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Chapter 48
Zhongyuan Festival is also called Ghost Festival. On this day, people mourned the death of their loved ones and burned paper ingots for them to convey their thoughts. On the night of the twelfth to fifteenth month of the seventh lunar calendar, someone will light a stick of incense on a remote path, draw a circle with lime, and burn paper money for their loved ones.
Worrying about the lonely ghosts stealing what they burned to their relatives, people will burn some paper money at will, which is regarded as a favor. So at this time, it is also a good day for wandering ghosts, because they who are not enshrined in incense can also be upright and have money to spend.
Ghosts with strong bodies, quick eyes and quick hands, can always grab the most money to please. Those with bad health can only take advantage of their luck. Whoever catches up with burning paper will pick up a little money to spend.
Wang Erma was an otaku before his death. After growing up in an orphanage, he lived on the Internet as a navy soldier. He usually relies on takeout online shopping for his meals and clothes. Apart from throwing away trash, he rarely goes out. At the moment before his death, he thought that he had lived for nearly thirty years, and he didn't even touch the hands of sister paper.
Before the date of reincarnation, no one paid homage to him, and finally waited until the Mid-Year Festival, when the ghost door opened wide, with thin arms and legs, he couldn't beat other ghosts. After being photographed on the wall by other ghosts countless times, he has given up his plan to "gratify money".
He didn't exercise before his death, and after he died, a hundred ghosts were deceived. Wang Erma was very disappointed with himself before his death. If he knew how to exercise at that time, how could he be reduced to the ghost level now?
Floating for tens of meters, he saw a family burning paper money in the corner. After the paper money was burned, it appeared in the hands of several ghosts nearby. He sighed and turned his head in the other direction.
Being abused by a couple before his death and being abused by a ghost after death is really unpleasant.
A young man walked across the street, wearing a very ordinary long-sleeved shirt and jeans. Wang Erma was a little envious. He was so good-looking, he must be a personal winner.
"I'll be right back, I'll be there in five minutes." Fu Li and Kun Peng made an appointment to go out to eat beef noodles. Who knew that Zhuang Qing suddenly informed him that he had to work overtime tonight, so he had to rush back in a hurry.
After walking across the zebra crossing, Fu Li saw a thin and dry young man wearing glasses looking at him eagerly, so he stopped, took out a few pieces of yellow paper on his body and turned them into ingots before the young man. After the incineration, they rushed to the management department.
Wang Erma held a few ingot ingots in his hand, staring at the handsome guy's back in a daze, with a dazed expression. Did that person just burn him after seeing him?
"I saw that the stupid man who showed off his wealth in front, thought he had a few ingots and held it in his hand to show it off. Is it great to be rich?"
Wang Erma returned to his senses, and saw a few ghosts pointing at him not far away, busy picking up the ingot.
Cai does not reveal white, and wealth does not reveal white.
Fu Li rushed to the management department. No other colleagues were there. Only the door of Zhuang Qing's office was still lit. He knocked on the door of Zhuang Qing's office: "Will we two work overtime tonight?"
"Tonight, the ghost festival will open, and many demons and cultivators will join in the fun. Now we attach great importance to food safety and the quality of goods. The ghost market is held in the human world. If something goes wrong, our management department will be responsible." Zhuang Qing stood up and took care of her suit jacket, "Thank you hard tonight, and I will be responsible for safety issues."
"Okay, okay." Fu Li agreed without thinking, "Then I will leave now?"
"What's the hurry? Only when the gate of the ghost market opens." Zhuang Qing pointed to the chair opposite to her, "Sit down first, and I will tell you some common sense in the realm of cultivation."
Seeing Zhuang Qing's serious look, Fu Li sat down obediently, although his heart had already flown to the ghost market.
"The current Demon Realm is very different from thousands of years ago, and genius treasures are even rarer..." Zhuang Qing told Fu Li about the current level of the Demon Realm's cultivation level, the preciousness of the medicine, and the race. The relationship and contradiction between Fu Li emphasizes how rare and important those things are.
After living in the human world for a few months, Fu Li already knew that everyone in the cultivation world had to live too well, but he didn't expect to live so miserably.
