It started to rain again.
After the meal, he ordered a pot of tea and chose a seat in the corner of the first floor to sit with Aluan. Firstly, it's because of the weather, and secondly, it's easier to listen to the discussions of people in the world, so it's easier to find out about the current situation in Huansha City.
Coupled with what Yuan Yuanwai told him, he basically figured it out now. This is in the west of the north city. Although it is not prosperous, because Yu'an Restaurant is located at a transportation hub, the fresh fish, meat, vegetables and fruits outside are shipped quickly, and the chefs are excellent at cooking, so business has been booming.
The northeastern part of the city is the most prosperous area, where princes, nobles and wealthy businessmen all live. This is different from the progressive distribution in Dailuan City. The place where the accident occurred was in the southwest. There are large areas of farmland planted there, and farmers are working hard there. It’s just that since this time last year, I don’t know what happened there, and suddenly there was no harvest.
This place is not as prosperous as Dailuan City or the capital, but it is also rich in products. The food saved by every household and merchants is naturally enough to eat. In addition, the imperial court has allocated a budget, and no one takes the short harvest as a problem. Something happened. By autumn, the situation had not improved. After all, Huansha City is a huge city. There are two to three million mouths to eat, and there is absolutely no food left without income. But the people here have long developed the bad habit of having good food and clothing. They are used to living a good life, so there is no way to reduce their food and clothing.
It's not that no one cares about it - just after the New Year, the superiors sent people down to investigate. But as soon as Mr. Pei came out, he was led by the local officials to eat and drink, and his life was not good. As a result, after a few months, the matter failed to be completed, and a few sensible people sued him. So the death order came down. If we don't deal with this bubble-like and false prosperity, not only the city but also the face of the imperial court will collapse. Naturally, this black gauze hat cannot be saved.
Only then did Mr. Pei become anxious. But he didn't even know where the field was, and when he heard that it was a monster causing trouble, his legs started to tremble. I had no other choice, so I burned incense and worshiped Buddha, and went all over the city to find some monks, Taoists, and charlatans. If anyone succeeded, the money would naturally be indispensable.
As for what kind of monster it is... no one seems to have mentioned it clearly. As for monsters hurting people, although there are a lot of rumors, there seems to be very few that actually kill people.
While I was thinking this, a person walked into the store.
A woman who is about to touch her in her youth.
She held an oil-paper umbrella and folded it up before stepping into the door. She was wearing a pair of gray-green narrow-leg trousers and a long sleeved white shirt. The cuffs and placket have dark green edges, and the hem is splashed with free and easy ink dots. If you look closely, you can see that it is just decorated with mottled dark green.
Ordinary Jianghu people can make such a judgment.
If it were only to this extent, Shanhai wouldn't be staring at her all the time.
To be precise, what he was staring at was the umbrella.
It was raining all the time, but since the umbrella was brought into the store, there was no water stain at all.
She skillfully put the umbrella back into the horizontal barrel on her waist and walked straight this way. Shanhai realized that he was being rude, slightly shifted his gaze, and continued to glance out the window.
The store was very busy and there was no place to rest. She came over and sat at the same table with him, looking out the window. Ah Luan didn't care at all, staring straight at the visitor.
"Are you a Taoist?"
"Exactly."
Shan Hai turned her head and looked over seriously, but her eyes still stayed outside. There was a layer of bruises on the side of her face for some reason, and her hair on both sides of her temples was relatively short, with long low braids tied back with a white ribbon. The broken hair on the woman's eyebrows was pushed to both sides, and a thin strand in the middle was attached to the pendant in front of her forehead.
An intricate hexagonal snowflake.
He is a disciple of Xue Yan Sect.
"Master Taoist, would you like to calculate a hexagram for me?"
“Don’t occupy anything if you don’t have anything to do, and don’t occupy anything if you don’t move.”
She turned her head and looked at the mountains and sea, but he lowered his head and took a sip of tea.
"That's what he is like." Aluan knelt on the wooden bench, posing back and forth to play. "Many people have come to him for fortune telling. It must be natural. It's just that it sounds good... and it doesn't sound good. Take it seriously. No matter what kind of disaster or misfortune happens, I blame him for the curse and say never to look for him again."
"...Accurate, right?"
Her focus was only on the first half of the sentence.
Shan Hai finally turned his face and met her eyes. For a long time, he sighed softly under his nose and finally spoke:
"What does it occupy?"
"I am under the Xueyan Sect Liangqiu Muwan. May I ask what your eldest son's name is?"
"Don't take it seriously, Lin is from Linxiaoguan, his surname is Sui Shimen, and his name is Shanhai. This is my apprentice, Aluan."
Miss Mu Wan took out three copper coins and arranged them on the table.
"Find someone."
She simply said two words. Shanhai nodded and replied to her:
"Just throw it away. I'm not related to you. Throw the person you're looking for more accurately."
Mu Wan did as he was told. Three copper coins landed on the table with a few thuds, making the opposite.
"One line of Shaoyang."
As he spoke, Shanhai dipped his fingertips in tea and drew a straight line on the table.
The second time it was exactly the same.
"Eryao Shaoyang."
He then drew another one on top.
Then there are three money backs.
"Three Yao Laoyang."
He drew a straight line, and then drew two short lines parallel to each other.
This time it was three money noodles.
"Si Yao Lao Yin."
He drew two short lines and a long one at the corresponding position next to them.
"Five Yao Laoyang."
"Liuyao Shaoyang."
After finishing the painting, he copied it and completed another picture. As he painted, his face gradually became more serious, but the change was very subtle. Mu Wan caught this subtle expression, and his mood became a little heavy, but he remained silent. Counting today's time, Shanhai pinched his fingers and pushed. It seems that there is a result, but it is not easy to say.
