Day and night tour

Chapter 35: Origin of the White Walkers
Beer is an imported name, and Chinese people call it malt wine. The local breweries do not have large fermentation tanks, and the ratio of rice to syrup is low, so it tastes more like malt wine.

Most of the Zhou family troupe's masters love to drink. If the alcohol content is high, they are prone to get drunk and cause trouble. Beer is low in alcohol and refreshing and can quench thirst, so it has gradually become the first choice for the troupe's drunkards to satisfy their cravings during work hours.

Zhou Xuan carried two large wide-mouthed glass bottles, filled them from the oak barrel, and returned to the kitchen.

Old Ma was craving for wine, so he washed three cups in advance, put two on the table, and held one in his arms, waiting for the wine to be poured into them.

As soon as the metal cover of the glass bottle was unscrewed, Lao Ma got to work impatiently, filled the cup, tilted his head back and took a big gulp. Some dense foam hung on his beard, and then he cried out "Ah" and burped.
Wow, the standard formula for drinking beer.

Zhou Xuan poured a cup for Yuan Buyu, handed it to him, and said jokingly: "Drink it, stop pretending to be so arrogant."

"Young people are so rude. I am old and waiting for you to pour me a glass of wine. How can that be called pretending?"

Yuan Buyu took a sip of wine and drank slowly.

Zhou Xuan poured himself a cup, pulled a stool, and asked, "Big-bellied Monk, what are your origins? Are you a human or a ghost?"

"It's both a human and a ghost."

Yuan Buyu is a bit of a suspenseful, which is a common problem among storytellers. Once they go on stage, they reveal the whole thing, so how do they continue?
This problem is fine on stage, but it is annoying and difficult to communicate in real life.

"Can you please speak properly?"

"Don't you have to drink the wine one sip at a time? Why are you in such a hurry? Let me ask you, do you know what a White Walker is?" Yuan Buyu asked.

Zhou Xuan nodded and shook his head. He had heard the name of the White Walkers from his sister, and they learned the ability to harm people from the White Walkers.

But he had no idea what the difference was between the White Walkers and ordinary people's wandering ghosts.

"A wandering soul is a spirit that leaves the body after death. An evil ghost is formed when the obsession is too strong and refuses to disperse, and merges with the soul. Don't underestimate obsession. A living person with obsession is willing to spend his entire life inventing all kinds of strange things. A wandering soul can resist the call of the will of the Soul Shepherding City because of its obsession and turn into an evil ghost."

Yuan Buyu really has something.

You are absolutely right.

In Luoying Hall, Zhou Xuan, who had experience as a ghost, witnessed the female guest Zheng Meizhu almost turning into a fierce ghost because of her persistent hatred. If Zhou Lingyi hadn't told her to calm down...

"No wonder I was summoned to Shepherd Soul City after I died. But there are always some dirty things that can refuse to be summoned and continue to wander in the world."

Zhou Xuan suddenly thought that it was possible that Yuan Buyu was not a real cook.

The chef is very busy every day. In the morning he has to supervise his apprentices in preparing and chopping vegetables. When it is almost time for dinner, he has to run around the stove. After he finishes cooking, he takes a one or two-hour lunch break and then has to prepare dinner again.

After dinner, I have to make a midnight snack. I am so busy all day long that it is good to have a break. How can I have the energy to think about other things...

Of course, there may be some individual hardworking people who have more energy than children and can be called "human perpetual motion machines". They have no idea how to write the word "tired" and can always squeeze out time to work hard no matter how busy or tired they are at work.

But no matter how you look at Yuan Buyu, he doesn't look like the King of Perpetual Motion. How can someone who gasps for air after moving a few times be considered perpetual motion?

"Old man Yuan, are you really a cook?"

"Cook... Oh, I used to be a storyteller and a mainstay of the theater."

Tsk tsk, Old Yuan is still good at bragging,
The pillar of the station? You are the chef, right?
"Just brag, if you are so capable, why do you become a cook?"

"Storytellers are servants. They bow and nod to everyone they meet. They are too lazy to serve..."

As Yuan Buyu was talking, he suddenly heard an unusual chopping sound on the chopping board. He stood up and picked up the raincoat cucumbers that his apprentice had cut and had a look at them. After just one look, he became furious and started cursing at the apprentice.

