Copper Coins

In the summer of the 23rd year of Tianxi, a dragon fell in Huameng County, Guangdong.When the officials and the people looked at it, it coincided with the torrential rain, the waves turned and the tide surged, and the dragon rolled into the sea, but there was no trace of it. —— "Huameng County Chronicles" [1]

In the winter month of the same year, Ningyang County, Huizhou Prefecture.

The five-watch clapper had just been knocked, and it was still dark, but there were faint voices of people on Xingtang Street.The waiter of Jiuweiju carried several large drawers of freshly steamed buns and set up a breakfast stall in front of the building.

The watchman trotted over, shrugging his neck and rubbing his hands, and bought three buns.He swallowed one in two mouthfuls, and while swallowing with difficulty, he winked at the waiter at Jiuweiju: "Eh? Are things ready?"

"It's ready, here it is." The waiter patted the food box next to the cage drawer with a sad face.

The watchman was surprised and said: "Are you really preparing it? What if he...that thing doesn't come today?"

The waiter was shocked silently, and said dryly: "Mother and ancestor, please don't come."

This Jiuweiju is a well-known restaurant in Ningyang County. The chef is also known as "Liu Sanyang". Crispy pear and oxtail raccoon.The meat is streaky pork without skin, the chicken is fat and lean Lishan pheasant, and the raccoon must be a raccoon from the snowfall.

Jiuweiju relies on these three dishes to be full of customers every day, so the business is not worrying.But Liu Sanyang is a pretentious person. He only serves ten servings a day, and he doesn't cook more than one pot, so he has to hurry up early if he wants to eat.

However, if you order hard dishes as early as the fifth watch, it is probably because your brain is a little sick.

This sick man has been here for two days in a row.

On the first day, after he announced the names of the three dishes in front of the waiter, he never spoke again.Is really out of breath.In the cold winter, whenever he exhales and opens his mouth, there will be a cloud of white mist, but his face is clear and clear, without a trace of mist.On the second day, he had more requests—cooked chicken in clay pots is not allowed to be served in clay pots, star anise and cumin are not allowed, crisp pears and oxtail raccoons are not allowed to put crispy pears...

This request does not seem like a serious meal at all, but rather a signboard.

However, instead of forking out the suspected guest, the waiter waited tremblingly for two days, and even prepared the food boxes in advance today.

He glanced at the sky, shivered his legs again, stretched his neck like a slender chicken and asked the watchman: "It's almost time, why don't you shake?"

"Why am I trembling every night?" The watchman lowered his voice and said: "Besides, this year is not peaceful, and it is not uncommon to see any monsters. In June, people in Guangdong saw real dragons. Did you say that? I was lying on the seashore, and I heard that someone had convulsed my muscles and bones! Dragon tendons! What kind of omen do you think this is? Two months ago, there were rumors that the national teacher almost died—"

Before the watchman finished speaking, he saw the waiter angrily about to slide under the stall: "Here he is, he he he is really here again..."

As soon as the words fell, there was a scholar-like person in front of the booth.

He has an ordinary appearance, with a deeply tired face, and abnormal blood on both sides of his cheeks, as if he had been roasted for a long time.This man was wearing a long gray-green robe, he was thin, and the robe was also thin, like a piece of cloth was strung on a tree branch, and it was about to go to the sky when the wind blew.

The watchman stared at the scholar's face for a long while against the light of the white lantern, and the last bite of bun in his mouth was frozen cold, so he didn't bother to swallow it.

The scholar muttered "here we are" in a low voice as if he was talking to himself, and then slowly raised his head, his dark eyes looked at the waiter without moving, and he was very panicked.

The waiter immediately pinched his legs, feeling like he wanted to pee.

"Excuse me, Roasted Pork with Peach Fat—" The scholar's serious voice is pleasant to hear, different from the soliloquy just now, like green bamboo flowing water, but it's not close to the face, and it doesn't fit the shape of the mouth, looking at... more I panicked.

The waiter avoided his gaze, picked up the food box and handed it to him tremblingly: "It's all ready, it's in a porcelain jar, there's no pear, star anise and cumin, it's still hot right out of the pan."

The scholar seemed to be choked for a moment. He stared at the food box for a moment, and then he reacted. He nodded slowly and said, "Thank you."

This voice is a little hoarse, and it is slightly different from the sentence just now.

The food box seems a bit heavy for a scholar, like hanging a heavy pendant on a tree branch.He left much slower than when he came, and it took him a long time to go farther.

The watchman shuddered and came back to his senses.

The waiter turned pale and whispered: "Did you see it this time? That face... eh? What are you doing in such a hurry?"

Watchman: "Urgent urination."

Waiter: "..."

However, the watchman hadn't gone far before he came back with a gong and clapper.

Before the waiter could speak, the watchman patted him on the shoulder, and winked again not far away: "Look over there!"

On the other side of the street, a white shadow came silently from the night.

The foot of the waiter who had just been frightened suddenly softened, almost thinking that he saw something dirty again.Fortunately, he took a closer look and realized that it was a monk.He was wearing a thin plain white frock with wide sleeves.From head to toe, there is not a single star or half-color, and it looks like wearing sackcloth and filial piety. It is really unlucky to see it early in the morning.

The waiter didn't understand: "I see, isn't he a monk?"

The watchman said in a low voice: "I passed him just now, and I saw that he had the five emperors' coins hanging around his waist!"

The five emperors' money can exorcise evil spirits and transform evil spirits into the town house gate. It is said that the national teachers of the dynasty liked to use it, and there was always a string hanging in their waist and eyes.Since then, the five emperors' coins have become the most commonly used utensils for people from all walks of life who eat ghosts and gods to beg for life.Although there are many swindlers who fish in troubled waters, most of them still have some skills.

