“Get to work!” Liu Dashao said, handing a shovel to Tian Guoqiang. Their task was to clean up all the dog blood surrounding the house. It wasn’t just that they couldn’t stand the strong smell of blood—it would be a disaster if villagers saw it…
The dog blood was only on the surface of the dirt, so cleaning it up was simple; they only needed to scrape off the top layer of soil. Under Liu Dashao’s insistence, Tian Guoqiang reluctantly began working. Within half an hour, the blood around the house had been completely removed without leaving any trace.
As for the dead dog, Liu Dashao could have simply ignored it, but he thought it might scare others, so he hastily buried it. Naturally, he was the only one doing this work, because Tian Guoqiang was afraid of dogs. No matter how much Liu pressured him, he refused to help.
After finishing the work, the two paid a visit to Ma Xiaoyan’s house and stayed there until sunset, when they reluctantly started heading home. As it turned out, Ma Xiaoyan was following closely behind them.
“Hurry up, you guys!” Ma Xiaoyan energetically ran ahead, constantly urging Liu Dashao and Tian Guoqiang, who were carrying boxes. When they reached the outside of Liu Dashao’s house, suddenly Xiaoyan stopped in her tracks. Her smile froze on her face as she saw the red stuff scattered all over the ground around Liu Dashao’s house—it looked like blood, emitting a strong, fishy odor.
Of course, Xiaoyan had her own home, but her father, Ma Sandao, had suffered a severe mental trauma after losing his wife and child. After discussing it, his relatives decided this wasn’t a good situation and took him to the town to change the environment for a while, to avoid him being overwhelmed by painful memories. Naturally, Xiaoyan felt very lonely living at home alone, especially as a young girl, and she was somewhat scared. Moreover, Liu Dashao had warmly invited her to stay over, saying he would guard the door for her. Given their relationship, she naturally didn’t refuse.
“Xiaoyan, what’s wrong?” Liu Dashao noticed Ma Xiaoyan suddenly stop, staring motionlessly at the ground, and immediately became curious.
“Look,” Ma Xiaoyan said excitedly, “what is this stuff on the ground? It’s so disgusting!”
“What?” Liu Dashao and Tian Guoqiang were shocked and quickly ran over. After so many strange events in recent days, they had become extremely nervous and now overreacted at the slightest disturbance.
“This…” Liu Dashao and Tian Guoqiang opened their mouths wide. They were very familiar with what was on the ground—it was bloodstains.
“Why is there blood here again?” Liu Dashao’s face turned pale. He couldn’t figure out who had been playing such a prank, repeatedly spreading blood around his house.
“Blood? What blood?” Ma Xiaoyan asked, puzzled, then suddenly screamed, “Could there have been a murder here?” She tightly grabbed Liu Dashao’s clothes.
“No, no, it’s dog blood—black dog blood,” Liu Dashao quickly replied, recalling the pitiful dog barks from the previous night.
“Black dog blood?” Ma Xiaoyan was even more puzzled. “Does your house have something evil in it?” Growing up in the countryside, she had naturally heard many legends about ghosts and spirits. Black dog blood was used to ward off evil spirits, so she made the connection.
“Um…”
“No, no… I don’t know who did this as a prank to scare you,” Liu Dashao said while glaring at Tian Guoqiang to keep quiet. The less Xiaoyan knew, the safer she would be. More importantly, since Xiaoyan was a girl, he was worried about her ability to handle the truth.
After Liu Dashao said this, Ma Xiaoyan became even more suspicious. Who could possibly do such a despicable thing? Liu Dashao was known in the village for being honest and kind, and the Liu family had no enemies. So who could have done this?
“Da… Dashao…” Tian Guoqiang stammered, tugging at Liu Dashao’s pants.
“Go…” Liu Dashao kicked him from behind, signaling him to stay quiet.
“What’s wrong with you two?” Ma Xiaoyan noticed their odd behavior. Both of them had turned even paler—Liu Dashao looked anxious, while Tian Guoqiang was extremely nervous, almost dropping the luggage.
“Nothing, nothing at all. You must be tired, Xiaoyan. Go inside and rest.”
“No, you must be hiding something from me, right?” Ma Xiaoyan started acting stubbornly. She was very close to Liu Dashao and often acted spoiled around him. She knew Liu Dashao very well—when had he ever spoken nervously before? The only two times were when his grandfather and grandmother had passed away. Therefore, she had a vague feeling that something significant must have happened.
“Nothing, really. Go inside,” Liu Dashao said, lifting the suitcase to open the door.
