That clear call of "Grandpa" stunned Jia Banxian.
He opened his mouth wide, holding the egg in his hand, and stared dumbfounded at the now calm little parrot for a long time.
"Lu family boy, I didn't hear wrong, did that bird just call me Grandpa?"
"You heard right!"
Lu Fei approached the little parrot in amazement.
It was no longer as frightened as before, but tilted its head, its eyes dazed. The human-like expression had vanished from its tiny, pea-sized eyes.
"What's going on? Can the method used to calm children also work on small animals?" Jia Banxian peeled the egg in his hand and found that the yolk had turned black.
"There really is an evil presence! Was the reason this little bird was making a ruckus because it was possessed by evil?"
"Strange indeed!"
"Animals can be possessed by evil too!"
Jia Banxian threw the egg into the trash bin.
An egg that has rolled cannot be eaten; eating it would make one sick.
"Come, little one, call me grandpa again." He picked up a bird toy and played with the parakeet.
But the little bird just held the toy in its beak and made ordinary bird sounds, as if it had lost the ability to speak.
"No problem! No problem! As long as this bird can get back to normal, I can finally have a good night's sleep."
Although there were still some things he couldn't quite figure out, Jia Baxian was very happy. He then patted Lu Fei and showed his first smile in days.
"You, my boy, are my lucky star! Whatever happens, I know I can count on you!"
"After I rest for a couple of days, I'll be able to start applying the medicinal wine made from coffin fungus. Once my leg is healed and I have this bird for company, I can enjoy my old age in peace."
"That's good." Lu Fei also breathed a sigh of relief.
Although it was good that the little parrot had returned to normal, he always felt that something about this was still strange.
That fat man probably won't last much longer. Only after he reveals who the original owner of the parrot was can we truly understand what happened.
After sitting with Jia Baxian for a while, Lu Fei returned to Sinisterium Pawnshop.
Nothing is more important than his own business.
Without Hu Zi minding the store, how could he be wandering around outside all day long.
Open for business.
Sitting behind the counter, Lu Fei, seeing no customers for the time being, made a pot of tea and opened the Lingyin Association's WeChat group.
The group announcement contained the latest exorcism jobs.
He wasn't very interested in things unrelated to evil spirits.
After browsing through, he closed WeChat and started to look up information about Bulong Mountain.
He had agreed with Elder He that after joining the Lingyin Association, he would go to Bulong Mountain to help find the Dragon's Breath Elderberry.
Although Elder He hadn't arrived yet, it was good to check the information and make some preparations in advance.
Bulong Mountain, due to the legend of a dragon landing there, had also experienced many strange occurrences.
Lu Fei was engrossed in his reading.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!
The phone rang urgently.
It was an unknown number.
Lu Fei had handed out many business cards recently, and he guessed it must be a customer.
"Hello, Sinisterium Pawnshop."
"Manager Lu, is this Manager Lu?"
As soon as the call was answered, a flustered woman's voice came through the line.
"This is I, may I ask who you are?"
"I, we are the ones who wanted to buy the fairy skin."
Lu Fei immediately remembered: "Oh, it's you, ma'am. Weren't you going back to your hometown to find the other red shoe? Have you found it now?"
"We did find it, but... my husband has run into trouble!"
The woman's voice was tinged with sobs.
"What happened? Don't worry, Sister. Take your time to explain." Lu Fei felt a jolt in his heart.
At that time, he noticed that the red cloth shoe had been worn by a dead person, but that was all.
Could it be that once this pair of shoes were reunited, they would turn into something evil?
"We bought the other red cloth shoe from a relative and were planning to return to the city the next day, but my husband started acting strange at night."
The woman tried her best to control her emotions as she spoke.
"In the middle of the night, I woke up feeling cold, only to find that my husband wasn't in bed. I thought he had just gotten up to use the bathroom, so I didn't think much of it."
"But after waiting for a while and not seeing him come back, I put on some clothes and went to check."
"Who knew, when I saw..."
The woman's voice began to tremble, and she couldn't speak for a long time.
Lu Feidu got anxious and tried to comfort her, saying, "Sis, don't be afraid! Just tell me what's going on. As long as it's an evil object, I can deal with it!"
The woman choked back a few sobs and gathered her courage again.
"I saw my husband, putting on makeup and combing his hair in front of the mirror, then jumping around the room wearing those red cloth shoes."
"He kept jumping until the rooster crowed, then he went back to bed to sleep."
"The next day, when I asked him about it, he didn't remember a thing, but he said his feet hurt."
"At that moment, I felt something was definitely wrong with the shoes, so I told him to pack them up and take them to Sinisterium Pawnshop."
"But when we were about to leave, his leg suddenly gave out, and he couldn't walk, saying it felt like stepping on knife blades..."
"I didn't know what to do, so I thought we should rest for one night. But at night, my husband put on the red cloth shoes again and started singing and dancing in the room..."
"I didn't dare to sleep all night. When it was dawn, I urged him to go, but he couldn't even lift his legs and just kept shouting in pain."
"I noticed his feet had shrunk a lot, becoming like a woman's feet..."
"Mr. Lu, what should we do? He can't walk, and we can't go back. Won't my husband be killed by those shoes..."
As she spoke, the woman began to cry again.
"Sister, those red cloth shoes are definitely evil. Send me your address, and I'll come to collect them," Lu Fei raised his voice to be heard over the woman's crying.
"Really, you can really come?" The woman was both surprised and delighted.
"Yes, send me the address now. I will set out immediately and try to get there before dark."
From the woman's description, Lu Fei felt that the red cloth shoes were very dangerous and needed to be collected as soon as possible.
Since there were no other businesses at the moment, he might as well take this trip.
"Okay, okay, we're in Qingfeng County, Huangmiao Village." The woman hastily answered, "Mr. Lu, you are such a good person. I don't know how to thank you…"
"Sister, try to get your husband to sit outside in the sun. I'll call you when I arrive."
Lu Fei cut off the woman's rambling, hung up the phone, packed some things, and set off with his black dog.
A half day's drive.
If we don't stop for a break, we can arrive before dark.
Rushing all the way.
On the road, Lu Fei received another call from Elder He, asking if he was ready to go to Balong Mountain.
Sometimes, business is like this; it either doesn't come at all or comes in a flurry.
"I'm sorry, Senior He, I have an urgent matter to attend to, so it might have to wait a few days."
Lu Fei explained briefly.
Business has its order of priority, and despite his urgency, Elder He could only express his understanding.
After the call, Lu Fei focused on driving.
Huangmiao Village.
Hu Xiuying put down her phone and wiped her eyes. The little shopkeeper of Sinisterium Pawnshop was willing to come over, which finally gave her some peace of mind.
Now she would follow the little shopkeeper's advice and help her husband out to get some sun.
As soon as she turned around, she was startled.
Her husband stood behind her with a grim expression, his face pale and his red eyes staring directly at her.
"Dad, is your leg better?" Hu Xiuying couldn't help but feel a bit of joy.