dmims Chapter 75: Nose Scar in Urn
Chapter 75: Nose Scar in Urn
Cheng Xiaojin stared at the corner of the paper sticking out from under the teacup, remaining silent for a long time.
Liu Bai waited above Liulichang for half a year.
Cheng Shouyi left a note twenty years ago.
The Liu family touched the door latch.
These three things together don't seem like a good omen at all.
Tong Kexin tossed a thick coat into his arms.
"Put them on."
Cheng Xiaojin snapped out of her daze.
"It's almost summer, boss lady, are you planning to stuff me like the lungs in a braised dish?"
"You're colder than your lungs right now."
Cheng Xiaojin touched his arm; it was indeed cold.
The second hand soak restored 40% of his sense of touch and also made him more sensitive to dirt.
Even through two walls, he could feel the cold, metallic scent of the car outside the courtyard gate.
Tieguai Li was setting things up in the courtyard.
He pried open a crack in the bricks under the old threshold and stuffed a red thread inside.
The red thread was made from the clean red thread left by He Xiaoman, and was mixed with copper shavings from three old copper coins in Master Ma's treasury.
A ring of ash water was sprinkled around the outside of the threshold. That ash water was the leftover from soaking her hands earlier. Tang Wanqing added yellow paper ash and mugwort ash, making it light black in color. It didn't scatter when poured on the ground.
Cheng Xiaojin grinned as he watched.
Tieguai Li placed the improved Mo Lei under the window.
It contained a mixture of ash water from a copper basin, mugwort powder, and a little bit of red ash scraped from the iron box containing the deadly chopsticks.
The amount is small, just enough to make you feel unwell, but it won't kill you.
Zhou Banxian squatted by the well, drew a half-circle on the ground with a bottle of wine, and muttered to himself.
"Don't call out names when you enter, don't turn around if you step on the line, and don't curse if your shadow gets bitten."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at him.
"Who made this rule?"
"I just placed the order."
Cheng Xiaojin nodded.
"Quite meticulous."
Tong Kexin pressed him down onto a chair in the main room, then wrapped a red rope around his wrist and tied the other end to a table leg.
Cheng Xiaojin looked down.
"Boss lady, that's going too far. Are you trying to protect yourself from thieves or from me?"
"To prevent you from acting like a jerk."
Master Ma sat at the head of the table. "The fact that Boss Lin kept the nose scar means he has a job."
Cheng Xiaojin nodded.
No matter how much work there is, you have to get through the door first.
The wind in the courtyard calmed down.
A car door clicked softly at the entrance of the alley.
It's very light.
Then came the sound of footsteps.
The man didn't go through the main gate, but went around to the west wall.
There's an old locust tree outside the west wall of Master Ma's courtyard. Its roots have pushed a crack in the corner of the wall, and young people can climb over it by stepping on the crack.
Cheng Xiaojin listened intently.
Even without touching anything, he could vaguely sense the metallic aura approaching from outside the wall.
The Nanyang copper belt has a humid and hot smell, unlike the old BJ copper belt, which is like something that has been sun-dried at the beach and then hidden away at the bottom of a box.
Half a glove peeked out from over the wall.
When the short-haired man with a nasal scar climbed into the yard, he first used a short hook to hang from the wall, his body suspended with his toes touching an old brick on the inside of the wall.
Very experienced.
Tieguai Li narrowed his eyes in the shadows.
That brick was the one that hadn't been sprinkled with mortar.
Nose Scar looked down at the yard, took out a small round piece from behind his waist, and tossed it to the ground.
The disc rolled over the edge of the gray water and was fine.
Only then did he jump down.
The spot where I landed was still three inches away from the red threshold.
Tang Wanqing raised an eyebrow as she watched from behind the screen wall.
"know the business."
Cheng Xiaojin sat in the main room and whispered through the crack in the door, "Boss Lin must pay a pretty good salary."
Tong Kexin glared at him, signaling him to shut up.
Instead of going to the main room, the man with the nasal scar went to the well first.
This nearly caused Zhou Banxian to drop the wine pot on the ground.
