At noon, Hong Jun arrived at the restaurant where he had an appointment with the other three. It was a big restaurant called "Yuyuelongmen". Hong Jun's mood has not yet calmed down, and he said: "Today... a big thing happened!"
Qiu Yongsi, Mo Zhigen, and Artest also just sat down, and they all looked puzzled, and hurriedly greeted: "Come, come, tell me quickly, Chang Shi hasn't arrived yet?"
"He took the cat back." Hong Jun said, "Let's eat first, and he will explain in detail when he comes later."
"He really found it?" Mo Zhigen asked in surprise.
The three looked at each other and hurriedly asked. Hong Jun had no choice but to explain that Li Jinglong first went back to the Exorcism Department to settle the cat, and because he found the body, he went to Dali Temple to ask if anyone was missing, which led to a case in the middle of the case, which was of great relevance, and he had to ask about the situation first.
"Eat, I'm starving to death."
Xiao Er reported the name of the dish, but no one knew what it was. Artest had never experienced Chang'an cuisine all the way, Mo Zhigen was born in the grassland, and had never eaten the high-end banquets of the Tang Dynasty, and Hong Jun had never eaten.
Qiu Yongsi said modestly: "You can order, and I will eat with you."
Everyone was confused when they heard the names of the dishes. Finally, the carp demon got impatient and ordered the dishes. He opened and closed his mouth behind Hongjun's back and said, "Six cups of black pheasant soup, fry one dish quickly, green onion and vinegar chicken, cream orange Okra and five shredded vegetable rolls, six bowls of Yuhuangwangmu rice as a staple food, a plate of sweet snow to serve after the meal, and a catty of Lishan roasted spring rice. Don’t use carp for dishes with fish.”
"Who?!" Xiao Er's face turned pale instantly, "Who is talking?!"
"Ventrilo!" Hong Jun said immediately.
"Six servings for four?" Xiao Er couldn't help but glance at the empty seat next to Artest, with horror on his face.
"There is still one who hasn't come." Hong Jun said, "You don't have to come over after the food is served."
"Carp has so many spines, who will eat them?" Xiaoer said to himself.
"What did you say?!" The carp demon glared behind Hong Jun, insulted.
Xiao Er: "???"
"It's nothing, you go quickly." Hong Jun hurriedly sent the little girl off.
Xiao Er went to serve the food with lingering fear, and in a short while, a table of exquisite dishes was served, Hong Jun knew that what he ate on the road a few days ago was not a meal at all. Black-bone pheasant soup is served in porcelain bowls made of imitation bamboo. Xunxou Quick Stir-Fry is fried mutton with fish, and Chicken with Scallion and Vinegar is steamed. The Royal Yellow Queen Mother Rice is half-boiled egg rice, four people and one fish immediately began to sweep away.
"Zhao Zilong used to stay in Chang'an restaurant." Hong Jun said while eating, "Fortunately, he listened too much."
"Oh?" Mo Zhigen said with a smile, "A chef? I can't tell."
"For ingredients." The carp demon replied.
Everyone: "..."
Hong Jun said again: "It was first sold to the market, then bought by a restaurant, and kept in a water tank. Later, a kind monk bought it and released it, so it is today."
The carp demon was full, buried his head in the glass, took a few sips of wine, swayed, took a few steps on the table, and finally passed out sideways with a "bang".
"Come on," Artest said, "Today I'm treating guests to a toast to our friendship and long history of absence—"
The four toasted. This was their first official gathering since they joined the Exorcist Division. Usually, Hongjun was not present, and the other three often slacked off, but they got to know each other well. They immediately asked about Li Jinglong again, and Hong Jun gave a general answer, but he rarely participated in the activities of Mo Zhigen and others recently, and now he is very curious about his partners.
"My father asked me to come to Chang'an." Hong Jun thought for a while, he was specially told not to say many things before he set off on the road, and Zhao Zilong was so drunk that he was afraid that he would lose his mind if he said too much, so he said, "Let me expel everyone from Chang'an The yokai... um."
Artest laughed and said, "Where are there monsters in Chang'an?"
Mo Zhigen also laughed and said, "But if there are no monsters, what are we going to do?"
Hong Jun said: "However, Chang Shi also said that there are demons in Chang'an, but they don't come out often."
Hong Jun had never drank alcohol before, it was the first time he drank it today, and he only drank the wine as water. Mo Rigen and Artai thought that Hong Jun could drink well, so they let him drink booze. Jin, as soon as his stamina came up at this moment, his mind was in a daze, and he couldn't hold on anymore, so he also fell to the side and fell asleep.
