harleyscars Page 58
Page 58
Xia Yuelan said angrily, "But Xuecai should say who she likes first."
Sister Qiu Ying said, "Even so."
Fu Hai quickly grabbed the two of them... "Don't start fighting too!"
“Sound! Sound!” He looked up at the building. “Don’t mention this book again in the inn.”
Xia Yuelan also looked up, glanced up, and chuckled softly, saying, "Actually, senior brother, our inn's business is getting worse and worse anyway."
"If they knew you were the author, they might get so angry that they set the inn on fire and then pay you a few hundred gold coins in compensation... Ouch!" Fu Hai flicked her on the head.
Qiu Yingjie and Song Lingyue looked up, seemingly lost in thought.
Don't actually consider it.
As they were talking, the sound of horses' hooves came from outside.
At this time, there were hardly any people in the inn's lobby.
Guests who were only staying one night left early in the morning. Some tourists who came for the Lantern Festival had already entered the city, while others, knowing that the city was more lively at night, simply continued to rest.
Hearing the sound of horses' hooves, they looked outside.
A figure in crimson cloud appeared, riding a brown horse at breakneck speed. Her red skirt billowed in the air; it was the heroine Murong Die, gracefully landing. "Sister Die!"
Xia Yuelan's attention shifted quickly. As soon as she saw Murong Die, she guessed that she must have come for the case of her senior brother's "possession" yesterday.
She was also curious about the so-called invisible, flying evil spirit, and immediately went to help Murong Die lead her horse. Murong Die stepped in and asked, "How's your business?"
Song Lingyue said, "These few trials are alright, but I don't know what will happen after the Lantern Festival."
Murong Die is now quite concerned about the inn's business, because she might become the inn's proprietress in the future.
She looked at Fu Hai: "We've found out the old woman's identity. Her surname is Liu, and her given name is Liu Cui. Everyone calls her Granny Liu. She's not a local, but she came here as a child bride when she was around ten years old, so she's pretty much like a local."
"She had a daughter before. When the child was a few years old, she went to play in the woods and accidentally fell into a well and died. That woods is the wasteland we chased after yesterday. The well has been abandoned for a long time."
"I'll take some men in later and search the well and the surrounding area again."
Fu Hai thought for a moment: "If that's the case, then in recent years, some people have heard a woman crying in that wasteland. Could it be that she was crying there at night? After all, her child died there before."
"But some people say they also heard children, even babies, crying...."
Murong Die said, "It's hard to say. There are quite a few stray cats over there. Many people can't even tell the difference between a baby crying and a stray cat meowing."
Xia Yuelan exclaimed, "Yes, yes, once I also heard a child crying in the bushes, which startled me. I even called my senior sister to go and see, and it turned out to be a wild cat that darted out."
Fu Hai looked at Murong Die and said, "I'll go with you and take a look too." He was a little reluctant to stay in the inn.
Murong Die said, "No rush... Do you also have this book, 'The Young Hero's Adventures in Heaven'?"
She walked to the counter, picked up a copy of "The Young Hero's Adventures": "A girl I know just told me this book is really good and kept recommending it to me. How is it? If it's good, I'll buy a copy and read it tonight when I have some free time."
Qiu Yingjie and Xia Yuelan exchanged a glance.
Before they could speak, Fu Hai grabbed Murong Die and ran outside, saying, "The important thing is to take care of business first."
Chapter 108 Sacks of Money, City Lights
Murong Die had come on horseback, and seeing that Fu Lang was eager to go with her, she simply pulled him onto the horse and had him sit behind her.
Fu Hailou, the girl's waist, went into the city with Ruo.
Xia Yuelan stood at the entrance of the inn, looking very regretful: "I really need to recommend it to Butterfly Heroine."
She then pointed to her cheek, seemingly lost in thought: "Is Senior Brother really that close to Butterfly Heroine? Why is he all over her?" Qiu Ying and Song Lingyue glanced at her but remained silent.
Song Lingyue held the gold bean and said, "I'd better go to the money exchange in the city first."
Qiu Ying said, "If it were converted into coins, it would be more than ten strings and weigh about a hundred catties. Although Miss Lingyue can carry it, it's not good to walk on the street like that. You should take a sack to put it in, so that no one will know what's inside."
