NABC Chapter 109 The Blind Old Woman
Chapter 109 The Blind Old Woman
When the group hurried back to the medicine shop, the old doctor who had been inside was nowhere to be seen.
The room was completely empty, with the tables and chairs arranged neatly.
You would never guess that just moments ago there was an elderly man sitting here alone, looking at paintings and talking to himself.
At the entrance of the medicine shop, four servants from the mansion were standing guard against the wall.
All of them had their heads down and were dozing off with their eyes half-closed.
Hearing a noise behind them, they were instantly awakened and turned around to see five people coming out of the medicine shed.
One of the servants, looking impatient, began to complain in a low voice:
"You guys are so slow! You just went out to buy some things, and you've taken so long."
The others gave him vague excuses and managed to get away with it.
The group passed by shops along the street and first bought several oil-paper umbrellas.
Le Zheng Fengye remained calm as he handed the purchase list to several servants.
The list includes not only the daily food necessities, but also ritual implements for yin practices such as incense, candles, and peach wood swords.
The servants of the mansion have been running around here for years and are extremely familiar with the local restaurants and shops that specialize in occult items. Having them lead the way can save a lot of trouble.
Braving the torrential rain and holding umbrellas, the group turned through three streets before finally arriving at the market.
Su Zixu roughly estimated that the vegetables he purchased weighed about twenty catties.
Fortunately, they didn't have to lift a finger; the servants skillfully packed all the vegetables into baskets and carried them along the way.
After a long and winding journey home, the group finally stopped in front of a dilapidated hut.
There was no plaque or archway in front of the house. The leader of the servants stepped forward and gently knocked on the wooden door.
"Squeak—"
The door was pulled open from the inside, and an elderly woman who was blind opened it.
"The Lu family mansion of Chongxun remains as it always has been," the head servant said in a deep voice.
The old woman's lips were slightly parted, and her throat kept moving, only producing faint, wispy sounds.
Su Zixu saw it clearly: her tongue was missing, and she was a blind woman whose tongue had been cut off.
The old woman stepped aside, and the others entered the house one by one.
The room was simply and dilapidatedly furnished. The old woman, her body hunched over, slowly walked into the inner room.
Before long, she came out slowly carrying a bundle of items and handed them to several servants.
The servants each took their share of the items and checked them one by one according to the list.
While they were checking the accounts, the blind old woman slowly turned her head.
Her pair of cloudy, lifeless blind eyes stared straight in the direction of the five people, as if she could actually see someone standing there.
Her neck jutted forward slightly, and her nose twitched gently as if she were sniffing out scents.
He then slowly moved toward Yue Zheng Fengye, first sniffing the hem of his clothes, and then sniffing Lin Tian and Su Zixu in turn.
Suddenly, the old woman grabbed Le Zhengfengye's clothes tightly, her mouth wide open, her throat pounding violently, and her eyes reddening as if tears were about to fall.
"How dare you! What are you doing!"
The head servant shouted a stern rebuke, and the old woman trembled with fright, hurriedly letting go of his hand and shrinking back to the side.
After the inventory was completed, the head servant stood up, stuffed a silver ingot into the old woman's palm, and said in a deep voice, "Five sheets of yellow paper are missing, and all other items are prepared."
The old woman nodded repeatedly upon hearing this, and with small, quick steps, she returned to the inner room, returning shortly with five sheets of yellow paper.
"I'm gone."
Everything was ready, and the servants turned to urge the five people to set off.
Along the way, the servants kept reminding the five people not to ask questions they shouldn't.
But they still haven't said anything, so the Lu family must be really guilty.
"Isn't this just like trying to hide something obvious?" Lin Tian thought to himself.
The heavy rain stopped just as the group returned to their residence.
The servants handed over incense, candles, peach wood, and other items for yin purposes to the five men, and then left carrying the vegetables they had purchased.
Before leaving, he specifically instructed that everyone must gather at the front courtyard square at the end of midnight tonight and wait for the butler's arrangements.
The Yin Xing's tools were naturally temporarily kept by Yue Zheng Feng Ye on everyone's behalf.
After returning to his residence, Su Zixu first changed out of his wet clothes.
After the rain, the sandbar didn't become cool; instead, it became even more humid and stuffy.
His clothes were damp and clung to his body, making him uncomfortable.
When it came to clothes, Su Zixu seemed to suddenly remember something.
He ran quickly to the wardrobe and took out the tattered clothes he had worn when he first arrived.
After rummaging around inside his shirt for a moment, his eyes lit up.
He took out a ring, which Su Zixu had almost forgotten about.
"It was almost lost."
After Yue Zheng Feng Ye changed his clothes, the two sat in the main hall. Yue Zheng Feng Ye took the ring that Su Zi Xu handed him and examined it carefully over and over again.
"Wow... That's rare. This ring is clearly not from this era. Where did you get it?"
Su Zixu: "I don't know, it fell out of my pants when I was changing clothes this morning."
I'm not talking about mornings here, I'm talking about mornings in the real world.
When Lezheng Fengye heard this, he found it even more strange.
"That's really strange. Anyway, since I started entering the dream, I've never seen anyone bring anything in."
This is truly a first-time occurrence; please keep it safe for now.
This is definitely a treasure. When we get back, I'll have the junior colleague in charge of research in our organization take a look at it for you.
After saying this, Yue Zheng Feng Ye returned the ring to Su Zixu.
Taking the ring, Su Zixu asked, "Senior, I feel there's something wrong with that blind old woman."
Le Zheng Fengye nodded heavily a few times. "Yes, a blind person's sense of smell is much more sensitive than that of an ordinary person."
Moreover, at that time, she repeatedly touched our clothes and Lin's clothes, as if she was confirming something.
Anyway, we're going out tomorrow morning, so this is a good opportunity to confirm.
Just as the two were talking, Lin Tian also slipped into the house.
Lin Tian also started talking about the old woman, but the three of them were not idle either, and began to prepare the tools for their underworld activities that they would use that night.
Tonight's event is ostensibly for praying for blessings and purifying the area, but in reality, it involves performing a ritual to trap the wandering ghosts and spirits that have been attracted within the Zhenxi Hall.
The two rituals are fundamentally different, so the three of them had to be cautious.
If this magical artifact is misused, it will mean certain death for them.
............
That evening, Jianyu stared at Shichenxiang.
At 11:40, she picked up a cloth bag containing the magical artifacts that she had asked Yue Zheng Fengye to bring to her.
He then put the extra incense and paper money that Yue Zheng Fengye had given him into his cloth bag and woke up Liu Jia, who was still sleeping.
After all, she's getting on in years, and Liu Jia isn't used to staying up late; she looks exhausted.
The two hurried to the front courtyard, where the butler was already waiting with his hands tucked in.
Upon seeing that the people had arrived, the steward handed them a map showing the location of the spring, along with two baskets of soil mixed with jade fragments.
He then smiled and instructed, "You two must seal the spring with this soil according to the directions marked on the blueprints, without any mistakes."