[Liao Zhai] I live in Lanruo Temple

In a small farmyard in Jinhua, three mothers and daughters lived in recently. They said that they came to Jinhua to look for relatives because of a disaster in their hometown.Since they couldn't find any relatives to turn to, the mother and daughter rented a house from a farmer and temporarily lived in Jinhua.

At night, the owner of the farmhouse turned off the lights and went to sleep, but the tenant's house was still dimly lit.

Under the light of the oil lamp, an old woman in her fifties could be seen sitting in front of the bronze mirror in the house.

Standing behind the woman are two young women, delicate and pretty, with very beautiful colors.It's just that they bowed their heads and shrugged their shoulders, trembling, as if they were very afraid of the old woman in front of them.

In this scene, the three said it was a mother and daughter, but it was more like a master-servant relationship.

The old woman looked at her old reflection in the mirror with a look of extreme disgust.After only two glances, she couldn't help but look away, unwilling to look again.

"Get out my paintbrush!" The old woman ordered the two "daughters" in the back angrily.

Hearing the woman's voice, the second daughter shivered subconsciously. Not daring to delay the woman's order for a moment, she hurriedly took out a paintbrush and various paints commonly used by women from the bag.

After the two girls put away the painting tools one by one, the old woman stood up and turned her back to the mirror, and began to take off the coarse cloth clothes on her body.

When all her clothes were taken off, the woman ordered the two women again in a cold voice. "Come here, help me take off the leather!"

The second daughter didn't dare to refuse, she walked to both sides of the woman in a hurry, skillfully touched a gap above her head, then stretched her hand in and peeled it off slowly.This process was not fast, after half a cup of tea passed, a complete piece of humanoid skin was peeled off from the woman.

And the mirror behind the old woman truly recorded the entire frightening process of skinning.

Looking at the old woman now, she has become a vicious ghost with green skin and jagged fangs.

When ordinary people see such scenes, they are not guaranteed to be scared to death.However, the two women, who had seemed very timid before, remained unchanged in the face of the ferocious and disgusting appearance of the woman's evil ghost.

This time, without the woman giving orders, the second daughter carefully carried the whole leather, spread it out and placed it on the table.Eyebrows, ears, nose, hands, feet, waist and neck, all the skins that a human being should have.

Seeing this, the woman with the appearance of a ghost sat down at the table in twos and threes, holding a paintbrush at the side and drawing on the leather.

Her movements are quite proficient and fast, as if she has done it thousands of times, she quickly painted an old woman's skin into a young girl of twenty-eight years old.

The green-skinned evil spirit stroked the finished human-shaped skin with satisfaction, and she lifted it up and put it on her body, immediately turning into a young and beautiful woman.

At this time, she sat back in front of the bronze mirror and admired her beautiful appearance on the mirror.

Seeing that the "mother" was in a better mood, the two "daughters" hid behind and secretly made eye contact.

After a while, they seemed to have reached a conclusion.The woman in light purple clothes hesitated for a moment, bit her lower lip and knelt down beside "Mother".

She restrained herself and begged in a low voice: "The magistrate's yamen knew about it from somewhere. We dug out our hearts and posted portraits of our sisters who are wanted all over the city. Now we can only transform into another appearance, and we dare not walk outside with our original appearance. Yes. Huapi empress, please don’t force our sisters to seduce men, dig out people’s hearts, and kill people? We are really afraid that one day we will fall into the hands of the government, and we will die without a whole body.”

According to what Zi Yi Nu said, it can be known that the heart-digging case that has caused panic in Jinhua City recently was actually the work of their "mother and daughter".Then, the two banshees that Xiao Cui had told Yu Liu Qingyu were their sisters.

And according to the meaning of the woman's words, the act of the sisters seducing the scholar and digging out people's hearts was actually instigated by the "mother" Painted Skin Ghost behind them.

Liu Qingyu probably never imagined that behind this case, there is actually a mastermind behind the scenes.

Hearing what the woman in purple said, Painted Skin Ghost suddenly changed his face, his eyes turned from sunny to cloudy, and a cold light flashed past.

Sensing her unhappiness, the woman in the white dress on the other side boldly said: "It was agreed at the beginning, as long as you help me for a month, we will let us go, but now it's almost half a year, you...we..."

At this moment, a burst of great malice suddenly erupted from Painted Skin Ghost, which made the woman in white tremble with fright, and couldn't speak at all.

After a while, Painted Skin Ghost closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he could no longer see the anger.

She helped the woman in purple to stand up, held her weak and boneless catkin, and said softly: "Gejin, Yuban, don't forget that you eloped with humans and left Caozhou. Such behavior made Mrs. Cao Guo Disgraceful, she will not allow your sister to go back to Caozhou. Where can you go if you leave me?"

