roccoschili Chapter 114 The Buddha's Belly Letter: Flee Upon Seeing Me
Chapter 114 The Buddha's Belly Letter: Flee Upon Seeing Me
Chapter 115 The Buddha's Belly Letter: Flee Upon Seeing Me
As soon as the narrow slit on the right side of the Buddha statue opened, the lamps in the vault went out one after another, leaving only a small yellow light in front of the Buddha, pressing heavily on the gold paint.
Han Shaobai clung to the bulletproof glass, half of his body sticking out, his feet still glued to the glass door.
"Brother Cheng, can I take that paper?"
Cheng Xiaojin stood by the door, his hands wrapped in thick cloth, his gaze fixed on the bluish-black ring around the Buddha statue's neck.
"Are you asking me, or are you asking your Buddha?"
"I'm asking you."
"These two hands of mine are even more unlucky than Old Feng's trouser legs. If you ask me, aren't you afraid I'll ask you for a funeral price?"
Old Feng sat in the chair holding his prayer beads, his lips trembling for a long time.
"Master Cheng, don't drag me into this. I've already embarrassed myself enough."
On the right side of the Buddha statue, Tieguai Li has his clockwork knife stuck in the old patch, sweat dripping from his temples to his chin.
"Little Jinzi, stop teasing me. There's something on the back of this piece of wood. If I move it in just one more centimeter, the gilding will come off."
Han Shaobai hurriedly shouted, "If you get up, it's on me too!"
Tieguai Li glanced at him sideways.
"You're nothing. If a piece of gilded bronze from the Ming Dynasty was patched incorrectly, you couldn't even make up for it by selling three cabinets of broken jade."
Cheng Xiaojin listened intently, the taste of blood on the tip of his tongue pressing against his throat, his right hand throbbing in the thick cloth, the pain creeping up his wrist.
"Stop the knife, switch to a soft steel hook, and wrap it around the wooden piece, making sure the paper doesn't get on it."
Tang Wanqing stood beside him, her gaze sweeping across the corner of his mouth.
"You've listened carefully."
"I didn't touch it."
"The blood was swallowed."
"6
Cheng Xiaojin raised an eyebrow.
"Miss Tang, you're more meddlesome than my elementary school homeroom teacher."
Tang Wanqing wrapped the red thread around the mouth of the bronze beast on the Buddha's seat and tightened the thread.
"No matter how talkative you are, I'll shut your mouth."
Zhou Banxian squatted by the floor tiles, his compass pressed against his knees, the compass needle moving back and forth between the seven positions.
"Stop fooling around. There's a water gate behind the paper. Once this thing comes out, it will recognize living people."
Han Shaobai's throat tightened.
"Whom do you recognize?"
Tieguai Li's wrist never stopped.
"It's best to acknowledge you; your family is a Buddha, your family is a treasure trove, your family has 500,000."
"Can I pay more?"
"Adding money can change the account, but it can't change fate."
Master Ma didn't move forward; his sleeve pressed against the back of his hand, his gaze fixed on the half-cut corner of the paper.
"Iron Pillar, steady hand."
"Don't worry, Mr. Ma, I'm more familiar with this than with dating."
Cheng Xiaojin chuckled.
No wonder you're single.
Tieguai Li gritted his teeth.
"You don't have a wife either, so don't take it out on me."
No sooner had the two finished speaking than a muffled thud came from inside the Buddha statue.
The Buddha's head tilted towards the doorway, the dark shadow beneath its eyelids lowered even further, searching for someone through the gold paint.
Han Shaobai pressed his face against the glass door and asked, "Is it angry?"
"I'm really annoyed. Your underground vault has long been converted into a bathhouse."
Cheng Xiaojin swallowed the taste of blood.
"It's looking for the door."
"Where's the door?"
"Inside the Buddha's belly."
Han Shaobai looked at the Buddha's belly, then glanced at the wall full of safes.
"My dad brought it back to ward off evil spirits and protect the house."
Master Ma said, "Before this Buddha statue entered the Han family, it passed through three hands in Liulichang. Before that, the deal was closed."
Han Shaobai became even more anxious: "Master Ma, you knew all along?"
"They know the way back is cut off, but they don't know the Buddha's belly hides the gate."
Tieguai Li's soft steel hook had already wrapped around the back of the wooden piece, and his wrist was being pulled out little by little.
The black wood chip slid out a section first.
The wooden piece was about two fingers wide, its edges slumped from being soaked in water, and yellowed paper was pressed on top of it.
The line of ash-colored writing on the corner of the paper was visible.
The Buddha with seven bellies on its belly fled at the sight of me.
Han Shaobai choked halfway through his reading.
"Whom do you run from? Buddha? The door? Your father?"
Cheng Xiaojin did not answer.
The paper was moved an inch further out, and a thud sounded from inside the Buddha statue's belly.
Han Shaobai's back hit the glass, and Lao Feng slid off the chair and onto the floor, his prayer beads rolling everywhere.
"Oh my god, it's hitting its belly!"
Tieguai Li cursed in a low voice, "Shut up, you scared me so badly my hand is crooked. I'm really staying at your house tonight."
Zhou Banxian tucked the compass into his robes.
"No, the air is seeping into the paper."
Tang Wanqing flicked the red thread, and the thread pressed down on Tieguai Li's wrist.
"Li Tiezhu, take half a step back."
"I stepped back, and the paper folded back."
"6
"Then hang in there."
