Under the slightly dim candlelight, a young scholar wearing a blue gown was flipping through the books in his hand. He looked like he was studying hard, but from time to time he raised his head and looked out the window, his face full of anxiety, and I didn't even realize that I was flipping through the same page over and over again.
Not long after, a young woman in a green dress walked out of the yard outside the window. The woman was holding a lunch box in her hand, with a gentle and charming smile on her face. When she saw the scholar by the window, her smile became even brighter. He quickly quickened his pace.
The woman was extremely good-looking, but there was no joy on the scholar's face. Instead, there was a hint of fear. But he quickly took a deep breath to calm down, lowered his head and pretended to study the words in the book.
"Ms. sir, why are you studying so late today? Don't be exhausted." The woman opened the door and came in with a smile. She put the lunch box on the table. "In the evening, Yiyi and I went to the city for a stroll and brought this to you. Bring back some pastries from the city. My husband, please try them while they are hot."
The scholar looked at the delicate pastries after opening the lunch box, hesitated for a moment, lowered his head and said: "Before you came back, I had already eaten with Brother Liu from the neighbor's house. But I made you a bowl of lotus seed porridge, I will go and give it to you Bring it over."
After saying that, without waiting for the woman to reply, he got up and went to the kitchen. A steaming bowl of lotus seed porridge was quickly brought and placed tremblingly in front of the woman. Because her hands were shaking, some of it accidentally spilled when she put it on the table.
"My husband, are you too tired today?" the woman asked worriedly, getting up and preparing to help the scholar aside to rest.
The scholar waved his hand, pretending to be casual and dodged the woman's hand to help him, and sat on a stool far away, "Madam, don't worry about me, just drink it while it's hot. The lotus seed porridge won't taste good when it gets cold in a while. I did it for half an hour."
Seeing that the scholar was just a little tired, the woman relaxed a little and said with a smile: "This is my first time cooking, let me try my husband's cooking skills."
The scholar swallowed his saliva and stared nervously at the woman as she picked up the bowl of porridge in front of her and drank it in small sips. It was not until she finished the last sip that the scholar breathed a sigh of relief and slumped down on the chair.
"Ms. sir, why have you been absent-minded today? Is there something on your mind?" The woman was a little confused, put down the porridge bowl and prepared to come over.
But before he took two steps, he stopped where he was. His worried face gradually darkened, and his two beautiful eyes were full of anger, staring straight at the scholar, "Did you add medicine to the porridge?"
The scholar shrank back and did not dare to answer.
"Okay, it seems that someone told you my true identity." The woman smiled miserably: "Since I met you, I have made up my mind to let go of everything in the past and want to stay with you in this world forever. You and I After being married for so many years, I thought..."
Halfway through, the woman vomited out a mouthful of blood and glanced viciously outside the window. A tall Taoist priest with a sword behind his back was standing in the yard, holding magic spells with his hands and chanting incantations.
"In this case, if you and I can't be husband and wife during our lifetime, then let's rekindle our relationship together in the underworld after death!" A crazy look appeared on the woman's face, and with a low roar, her true form emerged.
A big green snake burst through the house, roared upwards, and razed all the surrounding houses to the ground with a single sweep of its tail.
The big snake lowered its huge head and looked at the frightened scholar on the chair. A look of struggle flashed in his golden vertical pupils, but soon he became angry again. He opened his big mouth and pointed at the paralyzed scholar. The scholar on the chair rushed over.
"Don't eat me!!!" Li You shouted, sitting up from the bed and looking around in horror.
The evening sun was shining through the orange curtains on the bed. Under the bed, two fold-eared cats squatted side by side on the floor, tilting their heads to the left and right to look at the nervous Li You. The phone was vibrating on the bed, sliding towards Li You's hand with the frequency.
Why is this dream happening again? Li You frowned. He couldn't remember the day when he started to have the same dream over and over again every night. The strange thing was that the scholar in the dream had the same name as him, but he had never known the green snake named Cen Biqing. heard about it.
Could it be that I accidentally touched something dirty recently and was possessed by the evil spirit? It seems that I have to find a free day to go to the temple to worship.
Li You still somewhat believed in the evil talk. There was a magic stick among his college classmates, and he showed off his skills a little in the dormitory, which shocked Li You a lot.