Not long after Hong Jun fell drunk, Li Jinglong came, and when he saw Hong Jun lying down, he immediately became furious.
"It's working time, and you guys are actually drinking here?" Li Jinglong said, "And got him drunk, this..."
Artest hurriedly said: "Chang Shi, come, come, sit down! I invite you today!"
Li Jinglong entered the table with a deep frown, and there was a large table of leftovers at the table. Li Jinglong didn't dislike it, so he started to eat cold dishes. The remaining three hurriedly asked what happened, and when Li Jinglong said it, everyone fell silent. Those drinking tea, drinking, and eating dessert all stopped and looked at Li Jinglong in unison.
"A dead person was found under the bed?" Mo Zhigen asked.
Li Jinglong said "hmm" with his nose, and said, "Finally interested? I went to Dali Temple just now, and no one has reported missing cases recently."
"No." Artest frowned, "Under the couch, what does this mean?"
Li Jinglong replied lightly: "I don't know if it is a matter of our jurisdiction, and I am going to discuss it with you..."
"It must be a monster!" Mo Zhigen said immediately.
"The monster didn't run away." Qiu Yongsi smiled, with a meaningful meaning in that smile.
"Why? Tell me?" Li Jinglong ate casually, frowning, and asked.
Artest looked at Li Jinglong, and said after a while, "Let's talk about it with the two brothers."
"No, no, tell me first..."
"You talk first, you talk first..."
The three started to push back and forth again, and Li Jinglong shouted: "Enough!"
After a while, Mo Zhigen said: "Under the couch where the corpse is hidden, it will rot within a few days, and the smell will attract people's attention. It is unreasonable to spend a lot of trouble if a dead person is specially dried and hidden under the couch. It is unreasonable to bury it directly. It's less of a problem."
"So Jin Yun hid the corpse in order to use it as a demon?" Li Jinglong frowned.
Everyone looked at Li Jinglong with weird faces, wanting to laugh but not daring to laugh, Li Jinglong said inexplicably: "I said something wrong?"
Qiu Yongsi said: "Uh... this, Chang Shi, I believe that the man was weathered into a mummy on the spot, and that's what happened."
Li Jinglong understood instantly, and murmured: "So that's how it is."
"I was sucked dry by the monster." Mo Zhigen replied, "I don't know how to deal with it temporarily, so I was randomly stuffed under the bed. This is the most likely."
Li Jinglong pondered for a moment, Artai looked at the other two, and said, "Walking around tonight? I always felt that there was something wrong with Ping Kang, and it really showed the fox's tail."
Qiu Yongsi immediately stopped Artest with a look, telling him not to talk nonsense.
Only then did Li Jinglong know that Artest and Qiu Yongsi went to the brothel the night before to check for monsters.
"Is there a demon in Pingkang?" Li Jinglong asked.
"It's so evil." Qiu Yongsi laughed and said, "The places with the most evil spirit are Pingkangli, Daming Palace, and Xingqing Palace."
Li Jinglong was speechless for a while.
Li Jinglong thought for a long time before, should he inform the Shenwu Army and Longwu Army to surround Yishilan and find the dead body, or should he catch the demon without anyone noticing it? In view of his bad luck, if he catches the man named Jin Yun, no one will believe him, and he will cause himself a lot of trouble. Unexpectedly, each of these subordinates knew better than the other.
"Then tonight will be a good time to see your abilities." Li Jinglong said.
"Brother Hong Jun will go out and catch some little monsters, no problem." Mo Zhigen smiled, "Everyone just give him a hand."
There was a thunder in the afternoon, and it started to rain lightly again in Chang'an. Li Jinglong hurriedly took the lead, and Mo Zhigen hurried back to the Exorcist Division in the rain with Hong Jun, who was drunk and unconscious, while Artai and Qiu Yongsi followed quickly . The girl from Chang'an, who was sheltering from the rain along the street, found the three of them, and called out in small voices to tell her companion to take a quick look.
Li Jinglong is tall and handsome, Mo Rigen is slender and handsome, Artai is as handsome as a pearl, Qiu Yongsi is personable, and Mo Rigen's handsome face is like a flawless white jade. Hong Jun also carried a salted fish on his back... no, a carp.
