Daming prepares the emperor

Zhu Biao also smiled, smiling like an ordinary child.

He took a few steps closer to Zheng Ninghe and said, "I'll wait for you to go in first, so that's polite."

Zheng Ninghe was taken aback, but he didn't take him seriously, stepped up the steps of the restaurant, and pushed open the wooden door carved with exquisite patterns.

As soon as the door was opened, the wind blowing from the inner hall rushed towards the face in an instant, with a smell of meat and wine, and a faint scent of flowers, probably some kind of perfume.

Boss Ji, the benevolent person that Zheng Ninghe mentioned, that is, the old Jitou mentioned by Niutou Mamian, was sitting behind the counter fiddle with the abacus, when he heard the sound of the door opening, he raised his head.

The owner of the Taiping Building is called Ji Youfu. He has a round and fat big yellow face. His eyes are small, as if they are sunken in the eye sockets, like a slit, emitting some shrewd light from time to time, as if he is looking at everything that can be looked at.

After he stood up, he found that his body was also very round, almost a perfect circle.

From this point of view, his whole person is like a snowman built by children in winter to save trouble. There is a ball on the top and a ball on the bottom, and they are put together hastily. The difference is only a matter of size.

"Zheng Ninghe, you're here." Ji Youfu walked over quickly on short legs, looked at Zhu Biao and the others with a curious look, and said with a smile, "Ah, who are these? Why don't you hurry up and introduce me?"

Zheng Ning said: "This is Mr. Zou's family, this is his wife, his son, this is the guard, named Zhao Qingya, and that is the old housekeeper, surnamed Mu."

"Oh! New guest! Come in, please!"

Because it was daytime and all the ghosts were sleeping, the hall was empty without a single ghost.

Ji Youfu led them to a large table in the corner.

Soon a shop assistant brought a lot of candles and lit them nearby.

The restaurant was not very dark at first, but now it is even brighter, almost every corner and corner can be clearly illuminated.

Looking at him, Zhu Biao felt that the ghost's yin energy was thin, as if the sun had been scorched in a scorching sun, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he would dissipate in the next second.

His arms and legs were as thin as a few sticks, almost smaller than shoulder wood—the illusioned hands and feet were basically a layer of thin skin covering the bones, and his walking was extremely vain, and his face made Zhu Biao realize that the world There is actually a sick white color that is better than pale and pale.

Zheng Ninghe said: "This is the clerk of the restaurant, surnamed Qi, because he is a starving ghost, so he looks like this, his figure is the same as the red blood line on Brother Zhao's neck, it is an indelible feature. "

"With this appearance, he couldn't work here. He is also a poor man. He has no relatives to burn paper for him, so Boss Ji took him in."

The guy let out a few indistinct hooting sounds from his throat, and the corners of his mouth twitched a few times on his sunken cheeks, as if he was about to say something, but he finally walked away slowly.

Inexplicably, Zhu Biao's heart felt cold, as if someone had poured a basin of ice water in winter.

But the rest of the group didn't seem to notice the guy's expression at all.

"Hello everyone, my name is Ji Youfu, don't worry, you will have no problem living here before you get the paper money." Ji Youfu said with a smile, "You have to help out when you go out, everyone has died once. Now, don't worry about it so much!"

After saying this, he pursed his lips and smiled, as if a little embarrassed, and said, "Although it's hard to say, it's still necessary to ask, how many people died?"

finally come.

Zou Pusheng's eyes flashed, he didn't intend to speak, and wanted to give Zhu Biao the right to speak.

Zhu Biao also quickly understood what he meant, cooperated tacitly, and shouted loudly: "Uncle! We were stopped by robbers. They all held knives and insisted on taking our money. Those are bad people! They even wanted to Take my mother away!"

These words showed the child's innocence and ignorance of the world. Although he didn't say anything clearly, he said everything, and it was difficult for people to ask in detail.

Zhu Biao knows that Zheng Ninghe is definitely not a good ghost, but Ji Youfu still needs to be considered. At present, he seems to be at least enthusiastic.

