Chapter 7: The Soul Bell
Zhang Bin, who appeared outside the piece of paper, suddenly grabbed my shirt and pulled me out of the store with irresistible strength.
Suddenly a foul smell hit my face, and my brain buzzed, and I felt like the world was spinning, and then I fell hard to the ground.
"That's all this is the ability of this generation's well-dressed shopkeeper?" Zhang Bin let out a cold sneer, and I looked at him in surprise, his face was twisting, and after pulling me out of the piece of paper, Zhang Bin's face turned into an iron-blue grimace.
"Who are you?!" I asked in horror, stepping back hand and foot to try to distance myself from 'Zhang Bin', but he didn't give me a chance to return to the store, smiled darkly, and grabbed my neck with both hands.
"Hmm-"
The pressure in my neck immediately made me struggle with my hands and feet, but the strength of 'Zhang Bin' was amazing, and it was not something I could compete with at all.
Nima's Sun Hong is an old man! What kind of shop are you, are you trying to kill me?
At this moment, I want to cry without tears, and the strength of 'Zhang Bin' makes me breathless, and my eyes are black for a while.
At this time, a heavy bell suddenly rang above my head, the sound was long and vicissitudes, and with the bell ringing, the 'Zhang Bin' who had just pinched me and almost fainted suddenly let go.
I sat on the ground with my butt back, and the instinct to regain my breath made me gulp in the air, accompanied by a dry cough.
And 'Zhang Bin' stood in front of me with his hands hanging down like a wooden man, and the grimace that I didn't know who it was also became wooden, as if he had lost his soul all of a sudden.
What's going on?
I clutched my neck, and crawled back to the door in shock, and suddenly 'Zhang Bin's head was raised again, but instead of grabbing me again, I looked up at the brass bell hanging under the plaque.
"Soul Bell?" He said in surprise, and then wisps of black gas came out of his mouth and eyes uncontrollably.
"Damn, there's such a treasure town here!" He looked terrified, and covered his mouth and nose with his hands to prevent the black gas from coming out, but to no avail.
I watched in amazement as his form quickly dried up, and finally 'Zhang Bin' turned into a pile of rotten aquatic plants, and those black qi converged on the aquatic plants into a pitch-black ghost, which pounced on the copper bell.
"Phew!"
This time, I saw clearly, the copper bell automatically shook without wind, but the sound it made was a loud bell. With a bang, my ears buzzed, as if it was not a brass bell hanging there, but a big bell!
With the sound of the bell, the ghost figure that pounced on it fell to the ground with a hideous face, as if it was crushed by some invisible weight on its back, and struggled for a while to get up.
At this point, I have given up thinking about what is going on, I just want the copper bell to ring again, and wipe out this terrible ghost who doesn't know where it came from.
Maybe it was because I couldn't help the copper bell, but the ghost figure got up and glared at me viciously again, and said with a cruel smile: "Don't think that you can be saved with the soul bell, my life is decided!" ”
"! What do I have to do with you? Seeing that I could not escape, I mustered up the courage to yell at him, and by this time I had fled into the threshold of a piece of paper, and grabbed a spirit banner and held it as a weapon.
"I have no grievances with him, why can he harm me!?" The ghost suddenly let out a terrible laugh, and the voice suddenly changed to another person. The fangs in his mouth became extremely clear, and he pounced on me viciously, "I want you to bury me!" ”
The blue-faced and fanged demon was terrified by I don't know how many times the movie was, and for a moment my brain was blank, and at the same time, I could only wave the weak spirit flag in my hand.
It's an ordinary bamboo pole with two or three blank pieces of paper at the top, and it may be difficult to use it to catch flies, let alone block this menacing evil ghost.
As soon as the spirit banner was struck, it snapped into several pieces with a click, and a foul-smelling wind swept across my face, and the demon's hands grabbed my neck viciously.
The brass bell did not ring again, and I felt extremely hopeless. Just as his hands were about to grab me, he stopped.
What's going on?
I felt that time had frozen for a moment, and I reacted and looked behind the demon, and saw two white figures standing behind the demon, the paper flags in their hands locked firmly on his body like chains.
Is that... Two paper figures?
I saw that standing behind the demon were the same boy and girl I had put at the door when I opened the shop!
The boy is holding a spirit banner in his hand, and the virgin is holding a divine offering tower, which is obviously a paper man, but at this moment he has become a flesh-and-blood boy.
"A piece of paper, a hundred gods guard!"
"Where are the ghosts, come here to make a time?"
The two boys each spoke, one by one, and their voices were childish but a little majestic.
The spirit banner in the boy's hand was pulled, and the evil ghost was dragged backwards, and the virgin's face was like paper, and the two blushes were bright as blood, and she raised her hand to fold the gold paper into an offering tower and threw it over.
"Guarding the Door God!" The demon was really panicked this time, and when he saw this scene, he turned around and wanted to run.
