Shopkeeper Hong swallowed dryly, stared at the woman in black who appeared out of nowhere and asked timidly: "Who...are you? What do you want to do?" The woman in black stood motionless.
, the woman’s face could not be seen clearly under the oil-paper black umbrella.
Shopkeeper Hong just pretended that she didn't hear, and shouted with a heavier tone: "What do you want to do in the middle of the night? If you don't say anything, be careful, I will drag you to the government office to see the official!"
The woman in black said two words coldly: "Buy rice." The woman's voice was hoarse and stiff, as if an actor was imitating the words of the evil ghosts in the underworld. Hong Chendong was confused by the unfamiliar woman in black, and his forehead
Cold sweat trickled down his shiny head.
The woman in black ignored Hong Chendong and walked into the Longwang rice shop without paying attention. Shopkeeper Hong felt nervous and secretly surprised. It seemed that he met the strong man Bai Chuang today. He ran up the steps in three steps and shouted: "
Hey, you woman is so rude! You're trying to trick me into opening the door and you're trying to do something wrong. Just stop." The woman in black was really frightened by Hong Chendong and stood in front of the counter.
Hong Chendong took out the fire seal from his pocket, blew it and shook it before going to light the oil lamp on the account table. "Poof" Hong Chendong felt a dark wind blowing by his hand, and the fire seal was suddenly extinguished. Hong Chendong shook the fire seal again.
, that Huo Zhezi couldn't even spark a spark, Hong Chendong cursed secretly and threw the Huo Zhezi out of the door.
The woman in black still said coldly: "Buy rice!" Hong Chendong touched his body again and found that there was no more good news. In desperation, he felt in the dark and took out the key, opened the cabinet lock, opened the cabinet door and entered.
behind the counter.
"Hey, girl, what kind of rice do you want to buy? And how much do you want to buy?" Shopkeeper Hong asked, pointing to the five or six bamboo baskets behind the counter.
"One pound," the woman in black said coldly and hoarsely.
"One pound!?" Hong Chendong was completely speechless to the woman in black who spoke like gold. One pound of rice is enough for several people? Hong Chendong was too lazy to talk to the woman in black. It was difficult.
He squatted down and picked up a bucket of rice. He filled the bamboo basket sent by Huzhou Prefecture with more than half a bucket of rice and poured it into the cloth bag. He stood up and put the rice bag into the rice trough in the counter.
.
Hong Chendong said in a deep voice: "Girl, I think it's not easy for you to be alone. There are three or four kilograms of rice here. You can take it."
The woman in black took out some scattered copper coins from her hand and lined them up on the counter. The price of a bucket of rice was at least 200 coins. The rice shipped from Huzhou Prefecture cost one tael of silver per bucket. Hong Chendong told the truth.
I don't want to get into trouble with the woman in black, so I would be serious about sending her away. It doesn't matter whether I pay her or not.
The woman in black bent down and took the rice from the rice grains, then finally said something meaningless: "Thank you, you are a good person." After that, she left.
Hong Chendong threw the copper coins on the counter into the bamboo tube behind him. When he opened the cabinet and walked to the door, the woman in black had already disappeared. Hong Chendong was so surprised that he didn't take it to heart. Good job.
I opened the door and went back to the back hall to sleep...
It was not until early in the morning the next day when the two clerks came to the shop to do business and asked Hong Chendong to open the tube and get some change that they realized something was wrong. According to the old system, the young clerk had to go to the shop before dawn to make tea, sweep the floor, and check the goods.
After finishing the work, you can open the door and start the day's business. When a buyer comes to buy something, the clerk is not allowed to take any money with him. This is a taboo for clerks. He can only wake up the shopkeeper and open the cash box to find it.
People and money.
The two guys at Longwang Rice Shop have been following Hong Chendong for several years. The older one is twenty years old and his name is Zheng Baocai, while the younger one is seventeen years old and his name is Xu Husan. Both boys are natives of Jiangzhou Prefecture.
