I stared at the middle-aged man, and no matter how I looked at him, he seemed familiar, as if I had seen him somewhere before. But where exactly, I had also forgotten. Since he entered the house, Uncle Yuan was like a different person, not saying a word, just chain-smoking. The man also took out a pack of Huanghelou cigarettes from his bag, lit one up and put it in his mouth, then took out an unknown brand lighter, lit the cigarette, and silently stared at Uncle Yuan with him.

  I sighed in my heart, indeed a rich man. Let's not mention the lighter I didn't recognize, just talk about the cigarettes he smoked, Soft Heaven Tour Huanghe Lou, at least over 100 yuan per box. My god, even if I calculate it, my monthly salary can barely afford eight boxes of cigarettes. It's really not a joke.

  I thought rich people's hobbies were really many, why did this uncle come to such a small broken shop to eat ramen noodles since he was so rich? This is simply unreasonable! Could it be that he is the kind of local tyrant who has eaten all the delicacies and is rumored in Jianghu?

  Before long, Aunt Yuan brought a bowl of noodles from the kitchen. She expressionlessly placed the noodles on that man's table and then silently walked over to our table. For a moment, no one in the house spoke, including me. I looked at Uncle Yuan's serious expression and knew this matter was absolutely unusual. I'm not someone who doesn't know what's going on, so I continued drinking my wine.

  The whole noodle shop could only hear the sound of the local tyrant eating noodles at this time. Before long, he finished his noodles and lit a cigarette, taking a deep breath before saying to Uncle Yuan: "Brother, haven't you had enough trouble? Do you think this is fun? Come back and help your brother."

  Big brother? He calls Yuan Dashi big brother? Then he is Yuan Dashi's younger brother? No wonder Yuan Dashi can afford to live comfortably in the bustling city with such a broken-down noodle shop, it turns out he has a rich brother, really you can't judge a person by appearance.

  "No matter how many times you come, I won't go back. I'm old and can't take it anymore. Now I just want to live a stable life."

  That local tyrant burst out laughing after hearing what Mr. Yuan said, and said: "A stable life? Is it just this broken noodle shop of yours? Are you going to go on like this forever?"

  Yuan Da Shu extinguished his cigarette, nodded and said to the local tyrant: "At least, I can sleep soundly every day now."

  "That's a good sleep! You really live up to our parents' expectations!!"

  After he finished speaking, he stood up and slapped a hundred yuan on the table before pushing the door to leave. The store was left with just the three of us again, all silent. I had originally wanted to ask Old Yuan what this was all about, but thinking about it, as an outsider, I didn't dare open my mouth. Looking at that person leaving, Old Yuan and Mrs. Yuan were still in their taciturn state, so I also couldn't continue disturbing them here.

  So I told Auntie how much money, Auntie and Uncle Yuan surprisingly didn't want to accept my money again. But this won't do, we're all doing business here, even if I had a big face, I couldn't just eat and drink for free. So I said to Uncle Yuan, you must take this money, otherwise next time I'll be too embarrassed to come.

  Then Aunt Yuan could no longer decline, and accepted my money. It was already around 6 o'clock in the evening, I thought that there would be another fierce battle tonight, so I had to go home and prepare first. So I bid farewell to Uncle Yuan and Aunt Yuan.

  On the way home, I thought to myself that every family indeed has its own unsolvable problems. But Uncle Yuan is really quite strange, having a brother who seems to be very rich, yet he still insists on running his small noodle shop. Although I don't know what's going on in their household, I also feel that Uncle Yuan isn't an ordinary person. If it were me, I would have sold the noodle shop long ago.

  Back home, Bao Jinlong and his wife were lying in bed watching a movie. I returned to my room, took out more than 30 talismans from my painting bag, which was the stock I had accumulated over the past year. I was afraid of sudden events, so I had prepared the talismans early on. These talismans were mainly my old three styles: "Ding Yi Ju Qing Hu Ti Fu", "Jia Zi Wen Qing Huan Shen Fu" and "Jia Wu Yu Qing Po Sha Fu". Since my Taoist practice at this time was already far superior to when I was in school, apart from these three talismans, there were also a few that I had figured out myself from the "Sanqing Book", which included two types of six Ding six Jia full talismans. One was called "Ding You Wen Gong Kai Lu Fu" and the other was called "Jia Shen Wen Chang Zhe Xie Fu".

  I used two rubber bands to tie these symbols together, along with some other things, and put them in a slanted shoulder bag. With so much firepower on me, I suddenly felt confident, no matter if you're a night fox or a night pot, I'll take care of you tonight!

