After seeing Mao Xiaoli off, Zhang Qiudao calmly returned to the police station, sat on the sofa, took out his mobile phone to play games, and after playing for an hour, he exited the interface and clicked into WeChat, staring at Mao Xiaoli's avatar in a daze.
Chen Yang patted his shoulder and said, "Let's go to the barbecue together tonight?"
After Zhang Qiudao came to his senses, he refused: "I want to go back to my room to rest." After that, he got up and went upstairs. Halfway up, he turned back and said: "Brother Chen, is my talent not good?" He seldom called him Brother Chen, and once he did so, it meant that he was confused.
Chen Yang: "It depends on who you compare yourself with. In the eyes of most Heavenly Masters, you have excellent talent. Compared to other Heavenly Masters, you are already good enough."
Zhang Qiudao was silent for a while, then said, "I was thinking that if I had better talent and a stronger Taoist method, I would be able to protect Mao Xiaoli better. She wouldn't have to become enlightened because of this incident."
Chen Yang shrugged. "I don't know what happened between you two, but Xiaoli will eventually come to her senses, it's just a matter of time. This incident was just an opportunity. If you think about it from another perspective, you became the opportunity for Xiaoli to come to her senses."
Zhang begged, “Maybe.”
Kou Xuanling walked up to Chen Yang and asked in a low voice, "How is it?"
"I'm in a low mood, it's hard to say." Chen Yang was troubled, with his hands behind his back. The emotional problems of the members would also make him, as the director, very worried. "I don't know what Xiaoli and Qiudao talked about on WeChat, and I don't know how far they have progressed."
Kou Xuanling asked in surprise: "Have they ever started?" How can there be progress if there is no start
Chen Yang choked up: "Maybe Qiu Dao confessed his feelings on WeChat. Besides, it's so obvious that he was hurt by Xiao Li, anyone who's not stupid would know. And Xiao Li was very uncomfortable with Qiu Dao's attitude afterwards, even if Qiu Dao didn't confess, she would have guessed it."
"Maybe Mao Xiaoli is a straight girl! If you don't tell her clearly, she will definitely not know!" Kou Xuanling firmly believed that Mao Xiaoli did not discover Zhang Qiudao's feelings.
Chen Yang disagreed: "Aren't you still with Lu Xiuzhi?"
"What do you mean by that?"
Chen Yang snorted and said nothing. Even a straight man like Lao Kou could be gay, let alone Mao Xiaoli who was just not enlightened. Mao Xiaoli just didn't have the heart to fall in love, which didn't mean she was so dull that she couldn't see Zhang Qiudao's obvious feelings. But it was precisely because of this guess that Chen Yang felt something was wrong. If Mao Xiaoli saw Zhang Qiudao's feelings and pretended not to know, then it was 100% impossible.
Kou Xuanling said, "I need to buy some wine to go with the barbecue tonight. What kind of wine do you prefer?"
"White wine." Chen Yang answered, and then looked at the list that Kou Xuanling had written down, which contained the drinks that other people in the branch wanted to drink. He said, "Bring some white wine, iced beer, and wine. No need for fruit wine, let Uncle Ma bring out a jar and chill it. Oh, and buy some fruit drinks for Wei Xuan. Also, prepare a few bottles of Maomao brand red wine, because Big Fatty will definitely stay in the branch tonight."
Kou Xuanling added some of the alcoholic beverages he mentioned to the list, and then said, "Would you like to buy some fruit beer? Two of the four female hairy zombies from Wei Xuan's tomb have arrived. They and Ji Jiang should drink fruit wine, or they can try fruit beer."
"The fruit beer sold outside is definitely not as delicious as the fruit wine brewed by Uncle Ma, so just buy a little and try it. For liquor, choose a better brand. My husband doesn't like barbecue very much, as he thinks it's greasy and irritating, but he loves drinking. He looks like a light drinker, but he can finish half a bottle in less than half an hour." Chen Yang was quite disgusted with this: "An old man's taste."
Hearing this, Kou Xuanling also hesitated: "Will our Ah Zhi's taste be the same as Du Ju's?"
"From what I've observed, Uncle Ma's taste is the same as Lao Du's." In other words, all old men have the same taste.
Kou Xuanling: "Then I'll buy more."
"Okay." Chen Yang responded, "The meat, vegetables and barbecue sauce are all ready. Ji Jiang and the others have already started setting up the venue. Aunt Ma will also come over tonight and it seems she will bring some friends with her. It will be nice to have some fun."
