Kaifeng Monster

Chapter 3 Mirror Demon (1)
Rarely not on duty today.

Zhan Zhao changed into casual clothes, and went to drink tea with Gongsun Ce at the teahouse closest to Kaifeng Mansion.When the shopkeeper saw the government official, not to mention how polite he was, he bowed and said "upstairs please upstairs".

Sitting by the window, drinking fine white tea, sipping tea fruits, and blowing the breeze, Gongsun Ce felt comfortable and happy, full of poetry, and was about to chant a few lines when Xiao Er passed by.

Zhan Zhao called Xiaoer to stop, and asked, "Is this area safe recently? Nothing wrong has happened, right?"

Gongsun Ce frowned: This guard Zhan, he agreed to come out for leisure today, and only talk about Fengyue, regardless of business, why did he foul again.

Xiaoer flicked his scarf and smiled from ear to ear: "Master Zhan, look at what you said, where is this place? You can see Kaifeng Mansion as soon as you go out. Whoever has eaten the bear's heart and leopard's guts dares to stay here?" Rules? In the words of the play, it means not picking up lost things in the road, and not closing the door at night..."

Zhan Zhao smiled, and Gongsun Ce stroked his goatee, pretending not to care, but in fact his heart was already full of joy: I am proud of you, I am proud of you!

It seemed that God wanted to slap them in the face on purpose. At this moment, not far downstairs, someone suddenly screamed: "My silver taels! My silver taels are gone!"

This is a thief.

Zhan Zhao leaned forward and looked downstairs, there was already a crowd of people gathered in one part of the street, and a man with the appearance of a scribe was anxiously reaching out his hands to fumble around in his arms: "My mother is suffering from a sudden illness, this is the money for the medicine, how can it be good?" ah!"

Ben went down to check, but the official errands patrolling the streets had already arrived, and he couldn't stretch his hands too far for other people's errands.Zhan Zhao sat back in his seat, looked up, the little girl hadn't left yet, and said with embarrassment, "Master Zhan, look, this must be a thief from another place. He just came here and doesn't know the rules..."

In fact, there is some truth to it, the thieves in the city really dare not commit crimes around Kaifeng Mansion.

Zhan Zhao smiled and was about to say something when another shout came from the end of the street: "My bank note! My bank note is gone!"

In a short while, there were two robberies on the street. If it was an ordinary thief, it would be the best policy to escape if he got his hands, how would he dare to stay where he was?What's more, the officials have arrived.

From this point of view, he is not an ordinary person, and he must not have gone far.

Zhan Zhao whispered to Gongsun Ce: "Mr. Gongsun, sit down for a while, and Zhan will come as soon as he goes."

He hurried downstairs, looked left and right, calmly, merged into the crowd, walked and stopped, seemingly inadvertently, but his eyes were like a torch, and he almost never let go of anyone nearby, even the back.

Here we come, at the entrance of Taibai Distillery, the new wine arrives at the store, and the rich-looking boss is smiling and inspecting the unloading of the guys, without noticing that a hand is quickly reaching for the suet white jade ring hanging on his waist.

Zhan Zhao hurried over, brushing past the boss of Buzhuang, before the thief's hand touched the jade ring, he quickly grabbed the man's wrist, and moved to the side...

The ignorant boss didn't even know what happened, he shook his shoulder in displeasure, and muttered, "How did you bump into someone?"

Soft to the touch, boneless, is it a girl?Looking down at the man's face again, Zhan Zhao suddenly lost his mind and quickly withdrew his hand.

this... this is...

Leaning against the bluestone, the trickle flows around the waist of the willow. It is not the owner's lead, but the Duanmu bridge.

Isn't this the master of the Xihualiu, Miss Duanmu?
Duanmucui frowned, rubbed his wrists, and gave him another look with displeasure.

This girl is full of strange powers and distractions, Zhan Zhao doesn't want to get involved with her too much.

"Miss Duanmu, this is..."

"Zhan Zhao, I don't need to explain everything about Xihualiu to you, do I?"

Of course not, Zhan Zhao carefully verified: "All those robberies on this street just now were done by girls?"

"Yup."

"It's all about ghosts?"

She glanced: "Otherwise?"

That's fine, as long as you confirm, Zhan Zhao stepped aside to make way for her, very politely: "It's Zhan who is being rude, please go, Miss Duanmu."

Back upstairs, the tea was still warm, Gongsun Ce threw a puzzled look, and Zhan Zhao took a sip of tea: "Liuhualiu."

So, Gongsun Ce suddenly lost his curiosity: "Come, come, drink tea, continue to drink tea."