The girls quickly followed and followed the three of them. When Mo Zhigen turned his head, Artest said, "Oh, it's really distressing. Why are there so many people chasing you everywhere... Let's go."
In the afternoon, everyone was listening to the rain in the main hall. The cat in front of the porch was tied to the post with a rope by Li Jinglong. It meowed a few times and pulled its head outward, trying to get out of the noose. Something happened today, Li Jinglong plans to send the cat back tomorrow.
The carp demon remained motionless, lying in the yard in the rain.
Hong Jun was lying on the case in the hall, and Li Jinglong turned over all the case files of Di Renjie back then, and the other three seemed to have a tacit understanding, so they each went to investigate the monsters in Kangli.
However, looking at Di Renjie's records, even if there were demons back then, most of them caused chaos in Luoyang, the capital of gods. After the emperor moved to Chang'an, there were very few local records.
"What kind of monster sucks human blood for cultivation?" Li Jinglong asked.
"Many will." Mo Zhigen lowered his head to check the file, and said casually, "Fox, snake, flower, painting..."
Artai said: "You can't talk too much, what if this corpse is just Jin Yun's lover?"
Everyone was furious, and Qiu Yongsi said, "I can't do that! Artest, do you still have this habit?!"
"I'd rather be a demon." Artest laughed.
Li Jinglong suddenly said again: "Everyone, did you report to the Exorcist Department together?"
"Front and back." Artest laughed.
"Why do you feel that you have known each other for a long time?" Li Jinglong said.
Everyone stopped talking again. After a while, Li Jinglong seemed to be indifferent, but actually observed the reactions of the three people, and said, "I still have to ask my brothers for advice, so I'll beg you tonight."
The three nodded respectively, and Li Jinglong looked at Hong Jun again. Hong Jun was still drunk, so Mo Rigen reached out and shook him, saying, "Hong Jun?"
Everyone was afraid that Hong Jun was drunk until the night, and when he was trying to wake him up, the carp demon outside woke up first, stood up drunkenly, swayed a few times, and said, "You're back? Uh..."
The carp monster staggered and walked down the corridor. When the cat saw the carp monster, it immediately became interested. It pulled its head out of the noose and rushed towards the carp monster. The carp monster was dumbfounded for a moment. Looking at the lion cat, after counting breaths, he was frightened and screamed, "Help! The cat is running away!"
This scare was no small matter, and even Hong Jun woke up. Seeing that the cat that had been caught so hard was about to run away, everyone hurriedly chased it out. Li Jinglong shouted angrily: "Come into the hall!"
Earlier, Li Jinglong was afraid that the cat would be strangled, so he didn't dare to tie it too tightly, but he escaped. The carp spirit rushed in immediately, and the cat chased after him. Hong Jun shouted: "Close the door!"
The rest of the people quickly closed the door. The carp demon was so frightened that he wanted to pee and was hiding everywhere. Hong Jun made him stand still, but his fear of natural enemies had overcome Hong Jun's order. The carp demon panicked. The altar, a leap, showed its extraordinary potential at a time of life and death, and flew to the top of the cabinet like an arrow from the string with a "swoosh".
Immediately afterwards, Artest and Mo Zhigen jumped in the middle, and the lion cat was extremely agile, chasing the carp demon to the top of the cabinet with two swishes.
Li Jinglong suddenly realized a serious problem, stepped on the wall, and was about to fly to save him—
— It's too late.
The carp demon yelled "Mom", then bounced down again, and flew into Li Jinglong's arms, and then the lion cat turned around and directly swept down the box full of Lihun pollen.
Under the gaze of everyone, the Lihun pollen box drew an arc from the top of the cabinet and hit Hong Jun on the head. With a soft sound, the box cover popped open, and the pollen scattered all over the sky.
Everyone: "..."
The doors and windows were closed tightly, and the pollen was scattered, and the five people sneezed earth-shatteringly at the same time, and then started a series of sneezes.
"Hah!"
"Hah!"
"Ha-choo! Ha-choo! Ha-choo! Ha-choo! Ha-choo!"
"Hah!"
Artest, Mo Zhigen, Qiu Yongsi, Hong Jun, and Li Jinglong sneezed frantically, and the sound of sneezes kept coming and going. The five of them stood in the room in amazement and confusion.
"What happened?" Hong Jun said blankly, "Hah!"
Artest: "Who am I? Hah!"
Mo Zhigen: "This... you... where are you? Hah!"
Qiu Yongsi: "Hah! Wait, this brother? Hah!"
