"Do you want to just give up like this?"
wait...who
"who is it?"
I opened my eyes, and in the illusory space, there was a beautiful girl walking towards me. She was wearing a long white dress and had long hair as beautiful as seaweed.
"If you give up like this, you will really have nothing, Gu Yu."
I opened my eyes wide and recognized the girl in front of me.
"Qingyu... the princess."
Qingyu squatted down in front of me, showing an angelic smile, and held my hand.
"Tell me, what is your wish?"
"Wish..."
My head is a little groggy.
"What's the wish, of course I hope he's alive!" I shouted, "But, but what's the use of saying this now, he—Wen Jiubai, he's already dead!"
But Qingyu ignored my words, and still smiled and said, "Then... If in order to realize this wish, what are you willing to pay?"
"Everything!" I blurted out, "If I can keep him alive, I will give anything! Be it life or memory, I am willing to do anything!"
"Then, that's what you said." Qingyu smiled softly, "Then don't take offense at what he says next."
I froze. he? who is he? No... what's going on
However, in the moment I was stunned, Qingyu had disappeared.
"Hey! Qingyu! Princess Qingyu!" I fumbled around like a blind man until a voice came.
"She has already left." The voice said in a low voice, "The one who can fulfill your wish is not her, but me."
I raised my head and looked in the direction of the sound. A huge black shadow enveloped me, and the familiar figure and breath made me scream.
"You, you are... Nian Beast!"
"That's right, it's me." The voice seemed to emerge directly from my mind, low and illusory.
"Your wish, this old man can help you realize it. However, there is a price to pay."
"It doesn't matter!" I shouted loudly, "It doesn't matter what the price is, as long as it keeps him alive!"
"It doesn't matter what the price is?" Nian Beast let out a muffled laugh, "Then, the price I want is..."
Nian whispered in my ear, telling the price he needs. I stared at the floor stiffly, but finally, nodded slowly.
"... I see, I promise."
"But even so, all I can do is 'let him survive'." Nian Beast said slowly, "Before this point, everything else is impossible to control. Do you understand? "
I nodded and said in a low voice, "It doesn't matter. This is enough."
"Then in this way, the contract is established."
"Wait." I stopped the black shadow just as he was about to drift away, "I don't understand... why did you help me? Didn't you help Xu Yingchen before? Why are you..."
The dark figure let out a laugh.
"Of course it's because it's fun."
"Yes, interesting?"
"Yes, interesting. If you are like me, so old and so lonely, one day, you will do a lot of things for fun like me." Nian Beast said slowly, "I feed on time , I can see through all time and space, I have watched you since a thousand years ago. Among all time and space, only you are the most special, so I gave you a chance, and it is also a punishment. If If you want to thank me, then continue to make me not feel bored, Gu Yu."
————————
Sixty-two years later.
It is another hot summer, and the summer in Yancheng is always accompanied by countless thunderstorms and muddy country roads. Fortunately, after nearly half a month of continuous rainy days, it finally ushered in the first rainy weather here.
Shi Yangqiu shook the water droplets from his hair, and walked out of the convenience store where he was sheltering from the rain.
"It's really lucky." He murmured to himself, "I didn't expect the rain to stop by itself after I forgot to bring my umbrella."
"That's right, there hasn't been a sunny day for so many days." The proprietress of the convenience store said.
Shi Yangqiu smiled, and asked the proprietress as if thinking of something suddenly: "Hey, by the way, proprietress, do you know how to get to Yancheng University?"
"Yancheng University?" The proprietress was stunned for a few seconds before she realized, "Oh—you mean the old university that was demolished two years ago?"
"That's right, that's it."
"I know, I know... But young man, where are you going to do?" The proprietress asked strangely, "Isn't that university already abandoned? I heard that that area is going to be converted into a flour mill. There is a very old house, and I heard that there is an old Chinese doctor living there."
"Ah, yes, I just want to find that old Chinese doctor." Shi Yangqiu said quickly, "Can you tell me where that place is?"
"It turned out to be like this. Let me tell you, just go straight north along this road, and turn left when you get to the second traffic light..."
In this way, at noon, Shi Yangqiu finally came to the front of the old house.
Shi Yangqiu looked at the old wooden door, took a deep breath, and just reached out his hand to knock on the door, when the wooden door creaked and opened by itself.
