"Did you handle the matter?"
When the brocade-clad young man returned to the village, Manager Wu and the mustached steward were still drinking.
In the short time he had been gone, two women with painted faces had joined them, helping to pour wine.
The workers who had been selected to join the Red Lantern Society were all robust and vigorous.
At the sight of the women, they couldn't help but feel parched and quickly lowered their heads, only daring to steal glances from the corners of their eyes.
The brocade-clad young man stepped forward, standing just outside the threshold, and announced loudly, "It's been taken care of."
Manager Wu smiled, pushing away the wine cup a woman had brought to his lips, and assumed a dignified expression.
"How did you handle it?"
The young man replied loudly, "I took the lantern and had the workers spread out, surrounding the den. Then I lit incense and tried to reason with them. They wouldn't listen and even tried to cause trouble. I killed one, and the rest fled. I doubt they'll dare to return."
Manager Wu frowned slightly.
"You killed one?"
"Yes!"
The young man quickly brought forward the corpse of the creature, carried by one of the workers, and placed it respectfully before the threshold.
"This is the one."
"It's quite old, its fur has turned white."
He had intended to boast of his achievement, but Manager Wu's face showed no sign of approval.
The mustached steward, sitting at the same table, merely watched with a smile, saying nothing.
Manager Wu frowned and said indifferently, "Earlier, when it had bewitched someone and sent them to us, causing trouble, I wanted to teach them a lesson. Back then, if I had told you to kill, you should have killed. But later, when I sent you with the lantern, it was to escort them away. You should have negotiated peacefully. Killing one now only creates enmity for our Red Lantern Lady."
"I..."
The young man was taken aback, not knowing how to respond.
Manager Wu, as if reading his thoughts, added, "Of course, our Red Lantern Lady wouldn't care about a few such creatures. But we are here to guard her incense and offerings. Over time, accumulating too many enemies isn't good."
The young man was left speechless, unsure of what to say.
"Alright, you've worked hard. Go back now."
Manager Wu, no longer interested in the matter, picked up his chopsticks again.
"Take the corpse and bury it properly by the bridge. Tell the villagers nearby not to go near it at night. If they hear crying, it's just someone paying their respects. They shouldn't be afraid. After three days, light one of our red lanterns and hang it at the bridgehead. In a few days, everything will be peaceful."
The young man quickly agreed and took the creature's body away.
Manager Wu then turned to Hu Ma and the other workers waiting in front of the hall, explaining some rules before dismissing them to rest.
After hearing all this, Hu Ma began to understand.
No wonder the Red Lantern Society's branches always had experienced managers to oversee them.
It also explained why the villagers, when encountering evil spirits, would bring them to the Red Lantern Society's masters for help.
Their role here wasn't just to guard and clean the estate, nor merely to learn skills.
They also had the responsibility to cleanse the area of evil spirits.
Once the red lanterns were lit, the surrounding ten miles became the territory of the Red Lantern Lady.
Not only did people have to follow the society's rules, but even evil spirits had to comply.
Otherwise, they would be dealt with.
In essence, this was the purpose of the estate.
The Red Lantern Society's most important task was to worship the Grand Duke and transport blood offerings.
In this world, there were many skilled individuals capable of extraordinary feats like ghostly transportation and substitution.
But these methods often failed when applied to the Grand Duke's blood offerings.
To facilitate transportation, the Red Lantern Society established these branch estates, serving as both resting points for personnel and temporary storage.
During busy times, they were even sent out to escort and protect the offerings.
During quieter times, they had to cleanse the area of evil spirits to prevent chaos during busy periods.
Take, for example, the den of yellow immortals.
If Liu Datun's family hadn't provoked them first, they wouldn't have known about them.
Over time, as these creatures grew stronger, if they caused trouble during the spring when blood offerings were brought to the estate, it would be a major problem.
Blood offerings were highly attractive to evil spirits.
Once the estate received blood offerings, it would be a fatal temptation for the surrounding evil spirits.
Even those usually friendly might cause trouble.
This was why the Red Lantern Society had to cleanse the area of evil spirits.
Of course, the cleansing was mostly about driving them away.
A full-scale slaughter would be too much even for the Red Lantern Lady to handle.
Every step the Red Lantern Lady took had a reason, but to the surrounding villagers, it seemed like a benevolent act.
They even began to worship the estate as if it were an ancestral shrine.
The traces of burnt offerings and paper money Hu Ma had seen earlier were a result of this.
The villagers worshipping the Red Lantern Lady was a good thing, as it contributed to her incense and offerings.
The workers, of course, couldn't stop them.
"Everyone has their own way of life..."
