Chen Qingniu knocked twice before the door opened.

Xiao Zhu stood inside the door, obviously thinking about keeping the enemy out of the country.

Chen Qingniu's kung fu of observing words and expressions can be described as the peak, and he could see at a glance that the girl was trying her best to hide her nervousness, and he had no choice but to think of a quick decision, handed her the exquisite money bag painted with auspicious clouds and Hague, and said bluntly: "These broken silvers are the expenses of the next month, if it is not enough, you and Sister Xie will inform you, if there is a surplus, it will be your reward." ”

She took the money bag and subconsciously asked, "The general is not afraid that the slave and maid will be greedy for silver?"

Chen Qingniu laughed and said, "What is this bit of silver?" ”

She frowned without a trace, but quickly smiled, "The slave is grateful for the general's trust. ”

Chen Qingniu waved his hand and was about to turn around and leave.

She hesitated, gritted her teeth, squeezed out a smile, and asked tentatively: "Would you like the general to come in and sit down?" Some of the tea cakes I bought in late spring last year ......

Chen Qingniu grinned and said, "Okay." ”

She sighed quietly, a little regretful.

She had no choice but to welcome Chen Qingniu into the main house and pour a cup of tea.

The house is not small, but the objects in the house are not valuable, but from the "Huaiyuan Hall" red sandalwood plaque hanging in the middle hall, as well as the old Huanghuali Eight Immortals table, it can be seen that the family background of the old owner of this house must have been good at the beginning.

Her sister Xiaowu quickly walked out of a side room, and after entering the lobby, she gave a blessing to her side, and then stood beside her sister.

Chen Qingniu drank tea and chatted without a word.

I learned that this house was left by my sister's ancestors, and it has a history of 100 years.

Slowly drinking the tea that I don't know whether it is good or bad, Chen Qingniu is very sad that he refuses to raise his buttocks, after half an hour of getting along, Xiaowu does not like to be close to the living, does not like words, has an introverted temperament, when looking at people, his eyes are slightly cold, both born and influenced by the acquired environment, which is in physiognomy, is a person with weak lust, and is more suitable for practice. On the contrary, my sister Xiaozhu, who has more contact with the world, is more lively, and when she talks to Chen Qingniu, she looks directly at her, and her face is normal, not like her sister's eyes are low, and her long eyelashes are like a curtain on the door, separated from the inside and outside of the house.

Before, after Chen Qingniu stepped into the courtyard, the sound of reading in the wing room was gone.

Reading Lang didn't show up from beginning to end.

Chen Qingniu finally got up and left, and Xiao Zhu, who was relieved, sent it to the door, looked at the back of the young general, and quietly wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

Back in his yard, Chen Qingniu's puppet in his sleeve was five hundred years old, and he was naturally very familiar with people's feelings, so he climbed down his sleeve and sat on his shoulder, and said: "I found that you are quite a bodhisattva, so it makes people feel relieved, what's the matter, is it that you look at other people's little girls?"

Chen Qingniu didn't bother to take care of this stubble.

It reluctantly said: "I said yes, sister Huayo." ”

Chen Qingniu smiled bitterly: "I think you, it's more pleasing to the eye when you sat on the branch of the old locust tree." ”

————

As soon as twilight fell, Old Man Pei came to invite Chen Qingniu to drink.

It's past the point of eating, and naturally it can only be flower wine.

And leaving so early, Chen Qingniu, who grew up in the Qinglou since he was a child, easily deduced that this Brother Pei must be shy in his pocket, and he is not a frequent visitor to Goolan Fat Powder, so he is worried that if he goes late, he will not have a girl to accompany him, and he will be embarrassed by then. Chen Qingniu really didn't have the idea of going to sit in the flowers, and of course he didn't want Old Man Pei to slap his swollen face and become fat, so he proposed to find a nearby wine shop to drink a little wine, which was enough. Old man Pei was relieved, patted his thigh, and said that there was really a good place to go, and then smiled playfully, gave Chen Qingniu a thumbs up, and didn't speak, making Chen Qingniu stunned.

Out of the back lane, three turns around the corner, the old man Pei led the walk less than two miles, Chen Qingniu saw a font smeared gold wine tricks, strange, "the fairy drunk", business is booming, five or six wine tables in the wine shop are full of drinkers, like to shout loudly, often mixed with the title of "Hu Niangzi", until Chen Qingniu approached, only to find that the woman who sold wine on the street was particularly enchanting, and the mother of the prancing horse city grasshopper was actually quite beautiful, which can be called the national color and fragrance.

