Chapter 70

Chapter 69

“Ah… umm!”

Tan Wenbin’s scream was about to escape, but was blocked by a hand covering his mouth.

He stared with wide eyes, terrified, at the old face in front of him.

The old man smiled, and was about to say something, when he noticed the young man wrapping his arms around, tangling his legs below, and twisting his waist with force and momentum.

“Eh?”

The old man exclaimed in surprise, seeming to recognize this as a close-quarters grappling technique.

“Umm?”

Tan Wenbin was then completely astonished, because he found himself grappling and tangling nothing, as if the old man had no substance at all, but the problem was that his mouth was indeed covered by the other party.

“Young man, I’ll let go of you, but don’t shout. I’m old, I can’t stand shouting.”

Tan Wenbin nodded.

The old man took his hand away from Tan Wenbin’s mouth.

“Yuan Zi, Run Sheng, there’s a ghost!”

“Hehe.”

The old man was amused, stood up, and flipped over the coffin Tan Wenbin was in.

“Yuan Zi, Run Sheng!”

Tan Wenbin continued to shout while sitting up with the momentum, looking vigilantly at the old man.

The old man paid no mind, walked to another coffin, reached down towards a censer below, and waved. The incense lit up, emitting curling white smoke.

He saw him take a deep breath, and the white smoke split into two streams entering his nostrils.

“Ah…”

The old man let out a comfortable sound, and a sickly red flush appeared on his face.

“Yuan Zi, Run Sheng!”

Seeing Tan Wenbin still relentlessly shouting, the old man sighed: “Don’t shout, they can’t hear you.”

Tan Wenbin finally stopped shouting, and asked doubtfully: “Who are you?”

“You’re sleeping in my house, and you ask who I am?”

“Your house?” Tan Wenbin seemed to realize something, and asked: “You’re Yin Meng’s grandfather?”

“That’s right, it’s me.”

“You’re a lingering spirit?”

“What do you mean lingering spirit? I haven’t died.”

“Haven’t died?”

“Nonsense, if I died, why would I, as a ghost, pester my granddaughter? To harm her fortune? My brain hasn’t been submerged in water.”

“Then you…”

The old man pointed at the coffin behind him: “This is where I sleep.”

In the outer room, which was the shop, there were two coffins, and in the inner room, three. Tan Wenbin had naturally assumed that all three were empty, and didn’t expect there to be someone lying in one of them.

“Then what is this? You’re not a ghost, but why couldn’t I touch you just now?”

“That’s what I find strange, silly kid. Aren’t you in the business?”

“What business?”

“The business of fishing corpses.”

Tan Wenbin straightened his chest and said firmly: “Of course!”

“Then you don’t know that you’re currently in the state of 'walking yin'?”

“Walking yin?” Tan Wenbin touched his body: “This is called walking yin?”

“When I came out, I didn’t originally want to pay attention to you, but you kept jumping around. I pulled you, and you still started shouting.”

“Then my friends?”

“When walking yin, you can’t see living people, so no matter how much you shout, it’s useless.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“Don’t tell you what?”

“Uh, nothing, nothing. No, you didn’t come out during the day, why did you come out walking yin at night?”

“I wish I could come out during the day. My old bones aren’t good.” The old man pointed at his head: “Cerebral infarction, paralyzed.”

“So you come out walking yin every night to move around?”

“You’re spouting nonsense! You’re really pretending not to understand, aren’t you? Whose walking yin is as simple and frequent as drinking water?”

“No?”

Tan Wenbin raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

“Pop!”

He always felt that Xiao Yuan’s action of snapping his fingers and closing his eyes to enter the walking yin state was very cool.

“Today is the Ghost Festival, and I have to get up at night to do business.”

“So late, doing ghost business.”

“Exactly.”

Tan Wenbin: “…”

“I won’t chat with you, I have to open the shop door.”

The old man passed through the curtain and walked into the front room shop. Immediately, he was stunned, because he saw a boy standing in the front room.

The boy looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze.

The old man said in surprise: “I haven’t opened the shop door yet, how did you get in?”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t answer.

