The strange story of Huai'an Inn

After Xiao Yi came back, shopkeeper Zhu immediately smiled and invited him to the upper room in the east building that Chong Liu had repacked, explaining and persuading him.

Xiao Yi was not very happy that the people in the inn moved his belongings out of the original room privately, but Nian Zai repeatedly apologized to the shopkeeper, and since he was asking for help about the guide fish, naturally he could only accept him shelf.

When Xiao Yi came back, a few people from Ming Yuandao came, it seemed that they came here specially to report matters to Xiao Yi.When the shopkeeper explained to Xiao Yi, those burly men stood behind him and their boss with cold faces and folded arms, the formation was quite frightening.

Chong Liu stood tremblingly at the door, wondering whether these people on the road would suddenly hit them in a hurry...

"It scares you." A Liang gnawed a piece of mustache in his hand, "Look at your shopkeeper, you have slender arms and legs, don't worry we won't bully him."

Chong Liu glanced at him, not in a good mood.

Seeing that he didn't talk to him, Ah Liang turned around and put one hand on the wall, looking at Chong Liu with interest, "What's wrong? Are you angry? Is it appropriate for a waiter to treat guests like this?"

Chong Liu twitched the corners of his mouth perfunctorily, and said in a somewhat sarcastic tone, "Then, what are your orders, guest officer?"

A Liang clicked his tongue, tilted his head in wonder and asked, "Hey? What's the matter with you? Are you having a firecracker battle?"

Chong Liu was angry, the shopkeeper looked at him suspiciously before, and now he still can't get over it.

"What exactly did you bring to our inn?" Chong Liu straightened it out, and turned to look at A Liang.

A Liang blinked his eyes a few times, pondered for a while, and became more and more confused, "I didn't bring anything? It's just luggage."

"The things in the sea... did you bring them in?"

A Liang was stunned for a while, then pulled out a red string from his neck, on which was hung a bone-like thing, "This is a whale tailbone, I have worn it for many years, does it count?"

Been wearing it for years...it shouldn't be...

Chong Liu took off the cotton hat on his head irritably, always feeling that this matter was very strange.It's like... targeting him.

At this time, everyone in the room stood up, the shopkeeper and Xiao Yi bowed to each other, and the people from Ming Yuandao came out first.

A Liang blinked Chong Liu a few times, said, "Let's talk later!" and followed.

Before Chong Liu could react, someone grabbed his arm suddenly.He was pulled into the room at once, and before he could stand on his feet, he heard a bang behind him, and the door was closed.

Chong Liu stared blankly at the shopkeeper turning around, staring at him for a while, then walked to the round table where Xiao Yi had tea with just now, picked up Xiao Yi's used teacup, took a look, took out a handkerchief and carefully Wrap it up and put it aside.

"Liu'er." The shopkeeper finally raised his head to look at him, "I'm afraid this business is for you."

Chong Liu was stunned for a moment, "What?"

"Your distortion has a very obvious tendency. You also mentioned that you dreamed of the deep sea many times in your dreams, and now, the sea has been brought into this inn." Zhu Helan said, walking slowly towards Chongliu, " It must have been a coincidence.”

Chong Liu leaned on the table and sat down, and said calmly, "But I'm not guilty of Ming Yuandao? Besides, I'm just a waiter, so I can't compete with them?"

"I'm just guessing, maybe it's a coincidence. After all, the filth I saw on them is just the degree of serious filth that is usually contaminated by chance. It doesn't seem like they can bring foreign things into the inn. But... If it wasn't for them..." The shopkeeper didn't finish his sentence, but the meaningful look in his eyes already hinted at his thoughts.

If it's not an outsider, then Chong Liu himself.

Chong Liu looked at Dong's family, feeling a little worried.

"Boss...you suspect that I'm a spy?"

"..."

"If I were a spy, and still exposed so many flaws, then I would be too unqualified. Besides, whose spy am I? Is it from the imperial court, from Baixiaomen, or some other sect?" Chong Liu sneered, But I couldn't laugh in my heart.

His rationality told him that the shopkeeper's suspicion was completely reasonable, but in his heart, he just felt uncomfortable.

The shopkeeper stared at him for a while, lowered his eyes lightly, and said quietly, "You blame me for not believing you?"

"That's not true..." Chong Liu pulled out a somewhat embarrassed smile, and looked down at his rough hands, "I'm so unknown, it's rare that you haven't driven me away yet. "

"Liu'er..." Zhu Helan exhaled softly, raised her gaze, and looked at Chong Liu seriously, "You want me to believe you, but you don't believe me."

Chong Liu was taken aback, raised his head and said in astonishment, "Where does this start?"

"I told my whole story before, and I thought you would be honest with me. But you didn't."

Chong Liu blinked and rubbed his nose, "It's not that I don't want to talk about it, it's really...too trivial. There wasn't enough time at that time, was it?"

Zhu Helan raised her hands, leaned on the back of the chair, and raised her eyebrows, "Now I have time."

Chong Liu let out an oh, feeling a little shy for some reason.

It seems that he has never told anyone about his growth experience... After all, before he came to Huai'an Inn, he had a complete set of fake identities, and he never thought about telling the truth to others.

There is a feeling of being honest...

Chong Liu stopped his brain from associating with some irrelevant things, and while rubbing the indelible red vegetable juice marks on his fingers, he said slowly: I don't remember things so clearly when I was a child.Anyway, as long as I can remember, I lived in a cave not far from the sea.The cave is hidden at a turn-in between the cliffs, and it cannot be seen from the outside at all, so even the villagers in the nearby fishing village cannot find us there.