Kou Xuanling: "It doesn't matter, we bought a lot of things. Ji Jiang is thoughtful and well prepared."
Chen Yang took out the second candy of the day from his pocket, peeled off the candy wrapper and threw it into his mouth, reluctant to chew it: "I want to know what happened to Xiaoli and Qiudao when they were at the Wei Collection?"
Kou Xuanling shook his head, "I don't know. We were separated for a while. At that time, the collection hall had become a passage connecting the world of the living and the hell of hell, which was endless. I was separated from Mao Xiaoli in a moment, and later I found Ah Zhi, who told me that Zhang Qiudao had also separated from him halfway. Turning around in the passage could lead to an unknown space. When we reunited, Mao Xiaoli told us that she and Zhang Qiudao were besieged by evil spirits, and Zhang Qiudao led the evil spirits away to let her run." After thinking for a while, he explained, "Xiuzhi said that if he wanted to save Qiudao, it would be best to find you first."
"I know." When Chen Yang found Zhang Qiudao, he saw a piece of cloth on him, on which was written the Zhuzhen Baogao in cloud seal script. Zhuzhen Baogao is a Taoist treasure, which records the origin and merits of Taoist gods. It is used to praise Taoist gods when offering sacrifices to the Heavenly Master. Before, Kou Xuanling had to recite Zhuzhen Baogao every time he offered sacrifices, which was equivalent to praising the ancestor with gorgeous words.
Zhu Zhen Bao Gao is a treasure that can reach the sky, and it is also a quick way to practice. Zhu Zhen Bao Gao of each Taoist god is different, and they all have the ability to exorcise evil spirits. Lu Xiuzhi should have given Zhang Qiudao a piece of cloth with part of his Zhu Zhen Bao Gao written on it for self-defense, but there are so many evil spirits in the passage of Wu Jian Hell that it is hard to guard against them.
As for why Chen Yang was asked to find Zhang Qiudao, it was because of his relationship with Du Shuo that he could come and go freely in Wujian Hell without disturbing the underworld. If Lu Xiuzhi broke into Wujian Hell with great fanfare, it would definitely attract the attention of the underworld. Wujian Hell is a place heavily guarded and cannot be easily disturbed. If a god broke into Wujian Hell carelessly, those who didn't know would think he was going to rob the prison.
There will be turmoil both above and below, and some evil spirits will take advantage of the chaos to sneak into the world of the living, and then there will be big troubles.
Chen Yang shook his head: "It seems that even if we want to help, there is no way to help."
Kou Xuanling: "Let it be."
He took the wine order list to Ji Jiang and asked her to help with the purchase. Chen Yang returned to his room generously, but as soon as the door was closed, he tiptoed to steal the candies. The candies at home were always placed on the cabinets, so they could be seen at a glance. Du Shuo was not worried that the candies would be stolen by Chen Yang anyway, because he knew the number of candies.
After counting the candies every two or three days, if the number is wrong, it means Chen Yang stole them. Chen Yang argued with a guilty conscience, saying that he was not afraid of losing and would steal again next time.
Chen Yang calmly checked the room and bedroom, and was sure that Du Shuo had not returned yet. He peeled off the last candy for today, took out the other two candy wrappers from his pocket, stacked them with the third candy wrapper, and put them in a small jar. These candy wrappers were very useful. For example, if someone stole the candy in the candy jar, he would have to go out and buy other candies and wrap them in candy wrappers.
I don't know where Du Shuo bought the candies from, but the taste is unique, and I can't find the original purchase address no matter how hard I try. Otherwise, he would have secretly bought two trucks of candies by himself, so why would he need the three candies Du Shuo gave him every day
Chen Yang took out a handful of candies, about seven or eight in total, and quickly stuffed them into his pocket and covered the candy jar. He then secretly picked up the small jar containing the candy wrappers, put it on the table, and took out a bag of ordinary candies from under the table. He unwrapped the candies and rewrapped them, wrapping seven or eight candies in total. The candy wrappers had natural wrinkles and were tightly wrapped. If you didn't unwrap them and compare them with the original candies, you would never notice anything unusual.
Chen Yang was very proud and complacent: "In order to make them unable to tell the difference, I practiced hard day and night and worked hard to achieve this skill."
"What technology?"
The sudden interruption of the voice scared Chen Yang so much that he almost threw away all the candies in his hand. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and quickly threw the candy wrappers back into the small jar, and quickly stuffed the other ordinary candies back under the table. There were only seven or eight candies left on the table, lonely, helpless and pitiful.