The pill that he used as a snack to knock down turned out to be a rare thing now, and its aura is far less than before. The medicinal materials are planted artificially. How can these planted materials compare to the elixir of absorbing the essence of heaven and earth?
The inheritance of cultivation techniques is broken, the elixir is lost, the human race is prosperous, the aura between heaven and earth gradually disappears, and the demon world is almost living in the cracks. It's no wonder that most of the current demonic cultivation bases are not high. It turns out that it's not that they don't make progress, but the environment does not allow them.
"You should have a snack too. The cultivation world now seems calm. If the big demon frequently appears, I can't guarantee that this calm will be retained." Zhuang Qing sighed, "You have been cultivated by the demon in the mountains. Too naive, I don’t know the world, the world is not as beautiful as you think."
Fu Li looked at Zhuang Qing blankly, not knowing what to say.
"Children who seem to be immature and innocent can steal your things while you are not paying attention. The weak and helpless old people may also be liars. The weak are not necessarily really weak, and the strong may not necessarily protect others." Zhuang Qing To Fu Li's eyes, "Whether it is a human or a demon, it is selfish in the bones."
Fu Li blinked and stared at Zhuang Qing's beautiful eyes.
These eyes are too clean, Zhuang Qing feels like a wicked person who tears the beauty apart, but since Fu Li is already in the human world, sooner or later he will understand these principles. Instead of waiting for him to endure all his hardships to understand this, it is better to let him be the villain. Reaching out his hand to cover Fu Li's eyes, Zhuang Qing sneered: "Your good, in the eyes of others, it may be stupid."
The long eyelashes swept lightly in his palm, itchy.
"Do you think so too?" Fu Li asked curiously.
Zhuang Qing was silent for a moment: "It's not what I think, but the way the world is today." He put down his hand, turned and looked out the window, "The time is almost here, let's go."
Fu Li looked out the window, then looked at Zhuang Qing, with a brilliant smile on his face: "Then let's hurry up."
Seeing his dazzling smile, Zhuang Qing felt that what she had just said didn't seem to have any effect at all. But for some reason, he didn't feel angry, but was a little bit lucky.
As soon as I arrived, the sky seemed to be torn apart, faintly revealing the pavilions and pavilions inside. Then the radiance shone, the pavilions in the sky disappeared, and a lively market was added to a certain mountain forest.
There is a legend in the world that on the night of the Mid-Yuan Festival, if someone can see the heavenly gate opens, they will get countless gold and silver ingots. If you are brave and want to hear the voices of ghosts, you can lie under the grape trellis, and there will be voices from the ground. But the legend is the legend. The humans who have seen the Tianmen don't know that it is not the Tianmen, but the ghosts open.
Fu Li and Zhuang Qing came to the mountains with a cloud, and the market had begun to lively. As soon as they arrived at the gate of the bazaar, a ghost chaplain wearing an ancient yaman costume stopped them and asked them their identity.
Fu Li looked at Zhuang Qing, these ghosts are still wearing clothes hundreds of years ago, and they don’t even know Zhuang Qing. Hasn’t Zhuang Qing ever visited the ghost market before?
"I am the director of the management department of the human cultivation world, and he is my staff." Zhuang Qing handed a jade medal to the ghost government officer. The government officer took the jade medal and glanced at it, showing a shocked expression on her face, repeatedly saying: " It turned out to be Lord Zhuang Qing, the villain has eyes but no beads, and has lost the distance to welcome him."
"Haihan, two adults, there are rules in the ghost market. Everyone who enters the ghost market needs to wear a Chinese dress and a crown, you see..." The ghost's tone was a little uneasy, afraid to annoy Zhuang Qing.
"You should do as you live in the countryside." Fu Li just wanted to join in the fun, it doesn't matter what clothes he wears. As soon as his voice fell, the shirt and jeans on his body disappeared, turning into a noble son with a jade crown and brocade. Zhuang Qing glanced at him and came out silently, changing into a robe.
Fu Li wears white, but he wears a black brocade robe. At a glance, Zhuang Qing is a mature and stable elder brother, and Fu Li is a younger brother who was taken out by his elder brother to increase his knowledge.
