"Young man, what are you doing?"

An old beggar said with a grin to the young man standing on the viaduct.

This young man is mediocre in appearance, dressed as an urban white-collar worker.

"Don't come here, I'm going to jump!"

Under the viaduct is a large river, the river is so turbulent that even a car will disappear in an instant.

It turned out that he was going to commit suicide by jumping into the river, but the old beggar had no intention of persuading him, and still stood there with a hippie smile.

"Seeing that you are only in your early twenties, what can't you think about, is it a bad career or a betrayal by a friend? Or is it that the woman ran away with someone? ”

The young man's eyes suddenly turned into lanterns, and his declining appearance gave the answer directly, and he hit all three things the old beggar said.

Li Chenfeng, who grew up in an orphanage, founded a small company of his own through his own efforts, with millions of savings, he met a beautiful woman a year ago, and then got engaged to her, and his love and career were both harvested, it can be said that he is really on the pinnacle of life that a man dreams of.

But in less than half a year, he fell from this peak, and the higher he climbed, the worse he fell, and he almost fell to his death.

His best friend not only brought him a green hat, but also ran away with his woman with his money, lacking capital turnover, the company went bankrupt, and Li Chenfeng also owed millions of debts.

Often the more smooth sailing in life, the more people can't withstand the blows, and in the end he chooses to end it all with death.

"You're a fortune teller?" Li Chenfeng looked a little surprised.

"I used to work it, but now I'm a freelancer, mostly begging for food rations on the street."

"Okay, why don't you stay there on this big night, don't hinder Lao Tzu from jumping into the river."

"Just like you, dare to jump?"

The young man suddenly became angry, "Do you see if Lao Tzu dare!" ”

As he spoke, he took a few steps forward, the sky was overcast, and there was a strong wind blowing on the river, and the young man felt that his body could not stand a little, and he trembled his legs and retreated.

The old man laughed twice, and the young man, perhaps feeling a little uncomfortable on his face, took two steps forward.

It seemed that he was really about to jump, and then the old man said, "It's going to rain soon, I think you might as well stop jumping, let's find a place to have a good drink." ”

Li Chenfeng looked at the old beggar cowardly, and then frowned. "Are you kidding Lao Tzu? I don't care about you. ”

The old beggar smiled and said, "Okay, I'm not bored with myself, if you really want to jump, see what is in the river first." ”

Li Chenfeng subconsciously looked into the river, and saw hundreds of blue fluorescent faces in the deep river looking at him, like a hungry beast waiting to be fed.

Li Chenfeng was frightened for a short time, "Damn, what the hell!" ”

The old beggar glanced into the river, then smiled habitually.

"How's it going, are you still jumping?"

"What the hell is this?"

"Water ghosts, haven't you heard of them, they always want to pull people into the water, and they are naturally more willing to take the initiative to send them to the door like you."

Li Chenfeng used to live in an orphanage in a remote area, so he had heard stories about water ghosts since he was a child, and they liked to drag people into the water and drown them alive. One of his playmates when he was a child went to the river to bathe in the summer and disappeared, and later it was said in the orphanage that the child was taken away by the water ghost, so the water ghost became the shadow of Li Chenfeng's childhood.

"But," he said in a trembling voice, "But...... Why are there so many. ”

These things obviously scared him out of his mind.

"The more people die, the more ghosts there are, like murder thrown into the river, unfortunately drowning, and fools like you who want to kill themselves, accumulated over the years, this number is also normal. The most important thing is that ordinary ghosts can enter hell and reincarnation, but water ghosts cannot, so the water ghosts in this river only increase. ”

"But why don't I usually see it, I live in this neighborhood, and I have to pass this viaduct every day to work."

"Of course ordinary people can't see it, if everyone can see these things, what kind of chaos will this world become? But it's different when you're with me now, and I want you to see it. ”

Li Chenfeng walked down from the viaduct, frowned and said, "Who are you?" ”

"I said I'm a freelancer, and I've done a lot of things, so I know a little bit about catching ghosts and reading hexagrams. I think you're a good young man, so I want to find a place to talk to you, of course, if you still want to jump from somewhere, I won't stop you, so it will save trouble for Lord Yama, and you will have no effect on the old Hanako if you float in that big river for eight hundred years. ”

After saying that, he turned around and left, Li Chenfeng stood in place and was stunned, and finally followed.