Du Shuo put his arm around Chen Yang's waist from behind, resting his chin on Chen Yang's shoulder, squinting his eyes slightly as he stared at the candy on the table, and said calmly, "Yang Yang, what is this?"
Chen Yang calmly replied: "Looking at the plums will quench your thirst."
Du Shuo: "Have you eaten all the candies today?"
"No." Chen Yang thought of the seven or eight candies hidden in his pocket. He said without blinking, feeling guilty, "There are two left."
"Oh. Yangyang has good self-control today. He still has two candies left when it's almost dusk." Du Shuo remained calm. He pinched Chen Yang's earlobes and neck, and then gave him a slightly cold kiss.
Chen Yang tilted his head to see Du Shuo, who was shirtless, with only a scarf around his lower body, and his hair was wet and had not been blown dry or combed. He was quite surprised: "Old Du, are you upset?" For Du Shuo, who attached great importance to his image, walking around the room with a scarf on and messy wet hair, even if he had just walked out of the shower, was a behavior that had no image and no etiquette.
Du Shuo sat down, still holding Chen Yang in an intimate posture: "I heard some noises in the bathroom just now, and I guessed that you came back, so I hurriedly pulled a scarf around me and came out. Otherwise, I wouldn't see you here... Haha, 'looking at the plum to quench thirst'."
Chen Yang was upset that he was too anxious and didn't check the bathroom. He could only pretend to be calm, picked up the candies and said, "I'll put them back."
After saying that, he stood up and walked to the cabinet where the candy jar was placed. Just as he was about to throw the candy in, he heard Du Shuo's voice: "Don't put it in yet, bring the candy over here."
Chen Yang threw all the candies into the candy jar with a tremble of his hands, and stirred it up. When he turned around and handed the candy jar to Du Shuo, he said, "If you hadn't told me earlier, I would have thrown it in." Du Shuo smiled, opened the candy jar, picked out eight candies from it, and Chen Yang was frightened.
Du Shuo: "Do you dare to open it?"
"I dare not." Chen Yang refused directly.
Du Shuo smiled and said, "Open it and I'll give it to you." Chen Yang refused righteously, saying that he wanted to protect his teeth. Hearing this, Du Shuo sneered back, picked up a candy with his long fingers, and peeled it open. It turned out to be an ordinary candy. He snorted coldly and picked up the second candy.
When Du Shuo peeled the third candy, Chen Yang turned and ran towards the door. Du Shuo quickly grabbed him, clamped his lower body with his long legs, grabbed his wrists, and pressed him against the door: "What did you do? You actually want to run away?"
"I'll go see if the grill is set up."
"It's still early. Tell me first, why are there other candies mixed in the candy jar?"
"I don't know. You bought it, how would I know?" Chen Yang showed a confused expression: "No wonder the candies I ate a few times tasted different from before. Lao Du, you didn't get cheated, did you? You have no experience, and regular customers are easy to be ripped off. Don't worry, give me the other party's contact information and I'll go and argue with him."
Du Shuo bit Chen Yang's lips and said helplessly: "Yang Yang, every candy jar and every candy wrapper has a number. I remember the numbers on the candy wrappers for the candies I gave you, so tell me, why can I still see candy wrappers with the same numbers in the candy jars when I gave out candies? There are even other ordinary candies wrapped in the candy wrappers."
Chen Yang's eyes widened. He never expected Du Shuo to be so cruel. "You even put numbers on the candy wrappers? You are so scheming!" He was very angry and unhappy: "I am very angry. You obviously don't trust me. You don't trust me even on such a small matter. It makes me feel so disappointed. Why are you biting me?"
Du Shuo couldn't even get angry, and said angrily: "You took advantage of my absence to cheat. I've told you so many times to control yourself. Do you want to get your teeth fixed and not be able to eat anything even a little cold in the future?"
"There's no need to put numbers on every candy wrapper."
Du Shuo pinched Chen Yang's earlobe and said, "I made both the candies and the candy wrappers myself. Don't I have the right to put numbers on them?"
Chen Yang opened his mouth in surprise and held his big hand: "Did you make the candy yourself?" No wonder there was no manufacturer's trademark and contact information on the candy wrapper. It couldn't be bought anywhere, and Kou Xuanling and the others couldn't get an answer.
