Copper Coins Chapter 32: Lock seal (4)

Luomei Street is the most prosperous street in Wolong County, because there are many red plum trees planted between the houses and small buildings on both sides of the street. The whole street is dotted with dots, and it is a scene in Wolong County. It is really beautiful, so it is called Luomei Street.

There are inns, pawnshops, restaurants, restaurants and, of course, other shops. There are three or five silk cloth shops alone, sandwiched among some powder jewelry shops.

Xue Xian is a difficult person to serve. He is wrapped around Xuan Min's wrist. He neither wants to be seen by passers-by, nor does he want to be covered with sleeves and hoods. The sleeves are wide, just so that he can show a pair of eyes. Not long after that, he stretched his head and tail and messed up his sleeves again, and he always asked Xuan Min to lift him again.

What's the problem with rolling up your sleeves while walking on the road?

At first, Xuan Min said a few words to him, but after he became more and more unstoppable, Xuan Min glanced down at him, and simply flicked his sleeves to cover him. No matter how much he splashed around his wrist, he didn't let him out again.

Xue Xian stood expressionlessly in the dark for a while, leaving a tooth mark on each of his fingers without saying a word, biting from the thumb to the little finger, and in the end he just kept his mouth shut.

Xuan Min moved his little finger twice, and seeing that it didn't work, he simply let him go, as if it wasn't him who was bitten.

Actually, if Xue Xian was really angry, it wouldn't be. He really has a bad temper. He is always going to go to heaven. He is used to being arrogant, so he does everything straight and doesn't care much. But that doesn't mean he's really going to get mad at the trivial things.

The reason why he made such a fuss was simply to find something wrong with Xuan Min.

At first, it was because Xuanmin took him in, which made him feel a little resentful. It became a habit to make a fuss, as if he didn't feel comfortable if he didn't find something for Xuan Min. Even if he had gone through several dangerous situations, the initial resentment had long since vanished, and he still couldn't help coming out like this from time to time.

Probably because Xuanmin was too indifferent and calm, unlike anyone Xue Xian had met before, so that he always wanted to provoke Xuanmin, wanting to see that this bald donkey was not calm and indifferent What will it be like.

Maybe I'm just bored and want to have some fun with this bald donkey... Xue Xian thought so.

As a matter of fact, even this occasional thought-provoking introspection is unprecedented for this ancestor. Generally speaking, it is either full or starving.

Xue Xian felt hungry, so he hung his head lazily, looked at the tip of his tail that was swaying slightly with Xuan Min's steps, and said, "Bald donkey, you still owe me a meal. ."

Xuan Min didn't talk to himself about his eccentricities on the street, so he ignored him.

Who knew that this evil barrier loosened the teeth that bit his little finger, moved his claws, and climbed up a few steps along his wrist. He also said, "Can't you hear? Then I'll talk to your ears."

Xuan Min: "..."

The tips of Xue Xian's claws softened a lot like his scales, and the hook crawled on Xuan Min's hand didn't hurt at all, but it was a little itchy. It's fine when it's not moving, but when it moves... In short, it's very annoying.

Xuan Min frowned immediately, and moved his fingers hidden in his sleeves, pinching the disobedient tail of Nie Barrier, and dragged him back.

Xue Xian squinted his eyes, his two claws clawed on the skin of Xuan Min's arm, he was dragged and slid down, and the tips of his claws dragged into a line.

Xuan Min: "..."

He frowned even more, and he didn't care about much, so he replied to Xue Xian indifferently: "When did you owe it?"

A pedestrian happened to pass by and gave him a strange look, probably thinking that the monk talking to himself was a little abnormal, but after watching for a while, he was stunned by Xuanmin's cold temperament and hurriedly walked away Far.

Xue Xian felt quite resentful when he thought of this, "When you broke into the Jiang family medical hall, you disturbed my meal. That nerd went to the restaurant at five in the morning to help me buy it, and it took a long time. I just brought it back, it’s all the signboard of that restaurant, you can’t get that taste anywhere else, and you spent the money but didn’t use two chopsticks, and it was mixed up by you.”

He dragged his tune and asked lazily, "Are you saying that you have a bad heart? Should you make up for me?"

Simply justified and well-founded.

Can you say "Shouldn't" to this ancestor? Said he can turn the sky.

Seeing that there was a ready-to-wear shop in front of him, and people passing by with their necks hunched over, he passed Xuan Min inconveniently, so he let out a faint "hmm" as an answer, turned his toes, and entered the store.

