Chapter 11 Paper Man City 08
Butcher Zhang's hand holding the iron whip was trembling slightly.
His hands had been exposed to the cold wind for years, and were rough and covered with wounds.
When he married his wife that day, he sat there stiffly, not daring to move, fearing that his palm-leaf-fan-sized hands would hurt her accidentally. His wife was sitting by the bed at the time, with small shoulders and a small body, so small that he was afraid that a breath could blow her away.
Later, he told her these foolish thoughts, and she covered her mouth and giggled, "I'm not a butterfly, how can I be blown away!"
Turning into a butterfly, turning into a bug, these were the romantic fantasies that her little brain would come up with, and a rough man like him didn't quite understand. But later, when her throat was cut by a bandit, he vaguely remembered this sentence - it would be nice if I could really turn into a butterfly.
At least you come to see me every spring.
Butcher Zhang's eyes became blurred. He growled, picked up the iron whip and lashed at the shaking paper man.
It was also magical. The iron whip was long and thick, but every whip could hit the small paper man, as if it was designed specifically to restrain it.
The paper man was already completely powerless due to being suppressed by the iron chains, and he looked even more miserable after being whipped. It seemed to be in great pain. He suddenly raised his head and stared at Zhang the butcher who was whipping him non-stop. His pale face was filled with hostility, as if he wanted to engrave his face into his heart forever.
Butcher Zhang was shocked by its gaze and said viciously, "You will never be able to do anything in this lifetime! Forget it!"
This one-sided beating lasted a whole night. A year later, the hatred had not diminished but increased, and it was all vented on the Ghost Festival.
Zhao Xiaoxuan whispered, "How long will they continue to smoke?"
Brother Xiong yawned and said, "I'm so sleepy. When can I go back to sleep?"
They were tired just by watching all night, let alone those who kept taking action? Not to mention men like Zhang the Butcher and Liu Shitou, but even Granny Xu had been pulling paper figures tirelessly all night.
Jiang Yuelu watched her rest for a while, catch her breath, and then raise her hand again - it seemed that hatred could give her endless motivation.
As the morning light came in, Lord Zhu announced the end of the ceremony, the whips were returned one after another, the paper figures were escorted back underground, and the townspeople became cold and quiet again, just as lifeless as before entering the city.
Jiang Yuelu turned around and said, "Master, you can go back now."
Jiang Yuelu originally thought that this young master would just watch the beginning and leave after satisfying his curiosity, but he actually sat there all night. Some people in the wizard team kept yawning, but he watched it carefully to the end, and even now that everyone had left, he was still sitting there thinking.
He was lost in thought and didn't notice that Young Master Xia's eyes had already moved over to him.
Most of the time, those eyes were full of teasing, arrogance, rage and impatience, and rarely were they as empty as they are now. For some reason, Jiang Yuelu felt that this was his true nature.
"Hmm."
Young Master Xia looked at the empty space in front of the tablet. It was here just now that those people were crying or laughing, with extremely strong emotions: "Is this hatred?"
This question came out of nowhere, but Jiang Yuelu quickly understood it.
The young master is still a young master after all. Although he has gained a lot of experience by going out, he has always been pampered in the palace and has been immersed in a honey pot since he was a child. How can he know what sorrow and resentment are?
But, is it because you have never seen it before that you have been sitting here watching it all night?
Before he could answer, Master Xia looked at him again, "You've had it too?"
Jiang Yuelu was stunned and did not answer.
Young Master Xia did not continue to ask. He did not seem to want to know the specific story, but only the hatred that people have. He thought about it for a while, and did not plan to say anything to Jiang Yuelu. He stood up and looked around, his face suddenly darkened, "Where are all the people!"
Jiang Yuelu: “…”
Young Master Xia was furious: "How dare you just walk away!"
Jiang Yuelu: "Your servant has gone back to prepare the food. Master, do you want to go back for lunch? The time is just right."
It was more than just a good time. It was almost light outside. I came in late at night yesterday...did I stay here all night? Jiang Yuelu followed Master Xia out of the ancestral hall, and only then did she feel that she had gotten rid of the dark and desolate shadow that followed her.
