The Trick of Longevity, Paper-cutting Becomes a Spirit

Chapter 263 Sifang Inn
Lu Qian ignored the beaten poor scholar and drove directly into the city.

In the city, there are not many pedestrians on the streets, but some stalls have been set up starting from the city gate.

Lu Qian walked forward and saw a frying pan propped up on the street in front of him. Next to it was a simple shed with tables, chairs and benches placed underneath. Three or five people were sitting in it eating.

Smelling the aroma of frying, Lu Qian's stomach immediately growled a few times.

Lu Qian thought for a moment. It seemed like his last meal was for lunch the day before yesterday?In such a hurry, I actually forgot about hunger.

His stomach growled so loudly that the owner of the breakfast stall actually heard it.He looked up at Lu Qian, smiled naively at him, and said, "Sir, you must be tired from the journey. Can you come down and have something to eat?"

Lu Qian smiled awkwardly and said, "Okay."

After that, he stopped the carriage on the side of the road and got out of the car.

Naturally, everyone in the car heard the conversation and got out of the car.

When Wang Zirong got out of the car, she looked at Lu Qian and smiled "hehe" at him, but Lu Qian glared at him.

Xiaofeng's face turned red and she looked at Lu Qian sheepishly. She wanted to say something, but because there were so many people on the street, she couldn't.

Neither Hei Wa nor Qing Lin got out of the car.Hei Wa is covered in bear fur and is blind; Qing Lin still has large green scales on his face and arms that have not faded away. Both of them look a bit weird, making it difficult to appear in the crowd.

It doesn't matter that Baitan looks like a dog.

Lu Qian led the three of them to find a table and sit down. The boss came over and asked, "Sir, what would you like to eat? Our tofu puffs and fried noodles are pretty good."

Hearing these words, Lu Qian's stomach growled a few more times.

Wang Zirong couldn't bear it any longer and burst out laughing, and Xiaofeng couldn't help but smile.

Lu Qian said angrily: "Just do what you said, give me more."

"okay."

At this time, the movement on their side attracted the attention of many people.

Especially after seeing Wang Zirong, even people walking couldn't take their eyes away.

Wang Zirong was obviously used to this kind of gaze and didn't care at all.

Lu Qian ate ten fried sticks in one go and drank two bowls of tofu puffs. Then he took a breath and said, "Boss, pay the bill."

"Okay, 130 copper coins in total."

Lu Qian reached out and touched it, but there were only silver ingots on him, not even the broken silver.What he just gave to the guard sergeant was a piece he secretly broke off.

But here, it's not easy for him to perform the stunt of tearing silver with his hands.

Seeing this, Wang Zirong put down the spoon, took out the money bag from her body, and poured out two silver beans from it.She looked at it, then reached out to take the smaller one back, preparing to pay the bill with the larger one.

Lu Qian grabbed both silver beans and handed them to the restaurant owner.

The boss was startled and said: "Sir, there are too many..."

Lu Qian stopped him and said, "I have something to ask you. I heard that the city is not peaceful at night recently. Did something happen?"

After hearing this, the boss's face suddenly changed. He looked left and right, and then whispered: "Is your guest a foreigner?"

Lu Qian did not reply to his words: Isn't this obvious?

The boss continued: "The government issued a notice ten days ago, warning the people in the city not to go out at night."

"Oh?"

The boss said mysteriously: "I heard that there is a kind of evil ghost in the city recently, called 'Fang Xianggui'. It is very fierce and will break into people's houses to catch people and eat them. During this period, there have been Many people were eaten.

This incident made people panic, and many people ran away. "

Fang Xianggui?
I really just fell asleep and someone gave me a pillow.

It seems that not only can he not leave today, but he also has to go out for a walk in the evening.

Lu Qian's paper spirit "Ghost Sail" needs Fang Xianggui.

Although Lu Qian was happy in his heart, his face remained calm. He looked at it and saw that there were not many people on the street. He asked doubtfully, "Isn't there anyone taking care of this?"

The boss said: "Of course there is. The monks from Guanghua Temple in the city come to the streets in groups every night to chant sutras, which seems to have some effect. But many people are still afraid. Those with connections will go out of the city before evening. Live in the countryside and come back to the city in the morning."

As he spoke, the boss nodded towards the city gate in the distance.

I see, no wonder there were so many people entering the city in the morning.

The name Guanghua Temple is quite unfamiliar, and it is not among the "Two Buddhas" and "Three Mountains". It must be a small sect.

Located in such a county town, it wouldn't be a big temple.

It was somewhat beyond Lu Qian's expectation that a small temple like theirs would come out to take care of such matters.

Lu Qian asked again: "Where is Guanghua Temple?"

The boss pointed his hand and said: "Go straight along this street, turn left at the end, turn right at the second intersection, and you will see a quite big temple."

Lu Qian nodded and saw that Wang Zirong was holding her money bag and was about to put it away quietly. Lu Qian immediately snatched the money bag from Wang Zirong, then took out a silver bean from it and threw it to the boss. ,road:

"Bring me another one just like you did before. There are still patients in the car who want to eat."

When the boss saw that Lu Qian was generous, he was no longer polite. He took the silver beans and went to prepare them happily.

Lu Qian turned to Wang Zirong, smiled, and handed the money bag back to her.

Wang Zirong grabbed her money and glared at Lu Qian bitterly.

Lu Qian smiled at her and was about to say something to calm him down when he suddenly felt a sinister gaze quietly directed at him.

