Chapter 22: The Gate of the Demon Realm (I)
After half a day's hard work, Xiaobao and Ye Ruochen finished decorating the store and back house according to Su Su's drawings, and came to the front hall to find Su Su together.
"Then it's scheduled to open in the middle of this month, and during this time to send out leaflets, it is still necessary to advertise, and the smell of wine is also afraid of deep alleys." Su Su looked at the newly decorated shop and said with a smile. She picked up a stack of red and black papers in her hand, explained to them everything from what a leaflet was to how to distribute it, and her mouth was dry, so she took a big sip of water from the teacup on the table.
Xiaobao and Ye Ruochen readily agreed, Xiaobao remembered Wang Zijun, who came to apply for Mr. Bookkeeper in the afternoon, so he went to the backyard to see if he woke up. After a while, Xiaobao brought Wang Zijun from the backyard.
"You...... What are you going to do to the little ones? I...... I haven't harmed anyone, so let me go. Wang Zijun said tremblingly, he had just woken up and remembered everything.
"Wang Zijun, since you said that you didn't harm anyone, then you tell us why you became like this, and if what you say is the truth, we will let you go. In fact, I won't tell you, I'm not a human being, I'm a bone spirit. Ye Ruochen said.
"Well, if you really haven't hurt anyone, maybe we can consider letting you stay, so don't lie." Su Su also said. She thought that Xiaobao was not a human anyway, and it didn't matter if there was another ghost, as long as she was kind-hearted and didn't hurt anyone.
"Yes, the Susu people are very good, in fact, I am not a human being, if you don't have the intention of harming others and have nowhere to go, we can take you in." Xiaobao said.
When Wang Zijun heard them say this, he couldn't help but be moved. He thought about his current situation again, and his heart was sad, so he told Su Su and them about the bumpy experience he had had.
He was originally from Changxi Village, at the foot of Wuling Mountain, which was a few days' walk from Qingxi City. The scenery of their village is beautiful, there is a meandering stream at the edge of the village, and I don't know where the source is, from the head of Changxi Village through the end of the village, flowing to an unknown distance, the height of the stream is only to the knee of an adult, there are many fish and shrimp in it, and the water of the stream is crystal clear.
Wang Zijun's family is an ordinary farmer in the village, with few fields at home, and although they live a poor but happy life. In order to let him take the Xiucai exam, his father and mother got up early every day to work at night, in addition to taking care of their own farmland, they also took over some farm work that the people in the village couldn't do. Wang Zijun was also very competitive, and was admitted to Xiucai in one fell swoop, and their whole family was very happy.
At noon that day, he went to the field to hoe grass and catch insects in his farmland, and did not go far along the path at the edge of the field, when he saw an old man sitting alone under the big tree on the side of the road and crying sadly. He walked over to pick up the old man and asked what was wrong.
The old man stopped crying and looked up at Wang Zijun. He glanced at the old man, and couldn't help but be secretly frightened, only to see that although the old man was full of gray hair, the skin on his face looked like a teenager, looking delicate and smooth, and this was not the reason why he was so shocked, just because the old man had heavy pupils, only one pupil from a distance, and two pupils when he looked closely. There is a legend in their village since ancient times, heavy pupils are strangely precious, these strange products, most of them are the miraculous creation of heaven and earth, and it is difficult to produce a person for a thousand years. If you see a person with double pupils, something big will happen to the person you meet, either a blessing or a curse, and you must be extremely respectful to the person with double pupils, or you can avoid disasters.
The prince thought about this, and hurriedly bowed down to the old man. The old man with a childish face looked at him, and didn't let him get up, only said that he should go home to prepare for the future, Wang Zijun immediately cried loudly when he heard this, and told the old man with great sadness that he still had relatives who had not repaid it. The old man couldn't help but sigh and asked him to get up, and Wang Zijun got up as he said.
The old man told him to run along the path, and not to look back, not to stop on the road, and not to run to the source of the stream in the village before midnight. There was a spring there, and there was a black flower beside the spring, with four petals, as big as a copper basin, and it was the flower of the netherworld, and the old man told him to break it off and put it under the spring, and then he could go home after the night. After the old man finished speaking, he took out a yellow leaf from his sleeve robe and handed it to him, telling him not to lose it. Wang Zijun bowed gratefully and thanked the old man, and when he raised his head, the old man was gone.
