The strange story of Huai'an Inn

Ding Buqiong hugged his package tightly and sat in the box on the second floor of the inn, like a frightened rabbit that was about to run away at any time.

Chong Liu put tea and a plate of six shredded pork buns with sour stuffing in front of him. Seeing that he was nervous, he kindly comforted him, "Wait a little longer, you came too early, our boss has to check the contract Well, let's eat something first."

Ding Buqiong was not ashamed, but he came all the way, hadn't eaten since noon, and was really hungry, so he had to ask cautiously, "How much is this steamed bun?"

"Oh, this is what the people in our shop eat for themselves. You don't need money. You can eat as much as you want. If it's not enough, there will be more for the kitchen."

Chong Liu smiled and watched him pick up the steamed bun, first took a tentative bite, then paused, as if waiting for something to explode.Finding that nothing happened, he let go completely, and started to eat at an astonishing speed that almost two bites would finish a meat bun.

Seeing that he was eating well, Chong Liu smiled slightly, sat down on a stool opposite, held his cheek and asked, "Brother Ding, can you show me the soil in your field?"

Dong Buqiong thought for a while, then opened the cloth bag he was wrapped in.Pushing an old pickle jar wrapped in it to Chong Liu, "Brother, your boss really only wants a tael of silver... and this jar of soil?"

Chong Liu praised his own products in a down-to-earth tone, "Yes, our boss is a real person, and he always helps to customize things according to the customer's affordability. But don't worry, there is no such thing as cheap but good products here. This The craftsmanship of the coppersmith is very reliable, even the national teachers look for him."

"It's natural, it's natural... I just find it strange, what does Boss Zhu want this jar of soil in my field for?"

Chongliu held the jar in front of him, opened the lid, and looked at the contents inside.The soil was black and chapped, and it seemed nothing special at first glance, but when Chong Liu shook the jar, he felt that there seemed to be some sticky threads between the particles of the soil?

Pale yellow silk...

Up to now, Chong Liu could vaguely feel that the filaments he saw on people and some objects were probably formed after being captured by human vision.People with little filth on their bodies usually have white or gray filaments, while red means that the person is tainted with filth.The thicker the red, the heavier the foul smell.

But he hasn't seen the yellow one yet...

Those sticky threads are a bit like the color and texture of the mucus spit out from the mouth of a grasshopper after being caught. After a long time, it will feel very sticky and disgusting, with a fishy smell unique to insects.

Soil is definitely a problem.

Chong Liu asked, "You said earlier that these lands were originally good, and it was only after Shi Yu's death that they stopped growing crops?"

The farmer paused, and whispered, "Actually... it has grown... but the things that grow are not crops..."

"It's not crops? What's that?" Chong Liu asked with great interest.

Ding Buqiong put down the steamed bun, as if he felt a little disgusted.He swallowed hard, as if he was organizing words in his mind, but encountered some insurmountable obstacles.

"It didn't grow much. At first I thought it was the seeds that were planted and finally started to germinate. But when I looked closely, I found that those "buds" were more like mushrooms, and they didn't grow much, only a few sporadic pieces.

Their tops are spherical, the color is a bit like human skin, and they are covered with very small translucent balls of different sizes, which look like dew at first glance.Their stems are very thin and translucent, and it is strange that things like blood vessels can still be seen in the stems.

I've never seen a mushroom like this before, so I pulled one up at that time.But when I picked it up, I felt it twisting very clearly.I was startled and dropped it on the ground.There was still blood-like slime oozing from the ground where I pulled the mushrooms..."

Chong Liu blinked, "Then what happened later? You pulled out all the mushrooms?"

"I didn't dare... because I was afraid they were poisonous, so I went back and took a hoe to dig them out. But after I went back and got the hoe and came out again, I couldn't find it... It was as if they knew what I wanted to do and they all ran away. .”

Chong Liu hurriedly asked, "Are they alive?"

"It didn't really 'run away' either, because I went to the fields the next day and they reappeared. And... this time those translucent protrusions on top of the mushrooms that looked like dew... are all very Like... very similar to the eyes of a fly. There are densely packed small water droplets on the big water droplets, and small water droplets on the small water droplets..."

Listening to Ding Bufei's description, I imagined the mushroom with layers of compound eye-like protrusions, layers of endless eyes...

Chong Liu scratched the back of his hand, feeling a little irritated.

