August has arrived in the blink of an eye.
Before dawn, Li Changan, Huang Wei, scholars, salesmen, and stonemasons had gathered outside the city early, waiting for the morning bell to knock on the city gate.
They all tidied themselves up and were all smiling.
After working hard for more than half a month, it was finally time to settle the bill and distribute the money. According to the accounts and the written contract, after erasing the small change, I can get one hundred and seventeen taels of silver.
"After the money is divided, don't say anything else. First, go to the Baiwei Restaurant in Dongwazi and order a table of good dishes. The dishes should be meaty, not vegetarian at all. The meat should be fat, not lean at all! Then pour it on Serve with garlic sauce~”
"Haha, are you stuck now?"
"You can't stand still for a hundred taels!"
"Did you forget the '10,000-dollar sticker'?"
"Can't Taoist Master let me have fun first? Damn it, my money is going to be given to ghosts!"
"I'm afraid Shopkeeper Cao thinks so too."
The ghosts burst into laughter.
Shopkeeper Cao is the partner Huang Wei found. He is quite well-connected in the Qiantang funeral industry, and he also runs a coffin shop, a necromancer shop and a paper-making shop. He took the lead in the percussion, mourning, banquets, tomb bricks, inscriptions, etc. required for the "funeral viewing" business, so the money was also in his hands.
Joking room.
The city gate finally opened.
The group merged into the crowded crowd and poured into the golden morning mist of Qiantang City.
Everyone wandered into the bad market.
The market was deserted, perhaps because no one came to hang out at the coffin and paper money shops in the early morning.
When I found Shopkeeper Cao's coffin shop, I was surprised to find that all the shops nearby were open, but the door to his house was closed.
Everyone laughed at the shopkeeper for being so lazy.
Turning the corner again, I found the Underworld Artifact Shop. The door was also locked.
Everyone looked at each other.
I hurriedly found the Zhizhe Shop again. Fortunately, the door of the Zhizhe Shop was open, but there was only a young boy leaning on the door frame and yawning. The shopkeeper Cao was nowhere to be seen.
"The Ghost King's birthday will be in two days. Which family is so blind to the dead that they dare to bury them at this time? Aren't you afraid that the big ghosts under the cave city will catch them and chew them as snacks?"
Young people deal with it casually.
"Since there was no business, my boss closed the shop and took his wife out to relax."
"Relax?!"
The ghosts couldn't believe it.
Li Changan suppressed the noise of the ghosts, and Huang Wei stepped forward and bowed a few times: "Little brother, I wonder where Shopkeeper Cao went to relax? When will he come back?"
When the waiter saw the excited expression on the other side, he couldn't help but be wary: "I wonder what you want to do with my boss?"
Huang Wei smiled helplessly: "We made a deal with Shopkeeper Cao in partnership, and we agreed on the payment at the beginning of the month in black and white, but when I came today, I couldn't find anyone..."
After hearing this, the clerk said bitterly: "I'm just a clerk. My boss only said that he would be away for a while. He hasn't been seen since yesterday. I really don't know where he went."
Huang Wei held on to his luck and said, "Does Shopkeeper Cao have an explanation before he leaves?"
The clerk waved his hands hurriedly: "I'm just a clerk. I need to settle the accounts at the beginning of the month. It must be a large amount. How can I get involved?"
The guy didn't know anything about it and just shied away.
The ghosts immediately became angry: "Why are you talking nonsense to him? That guy is clearly trying to steal our money!"
If you go up there, you will be smashed.
The guy didn't stop him at all, he just jumped in the door with his head in his hands and yelled: "I'm just a guy, you can hit me as you please, don't beat me."
The movement had already attracted onlookers, and Li Changan quickly stopped them.
The matter is not final, and if you do it casually, it will not end well in the future.
They left the paper shop and went to inquire about the news. The Taoist priest also contacted the local ghost head. When the news finally came together, the results were even worse than what the guy said.
Since yesterday, no one has seen Shopkeeper Cao. It seemed like overnight, his family disappeared from the world.
…………
The white vermicelli is topped with a whiter fish soup, garnished with green onion for a rich aroma, and then covered with a large piece of fish.
