The strange story of Huai'an Inn

Xu Hanke chatted casually with Chongliu again, and Liu Sheng whispered something in his ear, and then he said goodbye to Chongliu, and went out through the lobby with Liu Sheng.

"I didn't expect that your customers here are getting more and more beautiful. They are almost catching up with your shopkeeper." The alchemist said in an admiring tone.

Reluctantly, Chong Liu turned his attention back to the apprentice-like alchemist, and he stopped pretending to smile, and his tone was even a little earnest, "You are still waiting in the lobby, let me go and see the shopkeeper." Is it gone? If you are familiar with our boss, you should know that he usually wakes up in a bad mood in the morning. It can be said that he is very bad, and sometimes even a little scary. It is only now, he must have not woken up. If you woke him up..."

Before Chong Liu finished speaking, the alchemist already had a look of hesitation and retreat.

It seems that he has indeed experienced the shopkeeper's getting up.

The problem is that this person is not from the inn, under what circumstances can he experience the shopkeeper's aura of getting up?Did he have an affair with the shopkeeper?

So the shopkeeper has been so indifferent to the girls because he likes boys?

Why is he always wondering who the shopkeeper is having an affair with?

Chong Liu secretly scolded himself for being sick, because such a strange thing happened this morning, and he still had time to think about it.

The alchemist sighed, leaned on his long ax and thought for a while, "Come on, I'm tired after driving all the way, so I might as well have breakfast first." Then, he glanced at Chong Liu again, grinning and said, " Pindao’s name is Songhuang, I don’t know how to call my little brother?”

"Guan weighs six."

"Then I'll trouble you, brother, to see if your master is awake. Tell him that I'm back from the capital."

Chong Liu secretly sighed, so he had no choice but to walk to the backyard, making a gesture to see the shopkeeper.He is [-] to [-]% sure that the shopkeeper is still asleep, after all, he usually doesn't show up in the hall until almost noon.What he said just now was just to stabilize the fake Taoist who came out of nowhere.

However, this time it happened that [-]% came true.

As soon as Chong Liu entered the backyard, he noticed that the two dark green moon doors of the shopkeeper's small courtyard were open.

He swallowed, not knowing why he suddenly became nervous.

Standing at the door and looking in, I saw the shopkeeper bent over, using a wooden spoon to water the strange flowers and plants in the yard.

But upon closer inspection, what he scooped out of the barrel was not water, but some kind of red viscous liquid.

... Could it be blood?

Chong Liu's back was hairy, and he was almost worried about seeing a human bone in the barrel.

But at this moment, the shopkeeper turned his head as if he had eyes behind him, and saw Chong Liu poking his head at the door, so he put down the wooden spoon in his hand and waved to him.

Chong Liu took a few steps inside, and carefully looked at the shopkeeper with cautious eyes on some flammable and explosive items.

The shopkeeper tilted his head to look at him for a while, then laughed softly, as if he was looking at something cute.

"Did you see it, smell it, hear it, or feel it?"

Chong Liu was taken aback, "What?"

"You know what I'm talking about." The shopkeeper stood under the flower vine, his collar was a little loose probably because he just woke up in the morning, and he could see the slender neck with its graceful lines reminiscent of a swan.

Chong Liu pretended to be calm and swallowed, "Probably...a little bit."

"A little bit?" The shopkeeper raised his eyebrows, as if a little surprised, "When?"

"Not long after I woke up in the morning, I went to the hall to prepare..." Chong Liu briefly described what he saw.The empty street, and the huge and terrifying black shadow that emerged from the fog.

"By the time I came back to my senses, an hour had passed...but I feel like it's only been a little while...I'm afraid there's not even time for a stick of incense." Chong Liu pinched the calluses on his fingers a little uneasily, "Boss... am I hallucinating?"

"It's not a hallucination... It's just that you are attacked by the filth, and you can see things that you couldn't see or feel in front of you before, but now you can see them. It's just that ordinary people can either see, feel, or Hearing, smelling. There are not many people who can have both senses at the same time, but you can see, hear, smell and feel at the same time... This is really beyond my expectations."

"...Then what exactly did I see? A monster?"

"It's not a monster, it's the City God patrolling its territory." The shopkeeper paused, and then added, "Actually, the name City God is not very accurate, they existed long before the appearance of city pools, but people are always a bit arrogant, They insist on holding the settlements they built on other people's heads."

City God...

Shouldn't that be a white-faced, bearded, brocade-clothed master sitting in the hall... That giant monster with a bunch of feet, a bunch of hands, and a bunch of unknown things is too far away from the image in people's minds Bar!

"City Gods generally don't have any malice towards people. After all, people are like a nest of chickens and ducks raised in their own yard to them. You will protect them, but you don't have much interest in their lives. They have an incomprehensible obsession with their own territory. They walk back and forth on the land that belongs to them every day, devouring the filth that tries to invade its territory, and protecting everything that thrives on this land. Humans began to fight for After they build temples to worship, they also become a little curious about humans, but they rarely come into contact with humans. You don’t have to be afraid.”