Thinking of this, the inflated Chen Xiaoyang brand balloon seemed to float onto a tree branch, and was pierced by a sharp branch. It deflated with a "chi" sound, and became soft and light. It obediently pinched Du Shuo's palm and shook it left and right: "Why do you still want to do it yourself? Isn't it troublesome?" As he spoke, he stood on tiptoe and made a "chi" sound again and again.
Chen Xiaoyang has this ability, he can make him angry and soften his heart instantly, Du Shuo thought so in his heart, and did not reject Chen Yang's closeness. He picked him up and put him on the sofa, and threw the hair dryer to him: "Help me blow dry my hair."
Chen Yang picked up the hair dryer, laid his whole body on Du Shuo's back, stretched out his five fingers with one hand to rake his wet hair, turned on the hair dryer to help him dry. Halfway through, he found that the water droplets slid from Du Shuo's neck to his chest, all the way to his abdominal muscles, and finally disappeared into the scarf.
Chen Yang was tempted, turned off the hair dryer and put it on the table, turned over and slid into Du Shuo's arms like a fish, leaned forward and bit Du Shuo's collarbone and said vaguely: "I'm not going to blow dry my hair, I'm hungry."
Du Shuo's eyes darkened, and the hand that was stroking Chen Yang's neck slid to his back and reached into his clothes. "I'll feed you..."
There were faint sounds of laughter coming from the lawn of the precinct courtyard, and the unique smell of barbecue passed through many barriers and entered Chen Yang's nose hiding in the quilt. Chen Yang shrugged his nose and woke up suddenly. The curtains in the bedroom were drawn to create a dim environment, which was suitable for sleeping.
Du Shuo opened the door and saw that he was awake, so he came over and kneaded Chen Yang's aching waist, saying, "Do you want to go down?"
Chen Yang felt very comfortable being kneaded, and he responded softly: "Yeah." The two of them embraced each other for a while, and then he got off the bed. After washing up, he went downstairs with Du Shuo. As soon as he arrived at the courtyard, he was stuffed with barbecue skewers. Facing Wei Xuan's shining eyes and request, Chen Yang sat down and barbecued for them with a good temper.
A female hairy zombie beside Wei Xuan stood beside Chen Yang and watched him learn cooking skills. Chen Yang showed a puzzled expression. Seeing this, Ji Jiang explained: "Her name is Ding. She was once a famous chef in Qin. She wants to learn cooking skills from you."
The hairy zombie named Ding bowed to Chen Yang and asked him to be his disciple. Chen Yang said, "You don't need to be my disciple. If you want to learn, just watch from the side. If you don't understand, you can ask. I can't teach others either. I can only try my best to answer your questions."
The hairy zombies once again gave a big gift of thanks. Chen Yang was already immune to it. Anyway, if there were more hairy zombies in the branch, he would get used to it after a few more gifts. Among the barbecue members, only Chen Yang, the hairy zombie named Ding, and Aunt Ma knew how to barbecue. The others were just wasting the ingredients. So they just ate the ready-made food with a clear conscience and only passed some ingredients over from time to time.
When Chen Yang was grilling, he found two strangers. They should be the guests brought by Aunt Ma. But they looked familiar with Kou Xuanling. Could they be acquaintances? Thinking of this, he asked Aunt Ma who was sitting next to him.
Aunt Ma replied, "Indeed, they are acquaintances. Those two are members of the General Administration and have worked with Xuan Ling for some time."
"Are they here to look for Lao Kou?"
"No." Aunt Ma took a brush and dipped it in honey sauce. "They came to Zhang Qiudao to get information. It is said that the 'roadblock' this time was caused by Zhang Tianshi's family. They also want to participate in the Taoist exchange ceremony, so they came here in advance to inquire. Unfortunately, Qiudao is trapped in his room playing games because of love."
"The key is that Qiu Dao himself doesn't know. Isn't this something to avoid suspicion?"
"Don't give me that. It's not a big test that requires us to avoid suspicion. It's just a quota for participating in the Taoist exchange ceremony. If there's no position, they can make one themselves, as long as they can pass the 'roadblock'. So every time a Taoist exchange ceremony sets up a 'roadblock', as long as they have a way, they can pass it safely."
"You mean you want to know?"
Aunt Ma shook her head. "He doesn't know. Zhang Tianshi's family is different from other places. They say they are fair and impartial, but everyone knows they just think it's fun. They have to make the 'roadblocks' very difficult. As long as other Tianshi complain, they are very happy. The more they scold them, the happier they are. They are evil by nature, but they pretend to be good on the surface."
Chen Yang took Aunt Ma's brush and used it on his grilled wings: "I don't quite understand."
