On the Avenue

Chen Shi returned home, still a little confused. Grandpa called him to eat. He only took two bites before putting down his bowl and chopsticks. He returned to the room with one foot high and one foot low. He fell on his back on the bed and stared at the beams with wide eyes.

"You brat, do you still want to eat? If not, feed the dog!"

Grandpa threw the food in front of the black pot.

Black Pot smelled it, shook his head, and turned to leave.

"My own dog, I don't know if it tastes good..."

Hearing this, Black Pot came back with a wagging tail and a shy smile, sniffed it, opened his mouth to eat, but found it difficult to swallow, so he had to turn around and leave with his tail between his legs.

"The food cooked today does taste a bit too much. Almost all of it is medicinal herbs, and none of it is edible."

Grandpa frowned slightly and reflected on himself, "Be more restrained next time, and at least the dog can eat it. The dog would rather die than eat it, and Xiao Shi will definitely not eat it."

When it was dinner time, Chen Shi got up, feeling a little listless.

The ruined temple on the barren mountain was the only place he had found where he could practice seriously. Now this place was shattered by a meteorite. If he only relied on starlight to practice, it would not be known how long it would take for him to get rid of his status as a useless person.

He wanted to retake the scholar exam and then the civil servant exam, get rid of his current life, and at least earn a lot of money to support his grandfather in his old age.

Grandpa is getting older and older, and he doesn't want grandpa to have to run around taking care of him, a little useless person, when he reaches old age.

But now, a sudden meteorite has turned his dream into a fantasy.

He was devastated.

But the days would go on, and Chen Shi soon got out of this state, because grandpa cooked a sumptuous dinner.

This dinner didn't have any weird-tasting herbs, and there was nothing wrong with it except that there was too much salt.

For the first time in two years, Chen Shi ate food that tasted normal. After two bites, his eyes turned red and he almost cried.

"Is it salty?"

Grandpa stood in front of the altar table with his back to him. Eyeballs on his shoulders were staring at Chen Shi. When he saw this, he asked, "I can't taste it. Maybe it's a bit salty."

He has lost all sense of taste and can even eat candles with relish.

Chen Shi shook his head: "It's not salty, it's so delicious."

Grandpa smiled and said, "You can become a master only if you endure hardships. Double the dose of medicine at night."

Chen Shi lowered his head to eat. After a while, he raised his head and said, "Grandpa, the ruined temple where we spent the night was destroyed that night. A stone from the sky broke the mountain."

"There are so many things like this in Xiniu Xinzhou, why should you worry about it?" Grandpa slowly ate the candle and said, neither salty nor cool.

"Has a lot of this happened?"

"Yeah. A lot."

After the meal, Chen Shi took the initiative to clean up the pots and pans without his grandfather's instructions, and he was very diligent.

After Chen Shi took a medicated bath, he practiced Sanguang Zhengqi as usual. From the next room, his grandfather used the Thousand Miles Telephone Talisman to contact his father. His grandfather repeated the old tune and told his father, Chen Tang, that he was old and did not have a few days left. He wanted to Chen Tang took Chen Shi to the city.

However, there are always various excuses on the other side of the thousand-mile message.

Grandpa asked Chen Tang again if he would be back during the Chinese New Year.

The other side is still an excuse.

The Thousand Miles of Sound Talisman burned out, and the room was darkened, with only a long sigh coming from the room.

"Ah Tang, I really can't live long. I'm worried about Xiao Shi..."

Chen Shi in the yard felt sad and continued to practice hard, but his practice speed was greatly reduced, far less than the progress he made in the ruined temple on the barren mountain.

Late at night, he returned to bed and stared at the dark beams. It took a long time before he fell asleep.

Heiguo heard the sound coming from Chen Shi's room and couldn't help but listen.

"Grandpa, don't worry about me, I can take care of myself..."

Black Guo was a little confused. Grandpa had obviously gone out. Who was Chen really talking to?

It quickly stood up, quietly opened Chen Shi's door, and looked inside.

"Grandpa, I am not a cripple. I will not get sick again. I will get better. I will pass the exam to be a scholar and a good candidate."

On the bed, Chen Shi did not sleep well, talking in his sleep, "I will let you live a good life... I don't like dad, and I have never seen him. Grandpa, please don't give me away, please... ...Grandpa, don’t give me away, I will be filial to you..."

After watching the black pot for a while, Chen Shi turned over and fell asleep, no longer talking in his sleep.

Black Pot stepped forward, covered him with the kicked-off quilt, quietly went out, and closed the door with the knocker in his mouth.

Early the next morning, grandpa packed up the car and prepared to go out. Chen Shi was a little nervous and asked, "Where are you going, grandpa?"

"I went to the county town to buy medicine, but I ran out of medicine at home."

