God's Gift

"Miss Yu, you're here." The shopkeeper came over from the corner with a few incense sticks in his hand. He happened to see Yu Youyou, and smiled, saying:

"I've saved the latest book for you. I'll go get it right away."

"Okay." Yu Youyou nodded, then looked at the incense in the shopkeeper's hand and asked curiously, "What are you doing with this?"

When the shopkeeper heard Yu Youyou's words, he glanced at the incense in his hand, waved his hand and said, "Recently, there have been rats biting the books in the bookstore. I wondered if the offerings to Chang'en on New Year's Eve were not enough, and he was unwilling to protect the books in my house, so I thought of offering them again today."

"What is Chang'en?" Yu Youyou asked in confusion after hearing the shopkeeper's words.

"Chang'en is the book ghost, guarding the books in the library. As long as he is there, the books will not be harmed by insects and rats." After saying this, he saw the "Hundred Ghosts Atlas" in Yu Youyou's hand, smiled, and said, "The book in the young lady's hand has the record."

"Great." Yu Youyou laughed, took the book in her hand, walked to the counter, and said to the shopkeeper: "Give me the storybook, I want this book too."

"Okay." The shopkeeper laughed and turned to get the storybooks. Yu Youyou stood in front of the counter, shook her head, and opened the illustrated book of a hundred ghosts.

Just then, an old man who looked like a scholar walked in. It was a sunny day, but he was holding a paper umbrella in his hand, with water droplets dripping from it.

After entering the store, he put down his umbrella, wiped the rain off his hands, and said to himself:

"It rained so heavily in Qizhou that all the books were submerged in water and cannot be saved..."

As he spoke, he sighed and shook his head. Without even looking at Yu Youyou who was standing at the counter, he walked straight into the inner room, muttering as he walked:

"We've only been gone for a few days, and here come the rats."

As he walked in, the shopkeeper happened to walk past the old man with a book in his hand, but he seemed not to see the old man and brushed past him. Then he walked up to Yu Youyou with the book in his hand, with a sad face.

"Miss, I originally left you four storybooks, but one of them was eaten by a rat, so I can only give you three."

Yu Youyou did not answer the shopkeeper's words, but looked at the old man who was leaving. He walked to the altar, picked up the offering on the table and put it into his mouth, then opened his mouth and swallowed the smoke.

The shopkeeper was still complaining: "This rat has learned his lesson. He won't eat the medicine even if I give him medicine. I'm worried..."

Yu Youyou grinned, turned around happily, took the book from the shopkeeper, left two taels of silver for him, and said:

"Chang En is back. The rats here will be driven away soon."

When the shopkeeper heard Yu Youyou's words, he laughed and shook his head.

Meanwhile, Yu Youyou just ran outside with the book in her arms, and saw a little ghost in the crowd on the street. The little ghost was short, but he was carrying a huge cloth bag on his back, and the gaps in the bag showed that it was filled with gold and silver.

The little ghost slowly protected the cloth bag on his body and stood in the crowd. A man appeared in front of him. He walked forward and raised his head and asked:

"May I ask if you have ever met my benefactor?"

The man naturally didn't see the existence of the little ghost and walked straight past the little ghost. The little ghost looked at the girl passing by and asked, "Excuse me, young lady, have you seen my benefactor?"

In this way, people came and went on the street, but no one could see the little devil carrying a bag of gold.

After asking several people without any result, he sat down on the side of the road dejectedly. He looked up with a sigh, only to find a girl across the street looking straight at him.

He looked around and found that the girl was looking at him. He immediately stood up, ran to Yu Youyou with the gold bag on his back, and asked nervously:

"Can the girl see the little man?"

Yu Youyou looked down at the little ghost in front of her, nodded, and asked, "Are you looking for someone?"

When the ghost saw that Yu Youyou could see him, he was even more delighted. He jumped up from the ground with his money bag on his back. After celebrating, he asked, "I am from Qingzhou City. When I passed through Gusu City a year ago, I accidentally encountered horse thieves. Thanks to you for saving me and giving me money and food."

