Chapter 58 I Am Reporting Her for Engaging in Feudal Superstition!

After locking the soul within the coffin, Su Chen stepped outside and invited everyone to go in and take a look.

A-Kui did not dare to look, and pulling her sister-in-law along, she cowered behind him.

"What is in there? Is it a dead person? A man or a woman? Old or young?"

Su Chen shook his head with a helpless smile.

Old Cui, Old Xu, and A-Yang mustered up the courage to step forward and take a peek, their complexions draining of color almost instantly.

"Th-th-this... Master, this is..."

Su Chen nodded lightly. "That is the person who was bound in a ghost marriage with A-Ning."

Old Xu froze for a moment, and then burst into rage. "Alright! I knew it, I always knew it! The protective charms used to work before, so why did they fail this time? That old hag actually schemed against us and tried to kill A-Ning! I—I—I'm going to the police station! I'm going to have her arrested!"

He started to storm out in righteous indignation, but Old Cui grabbed him by the arm.

"Old Xu, don't be impulsive. Can you just walk into a police station and have someone arrested like that?"

A-Yang chimed in to explain, "That's right, Uncle. She didn't poison A-Ning; she used this kind of method, which the police can't possibly investigate!"

"Then—then I'll report her for engaging in feudal superstitions!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions on everyone's faces turned rather subtle.

What was feudal superstition?

It was something illusory, something meant to deceive. But...

Having seen with their own eyes how Su Chen manipulated paper figures to make them fly, how could any of them still dare to call these things feudal superstitions?

A-Yang and Old Cui, in particular, had previously presumed upon their acquaintance with Su Chen to suspect that he was nothing more than a charlatan.

At this moment, they cast a covert glance at Su Chen, half-believing he was about to fly into a rage.

Yet, Su Chen's expression remained calm and indifferent, as if he did not care in the least.

Uh...

It seemed they had measured a noble heart with a petty mind.

Fortunately, Old Xu also realized this was no solution and quickly quieted down.

Abandoning his talk of reporting her, he ran out into the courtyard and began calling out to the onlookers. "Come quickly, come quickly! There's a dead body in Granny Liu's house, hurry inside and see!"

Hearing this, the timid ones immediately shrank their necks and backed away, while the bolder ones eagerly crowded forward.

In no time, the small house was packed to capacity.

"Whose boy is this? Could he be some secret toy boy Granny Liu has been keeping?"

"Who knows? I always felt her courtyard wasn't clean before. No wonder! Keeping a dead body around, how could it possibly be clean?"

"Did Granny Liu kill someone and hide the corpse because she was afraid of getting caught?"

"Anyway, Granny Liu has no children. I must go to the police station and report this."

...

Seeing someone run off toward the police station, Old Xu felt a profound sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

He then carefully shuffled back to Su Chen's side. "Master, now that we've found the person, how should we handle this? Just say the word, and we'll take care of it immediately."

"I need the other party's birth characters."

Old Xu nodded and immediately rallied the others. "Let's go inside and search the house. They must be here. Even if we have to turn this place upside down, we have to find them!"

Su Chen flicked his fingers slightly and soon pointed out the direction for them. "Check thoroughly underneath the household shrine."

"Yes, yes, right away."

Su Chen retreated into the courtyard and gently ruffled Red's hair. "Are you tired?"

The little one shook her head.

"Not tired at all!"

Her eyes were bright and sparkling, filled with immense pride.

Daddy was truly, truly amazing!

Just now, the older sister had even secretly asked her where she was from and said she wanted to come over later to express her gratitude.

"As long as you're not tired. Later on, Daddy will take you to stroll around the town. Shall we buy some candies for Grandpa, Grandma, Little Brother, and Little Sister?"

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm."

"And by the way, we'll buy Red a brand-new notebook and some pens."

"Thank you, Daddy."

Su Chen ruffled her little head once more, then turned his gaze toward A-Ning, who wore a worried expression.

"What is the matter?"