"It's a lie..." Shi Yangqiu muttered to himself, looked left and right, but there was no one in the compound, so he couldn't help but feel a little scared. But eventually he crossed the threshold and walked in.
The courtyard of the old house is very large, and the fragrance of flowers and plants is flying everywhere. A tall locust tree of unknown age stands in the center of the courtyard, and the three characters "Jishitang" first catch the eye.
is it here? Shi Yangqiu looked into Jishi Hall suspiciously, and at this moment, a voice came.
"Not there."
Shi Yangqiu was taken aback, "Who, who?"
The voice drifted over lazily again.
"I said it's not there. Turn left where you are, and you can see it ten steps ahead."
Shi Yangqiu listened carefully and found that the voice was indeed coming from the next door. It didn't look like a ghost or something, he breathed a sigh of relief, followed the instructions of the voice, and found a bigger room.
This room is obviously the main hall of the entire house, but it is located in an inconspicuous location. There is a plaque hanging on the top of the room, with the words "Quyao Pavilion" written in three big characters, and there are couplets beside the door.
"That... the life and death agreement is so vast, and I haven't known you with the king, so what..." The wooden sign of the couplet seems to have been damaged, and the last two characters can't be read clearly anyway.
"I haven't known you yet and I've said goodbye to you." Suddenly a voice came from the house. Shi Yangqiu raised his head and found a person sitting in the middle of the room.
The man had waist-length hair, a handsome face, and was wearing a dark gown. He was sitting cross-legged on the mahogany floor, holding a teacup in his hand, and was sipping the tea in the cup gracefully, as if from Just like people who came out of costume dramas.
However, that person's face looked like a boy of eighteen or nineteen years old.
"I'm sorry, I've been thinking about when to repair the wooden plaque of the couplet, but I haven't made time for it." The young man put down the teacup in his hand, stood up and walked in front of Shi Yangqiu, showing a smile, stretched his He held out a hand, "Gu Yu, you are the exorcist here."
"You are Gu Yu, that's great. After taking so long, I finally found you." Shi Yangqiu breathed a sigh of relief.
Gu Yu showed a puzzled expression, "Find me? What do you mean?"
Shi Yangqiu quickly took out a letter of trust from his pocket. The envelope was yellowed and old, and looked like it had been there for a while.
"This is what my grandmother told me before she died, and I must give it to you." Shi Yangqiu said, "After so many years, the city has changed a lot, and my grandmother is getting old, so she can't tell where your old house is. Where. Later, I found it all by myself after searching here and there, alas, it was really not easy."
"Your grandmother?" Gu Yu asked after receiving the letter.
Shi Yangqiu nodded, "Grandmother said that she was a good friend with you when she was young. Her name is Su Xiaoyun. Do you have any impression?"
Gu Yu fell silent, didn't speak any more, but lowered his head and opened the envelope. Shi Yangqiu hadn't peeked at the grandmother's letter, so he had no way of knowing what was written in the letter that the grandmother wrote to the demon master named Gu Yu. It's just that it was obviously not a long letter, but Gu Yu read it very seriously, and after reading it for a long time, he slowly put away the envelope.
"When did your grandmother die?" Gu Yu raised his head and asked.
"Uh... just last week." Shi Yangqiu said, "It happened to be when she was eighty years old."
"Is that so." Gu Yu muttered to himself, "Has it been more than sixty years before you know it? - What about your grandfather? His name is Shi Yitong."
"Grandfather passed away ten years ago." Shi Yangqiu was a little surprised, but he still replied truthfully, "Because of lung cancer."
"So that's how it is. Lung cancer really doesn't look like him." Gu Yu smiled. Shi Yangqiu didn't understand the meaning of this smile at all, but because of this, he became more and more curious about the exorcist in front of him. .
"That... Mr. Gu Yu." Shi Yangqiu asked cautiously, "Grandmother told me that she and you were classmates in college. But not only have you not aged, even your appearance has not changed at all... What is this? What's going on?"
"Curious?" Gu Yu showed a sly smile.
Shi Yangqiu hesitated for a moment, but still nodded.
"Then let me tell you a story." Gu Yu said, picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Shi Yangqiu, and said slowly, "A long time ago, the land where Yancheng is located was not called Yancheng. City, but called Qingqiu Country, it is a small country surrounded by the sea... "
"... Until one day, Nine Tails captured the princess."
"...then the princess sealed the power of Nine-Tails with her own soul, and she fell into infinite reincarnation."