"So... the City God is not a god, but a monster contaminated by filth?"

"God and filth are not incompatible. As I said, filth has existed from the very beginning, and it is a vast but little-understood primordial force in this universe. If there is only Tao in the world, nothing can surpass Tao. , there can be no gods and ghosts. It is because of filth that there can be gods."

Gods are also contaminated by filth?This is very different from what the alchemists said.

Isn't filth a bad thing?Otherwise why is it called dirty?

The shopkeeper walked up to Chong Liu at some point, carefully studying Chong Liu's complexion.From such a close distance, Chong Liu could even see a few inconspicuous freckles on the bridge of the shopkeeper's nose, as well as a faint blue circle around the edge of the dark brown eyeballs.

Chong Liu was embarrassed by the look, and didn't know where to put his eyes.

"Uh……"

"Apart from that incident in the morning, do you feel any discomfort in your body? Or is it different from before? For example, where did new moles grow or... anything else?" The shopkeeper asked in a doctor's tone. .

Chong Liu looked down at himself, the same rough clothes, the same rough hands from doing chores all year round, the same worn and worn cloth shoes, "Hmm...it doesn't seem to be there?"

He suddenly became a little uncertain, and touched himself with his hands, feeling that there seemed to be nothing wrong.

"It's fine if you don't have one." The shopkeeper took a step back and smiled nonchalantly, "If you have anything, tell me immediately. Ah, and, if you see or perceive anything that is wrong, you can only tell me, not tell me. Others. Otherwise, it may cause more trouble. After all... [-]% of the people in this world don't understand filth at all."

"Oh... I remember."

The shopkeeper hooked the corners of his mouth, smiled with satisfaction, gathered his clothes, and put his hands back into his sleeves habitually, "Is there anything else?"

Just as Chong Liu was about to say no more, he suddenly remembered the reason why he came to find the shopkeeper, "There is an alchemist outside who wants to see you, saying that he just came back from the capital."

The shopkeeper gave a clear ah, "Is it Song Huang? It's been delayed for so long, but I can count it back."

"You really know him?"

"We are also old acquaintances, and we have some business contacts with him. The Daoist Qi Yao who took over as the head teacher of the Qingming Sect these days is his senior senior brother. His cultivation level is actually quite high, but this person is not doing a proper job. He has not been a teacher until now. It's been almost ten years, and I haven't made much achievements in slaying demons and demons. Most of the time I go out to eat, drink and have fun under the banner of traveling the world.

"Not only is he not a serious alchemist, but he is also not a serious person..." Chong Liu muttered.

The shopkeeper laughed twice, as if he took Chong Liu's evaluation seriously, "You don't have to pay attention to him, go and do your work, I will see him later."

Nothing unexpected happened the next day.Most of the guests who went up the mountain to eat vegetarian food yesterday came back. They were extremely busy during the breakfast, lunch, and dinner periods, and they had to help the guests clean up the guest rooms and change the bedding in the middle, and there was no time to stop.Busy and busy, Chong Liu almost forgot what happened in the morning and yesterday, as if everything was back on track.

Until after closing time...

Tonight it was Chung Liu’s turn to be on duty. After cleaning the lobby, Zhu Yi went back to the room to rest. Only Chung Liu moved a bench and sat behind the counter, lit a dim soybean oil lamp, and took peanuts while eating. I am reading a new play.The play was written by a literati who suddenly became popular recently, called Luzhou Layman.A very mysterious person, it is said that he seldom shows up in theaters, and no one knows what he looks like.But the plays he wrote are very interesting, and they are quite different from other plays. Not only are there brilliant poems and libretto, but there are always some... weird and weird plots in it, and it took me a while to read them The whole place seemed to be shrouded in a layer of gray fog, and there was a feeling of uneasiness.

But Chongliu was good at it. Every time he saved some money, he always went to the theater to watch one or two performances, or bought one or two opera books and watched it by the oil lamp when he was staying at night.

Just seeing the exciting place, suddenly there was a hasty knock on the door.Chong Liu clicked his tongue impatiently, put down his playbook and opened the door.As long as the rooms are not full, they will still receive guests who want to stay in the hotel at night, so occasional knocks on the door in the middle of the night often happen.

However, Chongliu opened the door and looked, but was stunned.

Isn't this the female crown named Taixi who "connected" with him in Yuzhen Temple yesterday?

She was wearing dark clothes, with a piece of black gauze lifted up on the crown, presumably because she didn't want to be noticed when she came out, so she dressed like this.And behind her, there was another female crown with a similar dress, her figure was thinner, and the black veil on her head was still down, blocking her face.

