Chapter 88

Chapter 88 An Honest Blackmailer

Laosan yelled, "Save that crap. You've broken my stuff. It's reasonable and legal that you should pay for it."

Qin Haodong said, "I'm OK if you want me to pay for it, but how much is the stuff worth anyway? We should call an expert to evaluate it. I can't pay you 30 million just because you want it."

The onlookers agreed and said, "That's right. Even antiques need to be evaluated by experts. You can't just open your mouth and ask for 30 million."

"I think he's just blackmailing. How could a broken mirror cost that much?"

Laosan felt a little guilty when he heard the onlookers discussing. He envied Qin Haodong so much on the 30 million he had just earned, so the price slipped out of his mouth without a second thought.

Now it seemed that he asked for too much. If he agreed to send the broken mirror to be evaluated, it might be worth 30 yuan, at most.

His fierce manner suddenly weakened when he thought about that. He said, "I didn't mean that it had to be 30 million. How much would you like to pay?"

"The price depends on the loss." Qin Fen reached out to the mirror and took it out of Laosan's pocket. He checked it in his hand and said, "The mirror did have fallen on the ground, but it's intact now. What do you want me to pay for?"

Laosan looked at the mirror and found in surprise that the mirror which had been squashed by Fatty Wang was now good as new. There was not a single clue of damage.

What's going on? He saw Fatty Wang squashed the mirror by himself, but now it became flawless.

He thought it for a moment and was sure that the young man must've repaired the mirror with some special technique. He was really acting fast because he had just taken the mirror in his hand.

Qin Haodong was shaking his head silent at the same time. He thought to himself the blackmailers nowadays were becoming less and less professional. They should use fragile stuff such as a vase. And even if they had to use a mirror, they should've smashed it and stepped on it, then they could use it to blackmail. Why did they use such an intact mirror to blackmail?

Laosan didn't know what had happened, but he had no way back since he had already been here. He screamed with head and shoulders, "Obviously it has fallen on the ground. It looks fine but it must've been broken inside. You have to pay me."

Qin Haodong laughed out again because he found the guy really funny. He asked, "Broken inside? Why am I not seeing it puking blood?"

At the moment, two guards of the Antique Row came out of the crowd. The taller one of them asked. "What are you doing here?"

Qin Haodong said, "Bro, I ran into a blackmailer. He wants me to pay him 30 million for a broken mirror. Isn't he crazy?"

The taller one frowned and asked Laosan, "What's wrong? Is that true?"

"No... It's not like that." Laosan was going to argue but his words changed before he spoke it out. He answered, "I am a blackmailer. My fellow suffered a loss in the antique shop of Fatty Wang because of him. Fatty Wang asked me to blackmail him because he wanted more money from him."

The onlookers burst into laughter as he said that. They were surprised to see such an honest blackmailer who had dumped out all of his dirty plans.

Laosan shivered and woke up all of a sudden. He didn't know what had got into him just now and made him confess his inner most thoughts.

Qin Haodong finally knew that he didn't run into the blackmailer by coincidence. Fatty Wang sent him here.

The taller guard looked at Laosan like he was looking at a freak. He said, "In that way, you have to go to the police station with us."

Laosan was so scared that he was shaking. People like him feared policemen the most. He immediately begged, "Please don't do that, bro. Just let me go this time. I was just foolish and I won't do it again."

The taller one turned to Qin Haodong and said, "In that case. It all depends on him."

Laosan knew how it worked, too. He said to Qin Haodong, "Bro, I know I was wrong. Please forgive me this time. I had a 70-year-old mother to feed and a kid who's at school..."

Qin Haodong smiled slightly and said, "In fact, it's negotiable."

"That's great. I apologize to you, and I'll bow!"

After he said that he bowed to Qin Haodong to apologize several times.

Qin Haodong had heard enough words on TV shows, and he was not touched at all. He said, "Apology isn't enough for me because you scared me badly when you asked me for 30 million. I need mental compensation."

"Com... compensation?" Laosan was surprised. He was the one trying to blackmail, and now the other party was trying to ask money from him.

"Don't you agree? Then let's go to the police and see how the policemen deal with it."

"Yes, I agree... I agree." Laosan repeated. It was better to pay than to go to the police station because you can earn money if you didn't have any, but if you were jailed in the police station, it wouldn't be easy to get out.

"How much do you want?" Asked Laosan.

"How much do you have?"

"I... I have 1,000 yuan." Laosan didn't why but he had just reported all the money he had. He was surprised again because he was going to say 100 but the words were changed before he spoke it out.

Qin Haodong frowned. Though he looked dissatisfied, he said, "1,000 yuan was not much, but I'll call it. Next time when you try to blackmail me, remember to bring more money."

"Well..." Laosan felt like crying. He was the blackmailer, not the blackmailed, why would he have to bring more money?

