When Ning Caichen came back, he felt as if he had lost his soul.
Wang Xu looked at him and wanted to know if Ximen Qing had the same expression when he happened to see Pan Jinlian throwing dirty water outside when he passed under the horse bridge.
Unfortunately, before he could speak, Ning Caichen locked himself in the room. Wang Xu looked through the window and found that Ning Caichen was painting the moon, and what he painted was Nie Xiaoqian's appearance.
"They stay up late at night and draw. These scholars are so naughty!" Wang Xu shook his head secretly. The next second, the smile froze on his face, and he lowered his head and looked at his feet.
"what?"
Under Wang Xu's sense, something was crawling out from the first floor below, no, I should say the cellar below the first floor.
I picked up the candle on the table and walked down the stairs. I saw a dozen mummies coming up from the entrance of the cellar, sniffing their noses as if they were looking for something.
As if smelling human scent, the mummies looked up one after another and approached Wang Xu staggeringly.
These mummies are all foreigners who stayed in Lanruo Temple and had their essence and blood sucked away by Grandma Shu.
Even if these people die, their souls cannot leave Lanruo Temple. They can only turn into mummies and become the minions of Grandma Shu, attacking travelers who dare to stay in the temple.
"ha"
The mummy moved slowly and stiffly, moving towards Wang Xu with difficulty.
When the first approaching mummy was about to touch Wang Xu with his hand, Wang Xu struck out with his backhand.
Click!!
The soft palm of the bone-transforming cotton palm hit the mummy, and in an instant, the mummy was turned into thick water.
When the mummies behind them saw it, they shrank back. They were mummies, not zombies. Because the soul was in the body, they were much smarter than zombies with incomplete souls.
When he saw that Wang Xu was not easy to mess with, he immediately made a bird and beast scatter, how did he climb up, and how did he crawl back.
"snort!"
Wang Xu snorted coldly and whispered: "You guys know each other!"
Taking the candlestick back to the second floor, Wang Xu glanced at the sky and waved his hand. Hundreds of silver little spiders were thrown in all directions by him.
"Go ahead and help me find the Tomb of King Yan." Wang Xu ordered. These biological robots are his second insurance for exploring the Tomb of King Yan.
In case Xiaoqian doesn't know the whereabouts of King Yan's Tomb, the secret of King Yan's Tomb will have to be discovered by these robots.
After doing all this, Wang Xu sat cross-legged on the bed and began to meditate to kill time.
One night without words, the next day
Before dawn the next day, Ning Caichen left in a hurry. Because the heavy rain soaked his account book yesterday, he did not receive the account at all in Guobei County.
The boss who owed the debt told him that he could pay him, or he could get the account, or he could go to Lanruo Temple and stay overnight.
Now, he has stayed at Lanruo Temple for one night and is heading to Guobei County to collect the bill and buy some gifts for Xiaoqian.
"This time Jubaozhai will collect a total of 70 taels. As agreed before, 20 taels are my salary. I don't know what Xiaoqian likes. Wouldn't it be too much to buy her rouge and gouache directly?
It’s too abrupt.”
Carrying a book basket on his back, Ning Caichen walked out with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
Because it rained all night yesterday, the ground was very muddy. The distance of three to five miles from Guobei County had to be walked for a whole morning.
"Ten coins into the city, what, no money, what the hell are you doing if you don't have money? Get out of here!"
Outside the city gate entering the city, there were more than a dozen government officials standing, setting up cards to collect fees.
Ning Caichen touched the wallet on his body, took it out and looked at it: "It's bad, I only have three coins left."
"Hey, can you get in? If you don't get in, don't block the road!" The yamen officer responsible for guiding passers-by looked at Ning Caichen impatiently.
Ning Caichen held the three coins in his hands, approached him with a flattering expression, and whispered: "Brother, didn't you charge the city gate fee yesterday? Why did you collect the city gate fee today?"
"You also said that was yesterday. Yesterday had yesterday's rules, and today has today's rules. Can you get in?" Throughout the ages, few people who can be government servants are soft-hearted, let alone Ning Caichen, who is a young man.
Even an old man in his seventies or eighty cannot even think of entering this door without money.
Ning Caichen had a troubled look on his face and begged: "Sir, I am going to the city to collect debts. I only have three cents in hand. Can you let me owe you first and then give it to you after I collect the debt?"
"Bah, I know who you are, get out of here right now, don't make yourself uncomfortable!" The yamen officer pushed Ning Caichen out and started charging again.
Ning Caichen held the copper coins in his hands and looked at the crowds rushing into the city. He was at a loss for a while.
If you can't enter the city, you won't be able to collect your debt. Not to mention the travel expenses back, you won't even have the money to buy a gift for Xiaoqian.
Whether it was for himself or for his sweetheart, Ning Caichen knew that he had to go to the city.
Enter the city, enter the city, the gates are sealed on all sides, how do you get in?
Ning Caichen carried a book basket and walked along the city wall until he saw a dog hole.
I don’t know who left this dog hole. It’s not big or small, just big enough for a person to get in.
Ning Caichen stood in front of the dog hole and hesitated for a long time. He gritted his teeth, pushed the book basket over first, then lay on the ground and dug in.
