ten hidden tribes

Chapter 1 The Perfumer

一
"Sorry for the interruption." The young man stood up apologetically, and walked towards the gate accompanied by the elderly housekeeper, "I heard that Boss Xia visited your residence on the day he disappeared, so I took the liberty of visiting and causing trouble to Mr. I have inquired all over the place, but there is still no news." The boy is only sixteen or seventeen years old, and he is a student by his age.He behaves mildly and speaks politely, but his figure is slightly thin, and he is just at the age of smoking.

"No way. The master is not in good health, and it is inconvenient to see guests. Please forgive me. Are you... Boss Xia's relatives?"

The young man's dark eyes slightly bent: "No, I'm his friend. My surname is Li, and my name is Tang." It was March, and there was a slight drizzle in the sky.Holding a black umbrella, the boy disappeared into the vast rain along the bluestone road.

The butler finally realized where the surprise came from just now—as an ordinary student, his behavior was a bit too decent.When the butler returned to the room, he saw the man standing against the window of the living room, looking through the rain curtain at the direction of the boy's distance, like a sculpture.

"Master is already up." He nodded slightly.

The butler hesitated for a moment, then asked cautiously: "Mr. Manager, after Boss Xia disappeared, there were many people looking for him, but he was the only one who found our Li family. The next step is for him to find the Hermit Perfume Shop. Is this kid really Just a student?"

"Yes."

"Humanity?"

"It's that little devil who followed Boss Xia back then." The man sighed, "I grew up without knowing it."

Under the torrent that flows in every city, there are voices outside the rules of human beings.Among these disharmonious voices, the owner of the Li family villa was one, Xia Zihan was one, and Li Tang was one.Xia Zihan is an onmyoji who opened a fortune-telling Fengshui hall on a side street in the east of the small town, specializing in dealing with demons and ghosts.And the manager who has been staring at the boy's back in the villa just now is one of the demons.

A fortune-telling magic stick suddenly disappeared out of thin air, and the police thought it was normal, but the hidden world was already in a state of chaos—some were secretly delighted, some were fishing in troubled waters, and some were sighing.However, only a high school student named Li Tang was really looking for him.

He was looking for Xia Zihan for no other reason, because the unscrupulous Boss Xia took one of his things before he disappeared.

It was the winter five years ago, and Li Tang was still a truant kid who had a bad life, gave up on himself, and wanted to save face.After he spent his last two dollars in a small Internet cafe that allowed minors to enter, he was finally driven to the snowy street.Li Tang's body was covered with snowflakes, he was already so hungry that he could see the roast duck without needing to strike a match, and he just refused to go back to the orphanage where he was kept.

Suddenly, a black silk umbrella appeared above his head.The man holding the umbrella laughed and his eyes rolled: "Oh, are you hungry? Sending goose feathers from thousands of miles away is light and affectionate. My brother treats you to a bowl of five yuan noodles."

Scallion noodles, sprinkled with shredded chicken breast, Li Tang felt that he had never eaten such a delicious thing in his life.He didn't notice the young man sitting opposite him until he finished eating.In his early twenties, he looks like a dog, with clear eyebrows, his eyes narrowed into a line when he smiles, and he looks like a standard gentle villain on TV.The villain watched the kid finish his noodles, and reached out to pat him on the head.Li Tang turned his head away in disgust, sniffed his nose: "Perfume smell, I don't like it."

"I don't know how to raise a kid." Xia Zihan was still smiling, "Little friend, you ate my noodles, and I will take one of your things in return, how about it?" He stared at Li Tang for a moment, his eyebrows frowned slightly, " Since you don't like the smell of perfume on me, I'll take one of your talents away. What a shame, you could have been a pretty good perfumer."

Boss Xia stretched out his slender left hand with five fingers, and grabbed the sky eye between Li Tang's forehead, as if he had caught something, carefully put it into his suit pocket.

two

Although Xia Zihan only treated Li Tang to a bowl of five yuan noodles when he first met him, the child did not dislike him.Li Tang often visits Boss Xia’s fortune-telling shop after school, flips to the chapter on Marxist philosophy in his political book, and asks, “Do you know fortune-telling?”

Xia Zihan patiently explained: "I am considered a BOSS among Onmyoji."

The child looked very distrustful.Xia Zihan spoke earnestly: "At the beginning, I invited you to eat noodles because one day you would help me. If I suddenly disappear one day in the future, you must come to me. If you don't look for me, I will die."

"That depends on whether I'm busy playing games..."

"Didn't I take your talent away? If you want to get it back, you have to come to me."

Xia Zihan claims to be a boss-level character in Onmyoji, who is good at weather forecasting. If it is sunny, it will be sunny, and if it is raining, it will be rainy.Xiao Litang once believed in it until he found an old radio that could only broadcast weather forecasts in Boss Xia's study.Therefore, no matter how stupid a child is, he would not believe that his "talent" was taken away.But then Boss Xia really learned how to blend fragrance overnight.Before the visitor visits, he can make different perfumes according to the personality of the visitor, and lightly disperse them in the air.If it is for seeking a child, it will have a rich and sweet fragrance like a hundred flowers in full bloom; if it is for love, the fragrance will be intermittent, searching, desolate, and unpredictable.

