Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 9: Ghosts Everywhere
On the stairs of the hospital, Aunt Liu bit her pipe, stared at Ran Qing's face, and said with a gloomy expression.

"You two have offended some weird creature that is not easy to deal with."

Aunt Six's sinister sneer contained a hint of sarcasm, a hint of cunningness, and a hint of gloating.

Such a sneer made Ran Qing feel a little uncomfortable.

But at this time, the only person he could find who knew about those things was Aunt Six in front of him.

Although Sixth Aunt's sarcastic tone was uncomfortable, Ran Qing suppressed all the discomfort in his heart and spoke to Sixth Aunt sincerely.

"Sixth Aunt, I want to save my dad... Can you help me?"

Ran Qing has a sincere attitude and a humble expression.

Fortunately, although Aunt Six was mean, she didn't want to make things difficult for Ran Qing.

She took a puff of her tobacco impatiently and said, "Although your father, Ran Lao San, is annoying, we have some friendship. Since he's in trouble, I will definitely help him if I can."

"If you want to save someone, I'll teach you how. But I have to be clear about one thing. I can teach you, but I can't guarantee success, nor can I guarantee your safety."

Aunt Liu stared at Ran Qing with her cloudy eyes, like dead fish, and said in a cold tone, "You want to save your father, but this is very dangerous."

"I'll take you to where you can find your father, but it's very dangerous there."

"I won't help you once you're in there. You'll have to rely on yourself. If you're unlucky, you might not be able to save anyone, but end up getting yourself stuck."

"So you have to think carefully before taking the risk. This is not a joke, it could kill people."

Aunt Liu said, holding her pipe in her mouth, persuading Ran Qing to consider it.

But Ran Qing looked at Aunt Liu and said seriously, "I want to save my dad! Aunt Liu, please teach me!"

Without any hesitation, Ran Qing made his choice directly.

Aunt Liu looked at him in surprise, but Ran Qing said, "My dad encountered that weird thing and lost his soul. And that thing should have been coming for me."

"Even if I don't save my dad, that thing probably won't let me go."

"If I can save my father, he can still protect me..."

Ran Qing's words made Aunt Liu laugh strangely.

"The little kid is very smart."

Aunt Six knocked on the stairs with her pipe and said, "But I can tell you that your father has actually warded off disaster for you."

"Although I don't know how he did it, he led away something that was meant to harm you. It must have been a ward off disaster."

"Now that he has protected you from disaster, if you leave him alone, you can actually continue to live a healthy life. That thing has harmed Ran Lao San, so it won't come to harm you."

Aunt Six's strange laughter was full of sinister temptation.

As long as he ignored his comatose father, Ran Qing would no longer be in danger and his life would return to normal. Anyway, that man had no feelings for him and had abandoned him a long time ago...

Ran Qing's heart was filled with bitter and indescribable emotions, but his eyes did not waver in the slightest.

"Aunt Liu, please help me. I'm not afraid of death."

Ran Qing's eyes were firm and his decision remained unchanged.

The sour emotions surging in his heart could not affect his decision.

Only then did Sixth Aunt look at him deeply.

Afterwards, Aunt Liu didn't say any more words. She took a deep puff on her cigarette and stood up.

"Okay, I'll help you," Aunt Six said. "Go back and tell your stepmother that you're leaving, but don't tell her what we're going to do."

"If we want to save your father, we have to start tonight. The sooner the better."

"If you delay, you may not be able to get it back."

Aunt Liu turned around and went downstairs to wait for Ran Qing.

Ran Qing returned to the ward and chatted with his stepmother in front of the bed. He said that he was going back to school and would come back to help take care of his father tomorrow.

After hearing Ran Qing's words, Luo Xuefang, who was holding her daughter, looked at him calmly. Without saying much, she just nodded and said.

"Okay, go back and rest first. Don't worry too much, I will take good care of your dad. This is a critical time for you, you can't be distracted, go back and study hard."

"As for looking after your dad...let's talk about it when you're on vacation. Summer vacation should be coming soon, right?"

Ran Qing nodded: "There is still one week of final exams, and then we will have half a month's vacation."

The stepmother held her daughter in her arms and said without raising her head, "Well, go ahead and study hard. You have good grades. Don't neglect your studies."

Just like that, Ran Qing said goodbye and left the ward.

He found Aunt Liu, smelling of cigarette smoke, downstairs in the hospital. Wearing a headscarf, she was sitting on the flower bed in front of the hospital, puffing out her pipe.

