Jin Shanyao felt a strange sense of familiarity with the appearance, and her voice softened, " Shopkeeper Jiang, why didn't you go to the Underworld after you died? What are you doing here?"
Shopkeeper Jiang's eyes darted around erratically. "Um... I died suddenly, and there are so many things I didn't have time to say to my family. I want to... see them one last time."
Jin Shanyao her lips, displeased. "If all ghosts were like you, coming to my house to cry out for justice and ask for my help, I'd just turn Anzhi Hall into the King of Hell."
Shopkeeper Jiang's spirit trembled in fright, " Shopkeeper Jin, I have money... There's a small jar hidden under the water vat in the west room of my house, containing eighty-three taels of silver."
When money was mentioned, he couldn't hold back any longer and started wailing.
"If I had known... if I had known I was going to die, I would never have touched the money box, even though I had already run away. My child is so young, and my wife is so beautiful..."
"Stop, stop, stop..." Jin Shanyao didn't want to hear ghostly howls in the middle of the night. She strode out of the courtyard and found Jiang Fu'an's coffin in a pile of ruins.
She stepped forward and kicked the small tent next to the coffin. A fluffy little head popped out, and Jiang Jinshu's red and swollen eyes looked at Jin Shanyao.
"Auntie..."
Give me a penny.
Jiang Jinshu shrank her little head inward, pouted, and burst into tears, waking Madam Jiang.
She scooped up the child and cried frantically, "Please, please give me two more days. After my husband's burial, I'll go back to my parents' home to borrow money."
There were too many people coming to collect debts today, and with the sky darkening, she couldn't tell who was who for a moment.
Jin Shanyao gazed at the woman before her; her eyes were filled with despair, her face was covered in ashes, and most of her clothes were burned off.
She spoke again, "Fortune telling, finding missing persons, exorcising ghosts, and spiritual communication, one penny."
Just as Madam Jiang was in a daze, a small hand timidly reached out and placed a coin into the palm of the Jin Shanyao.
The little guy looked up at the Jin Shanyao, his eyes revealing wariness, ingratiation, and vulnerability.
Jin Shanyao tucked a coin into her waistband, then drew a talisman in the air with her backhand. As the Spiritual Power dissipated, Shopkeeper Jiang instantly appeared before everyone.
Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci silently embraced each other. "Brothers fight together, fathers and sons go to war," they said, "It's time to use each other."
Madam Jiang screamed in fright, then recognized who it was. She scrambled forward, her body passing straight through the spirit before crashing to the ground.
"Father... Father..." Jiang Jinshu recognized her father and cried out as she tried to grab him. The mother and daughter rolled around in a ball.
Shopkeeper Jiang reached out to help, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reach his wife and daughter.
He fought back tears and choked out, " Xiu'er..."
Jin Shanyao glanced at the sky, "A quarter of an hour..."
Ignoring his grief, Shopkeeper Jiang hurriedly said, " Xiu'er... there's a small jar hidden under the water vat in the west room of our house, containing eighty-three taels of silver."
There are twenty-five taels hidden in the dye jars in the east warehouse, and there's a loose brick under our daughter's bed containing a hundred-tael silver note.
" Jiang Fu'an, you actually hid silver behind my back! You wouldn't tell me unless you were dead!"
Madam Jiang started to sob, and Shopkeeper Jiang hurriedly tried to wipe her tears, but each time he just passed right through her body.
Overwhelmed with sorrow, I could no longer hold back and burst into tears...
" Xiu'er... you're still young, don't wait around..."
"What are you saying..." Madam Jiang interrupted sharply, about to say that she would rather die than remarry, when she saw her husband's body gradually become transparent and then disappear before her eyes.
Madam Jiang looked around frantically, " Jiang Fu'an, Jiang Fu'an... Waaah..."
She caught sight of Jin Shanyao and quickly pulled out a handful of copper coins, stuffing them into her hand. " Shopkeeper Jin, I... I still have something to say. Could you let me say a few more words?"
Jin Shanyao her hand behind her back, "Humans and ghosts are different; your good fortune cannot suppress the ghostly aura..."
Unlike Su Wenqian Zhao Cheng, who were blessed with good fortune, or Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci had necklaces for protection, Madam Jiang was an ordinary person. How could she suppress the ghostly aura?
Madam Jiang cried out, "I'm not afraid, I beg you, please let me see you one more time..."