But the virgin's offering pagoda hit him in the back of the heart, and the evil ghost was suddenly smashed into black smoke, and his hideous expression became more and more painful, and finally completely drifted away, leaving only a lingering stench in the air!
I sat on the threshold of a piece of paper in shock, watching all this in amazement, and the outlook on life in my mind was shattered.
After the evil ghost turned into black qi and drifted away, the two boys and girls turned back into paper figures again, the soul lock turned back into an ordinary spirit flag, and the altar of worship also returned to the hands of the virgin.
I pinched my face hard, and the pain confirmed that I wasn't dreaming, and it was all real!
I was almost strangled to death by a demon, and then two paper figures turned into real people and saved me, this ......
No one will believe me when I say this, and I'm sure I'm crazy!
In fact, I also have a feeling that I'm crazy now.
After reacting, I ran out of the 'paper clothes' without thinking, and the only thought was to go home.
But as soon as I stepped out of the threshold of the store, I was thrilled by a cold wind and a foul smell that did not dissipate in the air.
"You have to open at 11 p.m., you have to close at 4 a.m., and you have to stay in the store for five hours!"
The three sentences of Sun Hong's confession seemed to echo in my ears, although I really wanted to get the dead old man back and beat him up, and ask him why he cheated on me.
But right now, I really don't dare to leave my clothes and walk into the dark night outside.
This shop is a shop that will be patronized by ghosts, and Sun Hong must have known it, so he left the soul bell and two paper figures to protect the people watching the store.
In this case, he would have expected me to meet the ghost. However, he still told me to stay in the store, which would probably be even more dangerous if I left!
Thinking of this, I was so excited that I quickly retreated to the dimly lit store. Look at the time, one o'clock in the morning, and a full three hours!
I can't leave a piece of paper, which makes me feel restless, for fear that a dark shadow will suddenly appear at the door, but I have a sense of peace of mind when I see the two paper people at the door.
In the next three hours, there were several waves of guests, and they couldn't tell whether they were people or ghosts. I didn't dare to figure it out, I would take whatever they wanted, and I wouldn't say a word.
Fortunately, there were no more accidents.
It was four o'clock in the morning, and a crisp jingle made me sit up straight on the counter, and the bell rang slowly, echoing on Ximen Street.
I can finally breathe a sigh of relief and get through this horrible night!
As soon as the tense spirit relaxed, the tiredness that had lasted all night swept over.
I was tempted to fall asleep, but I stood up at the thought of the rule that the doors must close at four in the morning.
If you don't follow the rules, you might get into trouble, and I don't dare to joke with my own life.
When Old Man Sun Hong comes back, I will resign immediately!
I walked out of the store, took a deep breath of the fresh morning air, and as I thought so, I carried the wreath into the door.
Nima's dead old man, I knew that this store was haunted, and I wouldn't do it no matter how much I paid!
Put the wreath, and then pick up the boy and the girl one by one. These two saved my life last night, and when I took them, I was very careful in my movements, for fear of breaking them.
Finally, I turned off the sign lights, counted last night's earnings, and locked them in a drawer.
After doing all this, I yawned and turned off the lights and went out, and when I was about to lock the door, a surprised voice came to my ears.
"Lin Shao? What are you doing here? ”
When I heard such a voice, the key in my hand almost trembled, and when I heard this sound a little familiar, I turned my head and saw a beautiful girl standing in front of the inn not far from a piece of paper.
She was looking at me with a look of surprise. And I recognized her, it turned out to be my ex-girlfriend from high school, Lu Jia.
"Lu, Lu Jia? How did you... Over here? "I stammered, I didn't expect to see Lu Jia here.
Love in school is always wonderful, but after graduation, distance and reality can change everything.
I was the same as her, I used to think she would be the only one for me, and the heartache when I saw the text message 'Let's break up' is still fresh in my memory.
I didn't know what expression to use to face her.
"I just came here yesterday and stayed in this hotel." Lu Jia replied, I feel that she is more mature than a few years ago, thinking that this should be the first time we have met in three years, "You... Are you okay? ”
I feel a little embarrassed in my heart, but I shouldn't reminisce too much about the past, it's not good for each other.
I forced a smile and said, "It's okay, except that the university classes are boring." Also, I work part-time at this store to look after the store. Night shift, just got off work, Lu Jia, why did you come to Hulukou? ”
I changed the topic, Lu Jia's expression looked a little gloomy, and she said sadly, "Don't you know? I'm here to say goodbye to Zhang Bin. ”
"Farewell? What to send? "I'm a little confused, Zhang Bin sent me a wedding card the day before yesterday, and last night there was a fake 'Zhang Bin' who almost strangled me, how can it be Zhang Bin who met Lu Jia this morning?
"Didn't you receive the letter?" Lu Jia looked at me suspiciously, "Zhang Bin is dead." ”