Boss Xia smiled at the little ghost: "Human talent is limited. If you don't ask me to come back, I will use up your talent! People always grow up. If you want to get back what belongs to you, you must become Stronger than now, grab it with your strength." The kid turned his head to the side: "I hate perfume, you can take it if you like it."

Xia Zihan looked at him and shook his head: "I'm not talking about this, kid. I'm talking about the man who visits you in the orphanage every month and buys you toys. He is your mother's loyal former assistant, and he will help you , you can trust him."

"He's a fox." Li Tang muttered.

Boss Xia knocked him on the head with a fortune-telling bamboo stick: "I am a boss with a story, and you are a kid with a story."

Li Tang has gradually grown into a handsome young man, but Boss Xia is always in his early 20s. He sits behind the counter of a swindling fortune-telling shop and flips through beautiful swimsuit magazines every day. It seems that time will never leave a mark on him.

"If I knew he would really disappear, and it would be so troublesome to find him, I shouldn't have eaten that bowl of chicken noodle!" Li Tang thought angrily.

Across the street is an ordinary perfume shop, you won't find it in any newspaper or on the Internet.It is a quaint shop with a small facade, and the signboard is the word "hidden world" in golden silk nanmu with red lacquer.The small shop is elegant, and there are always a few pots of green potted plants and flowers at the door, blending in with the surrounding environment.What the store sells are just ordinary perfumes. When asked which brand it belongs to, the store manager will quote the name of a company that is well-known in the fragrance and cosmetics industry, so customers will know that this is a relatively low-key chain store under it.

This is where Xia Zihan has been buying perfume raw materials for a long time.

There were cars coming and going on the street, and the boy sighed slightly through the traffic.Obviously only a few steps away, but it seems to be separated by a time and space.For Li Tang, this is the human world, and the store is hell.He finally shrugged and took a step forward: "Xia Zihan, I have recorded it."

three

hand.Fair and delicate little hands.

A fair and delicate hand "slapped" the perfume bottle on the glass counter!The two clerks were distressed by the fragile glass counter, and tremblingly persuaded: "Miss, be gentle, be careful not to hurt your hands..."

"This bottle of perfume is fake!" The girl was wearing a denim top and hot pants, with fair and slender legs, and she was standing on the stool by the counter, looking imposing.Long wine-red hair against the slanting light of the setting sun, and a pair of originally beautiful red phoenix eyes squinting displeasedly, the whole person looks like a beautiful but dangerous little animal.The shop is very deep, and the light seems to form an enchantment around her, isolating her from everyone and enjoying it alone.

——Except for the two long ears dangling like toys on the top of the head.

The clerks whispered: "Beauties are not good enough, they will reveal their true colors when they get emotional..."

"The ones from the Moon Rabbit Clan will definitely show their short tails later..."

"Rabbits will bite when they are in a hurry. Tell your boss to come out!" The girl's hearing was excellent, the tips of the rabbit's ears trembled, she froze suddenly, and her face turned red. I have been working as a pharmacist, and I can still distinguish the difference between the fragrance of the medicine. The requiem perfume you gave this time, my brother smelled it and it didn't work at all, so it's not a fake perfume, what is it?"

The boss is a middle-aged man with slightly squinted eyes, wrapped in a brown coat, coming out from the back hall.He didn't pay attention to a yellow-haired girl, but just perfunctory with a tea cup: "The perfumes in this store are all handmade by perfumers for customers. If there are differences, please forgive me. Miss wants exactly the same as last time." Perfume...the price, I'm afraid it's not this price. "

The girl said angrily: "You... you are selling goods at high prices!"

"Perfume, you can buy it in any store. Besides, our chief perfumer is away on leave. Even if I want to, I can't give you the perfume you want." The fat boss was noncommittal.

Tears welled up in the girl's eyes.The perfume she bought back at a high price did not play its due role.Originally, I wanted to talk to the shop owner, but the other party didn't accept this.Gritting her teeth lightly, she took out a small vial from her pocket and held it up high—"You! You...you want to sell it at a high price!"

She was considering whether to use the big move of the Moon Rabbit Clan, when she raised her hand halfway, she was suddenly grabbed from behind.

"It's not good to be impulsive, miss."

four

The voice is clean and low, with a little lazy taste.The boy was wearing a white shirt and black trousers, not very colorful, but looked very appropriate.The eyebrows and eyes are delicate, and the most gratifying thing is a pair of black and bright eyes, which seem to be able to see through the soul when the gaze falls on a person.Unknowingly, the force from the girl's hand was relieved.

"Hey, isn't this a human pet raised by Xia Zixuan! It looks more and more like the owner." The fat boss put down the teacup, "What's the point of coming here today?"

The boy ignored him, but took the vial from the girl's hand and carefully put it in his trousers pocket.He took the perfume bottle on the glass counter again, held the bottle body, pressed the spout lightly, and a cloud of fragrant mist floated in the air.Li Tang didn't approach, but stood far away from Xiangwu, frowning slightly.

