The front alley that Uncle Yan mentioned is actually a narrow alley between two buildings.
Because there is no sunshine all year round, the smell of dampness and mold in the trail is particularly strong, and there is also a stench that cannot be described as something bad.
Five large trash cans are placed side by side at the entrance of the alley. The garbage in the trash cans has long been piled up. The surrounding garbage has piled up into a hill. From a distance, you can see many flies surrounding it.
A dirty yellow dog stood in the rubbish heap and didn't know what it was eating. Not far away, two black cats stared covetously, as if they planned to wait for the yellow dog to leave before having a feast.
The alley is about several hundred meters long, and most of the shops have rolling shutters with the words "Want Shop for Rent" posted on the outside. It looks like there are only a few shops here and there, very deserted.
Su Yi carefully walked around the cesspool and the unknown substances that stuck to the soles of his shoes, and walked through the alley.
When passing by the open shops, almost all the shopkeepers looked at Su Yi from beginning to end. From the time he approached to the time he left, their eyes were always locked on him, as if they were very curious about his unfamiliar face.
Su Yi saw a grocery store selling daily necessities, and a fabric shop selling bedding. He also saw a tea restaurant without any signboard, and a man wearing flip-flops, shorts and nightgown, with a goatee.
A slovenly-looking middle-aged man was sitting on a chair in front of the store, cutting his toenails.
This sloppy middle-aged man was the only one who didn't stare at Su Yi all the time. He just looked at Su Yi and then withdrew his gaze and continued to concentrate on his toenails.
Su Yi walked all the way to the end of the alley. At the corner of the alley, he saw a funeral parlor.
There was a canvas shed set up at the entrance of this funeral home. There were several paper wreaths on both sides of the quaint-looking door, as well as two pairs of dark coffins.
The doorway was dark, and there seemed to be a faint candlelight shining, as dim as a bean.
Even from a long distance, Su Yi could smell the strange aroma emanating from it.
Thinking of the original plot, Su Yi almost subconsciously held his breath and felt sick to his stomach.
He stared at the dark doorway for a while, and there was a vague coughing sound coming from the door. He could clearly feel that someone was staring at him from the door.
Those eyes were filled with vigilance, scrutiny, and a hint of unexplained malicious intent.
Su Yi had no intention of going in to find out, so he withdrew his gaze and turned back.
As soon as he left, a long-faced middle-aged man dressed as a member of the lower class of the last century walked out of the door. His steps were light and he made no sound as he walked.
He was stroking a string of beads carved in the shape of a ferocious head with one hand, and holding a hand-rolled cigarette in the other hand.
His eyes were as sharp as a hawk, staring intently at Su Yi's leaving figure, his expression dark and unclear.
"Cough cough cough..." He suddenly coughed uncontrollably, hurriedly took two steps back, hid himself in the darkness again, and then took a long drag on the cigarette in his hand.
As the milky white smoke lingered in his mouth and nose, a relaxed and comfortable expression appeared on his face.
That peculiar fragrance seems to have become stronger.
Su Yi returned to the door of the tea restaurant. The slovenly middle-aged man had already cut his nails and was arguing with the greasy middle-parted middle-aged man in an apron.
The middle-aged man said helplessly: "Brother Friend, you always sit at the door and cut your toenails. The neighbors have a lot of objections."
"How big of an opinion does it have? Who has an opinion? Let him tell me directly." The sloppy middle-aged man said disdainfully, "They have been eating my glutinous rice for decades. If they have an opinion, why don't they wait until today to raise it?"
"But the afternoon will be very busy. If you are so free now, you will be too busy in the afternoon." The middle-aged and middle-aged students argued angrily.
"Tch! How many guests are here? Sitting there, I know what they are eating!" The slovenly middle-aged man was even more disdainful. He pointed at a table and said, "Hey, Stork cakes, steamed pork pancakes with pickles, more pickles.
, two portions of sticky rice!”
Then he pointed to the second table: "Uncle Zhong, stir-fried fish with pork, a plate of rapeseed, and more lard on the glutinous rice."
Then came the third table: "Uncle Yongping, steamed Anhui fish with black bean paste, more onions and less oil, and double portions of glutinous rice with meat floss."
"Airplane man, spring bag strong, bearded man, regular soup, four treasure rice, stir-fried cabbage with pickles, take away!"
"Sister Li, a bowl of glutinous rice and soup to take away!"
"And Uncle Fu, stir-fried vegetables and glutinous rice..."
