Chapter 112: Setting out, two constables

More than a hundred miles downstream of the Baisha River, Xu Qing and the three of them carried Shi Quan's corpse and searched along the shore for a ferry boat, wanting to return to Linhe.

At Baisha Ferry, Constable Xue, who had fled in the face of battle, led a group of deserters and defeated soldiers to sail overnight, and arrived at the Linhe wharf before long.

Manager Cai, who had been hiding in the cabin, was exhausted and clearly frightened.

The constables helped and supported Manager Cai all the way to the patrol office.

County Lieutenant Dong Heng and Secretary Tang Zhou heard the bad news and couldn't care about their subordinates' affairs, so they hurriedly went to the office to ask questions.

Upon learning that Head Constable Zhao and others had been harmed by the evil person from Tianwu Temple and abducted into the water by water ghosts, with their life or death unknown, everyone's hearts were shaken.

Everyone had been colleagues in the office for many years, and now, in just a short night, they were separated by life and death. No one could accept this.

Even those who were not human would have to shed a few tears at this time.

Constable Xue was clearly the best among them; among the few constables, he cried the most emotionally, looking as if his own brother had died.

"Head Constable Zhao let me take the helm when he entered the water; that was entrusting the lives of everyone on the boat to me. If I didn't bring the brothers back to the wharf alive, how could I be worthy of Head Constable Zhao's entrustment?"

"Therefore, I had no choice but to harden my heart and lead the brothers back... The evil Daoist is cunning, the water ghosts are fierce, and now that a night has passed, I'm afraid the head constable is in great danger."

After saying this, Constable Xue beat his chest and stamped his feet in front of everyone, sighing repeatedly.

Other constables knew that what Constable Xue said was not entirely true, but no one came out to correct him.

After all, the few of them had also silently chosen to protect themselves at the time.

On the contrary, Shi Quan, who couldn't swim, jumped into the water without hesitation.

County Lieutenant Dong saw that the constables looked dejected and immediately frowned: "What are you panicking about? Secretary, you go quickly to find the Martial Court Lieutenant and ask him to invite the Demon-Hunting Captain to search along the river. Perhaps Head Constable Zhao still has a chance of survival."

Seeing Secretary Tang walk out of the public hall quickly, Autopsy Expert Wang Lingyuan followed closely behind. After catching up, he hurriedly said: "Secretary, please go slowly!"

"Secretary, my junior brother's life or death is also unknown. Please say a few good words to the Court Lieutenant for me, and let the adults pay more attention..."

Jingxia Street, Mortuary Shop.

It had been two days since Xu Qing went to the wharf to run errands.

Xuanyu didn't seem to understand the human habit of working at sunrise and resting at sunset. It possessed Sun Erzhuang to look after the shop for these two days, and the mortuary shop hadn't closed its doors for a single moment in the twenty-four hours of the day.

During this period, guests would occasionally come to the door to purchase funeral supplies such as wreaths and paper offerings.

Ever since the incident at Old Wu's house next door, only Wu Yaoxing's wife was left in the paper shop to look after the storefront.

Her husband was wrongly imprisoned, and her two sons had gone far away to run errands. How could Madam Wu have the heart to manage the shop?

Xu Qing, as a neighbor, simply moved the wreaths and paper offerings to the mortuary shop and sold them on behalf of Madam Wu.

Xuanyu didn't have a concept of money either. When people came to buy funeral supplies, it let them pay what they wanted.

Fortunately, most of the customers who bought funeral supplies had awe for these things and wouldn't offer too low a price.

Days went by like this, and the fact that Shopkeeper Xu had disappeared for two days didn't seem to have much impact on the mortuary shop.

As the acting shopkeeper, Xuanyu, who was looking after the shop, didn't worry about Xu Qing's safety.

Cat immortals have long lives, and their understanding of time is very different from ordinary people.

In its eyes, a day or two was just the blink of an eye, and only months and years were slightly longer.

In the afternoon, the sound of cicadas penetrated the street.

A thin and delicate figure suddenly appeared outside the deserted mortuary shop.

"Little lady, may I ask if Shopkeeper Xu is in the shop?"

