Liaozhai Great Sage

After staying in the gloomy Lanruo Temple for a few days, it still feels a little strange to return to the bustling Guobei County.

In order not to surprise people, Li Xiuyuan put away the dragon horse before entering the city, and then walked for a while and entered the county.

"Isn't this the young master? Why did you come back from outside the county so early in the morning?"

"Hey, good morning, young master, have you had breakfast, how about a bowl of noodles for you?"

"Go, go, you want the young master to solicit business for your family. You are too stingy to ask the young master to sit down with a bowl of noodles."

Many people in the county who knew Li Xiuyuan greeted him warmly, especially the shops by the road, and they all wished to lure Li Xiuyuan into the shop for something to eat.

If you can get a compliment from Li Xiuyuan, it will be a great honor for those who cook in Guobei County.

Business will boom a lot.

However, when Li Xiuyuan passed by a steamed stuffed bun shop that he often went to, he found that the shop with good business was deserted and almost no one patronized it, while the shopkeeper was frowning and sitting there with a lot of thoughts, as if Encountered something embarrassing.

"Shopkeeper, what's the matter, you don't look very good? Did you give away steamed stuffed buns a while ago, and the donation was too much, and you lost your money?" Li Xiuyuan asked with a smile.

"Oh, it's the young master?" The shopkeeper looked quickly, and when he saw Li Xiuyuan approaching, he was immediately startled, stood up hastily, and bowed respectfully, "I've seen the young master."

"You don't need to be so polite. I'm not an official, so I don't have that much prestige." Li Xiuyuan said.

The shopkeeper smiled: "It will be a matter of time for the eldest young master to get a good name in the exam, and sooner or later he will be an official."

"You guys think that being an official is a very dignified and dignified thing, but I don't think so, I think being an official is a kind of responsibility, so if you say that I will be rich and prosperous in the future, with wives and concubines in groups, I will be very happy , if you praise me as an official, I'm not so happy." Li Xiuyuan said.

"The words of the eldest young master have a smell, and need to be carefully tasted, and the younger ones don't understand those big principles." The shopkeeper said.

Li Xiuyuan said: "What's the matter, I didn't open the stall today? It can't really be that the last time I donated a lot of buns, I lost my money."

The shopkeeper said sternly: "Giving alms to save people is a matter of great merit. It's too late for the little one to be happy. Besides, the eldest young master also reduced the rent for the young one. The small one didn't lose money. On the contrary, he was taken care of by the young master." , the business has improved a lot, and the money earned has also increased a lot.”

"It's a good thing, so why are you worried?"

Li Xiuyuan said: "I wanted to eat something at your stall, but who knew you didn't show up this morning."

"It's not that the small ones don't do business, but that the business can't be done. Every time the small ones steam a basket of steamed buns, strange things happen, which makes the business unsustainable," said the shopkeeper.

Li Xiuyuan asked curiously: "Oh. Strange thing? What kind of strange thing."

The shopkeeper explained in detail, roughly, the steamed stuffed bun shrunk a circle as soon as it came out of the cage, and when it was delivered, the bowl-sized steamed stuffed bun shrunk to the size of a ball of flour, tasteless to eat.

"Is there such a thing? Well, just bring up a basket of steamed stuffed buns, and I'll see what's going on." Li Xiuyuan said.

The shopkeeper didn't think much about it, but just ordered Xiao Er to bring up a basket of steamed buns.

Soon, Xiao Er went to the back kitchen of the store to get a basket of steamed buns, and as expected, before the Xiao Er came out with a basket of steamed buns, the steamed buns shrank and shrunk visibly, and finally only one A small ball of white flour, taken with a handful of hands, turned into a powder directly, which is of no usable value at all.

"Young master, look at this..." the shopkeeper said.

Li Xiuyuan smiled: "It's not a big deal, it's just being eaten by a ghost."

"Eat by a ghost?" The shopkeeper was surprised.

"Yes, ghosts eat qi. What they eat is the essence of the food. If they take wine to sacrifice to ghosts and gods, if ghosts and gods enjoy it, the wine will immediately lose its taste, become rancid, and sour. This is because the smell of wine has been absorbed by ghosts and gods." If it is eaten, so is the food, if it is eaten by ghosts and gods, the food will lose its original taste, just like your steamed stuffed bun." Li Xiuyuan said.

