Kaifeng Monster

Chapter 53
Since Gongsun Ce couldn't detect Zhan Zhao's implication, he stretched out his chopsticks and picked up a bun: "Miss Duanmu, what's the stuffing in this bun?"

"Ah?" Duanmucui was not wary of asking this question, she had just walked to the east and west neighbors, and she knew that there were buns in the steamer and left, but she really didn't know what the stuffing was.

However, she was not slow to respond: "It took me a lot of work to stuff the buns, sir, why don't you guess?"

At that time Zhan Zhao was drinking the porridge with his head down, hearing what she said, he knew she was messing around again, he couldn't help but choked on the porridge, lowered his head desperately to hold back his laughter, and coughed to cover it up.

Gongsun Ce became serious, moved the chopsticks closer to him, turned them around to look at them for a long time, then sniffed them carefully, and said in doubt, "Is it from shepherd's purse?"

"Sir, yes, that's it." Duanmu Cui was vague and continued to play tricks.

Gongsun Ce laughed, but felt that Miss Duanmu was very cute today, he opened his mouth to bite, and couldn't help nodding: "It's shepherd's purse, it's very fragrant."

Only then did Duanmucui let out a long sigh of relief, and stretched out her hand to grab one, handing it to Zhan Zhao without thinking, "Zhan Zhao, you eat too."

Zhan Zhao didn't expect that she gave it to him, so he was taken aback for a while before taking it. When he raised his eyes, he saw Gongsun Ce looking at him thoughtfully, his eyes were full of playfulness, his cheeks felt hot, and he turned slightly head away.

But Gongsun Ce didn't let him go, and said meaningfully: "Miss Duanmu put so much effort into making the steamed stuffed buns. The taste is really extraordinary. Zhanwei, you should try it."

Zhan Zhao's kindness was hard to turn down, so he had to take a bite and vaguely said, "It's really extraordinary."

There was something in the two people's words, and there was a sound beyond the string, but Duanmucui was amazed when he heard it, because he thought: the housewife of that family didn't see anything special, what kind of extraordinary buns can she make?After much deliberation, I was really puzzled, picked one up to eat, and felt that it was normal, and I was even more puzzled.

On the other side, Gongsun Ce not only enjoyed eating himself, but also kept urging Zhan Zhao: "Guard Zhan, Miss Duanmu is so kind, you should eat more."

Zhan Zhao was in a difficult situation, but couldn't bear Gongsun Ce's enthusiastic sales promotion—"Ms. Duanmu put a lot of effort into stuffing this stuffed bun" and "Ms. Duanmu always put her heart into it", so she had to work hard to eat the buns. After eating one, Gongsun Ce shared it again. Handed over one enthusiastically.

After a meal, there was little movement in the other bowls, and the steamed buns alone were bottomless.

After the meal, Gongsun Ce took the two of them to Chenghuang Temple to see how the shopkeeper Li was preparing.On the way, Zhan Zhao found an opening, pulled Duanmucui back a bit, gritted his teeth, and said, "Next time I go to find something to eat, unless I have the intention to kill people, I don't want to get so many buns."

It’s okay not to mention it, but Duanmucui was extremely wronged when he mentioned it up to this point: "Mr. Gongsun said that the steamed stuffed bun was delicious. I only ate one, but I didn’t taste much. If you want to eat another one, I will see you left and right." One, eat one and grab another, lest you don't have enough to eat, I save it for you to eat, and you think I made too much? You ate all of it, didn't you say to keep me?"

Zhan Zhao didn't expect her to be reasonable, he was speechless for a while, and finally said bitterly: "Anyway, if you cook again, you can do anything—except buns."

Before Duan Mucui could answer, Gongsun Ce turned his head and greeted the two of them, "Place your feet quickly, the Temple of the City God is ahead."

Entering the Town God's Temple, shopkeeper Li led a group of people who were busy. The main hall in front was divided into left and right sides, and there were about twenty or thirty corpses on each side. Carried to the apse.

Seeing Gongsun Ce looking around as if he was counting, shopkeeper Li came over and explained: "The dead from the previous few days have been burned, and this is from the past two days."

After a pause, he continued: "Several households have already been taken away to be burned. I heard that the master can summon souls, so I quickly chased them back and sent them over."