Chen Shi thought for a while and said, "The reason why the meal grandpa cooked last night was delicious was because there was no medicine at home?"

"Yeah. I'll be back in the afternoon, don't run around."

The old man sat in the car, holding a compass, and ordered, "If you are hungry, I will starve you. I will give you something good to eat in the evening, brought back from the county."

Chen Shi was looking forward to it.

The wooden cart rolled out of the village.

Chen Shi went out to pay homage to his godmother and practiced for a while, but he became hungry very quickly, so he extorted some duck eggs from Yuzhu's family, stole some sweet potatoes and a watermelon, and returned home after eating and drinking.

The godmother of Huangpo Village was sitting on a tree, with her dark eyes open, holding a red fruit in her hand, waving to him.

"You want to poison me while grandpa is away, right?"

Chen Shi sneered, returned to the room, found pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and planned to draw some talismans and sell them secretly for money.

"Kaiguo, are we good buddies?" Chen Shi put one hand behind his back and approached the big black dog with a smile.

Black Pot stepped back alertly, already guessing what he wanted to do.

Chen Shi rushed forward, Tu Qiong saw him, revealed the knife hidden behind his back, and shouted: "A good brother should stab a good brother... Why don't you stab me? My blood doesn't have the fragrance of yours... …How about I draw some money from the talisman and share it equally?”

He was fighting with the black pot, and he was beating like crazy. Suddenly there was a fierce knock on the door, and then the door was pushed open, and a dusty man broke in. He was wearing burlap clothes and his feet were worn flat. He was wearing straw sandals and was startled when he saw a man and a dog fighting.

"Is this Master Chen's home?"

The man hesitated and said, "Something happened in our village! There is an evil spirit and several children have been lost. Please ask Master Chen Fu to help eliminate the evil!"

Chen Shi let go of the dog, got up, and said to the man, "My grandfather went to the county town to buy medicinal materials and won't be back until this afternoon."

The man looked disappointed and cried bitterly: "What should we do? If we wait until the afternoon, I'm afraid everyone will die!"

"Um... Is there any reward for getting rid of evil spirits for you?"

Chen Shi's eyes were bright and his breathing was a little rapid: "Do you have any money?"

The man hesitated for a moment, then took out three or four finger-sized pieces of broken silver, about five taels or so, and mumbled: "We in Huangyang Village can only scrape together this..."

Chen Shi grabbed the silver, held it in his hand, and said with a smile: "My grandfather is Chen Fushi, and I am also Chen Fushi. I will take over your business! Just wait for me for a while, I will pack up and follow You go over there!”

The man was stunned and saw Chen Shi excitedly entering the house, followed by the black dog.

There was only a dog barking and the child's voice coming from the house, like a conversation.

"Woof, woof woof!"

"I know I don't have true energy and can't do magic, but I can draw talismans."

"Woof woof, woof woof woof!"

"Don't worry, nothing will happen. Saving one life is better than building a seven-level pagoda, not to mention the loss of several children and several lives."

"Woof..."

"You want to say that it is unreasonable to be evil during the day, right? I also think it is a bit unreasonable. However, I must earn this money. When I encounter a barren mountain or a ruined temple next time, I don't need to ask Grandpa If you want money, you will have the money to repair the ruined temple.”

"Woof?"

"I was thinking that if the temple was not so dilapidated, the sunlight inside would not be noticed by the eyes in the sky, and maybe it would not be destroyed, and I could continue to practice."

…

After a while, Chen Shi packed up and went out carrying a bookcase. The bookbox was taller than him and filled with stuff, probably weighing more than twenty kilograms. However, Chen Shi carried it on his back, but it seemed like nothing. , as if no weight is felt.

"Kai Guo, I left a letter to grandpa telling him where I went."

Chen Shi wrote a letter and gave it to Gouzi, saying: "When grandpa comes back, give him the letter. If I encounter danger, ask him to come to Huangyang Village quickly to rescue me."

Heiguo ran quickly to the middle hall with the letter in his mouth and placed it under his grandfather's memorial tablet. He quickly ran back with a small knife in his mouth and told Chen Shi to put the knife in the book box. If he was in danger, he would use his own dog's blood to ward off evil spirits. Maybe it can save lives.

Chen Shi knew that it was worried about his own safety, so he had no choice but to let it follow.

The man quickly led the way, and the two of them headed towards Huangyang Village.

Huangyang Village is at the northern foot of Qianyang Mountain, not far away in a straight line, but the mountain road is rugged and difficult to navigate. Both sides of the road are barren mountains and dense forests, where wild beasts often appear.

On the way, Chen Shi roughly understood the matter.

There is an abandoned house in Huangyang Village. The family named Tian originally lived there, with eight people. Suddenly one day, everyone in the Tian family, men, women, old and young, died suddenly. Even the domestic animals, including chickens, ducks, cats and dogs, died suddenly. Er Jing!

