East China Sea dust

The moment the whole body was submerged in the cold sea water, the hearing that had been disabled returned to normal, and the huge roar of the waves rang through the ears.

A crescent moon hangs high in the black night sky, and the moonlight is miserly, shining on the sea, leaving scattered fragments of light.

The young man was submerged in the raging waves, and the clothes on his body became heavy due to being soaked by the sea water.The long black hair floated and floated in the water, entangled with the sea water.

When the dizziness from jumping into the sea passed, Zhang Qinglan floated in the dark water, slowly opened her eyes, held her breath, and looked around.

Everywhere you can see is darkness. Occasionally, the fluorescent lights on the creatures in the sea flicker, and the waves roll and sweep.

Baihua Building is built by the sea, and the inner ring is connected to the outer sea. It is not difficult to find the exit along the direction of the tide.The situation was critical just now, and he had no choice but to jump into the sea.

Zhang Qinglan waved her arms and floated up, and the moment she crossed the sea, she finally broke free from the boundless darkness and suffocation.

Turning his head subconsciously, he looked towards Baihualou, and found that the whole building was still calm.A series of bright red lanterns were hung high, surrounded by flowers, and even the candles did not even tremble, and were still burning quietly.

Zhang Qinglan frowned thoughtfully as the salty smell of seawater passed through the tip of her nose, and finally turned around and swam towards the shore sullenly.

After about half a stick of incense, Zhang Qinglan climbed ashore on the rocks.

The robe was soaked in seawater, sticky and clammy, and stuck to the body heavily. The water droplets condensed into strings and hit the soft sand at the feet, leaving several shallow pits.

The young man's face was pale, his thin lips were bruised and purple, his long hair on the sideburns was wet on his shoulders, and the wet cloth was stuck to his back, outlining the thin and thin outline of his back.

The cloth robe at the elbow was torn, revealing the bloodstains from the scratches underneath. The wound was soaked in sea water, the skin and flesh turned white, and the burning pain shot up the forearm all the way.

Zhang Qinglan lowered her eyes, raised her hand nonchalantly, and spread out her palm. A thin piece of porcelain, no more than half an inch long, was quietly lying in the center, shining a light blue under the moonlight.

I saw that the porcelain was rough, and the glaze was just of ordinary texture... Only half of the word "Bi" appeared in the upper left corner, which attracted Zhang Qinglan's full attention.

At that time, the scene was chaotic, he was knocked down by the huge force of the monster, and fell to the ground, and the magical artifacts and spells in his hand were scattered all over the ground.He wanted to reach out to retrieve the nearby mahogany sword, but in an instant, he caught a glimpse of a lonely piece of porcelain that had fallen near the railing.

Zhang Qinglan didn't care about such ordinary sundries at first, just as she was about to bend over and raise her hand, suddenly the candle light moved slightly, illuminating a corner of the porcelain.

Most of the character "Bi" on the porcelain piece is crooked, as if it was carved with something like a knife, which is very ugly.

But it was this glance that gave the young man a flash of inspiration, and he discovered the clue of the matter——

That's Bi Xin's handwriting.

Zhang Qinglan and Ao Zhan have been to the academy a few times, and occasionally when they are bored, they will open the window and enter the school, secretly flipping through the children's homework copybooks to pass the time.

Bi Xin's writing brushes are surprisingly ugly, and always put a crooked little hook on the bottom of the "Bi" character, which makes the young people laugh every time.

The more you laugh, the more you will remember it clearly.

It's just that it's too abrupt to appear in this Baihua Building now.

The night wind was cold and blowing over the clothes soaked in sea water. Zhang Qinglan put her five fingers together and grasped the thin light blue porcelain piece again.

Not far from the coast is the town, Zhang Qinglan walked forward with one foot deep and one shallow foot, leaving a series of shallow pits on the beach with her footprints.

It was already midnight, and the streets in the town were deserted. Occasionally, a few wild cats whimpered from the corner of the alley.

Zhang Qinglan tied up her wet long hair again, she had lost the shoes on her feet long ago, and walked barefoot on the bluestone road, with a red thread tied around her ankle, and the golden bell on the thread glowed in the darkness. With strands of golden light.

Taking a shortcut, Zhang Qinglan quietly walked back to the vicinity of Baihualou.

Hiding her figure at the corner of the street, Zhang Qinglan raised her eyes and explored the Baihualou not far away.

It was found that the door of the restaurant that was full of people was closed at this time, most of the lights in the building were extinguished, and it became quiet, as if nothing had happened.

Recalling the scene where the two sides were on the verge of breaking out before she left from the outer high platform, Zhang Qinglan frowned slightly, only feeling that there was something abnormal in the calmness of the tower now.

The sticky and heavy wet clothes on her body absorbed the coldness of the late night, and the cool wind blew, making Zhang Qinglan sneezed somewhat.

Rubbing the reddened tip of his nose, the young man held onto one sleeve helplessly and wrung it dry.

