Chapter 2

This is a pawn that everyone silently consents to.

The item being pawned is me!

The Jiang family fears and loathes me, wishing they could fling me out like splashing a ladle of dirty water.

And from my birth until now, six years, Tafengcun truly has not had a single child born.

Therefore, all the villagers of Tafengcun also dislike me.

The little me was led by the old woman, looking back three times with each step as we walked out of Tafengcun.

She took me from the mountains to a place called Wufu Town south of the county seat.

Wufu Town was built facing the river, and at the end of the street stands an ancient, simple large residence with three courtyards and three exits.

On the east side of the residence stands a broken mailbox, and under the west eave hangs a hexagonal palace lantern.

The main gate opens to the south, and above it hangs a signboard covered with a black cloth.

The rear wing rooms are filled with incense, candles, paper money, and paper crafts.

The Nan Shu Fang beside the rear wing is locked, and there is also a small door opening outward, likewise locked.

The old woman crouched down to meet my eyes, took my small hand, and said, "My surname is Yu; you may call me Granny Yu. From now on, we two will depend on each other."

I obediently replied, "Granny, hello."

Having been thrown away too many times, having endured countless cold stares, the six-year-old me already understood that living under someone else's roof means being obedient and well-behaved.

Granny Yu looked at me with pity: "You are the ninth female manager of our pawnshop; from now on I'll call you Xiao Jiu, all right?"

"All right." I curiously asked, "Then are you the eighth female manager, Granny?"

Granny Yu shook her head: "I have no qualifications to be the female manager of this pawnshop; I am merely its keeper."

She stood up, pointed to the incense, candles, and paper money filling the rear wing, and said, "I know a bit about yin-yang and feng shui; I make a living selling funeral supplies, and I also go out to read omens for people."

I nodded, half-understanding.

Granny Yu took my hand and we walked backward, stepping over the high threshold into the front courtyard.

The front courtyard is not large; it has an old scholar tree, and beneath it lies an eight-trigram well.

A large stone presses down on the eight-trigram well, and the stone is carved with runes I cannot comprehend.

Passing through the flower-lined archway, the main courtyard lies beyond.

The main courtyard is spacious, with dozens of rooms in the east and west wings.

Pushing open the main hall's doors, directly before us stands a huge black coffin in the main hall, frightening me so I hid behind Granny.

Granny patted my hand and said, "Xiao Jiu, don't be scared; come, offer incense."

She lit three sticks of yellow incense, placed them in my hand, pushed me forward, and we bowed before the black coffin.

After inserting the yellow incense into the raw rice before the black coffin, I turned and clung to Granny's thigh, furtively peeking at the main hall's furnishings.

Besides this black coffin in the main hall, a large red sedan chair stands in the western corner, its top adorned with a five-colored flag.

The doors of the east and west rooms are locked, and the entire main hall feels chilly and gloomy.

After finishing the incense, Granny Yu took from her bosom the pawn ticket bearing my blood fingerprint, pressed it under the black coffin, then peeled off a yellow talisman from the coffin, and only then led me out.

She then brought me to look back from the west side room toward the rear courtyard.

The rear courtyard is empty, long neglected, with some buildings already collapsed.

We returned to the rear wing; Granny lit the yellow talisman, dissolved it in water, and had me drink it.

After drinking the talisman water, I began to feel drowsy, and I slept in a dazed stupor.

When I woke again, it was the next morning; I felt refreshed and was delighted to find that the white hair on my head had vanished.

Granny treated me well; she sent me to school.

After school, she taught me to nail paper money, fold ingots, craft paper effigies, and draw talismans…

Although it is a pawnshop, Granny managed to run it as a funeral shop.

When she went out to read omens for others, she also brought me along, and she conscientiously taught me everything she could.

Each time after finishing a reading, she would bring back something from the client's home.

Raw rice, grave soil, coffin nails…

No matter what was brought back, without exception it was all offered before that black coffin in the main house.

What surprised me even more was that these offerings would disappear after a period of time.

It felt… as if that black coffin had swallowed them whole.

I am very afraid of that black coffin; I always feel that one day its lid will lift, a monster will emerge and devour me, so I avoid the main hall if I can.

Until I was nine years old.

That year, Granny took on a funeral job and brought me back to Tafengcun.

In Tafengcun, the village chief's family had a death; when the funeral procession tried to lift the coffin, it wouldn't budge, and after several omen-readers failed to see the cause, they eventually found Granny Yu.

While Granny was reading the omens, I helped as an assistant; after she finished, she grabbed a handful of candy to reward me.

As I was peeling the candy, a sweet voice suddenly called out, "Tongtong sister."

Tongtong…

Three years have passed; this is the first time since leaving Tafengcun that anyone has called me by that childhood nickname.

Granny and all the villagers of Wufu Town call me Xiao Jiu.

I turned around and saw a little girl about two years old, with two sheep-horn braids, lifting her big eyes to look at me.

"Tongtong sister, I also want to eat candy."

The little girl toddled over, chubby-cheeked, and smiled up at me.

I saw not far behind her, my mother holding a swaddled baby, hiding behind the door and furtively watching me.

It turned out that after I left Tafengcun, the incense lineage of Tafengcun truly resumed.

I also have younger brothers and sisters.

I smiled at the little girl, took out two candies and placed them in her hand, then turned to go find Grandma.

Since without me, everyone can live better, then that's good.

I have Grandma, and that's also good.

The village chief's matters were resolved smoothly; Grandma had packed cooked rice and was about to take me home when an old grandmother rushed over, grabbed the back of my collar, and whipped my leg.

Ill-omened star, why did you come back!

If you come back to the Jiang family, people will die, don't you know?

Get lost! Get out!

No, you should die! Go die!

A willow whip as thick as a pinky finger lashed my body repeatedly, my grandmother gritted her teeth and roared, wishing she could whip me to death.

I was in so much pain tears streamed down; I dodged while crying.

In the panic, I saw my mother holding my younger brother with one hand and protecting my younger sister with the other; the look she gave me showed that even the last trace of maternal love and guilt had vanished.

Both children's faces were flushed abnormally, obviously they had a high fever.

My grandmother slammed a candy hard onto my face.

I stared at that candy, my whole body ached so badly I felt like I might collapse.

So it turns out that because I gave my sister two candies, they came down with a high fever?

Because I gave my sister two candies, I deserve to die, right?!

Just before I passed out, the willow whip kept lashing my body tirelessly.

That night I came down with a high fever, went to the hospital, tried folk remedies, drank talisman water, but nothing helped.

Seeing that I was burning up and starting to rave, Grandma had no choice; she gritted her teeth, held me, and went to the main house, kneeling before that black coffin.

Seventh Lord, please save Xiao Jiu.

Xiao Jiu is different from others; she… she belongs to you.

The pawn ticket is pressing under your coffin; I, this old woman, am not lying.

Please!

……