Looking at the familiar figure walking into the shop door, Xuanyu's eyes immediately had spirit.

The person appearing before its eyes was none other than the yellow-brown fur, short-limbed, and human-speaking Yellow Immortal, Huang Laoxu.

"Immortal Xu has gone out to travel. If Daoist Huang has anything to do, you can tell me."

"May I ask what the relationship is between the Daoist and Shopkeeper Xu?"

"You yellow sable are truly old and dim-sighted; how could you not even recognize me?"

Xuanyu turned into a wisp of black smoke and escaped from Sun Erzhuang's body.

The next moment, a black cat crawled out from behind the counter and jumped onto the counter.

"So it is Daoist Xuanyu."

Huang Laoxu's pair of thief-like eyes rolled around.

It came back to its senses, arched its hands, and smiled: "With Immortal Xuanyu here, I can settle my heart."

As Huang Laoxu spoke, it pinched the incantation and activated a yellow wind. After the yin wind fell, a basket of eggs appeared in front of it.

"These are twenty pairs of boiled eggs, ten pairs of single yolks, ten pairs of double yolks. I specially sent them to the Daoist to taste." Placing the basket on the counter, Huang Laoxu's words had a meaning of ingratiation.

Xuanyu looked at the basket and remained unmoved.

A weasel paying a New Year's call to a cat—there might be good intentions, but they were definitely not pure.

"Huang Laoxu, if you have something to say, say it honestly; don't try to use some eggs to deceive me." Xuanyu had a natural sensitivity to things like sables; it could see at a glance that the other party didn't have good intentions.

Huang Laoxu grinned and said: "How could that be? I am purely here to visit the Daoist. If there is really something... that is also a good thing."

"Look, I was thinking that the Cat Immortal Hall you just established doesn't have many jobs to take. I happened to take on a job recently. If the Daoist is interested, I can transfer it to the Cat Immortal Hall."

"These twenty pairs of eggs count as a deposit. In the future, there will be incense offerings, rice, flour, oil, grain, three kinds of livestock, and the crooked-necked little phoenix won't be missing either."

"Three kinds of livestock?" Xuanyu widened its eyes: "Only during grand sacrifices will three kinds of livestock be slaughtered. What kind of job did you take on that the offerings are so generous?"

Huang Laoxu was about to speak, but heard movement from the back of the mortuary shop. It looked sideways and saw a divine-looking big rooster walking with square steps from the second gate of the backyard into the front shop.

The yellow-skinned weasel who sent boiled eggs met the dawn-announcing golden chicken that naturally overcame evil spirits. The two were natural enemies meeting, and just at a glance, it was like thunder hitting the earth, red-eyed.

Huang Laoxu didn't have time to explain the matter of "setting out," because the golden chicken of unknown origin had already pounced on it.

Outside the newly built city gate of Linhe Square, Zhao Zhonghe and his nephew, who had been out of contact for many days, finally returned to their own territory.

The uncle and nephew were bumped all the way, and it wasn't until the second night after falling into the water that they walked out of the river channel and found human traces.

If they had taken a ferry and returned by water, they would have returned to Linhe in an hour or two.

But in Zhao Zhonghe's eyes, he always believed that the water monkey and the evil Daoist from Tianwu Temple were still alive and well.

If he still took the waterway, that would be an old man hanging himself—truly tired of living.

Just like that, the two, who had developed a temporary fear of water, chose to take a detour, arrived at Shuyang County, two hundred miles away, and borrowed the ferry bridge there to cross the river.

Rested for a night in Shuyang County, the few hired a carriage, bought straw mats, and wrapped Shi Quan's corpse and placed it in the carriage.

After tossing and turning all the way, it was two days later when they returned to Linhe.

"It's hard work for Shopkeeper Xu to collect my brother's corpse. After I return to the government office and handle the matters at hand, I will go to Jingxia Street to see my brother off."

Xu Qing waved his hand and parted ways with Zhao Zhonghe and his nephew.

The uncle and nephew walked back to the government office, while Xu Qing let the carriage driver drive the carriage to transport Shi Quan's corpse back to his own mortuary shop.

When they arrived at the shop door, Xu Qing had just carried the corpse off the carriage when he heard a commotion of chickens flying and dogs jumping inside the shop.

