novelcrest Chapter 459 Paper Crane Leads to Death
Chapter 459 Paper Crane Leads to Death
The clattering of iron pots in the crowd gradually subsided.
Old Zheng's hand slowly tightened, pulling deep wrinkles into Chen's collar.
"Where is my uncle?"
Chen the accountant chipped his tooth.
"On Zhou Ping's page, it begins with water."
Old Zheng slammed him to the ground.
The soot from the pot hit him, making Chen, the accountant, hunch over.
"I'm asking you, is your name written at the end?"
The accountant's lips were covered in mud.
"have."
Old Zheng's fist was suspended in mid-air.
Ash dripped through his fingers.
Old Zhou reached out and pressed down on his arm.
"Keep your breath alive; a living person's words are more valuable than words spoken in the water."
Manager Hu stepped half a foot out from behind the threshold.
The black water outside the gray line immediately swirled up, forcing her to stop again.
The white paper lamp turned bluish from the moisture.
She looked at Chen the accountant.
"How many years have you been writing?"
Chen the accountant's Adam's apple bobbed.
"Seventeen years."
As soon as those three words were spoken, the sound of the iron pots clattering filled the air.
Someone looked down at the child in their arms.
Someone reached for the old ship's badge on their waist.
The fat shopkeeper's stick landed on the edge of the pot, the sound of which was weak and drafty.
Old Zhou kicked the side of the iron pot.
"knock!"
The iron sound resumed.
Shopkeeper Hu pressed her fingertip against the Soul-Sealing Box, and the silver light from the Soul-Sealing Talisman flashed against her palm.
"Seventeen years later, you still dare to say you didn't intend to harm anyone?"
Accountant Chen raised his dusty face.
"At first I thought it was just collecting old debts, but then some people didn't come back, so I only dared to treat it as the river god collecting debts."
He inhaled a breath of gray air.
"Who would dare to investigate me?"
Xiao Liu stared at him, the edge of the copper basin pressed against his knees.
"My mother's dreams have ended, and she's gone too."
Accountant Chen's lips trembled.
"That page also begins with water."
Shopkeeper Hu's silver hairpin slipped out another half inch.
The hairpin tip pressed against the tiny bloody gash on her palm, and a drop of blood rolled along her skin.
"Go on."
Mo Chengyue did not turn around.
"Let's look at the roster first."
Old Zhou used a stick to pry open the wet red seal.
The paper, having absorbed enough red ink, became so heavy that it was difficult to hold, and when turned over, several strands of red ink were pulled out.
As the smoke curled upwards, the words on the first page emerged.
The two characters "Zhou Ping" are placed neatly at the top of the page.
There was also a line of smaller text next to the name.
After reading the words clearly, Old Zhou pressed the old ship's license plate heavily into the dry soil.
The firelight made the lines on his face appear even deeper.
Old Zheng turned his head, his throat feeling as if it had been rubbed with ash.
"Uncle Zhou, what's written next to my uncle?"
Old Zhou looked up at him.
"He is single and childless, with an elderly mother at home. This man can be taken in as collateral for timber purchases by the water."
Old Zheng loosened his grip on the account book and collapsed into the mud.
No one spoke for a moment.
Outside the abandoned shipyard, the hull of the unlit ship continued to slam against the wooden planks.
The chubby shopkeeper quietly moved back.
Old Zhou turned to the second page and stared at it.
"Chang Decai".
The fat shopkeeper's legs went weak.
Old Zhou's voice continued to fall.
"The eldest son, Chang'an, did not board the ship; he was given his life to fill the treasury deficit in place of his father."
The fat shopkeeper knelt down directly next to the soot.
His obese body trembled incessantly, and the stick fell onto the iron pot, making a series of cracking sounds.
"At that time, I only said he was lost."
Manager Hu lowered his eyes and stared at him.
"You've received gold coins before?"
The fat shopkeeper opened and closed his lips for a long time, but couldn't utter a single complete sentence.
Xiao Liu suddenly moved closer to the firelight.
He saw the words on the third page, and the copper basin slipped from his arms.
bang.
The copper basin was smashed into dry ash.
"My dad."
His fingertips hovered over the edge of the paper, hesitant to touch it.
Old Zhou read it aloud for him.
"Drowning in the water while drunk is harmless; one can exchange their life for three years of smooth sailing for Chen's Goods Store."
Xiao Liu slowly raised his head and looked at Accountant Chen.
That was the person his mother waited for until her last breath.
Accountant Chen buried his face in the ashes.
Old Zheng grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him up again.
Shopkeeper Hu placed the white paper lamp against the box.
"Keep flipping through."
The silver hairpin in her sleeve brushed against her finger bone, its faint light flashing.