The slovenly middle-aged man really has a lot of treasures, and he clearly remembers who the guests were, where they were sitting, and where they were eating.
But when he said this, the young man interrupted him: "Uncle Fu just left last week."
The sloppy middle-aged man was stunned: "You don't need to eat when you leave? There are twenty-nine bowls of glutinous rice every day, no more, no less! Forget it, I'll fry Uncle Fu's bowl now. I won't place an order for this bowl."
After a pause, the slovenly middle-aged man looked back at Su Yi, who had been waiting aside: "Are you looking for me?"
"Uncle Yan asked me to come. Are you Brother You?" Su Yi said, "I'm a new mover. I live in 2442. My name is Qian Xiaohao."
The slovenly middle-aged man's pupils shrank obviously, while the middle-parted young man behind him was obviously shocked when he heard 2442.
"I know you, the star who plays the Taoist priest who catches ghosts." Brother You looked at Su Yi with a strange expression, "Do you want to eat glutinous rice?"
"Eat." Su Yi said.
"Ah Guang, take him to sit down first." Brother You nodded and walked to the stove with his slippers on.
"Follow me." Aguang smiled and waved to Su Yi, walked through the restaurant lobby and went straight to the second table in the aisle on the other side.
"Now, sit here. If you come to visit again in the future, sit in this seat. There are people in other seats. Even if they don't come, it's not good for you to occupy it..."
A Guang paused for a moment before further explaining: "Those who patronize the shop have been regular customers for decades. As people get older, they like to live an unchanging life. They sit in the same position at the same time every day, eat and drink.
Same meal. Unlike young people, who try to be fresh in everything and want to do everything in a different way."
"Your position used to belong to Uncle Fu, but he left last week and it belongs to you now. By the way, what would you like to drink?"
Su Yi looked over at the counter and said, "The black milk tea is ready."
"Okay, sit down first."
A Guang quickly brought something to drink, while Su Yi drank black milk tea and watched Brother You frying glutinous rice from a distance.
Amidst the alternating light and dark flames, he raised and lowered the iron pot very skillfully. He seemed to be mumbling something.
At a certain moment, he grabbed a bottle by the stove and poured a few sips into his mouth. He held the last sip in his mouth and suddenly sprayed it into the pot.
"puff……"
The flames burst out in the iron pot. Ah You immediately put down the bottle and stir-fried quickly. He quickly took the pot out of the pot and put the rice in the two bowls that had been prepared on the side.
"..."
what is this?
Mouth-watering fried rice?
Su Yi regretted why he ordered the glutinous rice fried rice.
He didn't even want to drink this cup of delicious black milk tea anymore.
Brother You came to Su Yi with two bowls of rice and placed one bowl in front of Su Yi.
Then he took out a pair of chopsticks from the chopstick basket on the table, held another bowl of rice, and placed it in the corner aside.
Then he stood up and lit himself a cigarette.
"Huh..." Brother You slowly blew out a puff of smoke, and something strange happened.
In the shroud of smoke, the outline of a human face was revealed.
Su Yi felt cold in his heart, but he suppressed himself from making any reaction.
"Eat, Uncle Fu. Once you've finished eating, you can hit the road." Brother You said.
He took another puff of cigarette and slowly exhaled it. This time the smoke became normal, as if Su Yi was just dazzled just now.
Brother You stood there for a few more seconds, then turned around and sat across from Su Yi.
"Why don't you eat it?" he asked, "Isn't it to your liking?"
Su Yi was silent for a moment and said truthfully: "I saw you spitting into the rice."
Brother You smiled: "That's glutinous rice wine brewed in ancient times. Add a little to the rice. It will be good for you."
Then you add it normally, do you have to hold it in your mouth and squirt it in?
Su Yi calmly opened the topic: "Brother You, I heard Uncle Yan say that 2442 is a haunted house, and no one has lived in it for many years. I'm afraid there are unclean things in it, so I want to ask you for a talisman.
Peace to God and pray for peace.”
Brother You took a puff of cigarette and said leisurely: "You don't need it, right? Your blood is as strong as a stove, more powerful than a young man in his twenties. If a ghost sees you, it's too late to hide, so how can he attack you?"
Come forward?"
"Are ghosts afraid of me?" Su Yi raised his eyebrows.
"Is it weird?" Brother You smiled, "Ghosts are dead people, and people are ghosts who are not dead. The reason why people are afraid of ghosts is actually because they are afraid of death. But the reason why ghosts are afraid of people is because of many reasons.
Ghosts are killed by people, and they know very well how terrible human hearts are. From this point of view, people are more terrible than ghosts."
