Folklore and Strange Tales: At the Start, You Retrieve the Sea-Suppressing Black Iron

Chapter 115 Three Mistakes, Buddha's Belly Opens

Chapter 116 Thirty Steps Wrong, Buddha's Belly Opens a Crack

Han Shaobai retreated to the bulletproof glass, his yellow vest reflected in the glass, but no one inside the vault laughed.

"Brother Cheng, can I move the Buddha statue out?"

Cheng Xiaojin glanced at him. "Where should I move it? To your bedroom? Will Buddha sit by your bedside and chant sutras for you tonight?"

Han Shaobai wiped his sweat. "Then bury it?"

"Burying you in the wrong place will mean the entire Liulichang district will be buried with you."

Han Shaobai shut up.

Tieguai Li moved the black wood chips and paper, along with the straw paper, onto the toolbox lid without touching the paper.

"What should we do with this thing? Take it with us?"

Tang Wanqing placed the red thread under Cheng Xiaojin's shoe tip, "We can't bring him back to the courtyard. He can't get too close to him right now."

Master Ma stared at the pages of paper, his teacup resting on the iron rack, the tea sloshing around.

"They can't stay at Boguzhai either; the Han family can't hold onto it."

Han Shaobai immediately raised his hand, "I admit it, I really can't hold on to it, I'm even thinking of selling the store and running away."

Zhou Banxian circled halfway around the Buddha's body, and as soon as the compass was close to the Buddha's belly, the needle sank downwards.

"The shadow of the door is still inside the Buddha's belly. The paper comes out with one less layer of sealing. Next, it needs to find a living person."

Tang Wanqing didn't reply, and the red thread moved half an inch closer to Cheng Xiaojin's feet.

Cheng Xiaojin smiled and said, "Don't block it so intimately, I'm not familiar with it."

"It recognizes the key of a living person."

"I can't even open a keychain with these two hands now."

A low sound came from the Buddha's belly again, the echo circling around the old patch on his right side. Cheng Xiaojin's face paled, and his fingers under the thick cloth twitched.

Tang Wanqing tightened the bandage around his wrist again. "You listened to that again?"

"It crawled into my ear by itself."

"Close your ears and don't listen."

"How can I command Brother Li if we shut down? Are we just going to have Han Shaobai cry on the sidelines?"

Han Shaobai's face turned bitter. "Brother Cheng, I didn't cry this time."

Tieguai Li glanced at the Buddha's belly and said, "Don't you dare tell me to open up the Buddha's belly. If you do, Han Shaobai will have to hang a black and white photo of me at the entrance of Boguzhai today."

Han Shaobai hurriedly said, "I won't hang a photo, I'll hang a banner. Brother Li, you really saved my life, I'll hang the biggest one."

"Get lost, I can't bear to lose face like this."

Master Ma spoke up, "Little Jin, did you hear how many layers of emptiness were inside the Buddha's belly just now?"

Cheng Xiaojin bit the tip of his tongue, suppressing the taste of blood in his mouth, and did not move forward any further.

"Three layers, with an outer copper body, a wooden cavity in the middle, and the sound of water rising from the ground inside."

Zhou Banxian's eyelids twitched. "The seventh entrance to the underground of Liulichang."

"Um.

"6

"The Buddha's belly was used as a bolt for the seventh gate."

Master Ma's face darkened as he looked at the gilded bronze Buddha.

"I have been guarding Boguzhai for twenty years, just to fix this bolt."

Han Shaobai was stunned. "Brother Cheng's dad is doing a good deed by patching up my family's Buddha statue?"

Cheng Xiaojin looked at the old patch, "It might have been used to plant a landmine."

Han Shaobai dared not ask any more questions.

Tang Wanqing wrapped the paper around its edges with red thread, leaving the thread hanging but not touching the words.

"Thirty steps is the living layer. This is the most fatal sentence. The whole city is thirty steps off because some people take the living layer as the number of steps on the ground."