“Stop!” Ma Xiaoyan shouted. “Look me in the eyes!” She knew that if Liu Dashao were lying, his eyes would definitely avoid hers. Sure enough, when Liu Dashao looked into Ma Xiaoyan’s eyes, his gaze shifted nervously.
“Tell me, what exactly happened?” Ma Xiaoyan put her hands on her hips and angrily demanded.
“The vi… the village chief is sick,” Liu Dashao, who had been thinking of how to pacify Ma Xiaoyan, stammered.
“What? Qiangzi’s father is sick?” Ma Xiaoyan was shocked.
“Yeah,” Tian Guoqiang said gloomily. “He’s at home shaking with fever, unconscious, and won’t even open his mouth to drink porridge.”
“What’s going on with you two? If he’s sick, why didn’t you call a doctor?” Ma Xiaoyan was getting angry. From Liu Dashao and Tian Guoqiang’s expressions and actions, something had definitely happened, and it wasn’t simple. She could understand Tian Guoqiang keeping quiet, but Liu Dashao, who was so close to her, was hiding things from her, which made her feel hurt.
“There was a little problem. The doctor wasn’t helpful,” Liu Dashao said. He knew that if he didn’t tell Ma Xiaoyan something, she would keep asking and might really get angry. But naturally, he wouldn’t tell her about the ghost. Whether or not he believed it himself, he was worried about her ability to handle it.
“What kind of problem?”
“It’s not clear yet, but it should just be a cold. He’ll get better after resting at home for a few days.”
Ma Xiaoyan wanted to ask more, but Liu Dashao wouldn’t give her the chance. He placed the key in her hand and dragged Tian Guoqiang toward the village head. “Xiaoyan, you rest for a bit. We’re going to check on the village chief. We’ll be back soon.”
“You…” Ma Xiaoyan was so angry she couldn’t speak as she watched the two disappear into the distance.
Of course, where Liu Dashao and Tian Guoqiang were going was the village chief’s house. Although Liu Dashao’s skills couldn’t cure the village chief’s strange illness, they at least wanted to confirm that the village chief was safe. Another reason was to find Grandma Fan, and then figure out other solutions.
The two ran quickly. As they ran out of the courtyard and turned a corner, suddenly they flew into the air. Yes, they just flew out of nowhere and landed several meters away on the ground. Fortunately, the ground was soft dirt, so they weren’t hurt.
The reason they flew was because they had collided with someone. They had been running too fast, and when they turned the corner, they spotted an old man also turning the corner. Unable to stop in time, they collided with the old man and immediately flew.
The old man they had hit was none other than Zhang Enpu, who had recently moved into the village. He had rented a small house and had given Liu Dashao a long lecture at the time, so Liu Dashao remembered him clearly.
“Fortune-teller, are you okay?” Liu Dashao got up from the ground and immediately ran over to help Zhang Enpu up. Zhang was in his fifties or sixties, and Liu was afraid that his collision might have caused some serious harm.
Fortunately, Liu and Tian had stopped in time, and the ground was soft mud. Zhang Enpu was fine and stood up as soon as Liu helped him.
After helping Zhang Enpu up, Tian Guoqiang also came over, and the two kept apologizing to him. But soon their expressions froze—they saw Zhang Enpu was holding something wrapped in coarse cloth, and a furry tail was sticking out. It was definitely an animal’s tail.
“Oh, I get it now!” Liu Dashao’s expression turned excited. He was sure he had found the culprit. He grabbed the object from Zhang Enpu’s arms, placed it on the ground, and unwrapped it. Sure enough, inside the cloth was a dog with jet-black fur, as smooth as jade—the very same male dog from Third Uncle’s house.
“Why?” Liu Dashao asked through clenched teeth. Someone had spread blood around his house—it was such an ominous act that he was furious.
Sighing deeply, Zhang Enpu said, “Since you’ve found out, I won’t hide it anymore. Yes, I killed the dog, and I spread the blood around your house. When that thing first appeared, I noticed it, but its resentment was too strong, and my powers weren’t enough to subdue it.”
“What? You know about that female ghost too?” Liu Dashao and Tian Guoqiang were shocked. They hadn’t expected this strange old man to have some skills after all.
“That’s not a female ghost—it’s a Hanba, and there’s a small one too,” Zhang Enpu coughed lightly. “I tried to subdue them, but I couldn’t. I almost lost my life. For your safety, I had to spread the black dog blood around your house. Although it can’t subdue them, it at least serves as a deterrent.”
“Oh, so that’s why!” The two finally understood the purpose of the dog blood around the house—it was actually to protect their lives. They felt grateful toward Zhang Enpu. If it weren’t for him, they might have…
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