The strange story of Huai'an Inn

After waking up, listening to the sound of dogs barking outside the window and looking at the clear blue sky swaying in front of the window, Chong Liu began to feel that the adventures that happened yesterday and the conversation with the shopkeeper were like a world separated by a distance. Layers of dreams are generally far away.

The snoring of Zhu Yi on the opposite bed is uniform and long, a sound that belongs to a stable life, as if it can bring any light thoughts back to the ground, and make all abnormal dreams come back to reality, and the danger in the dream gradually becomes illusory.

Chong Liu hugged the quilt and sat up, looked down at his hands, unbuttoned his shirt and looked at the skin on his chest and stomach.He was a little relieved to see that there weren't any weird protrusions or features growing out of places where they shouldn't be at all.

Maybe the shopkeeper was just trying to scare him?

But is the shopkeeper so boring?

Chong Liu has never been very familiar with Shopkeeper Zhu.He doesn't seem to care much about anything, but if someone bullies his subordinates, the consequences can be very serious.

Once when Xiao Shun went out to carry rice, when he came back, a group of hooligans robbed him of all the remaining money and spilled all the rice on the street.When he returned to the inn dejectedly, he was seen by the shopkeeper.At that time, the shopkeeper just frowned and asked what was going on.After Xiao Shun explained the cause and effect, the shopkeeper said, "Let's go."

Xiao Shun was stunned, "Where are you going?"

"Where did you meet those people who beat you just now?"

"It's at the corner between Yongqing Street and Bianhe Street."

At that time, Chongliu was going to watch the store at the inn, but he didn't see the scene where the shopkeeper showed his power.But according to Xiaoshun, at the beginning, those ruffians didn't take it seriously when they saw the shopkeeper's thin arms and legs. They even teased the shopkeeper because he was good-looking, and tried to play tricks boldly.As a result, the shopkeeper flew up and kicked the leader away first, and that speed was probably even faster than the shadowless kick in some Jianghu legend.The remaining few swarmed up and were no opponents. They were slapped by the shopkeeper and slapped back to their childhood to count the stars.

Chongliu felt that Xiaoshun's description was exaggerated. After all, the shopkeeper was just an innkeeper, not the leader of martial arts, so how could he have such abilities.

Moreover, those local hooligans are all powerful local wealthy businessmen or even the yamen of the official lord's house. Even the government doesn't take much care of it. Isn't the shopkeeper afraid of causing trouble if he does it so rashly?

As a result, within a few days, a drunken guest interrupted Chongliu and his companions by saying that the time for serving the food was not right, and it was useless for Chongliu to do a little fuss. The man became more energetic and unexpectedly raised his hand fan He gave Chong Liu a slap.Chong Liu was also a little confused when he was beaten. After all, there are not many customers who really fight against the waiter.Before he could react, the shopkeeper had already passed by him silently, grabbing the collar of the burly man with one hand, and a strange force erupted from nowhere, dragging the man who was bigger than the shopkeeper himself. The guests who had been in the last two laps arrived at the door and threw each other out with a wave of their hands.The man landed in a perfect large font, and made a heavy bang, followed by a few howls of pain, which caused the vendors in several small stalls nearby to look sideways.

The shopkeeper lowered his eyes, took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands, stared at the guest with a look ten thousand times more terrifying than Master Liao, and said softly, "I don't want the meal money, you give it to me roll."

Chong Liu looked up at the shopkeeper and felt that there was no need to pretend this time, stars would really appear in his eyes.

Later, a group of servant-like people came to the front of the inn with sticks, as if they were about to smash the store, probably sent by the former local hooligans or guests who were thrown out by the shopkeeper.Zhu Yi was so frightened that he hid behind the counter, and Chong Liuyan quickly fastened the doors and windows of the lobby, but the shopkeeper said, "No, open the door."

Chong Liu thought the shopkeeper was going crazy, "Master, let's avoid it! How can we beat so many people..."

The shopkeeper said in a calm tone, "Don't be afraid, just open the door, I promise you'll be fine."

Chongliu persuaded him a few more times, and the shopkeeper asked him to open the door.He had no choice but to hesitantly remove the latch, took a deep breath and slammed open the door, closing his eyes and waiting for the sticks of the thugs outside to fly over.

But he waited for a long time and there was no response, and even the loud scolding and the squeaking of rotten vegetable leaves being thrown on the door stopped.

There was silence outside the door, so quiet that it was eerie.

Chong Liu opened his eyelids and raised his head, only to see that group of servants who were fierce before were frozen in place one by one, their eyes were wide open, and their faces were all strangely distorted into some kind of hair-raising frightened expression.

The next moment, they all yelled uncontrollably and fled in a panic. Some even slipped on a vegetable leaf on the ground and ran away rolling and crawling.

All that was left in front of me were rotten vegetables and leaves, discarded sticks and brooms, and discarded shoes.

