Volume 1 Huangquan December Chapter 9: A thousand hexagrams without seeking
It started to rain heavily again.
After the meal, he ordered a pot of tea and chose a seat in the corner of the first floor to sit with Aluan. Firstly because of the weather, and secondly because it was easier to listen to the discussions of people in the world, so that he could inquire about the current situation of the entire Huansha City.
In addition to what Yuan Yuanwai told him, he basically figured it out now. This is in the west of Beicheng. Although it is not prosperous, because Yu'an Restaurant is located at a transportation hub, the novel fish, meat, vegetables and fruits outside can be transported quickly, so it is faster.
The chefs' cooking skills are top notch, and business is always booming.
The northeast of the city is the most prosperous area, where the princes, nobles and wealthy businessmen all live. This is different from the progressive distribution of Dailuan City. The place where the accident happened is in the southwest. There are large areas of
Farmers are all working hard there. But since this time last year, something happened there, and suddenly there was no harvest.
This place is not as prosperous as Dailuan City or the capital, but it is also rich in products. The food saved by every household and merchants is naturally enough to eat. In addition, the imperial court has allocated a budget, so no one takes the short harvest as a problem.
The thing is. In autumn, the situation has not improved at all. After all, Huansha City is a huge city. There are two to three million mouths to eat. If you don’t make money, you will definitely not eat. But the people here have long developed a good life.
After living a good life, there is no way to cut back on food and clothing.
It’s not that no one was taking care of it—just after the New Year, the superiors sent people down to investigate. But as soon as member Pei came in, he was led by the local magistrate to eat and drink, and his life was not good. As a result, after a few months,
The matter failed to be completed, and a few sensible people complained. So the death order was issued. If this bubble-like and false prosperity was not dealt with, not only the city but also the face of the imperial court would collapse. Naturally, this black gauze hat was
Can't keep it.
Only then did Yuan Pei become anxious. But he didn't even know where the fields were, and when he heard that monsters were causing trouble, his legs started to tremble. He had no choice but to burn incense and worship Buddha, and went all over the city to find some monks, Taoists, and charlatans.
If it is done, money will naturally be indispensable.
As for what kind of monster it is, no one seems to have mentioned it clearly. As for monsters hurting people, although there are many rumors, there seems to be few that actually kill people.
While I was thinking this, a man walked into the store.
A woman who dated in her youth.
She held an oil-paper umbrella and folded it up before stepping into the door. She was wearing a pair of gray-green narrow-leg trousers, and a white sleeved long coat. The cuffs and placket had dark green edges, and the hem was splashed with random
Free and easy ink spots. If you look closely, they are just mottled dark green embellishments.
Ordinary Jianghu people can make such a judgment.
If it were only to this extent, Shanhai wouldn't be staring at her all the time.
To be precise, what he was staring at was the umbrella.
It was raining all the time, but since the umbrella was brought into the store, there was no water stain at all.
She deftly put the umbrella back into the horizontal bucket on her waist and walked straight this way. Shanhai realized that she was being rude, slightly shifted her gaze, and continued to glance out the window.
The shop was very busy and there was no place to rest. She came over and sat at the same table with him, looking out the window. Ah Luan didn't care at all and stared straight at the visitor.
"Your Excellency, are you a cultivator?"
"Exactly."
Shan Hai turned her head and looked at it seriously, but her gaze still stayed outside. There was a layer of bruises on the side of her face for some reason, and her hair on both sides of the temples was relatively short, with her long hair tied low at the back with a white ribbon.
Braid. The broken hair on the woman's eyebrows is pushed to both sides, and a thin strand in the middle is attached to the pendant in front of her forehead.
An intricate hexagonal snowflake.
He is a disciple of Xue Yan Sect.
"Master Taoist, would you like to calculate a hexagram for me?"
“Don’t occupy anything if you don’t have anything to do, and don’t occupy anything if you don’t move.”
She turned her head and looked at the mountains and sea, but he lowered his head and took a sip of tea.
"That's how he is." Aluan knelt on the wooden bench, posing back and forth to play. "Many people have come to him to tell their fortunes. It must be natural. It's just that it sounds good, but it doesn't sound good. It really happened.
No matter how small or small disasters happen, I blame him for the curse and say never to look for him again."
"Exactly, right?"
Her focus was only on the first half of the sentence.
Shanhai finally turned his face and met her eyes. After a long time, he sighed softly under his nose and finally spoke:
"What does it occupy?"
"I am under the Xue Yan Zong Liang Qiu Mu Wan. May I ask your eldest son's surname?"
"Don't you take it seriously? Lin is from Linxiaoguan, his surname is Sui Shimen, and his name is Shanhai. This is my apprentice, Aluan."
Miss Mu Wan took out three copper coins and arranged them on the table.
"Find someone."
She simply said two words. Shanhai nodded and said back to her:
"Just throw it away. I'm not related to you. If you want to find the person, throw it away yourself."
Mu Wan did as he was told. Three copper coins landed on the table with a few thuds.
"One Yao Shaoyang."
As he spoke, Shan Hai dipped his fingertips in tea and drew a straight line on the table.
The second time it was exactly the same.
"Eryao Shaoyang."
He then drew another line on top.
Then there are three money backs.
"Three Yao Laoyang."
He drew a straight line, and then drew two short lines parallel to each other.
This time it was three money noodles.
"Si Yao Lao Yin."
He drew two short lines and a long one at the corresponding position next to them.
"Five Yao Laoyang."
"Liuyao Shaoyang."
After finishing the painting, he copied it and completed another picture. As he was painting, his expression gradually became more solemn, but the change was very subtle. Mu Wan caught this subtle expression, and his mood became a little heavy, but he did not.