The owner of the ready-to-wear shop is a middle-aged couple. The man is playing with abacus beads and counting the accounts. The woman has a copper hand warmer in her arms. Some kind of intricate knot.

Xuan Min walked almost silently, and he was wearing a robe like clouds and snow.

The proprietress, Yu Guangxian, entered the store and suddenly a white shadow flashed past, and the hand knitting the knot suddenly trembled.

"Oh, you scared me to death!" She patted her chest and raised her head in shock. When she saw that he was a young monk, she was stunned for a moment, and her face became a little weird.

This winter, there are many fewer people walking around, not to mention it has been gloomy and gloomy today. I heard that there was a rather strange heavy rain by the riverside with lightning and thunder. It was pressed down again, and the north wind was blowing, which seemed to mean that there was going to be another rain and snow, and the pedestrians were in a hurry.

The couple's ready-to-wear shop hasn't made any money today, and they finally hoped that someone would come in, and it was a monk.

What can a monk do?

The proprietress subconsciously looked at Xuan Min's hand first.

Not holding a bowl, not for alms.

However, the face of the proprietress did not look much better because of this. After all, these days, monks have a somewhat special status. This is all related to the current national teacher-

As we all know, the national teacher is a monk, and a very powerful monk. It is said that his hands and eyes are sky-high, and he can change the time. The most important thing is that he has lived for a long time, so long that almost no one can tell how old he is. He has followed five emperors in total, and he has been a national teacher for over a hundred years.

Ordinary people can see the national teacher at most once a year, that is, when the winter solstice worships the sky in Mount Tai, the mighty battle will go from the capital to the foot of Mount Tai, and the people in the cities and counties along the way can After a quick glance, I had to restrain myself.

But the national teacher always wears a silver animal-faced mask, a large monk's robe, scarlet robes, covering his hands and feet. I can't see my face, I can't see my age.

Someone once swore and said: The national teacher is almost a demon. Although he can't see his face, hands and feet, he can tell by looking at his neck. He is definitely not an elderly person. When people are old, the wrinkles on the neck cannot be covered. Longevity is all it takes. Living for a hundred years and not getting old is especially scary.

But someone else said that he had seen the Heaven Sacrifice Team once, and the national teacher in the team still had wrinkles on his neck, but he was not old-fashioned, more like a middle-aged man.

Some people also say that the national teacher has changed several generations, and it is only in order not to be seen by others that he always wears a mask.

In short, there are many different opinions, and it is difficult to distinguish between true and false. People are always in awe of such mysterious and unknown things. But this national teacher is not only mysterious in appearance and age, it is said that his temper is also very strange, and the weather is uncertain. There are many rumors about the national teacher in the capital——

It is said that the national teacher seems to be cultivating a mantra, and he does not speak all day long. It is as cold as the snow in the mountains, and the people serving him are scared all day long, and do not know whether he is doing the right thing, whether it is good or not. It is also said that the national master practiced sorcery, and every few years, he would bring back one or two children who were said to have Buddha nature and wisdom roots, but after a few years, those children disappeared without a trace. Some people speculate that it may have been refined by the national teacher into a medicine man, or some other evil thing, and vowed to say that the place where the national teacher lived would have a **** smell from time to time, which made people dare not think about it, and it was horrifying.

None of these rumors can be traced to an exact source. After all, no one dared to come out to chew on the tongue of a national teacher with their real name and surname, and some people who fought against the national teacher in the past did not end well.

As a result, the people believed those rumors even more.

In addition, although the National Teacher has indeed calmed down a lot of natural disasters*, every time a disaster is quelled, some strange things will happen one after another, so that the common people are more afraid of the National Teacher, and they always feel that he is a generation. He's a demon monk, maybe one day a wicked disease will strike, and no one will be able to control him.

This year's winter solstice ceremony, the national teacher rarely showed up. It was only because of previous rumors that he had suffered a catastrophe and had to retreat and cultivate. To put it mildly, it is because of something difficult. To put it more seriously, if you don't even come forward to sacrifice to the heavens, it must be a matter of life and death, and maybe your lifespan will end soon!

In response, the people secretly applauded.

In the early decades, before the rumors related to the national teacher spread, the incense in the temples of the state capitals of the country was particularly prosperous, and even the treatment of monks in the folk was much better. But since those rumors spread, the image of the monk has become a little more subtle.