While Li You was still deep in thought, the cell phone beside him vibrated again. Li You lowered his head and glanced at the caller ID: Zhou Yuan.
Oops! Looking at the sunset outside the window, Li You quickly answered the phone.
"Hey, boss, where are you? You are the protagonist today, but you are the only one who hasn't arrived yet." An anxious voice came from the other side of the phone.
I looked at the time on my phone: 19:27.
It gets dark relatively late in May, so when he first saw the sun not setting, Li You subconsciously thought it was still evening.
"I'll be there soon. I've been delayed by something today. So, you greet the juniors and girls and order the dishes first." Li You put down his phone, took a random short-sleeved shirt from the end of the bed and put it on.
Li You, who was admitted to Jiangbei University at the age of eighteen and successfully completed all his studies and obtained his doctorate at the age of twenty-eight, is undoubtedly a well-known legend in Jiangbei University. It is said that he is the youngest doctorate in the school in the past ten years. There are a lot of academic fans on campus.
Yesterday's doctoral graduation defense had just ended when Zhou Yuan, his junior fellow student, told him that some juniors in the college wanted to consult him about some postgraduate and Ph.D. entrance exams, and asked him if he had time to have a meal together.
Li You, who successfully passed the defense, was in a good mood, so he waved his hand and said that I would treat everyone to dinner tomorrow night. You can decide the place and order whatever you want.
After lunch, Li You originally planned to get up and clean up after taking a light nap, but unexpectedly he had that strange dream again and slept until now.
"By the way, pack yourself up and don't come in those shorts and slippers of yours." Zhou Yuan lowered his voice, "The freshman school belle Su Jianxia is also here today. I guess she is also here for you, an academic master. .”
Li You stopped what he was doing and felt something in his heart.
Although he had been concentrating on writing papers and academic research during his graduation year, the fame of this freshman school beauty still spread to his ears. What is the golden ratio? She has a slim waist and long legs, and she can still look gorgeous without makeup every day. Those words about girls wearing heavy makeup are discussed by countless boys every day.
I only saw her back from a distance once when I was eating in a restaurant. The golden ratio and slender waist and long legs were indeed true. As for her bare face, it seemed that I had a chance to verify it today.
Thinking of this, Li You picked up his phone and replied: "Tell everyone that I'm in a traffic jam on the road right now, so I'll probably arrive a little later."
After saying that, Zhou Yuan hung up the phone without waiting for a reply, quickly got up from the bed and rushed into the bathroom to start tidying up.
After about half an hour, Li You awkwardly walked downstairs wearing a casual suit and leather shoes bought at a street stall. He acted like a successful man and stopped a taxi with his hand.
"Master, Manhua Restaurant, the one on Fusu Road, please hurry up, I have something urgent." Li You got in the car and looked at the location where Zhou Yuanfa came from and said.
"Then you have found the right person, brother. In the whole Jiangning City, no one can be faster than me." The master slowly lit a cigarette, raised the corner of his mouth, and then stepped on the accelerator hard, Old Old The taxi ejected and rushed out.
The master was right. The original journey of half an hour only took fifteen minutes to reach the intersection of Fusu Road. Along the way, Li You was worried that his car would disintegrate on the spot, but fortunately, he got there smoothly. destination. But the new problem we are facing now is that this intersection has long been surrounded by pedestrians and vehicles, so the master directly released the accelerator and applied the handbrake.
Li You tried to get out of the car and walked over, but found that the cars on the left and right had already squeezed in, and there was no room for the door to open.
"It's a century-old road. The merchants here used to be some antique shops and fresh food wholesalers, but it was quite clean. Since it was developed into a tourist attraction, it was said that it was going to create some kind of internet celebrity street, and there are all these shops open everywhere. Script killing and escape rooms, these college students are so crowded in on weekends that they can't even move.
It's just a two-lane road, which is better now. Cars from the four lanes outside want to get in and no one is allowed to enter, so they might as well be blocked. "The master took out another cigarette, lit it, and turned on the radio to the news channel.
Li You stretched his neck and looked inside. Sure enough, there was a field of colorful LED light signs in the street not far away, with various store names hanging on them.