A-Ning glanced at A-Yang and Old Cui, who were rummaging through the main room, bit her lip, and lowered her head. "Master, will I—will I always be like this in the future? If it stays this way, does that mean... it will be difficult for me to have children?"

Su Chen paused, raising an eyebrow. "Why would you ask such a thing?"

"If I can't have children, then—then I won't get married. I can't drag someone else down with me."

Su Chen chuckled. "Rest assured. Although you suffered a heavy loss of vitality this time, with proper recuperation, you will recover. Later on, I will write you a prescription, and after a year or two of careful conditioning, you'll be completely fine."

A-Ning raised her head in pleasant surprise. "Really?"

"Yes. Stop letting your imagination run wild. What you need most right now is a good rest..."

Just as he was speaking, an elderly, white-haired woman came stumbling into the courtyard.

Upon seeing the courtyard full of people, and especially noticing that the door to the room on the right was wide open with shadows moving about inside, the old woman let out a piercing scream, snatched up a broom from nearby, and rushed inside.

"Get out! All of you, get out of my house! A-ping, my poor A-ping..."

The people inside were not afraid of her; one person pinned her arm while another snatched the broom away.

"Granny Liu, why on earth do you have a dead body in your house?"

"Exactly! My house is right next to yours, this is utterly heartless of you! No wonder I've felt so weak for the past six months."

"Did you murder this child? Granny Liu, killing someone is a capital offense. We've already reported you to the police!"

...

Granny Liu froze. Seemingly realizing that the general trend was lost, her body went limp, and she suddenly burst into bitter tears.

Hearing her cry, those who had just been reprimanding her were at a loss and stepped back one by one.

Only then did Granny Liu slowly crawl over to the side of the coffin, gazing at the youth inside with trembling hands.

"A-ping... it was Grandmother who failed you, letting these people disturb your peace. Grandmother is sorry to you!"

Grandmother?

Su Chen raised an eyebrow.

It seemed this must be the child born to the daughter who had run away from home many years ago.

Hearing this, although Old Xu was still angry, he immediately handed over the items he had found to Su Chen.

"Master, Master, we searched all over under the household shrine. This is the only booklet with writing in it. Are the birth characters in here?"

Su Chen flipped through it. It was a notebook recording herbal remedies. The handwriting was unexpectedly delicate, and the illustrations of medicinal herbs were beautifully drawn.

He felt a slight surge of surprise.

Did this notebook belong to Granny Liu?

After flipping through it twice without finding them, Su Chen narrowed his eyes and instructed Zhao Dong-sheng to take out a small knife and slit open the cover. Sure enough, tucked inside were the birth characters of two people—one born in the year 1957, and the other in 1976.

After a brief mental calculation, Su Chen nodded with certainty. "This is it!"

He reminded them, "Move a table out here; I need to write a formal petition document."

"Oh, oh, oh! Right away, right away..."

Old Xu scampered off eagerly and soon brought a table and chairs from a neighbor's house.

Su Chen produced yellow ritual paper and cinnabar ink and began to write. Just at that moment, two police officers wearing large-peaked caps walked into the courtyard.

They glanced around, their eyes resting searchingly on Su Chen before asking promptly,

"Where is the dead body?"

"Over here, right in this room. The face is all black, and the flesh has sunken in. Who knows how long he's been dead."

Seeing them enter the room, Old Xu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Good, good.

Everyone was an acquaintance in this town, and just now he had deliberately stayed close to the Master precisely because he was afraid the police would make indiscriminate arrests.

After all, with the year coming to an end, if the police station happened to be short on cases, they might bully the soft persimmons, and an unfamiliar outsider would easily become the target.

Su Chen quickly put down his brush and looked at the sky. Although it was growing dark, it was not quite dark enough yet.

A faint excitement stirred within his heart.

Petition documents were meant to be submitted to the Underworld. Since divine beings existed in this world, the Underworld should exist as well. Therefore, once the petition was burned later on, would those legendary underworld envoys appear?