Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 362 Paper Maker (This instance is over, don't keep it.)
"Om~~~"

The closed courtyard gate was pushed open, and the yard was full of fallen leaves. It was obvious that no one had cleaned it for a long time.

Yu Deng didn't care about it. He closed the door, picked up the piece of meat with ice chips on it, and walked step by step towards the door behind the yard.

My name is Yu Deng.

I come from a poor family and my father has called me a bastard ever since I can remember.

I can no longer remember what my mother looked like, but I will never forget her heart-wrenching screams when they killed her that day.

I will also never forget how painful it was the day they castrated me.

I am like a rat hiding in the gutter, living like a dog every day eating leftovers left by others.

At the instruction of my father, I became the owner of Xifang, specifically helping him deal with some dirty work that he was not convenient to do in person.

The slaves in Xifang are all my servants, but I have never been happy about it, because they are just like my name, just benches prepared for others.

I had already accepted my fate, until that person showed up...

This may be the best first choice I have ever made, and I succeeded.

That night, I personally cut my father's beloved child into pieces in front of him.

As my father, I can't forgive him, but I always have to give him dignity.

As for the lady who killed my mother, I didn't kill her. I hope she is alive and well and lives a long and healthy life...

"Om..."

The door was pushed open, revealing a large water tank in the empty room. A grim smile gradually appeared on Yu Deng's face. He opened the water tank and saw a head soaking in it.

Yu Deng reached out and turned his head, revealing a skinny face. It could be vaguely seen as a woman's face, but the eyes had been gouged out.

"My Lady, I have been too busy recently. As the lord of a city, I never thought I would need to do so many things every day. Alas, sometimes, I still miss the days when I first arrived in Xifang."

As Yu Deng spoke, he stuffed the meat in his hand into the woman's mouth.

The woman twisted her head and tried to resist desperately, but Yu Deng reached out and pinched her chin and pried her mouth open. Her teeth had been pulled out, and not even her tongue was left.

Pieces of blood-stained meat were stuffed into the woman's mouth.

"It's a mess outside now, I can't come here often in the future, but don't worry, I will send someone to serve you every day."

After saying that, Yu Deng took out a handkerchief to wipe the stains on his hands, then put the lid back on.

My mood suddenly became relaxed. I walked out of the door, took a deep breath, and when I was about to close the door, my face suddenly changed. I saw a note stuck on the door without me knowing when.

"who!"

Yu Deng widened his eyes and looked around, but there was no one around.

This immediately made Yu Deng break out in a cold sweat. He reached out and took out the note. After opening it, he looked at the contents on the note and couldn't help but frowned: "Amazing Pavilion, could it be... that he is back?"

With the note in his hand, Yu Deng did not dare to delay. He walked out of the courtyard quickly, asked someone to prepare the horse, and hurriedly ran towards the direction of [Amazing Pavilion].

It was probably about an incense stick's time before Yu Deng walked in from outside the Miracle Pavilion. As soon as he entered, he saw Xiao Ran sitting on a chair waiting for him.

Seeing that he had arrived, Xiao Ran looked up at the shopkeeper Li Botong beside him and said with a smile: "What do you think? I said he would definitely come back."

Li Botong blinked his eyes. He didn't expect that it would actually work.

The old face suddenly turned red with excitement. It turned out that Xiao Ran was teaching him the method of controlling wandering ghosts.

Li Botong was not opposed to the belief in ghosts and gods, but it was too mysterious to make these ghosts do things for him so easily.

Seeing that Li Botong didn't believe it, Xiao Ran asked him to write a letter on the table and asked Yu Deng to come to Jingqi Pavilion.

Li Botong was naturally skeptical. He was a mortal and naturally could not see ghosts.

He just followed Professor Xiao Ran's method, silently chanted the spell, threw out some gold foil ingots and the letter, and then watched the gold foil ingots and the letter being blown away by the wind, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

I thought it was just a joke, but I didn't expect that Yu Deng would actually come with a letter written by myself in his hand.

It’s no wonder that Li Botong didn’t believe it. Things like gold foil ingots didn’t exist in this era.

Nowadays, people mostly burn yellow paper, which has been passed down from the Han Dynasty to the present.

It was not until the Song Dynasty that it became "Yuanbao."

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, it began to be called "ghost banknotes."

In fact, the paper-making industry became popular in the Qing Dynasty.

Nowadays, people are not so particular about this. If they are afraid that their ancestors will be lonely, they will use pottery or wooden figurines as burial objects.

For example, the most famous one is Tang Sancai, which was specially used as burial objects.

However, only a few families could afford to have these things buried with them, and the vast majority of "people" were buried with at most a few copper coins after their death, and some did not even have a coffin.

The gold foil ingots thrown by Xiao Ran could completely fill this gap in advance.