However, Ding Buqiong didn't finish his sentence, "That morning, when I went to visit, I found that two cows from the neighbor Hu's family somehow came out of the cowshed and were gnawing on something in my field. I found that they were eating those cows. mushroom.

I'm worried that the mushrooms are poisonous, and if those cows die in my field, Hu Dagui and I won't be able to tell.After taking the cow back to Hu's house, I didn't think about it again.But the next day, I saw a lot of people gathered in the Hu family's yard. When I went to ask, they said that something happened to the Hu family...the two cows ate up the four members of Lao Hu's family. "

Chong Liu exclaimed, "Bulls eat people?!"

Ding Buqiong panicked, "Yeah, I didn't believe it at first. But those cows were tied up in the yard, and their mouths and bodies... were covered with blood. And the two cows were still chewing the cud, still When I stopped chewing, I could hear a sound like chewing on a brittle bone.

When the workers entered the house and carried the body out, the white sheet was soaked with blood.Although I can't see it under the cloth, but that shape...it's not a human shape anymore..."

It was very difficult for Ding Buqiong to tell, and he always had to pause for a while, thinking about what kind of description he should use to convey the horrible, bloody and absurd scenes he had seen.

Chong Liu asked, "Where are the two cows?" "I took them to the yamen and slaughtered them. Liu Butcher, who was in charge of slaughtering the cows, seemed to have almost vomited after opening the stomachs of the cows. He was sick at home for half a month. He said he saw the two cows. The stomach was stretched three or four times bigger than before, and it was almost bursting. It was stuffed full of meat, hair and broken bones..."

It doesn't take Ding Buqiong to say it out loud, Chong Liu can guess who the meat belongs to...

This is really... scary enough.

Chong Liu looked down at the soil in the pot, "So you think the two cows suddenly went berserk, and it has something to do with those mushrooms?"

"What else could it be?"

"Have you reported it to the government?"

Ding Buqiong fell into silence, guilt and guilt surfaced on his face, distorting the mellow face, "If I report...they will take my land away. In order to buy this land, I have already given all All the savings have been spent, if it is gone... our family will have to go to the street to beg for food."

Chong Liu sighed, and seemed to understand, "Then what did you do with those mushrooms?"

"I burned everything I could see. This time they didn't disappear, and they didn't reappear." Ding Buqiong paused, and said with some anxiety, "But a few days ago, I bought them in another place like me. People in the field saw similar mushrooms in the fields. I told them that the mushrooms were poisonous and had to be burned, but I don’t know if they listened to me.”

"Then, have you told the shopkeeper all this?"

"said……"

"Just say it, don't worry." Chong Liu thought for a while, seeing that the shopkeeper hadn't come yet, he said softly, "Did you go to see Shi Yuzhi's grave?"

Ding Buqiong was stunned for a moment, then shook his head, "No..."

"Since you suspect that Shi Yuzhi's resentment is the cause, why didn't you think about going to his grave and offering something to worship?"

Ding Buqiong was a little speechless.

Chongliu could probably guess why these former tenants of the Shi family were reluctant to visit the graves of their former employers.Even if they didn't report directly to the county magistrate, after all they participated in dividing up the family property passed down from generation to generation by the Shi family.According to what Ding Buqiong said before, the Shi family has never treated them badly, and even took good care of these tenants, and they were very generous when paying food and salaries, otherwise they would not be able to save the money to buy the land.

As a result, when the Shi family was in crisis, not only did they not help, but they all got a share of the pie.Even though they bought land and bought it justifiably, they felt a little guilty after all.

The more guilty a person is, the less willing he is to seek reconciliation, and the less he wants to admit that he has guilt in his heart.

And the more they evade, the more they want to appear to have a clear conscience, the deeper the resentment will be.

At this time, the shopkeeper entered the box, just like the last time I saw Fairy Jiuluan, prepared two documents, and held the wooden box containing the brass chopsticks in the other hand.

Both Chongliu and Ding Buqiong stood up.

The shopkeeper put the paper on the table, sat down slowly and poured himself a cup of tea, and said softly, "Liu'er, come here and read the paper."

Thinking that Ding Buqiong was illiterate, Chongliu was asked to read out all the articles.

The terms and conditions of the shopkeeper are very thorough, detailing that you have to use the pair of brass chopsticks to eat one meal a day, and even the amount of food is regulated, and even gave very specific examples.What you eat must be swallowed, and if you vomit, you must make up the corresponding amount.