"Let me see how many more people this rotten book has swallowed up."
Old Zhou flipped to the middle section, his brows gradually furrowing.
"It seems that what's written on these pages is already out of Red Maple Crossing."
Shopkeeper Hu asked, "Whose name is it?"
Mo Chengyue raised his chin.
"Read it clearly."
Old Zhou used a stick to brace the corner of the paper, squinting to identify the ink stains that had been soaked in red water and turned black.
"Hu Family Inn, a male cultivator from out of town, surnamed Mo, with a red tag on his right arm, arrived in town five days ago, staying in the top-tier room, likes to eat river fish, polishes his sword at midnight, and has no attendants."
The fat shopkeeper's face twitched upon hearing this.
"They even keep track of midnight snacks; this accountant is quite the businessman."
Mo Chengyue glanced at him.
The fat shopkeeper immediately shut up and started banging the pot on his hands.
The color drained from Manager Hu's face little by little.
"Is there more?"
Old Zhou turned to the next page.
"Qin Wanzhuang, a black-robed sword cultivator from Qingquan Peak, cultivates the Nine Slashes of Blazing Sun. Her sword intent is fierce, she hates filth, protects her fellow disciples, and her true bone age is forty-eight."
Mo Chengyue's eyelid twitched.
The left thumb gently presses on the hilt of the sword.
If my second senior sister were here, this underground canal would probably be dried up by the blazing sun sword intent.
Manager Hu looked at him.
"Are these people from your sect?"
Mo Chengyue did not answer, but only said, "Read it again."
Old Zhou turned another page.
"Jin Qiaoqiao, the Peacock Queen of the demon race, a great demon in human form, once traveled with the fallen kingdom. Her injuries have not yet healed, there is discord within the clan, and her feather veins are damaged."
Xiao Liu's throat tightened.
"Are the affairs of the great demons of the demon race also written here?"
Mo Chengyue used the back of his sword to deflect a drop of splashed black water.
"It was quite expensive to write."
These kinds of secrets cannot be found by ordinary dock accountants.
Someone in the sect sold out his whereabouts and also included details about the people around him in the diary.
Old Zhou turned to the next page, his voice deepening.
"Lin Miaoyin, the Holy Maiden of Zizhu Peak, has attained the Dao through her divine soul and music. Her Heavenly Demonic Sound can disturb her sea of consciousness. She values her dignity highly and will pursue those who are insulted."
Mo Chengyue took a light breath.
That one is accurate.
If Lin Miaoyin were standing here, she would probably turn this register, along with Accountant Chen, into dust.
The fat shopkeeper broke out in a sweat.
"Are you blaming the immortal sects for this?"
Mo Chengyue looked at Chen the accountant.
"A dockside accountant, doing business all the way."
Accountant Chen lay prone in the dust, shrinking back.
"I didn't write these."
He raised his face, and the gray in the corner of his eye was washed away by the water, leaving two streaks.
"I've never even seen what the peacock demons look like."
Shopkeeper Hu asked, "Then who will write it?"
Accountant Chen looked at the half-finished register, his lips turning white.
"Additional pages".
Old Zhou said, "Explain yourself clearly."
"On foggy nights, something comes from upstream."
Old Zheng pulled his collar tighter.
"What is it?"
Accountant Chen's teeth were chattering, and his words came out in fits and starts.
"There were no footsteps, no sound of boats."
He swallowed a mouthful of grayish saliva.
"A paper crane will float down the old river."
Xiao Liu held the copper basin, his fingertips slowly growing cold.
"Paper cranes?"
"It was deathly white, the creases were flattened by water, and it cast no shadow under the light. The wing tips were covered in red water."
Accountant Chen shrank his neck.
"It stopped in front of my window, opened its mouth, and there was the missing page inside."
The fat shopkeeper's face trembled as he listened, but he couldn't help but whisper, "Paper cranes have beaks?"
Old Zhou glared at him.
"Knock on the pot."
The chubby shopkeeper added insult to injury with a stick.
Chen the accountant lowered his voice.
"The former accountant did not collect the replacement pages. The family of three walked into the river at night, and their shoes were placed on the threshold, not a single pair was out of order."
His forehead was pressed into the dust.
"I just want to live until next month."
Mo Chengyue looked down at the blood-red lines on his right palm.
Red lines crawled along the wrist bone, as fine as water threads.
"You can live if you want."
As soon as he finished speaking, Chen the accountant's shoulders twitched.
"If you're using someone else's name to prolong your own life, don't put yourself on the role of a wronged ghost."
Accountant Chen's forehead was smeared with half an inch of dust.
Manager Hu gripped the silver hairpin tightly.
The tip of the hairpin pressed against his neck, leaving a white mark.
"Where do you get the red paper?"