to blame

Tu Qing was eager to defend himself on the phone, "You have known me for a few days, do you think I look like that kind of lawless person?"

Ming Xia looked out of the door, but secretly laughed in his heart, "That's true, as long as you have the guts...won't you take your last name?"

Tu Qing grinds his teeth, "Ming ~ small ~ six ~"

The two figures walked outside the door of the pet shop. The one who was the first reached out and knocked twice on the glass door. Before Ming Xia could say "Come in", he stretched out his hand and pushed open the glass door, and walked in one after the other.

Ming Xia froze for a moment, thinking how powerful these two are.Although they are all wearing casual clothes, the inadvertent vigilance and vigilance shown in their gestures are not what ordinary office workers can have.Ming Xia noticed the direction of the man's eyes when he entered the door: the window, the back door, the storage room, and then it fell on him, the shopkeeper.

When the two people's eyes met, Ming Xia inexplicably felt an urge to take a few steps back.

The corner of the man's mouth curled slightly, but his eyes were as serious as water, without the slightest smile, "Yo, another replacement? You're not the boss here, are you? What about others?"

Ming Xia didn't know how he figured it out, so he calmed down a bit before nodding his head and said, "I look after the store for my friend. There was an earthquake in Xishan, he was stuck at the service station, and he didn't come back in time."

The man nodded indifferently, and pointed to the person behind him, "Let her check the documents in the store."

Ming Xia quickly glanced at the young girl with a ponytail behind him, and felt that she also had a cold smell all over her body, and the way he looked at him seemed to be seeing the suspect.

Ming Xia didn't know which tendon was wrong, so he asked out of nowhere, "May I ask which unit you are from? Can you take a look at your certificate?"

This should be a reasonable request, right?Ming Xia thought uncertainly, there are so many scammers out there these days, so it's always right to be cautious, right?

The young girl frowned, as if she wanted to scold him but held back.The man indifferently took out a document from his pocket, opened it and handed it to him.Ming Xia felt that the appearance of this certificate was very similar to a police officer's certificate, with the red seal of the National Security Bureau and a photo of the certificate in uniform.The man in the photo has very neat short hair, sword eyebrows and starry eyes, with a bit of awe-inspiring domineering at the corners of his eyebrows and eyes.The surname is also rare, the surname is Nan, called Nanjiang.

Ming Xia was a little puzzled as to why the National Security Bureau was needed to check a pet store, but since there was a public red seal on the certificate, it should be true.

Ming Xia scratched her head in embarrassment, and went around to the cabinet to get the documents that Tu Qing had prepared in advance.The young girl also turned on a small handheld computer, tapped and called up a file labeled "Tu Zai Pet Shop".When Ming Xia walked past her, he happened to see Tu Qing's silly passport photo popping up on the screen, with the words: Rabbit next to it.

Ming Xia froze for a moment, thinking that the staff also made a typo?Or was it written in homophonic characters to save trouble?Just as he was thinking about reminding him, Nan Jiang asked him, "Did these little things react during the earthquake?"

Nan Jiang leaned on the front desk, and when he said "little thing", he reached out and rubbed the beauty's hand.Ming Xia frightenedly glanced at the beauty lying on the front desk, and saw that the stupid cat had become honest again, wagging its tail limply back and forth, with a flattering expression on its face, the fierce look it had just bared its teeth at him It's not visible at all.

"No." Ming Xia didn't feel the earthquake himself, so he didn't pay special attention to the reactions of the small animals. After thinking about it, he added, "It's just that a hamster got lost."

He said this casually, but Nanjiang seemed to be very interested in this topic unexpectedly, "When did you get lost?"

"Just now, not too long." Ming Xia pointed to the direction the hamster crawled away, "It squeezed out of the door desperately, as if possessed by a demon. When I chased it out, it was already gone."

"Didn't you see anything when you went out to look for it?" Nan Jiang seemed to ask casually, but his eyes were fixed on Ming Xia, as if he had discovered something extraordinary from his words.

Ming Xia had lingering fears in his heart, "It's nothing special, it's just that a bird flew past my head, which startled me."

Nan Jiang and the young girl exchanged a look that Ming Xia couldn't understand.For some reason, Ming Xia suddenly had a feeling that the man's seemingly chatty question was not meaningless.

Sure enough, Nan Jiang asked again, "Have you seen what the bird looks like?"

Ming Xia shook his head, "It looks bigger than an adult owl. Also, its wings should be very strong."

This description was too general, and both Nan Jiang and the girl showed a somewhat dazed look on their faces.But the girl still carefully recorded what he said.

Before going out, Nan Jiang patted him on the shoulder, and said in a half-truthful tone, "I give you a piece of advice, young man. At night, try not to wander around Huaxin Street."

Ming Xia didn't understand what this man wanted to express, because Tu Qing opened a shop here, he often came here to look for him, but he rarely came here at night.Because Tu Qing also said that their side is the old city, and the security is not so good.But for some reason, Ming Xia felt that Nan Jiang's reminder did not mean security.

Ming Xia was absent-minded for a while, packed up her things, closed the door and locked it, and prepared to sleep.