"It's an insult to elegance, it's an insult to elegance." Ning Caichen muttered as he drilled, but as soon as he passed by, there was a strong force on his collar and he was pulled up from the ground.
"Brother, who are you?"
Ning Caichen looked up and saw that he was a young man in his twenties, wearing leather armor.
"Brother, hey, who is your brother!"
The young man grabbed Ning Caichen with a proud smile on his face and said with a smile: "My name is Ye Zhiqiu, and I was given the nickname Zhiqiu Yiye. I specially opened a dog hole here just to wait for greedy people like you."
Cheap people. Don’t say anything. Just give me money and walk through my dog hole. If you don’t want to give me five cents, you can crawl back to me.”
"Ah, there is a charge for the dog cave!" Ning Caichen's expression changed immediately when he heard that he was going to charge money.
"Of course!"
Ye Zhiqiu looked matter-of-fact and said loudly: "You think it's easy for me to dig a hole in the city wall. The city gate charges ten coins, but I charge five coins here. If you don't want to pay, go through the city gate."
Ning Caichen looked back and found that there was actually a sign hanging at the door of Goudong, which said that anyone who wanted to leave the country would be charged five cents.
"Is three cents okay?" Ning Caichen took out the three cents with unwillingness on his face.
"Sanwen, are you sending beggars away?"
Ye Zhiqiu grabbed the money and put it into his arms first, then said, "Where are the remaining two coins?"
"I only have three cents. If I wasn't short of money, who would climb into the dog hole?"
Ning Caichen said this, and then said: "I went to the city to collect the debt. If you can trust me, I will pay you two cents after I collect the debt. Do you think it's okay?"
"I owe a debt!"
Ye Zhiqiu scratched his head, looked Ning Caichen up and down, and sighed: "Okay, seeing as you are a scholar, I will let you owe two cents first."
"Thank you, thank you so much." Ning Caichen hurried away with the book basket on his back, for fear that Ye Zhiqiu would regret it again.
"Hey!" Ye Zhiqiu stood at the door of the dog cave and said loudly: "No one can owe me money. Scholar, please be more alert and pay as soon as you receive the bill. Don't think you can get away with it!"
Ning Caichen didn't take it seriously and said perfunctorily: "I know, I know, I won't forget it."
Looking at Ning Caichen's retreating back, Ye Zhiqiu sniffed his nose twice and muttered: "This scholar has such a strong ghost smell. It's still so strong at noon. I guess he must have seen a ghost last night."
Ning Caichen didn't know what Ye Zhiqiu said. At this moment, he was carrying a book basket and heading straight to the inn in the east of the city.
"Boss, boss, I'm here to collect the rent!"
He walked in loudly. Different from the timid appearance last night, Ning Caichen looked confident today.
When the innkeeper saw that it was the rent collector from Jubaozhai, his face suddenly showed a look of impatience, and he waved his hand and said, "Didn't I tell you yesterday to go back and get the account book? How can you collect the account without the account book?"
"No, boss, didn't you tell me that as long as I stayed at Lanruo Temple for one night, you would give me money without a ledger?"
As soon as Ning Caichen said these words, the innkeeper's expression changed instantly, and he said in surprise: "Lan, Lanruo Temple! Have you ever stayed in Lanruo Temple?"
Quiet, the bustling inn suddenly fell into silence.
Whether it was the quacks who were drinking and eating meat, the vendors who were sitting down to rest, or the busy clerks, all of them suddenly became quiet, as if someone had cast a body-holding spell.
Ning Caichen glanced at everyone inexplicably, then took out the account book and said with a smile: "Of course, didn't you tell me that as long as I stay at Lanruo Temple for one night, you will give me the debt without the account book?"
"Here, I'll give it all to you, a total of 70 taels, and I won't miss a penny from you." The innkeeper was trembling with fear. How could he offend such a person if he could come back alive after staying in Lanruo Temple for one night.
Ning Caichen happily accepted the money, ignoring the expressions of those around him as if he had seen a ghost, and whispered: "Boss, are there any shops selling rouge, gouache, or girls' stuff around here? I met them at Lanruo Temple.
A girl, I plan to go back and bring her some gifts."
"The girl from Lanruo Temple?" The boss was so frightened that he almost cried, his face even uglier than his dead mother.
Ning Caichen looked up and down and said softly: "Boss, are you sick?"
"No, no, go out and walk south. There is a gouache shop at the intersection. Go there quickly. Don't keep the girl waiting for a long time." The boss's face was green and white, and he was already frightened.
Ning Caichen was very puzzled. He didn't know what the boss was afraid of, so he turned around and walked out.
It wasn't until his figure disappeared from sight that the innkeeper cautiously came up to him and whispered: "Boss, did you really give him the money?"
"Do I dare not to give it? He met a girl at Lanruo Temple, Lanruo Temple, girl!" As if he was afraid that the waiter wouldn't understand, the boss said the next two sentences through gritted teeth.
As soon as he heard this, the innkeeper swallowed his mouth and urinated when his lower body became hot.
Lanruo Temple is a ghost temple. There are no girls. If there are any girls, they are just a group of female ghosts.
I stayed overnight at Lanruo Temple, and not only did I come back alive, but I also got close to the girl inside. I don’t dare to offend such a person, I can’t afford to offend him.