Aluan saw it. The original hexagram is a lower hexagram, but the changed hexagram... is still a lower hexagram.
"I'm here to ask for a hexagram because I'm sincere. Just ask."
"The lower stem is the upper sunda, and different hexagrams overlap. The stem is the sky; the sunda is the wind. You lack ability and have limited strength. If you don't plan ahead, you may not be able to find someone. Even if you find someone, you may not be able to do what you want, so it will be difficult. Go out in a hurry. Fengtian Xiaozhu turns into fire and Zeyi, but the different hexagrams are still overlapping, and the lower part is Dui and the upper part is Li. Li is fire; Dui is water. The upper fire and the lower lake are contrary to each other and do not help each other. Restraint will produce..."
"Thank you, Taoist Master."
Before he could finish his words, Mu Wan made a fist-cup salute, left three copper coins, got up and left, calling a waiter to go to the guest room. Shanhai nodded slightly, stared blankly at the hexagrams on the table, and remained silent.
Aluan felt in her heart that maybe Miss Mu Wan was not happy anymore, but she had said something ugly before, so even if she didn't like it, she wouldn't be able to get angry. She glanced at Shanhai who was shaking his head, stretched out her hand, and took the three copper coins into her arms. The cuffs were wiped off, Shan Hai was stunned for a moment, and then sighed.
"You can't put good words behind you. Look, who will listen to them?"
Ah Luan threw the coin and caught it with the back of his hand, having a great time playing with it. Shanhai shrugged and raised his hand as if it didn't matter:
"You won't even listen to bad words, and will only remember the good things you said. Then, if you don't follow others' wishes even a little bit, it will be your fault again."
By the afternoon, the rain stopped and the sky cleared up quickly. Strangely enough, when they heard that they were going to farmland in the suburbs, no driver was willing to take them there. They made it clear that there were monsters in that place. Even the brave ones said that they couldn't wait for them for most of the day, and there were no customers willing to come back. It was a loss-making business, so they didn't do it.
Fortunately, just when they were in trouble, a caravan saw that he was wearing Taoist robes and said he was willing to give them a ride. It's just that they have to figure out how to come back.
When you can see the fields in the distance, it's time to encounter the devil. The caravan left them here and left. The two walked a little further and approached the fields. It was indeed overgrown with weeds and deserted. Looking up, the sparse houses nearby looked extremely desolate. Compared to the woods north of the city, this place is really bleak.
There is a figure in front of the road, with a hunched back and a bald head, like an old man.
They were ready to come forward and ask questions. A Luan shouted several times, but the man just stopped and didn't look back. Just when Ah Luan ran out two feet, Shan Hai grabbed her from behind.
That old man... is strange.
The moment he turned around, Aluan felt like he was about to stop breathing.
Definitely not human.
The swollen belly looked like that of a pregnant woman, but his limbs were as slender as firewood, as if it could not support its body and would break at any time. But his chest is small and thin, and his head is big, like an upright pole. Its arms were long and stretched straight to the ground. It looked here blankly, saliva dripping from the corners of its mouth, and looked at them dully.
The two of them froze on the spot, Shan Hai's hand only holding A Luan's clothes. After a while, the monster turned around and continued to stumble forward.
"What...?" Aluan was still frightened. Although she had never heard of more terrifying ghosts, that ugly monster was really unusual.
"...I think it's just a hungry ghost."
"Alas..."
This is the third person's voice. They turned around and saw an uncle holding a basket in one hand and behind his back with the other, his rickety body curled up together. But looking at it this way, he is much more friendly than the hungry ghost just now.
"Why are there travelers here..."
The two visited Abel's home. The house was very simple, just enough for him to live alone. Asked about his family, the old woman said that he left early and his children had gone to work elsewhere.
When Aluan helped him carry the basket on the road, he felt it was heavy, but he didn't know what it contained. Now in front of them, Abe took off the cloth covering the basket, which was still a layer of cloth. Under this cloth, there is another layer, wrapped in layers, leaving only a few wilted wild vegetables at the bottom. It turned out that the weight was just the rags covering it.
"Is this the only thing that can be eaten here?" Shanhai asked him.
"It's good to have it..." He sighed, looking at the increasingly gloomy sky outside the window, and brushed off the soil from the roots of the vegetables, "It's just this little thing, I'm afraid those little devils will take it away."
"Where is the money used by the court for disaster relief?"
As soon as he asked this question, Shan Hai regretted it. Without even thinking, you know whose pockets it falls into. He waved his hand and said to his disciple:
"Aluan, give us some dry food."
Aluan immediately stood up to open the package and took out a clean cloth bag from inside. Before she could untie it, the old man suddenly rushed to the door and bolted the door firmly. Then he checked out the window, widened his eyes and looked left and right, then placed a wooden board leaning against the wall on the window sill to block all light.
The two were startled and looked in the direction of the old man in confusion in the dark room. He carefully reached back, took out the fire stick, and lit the candlestick on the table that had little oil.
"What are you doing?"
"Don't underestimate those ghosts. They have very good noses. They can smell the pancakes from a distance. They smash the doors and tear down the windows. It's very scary!"
"Are those hungry ghosts also transformed by the people here?"
Aluan handed the cake to him. The old man happily took it, nodded his thanks, and stuffed the cake into his mouth. He slurred in his mouth, and it took a lot of effort for the boss to hear what he said.
"Who knows, suddenly one day they will appear, and there will be so many of them."
Shanhai seemed to understand something.