It is said that after the Qin State unified the world, Fusu, the eldest son of the First Emperor, passed by here one day and found that the villagers here had extremely bumpy roads to enter the city, so he ordered people to build a wide and flat official road here for the villagers to enter the city. use.
In order to commemorate the young master Fusu, the local villagers named this road Fusu Road. After thousands of years of landform changes, the original road has gradually disappeared over the years. The current road was rebuilt on the original site by a high-ranking official during the Republic of China, based on historical data. After hundreds of years of repairs, it has remained until today.
After staying in Jiangning City for ten years, this is Li You's second time on this road. The last time was ten years ago when I was in college, I went out alone to relax, and unknowingly I ended up on this old road. As the master just said, this road was filled with old antique shops and fresh vegetable wholesale markets.
But Li You accidentally discovered a coffee shop called Chaoge among a bunch of antique shops. The name is very interesting, as it happens to be the capital of Prince Shang Zhou, the last king of the Shang Dynasty.
Li You can't remember much about the decoration of the coffee shop. He only remembers that the boss was a good-looking young man and the coffee he made was delicious. I wonder if that coffee shop has been moved.
"Good evening, dear listeners, and welcome to FM101.8. Here is a piece of criminal news. Recently, a serial murderer appeared in our city and has murdered seven young men in a row within seven days. The victim's fatal injury was between the neck and neck. The two tiny blood holes were both caused by excessive bleeding, according to forensic analysis. Now our city's Criminal Police Detachment and the Provincial Public Security Department have jointly set up a task force to investigate the case and strive to arrest the suspect as soon as possible. We also ask the general public not to panic. , and reduce late-night outings before the suspect is arrested and brought to justice. Thank you for your cooperation."
The cold female voice on the radio interrupted Li You's thoughts, "Why does it feel like a vampire on TV?"
"What vampire? That's a spirited snake demon, much more ferocious than a vampire." The driver turned around and said mysteriously.
"Snake demon?" Li You frowned, remembering the green snake in his dream for no reason, "Master, have you seen the murderer?"
The master looked incomprehensible and blew out a smoke ring, "We work early in the morning and come back late. We often have to wander around the streets in the early morning. Sometimes we will inevitably see some bizarre things."
"Master, tell me?" Li You became interested.
The master chuckled, and after seeing that there was no sign of movement in the traffic in front of him, he turned around with relief and whispered: "It was one night two days ago. I had just sent a guest to Yunxi City. It was about three o'clock in the night. It was a little over 7 o'clock. I didn't feel very good that day, so I was ready to call it a day and go home.
On the way, when I passed the intersection of Tianming Road and Dongcheng Road, I saw a man lying on the ground, motionless, and lying on top of him was something wearing a black robe. At that time, I thought it was two people lying on the roadside after drinking too much, so I honked the horn a few times to wake them up. After all, it was really unsafe to lie in the middle of the road at night.
Who would have known that as soon as I pressed the horn for the first time, the man in black robe stood up and looked back at me. "
At this point, the master took a long drag on his cigarette and shrank his neck, as if he wanted to be brave but he was actually a little scared.
"The thing's face was pitch black, its mouth was full of blood, two long and sharp fangs stuck out, and its eyes were as bright as two big yellow lanterns at night. I remember clearly, the yellow ones Vertical pupils.
I was so frightened that my legs were weak and I didn't dare to move. I thought that if that thing saw me, I would definitely die, but I didn't expect that he would take one look at me and run away... No, it should be It is said that it is sliding on the ground, and a green tail covered with scales is exposed under his black robe. Tell me, this is not a snake demon. "
"Master, are you sure that the snake demon's tail is blue?" Li You swallowed, and a trace of cold sweat flowed from his forehead.
"Of course, the street lights in Jiangning City are on until six in the morning, and my car lights are so bright, so I must be right." The master nodded without thinking.
"Brother, don't be afraid. Didn't the radio just say that if you don't go out late at night, it should be fine. I'll finish work on time at ten o'clock in the evening. Life is much more important than money." Seeing that Li You was a little uneasy, the master hurriedly took pictures Patted him on the shoulder and comforted him.
Li You smiled reluctantly, and just when he was about to reply, "I'm fine," there was a sudden vibration behind him, and the huge impact pushed him into the front seat.