Xu Qing walked quickly into the shop door and saw a yellow lightning bolt scurrying back and forth on the rafters, shelves, counters, and coffin lids. Behind it, Jin Luan was flapping its wings and chasing it up and down.

"Xuanyu!"

Xu Qing's eyebrows stood up, and the Xuanyu, which was watching the show at the counter, instantly put away the thought of watching the fun.

A black cat shadow flashed by, and after a few cat-cat punches, the rat and the chicken immediately became honest.

Xu Qing put down the corpse, reached out to pull over a stool, and sat down like a general.

"Speak, what happened?"

Huang Laoxu had lost some yellow fur and was holding two chicken feathers in its hand, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Jin Luan's feathers had already been plucked quite a bit, so it didn't matter much at this time. On Jin Luan's beak, there was also a wisp of yellow fur stuck to it.

Huang Laoxu had been practicing for a long time and had quite a reputation in the circle of immortals in Xijing Mountain. It was an old generation, and it had never suffered such anger.

"Old man came to see the Cat Immortal today for something to discuss, but this bald-feathered chicken, which I don't know where it came from, pecked me as soon as it caught me..."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and looked at Jin Luan.

The latter couldn't speak human language and was afraid of being disciplined by Xu Qing, so it turned its seeking-help gaze to Xuanyu.

Xuanyu had no choice but to repeat the cause and effect in detail.

"Huang Laoxu brought a basket of boiled eggs, Jin Luan was saddened by the sight of the object, so it broke out."

Xu Qing automatically ignored the contradictions between these small animals. Chickens and yellow-skinned weasels have never gotten along; this is nature and cannot be eliminated in a few words.

He looked at Huang Laoxu and asked directly about the business: "There are so many immortals in Yanjing Mountain; why did you outsource the job you got to my Cat Immortal Hall?"

Huang Laoxu was most afraid of dealing with people because humans are too refined, even more refined than yellow-skinned weasels.

But Xu Qing was the Great Shopkeeper and General Manager of the Cat Immortal Hall. Since the other party already knew about this matter, he could only bite the bullet.

"I am ashamed to say it. I am not afraid of Shopkeeper Xu laughing at me. It is true that I took on the job, but I don't have the ability to handle it. I am afraid of losing face among the immortals and afraid of disappointing the believers, so I rushed to your hall, wanting to ask the Cat Immortal to set out and help one or two."

Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and said: "You should first say what the matter is, but I will say the ugly words first. It is best for the Yellow Immortal not to have any concealment. If I feel that there is emptiness in the words, no matter how small the matter is, my Cat Immortal Hall will not take it."

"Doing business pays attention to integrity, and making friends is the same. I hope Daoist Huang understands."

Huang Laoxu gave a dry laugh, and its two short hands had nowhere to put them in guilt.

"This matter is also to blame for me. A few days ago, quite a few children were lost in several villages near Yanjing Mountain, and the villagers worshipped and asked the immortals to set out to find them..."

"A Gray Immortal who can calculate took on this errand, but didn't expect to kick an iron plate. The human trafficker who kidnapped the children turned out to be a person of the Yin Gate, and the lost children were all turned into lambs by him using evil arts and mixed into the flock."

"That shepherd has some Daoist skills. Although I am not afraid of him, I don't want to provoke him."

"These Yin people are like glutinous rice cakes, sticky and soft. You can't use force to hit them, and if you want to stop, they stick to you. My descendants in the Yellow Strip Cave are not few. If I offend such a person, I will never have peace."

Huang Laoxu paused and said with regret: "I originally wanted to open one eye and close one eye, but who could have thought that among these people, there was a hunter who didn't want to live..."

Listening to Huang Laoxu's narration, Xu Qing gradually understood the ins and outs of the matter.

It turned out that someone from the Yin Gate kidnapped the villagers' children, which angered the mountain-chasing hunter. The hunter chased the shepherd, but was seriously injured by the shepherd using fire methods.

The hunter knew his life was not long, so he used the secret method of mountain-chasing, holding onto a breath, and relying on the experience of mountain-chasing, he found the Yellow Strip Cave, and then used a basket of eggs and a few crooked-necked little phoenixes as offerings to invite the Yellow Immortal Hall to set out.

