Copper Coins Chapter 1: Paperman (1)

In the summer of the 23rd year of Tianxi, a dragon fell in Huameng County, Guangdong Province. It was tall and handsome, and it was several tens of feet long. Officials and people went to watch it, just as the rainstorm poured, the waves were surging, and the dragon entered the sea without a trace. ——"Huameng County Chronicle"[1]

In the winter of the same year, Ningyang County, Huizhou Prefecture.

The bangzi of the fifth watch had just knocked, and the sky was still numb and dark, and there were already faint voices on Xingtang Street. The waiter of Jiuweiju carried a few large drawers of freshly steamed buns and set up a breakfast stall in front of the building.

The watchman trotted over and bought three buns. He swallowed one in two mouthfuls, swallowing hard, while winking at the waiter at Jiuweiju, "Huh? Are things ready?"

"It's ready, it's here." The waiter patted the food box next to the cage drawer with a sad face.

The watchman said in surprise: "Is it really ready? What if he...that thing doesn't come today?"

The waiter shuddered silently and said dryly, "My mother and ancestor, please don't come."

This Jiuweiju is a small well-known restaurant in Ningyang County. The chef is nicknamed "Liu Sanxiang". It is said that it can rely on three special dishes to go around the world, namely roasted pork with peach fat and roasted in clay pot. Chicken, and Crispy Pear Oxtail. The meat is streaky without the skin, the chicken is a pheasant that is just fat and thin, and the raccoon must be a raccoon in the snow.

Relying on these three dishes, Jiuweiju is full of customers every day, so the business is not worried. But Liu Santang is a big one. He only serves ten servings a day, and he doesn't make one more pot, so he has to hurry up if he wants to eat.

However, if you order hard vegetables as early as the fifth watch, it is probably because your brain is a little sick.

This sick man has been here for two days in a row.

On the first day, he reported the names of the three dishes in front of the waiter, and he never said a word. Really annoyed. In the cold winter, whenever he exhales and opens his mouth, there will be a cloud of white fog, but his face is clear and there is no fog at all. On the second day, he asked more and more - the clay pot roast chicken was not allowed to be served in a clay pot, star anise and cumin were not allowed, and crisp pear oxtails were not allowed to put crisp pears...

This request doesn't seem like a serious meal at all, it's more like a sign.

However, instead of forking out the suspected smashing guest, the waiter waited for two days, and even prepared the food boxes in advance today.

He glanced at the sky, his legs trembled again, and he stretched his neck like a slender chicken and asked the watchman, "It's almost time, why don't you tremble?"

"Why do people tremble every day and night?" The watchman lowered his voice and said, "Besides, this year is not very peaceful, and it is not uncommon to see any monsters. In June, people in Guangdong saw a real dragon. Have you heard about it? I was lying on the beach, and I heard that my muscles and bones were pulled by someone! Dragon tendons! What do you think this is a sign? It was rumored that the national teacher almost died two months ago-"

Before the watchman finished speaking, he saw that the waiter was so angry that he was going to slide down the stall: "Here, he, he, he is really here again..."

As soon as the voice fell, there was a scholar-like person in front of the booth.

He looks plain and unremarkable, with a deeply tired face, and there is an abnormal blood color on both sides of his cheeks, like a dry burn that has been roasted for a long time. This man was wearing a gray-green robe. He was thin, and the robe was thin, like a piece of cloth on a branch, and when the wind blew, he would go to the sky.

The watchman stared at the scholar's face for a long while against the light of the white-leather lantern. The last bite of the bun in his mouth was cold, and he didn't even bother to swallow.

The scholar muttered "it's here" in a low voice as if he was talking to himself, and then he slowly raised his head, his dark eyes fixed on the waiter, and he was very panicked.

The waiter immediately clamped his legs and felt like he was going to pee.

"Excuse me, roast pork with peach fat—" The scholar's serious voice was pleasant. It was different from what he said to himself just now. ... even more terrifying.

The waiter avoided his gaze and timidly picked up the food box and handed it to him: "It's all, it's all ready, it's in a porcelain jar, there's no crisp pear, star anise and cumin, just out of the pot, it's still hot ."

The scholar seemed to be choked for a moment. He stared at the food box for a moment, and then he reacted. He nodded slowly: "It's work."

This voice is a little hoarse, and it is slightly different from the sentence just now.

The food box seems a little heavy to the scholar, like hanging a heavy weight on a branch. He walked a lot slower than when he came, and it took him a long time to walk further.

The watchman shuddered and regained his senses.

The clerk's face turned pale and whispered: "Have you seen it this time? That face... eh? What are you doing in a hurry?"

Watchman: "urgency."

Clerk: "..."

However, just after the watchman went out not too far, he came back with the gong and clapper.

Before the clerk spoke, the watchman patted him on the shoulder and winked again not far away: "Look there!"

On the other side of the street, a white shadow came quietly and silently from the night.

The just-frightened clerk's feet softened, and he almost thought he had seen something dirty again. Fortunately, he took a closer look and realized that it was a monk. He was wearing a thin plain white monk robe with wide sleeves. There is no variegated color from head to toe, and it looks like wearing a linen and filial piety. It is really unlucky to see it early in the morning.

The waiter didn't understand: "I see, isn't it a monk?"