When you want to do things or exorcise evil spirits, you have to pinch your nose and go to the temple to invite people, but when there is nothing to do, most people still see monks and take a detour. It is best not to deal with them.

But it's all coming, and they can't be driven out. Besides, Xuan Min has a good skin again. The proprietress glanced across his face, then eased her face again, put the knot in her hand on the counter, stood up and greeted, "This master wants to... buy ready-to-wear?"

The proprietress murmured in her heart: This monk's robe is still coming to the clothing store to buy it?

Xuan Min didn't explain much, and with a "hmm" sounded, he swept around the patterned robes in the shop.

The proprietress silently tightened her hand on the stove, thinking that this monk's temperament is really cold, so cold that people can't be enthusiastic even if they want to.

She stabbed the boss who settled the accounts with her elbow and said, "Don't play with the abacus beads. I'll do the calculations later, and greet people first."

The boss is a slow person. He rubbed his waist and eyes, then raised his head and said in a slow tone: "What kind of ready-to-wear does the little master want? The monk clothing shop has never made one, but if necessary, you can also make one overnight. When I come out, I just have to measure the size of Master's robe."

“No need.” Xuan Min replied.

The proprietress: "..." is always jumping out one word at a time. How can people do this business?

At first glance, Xuan Min looked like a person who had never entered such a shop. He was standing in the shop in a white robe. He didn't pick too much, he turned over the sleeves of the two winter jackets nearby, glanced at the approximate sleeve length, and briefly recalled the length of the evil barrier when it returned to human form, and planned to wear a few pieces at random.

As a result, the ancestor on his wrist was not happy.

"This jacket is so thick that it can block the eyes of the city wall, and you can roll when you put it on." Xue Xian disliked it, "I don't want it anyway. Buy it and wear it yourself!"

He also knew that he couldn't be too presumptuous in this shop, his voice was very low, and the urn came into Xuanmin's ears along the gap between the robes.

The proprietress looked at Xuanmin for a moment while holding the hand stove, and then her eyes followed his hands and fell on the coats, and she immediately understood: "Master is buying for others?"

Xuan Min let out an "um", still looking at the ready-to-wear.

"What is your preference?" The proprietress thought for a while, then said, "I take the liberty to ask, what kind of people are you buying for? Maybe we can help recommend a few pieces."

Xuan Min's eyes fell on a jacket... the color was quite eye-wrenching, and after recalling the temperament of Xue Xianpi who made a fuss, he chose a brief description: "The pheasant is chasing like that. People pecked."

The lady boss: "..."

Xue Xian: "..."

The boss of the chronic child has a pair of smiling eyes. He pointed to the jacket with hot eyes and said, "The jacket in front of Master is not bad. The color is bright and it looks fresh."

Mixed up a bunch of colors, as if it had just been peeled off a pheasant, it really fits.

Xue Xian said quietly: "You probably don't want to live anymore..."

In the end, under the threat of the ancestors choking and biting, Xuan Min helped him buy three sets of ready-to-wear. Yishui'er's black color was almost as thin as Xuan Min's own monk clothes. When placed on the cabinet, it was just like a pair of black and white impermanence with Xuan Min's mourning clothes.

When the proprietress wrapped him up, her expression was quite indescribable, as if she felt cold just looking at it, she couldn't help holding the hand warmer in her hand tightly.

When Xuan Min put the silver on the counter, the corner of her mouth twitched. He said in his heart that this monk had not been out of the temple very much, and he really had no idea about the prices of things in the market. Buying a house in this county is only 20 taels of silver, how can you throw so much money out to buy three pieces of clothes.

The boss silently picked up the small copper scale and weighed the amount of silver, while instructing the proprietress to find copper coins for Xuan Min.

When Xuan Min put his hand on the counter, Xue Xian happened to see the knot on the counter.

He stared at the half-finished knot for a moment, poked Xuanmin with his claws, and while the couple was not paying attention, he slid to Xuanmin's neck and said softly, "The joy of surprise, look Does the knot look like the pattern carved under the stone lock?"

The stone lock was so heavy that it couldn't run around with it. Xuan Min borrowed a few simple tools from the Lu family and plastered the pattern on the bottom of the stone lock. Xue Xian had been in Xuan Min's secret bag for a long time, and he almost used it as a nest, and stuffed a little bit of it without seeing anything, including the paper with the patterned pattern and the ones he rolled at the bottom of the river. Iron plate.