There is a fragrance mixing table for display in the store, which is placed by the window.After the fragrance faded for a while, he walked to the workbench without looking back, and asked, "Miss, what is the difference between the smell of the perfume you want and this bottle of fake?"

Unable to figure out what the young man wanted to do, the girl said suspiciously: "It should be lighter, there is a... There is a very faint and almost imperceptible gardenia fragrance. This bottle does not have it."

He just nodded: "From now on, feel carefully, and tell me to stop when you find the same aroma."

From this angle, the girl could only see the boy's back. He stood upright facing the window, and the oncoming sunlight coated him with a layer of gold.In this way, he used the perfume in the perfume bottle as the raw material, lifted the glass bottle with one hand and shook it lightly, and skillfully used the dropper with the other hand to start mixing the fragrance.A faint fragrance in the evening wind began to permeate the room. As time passed, the original faint fragrance gradually deepened and became rich and mellow.The young man's movements are smooth and flowing, as if he is not mixing incense, but manipulating something that can be manipulated such as a musical instrument, so that a piece of elegance flows out from his fingers, and the clouds and mist are turbulent and changing.

After changing aromas several times, the girl finally shouted, "That's it!"

Only then did the young man put away the incense mixing tools unhurriedly, as if he had already mastered the arrangement of the utensils by heart.He handed the newly prepared perfume to the girl, then turned to the fat boss, and smiled slightly: "I just heard from the boss that the chief perfumer here is not on duty due to something. Can I take over during this time?"

The moment the fragrance flowed from the young man's fingers, the face of the fat boss changed drastically.He knew that the onmyoji Xia Zihan was proficient at mixing fragrances, but he didn't know that the little ghost following him could achieve such an achievement.If other perfume shops encountered such a talent, they would have already tried their best to incorporate them into their banners, but this is the Hermit Perfume Shop.There are too many secrets hidden here that he cannot tell or be heard.The fat boss rubbed his teacup, and said slowly with a downcast face, "I have been with Xia Zihan for so long, I must have heard of the Li family of the Perfumery family. You are indeed talented, but the branch of the Li family is not so easy to enter."

Li Tang knows that in the non-human world, there are two human families who are most respected, one is the Xia family of Onmyoji, and the other is the Li family of perfumer.Not all onmyojis surnamed Xia can be related to the Xia family, but as long as a perfumer is surnamed Li, then he must be from the Li family—because the power behind the Li family is really huge.

Suddenly, the inner door opened, and a clerk hurried out, whispering something in the fat man's ear.The fat boss was shocked at first, then nodded and whispered, his face ugly.When he faced the young man, he put away his previous color, and put on a smiling face: "Boy, your life is good! The family came to inspect these few days, and the chief executive was drinking tea in the back hall, and happened to have a crush on you." I want to keep you here because of your craftsmanship. Do you know who the big manager is?"

It is said that the current chief executive of the Li family is a member of the fox family with a rather noble lineage.Unlike onmyojis who are always against demons and goblins, the perfumer family is relatively close to other races.Perfumery is an art that deeply understands the human heart. A good perfumer can use the fragrance as a medium to make people lose their souls and unlock their hearts.This ability is actually acquired by successive generations of family heirs through trial and error with fairies and monsters as objects.The upper-level perfumers usually subdue and domesticate one or two monsters, but the Li family started to engage in the perfume business in the dark world very early on, and the number of monsters in the family should not be underestimated.

The young man casually listened to the fat boss's introduction of his family history, and raised his eyes to look inside.There is a bead curtain hanging from the back door of the shop to the inside.Just when the wind was blowing, the hanging beads jingled together.Vaguely, the boy caught a glimpse of a plantain bonsai, a pair of mahogany tables and chairs, and the silhouette of a man holding a teacup.

"Hey, I can't always call you Xia Zihan's follower. What's your name?"

"What a coincidence, I am also surnamed Li, just like the head of your family, with a single name named Tang."

As soon as he left the store, a fiery red fox came up from behind with a letter in its mouth.The fox squatted down in front of him, with its four paws together, sat upright, and spoke: "Li Tang, this is a letter from our chief executive."

The snow-white plain envelope, after opening, was a folded auction invitation letter, and a piece of paper with a sentence written in pencil: give up looking for Xia Zihan, leave quickly-Qingming.

Li Tang crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it into the roadside trash can.

五

Li Tang had reasons for not wanting to step into this perfume shop, but this was the last place Xia Zihan went before he disappeared.He looked everywhere and had to come here.They said they agreed with him to be a perfumer, but in fact they just left him to do chores.He comes here every weekend to work for two days and returns on Monday.He found that many customers of this perfume shop have a quirk-they come here almost at a fixed time.