Song Lingyue then looked at her junior sister, Xia Yuelan, and asked, "Yuelan, why don't you come with me?" Xia Yuelan immediately perked up, "Yes, yes, I love carrying money the most."
The two sisters then took a burlap sack and went into town together.
Fu Hai followed Murong Die back to that wasteland.
First to arrive were a young swordsman and a female swordsman from the righteous path, along with more than ten fast-moving members from the Six Doors.
Kuaishou has a low status and relatively weak strength within the Six Doors organization; its main role is to assist.
When encountering a formidable criminal, the constable, the fast horseman, and the chivalrous warrior would first subdue the opponent, and then the other fast men would swarm in to strike. What if the constable, the fast horseman, and the chivalrous warrior lost the fight?
They would definitely turn around and run immediately, what else could they do?
Although they were just low-level couriers in the Six Doors, under normal circumstances, without a constable or a fast horse leader, Murong Die couldn't mobilize them. But the Lantern Festival was an exception.
“This area was once a mortuary used to store coffins.”
Murong Die said, "This is also the main reason why this large area of land was abandoned. After all, such a place is considered unlucky. Later, the Goddess Temple was built in the north. The purpose of building the Goddess Temple was said to be to suppress the natural gas here."
"But what kind of natural gas was here, we don't know, since it happened a long time ago." Fu Hai nodded.
Once I came into this world, I realized how amazing the "history" I learned in compulsory education was.
This world doesn't have dedicated historians who meticulously record the history of their time, so even in slightly earlier eras...
It is vague and unclear.
Some places have county annals, but most places don't even have one. Some of these annals only record good things and omit bad things and disasters. Anjun does have a county annal, and because it is bordered by the Duanyun Mountains to the south, it was generally peaceful during times of war. The county annals here also record good things and omit bad things.
As a result, Murong Die discovered that the original purpose of building the Goddess Temple was to suppress evil spirits.
However, the reason why the evil energy here needed to be suppressed remained a mystery, and even the elders of Zhengjia Village were largely clueless. They searched the forest together, and the young swordsman beside them asked, "Since it's to suppress evil energy, why isn't the Goddess Temple built directly on top of this?" Murong Die replied, "That involves feng shui. The Goddess Temple is built to the north, suppressing the evil energy to the south, which aligns with feng shui principles." Hai looked at the other female swordsman beside him.
He asked in a low voice, "This young lady seems to be in a bad mental state." He saw that the young female warrior looked dazed.
Murong Die looked over and said, "Wanxia, you stayed up all night reading. Why don't you wait outside the woods and not come in with us?" The girl called Wanxia said, "I'm fine, yes, I'm fine."
Murong Die said, "You don't look like you're alright. Is that book really that good? I told you in advance that I had things to do this morning."
Wan suddenly exclaimed, "Of course it's extremely beautiful!"
They ventured deeper but found nothing unusual; instead, they discovered an abandoned slag heap.
Looking down into the well, although it felt a bit eerie, you could still see the soil and rocks at the bottom if you looked closely.
"There's no water in the well!" Murong Die said. "Could this be the well that Granny Liu's daughter fell into all those years ago?" Fu Hai said, "I don't see any other wells here either."
Looking around, she said, "This place doesn't seem like a place where people can hide. Maybe the old woman escaped here last night, but then left again." Murong Die was still worried, so she led the quick-thinking team to search for a while, but ultimately they didn't find any more clues.
He said helplessly, "She may have already escaped from here. Now we can only ask the Six Doors to keep an eye out and also notify the street officials that if anyone recognizes her, they should report it immediately if they see her."
Fu Hai pondered for a moment and said, "The main problem is that we don't know her purpose, how she raised the evil spirit, why she wanted to harm that Uncle Ping An, and why she wanted to harm me?"
Mu Rongdie said, "We can only investigate this in detail after the festival. It's really impossible to send out so many people to promote her everywhere right now."
"You just need to be careful. Some people, once exposed, will be so scared that they hide and never dare to show their faces again. And there are also some prisoners who, once exposed..."
They'll only get more aggressive before they get caught.
