Chapter 65: The Teahouse Storyteller
"Meng Po?" Lu Yao stood under the bridge and watched the white-haired old man on the bridge guarding a large bucket of soup, there was a wooden pipe at the bottom of the bucket, and the filled soup bowl automatically floated to the side, and the ghosts picked up the bowl and drank it all.
Occasionally, there are ghosts crying and shouting not to be reincarnated, and they are all pressed by the ghosts at the end of the line, and it is estimated that they will be forcibly poured down for a while.
"Who are you?" The old man looked her up and down and asked suspiciously.
"I know you don't recognize me, did you go to the shroud shop to buy paper money for yourself before you died, or did I tell you how to save it in the underworld."
"You?"
"My friend came down to look for me a few days ago, but you helped him find the yamen of the prefecture."
"I remember, but the last time I saw you, it wasn't like that."
"Granny Meng!" Lu Yao walked on the bridge generously, "Before, I have been borrowing my friend's body to walk in the yang world, and now it is my real body, you naturally can't recognize it." ”
"Oh, I see, I said, how can a young girl know so much about the underworld." Meng Po suddenly realized.
"I'm here this time to thank you, mother-in-law, for helping my friend last time."
"Thank you, if you hadn't helped me in the underworld, how could I have helped you last time in the underworld?" Meng Po smiled.
"Come on, come here, let my mother-in-law take a good look! Yo, this girl is really handsome, it's a pity that she is at such a good age. ”
"Granny Meng, I want to ask you if I have something to do this time." Lu Yao opened his mouth and said.
"Just ask!" Meng Po said with a smile.
Lu Yao looked at the surrounding group of ghosts who were constantly climbing the Nai He Bridge.
"Don't worry, after these guys drank Meng Po soup for a while, until they entered the reincarnation gate, they didn't see or hear anything, and they didn't remember anything." Meng Po comforted her and said.
"Do you know, if I take the clothes of my life, how can I find his soul in the underworld?"
"Souls? The official method is naturally to find it through the Soul Dialect of the Underworld, but it must be approved. ”
"The official way? Is there a folk solution? Lu Yao asked.
"You are asking the right person, I really know that the people do have a way to use it privately." Meng Po said mysteriously.
"What is it?"
"You go to a teahouse called the Anxiety Pavilion in a while, just two streets next door to the underworld, look for the storyteller there, and say I'll let you go to him, and he will tell you what method to use."
"But who are you looking for? If you are reincarnated, you will not be able to find it! ”
"I didn't reincarnate, I should have been punished in hell."
"Hell? Even if you find it, hell is not easy to enter, who are you looking for? ”
Thinking that she would need Meng Po's help in the future, Lu Yao made a long story short and gave a rough idea of the purpose of her visit this time.
"Oh, that's it, but Sanling is not good, my old woman can't help you, take this for you!" As he spoke, he handed out a few gold ingots.
"You'll be in hell in a moment, see if you can take this, let the guards at the door be accommodating, and let you in."
"Mother-in-law, no."
"Take it, in this underworld, money is as useful as the yang world, and now that Lord Yama is not here, maybe they will let you in."
"Thank you, mother-in-law, mother-in-law, if someone from the Yunge Courtyard comes to me in a while, you can tell him that I will go to hell to find someone." Lu Yao said.
"Don't worry, no problem, let's go." Meng Po said kindly.
Lu Yao walked out of the underworld, walked two streets, and finally found the teahouse called the Worry Pavilion at a corner.
The shop of the teahouse is not very big, but after walking in, there is a small courtyard inside, and many ghosts are sitting in the courtyard drinking tea and chatting, which looks very comfortable.
The life in this underworld is really similar to that in the yang. Lu Yao thought to herself.
"What kind of tea would you like to drink, guest?" A young man ran over and greeted him.
"Feel free to come to the most popular one in your store." Lu Yao sat on the empty seat, her fingers constantly tapping on the tabletop.
The guy squinted and saw the ring on her finger.
"Oh, the ghost is a big man, the little one has eyes and doesn't know the new Taishan, I don't know which courtyard you are from?"
"Yunkakuin."
"Yunyun Pavilion, you, wait, wait." The guy swished and disappeared.
In the next second, an old man with a white beard appeared out of thin air and walked over with a smile on his face.
"I don't know if the ghost of the Yunge Courtyard sent the lord to the place, it's really not well received!" The old man waved his hands, so polite.
"It's because I have nothing to do and want to come here for tea." Lu Yao hurriedly explained that she was not here to take advantage.
"Go ahead and give this adult a taste of the freshly picked fragrant dance!" The white-bearded old man commanded.
"Boss, I want to ask, where is your storyteller?"
"Mr. Storyteller? Yes? Mr. Storyteller didn't come today for something. The boss smiled embarrassedly.
"Really didn't come? I'm not here to ask for trouble, I have something very important to ask him. Lu Yao must not have told the truth when she saw the boss's spitting appearance.
"Really."
"Eh, Meng Po also said that she would definitely be able to find him, but I didn't expect it to be so unlucky." Lu Yao sighed and didn't want to drink the tea, so she got up and was about to leave.
"Meng Po?" The boss asked quietly, "Did Meng Po ask you to come?" ”
"Naturally, I just got off the bridge, and the soles of my shoes are still hot." Lu Yao said.
"Okay, please come with me." The boss made a gesture to please.
"I'll bring the tea to you!" He commanded at the man.
