binnovel Chapter 424 His mouth will be sewn shut sooner or later
Chapter 424 His mouth will be sewn shut sooner or later
Black water churned, and red steam rising from the seams of the carved lettering on the ship's planks swirled toward the silver hairpin. The woman's voice turned back into a girl's sobbing: "Sister, it hurts. Make him stop. I don't want to be found."
Shopkeeper Hu's eyes were reddened by the lamplight, but she didn't move an inch.
Once Mo Chengyue saw that she had calmed down, he affixed the soul-protecting talisman back to the east side of the array plate, his tone carrying a hint of sharp clarity: "The more afraid the crying is of being found, the more real the path becomes."
Shopkeeper Hu asked, "Can we lock it now?"
"Yes, but don't call her by her old name anymore."
"Can I call you 'sister'?"
"Sure, but don't get yourself into trouble."
"I'm not stupid enough to be an extra on the ship."
"It was almost there."
Shopkeeper Hu glanced at him: "Would you die if you didn't add that sentence?"
Mo Chengyue pressed the array hook against the end of the silver hairpin, the red lines on his palm burning red beneath his sleeve, but he only stared at the seventh red dot: "It will save one life."
A female voice emerged from the deck, carrying a malicious dampness: "The Hu family are all the same. They say they love their sister, but when it comes to saving lives, they just hide on the shore and watch."
Manager Hu's facial muscles tensed, the white paper lamp tilted slightly, and the lamp oil dripped down the lamp wall.
Mo Chengyue raised his hand and pushed the lamp back to its proper position: "It's changing its way of cursing."
Shopkeeper Hu said in a hoarse voice, "I know."
The female voice continued to press her: "Back then, she went aboard the ship in place of your mother, while you all lived well on land. The inn was open, the food was hot, and the copper coins were hanging around the counter. Who remembers how the people on the ship survived?"
Shopkeeper Hu pressed the talisman into her palm, blood seeping from between her fingers, but she wiped it on the white paper lamp handle, preventing the blood from touching the ground.
"I remember."
"What's the use of remembering?"
"That's why I came here today."
"So what if you found it? Do you dare to dismantle the ship's borehole?"
Manager Hu looked at Mo Chengyue: "Can it be dismantled?"
Mo Chengyue did not follow her wishes. He simply darkened the six red dots on the array plate one by one, and finally left the silver hairpin and the seventh red dot to face each other alone.
"Lock the direction first."
"You left half a sentence unsaid again."
"Living people do things in an orderly manner, but ghost ships prefer to do things all at once."
Shopkeeper Hu's jaw twitched, and finally he managed to squeeze out only one sentence: "Lock."
Mo Chengyue inserted the Rain Flower Sword outside the dry leaf line. The sword blade led the talisman ash to circle the array plate once. The old silver aura on the silver hairpin was illuminated by the lamplight and emitted a thin white light, like a narrow road following the seventh red dot outwards.
The black water immediately surged towards the array plate, and the red lines on the rotten ship's planks all taut. A female voice shrieked, "You dare use her things to nail me!"
Mo Chengyue brought the red pattern on his palm close to the center of the formation through his sleeve. The red pattern and the seventh red dot bit each other, but were stuck in the middle by the soul-protecting talisman.
"Don't rush, I'm a timid person, I only dare to fix the direction."
Shopkeeper Hu stared at the silver hairpin: "It's spinning."
"See where it finally stops."
"It doesn't refer to the middle of the river?"
"Don't ask yet."
The tip of the silver hairpin was originally pointing towards the river outside the forest, but it suddenly veered off course halfway, gliding along the direction of the old river culvert, avoiding the Red Maple Ferry dock, and finally pointing towards the abandoned slope on the other side of the maple forest.
Manager Hu frowned: "There's no ferry crossing over there."
Mo Chengyue looked at the red lines on the array plate, his brows furrowing slightly: "There's an old ship route."
Manager Hu immediately remembered something, and lifted the white paper lantern upwards: "The abandoned happy Shipyard."
Mo Chengyue asked, "Where?"
"Hongfengdu was the original place where wedding boats were held. Later, a boat capsized there, so the dock was moved to the current location, and that dock was abandoned."
Is it near the river?
"It was located near an old tributary of the river, which later silted up, leading outsiders to believe it had been filled in."
Mo Chengyue held up the silver hairpin, its tip still stubbornly pointing towards the abandoned slope. The seventh red dot on the array plate was also stretched into a long line, as if it were being held by something hidden underground.
"The seventh boat's focus is not on the center of the river."
Manager Hu continued, "In the abandoned happy Shipyard."
The woman's cries suddenly became chaotic, a mix of a young girl's voice and a damp, cold sound: "Sister, don't go there, I'm not there, there's only filth there."
Manager Hu sneered, "The more you say you don't have it, the more I want to go and see."
