Chapter 11 The Paper Effigy Master's House

"Let's go, follow those footprints." Yu Chengmu lifted his leg and followed the footprints into the village.

The strange footprints quickly separated from the villagers' footprints and headed alone onto a small path. Judging from the footprints left behind, there were quite a few of these things, at least a dozen.

This number was obviously not something that could be explained by the corpses in the few coffins last night.

They walked all the way and finally followed the footprints to an independent courtyard on the edge of the village. The footprints disappeared in front of the courtyard gate.

The courtyard was larger than the houses they had seen along the way, but it was slightly dilapidated. A closer look revealed traces of habitation, and the area in front of the gate had been simply tidied up.

"This family's courtyard walls are so high." Fatty looked around. The height of the courtyard walls prevented them from seeing what was inside, which only made everyone more curious.

Jia Jinliang pretended to go up and knock on the door, but Yu Chengmu stopped him and scolded, "Nonsense, do you know what you're doing?" Yu Chengmu's beard trembled, looking very serious.

"Old Mister, what instructions do you have?" Jia Jinliang smiled obsequiously. His acting was even more natural than Yu Chengmu's, and a trace of dissatisfaction even flashed in his eyes.

Yu Chengmu walked over, tiptoed, stretched out his arm, and used his hand to touch the area above the door frame. After a while, he seemed to feel something. He tugged at it, and suddenly light shone in his face.

It was a mirror embedded there, simple and unsophisticated in style, with bagua (eight trigrams) patterns around it.

The mirror was originally covered with a piece of cloth, and at this moment, the piece of black cloth was pulled down by Yu Chengmu and held in his hand.

"A bagua mirror is affixed to the door, the stone steps under the door are thin and long, the courtyard walls are high and uneven, and bricks are missing every ninth. This family is also in the pianmen (irregular trades)." Yu Chengmu stared at the dark courtyard gate, his face slightly unnatural. "The gate of a pianmen family cannot be knocked on unless there's a good reason. Otherwise, if you accidentally disturb the evil aura inside, a happy event will turn into a funeral."

Hearing this, Jia Jinliang couldn't help but tremble, but he still retorted with a forced smile, "Old Mister, it's not... not as scary as you say."

Yu Chengmu sneered and stepped aside. "Then you knock. I want to see what will come to open the door for you."

Seeing these people acting out a lively scene themselves, Du Moyu secretly laughed in his heart, but he still pretended to be ignorant and stepped forward to persuade, "Old Mister Yu, Boss Jia is just being careless. Please don't take it to heart." Changing the subject, Du Moyu complimented, "Please, Old Mister Yu, explain to us juniors what's so mysterious about this courtyard in front of us."

Yu Chengmu did not answer directly, but gave Zhang Junyu a look. After receiving the order, Zhang Junyu immediately walked to the door. He didn't dare to touch the door with his hand, but picked up a stone from the ground and gently propped it against the wooden door.

A gap of about half a finger wide appeared in the middle of the door. Zhang Junyu waited for a while before slowly moving his face closer.

After about a few seconds, a gasp was heard. "Sipingbawei (Four Horses and Eight Stretchers)." Zhang Junyu withdrew his gaze, turned his head, and his voice was a little strange.

Yu Chengmu's eyes narrowed slightly after hearing this. "Sure enough, a zha zhi jiang (paper effigy master)!"

"The person living here is a paper effigy maker?" Lei Mingyu blinked. He didn't know anything about these things. "But what do you mean by 'sipingbawei'?"

Without waiting for Yu Chengmu to answer, Zhang Junyu looked at him and said somewhat perfunctorily, "This is a saying in the antique business, referring to four paper horses and an eight-person palanquin, which are generally used for important ceremonies."

This was not something that ordinary people in the antique business would understand. It was clearly something that people who engaged in pianmen trades all year round would know. Jiang Cheng became more and more clear about the identities of Yu Chengmu and the others, but his face was still one of humbly seeking advice.

At this moment, Jia Jinliang seemed to suddenly realize something, and looked at the courtyard with fear in his eyes. "So... those coffins that were carried away last night... were... were paper figures made by the zha zhi jiang?"

"Paper figures carrying coffins?" Zhou Qing couldn't help but shudder.

Yu Chengmu glanced at him, and Zhou Qing opened his mouth and obediently closed it again.

There was a sound of hurried footsteps not far away. Everyone immediately became nervous and looked at the corner of the wall. After a moment, a dark-skinned man walked out from behind the wall. It was the one who led the way last night.

Seeing Jiang Cheng and the others, the man ran over and said anxiously, "Oh dear, why are you masters here? I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"What happened?" Jiang Cheng asked. Not long ago, the old man was also called away in a hurry, presumably something had happened in the village.

"Someone in the village is missing." The man said quickly, "It's a woman. Her husband and son are dead. In the coffins you were guarding last night, there... there were these two people."

"The woman was making a fuss about not wanting to live anymore. We were worried that she would commit suicide, so we specifically arranged for someone to keep an eye on her. As a result, the woman used the excuse of going to the outhouse, but after a while, when we went to look for her, she was gone."

"Let's put this matter aside for now. I'll ask you, who is the owner of this house?" It was obvious that Zhou Qing was completely uninterested in the woman's disappearance. The words "paper figures carrying coffins" had cast a shadow over everyone's hearts.

Hearing this, the man looked at Zhou Qing with a strange expression. The next sentence he said made everyone even more stunned. "The owner of this house is the woman's husband. Usually, her husband and son take care of the business here. Their family is a bit strange and doesn't have much contact with the villagers."

"Oh right, this should also be related to the industry they're in. He's a zha zhi jiang, who makes paper figures and horses for the dead. His craftsmanship is excellent. The paper figures he makes look like they're alive at first glance."

The man said so much in one breath, but when he heard his sentence that the paper figures he made looked like they were alive at first glance, Fatty's face instantly turned ugly. He thought, "Brother, be more confident, maybe it's not just that they look like it. They're actually alive, and... and they can carry coffins!"

The man rubbed his hands and looked at them somewhat embarrassedly. He suddenly opened his mouth and said, "Since you masters are all here, please come in and take a look with me. It'll also give me some courage." The man looked very simple and honest, and said with a bitter face, "To be honest, I really don't dare to go in and look for someone alone."

Fatty swallowed and said cautiously, "Will that woman run back here? I don't... I don't think so, right?"

"Definitely not!" Du Moyu also chimed in. Don't think that he writes horror novels, he's actually not very brave. He's just good at bluffing. The main thing is that this courtyard doesn't look right.

"Whether she's inside or not, we still have to go in and look for her." The man didn't give them a chance to refuse at all. He walked straight forward and, without knowing what method he used, opened the door in a few moments.

"Masters, please come in."