Gongsun Strategy nodded, but his heart sank a bit. When he looked around, most of the people who were busy around the corpse were the family members of the deceased. Hearing what shopkeeper Li said, they all looked up at Gongsun Ce, full of hope. There were still a few women who came over and knelt down for Gongsun Ce, and wiped away their tears before they could speak. Gongsun Ce was so panicked that he hurriedly helped him up.

Zhan Zhao also felt sympathetic, because he asked shopkeeper Li if he could help him, shopkeeper Li said: "I don't need to trouble Mr. Zhan here, and the family can arrange it properly. Later, when Mr. Gongsun recalls his soul, I hope you can help him." Mr. Zhan will help you a lot."

He thought that Zhan Zhao and Gongsun Ce were originally together, and since Gongsun Ce can call back souls, Zhan Zhao would not be bad at all.

Zhan Zhao nodded slightly, as an acquiesce, walked around and looked around for a while, and wanted to come forward to help several times, but the family members of the deceased just declined with tears in their eyes—they didn’t want others to intervene in the affairs of their loved ones. Zhan Zhao didn't insist any longer, and backed away with a faint smile.

It was only at this time that Duanmucui was missing, and when he asked Gongsun Ce, Gongsun Ce said, "It seems that I was still here just now, but I disappeared in a blink of an eye."

Zhan Zhao waited again, but Duanmucui didn't come back, he was a little anxious, and just ignored him, when Duanmucui called him, "Zhan Zhao."

When he looked back, Duanmucui was standing at the gate of the hall, waving to him.Zhan Zhao walked over quickly, and saw Duanmucui holding a half-filled water bowl in his hand, and a small cent was placed in the bowl.Feeling strange, Duanmucui pulled him to go out, and said: "Anyway, you can't help inside, come out and I'll help you write the spell."

Zhan Zhao understood, followed her to sit down on the steps in front of the hall.Duanmucui put the water bowl aside, took out the jasper knife from his waist, and made a cut on the belly of his middle finger.A few hectares of blood oozed out, and Duanmucui wrote with his hand on the surface of the water in the bowl.Zhan Zhao saw faint blood streams oozing out, and the originally calm water surface suddenly vibrated like boiling, and when it calmed down again, the bowl of water was already as red as cinnabar.Duanmucui let out a sigh of relief, dipped the hair in the bowl, raised her face slightly, and wrote on Zhan Zhao's sleeve first.

Zhan Zhao paid attention to her handwriting, only to feel that the brushwork was very strange, and couldn't help asking: "Duanmu, what character did you write?"

Duan Mucui said while writing: "Of course the characters were created by Cangjie. It is said that he created characters when he heard ghosts and gods crying at night, and he wrote spells with his characters. Those monsters and ghosts are even more awe-inspiring. It's just that the brushwork is too remote. , some of which I forgot how to write.”

What he said was true, Zhan Zhao saw her stop several times in the middle, frowning, just biting the penholder in a daze, knowing that she had forgotten how to write again.There were also a few times when I seemed to have forgotten the spell, and I muttered something in my mouth, and I recited it silently several times before continuing to write.Zhan Zhao couldn't help thinking: With Duanmu's temperament, it is indeed not easy for her to memorize these complicated spells and uncommon strokes.

After a while, the sun rises high, and the warm winter sun shines down. The warmth seems to penetrate from the limbs, which makes people feel very comfortable.Duanmucui slightly raised her head, her pretty face seemed to be coated with a layer of soft gold, her face was extremely serious and calm, and she was more beautiful than before.Zhan Zhao was stunned for a moment, but was slightly absent-minded.

I don't know how long it took, and suddenly heard Duanmucui's voice calling him, when he came back to his senses, he saw Duanmucui's eyes full of suspicion, and said: "Zhan Zhao, what are you looking at? I called you several times and you didn't answer."

The corners of Zhan Zhao's lips rose slightly: "I just feel that when you are so quiet and silent, you seem to be a different person than usual, especially... good."

Duanmu Cuiqi said: "You Qi is so good? I am so good when I don't speak? What's so good about it?"

Zhan Zhao looked at her, the smile in his eyes grew wider, and he didn't speak, just waiting for her to talk to herself.

Sure enough, Duanmucui figured it out on her own: "It's especially good when I'm not talking? Zhan Zhao, do you think I'm noisy on weekdays?"

Zhan Zhao smiled but didn't answer, just sat and watched how she would cope.

