dmims Chapter 105: Splattered Soot, Fireworks Tearing Shadows
Chapter 105: Splattered Soot, Fireworks Tearing Shadows
The intersection of Huguosi Street is in complete chaos.
The streetlights flickered on and off, and a gray alleyway appeared next to the pancake stall, creeping outwards close to the ground.
The asphalt road surface reveals the blue brick marks, and the brick seams run diagonally, which does not match the original route of Huguosi Street.
Tong Kexin stood in front of the braised food stall, her apron covered in soup splatters, clutching an iron spoon in her hand, her voice hoarse from shouting.
"Everyone back off! Anyone who dares to step forward, I'll hit them with a spoon!"
Aunt Liu was holding the iron basin, her legs trembling.
"Kexin, where's Sister Zhou?"
Tong Kexin did not turn around.
"Knock on the pot."
Where are they?
"I'll let you bang on the pot!"
Aunt Liu was silenced by her shout, and raised her hand to bang the basin.
One after another, the windows at the street corner buzzed in response.
Aunt Zhang also picked up the pot lid, her hands still trembling.
"Is this thing really useful?"
Tong Kexin gritted her teeth.
"Cheng Xiaojin said it's very useful."
Upon hearing this name, Aunt Liu's courage waned by half.
"That guy selling junk at Panjiayuan?"
"People can ward off ghosts by displaying junk, but can you ward them off by dancing in the square?"
Aunt Liu was speechless, so she shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Sisters, knock! Knock like crazy!"
A dozen or so middle-aged women surrounded the street, some with iron basins, some with pot lids, and one even pulled out a rolling pin from under a breakfast stall.
As soon as the basin made a sound, the edge of the gray fog shrank back half an inch, but before everyone could catch their breath, it crept along the curb toward the pancake cart left by Sister Zhou.
The wheels were covered in frost, the bowl of batter was overturned on the ground, the white batter had frozen into a hard block, and there were several handprints on the side.
Tong Kexin's eyes welled up with tears. She wiped her face with her sleeve, then turned around and lifted the lid of the braising pot.
The steam rose up, carrying the aromas of braised pork, garlic, and rich broth, making everyone on the street's noses sting.
Aunt Liu sniffed.
"Why am I still hungry at this hour?"
Tong Kexin scolded her.
"Being hungry is normal; only living people are hungry."
After hearing this, Aunt Zhang banged the pot lid even louder.
"Sister Zhou said last week that after paying the stall fee, she would buy her grandson a pair of sneakers."
Tong Kexin picked up the bag of ashes by the stove, but her wrist was not quite under her control.
"Stop talking."
The gray fog pressed forward again, making the blue brick marks on the ground clearer. Half of the threshold was exposed from under the wall, and there were dark water marks behind the threshold.
Some people stepped back.
There really is a street down there.
Tong Kexin stared at the half of the threshold.
"Even if there were a street, it wouldn't be their place to set up a stall."
Aunt Liu came over.
"Kexin, shall we splash it?"
Tong Kexin recalled Cheng Xiaojin's words on the phone: "Don't splash it in the center."
She poured the ashes from the stove into the soup, and then grabbed a handful of dried ginger slices and threw them in.
The broth bubbled with brown foam, steam rose upwards, and the rim of the pot sizzled.
Aunt Zhang's face turned pale.
"Are you still selling this pot of soup?"
Tong Kexin picked up the pot, her arms turning red from the heat.
"Sell it to it."
Aunt Liu put down the basin to help.
"You can't hold it together."
"Keep banging, don't let the sound stop."
Aunt Liu picked up the basin again and started cursing at the gray alley.
"Which bastard from the gutter dared to try and steal a stall at Huguosi Temple? Did you pay any fees?"
Aunt Zhang got excited too.
"Sister Zhou is easy to bully, but we're not! Back in the day, I could stand in line to buy coal briquettes and curse from dawn till dusk. Who do you think you are, sitting in a well like a green onion!"
All the middle-aged women on the street started singing.
The sounds of basins, pot lids, and curses mingled together, forcing back some of the smoky mist.
Tong Kexin took advantage of the opportunity to walk forward.
The chill touched her calves, and the hem of her skirt immediately turned white.
Someone shouted from behind.
"Kexin, come back!"
She didn't reply.
Sister Zhou's car is still there.
The whole pot of broth was poured out, and the ashes from the stove and dried ginger slices hit the edge of the ash mist, causing white steam to rise immediately.
A strange noise came from the gray fog, much like a handful of wet salt being sprinkled into a cold pan.
A cut was burned into the edge.
Half of the Yincheng blue bricks were exposed inside, with a black water stain on the surface, seeping outwards.
Aunt Liu's eyes widened.
"It really works!"
Aunt Zhang slapped her thigh.
"I still have half a pot of fried sauce left!"
Tong Kexin called back.
"Don't splash it randomly, splash it around the edges. Anyone who dares to pour it into the middle, I'll fight them!"
After Old Tang tore through the gray fog, a glimmer of light appeared deep in the gray alley, a dim, yellowish glow, like an old-fashioned light bulb shining through dirty glass.
The next moment, the entire alleyway shrank inward.
The pancake cart was dragged along, half of its wheels disappearing into the fog.
Aunt Liu's voice cracked.