It would be strange if business could not be good.

Old man Pei does not have a high status in the military town office, but it does not mean that he has no power in the iron stele military town, in fact, the old man Pei, who is in charge of half of the money and grain of the main government office, is the god of wealth in this city, so when the female shopkeeper saw Lord Pei coming to the cold house, her already charming smile became more and more attractive, and the range of twisting of the slender waist seemed to be quietly much larger, Sitting between "General Chen" and "Brother Pei", sitting opposite Xie Shiji, she skillfully poured wine, first to General Chen and then to Pei Caishen, first to do it for respect, not to say, a drink is three cups in a row, full of sincerity, full of courage, not a drop of water.

Chen Qingniu had heard of the great name of this lady in the post house of Ma Weijun Town, and her reputation was so great that it was only higher than the head of the iron tablet general Wu.

Old man Pei said that Hu Niangzi is a blessed woman, and her son is seven or eight years old, and he is already able to write Spring Festival couplets for his own family, and he is a famous little prodigy in Tiebei Military Town.

Hu Niangzi also smiled and said that of course, her cub will go to Beijing to take the exam and then take the top prize, the woman also joked that she had measured the words and calculated the hexagram in the stall in the east of the city, and Mr. said that her life belonged to the first half of the ups and downs, and the second half of her life would be able to enjoy the happiness of her son with peace of mind.

Chen Qingniu looked at the smiling lady, the plump woman, the years are not forgiving after all, no matter how beautiful the woman is, it is difficult to hide the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes after all.

She laughed and drank with her, humble and flattering, only when she talked about her son, at that moment, she was like the luckiest woman in the world, happier than the queen.

So Chen Qingniu suddenly became sad, no matter how depressed he was, no matter how he hid, he couldn't drink calmly, and in the end, his eyes were red, so he had to quickly lower his head and drink hard, and the empty wine glass was reluctant to put it down.

Old man Pei was busy drinking and didn't notice it.

Fortunately, the woman was also busy persuading the God of Wealth to drink, and she didn't seem to pay attention.

Xie Shiji, who was sitting like a hill, just silently ate a plate of sauced beef, did not drink alcohol, and did not speak.

When it was time to settle the bill, the woman didn't want wine money, and the old man Pei didn't bother to care, only Chen Qingniu smiled and took out a golden bean, and gently put it on the wine table near her, saying that if he didn't collect money, he wouldn't dare to come to the wine shop to satisfy his hunger in the future, and he lived close to him, so he had to come often, and it was inevitable that there would always be a credit in the future, and he would ask the proprietress to agree when the time came.

The woman had no choice but to accept it, but in the end, she gave Chen Qingniu two pots of fine bamboo leaves, and Chen Qingniu did not refuse.

Chen Qingniu asked Old Man Pei not to send it, a matter of a few steps.

Old man Pei felt that the friendship between the two was almost over, and if he added firewood, he might have to go too far, so he didn't insist. Of course, Old Man Pei really didn't dare to go to the gloomy back alley again, especially at night, although the wine was strong and intimidating, but Old Man Pei drank tonight, and it seemed that he was drunk and drunk, but in fact, with his mass, it was still early to drink high from Lao Tzu's wine fairy realm, which Lao Tzu was not afraid of.

Standing outside the wine shop together, looking at the backs of the master and servant gradually drifting apart, the woman brushed her sideburns and asked softly: "Master Pei, take the liberty of asking, what kind of family is this son? It saves me from running errands and affecting Master Pei. ”

The old man pouted, "I can't see through it, I only know that it is the young general who was appointed by the Liangwang Mansion to serve in our iron monument, and his temper is quite good, as for whether it is a scene of kung fu and a small belly chicken intestine inside, Brother Pei doesn't dare to pat his chest to guarantee anything, Hu Niangzi, my brother is so blind to you, you don't want to see your brother, I don't mind if you bring a drag oil bottle, my opinion is different from that of the laity, buy one get one free, it is earned......"

The old man teased while smiling and stretched out his hand, about to touch the woman's hand, the latter slapped the old man's paw away, and glared at him naturally charmingly, "Master Pei, I respect you so much!"

The old man raised his eyebrows, and said with a foolish smile: "What do you want respect for unmarried men and unmarried women, brother, I can't wait for you to disrespect me at all......"

The woman turned and walked away, and said angrily, "It's not serious!"

The old man laughed, not at all annoyed.