He did not dare to delay, and immediately ran along the path. He ran from noon to sunset, and still did not see the source of the stream. When night falls completely, the surroundings gradually become silent. Wang Zijun suddenly heard the sound of someone crying behind him, he didn't dare to look back, and continued to run forward. After a while, he heard the old man's voice coming from behind him. Wang Zijun just wanted to turn back, but suddenly remembered what the old man had said to him before, so he ignored it and continued to run forward. He kept running tirelessly, ignoring all the people he saw and heard along the way. At last he saw the source of the brook not far away, and there was indeed a spring there, and under the spring was a deep pool, and he saw a large black flower beside the spring, with exactly four petals.
Wang Zijun was overjoyed, and suddenly felt that his fatigue had vanished.
Just as he was less than a step away from the black Nether Flower, Wang Zijun heard two familiar voices. He looked up and saw two familiar faces in front of him, his father and mother, now hanging from the willow tree at the source of the stream, with a bottomless pool at his feet. Under the willow tree stood a strong, hideous-looking man with a hemp rope that hung his father and mother in his hand. They cried and begged Wang Zijun not to go any further, and his father told him that if Wang Zijun took another step, they would be drowned in the stream.
Wang Zijun hesitated when he stretched out his hand to the Netherworld Flower, and in the blink of an instant when he paused, the black flower suddenly changed into a tall man in a black robe, the man's facial features were very illusory, obviously with eyebrows, eyes and nose, but it was like a layer of black mist, making it difficult to see his face. The black-robed man held a string of iron chains, and when Wang Zijun was stunned, he grabbed him and dragged him into the pool. And his parents, who had been hanging from the willow tree just now, disappeared in the blink of an eye, and he knew that it was just an illusion. So poor Wang Zijun was drowned in this way, and when he woke up, he found that he was in Qingxi City, and he had no memory before he died, and he only wanted to find a job to reduce the burden on his family.
He woke up just now and remembered these events, and tried to get out of here, but found that he couldn't go a hundred meters away, as if he was bound by some invisible force. Wang Zijun thought that his father and mother were over half a hundred years old, but he couldn't fulfill his filial piety, and he couldn't help but feel sad secretly.
"Wang Zijun is really pitiful, Su Su, let's keep him, it just so happens that we are short of Mr. Fang here." Xiaobao immediately said after hearing this.
"Wang Zijun, what you said is indeed very touching and pitiful, but we have to find out if it is true, if it is true, then you can stay. Susu, you're right? Ye Ruochen said.
"Well, that's too, I'll leave this matter to you, if the prince is still there, take them all." Su Su pondered for a while, then said to Ye Ruochen with a smile.
Ye Ruochen readily agreed, and then set off for Changxi Village, and disappeared into the vast night after a while.
The night is deep, the cold moonlight shines on the earth, rendering the black night on a thin layer of silver veil, and the evening breeze blows softly, with a hint of coolness.
Su Su was looking out the dark window in a daze, when she suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.
"Excuse me, anyone? I'm here to apply. A crisp female voice came from outside the door.
Su Su was about to open the door, but Xiaobao verbally signaled her not to open the door. Su Suzheng was puzzled, and saw Xiaobao put a net-like thing behind the door, the net didn't know what material it was made of, as thin as a hair, silvery-white, when Xiaobao took it out, the net was less than half a palm-sized in his hand, and it looked inconspicuous. Xiaobao carefully spread the silver-white net on the ground behind the door before opening the door.
As soon as the door opened, Su Su saw a woman standing outside the door, wearing a bandeau sprinkled skirt as white as snow, draped in a thin smoke veil of the same color, with slashed shoulders, willow waist, skin like cream, picturesque eyebrows, and charming and boneless demeanor.
"You're coming to apply? What will you do? Come in and talk about it. Xiaobao asked indifferently.
"Well, I'm going to apply for a job as a cook." The woman in white said as she lifted her feet and walked into the house.
As soon as she stepped into the house, she was surrounded by a large net.