A master of comedy!

"Boss, business is booming! What kinds of noodles do you have?"

"We have minced meat noodles, oil-splashed noodles, and fermented vegetable noodles. Sirs and sirs, judging from your appearance, you two are probably not from Guanzhong. Why not try our minced meat noodles? The noodles are thin and chewy, the minced meat is fresh and fragrant, and the soup base is sour, spicy, and oily. It's the best of Guanzhong noodles!"

"Okay, then give me a bowl of noodles with minced meat sauce, I'm hungry anyway."

Zhou Sheng sat down with Yao Tai Feng and said with a gentle smile.

"I'd also like a bowl of noodles with minced meat sauce."

Yao Taifeng was very interested in this famous Guanzhong dish.

"Got it!"

Soon, two steaming bowls of noodles with minced meat sauce were served. Zhou Sheng tasted them and found them to be quite delicious, fresh and fragrant, especially the noodles, which were very chewy.

"Aren't you going to pursue it anymore?"

"I'm not going to chase after them anymore."

Zhou Sheng shook his head and laughed, "The old man's legs are really nimble; there's no way he can catch up."

He couldn't help but sigh, realizing that continuing like this would only waste the energy of the Luo Shu, and he had to think of another way.

After finishing his noodles, he took a picture of a silver ingot.

"Sir, I... I don't have change in my little shop!"

The boss looked troubled.

"No need to look for it, this is for you. Just tell me something about Old Man Niushan."

After a pause, Zhou Sheng gave him a deep look and said, "If I'm not mistaken, you and Old Man Niu Shan must have some connection, otherwise, your shop wouldn't be here."

The shop owner avoided eye contact and said, "Sir, I don't understand what you're saying. My shop has cheap rent, but because of its bad location, I don't have many customers."

He said with a wry smile, "Look, it's almost sunset, but we can't even see a few people."

"Are there really no customers?"

"Really, sir, aren't you seeing it with your own eyes?"

"But I see... there are quite a lot of customers here. Boss, your business is booming!"

A hint of emerald light appeared in Zhou Sheng's eyes, and his gaze instantly became exceptionally deep. The next moment, the previously empty noodle shop was filled with people.

When I first entered the store, he said "May your business prosper"—that wasn't just polite talk, but something more meaningful.

Inside this small noodle shop, there were dazed ghosts, as well as underworld officials and soldiers holding chains. All sorts of demons and monsters gathered in this little noodle shop, heads down, eating noodles.

They noticed Zhou Sheng's gaze and were about to question him, but when their eyes fell on Yao Tai Feng, they couldn't help but be shocked.

The dazzling divine radiance made many of the dead tremble.

"So it is a deity who has arrived. May I ask who you are—"

One of the underworld messengers hurriedly bowed, but before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Yao Tai Feng.

"Why are you all gathered here? Did you receive a bribe from the noodle shop owner?"

His majestic aura, surging divine radiance, and indifferent tone made the group of underworld officials suspect that he was a high god of the Investigation Department, so they naturally dared not be negligent.

"Your Excellency, we are all underworld messengers and soldiers of the city gods of various prefectures. We are just passing through this place on official business and asking for food."

"Just passing by?"

“Your Excellency may not know, but this place is a vital passage where three mountains converge, where wind and yin gather. In the past, we would rest here when we were tired from our long journeys. Later, a noodle shop opened here, so we would eat a bowl of noodles while we rested so that we could continue on our way.”

At this moment, the noodle shop owner also realized that the two people in front of him were not simple, even fierce gods and ghosts had to show them such respect.

A glance from Yao Tai Feng's sword-like eyes sent a shiver down his spine, and he immediately spilled the beans. It turned out that the reason he opened a noodle shop in this place was because of the advice of the old man from Niushan. The old man said that his fate was like a sieve, and he would never be able to accumulate wealth while he was alive; he would only lose it.

Indeed, this is true. Despite his excellent skills, he has never been able to save money. Whenever he has a little savings, a serious illness or a natural disaster will wipe out his money in an instant.

