The strange story of Huai'an Inn

Originally, it would take three or four hours for horses and horses to arrive at Qujiang Town after half a stick of incense.After the car stopped, Chong Liu opened the curtain and found that the carriage was parked beside a curved river.A quaint stone bridge in front of you spans the water, and across the bridge are scattered huts and houses scattered in the night mist.

It was around midnight at this time, and the whole town was sleeping in the mist of moonlight.The sporadic barking of dogs echoed in the turbulent river and the cries of owls at night, which gave off a ghostly and mysterious feeling.

"Boss, which one is this black light?" Chong Liu asked after carefully driving the car across the bridge.

The shopkeeper said, "That's the only one with the lights on."

Chong Liu squinted his eyes and searched in the gradually rising fog, and finally saw a little red light in the depths of an alley.

Driving the car into the alley, I saw a coppersmith's shop.It seems that the shop has not been opened for a long time, and the banner hanging at the door is a bit worn out.

"Here it is." The shopkeeper said, "He only works at night now. He sleeps during the day, so as not to cause disputes."

Chong Liu looked at the dilapidated front door, and always felt that this was a black shop...

He parked the carriage beside a small tree nearby where horses could be tied, and as soon as he turned around, the shopkeeper handed him the wooden box containing the set of account books, pens and inkstones that he had used for Chong Liu before, "I will be with the coppersmith in a while." When you talk, try to remember our conversation."

Chong Liu hurriedly took the box, and the shopkeeper had already walked over and knocked on the two loose wooden doors.

There was a rhythmic clanging sound behind the door, as if copper were being struck.

After a few more knocks, the sound of copper beating stopped, and after a while, someone opened the door.

The visitor was in his thirties, with a muscular body, and his sweat reflected caramel-colored spots in the firelight of the forge.His eyes were calm but somewhat tired, and he didn't bow to say hello when he saw the shopkeeper, and simply said, "It's you."

But when he noticed Chong Liu who was following up, he suddenly showed a vigilant expression.

"Who is he?" Coppersmith Li Xiaowu asked with a frown.

The shopkeeper said, "He is following me, his name is Guan Chongliu. Liuer, this is Master Li."

Chong Liu bowed obediently.

Li Xiaowu doesn't like meeting strangers very much, probably because he has caused too much trouble before, and he is always a little wary of people.He told the shopkeeper Zhu and Chong Liu to let them into the house, and carefully fastened the door.

The back door and windows were open, but it was still suffocatingly hot.Copper stoves, molds, anvils, and other items occupy a small space, and there is no place to sit.

Chong Liu had no choice but to find a small bench and sit down, took out the banknotes in the box, took a nearby teacup filled with water, poured some water into the inkstone and quickly ground the ink, ready to record.

The shopkeeper was careful not to touch anything, stood in the middle of the room with his hands in his hands, and said directly, "I've brought you two more deals. One can make money, and the other won't make much money."

Li Xiaowu went back to polish the sunflower bronze mirror he was about to finish, "What work?"

The shopkeeper explained the situation of Guoshi and Ding Buqiong in extremely concise and refined language.

During the process of the shopkeeper's narration, the coppersmith's hands never stopped, and his attention was all on the bronze mirror, as if there was nothing else in the world except that mirror.

And in the process of his polishing, Chong Liu has been watching him secretly.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion caused by the light. Every time he wipes with the felt, dense red filaments will float out of his skin, some of which are like double images, and some of them seem to be accidentally exposed. The horse's feet... Those red threads are getting longer and longer, sticking to the mirror, floating in the air, tangled and entangled everywhere like life.

Obviously all the copper here is freshly cast, but Chongliu can smell a strong smell of copper, just like the smell of copper products thrown into the stinky ditch for many years, and then dug out.

After listening to the shopkeeper's narration, the coppersmith said, "It's not difficult to make these things. Anyway, you draw the spell before you leave, and I will do it accordingly. As for the money, you can keep it for me, it's still the same as before. "

"Okay, then you and I will be one, plus one thing they have on them. After these objects are eliminated, they will still be handed over to me. How long will it take?"

"Ten days."

"Alright." The shopkeeper readily agreed, but looked at the mirror, "This mirror is a bit fierce."

"I can't help it..." The coppersmith finally stopped, and let out a long breath, "I will see this mirror every day when I close my eyes, and I have to make it to sleep. Can you find a buyer?"

You have to do it before you can give up... This seems to be a bit similar to the wife of the Luo family.

Is this the price of contamination?Some force will urge them to continuously create filthy items?

Chongliu thought secretly...

This trend seems to be that the filth is parasitic in the human body, relying on various human-carried infections to reproduce offspring.

Could it be that Fei actually has a certain sense of survival?But isn’t it a phenomenon like Taoism?

"I can keep it first and test its ability. But after all, it is a filthy thing that has not been guided by a spell. If there are no special circumstances, it is better to seal it up."