"It's very philosophical, Brother You..." Su Yi pondered slightly, "But I seemed to have experienced some strange things in the room just now."
"I saw the ceiling fan spinning for no reason, the closet door suddenly opening on its own, and there were strange noises coming from the bathroom, including the sound of dripping water." Su Yi recounted what he had just experienced in the room.
.
Brother Friend did not take it seriously and said: "Your house has not been lived in for so long and it has been in disrepair for a long time. Suddenly entering it and breaking the balance inside and causing a little movement is normal and scientific. Don't be suspicious."
After a pause, Brother You leaned forward slightly and stared into Su Yi's eyes: "As the saying goes, suspicion breeds ghosts. The more suspicious you are, the more afraid you are, and the more strange things you will see. But if you walk straight,
If you are righteous and have nothing to fear, then you will have no taboos and all evil will be avoided."
At this point, Brother You became relaxed again and said with a smile: "In short, if you don't think about anything, nothing will happen. If you are really worried, I will draw a talisman and send it to you tonight.
, you can hang it by the bedside to calm your nerves."
"Thank you so much, Brother You." Su Yi said sincerely.
"You're welcome. From now on we are neighbors and we should help each other." Brother You said with a smile, "Speaking of which, we are destined to be together. You are a Taoist actor and I am a real Taoist priest. But now, I don't do it anymore. You
He came to me again to ask for amulets, haha... This is really an impermanent life."
Su Yi was slightly silent and said: "I just saw Brother You talking to Uncle Fu, and the smoke you puffed out..."
"Don't look at anything that's inappropriate, and don't say anything that's not necessary." Brother You said calmly, "Haven't you heard that you should respect ghosts and gods and stay away from them?"
"But they are very close to me. Maybe there is no point in hiding." Su Yi said.
"You have so much yang energy, as long as you don't actively provoke them, they won't look for you." Brother You said, "Even the fierce ghosts can't do anything to you directly. Ordinary ghosts won't even dare to approach you.
Right here, so you really don’t need to worry too much.”
"It's really strange to say that I have lived for so long and I have never seen anyone with a stronger yang energy than you. You must not be a boy, right?"
"No." Su Yi shook his head, "But I have been practicing martial arts since I was a child, and I have achieved some success. You said that I have strong yang energy and sufficient qi and blood. This should be the reason."
"I've seen a lot of martial arts practitioners, but I've never seen anyone like you." Brother You shook his head, seeming a little confused.
Su Yi smiled slightly and suddenly slapped his palm on the wall next to him.
boom!
There was a muffled sound, and the whole room seemed to shake.
When Su Yi took away his palm, a clear palm print was dented on the wall against the ceramic tiles.
Brother You's expression changed drastically, his eyes suddenly became round, he took a breath of cold air, and stood up with a "choke".
He looked at Su Yi in disbelief, and was stunned for a long time. Suddenly he made seals with his hands, muttered something in his mouth, and pressed his eyebrows, as if lightning flashed in his eyes.
He breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay, it's okay, you are alive..."
"..." Su Yi smiled politely at him.
"This is kung fu?" Brother You was incredulous, "Can martial arts be practiced to this extent? How is this possible?"
He touched the handprints on the wall in disbelief: "Could it be some kind of deception?"
Su Yi smiled, and suddenly grabbed Brother Friend's wrist, and his inner strength surged out.
The internal force circulated along Brother You's meridians for a week, but there was nothing inside.
From this point of view, Brother You is just an ordinary person.
So how does his magic power come out?
With the help of talismans?
Or, just like you can't see ghosts, you can't detect the existence of magic power?
He took the opportunity to explore Brother You's meridians, but Su Yi remained calm on the surface. He just smiled and withdrew his inner strength and let go of Brother Yi's hand.
The expression on Brother Yi's face has become particularly wonderful.
He clearly felt a heat flowing through his body for a week, and then was taken back by Su Yi.
"Is this...the internal power written in martial arts books?" Brother You said in a difficult and trembling voice.
Su Yi nodded: "It's internal force."
"How is this possible!" Brother You looked like his worldview had collapsed, "Isn't this something made up by those novelists?"
"Scientists also say that there are no ghosts in the world." Su Yi said leisurely, "I believe in science but not superstition. I saw such slogans everywhere on the way here."
"How can this be the same?" Brother You was very excited, "The theory of ghosts and gods has been around since ancient times, but internal power... isn't this something that those who wrote martial arts books only made it up in the past few decades?"