Zhou Banxian slapped his knee and cursed, "Damn it, we didn't complete the third case because we only counted the water element and forgot the human element."

Tieguai Li frowned. "Speak like a human."

Cheng Xiaojin spoke up, "Even if you're trying to get water from the iron in Zhenhai, you still need to connect with the living people living their lives. The village over there in Mancheng Jiukeng has been emptied out, the smoke from the chimneys has died down, and the dining tables have been scattered. We've tried to kill it several times, but of course the iron won't admit it."

"6

Tieguai Li's face darkened. "Where are we going to make up for the lack of popularity among those thirty people?"

"That's why my dad wrote 'thirty steps' incorrectly."

Cheng Xiaojin looked at Master Ma, "That page that was deleted back then, was it the layer of living people?"

After a moment, Master Ma spoke up, "On page ninety-three of Tiangong Kaiwu, there is indeed a section with thirty-step annotations. I couldn't understand it back then and thought it was a fake number that Shen's school had infiltrated."

Han Shaobai moved to the side, even his breathing became lighter.

Tieguai Li cursed, "What time is it? Still hiding things?"

Master Ma looked up at Cheng Xiaojin and said, "I deleted that section from the copy, but the original page wasn't destroyed."

Zhou Bansian asked, "Where is the original page?"

"The first volume of the book in Liu Bai's hand."

The vault fell silent, the sound of water flowing within the bronze body of the Buddha statue drifted through the air, the underground lights flickered on and off, and the workers along the wall moved their buckets with greater care.

Cheng Xiaojin tried to grab a cigarette, but the thick cloth wrapped around his hand prevented him from doing so after two attempts.

Tieguai Li took a cigarette from behind his ear and put it in his mouth.

"Don't order it, just enjoy it while it's still in your mouth."

Cheng Xiaojin bit his cigarette. "Liu Bai has the seventh volume, and now the seventh door is ringing. He really knows how to pick his days."

Tang Wanqing pressed the copper coin against the edge of the puddle, saying, "The Liu family guards the seventh gate; we can't just treat them as enemies."

Zhou Banxian sneered, "Whether the Liu family's gullible folks are good at opening doors or guarding them depends on which side Liu Bai is on tonight."

Han Shaobai cautiously interjected, "Who is Liu Bai? Is he also a master?"

Tieguai Li said, "He looks like a good person, but acts like a devil."

"Can I ask him to come?"

Cheng Xiaojin looked at him with a cigarette in his mouth, "Young Master Han, even if your family is rich, you can't just jump into every pit you see. If you jump in a few more times, even your ancestors will come out of their ancestral tablets to stop you."

A low rumble came from inside the Buddha's belly.

Water slowly seeped into the black pit on the ground, with bubbles arranged in rows.

Tang Wanqing pressed down with a copper coin, and the bubble broke off at one end.

"Young Master Han, have someone remove all the water from the ground. Teacups, fish tanks, mop buckets, everything that contains water, take them all out."

Han Shaobai turned around and called for help.

The men immediately started running.

Old Feng also got up from the chair, hugging his wet trouser leg and moving outside.

Cheng Xiaojin called out to him, "Old Feng, did you hear anything before Buddha turned around last night?"

Old Feng looked miserable. "There was the sound of a wooden fish drum, and someone was shouting to sell calligraphy and paintings. The shouts seemed to come from inside the wall."

Zhou Banxian looked at the wall and said, "The superimposed image is seeping into the vault."

Tang Wanqing said, "Once the streets of Liulichang are layered, the old shops and the shops of Yincheng will overlap, and it will be difficult for people to come out once they go in."

Han Shaobai's legs went weak. "Then can my shop still stay open?"

Cheng Xiaojin, a cigarette dangling from his lips, asked, "Are you still thinking about opening a shop?"

"If I don't open the shop, my dad will get out of his hospital bed and beat me."

"Tell your dad that Buddha has asked for leave."

Han Shaobai said with a bitter face, "He won't believe it."