The old man touched his head: “That’s not right, you’re not wearing a robe. I see, you’re with that silly kid?”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded.

Tan Wenbin also ran over from the inner room at this moment, and upon seeing Li Zhuiyuan, immediately waved his arms excitedly: “Xiao Yuan bro, I’m walking yin, I’m walking yin!”

This excitement was like a child discovering they could ride a bicycle.

The old man touched his chin, looked at the boy, and said: “So, you’re the real deal.”

“What do you mean?” Tan Wenbin asked curiously.

The old man pointed at the boy: “I didn’t even know he was standing here before, which proves he’s very solid.”

“Solid?”

“Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp. You’re the shrimp.”

“You’re the big fish?”

The old man glanced at the boy again and said faintly: “Small fish.”

Li Zhuiyuan had already sensed the ‘movement’ in the room. He had also entered the walking yin state earlier. He had heard the conversation in the room before and knew the old man was Yin Meng’s grandfather, but he still didn’t let down his guard.

But now, he was sure the other party was ‘harmless’ because the other party showed weakness.

In fact, during this time, the boy’s mind was always wrestling with: Should I pounce and bite him?

No way, he really didn’t know how to fight in the walking yin state.

Last time in Luo Ba Village, facing that little girl in red, he also used powder to disperse her.

He was currently flipping through Wei Zhengdao’s book, and it didn’t elaborate on walking yin either.

This should be a basic subject, so basic that Wei Zhengdao was too lazy to mention it, but Li Zhuiyuan just didn’t know it.

This was like he could perform high-level operations, but ‘didn’t know’ addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

He could use them because although he didn’t understand what ‘addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division’ meant, he had memorized the basic arithmetic answers.

This was also why he often overworked and had nosebleeds. Although his age was still young and his body hadn’t fully developed was one reason, the main reason was still that his starting operations were massive.

“Yuan bro, right?”

The old man indeed treated Li Zhuiyuan differently, adding a polite term after the address, unlike calling Tan Wenbin a silly kid.

“Um.” Li Zhuiyuan responded: “Hello.”

“Yin Fuhai, I ‘insert sit’ in Fengdu dock. I don’t know which dock or which Dragon King Yuan bro serves?”

Saying this, the old man even made a set of river surface hand gestures.

Not every industry creates slang and gestures. This kind of mutual identification is originally just to resolve contradictions and avoid conflict.

Another group that likes to use this posture is bandits.

Dock means local bully, insert sit refers to being only a part of this dock, not taking the lead.

Dragon King refers to the powerful figures on the river surface.

Li Zhuiyuan rarely interacted with proper colleagues, and these information were also analyzed from the literal meaning.

But he didn’t know how to respond. What was his great-grandfather’s position?

Nantong Hao River dock insert sit?

But the fact was, his great-grandfather lived far from the Hao River in the city. Most importantly, no one had taught him how to do the local gestures, so he couldn’t just imitate others, could he?

It was still his great-grandfather’s fault for being too unreliable, making his great-grandson not even know how to introduce himself when going out.

Comparatively, Li Zhuiyuan felt that Runsheng’s family’s Mountain Grandpa might know some of this, but Mountain Grandpa never treated his great-grandfather in this way. Perhaps he fundamentally didn’t consider Li Sanjiang a true colleague.

Li Zhuiyuan only knew the inner door rituals of the Qin and Liu families, but using them felt inappropriate.

However, seeing the boy not returning the ritual, the old man was angry, and his tone became heavier:

“Since you look down on me, this Fengdu dock insert sit, why are you still living in my house?”

Li Zhuiyuan was helpless and had to return a set of the Liu family’s inner door ritual.

After returning this ritual, there was no need to speak or introduce oneself.

Clearly, the old man was knowledgeable. The moment he saw this set of return rituals, the old man’s whole person became transparent.

This was being scared, almost ending the walking yin state.

It’s estimated that even the body lying in the coffin, despite the cerebral infarction and paralysis, would have twitched a couple of times.

