The inns in such small towns are slightly different from those in large cities. Land in large cities is expensive, so the inns will rack their brains to figure out how to maximize its value in the limited area.
Most of the stores are opened facing the street, and the first floor is the dining area. In addition to the guests staying in the hotel, the most received are individual tourists passing by to eat and rest.
After all, no matter how small the mosquitoes are, they are still meat. If the quality is not enough, then you have to make up for it. The water flow this day is also an extremely considerable amount.
Moreover, inns in big cities usually have several floors, and the accommodation is above the second floor. Dining and accommodation are separate and do not affect each other.
The backyard is where the guys live, as well as stables, rooms for storing sundries, etc.
But if you can find an inn to stay in a remote town like this, it is considered good. How can you ask for so much!
A man who looked like a shopkeeper led the way, holding a lantern in his hand, with a faint light flickering inside, as if it would go out if the wind blew.
Lin Yan followed behind and looked around. There was a small courtyard at the entrance of the inn. He followed the innkeeper for a few steps. The latter turned around and said, "Young guest, I'll help you tie up the donkey. Are you here?" Wait here a moment.”
Lin Yan thought that he couldn't let this idiot sleep in the guest room, so he nodded.
The shopkeeper took the reins of the donkey from Lin Yan and walked toward the left hand side with a lantern in hand.
Lin Yan was left alone, surrounded by darkness and unable to see his fingers.
What a strange thing! It was so dark just after nightfall, and it was true that this inn didn’t even have a light on.
Although the flame of the lantern in the shopkeeper's hand was pitifully small, it still had some light, right?
At this moment, it was really dark. All I could see was a faint light flickering not far away. It should be the shopkeeper who went to tie the donkey before.
A gust of dark wind blew around, and Lin Yan shuddered, thinking: There can't be ghosts in this place!
After all, he was still a child. When he was in the village, he had heard a lot of stories about ghosts and ghosts from his uncles and uncles, which scared many children so much that they couldn't sleep.
As soon as Lin Yan thought about this, he kept chanting silently in his heart: "Amitabha! Amitabha! Buddha of infinite life! Gods and gods! Be as urgent as the law! The ghosts and ghosts have dispersed..."
Then I thought about it, my master, whom I had never met, was most likely harmed by Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, so he would also have a grudge against them! Will they still protect themselves?
Just when Lin Yan was thinking wildly, a pale hand suddenly placed on his shoulder. In an instant, all the hair on the latter's body stood up, and cold sweat could not stop flowing down.
Lin Yan's hand trembled and he touched the handle of the knife. Just when he was about to give it a try, a voice came from behind: "Sir, the donkey is tied up, let's go into the store!"
Lin Yan let out a long breath after hearing this, and slowly lowered his hand that was about to touch the knife. He turned around and saw that the shopkeeper was looking at him with a lantern.
Lin Yan said helplessly: "Shopkeeper, don't be so elusive. You must know that scaring people will scare them to death!"
The shopkeeper grinned, revealing his pitch-black teeth, smiled, and said, "Sorry!" After that, he walked towards the store first.
At this time, a gust of wind blew by, and Lin Yan was so frightened that he was covered in white hair and sweat. He couldn't help shaking when the wind blew, and then hurriedly followed.
The shop was really small, with an old wooden table serving as the counter. The shopkeeper walked in and blew out the candles in the lantern. Fortunately, there were several oil lamps in the shop, so it was not completely invisible.
There were several jars of wine sparsely placed on the wooden shelf behind the shopkeeper. They were covered in dust and even had spider webs in some places. It seemed that the hygienic condition of this store was worrying!
Lin Yan turned around and looked around. With the faint light, he found a few tables scattered in the corner of the hall, which might be used for eating.
The shopkeeper asked aloud: "My dear guest, how long will you stay here?"
Lin Yan heard this and replied: "How much does the shopkeeper charge for one night's stay?"
The shopkeeper replied without raising his head: "Fifty cents."
Lin Yan thought about it and realized it wasn't expensive. I heard from my grandfather Lin Gu before that a night's stay in an ordinary inn in the city would cost anywhere from 200 to 500 yuan. This small inn only costs 50 yuan, which is quite affordable.
Lin Yan took out a money bag from his arms, took out fifty copper coins, and handed it to the shopkeeper.
The latter took out a thick book, which looked like an account book, and picked up a brush to write down something on it.
After he was done, he gave Lin Yan a key and said, "Go upstairs and turn left to the second room."
Lin Yan took the key and then said: "By the way, shopkeeper, bring me some food to the room. The meal will be paid when I leave tomorrow."
The shopkeeper nodded. Lin Yan asked the shopkeeper for an oil lamp and went upstairs.
There was a staircase next to the counter. The small building was not high, so Lin Yan climbed up easily. After a while, he reached the upstairs and found his room as the shopkeeper said before.
There was a copper lock hanging on the door. When he took the key to unlock it, he just held the lock with one hand and before the key could reach in, the lock opened by itself with a "snap".
Then, the door to the room slowly opened "squeaking".
Looking at the scene in front of him, Lin Yan was speechless for a while: Just breaking the door and breaking the lock, do you still need a key?
