The strange story of Huai'an Inn

After leaving the county office, Song Mingzi was restless, and told Chongliu that he needed to see his senior brother, and then disappeared.

Chong Liuyi turned to the vicinity of the gate first, looked at the odds and ends board, and found a seven-character quatrain between several notices about hunting dogs and cats.He looked at those few romantic poems, calculated the time, and probably had a bottom line in his mind.

Xu Hanke's father was Xu Jingshan, Minister of the Household Department.In the competition for the crown prince, he was considered an important official of the loyal king's faction.But after King Zhong died suddenly due to a strange illness, the eldest prince was released from the cold palace under the protection of a group of veterans. He was likely to be re-appointed as the prince, and the status of the Xu family was also in jeopardy.

This may be why Xu Hanke was so eager to find some "treasure" that would allow him to gain the emperor's trust.

People who have not lived in the Gyeonggi area for many years can easily know these news, and Chongliu is also clear about it.Chong Liu also knew that this Xu Jingshan was originally a greedy, cunning, manipulative and daring person.He had secret contacts with the Luoxian Kingdom, Changqi Kingdom and Wengxi Kingdom in the Western Regions, and he was even involved in the death of the third prince.

Although Chongliu knew the news, he was not the person in charge of collecting and recording information in the Gyeonggi area, so he had no details and evidence in hand.And when he contacted Dragon King Mask, he wanted to get a detailed report on Xu Jingshan and King Zhong's murder of the third prince through Shimen's intricate and completely anonymous network.

Obtaining this report will allow him to know where the evidence and witnesses are currently located.And this report clearly involves the process of King Zhong abusing the beetle miasma he obtained from the shopkeeper.Obviously, King Zhong knew far more about Hui than he pretended in front of the shopkeeper.There is an alchemist secretly supporting him.

The identity of the alchemist is not yet clear.

Therefore, if Xu Hanke insisted on persecuting the shopkeeper and looking down, he would find his own father.Once the news is known to the crown prince, it is possible for the Xu family to be linked.

Chongliu wrote several letters based on these detailed information, and sent them to several different people through the news transmission network in Shimen, which is several times faster than Maxima.

Witnesses and evidence will be transferred immediately, and Xu Jingshan will be warned in the name of the prince. The prince will get some ambiguous and specious news, but it is enough to put pressure on Xu Jingshan.

As long as Xu Jingshan is afraid, he will definitely order his son to stop investigating any people or cases related to King Zhong.

According to Chong Liu's calculations, Xu Hanke was forced to release the shopkeeper under pressure, and it should be within a few days.

Everything was going according to plan, and he felt a little relieved.But when he turned his eyes, he saw a tabloid under the seven-character quatrains, with a eulogy written on it.

Chong Liu looked at the eulogy, and the heart that had just let go hung up again.

Using the cinnabar order is still a bit too conspicuous, so that...

Mr. Qinglong will summon him in ten days...

Chong Liu swallowed nervously, and forced himself to turn back to the inn as if nothing had happened.In Tianliang City, he has at least three lines, and he is not sure which faces of the ordinary people around him are hidden behind the masks.He couldn't reveal his usual identity.

Back at the inn, Zhu Yi, Xiaoshun and Fuzi Jiulang all surrounded him and asked how the public trial was going.Chongliu saw that there were no guests in the hall, so he whispered, "It is said that there are new doubts in the case, so let's not try it for now."

Xiao Shun scratched his head after listening, and asked uncertainly, "Is that good or bad?"

Chong Liu said with a smile, "Good thing! It's better than the shopkeeper being tortured in public!"

"The one surnamed Xu who flaunted his power before, how can he not be tried without trial?" Master Liao leaned on the counter, holding a teapot, with a look of suspicion on his face.

Chong Liu shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know either. We can't guess what their officials are thinking. I think we can prepare some bail, maybe we can get the shopkeeper out first."

Zhu Yi nodded approvingly, "Okay, Sixth Brother, I will do as you say."

However, things did not go as expected.He and Master Liao took out most of the money in the cash box, leaving only a small amount to maintain the operation of the inn.But when I went to the prison and asked, the answer I got was that although the guarantor was allowed to pay, the amount was far more than what they had.

Chongliu and Master Liao planned to see if there was anything that could be sold in the inn, or went to the shopkeeper's room to see if there was a small treasury.When he returned to the inn, he saw a well-dressed stranger sitting in the hall.

Zhu Yi whispered to Chong Liu, "This is sent by the national teacher, saying that he is here to find the shopkeeper to pick up things... I don't know what to do, so I let him wait here for you to come back."

Is it from the copper basin? !

Chongliu thinks that in the past when the shopkeeper did business, he only exchanged contracts with customers and collected money when the goods were delivered.This money can just be used as a security deposit!

Maybe it can be used not only as a security deposit, but also to make up for the shortfall of the inn these days!

As for the copper basin, he was almost certain to be taken by the shopkeeper into the room that could only be seen through the fingers.

Chong Liu immediately raised his signature enthusiastic smile, "Oh, you are from the capital?"