Big drops of sea water fell on the green brick floor, causing the commoner clothes to become crumpled. Fortunately, summer nights are not too cold, so Zhang Qinglan can bear it for the time being.

The young man stood alone at the entrance of the alley, lowering his head and fiddling with the robe on his body.

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of gongs and bangs not far away, followed by the rough voice of a young man: "...the sky is dry and things are dry, be careful with candles. To guard against thieves and theft, close the door window."

"Big ghosts and little ghosts sit in a row...you're safe and sound!"

Zhang Qinglan's eyes moved slightly, and she immediately let go of the hands that were fiddling with the corners of her clothes.A pair of amber eyes stared at the watchman who appeared on the street, observing carefully.

When the watchman carrying the clapper and ringing the gong fully appeared, a familiar face came into view—it was the man who was brought to testify by Shen Chunlu, the proprietress of Yinshuang Building, not long ago.

The watchman had never seen the world, and he was also timid. At that time, he kept his head down timidly in Baihualou, but now he held his head high, and the gong in his hand was knocked very neatly.

Zhang Qinglan wanted to know what happened in the tower after she left, so she patiently waited until the watchman gradually approached, and when she saw the right opportunity, she grabbed the man by the shoulders and dragged him into the alley.

"Ah! There is a ghost!" In the middle of the night, when he was working alone, he was suddenly dragged down by something. The watchman turned pale with fright, and yelled.

Zhang Qinglan looked helplessly at the young man shrunk into a ball in front of him, raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder: "Open your eyes."

"Don't be afraid, I'm human."

The young man's voice had a special quality, with a slight hoarseness, and the calmness in his tone made the watchman relax a little.

Not long after, the watchman opened his eyes tremblingly.

I saw the young man standing in front of me in a state of embarrassment, his clothes were wet and stuck to his body, his lips were pale, and his expression was gloomy... The watchman trembled and his face turned green: "You, what are you doing?"

"It's okay." Seeing that she couldn't comfort the other party, Zhang Qinglan simply gave up and asked straightforwardly, "Do you know what happened in Baihualou just now?"

Hearing this question from him, the watchman's expression froze for a moment, and a void flashed across his eyes.

Then he took a step back in a daze, and said puzzledly: "Brother... You have inquired about the wrong person, how can I get into a restaurant like this when I am poor and poor."

Zhang Qinglan frowned upon hearing this: "You said you never entered Baihualou?"

"That's right," the watchman looked more at a loss than the young man: "I just left home half an hour ago, and I have been working watch on the street, and I have never gone in."

Hearing this, the young man's eyes flickered a few times, and he asked again: "Then you are patrolling nearby, have you seen any strange people or unusual noises around the restaurant?"

Seeing that Zhang Qinglan had no intention of hurting him, the watchman gradually relaxed, clutching the gong in his hand, shaking his head, and whispered, "No."

Zhang Qinglan saw that the other party's expression was serious and did not seem to be fake, but the doubts and mysteries in her heart were snowballing, accumulating more and more.

"Brother," the watchman smiled: "You see, it's getting late now, and it's uncomfortable for your clothes to be wet like this. Why don't you...you go home first?"

Zhang Qinglan was noncommittal.

Finally, he took out a piece of gold leaf the size of a fingernail from his sleeve pocket and gave it to the watchman before leaving from where he was.

Holding the gold leaf in his hand, the watchman looked at the back of the other party who was gradually shrinking and annihilated, with a puzzled expression in his eyes. He wanted to follow the young man's question and recall carefully, but found that the memory was covered by a white cloth, and he could not remember anything. .

In the end, he shook his head, grabbed the gong and clapper in his hand, returned to the street, and began to strike again and again.

……

The bamboo basket fetched water in vain, but Zhang Qinglan was not discouraged, and wanted to continue to investigate while the night was dark.

Walking aimlessly on the streets near Baihualou, in the middle of the night, the whole town seems to be shrouded in an enchantment. In it, only the occasional few frogs and cicadas can give people a real sense of "alive" .

Halfway through the journey, Zhang Qinglan looked solemn.

Just as he was burying his head on the road and passing one of the shops with half-covered doors on the street, a clear and childish voice came from behind the door: "Mother, I'm so sleepy... when can I go to sleep? "

With just one sentence, Zhang Qinglan strode forward in a mysterious way and stood in front of the shop.

Most of the shops in the town will close their doors after sunset and reopen at the beginning of the next day, and few of them are still open at midnight.

Leaving aside the strange hour, even the two white lanterns hanging at the door of the shop are very strange.

There is no signboard on the door panel, it is a plain and clean piece, quietly falling on the spot, painted vermilion.

Only at the threshold, a few paper-folded animals were neatly lined up, floating lightly, but seemed to be fixed with paste, motionless.

Standing in front of the door, Zhang Qinglan still heard the child's voice from behind the door, slowly raised her hand, and pushed open the lightly closed vermilion wooden door.

The author says:

Ao Zhan will be released in the next chapter!