zero o'clock

【Bi An Tea House】

Five o'clock in the morning, Beijing, Shichahai.

This is a well-known cultural heritage protection area in the capital. However, due to the serious invasion of foreign things in recent years, the famous alleys in Shichahai have been occupied by Korean fried chicken, octopus balls and frozen yogurt. It is almost invisible from the beginning to the end. Local snacks, not to mention Beijing-style culture.

There is a man-made lake in the center of Shichahai, along which there are bars and nightclubs full of 80s nostalgia.

The end of the new year is approaching, and the people in the capital are almost dispersed, and the bar street that used to be open all night has also become deserted. Except for one or two that are still open, most of them have posted vacation notices.

Find a random intersection from Bar Street and go deep. There is the real old Beijing Hutong. It has not been repaired too much and is not prosperous. The low courtyard walls and old houses still reveal a cold sense of dilapidation. .

The heavy snow had just stopped, and the alley was covered with a thick layer of snow, covering the piles of old things piled up in the corners. Because they were not trampled by pedestrians, they looked much neater and cleaner than usual.

In the depths of the alley, the windows of an unopened canteen were closed, and only the deflated incandescent bulb in front of the porch was lit.On the left side of it is a large courtyard, which was converted into small bungalows by the owner, and rented out to wage earners who work in this place where every inch of land is expensive but have little money.

On the right side of the canteen, two or three meters away, there is a door made of wood that cannot be seen. On the door beam and under the cornice hangs a flat plate, on which the word "the other shore" is engraved in gold lacquer. , is a tea house.

There are not many people who are willing to drink tea to cultivate themselves these days, not to mention that the location of the other side of the tea house is not good, and almost no tourists will come to this corner of the corner, so the tea house spends most of the year. They are all in a deserted state with no one to patronize.

It is also for this reason that even the middle-aged woman who looks at the canteen next door has never seen what the tea house behind that door looks like. She only knows that the boss is a young man with an elegant temperament, who rarely goes out, and occasionally comes to her Changing a few bottles of yogurt in the store, there is always a sneaky fox dog behind him.

At this moment, the lights in the main room of Bi’an Tea House were dimmed, the vertical air conditioner was blowing warm air, and a three-flowered civet cat was dozing off on the cushion, purring and breathing.

With a soft slap, the electric kettle on the coffee table stopped heating, and the man who was dozing on the sofa in the booth opened his eyes.

The room was at least thirty degrees Celsius. Qi Jingyu was wearing a white shirt and silver-gray trousers, and a thick fox-fur cape to avoid the cold. His skin was extremely pale, and there was a sickly yin between his brows. The figure is very thin, leaning on the back of the sofa, there is a soft and boneless feeling of laziness.

Qi Jingyu glanced at the clock on the wall, picked up the kettle and filled the teacup in front of him with some water.

Sensing movement, the civet cat got up and shook its fur, walked over and lay down beside its owner, and meowed.

Qi Jingyu picked up the teacup, blew away the floating leaves, lowered his head and took a sip of the boiling tea, before saying, "Either get out, or open the door."

The civet cat jumped off the sofa as promised, and slipped around the tables and chairs in the main hall to the door. As soon as it approached, the black bell hanging on the top of the door jingled and rang, while the silver bell next to it remained motionless. .

This is a pair of yin and yang copper bells, one black and one silver, the black bell rings when demons come, and the silver bell rings when people come, hanging at the entrance of the main hall to remind the door what it is.

The civet cat stopped and stared at the copper bell for a while, then hooked the door open with its paws, and jumped out.

At the same time, two shadows, a man and a beast, appeared at the entrance of the alley. The fox walked behind Li Huan, sweeping away the footprints of the two with his tail as he walked.

Suddenly, the incandescent light bulb that was on outside the canteen exploded with a crash, and the only light in the alley disappeared. Li Huan turned his head to look at Hu Ling, who swallowed guiltily, and whispered, "He knows we're back... "

"You seem to be very angry?" Li Huan said.

Hu Ling nodded tragically, "I was hurt by you!"

The two entered the door and walked through the front yard. Li Huan stepped on the steps and saw a civet cat squatting obediently by the open door.

"This is?" He turned around, and found that Hu Ling was also pawing at his pointed face in the same posture, glaring at the civet cat provocatively.

Li Huan: "..."

"That's it!" Hu Ling gritted his teeth and said, "This guy shows his presence in front of his master every day, and wags his tail every now and then begging for a hug. He can't even go away! It's just stinky and shameless!"

Civet cat: "Meow~"

Hu Ling frowned instantly, and said frantically, "Look, look!"

Li Huan raised his forehead and decided not to pay any attention to these two monsters who were more idle than washing their faces. He passed through the eyes of the two monsters and walked into the tea house.

On the top of the door, two yin and yang bells, one black and one silver, seemed to be still.

Li Huan closed the door softly, and before he could turn around, he heard a man's voice in the darkness——

Qi Jingyu said, "Xiaohuan, come here."

Li Huan repeatedly recalled his performance on this trip in his mind.Aside from the problems with the mission itself, there seems to be nothing wrong with it, and I personally killed a larval monster, so the result shouldn't be too bad...

Even though he thought so, he still felt a little guilty. He walked to the innermost booth of the tea house. Li Huan stepped forward to fill the teacup with water. , haven't rested so late?"

Qi Jingyu hummed and said, "I'm worried if you haven't come back."

