Yesterday, after receiving the notices, no one went to play by the river anymore, especially after Er Gou's death served as a warning. Unexpectedly, even in such circumstances, someone still had an accident, and it was none other than the Water Monkey, who was responsible for guarding the riverbank.

I quickly asked my father how the Water Monkey died. My father said that the Water Monkey's death was very strange. He drowned in an area of shallow water, around one meter deep. Given the Water Monkey's swimming skills, this kind of thing simply couldn't have happened. It's not easy to drown even a child in water that's more than a meter deep, let alone a proficient swimmer.

The nickname "Water Monkey" was given to him because of his excellent swimming abilities. It was ironic that he drowned in the water.

Furthermore, we had warned the Water Monkey about the danger in the water, so why did he still go into the water?

My father dried himself off, hung the towel in the yard, and then sat down in front of me. He said, "The Water Monkey should have been dragged into the water by something because we saw clear traces of dragging on the riverbank!"

"Was there anything unusual?" I asked.

My father thought for a moment and said, "Yes, it was strange. There were many water plants tangled around the Water Monkey's body, making it appear as if he was strangled by them. But we found many ** marks on his body, and his feet... were still wearing a pair of red sandals!"

** marks?! Red sandals?!

Under the clear sky, I suddenly thought of the little girl with lifeless gray eyes and the little boy wearing a red bellyband. A chill ran down my spine.

I remembered that Xiaopang also had ** marks on his ankle a couple of days ago, and he almost got dragged into the water by the water ghost. Fortunately, Xie Qiang and I saved him in time.

From the current situation, the red sandals belonged to the little girl, and the strange ** marks were likely left by the little boy.

These two little ghosts were taking turns causing harm. If we didn't get rid of them, Hongqi Village would never have peace!

I set down my bowl and told my father that I wanted to go to the river to investigate the Water Monkey's death. My father worried and followed me to the river.

Many people had gathered by the riverbank, and the Water Monkey's body was placed on a grass mat.

Just as my father had described, the Water Monkey's body was tangled with water plants, covered in mud, and even had mud blocking his nostrils. There were bite marks on his neck, arms, and ankles. The most bizarre thing was that he was still wearing a pair of red sandals. For an adult's feet, they wouldn't fit, and the red sandals seemed to be hanging from his toes, glaringly red.

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Elder Yu called me over and asked how we should handle this situation.

I told Elder Yu to find someone to bring back Ku Cripple. It was almost the Ghost Festival, and we needed to deal with these two little ghosts before that.

The Ghost Festival, which fell on the fifteenth day of the lunar seventh month, was also known as "Ghost Month." It was believed that during this time, the gates of the underworld would open, and the spirits of the underworld would return to the human realm to visit their loved ones, like a prison furlough.

During this day, people in the human realm would conduct grand memorial ceremonies, such as burning paper offerings and making ghost meals.

When the gates of the underworld closed, all the spirits had to return, or the Black and White Impermanence would come to capture them.

Because of the gathering of spirits on this day, the lunar seventh month was the time when Yin energy was the strongest throughout the year.

Some lonely spirits and wild demons would take this opportunity to absorb Yin energy from the world to increase their ghostly power and cultivation.

Unfortunately, the villagers who went to invite Ku Cripple came back and said that he wasn't at home. As Ghost Festival was approaching, there were many ritual activities, so Ku Cripple's business was booming, and no one knew where he had gone.

Upon hearing this news, my heart was filled with mixed feelings.

I was glad that Ku Cripple had finally reappeared, indicating that his injuries should have healed. I was happy for him.

But I worried that with a life-threatening incident happening in the village now, we couldn't rely on Ku Cripple's guidance. I felt empty and lacked confidence.

Elder Yu looked at me earnestly and said, "Yang Cheng, your master isn't here now, so we can only rely on you!"

I awkwardly nodded because Elder Yu trusted me a lot since I had successfully dealt with several incidents before. He believed that I had received true teachings from Ku Cripple.

However, I was well aware that I was only a small fry, far from being as powerful as they imagined.

After thinking for a while, I said thoughtfully, "I need to find an assistant..."

I snapped my fingers and suddenly thought of someone: Wang Baochang!

Although Wang Baochang was a third-rate Taoist priest, he still had some real skills. Dealing with two little ghosts should not be a big problem.

I hurriedly went to Wang Baochang's house, only to see him digging a rice jar. After digging for a long time, he had only dug out half a bowl of white rice and was staring blankly at it.

I stood behind him, patted his shoulder, startling Wang Baochang, causing him to drop the half bowl of rice onto the ground.

Wang Baochang looked pained as he bent down, picking up each grain of rice one by one, muttering, "Don't waste it! Don't waste it!"

I said, "Wang Baochang, it's not that bad, is it?"

Wang Baochang shook his head helplessly, "Business is not good nowadays. I haven't had any jobs for a month, not even a small one. My family is struggling to make ends meet. The last time I asked you to talk to Ku Xian about bringing me some jobs, did you actually talk to him?"

I paused for a moment, realizing that I had indeed forgotten about this matter. I felt quite guilty towards Wang Baochang.

But I still smiled and said, "Of course, I did talk to him. But it takes time, so be patient!"

Wang Baochang poured the half bowl of rice into the pot and added a large pot of water. "If I wait any longer, I'll starve to death. Every meal is watery porridge with salted vegetables. My mouth is almost losing its taste. I almost forgot what meat tastes like!"

I told him not to exaggerate and said that I came to him today to offer him a job.

"Really?!" Wang Baochang looked at me, his face filled with surprise.

I nodded, "Of course it's true. Why else would I go through all this trouble to find you?"

"Oh my goodness, you... understand gratitude and return favors. You're a good kid!" Wang Baochang excitedly hugged me and kissed my cheek hard.

Feeling disgusted, I pushed Wang Baochang away and asked if he could catch water ghosts.

Wang Baochang slapped his chest loudly, saying, "I can do anything except murder!"