Ji Youfu really comforted him: "There's nothing you can do about it. After all, the world is in chaos now. Even if there are no villains, if you fight a war, you will die. It's nothing more than normal."

After he asked these questions, he didn't continue to have any other questions. He enthusiastically led them the way, sent them up to the second floor, gave them two rooms, and then went downstairs to work. Even Zheng Ninghe and Zheng Ninghe were gone. .

Ji Youfu arranged for them that Zhu Biao, Ju Fei and Zou Pusheng shared a room, and Mu Shisan and Zhao Qingya shared a room.

The two rooms are next to each other, separated only by a thin wall. A cough from one side can be heard from the other side.I don't know if the quality of the rooms in Taiping Restaurant is bad, or if Ji Youfu made special arrangements to make them feel at ease.

There are a lot of simple furniture in the room, such as beds, tables, chairs, cabinets and raised washbasins, and they are very clean and decent.

Zhu Biao went over to touch the mattress and quilt, they were very soft, even if they were placed in the Yang Shili, they were the best things.

In addition to these, the most indispensable are candles, candles and candles. There are countless candles standing in the corners, on the table and on the top of the cabinet, shining white light, which hurts people's eyes very uncomfortable, but there is nothing to do.

"What should we do now?" Zou Pusheng asked.

"Wait for a suitable moment before acting."

Zhu Biao's mentality was as stable as the old sixth, he took off his boots and lay on the bed, hugged Ju Fei who had changed back to his original form, and closed his eyes: "Mr. Zou should also sleep for a while. After coming out of Poyang Lake, he has traveled day and night and rested. Rest to face the challenge with energy.”

"That's right." Ju Fei rolled himself into a soft cat cake, stretched it out, buried his head on Zhu Biao's stomach, and hooked his tail around his wrist, trying to use the boss to keep warm, "Go to sleep first Besides, there are many questions, and the answers are only available after sleeping!"

"How can I sleep here?" Zou Pusheng turned his head and looked at the wind blowing and the dark sky outside the window, as well as the ghost building burning with flames. Worry came from it, and his eyebrows were wrinkled in worry, "Young Master ,I……"

He turned his head and found that Zhu Biao and Ju Fei had already fallen asleep. He had to close his half-opened mouth, rubbed his temples, and then went to another bed to lie down.

I had to worry about it when I was in Wuchang, and I had to worry about it when I was in Poyang Lake. I finally escaped, but now I have to worry about others.

Zou Pusheng's head was full of gloomy thoughts, they flew around like birds, flapping their wings and making noise from time to time, which disturbed his life.

But slowly, slowly, in a clear and shallow breath, he also closed his eyes.

Doodle.

beep.

Zhao Qingya knocked on the door: "Master, madam, son, are you awake?"

Zhu Biao opened his eyes instantly, as if he had never slept, lifted Ju Fei, went down to the ground and opened the door for him.

"My lord." Zhao Qingya whispered, "There are already guests downstairs, should we go down for a walk?"

"Guest? What kind of guest."

Without him answering, Zhu Biao just looked over by himself, and saw the tables and chairs on the first floor through the layers of wooden boards and stairs, and saw that there were indeed many "people" sitting on those seats.

Some of them have three eyes, some have no eyes, some are bald, some have hair so long that they can put down the tower to pick up a prince, some have no hands, some have a few more hands, strange shapes, all kinds of shapes. have.

But they also behaved in the same way - they were all patting the table to urge Ji Youfu to serve the wine.

"It's quite lively."

Zhao Qingya said: "Yes! So should we go down?"

At this time, Mu Shisan also came out from the next room, walked to their door, and said with a frown, "It's already very cloudy downstairs. It's always been the case that the ghosts and ghosts will make trouble when Auntie arrives."

"You come in first, come in and we will talk."

Pulling a man and a demon in, Zhu Biao lowered the latch, and Zou Pusheng was woken up by the noise, a little annoyed at his slackness, and also surprised that he fell asleep.

"Let me first talk about some of my own discoveries and questions, and I will make up for the deficiencies."

