As soon as Huang Laosi moved, the small black dog guarding the door immediately stood up.
Its chubby back arched, its two black eyes exuding a fierce light, a low warning growl coming from its throat.
Though small in size, it emitted an inexplicable aura of intimidation.
Huang Laosi was momentarily too scared to move forward, and looked at Lu Fei for help.
"Boss, these shoes are mine; I should take them back for safekeeping, shouldn't I?"
"No..." Hu Xiuying tried to stop him.
But Lu Fei waved his hand, a playful smile on his face: "Of course, it's appropriate."
As soon as he spoke, the little black dog gave Huang Laosi a cold stare and then moved away from the door, obediently sitting by Lu Fei's side.
"The big boss is straightforward, no wonder you can make a fortune! Don't worry, I will definitely come to pick you up early tomorrow!"
Huang Laosi beamed, cupped his hands in respect to Lu Fei, and then wobbled out the door.
"Manager Lu, he took the shoes. What do we do now? He sold us the cloth shoes, and we hired you; what does this mean..."
Hu Xiuying, watching Huang Laosi's retreating figure, was so anxious that she almost shed tears.
"By him taking the shoes, isn't it a good thing you can catch your breath tonight? If the red cloth shoes cause more trouble tonight, would Brother Huang be able to handle it?" Lu Fei nodded towards the bed where Huang Youlai was lying.
Hu Xiuying was taken aback. She looked at her husband's mismatched feet, pondered for a while, and seemed to understand, but then again, not quite.
"But those shoes were meant for you..."
"Don't worry, Sister Huang! Since the shoes were brought to Sinisterium Pawnshop by you, I'll only recognize you. If Huang Laosi wants to keep them, let him keep them."
Lu Fei explained with a smile.
"But I have to say upfront that whether we can exchange them for an immortal's skin depends on the value of the shoes."
"Good! Good!"
With Lu Fei's assurance, Hu Xiuying turned her tears into smiles and finally felt relieved.
She covered her husband with a blanket, and then, as if remembering something, quickly rolled up her sleeves.
"Oh, right, Manager Lu, you must be hungry after your long journey. I'll go and make you some food."
Their kitchen had partially collapsed, and they had set up a makeshift stove against the wall with a few broken bricks, supporting a deformed old pot that could barely cook something edible.
"Sister Huang, no need to trouble yourself; I've brought some dry rations."
Lu Fei shook his head, thinking to himself how difficult it must be for this couple. He took out some water and dry provisions from his backpack and shared them with Hu Xiuying.
Hu Xiuying was deeply moved.
"I'll go borrow a few clean quilts and make a bed for you so you can have a good sleep..."
"No need, I have something to do tonight."
Lu Fei waved his hand.
"What is it?"
"Nothing important, make sure you and your husband get some rest tonight."
Lu Fei smiled, after finishing the food, he took out two spirit-repelling talismans, gave them to the couple to carry on their persons, and then picked up his backpack with the small black dog and left.
Country people go to bed early.
At that moment, no one in the village was walking around, everything was quiet, only a few scattered lights were on, and occasionally there were a few barks of dogs.
The black dog led the way.
Lu Fei quickly found Huang Laosi's house.
Isn't it said that good people get their rewards? He wanted to see what kind of reward this person would get.
The yard was dirty and messy.
The lights were still on in the house. Huang Laosi was sitting at the table, shelling peanuts and drinking wine, looking at the red cloth shoes in a plastic bag with a delighted expression on his face.
"Haha, unexpected wealth from the sky, I Huang Laosi am going to be prosperous..."
He didn't care why the city people had such an odd preference; as long as he could make money, it was fine.
"Hundreds of thousands, when divided, I should get tens of thousands, and if I sell them for a bit more, it could be hundreds of thousands, tsk tsk tsk..."
"Prosperity! Prosperity!"
He dipped his finger in the wine and did some calculations on the table, feeling more and more pleased with himself, almost wanting to kiss the red cloth shoes.
Well-fed and well-satisfied.
He clutched the red cloth shoes, drunkenly collapsing onto the bed, and soon a thunderous snore filled the room.
The village was serene.
The night grew deeper.
Time quickly approached midnight.
In the dirty and foul-smelling house, the snoring suddenly stopped.
Immediately after.
Huang Laosi sat up stiffly.
With his eyes closed, he opened the plastic bag and put the red cloth shoes on his large feet.
Although the red cloth shoes were small, they managed to fit his feet perfectly.
Put on your shoes.
He got out of bed with a flirtatious movement, found a mirror from somewhere, and placed it on the table. He sat down and began to comb his hair, stroke by stroke.
Then, he scraped some wall plaster from the corner and applied it to his face.
It seemed as if he was grooming himself. His face, full of bulging muscles, was now smeared ghastly pale. Satisfied, he stopped and looked at himself in the mirror for a while, then flashed an incredibly terrifying smile.
After that, he rose gracefully, pointed his fingers like delicate orchid petals, and started dancing around the room.
As he danced, he also sang.
His movements were flirtatious, and his song was melancholic, as if filled with endless grievances.
In the dead of night, such feminine behavior from a rough, burly man was quite eerie.
But Lu Fei just watched indifferently from outside without intervening.
It's just singing and dancing; it won't kill anyone.
Huang Laosi jumped for a while, then walked towards the door as if he wanted to go out. But just as he reached the doorway, he stepped back, as if something was blocking him.
He stood dazed for a moment, then started dancing again. After finishing, he walked towards the door and retreated once more upon reaching it.
This went on repeatedly until the rooster crowed, and he collapsed to the ground, drained of energy.
Lu Fei went back to the car to catch some sleep and returned to Huang Youlai's house only when it was broad daylight.
After a night's rest, Huang Youlai looked much better.
However, his legs were still not recovered, and he couldn't walk.
Lu Fei estimated that Huang Youlai would only get better once the malevolent energy in the red cloth shoes was completely resolved.
"Manager Lu, what time is it? Don't tell me Huang Laosi has taken off with the shoes?"
The sun was already high in the sky, but Huang Laosi had yet to show up. Hu Xiuying was very worried and kept looking out of the courtyard anxiously.
"How about I go take a look at his place?"
"No rush, he will come." Lu Fei calmly ate his bread.
It was around noon.
Huang Laosi finally arrived, supported by a cane.
"Boss, Big Boss..."
He limped, with his red cloth shoes stuffed in his pocket, and there was still some uncleaned white powder on his face, along with dark circles under his eyes.
When Hu Xiuying saw him, she was startled, thinking she had seen a ghost in broad daylight.
"Oh, old brother, what happened to you?" Lu Fei asked, though he already knew the answer.
Huang Laosi, panting, sat down and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his eyes darting as he said, "Man, last night, when I was going back, I didn't see the road clearly and had the bad luck to trip and twist my leg!"
"So, can you still take me to find the grave looking like this?" Lu Fei's eyes showed a hint of schadenfreude.
"No problem, but I have one condition!" Huang Laosi looked at Lu Fei, a trace of urgency in his eyes, "As soon as we check the grave and confirm that the shoes are valuable, I want my share immediately."
"I've said it before, money is not a problem!" Lu Fei laughed.
"Alright then! Let's go right away!"
Huang Laosi heaved a sigh of relief, stood up with his crutch, and hurriedly led Lu Fei out.
The back mountain.
The graveyard.
"We're here, we're here."
Huang Laosi stopped in front of a solitary grave, panting heavily.
Lu Fei walked closer to take a look and couldn't help but frown.
The grave was in a dilapidated state, without even a tombstone, but there was a strangely shaped stone on top of the grave mound.