Entering the gate of the ghost market, lanterns are hung inside, people come and go, and there are countless beauties. There are female ghosts of the Song Dynasty who are moving their lotus steps, there are also mighty generals in battle robes, and there are demon repairs with beast ears.
"Master Zhuang Qing!" When the demons saw Zhuang Qing, they all showed a little fright and awe. They didn't seem to expect Zhuang Qing to appear in this place.
A rat demon even tried to stuff Zhuang Qing with things from the stall, and his hands were shaking so much that he couldn't hold things securely.
"This fellow Taoist shouldn't be nervous. We are just patrolling. Please don't get me wrong." Fu Li saw that Zhuang Qing was calm and did not speak. He hurriedly reached out and took out the rat demon stuffed into Zhuang Qing's arms and put it back to the rat demon At the stall, "Everyone should do what they should do."
The demon cultivators looked at each other with subtle expressions.
"Why are your expressions so strange?" Fu Li said with a solemn expression, "Are you selling fake and shoddy products?"
"No, no." The demon cultivators shook their heads together, never daring to look around.
After walking through the stalls set up by these demon cultivators, Zhuang Qing said: "These are demon cultivators who hardly go out of the mountains, and there is no good demon certificate, so seeing us is a little nervous."
"It turned out to be a dark household." Fu Li looked back at the demon cultivators. The demon cultivators were whispering, seeing him turning around, they stopped talking.
"Some demons like the prosperity of the human world, but some are not willing to contact humans." Zhuang Qing said in a flat tone, "The purpose of the management office is to allow these cultivators to choose the life they want."
Fu Li looked at this almost inexhaustible street, and suddenly said, "You are amazing."
Zhuang Qing tilted his head to look at him, and raised her eyebrows after a long while: "Even if you slap my leader's ass, I won't open the back door for you at the end of the year of the assessment." After saying this, he strode forward. .
"At a young age, don't think so extreme, so I can't praise you sincerely?" Fu Li quickly followed.
Not far away, some ghosts were performing a hot pot and followed the nail board, and some took off their heads and threw them as a ball. The taste was very heavy, but there were a lot of ghosts and demons onlookers.
"This is an educational performance of the eighteenth hell. It warns people and demons not to do evil, otherwise it will be their end." Zhuang Qing saw Fu Li paddling his feet to watch these uncreative performances, with indifferent eyes.
A long time ago, when he came to the ghost market, he performed the same, but the ghost of the performance has changed.
"That's really educational." When Fu Li saw a ghost take off his head, even his intestines were sticking to his neck, he turned his head and stopped looking, "It's just that the taste is a little heavy."
Not far from the hell education performance, a wonton shop was opened. Fu Li saw the old man cooking wonton cut his beard and threw it into the soup. The ghosts and the little monsters next to him immediately surrounded him and argued. Rushing to buy wontons. Suddenly, Fu Li, it turns out that ginseng is in the realm of comprehension, so does it depend on this to make a fortune?
On the opposite side of the street, there are a few female ghosts performing the Feather Dress Dance. The sign outside says, Tang Minghuang composed music and Yang Guifei choreographed, the most complete and most restored Feather Dress Dance in the world. Although I don't know whether it is true or not, the dance is really good, and there are a lot of applauded male ghosts and demons under the stage. Some male ghosts wore crooked robes and glasses on their faces, which looked a bit ridiculous.
"Walking by, don't miss it, Huatuo brand painkiller, Guan Yu said it was good after using it!"
"Come and have a look, Diao Chan brand beauty cream, Diao Chan's favorite beauty cream."
"This fellow Taoist come to see, how is this Mo Mo sword? What, I actually said that my sword is worthless. Do you know who his brother is? Has Mo Xie ever heard of it?"
"Selling pipa, selling pipa, men bought them for their girlfriends, women bought them beautiful and mysterious. There is a magic circle on it, which can withstand the powerful attack of the transformation stage..."
Fu Li looked at the various messy goods on the street, and pointed to the iron sword named Mo Mo: "Zhuang Qing, Mo Xiejian and younger brother?"
"That's a lie to ghosts." Zhuang Qing pulled Fu Li back, "Don't look at it."