Hu Ma thought to himself.
The town and surrounding villages, being closer to Mingzhou Prefecture, had more merchants and shops.
Life wasn't as hard as in Dayang Village, but they had lost the custom of worshipping ancestors, instead turning to the Red Lantern Lady.
"But isn't the Red Lantern Lady herself an evil spirit?"
He remembered his conversation with Erguotou, discussing those who served the Red Lantern Lady as human candles.
A strange thought had crossed his mind.
And Erguotou's response had been matter-of-fact: "Of course she's an evil spirit. The biggest one within a hundred miles, in fact... Otherwise, how could she dare to call herself a lady?"
"Living people worshipping ghosts, evil spirits fighting among themselves..."
"They say dusk is the boundary between yin and yang, but I think that boundary has long been blurred."
Hu Ma sighed silently, feeling a strange unease.
He decided to focus on what he needed—the life-saving techniques of the Shou Sui Ren.
At least through this incident, he had confirmed that the old manager was the person he was looking for, and his techniques were similar to Second Master's, though more advanced.
The life-saving techniques he needed to learn would likely come from this man.
"You'll sleep over there. Divide the beds among yourselves. The latrine is inside. Don't fall in at night."
"The inner courtyard is the manager's residence. Don't go in there unless you have business."
The brocade-clad young man, seemingly eager to prove himself but having been rebuffed, was in a foul mood.
He coldly returned to his room.
His two attendants led Hu Ma and the other new workers to the side room for rest.
But the young man was arrogant, and his attendants were no better.
They lazily pointed out the sleeping arrangements and then went to sleep in a cleaner, tiled room nearby.
"It seems that in this world, having a private room is a luxury..."
Hu Ma thought to himself.
He and Zhou Datong lit an oil lamp and began assigning beds.
There were two rows of kang beds in the room.
Zhou Datong immediately claimed the more spacious western kang for his group, knowing Hu Ma preferred quiet, so he left the bed by the wall for him.
The other workers, seeing that Hu Ma's group was larger and more united, didn't argue and silently took the older, more worn kang.
"Are we going to have to deal with these evil spirits every day from now on?"
After lying down, one of the new workers whispered.
"That young master from the Xu family was too ruthless."
"Back home, we always treated these immortals with respect. But he just killed one outright..."
They came from different places, but their experiences were similar.
They had always avoided evil spirits and respected supernatural beings.
No one would recklessly provoke such things, so they all felt uneasy.
But Hu Ma thought they were right about one thing—they would likely be dealing with these spirits often.
"I heard those who burn red incense have it good. They stay in the city, enjoying good food and drink, and learn powerful skills..."
As they tossed and turned, Li Wa'er from the same village whispered, "Those who burn white incense aren't bad either. Many of them stay in the city..."
Hu Ma heard this and chuckled, "So, from now on, you'll make all your own decisions, okay?"
Li Wa'er remained silent, pretending to be asleep.
"You're such a troublemaker..."
Zhou Datong rolled over and kicked Li Wa'er in the butt, scolding, "If it weren't for Hu Ma, you wouldn't even be able to burn green incense, let alone stay in the city enjoying good food and drink. If you stayed in the city, you wouldn't even get a job cleaning chamber pots..."
Then he rolled back to face Hu Ma, smiling ingratiatingly, "Hu Ma, I really admire you."
Hu Ma smiled, "Why?"
"No reason, I just feel like following you won't lead to any losses."
Zhou Datong said, "That guy with the wooden sword might be arrogant, but I think you're more impressive than him..."
"I am more impressive than him..."
Hu Ma thought to himself, though he couldn't figure out the wooden sword the other guy had.
It seemed like something not to be trifled with.
Seeing that the others had already fallen asleep, some even snoring, Hu Ma excused himself to use the latrine and stepped outside.
On the wall, he saw Little Hongtang sitting there, staring at the stars.
"Why aren't you inside?" he asked.
Little Hongtang shook her head vigorously, "No, the beams inside are too smoky. Hongtang can't sleep there."
Hu Ma couldn't help but laugh.
Since Grandma left in the sedan chair, Little Hongtang had been following him.
She usually liked to sleep on the beams, whether it was back in the village or during their brief stay in the city.
But back in the village, it was just him in the room, and in the city, it was only Zhou Datong and a few others.
Now, there were twice as many people.
Seeing her pouting and looking troubled, Hu Ma felt sorry for her.
He picked her up and asked, "What would help you sleep better?"
Little Hongtang's eyes lit up, "That old object the man has. Hongtang likes old objects."
"An old object... the wooden sword?"
(End of Chapter)