The boss led Lu Yao into a small private room in a corner, although it was not spacious, it was unusually bright, and when he looked up, it turned out that there was a touch of moonlight reflected on the roof, which cleaned the entire side hall.
"What is this?"
"It's all illusions, blindfolds, pediatrics." Whitebeard Boss grinned.
"Wait a minute, I'll go get my grandfather over."
"Your grandfather?"
"yes, aren't you looking for a storyteller? Our storyteller is my grandfather. The boss turned around and walked out.
After a while, the boss walked in tremblingly with an old man who looked older than him.
"I heard that a ghost is looking for me, a little old man?" As soon as the old man entered the door, he asked very funny.
"It's me, I have something I want to ask you." Lu Yao said.
"Oh, it's really rare to see such a young female ghost, and I'm full of eyes today, hahaha." The old man continued to quip.
"Recently, the investigation of the underworld is very strict, and my grandfather doesn't dare to come out to tell the story, who made him like to talk about the scandal in the underworld." Whitebeard Boss said as he stood behind him.
"If you hadn't just said that Meng Po called you, I would never have called my old man out!"
"I'm not here to investigate the case for the prefecture, I have some private matters."
"What's a private matter? My old man died at the age of 121 and stayed in the underworld for more than 200 years. I can't count how many ghosts have begged me to do private business. ”
"Why have you been in the underworld for so many years?" Lu Yao asked suspiciously.
"My grandfather practiced during his lifetime, and after his death, he also worked as a ghost messenger for more than 100 years, and then he resigned."
"Huh? Can you still resign? ”
"What's not to do? We signed a 100-year contract, and I didn't want to renew it after 100 years, so I worked for a few more years and left. ”
"Then why didn't you reincarnate?"
"It stands to reason that after the ghost leaves his job, he will be ordered to be reincarnated, but Lord Yama has a good relationship with me, and I used to be his left and right arm, so he turned a blind eye and let him go home to retire."
"Left and right arms? Who were you before? ”
"My grandfather used to be impermanent."
"White Impermanence??? Lu Yao's eyes widened, not at all.
"We, when we used to go out on errands, we had to turn into a terrifying appearance, otherwise we couldn't scare those ghosts and bastards, but in fact, my real appearance is not terrible at all." The old man chuckled.
"That old man, I want to ask you for a favor."
"What's the busy, let's hear it first."
"I have a piece of clothing, and I want to find the soul of the owner of this clothing through this cloth."
"Oh?"
"I didn't want the underworld to know about this, that's why I came to you."
"Soul chasing, it's simple." Whitebeard Boss said.
"However, this favor is not impossible to help!" The old man was a little embarrassed, "It's just that the prefecture has been very strict about this kind of thing recently." ”
"If you have any requests, or if there is anything I can help in the future, you can also come to me!" Lu Yao hurriedly said.
"No, you, as long as you let Meng Po come to our teahouse more often in the future, and come to see my grandson more!" The old man said with his eyebrows fluttering.
"No problem, I have a very close relationship with Meng Po!" Lu Yao saw that things had taken a turn for the better, and hurriedly pulled the relationship.
"Come on, without further ado!" The old man is also a happy person, "Go and bring the soul-chasing candle and the four treasures of the study behind the screen." ”
"Good!" Boss Whitebeard did as instructed and got what he needed.
After a while, the table was full of props, and the old man arranged the three candles in a circle, and the four treasures of the study were spread on the table.
"Bring the fabric of the clothes!"
Lu Yao hurriedly handed it over.
I saw that the old man Bai burned a hole in the three candles in turn with cloth, and after a while, the smoke of the three candles began to condense together and turned into a twisting curve.
The old man took the brush and dipped it in ink, and sketched it on the paper in the shape of the candle smoke, and after a while, the smoke dissipated and returned to its original state, and the old man picked up the paper and glanced at it a few times.
"In the sixth layer of the Bronze Pillar Hell, you take these three candles, follow their smoke to find him in the hell, when the candle is in front of that person, the flame will be extremely high, that is the ghost you are looking for."
"Thank you, Grandpa Bai, thank you boss." Lu Yao picked up the candle and turned around to leave.
"Wait, you'd have to get into the hell gate with me quickly, or you'll have to look for a long time to go back to the Ten Thousand Hells."
Old Man Bai stood up, picked up the ink and sprinkled it on the ground in a circle, "Stand in, girl." ”
Lu Yao obediently stood in the circle.
"Meditate in your heart the level of hell you are going to, and close your eyes."
Lu Yao closed her eyes and kept thinking silently in her heart, and suddenly, the world was spinning, and she only felt top-heavy for a while, and the next moment she had fallen to the hard ground.
She opened her eyes and stood up, there was an endless sea of fire and countless wails in front of her, even if she hadn't done anything wrong, she still couldn't help but tremble when she looked at the scene in front of her.
At this moment, she was standing at one end of a wooden bridge, and at the other end of the bridge there was a large iron gate, the door was full of human heads, they were stuck in the door, their eyes protruded, their pupils were cracked, as if their eyes could fall to the ground at any time, and the bosses with their mouths open could not make any sound.
Lu Yao took a few steps forward, and then he saw clearly that the wooden bridge in front of him was incomplete, only a few pieces of broken wood were built on the bridge, and under the bridge was hot magma, and countless stumps and broken arms were tumbling in the magma.
She was so frightened that she retreated, not knowing how to take the first step.