The watchman said in a low voice, "I passed him just now, and I saw that he had the money of the Five Emperors hanging around his waist!"

The money of the Five Emperors can exorcise evil spirits and turn evil spirits into the gate of the town. Since then, the money of the five emperors has become the most commonly used utensils for people who eat ghosts and gods to make a living. Although there are many liars who fish in troubled waters, most of them still have the ability to do something.

The clerk looked up and down the monk from a distance, and felt that he had an indescribable bearing. In short, he really didn't look like a liar. Besides, he can't control that much anymore. Three days is the limit. If the scholar comes again tomorrow morning, I'm afraid he really won't be able to hold back and urinate on the spot.

The monk walked slowly, but he quickly got close. Seeing that he was about to pass by the stall, the clerk hurriedly stopped him: "Master, stay!"

The monk's footsteps paused, and the hem of the white linen monk's robe swayed twice, but there was no dust. He cast a glance at the hall servant, his eyes were calm and warm, and it was colder than the cold wind blowing on his face. It wasn't until he got so close that he realized that the monk was so tall that his eyes were cast from top to bottom. He saw that the priest inexplicably took half a step back, and bumped into the monk who also shrank back half a step. watchdog.

This collision smashed the courtier's courage back into his stomach. He spoke again as if he was going out of his way: "I see that the five emperors' money is hanging on the waist of the master, but he knows some techniques of exorcising evil spirits?"

The monk blankly glanced at the copper coins exposed at his waist, neither saying yes nor no.

The clerk looked at the watchman in embarrassment, only to think that the monk was colder than the monstrous wind in this winter moon.

On the other hand, the watchman resisted the cold and spoke for him. He described the scholar-like visitor in a few words, and then said to the monk: "We don't know that face, but we will never admit it wrong. That is the son of the old Jiang family in the medical hall. But... Ke Jiang The family medical hall caught fire three years ago. Except for the daughter who was married to Anqing, none of them survived. They were all burned to death! As the saying goes, at five watch, ghosts are idle. A dead person appeared for three days in a row, It happens to be the fifth watch, can it not be scary?!"

The monk glanced at the sky, and finally opened his mouth with cherished words, and only said two words coldly: "Where are the people?"

As soon as he heard this, the clerk immediately thawed and came back to life. He pointed to a bend in the wall in the distance and hurriedly said: "Just left! Maybe I haven't entered the door yet! I recognize the abandoned house of the Jiang Family Medical Hall. Master, I, I will take you there?"

However, soon, the court waiter regretted that he wanted to slap himself: Let your mouth be fast!

How can't he think about the fact that he is walking with a human-shaped icicle in this cold winter. The waiter felt that in just a few alleys, he was almost finished with half his life. He glanced at the young monk from time to time, and came down several times, but he didn't dare to ask a word he wanted to ask. He only remembered a small mole on the monk's neck.

Before the waiter was frozen to death, they finally reached the corner of the back alley of the Jiang Family Medical Hall.

As expected by the waiter, the scholar, who can't carry his shoulders and hands, hasn't even entered the door yet, and is walking down the alley with his food containers in his hands one step at a time.

The strange thing is that he whispered to himself as he walked, and his voice was different, sometimes clear and pleasant, sometimes low and dull.

"Did you go up Lishan yourself to catch a chicken for me? According to this route, can you come back before the first month?" This is the clearer one.

"It's always faster than the one who can't walk." This is the low-pitched one.

"I think you probably don't want to live anymore."

"No talent, I just died three years ago."

“…”

The scholar played two roles, and eloquently deduced "Why is it so ill?", and then, he slipped into the cracks of the dilapidated and mottled walls of the Jiang family like a piece of paper. in the house.

The waiter behind the wall accidentally watched the whole process, and was so frightened that he wanted to run away. His feet were raised, and he remembered that there was a frozen monk sticking beside him. In a hurry, he took out a purse, shoved it into the master's arms without saying a word, and said, "Talk to show your heart", and people were already running out of Erli.

The monk frowned and glanced at the purse in his hand.

I don't know how long this thing has not been washed, and the original color has long been unrecognizable, and it has an old oily smell.

He almost raised his hand and wanted to throw the dirty thing, but the rope was about to leave his hand, and he was hooked back with one finger. With a face of disgust that was neither too strong nor too light, he quietly walked to the door of the Jiang Family Medical Hall with a rag purse.

The waiter who fled back to Jiuweiju leaned against the wall and panted for a long time before he even described what he had just seen to the watchman who was watching the stall for him. ——" With a voice, "I suddenly felt that the master was a little familiar."

"You guard this stall all day, and there are so many people going from south to north. Naturally, everyone is familiar with each other." The watchman said angrily.

"..." The waiter took a deep breath and straightened his waist, and his eyes swept across the blue wall he was supporting inadvertently, his eyes suddenly fixed.

On the blue wall was a notice of sea capture from half a month ago, but it was a little unfortunate that there was a heavy snowfall just after the posting. The notice was frozen and drenched, and the next day it was so mottled that the portrait could not be seen clearly. Even the waiter who set up the stall early only caught a glimpse at that time, leaving a vague impression.

Now, most of the notice has been peeled off, leaving only the neck of the portrait, and a small mole on the side of the neck is vaguely visible, which is exactly the same as the neck of the master just now.

The clerk was shocked immediately: This is a criminal who has a big reward!