The waiter looked the monk up and down from a distance, and felt that he had an indescribable demeanor, in short, he really didn't look like a charlatan.Besides, he doesn't care about that much anymore, three days is the limit, if the scholar comes again tomorrow morning, I'm afraid he really can't hold back and urinates on the spot.

The monk walked unhurriedly, but he got close quickly, and when he was about to pass by the stall, the waiter quickly stopped him: "Master, stop!"

The monk paused, and the hem of the white linen monk's robe swayed slightly, but there was no speck of dust on it.He cast a glance at the waiter, his gaze was calm and without warmth, it was colder than the cold wind blowing on his face.It wasn't until this close that the waiter realized that the monk was so tall that his eyes were cast from top to bottom. The waiter took a half step back inexplicably and bumped into the monk who also took a half step back. watchman.

This collision knocked the waiter's guts back into his belly.He said again as if he was going all out: "I see the five emperors' money hanging on the master's waist, but he knows some techniques to exorcise evil spirits?"

The monk glanced expressionlessly at the copper coin protruding from his waist, neither saying yes nor no.

The waiter looked at the watchman in embarrassment, and felt that the monk was colder than the evil wind in the winter moon. It was so cold that he didn't know where to go, and couldn't speak.

But the watchman was more resistant to the cold and spoke up for him.He described the visitor who looked like a scholar in a few words, and said to the monk: "We don't know that face well, but we will never admit it wrong. It is the son of the old Jiang's family in the medical hall. But... But Jiang The family medical hall caught fire three years ago. Except for the daughter married to Anqing, everyone was burned to death! As the saying goes, ghosts are idle at the fifth watch. A dead person appeared for three days in a row, It happens to be the fifth watch, can it not be scary?!"

The monk glanced at the sky, and finally opened his mouth with precious words like gold, and only said two words indifferently: "Where is the person?"

Upon hearing this, the waiter immediately thawed and came back to life.He pointed to a corner of the wall in the distance, and hurriedly said: "Just left! Maybe I haven't entered the door yet! I recognize the abandoned house of the Jiang Family Medical Hall. Master, I will take you there?"

But soon, the waiter regretted so much that he wanted to slap himself: let you talk fast!

How much he couldn't think about it, so he walked with a human-shaped icicle in this cold winter.The waiter felt that in just a few alleys, half of his life was almost gone.He glanced at the young monk from time to time, came down several times, and didn't dare to ask a word he wanted to ask, only remembering a small mole on the monk's neck.

Before the waiter was frozen to death, they finally reached the corner of the back alley of Jiang's Medical Hall.

Just as the waiter expected, the scholar who couldn't carry it on his shoulders hadn't entered the door yet, and was walking in the alley with his food box moving step by step.

The strange thing is that he whispered to himself while walking, and his voice was different, sometimes it was clear and pleasant, and sometimes it was hoarse and dull.

"Did you personally go up to Mount Li to catch a chicken for me? With this journey, can you get back before the first month?" This is the clearer one.

"It's faster than being unable to walk." This is the dumb one.

"I think you probably don't want to live anymore."

"No, I just died three years ago."

"..."

The scholar played two roles, and performed "Why is it so sick?" Then, he slid into the courtyard like a piece of paper along the cracks in the dilapidated and mottled walls of Jiang's house. .

The waiter behind the corner accidentally watched the whole process and was so frightened that he wanted to run away.He raised his feet, only to remember that there was a frozen monk standing beside him.He impatiently took out a money bag, stuffed it into the master's arms without saying a word, and said "to express his heart", and he was already running two miles away.

The monk frowned and glanced at the money bag in his hand.

It didn't know how long it had been washed, and the original color could no longer be distinguished, and it exuded an old oily smell.

He almost raised his hand and wanted to throw away the unclean thing, but the rope was about to leave his hand, and he hooked it back with one finger.Just like that, with a face of moderate disgust, carrying a rag purse, he walked quietly to the door of the Jiang Family Medical Hall.

The waiter who fled back to Jiuweiju leaned on the wall and gasped for a long time before he described what he had just seen to the watchman who was watching the stall with gestures. He said in a low voice, "I suddenly feel that the master looks familiar."

"You guard this stall all day long, and there are so many people coming and going, so it's easy to see everyone familiar." The watchman said angrily.

"..." The waiter gasped for breath and straightened his back. Out of the corner of his eye, he inadvertently glanced at the blue wall he was supporting, and his eyes froze instantly.

There was a sea catch notice posted half a month ago on the blue wall, but it was just a little coincidence that it snowed heavily right after it was posted, and the notice was frozen and drenched, and the picture was so mottled that the picture could not be seen clearly the next day.Even the waiter who came out of the stall early only got a rough look at that time, leaving a vague impression.

Today, most of the notice has been peeled off, leaving only the neck part of the portrait, and a small mole can be vaguely seen on the side of the neck, which is exactly the same as the one on the side of the master's neck just now.

The waiter was shocked immediately: This is a key criminal who has offered a huge reward!

The author has something to say:

I'm here again~

This article may be more bloody, Xuan Min Gong, Xue Xianshou, don't make a mistake~ Still 1vs1, HE, ok! ~

Note [1]: The first paragraph is the original source of inspiration, adapted from Lang Ying's "Seven Revised Class Drafts", the original text: The father of my friend Jin Mao, at the end of Chenghua, traveled to Xinhui County, Guangdong, one day, morning tide Fang Ping, a dragon fell from the sky on the battlefield, each murloc beat it to death with the wood it carried, the officials and people looked at it, it was as tall as a man, tens of feet long, with scales on its head and feet, just like a painting , but the belly is mostly red.This can be described as seeing the light.