"Oh." Fu Li took two steps, then pointed to a carved sandalwood fan on a stall, "That really is Wu Huang's favorite fan? Or we can buy Zhaoyun back, she must be very happy."
"When Emperor Wu was in power, there was no such fan." Zhuang Qing grabbed Fu Li's belt to prevent him from walking.
"Ah, it's also a lie." Fu Li slumped his shoulders, "Why these ghosts and demons are not honest at all."
"Yeah." Zhuang Qing smiled at the corner of his mouth, but the smile was fleeting, "Do you know how dark this society is?"
Fu Li suddenly pointed to a sign in front of him, and his expression was a little excited: "People's eye candy, it's not allowed to eat people now!"
"That's candy seeds made of longan." Zhuang Qing's hand holding Fu Li's belt remained motionless.
Fu Li:...
"There is a grilled fish seller, let's go buy two copies." Fu Li suddenly regained his spirit.
Zhuang Qing sighed helplessly. He, a more than 1900-year-old dragon, could only accompany Fu Li, a four-thousand-year-old demon, while eating grilled fish. Occasionally a passing demon peeped at Zhuang Qing, Zhuang Qing glanced over, and these eyes suddenly disappeared.
After eating the grilled fish, Fu Li threw the bamboo sticks into the trash basket on the street. Turning around, he was amused by the old-fashioned street comedy and laughed. He took out a pearl and threw it into the bowl that the opponent handed him.
The performer thought with joy, what kind of big money is this so generous, and when he looked up, he almost knocked the bowl over. How could Zhuang Qing be here? Did he plagiarize the cross talk jokes of those cross talk masters during his lifetime and was discovered?
Zhuang Qing glanced at the pearls in the bowl, turned around to smile at Fu Li, whose eyes were bent, and said to Fu Li, "Go ahead and take a look."
"Oh." Fu Li nodded obediently, and followed Zhuang Qing out of the ghost group. Several drama ghosts babbled and sang joys and sorrows on the stage, love and hate of life and death, Fu Li couldn't understand, but seeing that there were not many audiences in front of their stage, so they took a pearl and threw it into the opponent's bowl.
Zhuang Qing couldn't help but said, "Do you have a lot of pearls?"
"Human currency can't be used here. You said that the herbs are all rare things, so the least valuable thing here is these sea pearls." Fu Li was a little nervous, did he do something wrong?
"Compared with Sea Pearl, they may prefer loose silver." Zhuang Qing handed Fu Li a bag of broken silver, "You take this to them."
"It turned out to be so, thank you." Fu Li took the broken silver and happily rewarded the various demons who performed. Zhuang Qing followed behind him blankly, her eyes staring at the rewarding bowl with a particularly cold expression.
After walking around and playing for two or three hours, Fu Li's excitement finally lost a half, and the bag of loose silver that Zhuang Qing gave him was almost spent.
"Two adults, why don't you rest here with the old lady?"
Fu Lixun looked at it, and a woman in a purple dress was looking at him with a smile. There was a stall in front of her, but there were no guests. A signboard stood beside the stall with the words "Wuweitang" written on it.
"What is Wuwei Soup?" Fu Li walked to the stall and found a row of clay pots on the stall, and each pot was filled with soup of different colors.
"There are five flavors in life. There are joy, anger, love, hatred, and sadness in my soup." The woman's gaze crossed Fu Li and stayed in front of Zhuang Qing, "Which one do you want to drink?"
Seeing that Fu Li did not answer, she took a bowl of soup from the Xi pot and handed it to Fu Li: "You can taste this, it can bring you supreme joy."
Zhuang Qing reached out and stopped in front of the bowl.
"What's the meaning of Dragon King?" The woman smiled at Zhuang Qing, holding the orange hot soup in her hands firmly and without any partiality.
"How can you taste the five flavors of life with a bowl of soup?" Fu Li shook his head, "I don't think it is necessary."
"That's all." Seeing Fu Li's refusal, the woman put the bowl down. He took a bowl of colorless soup and handed it to Zhuang Qing, "Dragon King, ghosts will forget this life if they drink this bowl of soup. But if a living person drinks it, they may remember the past life. Would Dragon King taste it? taste?"
"Master Grandma Meng can really laugh." Zhuang Qing said the word "laugh", but there was no expression on Zhuang Qing's face.