Fortunately, they were all small and lightweight, otherwise Xuanmin's robe would have fallen.

Xuan Min took out the piece of paper from the dark pocket and calmly compared it—

The pattern on the paper is like a weird totem, round, with a worm and beast with open feet lying on the top, I don't know if it is a bat or what, and below it is a cirrus pattern.

After all, there are some differences between the weaving effect of the knot and the carving. At first glance, it is not exactly the same, but after careful identification, it is indeed similar. It's just that the carved insects and beasts have a ferocious feeling in their simplicity, but the knotted knots are quite rounded and swallowed a lot.

Xuan Min and Xue Xian had never seen this kind of pattern before, and they had even prepared for it to be difficult to find, but they didn't expect to have some eyebrows so quickly.

“What is this knot for?” Xuan Min put away the tissue paper and clicked on the counter.

The proprietress was counting the coins according to the boss's words, she heard the words "Oh", and replied: "Prosperity and happiness."

She looked up to see Xuanmin's expression, and added: "It's not common, isn't it? I learned this pattern a few years ago, and I haven't seen it anywhere else, but it's really spiritual. My son wears this pattern. The knot has prevented several disasters, but the knot is always broken."

Xuan Min: "Where did you learn it?"

"Stone Zhang's daughter-in-law." After finishing speaking, the proprietress recalled that most of Xuan Min was not a local, and explained: "Stone Zhang is a famous stonemason in our county. Please come, sir. His daughter-in-law is very handy and likes to make up some pretty things, and I learned it from her."

Stone Zhang?

Xue Xian thought of the stone lock that sank under the river, and said in his heart that there is also a stone there, and this one is also a stone. It must not be such a coincidence, right?

Xuan Min naturally didn't miss such a coincidence. He picked up the wrapped clothes and copper coins and asked, "Where does Shi Shizhang live?"

"Walking east along the street, in Hugua Alley, there is a pile of stones at the door."

Huizhou Mansion is well-known for its carvers, and many people come to the craftsman here to carve some things. So the proprietress did not suspect him, and quickly reported the place.

Unlike Xue Xian, Xuan Min couldn't figure out the direction.

The characteristics that the proprietress said are really conspicuous. Standing at the head of Hugua Alley, you can see that there is a house with stones piled up beside the gate.

He walked up to the door of the house and knocked on the brass knocker.

However, there was no movement inside the door for a long time...

"Is this little master also looking for Shi Shizhang?" A middle-aged man who passed by Xuan Min said, "He is not at home, I live in the house next to him, and his house is empty for half a month. I have more than enough, and the lights are dark all day long, and I can't hear the slightest sound, maybe I was invited away by some master from other places."

The middle-aged man said, and then muttered to himself: "But his wife is not here, maybe he went out to visit relatives? I'm not sure, in short, knocking on the door doesn't help, there have been several groups of people in the past half month. It's been a waste of time, come back after a while."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at the sky and stopped talking. He hurried away. After a few steps, he entered the door of a house not far away.

Seeing him entering the door, Xuan Min withdrew his gaze and stood in front of Stone Zhang's house with his hands down.

Xue Xian moved his paws uncomfortably. There was no one left or right, so he stuck his head out of his cuff to take a breath.

Xuan Min raised his slender tail with his fingers and asked with a frown, "Why do you suddenly feel hot all over?"

"Not only hot, but also very swollen." Xue Xian's slender tongue hung out from the half-open dragon's mouth, rather half-dead.

This feeling is not unfamiliar to him. The last time he was so hot, he was still in the grave head island. As a result of the thermal expansion, he finally returned to his body. This time, this feeling came up again, how could he just ignore it at will?

Xue Xian with a big tongue, rushed to Xuan and said: "Excuse me if you hit the door or climb over the wall, there is something hidden in the Zhang family on this stone."

Xuan Min: "..."

Xue Xian thought for a while, and then added: "After turning in, it's best to find an empty room to put me down and wrap the clothes together."

Xuan Min's palm was already on the gate of Zhang's house. Hearing the words, he asked, "Why?"

Xue Xian laughed dryly and said neither coldly nor warmly: "My body is swollen so much, I'm afraid I won't be able to maintain this shape. If I don't change, I have to change back to my original form. It's not a problem to collapse half of Wolong County. You will become a little monk of cake."

Xuan Min: "..."