Zheng Baocai is a simple and honest person, and Xu Hu and the other three often make some small tricks. But it happens that Hong Chendong likes Xu Husan and will let him do anything. When a buyer comes to the shop, Xu Husan goes to call Hong Chendong.
The cash box was opened for business. Hong Chendong took out the personal key from his waist and opened the cash box, and Xu Husan went to find the money.
Xu Husan reached into the cash box and touched some copper plates, and suddenly shouted: "Shopkeeper, what do you think this is?" Hong Chendong raised his eyes and saw that his scalp was really numb and his hands and feet were cold...
In Xu Husan's hand, in addition to the copper plates, there were also two or three pieces of ghost money fire paper. Hong Chendong roared angrily: "Who did this? Do you two little bastards think your life is too easy?"
Zheng Baocai didn't know what happened. He was holding a rice bag filled with rice and was looking at the shopkeeper who was losing his temper. He asked softly: "Shopkeeper, what happened?" Hong Chendong suppressed his anger and went to find the buyer.
Got two money.
Hong Chendong looked at the two waiters and shouted: "Before closing last night, I cleaned the bamboo tubes for nothing. But early this morning, there was money for burning dead paper in the cash box, and no one except you came to the shop.
.Say! Who did it?”
Zheng Baocai and Xu Husan's faces turned pale with fright, and they knelt down in front of Hong Chendong. Zheng Baocai said: "Shopkeeper Hong, Baocai, I have always done things in a disciplined manner. This... this money made of paper and fire."
I don’t know at all!”
Xu Husan also said anxiously: "Mingcha, the shopkeeper, today it's my turn to sweep the floor and take inventory. I haven't even been to the cash box since morning!"
Hong Chendong thought to himself slightly: Zheng Baocai is always honest, so I don't think he would dare to do such a thing. That kid Xu Husan has a quick mind, but he will not be stupid enough to bury people in the snow. It seems that he is.
Someone wants to clean up Longwang Rice Shop. Who could it be? Could it be the woman who came to buy rice last night? She also collected the copper coins herself. It was dark and late at night, but she clearly touched the copper coins...
…
Hong Chendong asked himself that he had never offended anyone on the ground in Jiangzhou, and there was an uncle in the official court. He really couldn't figure out who would come to harm him, and wanted to curse me to death by sending money to the dead. Hong Chendong couldn't think of a solution even after thinking about it.
As a result, he said to the two guys on the ground: "Get up. From today on, you will show your skills to me. If anything happens to you, report it to me immediately. I still don't believe there is any guy in Jiangzhou Prefecture."
Ate the leopard’s gall!”
After three days in a row, the rice shop was peaceful and quiet. Only those who came to buy rice seeds and grains. Hong Chendong also slowly began to forget about the paper and fire money. After the Shen time, shopkeeper Hong ordered the waiter to close the rice shop.
After going back to the shop to rest. After dark, about ten people from Hong Chendong's family were eating and drinking around the hot pot and ordering orders. From the front hall, the sound of "crack, bang, bang" copper buttons was heard again. Hong Chendong was not happy. Who is so annoying?
Huh? I couldn’t even feel comfortable eating, so I waved my hand to the maid and told her to go take a look...
When the maid went to have a cup of tea, the sound of "pah pah pah" from the brass buttons in the front hall suddenly sounded again. Hong Chendong put down the chopsticks in his hand and cursed: "I can only eat dry food, but I can't do any trivial things!" The scolding returned.
He scolded Hong Chendong and went to the front hall with a lantern. In the front hall, the maid stood dumbly in front of the door. Hong Chendong patted the maid on the shoulder and the maid jumped out screaming as if she had been bitten by a snake. Hong Chendong was also frightened by the maid's appearance.
He jumped up and shouted: "What...are you doing?"
When the maid saw that it was Hong Chendong, she cried loudly: "Master... outside... outside I only heard a knock on the door but no one was there! Could it be... could there be a ghost?"
Hong Chendong thumped for a moment, then pretended to be calm and said: "Go, go, go. If you don't do something bad, don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door. You must have done something bad!"