Aunt Ma is more impatient than Ma Shanfeng. She rolled her eyes when she heard this. "Don't you understand? The Zhang Tianshi family has passed down their skills to their own family and not to outsiders. So no matter how difficult the 'roadblocks' are, the Zhang family members won't be stopped. Because they just want to go home. Can other Tianshi in the Tianshi world stop them from going home? But other Tianshi are unlucky. They are always scared by them and wish they could just pick the Tianshi Mansion directly."
"Is it so bad? Qiudao has a good personality, except for his addiction to games."
Aunt Ma patted Chen Yang's shoulder lovingly: "Naive."
Chen Yang: “…” Why did Aunt Ma marry Ma Shanfeng
Aunt Ma saw what Chen Yang was thinking at a glance and said directly, "Because I was ignorant at the time. In my time, transportation was inconvenient. If I saw a good-looking person in the village, I would be shocked. Later, I saw the world and it was useless to regret. I could only continue to eat it. Even if it was old, dry and woody, it would still fill me up."
Chen Yang bowed in admiration. Aunt Ma caught a glimpse of Wei Xuan from the corner of her eye and quickly waved: "Grandma's little Wei Xuan, come and see what gift grandma brought you?" She hugged Wei Xuan into her arms, put the grilled wings in her hand on the plate, and couldn't wait to take out a green lace dress from the cloth bag at her feet: "See if it's beautiful? Do you like it?"
Seeing Wei Xuan shouting out "beautiful" and "like" so crisply, Chen Yang felt numb and asked Ji Jiang in a low voice: "Why hasn't Wei Xuan's aesthetic sense been pulled back yet?"
Ji Jiang was also desperate: "They are omnipresent." Never underestimate the terrifying energy and ability of grandparents to find opportunities. No matter how hard she tried, she could not resist the omnipresence of Ma Shanfeng and his wife. She said: "Kuai Xuan has lived for more than 2,000 years and has never gained weight. But today I weighed myself and found that I have gained two kilograms!"
What does it mean to gain two pounds? Anyway, Ji Jiang was terrified, and she was even more terrified when she saw the fat man walking over.
Ma Shanfeng put a plate of barbecue in front of Da Pang and opened a bottle of red wine for him. Da Pang was mixed in with a group of ghosts and gods, holding the bottle of red wine and eating barbecue, living a life of drunkenness and dream. But wake up, there are already six layers of fat on the belly!
Chen Yang reached out to pinch the fat on Big Fatty's belly, and after a long silence, he said, "Big Fatty, keep in shape."
Da Pang raised his paw to shake off Chen Yang, but when he saw the gloomy eyes of Du Shuo and Wei Xuan, he used his paw pads to knead and rub. He remembered the humiliation deeply in his heart, but the humiliation disappeared after he ate the pork belly roasted by Chen Yang.
The two members of the General Administration brought by Aunt Ma only remembered their original intention after eating too much. They glanced at the crowd and didn't find Zhang Qiudao, so they asked casually: "I heard that there is a successor of Zhang Tianshi in the branch office, why don't we see him?"
Kou Xuanling: "Healing."
The man was stunned: "Injured?"
"I guess so." He was seriously injured both physically and mentally.
"Then can he still join the Taoist Exchange Association?"
"I won't participate." Kou Xuanling took a bite of the golden and fragrant roasted pork belly, and drank a sip of perfectly chilled bayberry wine, and the greasy feeling was immediately washed away.
"Aren't you going to the Tianshi Mansion?"
"Yes, to travel."
The two members of the General Administration were speechless for a long time. They knew the water in the words, but Kou Xuanling's attitude was particularly shameless. They tried to probe for the whole afternoon today and found that even if they used their former friendship as colleagues, they could not get Kou Xuanling to tell them about the "roadblock".
At this moment, two members of the General Administration received the message from the Taoist Association at the same time. Seeing the "roadblocks" posted on it, they were disappointed. Chen Yang and the others looked at each other, and Ma Shanfeng took out his mobile phone to check the message: "Death Calculator?"
Kou Xuanling leaned over to take a look: "What is that?"
"A newly developed app, designed based on numerology, can calculate the time and manner of death by simply inputting the name and date of birth."
Chen Yang took a breath and said, "Are you playing such a big game?"
"Of course not." Ma Shanfeng said: "At that time, false birth dates will be released to everyone, and all they have to do is survive the time of death."
The author has something to say: I want to drink bayberry wine.