Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com
“Is it even possible?”
“This…is a little, well what if…”
“When I first hearing it, I thought it wouldn’t work, but after thinking about it carefully, I think it might…”
Li Xuan and the other two veterans gathered together and discussed in low voices. Chen Caixing flipped his hair and calmly nibbled on the fruit. When he finished the second piece of fruit, Xia Ting, the only female representative among the veterans, said: “Yuan Xing, we think your idea is feasible, so we’ll listen to you.”
Although this method sounded very bold and unconventional at first glance, when thinking about it carefully, it would be very effective against the deeply superstitious in the village. The other point was that they couldn’t come up with any other good ideas.
It was better to try anything possible, even if it was grasping at straws.
“Then thank you for giving me the center stage to debut.” Chen Caixing flipped his hair with a charming appearance and spoke in a graceful manner: “All the boys under the age of eight in the village, make sure not to miss a single one, kidnap them all.”
Everyone: ???
Kidnap…Kidnap all the children?
Wasn’t the plan to create a god?
“Without any suffering, how can I, the Holy Mother, make my debut?” Chen Caixing said confidently, raising his head and glancing over at the three veterans who seemed to have the most questions to ask. “Is there anything else?”
Xia Ting could only shake her head under his gaze.
“Xiao Jiu, do you have any more candy?” Chen Caixing wanted to make sure that things wouldn’t go wrong.
Yuan Jiuwan stretched out his little hand and rummaged inside his small pocket. The amount of candy he took out was definitely not something that could be held in the small pocket. The newcomers were confused, but the veterans knew that it was taken out from the game backpack. The three looked at Chen Caixing with admiration.
Fruit candy, lollipop, chocolate; there were only three types. So they cost at least three gold coins.
Thirty thousand yuan for candy. Moreover, the game story was only open before entering the game, which meant that Yuan Jiuwan hadn’t bought the expensive candy specifically for the plan, but that he had bought it before entering the game as mere snacks!
Yuan Xing was so generous to her younger brother.
She was also rich.
Chen Caixing noticed the three people’s gazes. He, who only had two gold coins on him, calmly accepted admiring gazes.
The world doesn’t understand the pain he had suffered.
“Take it.” He said casually.
Xia Ting and the other two really didn’t have any complaints this time.
The children were kidnapped as planned. Su Da provided a hidden cave in the mountains, not far away from the village, and usually unknown to outsiders.
Recently, the village was preparing for the Holy Maiden Ceremony. Everyone had their own duties, so the children were allowed to run around on their own. In fact, no one usually restrained them, so the precautions were not high. In addition, the university students had been here for a few days, so the villagers had long lost their curiosity about university students.
The cart was ready.
This time, Chen Caixing paid 90,000 yuan and went with Su Le and Jia Di. Su Da helped Xia Ting and the other two kidnap the village children. Liu Shasha, Mei Qing, and Lu Zhou stayed in the village to do work.
On the way out, the ox-cart passed by a few villagers, and someone greeted them: “Are you going out?”
Jia Di didn’t say anything and just stared at him with a dark expression.
“My brother and I want to see the scenery in the mountains, so Uncle Jia Di brought us around.” Chen Caixing said casually. Ever since yesterday when they found out that Auntie Su had been killed by the villagers, the three members of the Su family had been like this.
The villager laughed awkwardly and left with his companion. Their conversation could still be heard from afar.
“What’s wrong with Jia Di? Why is he looking at me like that?”
“Isn’t that normal? His wife and daughter are gone, so he’s always like this. Just ignore him.”
“Serves him right. Who told his wife to teach his daughter…”
Su Le clenched his fists tightly and endured. He knew that Sister Yuan Xing had a plan and didn’t want to ruin it. Chen Caixing sat in the cart. From here, it was obviously summer, but the entire village seemed to be shrouded in a layer of black mist.
Especially in the middle of the village, but it became fainter towards the outskirts.
The thing under the willow tree was getting stronger.
“Let’s go.” Chen Caixing retracted his gaze and looked at Jia Di and Su Da, saying: “The dead are gone. Don’t let Auntie Su and Ah Xiang’s deaths be in vain.”
The ox-cart carried fewer people and moved briskly. Jia Di and his son hurried along and arrived at the peach grove an hour earlier than yesterday.
First, they dug out Sister Xiao Fang’s bones from under the tree. Jia Di and his son picked up firewood and poured animal fat on it, which caused it to burn quickly. Chen Caixing took Xiao Jiu around the peach grove, trying to find the place where the villagers had dug up the Buddha statue to see if there was anything else there.