After speaking, he stretched out his hand to brush away the hair on the side of Li Huan's face, and focused his eyes on that small piece of skin.Qi Jingyu's eyes are very light, a kind of light brown close to the texture of amber. When they look at each other, they will give people a sense of rationality and wisdom. They are the unique eyes of smart people, and they seem to be able to see through all the illusions that have been painstakingly constructed.

Li Huan has been by Jing Yu's side since he can remember. The two have a deep relationship, and they are both teachers and friends, but he also doesn't like to be stared at by those eyes. Sometimes he thinks that Kyuubi may have the ability to read people's hearts, because there There are never any secrets in front of people.

"Have you been injured?" Qi Jingyu asked.

Li Huan was taken aback, touched his cheek subconsciously, and explained after he realized: "Oh, it's not considered an injury, it's just that the mouthparts of that thing cut the skin a little bit, and it's all right now."

"After bleeding, the smell is still very clear." Qi Jingyu pointed to the sofa opposite to sit down, and warned: "Be careful in the future, don't let yourself bleed, the blood of the demon is more attractive to the same kind than humans."

Li Huan nodded slowly, didn't sit down, but took off his backpack and said to Qi Jingyu: "Teacher, the corpse has been brought back. It has been dead for four or five hours. It is hot in this room, so it must be frozen as soon as possible, otherwise the body will rot. judge."

"Alright," Qi Jingyu put down the teacup, "Call Ari in."

His voice fell silent, the door slammed open from the outside, the snow foamed up, and a fluffy white thing rushed over, hugging Qi Jingyu's thigh, snot and tears rubbing against the priceless On the handmade trousers, the dog leg said: "Master!"

Qi Jingyu: "..."

Nine-Tails-sama felt a headache, pulled the hair on the nape of his neck and pulled the fox off. The fox rolled round on the spot, stood up and continued to wag its tail like a dog.

Li Huan, who was watching, sighed in his heart, silently slandering his teacher that something must have gone wrong when he turned into a demon, otherwise how could there be such an incoherent second spirit beast out of the three souls? !

"Master," Hu Ling said, "What orders do you have, meow?"

Li Huan: "..."

Qi Jingyu said: "Put away the demon corpse, I will check it after dawn."

"Yes, Master~" Hu Ling turned his head and picked up Li Huan's Nike bag, trotting all the way into the back room.

Li Huan felt like laughing when he saw its Samoyed look, and glanced casually out of the corner of his eye, only to find that the civet cat was staring at him with piercing eyes.Although Ari said that the cat is also a demon, it is strange that he has not felt even the slightest demonic aura emanating from it since he entered the door.

"Teacher, why did you think about raising a cat after not seeing you for a few days?" Li Huan scratched the civet cat's chin with his fingers, and the cat was not afraid of strangers, but squinted its eyes and enjoyed it.

Qi Jingyu loves this little apprentice who closed the door very much, and when he saw that he came back with a full beard, he stopped showing a cold face, smiled, and said: "I came here by myself, if you like it, you can hug it into the room and raise it, it's just that The little demon lacks spiritual energy, can't understand human nature, and may run away again someday."

"Then I'll take it away."

Li Huan planned in his mind to find a chance to throw the raccoon cat out of the window tomorrow, which would be considered as fulfilling his promise to Ari to throw the cat out.At this moment, Qi Jingyu sat up suddenly, and pushed a blue and white porcelain teacup with the lid on along the table.

Li Huan's movements of teasing the cat froze suddenly, and his heart skipped a beat. He glanced at the teacup, then raised his head to meet the teacher's eyes.

Qi Jingyu leaned back on the sofa, looked at Li Huan with soft and doting eyes, and said warmly: "Open it, drink it."

"Teacher..." Li Huan opened his mouth, but he didn't know how to say it.

Qi Jingyu smiled, took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, lit the fire, took a deep breath, and said, "Don't think that the teacher doesn't know anything, Xiaohuan, you drink your own blood to curb your blood addiction, do you want to live or not?" Die? Have you forgotten everything the teacher told you?"

Li Huan didn't dare to answer, hesitated for a while, and then slowly pinched the lid of the teacup with his index finger and thumb.

The blue and white porcelain cup was still warm, and the moment it was opened, a sweet bloody smell escaped. Li Huan's lips trembled, and he could hardly restrain the scorching desire flowing in his body. He lowered his head and breathed in the bloody smell greedily. , and drank the blood from the cup like a beast.

The plasma moistened his throat and flowed straight into his stomach. At that moment, he desperately fantasized that he was tearing open the throat of a living person, devouring flesh and blood recklessly, instead of licking a cup of tea tremblingly like now.

Monsters are monsters after all, and without exception they are bloodthirsty monsters.

The smoke floated slowly between the two, and the sound of swallowing hunger and thirst was very clear in the quiet tea house at the moment. Qi Jingyu watched Li Huan's every movement calmly, and those small tremors made the man's eyes change. Softened, and finally, he said: "Drink?"

Li Huan put down the teacup and nodded stiffly.

Jing Yu took off the fox fur, took the thin rattan on the armrest of the sofa, walked out of the booth, and said calmly, "Come here."

Li Huan knew he couldn't hide, so he got up silently and followed.

The sound of footsteps stopped behind him, and Qi Jingyu turned around. The man's slender, white fingers slowly stroked the shiny cane. The smile disappeared in an instant.

"Kneel down."

- To Be Continued