"It's biting the car!"
Tong Kexin rushed up and grabbed the handlebars.
The iron handle was so cold it was numb, and her hands quickly turned red from the cold, but she still didn't let go.
Aunt Zhang grabbed her lower back.
"Forget the car, come back!"
Tong Kexin's tears rolled down her cheeks, and her jaw clenched so tightly it made a cracking sound.
"This is what Sister Zhou uses to make a living."
The gray mist was dragged in, the wheels creaked, and the small gas cylinder fell onto the truck bed and rolled half a circle.
Aunt Liu, along with two older women, rushed over and together pulled the car away.
"Push harder, don't let it swallow Sister Zhou's stall too!"
Several blurry shadows emerged from the gray fog, wrapping around the ankles of the group close to the ground.
Tong Kexin felt a chill run down her spine and was about to shout for retreat when a series of screeching brakes came from the street corner.
The old bread truck came speeding in, stopping with its front end close to a telephone pole. Zhou Jie's cousin was slumped over the steering wheel, unable to catch his breath for a long time.
The car door opened, and Tieguai Li got out first, dragging an iron chain in his hand.
"Get out of the way, everyone! This is a scrap metal operation; unauthorized personnel are not welcome!"
Zhou Banxian followed, carrying his compass. When he saw the gray alley, he muttered a curse.
"Damn it, Yin City is right there in the face."
Tang Wanqing helped Cheng Xiaojin out of the car.
Cheng Xiaojin's hands were wrapped in dry cloth, and his face was frighteningly pale. He could see Tong Kexin's hands were red from the cold at a glance.
His voice was hoarse.
"Give me your hand."
Tong Kexin originally wanted to scold him, but the words that came out of her mouth turned into a sentence.
"Sister Zhou is gone."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at her.
"I know."
"I couldn't stop him."
He took a step forward, and Tang Wanqing reached out to help him, but he avoided her.
"Put this blame on Yin Cheng, don't try to pin it on yourself."
Tong Kexin raised her hand to wipe her face, but the more she wiped, the more smudged it became.
Stop trying to fool me.
Cheng Xiaojin stared at the gray alley, his throat filled with the taste of blood.
"I tricked people into paying me, so you can owe me this for now."
Tieguai Li looked at the scalded wound on the ground.
"Can you use braised soup to scald Yincheng?"
Zhou Banxian squatted down and looked at it; the compass needle was shaking erratically between three and seven.
"Old soup blocks the street, stove ash blocks the shadows, cursing blocks the phantoms, a lucky accident, but it has a certain charm."
Tang Wanqing looked at Cheng Xiaojin.
"You predicted this all along?"
Cheng Xiaojin shook his head.
"I'm betting it's afraid of people with living connections."
Master Ma stood at the street corner with his tea mug, the cold tea swaying halfway around.
"The popularity of this street is heavier than that of the Buddhist artifacts."
Cheng Xiaojin replied in a low voice.
"Whether it's Aunt Zhang or Sister Zhou, they set up their stalls here every day, starting fires, counting money, and haggling with people. They rely on this warmth and energy."
Zhou Banxian frowned.
"What kind of fool are you planning to do now?"
Cheng Xiaojin didn't answer and walked into the gray fog.
Tang Wanqing blocked his way.
"You can't touch it."
"I don't touch iron, and I don't touch water."
"It will touch you."
Tieguai Li swung the iron chain over his shoulder and blocked it to the side.
"Tell me what to do, and I'll do it for you."
Cheng Xiaojin glanced at him.
"Brother Li, since you have difficulty walking, they'll need to provide you with a pair of chopsticks once you go inside."
Tieguai Li flew into a rage.
"Your hands are all wrapped up like dried meat, and you still complain about my legs?"
Cheng Xiaojin twitched the corner of his mouth, but didn't actually smile.
"I'm tough."
Tong Kexin stood on his other side.
"Being tough isn't something you can use to buy a stall."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at Sister Zhou's pancake cart, which was half-submerged in the gray fog.
"We haven't gotten the stall back yet."
Tong Kexin bit her lip and didn't say anything more.
Cheng Xiaojin looked up and shouted to the middle-aged women all over the street.
"Who banged the pot the loudest just now?"
Aunt Liu straightened her chest.
"I."
"You are now the captain of the temporary vanguard team on Huguosi Street."
Aunt Liu was stunned.
Which team?
"The pot-banging team specializes in catching rats in the sewers."
Aunt Zhang tucked the pot lid into her waistband.
"And what about me?"
"You're in charge of yelling, don't try to reason with me, the harsher the better."
Aunt Zhang perked up.
"I'm good at this job."
Cheng Xiaojin then looked at Tong Kexin.
"Is there any soup left?"
"There's still some left at the bottom of the pot, and some ashes from the stove."
"Okay! Sprinkle it around the edge, leave an opening, don't let it close up."
Tang Wanqing suppressed her anger.
"Cheng Xiaojin, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Cheng Xiaojin looked down at his hand, which was wrapped in a dry cloth; the bluish tinge had seeped into the edge of the cloth.
"Kexin just scalded the skin."
In the gray alley, the little bell on Sister Zhou's pancake cart rang once.
Hey~
The whole street fell silent.
Cheng Xiaojin raised her head.
"I'll go in and find its tendons."