After a long time, the old man finally calmed down. This time, not only did his previous anger dissipate, but it was replaced by a flattering expression:

“A visitor from the Liu family, a noble guest, a rare guest, truly good. How many years has it been since a person from the Liu family walked the river?”

There was no hint of insincerity in the old man’s flattering face.

Li Zhuiyuan asked: “You know the Liu family?”

“Anyone who’s been on this river surface for a long time, even old turtles, have heard of it.”

“I mean, you know that no one is left in the Liu family?”

“I know.” The old man said very frankly: “Precisely because I know how few people are left in the Liu family, I show more respect.”

“My surname isn’t Liu.”

“Registered outer door?”

“Um.”

At the Ding family banquet in Mountain City that night, Grandma Liu personally performed the return ritual. Although he hadn’t formally entered the sect and worshipped a teacher yet, becoming a registered disciple in the future was a tacit understanding between both sides, waiting for A Li’s illness to improve significantly.

“That’s the same. Noble guest, please forgive me, I, this old man, cannot personally entertain you.”

“Don’t be so formal outside. I’ll call you Old Sir, you call me Xiao Yuan, that way we’ll both be more comfortable.”

“Noble guest… Oh no, Xiao Yuan bro is friends with my Meng Meng?”

“Sort of, but I’m here to repay a favor to Yin Zhiwang.”

“Ancestor? Oh, I see. Then your seniority is too high.”

“Old Sir, aren’t you doing business?”

“Ah, I have to, I have to.”

The old man walked to the shop door. Yin Meng had just put the door boards back when closing the shop at night. The old man didn’t go to move the door boards, but put his hand on a mirror on the wall and lightly turned it.

The originally thick door boards became somewhat transparent at this moment.

Li Zhuiyuan and Tan Wenbin both saw that outside, on the late-night street that should have been quiet, a path of black human shadows appeared.

However, mixed among these black human shadows were several bright ones.

Those should be living people, two drunk individuals with arms around each other, and two walking alone.

It’s best not to wander alone on a cold street late at night when there’s nothing else to do, because this street might be far more lively than you perceive.

The old man sat back behind the counter, as if waiting for guests to arrive.

Tan Wenbin stood at the corner of the counter, carefully observing the ‘pedestrians’ outside.

Li Zhuiyuan then walked to the opposite side of the old man and asked: “Is this a characteristic of Ghost Street?”

“I’ve indeed heard of similar places elsewhere before, but I haven’t been there, so I don’t know the specific situation. But places like our Fengdu Ghost Street shouldn’t be many.”

“Are they ghosts?”

“They are, and they aren’t. Every Ghost Festival, they will come out on this street at night.”

Tan Wenbin asked: “Haven’t you caught one for research?”

The old man quickly waved his hand: “A guest at the door is a guest. This is not a shady business.”

At this moment, a black human shadow walked in. His figure was vague and unclear, only roughly looking like a person.

He stood in front of the counter, and the old man murmured something to him. Li Zhuiyuan didn’t hear clearly what he said.

After a while, the black shadow left, dropping a piece of paper money that floated down into the water jar at the shop door.

As soon as the money fell in, it turned to black ash and scattered.

A smile appeared at the corner of the old man’s mouth as he stroked his beard.

Only then did Li Zhuiyuan realize that the water jar in front of this shop was originally used for this.

But Yin Meng herself didn’t even know, saying it was an accidental use.

Li Zhuiyuan asked: “What did you trade?”

The old man laughed: “Yang life.”

“Um?”

“If my old bones could still move, I could personally do some other things and sell them here tonight. I could also help with errands and wishes. But I can only sit here walking yin now, unable to do anything real. The only thing I can sell is this bit of yang life.

Although I’m paralyzed, I still have quite a long time to live. But in my situation, living one more day is just dragging down Meng Meng one more day.

It’s better to sell these burdensome days and exchange them for some yin virtue for Meng Meng.

My granddaughter isn’t bad, but she’s very proud. Bitterly guarding me in this coffin shop is truly unnecessary, it only delays her youth.”

The old man’s attitude towards his granddaughter made Li Zhuiyuan think of his great-grandfather.

“How much can you sell?”