"It's you." Tai Xi smiled slightly.

Chong Liu was taken aback for a moment, and asked, "Are you here to stay?"

She chuckled, "Of course not, we are here for an appointment, didn't your shopkeeper tell you?"

……

Chongliu wanted to say that the shopkeeper wouldn't tell him anything, but he felt that what he said was like a daughter-in-law complaining about her husband, so he hurriedly let the two female crowns in and hurried to find the shopkeeper.

But before he entered the atrium, the shopkeeper had already come over by himself.He walked out under the shadow of the locust tree in the moonlight, holding a package wrapped in red cloth in both hands, and an elegant and loose gauze robe was blown by the wind, like a fairy floating out of the locust tree.

"Boss...they..."

But the shopkeeper seemed to know who was coming, so he gave him a calm look, and then looked past Chong Liu to look at the two female crowns behind him.

When Tai Xi saw the shopkeeper, she didn't look very happy, instead she looked very nervous, with a hint of fear in her cautious look.

Is she afraid of the shopkeeper?

The shopkeeper smiled, and walked in front of the two of them with the package in his hand, "Please trouble the two fairies to come in person." He was almost certain that what the shopkeeper was holding in his arms was the wedding dress sent by the lady of the Luo family that day.

Is this the shopkeeper's sideline?Dang Yaren helps to win business for a craftsman like Mrs. Luo?

So the wedding dress was custom-made by these two female crowns?But the two of them are monks who practice alchemy and Taoism, what do they want for wedding dresses?

Tai Xi nodded slightly, then turned to look at another female crown covered with black veil, "Master..." The female crown called Master took out a money bag from her arms and handed it to the shopkeeper. He said, "Here is the other half of the reward."

Chong Liu was taken aback.The female crown's voice was very weird, as if her throat had been smothered by fireworks, hoarse and rough, it made one's scalp tingle.

Chong Liu thought it would be better for him to avoid it, but just as he took a step towards the atrium, he heard the shopkeeper say, "Liu'er, you stay here."

He had no choice but to stop obediently.

The shopkeeper took the purse, and then threw it to Chong Liu.Chong Liu hurriedly caught it, holding it in a daze.

The purse was heavy, and it seemed to have two spindles.He quietly opened his pocket and took a look, and saw a bright golden color.

Chong Liu's eyes widened: Oh my god, it's gold!

Two big gold ingots!This thing is enough for him to live for more than ten years without having to work again!Sure enough, the shopkeeper's sideline business is his real source of income!

The shopkeeper handed over the red package in his hand, and the hoarse female crown hesitated for a moment before reaching out to take it.

"After tonight, you must wear this wedding dress once every day before midnight, no matter what happens. Also, when you wear it, you must not be seen by anyone, and you must not shine on any reflective surfaces. Every time You can't wear it for more than one stick of incense, and don't be greedy. And because of your special situation, if you notice any abnormalities after wearing it, you should tell me immediately." The shopkeeper explained in detail, with a solemn tone, "You must not get your clothes dirty. Break it, especially not stained with other people's blood. If you insist on it for five years, you must come back to me with this clothes today after five years, and you must not dispose of it without authorization."

"Even I can't see it?" Taixi asked.

The shopkeeper said, "No. Anytime anyone other than her sees her wearing a wedding dress, the dress will start to erode the host." The shopkeeper took out two more contracts from his sleeve as if stuff on the counter.Each of them had a red fingerprint on the contract.

"The rules I just mentioned and the possible consequences if they are violated are already written in this contract. Take a look carefully. If there is no problem, put a blood mark here. Take one of them , and I will return the other one to the person who sewed this wedding dress."

The masked female crown walked to the counter, quickly scanned the contract, and then raised her hand to bite her finger.At this moment, the shopkeeper suddenly held down the contract, and said earnestly, "Don't worry, read it carefully, make sure you can do it, and then sign."

The masked female crown then lowered her head again, looking carefully at the content on the paper through the black veil.Tai Xi also leaned forward, the more she looked, the paler her face became.

When the masked female crown stretched her fingers inside the black veil, bit her fingertips and wanted to press her fingerprints, Tai Xi suddenly grabbed her master's arm and whispered, "Master... are you sure? Something like this..."

"It's come to this point, do you want to stop?" said the mysterious masked female crown, sighed softly, but the sound of tearing showed a little hollow, as if a piece of heart had been corroded by mold. dead wood.

Chong Liu couldn't help wondering, what was written on that paper that made people feel sad?Why should a wedding dress be worn every day, and there are so many rules?

He remembered the rumors that the wedding dress sewn by the Luo family's wife would bring misfortune.Those brides wore their wedding dresses every day and refused to take them off, and in the end they were forcibly taken off... Not only did they die several times, but even many of the servants at the scene were frightened and became insane and talked nonsense.

Why do they pay such a high price for such things?