"The old man made a joke with Lord Dragon King, and please don't mind if Lord Dragon King." The woman is also the legendary Grandma Meng. She gave a blessing to Zhuang Qing, "I have not seen you in 1,500 years, Dragon King is now The majesty of the world convinced the beasts of the world."
Zhuang Qing replied, "It's Grandma Meng's joke, it's still the same."
Grandma Meng smiled: "If I meet Dragon King again next time, the old man might make this joke again."
Zhuang Qing didn't speak, and there was no joy or anger on her face.
The smile on Grandma Meng's face was even worse. She turned her head to look at Fu Li carefully, and solemnly bowed: "Please don't mind the old jokes.
"It's okay." Fu Li shook his head and smiled, "Although I don't drink soup, these soups are beautiful."
"The old man has made soup for thousands of years in the Hades, and practice makes perfect." Grandma Meng said, "The ghost market has passed halfway. Don't waste your time, you two, continue to enjoy it."
Hearing the word "appreciation and play", Fu Li remembered that he was patrolling with Zhuang Qing tonight, not Zhuang Qing came to play with him. He glanced at Zhuang Qing with some guilty conscience, and was secretly relieved when he saw that Zhuang Qing had no expression.
Leaving Grandma Meng's soup shop, Zhuang Qing pointed to a small shop in front of him, "Go to the shop in front and sit down."
"Okay." Fu Li thought Zhuang Qing was tired and nodded hurriedly.
After entering the shop, this is a food shop. The dishes are all fish, shrimp and crabs. The chef is a whale monster, and the guys inside are all ghosts. The arrival of Zhuang Qing caused a small-scale sensation in the store, but in front of the food, everyone seemed to be more courageous, at least no one was scared to lose their chopsticks and ran away.
The order was served quickly, Zhuang Qing tasted his chopsticks, and put it down unclearly. The shop is still the same, and the cooking is still the whale, but he no longer has the hesitation and panic that he used to.
"What's the matter?" Fu Li tasted the fish Xia Zhuang Qing had eaten. It tasted very good, better than Bao Yu, who claimed to be the chief chef of the palace.
"Nothing." Zhuang Qing shook her head, turned to look at the pedestrians coming and going outside the store, took out a kit, and handed it to the guy next to her.
"My lord, you and you have given too much." The guy didn't know Zhuang Qing, but by looking at the attitude of the diners around, he knew that his identity was not simple. Seeing that the other party suddenly gave so many things, he was a little scared.
"Not much." Zhuang Qing pointed to the whale cooking in the back kitchen, "this is the interest of 1,500 years."
"Do you owe money to this boss?" Fu Li was a little surprised. He didn't expect Zhuang Qing to owe debts.
"Yeah." Zhuang Qing raised his chopsticks and picked up a prawn, "I was ignorant when I was young, and had no money to go out, so I ate the boss's overlord meal."
He thought that he would never appear in this place again, and no longer need to think of his embarrassed appearance, but when he set foot in this place again, he realized that everything was nothing but this.
"Boss." The guy walked to the back kitchen and gave the kit full of spirit orbs and pearls to the whale demon. "This was given by a guest. He said... Is this 1,500 years of interest?"
There are rules in the ghost market, the property is cleared, no credit is allowed, if found, it will be chased by the demon world. That guest looks impressive, how could he owe the boss money?
"Fifteen hundred years ago?" The old whale monster took the tip, "Who?"
"It's the guest." The man pointed out the person who gave the money to the whale monster through the curtain.
"The dragon spirit is lingering, the merit is extraordinary..." Looking at the man in the black brocade robe, the whale demon suddenly thought of the half-year-old child 1,500 years ago. The child was bloodstained and confused, so he ordered a soup to replenish vitality.
Later, the child ran away after drinking Tang Canghuang, but he watched the child escape and did not stop him. After so many years, he thought that the kind of hybrid dragon without the protection of the elders had already died in the mouth of other monster races, and he did not expect to see each other again after 1,500 years.
Fu Li found an extra bowl of soup on the table. He looked up and said, "Man, we didn't order this."
The guy smiled and said, "The boss said that he gave this to his deceased."