When people are unlucky, they stuff their teeth when they drink cold water.

Xing Ruyi never expected that there was still a water ghost hidden in the fast-drying moat in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is an ancient city, and there is a moat that runs through the city, because it is unattended all the year round, the river water is intermittent, often dry, and it also exudes a foul smell all year round.

The most prosperous section of the moat is the commercial street of Los Angeles, and along the commercial street, there is an old mansion forgotten by the prosperity of the city. Although the house is old, there are young people who can come in and out.

Xing Ruyi left the hospital and took a bus to the commercial street, originally thinking about eating delicious food, seeing the beautiful scenery, changing his mood, and forgetting all the Yin Fox, Gao Lu and those messy things. When the sun rises tomorrow, she will be the little copywriter in the company who is in a daze with the computer and blank documents.

Maybe it's been too long since I've tasted these delicacies in the shopping street, and after only nibbling on two freshly grilled lamb skewers, I feel sick to my stomach for a while, and I gurgle and scream.

The public toilets in the shopping street are located by the moat. It is said to be a public toilet, but it is actually very simple, there is not even a lighting fixture in it, and the window is directly opened with a large hole, on which a few steel wires are welded at will. Behind the toilet is the moat that smells fishy all year round.

This place will only feel dirty when you come in during the day, and it will have an eerie feeling at night. For example, now, Xing Ruyi felt a whirlwind in the back of his head, and a creepy feeling came up with some strange sound of running water in the public toilet. Through the lights of the commercial street outside, I faintly saw water bubbling out of one of the squatting seats.

Xing Ruyi felt strange, so he turned his head sideways and glanced at the squatting position, but the figure didn't see it, but he heard a ghost talking to himself.

"Damn, why did I drown in this broken river, if I had changed places, I might have found a stand-in long ago."

Drowned, stand-in.

Xing Ruyi silently pinched a cold sweat, and said in his heart that he had met a water ghost in folklore.

She didn't care that her stomach was still hurting for a while, grabbed her mobile phone, tiptoed out of the public toilet, and as soon as she arrived at the door, she felt a particularly unpleasant smell rushing towards her, followed by a dwarf who was covered in black, but his face was white and he had a big red tongue.

"I didn't see it, I didn't see it."

Xing Ruyi closed his eyes and thought in his heart.

"Alone!" It was the excited voice of the dwarf: "I'll go, it's really a person." ”

"I didn't hear it, I didn't hear anything."

Xing Ruyi rubbed his ears and turned sideways with the action of rubbing his ears, intending to squeeze out from the dwarf ghost. Just as she was about to act, the back of her neck suddenly felt cold, and she looked back, only to see the dwarf ghost blowing cold air on her neck.

"Sure enough, it's a ghost, but it's fast enough."

She still pretended not to see it, but pulled her collar a little higher.

The dwarf does not give up, turns to her right and continues to blow.

Although Xing Ruyi was not clean, he couldn't stand the particularly stinky smell that came out of the mouth of the dwarf ghost. She frowned, turned her head, and said to the dwarf who was bent on blowing, "Are you stupid?" I can't even look for a stand-in, no wonder I have been nested in this stinky ditch for so many years. ”

"Can you see me?"

"I can see it."

"Can you really see me?" The dwarf seemed particularly pleased: "The legendary yin and yang eyes? Great, you don't know, I've been dead for so long, and it's the first time I've met someone who can see me. What is your name? Where do you live? ”

Xing Ruyi frowned.

"Don't be afraid, although I am a ghost, although I want to find a stand-in, I am not going to harm you now. Can you talk to me? You don't know, it's crazy to stay alone for so many years. ”

"You've always been alone?"

"It's not like that, if there is another person, even if there is another ghost, I will feel that this day is not so difficult." The dwarf leaned against the wall in frustration, and the dark shadow flickered: "You don't even know how unlucky I am. ”

"When did you die?"

"I don't remember, anyway, there are not fifty years, there are sixty years. At that time, it was not as lively outside as it is now, and the river was nowhere near as smelly as it is now. The dwarf fell into the memory: "I remember, it's dusk." That day, I had just followed my aunt to meet the person she had introduced me, a pretty good-looking girl. We talked for a long time, and we felt that we had the same interests and hobbies, and we both had the intention of continuing to develop contact. Maybe it's because the blind date went so smoothly, so when I came back from cycling, I got a little carried away. ”

The dwarf said, pointing not far away: "Oh, you saw the stone bridge over there, right?" At that time, it was not as broken as it is now, but the road surface was still a little potholed. If it were normal, I wouldn't have paid attention to the potholes at all. But that day, I was so happy, and this happiness was not steady when I was riding. The car crashed into the guardrail next to the bridge, and the people were carried into the river.