The maid hurriedly argued, and the brass buckle outside the door clicked again. The maid was frightened and fled back to the back hall with a pale face. Hong Chendong shook his head and opened the door. There was indeed no one outside the door.
Hong Chendong didn't go out to look this time, but simply lit the oil lamp with a fire stick. Under the bright light of the oil lamp, a cold breath quickly spread behind Hong Chendong's back.
Hong Chendong just turned around, and behind him there was still a woman wearing black clothes and black trousers holding a black umbrella. With the flickering light of the oil lamp, Hong Chendong could see clearly that the woman's two hands were so white that they were almost transparent.
You can clearly see the veins on the back of her hands. The small half of her face exposed under the umbrella is also pale, except for a beauty mark under the corner of her mouth. The woman in black has a slightly bulging belly, and her whole body exudes a cold air...
"Haha, the girl is here to buy rice again?" Hong Chendong said boldly.
"Buy rice, one kilogram!" the woman in black said expressionlessly. Hong Chendong did not respond, opened the cabinet board, went in, took the rice bucket, filled most of the rice in the rice trough, and put it in the rice trough.
The woman in black seemed to be afraid of the oil lamp in the hall, so she threw down a few coins, grabbed the rice bag, and left. Hong Chendong looked at the copper plate on the counter with a clear eye, and put the copper plate on the counter.
After closing the door, I went back to the back hall...
Unexpectedly, Hong Chendong was awakened by the waiter Xu Hu three times in his original room after the fifth shift. Hong Chendong yelled angrily: "It's not bright yet, why are you banging on the door?"
"Shopkeeper, get up and go take a look! Oh no, something big has happened!"
Listening to Xu Husan's panicked screams, Hong Chendong hurriedly got up and opened the door and asked, "What happened? Look at your worthless look. You are almost eighteen years old and you are still making noises!" Xu Husan
He pulled Hong Chendong and hurried to the front hall. He pointed at the ghost money fire paper on the counter and was so scared that he couldn't say a word. Only then did Hong Chendong understand that the woman in black who came to buy rice last night was a ghost.
Cold sweat soaked through his clothes. Why did the female ghost come to him? I have never heard of a female ghost buying rice to cook and eat. Just when Hong Chendong was thinking wildly, the copper buckle of the rice shop came to him again.
It was a "pop" sound...
The waiter Zheng Baocai went out and opened the door. Standing outside was a big man carrying a basket of fresh fish. His clothes were covered with ice cubes, and he was talking to Zheng Baocai with his head lowered. Hong Chendong followed the reputation and clapped his hands and shouted: "Mu
Shiguang, Mr. Mu, you came just in time. I have something to discuss with you."
Mu Shiguang saw Hong Chendong hurriedly saluting and said cautiously: "Good morning, Uncle Hong. It's surprisingly cold today and my mother's illness has come back. I was worried. I went to catch some fresh fish yesterday and was about to borrow the treasure of Uncle Hong to give the fish to me."
I sold it to my mother to buy medicine."
"Hey, don't sell the fish. Huzi, hurry up and find the eldest grandma to get Mr. Mu ten taels of silver." Xu Husan responded and went into the back hall to go to the eldest grandma to get the silver. Mu Shiguang was about to speak but was stopped.
Hong Chendong persuaded him to stop, and Hong Chendong invited Mu Shiguang to sit down in the front hall and personally made tea for him.
Mu Shiguang was restless while holding the fish and said, "Uncle Hong, this fish is not worth ten taels of silver. If Uncle Hong wants to eat fish, I will catch some big ones for you."
Hong Chendong waved his hand and said: "I don't eat fish. You can keep those fish for your mother to replenish her health. I, the nephew of the Mu family, have something to ask for your help."
"Help? How can I help? Does Uncle Hong need to build furniture at home?" Mu Shiguang looked at Hong Chendong in confusion.
Hong Chendong said in a low voice: "My nephew of the Mu family, only you can help with this matter. I know you are old. Uncle Hong, I... I met a ghost..."