The tea was good, and the mouth was full of saliva, but the increasingly noisy voices from the street still made Zhan Zhao feel suspicious.

Even subduing spirit monsters, is it necessarily related to stealing property?

In the evening, Zhan Zhao asked Zhang Long, who was in charge of the patrol today, and found out that within a day, there were dozens of robberies on that street.

The method is so fast that it is hard to guard against, and the sufferers are also different, some are rich and some are bubbling, it is like sweeping along the street.Zhang Long, who didn't know it, was angry: "Brother Zhan, did you know that even Granny Huang's coffin was taken out!"

Zhan Zhao's heart skipped a beat: Grandma Huang Fourth?

Zhanzhao, the fourth grandmother of Huang, knew her, she was a beggar woman nearby, she was often seen begging along the street, and lived in a ruined temple at night.People from Zhan Zhao and Kaifeng's mansion often helped her, and Grandma Huang sewed every penny she got in her close-fitting pocket.Once, Zhan Zhao asked her what to do with the money she saved.

Grandma Huang replied: "Lord Zhan, you don't know. There is a saying in our hometown that when a person dies, he must be buried in a coffin in a dignified manner. In this way, he will be in good health when reincarnated in the next life. If it's just a reed mat One volume—think about it, the reed mat leaks from the head and tail, the wind in the underworld is cool, and if you reincarnate in the next life, you will either have a headache or a disease in your legs, that is not worth it.”

After finishing speaking, Xu Xu muttered: "If you keep the money, you can save a good coffin."

Therefore, what Granny Huang saved was a real coffin book.

Zhan Zhao felt resentment in his heart: Miss Duanmu has gone too far this time.If you accept the demon, you will accept the demon, why bully the poor?
After much deliberation, I decided to go to her and ask her for clarification.

Outside the city of Kaifeng, ten li in the western suburbs.

Miss Duanmu probably had already rested, but in fact it was still early, but the Duanmu thatched cottage was already pitch black.Zhan Zhao wandered around the bridge for several times, or come back tomorrow?

Turning around to leave, there was a sudden rustle behind her.

Zhan Zhao suddenly turned his head and shouted, "Who?"

It seems that it is just in the grass and there is no sound.If it was an ordinary person, he might just smile, but Zhan Zhao was different, he believed in his eyes, just now, there was indeed a small shadow shaking in the grass.

He flicked on the torch, and stretched out his hand to push the tip of the grass away.At this moment, the thatched cottage on the opposite side suddenly turned on a lamp, and he heard Duanmucui's voice: "Who?"

It seems that he was startled by the "who" he asked first.

Zhan Zhao cupped his hands towards the other side: "Zhan Zhao of Kaifeng Mansion, I need to see Miss Duanmu."

"come on."

Since he got the master's "approval", it is equivalent to "the master's lead", Zhan Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and walked on the bridge.

Behind him, the grass swayed a few times, and a blue and white porcelain bowl rolled out.

The blue-and-white porcelain bowl has small arms and legs, and with lingering fear, he said, "It's so dangerous, I thought it was Wan'er who found it."

Zhan Zhao was very polite, and when he entered the room, he first apologized to Duanmucui: "I'm very sorry for disturbing the girl's rest."

Duanmucui said: "It's okay, I haven't slept anyway."

Didn't sleep?Then just now, the whole thatched hut was in a state of darkness, what was she doing?
"Embroidery."

embroidered?

Following her gaze, Zhan Zhao noticed the embroidery frame in the room, dozens of silver needles dragging multicolored silk threads and inserting them obliquely on the cloth, the embroidery picture was only outlined, and it seemed that the embroidered butterfly was dancing warbler Fly, the garden is full of spring.

Zhan Zhao said the scene: "Miss Duanmu is really quite leisurely and elegant."

Duanmucui didn't want to talk to him: "It's just for dinner."

Mix it up?Why can't you understand?

"It will take a lot of time to embroider this picture, right?"

She replied: "No need."

While speaking, he raised his hands in the direction of the embroidery frame, clacked and clapped three times.

In an instant, the silver light flickered on the embroidered surface, and it was like a colorful mist.Zhan Zhao concentrated his attention to look, only to find that the dozens of silver needles were quickly interspersed with colored threads, advancing and retreating at a certain pace, the stitches were fine and tight, and the embroidery was completed in less than a cup of tea.

When Zhan Zhao wanted to praise her, he held back in an instant: How can this be your credit?It's not even hard work, it's all needlework and thread monsters who don't know where to work.

But she seemed to have completed a big project, she put the embroidery cloth away from the embroidery stand, folded it, and folded it again, and said to herself: "It can be exchanged for another sum of money."