He thought it was a special case for Xia Zihan to come to the Hermitage Perfume Shop once a month, but it was only when he got here that almost every regular customer visited here with a certain regularity.Some once a day, some once a week, some once a month.Regardless of the cycle, a specific person will definitely come once in a specific cycle and only buy a specific perfume.Each fragrance is housed in a beautiful glass bottle, delicately hand-labeled and has a different name.However, no matter how many types there are, customers who always buy the jasmine-scented "You Ran" will never buy the "Black Swan" with tuberose-based notes.On the contrary, customers who buy "Black Swan" will not buy "Youran".

Li Tang asked the assistant perfumer brother why.The little brother is a lazy fox, and the two of them sit by the back door and nibble on duck necks.The dead fox was very embarrassed: "Because we do a 'baptism' for the guests. You are still a newcomer, I can't tell you what it is, but the 'baptism' is also graded. The lower-level baptisms are usually done by the foxes domesticated by the Li family. The middle level is done by the upper-level fox clan, and only in very special cases is it performed by the nobles in the fox clan - if the chief executive performs the 'baptism' himself, it is simply an art. If you want to do the 'baptism', I guess I will do it Don't look at me like this, you are also from the fox clan!"

Li Tang asked: "What will happen to those who have been 'baptized'?"

The little brother thought for a while: "After accepting the 'baptism', you will fall in love with a special fragrance prepared by our shop just like the customers, and you can't live without it for the rest of your life. Hey, the hand you showed last time is so beautiful, it's a pity that Human, what a waste of talent not to be a 'baptism' perfumer!"

"My talent has been taken away." Li Tang sighed, "My talent for perfumery was given to Xia Zihan long ago. I will never be able to become an excellent perfumer." Newcomers are destined to be coolies.When Li Tang gets busy, he can't wait to fly to the sky, but whether he is helping to mix essential oil raw materials in the workshop or carrying things as a coolie, he always feels that there are a pair of eyes staring at him behind his back.Sharp, transparent, and chills down the spine.

He touched the invitation letter in his pocket again.The auction date on the invitation is one month later.

The fat boss felt that the head manager who came to inspect this time lived in the small branch for a long time, which made him live like a year.The head manager doesn't seem to go back to the hotel at night, and he never sees him resting. He sits down in the living room upstairs early, makes a cup of good tea, and asks: "How is the new perfumer?"

He folded his legs against the sofa, his eyes narrowed like a contented fox.The fat boss respectfully said: "I'm doing odd jobs." He tentatively asked, "Sir, this little devil named Li Tang is asking what is 'baptism' and said he wants to try 'baptism'. He is from Xia Zihan, Is it really appropriate to put him in the store? You know who Xia Zihan is, if Li Tang really knows our secret...do you want to report it to the Patriarch?"

The eyes of the man leaning on the sofa were as sharp as a blade: "When did you have the right to meddle in the Li family's affairs?!"

The fat boss was taken aback and took two steps back.The man pondered again: "I didn't expect Master Tang to come back, I will personally report to the Patriarch. If the day comes when he must be 'baptized', I will personally carry it out."

After retreating to the door, the fat boss was still chewing on the word - "Li's family affairs".

六

When the young man appeared at the entrance of the hall without a sound, it hardly caused any disturbance.The invitation letter for the auction was sent to a few VIPs by the Perfumery Family, and there were not many people present.The crowd at the auction was small, and everyone seemed to know each other and chat eagerly.Li Tang walked around in it, not knowing where to sit.Suddenly, the corner of the clothes behind her was gently pulled, and someone whispered, "Here."

The girl still has burgundy hair tied behind her head with a ribbon.She belongs to the Moon Rabbit tribe, and when she spoke, her lips curled up slightly, playful and cute: "Thank you last time. My name is Xiaobai, you can also call me Xiaobai two, from the Moon Rabbit tribe."

"You're welcome." Li Tang smiled and pointed to himself, "Li Tang, human. This is my first time participating in this kind of auction. What is the auction item this time?"

"It's a 'person'!" Xiaobai blinked, "This is the annual perfumer auction of the Li family, and the perfumer used for the 'baptism' is being auctioned. I want to help my brother to buy a cheaper one." Xiangshi. Don't you know about 'baptism'?"

Li Tang shook his head.He didn't know everything about the Li family.Spotlights shone right on the display stand, illuminating a row of formally dressed perfumers.The voice of the host in a tuxedo slowly spread out in the venue like Meixiang, reaching the depths of the audience's soul.

"Friends, do you want to buy the right to forget sadness? You can easily buy fine clothing, quality service, and delicious food, but only with us can you buy the right not to be sad. I have to believe , every friend gathered here has something that needs to be forgotten in memory..."

"It's really possible." Xiaobai leaned over and said in a low voice, "Each perfumer has his or her own specialty. A good perfumer can create a scent of happiness, comfort the sad, and use fragrance to Soothe the pain deep in their hearts. They call this incense "requiem incense", and the process of mixing fragrance is called "baptism". Most of the people who appear here have a past that they want to erase, and they are willing to pay a high price for it. 'Baptism'...the perfumer of the Li family only serves one customer a year, and the better the perfumer, the higher the price..."

"After asking the perfumer to make the perfume here, the prescription will be sent to each branch of the hidden world perfume shop. If we want to use the perfume we made for the first time, we have to go there to buy it."