As the shopkeeper said, he stretched out his hand to pick up the mirror, and looked left and right carefully.The delicate and beautiful Baoxiang pattern, the smooth sunflower petals, and the mirror surface exude a faint soft light.Any woman who sees this mirror will be afraid that she will be unable to move.

Chongliu stood in front of the shopkeeper. The moment the shopkeeper picked up the mirror, he saw those red filaments quickly climbed up the shopkeeper's wrist in a state of splashing, but they were wiped out the moment they touched it. Inhaled into the shopkeeper's skin.

It's not disappearing, it's not evaporating, it's as if the sweat pores on the shopkeeper's skin have turned into countless openings, sucking out all the red filaments.

Chong Liu rubbed his eyes, but he could no longer see the red filament coming out of the mirror.Chongliu could still feel the strange evil spirit emanating from the mirror, but in the hands of the shopkeeper, something in the mirror was dormant.

Chong Liu wasn't sure if all this was in his head, or if he really began to see and feel something... something he couldn't see before.

Should he record what he saw?

After hesitating for a moment, he decided to only record these weird red threads in his manuscript for the time being.As for the shopkeeper, he just described the shape of the bronze mirror in simple and accurate language.

"The filth on this mirror is thicker than the ones you did before you met me. Have you seen or met any unusual things or people recently?" The shopkeeper frowned slightly and asked.

Li Xiaowu didn't speak for a while, his mouth was tightly pursed, and it seemed that something was wrong.

The shopkeeper gently put down the mirror and faced the coppersmith, "Recently, the filth has increased in various places, and places where there should not be filth have also appeared. Such a rapid expansion is not normal, and I am investigating this matter."

Hearing what the shopkeeper said, the coppersmith hesitated and said, "This mirror started to appear in my mind a month ago. It was Qingming Festival at that time. I took my wife and daughter to visit the tomb and then went to the nearby hundred. Heron Lake outing.

There were a lot of people that day, and they all laid out mats by the lake to drink and eat snacks.We arrived a little late, it was already evening.Can't find a location anywhere.After turning around the lake for more than half a circle, I found that there was a space under a willow tree. It seemed that someone had just left, and there were still some discarded garbage scattered on the ground.But I couldn't find any other place, so I just sorted it out roughly, and made do with a mat here.

While picking up the rubbish, I suddenly heard someone singing an opera across a bush next to me.The weather was fine that day, maybe the theater troupe came out to play, and some danjiao came to sing a few words in a good mood.I can't quite understand what he's singing, but the tune... sounds weird.

We didn't stay there for long, because the little girl said she was afraid, probably because of the singing voice.My wife also said she was not feeling well and wanted to go home.I asked them to pack up their things, and then I went to the side to see which opera singer was so ugly.

But when I walked over, I found that there was no one behind the bushes.

From that day on, that piece of music has always appeared in my mind, repeated over and over again, and I can't stop it. No matter what I do, the tune is always in my mind.Sometimes if the surrounding is too quiet, it will cause tinnitus.Around the same time, this mirror began to appear in my mind. At first, it was only a rough outline, and then every line was very clear.I can even imagine what kind of steps and molds to use...

I know that if this thing is made, I'm afraid it will cause trouble.But... you know that feeling when you can't think of anything, just one thought that's pushing out all the other thoughts... I can't concentrate, I can't do anything...

Later, I couldn't stand it anymore. "

"A play?" The shopkeeper murmured, "Do you still remember what the tone is?"

The coppersmith nodded, thought for a while, and hummed a few words.

Chong Liu suddenly said, "I've heard this scene before."

The shopkeeper and the coppersmith turned to look at him in astonishment.

Chongliu explained, "Shopkeeper, don't you sometimes read the playbooks I keep in the counter? It's a play written by that author. It's called Huang Yi Ji. It was sung in a few small theaters at that time. One or two shows, but then somehow I didn’t sing it again.”

The shopkeeper's expression changed subtly, with a hint of horror, "Huang Yi Ji?"

"Yeah, to be honest...it's kind of boring." Chong Liu recalled, "I only listened to the first half, and felt sleepy, and fell asleep throughout the second half. When I woke up, I found that the whole theater was empty. It's pitch black. It gave me a fright. I also said that no one called me anyway."

"So you didn't hear the second half?"

Chong Liu shook his head, "No, when I wanted to make up later, there was no place to sing anymore."

The shopkeeper was visibly relieved.

Chong Liu was quite surprised, he had never seen the shopkeeper show such...almost frightened expression.

"It's good if you didn't hear it... But... You said how many theaters sang it at that time? Do you remember which theaters there were?"

Of course Chong Liu knew.He inquired about what was happening in Tianliang City.But it would be too eye-catching if it is like a few treasures now. "I can't explain it all at once, wait until I go back and tidy it up?" Chong Liu said with a smile.