"Sir, this note..." Yu Deng came to Xiao Ran, took out the note and wanted to ask how the note was stuck on the door. The courtyard was heavily guarded. Even if one's martial arts skills were very high, it would be impossible to enter silently.

Xiao Ran didn't explain this, but just took out the sketch he had drawn earlier.

"I asked you to come here because I want you to help me do something."

Upon hearing this, Yu Deng picked up the sketch and looked at it. He saw that these things were strange and seemed to be used for printing, but he couldn't tell what they were specifically.

"This is……"

"Small items, help me make more, quickly."

These small objects painted by Xiao Ran are used as molds for guiding money and templates for printing Yin banknotes.

Xiao Ran plans to let [Amazing Pavilion] complete the ranks of paper-folding craftsmen who have not yet officially appeared.

In this way, the Amazing Pavilion can also deal with ghosts through the simplified version of ghost-controlling techniques that it teaches, in exchange for information about those officials, and then make a profit by selling the information about these officials.

Is this a big risk? Of course it is. If it were any other time, it would definitely cause huge trouble.

But it is different nowadays. The dynasty has declined, and military power is in control. The military governor can appoint local officials at will, and even the governor does not have much power.

It just so happens that these officials are not clean either. Although their wealth is not as exaggerated as that in the late Ming Dynasty, their family wealth is also very rich.

Intelligence can not only be exchanged for money, but also can be infiltrated into these officials. This is Xiao Ran's first step to expand the Jingqi Pavilion.

The headquarters of the Qiqi Pavilion is in Ruzhou, and with the protection of Brother Lu, there is no need to worry about anyone daring to come here and cause trouble.

If anyone dares to attack the Amazing Pavilion branch, he will expose all the shameful things that have happened in their family.

After all, ordinary people have no money, so Xiao Ran can only focus on these officials and wealthy people.

As for the large amount of paper materials that would be consumed, Xiao Ran had no intention of solving this problem.

This thing can be brought in from reality, so that the development speed of the Amazing Pavilion can be controlled and the people below can be prevented from doing things beyond Xiao Ran's expectations.

"Okay, I'll do it right away."

Seeing that Xiao Ran didn't say anything, Yu Deng didn't ask any more questions. After making sure that there was nothing else, he got up and said goodbye.

Just as Yu Denglin walked to the door, Xiao Ran suddenly called him, "Old Yu!"

"Ok?"

Yu Deng stopped and looked at Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea. Yu Deng could only stand at the door, not knowing whether to go in or go back. He waited anxiously but did not dare to urge him.

After Xiao Ran finished drinking the tea in his hand, he said, "I can't ask you about your family affairs, but sometimes you should not always be trapped in the past. You should look forward. It's better for you to go to that yard less often in the future. One day in the future, there will be a chance to make it up to you."

Upon hearing this, Yu Deng felt as if he had been struck by lightning and stood there in a daze.

He stared at Xiao Ran with increasingly complicated eyes.

Xiao Ran was pointing at him, and it was also a warning, but it was also a promise. If one day his castrated body could really be restored...

Thinking of this, although Yu Deng couldn't believe it, he couldn't help but feel his blood boiling.

"Sir, can it really be restored?"

Xiao Ran nodded: "I haven't tried it, but it's not difficult. Let me study it carefully. It may not be hopeless."

Xiao Ran did not lie to Yu Deng. As a corpse collector, he might need to replace parts of his body in the future.

But before that, it would be nice to try it on Yu Deng and accumulate some experience.

After Yu Deng left, Xiao Ran began to draft new rules for the future of [Amazing Pavilion].

He recalled the paper-folding craftsman's rules, wrote them down and reorganized them.

"These rules are not difficult, but paper-making is one of the four yin professions after all. I'm afraid that I can't suppress them with just the ghost-controlling techniques I taught them."

Xiao Ran frowned. He was born with the ability to see ghosts, so naturally he knew a lot of things.

Ghosts are like this. No matter how well you get along with them on a daily basis, if someone crosses the red line, they will immediately take your life.

His grandfather was in the room in the backyard of his house, but Xiao Ran would not go to him unless there was something important. It was not because he was unfilial, but because his grandfather had repeatedly told him not to go there.

Because ghosts are yin objects after all, if living people get along with them for a long time, their own luck will be affected. The more they rely on ghosts to get something, the easier it is to lose something.

For example, those who raise little ghosts, delusionally thinking that they can make money by raising little ghosts, will in fact be bitten back by the little ghosts sooner or later.

Letting the Qiqi Pavilion replace the paper-folding craftsman's business right now is actually the same as raising a ghost. If you are not careful, it will also lead to a huge backlash.

There needs to be something that can suppress the backlash.

After thinking about it, Xiao Ran only thought of one thing in his mind.

Putting down the brush in his hand, Xiao Ran narrowed his eyes and thought to himself: "It seems that after returning this time, I must go to the Zhou family. If I have that thing from the Zhou family, there is nothing that I can't suppress."

(End of this chapter)