novelinnhs Chapter 404 I still dare to return the goods
Chapter 404 I still dare to return the goods
When the fourth willow needle was sealed, the red thread emitted a woman's crying sound.
An elderly woman's voice came from the corridor outside the door.
"Open the door, it's cold outside."
Old Zheng's jaw twitched.
"Grandma Liu?"
Manager Hu immediately drank it.
"Don't answer!"
Old Zheng swallowed the rest of his sentence.
Mo Chengyue looked up at the door, his hand still holding the needles.
"If you're cold, soak in the river a little longer; don't come to the inn to warm up."
The crying in the corridor stopped, and the water droplets on the wedding dress rolled down even faster.
Old Zheng's lips twitched.
"Master, your mouth really has the power to save lives."
Mo Chengyue said.
"Paid services"
When the fifth needle was sealed, the sound of bowls and chopsticks clattering came from the lobby downstairs, and a woman called out softly.
"Old Qian, the soup is ready."
Old Zheng didn't dare to respond, and only looked at Manager Hu.
"Manager Hu said in a low voice."
"Fake."
Mo Chengyue said.
"Zhen Axiu doesn't know how to cook soup for Lao Qian in the inn's kitchen. Lao Qian's stove is almost collapsed."
Old Zheng was puzzled.
"You even know that?"
Mo Chengyue pressed the talisman paper firmly.
"Gossip heard in the teahouse can be cheaper than religious artifacts when it really matters."
Manager Hu's gaze towards him changed.
"You've been keeping these notes the whole way?"
Mo Chengyue said.
People who are afraid of death usually have good memories.
Just as the sixth Xu Liulang needle was surrounded by the Red Sun Powder, a piece of wet hair suddenly emerged from under the bed and circled around the tip of Manager Hu's shoe.
Just as Manager Hu was about to back away, Mo Chengyue pressed down with his array hook, and the talisman swept across the floor, scalding his wet hair so much that it shrank back under the bed.
Old Zheng cursed.
"This thing even attacks women?"
Mo Chengyue said.
"It steals from even living people, so there's no need to expect it to be polite."
Manager Hu looked down at the tips of the shoes and said in a low voice.
Thank you.
Mo Chengyue pressed the sixth soul-protecting talisman onto the bone needle.
"I'll owe you for now, and I'll thank you when I find the ledger."
The six old needles fell silent, and the red wedding dress collapsed back onto the bed as if it had lost its support, the sound of water inside the fabric also subsided.
Just as Old Zheng was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Mo Chengyue moved the array hook toward the last new needle.
Manager Hu asked immediately.
"What are you going to do?"
Mo Chengyue said.
"Reverse lookup".
Manager Hu took a step forward, then abruptly stopped outside the door.
"You mustn't touch that needle."
Mo Chengyue looked at her.
"I didn't say I would touch it with my hands."
Old Zheng sensed something was wrong.
"Immortal Master, you're not going to use yourself as bait, are you?"
Mo Chengyue took out a small array plate from his sleeve. The edge of the array plate still had cracks left from the previous battle. He placed the array plate on the dry ground outside the threshold and used the Crimson Sun Powder to draw three lines, connecting the threshold's talisman light with the array plate.
"To be precise, use the hook it left behind to fish for it."
"Manager Hu said urgently."
"It has your name engraved on it. Once the formation is activated, your energy will be bitten by it."
Mo Chengyue said.
"It's already been bitten."
Old Zheng looked at his palm.
"Wouldn't it be worse to bite again?"
Mo Chengyue raised his sleeve, and the red patterns shone dimly through the fabric.
"If you get bitten by a dog, you need to know where its den is."
Old Zheng opened his mouth.
"But this isn't a dog."
Mo Chengyue looked at him.
"That's why we have to charge."
Manager Hu didn't answer.
"TOLL?"
Mo Chengyue straightened the small array plate, took out an array nail, and pressed the tip against the bone needle engraved with the words "Chengyue".
"Fish bait also costs money."
Old Zheng looked at him.
"Whose money are you accepting?"
Mo Chengyue said.
"To take the life of the red-light boats."
Manager Hu slowly lowered the lantern, the light illuminating his profile and the threshold line, as the dampness receded into the room layer by layer.
"If you get caught up in it, I can't pull you back."
Mo Chengyue said.
"I'm not counting on you."
Old Zheng immediately patted his chest.
"And me?"
Mo Chengyue looked at the wooden stick in his hand.
"You're responsible for not knocking me out."
Old Zheng awkwardly hid the stick behind his back.
"I'm not a sixth grader."
Mo Chengyue pressed the array nail down, and the tip of the nail picked up the new bone needle. As the bone needle came out of the red thread, a woman's soft laughter came from inside the wedding dress.
"My lord, have you finally agreed to accept the invitation?"
Old Zheng felt a chill run down his spine.
"It spoke."
Manager Hu stopped him.
Don't listen.
Mo Chengyue spoke up.
"Receiving a post does not equate to being hired."