Even the lion cat kept sneezing wildly. For a while, the carp monster's eyes showed anticipation, and after a sneeze, his face was full of doubts. Everyone was surprised for a while, confused for a while, and sneezed repeatedly.
"Should we go out... Ha sneeze!" Li Jinglong sneezed again, and the carp demon jumped down and ran to open the door.
The carp demon's nose is only effective in water, its nostrils are too small and often blocked, but it didn't affect it. Seeing that the cat didn't come to chase it, it hurriedly pushed open the door.
"Come out!" the carp demon shouted.
In this confusion and sobriety, Hong Jun felt something calling him, so he staggered and ran out, and then shouted at the door together, and everyone came out one after another.
Hong Jun was dizzy, looked at the carp demon, then at Li Jinglong and others, trying to think of something, but his mind was full of chaos, the cat jumped out, not knowing where to go, the carp demon said: "Hong Jun! Hurry up! Grab it!"
Hong Jun subconsciously hugged the cat, and the carp demon picked up a small brush and dustpan, and went in to clean up the Lihun Pollen.
"What just happened?" Li Jinglong asked.
The remaining four people looked at each other, all looking stupid, after a while, Artest gave a "ding" and was the first to think of it, saying, "You are Li Changshi!"
"Ah!" Li Jinglong said, "Yes, I am Li Jinglong, and this is the Exorcist."
"Yes, yes, yes!" Everyone nodded hurriedly as if waking up from a dream. Hong Jun hugged the cat and said blankly, "But why am I hugging a cat?"
"Meow?" The lion cat looked around suspiciously.
"What are we... doing?" Li Jinglong asked.
Everyone's heads were filled with question marks for a moment, and Mo Zhigen turned around in the courtyard in a daze, and said, "I vaguely remember that everyone is here to report to the Exorcist Department."
"Have you reported for duty?" Qiu Yongsi said, "Why does it feel like everyone knows each other, it's not like meeting for the first time?"
Li Jinglong said: "Calm down, something must have happened just now..."
The carp demon collected the Lihun pollen all over the ground, put it in a bag the size of a palm, and said, "You have smelled the Lihun pollen."
"That's right, that's right!" Everyone remembered again and nodded, now they seem to be able to roughly connect the cause and effect.
Half an hour later, everyone gradually remembered some things, but most importantly, they completely forgot what they were doing before Wenlihun Pollen, so Li Jinglong led his subordinates, each with their chins propped up, in the main hall Thinking hard.
The carp demon gave a rough outline of the matter of catching the cat intermittently, but it didn't know anything about the rest, so "can't remember what it forgot" became the primary problem they had to face.
The cat was put in a cage, looking at the carp demon eagerly, but there was nothing he could do.
"What happened?" Li Jinglong frowned deeply.
"Maybe it's just drinking tea?" Qiu Yongsi said.
"No." Li Jinglong said to himself, "Drinking tea, what are you doing with so many files on the table? It's strange, we must have been working on some important case just now."
"First of all, when we were catching the cat, Hongjun and I hid under the couch..."
"After I drank the footwashing water..."
Everyone began to rack their brains to think. Li Jinglong analyzed according to the fragmented memory, while Hong Jun talked to himself, still thinking about who he was and where he came from. Gradually, he remembered that he came from Yaojin Palace, from childhood to adulthood. Many details were recalled one by one. After a brief absence, he remembered Chongming, and even remembered the first time he met Chongming.
Hong Jun breathed a sigh of relief, and when he was about to speak, he suddenly fell into a strange memory, and Li Jinglong's voice seemed to be getting weaker and weaker.
Under the sun, the light and shadow of the sycamore tree gave him a strong sense of unreality, as if everything was just a dream under the sunshine. In this dream, his consciousness became farther and farther away, and time kept turning, like A vortex brought him back to the evening in Yaojin Palace.
Countless scenes flew backwards one by one, suddenly frozen in a certain day.
"Hong Jun said, you saw a dead man under the couch..."
"dead?"
Everyone was startled in an instant, staring blankly at the carp demon, who vividly described what he knew about the house.
However, Hong Jun's pupils shrank violently. After smelling Lihun pollen, he suddenly remembered the night when he just arrived at Yaojin Palace. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Chongming with tears running down his eyes .
In an instant, the memory went back again, back into the darkness, and he stood in the ruins, looking around blankly.
"... I'm just this one child..."
A strange man's voice rang in his ears.