"Sir, just talk."

"First." Zhu Biao raised a finger, "There must be something wrong with Zheng Ninghe. His words and deeds are very purposeful and guiding. He just wants us to come to this Taiping Restaurant."

"He told us about the importance of paper money, about Ji Youfu's kindness, and about all the new ghosts being taken care of by him. He simply gave a single result and asked for a candidate."

"If we are really ignorant new ghosts, at first glance, we will go to Fengdu, and if we hear something like Zhong Kui's impermanence, we will definitely go with him."

Zou Pusheng nodded, agreeing with Zhu Biao's point of view: "Nine times out of ten, I mean eight out of ten ghosts will definitely be fooled."

"The ghosts who can live near the city gate must have force. Zheng Ninghe seems to be a Confucian scholar. He seems to have no skills. He is suspicious. And as soon as we entered the city, he happened to go out. It's too coincidental. .”

Jufei was still lying on the quilt in a lifted position, its belly was exposed, and its two front paws rested on its belly, echoing: "I think the boss is right!"

"Second." Zhu Biao continued, "According to the information Zhao Qingya originally collected, Gao Bailing not only brought evil spirits in, but also collected the souls of ordinary people everywhere, forcing them to transform into ghosts. The purpose of this is What, we have to figure it out."

"Third, we'd better find out the situation in Fengdu as a whole."

"Fourth, even if Zheng Ninghe is lying to us, paper money must be very important. How it is used, by whom, and what is the result of using it must be understood."

"The above is my point of view. Do you have any ideas?"

Zou Pusheng said: "Do you think that the boss surnamed Ji has any problems?"

"Is he a good man?" Zhao Qingya was a little unhappy. Even though Zou Pusheng was an old friend whom his benefactor asked for help by name, he felt a little uncomfortable, "Mr. Zou, you don't judge people by their appearance, do you? Boss Ji treats us very well Enthusiastic, and he did say we could live here."

"Since Zheng Ninghe is a liar, why can't Ji Youfu be?" Zou Pusheng put on the appearance of a teacher, persuading, "Brother Zhao, you can't think of people, no, ghosts too simply."

Mu Shisan agreed with Zou Pusheng's words: "Qing Ya, there are some evil ghosts who have done all kinds of evil things in this ghost. On the surface, they are no different from people, but in fact they all have their own karma. Even because they died once, most of them act recklessly. Deceitful, you can't rely on your intuition."

"This……"

Ju Fei became reckless: "Boss, can you bear this? Why don't we just go down and tie up Ji Youfu and Zheng Ninghe, and force them to ask the truth about Fengdu and paper money? Just ask them and you'll know everything."

"How are you going to force it?"

"Take away all the treasures in Ji Youfu's counter! When he sees that he has lost something, he will definitely beg for mercy. Let's catch Zheng Ninghe again and whip him in front of Ji Youfu!"

You don't even need to finish listening, just by listening to the first sentence of "take away the baby", Zhu Biao knows that this method must be to satisfy his own selfishness, and in fact it will not be useful at all.

"turn down."

"Boss~" Ju Fei turned into a human form, sitting obliquely on the edge of the bed, hooking his tail in the air like a finger, making a sweet sound.

Zhu Biao shuddered: "If you can't do it, you can't do it."

"But he lied to us, and it hurt your dignity and face, boss." Ju Fei slapped the bed, stood up abruptly, and said angrily, "Actually, I'm not angry, I'm mainly angry for you, no, what are you talking about?" I have to tie them up too! Even if the boss deducts two copper coins from me, I will go!"

It figured that if Zhu Biao said to deduct four or five, in short, if it was more than three, it would immediately admit it and stop saying a word.

As a result, Zhu Biao adopted a new strategy, which also worked: "I heard that neutered male cats have better tempers."

With a snap, Ju Fei immediately sat on the bed, straightened up, as if he had never stood up before. "

When they were talking, the voice downstairs was getting louder and louder, and the noise was uploaded more frequently, and the whole restaurant became "lively".

