Chapter 140: Craving

The car was moving slowly along the road, and I chatted a lot with Dou Zhile.

I asked him, "Your family's ancestral grave has collapsed; you'll have plenty to do from now on."

"It's not that troublesome," Dou Zhile said. "In fact, most of those buried in the Dou family ancestral grave are merely ceremonial tombs."

Dou Zhile's answer left me stunned, and then I suddenly understood.

Dou Jinsuo's parents died in the Heaven-Earth Mandarin Duck Hook; when their bones were fished out, they were already unrecognizable, with no intact corpses.

What's more, he was being controlled, and his ancestors' reputations were tarnished.

This can be summed up as follows: if any ancestor of the Dou family had survived intact, Dou Jinsuo wouldn't have ended up like this, and Dou Zhile wouldn't be so passive.

Even if there were a corpse fragment, we still don't know where its soul is being held.

Therefore, what Dou Zhile has always cared about is the Ash Immortal hidden in the ancestral grave.

As long as the Ash Immortal is unharmed and Dou Jinsuo is fine, relocating the grave is still not an easy task for him.

Dou Zhile said leisurely, "Once this grave is moved, the Dou family will be on the upswing."

He laughed, and I and Li Qingying laughed along.

It seems Dou Zhile still has great confidence in our pawnshop.

My mood also brightened a bit: "Old Dou, if there's anywhere you need help with the grave relocation, just tell me."

Old Dou laughed and said, "Certainly."

After returning to the pawnshop and entering the rear wing house's living room, we saw Dou Jinsuo leaning on the sofa, asleep.

The deathly aura on his face had faded; he would likely have a minor illness, and with proper care it wouldn't be serious.

Dou Zhile gently shook him awake: "Jinsuo, wake up, go home with Second Uncle."

Dou Jinsuo rubbed his sleepy eyes and asked, "Second Uncle, you're back? Is everything settled?"

"It's settled," Dou Zhile said. "I'll give you a week to rest properly; after a week, I'll personally teach you everything I've learned—you'd better pull yourself together, kid."

Upon hearing that, Dou Jinsuo jumped up from the sofa in disbelief, grabbed Dou Zhile, and asked if he was lying.

He had been waiting for this day for far too long.

After seeing them off, I picked up the hexagonal palace lamp and went to the main courtyard.

In the west room, Liu Junyan had been waiting.

He took the hexagonal palace lamp, glanced over me to make sure I wasn't hurt, and then said, "Thanks for your hard work, Xiao Jiu."

"Tsk tsk tsk, thanks for your hard work, Xiao Jiu." Hui Moqiong appeared out of nowhere and mimicked the phrase in a weird yin-yang tone.

Afterward, he looked at the Copper Coin Person, then with his hands behind his back, he circled Liu Junyan and said, "Your hair's grown longer, your demeanor has changed, but otherwise you're still the same."

He solemnly patted Liu Junyan's shoulder and said, "Buddy, this little life of mine is in your hands for the second time—don't let me lose the bet again."

Liu Junyan shook off his hand and told me, "Xiao Jiu, go rest first; I need to have a good talk with him."

Hui Moqiong directly hooked his arm around Liu Junyan's shoulder and urged, "Yes yes yes, older sister, you go ahead and be busy; we brothers haven't seen each other in years—we need to catch up. Does the pawnshop have any wine and dishes? I haven't had this in ages—I'm craving it."

"You guys chat," I said. "I'll go buy wine and dishes and bring them over later."

Hui Moqiong snapped his fingers: "Got it, older sister, thanks for the effort."

I left the pawnshop, rode my small electric scooter to buy liquor, then went to the cooked food shop to buy two catties of pig head meat, a roast duck, and some vegetables.

Then I turned toward the cake shop south of town and bought a big cake.

Back at the pawnshop, I had Li Qingying send the liquor and dishes to the main courtyard, while I went to prepare some incense and paper money and such; after I finished tidying up, Li Qingying also came over.

She asked, "Are we going out?"

"Mm." I replied, "Come with me."

Li Qingying drove; I held the cake in the front passenger seat and gave the address.

Upon hearing the address and seeing the cake in my hand, Li Qingying immediately understood.

She started the car and drove all the way to the cemetery.

I had once promised Lu QiuSheng that on the day his enemies were brought to justice, I would bring a cake to his grave and tell him this good news.

Bai Xian'er and the little monster have already died in the cemetery today; the Lu QiuSheng family, aware even in the springs below, can finally have their souls rest in peace.

Today, many people's souls can finally find peace.

Returning from the cemetery, the sky had already darkened; after a simple dinner and washing up, I and Li Qingying sat at the counter of Nan Shu Fang, watching the shop.

The pair of Buddha Eyes were still placed in the refrigerator, clear as water.

That night, the girl said she would come in a few days to ask me for "current gold"—a drop of lamp oil.

I've been waiting all along, after all, this order theoretically hasn't been completed.

Whether to continue the transaction, I need to make it clear to her.

By eleven o'clock, I hadn't expected that the first person to show up would be another girl.

Moreover, this girl is someone both Li Qingying and I know.

It's Chen Tao.

She stood just outside the threshold, wearing a pretty little dress, with a thin woolen coat over it, and holding in her arms a doll shaped like a cherry pill.

This is what her parents burned for her on the night she made a standing corpse in the Pearl Coiling River.

It was her sixteenth birthday gift.

The autumn-end outfit, finally worn by her in the deep winter season.

With her great enemy avenged, Chen Tao may tonight go to be reborn; at the latest, before the rooster crows.

But she wasn't in a hurry to leave; instead, she came to me… I quickly took out my phone, found Chen's father's number, and dialed it.

I also had Li Qingying fetch the leftover ox eye tears I hadn't used up.

Before long, Chen's father and mother arrived in a minivan, both looking puzzled.

After I applied the ox eye tears to their eyes, they soon saw the beautifully dressed, pure and innocent Chen Tao.

In a moment, they broke into tears.

Only now did I finally understand why Chen Tao had come to my place to go through this.

Her death was too horrific—her entire skin was stripped away, and she stood bloody in the river; that sight will haunt her parents for the rest of their lives.

Whenever they woke at midnight, the old couple would forever remember her bloody appearance.

Then came endless guilt and self-blame.

But after tonight, Father and Mother Chen will feel much better.

Their beloved daughter had received a belated birthday gift, dressed beautifully as she went off to be reborn—this was the greatest comfort for them.

What a sensible and kind girl!

What a pity.

Under my constant urging, Chen Tao finally left.

Father and Mother Chen thanked me profusely, eyes red, and then left.

By then it was past midnight; I thought there would be nothing more tonight, so I decided to close up and sleep.

Just then, footsteps suddenly came from outside.

The footsteps were light, but with each step the silver ornaments on the clothing jingled.

Li Qingying and I looked up together and saw the girl who had dug out a pair of Buddha Eyes at the pawnshop.

She was still dressed as she had been that day, her eye sockets filled with dried blood stains, hollow and empty.

She walked step by step toward the pawnshop on tiptoe, her heels off the ground.

Her whole body was suffused with a heavy deathly aura.

She stood just outside the threshold of Nan Shu Fang, and mechanically opened her mouth to say slowly: "Boss, I've come to take back my pair of Buddha Eyes…"