"Then let him sleep in Boguzhai tonight."

"No, I believe you."

Tieguai Li stared at the pages. "This thing needs to be put somewhere."

Master Ma said, "Send it to Wang the Glasses at Rongbaozhai and borrow his old painting cabinet to store it for one night."

Tang Wanqing shook her head, "Rongbaozhai is also in Liulichang, and it has an even stronger old-fashioned feel."

"The old painting cabinet of the Glasses King comes from the old ancestral hall in Xishan. It has been used for incense offerings and account books, so it can suppress the smell of paper."

Cheng Xiaojin took out his cigarette. "But this piece of paper is written for me. It's safer to keep it here than anywhere else."

Tang Wanqing stared at him. "You dare to take it away in this state?"

"I didn't say I would carry it with me."

"How do you want to put it?"

Cheng Xiaojin turned to Han Shaobai, "Do you have a safe that's practically worthless?"

Han Shaobai was stunned. "Worthless?"

"Don't tell me it's all imported."

"There's an old metal cabinet that used to hold employee meal tickets and keys; the door's crooked."

"That's it."

Tieguai Li slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "That's right! The expensive cabinet can't suppress the atmosphere, but the old meal ticket cabinet has a lot of energy. It's opened every day, and people curse every day. It's the most effective."

Han Shaobai thought he had misheard. "Why would I use a broken cabinet to store meal tickets instead of my multi-million dollar safe?"

Cheng Xiaojin asked, "Why don't you try stuffing Buddha into a cabinet worth tens of millions and see what happens?"

Han Shaobai immediately shouted, "Meal ticket counter! Quickly, move the meal ticket counter!"

When the broken metal cabinet was dragged out, the door was crooked, and half of an expired meal allowance form was pasted on the outside, with a note in the corner saying that Old Feng would receive two fewer meals.

Tieguai Li instructed his servants to bring dry burlap sacks to lay down the bottom.

"Young Master Han, the key."

"What key?"

"The keys your shop assistant handles every day."

Han Shaobai took a handful from the wall and put it in.

Tieguai Li then said, "Meal tickets."

Han Shaobai rummaged through his pockets. "Will an electronic card work?"

Cheng Xiaojin sighed, "Young Master Han, your ancestors really went to great lengths to keep Boguzhai alive until today."

Old Feng pulled out a few old paper bills from his pocket. "They were leftovers from the old cafeteria; I couldn't bear to throw them away."

Tieguai Li put the black wood chips and paper sheets, along with the straw paper, into the cabinet and then weighed them down with meal tickets.

The cabinet door got stuck when it was closed.

Han Shaobai was about to make a move when Tieguai Li braced himself against the cabinet's base with one foot and used his strength to break the iron cabinet shut.

The sound of water inside the Buddha's belly subsided.

The bubbles in the puddle on the ground stopped at number seven and didn't rise any further.

Zhou Banxian looked at the compass and said, "He's managed to hold his breath."

Just as Han Shaobai relaxed, a clerk's shout came from outside the vault.

"Young master, something's happened on the street! The door of the framing shop across the street opened by itself, and someone came out!"

Han Shaobai almost sat down on the ground.

Cheng Xiaojin turned around and looked at the elevator entrance.

Yellow mist seeped in through the crack in the door, the sound of wooden fish drums mixed with the hawkers' cries pressed down to the ground, and in the distance a woman sang an old tune, the last three words trailing off at the end.

Thirty steps.

Tang Wanqing stood in front of him, "You can't go out and take the blame."

Cheng Xiaojin raised her hand, which was wrapped in thick cloth. "I know."

Tieguai Li snorted, "You know nothing."

"7

Cheng Xiaojin looked at Han Shaobai, "The 500,000 only covers the Buddha turning his head; the one on the street is a separate matter."

""

Han Shaobai was almost in tears. "Brother Cheng, name your price."

"I'll owe you for now."

Cheng Xiaojin walked towards the elevator.

"This debt should be attributed to Liulichang."

"7