Urban Night Returner

"Lotus leaves?" Shen Gu looked at the things in Zhong Lecen's hands. They bought them at Tongrentang Pharmacy a few stops away, "Why buy this?"

Zhong Lecen squeezed the bag containing the dried leaves tightly: "I'm not sure now, let's try."

Zhang Lin had already been pushed into the single ward and was falling asleep, while Lu Wei was lying on the edge of the bed and was about to fall asleep.Zhong Lecen walked to the bed and quietly stuffed the lotus leaves in his hand under the bed sheet.Zhang Lin moved a bit, and murmured: "Brother——"

Lu Wei woke up suddenly, and hurried over: "Linlin, Linlin, are you awake?"

But Zhang Lin didn't wake up, she was still writhing on the hospital bed with her eyes closed, and called again: "Zhang Chen!"

Lu Wei turned around and wanted to find a nurse, but Zhong Lecen held him back: "It's all right."

Lu Wei froze for a moment, and sure enough Zhang Lin calmed down, moved a little, and fell asleep again.Zhong Lecen looked at Zhang Lin thoughtfully, then at Lu Wei, then waved to Shen Gu, and the two quietly left the ward.

The corridor was quiet, it was already late at night, and there was no one there.Shen Gu closed the door of the ward before asking: "What's the matter? What's the use of that leaf?" He could see clearly that after Zhong Lecen took out the lotus leaf under the bed sheet, Zhang Lin fell silent.

Zhong Lecen's expression was serious: "Ask Xiao Lu, can we visit his house?"

"What's in his house?"

"There is a gu."

"drum?"

"Gu is a method of raising insects handed down from ancient Miaojiang. On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, collect hundreds of poisonous insects and put them in a container, seal the mouth, and then suppress it with a spell, so that the poisonous insects can devour each other. Open it a year later, There is only one left in it, and this is Gu."

Shen Gu suddenly remembered Zhang Lin's gold bracelet that Lu Wei had said: "Lu Wei once saw Zhang Lin's gold bracelet, which was in the shape of a small snake..."

After listening to Shen Gu's narration, Zhong Lecen's expression became more serious: "That's not a little snake, let alone a golden bracelet, it's the golden silkworm Gu, the most psychic of all kinds of Gu. When Lu Wei discovered it, it was Gu worms come out to drink water in the middle of the night. Raising this kind of Gu is like having a cornucopia, which can collect all kinds of treasures for the owner’s family. But this kind of Gu worm has a terrible thing, that is, it likes to eat people, and it must kill people at least every year. One goes to sacrifice it, if there is no one to sacrifice, then it will eat the owner. Therefore, in ancient times, people who raised this kind of Gu often opened hotels, and killed at least one unsuspecting outsider every year to sacrifice Gu insects. But even so, there are still The tragedy of being eaten up by Gu insects happened. The kind of brocade that Lu Wei mentioned was produced in Liangzhou, and the origin of golden silkworm Gu is in Liangzhou, so it needs to eat an inch of Liangzhou brocade every day, just like silkworms eat mulberry leaves .”

"So, Zhang Chen raised the golden silkworm Gu. Maybe his uncle's family was eaten by the golden silkworm Gu. Zhang Lin also has the golden silkworm Gu. How many of them did he raise?"

Zhong Lecen shook his head: "No, it's already very difficult to raise one of these Gu worms, and it's enough. Zhang Chen must have only raised one, which is the one in Zhang Lin's family. The Gu worm was married."

"Married here?"

"Golden silkworm Gu is raised to the end, and the owner feels scared, or there is really no one to sacrifice to, there is a method of marrying Gu. The treasure used must be twice as much as the Gu insect, and then the Gu insect and treasure are used together. Throw it on the side of the road, if someone picks it up, the Gu worm will go with the new owner, this is called a marriage Gu. If the treasure is less than twice what the Gu worm took, then the Gu worm will not leave; if no one picks it up, then The Gu worm has nowhere to go, and still has to go back to find the old owner. Now that Zhang Lin has enough property to marry Lu Wei, she also married the Golden Silkworm Gu. So now this Gu has nothing to do with Zhang Chen, and it is up to Lu Wei to marry the Gu. Wei came to feed him."