There is still residual negative energy and dampness beneath the stone slab at the wellhead.
The man with the nasal scar squatted down and took out something wrapped in black cloth from his bosom. He opened the cloth to reveal a copper ruler.
The ruler is 1.2 feet long, dark in color, with fine snake patterns engraved along the edges, and a small hole at the end through which a black thread is threaded.
Tang Wanqing's compass needle tilted slightly.
She made a hand gesture to Tieguai Li.
Don't worry.
The man with the nasal scar pressed the copper ruler close to the stone slab at the wellhead, as if listening to the sound of water below.
A gurgling sound came from under the stone slab.
The nasal scar immediately disappeared.
He looked up at the main room, the scar on his nose appearing white in the dim light.
"Cheng Xiaojin".
Tong Kexin gripped the edge of the table with her fingers.
Cheng Xiaojin looked at the red string tied to her wrist.
"If someone calls on me, wouldn't it be impolite not to answer?"
Master Ma looked at him.
Cheng Xiaojin cleared his throat.
"Hey, you over there, sneaking into an old man's yard at night? Is this how you do New Year's greetings in Panjiayuan now?"
The man with the nasal scar walked directly into the main room.
The first step is to cross the grey water.
Nothing.
The second step is to step onto the threshold.
He stopped.
The red line on the ground was covered by old bricks and couldn't be seen, but he seemed to know there was something there.
He pulled a thin needle from his sleeve and bent down to pick at the cracks in the brickwork.
Tieguai Li pressed the first mechanism.
The old bamboo tube under the window popped open gently, spraying out a cloud of black ash.
The person with the nose scar reacted quickly, dodging most of the way, but getting a little on their sleeve.
He snorted coldly and lifted his foot to retreat.
On the way back, the small round piece from before was somehow soaked in ash water.
A small face emerged from the disc, its features blurred, its mouth opening and closing as it counted.
Sixty-six.
The person with the nasal scar was a beat late.
The second mechanism of Tieguai Li was activated.
The red thread under the threshold sprang up from the cracks in the bricks and wrapped around the nose scar's ankle.
Tang Wanqing's three copper coins fell to the ground at the same time, forming a triangle that covered his shadow.
The grey water crawled along the ground and bit into half of the nose scar's shadow.
His face changed, and he drew his knife.
Before the knife was even drawn, Tieguai Li emerged from the shadows, a hexagonal wrench pressed against his wrist bone.
click!
The knife fell to the ground.
Tieguai Li stepped on the scabbard.
"Don't move. If you move even a little, half of your shadow will be gone."
Sweat beaded on his forehead and nose scar.
Cheng Xiaojin finally came out of the main room.
Tong Kexin held the other end of the red rope, and as he took a step, she followed.
When the person with the nasal scar saw this scene, their eyes glazed over.
Cheng Xiaojin looked down at her wrist.
"Don't misunderstand, I'm not strict with my parents, I'm just doing this for work injury protection."
The person with the nasal scar didn't say anything.
Cheng Xiaojin squatted down in front of him, but didn't touch the copper ruler.
"What did Boss Lin send you here for? To measure the well? To steal rubbings? Or do you want to see if my food is any good?"
With a nasal scar, he gritted his teeth and said, "I'm just going to the hospital."
Tieguai Li pressed the wrench down half an inch.
The person with the nose scar sweats more on their face.
Tang Wanqing picked up the copper ruler, placed a red cloth under it, and didn't let her hand touch it directly.
She glanced at the snake pattern on the back of the ruler.
"Southeast Asian snake bone ruler".
Zhou Banxian clicked his tongue.
"No wonder they dared to measure the door; those bastards from Ouroboros really have some old fogies."
Cheng Xiaojin examines nasal scars.
"A door measuring hand?"
The nasal scar twitched its eyelids.
Cheng Xiaojin smiled.
"Don't pretend. You were just pressing a ruler against the well opening, looking for a way in."
The nasal scar remained silent.
Tong Kexin suddenly spoke up: "Boss Lin wants you to scout out Liulichang first, right?"
The man with the nose scar looked at her.
Tong Kexin took out her phone and opened a photo.