"Aren't you afraid? What about your child? Can she withstand this evil energy?"
Jin Shanyao's words awakened Madam Jiang. She hurriedly looked at her daughter and saw that her face was pale and she was not as energetic as before.
Madam Jiang opened her mouth, but the words of pleading stuck in her throat, ultimately turning into a desperate wail.
Jin Shanyao silently turned around. As her clothes fluttered, a copper coin fell from her body and rolled to the mother and daughter. Just as she entered the room, a weak child's voice came from behind her.
"Auntie... you dropped your money."
Jin Shanyao around and saw Jiang Jinshu holding up a copper coin, looking up at her. The little girl had bright, sparkling eyes, which inexplicably reminded Jin Shanyao of the scene when she first met the Meng Household siblings.
"Thanks..." She reached out and took it, her voice flat, "And give me one more coin."
Jiang Jinshu clutched her purse, tears streaming down her face. How could this person be so cruel? Her house had burned down, and yet he still wanted money from her.
Jin Shanyao stood there for a long time. Just as she was about to turn and leave, Jiang Jinshu took out a copper coin from her purse and handed it to Jin Shanyao with a pitiful expression.
"Auntie... could you let me see Father one more time?"
"No... I can't change my wish."
Jiang Jinshu's lips were pursed into a thin line, and she looked at the ruins with a tearful expression. She clasped her hands together as if praying to a Bodhisattva, and earnestly said to the Jin Shanyao, "Auntie, I want my home to be back to what it was before..."
Jin Shanyao really wanted to slap her away. "You made such a big wish for a penny!" She picked up Jiang Jinshu and walked to Madam Jiang's side, putting the child in her arms.
Go, find a basin.
Madam Jiang was puzzled. Holding the child, she looked around and handed an old earthenware pot to Jin Shanyao.
Jin Shanyao glanced at it but didn't take it.
"Okay, this is it. Remember, from now on, this is your 'dowry basin,' the only keepsake your mother left you. It has a special meaning, priceless."
After saying that, she took her two children back to their room to sleep.
Shopkeeper Jiang wanted to Jin Shanyao, but he was stopped outside the barrier. He shouted, " Shopkeeper Jin... thank you..." but Jin Shanyao scolded him before he could finish the sentence.
"If you dare yell again, I'll punch you away..."
Shopkeeper Jiang was so frightened that he immediately fell silent, turned around and stood under the eaves, staring intently at his wife and daughter.
Regret, guilt, resentment—a mix of emotions swirled together, but everything was irreversible.
He died... He could no longer be by his wife and daughter's side, watch his daughter get married, or enjoy the joys of family life. The pain of separation weighed heavily on his heart, making his soul restless.
Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) without saying a word! Meng Anzhi, in particular, felt as if she had just walked through the gates of hell when she thought about everything that had happened today.
All those words of admitting wrongdoing are not as impactful as seeing it for yourself!
Three days passed in a flash, and Jiang Fu'an's coffin was laid to rest. Neighbors came to pay their respects. Jin Shanyao, who did not understand the customs, brought her two children to mourn.
She learned to do what others did.
Many people from Jiang Fu'an's family came, making a lot of noise and chaos. Jin Shanyao, with her two children, felt that no matter where she stood, she was in the way.
Just as she was about to return to the Anzhi Hall, a commotion suddenly broke out in the crowd, " Xiu'er... it's not that this old woman is being unreasonable, but Anfu has no son. I'm asking you, who carried the banner, and who broke the basin?"
"You can't just stand by and watch Fu'an be unable to be buried, can you?"
Madam Jiang's eyes were red and swollen. "Mother, you can't take my shop! It's our last line of defense for my daughter and me."
"Look at what you're saying! Do you think the Jiang family will starve to death? You should give the shop to the eldest son's family and let your nephew carry the banner and break the basin for his uncle. That way, Fu'an will be able to find the gates of the King of Hell."
Madam Jiang, "Mother, I can offer ten taels of silver as payment..."
"Shut up! What are you really thinking? Is Fu'an less important than a shop? He treated you so well when he was alive," she said, looking around. "This shop is all burned to ashes. What are you still reluctant to part with?"
A pile of rotten wood is worth very little; the real value lies in the land. Fu'an's mother was determined to get her hands on the shop, leaving Madam Jiang with no way out.