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墨書 Inktalez
The children on the streets are becoming increasingly hard to find. Huang Pizi wandered through three alleys without seeing a single child. With the recent uproar in the city about missing children, wealthy families mostly hired bodyguards for close protection, while poorer families, unable to afford such guards, combined households and had the matriarch watch over them closely, with the men taking turns keeping watch at night.
Huang Pizi, though ruthless, was someone who feared the strong and bullied the weak. He tried his best to avoid provoking anyone he could. Moreover, that Yard Officer named Chang Tai was investigating him thoroughly, forcing him to take back alleys when walking at night. He had to be extra cautious to avoid any mishaps.
Pressing his body against the wall, he sneaked along for a while until he spotted a patrol of Yard Officers in the distance. He quickly crouched down, transforming into a sneaky weasel and nimbly leaped onto a rooftop. Under the bright moonlight, Huang Pizi squinted his eyes and glanced at the group of Yard Officers, shaking his tail in delight.
Suddenly, a cold wind blew by. Huang Pizi turned around warily, his eyes darting around in the darkness. He noticed a swirling black wind behind him and shook his head before jumping down from the rooftop.
Xing Ruyi stood right in the middle of that black wind, surrounded by a chilling aura of dark energy. The energy swirled around her like a tangled thread, continuously circling her body.
The energy within her came from the underworld, a mysterious force that even the Underworld Lord could not fathom—both unfathomable and uncontrollable. Because its origin was unknown, it was generally referred to as ghostly arts. Using ghosts to deal with ghosts was one of the conditions for Xing Ruyi's survival in this world and also a task assigned to her by the Underworld Lord.
Beside Xing Ruyi stood a child—Tiger—who had lost both legs to Huang Pizi's attack. At that moment, he stared coldly at the sneaky weasel moving leisurely along the wall.
"Tiger," Xing Ruyi pointed to an alley not far from Huang Pizi. "Go!"
Tiger nodded, revealing two rows of sharp white teeth. His body swayed and disappeared into the night.
Huang Pizi heard a child singing: "Shake the branch, let it sway. Egg mother wants noodles. No grease, no oil, lightly..."
At the end of the street squatted a child dressed in coarse linen clothes with his back to Huang Pizi. Beside him was a red lantern that flickered gently in the night breeze.
Huang Pizi transformed back into human form and stealthily approached the child from behind. Just as he reached out his hand, he heard the child's song change.
"Who killed the robin? It was I, the sparrow. I killed the robin with my bow and arrow. Who saw him die? It was I, the fly. I saw him die with my eyes. Who took away his blood? It was I, the fish. I took away his blood with my dish. Who will make his shroud? It was I, the beetle. I will make his shroud..."
A chill ran through Huang Pizi. It felt as if it were rising from his feet and slowly creeping up to his head.
At that moment, the singing child suddenly stopped and asked in a slightly sorrowful voice, "Uncle, are you here to take me home?"
Huang Pizi instinctively nodded his head, trying hard to dispel that chill. The child before him seemed to transform into heavy gold and silver ingots that warmed him all over.
"Yes, Uncle is here to take you home? Friend, can you tell Uncle why you are still standing on the street so late?"
"Because—" the child stood up holding a red lantern, "because I got lost!"
"Lost, huh? That's good!" The yellow weasel chuckled as he approached, slowly placing his hand on the child's shoulder. "Don't be afraid, Uncle will take you home!"
"Uncle!" The child's head slowly turned from his shoulder. He looked at the yellow weasel and smiled strangely. "Don't you recognize me?"
"You—who are you?"
"Uncle, I am Tiger!" Tiger laughed outside. "How could you forget me so quickly? Don't you remember? In the broken temple, you used a knife to cut off my legs! You even threw me on the street for coins, and got angry because it was too little."
Tiger's expression turned melancholic, his eyes dreamy, and he began to mumble the song that Fox Demon taught him.
The yellow weasel felt a chill again; he wanted to remove his hand from the child's shoulder but found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break free.
"Uncle, are you worried? Don't worry, Tiger will earn you a lot of silver, a lot of silver. When the time comes, will you return Tiger's legs to him? Tiger's parents are still looking for Tiger. Do you hear that? It's my parents calling for me; isn't it sad? If they knew Tiger had lost his legs, they would be even more upset because Tiger can no longer help Dad deliver meals or help Mom hang out the laundry."
As Tiger spoke, the red lantern in his hand transformed into strands of hemp rope. Tiger wove a whip while singing.
The yellow weasel secretly formed a spell but was horrified to discover that he had lost his ability to transform.
"Tiger, do you want to eat meat? Sister will teach you how to make a home-style stir-fried weasel dish; what do you think?"
Xing Ruyi appeared with an eccentric smile on her face, holding a knife—the very one the yellow weasel used to cut off Tiger's legs in the broken temple. The hilt was wrapped in dark energy, while the blade emitted an eerie red glow, and there was a foul smell wafting from it.
"Yes! Yes! Tiger loves meat the most!" Tiger grinned widely as he wrapped the hemp rope around the yellow weasel's body.
They returned to that broken temple where the disfigured Bodhisattva still sat coldly on the mud platform. It looked at this world with indifference, its eyes reflecting a strange light. The tattered red cloth was stained with traces of mice.
Tiger dragged the yellow weasel and tied it to a cold, damp wooden bed that reeked of a foul odor. Xing Ruyi squatted in the corner, leisurely sharpening a knife.
“Tiger, do you know? After killing a weasel, you must first clean it, then rub it with salt and hang it in a ventilated place to dry. After that, you can stir-fry it with ginger, garlic, chili, Sichuan pepper, star anise, and cinnamon. At this point, you can also add some bean paste according to your taste; the aroma is truly irresistible. Of course, you could also chop off its two legs first, dry them out, add a little water, and then stir-fry them; that flavor is quite good as well.”
Tiger chuckled ominously, “Then let’s chop off its two legs first?”
Xing Ruyi looked at Tiger indulgently, stood up, and walked over to the weasel with the knife in hand, saying, “Alright!”
The weasel panicked and struggled violently, fear evident in its eyes.
“You can’t kill me! I know who you are! If you kill me, my kin will surely seek revenge!”
Xing Ruyi smiled lightly and leaned down to look at the weasel. “Do you think I would be afraid?”
The weasel was stunned!
With a swift motion, Xing Ruyi brought the knife down and tossed the two legs of the weasel onto the ground. The weasel let out a piercing scream that echoed through the night sky and reached the outskirts of Luoyang.
In front of a dilapidated grave, a fox raised an eyebrow at the group of sneaky weasels and smiled elegantly as if it were an immortal. “Dried weasel legs paired with Peach Blossom Wine are simply perfect. However, two legs might be a bit too few; I wonder if you all could spare some more?”
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