How could it be so easy to create a new god, especially when people have believed in the previous one for hundreds of years?
“…We still have to set it on fire.” Chen Caixing muttered to himself.
Yuan Jiuwan, who was following behind: … If Xingxing wants to set it on fire, then let’s just set it on fire.
The peach grove was too big, and everything had happened so long ago that no one knew exactly where the statue had been dug up from. Chen Caixing walked around and found nothing suspicious. He could only stand there helplessly and let out a sigh.
“I’m still too poor.” If only there were props.
If he really couldn’t find it, he could maybe ask Sister Xiao Fang or Ah Xiang, but Sister Xiao Fang and Ah Xiang wouldn’t appear during the day. Chen Caixing was worried when he suddenly heard Xiao Jiu cry out. He turned around and Xiao Jiu, who was been following behind him, had disappeared.
“Xiao Jiu?”
“Jiejie, I’m here.”
Yuan Jiuwan’s voice came from afar.
In broad daylight, it was easy to navigate through the dead branches scattered on the ground of the peach grove by following the sound of Xiao Jiu’s voice. Chen Caixing walked over and saw that his little brother had been tripped by a branch and was now sitting on the ground. His little foot seemed to have been caught on something.
“Why did you suddenly fall? Does it it hurt? Where did you fall?” Chen Caixing hugged Xiao Jiu in distress.
Yuan Jiuwan rubbed against Chen Caixing’s arms and said pitifully: “It hurts. Something tripped my foot.”
“What bad thing tripped our Xiao Jiu’s foot? Jiejie will teach it a lesson!” Chen Caixing was amused by Xiao Jiu’s cute words, so he coaxed the child and childishly lowered his head to look for something to ‘take revenge’ for Xiao Jiu.
The two of them were very happy. One was acting while the other was learning how to act.
There were dead branches all over the ground. Chen Caixing used his foot to kick it, but one end was buried in the soil, so only some soil was kicked up. Yuan Jiuwan stood at the side and said angrily: “Jiejie, it’s still not coming out!”
“It doesn’t dare!”
Chen Caixing squatted down and used some strength in his hand. This time, the branch was pulled out, but the one end that had been buried in the ground was covered in a reddish-brown soil, like dried blood.
Chen Caixing was originally just teasing Xiao Jiu, but now that he saw that, he immediately said: “Xiao Jiu, stand back a little.”
Yuan Jiuwan’s chubby little face immediately became nervous. He stuck out his head and whispered: “Jiejie, is there something wrong?”
“I don’t know yet.” Chen Caixing didn’t have any tools on hand, so he called Jia Di and Su Le over.
The father and son led the way and started digging. After digging for awhile, they heard a clear ‘clink’ sound.
“Sister Yuan Xing, sounds like a jar.”
“Be careful.”
This time, they dug carefully. After awhile, the jar’s appearance was revealed. It was a pitch-black jar with vermillion talismans drawn on the mouth and body of the jar. Because they had used too much strength earlier, the mouth of the jar had broken, revealing the contents inside.
Chen Caixing’s heart thumped. His pregnant woman’s sixth sense told him that they had just found something important.
“Sister Yuan Xing, it’s something furry.” Su Le reached out to touch it.
Jia Di shouted for him to stop, so Su Le retracted his hand. Chen Caixing found a peach tree branch and pulled out the thing inside the jar. The sudden rotten smell made Chen Caixing nauseous. He suppressed the urge to vomit and laid the thing flat under the sun.
It was a whole piece of furry animal skin.
The person who had peeled it seemed to be very skilled. It was easy to tell what it was from the head to the tail.
“Jackal.” Jia Di said.
Chen Caixing noticed the words carved at the bottom of the jar. It roughly said that more than a hundred years ago, there was a spirit that harmed people here. Half of the villagers had died tragically. Later, they met a Daoist who helped them catch the spirit that harmed people. In order to vent their hatred, the villagers skinned it alive and broke its bones. The bones were ground into powder and stored inside the Buddha statue to suppress it. The skin was sealed in the jar and buried in the peach grove.
All so that the spirit would never cause trouble again.
“Sister Yuan Xing, what do we do? Take it back and show them? This is the ancestor that has harmed many people.” Su Le was furious.
You’d only take it back if you were crazy. The spirit’s strength was weak because of the bones and skin being separated. Every five years, it would struggle to come out and harm people. Moreover, the mouth of the jar was broken, so it was useless to try to reseal it and bury it again. It was almost the Hungry Ghost Festival. Chen Caixing made a prompt decision and said: “Burn it with the peach tree branches.”