And he promised that whether the matter was successful or not, he would burn incense and offer sacrifices during festivals.

Huang Laoxu didn't think much at the time, just thinking that there was such a cheap thing in the world, so he agreed.

A few days later, when he went to the hunter's house to drive away evil according to the agreement, he found that the hunter had already died of illness.

People die and accounts are cleared; the client is dead, so this matter should have passed.

But who knew that Huang Laoxu hadn't been happy for long before the entire Yanjing Mountain began to spread that he, Huang Laoxu, had taken on the task of finding the lost children and punishing the old shepherd trafficker.

He inquired carefully and found out where the source of the rumor came from.

Who do you think it was? It was exactly the mountain-chasing hunter who had just died!

You say this matter is handled; the hunter died and everything is gone, and there is no proof.

But Huang Laoxu had truly received the other party's alms and offerings.

Everyone knew a little bit about this matter.

But no one knew that Huang Laoxu had been tricked by a cunning human.

This old yellow-skinned weasel was afraid of being ridiculed by his peers and afraid that his reputation would be damaged because of this, leading to his Yellow Immortal Hall's incense being affected, so he carried this basket of eggs and came to the Cat Immortal Hall for help.

"You old sable still have the face to say that the hunter is cunning. You received so many benefits, and now you only bring a basket of boiled eggs and want to outsource the job to my Cat Immortal Hall... Calling this drilling and taking advantage is putting it nicely, and calling it bringing disaster to others is putting it bluntly."

"I won't sweep you out the door, and you still want to find me for help?"

Huang Laoxu was so anxious that he kept arching his hands and apologizing.

"Old man's matter was indeed not considered carefully. Please forgive me, Daoist. As long as the Daoist is willing to help, I will definitely remember this friendship, and in the future, if there is any need, I will also do my best to help."

Xu Qing looked at the weasel in front of him.

Until Huang Laoxu's hair stood on end and he intended to go to another house for help, Xu Qing finally opened his mouth.

"If you can send the hunter's corpse to the mortuary shop, I can consider this matter."

Huang Laoxu thanked him repeatedly. He had never been so grateful to a human in his life.

However, the next moment he heard Xu Qing say:

"However, the reward of this basket of boiled eggs is still too little; it's not enough for my Cat Immortal Hall to divide."

Huang Laoxu probed: "Then I will send some old ginseng from the mountains, Ganoderma from the cliff, or other mountain treasures another day?"

Xu Qing shook his head. He didn't need these precious medicines to prolong his life, so what was he doing with them?

"I don't lack this, but recently when I was writing talismans, I was lacking a wolf-hair brush of superior quality..."

"..."

Huang Laoxu left with a bald tail tip, and Jin Luan gloated on the side.

Xuanyu saw Xu Qing, who was plucking hair, and carefully hid its tail under its belly.

Patrol Office. Since Head Constable Zhao had been missing for two days, Constable Xue had taken over the duties of the head constable on his own.

Those who flattered and fawned had already begun to call him Head Constable Xue in private.

And now, Constable Xue was chatting with a few close colleagues in the duty room.

"It has to be Head Constable Xue who is enlightened. In the past, if we were lazy here, we would definitely be scolded by Head Constable Zhao."

"What Head Constable Zhao, he was just a vulgar martial man, full of shit and piss all day long, and there was never a good word in his mouth."

"You can't say that. Besides scolding people, being unreasonable, and being arbitrary, Head Constable Zhao still had some strengths, such as having long arms..." Constable Xue was facing away from the duty room door, counting the shortcomings of Zhao Zhonghe.

"Ahem, Old Xue."

"What did you just call me?" Constable Xue had just drunk wine and was now flushed, looking at the constable who called him Old Xue with some dissatisfaction.

That constable was silent as a cicada, and the other colleagues stood up immediately, their faces changing greatly.

"Head Constable Xue, should I call you that from now on?"

A thick voice came, and Constable Xue almost jumped reflexively.

He turned his body stiffly and saw the familiar figure at the door.

"Head, Head Constable Zhao..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 113 =====