Li Tang asked softly: "I remember the last time we met, you said that the perfume sold by the owner of the hidden world perfume shop 'doesn't work'?"

"The fragrance is valid for one year. Something happened to my brother. At last year's auction, a perfumer was invited to make requiem incense for him. Every time he smelled that perfume, he would It became calm...the fragrance prescription is valid for one year, and when the time is up, it must be re-attended in the auction this year, and the perfumer should be asked to re-mix it."

Li Tang thought of Xia Zihan.Xia Zihan is proficient in perfumery, but still goes to this perfume shop regularly.Could it be that he does not come to buy ingredients, but also has something in his heart that needs to be comforted, so he comes here regularly to buy perfume?He once joked: "I am an onmyoji with a story, and you are a kid with a story."

Li Tang admitted that Xia Zihan's judgment on himself was correct.Everyone will have irreparable regrets and irreparable sorrows in their lives.Perhaps the regret in Xia Zihan's story is too deep, and he chose to use "baptism", that is, to escape with the illusion created by fragrance.

The host began to introduce the perfumers on the display stand one by one, and Li Tang actually saw the assistant perfumer brother in the store.Tucked into a suit, he stands last, pitifully filling in.

The perfumers at the auction are all foxes - Li Tang thought.

Signs glowing fluorescent green in the darkness were raised one by one, and the bidding became more intense.Xiao Bai finally got the perfumer she wanted.After the auction was successful, she hugged her knees and sat next to Li Tang, lowering her head sadly.

"Now our family is really poor." She sighed softly.Li Tang looked sideways at Xiao Bai.Only at this time did the weak characteristics of the Moon Rabbit Clan appear.Her eyelashes drooped, her long hair covered her shoulders, and she curled up in a small ball on the chair, like a weak rabbit.For some reason, Li Tang was bumped somewhere in his heart.

The perfumer was gradually taken away by the owner, and in the end there was only the little fox brother who was too junior and poor-looking to stand on the stage pitifully, and was unsuccessful in the auction.Just for a moment, Li Tang raised his sign and bid a reserve price.

In the darkness, a soft coaxing voice rose from the bottom of my heart: "Do you really want to give it a try, try to forget your past through perfume, boy?" When he recovered, the waitress had already walked up to him. Beside: "Sir, please go this way for 'baptism'."

Seven

A white room with the door tightly closed.

Li Tang smelled a familiar aroma.When I was very young, my mother's sweater was warm after drying in the sun, mixed with sweet body fragrance.It was especially noticeable whenever his face was pressed against his mother's arms.

Li Tang knew what was behind that white door.It was a happy family. Although they were not rich, they were well-fed.The woman works as a perfumer in an ordinary perfume company and lives in a small villa in the suburbs. Her son has shown an amazing talent in perfumery since he was a child. He can distinguish two hundred different fragrances at the age of seven.

Pushing open the door of the villa, there is a small garden inside, which is full of purple lavender.When the setting sun falls into the living room through the glass window, it will be dyed light purple by the flowers outside the window.The woman with black wavy hair will hug her son tenderly, leaning over to explain to him the knowledge of various fragrances.

The woman has an assistant named Qingming who comes to this small villa to deliver materials from time to time.He belongs to the fox tribe, always wears a formal suit, and his eyes narrow into a line when he smiles.He called women "Young Madam" and boys "Little Master". Every time he came, he brought flowers and snacks. Before leaving, he knelt down and touched the little master's head, tidied up the little tie he messed up while playing, and smiled. De: "Grow up early so that you can protect your young lady."

Women's eyes are always indifferent and alienated.Every time she raised her head and took the boy away in a hurry, she said: "Xiaotang, you have to remember that Qingming is a fox clan and is good at seduction. You can use him, but you must never get close to him."

When the skirt that was as light as a white lotus disappeared at the end of the corridor, the man was still half kneeling on the spot.He lowered his eyes and didn't say a word for a while.The woman is the young wife of the new widow of the Li family, and the boy is the young master.The young lady was not wrong, this fox clan really betrayed his master and joined a more powerful force in the family.Few foxes are willing to serve humans, and usually they only serve the strong - this is the nature of the foxes.The main reason for the young lady's defeat in the family struggle was that the fox assistant who knew her well had betrayed her.

The boy still remembers that winter.

The man was wearing a windbreaker and a white scarf, squatting not far away and smiling.When the eyes met, the boy ran over happily: "Qingming, let me touch your fox tail." The man's smile was charming, and he patted the boy's face: "Little master, you wait for me in the park. I'll wait for you in a while Just come to play with you."

The boy waited until it was dark and did not wait for him to come. When he went home alone with the ball, he only saw the ruins after a fire.The villa was reduced to ashes, and the embers were still burning.The dining table with floral tablecloths for dessert, the rocking bed for children to take a nap, the family portrait on the wall with his late father, no longer exist... Then he was sent to a child welfare school The courtyard, like a forgotten old garment, hangs moldy in the corner.