My master's health is very bad and he doesn't go out very much.There is a fire in the cave all year round, and it cannot be extinguished for a moment.Before I could start working, I followed my master to study and read in the cave, and listened to him talk about the outside world.At that time, there were a few regular people who would send some water, food, vegetables and meat to the cave.Although my master does not go out to do work, but for some reason he has a box, which is empty when I look inside, but he can keep taking money out.

Afterwards, the two workers opened the box and found their way into the cave in the middle of the night, tied me and my master, and went deep into the cave to steal the box.But I remember they entered and never came out again.We rubbed the rope on the rocks, but we were also a little scared, and we would not dare to reveal where we live easily in the future.

At that time, I was also sensible, so I often went to nearby villages and towns to buy things like fish, shrimp, crab, and shellfish that I found in my daily pocket.

Master was afraid that some people from the town would secretly follow me to find it, so he arranged a lot of formations and organs outside the cave. Only he and I knew how to get out so as not to fall into the trap.

Master himself is also a member of the Baixiao Sect, but for some reason, he doesn't want to associate with his former fellow Sect, and he doesn't want them to know where he is.He taught me the rules of Baixiaomen, but until eight years ago, the master suddenly told me that he had already given me what he could. If I want to truly experience life in the world, I have to leave the cave and go outside.He gave me his cinnabar order, asking me to use Baixiaomen's network for help when I encounter problems.

Afterwards, I traveled to several cities, but in the end I felt that I owed something.The people of Baixiaomen always travel around at first, and they will not stop until they find a city that suits them best.Back then when I came to Tianliang City... I also heard some rumors about the Huaian Inn.So your guess is not bad, I did come with a certain purpose.

For Bai Xiaosheng, secrets are the most precious thing in the world.To master the secret is to master power more powerful than money.You can also guess how attractive our inn is to me.

It’s just that not every Bai Xiaosheng is interested in such things as filth, alchemists, gods, and ghosts. Most ambitious people prefer to collect things like political conspiracy and scandals... My master and I are probably different, I especially like to collect these abnormal-sounding stories... When I was a child, my master occasionally told me one or two stories he had collected before, which often scared me to have nightmares all night, and I was so scared that I shrank under the quilt and dared not come out.But he just wouldn't show me his notes.No way... I had no choice but to come out and collect them myself.

It is also very difficult to find real skills among a group of alchemists who have no real skills and rely on pretending to be gods and tricks to earn popularity. It is really difficult to find those fake ghost stories that have been fabricated by others... But our inn It's different, as soon as I come in, I can feel that there are real strange things here.

Having said that, Chong Liu smirked a few times in embarrassment, "Afterwards... I don't want to leave even more."

Zhu Helan listened carefully to Chong Liu's narration, not knowing what was going on in his mind.He asked, "So you never went back in eight years?"

"No... Master told me not to go back and disturb his rest... But I will write a letter to him every year to report my situation this year."

"You said that your master is not in good health. Did he suffer from some intractable disease?"

Chong Liu thought for a while and said, "To be honest, I have read a lot of medical books and asked many doctors. But when I talk about the symptoms, they don't know what is wrong. My master has many scars on his body, especially a scar. From the stomach to the chest, it's scary. He usually spends [-]% of his time meditating on a stone bed, and he sleeps in the same position. Standing for a long time, his body will start... as if it is about to fall apart, It's shaky.

I didn't think there was anything abnormal about that when I was a kid, I thought everyone would be like that when they get older...

Later, as I grew up, he was almost motionless, and he seldom even ate, sometimes only once in a few days.I also thought it was normal... After I came out and saw other people eating two to three meals a day, I realized that my master seemed a little strange. "

The shopkeeper frowned slightly, as if thinking hard about something, "This disease sounds really weird. Have you ever thought of bringing a doctor back to show him?"

"I've asked so many doctors, but I can't explain why. It's useless to take it back, and it will disturb the purity of Master."

Zhu Helan's fingers tapped on the table, thinking for a moment, "So in your memory, before you came to Huai'an Inn, you had no exposure to filth?"

"No."

"You don't remember your biological parents either, all your childhood memories are in the cave?"

"Yes……"

"Your master doesn't move, and only eats once in a few days?"

"Um……"

Zhu Helan suddenly laughed, her shoulders trembling slightly, "No wonder you have to make up a fake identity. It sounds like you made it up, and it's not as realistic as your Gaotu man's statement."

Chong Liu smiled wryly, "Isn't it!"

"Did your master tell you why you live in caves by the sea and why don't you live in houses like ordinary people?"

"I asked. Master said that he likes to be quiet, and he likes to listen to the sound of the waves."

"Hai..." Zhu Helan tasted the word between his lips and teeth, not knowing what he was thinking about.He looked at Chong Liu, and his suspicion gradually faded.

"Those underwater 'people' you saw in that room, have you seen them before?"

Chong Liu shook his head like a rattle, "Maybe it's a hallucination after hearing the strange news that A Liang said?"

"It's not necessarily a hallucination..." Zhu Helan said solemnly, "Some anecdotal books do record that there are strange people in the depths of the abyss, with fish heads and human bodies... Nanyang people call them water ghosts, and Tiangu people call them Yuan corpses. It’s just that these aliens have always been legends without evidence, and I even once suspected that they were fabricated by folk tales from Nanyang.”