A young scholar in poor clothes but with a poetic and scholarly atmosphere passed by Chen Qingniu Xie Shiji, without squinting, carrying an empty wine jug, and walked straight towards the wine shop.

Old man Pei picked his teeth with a thin bamboo stick, staggered away, and there were two more white porcelain wine jugs around his waist.

The scholar glanced at the old man Pei, who was not forgetting to ask for benefits before leaving, his face was displeased, and he handed the wine jug to Hu Niangzi, the old rule was to buy a pound of apricot blossoms, and asked in a low voice: "Sister Hu, are the people from the General's Mansion here to eat and drink again?"

Hu Niangzi smiled: "If it weren't for these officials and masters who had said hello, how could I have beaten those ruffians and hooligans." ”

The cold man wanted to speak and stopped, and a thousand words turned into a sigh, his face full of self-deprecation, "It's useless to be a scholar." ”

Hu Niangzi smiled, hooked two small corners of wine from the wine urn, almost every time it was overflowing, so this catty of wine, the amount was quite enough, inserted the wine pot stopper, handed it back to the young man, the woman smiled softly: "Look at the complexion, the wind and cold of the prince are much better." ”

Han Shi nodded and said: "If it weren't for Sister Hu to help me call the doctor, this life would have been rested on the iron tablet, and the grace of saving my life could not be repaid......

The woman couldn't stand the scholar's words of gratitude, so she had to interrupt him and remind: "Whoever saves lives or doesn't save lives will be helped." Wang Gongzi, the wind at this time is still frozen, you hurry home to recuperate, after the summer, you can go out and walk around more, and then I will invite Wang Gongzi to drink. ”

The Han Shi didn't seem to grasp the delicate mood of the drunken lady at all, and nodded with a pedantic smile.

Chen Qingniu glanced back at the young Hanshi.

The green shirt that was washed a little white, the young scholar was facing the street, pulled out the stopper, shook the wine jug gently, looked down and smelled, apricot blossom spring, a pound of three cents of silver, the young scholar closed his eyes, his face was full of intoxication.

————

When he and Xie Shiji approached Huitou Alley, Chen Qingniu was almost startled, and he didn't know who shouted the word "good" at him, and the ground was like thunder, his voice was high, and he was full of energy.

First, there was an abrupt "Good!"

Then there was a half-song and half-roar, with a strange tone, "No need to kowtow, you take three steps back!"

Chen Qingniu stood in place, carrying a jar of wine and half a catty of secret sauce beef in his hand, and stopped to look.

It turned out that on the bluestone steps in front of the temple, there was a middle-aged man in a shabby robe, sewing and mending, and his two fingers were close together like an iron halberd, pointing straight at Chen Qingniu.

The middle-aged Taoist had blazing eyes, one arm stretched out, five fingers clenched, and continued to shout: "Yes! If you rap again, I will step forward and whip!"

The old monk, who was sweeping the floor at the entrance of the temple, sighed softly, a little helpless.

Chen Qingniu blinked, and for a while he didn't understand what this Taoist priest was going to do.

Xie Shiji stepped forward.

The middle-aged Taoist priest suddenly moved his Adam's apple slightly, and swallowed his saliva.

However, he still had the courage to muster up his courage, put his hands behind his back, looked up at the sky, walked down the steps step by step, and sang loudly, "The Taoist Academy has cultivated a thousand-year-old cypress, and the Xuandu has been planted with a pine for ten thousand years." The blessed land has the sun in the sky, and Taihe is everywhere in spring!"

This is a bit similar to the Buddha's wit, stick, and verse, enlightenment poems.

Chen Qingniu had only heard of it before, and he had experienced it personally, but it was the first time he had experienced it, so he was a little confused.

Chen Qingniu turned his head and asked: "What's going on, it's not like it's a roadblock and a robbery, right? It should also be 'I opened this mountain, I planted this tree', huh? Do you think I have a bone understanding? The problem is that this guy is not a master." ”

Xie Shiji looked intently, and didn't knock out any clues that something was wrong.

Chen Qingniu thought about it very carefully, and at this moment, the middle-aged Taoist just walked to the bottom of the steps, glanced at Chen Qingniu lightly, and then climbed the stairs and chanted to himself, "There is a good manner, and the demons are frightened." There is no door to enter, who knows the law through the sky. ”

The sweeping monk shook his bald head and walked into the temple.

Chen Qingniu nodded, thoughtfully, approaching the temple, but he didn't stop, and walked straight to the depths of Huitou Alley.