At that time, there was still water in the river, not deep, but not shallow either. I remember that I was planted headfirst down, and I can't remember anything after that. Anyway, by the time I woke up, I had become a water ghost in the river.

What I say cannot be heard by others, and what I call cannot be heard by others. Of course, they couldn't see me. ”

"You're just going to stay there?"

"What if you don't stay all the time?" The head of the dwarf hung down: "To tell you the truth, when I first became a ghost, I actually thought it was quite fun. Think about it, I can see them, but they can't see me, so I play pranks after them. Sometimes it's behind the child, sometimes it's behind the old man, sometimes it's behind the good-looking little girl. I swear, I just played a prank and didn't do anything I shouldn't do.

Later, the prank also got tired. After all, people can't see you. Slowly, I became more and more silent, sitting on the bridge all day, watching people come and go like a fool. At the end of the day, there's a bit of idleness. ”

"Don't you know that water ghosts can find stand-ins?"

"Yes." The dwarf nodded, but said a little embarrassedly: "When I didn't die, I heard about it, and I saw a lot of ghost stories like this. However, it is known that the specific implementation method is not very clear. For example, how do you find this stand-in? How can I make her or him my stand-in? ”

"Don't look at me like that, I don't know."

The dwarf was amused: "Look, it's not just that I'm stupid, if this thing rests on your head, you probably will be like me, a headless fly." ”

"And what are you going to do?"

"You ask me?" The dwarf shook his head: "I don't know, just stay like this, anyway, I've been in this stinky ditch for decades, if you really want to change places for me, I don't think I'm used to it." ”

As he was talking, he suddenly heard someone shouting for help, Xing Ruyi ran out to take a look, and saw a person on the stone bridge bent over, with a child in his hand. The child was holding a sugar gourd in his hand, and his whole body was suspended under the bridge. The child was frightened and cried profusely. It should be his father who grabbed his hand, and he desperately shouted to the child, so that the child must not move, do not move. But the more the father spoke, the more frightened the child became, and the more his legs kicked in mid-air. Just as everyone reached out to pull the child up, the father's hand was weak, and the child screamed and fell into the sewage.

Xing Ruyi glanced at the side, and the dwarf ghost didn't know when it was gone.

According to the ghost story, the child who fell into the water is most likely a stand-in for the dwarf. Just when she was worried about the fate of the child, the child was suddenly lifted out of the mud and was pulled up by the people on the shore.

Everyone thought that the child could be saved because the water in the moat was shallow, and only Xing Ruyi knew that the child was rescued by a dwarf.

"Do you regret it?" Xing Ruyi walked to the river and looked at the dwarf who was wiping mud with his hands.

He was a ghost, and the mud on his face was actually an illusion in his heart. With this wipe, his face was all clean. It's a boy with big eyes, a simple smile, some warmth, and some cuteness.

"Regret what? Saving a life is better than creating a seventh-level floating slaughter. ”

"If you don't save him, he may become your stand-in and stay in this filthy moat for you."

"Forget it, such a young child must be stupider than me." The dwarf smiled: "This long loneliness and loneliness, not to mention a child, even an adult man like me will find it difficult." Besides, he still has his parents, if he is gone, how sad his parents will be and how much they blame themselves. I'm used to this river, and if I stay for a few more decades, it's nothing. ”

"You're a good guy."

"I'm just a stupid dwarf."

Xing Ruyi looked at the dwarf, and the dwarf looked at Xing Ruyi, and both one person and one ghost laughed.

The commercial street is still bustling, and the accident just now seems to be just an accident. When he got up to leave, the dwarf asked, "Will you still come to the shopping street?" ”

Xing Ruyi nodded: "Yes, there are so many delicious foods here, and there are so many fun ones." On top of that, there's a friend here who needs me to talk to. ”

"What's your name?"

"Ruyi, my name is Ruyi."

"My name is Orchid City, the orchid of orchids, the city of the city." The dwarf sat on the broken fence by the river: "Next time you come, bring me some clothes." ”

Xing Ruyi made an "OK" gesture, Lan Cheng shook his legs happily, and the black mud on his body slowly disappeared.

At the end of the commercial street, Xing Ruyi met the fox who was deliberately standing there, she twisted her eyebrows, and wanted to pretend not to see it, but she was blocked by him first.

"Mr. Yin, please get out of the way."

"My name is Yin Chensi."

"I don't care what you call it." Xing Ruyi stepped back: "I remember I said, goodbye, never again." ”

"I know, but I can't help it." The fox stretched out his hand, and in the palm of his hand was a bottle of medicine for stomach upset: "Your stomach, you can't eat those things, it will hurt." ”