He lived to be forty years old, but still couldn't find a wife.

He had already given up hope, until the old man from Niushan pointed out that he could open a noodle shop here, saying that he could not make money from the living, but he could make money from the dead.

If you open a noodle shop here, the passing underworld messengers will smell the aroma and eat a bowl of noodles. They won't eat for free; they'll always give you some gifts.

Whether it's ancient coins or bottles and jars from tombs, selling them can earn some money, and I haven't lost any more money. I even got married last year with my savings.

Therefore, he always referred to the old man of Niushan as his benefactor.

"Although my benefactor's behavior was a bit unrestrained and his words were sometimes harsh, he was definitely a good person!"

Seeing that Zhou Sheng and his companion seemed to have no ill intentions, the noodle shop owner spoke up for his benefactor.

"Over the years, our benefactor has saved many people, but his methods of saving people are rather unusual, which often makes the people he saves feel uncomfortable."

Zhou Sheng became interested upon hearing this and asked, "Then tell me, how does he save people?"

"For example, one year, a scholar in the west of the city had his heart gouged out by a painted-skin demon. His wife, Wang, begged her benefactor. The benefactor was initially unwilling to help, but he couldn't resist Wang's persistent pleas, so he said that if she could swallow a mouthful of his phlegm, he could save her husband's life."

"Unexpectedly, Wang actually swallowed phlegm. After returning home, she felt increasingly nauseous. Finally, when she knelt down in front of her husband's body and cried bitterly, she vomited out a heart, which landed right on her husband's chest. Then the scholar came back to life!"

"However, after learning everything, the scholar not only did not feel grateful to his wife, but instead became even more disgusted with her, causing Wang to weep all day long. Soon after, she fell ill and died, and the scholar also died suddenly."

"Later, when my benefactor came to my place for noodles, I specifically asked him about this matter again. He said that the reason he didn't want to save her at the time was because he was certain that if the scholar lived, Wang would die. He deliberately made things difficult for her by spitting on her, but actually he wanted to save her life."

"It's a pity that the word 'love' can break one's soul..."

The noodle shop owner told a poignant story, but failed to notice the strange expression that appeared on Zhou Sheng's face.

As a time traveler, he was naturally very familiar with this story, which was obviously "Painted Skin" from "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio," only the ending was different.

In "Painted Skin," the scholar who was resurrected seemed to have become a different person, no longer engaging in philandering, but here the ending is different.

Zhou Sheng suddenly remembered that when Pu Songling was writing "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio", he had gathered material from all over the place and even set up a stall to sell stories, with the more exciting ones costing the most.

Perhaps the story of the painted skin was just a strange tale he had heard, which he then embellished.

In other words, the old beggar who spits out phlegm to exchange for a heart in the well-known story of Liaozhai Painted Skin is the old man of Niushan that he is looking for!

Many years later, when Pu Songling is born and grows up, he will process the legends of Lu Pan and Niu Shan Laoren into various strange tales, which will become enduring masterpieces.

Zhou Sheng became even more curious about the old man from Niushan.

"Is there any way to see your benefactor?"

"Well... I don't know either. Sometimes my benefactor would come to my place for noodles for several days in a row, and sometimes he wouldn't come for ten days or half a month."

"However, our benefactor is very fond of drinking. If you buy him a pot of good wine, perhaps he will come to see you."

liqueur?
Zhou Sheng didn't think that buying a bottle of good wine would solve the problem. Judging from today's experience, the other party was clearly avoiding him and unwilling to make contact.

How much does he like to drink?

Yao Taifeng's eyes lit up, as if she had thought of something, and she asked aloud.

"My benefactor is a drunkard. He would rather go three months without meat than a day without wine. I don't think there's anyone in the entire Xunyang City who loves wine more than him!"

Upon hearing this, Yao Taifeng smiled slightly, as if she already had a plan.

"Danshan, since we can't catch up with that expert, why don't we... try my idea? Perhaps it will have a miraculous effect."

...(End of this chapter)