  I put on a pair of thick woolen shoes, then dug out my thickest down jacket and buttoned up a big cotton hat. With the bag slung over my shoulder, I looked like a bloated penguin in the mirror. No matter how I looked at it, it was awkward, but considering how cold it was outside and that I didn't know when I'd be done, I couldn't worry about appearances now.

  I came to Bao Long's house and told him and his wife, "I won't be back tonight." Bao Long smiled lewdly at me and said, "What's going on, Brother Ni? Got a date with some little girls tonight?"

  As soon as he finished speaking, his wife slapped him in the face. His wife said to him: "What's wrong with you? You still have ideas about going out and finding a little girl?"

  "No, no idea at all. How dare I have any ideas?"

  I gazed at the two of them and thought to myself with a bitter smile: I'm really looking for women, but they're not young girls, they should be considered old ladies. Alas.

  After saying goodbye to them, I went downstairs and took a taxi to the large supermarket near Song Jia's residence. I went upstairs to the second floor, pushed a shopping cart to the food area, bought a jar of honey and a bag of sugar, and then went to the hardware area to buy a box of three-inch nails and a bundle of thin rope. It's really convenient to have such large supermarkets now. There is even a house outside the supermarket where you can buy live chickens. Luckily I came at the right time, before 8 o'clock, the chicken seller hadn't closed yet. So I spent another 35 yuan to buy a yellow chicken.

  I still have a sense of gratitude towards the yellow chicken, after all, I was once saved by a yellow chicken. So I made up my mind that no matter what, I couldn't let this yellow chicken die tonight, and after things are settled, I will set it free.

  I'm back in the supermarket, it's around 8 o'clock now. I sit on a stool in the leisure area and start to meditate for tonight's fierce battle. To be honest, my actions can't be seen by anyone, otherwise, I'll either be considered mentally ill or sent to the police station for a day trip.

  Everyone who has seen this must be wondering, what did I buy these things for? Let me explain. The few things I bought are the folk remedies that Ninth Uncle used to ward off evil spirits before he died, called 'Golden Rooster Hooks Night Fox'.

  The fox-like creatures have an inexplicable urge to attack chickens and other domesticated birds from birth, and this method uses a yellow chicken as bait to lure out the nocturnal fox. The nocturnal fox's demonic eggs are parasitic on humans and cannot be completely eliminated by ordinary means. To lure out the young foxes, one must take a sturdy yellow chicken, apply honey and sugar to its comb, tie up one of its legs with twine, and then cover it with three-inch nails all over its body. A person holding the twine hides in a distant place, as long as they are within two miles of the person possessed by the nocturnal fox, the young foxes attached to that person's body will inevitably be tempted by the yellow chicken and temporarily leave their host's body to search for it.

  Just lure it out and it'll be easy to handle. At that time, with these few tricks of mine, I won't believe we can't deal with a little scoundrel who hasn't even come of age!

  I sat in the leisure area, doing nothing, although it wasn't my first time doing this kind of thing, but I couldn't help feeling tense inside. I thought to myself, what if that really was a night fox possession? If not, then I'd have to wait over ten more days before asking Ninth Uncle again. But I could wait, that kid couldn't, because judging from the fire energy on his body this afternoon, he probably wouldn't last much longer.

  Well, let's take it one step at a time. If it really isn't the Night Fox, then I'm truly stumped and can only say that this child is just unlucky.

  It's not that I'm a suspicious person, but it's just strange because the Night Fox shouldn't be appearing in this era and city as a monster. If Ninth Uncle weren't my master, I would never believe that such creatures exist in this world.

  But that's just the way the world is, many things you don't believe in or don't want to believe in, but they still exist. In this comfortable society and harmonious history, how much of the truth has been hidden?

  As I sat there, I dozed off, but who can sleep soundly at this time and place? At a little past 11, I woke up. Since it's a 24-hour supermarket, the lights were still on, but except for me, there were almost no other customers left in the store. I felt a bit hungry, so I went to the fast food area next to the leisure zone. A few supermarket employees were working listlessly. I bought a boxed meal, which was half price at night, just what my stomach wanted. For five yuan, I got a big fish and meat dish, completely satisfying my petty bourgeois mentality.

  It's actually quite easy to satisfy people, like me now, I'm pretty satisfied. Sometimes I don't even understand myself, eating boxed meals while thinking, it seems that I'm really not someone who does big things.

  As a result, I still ended up eating two boxes.

  After eating my fill, I feel that I should be in the best state now, and it's almost twelve o'clock, so there shouldn't be many people in the neighborhood. So I carried my backpack and held the yellow chicken out of the supermarket, and it was really cold on a winter night... I lit a cigarette and walked towards the neighborhood where Song Jia lived.

  The night wind is cool, and a destined-to-be-turbulent night has thus begun.