Zou Pusheng looked sideways, and the sun covered by the cloud had completely set behind Mount Tai.

it's dark.

With the Taiping Building as the center, there seemed to be invisible signals radiating from here, circle after circle, passing through the buildings scattered in circles, swinging across the entire city, and sent to every house.

Feng is alive.

Endless yin qi rises, entangles, and circles, straight into the sky, wantonly smearing a dark mist on the bright moon and the stars, but attracting the moonlight to form a bright and bright beam of light, shining on the sky. Above the haunted building in the center of the city.

The red flames on the ghost tower became more and more rampant, licking the walls of each floor, going up, right, and right, widening and lengthening tens of feet.

Immediately afterwards, there were creaking and creaking sounds one after another, as if a zombie who had been pinned for many years was suddenly resurrected, and countless doors were opened.

Male ghosts, female ghosts, old ghosts, little ghosts, etc. came out of the door. They took off the white lanterns at the door and started walking on the road.

The faint light quickly spread out, covering the entire city along the roads extending in all directions, surging like white blood.

Although it was different from Yangshi, Fengdu did come alive in his own way, becoming lively and moving.

"terrible……"

Ju Fei expressed the true feeling behind the anger of this event.

Its transformation into a human form is just an illusion after all, under the beauty's appearance, the fat pig's cat hairs are all standing on end.

Zou Pusheng's expression was complicated: "I can't imagine that Gao Bailing is doing such a big thing behind the scenes, what exactly does he want to do..."

Zhu Biao only glanced out, then looked away, stood up and said, "They have already started their activities, and what they want to do now is the most difficult to be discovered. We have to go downstairs to investigate now."

"Okay." Zhao Qingya became excited, "I'm best at this, I'll go with you!"

"Then go with two people. The movement is small and the target is small, so it's not easy to be found. The others are waiting for us to come back."

---

"Come on, touch one!"

The wine poured from the jar, fell into each wine glass, and then was picked up by hands of different colors and shapes, and entered into various mouths.

Ghosts and monsters with grotesque shapes that challenge the common sense of biology sit in the lobby, consuming fine wine like flowing water, paralyzing their nerves, gambling money and smoking cigarettes, or biting meat.

Zhu Biao and Zhao Qingya didn't take the stairs, they went out through the window, and came out of the Taiping building against the wall.

Zhao Qingya gave Zhu Biao a night clothes, with a matching black cloth, the two of them are now dressed as if they are going to steal something.

"You can't go through the main entrance, let's go in from the back kitchen."

"Row."

After going around in a circle, they came to the back door, Zhao Qingya drew his sword and split the iron chain, Zhu Biao erased his voice for him, and they sneaked into the house.

There was silence in the back kitchen, there was no cook or waiter, and Ji Youfu was not there.

Only the fire in the hearth was burning brightly.

Relying on the fact that the spell is still useful, Zhao Qingya guessed aloud: "Maybe the business is so good ahead, so there is no one here, ah no, there is no ghost."

In the corner of the kitchen, there are two wine jars as tall as a person, and a wall of red peppers, dried beans, and corn cobs, as well as several huge iron pots and several giant copper basins.

On the ground at the other end, there were several large bags piled up. The bags were not sealed, which seemed to be the reason why the food was not perishable in the yin atmosphere of the ghost town, revealing the white rice.In addition, there are some red and white radishes, cabbage, pumpkins, winter melons, bacon and other things on the ground.

Looking at it, Zhu Biao was a little hungry.

Zhao Qingya was also hungry.

But no matter how hungry they are, they will never eat this kind of food.

When going out, it is necessary to guard against people, not to mention that they are in a ghost town now, and they are guarding against ghosts, not people.Even if the whole city is full of good ghosts, that Zheng Ninghe is worth guarding against like a big enemy.

"There is nothing suspicious here, let's go." Zhao Qingya said, "Go to the front and look again, if you don't find anything, go directly to the lobby."

"Wait a little longer." Zhu Biao said, "Look carefully at this place first."

"Still watching? What are you looking at?"

