Monk Shi and I drank until midnight, then we staggered out and walked aimlessly along the street.
Actually, that's what drinking is all about. It doesn't matter how much you drink, what matters is to have fun. I talked it out with Guan Jia, and it felt like I had gotten rid of a worry. I felt much better, and I drank until I was staggering before leaving.
But we were so busy drinking that we barely ate a few bites of the food on the table. We felt so hungry before we had walked far, and we looked for street vendors all over the street: "Where are all those street barbecues gone?"
Monk Shi said with a big tongue: "Are you stupid? It's already two o'clock in the middle of the night, who the hell is going to come out to eat barbecue?"
"Then let's find a noodle shop..." As I was talking, I heard Ye Jin shout, "Over there! There's a tofu skin vendor over there."
I looked in the direction of his finger and saw a stall. I walked over to it in two or three steps.
When I was a kid, I was not as good as today's kids. There were no snacks and toys like today. There were only two kinds of snacks at the school gate: roasted tofu skin and syrup. At that time, I often hesitated between the two with a few dimes in my hand.
If I spent all my money, I could only eat one thing. If I bought a little of each, I would not be satisfied with any of them. At that time, I always thought that when I had money in the future, I would eat tofu skin as a meal. Now that I have grown up, I can no longer find syrup, and tofu skin can no longer taste the same as it did before.
This time I could smell the aroma of tofu skin from a long distance away. It was just like the one sold at the school gate when I was a child. I ran over without thinking anything and said, "Boss, I'll give you twenty yuan of tofu skin first. Put it on the fire to keep it warm after grilling."
I took the small stool from the barbecue stall, and when I sat down, rubbing my hands, I saw that the person selling the barbecue was a plump, white lady in her fifties. She didn't even look at me, she was just busy grilling tofu skin with her head down.
After Ye Jin and Shi Heshang came over, Shi Heshang directly pulled out three bottles of beer from under the stall: "Keep drinking, keep drinking."
Ye Jin looked at the old lady and asked, "Sister, it's late at night and you're squatting under a willow tree selling tofu skin. Aren't you afraid?"
As soon as I took the beer from Shi Heshang, I shuddered and sobered up. Are we sitting under the willow tree
When I looked up, the first thing I saw was the willow branches swaying in the wind. When I walked over just now, I clearly didn't see any willow trees on the roadside. Even if I was drunk and dizzy, I couldn't be so drunk that I couldn't see a willow tree that was almost as thick as two people hugging it, right
I instinctively reached out for the knife, but it was empty. The Rakshasa behind me was gone
The cold sweat on my forehead flowed down like water. When I looked at Ye Jin and Monk Shi, their movements and expressions were the same. Their weapons were gone too
At this time, the old lady who was roasting tofu skin said, "What should I be afraid of? You say I'm afraid of people? I'm an old lady. What criminal would be interested in me? If it's a ghost, then there's nothing to be afraid of. After a person dies, if you say he is a soul, then he is a soul. If you say he is a breath, then he is a breath. What's there to be afraid of?"
As the auntie spoke, she placed the roasted tofu skin on a plate and brought it to the table: "Eat it while it's hot."
At this moment, how could I dare to touch the tofu skin
I have heard the legend about ghosts selling tea and food under willow trees countless times, but I didn't expect to encounter it today.
Seeing that we were not moving our chopsticks, the aunt asked, "Are you afraid that you will shorten your life after eating this?"
"To be honest, this willow tree is a good place. It can gather negative energy and block people's sight. Put up a lamp under the willow tree, and the willow branches will sway back and forth. Then you won't be able to see my figure, right?"
As soon as the person finished speaking, the shadows of the trees, like a group of dancing snakes, swayed around her. From my angle, the person looked like he was sitting in the middle of a group of snakes, surrounded by inverted light and shadows. His already fair face instantly turned as pale as paper, except for his cheeks which slowly began to turn bloody red.
Just as I was about to get up, I felt something pressing on my legs. When I looked under the table, I saw a hand pressing on my knees.
When I slowly moved my eyes, I saw that there was a girl in white next to me. She held a bottle of wine in one hand and drank it from her mouth, while the other hand was pressing on my leg without moving.
There were two more people around Monk Shi and Ye Jin. One of them was lying on the monk's lap like a kitten, while the other was pressing Ye Jin's shoulder with his elbow.
The auntie then spoke up, "Originally, there shouldn't be an old lady under the willow tree. Only young girls should be able to attract drunkards from all over the country. Don't you agree?"
I said in a deep voice: "What do you mean, friend?"
