The night was dark, and the sky was gray.

A wagon dragged its tired body slowly towards a light with a creaking moan.

The light came from a three-way intersection.

At the junction there are five lanterns, which are hung silently from a tall wooden pole like a string of sugar gourds. The bottom one doesn't glow, but when you look closer, it turns out to be an old clay pot used to stabilize the four lanterns on top. The lantern cloth had faded and glowed softly orange in the night sky.

The four lanterns are written from top to bottom with the words "Qiaotou Inn".

A black doorway was faintly visible in the dim light.

This was the door of the inn, and the hole was like the mouth of a monster hidden in the darkness, wide open in the dark, swallowing the long convoy into its stomach one by one.

The inn was even darker. A moving lantern in front leads the way to the carport.

Today, our story begins at this inn.

The inn as a whole is in the shape of a huge "Hui", the outer circle is the carport stable, as well as the men's housing and restaurant, and the inner circle is the guest room, which is a three-story single-sided quadrangle courtyard. There is only one doorway on the ground floor to enter the entire courtyard, and there is only one staircase connecting all three floors, and there is a cloister on each floor.

Entering the carport, the coachmen hurriedly unloaded the cart and untied their horses. After packing everything up, they hurried back to the restaurant.

These people have been bumpy all day, hungry and thirsty, and just want to have a good meal.

Three days ago, they had stayed here for the night, and when they went up the mountain, they had ordered this dinner with the innkeeper Lu.

As soon as they entered the restaurant, they saw two tables full of sumptuous banquets. There are roasted pig's head, stirred tripe, smoked hoof tendons, braised chicken, etc., and then accompanied by various cold dishes, seven plates and eight bowls are piled up on the table.

The coachmen were not humble at all, hurriedly sitting around the dining table, chopsticks touching chopsticks, wine glasses touching wine glasses, fists touching fists, foul language touching swearing, and the mountains and seas in the dark sky ate and drank.

There is a young man with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, named Bai Qingyun, whose name is Yun'er, who looks like he is eleven or twelve years old, dressed in green silk clothes, and has an extraordinary atmosphere. He sat at the dining table, but he didn't seem to be much interested in the mountains of delicacies in front of him, only pulled a bowl of rice indiscriminately, and continued to play with a small pottery toy in his hand.

He is the protagonist of our story, and future stories will gradually unfold with him as the main line.

Next to him sat a young woman named Xiaocui, about eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a lilac cardigan, looking handsome and beautiful. Judging from her frowning expression, it seems that she feels very uncomfortable sitting at this chaotic dining table.

On the seat on the other side of him, there was a young man in his early twenties, dressed in a beautiful blue brocade cotton jacket, with a tall figure, sword eyebrows and starry eyes, and his facial features were as distinct as a knife. He was the owner of this carriage caravan, named Tu Yuankui, nicknamed Tu Yidao. Speaking of the origin of the nickname "Yidao", it is actually very simple, he was originally from a butcher family in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, and followed his adoptive father to set up a stall to sell meat in the early days. Later, his craftsmanship became more and more proficient, and the meat chopped down was never scaled, how much customers needed, and a knife went down, always without a difference, known as "a knife accurate".

The coachmen were foaming at the wine table and speaking vulgarly, making Xiao Cui in the seat look restless.

Tu Yuankui really couldn't see it, so he stood up and dissuaded: "Everyone, can we be more elegant when we drink, just like a showman, and respect ourselves." ”

"How do you drink it?" someone asked.

"Let's guess a poem or something. Tu Yuankui replied.

As soon as the words ended, the other people in the audience suddenly began to shout.

"Pull it down! We're not talents, we don't know a few big characters, can we make that thing?"

"Yes, I think, let's have a good time with fists and drinks!"

"Boss Tu, you don't want us to drink, why do you have to grind so hard?"

"It seems that Boss Tu has married a bride, everything has changed, and we can't eat a piece of it. Hahahaha......"

"Or, how about we make a hole for Boss Tu tonight!?"

"Okay, let's help him round the house tonight......"

As a result, there was a burst of laughter in the restaurant.

This joke made the little green girl blush. She stood up and took Bai Qingyun's hand angrily and floated out like a light breeze.

In fact, there is a reason why Miss Xiaocui has this reaction. To this day, she and Tu Yuankui can't even have a relationship with an unmarried couple, let alone get married. The main reason why she went down the mountain with this convoy was to take care of Yun'er, at least, that's what she thought.

Miss Xiao Cui took Yun'er's hand and left the dining room, diagonally through the dark corridor, and entered the courtyard of the guest room through the lighted doorway.

It's been a tiring day, and she wants to take Yun'er back to her room to rest.

When she stepped into the patio of the guest room, she realized that she had forgotten to bring a lamp with her in her hurry. Although the lights were still on in a few rooms, the light was so faint that only the outline of the windows could be seen through the curtains, like earthy yellow linen paper hanging on the walls in the dark night. Fortunately, there is a lantern on the top of the doorway, and although the light is a little dim, it illuminates everything in the patio, but it is still possible to distinguish the staircase and the cloister.

Miss Xiaocui took Yun'er's hand and was about to go up the stairs, when she suddenly found a black shadow on the top floor flying horizontally along the eaves. As they stared, the shadow slid to the second floor, drifted into the cloister, and vanished.

"Ghosts, there are ghosts!" Bai Qingyun exclaimed loudly.

"Don't talk nonsense!" said the little green girl in a low voice. Although she also saw that dark shadow.

Although she didn't believe that there were ghosts in the world, the black shadow that fluttered and flew away was indeed a little weird. What is it if it's not a ghost? No, I'll have to borrow a light to see what it is.

"Yun'er, stand here and don't move!"

Miss Xiao Cui gave a warning, turned around and walked quickly into the dining room, plucking a candle from the inner candlestick that had just entered. Holding a candle in one hand and a flame in the other, she hurried back.

Bai Qingyun stood in the bright doorway, anxiously waiting for the little cui girl to come out of the dark corridor. Because the little cui girl used her hand to cover the candlelight on her face, the light from the bottom up, illuminating her face gloomy and pale, at first glance like a female ghost wandering in the night, frightened him can't help but be excited.

"Little Sister Cui!" Bai Qingyun called softly.

"Huh?"

Hearing the answer, Bai Qingyun's tense nerves relaxed slightly.

"Follow me!" ordered the little green girl, holding the candle and stepping up the stairs.

Bai Qingyun held his breath and followed closely behind him.

The two cautiously leaned around the corridor on the second floor and stopped around the corner. Judging from their impressions, this is the place where the dark shadow has disappeared.

Around the corner this room has an elm door, newly furnished, unpainted, with a creamy glow in the light.

When she noticed that the elm door was hidden, she walked over lightly, reached out and carefully pushed the door to check it.

The elm door was halfway open with a strange creaking noise, when a dark figure suddenly burst out of it and flew up like a plume of smoke around the cloister columns.