"Those cabinets haven't been opened yet. In this way, you go here, I go there, and if there is any movement, just slip away and don't wait for each other."

"it is good."

Zhu Biao went straight to the cabinets in the south, next to them were wine jars and hanging peppers.

After opening the cabinet, there were only pots, dishes and chopsticks inside, nothing new. He was about to look at the next one, when he suddenly attracted his attention by the two large wine vats.

He lifted the baffle and sundries on the wine tank and looked inside.

"..."

For a while, Zhu Biao couldn't even make a sound, and could only stare at the things inside speechlessly.

"what happened to you?"

Zhao Qingya moves quickly, as he said, it seems that he often does these things of checking things, and he is very good at it. He completed his task in just a short while, come to see Zhu Biao.

"Lin Shi? Lin Shi? What did you see?"

Zhu Biao raised his head and made way for Zhao Qingya to watch it by himself.

"This is!"

-----

tick.

The sound of water droplets is dense and dense.

The smell of blood lingered in the small space.

Boom, boom, boom.

Then there was the sound of liquid being poured into the container.

"Have you put it clean?" Zheng Ninghe asked.

"It's okay, save some for them." Ji Youfu put away the knife in his hand with a smile, wiped it on his arm, and then carefully put it in his sleeve, "I'll use it next time, and I'll have a long-term perspective."

"What's the long-term." Zheng Ninghe sneered, disdainful of his words, "Just catch them when they're gone, it's not too difficult."

"Always be careful, what should I do if the Lord finds out?"

"He's not the same as us. He's a thousand-year-old ghost. What a big banner."

Zheng Ninghe flicked his sleeves, lifted the hem of his clothes, and continued to step up the steps, still holding the white lantern in his hand, and walked up unsteadily.

Here is a basement with thousands of steps, which is bottomless, like a gigantic pit.

The only light source is in the hands of Zheng Ninghe.

They have gone half way and are about to return to the ground.And in the deeper place, there are continuous moaning, scratching and wailing sounds, intermittent, sometimes extremely slight, and sometimes about to burst the eardrums. If a normal person is placed here, he will definitely be covered in hairs, panic and cower, and stay for a long time , Desperate suicide is also common.

But to these two ghosts, no sound was to be feared, and they chatted leisurely, almost as if they were walking in a garden.

Ji Youfu shook his head, responding to Zheng Ninghe's previous words: "Look at what you said, anyone in the world can get rich, just like you, no matter what."

"Those people, did you arrange them to the second floor?"

"Ah."

"How to send to the second floor? The second floor is easy to run." Zheng Ninghe was very dissatisfied.

"It's okay, I've checked before I left, they are sleeping." Ji Youfu said, "Except for that guard, the rest are nothing to worry about—speaking of which, why are you so wary of them?"

"They came in by themselves!"

"Ah! Myself?" Ji Youfu was startled, almost stepped on the empty stairs, staggered a few steps before standing still, and said in surprise, "What did you say? I heard you right! Did you come in by yourself? How could you come in by yourself?"

"Black and white impermanence and bull head horse face did not send them."

"But they are indeed ghosts!" Ji Youfu argued, "Look at that guard, he's still a ghost with a severed head. You can't pretend, can you?"

"It really can't."

"Isn't that true? Although they died in vain, they have no resentment. It is absolutely impossible for them to transform themselves into ghosts. It must be that one."

Speaking of this, Boss Ji cupped his hands towards the sky, and then continued: "Or our ghost officials can do it."

Zheng Ning said: "There are only five ghost officials in total. They are not bull-headed and horse-faced, black and white are not impermanent. How could it be me? I did this myself, why didn't I know?"

"Oh—Master Zhong, Master Zhong! Are you sure you haven't forgotten?"

Zheng Ninghe, that is Zhong Kui in disguise, got angry because of Ji Youfu's repeated questioning, his inner anger was ignited, and he said fiercely: "Do you believe it or not, don't ask me again."

"I believe it, I believe it!" Ji Youfu chased after him in three steps and two steps, his chubby body bouncing on the stairs, and stood with him.

