Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 627: Strange Dog Barking

After this case, I felt the difficulty of being a parent one more time. I couldn’t help but think about Yin Xinyue’s parents. They hadn’t gotten rid of the shadow of the Eight-hundred-mile Scaled Dragon yet.

When we left the He family, He Kuiofferedme five thousandrenminbi. I didn’t receive it. I didn’t lack money, and his family was really poor.

I decided to make it an act of kindness!

Although Li Mazi didn’t mind helping people, we hadn’t earned much this time.Around two or three days after we returnedhome, he encouraged me to go out and see if we could find any new cases.

“Youcan findotherworldly items only by chance,andneverif you look for them actively. What the heck are you rushing for?”

I was pissed off, but Li Mazi didn’t listen to me. As he was enthusiasticaboutsearching for otherworldly items, I didn’t want to care about him anymore.

During the next two or three months, Li Mazigota few cases. I couldn’t persuade him, so I had to follow him. They were just minor cases or some ghost-haunting cases. We didn’t earn much from those cases but exhausted ourselves instead. Li Mazi finally accepted his fate. He didn’t urge me to go outto seek businesscases anymore. I finally had peace for myself. I spent timepracticingdrawing spiritual talismans,spells,and mantras.

A few days ago, Chuyi called me. He told me he had left Dragon King Village, so I shouldn’t worry about him anymore. And, hetoldme that wemightmeet the people from Longquan Villaatthe trade conference. I should practice my skills to prepare beforehand. He didn’t mention my parents’ incident, so I had to keep it at the bottom of my heart and prepare myself as he had instructed.

However,the old saying was always right. You don’t seek trouble, but trouble comes to your door.

Li Mazi had stayed still for a few days, and someonehad cometo our door. Moreover, this time, our client had a special profession. He was an old manthat soldtofu. He asked us to call him Chen Tofu.

That afternoon, I was wiping a kiln vase that dated back to the Ming Dynasty, when uncle Chen came in with his pole and baskets. I thought hehad comein to invite me to buy his tofu, so I decided to ask him aboutit. Unexpectedly, he put down his heavy baskets and asked me curtly, “Little brother, is Immortal Zhang in the shop?”

I was speechless. I thought to myself,Who the heck is spreading the word that I’m an immortal?

Moreover, I couldn’t stand it when an old man in his fifties or sixties called me“little brother.”

“Uncle, I am Zhang Jiulin. What do you need?”

Uncle Chen shot me a surprised glance. Perhaps it was because I looked so young.He thenstarted to tell me his story.

Uncle Chen’s real name was Chen Jiefang.Since he had sold tofu for almost his whole life, people called him Chen Tofu.The name then becamehis alias. Hehad cometo mebecausehe thought that something foulwaspesteringhim.

However, when he said that, he didn’t look scared at all. I became curious. “Uncle, could you tell me more about it?”

“It’snotthatscary, but every time I pass by a village tosell tofu, all the dogs in the village bark at me non-stop! At first, the people there thought it was fun. But after a while, they recognized that every time I walked by the village, all the dogswouldbark crazily. Moreover, they don’t bark normally. They cryand howl. The people there said that Ihavesomething foul with me. They even said that I’m evil and don’t want me to come or walk by the village anymore…”

Uncle Chen sighed and said, “I’m old already, so I’m not afraid of foul things. I don’t need to go to that village to sell tofu, either. But I don’t feelcomfortable living like this, and I want to get to the bottom of the problem.Ilearnedabout youwhile talking with a friend. That’s why I’vecome here to ask for your help.”

“Have you ever kept a dog? What happened when you passed by other villages?” I thought it was an interesting case.

If only the dogs in that village barked at him, it could beaproblem within that village.

Uncle Chen shook his head. “I have never kept a dog. I like the quietness, andI can’t stand dog barking.Nothing strangehappenswhen Igoto sell tofu in the other villages. Only the dogs in Xiaoliu Village act strangely.”

“If it isas yousay, you’re notthe problem…” I comforted Uncle Chen. Then, I closed my shop to go to his house to take a look.

Uncle Chen lived in a small courtyard. I saw a large stack ofdried grass and a donkey.

“If it’s a rainy day, I use this donkey to pull my tofu cart.”

I nodded and carefully observed his yard. There was nothing strange aboutit. And, with the presence of the donkey, his courtyard looked even livelier. His house had three rooms: his bedroom, his kitchen, and the roomwherehe made tofu. Ithad a small electric mill and a few bags of soybeans.

After checking the whole place, I told him, “Uncle, there’s no problem in your house.”

Hewasn’t convinced, soI had to take out the compass and check his house one more time. The compass didn’t show any strange reaction.

In the end, to assure his mind, I went to his neighbor and borrowed a dog. At first, the dog barkeda bitbecause it was in an unfamiliarhouse.However, after a while, it calmed down. It meant that Uncle Chen’s housedidn’t haveaproblem.

“What happened to me, then?” asked Uncle Chen.

After I had proven that his house was okay, Uncle Chen was still skeptical.Old people didn’t like trouble, and if he couldn’t solve the problem, he would never sleep well.

Ididn’t haveanything important to do these days, so I askedhimto take me to Xiaoliu Village to take a look.

Uncle Chen was happy. He immediately prepared hisdonkey-drawncart and put his pot of tofu on it. I got on the donkey cart and observed the scene at twilight. I feltthat I had just time-traveled to ancient times.Itfelt good.

After half an hour, Uncle Chen turned andsaid,“Immortal Zhang, sir. Look, that’s Xiaoliu Village.Please listen ifthedogs are barking.”

I nodded andpricked my ears up to listen. At the same time, I craned my neck to see.

The said village was still far awayfromus. The outermost house was around five or six hundred meters away. Thatwas why I thought Uncle Chenwas paranoid. It was too far;how could the dogs see him now?

Unexpectedly, after we moved dozens of meters more, we heard the dogs in the village barking!

Usually, one or two dogs would bark first. Then,theother dogs would followas though they had received the signal. But this time, it sounded like all the dogs in Xiaoliu Village had started barking at the same time!

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