The photo was taken by Sister Zhou, who makes pancakes, in the afternoon. A black Land Rover was parked for ten minutes opposite the stationery store in Liulichang.
The man with the nasal scar sat in the driver's seat, while a black cloth bag sat in the passenger seat.
"You changed your license plate twice, but you didn't replace the crack in the lower right corner of the windshield."
His face darkened as he looked away from the nose scar.
Cheng Xiaojin glanced at Tong Kexin.
"Boss lady, if you don't run a stall anymore, have you ever considered opening a detective agency? The kind that's like braised pork?"
Tong Kexin ignored him.
Tang Wanqing placed the copper ruler on the table.
"It cannot be destroyed."
Tieguai Li frowned.
"Why leave it undamaged to bite people?"
"It's ruined. Boss Lin will find another way."
Tang Wanqing pointed to the small hole at the end of the ruler, "This thing is used with the array diagram. The ruler body determines the Yin Gate, and the hole in the ruler guides the Qi. Whoever uses it to measure is the first to enter the gate."
Cheng Xiaojin examines nasal scars.
"Did you hear that? Your boss didn't give you tools, he gave you half a burial notice."
The nasal scar and Adam's apple moved slightly.
Cheng Xiaojin dragged a chair over and sat down.
"Tell me, how are you going to measure it the day after tomorrow?"
Nose scar, shut your mouth.
Zhou Banxian poured a little wine into the ash water.
Greywater, biting at its shadow, crawled forward an inch.
The man with the nasal scar twitched his shoulder and his jaw clenched.
"I'm only in charge of the outer circle."
"Where is the outer ring?"
"In the back alley of Liulichang, by the wall of an old stationery shop, Boss Lin personally led the way with a diagram, Cheng Xiaojin reported the directions, and I used a ruler to check the aura at the door."
The lid of Master Ma's teacup finally rattled. "He wants Xiao Jin to give him directions."
Cheng Xiaojin understood.
As long as he reveals the location, the Qi (vital energy) is established, and the Cheng family can recognize it as soon as they open their mouths.
Tang Wanqing looked at Cheng Xiaojin.
"You cannot reveal your true position the day after tomorrow."
Cheng Xiaojin nodded.
"Can I name the dishes? Braised pork belly with baked wheat cake, fermented bean curd, and stir-fried liver."
Tong Kexin kicked the chair behind him.
The man with the nasal scar looked at them and suddenly whispered, "You can't escape. Boss Lin has a formation diagram."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at him.
"Just because you have one piece doesn't mean you can be so arrogant?"
His nose scar and lips were pale, and his gaze fell on the copper ruler covered by a red cloth.
"You have no idea what he brought back from Southeast Asia."
Cheng Xiaojin didn't ask any further questions, but first had Tieguai Li move the ash water back half an inch.
The man with the nasal scar breathed a sigh of relief.
Cheng Xiaojin said, "Here's your copper ruler back."
Now even Tieguai Li (a legendary Chinese martial artist) is looking at him.
"return?"
"Return it." Cheng Xiaojin tapped the table. "How can we expect Boss Lin to feel at ease measuring it if we don't return it? If he doesn't measure it, who will we be putting on this show for?"
Tang Wanqing quickly understood.
She wrapped the copper ruler in red cloth and, while wrapping it, applied a little gray water to the inside of the ruler's hole.
It's not visible from the outside; only when measuring the door and drawing in air through the perforation will the ash water be activated by the door's energy.
Tieguai Li took back the red thread.
The shadow of the nasal scar returned to its feet, but it was half an inch shorter, as if it had been gnawed by water.
Cheng Xiaojin squatted down in front of him.
"Go back and tell Boss Lin that I'll be there the day after tomorrow to see the seventh case, but I won't touch the ruler or reveal the true location. Business is business, but we can't risk our lives."
The man with the nasal scar stood up, leaning against the wall. His face was much paler than when he came in.
He walked to the gate of the courtyard, his hand already on the bolt.
Suddenly, he turned around and looked at Cheng Xiaojin.
"Boss Lin has a second array diagram."