Only Qingming would come regularly, bringing sweets and toys to see him as usual, knelt on one knee to help him straighten his tie, and said, "Master Tang, grow up quickly. When you grow up, you can leave here."

Through the thin door panel, Li Tang's perception was fully expanded, and he could even smell the light fragrance of his mother's favorite Phalaenopsis.Pushing open the white door is the living room of the small villa.Warm firewood is burning in the fireplace in winter, and the fresh wind in summer blows open the white gauze curtains and walks through the hall...

Hand, finally stretched out unconsciously to the doorknob.

Eight

"This is just an ordinary door, Master Tang." The voice behind the door is still familiar to your ears, "The reason why you think this is the door of your own house back then is because I simulated all the auras related to that scene , including the scent of lavender in the evening breeze, right?"

Fingers crossed, a man sits in a dimly lit incense room, his face just hidden in the shadows.Behind him stretches the darkness.Life is like a drama. This man followed Li Tang's mother as an assistant, and then monitored him in the orphanage for several years as an elder brother. Until another faction of the Li family completely inherited the family business, Li Tang grew up from a kid juvenile.

The last time he saw this man was the second year after he met Xia Zihan.The little ghost has grown into a half-grown boy. He asked this man who always came to see him in the orphanage: "Qingming, you knew that something happened to your mother that day, didn't you? Are you still at the Li family? Who are you working for?"

It was a cool autumn day, and the man was wrapped in a large coat, and he didn't speak for a long time before reaching out and slowly touching Li Tang's head.The boy turned his head and avoided it stubbornly.

When this assistant became the manager of the new head of the Li family, Li Tang became the brat next to Xia Zihan.

"Master Tang, you are becoming more and more like the young lady." The man was still hiding in the darkness, and said softly, "If the young lady is here, she will tell you that if you forget the pain, you will never grow into a man." The young man fisted Clenched tightly, then slowly loosened: "I remember that the perfumer I photographed was not you, Qingming."

"You wanted to find Xia Zihan, but unfortunately you put yourself in it. Get out of here, forget about Xia Zihan, finish today's homework like an ordinary high school student, drink milk, and go to bed before 10:30. Xia Zihan is just in your last Just because I provided you with a home at a bad time does not mean that you really have to abide by the agreement to find him." After a long time without reply, he asked slowly, "Master Tang, do you really want to do a 'baptism'? "The man came out from the darkness, tall and tall, walked to a comfortable and warm sofa, and made a gesture of "please" to the boy.

Close your eyes, and when you open them again, a pair of long and narrow phoenix eyes have been dyed fiery red!The bright red color spread from the fox's eyes all the way to the whole room, completely covering up the location of its owner.The young man heard the slight sound of cups and utensils colliding, as if a fragrance was being carried out in the corner of the room.The smell of burning pine wood, the smell of burnt corpses, the flames reflected half of the sky red.

Li Tang once again stood in front of his childhood villa.This was the nightmare that woke him up again and again at night.His dearest were inside the burning building, and he couldn't take a step forward.Stretch out your hand, the image in the hot air distorts and mutates, melting like water.Knowing that this is the past simulated by the fox illusion and the fragrance of the perfumer, the boy still closed his eyes in pain.

There was another soft sound of vessels colliding, the heat gradually receded, and the flame faded from bright red to pale white, fading away like paint soaked in water.There was a smell of water in the air, and the rain poured down from the sky, getting bigger and bigger, and finally a torrential downpour.The heavy rain extinguished the flames. The boy stood in the rain, his clothes were wet and stuck to his body, but he felt extremely happy.He knew it wasn't real rain, and he didn't have such a heavy rain in his memory. It was just an illusion brought about by the change of aroma, but he still couldn't help but immerse himself in it.

He saw his mother's figure appear on the balcony that had not yet collapsed.Her white clothes were stained by smoke, and she was not in a good spirit, but she was still alive.Still alive, the boy smiled to himself, this is better than anything else.

"Master Tang, Master Tang? The 'baptism' is complete."

Li Tang woke up suddenly.Qingming stood in front of him, wearing the same black suit as before, and handed him an exquisite perfume bottle: "This perfume is specially made for you, and the name is 'Rainwater'. If you immerse yourself in the past memories Here, it will save you as it did just now. But beware, if the 'rainwater' runs out and you don't ask me for refills, the memories will eat away at your dreams even more."

nine

"This is not perfume, it's opium." Li Tang stared at him. "You go deep into the deepest memories of the guests, liberate the most painful places in their hearts, and then create requiem incense. It's like a drug, the more you use it, the more addictive it becomes. It takes a little more than the last time to convince the brain to accept that it is the truth. The more real the illusion, the more painful the truth after the effect of requiem incense wears off, and people have to use it repeatedly. You concoct this kind of thing for guests, Then let them buy requiem incense at a high price in its branches for a long time, isn't it?"

"The Li family has been doing this for hundreds of years. It is part of our family income. Master Tang, if this is a drug, then you are already addicted now."

Li Tang thought for a while: "I want to know, what is Xia Zihan trying to escape before he started using your requiem incense."