Fu Hai laughed and said, "Don't worry, Sister Die. That old woman's evil spirit is only truly effective the first time you encounter her. As long as you know what you're doing, she's not that powerful."
"I just don't know her whereabouts and I'm worried she might harm others, but I'm not really afraid of anything. They retreated out of the woods."
The girl with the evening glow looked up at Fu Hai and asked, "Young Master Fu, do you enjoy reading?"
Fu Hai said, "I...I don't actually read much." Wanxia said, "A new novel has just come out at Baoshuzhai..."
"Ah, I have something to do, I'll go first." Fu Hairen was a little numb.
In the afternoon, the lantern team in the backyard of the Goddess Temple did a casual rehearsal.
After all, everyone was already familiar with each other. After the rehearsal, Fu Hai returned to the inn first, staying there to keep watch while Qiu Ying and the others went into town to have fun.
As darkness fell, the city, both inside and outside, was brightly lit.
Lanterns were also hanging high in the inn. Fu Hai got up, stood at the main entrance, and looked at the lanterns lined up above the city wall. Human nature is truly a strange thing. In his previous life, he had seen too many neon lights in the city and didn't take them seriously at all.
Now, this is just a city that never sleeps for a few days, and its prosperity is far less than one-tenth of any fourth or fifth-tier city in another world, yet it already excites him.
Turning back to the counter, I happened to see the senior sister of Jade Fairy Pavilion gracefully descending the steps.
Chapter 109 Wow! Is it "The Song of the Rising Tide of the Azure Sea"?
When Li Xianrui arrived at the lobby, she happened to see the young student in charge of the Dragon Claw Inn, who seemed to have disappeared for two days.
Fu Hai stepped forward and said, "Today is the first day of the Lantern Festival, and the atmosphere in the city is much more lively than yesterday. Miss Xianrui, won't you go into the city to enjoy the scenery?"
Li Xianrui said softly, "My three junior sisters read all night last night, and now they're not very energetic. I just woke them up, and I'll have to wait for them a while."
Looking towards the city gate in the distance, he said, "Your Lantern Festival here is indeed quite special, even more lively than the Lantern Festival in many other places."
"I took a stroll around last night, and there were lanterns everywhere, which was dazzling. But they said that the official festival has not yet started, and today will be more lively than yesterday. Tomorrow will be the real Lantern Festival."
Is there any particular custom associated with the Lantern Festival here?
Fu Haidao: "It's not really a matter of etiquette, it's just that it has a long history and tradition."
"Legend has it that long, long ago, a fairy descended with many lanterns to block the demons that came from the west and protect the people of the city. After that, the people here began to celebrate the Lantern Festival."
"Although many dynasties have changed, successive dynasties have recognized the legend that the Heavenly Maiden descended the lanterns to protect the world in this place, and thus it has become an official festival."
"Year after year, officials and the people celebrate together during these few days, which has become a tradition. Moreover, because of the experience gained, even if other counties wanted to imitate it, they could not compare with An County in terms of its brilliance. It has gradually gained a reputation, and many people from other places come to enjoy the lanterns during these few days."
Li Xianrui nodded slightly: "There are countless folk tales. The fact that they have been valued so much by successive dynasties suggests that their origins must be genuine. Li Xianrui is a proud and arrogant person."
If it were an ordinary innkeeper, she probably wouldn't have said a word to him. But firstly, this young innkeeper was different.
Although their Dragon Claw Sect has not fallen to such a state, it is still a legitimate martial arts sect officially recognized by the government, so it is still a righteous sect.
Secondly, he's a big fan of mine, and the fact that he knows my reputation from so far away shows he's quite knowledgeable. So I'll give him some face and chat with him for a bit.
Fu Hai said, "Would Miss Xianrui like some tea? I'll brew you a pot."
"Then no need!" Li Xianrui said casually. "I probably won't be used to the tea here." Fu Hai, after all, runs an inn, so he encounters all sorts of customers.
It's understandable that guests in the superior rooms might be a bit arrogant, after all, they're genuinely willing to spend money, and they even gave him gold coins after breaking a few tables and chairs. He'd love for more guests like that; just like his junior sister said, if they broke a few tables and chairs every day, their Dragon Claw Inn would make a fortune.
It's done.