"Don't say that the world is so big that you can live everywhere. You have already experienced how dangerous ghosts and monsters are in this world. If I hadn't rescued you in time half a year ago, the two peony flowers of your sisters would have been chewed by the bull demon long ago. have eaten."

Ge Jin's body was as stiff as a rock, and trembling, he didn't dare to look up at the Painted Skin Ghost, so he said with a white face, "It was that savage bull demon who wanted to marry Yuban and me, and we angered him because of our reluctance. In the future, sister Yuban and I should be more careful, so as not to run into such wild monsters, I think it will not be a big safety issue."

Yuban also trembled and said: "Besides, according to the looks of me and Gejin sister, remarrying is not a problem. When we marry, we will have a family and a place to live in. Please... please let us go, Mrs. Huapi. Please..."

At the end of the speech, Yuban burst into tears, and the color of pleading was full. Ge Jin couldn't help crying when she saw it, and followed her begging.

Now, Painted Skin Ghost couldn't hold back the anger gushing out of his heart anymore.

She showed a fierce look, pinched the chins of Gejin and Yuban with both hands, and said ferociously: "It's okay to let you go, just peel off your skin and give it to me, everything is easy to talk about."

In an instant, the blood of the Gejin sisters froze, and the bright red lips faded in an instant, and they were extremely pale.

Huapi was very satisfied with their reaction, and slowly raised the corners of his mouth, his sinister laughter made one's bones chill. "I don't want to part with your skins, so don't mention the matter of leaving. Someday the heart you dug out will help me increase my cultivation and completely repair the wounds of my skin. You don't need to mention it, I will let you go."

Before the Painted Skin Ghost met the Gejin sisters, he committed crimes in the Chengdu area, but was injured by a Taoist priest.If you look closely, you can see a cut at the root of her left ear, which is covered by her hair.

The incision was as long as a palm at first, but it was repaired with the heart dug out by the Gejin sisters for half a year, and now it is less than an inch long.It will probably be fully healed in a few months.

Hearing the words of the Painted Skin Ghost, Ge Jin and Yuban reckoned in their hearts that they could get rid of the Painted Skin Ghost's control within a few months at most.They stopped crying right now, and were only thinking about how to steal people's hearts faster and in greater quantities, and provide them to the Painted Skin Ghost.

Painted Skin Ghost saw the changing expressions of the Gejin sisters, and knew that they had been fooled. Under the shadows, a sly smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

"Brother Liu, my benefactor, Xiao Cui, has something to ask you, saying that he has a clue to the matter you entrusted. Hurry up, meet in Tianfulou and discuss in detail."

Wang Nan came to visit in a hurry, and when he saw Liu Qingyu, he dragged people out.

The reason for the current situation is that Liu Qingyu previously entrusted Xin Shishiniang, Xiaocui, and Feng Sanniang to assist in the investigation of the murderer of the heart-digging case, and told him to go to Wang's house if he found any clues, and asked Wang Nandai to tell him.

Xiaocui forgot to sleep and eat, and was busy for several days, finally found a clue this morning.

Entering the city by car, they stopped in front of Tianfu Building, and Liu Qingyu was dragged by Wang Nan and ran all the way to the private room.The three daughters of Xiaocui, who were eating refreshments inside, saw her and hurriedly beckoned to sit down.

Liu Qingyu took a few breaths, eased her breathing and asked, "Is there any trace of the murderer?"

Xiaocui swallowed the chrysanthemum cake in her mouth, and nodded her head three times. "They can change their appearance, but they can't change the demonic smell of their bodies. A dog demon friend of Sanniang told her that she smelled the fragrance of peonies in the moat area to the east."

"In Jinhua City, there are no other ghosts with peony fragrance, except for their sisters. So I can be sure that they must be hiding in that area." Xiaocui was full of confidence.

Feng Sanniang added regretfully, "It's just a pity that the demonic aura is intermittent and intermittent, and the dog demon can't find their specific hiding place. Otherwise, the three of us sisters would simply catch them and hand them over to Mr. Liu Lang You have it."

Liu Qingyu's focus was a bit off. He blinked his slightly foggy eyes, and asked in a deep voice: "Wait a minute, Peony Fragrance? Isn't it smelling like a fox?"

"I remember, you once said that they belonged to fox demons, didn't you?" And he himself remembered that it was a fox demon who dug out his heart in the painted skin movie.

Among all the short stories in Liaozhai, apart from Nie Xiaoqian, the only thing Liu Qingyu remembers is the story of Painted Skin, and he can be very sure that he remembers it correctly.

Xiaocui looked at Liu Qingyu with a look of "I never said such a thing", with some doubts mixed with shock in her eyes. "How could it be our kind?! They are peony flower demons, didn't I tell you?"