"I was grateful for the kindness of my benefactor. I heard that he was from Gusu City, so I came to Gusu to repay him. But I met with danger in the city and lost my life. I have not yet repaid him, so I cannot rest assured to reincarnate. So I turned into a debtor ghost and stayed in the human world to continue looking for my benefactor."

After hearing what the debtor said, Yu Youyou asked doubtfully, "Who is your benefactor?"

The debtor thought for a while and replied, "I don't know the benefactor's name, I just remember that he was about eight feet tall, with a handsome face, bright eyes... He loved to smile, and was a great hero who would help others when he saw injustice... I don't remember much else."

After saying this, he himself felt that the description was too broad and the possibility of finding it was very slim, so he sighed again.

Yu Youyou looked at the debtor ghost's dejected appearance, her eyes rolled around, and then she bent down to look at the debtor ghost at eye level, pointed her finger at the debtor ghost's forehead, and a blue light flashed in her right eye, and she saw the scene when the debtor ghost was alive.

A young man wearing a beautiful blue satin robe and a dark jade cloak, holding a spear, rescued a middle-aged man from the horse thieves and shouted to them:

"Who dares to commit murder outside of Gusu City? I will go home and let my father kill you!"

Yu Youyou saw this and her expression was indescribable. She said, "Fang Ziang..."

It turns out that Fang Ziang is the great hero that the debtor mentioned.

"Miss, do you know who my benefactor is?" The debt ghost asked excitedly when he heard Yu Youyou's mumbling.

Yu Youyou withdrew her hand, pointed in a direction to the debt ghost, and said, "Fang Ling, the son of the Lord of Gusu City, go find him."

When the debt ghost heard this, his expression was a little hesitant, and he said regretfully: "The benefactor is actually the son of the city lord. I'm afraid he doesn't need money."

He paused for a few seconds, took off the cloth bag on his body, put a bag at Yu Youyou's feet, and said: "Miss, in order to clarify the identity of the benefactor, you are now also my benefactor. These gold and silver are considered as a reward to the girl."

After saying that, he disappeared in front of Yu Youyou.

Yu Youyou looked at the big bag of gold at her feet, scratched her head, reached out to pick it up, looked left and right, and walked into the restaurant next door.

As soon as we sat down, the waiter came over to greet us. Yu Youyou picked up the menu and began to read out the dishes in order:

"Hundred-flavor soup, new-style quail soup, two-color kidney soup, shrimp mushroom, chicken mushroom, muddy cane soup, xuansuo powder, group of immortals soup, fake river dull, white minced fish, fake mandarin fish, fake yuan fish, cassia seed, meat and vinegar fetus and intestines sand fish, twice-cooked perilla fish, fake clams, minced meat with noodles, Hu pancakes, soup bones..."

She read the last part in one breath, then domineeringly put the recipe into Xiao Er's hand and said generously, "I want them all."

The waiter was stunned when he heard this and said hesitantly: "Miss, I'm afraid you can't finish all these dishes by yourself..."

Yu Youyou waved her hand and said without any worry: "It's okay, my little brother will be here soon and we can finish it."

The waiter was still hesitating, but with a quick glance he saw the cloth bag in Yu Youyou's hand, which seemed to be shining with golden light.

He squinted his eyes and looked at it. The smile on his face became more and more real. He bent down and replied respectfully: "Since there are still people coming, these should be enough. If the lady has any other needs, just call me."

"We have a drama performance in our inn. You can watch some drama to relieve your fatigue while you are waiting."

As soon as he finished speaking, several actors in costumes walked onto the stage on the east side of the restaurant and attracted the diners' attention as soon as they opened their mouths.

"Dear guests, the name of our play today is "The Beggar General"."

As soon as the name came out, the diners below immediately reacted and laughed, "Isn't this beggar general our Gusu Town City General Ning Du?"

"This is a famous play. It tells the story of a beggar who went from begging for food on the street to joining the army to fight the enemy, defend the country, and finally became a famous general. Everyone should watch it carefully!"