The woman's voice drifted along the roof beams.
"Your name is engraved, your clothes are altered, I'll come to fetch you on a moonless night."
Mo Chengyue inserted the bone needles backwards into the central groove of the small array plate.
"The changes are ugly, bad review."
The woman's voice was filled with anger.
"How dare you insult the wedding dress?"
Mo Chengyue's fingertips fell, and the Yin-Yang True Essence circulated along the array patterns.
"I dare to return it."
The bone needles trembled in the array plate, and the two characters "Cheng Yue" glowed red. Just as the red light was about to pounce on Mo Cheng Yue's palm, the soul-protecting talismans on both sides of the door frame lit up at the same time. The Crimson Sun Powder was lifted up by the heat and suppressed the red light.
Manager Hu stared at the array plate.
"It's really trapped by you."
Old Zheng was so nervous he didn't dare blink.
"So what will it lead us to?"
Mo Chengyue stared at the tip of the bone needle.
"Find its nearest water outlet."
A woman's voice came from inside the wedding dress, and it became much higher-pitched.
You can't find it.
Mo Chengyue said.
You shouldn't have spoken just now.
The female voice suddenly stopped responding, and the bone needle began to change direction. The needle tip first pointed to the second-floor window, but was then pushed back by the talisman light on the array plate. Then it turned to the stairwell, and finally slowly settled downstairs behind.
Old Zheng looked in that direction.
"The kitchen?"
Manager Hu's expression changed.
"There is a water tank in the kitchen."
Mo Chengyue put away the array plate, but did not remove the bone needles, leaving them stuck in the center of the array and trembling.
"Walk."
Old Zheng looked at the wedding dress on the bed.
"Where are these clothes?"
Mo Chengyue pasted two talismans to ward off evil spirits on the inside and outside of the door, then closed the door. The light from the talismans formed a circle along the door seam.
"Keep it locked for now."
"Manager Hu asked."
"Can it be closed?"
Mo Chengyue said.
"It can't be kept inside for long, but if it wants to go out, it has to put its face on the threshold first."
Old Zheng frowned as he listened.
"That actually sounds kind of satisfying, doesn't it?"
The three of them went down the stairs to the lobby. Wet footprints still led from the door to the upstairs. An overturned chair was leaning against the table, and a layer of black water ripples floated on the surface of the bowl of noodles that had long since gone cold.
Manager Hu glanced at it and said in a low voice.
"That's your noodles."
Mo Chengyue did not stop walking.
"Keep the accounts on the ship owner."
Old Zheng followed them into the kitchen, muttering to himself.
"What if it doesn't recognize it?"
Mo Chengyue said.
"If they don't admit it, we'll beat them until they do."
The kitchen door was half open, there was no fire in the stove, there were uncut vegetables on the cutting board, but water droplets clung to the blades, and several wooden buckets were overturned against the wall, with water flowing into the large vat at the very back.
Manager Hu stopped at the door.
"This jar is full during the day."
Old Zheng peeked out for a moment, then immediately retreated.
Is it free now?
Mo Chengyue raised the array plate, and the bone needles spun even faster in the center of the array, their tips pointing straight at the water vat.
"It's not empty."
Old Zheng swallowed.
"What is that?"
Mo Chengyue walked to the water vat and used the hook to lift the vat lid.
There was no clear water in the vat, nor was there a floating corpse.
There was only a layer of black mud, spread out along the bottom of the jar, wet and shiny, emitting the smell of rotten soil from the bottom of the river.
When the white paper lamp shone into Manager Hu's room, the flame veered to the side, brushing against the wick, as if it had been sucked in by something in the jar.
"This is river mud."
Old Zheng's face turned pale.
"How did the river mud end up in the vat?"
Mo Chengyue looked at the black mud.
"The water outlet is here."
Manager Hu's voice was dry.
"The kitchen water tanks are connected to the red lantern boat?"
Mo Chengyue said.
"At least we'll get through tonight."
Old Zheng raised a wooden stick and gestured towards the water vat.
"Should we put it back on first?"
Just as Mo Chengyue was about to speak, the bone needles in the array plate suddenly stopped rotating, their tips pointing downwards, and the words "Chengyue" disappeared.
The kitchen quieted down, a few wisps of moisture rose from the ashes, and bubbles began to form on the surface of the black mud.
Old Zheng stepped back, the wooden stick hit the cutting board, and the cleaver slipped from the impact.
"Immortal Master, the mud is moving."
Shopkeeper Hu moved the hand holding the lantern to his chest, while his other hand reached for the old talisman in his sleeve.
"Young Master Mo, step back."
Mo Chengyue did not retreat, but simply pressed the array plate against the edge of the jar.
"It handed the thread over."
A hand slowly emerged from the black mud.
That hand was white from being soaked in water, palm facing up, fingers bent, like a belated note retrieved from the bottom of a river.
When the white paper lamp shone on it, two words were crookedly written on the damp skin of the palm.
Old Zhou.