On this point, Miss Duanmu never let him down.

"Zhan Zhao, I also think that when you don't talk, it's extraordinarily good. It's a million times better than when you're on a normal day. How about this, we don't talk, ignore each other, and let you go to the end."

Duanmucui did what she said, except that she occasionally rolled Zhan Zhao's eyes, she really ignored Zhan Zhao again—it was because she kept her promise, and she was a true believer.

However, Zhan Zhao is also happy and at ease. He has been toiling and running around in the past few days, born and died in the underworld, how many times has his heart ever fallen to the ground?All of a sudden, I can sit here so peacefully, basking in the sunny winter sun, and the beauty next to me "adds fragrance to his sleeves"—although this beauty just draws a charm on his sleeve, and occasionally throws a knife to destroy the atmosphere—looking at Zhan Zhao Come, it is a rare luxury.

What's even more commendable is that this girl took the initiative to keep silent, leaving him a lot of leeway to reflect on the ups and downs of the past few days.

Xu is due to his personality, and for the rest of his life after the catastrophe, Zhan Zhao prefers to sit quietly in a corner, carefully sorting out the dangerous road, ups and downs, and many emotions. Those who should be discarded will be discarded by themselves, and those who should be collected will be collected by themselves. Take a rest and relax. , and set out on the road again.From the perspective of others, it is still the same as the previous description, but they don’t know that there is a lot of precipitation in their hearts-for decades, they have become accustomed to it, and when this link is really missing, they feel uncomfortable everywhere, and they feel that something is missing, which is weird.

Therefore, at this moment, I feel extraordinarily quiet and serene. Looking out a little, there is occasional smoke rising from the houses in the distance. I don’t know which family is lazy and missed the time for breakfast. At this moment Only then hastily lit a fire and started cooking.

The ups and downs of life need to be balanced together; the world is sad and happy, and the sad place needs to be ironed out by the happy place.Just like he had just experienced a catastrophe, he must be comforted by the great peace and tranquility in front of him, otherwise he will always be in a stormy sea and experience frequent dangers, even if he is hardened, he will not be able to bear it.

Thinking of this, there are mixed feelings in his chest, his throat feels sour for a while, and his eyes also become astringent-he always does this, laughing at life and death and looking down on the ups and downs, but he is often so moved by the ordinary and small things around him.Gently closing his eyes, subduing the sudden surge of emotion quietly, he sighed in a low voice: "Duanmu, this is really good."

"Ha!" Duanmucui raised his face, with a radiant smile on his face, "Zhan Zhao, you lost. We agreed to ignore each other. If you speak first, you will lose."

"Yes, I lost." Zhan Zhao nodded slightly, "If the prospect is long-term, I would like to lose a few more times."

Duanmucui was startled for a moment, then smiled and said, "Have you become a literati today? You can't speak like this."

While talking, they suddenly heard the sound of mourning at the entrance of the alley. When the two turned their heads to look at each other, another family came here carrying a stretcher.The one who was crying was a woman in plain clothes leaning on a stretcher at her side, followed by two young children from Cai Zong's corner, holding the corner of the woman's clothes and weeping, a group of people hurried into the hall.

Zhan Zhao secretly sighed, when he looked at Duanmucui, he saw a look of envy on her face.

"If a person is dead, they need to cry like this to be lively."

Zhan Zhao was stunned: "Duanmu, it is a great misfortune for a person to die at home."

"I know." Duanmu Cui's eyes dimmed, and he stirred the small hair in the bowl in his hand, "But if I die, there will be no one to cry for me, and I feel desolate after thinking about it."

Zhan Zhao smiled: "You are a god, you live the same life as the heaven and the earth, and live in good health for a long time."

"That's not necessarily the case. A few days ago, Li Ji entered Yingzhou without authorization, and didn't she kill the female fairy of Yingzhou? And earlier today, in the underworld, I was also in danger. Who dares to say that health will last forever? "

Zhan Zhao didn't know how to say words to comfort her.

She heard her whisper again: "Zhan Zhao, I hope that after my death, someone will bury me in a grand manner, and my children and grandchildren will wear sackcloth and filial piety for me. When I go out, weep and sprinkle paper money along the road, and someone will go to the grave to burn paper for me every year. Thinking about me from time to time makes it more lively. But the people who can do these things for me, whether friends or relatives, die before me. Sometimes when I think of them, I can’t even remember their faces. It's been too long, too long."

