Feng Qishi glanced down at Mu Anxiao's hand and said, "Do you dislike me that much?"
"Yes," Mu Anxiao nodded, withdrawing her hand. She turned to Yuan Ye again. "You owe twenty taels of silver. Including what you owe me now, that makes thirty taels."
"..." Yuan Ye nodded slightly.
Mu Anxiao held out her hand. "Give it to me now."
"After it's done..." Yuan Ye dared not act as boldly as Feng Qishi, so he said with a troubled expression, "Can I give it to you later?"
"After it's done," Mu Anxiao asked about Yuan Ye's situation getting money from his family, and about his previous words. She asked, "Are you sure you won't run off?"
Yuan Ye shifted his gaze.
Seeing Yuan Ye's guilty expression, Mu Anxiao curled her lips. "It seems you really do have the intention of running away."
"I don't," Yuan Ye said firmly.
Mu Anxiao: "If you don't, why are your eyes darting around?"
"I..."
Unexpectedly, just as Yuan Ye uttered a single word, a clamor suddenly erupted from outside the shop.
Following this, Mu Anxiao suddenly remembered A'long. "Oh no," she said, turning and rushing towards the shop's entrance.
The fake Lin Yan calmly watched Mu Anxiao run away, remaining silent.
Feng Qishi, regardless of anything, chased after Mu Anxiao.
Yuan Ye cautiously glanced at Lin Yan, who stood calmly by the table observing him, then at the fake Lin Yan who looked identical to Lin Yan. He gave an awkward smile and quickly turned to follow Feng Qishi's footsteps.
The fake Lin Yan sighed and looked at Lin Yan. "Brother, it's better if you don't go out."
Lin Yan nodded.
Fake Lin Yan: "..." He turned and walked out of the shop.
At this moment, a crowd had gathered around the water缸 in front of the shop. Some people held hoes, some held shovels, and some held brooms. The brave children at the front, egged on by the adults, picked up stones in their hands and hurled them at A'long, who was hiding by the water缸.
A'long, frightened, raised her arms to shield her face.
Then, just as she braced for the pain, the stones passed through her body and landed on the ground.
Seeing this, they were all terrified.
The next second, an old woman pushed through the crowd holding a basin of dog blood. She stopped at the front and called out, "I'll do it."
Young man: "Will this really work?" He glanced at the dog blood in the basin.
"This is dog blood. As soon as it's splashed, she'll be utterly annihilated," the old woman said proudly.
A'long had heard that dog blood could deliver a fatal blow to them. Now, seeing the old woman's confident expression of wanting to kill her, she became afraid.
So, she shouted, "I haven't harmed you. Why are you treating me like this?"
At the very moment A'long shouted this, Mu Anxiao quickly pushed through the crowd and ran forward, resolutely blocking A'long.
A'long: "..." She looked up at Mu Anxiao's back and let out a great sigh of relief.
Old woman: "Move aside."
Mu Anxiao didn't know how they had discovered A'long, but judging by the current situation, she realized that these people were not kind-hearted. Trying to reason with them would be a waste of effort.
At this moment, all she could do was to stand her ground and fight them to the end.
"I won't move aside," she said, her eyes wide.
"You won't," the old woman said, then looked down at the dog blood in her basin and realized, "I know. You're a monster."
"Have you ever seen a monster? How can you call me a monster? And," Mu Anxiao intentionally put her money pouch back into her embrace, pointing at the basin of dog blood, "is this thing useful?"
"You're afraid."
"What am I afraid of?" Mu Anxiao retorted.
The old woman sneered, "You are afraid of it."
"I don't have time for your nonsense," Mu Anxiao said, looking at everyone present. "What are you looking at? Go home."
A'long crouched behind Mu Anxiao, trembling all over.
"Hahaha," the old woman suddenly burst into laughter.
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao looked at the old woman, whose smile was becoming increasingly eerie, and asked, "What are you laughing at?"
The old woman narrowed her eyes. "The fact is, you are afraid of it."
"It's just dog blood, I'm not afraid..." Halfway through her sentence, Mu Anxiao suddenly saw the local dog at the old woman's feet barking incessantly. She paused. "It seems you killed it."
At this, the old woman was startled. Following Mu Anxiao's gaze, she looked down and asked, "What are you talking about?" She hadn't seen the dog.
Mu Anxiao looked at the old woman's confused expression and asked, "You don't see the local dog you killed?"
The old woman: "..." She was startled, her hand trembled, and the dog blood spilled directly onto her feet.
The people beside her hurriedly moved a few steps aside the moment the dog blood was splashed.
Then, Mu Anxiao calmly watched the dog, which had retreated a few steps and was still barking at the old woman. She thought that it seemed they could only see human souls, not the souls of demons or beasts.
The old woman: "Is it gone?" She steadied the basin.
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao snapped back to attention and smiled at the old woman who was speaking to her. "I was joking with you."
"You..." the old woman uttered a word, looked down at her new shoes splattered with dog blood, and became furious. "You little brat, you dared to lie to me." Saying this, she made a move as if to splash the dog blood towards Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao's eyes widened. Just as she was about to cast a spell to take A'long and escape, Feng Qishi squeezed through the crowd and subtly cast a spell, immobilizing the old woman.
Then, seeing the old woman suddenly freeze, they were all frightened.
Feng Qishi, disregarding their emotions, walked up to Mu Anxiao and said, "This is the new dress I just gave you. Can you take care of it?"
"She was going to splash me, what could I do?"
"You..." Feng Qishi was momentarily speechless. He turned to look at the frightened people and whispered, "Help me out."
"You did this, and you want me to help you..."
"I am saving you."
"You're just saving the clothes you gave me."
"Please," Feng Qishi said, worried that someone among them might be frightened to death because of him.
Hearing Feng Qishi's words, Mu Anxiao felt a surge of satisfaction. She then turned to look at the crowd, held up one finger, and said, "She's been immobilized by me, not a ghost."
Hearing Mu Anxiao's words, the people breathed a sigh of relief.
Following this, a young man stepped forward and said, "Can you hand over that female ghost to us?" He gestured towards A'long behind Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao: "She's mine. Why should I hand her over to you?"
"She's a ghost."
"If she's a ghost, she should be bullied by you?" Mu Anxiao retorted indignantly. She stepped forward, took the basin of dog blood from the old woman's hand, and quietly said to Feng Qishi, "Unfreeze her."
"If you unfreeze her, she'll harm you," Feng Qishi said quietly.
"Unfreeze her. I want to see what they'll say," Mu Anxiao replied mentally, surveying the people waiting to completely eliminate A'long.
Seeing Mu Anxiao's resolute demeanor, Feng Qishi sighed lightly, placed one hand behind his back, snapped his fingers, and unfroze the old woman.