"Damn it, who is so ignorant? Didn't you see the traffic jam in front of you? Then you bumped into it."
Li You grinned and rubbed his forehead. He looked up and saw the driver throwing the cigarette butt out of the window, cursing and pushing the door open to get out of the car and argue with the driver behind him.
"Brother, the place you want to go to is right in front. Just run two steps and you'll be there. I'll go down and meet that bastard." The master pointed to the front and went directly to the back of the car without looking back.
Li You looked at the side. He didn't know when the cars next to him had left. He quickly opened the door and got out of the car. It was important to rush to the restaurant first. As for the snake monster, let's put it aside first. It's been so many days anyway. I haven't found myself yet.
"Everyone, I'm really sorry. I'm stuck at the intersection. I couldn't move for a long time." Although the location of Manhua Restaurant is not far from the intersection, Li You has been neglecting exercise in the past two years. When he ran to the door of the restaurant It's inevitable to be a little breathless.
"Hey, isn't this our Dr. Li? Just now I was telling my junior brothers and sisters that the grades are different now that they have graduated with PhDs. Do we have to carry a big sedan to pick you up at home?" Zhou Yuan was sitting inside. He joked with a smile, stretched out his hand and patted the seat next to him, "Come on, I've reserved a seat for you."
Li You glared at Zhou Yuan and scanned the circle of people around the table as he walked. He soon saw the girl with a high ponytail. Coincidentally, the girl was also looking at him.
Li You quickly looked away calmly, and determined the third point in his heart, he could fight without makeup.
Some girls look better without makeup than with makeup. Su Jianxia is this kind of girl, and her face has a cold feeling like a Japanese anime heroine, but she seems to be easy to get along with.
"Brother, when you just came over, the freshman school belle kept looking at you from beginning to end. Her eyes were so focused. It seems that the school belle will also be impressed by your talent." Zhou Yuan put his arm around Li You's shoulders. whispered.
Li You took a look, and sure enough, Su Jianxia was still staring at him and looking up and down. When he saw that he was looking at her, he looked away.
Could it be that she is a sapiosexual? Li You was overjoyed, but he pretended to be calm and said, "Maybe it's just the first time we meet and I'm curious, so I can't make any hasty conclusions."
"Brother, you don't know what the ingredients are?" Zhou Yuan rolled his eyes: "Let's see what she says later when everyone is toasting alone. Brother, I will help you analyze it later."
This is a good idea, Li You agreed in his heart.
The junior students sitting here today not only want to consult him about the postgraduate entrance examination and Ph.D. examination, but also want to celebrate his successful passing of the doctoral graduation defense. A separate toast is definitely indispensable, which has long been a habit in the university. A tradition.
After three rounds of drinking, the junior student sitting on Li You's right stood up and toasted to Li You, and Li You quickly stood up and responded.
Fortunately, no one asked too tricky questions, and Li You was able to deal with them easily, and his answers were concise and clear, so it was the freshman school beauty's turn soon.
Zhou Yuan calmly patted Li You's leg under the table, and Li You slapped his hand away with a calm expression on his face.
Su Jianxia hesitated for a moment, but did not pick up the wine glass on the table. Instead, he stood up and walked to Li You, asking softly: "Brother, can I ask you some personal questions alone?"
"Senior brother doesn't have a girlfriend and is still single." Zhou Yuan answered with a smile.
Li You pretended to look back and glare at him, and then said sincerely: "I'm sorry, junior sister, my buddy likes to joke, let's go outside and talk."
Su Jianxia nodded, turned around and walked out of the hotel. Li You and Zhou Yuan quietly high-fived under the table, and then followed.
"Junior sister, what do you want from me?" Li You looked at the comic girl opposite and his heartbeat accelerated.
When the two people stood close together, Li Youcai realized that Su Jianxia was so tall, almost the same as himself, about 1.7273 meters tall.
Su Jianxia did not answer immediately, but kept looking at Li You up and down until he looked a little embarrassed before asking: "Senior brother, have you encountered anything strange recently?"
Li You was stunned. What question was he asking? Did he and Zhou Yuan guess wrong? Does this beautiful school girl have any other ideas?
"What are the strange things that junior sister said?" Li You was a little confused.
Su Jianxia thought for a while and replied: "For example, I had some strange dreams, or saw some...'things' that didn't look like humans."