"Bai Wa, you are cutting a shitty cucumber. How many times have I taught you? Fine blades are the basis. If you want to cut well, you have to cut neatly. Once the cucumber is opened, the holes should be of the same size. Look at the holes you have. Some are big, some are small. You cut them into strips of rotten socks. Even beggars would despise you. Cut again!"

Yuan Buyu threw the cucumber onto the table with a "bang".

After teaching his apprentice a lesson, Yuan Buyu immediately went back to chatting: "Xuan Zi, see, this is the good thing about being a cook, life is very smooth, and you can scold anyone you want!"

“……”Zhou Xuan.

So the old man becomes a cook just to vent his anger?

"Xuan Zi, let me tell you, being a storyteller in Jing Country is not easy. You need to be eloquent, have a steady stage presence, and be fully immersed in the drama with your movements and eyes during performance. It takes years of apprenticeship to hone your skills, but that's not enough. You need more things here..." Yuan Buyu slapped his stomach fiercely, "You need to know the secrets of fox spirits and wild ghosts, the wild history of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, all kinds of life in the market, and the ups and downs of human nature. All of them need to be stored in your stomach!

The strange things you asked me about are just a drop in the bucket of the strange things I have heard in my life."

"Then I'll ask you for your advice in the future."

Zhou Xuan was relatively assured about Yuan Buyu's source of knowledge, and then asked about the doubts in his mind.

"Wandering ghosts, evil spirits, have you explained clearly, what is the connection between them and the White Walkers?"

“No connection.”

“……”Zhou Xuan.

They are all called ghosts, and they have nothing to do with each other?

"Wandering ghosts are the souls of the dead leaving their bodies, while evil ghosts are the souls of the dead controlled by obsessions. In essence, there is not much difference between the two, but the White Walkers are not from the souls of the dead."

"No one can say for sure about the origin of the White Walkers, but there are three mainstream theories. The first is called the 'disaster theory'. Natural and man-made disasters occur all the time. In every major disaster, countless people die tragically and lives are devastated. The bloody aura of a large number of corpses and the painful aura of countless people wailing converge and condense, giving rise to the White Walkers.

The second is the "Dragon Vein Theory". There is a term called Feng Shui Treasure Land. Wind is the shadow of water, and water bears the shape of wind. A place with good Feng Shui is often suitable for living. A Feng Shui master has stated that under any Feng Shui treasure land, there is an invisible dragon lurking, which is what we often call the dragon vein. The dragon vein may be big or small, long or short, or have five claws or horns gathering lightning, but no matter what kind of dragon vein it is, it has its lifespan.

When the lifespan is reached, the dragon vein will die.

If the dragon vein is wide and vast enough, it will give birth to White Walkers after death."

Zhou Xuan was fascinated by what he heard, but he always felt that it was unreal.

"That's right, it's not true. These are all myths and conjectures. You don't take them seriously, do you?" Yuan Buyu said unhappily.

Row,
These down-to-earth words immediately brought Zhou Xuan, whose mind was elsewhere, back to the stove on the ground.

"What about the third one?" Zhou Xuan picked up the glass and drank beer.

"The third one is even more mysterious. It is rumored that the White Walkers came from outside."

"Outside, which outside? Mingjiang Mansion?"

"Further outside."

"Amekan Nation?"

"There's more outside," Yuan Buyu stood at the windowsill and looked up at the sky: "Above the sky, the world outside the starry sky!"

"puff!"

Zhou Xuan spit out a mouthful of beer.

Zhou Xuan was very familiar with the content of the third origin of the White Walkers. After listening to it, he felt like he was back home.

"What's wrong with you?" Yuan Buyu stared at Zhou Xuan.

Zhou Xuan pointed at the wine glass and said, "There's a bug in the wine, it's stinging my throat."

"Of course, these statements are too mysterious. You just need to understand that the White Walkers are not real ghosts. They are on par with gods."

"By the way, weren't we talking about the Big Belly Monk? How did we end up talking about the White Walkers?"

Zhou Xuan then remembered the original intention of the chat.

"Because the Big Belly Monk is the 'walking' that guides the White Walkers!"

"Or... the Big Belly Monk is the foot chosen by the White Walkers!"

(End of this chapter)