The government did not intervene in this matter. After all, this kind of thing happened too many times in the countryside, and the government could not ask questions, so it became an unsolved case.

Later, there were rumors that the farmhouse was haunted. Over time, it became an abandoned house and no one went in.

"There was a naughty child in our village who climbed over the wall and was possessed by the evil spirit. He cried and laughed, saying, "Whoever wets the bed will be eaten, and whoever wets the bed will be eaten."

The man said, "It didn't work even if I put a peach charm on it. The child's mother also made offerings to the godmother, but it didn't work either. Something happened that night."

Chen Shi listened intently and said, "What's the matter?"

"There was a child in the village who wet the bed and was caught."

The man looked strange and said, "The child's father saw a huge shadow on the wall of his house in the middle of the night. He opened his big mouth, stuck out a long tongue, sucked the child away and took it away."

Chen Shi suddenly had a sudden thought. Is this a traitor that preys on children who wet the bed?

This is too evil.

"Yesterday, two more children disappeared. Other families were so scared that they didn't dare to let their children drink more water, for fear that they would be eaten if they wet the bed at night. Some families would wake up their children in the middle of the night to let them pee, but they still went out. It happened. Today during the day, the child of the old Liu family, named Fugui, was peeing when he was caught by a long tongue hanging from the sky. He also sucked it and disappeared. "

"daytime?"

Chen Shi couldn't help but frown, would there be evil spirits during the day?

"Then what?"

"Then get eaten."

"The godmother of your village has not intervened in this matter? Can she allow evil to enter the village?"

The man shook his head and said: "Not all godmothers protect the villagers. Some godmothers think that there are too few sacrifices and will cause mischief. Some people say that the family of eight named Tian was killed by the godmother of our village. Said That night, instead of driving away the evil spirits, the godmother of our village let an evil one enter the village. Son, let Xie kill the eight members of the Tian family. It seems that the godmother had a grudge and killed them because the Tian family's daughter-in-law had spoken rudely to her godmother. Give us more incense and offerings, otherwise we will end up like Tian."

Chen Shi frowned, aren't all godmothers kind?

Why do you still do evil?

When they came to Huangyang Village, they saw that Huangyang Village was in a dilapidated state, with old houses, mostly thatched huts. The people in the village were also wearing tattered clothes, as if they were fleeing. Both children and adults are all dishonest and weak.

There are several children in the village. Some are timid and hide behind their parents, while some are bold and clamor for water. They must have not had water for a long time.

"An evil that preys on children who wet the bed? This kind of evil should be attracted by children's urine. In other words, the reason why the children were taken away was not the bed-wetting, but the children's urine. I am still a child...wait a minute, I was captured Did I lose my body before I had the divine fetus cut off? I was only nine years old at the time, so I shouldn’t have lost my body..."

Just as Chen Shi thought of this, he was suddenly hit by someone and saw a half-year-old child about his age running past him.

The child bumped into him, stopped hurriedly, turned around and apologized to Chen Shi. He was a thin boy, very shy, with half a piece of snot hanging under his nose.

"It's okay, it's okay."

Chen Shi waved his hand generously and said with a smile, "Aren't you afraid of me?"

If a child from Huangpo Village had bumped into him, he would probably be kneeling on the ground, kowtowing and begging Boss Chen for mercy.

The thin boy asked curiously: "Why should I be afraid of you?"

Chen Shi thought of the children from the same village who knelt in front of him and cried for mercy. He smiled empathetically and said, "The children in our village are afraid of me and don't dare to play with me."

The thin boy scratched his head: "Then you don't have a friend?"

"I also have a godmother. I also have a scapegoat. I also have a scholar. They are all my friends." Chen Shi said with a smile.

The thin boy also smiled: "Then would you like to have another friend?"

Chen Shi's eyes suddenly lit up. This was the first human friend he had made after waking up!

The key is to be alive!

The elders in the village surrounded the man who was leading the way for Chen Shi. An old woman tremblingly said: "Sanwang, I asked you to invite Master Chen Fu. Where is Master Chen?"

"Master Chen is not at home. Only his grandson is at home. Although he is young, he is also a talisman master."

The man Sanwang glanced at Chen Shi and whispered, "And our village doesn't have much money. I'm afraid we won't be able to hire other talisman masters, so we can only hire this young one. For five taels of silver, which talisman master would be willing to Come?"

Everyone looked at Chen Shi and saw that Chen Shi was talking to the air. He was still talking and laughing. They couldn't help but look at each other.

Sanwang boldly said, "Master Chen Fu, who are you talking to?"

"My new friend!"

Chen Shi smiled and said, "By the way, my name is Chen Shi, and my nickname is Xiao Shi. What's your name?"

"My surname is Liu, and my name is Fugui." said the thin boy.