Chong Liu turned around, only to see that the shopkeeper was still in the same posture as before, standing there with his hands in his sleeves, as if nothing had happened.He glanced at Chong Liu, told him to sweep the floor outside the door, then turned and left.

Chong Liu still can't figure out what those thugs saw.

Thinking about it this way, if the shopkeeper is so protective of the calf, he probably wouldn't deliberately punish him.

Chong Liu got up from the bed, put on his short linen coat, and put on some worn-out cloth shoes.He yawned and pushed open the door, and went to the water tank to scoop up water and wash himself in the dark with extravagant steps because of the lingering sleepiness.Scooped a scoop of cold water from the water tank, rinsed his mouth, and took some of it with his hands and splashed it on his face.Although it was already spring at this time, the morning was still somewhat chilly, and the cold air made his cheeks flushed from the cold, driving away the remaining drowsiness.

By the time Zhu Yi, Xiaoshun, Fuzi, Jiulang and others got up in a daze, Chongliu had already gone to the lobby to sweep the floor of the lobby.He flipped down the bench that was upside down on the table, wiped all the tables, chairs and counters with a rag, and quickly took out three jars of wine from the wine cellar, and put them in wine jugs and placed them on the shelves one by one.I was standing on a stool and taking a jar of peanuts from a high shelf when I suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.

Chongliu wondered, this place hasn't opened yet, who is so ignorant of the rules to knock on the door at this moment?

He originally planned to ignore it, and wait for the other party to walk away by himself.Who would have imagined that the knocking on the door would knock three times regularly every once in a while, and there was no sign of stopping at all.

Chong Liu sighed, put the jar of peanuts aside, walked over and took down the latch, and pushed the door open a crack.

"We haven't opened the door yet, do you have..."

He stopped mid-sentence.

The street outside was empty, and there was no one there.A layer of light gray mist enveloped Bianhe Street, and the depression stretched and contracted with the temperatureless gray.

Strange, this is the time, there should be some porters on the street who deliver goods to the pier in the morning?

Chong Liu poked his head and looked around, all the shops were closed, even the place where Brother Li, who came out early in the morning to sell Hubing, had always set up a stall was empty.

Chong Liuzheng was puzzled, but suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes reverberating from the thick fog in the distance of Bianhe Street.

someone is coming?

There was nothing strange about this at first, but Chong Liu felt a little bit strange from the bottom of his heart.

The sound of hooves... seems a bit wrong.

Ordinary horses walk, trot or run, and the sound of their hooves is rhythmic after all.But the sound of hoofbeats is sometimes too long and sometimes too short. If you listen to it for a long time, you are not even sure how many legs the horse has, or how big it is, and it takes one step to take that long.

The only thing that is certain is that the sound of horseshoes is gradually approaching.

Through the dark mist, Chong Liu could vaguely distinguish a black shadow that gradually separated out.The problem is... that black shadow is too high, much higher than the Zhu Fan Tower next to it.It looks like a horse, but on its head there are four or five horns that are as densely branched as dead branches.There are countless legs dragging under the huge body, some legs end with hooves, but there are also some deformed legs curled up and waving in the air, obviously looking like human hands; Octopus tentacles.Those too dense legs walked slowly along the long, quiet street with a kind of unspeakable elegance.

The fog covered its face, but just looking at the approaching silhouette and listening to the irregular hoofbeats, Chong Liu felt a chill from his heels to the top of his head.He slammed the door shut, bolted it, and froze in place, daring not to move.

He had a sudden intuition that if he moved, or made any noise, the thing would see him.

what is that?

Although he hasn't seen it clearly, but...he can feel some kind of extremely ancient breath emanating from that thing, so old that it existed before people appeared, and even before the nearby Purple Deer Mountain appeared... breath.

A feeling that is close to eternity, divine, and trembling from the bottom of my heart.

But is God so terrifying?

He heard the chaotic hoofbeats getting closer, closer.The ground was also trembling, and all the bottles and jars in the lobby, and the chopsticks in the chopstick holders were also trembling along with it.

Fear climbed to the extreme, and Chong Liu seemed to suddenly return to his distant childhood, covering himself with a quilt in the dark night, pretending like an ostrich that the danger of the outside world would not exist.Through the thin door panel, he is also in the same panic now, and his legs have begun to weaken.

He held his breath, afraid of being noticed by it.

The heavy panting sounds rolled in the air like thunder from afar, and a subtle smell spread over, which could not be described as sweet or stinky. The old, hollow smell of dirt.

A deep and persistent tinnitus became more and more vivid in Chong Liu's mind, as if he was playing a certain string in the back of his head, throbbing and throbbing under the scalp.Something filled his mind, like cotton, making his thoughts stagnant.Some chaotic thoughts, images, and sounds turned into a bottomless vortex, swallowing his cognition of everything around him.

Everything becomes unreal, yet incredibly real.

"Sixth brother, what are you doing? Why don't you open the door?"

Suddenly, as if suddenly lifted by an invisible rope, the humming in my head, the terrifying hoofbeats that shook the ground, the scorching and ancient panting, and the ubiquitous light gray mist, all came together in an instant. Disappeared.

