The shop assistant thought the ghost had targeted him and spent the whole night pondering how to resolve the issue. Now, having burned paper under the old pagoda tree, he indeed heard no more child talking in the nights that followed.
However, during the day, there was a child with a topknot sitting under the pagoda tree talking to himself.
The shop assistant thought the ghost had returned, but the shopkeeper heard this and immediately slapped him on the head.
"What nonsense! That's the noble's young son from the Government Office."
"But why is he sitting there talking to himself?"
"So what? The person is the Government Office's young son. Not to mention talking to himself – even if he were mute or foolish, his fate is still better than yours!"
After scolding the assistant a few times, the shopkeeper suddenly said, "The shop's money is tight this month. Your firewood money will have to wait another two months, and I'll give it to you then."
"Shopkeeper, I've waited six months for my wages..."
"Wait a little longer. It's not like I won't give it to you. Besides, what do you need money for? You're not lacking food or drink. Just work diligently, and when you need money, I'll naturally give it to you!"
That night, after finishing accounting, the shopkeeper was about to leave when he heard a bang outside the door.
He had the assistant check, only to find the assistant carrying a package saying, "It's a cloth-wrapped bundle, quite heavy. It might be someone else's item left behind. I'll go out and look for them."
The shopkeeper immediately stopped him and said, "Hold on, bring it here and let me see!"
The assistant followed orders, turned around, and came back. When the shopkeeper got hold of it, it was a pretty heavy package. Could it be wrapped with something valuable?
Eagerly, he untied the cloth, and at first glance—whoa!
A huge head!
The shopkeeper was frightened and quickly ordered the assistant to throw it as far away as possible.
The assistant, never having encountered such a thing, had no choice but to go out and find a place to dump it.
However, early the next morning, before dawn, someone came to the food shop. That person startled everyone with their words: "I already know about the murder and the head dumping!"
"Jiang Konglou, what nonsense! Who committed murder?"
The visitor was none other than Jiang Maocai, Jiang Konglou, a fisherman who had fished out a head near the Tanggu River.
This person had no honest job, wandering daily to extort money and fishing by the river.
In Jin Sect, he was indeed considered a literary rogue.
He didn't commit burglary or pick locks; he just liked playing schemes, catching people off guard.
"Hey! Shopkeeper Yu, it's fine if you won't admit it. I'll bring the head to the Government Office, have them come over and handle this!"
"But let me be clear upfront: It doesn't matter if you didn't kill that person. The head left your shop door. Once others know about this, maybe no one will come here to eat anymore."
Shopkeeper Yu's face changed repeatedly. He regretted not listening to the assistant initially. If he hadn't brought that package containing a head into the shop, how could he have gotten into such trouble!
"The head indeed isn't from our shop..."
"It's useless to tell me. My brothers and I all saw it."
"Jiang Maocai! You just want to extort money, name your price..."
In the end, the food shopkeeper spent ten taels of silver to settle the matter. After closing the shop door, he found the assistant was always staring at him.
"Why are you looking at me?"
The assistant's eyes flickered, and he mustered the courage to say, "Shopkeeper owes me over half a year's wages..."
"What can you do if I don't give it to you?"
The shopkeeper had just lost silver and was feeling irritable. Hearing the assistant ask for wages, anger flared in his eyes!
"If Shopkeeper doesn't give it, I'll expose the matter about the head."
Goodness, learning to use directly!
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper thought, Jiang Konglou extorted me, but what are you? Since you lack compassion, don't blame me for being ruthless.
I'll kill you, and you can meet your wages with ghosts!
The shopkeeper's evil surged from his heart, and the accumulated grievances from Jiang Konglou and his miserly nature, combined with the rebellion from the bullied assistant, erupted into anger, causing him to lose all sense.
"Alright, alright, come over and grab it yourself from the counter!"
When the assistant reached the counter, the shopkeeper picked up the wooden bar used as a doorstop and smashed it onto the assistant's head.
"Rebelling against heaven, are you!"
After killing the assistant, the shopkeeper believed it was a flawless act, but he never saw the terrified little girl in the food shop's hall corner watching the scene unfold.
Xu Qing performed the rites for the assistant's corpse, speechless for a long time.
He recalled Yuan Gong's words.
Blocked from the Underworld, spirits couldn't enter the nether realms. The world became a purgatory, truly one of the Five Filthy Evil Worlds, a time of rampant demons.
Now it seemed these demons were not the otherworldly type, but the demons within human hearts, equally terrifying!
Xu Qing remained silent for a moment, then buried the food shop's assistant in the vegetable garden as before.
Early the next morning, at the Qiao Family Mansion.
Xu Qing arrived at Zhang's courtyard with the offerings made visible.
Qiao Fang, having lost his wife and children, was despondent and didn't share a room with Zhang.
Now Zhang was sitting in the room, beautifully dressed and grooming herself before a mirror.
Lying on the bed, Qin An was still uttering indecent words.
At that moment, the door creaked open, and two figures, one large and one small, entered.
The larger figure, male with female features, wore a five-phoenix crown, round-collared large sleeves, jade cloud shoulder coverings, garments adorned with intertwined floral designs and Shoushan and blessed sea patterns, and a skirt inscribed with the word 'prosper,' exuding an aura of dignity and nobility.
Upon seeing this divine-like figure, Zhang paused for a moment, but upon glimpsing the little girl beside that person, she immediately screamed.