After entering the room, Lin Yan took the oil lamp and lit the candles in the room. It was finally much brighter!
He looked around and saw that the room was not very large. It only contained a bed, a table and a chair, but fortunately there was no dust, so he could take a short rest.
After lying on the bed for a while, a knock on the door woke up Lin Yan, who was staring at him. He got up and opened the door to see that it was the shopkeeper who had brought food.
Lin Yan took the tray, walked in and closed the door.
But the shopkeeper didn't leave immediately. He stood at the door for a while before turning around and leaving. When he turned around, you could vaguely see his dark teeth showing through the light in the room, as if he was smiling!
On the other side, when Lin Yan entered the house, he saw a bowl of steaming hot noodle soup on the tray. He was already exhausted after a long day's journey, so he picked up his chopsticks and was ready to devour it.
At this time, Qiu Lao's voice suddenly sounded in his mind: "Don't eat it yet!"
When Lin Yan heard this, he immediately thought there was a problem here.
Qiu Lao continued: "The people outside haven't left yet."
Lin Yan understood immediately and pretended to eat the noodles with big mouthfuls, making "baludulu" sounds from time to time.
After a while, Qiu Lao said softly: "You can stop, he is gone."
Lin Yan then put down the chopsticks in his hand and asked in a low voice: "Mr. Qiu, I have no grudges against the shopkeeper. Why did he want to harm me? Could it be that this is a black shop?"
Qiu Lao pondered for a moment and said: "I don't know, but I think it shouldn't be a simple black shop. Usually black shops are opened in remote and desolate places. They are usually single-family houses. Who would open a black shop in a town?"
"Besides, what kind of money can you, a kid, have? I guess there's a lot of sweat on the top of your head. It's not a poison that can kill people."
Lin Yan was speechless for a while after hearing this: I feel lucky that my feelings are my own!
"Then what should we do now?" Lin Yan asked.
"Pretend to be hit for now and wait and see what happens!" Qiu Lao replied slowly.
"That's all it can do!"
Lin Yan poured the noodles in the bowl out of the window. Outside the wall was a wasteland covered with weeds, but there was no need to worry about being discovered.
It’s just a pity this side, it smells pretty good!
Lin Yan put the bowls and chopsticks on the table, leaving some soup in them as if they had been eaten.
After that, he lay on the bed with his back to the door and pretended to sleep.
For about a quarter of an hour, I heard only a burst of slow footsteps, approaching from far away, and soon they arrived in front of the door.
Then the door was opened, and a figure walked in holding an oil lamp. He first looked at the bowls and chopsticks on the table to confirm that Lin Yan had finished eating the noodles.
Then, he turned his head and looked at Lin Yan, who was "sleeping". After confirming that the other party would not wake up for the time being, he blew out the candles in the room and slowly retreated.
When the footsteps faded away, Lin Yan finally let out a long breath and released his hand from the handle of the knife under the quilt.
He has been prepared before. As long as the shopkeeper takes action to harm him, he can catch the opponent by surprise and kill him by surprise!
But who knew that the latter just looked at him to see if he was fainted, and then did nothing? This really puzzled him!
Could it be that the shopkeeper went to all the trouble to do this just for fun? That’s too funny!
Since I can’t figure it out, I won’t think about it for the time being. What is certain is that there is no danger at the moment, and Qiu Lao is still there, so if anything happens, he can be discovered in time.
After a day's journey, and then doing all this, Lin Yan was really tired at the moment. After asking Mr. Qiu to help watch, he fell on the bed and fell asleep deeply.
Later in the night.
"Boy, wake up, wake up quickly! There's something going on!" Qiu Lao's voice kept ringing in Lin Yan's mind.
Hearing this, he immediately rolled up from the bed, holding the handle of the broken white lacquer knife tightly in his hand, and asked nervously: "What's wrong? Is the shopkeeper coming back to kill me again?"
Qiu Lao's voice sounded again: "Calm down! Don't be irritable! It's not the shopkeeper's fault, it's the noise outside. Listen!"
Lin Yan calmed down and listened attentively. It seemed very noisy outside. What happened?
But the room he was in faced away from the street, so he couldn't see anything. It seemed that he could only sneak out to check the situation.
He quietly stood up, left the room, and tiptoed downstairs, thinking that he couldn't let the "problematic" shopkeeper find out!
When passing by the surrounding rooms, he found that all the lights in the room were out, and no one came out to check despite the loud noise outside. It seemed that they were all tricked!
He tiptoed down the stairs, looked around carefully, and found that the shopkeeper was not in the store.
Lin Yan plucked up the courage to leave the store and checked on the little donkey first. Fortunately, the fool was fine.
He took out the two remaining pieces of dry food from the cloth bag carried on the donkey, thinking that he could make do with it to fill his stomach, and then walked towards the gate while eating.
Lin Yan hid his body in the darkness, cautiously approached the door, looked out through the crack in the door, and saw people on the road.
These people's eyes were dull, their limbs were stiff, and they were walking towards the south like zombies.
Lin Yan's eyes widened. The scene in front of him was so shocking that he almost dropped the dry food in his hand to the ground, thinking: "What is this? A Hundred Ghosts Night Parade?"
