Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 373 A Well-Behaved Elderly Couple

The aroma of food soon wafted from the Long family's old house.

The kind-smiling, wrinkled old lady went to the field to pick fresh vegetables, melons, and green beans, and then started a fire to cook rice in the house.

Ran Qing and the other two sat at the gate, watching the chickens wander around in the mist.

The dog that Zong Shu kept glanced at Ran Qing with some fear, but surprisingly it didn't run away. Instead, it came over and lay down at Zong Shu's feet, rubbing its head against Zong Shu's hand.

This was the first time Ran Qing had encountered livestock that weren't afraid of him since he became a spirit medium.

When passing through villages and towns, the dogs would all tuck their tails between their legs and hide, trembling from afar as if they had seen a ghost.

In the main room behind the three, Zongshu's grandfather was still weaving something with his back to the door.

But I have no idea what he's making up.

Zong Shu whispered a warning to his companion: "...My grandfather has been very irritable since he broke his leg. Don't provoke him. He'll call me when he's done with his work."

When it was lunchtime, Zongshu's grandmother prepared a sumptuous meal.

Braised potatoes, stir-fried cured meat, zucchini and green beans, steamed sausage, blood tofu, stir-fried cabbage... almost all the best dishes that could be prepared quickly at home were served.

If it weren't for the urgency, Ran Qing had no doubt that the old man would have gone to the door and grabbed a live chicken to kill on the spot.

Compared to the eccentric Grandpa Zongshu, Grandma Zongshu was all smiles, kind and gentle, and cared deeply for the three young people.

Ran Qing was somewhat flattered by their enthusiasm.

—On the way here, Zongshu carefully reminded him that his grandparents had strange and fierce tempers.

But now it seems that, at least in front of Ran Qing and the other two outsiders, the old lady still performed the proper etiquette for entertaining guests very well.

Only Zongshu's grandfather refused to eat.

The old woman stopped the three of them from calling him, saying, "He's been acting like he's possessed these past few days, just squatting there fiddling with those few broken bamboo stalks. Don't call him, let him starve to death."

"The old man will cry out when he's really hungry."

"If you go and call him now, he won't remember your kindness; he'll just scold you."

And the old lady's words were proven true.

After Ran Qing and the other two had eaten and drunk their fill and chatted idly at the door for more than an hour, the old man in the main room suddenly shouted out of the blue.

"Old woman! I'm starving to death!"

"Where's the food? It's not ready yet?!"

The old man in the main room cursed angrily several times, but he didn't even turn around while cursing; he just kept his head down and fiddling with the bamboo strips in his hands.

Zongshu's grandmother got up without any surprise, reheated all the food in the house, then took a large bowl of corn rice, piled hot dishes on top, and carried it into the main room.

Ran Qing noticed that even while eating, the elderly people in the main room didn't stop what they were doing.

He held a spoon in one hand, constantly scooping food into the bowl on the table next to him, while his other hand remained busy in front of him.

After finishing the food in his bowl, he threw the spoon into the bowl and continued weaving bamboo strips with both hands.

Zongshu's grandmother also walked over familiarly, took the bowl away, and continued chatting and laughing with Ran Qing and the other two at the door.

Zong Shu didn't hide anything from his grandmother and told her about all the experiences and encounters the three of them had had over the past month.

When the old lady heard that Ran Qing was a spirit medium and Mo Li was her sixth aunt's daughter, she looked at the two of them in surprise.

But there was only a slight surprise.

When the old lady heard about Ran Qing and his friends' thrilling and terrifying experiences—going to Huaga Tiankeng to catch ghosts, to Longchang Street, to Laowang Mountain, and so on—she still smiled kindly.

There was none of the worry that an ordinary elderly person would feel when they heard their grandson was doing something dangerous.

The old woman sighed when she heard that Zongshu's mother wanted to take the family to another place to avoid trouble.

She shook her head and said, "Your mother means well, but her idea definitely won't work."

"Your grandfather is an old geezer; he'll never leave the stone courtyard."

"You and your mother can move to another place when the time comes, and your grandfather and I will stay here."

"There are only a few people living in these mountains. Those evil spirits and monsters you mentioned wouldn't have time to come to such a remote place." "We are very safe here."

The old lady smiled kindly and gently, but declined her daughter-in-law's offer of filial piety in advance.

The old man seemed quite familiar with terrifying things like evil spirits, mountain monsters, and ancient demons.

Even after hearing about Ran Qing's terrifying experience in the Ancient Luo Kingdom, the old man only glanced at Ran Qing once more.

She chatted and laughed with Ran Qing and the others, passing the time while she was bored.

After a while, the old man got up to feed the pigs.

She left Zongshu to entertain the two classmates, and went to the pigsty on the side of the old house by herself.

Not long after Ran Qing and the other two sat down, a strange tapping sound suddenly came from behind them.

The three of them turned around and found that Grandpa Zongshu, who had been busy in the main room, had gotten up at some point.

An old man with a gloomy face walked out, leaning on his cane as a foot, his body suspended in the air, step by step.

Both of his legs are completely crippled, and he can only use crutches as legs, but surprisingly, he can still move around quite smoothly.

The old man, leaning on his cane, crossed the threshold and floated outside the gate, where he sat down beside the three men with a gloomy face.

After looking around, the old man frowned and asked, "Where's your old hag, Grandma? Where did she go?"

Zong Shu chuckled dryly and replied, "Grandma went to feed the pigs..."

Hearing this response, the old man frowned unhappily: "Damn it, starving those pigs for two meals won't kill them. They don't even greet guests when they come to the house. What's the point of feeding pigs..."

The old man's lips moved as he muttered a few soft curses.

Then he looked at Ran Qing and Mo Li.

His gaze swept over the two young men before finally settling on Ran Qing.

The old man stared into Ran Qing's eyes, his tone softening considerably: "This matter concerning your Ran family is quite troublesome."

“But your father carried my son’s body back then, I can’t just ignore it.”

"It's just that my old bones are too stiff to move around much."

"I'll give you a few things later. Take them back to deal with the flying zombies. Together with the Yin Altar of your Yin lineage, that should be enough."

The old man got straight to the point and spoke his mind.

But Ran Qing and the other two opened their eyes in astonishment.

—They haven't said anything yet! How did this old man know why the three of them came?
Even when they were chatting with Grandma Zongshu just now, they didn't mention that Ran Jianfei had become a flying zombie.

But Zongshu's grandfather brought up this matter right away.

Long Zongshu was somewhat bewildered: "Grandpa, how...how did you know about flying zombies?"

The old man with a full head of white hair glanced at him and said, "That damned thing has chased me to my doorstep, how could I not know?"

The old man suddenly pulled something out of the bag and threw it viciously into the thick fog in the distance.

"My leg is broken, not my eyes are blind!"

Before Ran Qing could even see what it was, it had already disappeared into the thick fog with a strange shriek.

Immediately afterwards, the thick fog in that area suddenly thinned out.

A hideous ghostly figure floating in the air screamed as it was struck and fled in a sorry state into the depths of the fog.

This sudden turn of events startled all three young people.

They stared in astonishment in the direction where the flying zombie had disappeared, then looked in astonishment at the old man before them.

No one expected that the flying zombie would follow them all the way.

And none of the three, including Ran Qing, noticed it!

(End of this chapter)