Off the street, taverns.

"I said, young man, you're only in your early twenties, don't you think it's worthless to jump into the river for women and money?"

Li Chenfeng said with a sad face: "What can I do, I have no father and no mother since I was a child, and I have already had enough of the hardships in the orphanage, and now that my life is finally getting better and I encounter such a thing, I really can't help it......" After speaking, he picked up the wine glass and drank it all.

The old beggar shook his head and sighed. "Bitterness will naturally come willingly, isn't it money and women, just ask Hanako to give it to you."

Li Chenfeng looked like he couldn't drink alcohol, and his whole face turned red as soon as a glass of white wine went down, and then he smirked and said, "Come on, you're all mixed up like this, give me money and women?" ”

"No, no, no, it's my willingness to keep Hanako like this, and I'm not interested in women."

"Look at you're almost eighty, of course you're not interested in women."

The old beggar smiled and said, "Say whatever you want, although I have no money and no woman, but I can let you have it, as long as you promise to be my apprentice who is always called Hanako, I will give you money and women."

Li Chenfeng filled another glass of wine, "It's the same as the truth." ”

"Anyway, you're all like this now, so what's the matter with trying, if you really can't do it, you just have to think of a way to commit suicide."

Li Chenfeng smiled sarcastically, "Okay, what do you have to do to become your apprentice?" ”

"You don't need to kowtow to the teacher or any ceremony, as long as you agree from the bottom of your heart. What is your name? ”

"Li Chenfeng."

"Okay, Li Chenfeng, I'm asking you now, are you willing to be my old apprentice called Hanako?"

Li Chenfeng suddenly had a magical feeling, although the old beggar said that the apprentice did not need any ceremony, but his question at the moment seemed to be more solemn than any ceremony.

He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and said with a serious expression, "I am willing to be your apprentice." ”

In the next second, time seemed to freeze, and the two did not move for a long time.

At last the old beggar finally smiled and said, "Okay, you are now my apprentice, I will grant your wish, and the woman and the money will be given to you." ”

At this time, the old beggar took out a purple-black lacquered wooden box and handed it to Li Chenfeng, saying that this was a meeting gift from the master to the apprentice, and then he handed Li Chenfeng a hand-drawn map, saying that Li Chenfeng could get what he wanted as long as he reached the location marked on the map.

On the way home, Li Chenfeng looked at the map by the street lamp and found that the destination was in a place called Sanhe Village in the mountains of Yunnan.

Then he looked at the purple lacquered wood sunspot, which was carved with many strange patterns and words, similar to the patterns drawn by the fortune tellers on the runic paper on the street. Li Chenfeng thought that the old beggar could catch ghosts and tell fortunes, which was not strange.

He slowly opened the box, only to see that it contained something the size of an egg, it was golden all over, and it was emitting golden light outward, could it be a golden egg?

Li Chenfeng said to himself while smiling: "If this is really a golden egg, it should be able to exchange a lot of money if you sell it." ”

Just as he was complacent, the golden egg gradually moved, and it was slowly trembling, like a chick about to hatch.

Suddenly, it began to spin, and then jumped up, and happened to fall into Li Chenfeng's laughing mouth.

Li Chenfeng suddenly felt that something was wrong, and when he reacted, the golden egg had already entered his stomach, and then he felt as if his body was ignited by a flame, and it was extremely hot.

He fell to the ground and began to roll, the burning sensation growing stronger, and then a suffocating sensation hit his chest. He felt like he was going to die, and the pain seemed to be ten times greater than death, but there was nothing he could do but endure at the moment. He lay on the side of the street like a dead man, and after about ten minutes, the sensations in his body began to ease, and after half an hour everything was back to normal, as if nothing had happened.

He slowly got up from the ground, looked at the map in his hand, and suddenly had an urge to tear it off, but after thinking about it, he was a little unwilling, and finally he still put the map into his trouser pocket.

At this point, he only has two ways to choose, the first is to continue to jump into the river to commit suicide, and the second is to be hacked to death by debt collectors.