Shen Gu took a deep breath, and everything suddenly became a thread: "Aunt Lu didn't have a stomach piercing, but a Gu worm eating people in her abdomen, but why didn't Aunt Lu die?"

Zhong Lecen looked at him: "I was interrupted by you. I don't know why, but the Gu worm is obviously afraid of you. Do you remember? When you helped Aunt Lu up, she vomited blood, and the pain was not as painful as it was at the beginning It's the same at Lu Wei's house, after you met Zhang Lin, she also vomited blood."

Shen Gu added: "There is something shiny in the blood, but I didn't see it clearly twice."

Zhong Lecen said affirmatively: "That's the Gu worm. Zhang Lin asked Lu Wei to bring Aunt Lu, and she was going to use her to sacrifice the Gu worm. But when you interrupted, she—probably couldn't bear it, so she didn't let Lu Wei pick her up. Wei took Aunt Lu home. But Gu worms have to eat one person a year, so..."

"So she used the child in her stomach as a human sacrifice." Shen Gu felt nauseated when he thought of what the doctor said.

Zhong Lecen nodded lightly with a pale face: "When you met her at the time, she reacted so violently, you must have interrupted the Gu worm's feeding again, and this child would have been sacrificed in vain. If she can't find someone to give If Gu worms eat, the next one to die will be either her or Lu Wei."

Just as Shen Gu was about to say something, there was a sudden quarrel in the ward, and the two hurriedly opened the door to enter, only to see that Zhang Lin had already woken up, sitting on the bed with disheveled hair and screaming at Lu Wei: "Divorce, let's go get a divorce right away!" !"

Lu Wei was completely stunned, and in front of Shen Gu and Zhong Lecen, he didn't know what to say.Zhong Lecen suddenly interjected: "In case of divorce, how will the property be divided?"

Zhang Lin was stunned for a moment, and immediately said: "I brought the money, of course it belongs to me!"

Lu Wei's face turned pale, and then flushed red: "Don't worry, I won't count your dowry, leave as soon as you leave!"

Zhang Lin covered her face and started crying again, Zhong Lecen held Lu Wei and said calmly: "Don't worry, Miss Zhang did this because she cared about you."

Lu Wei was stunned again.He really wanted to say that Zhong Lecen was talking nonsense, but because of Shen Guzai, he was embarrassed to say so.Zhong Lecen saw what he meant, and said slowly: "If Miss Zhang doesn't divorce you, or gives you the property, you will die. And Miss Zhang will leave with the property, and she will die."

Lu Wei opened his mouth but couldn't close it.Zhang Lin stared at Zhong Lecen in surprise: "You, who are you?"

Zhong Le Cen Tuo Tuo's glasses: "It doesn't matter who I am, the important thing is, Miss Zhang raises the golden silkworm Gu, right?"

Zhang Lin shivered suddenly, her face was too pale to speak.Lu Wei didn't understand at all, so he said blankly, "What?"

Shen Gu cleared his throat: "It's up to Zhang Lin to tell Lu Wei yourself. Don't hide it anymore. If you have something to say, everyone will find a way. However, I don't think it's appropriate in the hospital, so go home .”

"So, my aunt didn't have a perforated stomach at that time, but the worm in her stomach?" Lu Wei's voice was trembling, trying to suppress the feeling of nausea.

Zhang Lin nodded numbly.Zhong Lecen said softly: "That's why she didn't let you take Aunt Lu home for Aunt Lu's benefit."

Lu Wei clenched her fists tightly: "But she also put that bug into my aunt's stomach!"

Zhang Lin lowered her head, her long hair fell down to cover her face, and it took her a long time to hear her hoarse voice say: "Yes, I put it in. So you divorce me, divorced, you don't have a penny Take it, the Gu worms won't look for you."

Lu Wei was stunned for a while, then grabbed Zhong Lecen's hand suddenly: "Brother Zhong, you can tell, can you kill that Gu?"

Zhang Lin smiled bitterly: "It's useless. After my uncle's family died, my brother got scared and wanted to get rid of this Gu, but no matter what method he used, it didn't work. My brother read it from an ancient book, saying that hedgehogs can eat gold." Silkworm Gu, but I found a hedgehog, but it was still useless."

Shen Gu was surprised: "Hedgehog?"