Zhan Zhao said in a low voice, "Is the life in Yingzhou unsatisfactory?"

Duan Mucui shook his head and said: "It's not that it's not satisfactory, it's just that it's a bit deserted. I have an elder brother named Yang Jian, who is far away in the heavenly court, and he is named as the god of justice. He is busy with affairs and can only visit me once in a long time. Sometimes Think about how boring life is, life is lonely and death is lonely. There are so many people in the world who want to ascend to immortality, what good is ascending to immortality, what if a person is alone, even if he has the ability to travel around the world?"

Zhan Zhao smiled and said, "What are you talking about? What is life and death? Am I not someone you know? Isn't Mr. Gongsun? There are also Zhang Long, Zhao Hu, Dynasty, Ma Han, they are all ?"

Duanmucui looked at Zhan Zhao, and said earnestly, "Zhan Zhao, if I die, will you bury me properly?"

I have always only had care, Wang Jun took good care of Yunyun, but I didn't expect to hear the opposite words from Duanmucui. Zhan Zhao knew that she was not joking, but if she really wanted to say "I will be buried in you well", it would be unbelievable Going against common sense, he was in a dilemma, but he couldn't say it out, hesitating for a long time, suddenly raised his eyes and saw Duanmu Cui's eyes full of expectations, his heart trembled, he was already preoccupied, he pulled her closer to him and sat down, speaking softly Said: "Of course it will. Not only is there a grand burial, but you also have to go to the grave to burn paper every year, always remembering it in your heart, so that you won't feel that the underground is deserted and the days are lonely."

Duanmucui stared at Zhan Zhao in a daze for a long time, her lips moved slightly, but she couldn't speak. Finally, she lowered her eyes, dipped the little hair in the bowl again, pulled Zhan Zhao's other sleeve and continued to write for him. The spell, just restless, wrote a few lines and then stopped, holding Zhan Zhao's sleeves in his hands for a long time, and then whispered: "Zhan Zhao, you are really good... very good .Hey, you are so nice, don't be bullied by others in the future."

Zhan Zhao laughed: "Who will bully me?"

Duanmucui shook her head: "I don't know either. Don't you always say that people are kind and get bullied. In the future, if someone really bullies you, just tell me and I will punish him well."

Zhan Zhao teased her: "Then if you're not here, who should I go to to vent my anger on?"

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he felt regretful, only because Duanmucui mentioned the matter behind him just now, he didn't jump out for a while, so he blurted out.Although he knew that Duanmucui would not mind, but he always felt weird in his heart, as if he deliberately cursed her, he felt a little awkward.

Duanmucui became serious, frowned and thought for a while, then murmured: "This is really..."

The more I think about it, the more I feel that I can't make up my mind, and I don't reflect on my thoughts. Instead, I feel that the person asking the question in front of me is very busy, so he simply darkens his face and says angrily: "Zhan Zhao, you are really troublesome. Don't move around, I writing."

So in an instant, Zhan Zhao changed from "very good" to "troublesome".

The so-called two heavens of ice and fire must be the same.

It's night, and the moon washes the courtyard.

After a hasty dinner in Jukelou, Gongsun Ce, Zhan Zhao and Duanmucui returned to Town God's Temple.Shopkeeper Li sat with the three of them for a while, but soon became tired and was persuaded by Gongsun Ce to go back and rest.Near midnight, the family members of the deceased who accompanied him also left in twos and threes. Before leaving, they came over and thanked Gongsun Ce again, with eager anticipation in their eyes.Gongsun Ce received a big gift without exerting any force, and he felt ashamed in his heart.

At the beginning of the ugly time, there were only these three people left in the huge Town God's Temple.

The day is busy, there are already no people, and the ugly time is the most exhausting time of the day-but these three people are not sleepy, and they are awake one by one.

Not to mention Duanmucui, she has a fairy structure and a different physique than ordinary people. Although she may get tired and sleepy, her endurance is absolutely top-notch, and it will not be a problem to last for a few more nights.

As for Zhan Zhao, he has something on his mind - this time he said he was going to fight side by side, but in fact he was divided into three groups. The "main battlefield" was completely different, and he couldn't cope with each other. Both Gongsun Ce and Duanmucui were enough for him worry.

Besides, Gongsun Ce, he was really scared...

(End of this chapter)