Liu Qingyu: "..."

Isn't the co-author a fox demon?

No wonder he entrusted Xiaoqian, Ping'er and the others to find familiar wild ghosts for help, but nothing came of it.

It turned out that from the very beginning, he investigated in the wrong direction.

Feng Sanniang knew Xiaocui very well, after listening to the conversation between Liu Qingyu and Xiaocui, she guessed the reason for the misunderstanding.She poked Xiaocui's forehead with her finger, and asked, "Are you calling me a fox again?"

Xiaocui silently lowered her head, acquiescing to Feng Sanniang's question.

Liu Qingyu was speechless again.

Xiaocui simply gave herself a brainstorm, smiled embarrassedly, and explained: "Actually, the perpetrators are peony flower demons. I can't understand how they hook up with men, and they are used to scolding them like that. Call Liu Langjun." Misunderstood, I'm really sorry."

Liu Qingyu waved his hand weakly, "I misunderstood what you mean, how can I blame you?" The facts did not match his memory, and he didn't believe that his own memory made a mistake, so it must be a random adaptation!

Deep in her heart, she was frantically throwing the pot away, Liu Qingyu's face was calm and breezy, and she didn't show it at all.

He substituted tea for wine to thank Xiaocui, Fourteen Niang and Feng Sanniang. "Thank you for your help, everyone has worked hard."

After taking a sip and putting down the cup, Liu Qingyu continued: "I can handle the rest of the matter alone, and you don't want to go around the Dongcheng River area recently. If you don't alarm the two demons, they will be vigilant and leave immediately." It’s not easy for Jinhua.”

Xiao Cui originally wanted to say that Liu Qingyu was not safe against the two monsters alone, but instead she recalled what Xin Shishiniang told her that day, Liu Qingyu slapped Huang Jiulang's force value with a wave of her hand.From this, she remembered that although Liu Qingyu was a scholar, she was not weak, so she quickly closed her mouth.

"Your Majesty, please be careful." Feng Sanniang smiled brightly, looking like a good friend of you and me, and said boldly: "If you need help, just ask, the three of us sisters will definitely do our best."

Liu Qingyu nodded her head in thanks, and brought dozens of jars of Liaoyuan wine from Ding Weng's Tavern to them that day.

Half of it is a thank you gift for helping each other, and the other half is a gift for a friend. It can be regarded as recognizing some of their fox monster friends.

After receiving the things, the clever Sanhu quickly understood another meaning contained in Liu Qingyu's gift, and was so happy that he drank strong wine, but he was drunk all day and night without waking up.

In view of the fact that a blatant search is very likely to scare the snake, and searching one by one secretly is too time-consuming.So Liu Qingyu pondered for a long time, and decided to lure the snake out of the hole.

On the second day after chatting with Xiaocui and the others, Liu Qingyu began to pass by the Dongcheng River, intentionally or unintentionally.

I often wander around the streets, and it takes most of the day to go shopping.

In order to attract the heart-digging goblin, Liu Qingyu, who has always been low-key, used herself as a bait, and made a rare high-profile once.

His hard work was not in vain, and after only two days, the Painted Skin Ghost who was looking for a target noticed him.

"The scholar who tried the piano in the musical instrument shop at noon today, I want his heart!" In the familiar earthen house of the farmhouse, the painted skin ghost with the appearance of an old woman had scorching eyes, full of determination to win.

After a pause, Painted Skin Ghost said again: "Recently, you have been doing things too frequently, and there is a lot of movement in Jinhua City. After finishing his order, we will leave immediately."

There are quite a few scholars in musical instrument shops today, but Gejin and Yuban don't ask which one they are.

Gein and the others are very clear that the more talented the better the target that Painted Skin Ghost is looking for, the better, and so is the appearance.

The reason for this choice is that Painted Skin Ghost thinks that the heart of this kind of man tastes the most sweet and delicious, and it can also restore the skin to a more perfect state.

Among the scholars who have entered the musical instrument shop, Liu Qingyu is the one with excellent conditions.

In this way, it is self-evident who the scholar Painted Skin Ghost is talking about.

Another day, Liu Qingyu, who had left school at the school, drove out of the city to return home.

About a quarter of an hour after leaving the city, two women suddenly rushed out from the woods next to the road.

They held hands, looked terrified, and ran towards Liu Qingyu's carriage in a hurry, as if there were wild beasts and ghosts chasing after them.

"Help! Help us!"

"Please stop and get us out of here!"

The woman's delicate voice trembled slightly with fear, arousing pity for no reason.

Hearing the sound, Liu Qingyu opened the curtain of the car, looked at the two women fleeing ahead, and knew in an instant that it was the fish who had entered the net on their own initiative.

He smiled silently and told the driver to stop.