The middle-aged Taoist was stunned, touched his empty belly, and sighed, "It's hard to change your style." ”

When the middle-aged Taoist raised his feet and crossed the threshold, he said weakly: "It's not easy to wait for the rabbit." ”

Out of the corner of his eye, the Taoist caught a glimpse of the old monk cleaning the courtyard, as if he was about to speak, and immediately shouted angrily: "Shut up, bald donkey! Don't knock on wooden fish with poor Dao! When the Taoist and the gods talked about the Great Dao of Eternal Life, you bald donkey still wore open crotch pants!"

Probably accustomed to the rampant dominance of middle-aged Taoists, the old monk shook his head slightly, his face was helpless, and he whispered: "Blind is the fire in the heart, which can burn the merit forest ......"

The middle-aged Taoist raised his eyebrows, "Old bald donkey, what bad things are you saying about Daoye?!"

The old monk held a broom, folded his hands, and saluted: "Amitabha." ”

The Taoist rolled his eyes, took out a yellowed and wrinkled book, dipped his fingers in saliva, turned the page with withered yellow leaves, held the book in one hand and carried it in the other, paced in the corridor under the eaves, and slowly recited: "The boy can't be awakened in the middle of the night, and the tiger is high and the moon is high." ”

"Not bad, yes, this sentence has momentum and can bluff people!"

"Dao Gao Dragon Tiger Fu, Dezhong Ghost God Qin!"

"This sentence is excellent, but it's a pity that Longhu Mountain is monopolized, if it is borrowed indiscriminately, I am afraid it is easy to be seen through by pious pilgrims at a glance, what a pity!"

The old monk remained silent.

When Chen Qingniu arrived at the end of the alley, he found that the maidservant Xiaozhu was waiting at the door of the house, and it seemed that she had been waiting for a long time.

Chen Qingniu walked up to her and handed out the sauced beef wrapped in oil paper, "I have eaten dinner, I should have told you in advance, I can't help but make you wait so long." This bag of sauce meat should be reparated. ”

She refused to ask for it at first, but Chen Qingniu insisted, and she finally had to accept it.

She may have a feeling that a weasel is giving a New Year's greeting to a chicken, but Chen Qingniu didn't bother to care about this, and asked with a smile: "Why is there both a Taoist priest and a monk in that temple?"

As soon as the girl heard this, she was energetic, and said with a smile: "That temple has been abandoned for decades, probably when I was born, an old monk came, it was a temple blessing, and then a Taoist priest came, and the two began to fight for territory, in fact, there is nothing to fight for, the temple is not a temple, the Taoist temple is not a Taoist temple, and there is no incense all year round." When my sister was a child, she liked to go there to play, and she liked the old monk a little more, and the Taoist priest was always chattering, and whoever passed by the temple had to babble a few words that no one could understand, and I didn't like it very much. So for so many years, I haven't spoken to that Taoist priest. ”

————

As the night deepened, Chen Qingniu sat on the stone bench, his lips moving slightly.

It's just the simplest trick to conjuring spirits, like saying hello to someone on the road.

This trick summons most of the spirits and ghosts in the world.

Of course, it's best not to use it casually.

However, the legend has it that the real magic of the soul trick can be said to follow the law, and those who sit in the mountains and rivers are called to the front of the body, and in a short period of time they are like their own servants and maids.

Chen Qingniu was greedy for the magic method, and he did not study it in depth, and the eight heavenly dragons in his body had been making slow progress, so compared to the major cultivation of the gods and demons, it was naturally 108,000 miles behind.

On the wall on the north side of the small courtyard, soon the ghost shadow was longing, the wind was gusting, and there were faint whispers and laughter.

Chen Qingniu looked up and frowned. According to the handmaid Xiaozhu, the big house on the north side of the wall, the owner is one of the few big families in Tiebei Military Town, with a strange origin, rarely showing his head, only knowing that the owner is a good man surnamed He, and most of the water and land dojos in Tiebei City in the past ten years are funded by that family.

Chen Qingniu said softly: "According to the principle of first come, first come, I shouldn't have said anything, but since everyone lives next to each other, it is also fate, even if it is not a good fate, it is always better to fall into a bad fate, so it is best to say some ugly things in front, if you feel that the words are not listened to......"

Chen Qingniu paused for a moment and said with a smile: "Then I should be making rules." ”

Above the wall, laughter came and went.

