Chapter 9: Yin Pawn

The letter was a bit long; I quickly skimmed it once and got a general idea of its content.

This letter was written by a girl named Fu Wan to her fiancé.

Her fiancé surnamed Zhao has been fighting abroad for three years; he is about to return with his troops to Wufu Town, and both families have picked an auspicious day, planning to marry Fu Wan as soon as Zhao Sheng comes back.

This is the last letter Fu Wan sent to Zhao Sheng, filled with her love and longing for him, as well as her visions of their future life.

From then on, they could stay together forever.

But it's obvious the letter never got sent; something happened to Fu Wan.

This letter, destined never to be sent, became Fu Wan's obsession.

The letter is covered with blotchy, dark bloodstains, yet what puzzles me is that a pawn ticket is stuck in its lower right corner.

The pawn ticket is from a hundred years ago, when a man named Dou An pawned his life at the pawnshop.

Why would Fu Wan's letter have been pawned for life by Dou An at the pawnshop?

What is there in a letter that would be worth pawning?

What role does Dou An play in this matter?

Bang! Bang!

While I was reading the letter, the girl outside had already started pounding on the door.

The biting Yīnfēng kept seeping through the door cracks, and Fu Wan's belly-full of resentment seemed to be vented entirely onto this trembling little door.

I clenched the letter in my hand, my thoughts racing: should I return this letter to Fu Wan or not?

The letter was pawned for life to the pawnshop; according to the rules, its ownership belongs to the pawnshop, and since I've taken over the pawnshop, I have the right to decide how to handle this letter.

I can choose to return the letter to Fu Wan.

But will Fu Wan really leave after she gets the letter back?

Or will the letter stimulate her, making her even more terrifying?

No, if returning this letter could quell Fu Wan's resentment, none of what's happening today would have occurred.

Thinking this, I immediately put the letter away, rushed into the room, pulled out the few talisman papers left by my grandma, and slapped them onto the little door.

Grandma understood some yin-yang and feng shui arts; her talisman papers are still quite effective against ordinary unclean things.

I also learned to draw talismans from grandma since childhood, but my foundation is too shallow—just for show, with no real effect.

Yet as soon as those few talisman papers were stuck on the door, they ignited without fire and turned to ash.

They couldn't stop Fu Wan at all!

With a boom, the little door was burst open, and Fu Wan lunged straight at me.

Her ten nails were sharp and long, thrusting straight toward my neck.

The change happened too fast, giving me no time to react; seeing those sharp nails about to pierce my neck, a white light suddenly flared, forming a barrier before me.

The barrier was semi-arched, its surface appearing covered in silver-white scales, and it instantly sent Fu Wan flying back.

It was the scale armor given by Liu Junyan that protected me!

I reached out with one hand to touch the scale armor pendant; the armor was currently emitting a chilly white light outward.

Liu Junyan... he... saved my life again.

"Done!"

Accompanied by a shrill scream, a man's excited voice suddenly rang out, and I lifted my eyes to look outside.

In the rain curtain, after Fu Wan was blown away, she hadn't steadied herself when, sideways, a big rat sprang out, its hind legs pushing hard to leap, it jumped up and slammed a talisman paper hard onto Fu Wan's head.

That talisman paper is purple, its mana unknown how many times greater than Grandma's talisman papers.

Fu Wan was first struck by the scale armor's mana, her soul already unstable; the big rat seized the chance, and her soul body was thus nailed to the opposite wall.

She kept howling, her blood-red eyes hatefully fixed on the big rat, as if she wanted to devour it alive.

She struggled desperately with all her might, her soul fading at a visible-to-the-naked-eye speed, yet a faint blood light glimmered between her brows.

I looked closely and discovered that a coffin nail was actually driven into Fu Wan's forehead!

That coffin nail obviously wasn't just hammered in a moment ago; after the talisman paper dealt heavy damage, Fu Wan's soul body became unstable, and the nail then became visible.

Just as the big rat was about to continue attacking Fu Wan, she let out another howl, broke through the talisman paper's seal, and struck it with a palm.

After a few exchanges, Fu Wan swiftly retreated westward and soon vanished into the river water.

The man who had been hiding in the corner stepped up beside the big rat and worriedly said, "Old Gray, the rain hasn't stopped, the river hasn't receded—could something else happen?"

I know this man; he's the owner of the Zhendong Head Coffin Shop, Dou Feng.

He fawned, bending at the waist to follow beside the big rat, but the rat didn't answer him; instead, it turned its head to look at me.

The moment I met the big rat's small, shrewd, calculating eyes, I unconsciously stepped back two steps and clenched the scale armor pendant even tighter.

This big rat is clearly the one that stood on the gray carriage last night!

It merely glanced at me, then left together with Dou Feng.

The violent rain quickly washed everything away, as if what had just happened were merely a dream of mine.

But the fallen door reminded me that it was all real.

I slumped into the chair, my heart unable to calm for a long time.

I slipped my right hand into my pocket and pressed against the folded letter.

Dou Feng... Dou An... could there be some connection between the two?

And that big rat... I suddenly recalled Grandma's words: "I was schemed against by that gray old rat, nearly wiped out."

It was this big rat that killed my grandma!

In that case, Fu Wan and I share a common enemy, right?!

The door fell, and I simply dare not sleep.

Outside, the sky had already turned pitch black, the rain was still falling, and the water on the street shimmered with rippling light under the lamps.

I sat in the counter, reading that letter over and over.

I also took out the Dang Pu operating manual and studied it carefully.

It wasn't until midnight that I finally understood what yin pawn is.

At Dang Pu, pawn business is divided into yang pawn and yin pawn.

So-called yang pawn refers to the pawn relationship that arises between the living and Dang Pu.

Generally, Dang Pu's business is all yang pawn.

Besides pawning by the living, other things such as souls and zombies—any pawn activity not involving the living—are collectively called yin pawn.

The subjects of yin pawn do not belong to the yang realm; they linger here, mostly because of unresolved obsessions, and these fellows' pawn dealings are usually related to their cause of death.

The pawn trade had long been replaced by various emerging industries in the torrent of time; the reason this Dang Pu in Wufu Town has managed to survive is probably related to yin pawn.

The yin ones have demands; they cannot be refused.

This means that whenever a yin pawn subject comes to the door, Dang Pu must help them discover their cause of death and dispel their resentment.

Though called yin pawn, it is actually another form of salvation.

There are two ways of yin pawn.

One is to substitute with an object: Dang Pu helps them seek justice, and they repay with yin items of equal value.

The other is soul sacrifice.

So-called soul sacrifice means the subject pays with their own life to exchange for justice!

Seeing this, my heart was filled with mixed feelings.

I never expected this pawn shop to hide so many secrets behind it; what ability do I have to shoulder the heavy task of reopening Dang Pu?

Splish… splish…

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps splashing in water came from outside the door; the steps were somewhat unsteady.

I instantly sat up straight, nervously looking at the doorway.

Soon enough, I could see who had come.

Fu Wan had gone and returned, standing silently at the doorway, a pair of blood-red eyes staring fixedly at me…