Lu Qian's mental power is very sensitive. Even if someone is looking at him from behind, he can directly sense it.

What's more, this look seemed to be full of hatred.

This made Lu Qian even more alert.

But what puzzled him was why would anyone hate him in such a strange city?Lu Qian looked back and looked at the source of his gaze.

I saw a person walking on the street from the direction of the city gate.

He was in his thirties, wearing an old and patched green robe. His left cheek was swollen and there was some blood at the corner of his mouth.

As he walked, he stared at Lu Qian with hateful eyes.

It was the poor scholar who had just made rude remarks outside the city and was beaten up by the soldiers guarding the city.

When he saw Lu Qian turning back to look at him, panic flashed across his face and he hurriedly turned his head away.

Then, as if he felt unwilling to do so, he turned back and looked over to meet Lu Qian's gaze.

"Sir, your meals are all packed."

Lu Qian looked at the poor scholar, sneered, took what the boss handed him, turned around and walked towards the carriage.

This time Lu Qian drove the car himself and headed forward.

This county is not big, at least not as big as Dinghezhou.

Not long after walking, inns began to appear on both sides of the street ahead.

The business of the inn seems to be deserted, and even the waiters are out on the street soliciting customers.

Lu Qian wanted to live closer to Guanghua Temple, but the temple was at the innermost part of the city and there might not be an inn nearby.Thinking of this, Lu Qian chose an inn called "Sifang".

Square Inn.

The waiter at the shop first came out to say hello. Unexpectedly, Lu Qian was actually summoned. He was immediately overjoyed. As he welcomed Lu Qian into the shop, he shouted, "We have a guest coming. Come and help the guest with his horse. Hello." The best fodder.”

As soon as Lu Qian followed the waiter into the lobby, a man dressed as a shopkeeper came up to him and asked, "Sir, how many guests do you have? How many rooms do you want?"

Lu Qian took a casual look around and saw that although the store was not luxurious, it was very clean, so he asked, "How much would it cost per day if I took over your entire place?"

The innkeeper was startled when he heard this, and then he twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "Guest officer is joking. This inn should be the highest standard inn in the city. If we want to book it all, it will take at least one day..."

As the shopkeeper spoke, he stretched out five fingers to Lu Qian and said, "I get four...30 taels of silver."

Lu Qian nodded, took out two 50-tael silver ingots, threw them to the shopkeeper, and said, "Wrap it for two days first."

The shopkeeper subconsciously took the silver with both hands, looked down at it, and then realized that he was immediately elated.He grabbed the silver ingot with both hands, nodded and bowed and said:
"Gentlemen, please come in-"

You guys, hurry up and help the guests lead their horses. "

Lu Qian waved his hand and said: "Lead the carriage directly to the backyard. You don't have to worry about the horses. Don't let anyone disturb you in the morning. Prepare a lot of good wine and food. We won't have time to dine. Tell your people, without my greeting, no one will be here." No access to the backyard.”

"Yes, yes, sir, do you have any other orders?"

Lu Qian shook his head and said, "No more for now. Take me to the room."

"Okay. Please come in-"

The layout of Sifang Inn is that the three-story building facing the street is the dining hall and kitchen; a circle of houses is built around the backyard, which is the guest room.

Next to the backyard, there is a corner door. After exiting, you will find the stables, warehouse, and the place where the innkeepers live.

But speaking of it, the inn here is far different from Dinghezhou in terms of scale and specifications.

Lu Qian didn't care about this. After working for two days and two nights in a row, he was indeed a little tired. After assigning rooms to everyone, he returned to an upper room alone and fell asleep.

This time I slept until noon.

Lu Qian got up and went out, only to see Xiaofeng moving a chair and sitting on the porch in front of his door.

Seeing Lu Qian come out, Xiaofeng smiled at him and said, "You slept very long this time."

Lu Qian asked: "When is it?"

Xiaofeng said: "The shopkeeper has looked at the door several times, but he didn't dare to come in. The meal must have been prepared."

Lu Qian nodded and said, "Tell them to come to my room. Tell them to eat."

"Ah."

After lunch, Lu Qian asked the shopkeeper to go to the street to buy some books on anecdotes, geography and customs, and maps. Then he sent Xiaofeng and the others away and stayed in his room to concentrate on paper-cutting.

The main thing he wants to cut is of course the "ghost sail" because it will be used today.

This was the first time for Lu Qian to cut such a large paper spirit.

This time, it took him half a day to finish cutting a large "ghost sail".

Then, Lu Qian cut out some other paper spirits. Before he knew it, the lights were on and it was evening.

Lu Qian didn't go out for half the afternoon. He didn't know if the sky was cloudy or not, but the moon didn't come out at night.

All around, it was pitch black.

Lu Qian put away all the cut paper spirits, came to the window, and looked out.

Across the courtyard outside the window, in the building facing the street in front of the inn, only one room in the front hall was lit, and the rest was completely dark.

Lu Qian stood in front of the window for a while, regaining his energy a little.In the silent night sky, a sound of knocking wooden fish suddenly sounded.

As the first wooden fish sound sounded, there was an immediate commotion on the street outside.

It seemed as if a large group of monks suddenly swarmed in, knocking on wooden fish.

Mixed in with the sound of wooden fish, there is also the sound of chanting sutras.

Lu Qian immediately understood that it must be the monks from Guanghua Temple who started patrolling the streets.

They were very diligent and came out early.

(End of this chapter)