“Not much. If they truly had great virtue, they wouldn’t be these lonely souls and wild ghosts.”

“Also.”

“But every little bit counts. Mosquito legs are also meat.”

Li Zhuiyuan pointed at the inner room and asked: “You didn’t call Yin Meng?”

“I couldn’t wake her. Not everyone can walk yin, she can’t.” When Tan Wenbin heard this, a smile immediately appeared. This meant Run Sheng also couldn’t, and he could!

“This cannot be learned later?”

“Some people are born with it, some people acquire it by chance after encountering something, but it can indeed be learned.”

“So, you deliberately didn’t teach her?”

“Um, what’s the point of learning this? Seeing these things isn’t necessarily a good thing. In peaceful times, this business won’t prosper.

To be honest, I hope she can live happily, find something she likes to do, later marry a good person, have children, and live an ordinary life.”

Great-grandfather, also expected this of himself.

“I see that she herself is learning quite well.”

“It’s just for exercise. If a girl knows some skills, she won’t be easily bullied.”

At this moment, Tan Wenbin spoke up: “Xiao Yuan bro, my head is very dizzy and painful.”

The old man said: “Silly kid, go back to sleep. If you walk yin for too long, your body won’t be able to bear it. Don’t lose control and float onto the street in a while, that will turn you into a lonely soul and wild ghost.”

Tan Wenbin asked somewhat fearfully: “Then… how do I end it?”

“Each family has its own oral formula.” The old man looked at Li Zhuiyuan: “You didn’t teach him?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Close your eyes, imagine yourself at the bottom of the sea, floating up.”

The old man: “…”

Tan Wenbin obediently closed his eyes and began to imagine. His feet went up on tiptoe, and his hands also brushed lightly up and down.

After a while, Tan Wenbin opened his eyes, his expression very pained: “I can’t wake up, Xiao Yuan, my head hurts even more, ah…”

Li Zhuiyuan also didn’t know what to do, and could only look at the old man: “Old Sir, do you have a method?”

“I…” The old man stood up, walked to Tan Wenbin, muttered something, then slapped Tan Wenbin’s forehead. Tan Wenbin flew out, passed through the wall, and entered the inner room.

Tan Wenbin woke up in the coffin. Although his head hurt as if it would crack and he was sleepy, he still forced himself to climb out of the coffin, lift the curtain, and come to the outer room again.

However, he saw the door boards still standing there, and no other people. Only then did he realize something, patted his forehead, drilled back into the coffin, closed his eyes, and immediately snored.

“Good, he’s back. If this kid hadn’t learned before, he might have some spirituality. Did he experience something?”

“Experienced.”

“Oh, that’s due to encountering many things.”

“Will walking yin for a long time make you tired?”

“Of course you won’t be tired, you’re very solid.”

“How solid?”

“You should have been standing outside the inner room earlier, listening to us talk, and I didn’t perceive your existence the whole time.”

“Be more specific.”

“This… you really don’t know?”

“Does it look like I’m pretending?”

“It doesn’t look like it, it’s just very surprising. If you don’t know, how do you practice?”

“Also experienced many things.”

The old man shook his head: “That’s not it. Experiencing things can only open your mind to walking yin. You’re clearly tempering.”

Li Zhuiyuan thought of A Li.

If it was tempering, it should be when he entered A Li’s ‘vision’ to see the scenery.

Every time he finished seeing the scenery and ‘came out’, he would be in a daze and uncomfortable for a while. However, after many times, the side effects became less and less.

After waiting for a long time, no second black shadow came.

Li Zhuiyuan asked: “Business isn’t good?”

The old man laughed: “Opening a coffin shop, it’s not like you want guests to fill the door.”

“Another business, I don’t want your yang life.”

“Besides yang life, what else can I give now?”

“I’ll give Yin Meng money in reality, and you teach me walking yin now.”

The old man leaned back. Although he had already sensed something was wrong, he really didn’t expect these words to come out of the boy’s mouth.

“You’re not doubting my Liu family identity?”

“No, I’m confirming it, because only within the Dragon King Temple can such strange things happen.”