Such a bowl of fish noodle soup, the ghosts would not be willing to order it on weekdays, they could only secretly watch others eating and swallowing.
Nowadays, when there is delicious food, no one is in the mood to use chopsticks.
If you can't find Shopkeeper Cao, you won't get the money. If you can't get the money, you can't pay the "ten thousand yuan subsidy". Unable to pay the "10,000 yuan subsidy"...all kinds of scary rumors suddenly came to my mind.
Everyone was frightened and terrified.
The old salesman murmured: "How can I tell you that credit business is a good business?"
The scholar said in a sad and angry tone: "Ghosts are harmless to people, but people are harmful to ghosts. How filthy the world is, and how sinister the human heart is!"
The country folk were choked with sobs.
Every time a coffin is moved or a grave is moved, they contribute the most and have the most expectations. Unexpectedly, in the end, hope is like a dream, and it is easily burst for no reason.
Dahan wiped his tears: "Taoist Master, brother, what should we do?!"
Huang Wei was equally distraught.
He hesitated: "If there is really no other way, we can only leave..."
"Did you hear that?"
The diners nearby were shouting and showing off their knowledge.
His deskmate replied to him: "Is it about that family in the western suburbs?"
"You also know? Ha! A whole family of seven people were hanged from an old tree on the roadside. They were taken down and examined for autopsy, but it turned out that they were not hanged to death. They were all frightened to death!"
"I heard it was to escape the '10,000-dollar post'."
"No, that man is incompetent, and he has even harmed his wife, children, and children. Alas!"
Bang~
After the other person finished speaking, he didn’t know how many pairs of chopsticks fell down.
If they weren't all ghosts, these faces would probably be as white as pink soup.
Huang Wei's usually smart words were knotted, and his eyes wandered: "It is Qian Tang's rule to settle accounts at the beginning of the month. How could he break the rule? How could the rule be broken? Yes, he broke the rule! We have a written contract, we can find it Guild, we can report to the official!"
The Taoist priest frowned: "Brother Huang!"
Huangwei nodded randomly: "Yes, that's right. Reporting to the official is useless. The Yamen will not care about it, and there is not enough time. We can borrow money! We can't ask Hua Weng, his old man... we can't. I heard that he lent money during this period. I paid a lot of money and bought an inn, but I had no money left."
"Huang Shanjun!"
Huang Wei was still talking nonsense, and Li Changan suddenly reached out and pinched a piece of flesh on his face.
Huangwei raised his head in surprise: "Taoist Master, what are you...hey!"
Li Changan patted the yellow hair that was pulled off his hand: "Are you calm?"
Huangwei covered his cheeks with tears in his eyes and nodded quickly.
"Then put away the tears, the grown man is so ugly!"
The Taoist priest asked him to speak again.
Huang Wei picked up the chopsticks and thought for a moment.
"Yes! We can hide in Feilai Mountain."
"Huh?!" Li Changan raised his eyebrows.
Huang Wei was startled and quickly changed his mind: "Feilai Mountain is the last resort, but now we still have time, there is always a way to get that guy out."
Li Changan nodded and ate the rice noodles slowly, saying in a calm tone: "Don't worry, there are still eight days. We can even find ghosts in the sea, let alone a living person?"
Panic can be contagious, and so can calmness.
After a month of getting along, in the eyes of the ghosts, Huang Wei has a lot of thoughts and can always come up with solutions, while Li Changan is very capable and can always solve problems.
After the two of them said this, they felt somewhat at peace in their hearts.
Although I couldn't smile, at least I was too embarrassed to wipe away my tears.
"Taoist Master." Huang Wei suddenly spoke.
Li Changan looked at him with contempt.
He smiled awkwardly, but had to say: "The Cave City will recycle the '10,000 Qian Post' in advance. On August 5th, envoys will come to Qian Tang to hunt down those who do not accept the birthday gift."
Everyone's expressions froze.
"So instead of eight days, it's four days."
"Four days, four days!"
The Taoist priest slapped the table, quelling the panic that had spread.
He said solemnly:
"If you dare to take money from a poor man, you will have to dig him out even if you hide in the eighteenth level of hell!"