Qingming raised the corner of his mouth: "I can't tell you, but if you have a chance, I suggest you ask him yourself."

"Do you know where Xia Zihan is?"

"He's in our hands. Boss Xia has become more and more dependent on requiem fragrance lately. He has to make new and stronger perfumes every day, otherwise he can't get rid of his memories. This kind of price tag is very high, so We invited him to the Li family. He helped the Li family divination, and we provided him with requiem incense. So even if you find Xia Zihan, it’s useless. He can’t do without our perfume, and he will be under the control of the Li family for the rest of his life—from now on From a point of view, it is no different from taking drugs." Qingming raised his index finger and put it on his lips, "Master Tang, give up. I will keep the meeting today a secret from the Patriarch."

Ten

On weekends, the fragrance room of the hidden world perfume shop.

The lazy fox sniffed: "Li Tang, do you see a rabbit with its head dyed wine red squatting under the spice cabinet over there? I can smell the aroma of rabbit meat."

"You read it wrong, it's a rag, it hasn't been washed clean." Li Tang was wiping the perfume bottle with a fine velvet cloth.

"That rag seems to be moving."

"The wind blows." Li Tang turned his head, "Look over there, a beautiful woman just passed by the door." Xiao Bai took the opportunity to rush out of the perfume shop from the back door with a perfume bottle in his mouth, and hid in a Behind the telegraph pole, after transforming into a human form, her chest continued to rise and fall: "Li Tang, you...you are like a dishcloth that hasn't been washed, you've been like a dishcloth all your life!"

She put the spice bottle into her bag, and smiled contentedly: "The last perfume ingredients needed are ready." She bought two cups of hot milk tea from a small street shop and held them in her arms. Out of the perfume shop.

There is a table in a corner of the remote warehouse, and the table is full of bottles and cans, several simple fragrance tools, and thick perfume materials.When the night is dark, two students will quietly open the door and come in to light a lamp.The boy stood silently in front of the table, and began to experiment with the fragrance one by one, and the unpredictable fragrance flowed out from the boy's fingers.

The girl is very beautiful, with long wine red hair tied up with a butterfly hairpin.She was holding a thermos bucket for supper, and sat obediently on the stool beside the boy.

"Xiaobai, you don't need to accompany me, you can go back to rest early."

Xiaobai suddenly woke up from the daze, rubbed his eyes: "Have you prepared the fragrance?"

"How can it be so fast, it will take a long, long time. Unlocking the Requiem Fragrance is not so easy." Li Tang smiled lightly, "Besides, my talent was taken away by Xia Zihan, so it is very difficult to do it. Give me some more time. Xiaobai, you really don't need to accompany me every night, go back to bed early. "

"I'm not sleepy, don't try to secretly use requiem incense while I'm sleeping! We agreed to quit!"

The boy sighed, turned around and continued to devote himself to his career. When he came back to his senses again, there was no girl behind him, only a little rabbit sleeping soundly on the stool.He smiled, touched the rabbit's long ears, and put a wide-brimmed hat on the rabbit.

Time is like sand in your hands, the tighter you hold it, the faster it flows.At the end of the road, there is still a road.Requiem incense is a knot in people's memory, and unraveling this kind of requiem incense requires a pair of mastery hands of the perfumer who can untie the knot.

Li Tang understands that the opium aroma planted by "baptism" numbs a person's pain as well as his happiness.Life is equal, when you give up the right to suffer, you are also deprived of the right to enjoy pleasure.Therefore, he made an agreement with Xiaobai not to use requiem incense from now on until Jiexiang was successfully prepared.

eleven
It is winter, and there is heavy snow.

In a certain corner of the city, the boy pushed open a door.The red paint on the door was mottled and peeling off. There was no heating in the room, and the cold air came in directly from the window.He carefully closed the door and closed the window before walking towards the man resting on the recliner.His reliance on requiem incense had left him emaciated and pale, with sunken cheeks and eye sockets, like a white funeral candle.

But when the boy approached, the man turned his head to look at him, his face seemed to be lit up suddenly, and his eyes were bent: "Little devil, I have grown up after half a year."

"I kept the agreement and found you." Li Tang looked around, curled his lips in disgust, and handed over a simple glass bottle, "The Li family is really unkind to guests, and there is no heating in winter. This is the solution for Requiem Incense. Xiang, I will untie it for you now, and follow me immediately, we will be discovered by the Li family when it is too late."

Xia Zihan reached out to take the perfume bottle, and before the boy hesitated to turn his head, he rubbed his hair.Seeing Li Tang's reluctant expression, he smiled: "Thank you."

"Repay your chicken noodle favor. No matter what makes you suffer so much that you choose to use requiem incense to escape, you must get out. Losing the right to suffer pain will also make you lose the right to feel happiness. Come back with me."

The man nodded: "Okay." After thinking for a while, he said, "If you know who I am and want to be friends with me, I'll go back with you."

He clapped his hands, and the door was pushed open again.Qingming appeared at the door wearing a black suit, and bowed slightly: "Patriarch, what are your orders?"