As soon as Ran Qing got closer, he could smell the strong and pungent smell of dry tobacco on Aunt Liu.

"Let's go, let's go find your father's soul," Aunt Liu smashed her pipe hard on the flower bed, causing sparks to fly, and then she jumped down.

The clean floor was now covered in cigarette ash after she knocked it over, making it extremely dirty. When Ran Qing and Aunt Liu left, they heard the scolding of a hospital nurse behind them.

Ran Qing blushed for a moment.

But Aunt Liu didn't care at all. She seemed not to hear the scolding behind her and just kept walking forward.

Ran Qing didn't muster the courage to ask until he walked out of the hospital: "Sixth Aunt, where should we go to find my father's soul? Where did he have the car accident?"

This was the first place that Ran Qing thought of.

But Aunt Six shook her head: "If you go there to look for it, you're dead."

Aunt Liu glanced at Ran Qing and said, "Let's go to my house. It's safer there."

Aunt Liu was smoking a pungent pipe as she walked on the sidewalk dimly lit by streetlights.

Ran Qing quickly followed, and was very surprised by what Aunt Liu said: "Why is it dangerous to look for it at the scene of the car accident?"

Was my father’s soul lost in the car accident?

Instead of looking at the accident site, I went to Aunt Six’s house... Could I find her?

Just as Ran Qing finished asking the question, and before Aunt Liu could answer, a chill suddenly came from behind her.

Although the chill was very weak, it was nothing compared to the two terrifying dead creatures encountered last night.

But Ran Qing subconsciously turned around, and at the moment he turned around, he saw a strange black figure squatting in the flowerbed in the green belt beside the road...

Ran Qing was about to take a closer look when Sixth Aunt's voice suddenly rang out.

"Don't look," Aunt Six said coldly, looking straight ahead. "If you don't want to get into trouble, don't look!"

Ran Qing's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly looked forward and no longer looked behind him.

But even so, he still heard some strange squeaking noises coming from the flower bed behind him.

The chill in the air seemed to be getting closer.

At this moment, Aunt Liu took a deep puff of her pipe and then blew out the pungent and thick smoke into the air.

After the smoke dissipated, it drifted behind Ran Qing with the wind.

Ran Qing clearly felt that the approaching black shadow stopped.

This earthen smoke can actually deal with that thing?

Ran Qing didn't dare to speak. He followed Aunt Liu closely, watching her sucking on her pipe and exhaling puffs of pungent smoke.

After walking a long way, Aunt Liu suddenly spoke.

"You can talk now. That thing didn't follow you."

Aunt Liu spoke in a cold tone, as if she was used to this kind of thing.

Ran Qing was still a little scared.

Aside from last night, this was the first time he had seen something this strange wandering the streets. The approaching chill of that eerie feeling made him feel intensely uncomfortable.

But then Aunt Six continued, "Those things generally don't like strong, pungent smells."

"Like that roadside ghost just now, if you don't provoke it, you can just blow a few puffs of smoke and it will retreat."

"It's a pity you're a good student and don't look like you can smoke."

After taking a deep drag on her cigarette, Aunt Liu said, "Anyway, remember, don't look around and don't provoke them."

"You are different now. Once you start to touch these things, you will encounter more and more dirty things in the future."

"Once people like us gain wisdom, it's like a light bulb turning on in the dark, attracting those sinister and evil things."

"You'll find out later that there are more filthy things in this world than you thought. Compared to those truly evil things, these wild ghosts that can be seen everywhere on the roadside are nothing."

As Aunt Liu spoke, she walked into a narrow, dark staircase on the side of the road, holding a pipe in her mouth.

The stairs extending down the slope are only wide enough for two people to walk side by side. There are walls of buildings on both sides, and a strong smell of urine wafts in the corners.

This place is not far from the hospital. The hillside is full of low and scattered old buildings, which are not much different from the shantytowns on Qingyuan Road.

Ran Qing followed Aunt Liu down the stairs, only to see three strange black shadows lying on the wall below.

In the dim light, I couldn't see the whole picture of those things.

But they were lying on the wall with their bodies twisted, a twisted posture that was completely impossible for a living person to make.

When Ran Qing saw this scene, his heart skipped a beat and he subconsciously didn't dare to step forward.

—Another wild ghost? Are there really so many of them?

I have been studying in Yuezhao City for five years and have never seen a wild ghost, but tonight I encountered four in a row!
He had only been walking for ten minutes since leaving the hospital when he ran into four of them. How many were there in the entire Yuezhao City?
can not imagine!

(End of this chapter)