Chapter 187: Beams in the front yard, catching ghosts in the kitchen
"Shopkeeper Meng, I'll take you back."
After discussing the matter, Zhou Shi said casually as he sent Qian De'an and Meng Xingyuan to the door.
Meng Xingyuan only thought that he was being polite to him, and habitually declined: "No, you stay..."
"I'll take you back." Zhou Shi said firmly.
Seeing that he was acting a bit stiff, he added: "As the old saying goes, there will be big thieves after a big disaster. Now there is no peace in Jiangdu City. It is a bit dangerous for you to go alone."
When he thought back, he saw that there were many more idle people paralyzed on the roadside than before. Meng Xingyuan felt a chill in his heart and did not object.
When the two of them turned out of Yuqing Street together, Zhou Shicai asked: "Shopkeeper Meng, have you encountered any trouble?"
"Ah?"
"I see you don't look good."
This is true, but under Zhou Shi's qi-watching technique, Meng Xingyuan's face is more than just "bad", it is as if his neck is being strangled by yin energy, and his life may be in danger at any time.
"Oh, I have been busy these past two days counting losses and estimating reconstruction costs. I haven't slept for a few days to get a good rest." Meng Xingyuan complained, "The accountant is unwilling to come back to work, so I can only do the abacus by myself. As the new year is approaching, even the people who move the lumber
The coolies can't find them anymore, so they can only pile them up in the yard temporarily and wait until next year."
"Where do you live now?"
"The kitchen in Yueqing Building is made of stones. It is not damaged. I am sleeping in it for the time being. As you said, there will be robbers after the disaster, so I have to keep an eye on it."
Well... from his description, I haven't come into contact with any suspicious people or things recently...
Although Zhou Shi has become proficient in the art of looking at qi, he can only observe the breath and cannot make an accurate interpretation. He cannot see what makes Shopkeeper Meng face life and death.
Seeing that Meng Xingyuan's speech and behavior are very normal and he is not sick, it can be ruled out that he is possessed by evil spirits.
After about an hour of touching, the two stopped.
Zhou Shi sighed softly. All the carved beams and painted buildings in the past were in ruins, and only a few piles of charred charcoal and bundles of wood were left in the huge garden. The delicate bridges and flowing water were also turned into a few pits.
"Well, if your man hadn't arrived in time, I might not have even this little thing left... Come in and sit down?"
Zhou Shi agreed and followed Shopkeeper Meng into the garden and towards the kitchen.
"There is no abnormal yin energy. It seems that the dirty things are not here..." He observed carefully and came to this conclusion.
"Sit down, I have some good tea here."
The spacious kitchen was not damaged, but all the pots and pans were removed, leaving only empty stoves.
Meng Xingyuan spread a quilt next to the stove. This has been his residence for the past two days.
After discovering that Shopkeeper Zhou was looking at his "bed", he blushed and hurriedly kicked the bedding aside with his feet.
But Zhou Shi's gaze didn't stop there. He looked left and right for a while, then immediately frowned——
The source of Yin Qi...is the kitchen mouth?
Each stove has two openings, one for holding the pot and one for lighting the fire. When cooking, the chef will step on an air drum under his feet to control the size of the flame.
But now, there is actually a little bit of yin energy coming out of the empty stove!
Zhou Shi slowly squatted down and looked in through the lower stove opening.
There are only unburned residues and soot inside, but under the Qi-gazing technique, there is indeed a black-purple aura flowing inside.
"There is something inside the stove. Shopkeeper Meng sleeps here every day, so he gets entangled..."
He moved close to the ground and checked the stoves one by one, but found nothing unusual inside.
"Uh, shopkeeper Zhou?"
Meng Xingyuan came back with tea and was a little dumbfounded when he saw him lying on the ground and looking into the stove.
"Are you there?"
"It's nothing." Zhou Shi stood up quickly, patted the soot on his body, and successfully wiped the soot on his hands.