“This business, are you doing it?”

“Doing it, but I can’t take your money.”

“No, I must give money, because free things are often more expensive.”

“You misunderstand, I feel that I can only teach these basics, and it’s not right to take your money.”

“I only lack the basics.”

“Alright, I’ll teach you the twelve methods of walking yin passed down by my Yin family. It’s just that learning this will take a long time. How long will you stay here?”

“Leave tomorrow afternoon.”

“The details and taboos of this walking yin method are many. It’s very difficult to truly learn without someone teaching it orally beside you.

How about you consider staying here for a while?

For example, leave for a month, this way you can at least ensure you learn one.”

“It doesn’t matter, just teach.”

“Then I’ll list out all twelve methods, you choose one, and we’ll familiarize ourselves with it tonight?”

“No need, start from the first one.”

“Oh… alright.”

Initially, even knowing the other party was from the Liu family, the old man still felt this child was a madman, whose ambition was higher than the sky.

But as he taught, he realized that he was originally a frog at the bottom of a well.

For each method, he first described it, then demonstrated it, and finally pointed out the key points.

The boy sat on the chair, thought for a while, and could use it. The first time was clumsy, the second time was skilled, and the third time was just perfect.

The second, third… all were like this.

Midway, he began to doubt whether the other party had already learned the Yin family’s walking yin method and deliberately came here to verify it, but he soon dismissed this thought.

Because he himself couldn’t do the last three methods, he could only repeat the oral formula and key points passed down by his ancestors to the boy. He couldn’t demonstrate.

Then, the boy did the same thing. He sat on the chair and thought for a while, then came and analyzed with him: according to the characteristics inherited from the first nine methods, the next should be this, should be that, and the key point is here.

Then, the boy used it.

After the other party used it, he even taught it back to himself, letting himself try practicing.

The teacher-student relationship quietly reversed.

The old man never dreamed that one day, someone would come and teach him his own family’s inherited method. This was truly too absurd, but the facts were in front of him, and he couldn’t not believe it.

What was even more frustrating was that the other party learned it, then polished and subdivided it to explain to him. He felt greatly enlightened and his understanding deepened, but for a while, he still couldn’t use it.

After the other party finished learning everything, the sky outside was still dark. It was still a while before the rooster crowed.

The old man was very frustrated. He leaned against the wall dispiritedly, looked at the still energetic boy, and sighed: “No wonder you are from the Liu family.”

To this, Li Zhuiyuan just smiled. For him, this was indeed just a basic problem, a concept he had seriously skipped before and was now revisiting to supplement his understanding.

“That’s now liberated. If it were before, after you grew up, you would definitely be the kind of big figure who can command the wind and rain.”

“Old Sir, was the Liu family very powerful before?”

After learning, Li Zhuiyuan was more willing to chat, especially about the previous stories of the Liu family.

“Look at the way you talk. There was always a saying on the river surface before, called ‘flowing dynasties, iron-clad grain transport gangs’.

Many of those famous grain transport gang bosses in history were just like the Liu family’s Dragon Kings, small deities pushed onto the stage.

In those years, only the Qin family could compare in name with the Liu family.

These big families fundamentally didn’t care about those small matters on the river surface. They focused more on the secrets under the river surface, this was their true foundation.”

“Old Sir, you know a lot.”

“Haha, there are many travelers from all over the world here. I also liked to make friends in my early years, like setting up a Dragon Gate array.

The sky is getting bright, you should also rest. Actually, I’m getting tired too, hehe.”

“Um.” Li Zhuiyuan nodded: “Today, only two guests?”

“That’s right, yes.”

The first guest came in when the door just opened, and the second guest came in midway through teaching.

“But, the second guest didn’t give money.”

“Ah?” The old man was stunned. He remembered that the boy was just closing his eyes and thinking, and didn’t expect him to notice this. He immediately explained: “The business didn’t succeed, so naturally there’s no need to give money.”

“Didn’t succeed?” But after the second guest left, your expression immediately became very ugly.”

“I was just tired, really, I haven’t worked so hard in a long time.”