Chen Qingniu also laughed: "I will live in this courtyard for a year or two at most, and I will not live permanently, whether I am here or not, you can enter and exit the courtyard at will, this is not in the way, but with the door of the main house as the boundary, you are not allowed to cross the boundary without permission, and I will never step into your jurisdiction." If the water from the wells on both sides does not interfere with the river water, you are the river, and I am just the well, how about it?"

The wall seemed to be discussing the matter.

Soon there was another burst of sarcastic laughter.

Chen Qingniu just said: "The words have been made clear, believe it or not, listen to it or not, it's up to you." ”

The painted puppet sitting on the edge of the stone table hesitated for a moment and reminded in a low voice: "The land of barbarians, the place of the ghost domain, the two have commonalities, and they are both afraid of power and virtue. We have so many treasures on us, if we spoil even one of those things, even if your family has a big business, don't feel distressed, I feel distressed!"

Chen Qingniu frowned, looked around, and did not speak.

This house belongs to a large courtyard with a large area, not a pattern facing north and south, the main house is the east room, the north and south wings, of which the north wing room is changed to the stove room and the sundries room, Xie Shiji lives in the south wing.

Chen Qingniu didn't go straight to the main house, but pushed open the door of the side room, asked Xie Shiji to open the slightly larger bag, and asked casually, "Can you see the roots and feet of the yin over there?"

The puppet in his sleeve stood on the table and said disdainfully: "There is a fox smell, I don't believe you can't smell it." ”

Chen Qingniu smiled: "It's just a matter of making sure." ”

On the other side of the large mansion on the north wall, it is obvious that it is a fox den that is not common today.

Fox, the demon of the world, this thing is closest to people.

Historically, Nanzhan Buzhou did have a strange period of "no fox charm, no village", "there are fox fairies everywhere, and people are neighbors", which is about three or four hundred years.

So that many of the strange novels that are popular in the market today, fox spirits are still common, most of them are transformed into adults, demagoguery, and there are also some infatuated species in those books, guarding and accompanying the man they love, until they die. It is also said that there are barren tombs in the world, and there are many foxes and rabbits, among which there are some "foxes", which are the adult fox charms who are reluctant to leave. It has made countless readers fascinated, so someone once joked that in the heart of every young scholar, there is a fox charm who is not as beautiful as a fairy.

It's not all as simple as the fox charm's natural infatuation, according to the records of the ancient immortals: the fox, a hundred years into a human, does not fade the tail, three hundred years for a beautiful woman, no different from a person, can be born to see through people's hearts, practice for a thousand years, can reach the sky, is a nine-tailed sky fox, the magic is boundless.

Before that, it needs to pass three levels, and the three levels are all love, namely the early death pass, the half-life pass, and the hundred-year-old pass, as the name suggests, it is to kill a person first, let him die early, and die for love. And then with the second person for decades. The last person needs to grow old together. When a man dies, it needs to keep a watch for him, and it needs him to use the grave as a burrow, to dwell in it, and to keep a watch for that man for years, decades, or even centuries.

After Chen Qingniu thought of this, he looked up at the north with a meaningful smile on his face.

The puppet's face was full of disdain, "The big radish with a flower heart, eating the radish in the mouth, looking at the bowl, thinking about the table, maybe even the vegetable in the vegetable field, didn't let go." ”

On the side of the wall that was calm for a while, more than a dozen heads poked out from Qi Brush, of different sizes, most of which had initially turned into human appearances, leaving only fox ears, and one or two even fox ears had faded.

It's just that these fox charms all carry a "door-to-door gift" in their hands.

Crackling, bricks and tiles flying, dense as a torrential rain.

Xie Shiji's body shook, his qi bloomed, and those bricks and tiles suddenly shattered in the air.

It's a pity that the courtyard that was only cleaned up during the day is already a mess.

Chen Qingniu touched his forehead, a little irritable, although the other party's petty fights are more like provocations and plays, and there is no real harm to others, but if they are used to bad problems, it is not a matter after all.

The puppet snorted coldly: "The ancestor said that if the people are not afraid of power, they will be mighty!"

Chen Qingniu stood up.

There was silence on the other side of the wall.

A fox charm that looked no different from a woman in the world suddenly threw out the only piece of tile left in his hand and shot at it with an astonishing momentum, no less powerful than a strong bow and arrow within fifty paces.

Chen Qingniu raised his hand, caught the tile lightly, put it on the stone table casually, and then looked up at the wall, and said to himself: "It would be better to remove the character of the people." ”