As the sky darkened, the dilapidated earthen house became somber.
A flash of panic crossed Huang Laosi's face. He knew there was something wrong with the dead man's shoes, but how could he be content without getting the money?
"Give me the money! If you don't give it to me, don't blame me for being rude!"
He roared in a bluff, completely unaware that a figure had appeared behind him.
"Honey, can you walk now?" Hu Xiuying's face lit up at the sight of the person, but her smile quickly froze.
She felt that something was not right with her husband's expression.
Lu Fei narrowed his eyes.
The mandarin duck shoes were starting to cause trouble.
Huang Laosi, feeling the two strange gazes, turned his head and was so startled that he nearly fell off the stool.
Huang Youlai had a deathly pale face, his red eyes fixed on him, giving an especially eerie stare.
"You, what do you want to do?"
Usually ferocious and intimidating, he couldn't muster up the same demeanor under that gaze, and even felt a bit weak in his limbs.
Huang Youlai didn't say a word, standing there like a puppet, his cold hand gripping his shoulder tightly as if demanding something from him.
"Stop looking, if you don't want to die, hand over the shoes!" Lu Fei shouted loudly.
"The shoes... but the money..."
Even at this critical moment, Huang Laosan was still hesitating.
"Money or your life?" Lu Fei felt that he was really putting in the effort, but unfortunately in the wrong direction; with such determination, he could have done something much better.
"I..."
Before Huang Laosan could make up his mind, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the soles of his feet, as if someone were stabbing him with a knife.
"Is it, the ghost again?" He was now scared, quickly reaching out for the shoes in a panic.
But when he looked down, he was stunned.
That pair of red cloth shoes actually crawled out of his pocket by themselves, the tips pointing right at him. The dark red surface of the shoes had somehow become a glaring bright red.
It was as if they were stained with fresh blood.
Before he could react, the red cloth shoes suddenly took a step towards him.
"Oh my God! A ghost!"
Huang Laosi was instantly petrified, retreating frantically on all fours.
But the red cloth shoes did not go after him; instead, they headed towards Huang Youlai.
Huang Youlai's deathly pale face twitched, revealing a coquettish smile like that of a woman. He lifted his foot, as if waiting to put on the shoe.
"Hubby! No!" Hu Xiuying shouted in alarm.
But how could Huang Youlai hear her voice at this moment?
In the blink of an eye, Lu Fei lunged forward and forcefully stabbed the old scissors in his hand into one of the red cloth shoes, rendering it immobile.
For him, this level of malevolent spirit causing trouble was already considered a minor situation.
He quickly aimed the blades of the scissors at the heel of the shoe.
With a forceful snip!
Crack!
The rusty scissors actually made a crisp sound, and the heel of the shoe split open with a neat cut. The red cloth shoes quivered for a moment before coming to a complete stop.
However, there was still another shoe, rapidly charging towards Huang Youlai.
It seemed about to trap Huang Youlai's foot, but the next moment, it was as if some force had blocked it, and it bounced back.
The ghost-repelling characters on Huang Youlai's body turned to ashes, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed, limp.
"Dear?"
Hu Xiuying was both scared and worried.
"Watch out, Big Brother Huang!"
Lu Fei shouted at her and, grabbing the old scissors, went after the remaining red cloth shoe.
Only then did Hu Xiuying dare to approach, tightly holding the ghost-repelling word given by Lu Fei, and stood guard by her husband's side.
The remaining red cloth shoe turned and went after Huang Laosiji (Fourth Brother Huang).
"Don't come after me!"
Huang Laosiji was so scared that he rolled and crawled, fleeing towards the door, but it seemed as if he couldn't see the entrance; when he reached the doorway, he changed direction and started running in circles inside the room.
He hadn't run for long before another sharp, piercing pain shot through his foot, causing him to stumble and fall, face-first into the ground.
The red cloth shoe had caught up with him, and the lovebirds on its surface seemed to be staring at him coldly.
With his back against the wall, he had nowhere to retreat.
"Help! Help me!"
As the red cloth shoes got closer and closer, Huang Laosi, in terror, knelt down and kowtowed towards them with a loud thud.
"I'm sorry, big sister, I shouldn't have dug up your grave!"
"I was wrong! I won't dare to do it again, please, don't hurt me..."
"I really know I was wrong! Spare me, and on every holiday, I'll burn paper offerings for you..."
However.
Nothing worked.
His foot lifted involuntarily and slipped into the cloth shoe.
"Ah——"
A pig-like scream nearly brought the roof down. Huang Laosi clutched his foot, writhing in pain as if he were dying.
The red cloth shoes were constricting and shrinking.
Huang Laosi felt as if his foot bones were broken, and every time the cloth shoe contracted, it brought extreme pain.
"Help! Help me!"
"Big boss, save me!"
He desperately pleaded with Lu Fei for help, but instead, Lu Fei stopped and stood by, looking at him indifferently.
"Didn't you say these shoes were yours? Wearing your own shoes is only natural, right?"
"I was wrong! I was wrong! These shoes aren't mine... I found them, ahhh..." Huang Laosi wailed in agony.
"Found them?" Lu Fei said with an ambiguous smile, remaining still.
"I, I found one, and stole one..."
Huang Laosi dared not conceal anything further and told the whole story of how he got the red cloth shoes in a faltering voice.
Actually, he wasn't completely lying.
That day.
He lost money gambling and went to hide from his gambling debts on the back mountain. Unfortunately, it started raining heavily, and the rain washed away part of an abandoned grave, exposing a red cloth shoe in the mud.
He didn't pay much attention to it at the time. Later, when Huang Youlai came back to the village to collect old items, he remembered the red cloth shoe and went to retrieve it, selling it to Huang Youlai at a high price.
He thought he had made some easy money, but a few days later, Huang Youlai returned to the village, wanting to buy another shoe.
He then went and dug up the grave, stealing the other shoe.
"I won't do it again, I really won't, please, spare me... Boss, help me..."
Huang Laosi was in so much pain he was almost passing out.
Lu Fei then stepped in, taking out the lightning-struck jujube wood stick and, infusing it with his power, gently tapped the red, blood-like mandarin duck shoes on Huang Laosi's feet.
A faint arc of electricity flickered.
The mandarin duck shoes immediately detached from Huang Laosi's feet and fell to the ground, quivering slightly.
But Huang Laosi's foot was now only half its original size, the broken bones squeezed together like an ancient three-inch golden lotus.
He hugged his foot, leaning against the wall as if in a faint, tears streaming down his face.
Since he wasn't dying, Lu Fei ignored him and aimed the old scissors at the heel of the shoe.
Just as he was about to act.
The shoe trembled, and the mandarin ducks on its surface slowly shed blood tears.
"Stop! You scum, no better than pigs and dogs, let her go, stop...."
A shrill and angry man's voice rang out in the dark, dilapidated earthen house.
Everyone was stunned.
"Why is it a man's voice?"
Lu Fei looked around in astonishment.