As soon as Mingruo and Si Haochen entered the room, the shopkeeper brought two men to bring hot water, and reminded them: "Master and Madam, please remember not to open the windows and not turn on the lamp after sunset. Light and the smell of strangers are the most likely to attract evil spirits.
.”
"Okay." Mingruo nodded.
"You go down." Si Haochen waved his hand.
"Yes." The shopkeeper asked the two waiters to help in the kitchen and make sure to prepare dinner before sunset.
Si Haochen closed the door with his backhand, and Mingruo pushed the window open a crack to observe the shop selling talismans opposite. The small shop was busy with customers and the business was very prosperous.
After a while, a man wearing a blue-grey robe came out of the shop, holding a sign that said "talismans sold out" and hung it at the door. When people in line saw the sign, they didn't say much and left with a sigh, walking down the street.
It soon returned to calm.
Si Haochen hugged Mingruo from behind: "What did you see?"
"I haven't seen anything so far, but this shop is very suspicious." Mingruo hung a grass ring on the window, "They know how to restrain corpse poison, and I'm afraid they have a close relationship with the mastermind behind the refining of corpse poison.
.”
"After nightfall, I'll go check it out." Si Haochen was sure that there must be something wrong with this shop.
"I'm going too!" Mingruo was afraid that her husband would be plotted, so she decided to take a few little ones with her.
"Okay." My daughter-in-law never plays her cards according to common sense, so it's better to keep it under her nose for peace of mind.
As soon as Youshi arrived, the shopkeeper brought dinner. Four dishes and one soup looked quite sumptuous.
"Evil spirits have been rampant recently, and we don't have enough vegetables, meat, and eggs." The shopkeeper lowered his head and said, "Master will just use some. I will send someone to the neighboring town early tomorrow morning to buy some."
"No, I'm just passing through here, and I have to go on my way tomorrow." Si Haochen glanced in the direction of the window, "Does the shop selling talismans already exist?"
"No, that shop used to sell liquor. The evil spirits in the town became more and more fierce. The owner of the liquor shop sold the shop and took his whole family to Fucheng to join his relatives." The shopkeeper thought for a while and added, "That is,
I only started selling talismans in the past month and a half."
"Yeah." Si Haochen nodded slightly.
After dinner, Si Haochen told his wife not to disturb him and left the room with his wife through the window.
Si Haochen put his arm around Mingruo's waist, landed on the roof of the shop opposite, and lifted up the tiles of the shop.
The people below were weighing the silver - the silver ingots were placed in one place, and the broken silver was weighed and packed into boxes. Both boxes were almost full.
Mingruo smelled a smell of medicine and gestured in the direction of the backyard. Si Haochen flicked his toes and flew towards the backyard.
In the yard, some were mixing the cooked concoction into the water tank containing paper pulp, some were using bamboo curtains to spread the ingredients, some were pressing paper for baking, and some were cutting the prepared paper into the size of talismans. The whole yard was filled with the smell of
Medicinal smell.
Since he had to do some work, the yard was brightly lit, so he was not afraid of attracting any evil spirits. Si Haochen landed on the roof of the main house in the backyard more cautiously and lifted a tile.
There were two middle-aged men, one fat and one thin, both wearing yellow robes. The fat man's robe was tightly tied around his body, as if it would fall apart at the next moment. The thin man's robe was too bulky, like a child wearing an adult's clothes.
The fat man tore off a chicken leg and put it into the thin man's bowl, and then gnawed the roasted chicken while the thin man raised his feet and poured wine into his mouth. The cups and plates on the table were in a mess, and there were two wine jars rolling under the table.
A young man was chained in a corner of the hall, with a low stool in front of him. On the stool was a stack of cut talisman paper and mixed cinnabar. The young man drew a 'talisman' with trembling hands, put down his bald brush, and
Turn your sore wrist.
With a 'pop' sound, the whip hit the young man's shoulder. The thin man squinted his triangular eyes and said, "How dare you be lazy! If you can't finish drawing three hundred talismans today, you won't have anything to eat!"
The young man said nothing, looking at the thin man with a dull face and an indifferent and cold gaze.
The thin man was obviously irritated by the young man's eyes. He hit the young man's cheek with the whip in his hand, leaving a bloody mark: "If you look at me like that again, I'll take out your eyeballs!"
The young man bit his lips until they turned white, lowered his head, and picked up the brush to 'draw the talisman'.
The thin man felt extremely satisfied when he saw the young man surrendering. He staggered back to the wine table and said, "It's getting late. Go and free those poisonous people."
The fat man spit out a chicken bone, wiped his greasy hands on the monk's robe, picked up the copper bell on the corner of the table, pushed the door open and walked out, shouting: "Everyone, go back to the room and come out in a quarter of an hour!"
"
After hearing this, the people working in the courtyard immediately hid in the house and bolted the door skillfully.
The fat man opened the side door of the yard, then walked to the edge of the well, removed the top stone, and pushed aside the stone slab pressing the well head. A sound similar to the howling of a wild beast came from the deep well.
The fat man shook the copper bell in his hand, and a human figure jumped out of the well on all fours like an animal. Smelling the smell of medicine in the courtyard, his movements became sluggish, and his eyes that were originally glowing green gradually became holes. Then, there was another one.
The poisonous man comes out of the well.
Through the lights in the courtyard, we could clearly see several poisonous people with blue-grey faces and ragged clothes. Their bodies and faces were stained with blood. It was unclear whether it belonged to others or their own.
Five poisonous people came out one after another, and continued to ring the bell but there was no movement: "Tsk, tsk, another one died..."
The fat man sprinkled a handful of medicinal powder on himself, and then rang the copper bell to lure the poisonous people out. Unable to be restrained by the medicinal herbs, the poisonous people got down on all fours again and quickly disappeared into the night.
The fat man said to himself as he closed the door: "Go ahead and come back with more bites. Otherwise, if the rations are not enough, you will have to eat your own people..."
Mingruo felt nauseated, and he could only blame his five senses for being too sensitive. With a gesture to leave, His Majesty Yunhuang immediately took his wife back to the roof of the inn.
Mingruo stroked his chest and took several deep breaths before he felt better.
Si Haochen looked at Mingruo with some worry: "Let's go back."
"I'm fine, it's just that the smell of blood just now was too strong..." Mingruo took out the water bag from his 'sleeve pocket' and took a few sips, "Do you want some water?"
Si Haochen shook his head and wiped the water from the corners of Mingruo's lips with his fingers: "Don't be impatient, drink slowly."
"No more drinking. Those poisonous people don't look right. Let's follow them and have a look." Mingruo stuffed the water bag back into his 'sleeve pocket'.
Ming Ruo's pale face returned to normal, and Si Haochen led her in the direction where the Gu man left.
After chasing for a while, traces were lost. Si Haochen was just about to call the secret guards over when he heard the sound of fighting not far away and hurried over.
Three secret guards surrounded a poisonous man. They didn't want to kill the poisonous man, but they also had to prevent being bitten by the poisonous man. They were restrained and passive during the fight.
Linglong never saw that one of her own was at a disadvantage, almost slapping the poisonous man's head off with one wing.
When the secret guard saw the poisonous man suddenly fell down, he took advantage of the situation to restrain him and stuffed him with a pill that could detoxify him.