"It's in broad daylight, oh, how can there be ghosts." The shopkeeper trembled a little with fright.

"Who says there are no ghosts during the day? There are not necessarily fewer ghosts during the day than at night. It's just that ghosts hide in dark places during the day and don't come out to move around, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. It looks like you have a few little ghosts hiding in your shop." Li Xiuyuan Look towards the store.

But I saw five or six dark-faced and thin men huddled there in the dark place of the shop, motionless, it was really not easy to see if you didn't pay attention.

"What, what, is there a ghost in the shop?"

The shopkeeper turned pale with shock: "Well, what should I do?"

"Don't worry, since we happened to meet them today, let's do the shopkeeper a favor and get rid of these little devils." Li Xiuyuan walked into the shop as he spoke.

After entering the store, he felt a gloomy aura, which is the aura that ghosts often have.

Li Xiuyuan walked towards the five or six ghosts, and said, "Why do you ghosts hide in other people's shops during the day and steal other people's food? Don't you know that this is a very immoral thing?"

The five or six ghosts curled up in the corner saw that Li Xiuyuan could actually see him, and immediately understood that this was an unusual expert.

A taller ghost came out respectfully and said: "We have no choice but to hide here to beg for food. We were all affected by disasters when we were alive, and we had nothing to eat. People who died of starvation turned into starving ghosts after death." , and because there are no relatives to sacrifice, I came here only because I was hungry, so I had to hide in the shopkeeper's shop to beg for a few meals, and left after eating and drinking."

"Please forgive me, this expert. We just ate a few meals secretly. We absolutely didn't intend to harm anyone. This shopkeeper is also a blessed and kind person. We dare not harm him. It is the shopkeeper who passed by. , we have to hide in the corner and avoid it far away, lest we be affected by our ghost aura and make the shopkeeper get sick."

Another starving ghost said timidly.

"How many days have you eaten here?" Li Xiuyuan asked.

"It's been five days, and we will leave after eating on the last day of the day. We have agreed that each person will be full for one day, and we ghosts can last for a year after eating a full meal. I believe we can support you until the day of reincarnation. Day." said the taller starving ghost.

Li Xiuyuan said: "You six starving ghosts have eaten the shopkeeper's six days, how can you repay this kindness?"

"In my next life, I will work for him for free for one year."

"I will help him with ten small things in the next life."

"I will give him 100 taels of silver in my next life."

"..." These starving ghosts said one after another, and they all said their own ways to compensate the shopkeeper.

It can be seen from this that all the benefits a person gets during his lifetime are all due to his good deeds and accumulated virtues in his previous life. The so-called help from nobles is actually the merit left by him in his previous life.

Chapter 253 Integrity

Li Xiuyuan nodded after listening: "Very well, what you have done is enough to withstand the kindness of a meal, since you have eaten the last day today, then I will let the shopkeeper take you on the road, so that you can be reincarnated as soon as possible , so as not to continue to stay in the world.”

"Thank you, Master." All the starving ghosts clapped their hands in gratitude.

Li Xiuyuan nodded, and he had reached an agreement with these starving ghosts.

He didn't use strong means to expel these starving ghosts. After all, these starving ghosts were good people in front of them. It was just that they had to hide here to beg for food when they encountered disasters and became starving ghosts.

Moreover, he did not use ghosts and magic to obtain food, but only had to steal it. This kind of crime is much smaller.

When Li Xiuyuan walked out, the shopkeeper outside hurriedly asked, "Master, how is the situation?"

He saw Li Xiuyuan talking to the air and the wall in the store before, as if talking to someone, but he couldn't hear any sound, only heard Li Xiuyuan talking to himself, which surprised him.

It seems that there are really ghosts in my store.

But seeing Li Xiuyuan's calm and unafraid look, the shopkeeper was not so flustered.

Li Xiuyuan said: "Shopkeeper, a few starved ghosts hid in your store. They were starved to death because they had no food in life, and there was no one to sacrifice to them after death, so they were so hungry that they hid in your store to eat." For a few days, I hope you don’t blame them. You can set up a banquet, put six paper figurines, offer sacrifices, and send the paper figurines to the temple to be burned at night, then this strange thing will be calmed down. .”