There was still some animal fat, so after it melted and spread, the furry animal skin was burned clean along with the peach tree branches.
“Bring back the jar. It’s still useful.”
On the way back, Yuan Jiuwan sat cross-legged in the ox-cart. He took out a plum candy from his small pocket and said, “Jiejie, eat this.”
“New flavor? How much did you buy?” Chen Caixing ate the candy and didn’t feel like vomiting anymore, but he started to feel distressed.
Yuan Jiuwan said fawningly: “It’s a mixed flavor and not expensive, jiejie.”
“Little weasel.” Chen Caixing didn’t get angry. He stroked his little brother’s curly hair and said, “Today’s success was all thanks to Xiao Jiu. Xiao Jiu is a lucky little star.”
If Xiao Jiu hadn’t tripped earlier, then they wouldn’t have found the jar. Today was the fourth day. If this incident hadn’t happened, according to the original progress, Sister Xiao Fang or Ah Xiang would probably tell them that something was buried in the peach grove. On the fifth day, they would find the jar and burn the skin. On the sixth day, the chosen Holy Maiden would probably die.
Now, all the progress was ahead of schedule.
Whichever Holy Maiden was chosen, he’d just blow everything up on the spot.
When they returned, the sky was still bright. Chen Caixing noticed that the black mist above the village was much lighter than it had been in the morning. It seemed that the ‘ancestor’ had also been affected by the burning of the furry animal skin.
“Sister Yuan, you’re back.” Mei Qing opened the door and said, “We’ve finished preparing the things. I even cooked food-“
Chen Caixing supported his waist and said: “If you continue, it won’t be considered a good merit.”
This sister’s cooking skills were not as good as his.
Mei Qing: “It’s not that bad, right?”
Chen Caixing thought of the messy bowl of noodles yesterday and stayed silent. Su Le spoke up: “Sister Yuan Xing, I’ll go cook. What do you want to eat?”
“I’m not picky.” Chen Caixing flipped his hair after a moment’s thought.
Mei Qing at the side: …Sister Yuan, you’re targeting me. I’ve got the evidence.
Lu Zhou helped to move the things. There were two jars in the car. One was brought out by Jia Di in the morning. He knew that it contained Sister Xiao Fang’s ashes. He held it with both hands respectfully and muttered: “Sister Xiao Fang, be rational. Don’t be impulsive. Look, we’re all good people. Don’t confuse us for the enemy…”
“Why is there an empty jar?” Liu Shasha was a little scared but wanted to help. She thought about how expensive the props were. If she didn’t make some money in this world, what would she do in the next world?
Chen Caixing washed his hands and face before wringing out a towel to wipe Xiao Jiu’s hands. The two of them went to the square table in the main room. He saw Liu Shasha holding the jar with a broken mouth, and her face was wrinkled by the smell inside. When she saw him, she probably didn’t want to leave impression of being delicate and squeamish, so she forced a smile and took a deep breath, relaxing her expression.
Chen Caixing: …
Girls don’t have to be so practical.
“Sister Yuan, do you want me to wipe the jar? It looks dirty.” Liu Shasha put the jar on the table and asked in a proactive manner.
Chen Caixing looked at her smile and couldn’t bear to say anything more. “Just stay away from it.”
Liu Shasha just thought that the jar must be very important and didn’t think much else of it. She watched as Sister Yuan asked Lu Zhou to take the jar away and wipe the table for dinner.
“I’ll wipe it, I’ll wipe it.”
Later, when everyone returned in the evening and Liu Shasha found out what had been in the jar, she wanted to curse! But the current Liu Shasha didn’t know anything and happily wiped the table.
In the evening, before the sky turned dark, Li Xuan and the other two veterans came back with Su Da.
The table was filled with delicious food.
Chen Caixing looked at the three who didn’t leave and said protectively: “There’s not enough food here.”
Xia Ting’s eyes twitched. How could this girl still remember to eat at this time!?
“Who do you think needs to support two people with one body?” Chen Caixing saw their reactions and said: “You haven’t given birth and been a mother yet, so you don’t know how it feels. I’m not being greedy. I’m just poor mother.”
Everyone looked at Xia Ting as if she was being unreasonable and bullying a pregnant woman.
Xia Ting: “…”
“Let’s…Let’s go back and eat first.” Meng Haocong persuaded softly. “Yuan Xing is pregnant. Don’t be angry.”
