Tian Baozhu's consciousness still retained various habits from her life. If her boss hadn't mentioned this, she would have discovered that she often had the illusion of being alive.
Maybe it was because she still had work to do. If she hadn't taken over Bai Wuchang's position and been entrusted with this transformation work, perhaps she would have become one of those people sitting dejectedly on the stone mountain. Thinking of this, she shuddered.
She waited woodenly for reincarnation every day, and she didn't want to die.
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