Tu Qing's small shop is full of living things, and usually there are people on duty, and the guest rooms are also tidied up comfortably.When Ming Xia got into bed, he still thought in his heart that he must ask Tu Qing about Nan Jiang's nonsensical words. After all, this is an opinion given by an official person, and he will never say this to fool people. Bar?

When he was half asleep, Ming Xia suddenly realized that he couldn't remember what the two people who came to check the documents looked like.He remembered looking at the papers of one of them and answering some questions.But for some reason, maybe because he was too sleepy, he couldn't remember anything.

Ming Xia dreamed that she went out to look for hamsters again.

That little hamster, Baobao or Beibei, blinked its clever little round eyes, and hid in the corner of the flower garden to hide and seek with itself. When it saw him coming, it turned and ran away. If he couldn't find it, it would still He deliberately jumped out to show his face, and then hid behind Canna and waited for him to find it.

Ming Xia ran after it amusedly, seeing that his hands were about to grab the little hairy body, suddenly a big bird descended from the sky, and grabbed the hamster with two pitch-black iron claws.

The hamster squeaked in panic, the big bird flapped its wings and soared into the air, the air from the tip of the wings brushed over Ming Xia's cheeks, Ming Xia smelled a very strange fishy smell, a bit like it had been deposited on the pier for years The rotten smell.But very light, as if the wind blows away.

When Ming Xia woke up, she felt that inexplicable smell was still lingering in her nose.He suspected that he was startled by the big bird passing over his head, otherwise how could he have such a dream?He wiped the cold sweat off his brow, and was about to lie back to sleep when he suddenly sat up in shock.He heard the sound of flapping wings outside the window.Being so close, he seemed to be able to feel a slight air current brushing against his cheek.

Ming Xia listened attentively to the movement outside.

Early morning is the quietest time of the day.Except for the slight sound of the night wind blowing through the treetops, there was not even the sound of vehicles passing by.Ming Xia suspected that he heard it wrong, or that he was affected by the dream and had an illusion.He comforted himself in this way.But for some reason, he was still covered in cold sweat.

Maybe that man was right, and he shouldn't be here after dark.

This place... seems to be a bit evil.

As a local, Ming Xia knew a little about the history of the old town.It is said that many, many years ago, when Yaozhou City was just a dilapidated village on the edge of Yaojiang River, there was only Huaxin Street in the village.There is a grocery store and a medical clinic on the street. The medical clinic not only treats people, but also works as a veterinarian.Because of the excellent medical skills of the doctors in the clinic, many people brought their patients (animals) to seek medical treatment.More people came, and the village gradually prospered.Later, it became Yaozhou City, the original village became Yaoxi District of Yaozhou City, and Huaxin Street was still the same Huaxin Street.

Because many buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties are preserved in Yaoxi District, it is also called the old city by the locals.In recent years, the tourism industry has risen, and the city has proposed several times to develop the old city, but for some reason, it has been ignored.Fortunately, most of the buildings on Huaxin Street are made of green bricks. Although they don’t look very bright, in terms of their firmness, it’s not a problem to live in them for another 80 or [-] years.

Tu Qing's pet shop is located on the East Street of Huaxin Street. Across the road is a square built in an anticlimactic renovation a few years ago. On the square stands a stone statue named "Butian". It is said that the person who designed the stone statue Ren was a famous sculptor at that time.But Ming Xia doesn't have any artistic talent, so he can't see the good or the bad. He just thinks it's a bit scary to have such a stone statue with a human body and a snake tail on the street.

In addition to the stone statue of Nuwa, the square also has some feng shui attention.But it's been so long, Ming Xia couldn't remember where he heard it from.

Because he was disturbed by the sound of flapping wings all night, Ming Xia got up early in the morning to look for the bird's nest, trying to find out the culprit who disturbed his sleep.But he went around the old building a few times, but he didn't find any place suitable for big birds to build nests—there were a few swallow nests under the shed, but the movement in the middle of the night, he knew it couldn't be Sent by the little swallow.

As for whether there is a bird's nest on the top floor, Ming Xia has not been able to confirm for the time being.The upper floor of the pet store is the apartment shared by Tu Qing and others. It is not convenient for him to go up there when Tu Qing is not there.

While Ming Xia was walking around downstairs, the owner of the bookstore next door came to work.This is an old man who looks a bit old-fashioned, about five or sixty years old, tall and thin, wearing a pair of old-fashioned black-rimmed glasses, with a briefcase under his arm, he looks like a retired man who is about to rush to a meeting Veteran cadres.

As soon as the veteran cadre saw Ming Xia, he took two steps back and asked him with a look of surprise, "Young man, where did you go in the middle of the night? You smell like this..."

Ming Xia has been a beautiful child since she was a child, and she has never been disliked by anyone in her twenties.Hearing this, he raised his arm resentfully and smelled his own arm, it seemed... there was really a faint stench.

The old man took two steps closer and smelled it, then frowned and said, "I still have some wormwood in my store, you can take it and boil it for a good soak."

Just as Ming Xia was about to decline, the old man added, "It's a good thing that today is a sunny day...soak it at noon when the sun is at its best...be obedient!"