Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 279 Aunt Six's Kindness

"...The Ghost Festival has just passed, and the gates of hell have already opened."

Under the dim light of the streetlights, Mo Li muttered to himself.

The sudden appearance of a red gate within Moonlit City put pressure on both of them.

Ran Qing also walked to the phone booth next to her and dialed Zong Shu's landline.

But the dial tone went off for a long time, and Zong Shu still couldn't answer the phone, so it seemed he hadn't arrived home yet.

Ran Qing could only put down the phone for the time being and stand with Lao Yangpi at the crossroads, waiting for Lao Yangpi's wife and children to come out.

They waited for about twenty more minutes before Old Sheepskin's wife appeared at the crossroads, dragging a large bundle of things.

Ran Qing and Mo Li accompanied the old sheepskin family back to the paper-making shop before saying goodbye to the old sheepskin.

The two rode their motorcycle through Moonlit City and back to the cement house on Park Road.

The dark cement building stands quietly on the hillside of Park Road, inconspicuous in the night.

Standing in the courtyard at the entrance of the cement building and looking down, the rows of hair salons on both sides of the park road below are lit with pink lights, and the figures of scantily clad women occasionally appear at the entrance of the hair salons.

Occasionally, single men will walk into these small hair salons lit up with pink lights.

Cars occasionally pass by, but the traffic is sparse.

The city under the night sky is tranquil and peaceful, a picture of serene beauty.

The city's residents were unaware of the ghostly presence lurking in the shadows, let alone the fact that the gates of hell were wide open and evil spirits roamed freely.

There seems to be an invisible barrier between ordinary people and evil spirits.

It resembles a shadow under the sun, where sunlight and shadow intertwine yet remain clearly distinct.

At this moment, Ran Qing suddenly thought of her sixth aunt.

When his sixth aunt performed the funeral procession, she asked him very seriously whether he wanted to enter this profession.

Moreover, they repeatedly confirmed that once they entered this line of work, they would spend the rest of their lives entangled with those sinister and evil things, unable to find peace.

At that time, Ran Qing didn't quite understand what her sixth aunt meant. She felt that since evil spirits had already targeted her, if she didn't learn some skills to protect herself, wouldn't she just be surrendering and waiting to die?
But by this time, Ran Qing had already understood Aunt Liu's good intentions.

While it's good to learn how to deal with evil spirits, these unorthodox practitioners will be the first to suffer if evil spirits cause trouble.

For ordinary people, if they encounter the trouble of being possessed by evil spirits, they only need to pay a Taoist sorcerer to help them avert the disaster. Once the disaster is resolved, they will not be so easily possessed by evil spirits in the future.

Although those who practice unorthodox cultivation have the ability to deal with evil spirits, they are destined to be entangled with these evil spirits for their entire lives and will never have the peace and tranquility of ordinary people.

Just like in Moonlit City at this moment, ordinary people live and work in peace and continue their lives, but this group of unorthodox cultivators are forced to flee in panic and be extremely cautious.

When the sky falls, they, this group of unorthodox cultivators, will be at the forefront and also the most unfortunate.

Mo Li blinked and suddenly said, "...Do you think Uncle Ran didn't teach you the Ran family's corpse refining technique because he thought the same way? In the eyes of their generation, our line of work has no future."

With the changing times, the development of technology, and the progress of the rule of law, the world today is no longer as rife with demons and evil spirits as it was decades ago.

The era in which Auntie Er lived was an extremely dangerous, treacherous, and wicked world.

Countless people died unjustly, and vengeful spirits lined up and wailed in the mass graves. Even ordinary people who were law-abiding often encountered evil spirits.

However, as the world became more stable, the chances of ordinary people encountering evil spirits decreased significantly by Ran Qing's generation. Even those who practiced unorthodox cultivation methods no longer had as many lucrative opportunities to take on.

If times continue to change, the lives of these unorthodox practitioners will become visibly increasingly difficult.

Mo Li smiled and subtly tried to put in a good word for Ran Jianfei. Ran Qing rolled her eyes, too lazy to pay her any attention.

That brat Mo Li had a huge fight with her own mother, running away from home and severing their mother-son relationship. But when it came to Ran Qing, she kept trying to reconcile Ran Qing and her father.

If you're such a good girl, why did you fall out with your sixth aunt two years ago and never speak to her again?

Does it really mean that we only realize the value of something after we've lost it?

Ran Qing said, "Even if he keeps me by his side, he can still not tell me about the Ran family's corpse refining technique."

In fact, Ran Qing has long since resolved her resentment over her father abandoning her.

Or rather, they don't care that much anymore.

After gaining a deeper understanding of his father's personality, he suddenly realized that living with his kind grandmother and living alone in the school dormitory since childhood wasn't so bad after all.

The two returned home, tidied up briefly, hung up the cured meat and sausages that Lao Wangshan had brought, and began preparing dinner.

Ran Qing was about to eat instant noodles, but Mo Li couldn't stand eating instant noodles every day anymore.

"I want to eat something good!"

She dialed a restaurant and ordered fried chicken burgers.

Ran Qing had never eaten such expensive and trendy food before. Tonight, she essentially got a free meal from Mo Li.

Just as the delivery guy brought over the piping hot fried chicken burger, Zong Shu's motorcycle arrived.

After he got home, he received a call from Ran Qing and immediately rushed to Gongyuan Road without delay.

As someone who had personally experienced the dangers of the gates of hell opening, he knew all too well.

The three of them enjoyed a lavish meal treated to by Mo Li. Long Zongshu asked curiously, "Mo Li, where did you get so much money?"

He was filled with curiosity about this young, wealthy woman.

Even though they are all the same age, Mo Li doesn't even have parents.

Yet she is so wealthy that she never hesitates to spend money, and is even a bit extravagant.

Mo Li chuckled and glanced at Ran Qing: "I already told you, those turtle shop owners in Hong Kong are rich. If you use a few tricks to cheat them, the money you get will last you a long time."

“You’ve never been to Hong Kong, so you don’t know what it’s like there.”

"Let's put it this way, not to mention those wealthy bosses. Even ordinary office workers living in Hong Kong earn at least five or six thousand dollars a month."

Ran Qing was taken aback by the number Mo Li mentioned.

He knew that Hong Kong was rich and prosperous, but he never truly felt it.

Mo Li's words now shocked him somewhat.

In Moonlit City today, a monthly salary of five or six hundred is common, and a monthly salary of one thousand is considered a decent job.

But in that big city to the south, an ordinary person can easily earn five or six thousand...

“Those people over there are really rich,” Long Zongshu exclaimed. “No wonder they are one of the Four Asian Tigers.”

Ran Qing shook her head and said, "No matter how much money someone has, it belongs to them. There's no need to be envious. Besides, they don't do real industry over there, they only do finance... Financial games are like trees without roots; they can't last long."

"Didn't the recent financial crisis severely damage them?"

(End of this chapter)