“That’s right, Xia Ting. There’s no hurry. Let Yuan Xing eat first.”
Xia Ting couldn’t catch her breath, and she really wanted to shout out ‘Are you guys blind? This Yuan Xing is just like a green tea!’ but she could only bear it and go back. Although Yuan Xing was a bitch, a green tea, and occasionally a fake white lotus, she didn’t do anything stupid in the game world and was still able to act intelligently. Despite thinking about it this way, a bitch was still a bitch. Anyway, Yuan Xing’s husband was the one who would suffer.
She wondered what kind of man Yuan Xing had hooked up with.
How pitiful.
“Jiejie, eat the meat. It’s delicious here.” Yuan Jiuwan picked up the most tender meat of the fish belly.
“Good Xiao Jiu.” Chen Caixing ate the meat happily. His little brother was really obedient and cute.
While they were eating, everyone heard the old woman with small feet scolding loudly from next door: “Where’s Hu Zi? I told you to take care of Hu Zi. What are you doing every day?”
“Mother, you said that the Holy Maiden Ceremony was soon and that we needed to cover the ancestors with paper cloths-”
“You still dare to talk back! Zha Li, control your wife!”
“Mom, Hu Zi is probably just playing somewhere. He’ll be back soon. Let’s eat first.”
Chen Caixing ate dinner in a happy mood.
After dinner, the sky became completely dark. In the past, when the sky turned dark, every family in the village would close their doors and not come out. Now, there were shouts one after another, calling out all kinds of children’s nicknames. The adults all ran out to look for their children. For awhile, it was lively outside.
The gate of Jia Di’s courtyard was tightly shut.
Chen Caixing told the others about the jar in the peach grove that they found during the day. Liu Shasha, who had just finished eating, thought of the deep breath she had taken earlier when holding the jar. She covered her mouth and went to the backyard to vomit. Li Xuan and the others were puzzled. Wasn’t this girl too timid?
“Next, you mentioned the paper in the fish belly-“
“The fish was stewed in the afternoon.” Chen Caixing thought of the taste of dinner and said while eating fruit: “It tasted pretty good.”
Li Xuan and the others: …
The original plan was to use a paper in the fish belly, a bonfire, and a fox’s cry; borrowing the means of gaining public opinion from Chen Sheng and Wu Guang’s uprising.
(T/N: Chen Sheng & Wu Guang were army rebels who used many techniques to sway public opinion to support their campaign to overthrow the government. They once wrote ‘King Chen Sheng’ on a piece of silk and put it in the belly of a fish which was bought by an army soldier.)
But now there was a ready-made plan with the jar. The fish that Su Da brought back had been fat and tender, so Chen Caixing had asked the two brothers to cook it for dinner.
“Then what should we do now?” Xia Ting really didn’t dare to argue with Yuan Xing now. She knew she was no match for this woman.
As they were talking, Liu Shasha’s cry came from the backyard.
“I put Sister Xiao Fang’s jar in the back.” Lu Zhou said and ran to the backyard.
Chen Caixing held his waist and still hadn’t gotten up yet when Liu Shasha and Lu Zhou’s voices came from behind. Both of them were fine, so he simply sat back down. Yuan Jiuwan stuffed a fruit into Chen Caixing’s hand. Chen Caixing returned to eating the fruit.
There was no need for him to ask what happened. Anyway, Chen Caixing’s mouth was already occupied.
Liu Shasha said it all: “I went to the backyard and was about to vomit… then I saw a woman with disheveled hair and a bloody body staring at me by the pond. I was so scared that I swallowed it back…”
The fruit in Chen Caixing’s hand no longer seemed appetizing.
Yuan Jiuwan took it, tasting sweeting as he ate at the spot from where Chen Caixing had already nibbled at the fruit.
“Didn’t you say that you didn’t like the fruit because it was too sour?” Chen Caixing asked, puzzled.
Yuan Jiuwan held the fruit and said, “Jiejie, this one is very sweet.”
Sweet? Chen Caixing thought about it and found the fruit to be quite sour. He looked suspicious, still thinking about whether the fruit was sweet or sour.
Li Xuan and the other started discussing.
“It must be Sister Xiao Fang.”
“She only glanced at you and didn’t hurt you.”
“Then what should we do?”
Chen Caixing could only throw the matter of the sweet and sour fruit aside.
He explained: “It just so happens that I plan to deal them a hard blow and directly set fire to the ancestral hall.”