Cheng Xiaojin's Adam's apple bobbed, his gaze fixed on the piece of paper.
"Brother Li, don't pull it out forcefully, put down some dry paper first."
"Where did you get this dry paper?"
Han Shaobai turned around and yelled at his employee, "Go to the accounting office and get Lao Xuan!"
"No Xuan paper."
Cheng Xiaojin stopped him.
"Too fancy, it won't hold up. Use the cheapest kind of yellow straw paper that's used to line broken porcelain shards in the warehouse."
Han Shaobai was stunned.
Where can I find cheap toilet paper in the underground vault of Boguzhai?
Tieguai Li looked up and cursed, "Antique sellers don't even have scraps of paper, yet they dare to claim they have a rich heritage?"
The man ran out and quickly returned with half a roll of yellow straw paper, the edges of which were still covered with ash from broken porcelain.
"Used to pad broken porcelain in the warehouse."
"That's it."
Cheng Xiaojin said, "Refined things attract attention, while impoverished things suffocate."
Han Shaobai's lips were dry.
"Can poverty really ward off evil spirits?"
Cheng Xiaojin looked at the ashes scattered on the ground.
"How much did you spend on those few groups you just treated?"
"More than 200,000."
"Has it been calmed down?"
Han Shaobai fell silent.
Tieguai Li placed the straw paper under the old patch, and with a gentle pull of the soft steel hook, the black wood chip and the yellowed paper slid out together.
The moment the paper left the Buddha's body, the black liquid under the Buddha's eyes stopped.
The black pits eroded into the floor tiles have also subsided, and the stench in the vault has faded.
Just as Han Shaobai raised his hand, another low sound came from inside the Buddha's belly.
This time it was like someone had turned over inside a bronze body.
The red thread in Tang Wanqing's hand was taut.
"It's not over yet."
Zhou Banxian stared at the needle, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
"The paper has come out, but the shadow of the door is still inside the Buddha's belly."
Cheng Xiaojin said, "Brother Li, flip the wooden piece over."
"Hand flip?"
"Your hands are precious, don't let it gnaw on them."
Tieguai Li used a soft steel hook to pick up the wooden piece, pressed it onto the straw paper, and turned it over.
Four shallow characters were carved on the back of the wooden piece; the knife marks had been blurred by water, but they were still discernible.
Thirty steps wrong.
Master Ma's hands tightened inside his sleeves, even the seams of his sleeves became taut.
Cheng Xiaojin turned to look at him.
"Master Ma, the thirty steps difference that exists throughout the city can also be found here."
Han Shaobai stared at the wooden piece, then turned to the crowd, his expression even more unpleasant than before.
What does "thirty steps" mean? Is my Buddha statue in the wrong place?
No one responded to him.
Zhou Banxian moved closer, about half a foot away, but didn't dare to get any closer.
"The ebony is old enough; the wood wasn't added by the Han family later."
Tang Wanqing asked, "What else is on the paper?"
Tieguai Li spread the paper out half an inch, revealing several lines of fine writing below the ash-colored characters.
The characters were written hastily, with broken strokes, indicating that the writer usually didn't have much time left.
Cheng Xiaojin stood at the door without moving, only looking down.
Master Ma did not read it.
Zhou Banxian wiped his mouth and took over the conversation.
"The seven stakes cannot be placed according to the old ruler. The old ruler has been replaced by Shenmen. The thirty-step level is the living layer, not on the ground, but in the human world."
Han Shaobai was completely bewildered.
"What is all this nonsense? Why is my Buddha's belly stuffed with riddles?"
Cheng Xiaojin twitched the corner of his mouth.
"Was my dad this infuriating twenty years ago?"
Master Ma still didn't respond.
There was another sentence pressed at the bottom of the page, the words so faint they were almost fading away.
If Xiao Jin sees this, he must not enter the sect.
No one spoke in the vault, but the muffled thud from the Buddha's belly continued, one after another.
Tieguai Li looked up.
"Did Brother Shouyi save this especially for you?"
Cheng Xiaojin looked at the line of words, his fingers under the thick cloth twitched, and the pain in his wrist made him lower his shoulders slightly.
Tang Wanqing moved between the Buddha statue and him.
"Don't go over there."
I didn't go.
"Your face screams 'I want to move on'."
Cheng Xiaojin looked away from the paper.
"My dad tells me to run away, so I run away? Then all those years I've been wasting my time camping out at Panjiayuan?"
Master Ma finally spoke: "Shouyi won't have written this sentence in vain."
"This isn't the first time he's stopped me from interfering."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at him.
Did he also tell you not to go with him back then?
Mr. Ma's face was hidden in the lamplight, and he did not reply.
Zhou Banxian gripped the compass, cursing weakly.
"This father and son are both incredibly deserving of a beating."
Han Shaobai asked cautiously, "Now that the Buddha's power has stopped, is my family's vault safe?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a piece of gold paint bulged outward from the Buddha statue's abdomen, and three muffled thuds came from inside the bronze body.
Boom, boom, boom.
Old Feng's voice cracked with sobs.
"It even knocked on the door!"
As Cheng Xiaojin looked at the Buddha's belly, the smugness on his face gradually faded away.
"Young Master Han, your Buddha Master turned around simply to ask us to retrieve the paper."
Han Shaobai swallowed.
"And now?"
Cheng Xiaojin's gloves, hanging at her sides, showed a dark blue stain that seeped down her wrist.
"Now the door inside the Buddha's belly knows I have come."
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