Li You was shocked. The strange dream, something not quite human, reminded Li You of the dream he had every day and the snake monster the driver talked about at night. But how did she know?
Li You hesitated for a while, then said: "I'm sorry, sister, my life has been quite normal recently, and I haven't encountered the things you mentioned."
Unable to figure out the true origin of this school girl, Li You didn't dare to tell anyone about what happened to him. He asked Zhou Yuan to inquire about the school girl's background at school after he returned.
Su Jianxia was silent for a while, then tilted his head and laughed, "If not, then senior brother, just pretend that I didn't ask. If you encounter something strange that I mentioned in the future, senior brother can do it if he can't solve it. Come to me. I have something to do at home, so I will leave first. Senior brothers and seniors have a good time."
After speaking, Li You turned around and left the restaurant without waiting for a reply, and soon his back merged into the crowd.
Li You froze on the spot, a little caught off guard.
Just leave like that? Have you been paying attention to yourself just to ask this question? What does it mean to leave after asking?
Li You shook his head, a little disappointed, and turned back to his seat.
"Where's the person? Why did you come back by yourself after going out?" Zhou Yuan pushed Li You with his shoulder, stretched his neck and looked outside, "Did you hurt this little girl's heart? Are you still polite? Are you just pretending to be Dr. Li?"
Li You shook his head, picked up the wine bottle and filled a glass of white wine, stood up and raised his glass, "Come on, thank you all for coming to congratulate me today, I toast you all to this glass of wine!"
After a while, under the attacks of Li You and Zhou Yuan, everyone present was drunk. Zhou Yuan burped with satisfaction, looked at the time, and said: "It's eleven o'clock. More, everyone has enjoyed themselves today. It won’t be safe any later, so why not just do this today? Everyone goes back to his home."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Are you going back to school today or going home?" Zhou Yuan patted Li You who was slumped on the chair.
"Go home, the bed at home is much more comfortable than the hard bed at school." Li You stood up shakily, holding on to the table, his face flushed.
"Okay." Zhou Yuan stretched out his hand, and the junior student on the side held him back with a wink, "Can you go back by yourself? It's so late at night, I'll take a taxi as soon as I get out of the intersection. I won't send you off in this state. .”
Li You waved his hand: "You're so grown up, I still need you to deliver it. You go ahead. I'll pay the bill later."
"Okay, pay attention to safety and send a message when you get home." After Zhou Yuan said that, he staggered out of the restaurant with the support of his two juniors.
Li You stood there, waiting for his mind to clear up a little, then walked to the bar to pay.
Jiangning City has always been nicknamed the city that never sleeps, and this Fusu Road is also a famous Internet celebrity road in Jiangning City. Although it is already 11:30 in the evening, there is not a single person on the road, and all the shops on both sides are Closed the door early.
Although Li You felt a little strange, he thought about it and thought that this was his first time here after the road was renovated. Maybe the shops on this road always closed so early, so he didn't think much about it and prepared to walk to the intersection and take a taxi back. Home.
After walking for a while, Li You saw that he had not yet walked out of the intersection, and was a little confused. When he came, he ran in less than ten minutes. Why did he walk for so long now? Could it be that he drank too much and lost track of time?
Thinking of this, Li You took out his phone and looked at the time, 00:47.
Jiangning is in the south. Although it is only May, the temperature on these two days has been above 35 degrees. But now Li You felt a chill on his back, broke into a cold sweat, and was mostly awake from the wine.
The distance between Manhua Restaurant and the intersection is at most two kilometers away. No matter how slow I walked, I couldn't reach it after nearly an hour and a half. Moreover, looking ahead, I couldn't even see the shadow of the intersection.
Damn it, it couldn't be that he hit the wall when he met some ghost, Li You cursed in his heart.
As if to echo his thoughts, the street light above Li You suddenly went out.
Li You swallowed, looked up stiffly, and found that the street lamp was still emitting a faint light, but the position of the light bulb was blocked by a black shadow.
Li You widened his eyes, trying to see clearly what the black shadow was. The black shadow seemed to sense his gaze and turned to stare at Li You. In the dark night, two yellow vertical pupils were shining brightly. Shooting, exuding a look of excitement at seeing prey.