The original plan was to smash the roof of the ancestral hall, make some ghostly wails and howls, and throw the drawings that Mei Qing and the others had made in the afternoon. He still had a safety talisman, so he could go all out. Now that the jackal skin was gone, Chen Caixing, the arsonist, could satisfy his hobby again.
It made him very happy.
After the matter settled, they went back to their rooms and waited for midnight.
Chen Caixing was in a daze when he heard someone call him Sis. Ah Xiang had arrived. But Sister Ah Xiang, what was wrong with you? If I hadn’t known that you were our ally, I would’ve had a miscarriage because of your ghostly whispers in my ear all night long, did you know that?
“Sister, can you move a little further away?”
As soon as Chen Caixing opened his eyes, he saw that Ah Xiang was very close to him and couldn’t help but lean back.
Ah Xiang was no different from his dream. Her facial features were ordinary, and her skin was a healthy wheat color. Right now, she was looking at him with joy and envy. “Sis, you’re so beautiful, and your skin is so white. I like you so much.”
Chen Caixing: … Don’t like me. It won’t work out.
“Gege.”
Yuan Jiuwan’s sleepy voice came from behind. He leaned against Chen Caixing and stared at Ah Xiang beside the bed with his almond-shaped eyes, asking curiously: “Gege, who’s this?”
Chen Caixing noticed that the joy in Ah Xiang’s eyes slowly turned into something else.
“I’m not- I don’t- Don’t think too much!”
He wasn’t really a pervert.
It was a long story about a child not having a mother. Chen Caixing shed tears of grievance. He really wasn’t a pervert. It was just that the beer belly that suddenly appeared in the game forced him to do business like this.
The room fell into silence.
After a long while…
“G-Gege?” Ah Xiang stuttered.
Chen Caixing used his thick skin to say: “You should just call me Sis.” Without waiting for Ah Xiang’s reaction, he asked: “Why are you looking for me?”
“Sister Xiao Fang went to find them.” Ah Xiang said sadly. “I’m afraid of that tree, so I don’t dare to go near it and Xiao Lan and the others. Sis, please save Xiao Lan. I can’t stay any longer, I have to go.”
She had persevered for so long. Her mother was saved, so her wish had been fulfilled.
“Ah Xiang, you’re a good girl.” Chen Caixing handed out the good person card and said solemnly: “I will do my best.”
“Thank you, Sis.”
Ah Xiang was gone.
Chen Caixing knew that she wouldn’t come back. Before he could feel sad, he heard Xiao Jiu say: “Gege, don’t like that sister. You can only like me, okay?”
“Did you do that on purpose just now?” Chen Caixing reacted.
Xiao Jiu was usually the smartest, always calling him sister.
Yuan Jiuwan lowered his head and said pitifully, “I only have gege. Gege can’t like anyone else.”
Chen Caixing felt uncomfortable when he heard that. He didn’t think have any other thoughts about Ah Xiang. He wholeheartedly liked Xiao Jiu, so he hurriedly promised: “Gege likes Xiao Jiu the most. I only like Xiao Jiu. I don’t like anyone else.”
Not to mention that Ah Xiang wasn’t human. Even if Ah Xiang had been human, they wouldn’t fall in love because of different genders.
Yuan Jiuwan became happy and kissed Chen Caixing on the cheek with a red face. Chen Caixing felt that his little brother was the cutest.
Since Ah Xiang had already woken them up, there was no need to sleep anymore. The two carried their things and went out.
The whole village was quiet.
Yuan Jiuwan led the way to the ancestral hall quickly. The two walked around the willow tree and arrived at the back. The ancestral hall’s door wasn’t locked. Chen Caixing pressed the talisman against his palm and pushed open the door easily. The inside was dark and cold, with an uncomfortable smell.
Chen Caixing held the torch stained with oil and looked at the neatly arranged memorial tablets.
The row of lanterns on the beam sensed what Chen Caixing was going to do, and they swayed violently. They heard auditory hallucinations of pitiful girls begging for mercy.
“Please let me go.”
“Save me. Don’t burn me.”
But this time, Chen Caixing had no fear in his heart.
It wasn’t the girls who begged for mercy but the jackal spirit under the willow tree.
‘Boom—‘
Chen Caixing threw the lit torch inside, and soon, there was a burning smell.
There was a strong gust of wind that blew in the square, causing the willow tree to rustle loudly. Countless ghosts turned into jackals and rushed at Chen Caixing.
“Xiao Jiu, let’s go!”
Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com
inueko: Sorry if the flow feels a little weird, I’m still trying to get the hang of staying true to the text but also making it sound smoother than the MTL… =v=;;
(*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*
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