“You said it yourself, it’s all basic stuff. Even demonstrating the first nine methods is just a simple task.”

“So, Old Sir, was it because you were tired, or because you gave a large sum of yang life to the second guest?”

“You’re joking, hehe.”

“I can read faces, your great limit is approaching.”

“You…”

“Inconvenient to say?”

“I have no face to say.”

The old man lowered his head and stroked his face with his hand, half ashamed and half startled. The boy in front of him had clearly perceived it early, but waited until he had taught all twelve methods before mentioning this matter.

This mind and temperament were truly too terrifying.

“Then, don’t say it.”

Li Zhuiyuan raised his hand, preparing to snap his fingers to end the walking yin state. Today’s consumption was a bit long, and he felt he should sleep until noon. Fortunately, it wouldn’t delay the boat in the afternoon.

“Still say it. I’m afraid you’ll walk late during the day and still know.”

“I’ll know?”

“My son died.”

“Yin Meng said that after her parents divorced, her dad went to work down south and there’s been no news since.”

“I originally also thought he couldn’t stand the divorce and ran south by himself after the divorce, abandoning his daughter and this home.”

“The truth?”

“He died.”

“Died?”

“He didn’t agree to the divorce. He was killed by that woman in collusion with the man she’s married to now. His body was sunk at the bottom of West Bay.”

“Then how did they divorce?”

“We’re in a small place here. Now the rules might be stricter, but before, you could get married with just a few drinks, no need to get a certificate. If you needed a certificate, you could just get one temporarily.

Divorce was even simpler, just going back to your own homes counted as divorced.

At that time, he just left a letter saying he was useless, a waste, couldn’t even keep his wife, had no face to stay at home, and was going south to work and make something of himself, telling us not to miss him.

He had just died then, and the letter was forged.”

“You never suspected?”

“I’m stupid, I really didn’t suspect.”

“Then who told you?”

“He came back himself. At the temple fair last month, he came home and told me personally.

Because they were building a bridge over West Bay, his body was brought out during the foundation work. So many years had passed, and the police didn’t investigate.”

“I’m very angry, so I planned to…”

“I’m tired, my head hurts a lot.”

“Ah?”

“Don’t chat, sleep.”

After sleeping and waking up, he indeed slept until high noon.

Li Zhuiyuan climbed out of the coffin, and Run Sheng was just holding a cloth, helping to wipe the counter.

Seeing Xiao Yuan wake up, he immediately entered the inner room and pushed the still deeply sleeping Tan Wenbin awake.

“Hey, you really can sleep.” Yin Meng said with a smile.

“Um.” Li Zhuiyuan responded.

Tan Wenbin rubbed his eyes and came out. At high noon, he immediately shouted: “Yin Meng, your grandfather isn’t dead.”

“Of course he’s not dead. I said yesterday he was dead, he just had a cerebral infarction and couldn’t wake up.”

“Is that right? Did you say that yesterday?” Tan Wenbin carefully recalled.

Li Zhuiyuan: “She didn’t say.”

But the implied meaning was that he was almost like her grandfather was dead, although, he was indeed almost.

Tan Wenbin immediately smiled apologetically: “Well, sorry, hehe, I was wrong.”

Yin Meng said: “Are you eating lunch? I’ll make it.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Let’s go out and eat.”

He still had some lingering memories of the pig trotters from last night.

At this moment, two boys walked into the shop. They looked just two or three years older than Li Zhuiyuan, and both walked in with red eyes.

“Sis, sis.”

“Sis.”

As soon as the two boys entered, they called Yin Meng sister.

“Who are they?” Tan Wenbin asked.

“My mom’s kids from her later marriage.”

“How come you seem to have a good relationship with them?”

“Um, when they occasionally come to the county town, I’ll buy them something to eat and give them some pocket money.”

Tan Wenbin: “You’re a really good person.”

“Is that right?”

“So good it’s like your brain is submerged in water.”

At this moment, the two boys ran over and hugged Yin Meng, crying: “Wuu wuu wuu, Sis, it’s bad, Dad and Mom both drowned in the river pond this morning!”