"... Kyuubi guarded Qingyu's life after life with his life, until one year his enemy found him and Qingyu's reincarnation, and framed Kyuubi with cruel and despicable means." Gu Yu finally said, looking at Qingyu with serious eyes. To Shi Yangqiu.
And Shi Yangqiu was fascinated by what he heard, and asked: "Then—did Nine Tails die later?"
Gu Yu shook his head, "No, he is not dead. I saved him and made a deal with that Nian beast."
"Deal? What deal?" Shi Yangqiu looked at Gu Yu.
"... Do you want to go see him?" Gu Yu said suddenly.
"ah?"
"The original owner of this old house, that nine-tailed demon fox." Gu Yu blinked and said.
Gu Yu brought Shi Yangqiu to the backyard of the old house. An exquisite coffin made of glass was placed among flowers and green grass, and the breeze was blowing, which made the scene feel dreamlike and unreal.
"Is this... Nine Tails?" Shi Yangqiu stood there with his mouth open. At this time, Gu Yu had already stepped on the green grass and walked to the side of the coffin.
"Come here." Gu Yu waved to Shi Yangqiu with a smile, "Anyway, he won't wake up suddenly and startle you—at least not now."
Shi Yangqiu followed the sound and walked over. Lying in the glass coffin is a handsome and beautiful man, his eyes are closed, his hands are placed on his chest, and there are many white petals around him. It doesn't look like a "living person" at all.
Shi Yangqiu couldn't help but wonder, "Is he... really still alive?"
"Alive." Gu Yu stared at the person in the coffin, "Alive, still exist, and still able to breathe. But that's all."
"Then... will he wake up again?" Shi Yangqiu asked in shock.
"I don't know." Gu Yu said calmly, "But I will wait, and keep waiting. What I lacked the most before was time, but now, only time is my only capital."
Shi Yangqiu looked at Gu Yu.
"Could it be that you... won't die?"
"On the contrary. I will die tomorrow." Gu Yu lowered his eyes and said, "But that tomorrow will never come."
"Why?" Shi Yangqiu blurted out.
"The deal with Nian Beast, this is the price I paid." Gu Yu said, "Nian Beast didn't deprive me of my life, but gave me eternal life. What he deprived me of is the right to die. I was fixed in At the time of the day before his death, he became a dead thing that will never change. There is no way to live, and I am not qualified to die. All I can do is to do as much as possible while waiting for him He didn't get things done."
Shi Yangqiu stared blankly at Gu Yu, feeling a sadness flowing in his chest. But before he could immerse himself in this sadness for too long, Gu Yu suddenly recovered his smile.
"Okay, thank you for making a special trip to deliver the letter for me. I can't return anything, or can I treat you to a meal?"
"Ah, no need, no need." Shi Yangqiu pointed to the sky, "It might rain again later, I have to go home as soon as possible, thank you for your kindness."
"Then at least let me take you out."
"Ah good."
—————
After seeing off the boy named Shi Yangqiu, I looked at the sky outside the door and fell into deep thought. I don't know how long it took before Bai's voice pulled me back to reality.
"Hey, boy, why are you in a daze here." The white ferret stepped in from the threshold lightly, "I bought back the food you asked for."
I looked at him helplessly, "You should show me some respect, now I am the owner of this old house."
"Hmph, a kid is a kid, and no matter how many years there are, it won't change this fact." Bai started to search around as soon as he entered the room, "Where's the wine? I promised you I'd buy vegetables for you, so you can drink it for me!"
"You are serious about giving people money, right?"
"What? Who do you think I am, kid!" Bai rushed up to the table angrily, "By the way, what does that brat who just left do? Did you have any commission?"
"No." I shook my head and looked away from the window, "It's just a memory from the past."
... ... ...
Do you believe that there are ghosts in this world
Different people must have completely different answers to this question. Some people believe it firmly, while others scoff. Some children will be scared by ghost stories and hide under the quilt and shiver, while others just take it as a boring chat after dinner and just laugh it off.
Yes, I do.
Humans and ghosts coexist in this world, hostile to each other, avoid each other, kill each other, and in rare cases, they fall in love with each other.
Where demons and ghosts cannot be tolerated, even the existence of human beings will be threatened; dark corners that cannot tolerate human beings will eventually become a purgatory of demons and monsters.
My name is Gu Yu, and my story will end here.
However, the stories between humans and ghosts must still be happening in many places I don't know. Your story must continue.