The middle-aged man who looked a bit arrogant stood up, nodded slightly to Chongliu, took out something from his sleeve pocket and handed it to Chongliu.

But it is the contract.

Chongliu recalled that when he came back from the coppersmith, he met a dog on the road and was rescued by Song Mingzi.After that Song Mingzi disappeared for a while, saying that he had gone to the capital.

It must have sent the contract.

Chong Liu took it and carefully browsed the contract content.There are not many terms of use listed by the shopkeeper. There is only one item, which is to wash your face with a copper basin every day, and you can stop using it after about a year.

But the price is also stated in the contract.Washing your face with the water contained in this copper basin will speed up your aging process.

But at least he won't continue to be haunted by the approaching nightmare.

accelerated aging...

The lifespan of alchemists has always been at least [-]% longer than that of ordinary people, so relatively speaking, such a price is relatively light for the national teacher.

Both the bloody fingerprints of the national teacher and the coppersmith's were there, and Chong Liu glanced at the remuneration, his mouth almost opened into an egg.

If two-thirds were given to the coppersmith, the rest would be enough to maintain their inn until the shopkeeper came back.

"Guest, would you like to rest overnight in the small shop? I'll send the things to your house tomorrow morning." Chong Liu smiled flatteringly.

The man seemed impatient, but agreed anyway.

Until it was dark, a last quarter moon splashed pale cold frost on the roof.The big locust tree swayed its branches and leaves lonely in the night wind in the courtyard, making a rustling sound like rain.

Chongliu is on night duty today.He sat quietly behind the counter and read the playbook, and waited until everything was silent and everyone in the inn fell asleep, then he carried a lantern and walked up the stairs of the north building to the top floor, and came to the white wall .

My fingers started to itch again, very itchy.He pressed his nails irritably, the itching under the skin gave him the urge to pull the nails off...

Concentrate...concentrate...concentrate!

While warning himself in his heart, Chong Liu covered his eyes with his hands, and saw the ordinary door appear in his narrow field of vision through his fingers.Take out the key, unlock the lock, open the door, and enter the door.

A series of actions were done in one go, and he didn't even give himself time to hesitate.

The light in the room was very dark, and the meager light from the lantern could only illuminate the rows of wooden shelves closest to him.Farther away, everything was covered in thick darkness.

For some reason, Chongliu feels that this "room" has no boundaries.It seems that this is an incomparably vast space, and all the darkness is an endless extension.

I don't know which direction the chilly wind is coming from, it's messy and disorderly.A smell of decay and dampness is reminiscent of a coffin that has been buried in the ground for decades.

Chongliu carried the lantern and searched for the shelves row by row.It was so quiet here, he could even hear his own heartbeat and breathing, which were as clear as thunder.The dense light slides over the assortment of old antiques, mats, crocks, incense burners, scissors, wine glasses, kitchen utensils, etc. There is a sense of mystery and danger in the obsolete.

Finally, a little copper-yellow reflected light appeared.The copper basin was quietly placed in the middle of the shelf, in a more conspicuous position.

Chongliu hurriedly took out the burden cloth prepared in advance, wrapped the copper basin completely, and paid great attention not to let his skin touch the copper basin during the process.

While he was wrapping the copper basin, he suddenly heard a strange sound coming from not far behind.There was a sound like something wet and sticky being dragged on the ground.

Chong Liu was startled, shouldn't there be other people here? !

Turning his head, he happened to see some root-like black things, shrinking into the darkness like a spirit snake.

Chong Liu's body turned cold, and he remembered what he saw just before closing the door last time, which he almost thought was a hallucination.

The sound of thicker mucus rubbing came from the darkness, and at the same time, the itching of Chong Liu's fingertips began to become intense, so severe that it was almost unbearable.He hugged the copper basin tightly with his arms, and wanted to leave the room quickly, but suddenly felt his ankles tighten, and was caught off guard by a sudden force, and fell to the ground with an ouch.

He turned his head, but saw a black thing like a tree root, covered with a layer of translucent mucus, wrapped around his ankle.

Chong Liu yelled and struggled desperately, but the cane was extremely strong, and even tightened more and more.And in Chong Liu's mind, some insubstantial intentions and concepts suddenly invaded unstoppably, concretizing into a kind of thought that is close to human language but definitely not human language.

hungry……

hungry……

hungry……

hungry……

The repeated strong thoughts seemed to be pierced into Chong Liu's skull by an awl, so powerful that it obliterated all his thoughts, and even burst his brain.He only felt a headache that started to ring in his ears, and he struggled more and more violently.

But the vine didn't make any further attacks, instead, he really broke free.

Chong Liuyi rushed out of the room, and stopped when he was about to run out of the stairs.

No, he had to lock the door.

Chong Liu took a deep breath, feeling that the tinnitus and headache were getting better quickly.He returned to the door and carefully hung the lock back.

His hand was on the lock, and he couldn't recover for a while.

What the hell is... in this room?Is it the shopkeeper's pet?

But that is obviously something like a tree root...

Do plants also talk...

Moreover, it still uses a weird "language" that cannot be described by humans and goes directly to the mind.