Silent. Taking into account today's time, Shanhai pinched his fingers and pushed. It seemed that there was a result, but it was not easy to say.
Ah Luan saw it. The original hexagram was a lower hexagram, but the changed hexagram was still a lower hexagram.
"I came to ask for hexagrams because I am sincere, so just ask."
"The lower stem is the upper sunda, and different hexagrams overlap. The stem is the sky; the sunda is the wind. You lack ability and have limited strength. If you don't plan ahead, you may not be able to find someone. Even if you find someone, you may not be able to do what you want, so it will be difficult.
Go out in a hurry. The little beast in the wind sky turns into a fire and a lake, and the different hexagrams are still overlapping. The lower part is Dui and the upper part is Li. Li is fire; Dui is lake. The upper fire is the lower lake. If they conflict with each other, they will not help each other. Resistance will lead to growth."
"Thank you, Taoist Master."
Before he could finish speaking, Mu Wan made a fist-cup salute, left three copper coins, stood up and left, calling a waiter to go to the guest room. Shan Hai nodded slightly, stared blankly at the hexagrams on the table, and fell silent.
Aluan felt in her heart that maybe Miss Mu Wan was not happy anymore, but she had said ugly things first, so even if she didn't listen to them, she wouldn't be able to get angry. She looked at Shan Hai who was shaking his head, stretched out his hand, and handed over three copper coins.
He took her into his arms and wiped off his cuffs. Shanhai was stunned for a moment, then sighed again.
"You can't put good words behind you. Look, who will listen to them?"
Ah Luan threw the coin and caught it with the back of his hand, enjoying himself. Shan Hai shrugged and raised his hand as if it didn't matter:
"You won't even listen to bad words, and will only remember the good things you said. Then, if you don't follow others' wishes even a little bit, it will be your fault again."
In the afternoon, the rain stopped and the sky cleared up quickly. Strangely enough, when they heard that they were going to the farmland in the suburbs, no driver was willing to take them away. They made it clear that there were monsters in that place. Even if there were monsters there.
The brave ones also said that they could not wait for them for most of the day, and there were no customers willing to come back. It was a loss-making business, so they would not do it.
Fortunately, just when they were in trouble, a caravan saw that he was wearing Taoist robes and said he was willing to give them a ride. However, they had to figure out how to get back.
When the fields could be seen from a distance, it was already the time of the devil. The caravan left them here and left. The two walked a little further and approached the fields. It was indeed overgrown with weeds and barren. When they raised their heads, they saw nearby
The sparse houses look extremely desolate. Compared to the woods to the north of the city, this place is really bleak.
There is a figure in front of the road, with a hunched back and a bald head, looking like an old man.
They were about to step forward to ask questions. Ah Luan shouted several times, but the man just stopped and did not look back. Just when Ah Luan ran two feet away, Shan Hai grabbed her from behind.
The old man was very strange.
The moment he turned around, Aluan felt like he was about to stop breathing.
Definitely not human.
The swollen belly looks like that of a pregnant woman, but his limbs are as slender as firewood, as if it can't support its body and will break at any time. But his chest is small and thin.
It was thin and had a big head, like an erected pole. Its arms were very long and stretched straight to the ground. It looked here blankly, saliva dripping from the corner of its mouth, and looked at them dully.
The two of them froze on the spot, with Shanhai's hand still holding Aluan's clothes. After a while, the monster turned around and continued to stumble forward.
"What is it?" Ah Luan was still frightened. Although she had never heard of more terrifying ghosts, that ugly monster was really unusual.
"I think it's just a hungry ghost."
"Alas"
This was the voice of the third person. They turned around and saw an uncle holding a basket in one hand and behind his back in the other. His rickety body was curled up together. But looking at it this way, he looked much more friendly than the hungry ghost just now.
"Why are there travelers here?"
The two visited Abo's home. The house was very simple, just big enough for him to live alone. When asked about his family, the old woman said that they left early and their children had gone to other places to make a living.
When Aluan helped him carry the basket on the road, he felt it was heavy, but he didn't know what was in it. Now in front of them, Abo took off the cloth covering the basket, and it was still a layer of cloth. This cloth
Underneath, there is another layer, wrapped in layers like this, with only a few crushed wild vegetables left at the bottom. It turns out that the weight is just the rags covering it.
"Is this the only thing that can be eaten here?" Shan Hai asked him.
"It's good to have it." He sighed, looking at the increasingly gloomy sky outside the window, and brushed off the soil from the roots of the vegetables. "It's just this little thing, I'm afraid those little devils will take it away."
"Where is the money used by the court for disaster relief?"
As soon as he asked this question, Shan Hai regretted it. Without even thinking about it, he knew whose pockets it had fallen into. He waved his hand and said to his apprentice:
"Aluan, bring out some dry food."
Aluan immediately stood up to open the package and took out a clean cloth bag from inside. Before she could untie it, the old man suddenly rushed to the door and bolted the door tightly. Then he checked out the window, widened his eyes and looked left and right.
A wooden board leaning against the wall was placed on the window sill, blocking all light.
The two of them were startled, and looked in the direction of the old man in confusion in the dark room. He carefully reached back, took out the candlestick, and lit the candlestick on the table that was poor in oil.
"What are you doing?"
"Don't underestimate those ghosts. They have very good noses. When you take out the cake, they can smell it from a distance. They smash the door and tear down the window, it's very scary!"
"Are those hungry ghosts also transformed by the people here?"
Aluan handed the cake to him. The old man took it happily, nodded his thanks, and stuffed the cake into his mouth. He slurred in his mouth, and it took a lot of effort for the boss to hear what he said.
"Who knows, suddenly one day they will appear, and there will be so many of them."