Chong Liu suddenly turned his head and saw Zhu Yi looking at him with a strange expression, "It's time to open the shop, and there are customers knocking on the door for a long time."

What time does the store open?Isn't it early morning?

It was only then that Chong Liu realized that the bright sunlight was shining through the gauze covering the windows, and it was no longer the dim sky in the early morning.

what happened?He obviously just woke up not long ago, probably around the time of Yin Shi, why is it time to open the shop now?

How long has he been standing in front of the door?

Was it just a dream?Is he sleepwalking?

The noisy and usual bustling noises of the streets filled the air, and there seemed to be a well-defined abyss separated from the dark, cold and quiet feeling just now.It's as if there is a clear difference between returning from the underworld to the yang world, and returning from nightmares to reality.

But those clear feelings just now are not quite like dreams or hallucinations.

"Hello! Is your inn closed?" An impatient voice came from outside the door, "If you don't open the door, I will leave."

Chong Liu took down the latch with a dazed expression, and was still a little hesitant when he wanted to open the door.

That thing...will it still be outside the door?Could this be a trap?

Is the person behind him really Zhu Yi?

"Brother Six, have you lost your soul?" Zhu Yi, who was busy packing the unfinished peanuts in Chong Liu, urged again, "Open the door quickly."

Chong Liu was half confused, half suspicious, but finally he pushed the door open.

Outside the door, an alchemist in green and jade crown leaned against the door frame calmly and gracefully, with a burden on his back and a long ax that was too huge for his figure.

When the alchemist saw Chong Liu, he let out a surprise, stretched his neck and looked over Chong Liu's head into the shop.After seeing Zhu Yi, he had the expression of seeing an acquaintance, "Ah, I almost thought I went to the wrong store."

Zhu Yi didn't look happy when he saw him.

After finishing speaking, the alchemist bypassed Chong Liu, walked straight through the lobby and walked towards the atrium.

Chongliu's mind, which was still numb from confusion and fear, suddenly came back to his senses.He quickly chased after him, "Hey, guest officer, wait a minute, do you want to stay in a hotel or..."

"I'm looking for your shopkeeper." The alchemist didn't even give him a look, and waved his hand casually as if trying to chase away flies.

That attitude made Chong Liu inexplicably angry, but the professionalism of a waiter still prompted him to smile professionally and enthusiastically.

"Guest officer, our shopkeeper is still resting, please wait in the hall for a while, I will help you check if he is awake?"

"No, you are a newcomer and you may not know, I know your shopkeeper very well." The alchemist finally turned his head, smiled suavely at himself, and blinked his right eye at him.

Chong Liu's professional smile became a little stiff.

Shouldn't all alchemists take the route of being pure-hearted and ascetic?Is this person really an alchemist and not a flower picker?

Chongliu couldn't help but want to say something overtly and secretly, when he suddenly heard a soft and pleasant voice.

"Brother, good morning."

Chong Liuyi turned his head, only to see Xu Hanke and Liu Sheng coming down the stairs of the north building and walking under the locust tree.Today Xu Hanke is wearing a plain white gauze crane cloak, without a scarf on his head, but has his black hair tied into a bun and a long white jade hairpin.

Although such a delicate, thin and beautiful man is generally not Chong Liu's favorite, he still has to admire, it's fine to be so good-looking, but he still has a lot of status. Everyone is human, so why is there so much difference?

And the alchemist next to him, who was handsome but vile, lit up like a lamp when he saw Xu Hanke.

Deng Tuzi...Chong Liu cursed secretly.

However, Xu Hanke only smiled brightly at Chong Liu.

Chong Liu hurriedly pulled back the smile that he almost couldn't hold back when facing the alchemist just now, "Good morning, guest officer! Are you going to have breakfast? This morning there is... there is..."

Just as he was about to report the name of the dish habitually, he suddenly realized that he had lost an hour inexplicably before, and he didn't have time to go to the back kitchen to ask Master Liao what dish he had today.

Seeing Chong Liu stutter, Xu Hanke didn't care.He walked up to Chong Liu, his smile slightly restrained, and he carefully looked at Chong Liu's face, "Is my brother feeling unwell? Why is your complexion a little bad?"

Chong Liu was not used to that concerned tone.After all, it had been a long, long time since someone spoke to him in that tone.

"I'm fine, maybe I didn't sleep well." Chong Liu rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.That Liu Sheng's eyes turned between the two of them, and said solemnly to Chongliu, "I really thank you yesterday."

"It's nothing, nothing." While Chong Liu repeatedly waved his hands, he remembered what the shopkeeper had said to him.

Xu Hanke's body was covered with a strong foul smell, and his life was not long.

Even if he saved him yesterday, it would only delay his death.

Thinking about it this way, looking at the young Xiansi with a concerned face in front of him, Chong Liu felt very uncomfortable.

But should he be reminded again?

Will it cause some trouble that he can't afford?