Zhan Zhao felt strange: "Xihualiu wants to make money by himself?"

Duan Mucui said: "That's natural. Gentlemen love money, get it in a proper way, and work hard to make money. Isn't this the rule in your world? We are fine flowers, and we have to follow the customs when we go to the countryside."

No no no, something is wrong.

Zhan Zhao asked cautiously: "Actually, Miss Duanmu has quite a lot of magical powers, and it's easy to get money out of pockets..."

"Are you talking about stealing?" Duanmucui glared at him, "Guard Zhan, does this sound like the words of a guard with a knife in Kaifeng Mansion?"

He muttered again: "Let my elder brother know, and I won't be beaten to death."

"That girl is near the Kaifeng Mansion today, and has committed dozens of robberies..."

Duanmu Cui stared at her eyes: "Zhan Zhao, you can eat indiscriminately, but you can't talk indiscriminately. I haven't been out of Duanmu thatched cottage for a day today. When did I go near Kaifeng Mansion?"

"Zhan saw it with his own eyes..."

"There are similarities between people, Zhan Huwei must be dazzled."

"But that girl's appearance and clothes are exactly the same as that of Duanmu girl..."

Zhan Zhao bit the bullet and told the truth, and at the same time secretly prepared to retreat: If this girl Duanmu is not a talkative master, and she becomes angry when she gets angry, it will be fatal.

Unexpectedly, Duanmucui suddenly stopped talking.

She frowned slightly and asked him, "Is it really the same as me?"

Zhan Zhao affirmed: "It's exactly the same."

Duanmucui's eyes gradually turned sullen, her hands gradually clenched, and the folded cloth gradually wrinkled in her palm.

Something is wrong, the girl seems to be angry.

Sure enough, in the next moment, she split her hands, and the cloth was actually torn into countless pieces.For a moment, the butterfly dances and the warbler flies, the petals and rags fall together, and there is nothing on the ground, and there is still a faint fragrance at the end of the nose.

Duanmucui gritted her teeth: "Eat the bear's heart and leopard's guts, even I dare to pretend to be Xiaohualiu!"

Co-authored, it was Li Kui who bumped into Li Gui.

It's another day of drinking tea in the tea house.

Or Gongsun Ce and Zhan Zhao.

There are people coming and going downstairs, and it is a lively and prosperous scene.

Drinking tea, sipping tea fruit, and blowing the breeze, this time, it was Gongsun Ce who fouled first.

"Guard Zhan, I heard that for a while, this area is as stable as the world, and the brothers patrolling the streets are so idle that their hair is about to grow."

Zhan Zhao smiled lightly: "It's too courageous to deceive Xi Hualiu by showing off."

Gongsun Ce lowered his voice: "I heard that the owner of the Duanmu sect is very angry? These days, did you really arrange for all the sect members of Xihualiu to come in and out on this street?"

Zhan Zhao nodded.

Gongsun Ce was curious, and looked downstairs: "Xihualiu's disciple sounds very angry, but I don't know what he looks like, but it must be Qi Yuxuan who has extraordinary features. I really want to see him."

Zhan Zhao is also curious. It sounds like a grand and powerful sect. There are tens of thousands of disciples, right?Where did they all live?Duanmucui's home is only a few thatched huts, which cannot be accommodated logically.

Gongsun Ce asked him again: "Then did you find any clues?"

No, not at all.

This night, Zhan Zhao patrolled the night as usual, and unexpectedly met Duanmucui.

Of course, this "encounter" was not an ordinary encounter, but he raised his head inadvertently, and saw Duanmucui sitting on the roof of the Taibai Building, where the wine was floating around.

The first time he was born, the second time he was acquainted, it's not easy to pretend not to see, Zhan Zhao hesitated for a while, raised his breath, and a few times he jumped up and down beside Duanmucui.

what……

She was actually eating wontons, holding the bowl, holding the chopsticks, the steam in the wonton bowl, sprinkled with minced shrimp skins, it was quite fragrant.

Zhan Zhao was embarrassed, so he had no choice but to find something to say: "Ms. Duanmu eats here alone, it's... quite elegant."

Duanmucui said: "Who eats alone, I am reprimanding the disciples."

As he said that, he turned his head and looked to the side, hating iron for being weak: "I've been searching for so many days, and I haven't even found any clues. Is it embarrassing? It's really a waste of time!"

Who is she talking to?There, only the guise of wine is floating.

Is it possible...

Zhan Zhao pointed at the wine and asked her, "This, this is your disciple?"

(End of this chapter)