Zhong Lecen nodded: "Hedgehogs can indeed eat golden silkworm Gu, but Miss Zhang, the Gu you raised must have fed your blood and your brother's blood, right?"

Zhang Lin stared at him blankly: "How do you know? My brother said, in this way, the Golden Silkworm Gu will not be a last resort and will not hurt us."

Zhong Lecen nodded: "That's right. After being fed with blood, the Golden Silkworm Gu will recognize the smell of the owner, and it will not harm the owner until no one can eat it. But after feeding with blood, the Golden Silkworm Gu will be It can always lurk in the owner's body. So even if the hedgehog can eat the golden silkworm Gu, it is impossible for it to get into the human body to catch it."

Zhang Lin curled her body into a ball, trembling: "I know it's in my body, except for going out to drink and eat, it's always in my body, always..."

Lu Wei grabbed Zhong Lecen: "Brother Zhong, there is really no other way?"

Zhong Lecen pondered for a while: "Miss Zhang, before you feed the golden silkworm Gu with blood, your brother must have a container for the Gu, right?"

Zhang Lin tried to recall: "There seems to be a dusty jar with some weird patterns engraved on it."

"Yes, that is the Gu altar, where is it placed now?"

Zhang Lin shook her head: "I don't know, I haven't seen it for a long time."

Zhong Lecen frowned: "Think about it carefully. That jar was the container where the Golden Silkworm Gu was raised back then, and only with that can the Golden Silkworm Gu be trapped."

Zhang Lin was crying and trying to think back, and after a long time, she finally said in a trembling voice: "When I first opened a clothing store, we lived in Cangkou, where I rented a factory warehouse to store clothes and other sundries. They were all piled up there, and then I moved and never went there again. Last year, the factory was relocated, and I don’t know if it was sold...I can’t think of anything else except that place.”

Zhong Lecen sighed: "Your brother married Gu, so he doesn't care about your life?"

Zhang Lin covered her face: "Brother said that when I get married, I will divorce right away and leave all the money to Lu Wei, and the Golden Silkworm Gu will stay with him, and then I will go abroad to find them..."

Lu Wei's face was as white as paper, Zhong Lecen sighed again, and looked at Shen Gu: "Let's go to that warehouse to look for it. How long is the golden silkworm Gu until the last time to eat?"

"...two days..."

The factory has indeed been relocated, but the warehouse has not been demolished.Zhong Lecen handed over a pack of cigarettes, and the old man watching the warehouse let them in.

The warehouse has been emptied, and what remains are piles of sundries and rubbish.There were some torn clothes in one of the cubicles, and Shen Gu guessed that this was the place that Zhang Chen rented at that time.The two rummaged through the rubbish pile for a long time, Zhong Lecen kicked a hard object, Shen Gu pulled it off with his hands, and a pile of rags were torn off, the rising ashes made Zhong Lecen cough, but there was nothing in the rubbish pile. The mouth of a jar covered with dust and lint was exposed.

"Here!" Zhong Lecen was overjoyed, and squatted down to pick up the rubbish next to him, revealing the body of the altar.

The jar is not big, just a clay jar, not very regular, it looks like it was made by hand.The body of the altar is engraved with strange patterns. At first glance, it looks like a bunch of entangled bugs. After a long time, it seems that these bugs are still wriggling.

"This is the Gu altar?" Even if you don't know it, you will feel ghostly when you see these patterns.

"Yes." Zhong Lecen wiped off the dust on the altar with his hands, "The inscription on it is the incantation for raising Gu. Unfortunately, I still can't understand it. This jar must be cleaned well when I go back, otherwise the Gu insects won't come in."

Shen Gu leaned over and grabbed the mouth of the jar, and lifted the jar out of the trash: "I finally found it, go back and brush—" He didn't finish the rest of the sentence, because there was a big hole under the jar, which was big enough for a mouse to get in and out ...

"Can't the hole be blocked?" Lu Wei knew that something was wrong by looking at Zhong Lecen's face, but he still asked with the last glimmer of hope.

Zhong Lecen turned the jar over, and the bottom of the jar was also engraved with patterns: "The hole can be blocked, but the missing spells cannot be filled. A clay jar alone cannot trap Gu worms."