"Hmph." Zhong Kui snorted coldly, "I deliberately stated that they might have been sent by Zhong Kui, but they didn't have the normal reaction they should have. They looked like lonely ghosts who had infiltrated the city."

"Then I'll make them as appetizers when I go back."

"No!" Zhong Kui shouted suddenly, realizing that his voice was too excited, and said in a low voice, "At least not now."

"Why?" Ji Youfu narrowed his already small eyes, "Could it be that...you suspect that they are spies sent by the lord?"

Zhong Kui used facts and logic to break Gao Bailing's self-confidence that no one could find Fengdu in Ji Youfu's heart. His blinded mind started to turn again, and with a little thought, he regained his previous cleverness and smoothness.

"I'm afraid of this possibility!"

Now that what was on his mind was right, Zhong Kui simply stopped hiding it: "I'm afraid our affairs will be exposed!"

Ji Youfu suddenly realized, yes, since it is impossible for foreign enemies to infiltrate Fengdu City, wouldn't it be the inside ghosts who are here!

They went out of the city and captured so many living people and came back...

"What should I do?" He was a little panicked.

This point of panic married his courage in the blink of an eye, and gave birth to many children called fear, and fear began to spread all over his body.

Ji Youfu's body went numb for a moment, since his death, he never felt this way again, and today he unexpectedly relived it, not caring about the aftertaste, his legs also trembled a little.

He is a businessman through and through.

When he was alive, he cheated and cheated, and he did everything. If others made him a penny, he could force them to owe him ten taels. If others entered into a joint venture with him, he could still make the property his own.

After he died, he was still in the underworld and had to do business.The money of the living can be earned, but why not the money of the dead?

In his opinion, the dead are better than the living.I really didn't expect that there is such a beautiful place in the world.

You see, dead ghosts can't shout tired.No matter how tired you are, can you die from exhaustion? You have already died once.Ji Youfu can take care of the entire restaurant with only one employee.

It's just that he really didn't live up to expectations, and after only a few days of work, he already looked like a starving ghost, which was simply embarrassing.

Just like that, it's ridiculous that this untouchable is still thinking of suing. Where can he go to seek justice?

Fengdu, this is Fengdu!He knows Zhong Kui!That's the judge.

Not to mention judges, bull-headed and horse-faced, black and white are impermanent, and I often come to him for drinks, so I have to give some face!

Thinking of this, Ji Youfu's heart returned to his stomach.

He quickly thought of another way: "Why don't we run."

"run?"

"Correct."

Ji Youfu pondered, "Anyway, we can live anywhere, we don't have to stay here, we can go outside and feel at ease, when times are chaotic, there are a lot of ghosts and ghosts, and most decent people refuse to go down the mountain, they can do whatever they want. It’s not easy to be discovered, let’s not talk about doing big business and big business, it’s definitely okay to live well.”

Zhong Kui was a little moved, but he also thought of other troubles: "What if the Fu Jun tells that adult about the two of us running away?"

"Oh, that lord is busy helping Chen Youliang to fight the war, how can he have time to take care of these? Besides, the governor is eager to let his own ghost take our place, so that he can grow stronger."

"It's a back road."

Zhong Kui rolled up his sleeves and felt that this idea was very feasible.

A faint spot of light came from ahead, and the exit was approaching, and the smell of wine and meat drifted over and into the dark and gloomy cellar.

Zhong Kui took a deep breath of the fragrance, suddenly thought of something, and smiled: "I also have an idea."

"What is it?"

"After it's done, we can at least hide it in Fengdu for another 200 years."

"Master Zhong, please tell me." Ji Youfu draws out his tone, bowing his hands in a comically exaggerated way, like a clown in a play.

"Coax them to eat a few pieces of human flesh, let them be stained with evil fruits, and then put—"

"Again—" Ji Youfu continued.

"Master Bafu—" Zhong Kui laughed and nodded.

"People from the Fujun—" Ji Youfu also laughed, and the facial features on his big, round yellow face were crowded together.

As the two ghosts closed the baffle of the cellar, they said in unison: "Become ours!"