In order to cover up his embarrassment, he took the tea cup and took a sip, and the aroma of tea quickly spread in his mouth.
"This is the best tea in Yueqinglou. Fortunately, we rescued it."
"Yes, good tea." Zhou Shi put down the tea cup and said, "Shopkeeper Meng, have you used the stove here recently?"
"I've used it. I eat and sleep here all the time." Meng Xingyuan pointed to the pot on the ground and said, "I usually see that the guys live a simple life. When it's my turn to do it myself, I almost burned my clothes..." "Are you burning firewood?"
"No, I don't have the strength to chop firewood. Anyway, the most indispensable thing here is charcoal. Just break it into pieces." Meng Xingyuan said with a bitter smile.
Charcoal...
There are indeed a lot of charred wood piled in the yard, which were salvaged before being burned. They can't be used as building materials anyway, so they might as well be used for fires.
"Excuse me, where did the wood for Yue Qing Building come from?"
"Well, the good wood used for interior decoration and beams is all brought from the north, and most of the other wood is cut down nearby. There are many big trees in Tanzi Village."
Tanzi Village... this name brought back memories of Zhou Shi.
Six months ago, he went to Zhang Yuanwai's house in Tanzi Village in order to investigate the death of the salesman Chen Zhu, and brought back the ghost bride Xiao Lin whose identity was a mystery.
"I had just traveled through time at that time, so I could only turn around and run away if something like this happened. If it were now, I could use the art of looking for energy to explore the place, especially the eyeless statue..."
Zhou Shi decided to go to Tanzi Village again after this new year.
He walked around the stove, made up his mind, and said:
"Shopkeeper Meng, please retreat to the door."
"Ah?" Meng Xingyuan was puzzled, but he still walked to the kitchen door obediently.
"Some weird things will happen next. Please don't scream or run. I promise you won't be hurt." Zhou Shi said, taking out Hu Gongzun and Huo Zhezi from his pocket.
Although the iron abacus was carried on his back and wrapped in layers of clothes, he had already put these two things in his pocket for safety.
Although Meng Xingyuan was confused, he didn't ask any more questions out of trust in him.
I saw him bringing Mr. Hu to his mouth, taking a mouthful of Yin wine, and spraying it towards the flames of Huo Zhezi.
In an instant, countless ghost figures bathed in fire rushed out of the faint blue fire and rolled into a ball in the kitchen!
Zhou Shi heard a "dong" sound and it was Meng Xingyuan who collapsed to the ground.
The yin fire only stayed for a moment, then rushed into the stove, and the entire row of stove mouths emitted a foot-long blue flame!
In the firelight, a blue figure suddenly appeared from the stove mouth closest to Zhou Shi. It twisted and struggled in the flames, and a face with blurred features finally pointed at Zhou Shi!
But Zhou Shi didn't give it a chance to attack. He formed a seal with his hands, muttered something in his mouth, stretched out his finger and shouted softly:
"Detention!"
The figure held by the fingers suddenly paused, as if a big hand was holding it tightly.
At the same time, the blue fire spurting out of the stove gradually extinguished.
The figure slowly faded away from the blue, turning into the blue-grey color of an ordinary ghost.
What Zhou Shi just performed was the soul arresting technique recorded in the "Yin Soldier Formation Strategy". To recruit resentful ghosts as Yin soldiers, it is necessary to control them first.
"Okay, Shopkeeper Meng..." He turned around and found Meng Xingyuan slumped at the door. His trembling fingers pointed at Yinhun and then at him, and mumbled:
"Ghost, ghost..."
Huh, I was worried that he would run around, but he was so frightened that he couldn't move... Zhou Shi sighed and reassured: "Don't be afraid, Shopkeeper Meng, I have caught the ghost. I'll ask him where he came from first."
”
Before Meng Xingyuan could calm down, he changed his hand shape, and the "big hand" holding the ghost seemed to be slightly looser.
"Tell me, who are you? Why are you causing trouble here and trying to kill Shopkeeper Meng?"