Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 195 Mutton Noodles

Ran Qing looked at the figure sleeping with his head covered in the middle of the four paper figures.

No matter how sleepy he is, he has slept for the entire day, and in such a noisy outdoor environment... Is Zong Shu so sleepy?
Ran Qing instinctively felt that something was wrong.

He put down his cards, walked to the cherry tree and called out twice.

"Sonoshu? Sonoshu?"

Ran Qing tried to wake up Long Zongshu and nervously took off the hat covering Long Zongshu's face.

But after the hat was taken off, Long Zongshu, who was dizzy from sleep, opened his eyes in a daze and stared blankly at Ran Qing in front of him.

"Ah? Ran Qing?" Long Zongshu rubbed his eyes, his expression dull, obviously still a little confused: "You guys are back?"

After he sat up straight, he saw the blood-red sunset setting in the west and was immediately startled.

"Have I slept for so long?"

Long Zongshu was obviously shocked by his extra-long sleep.

Ran Qing looked at Long Zongshu who had just woken up and breathed a sigh of relief: "I'm glad you're okay..."

Mo Li also put away his playing cards and walked over, grinning and saying, "You've been sleeping for almost a whole day... What happened? Did you go steal a dog last night? Why are you so sleepy?"

Long Zongshu smiled awkwardly and said, "Well...I had insomnia yesterday and didn't sleep well."

"I've been having nightmares about ghosts chasing me lately. I've been having nightmares every night."

"Or maybe I dreamed of snakes..."

Long Zongshu sighed in distress and said, "If I hadn't used the family method to check myself, I would have suspected that I had encountered evil spirits."

Ran Qing was startled by Long Zongshu's distress: "Do you have nightmares every night? Do you dream of ghosts chasing you?"

He sat down subconsciously and said, "Let me help you take a look."

Ran Qing lifted up Long Zongshu's sleeve and sprinkled some incense ash on his wrist.

Then he took out a stick of incense from his canvas bag, lit it and asked him to hold it between his fingers.

"Hold this incense stick and don't move," Ran Qing took out a small drum and knocked it gently.

A very simple exorcism ritual to test whether the Long Zong Tree is possessed by evil spirits.

There are many evil spirits that will harm people in dreams.

Every living person has three flames on their shoulders, representing their yang energy. The more yang energy there is, the harder it is for evil spirits to approach.

Some evil spirits dare not harm people directly, so they have to scare the living in their dreams and use fear to wear away their yang energy. When the flames on the shoulders of the living people dim or even go out, the evil spirits will come.

What Long Zongshu said was clearly a very common phenomenon of being possessed by evil spirits.

However, Ran Qing used the method of the ghost walker to exorcise the evil spirit for him, but did not detect any signs of evil spirits.

"Huh? I really wasn't possessed by evil spirits?" Ran Qing was a little surprised.

Long Zongshu finally lowered his sleeves and said with an awkward smile, "I called my grandfather and asked him about it. He scolded me, saying I was a coward. I was so scared after going to Huaga Tiankeng that I had a nightmare..."

Long Zongshu came to help Ran Qing. Not only did he get his mother's consent, but now even his grandfather in his hometown in the countryside knew about it.

But his family did not object to him coming to help.

Ran Qing knew in his heart that this might be the favor that Ran Jianfei had done when he carried the corpse back to his hometown...

He was silent for a few seconds and said, "I'm glad you're okay. Let's go eat something. It's going to be dark soon."

There was a rice noodle stall on the side of the road not far away. A young couple set up a stove, cooked mutton soup and sold rice noodles there.

Now that the market was winding down, the couple were already washing dishes and packing up.

Ran Qing and the other two went to the last game and each ordered a bowl of mutton noodles.

Mo Li was very curious about Long Zongshu's dreams: "What kind of ghost do you dream of chasing you every night?" Long Zongshu smiled and said, "Sometimes it's a zombie covered with green hair, sometimes it's a female ghost in white clothes, sometimes it's a monster like those in the movies with a completely rotten face and maggots all over its body, and sometimes it's a murderer wearing a raincoat and holding a knife, covered in blood..."

In Long Zongshu's description, the ghosts were of various kinds and had different origins.

This does not fit the sign of being possessed by evil spirits - usually after being possessed by evil spirits, the dirty things seen in the dream are the same.

After listening to Long Zongshu's story, Mo Li shook his head speechlessly: "You are not possessed by evil spirits. The most important thing for you now is to quit watching those Hong Kong ghost movies... You usually like watching ghost movies, right?"

"As soon as you tell me, I know what kind of weird movies you've watched."

Mo Li, who watched TV every day, was obviously familiar with the ghosts that Long Zongshu talked about.

Ran Qing knew very little about movies and TV, so when he saw his companions talking about movies, he was unable to get a word in.

He shook his head and said to the boss beside him: "Cook another bowl of noodles."

Ran Qing, who had finished a bowl of mutton noodles, suddenly found that he was still very hungry.

My appetite today is much greater than usual.

It may also be that the mutton noodles cooked by this young couple are delicious.

After he finished the mutton noodles in his bowl, the dark-skinned young boss brought him another bowl of hot mutton noodles with a smile.

Ran Qing took two bites and found that this bowl of mutton noodles tasted even better.

Moreover, there was more lamb with skin in the bowl than before. The crystal-clear, translucent goat skin was very chewy and cut very thinly, giving off a fragrant aroma when chewed in the mouth.

Ran Qing said in surprise: "Boss, I didn't ask for more meat."

There is too much mutton in this bowl of noodles. Could it be that the boss heard it wrong and added more meat?

Adding meat costs extra...

Beside the steaming stove, the dark-skinned owner smiled friendly and said, "It's almost time to close the stall, and there's only a little meat left, so I gave you some extra."

The boss smiled very friendly. His wife was sitting next to a large iron basin filled with water, carrying her sleeping child on her back, bending over and washing dishes.

In a large iron basin with a layer of oil on the surface, large white porcelain bowls were floating in the water.

The couple was simple and friendly, which made Ran Qing feel good about them.

He quickly finished the bowl of hot mutton noodles and finally felt full.

Licking his lips, Ran Qing handed the bowl to the boss: "Can I have some soup? Not only are your noodles delicious, but the soup is also delicious."

Ran Qing was surprised that the food from the roadside stall in the countryside tasted better than the mutton noodle restaurant in the city.

He stood up and walked to the stove. The mutton soup in the steaming pot was almost finished.

Sheep bones and meatless goat heads soaked in mutton soup give off a strong aroma.

When the boss heard the praise, he smiled shyly and scooped a spoonful of hot soup from the pot with a big iron spoon for Ran Qing.

Ran Qing reached out to take the porcelain bowl of mutton soup, smiling and about to speak.

But his fingers touched the boss's hand.

The moment their fingers touched, a faint chill suddenly spread throughout Ran Qing's body.

Ran Qing, who had a smile on his face, suddenly became stiff.

He looked at the shy boss in front of him in disbelief, seeing his shy and friendly expression without any hostility.

Then he looked at the street market nearby.

On the windy and chilly streets, a strange mist drifted in from nowhere...

(End of this chapter)