Xia Zihan turned to the shocked young man, and apologized: "You were too young when the accident happened, so you didn't know the situation of the Li family. I am the adopted son of Mr. Li from the Xia family of Onmyoji. My original surname is Xia, and my name is Zihan. Regardless of blood relationship, I should call you cousin. It's hard for you to come to me, Xiaotang."

He watched the young man in front of him turn pale suddenly, and shook his head.In the family power struggle seven years ago, his forces won the final victory, and the desperate young lady set her house on fire.After the young lady's assistant Qingming hid the young master who had no self-protection ability, she went to him alone to negotiate, and exchanged her own life for the young master's right to live. "This is the only blood of the young lady." He said, "I hope he can grow up healthy."

Xia Zihan was surprised.In Xia Zihan's memory, the fox clan is a fickle and sneaky race, and few people are willing to make such a sacrifice for their deceased master.He looked down at the man kneeling on one knee and said, "We can make a contract. You swear allegiance to me, and I promise not to kill my cousin—your young master can live."

Xia Zihan stared into Li Tang's eyes: "During the process of you looking for me, Qingming should have told you repeatedly to give up this matter, right? He is really warning you - I will punish him for his dereliction of duty, but I told you when you were very young that your mother's former assistant could be trusted. You see, you didn't believe it."

One of the troubles that the young lady's death brought to Xia Zihan was that this woman took away the incense of the Li family's soul incense when she was dying.A famous knife needs to have a blade and a scabbard. A dose of strange poison is best to have poison and antidote. A blade without a scabbard is the same as a poison without an antidote. It cannot be perfectly controlled. In extreme cases, it may hurt the owner.

"Although I am proficient in perfumery, I have never been able to make the incense of requiem incense. I asked the elders of the Onmyoji Xia family, and someone told me that to untie the bell, one needs to tie the bell. Requiem incense originated from the Li family, and only Only descendants of the Li family's blood can concoct Jiexiang—I am not of the Li family's blood. So I think the only one who can reconstitute it is you."

"Didn't you take my talent away?"

Xia Zihan sat up suddenly, turned and looked out the window.Li Tang suspected that he was snickering, but Xia Zihan's face was serious when he turned back.He shook the small bottle in his hand: "I lied to you, let's see if you really gave up on perfumery because of the death of the young lady. In fact, all little ghosts have a characteristic, the more you tell him it's impossible, the more you want to try ——Look, in the process of saving me, didn't you make incense?"

This is a game in itself, it was Xia Zihan's game for his little cousin, and it was a game for him to take the initiative to prepare the requiem incense step by step.

"It was you who pushed my mother into a corner, and you have been using me."

Xia Zihan was noncommittal, his black eyes curled up, and he smiled: "You will ask me this question, which means you haven't grown up yet."

A certain part of Li Tang's heart quickly became cold.He didn't remember how he left, he pushed open the door of Li's house, and Qingming helped him hold up a black silk umbrella.He took the handle of the umbrella and walked along the long driveway into the vast snow.

twelve
"You have gone too far." Qingming stood by the window, staring at the wind and snow outside.

Xia Zihan crossed his fingers, propped his head, and looked through the glass window into the heavy snow.Where he couldn't see, at the corner of a long street, stood a girl from the Moon Rabbit tribe.The girl was wearing a white down jacket, a hat with a circle of fluff, and her face was as cute as a red apple.She was standing in the snow with a hand warmer in her arms, looking around.After a while, a black umbrella covered with snow appeared on the other side of the long street, and the girl suddenly became happy, jumped up and waved.

The person holding the umbrella paused for a moment, then walked forward at a slightly faster pace.

"The kid will grow up sooner or later, and I can't hide it from him for the rest of his life." Xia Zihan said, "The pain of childhood is the catalyst for growth. They are easily hurt, and at the same time they have many opportunities and time to heal their wounds. If he If you can’t get over my hurdle, you can’t be on your own.” He sighed, “Now he and I hold the incense at the same time. I can continue to sell requiem incense, and he can also take our customers from this opium at any time. Liberated from ordinary drugs—for example, his current girlfriend's brother. You see, your little master is not at a disadvantage."

Qingming was stunned: "For so many years, I thought you didn't like him."

"Human nature is complicated, little ghosts are cute, and sometimes I try to be a good cousin." Xia Zihan closed his eyes and collapsed on the recliner.He picked up the glass bottle that Li Tang handed him, played with it for a while, and finally unscrewed the cap to let the fragrance waft out: "My cousin is right, the requiem incense is just a placebo, it paralyzes our feelings of pain , It also makes us unable to touch happiness. I would rather bear this pain again."

The manager hesitated for a moment, and finally asked: "What is it that makes you suffer day and night, and turn to seek requiem incense?"

Boss Xia did not lie about the fortune teller saying that Li Tang would save him one day.Who would have thought that the head of the perfumer Li's family was actually a victim of this kind of opium, deeply trapped in it, and urgently needed an antidote.He closed his eyes again, and did not answer the manager's words.

(End of this chapter)