This is too strict!No chance to cheat at all?Chongliu was dumbfounded in his heart as he read the name of the dish without emotion.

The shopkeeper was drinking tea, Shi Shiran, with a half-smile.

This pair of chopsticks must be used for more than ten years, uninterrupted for a day.But as long as Ding Buqiang can guarantee this, his land will have a good harvest every year regardless of drought or flood, regardless of the type of crops.

But once a day is broken, or the amount of food eaten on a certain day is not enough, the contract will be declared void, and the consequences are unpredictable.

Ding Buqiong watched in disbelief as the shopkeeper opened the wooden box containing the chopsticks and pushed it in front of him.

It was a pair of extremely finely crafted chopsticks, both thick, thin, and short. There were extremely fine carvings on the heads of the chopsticks, but it was impossible to tell what the carvings were. It was more like a mass of random scribbled lines.

Ding Buqiong looked at the chopsticks, "Just... use it to eat, and you can have a good harvest every year?"

The shopkeeper smiled politely and nodded, "Not bad. One meal a day is enough, but the portion should be sufficient, as I wrote in the contract. If you have any questions or unclear points, please feel free to ask. If there is no problem, I need you to cut your fingers and put your fingerprints on both contracts.

Ding Buqiong showed a skeptical but more uncontrollable excited expression. Obviously he thought he had taken a big deal.He directly put his thumb in his mouth, bit down on the skin with all kinds of canine teeth, and then pressed the light red fingerprints on the two contracts.

The contract is done.

The shopkeeper took one back and put it back in his sleeve, "You take the other ones. If there are any problems or mistakes, you can bring them to me." "Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir! If it can really make our year You are a living Bodhisattva with a bumper harvest!!!" Ding Buqiong put down the one tael of silver and the jar of soil, and left happily.Chong Liu sent the man out the door, but when he turned around, he saw the shopkeeper leaning against the counter, his eyes drifted to this side, but did not stop at him. "Master, is the national teacher coming to pick up things after a while?" Chong Liu thought of the brass basin he brought back with him.

I don't know how far away those tentacles are from him in the dream of the national teacher...

"I have asked Song Mingzi to send the contract of the national teacher to him. Most likely, he will only send someone to take it away, and he will not come forward by himself." After the shopkeeper finished speaking, he sighed faintly, "But I don't know. The person from the national teacher arrives first, or Xu Hanke arrives first."

Hearing Na Xiansi's name suddenly, Chong Liu was startled.

In the past month, he has almost forgotten about that person.

Shopkeeper Zhu waved to Chong Liu, "Liu'er, come here."

Chong Liu hurried over, feeling more and more uneasy, "Boss, do we have to make some preparations? He must be aggressive this time!"

"The current emperor is very ambitious, so is Xu Hanke, who was single-handedly promoted by him. It's a pity that they still don't understand that filth is something that people can't easily control." The shopkeeper's tone was calm, as if facing the threat of the Tian family. Commonplace.He took out a key from his sleeve and handed it to Chong Liu, "Hold this thing for me. Keep it carefully."

Chong Liu took the ordinary key, but couldn't see the way, "Master, where is the key?"

"Put it away for me first." The shopkeeper said simply, as if he didn't intend to explain further.

When Chong Liu turned his head, he understood.His eyes were full of worry in the dim light, "Boss, are you afraid that Xu Hanke will take you away and search your room? You don't want this key to fall into his hands?"

The shopkeeper looked at him and smiled slightly.He tilted his head slightly, looking at Chong Liu as if looking at something interesting, "You always pretended to be honest and straightforward for the past three months, why don't you pretend now?" "...My boss..." That kind of The feeling of being secretly seen through returned, and Chongroku's forehead was sweating.

"Okay, I don't mean to blame you. You don't have to worry about Xu Hanke, just concentrate on doing your job well. I will find a way to solve the rest."

The shopkeeper originally spoke in a firm tone, but Chong Liu could see the tiredness on his face and the deep bruising under his eyes.All of a sudden, there was a little bit of... not letting go.

Indeed, he can hang on to this matter, just as he always did.

But Xu Hanke was rescued by him, and now this person has caused such a big trouble... It is he who is sorry for the owner and other people in the inn.

Chong Liu pursed his lips, nodded in response to the shopkeeper's order.But secretly made a decision in my heart.

He had to think of a way to smooth this situation.