Mo Chengyue put the silver hairpin back on the talisman, preventing it from falling directly into Manager Hu's hands: "Your emotions are fine, but don't let your feet get out of control."
Shopkeeper Hu held out his hand: "Give me the silver hairpin."
"Not now."
"That belongs to my sister."
"It's also a road sign now."
"I won't steal it."
"You thought so too just now."
Shopkeeper Hu's face darkened as he choked on the words, and he thrust the white paper lantern in front of him: "Then hold on tight. If you lose it, I'll hit you first."
Mo Chengyue sealed the silver hairpin between the Mind-Cleansing Talisman and the Soul-Protecting Talisman, and casually put away the array plate: "The number of people in line is still increasing, you need to get a number."
Shopkeeper Hu should have been angry with him, but then the sobbing voice called out "Sister" again, and her hand reached for the lamp handle, but in the end she didn't turn back.
"Stop shouting."
The crying stopped, and a woman's voice, close to the crack in the water, coldly asked, "You don't want her anymore?"
Shopkeeper Hu carried the lantern toward the abandoned slope, his shoes crushing the wet red paper money, the edges of the paper curling up only to be pressed back to the ground by the light.
"If she still has any will to live, I will bring her back to shore."
The female voice chuckled: "What if all that's left is regret?"
Shopkeeper Hu slowed her pace, her movement of raising a lamp to find her way stopped in mid-air, the lamplight illuminating the blood on her palms from being rubbed raw by the Soul-Suppressing Coins.
Mo Chengyue did not answer for her, but walked to her side and used his sword sheath to part the dark red waterline under the dry leaves.
Shopkeeper Hu held the lamp steady, his voice hoarser than before, but he didn't let it dissipate: "If only a remnant remains, I would rather send her away myself than let you use her voice to deceive the living."
A short laugh came from the black water, and then the entire rotten ship plank sank into the mud. The three characters "Hu Shuang'er" were swallowed by the red water, and only the two engravings of "Seventh" still shone brightly outside the talisman ash.
Mo Chengyue watched the red light disappear and reminded him, "Let's go, the crying has stalled for enough time."
Shopkeeper Hu asked, "What is it waiting for?"
"Wait until we're scared, wait until you regret it, wait until the lights are lit over at the abandoned shipyard."
How did you know there were lights over there?
Mo Chengyue raised the sealing talisman in his hand, its corners oozing red, as if being roasted by distant lights.
"If a road sign is hot, it usually means that someone will be hosting you at your destination."
Manager Hu curled his lip slightly: "You call this hospitality?"
"We can't call it 'sending off the dead,' it's too unlucky."
"Your mouth will be sewn shut sooner or later."
"The ship is already being arranged."
The two walked down the abandoned slope on the other side of the maple forest. The path illuminated by the white paper lanterns became narrower and narrower. The dry leaves underfoot were soaked by the dampness of the old river and made no sound as they walked. Only the faint sound of water came from the distant dock entrance blocked by silt.
Manager Hu said in a low voice, "This place has been abandoned for more than 20 years, and no one comes here during the day."
Mo Chengyue asked, "Did the wedding boat pass through here back then?"
"In the old days, poor families couldn't afford big boats, so they would tie red cloth and paste up the character for 'happiness' here, and borrow a small boat to travel half of the waterway, which was considered a way of exchanging gifts."
"Red Lantern Boat likes this kind of place."
"Because it's associated with marriage?"
"Because someone believed it."
Shopkeeper Hu extended the lamp forward, revealing several old wooden stakes slanted into the mud below the abandoned slope. Faded red ropes hung from the stakes, the knots of which should have rotted away long ago, but were now propped up by the moisture and drooping in the same direction little by little.
She stopped in her tracks: "There's an abandoned shipyard just ahead."
Mo Chengyue pushed the Yuhua Sword out of its sheath a bit. The sword light did not radiate outwards, but only lingered along the blade. He held the sealing talisman between two fingers, with the corner of the talisman pointing deep into the dock.
Shopkeeper Hu asked in a low voice, "Can you see it?"
"I see the light."
"red light?"
"Complete".
Manager Hu's expression changed. The light from the white paper lantern fell on the entrance of the dock, illuminating half of a crooked wooden door. Behind the door, it was pitch black, but in the deepest part, a red lantern was lit. The lantern shade was clean, the tassels were neat, and a young girl with a red veil was sitting under the lantern.
The girl placed her hands on her knees, the cuffs of her red wedding dress were dry, and she stood quietly facing the door, as if she had been waiting for them for many years.
Shopkeeper Hu's voice was hoarse: "Who is that?"
Mo Chengyue placed the scabbard in front of her, and the sealing talisman burned a red edge around the hilt of the sword.
"Don't ask her."
A soft laugh came from beneath the red veil. The girl's fingers traced the silver thread on her knee, her tone so gentle it sent chills down one's spine: "Sister, you've finally come."