Zhang Lin closed her eyes in despair, she could no longer shed tears: "Forget it, Lu Wei, let's get a divorce."

Lu Wei tucked the quilt for her: "Go to sleep for a while, you've been up all night."

Zhang Lin stared blankly at him for a while, then cried again: "Let's get a divorce, Lu Wei, we can't fight this thing, there is no hope..."

Lu Wei walked out of the room silently, and asked Zhong Lecen: "Brother Zhong, there is really no other way? You said that the Gu would leave Xiaolin's body when drinking or eating. Could it be that you can take this opportunity to kill it?"

Zhong Lecen shook his head: "It's not that simple. The golden silkworm Gu knife can't be cut into the fire and can't be burned to death, and it's as fast as lightning. It can't be trapped without the Gu altar. And I don't know Gu art. Even if the Gu altar is complete, I can only I can trap the Gu worms in it, but I don’t know how to kill them, let alone the Gu altar can’t be used now—I can’t think of any way..."

Lu Wei closed his eyes, and said softly, "Then, brother Zhong, let's go, thank you."

Zhong Lecen looked at him: "If you leave now, the Gu worms will not look for you."

Lu Wei smiled wryly: "Brother Zhong, at the beginning I married Linlin, no matter what, half of it was because of money...I love money and caused it, and now I want to run away? It's not that easy. Besides--my wife is myself I found it, but I can only bear the result by myself, and Linlin is indeed very kind to me, at this time, I can't throw her away..."

Zhong Lecen took a deep breath: "There is still one day, let me think about it..."

Walking out of Zhang Lin's house, the day is almost over.Zhong Lecen pressed his temples wearily with his fingers.Shen Gu pondered and said: "Can't you kill the golden silkworm Gu with the hero of gold and iron?"

Zhong Lecen smiled bitterly: "Maybe it can. As soon as you get close, the Golden Silkworm Gu retreats, at least it shows that it is very afraid of Jin Tiezhiying. But the problem is, how can you cut it."

Shen Gu thought of the flash of light he saw on the balcony glass of Zhang Chen's house, and shook his head himself—even if he used a gun, he couldn't guarantee that he would be able to hit it in one hit.Zhong Lecen sighed: "I still have a way to lure the golden silkworm Gu out, but there is only one chance. If I miss one hit, the golden silkworm Gu may be furious and devour the master. When it enters Zhang Lin's body, no one will be killed." There is a solution. Gu art is the secret of Miaojiang, not to mention the Zhong family, even among the five major families, no one understands this."

Shen Gu pondered for a long time, and suddenly remembered something: "But Lu Wei had come into contact with the golden silkworm Gu, and even picked it up from the basin as a gold bracelet and put it next to Zhang Lin's pillow, what's going on? "

Zhong Lecen's eyes lit up: "Yes! Gu worms refuse to be touched by people other than the owner. Lu Wei was able to pick it up like a gold bracelet at that time - it means that the worms were in a state of paralysis or lethargy at that time. But what can What about causing paralysis or drowsiness of Gu insects?"

"You said that it was Gu worms drinking water."

"But I've never heard that Gu worms will become paralyzed or lethargic after drinking water..."

There was a flash of inspiration in Shen Gu's mind, and his thoughts suddenly opened up: "You said that the Gu art came from the ancient Miaojiang. What kind of water did the Gu worms drink there? Mountain springs, streams or well water, in the city, what kind of water do they drink? What kind of water is it?"

The two looked at each other and said in unison: "Tap water!"

Zhong Lecen's eyes lit up: "What's in the tap water? Bleach powder? Chlorine gas? Could it be that the chlorine gas caused the paralysis of the Gu insects?"

"It is very possible that chlorine gas itself is a poisonous gas. The little chlorine gas left in the tap water has no effect on us, but the Gu insects may be more sensitive than us."

Zhong Lecen clenched his fists: "You can try it, there is no other way. But where do you get the chlorine gas?"

Shen Gu thought about it and said, "It's simple, you can ask Xiao Heizi to get some liquid chlorine. But since Gu worms are afraid of this thing, shouldn't they hide far away?"

Zhong Lecen smiled slyly: "Well, we need to use blindness. Gu worms are not human after all, and my other spells are not very good, so I still know a little bit of blindness."