I reached out my hand to take it, but Du Peilin turned his hand and retracted it. "I spent 60,000 yuan on this bottle. One bottle for one ghost, and it's useless after use. The cost... Right, it's the one in the soul bottle. Shouldn't you pay me back the money?"
I knew this guy couldn't be so kind. He clearly said the soul bottle cost 30,000 yuan! In just one night, he had doubled the price.
"You still owe me!" I retorted without showing any weakness. "Why should I pay for the door lock you kicked last night?"
"Why? I, the Taoist priest, was saving your life!"
Du Peilin covered his chest with an injured look on his face. "You were bewitched by that lustful ghost and even bit me back?"
While we were still bickering, the faceless ghost messenger on one side had already knelt down again spinelessly.
He only had one day. Compared with his five - hundred - year official career in the underworld, 60,000 yuan in the human world was a small price to pay. So he was more inclined to the latter.
"Look, a wise ghost knows when to yield," Du Peilin said complacently.
"You mean... You want me to pay this 60,000 yuan for you?" I was speechless. I already had a huge debt. If I added another 60,000 yuan, how could I live?
"If Madam Gu can help this humble messenger out of this crisis, this humble messenger is willing to be Madam's errand - running ghost and follow Madam's orders," the faceless ghost messenger pleaded, lying on the ground.
"Wow! Such a good deal!"
Du Peilin had already stuck a charm on his ear to eavesdrop on our conversation. Hearing the faceless ghost messenger's plea, he immediately looked envious. "Hey, you ghost messenger. I'm your creditor. Instead of coming to serve me, you're begging someone else?"
"I don't want to trouble two masters for one thing," the faceless ghost messenger raised his head. "You've already agreed to sell it to us for 60,000 yuan. As a Taoist priest, you can't go back on your word."
I found this one - track - minded ghost messenger quite interesting. Moreover, I was going to take on more haunted house business in the future. If I had a ghost messenger with me... Unless I encountered a powerful ghost like Gu Fancheng again, other wandering ghosts would probably avoid me.
"Deal!"
I reached out my hand to Du Peilin, holding the black card that Gu Fancheng had given me.
"Hey? I didn't expect you, little girl, to be so wealthy!" Du Peilin was a knowledgeable guy. As soon as he saw the card in my hand, he immediately beamed with joy.
He took out a portable POS machine from his pocket and happily swiped 60,000 yuan.
"Here, take this!"
Du Peilin stuffed the clay bottle in his hand to me. Then he happily turned to look at the department head. "Brother Li, look. Even your student is so generous. Look at you. You're so stingy that you can't even afford 30,000 yuan..."
Half - way through his words, he suddenly realized he had slipped up. He let out a couple of "heh heh" laughs and stopped talking.
I took the soul bottle, said goodbye to the department head, and left the office with my back - spirit.
...
It was sunset again. I brought the soul bottle back to the bottom of the experimental building.
The place where Li Shanshan died had been washed clean, and not a trace of blood could be seen. A few weeds still stubbornly poked their heads out from the cracks in the cement.
The faceless ghost messenger was also in awe of the soul bottle. He taught me to peel off the yellow paper on the bottle mouth. Immediately, a faint spirit floated out of the bottle and gradually took on Li Shanshan's form. She was floating stupidly in mid - air...
"Li Shanshan!"
The faceless ghost messenger gained momentum. A black chain emerged from the black mist and directly looped around Li Shanshan's neck.
"What will happen to her?"
Seeing Li Shanshan's appearance, I asked with a bit of heartache.
The faceless ghost messenger casually replied, "Take her back to the underworld to confront Wang Anran, and then she can be reborn."
"She won't have to relive the moment of her death every day, right?"
The punishment for suicides in hell always made me shiver.
"Hehe... No. She was taken as a substitute. Now the original culprit has been captured by Lord San. As long as she clears the case there, she can be reborn."
The faceless ghost messenger was in a great mood after completing his task. He shook the chain and dragged Li Shanshan into the void...
"Hey..."
Watching the faceless ghost messenger disappear, I suddenly remembered that I hadn't asked him how to summon him. "How can I use you?"
"Ouch, little girl. Your words are quite rough!"
Du Peilin's voice came from the woods. With a rustling sound, he staggered out.
"What do you mean by 'use'? It's called 'dispatch'!" Du Peilin looked at me with disdain. "You're really an amateur. I thought you were from some noble family when I saw you making hand seals so well. Now it seems you're just a half - baked guy. When you went to handle things, you got entangled by a lustful ghost."
Hearing his harsh words, I immediately turned around and walked away.
I always tried to avoid such people.
"Don't go!" Du Peilin smiled and took two steps diagonally to block my way. He tilted his head and asked me, "Do you want to learn the orthodox Taoist techniques?"
"No." I turned around.
"I never take in apprentices." Du Peilin didn't give up and continued to block my way.
"I don't want to be your apprentice." I turned around again.
"You have to. You're going to be entangled to death by evil ghosts. In less than three months..." Du Peilin still used the same line as in the hotel. "You'll be sucked dry by him, just like your classmate. If her family hadn't invited me there to block it in the mall, she would have died on the spot!"
Jiang Yingxue was taken away by an ambulance that day. I didn't know how she was now!
"No. He said we were different!" No matter how I walked, he would block me. So I simply stopped and stared at him.
"Come on! It's all nonsense! Haven't you heard the saying 'a pack of lies'? A ghost has lost its mind. To cling to a bit of prosperity in the human world, what won't they say? Don't even mention calling you wife. As long as they can suck your yang energy, they'll even call you mom!"
"Get out of the way!" I got angry. This guy in front of me looked like a hooligan, always blocking my way.
"You've just been blinded by his good looks!"
Du Peilin seemed to find it interesting to make me angry. He still shook his head and said, "When you see what he looked like before he died, you'll know what kind of thing has been getting cozy with you at night!"
Before he finished speaking, Du Peilin suddenly bit his middle finger and quickly drew something on my forehead, as if it was a charm.
"What are you doing?"
I was startled by his sudden action and subconsciously reached out to wipe it. My forehead was already covered in blood.
I wiped it a few times, but the bloodstain remained. I was so angry that I pushed him hard. "Get out of the way! Don't go too far!"
Du Peilin was pushed away by me and didn't block me anymore. He just put his finger in his mouth and mumbled incoherently, "I'm waiting for you to come begging me in tears... The appearance of your ghost husband will definitely scare you to death!"