The ghost under the willow tree is best at confusing passers-by, tricking them into eating food, and then slowly absorbing their yang energy. How could it come out so directly and tell others that I am a ghost
The old lady smiled and said, "What else can I do? I'll treat you to a meal! Other ghosts would put stones and sand in the rice bowl and let people eat it as if it were a delicacy, until they were bloated to death. What I give you is real food. Don't you want to try it?"
"I..." I had just said a word when I felt a fragrance enter my nostrils like a snake. The more I didn't want to look at the bean curd on the table, the more I felt that I had to eat it. If I didn't eat it, I would regret it for the rest of my life.
After only a few seconds, I threw away the bottle in my hand, grabbed the tofu skin and stuffed it into my mouth.
I knew in my heart that I couldn't eat the food on the table, but my hands and mouth were out of my control. It was as if I was afraid that if I was too slow, Shi Heshang and the others would snatch all the food away, so I took turns grabbing food from the plate with both hands.
I hadn't finished eating yet when a ghost brought tofu skin to the table. I didn't know how long I ate or how much I ate. My stomach was so full, but I kept stuffing food into my mouth.
The old lady fanned the fire and said, "Do you know why the ghosts under the willow tree always like to eat people to death? Because when you eat too much, it pushes out the Yang energy in your body. When a person's stomach is bloated and uncomfortable, he wants to vomit. You can't vomit out what you have eaten, so you can only expel Yang energy. Wait a minute, and you will vomit."
I knew what that person said, but my hands would not stop. As soon as food was served on the table, I would grab it and stuff it into my mouth. After a while, I started to dry heave.
The ghost sitting next to me suddenly reached out and forcibly turned my head around, licked his cherry lips, and came close to my mouth, sucking twice. I felt a chill all over my body - this was the manifestation of the Yang Qi being sucked out of my body. It wouldn't take long for me to feel cold from the inside out, until the Yang Qi in my body was exhausted and I became a cold corpse.
The man laughed and said, "You guys still haven't eaten enough! The Yang Qi coming out of your mouth is not enough, how can you let the little ghosts eat? How about I give you some tofu skin as an ingredient?"
After the man finished speaking, he put the plate on the table. There was only a bunch of bean curd skin on the plate, but the aroma of the bean curd skin was like a poison, forcing me to eat it.
"A string of bean curd is definitely not enough for the three of you to share. Whoever grabs it first gets it!" While the old lady was speaking, three shadows appeared on the table at the same time - my Rakshasa, Ye Jin's machete, and Shi Heshang's iron rod, and they all turned into phantoms reflected on the table at the same time
No! Those three weapons are hanging right above our heads.
I knew without even thinking that as soon as the weapons fell to the ground, the three of us would be driven crazy by the aroma and would draw our swords and hack at each other, just for a small string of tofu skin.
I raised my head and looked across at them. The two of them also looked at me. Their eyes were bloodshot and murderous intent was faintly revealed in their gazes.
It's over, it's over, all three of us will be killed on the spot.
I sighed in my heart, and three weapons fell from the sky at the same time. The sharp blade of Luosha passed close to my shoulder, pierced through the air and stabbed into the ground, and the trembling handle fell right beside my hand.
I reached out and grabbed the long knife, and slashed my neck with it - I knew I was going to die, so what would it matter if I killed the two of them? With that man's ability, I would definitely not be able to escape ten steps away if I was seriously injured. Besides, I didn't want to, and couldn't, attack them.
I just felt the blade of Rakshasa touching my skin, and then my eyes went dark and I passed out.
I thought I would never wake up again, but I didn't expect to wake up in an abandoned house. When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Ye Jin tied to the opposite pillar, and Shi Heshang was tied between the two of us.
The lady selling tofu skin was sitting not far from us, cooking something in a pot.
Soon after I opened my eyes, I saw her scooping out a spoonful of yellow, sticky stuff from the pot with a wooden spoon. Before she came to us, a disgusting stench penetrated my nostrils.
The old lady walked up to Shi Heshang with a spoon in her hand and said, "Yesterday I asked you to eat beans, but you didn't spit them out. Now the bean skin is gone, so drink this!"
Shi Heshang spat out, "You bitch, I won't forgive you even if I become a ghost!"
"Wait until you have a chance to become a ghost." The old lady reached out and pinched Monk Shi's nose, and was about to pour something into his mouth.
I hurriedly shouted, "Stop it! Friend, do you have something to ask us? If you have something to say, just tell us. Why resort to such unpresentable means?"
The old lady turned around with the spoon in her hand and asked, "Where is Gu Piaoran?"
I was stunned: "Who is Gu Piaoran? Are you talking about that old liar named Gu?" (To be continued)