But it's now all too late. He had no other choice but to take 1,000 yuan out of his pocket and hand it to Qin Haodong. Then he turned back and fled.

Seeing the blackmailer ended up so miserable, the onlookers burst into laughter.

Qin Haodong put the money in his pocket. He raised the mirror in his hand and yelled, "Hey! Stop running! You forgot your props!"

"I don't need it any more, take it as a gift!" Laosan said as he disappeared in the crowd.

Qin Haodong smiled. It was hot that day so he could use the mirror as a fan. He fanned himself with the mirror and walked along the Antique Row.

An hour later, he had gone through all the shops in the street, but he still didn't find a proper magic instrument. He knew it was all about luck, so he had no choice but to go back.

In Fatty Wang's antique store, Niuer was staring at Laosan with his two small eyes widely opened. He said, "You're the blackmailer. You failed to get any penny and let him empty your pocket? Shame on you!"

The fake old Taoist added, "Laosan, your blackmailing way is really one of a kind. You just humiliated the whole blackmailing community!"

Laosan said with a bitter face, "I did know what happened, but what had happened today was too odd. The mirror squashed by big brother suddenly recovered, and it looked like no one had stepped on it."

"And my brain failed to control my mouth at that time. They asked me if I am a blackmailer, and I said yes. They asked how much I had in my pocket, I told them everything. My brain was thinking about one thing while my mouth was speaking otherwise."

The geezer in Tang costume had been in silent for long. He said, "It's odd, indeed. Remember what happened when we worked as cappers? Our mind was suddenly out of control."

The fake old Taoist opened his eyes suddenly, "Are you saying that the young kid knows witchcraft?"

Laosan nodded again and again. He said, "It's highly likely. Everything was too odd when I recall it now. I've been living in the field for all these years, and never had I met something so odd."

Fatty Wang squinted his eyes. He considered for a moment and said, "Turns out that we've hit on someone really capable today. Let's not to mess up with the young man from now on. We can't afford to offend him."

When he got home, Qin Haodong threw the mirror on the tea table, and walked to Qin Waner's room.

He felt a little shocked when he saw the girl. The golden part on her forehead was as big as a coin this morning when he left home, but now it had shrunk into the size of peanuts.

It indicated that the ghostly fetus was invading faster and faster. She might not be able to make it through tonight.

The death in Qin Waner's eyes was getting thicker. She looked at Qin Haodong like she was looking at a stranger.

She said indifferently, "You're home."

"Yeah." Qin Haodong nodded.

"Is everything ready?"

"Most of them!" Qin Haodong answered, but he didn't sound he was sure.

"It seems that you don't have much confidence!" Qi Waner said as he took out a knife under the pillow and handed it to Qin Haodong.

"What is this?" Qin Haodong asked.

"You promised that you'll kill me if you failed to treat me. I don't want to bea half-man-half-ghost monster."

Qi Waner sounded more and more indifferent, like she was talking about something that had nothing to do with her.

"Take it easy. I'll cure you."

Qin Haodong said that, but he also accepted the knife. He would have no choice but to kill Qi Waner if he had no way to save her back.

He went back to the living room after that. Then he put everything he bought the tea table, including cinnabar, yellow papers for worshipping the god, the iron-piece amulet, and many more.

He started to draw taoism figures after he was done preparing. He was unable to draw high level figures at his cultivation, and could only draw the basic ones to invoke or expel the spirits.

Even so the success rate was not high, he had only succeeded in one or two out of ten.

When he finished, he put up a piece of Invoking Figure Talisman on Qi Waner's brain.

After yellow light flashed, the black Qi gathered between his eyebrows quickly receded to both sides, revealing an egg-sized area.

It seemed that it was working. Qin Haodong felt slightly happy, and he put up two more Expelling Figure Talismans on Qi Waner's temples. This time the yellow light was even stronger, expelling the black Qi to under her neck.

After the black Qi was expelled, a beautiful face was revealed. Normal expression went back into her eyes.

"Thank you, Doctor Qin!"

Qi Waner jumped into Qin Haodong's arms and cried. She had been haunted by the ghostly fetus for ten years. She felt like being swallowed by it all the time. It was understandable how painful she was.

She was so desperate when she heard that she might end up being a ghost slave, or she wouldn't have handed the knife to Qin Haodong. Now she finally saw the hope to be cured. She had every reason to be happy.

Qin Haodong felt a little embarrassed feeling the pressure on his chest. He pushed Qin Waner away and said, "This is just the first step to success. I need to draw more Taoist Talismans to expel the ghostly fetus out of you completely."

"Okay, Doctor Qin, I will help you!"

Qi Waner said as she started to collect yellow papers and prepare cinnabar for Qin Haodong like his assistant by his side.

Qin Haodong picked up the brush pen and was going to draw. At the same time the phone he put on the tea table rang.