-
At noon, the wizards had lunch together at Zhu's house.
Jiang Xinhui sighed: "They seem happier today than yesterday. You know, Liu Shitou took the initiative to say hello to me just now."
Zhao Xiaoxuan burst out laughing: "Liu Shitou said hello? How could he say hello when he's so stupid?"
Chen Chuan said disdainfully: "After waiting for a year, he finally got his revenge. Of course he is happy."
Zhao Xiaoxuan: "You know what, thanks to their good mood, we are not having to drink cold water and eat steamed buns like yesterday."
Zhao Xiaoxuan, the king of eating, was very strict about food. Today, the townspeople killed a pig to reward them. After lunch, they had to go to Zuixianlou for a banquet in the evening.
"Zuixian Tower?" Chen Chuan asked, "Isn't that the abandoned building we saw when we came in yesterday?"
Leng Jing said: "They heard that we would be leaving soon, so they specially cleaned up Zuixianlou. The only chef in the town will also be on duty tonight."
Everyone was looking forward to it. Yu Xiong, however, glanced at Lin Shenyin anxiously. He had not said much since the meal, but practice had proven that he was a very reliable person who could surprise people when he spoke.
But he actually cursed the "thigh" yesterday!
Yu Xiong was now very frightened, "Brother Yin... do you think we should go there tonight?"
He spoke quietly and no one at the table looked over.
Lin Shenyin didn't care about other people. She just glanced at Jiang Yuelu who was eating quietly. He was also silent like her. She didn't know if he had the same idea as her.
However, his advice only goes so far. Whether others have this destiny depends on themselves. Lin Shenyin is not a god or a bodhisattva. It is enough for him to get full marks.
He left Yu Xiong, who was waiting impatiently, aside and said, "Whatever, go if you want to."
"...Brother Yin, I have offended you before, but you are so magnanimous. Can you just ignore what I said?" Yu Xiong glanced at the others with his triangular eyes and said timidly, "If you need anything else, just order me around. You can even treat me like a dog."
"I just have one request. If you want to run away, please take me with you, okay?"
Lin Shenyin looked at him with amusement, "Run away?"
Yu Xiong said anxiously: "This place is very dark, we have to run!"
Lin Shenyin looked back at him, "Oh, what did you see?"
Yu Xiong looked around and lowered his voice: "I'm telling you the truth. Last night, everyone finished their homework and went back to sleep. I went to pee halfway and heard everyone crying--"
"What are you two whispering about?"
Yu Xiong turned his head and saw Jiang Xinhui looking at him curiously. Her voice was quite loud, and the others also looked over. He stammered, "It's nothing, nothing."
Jiang Xinhui and Yuan Xiang looked at each other. They had been following Lin Shenyin from the beginning to the end, and had walked with Yu Xiong for a long time, so they knew his character. His sneaky look now definitely meant he was up to no good.
Yuan Xiang coughed and said, "Brother Xiong, we will start the second round of test tomorrow. No one knows what will be tested. If you have any information, don't hide it."
Yu Xiong cursed, "Who the hell hid it..." and glanced at Lin Shenyin. The other party turned a blind eye and seemed not to speak for him, but did not expose him either. He breathed a sigh of relief. He was just about to hide this important news that only he knew, but he did not expect that someone present would speak up.
What he said made his eyes widen.
"I heard crying last night."
Everyone's eyes were once again focused on Jiang Yuelu. He added a third bowl of rice without being moved and said calmly: "But I don't think we need to be too scared."
Everyone's concerns slowly calmed down, and Yu Xiong looked at him in disbelief.
Leng Jing and Lin Shenyin said in unison: "Why?" They looked at each other and saw displeasure in each other's eyes. This scene was not surprising to everyone. The two of them had been at loggerheads from the beginning.
Jiang Yuelu ate his third bowl of rice slowly, and almost finished all the dishes on the table.
"Because its motive is not to hurt me, nor to hurt Yu Xiong." He looked up at Yu Xiong, "You heard it too, right?"
Yu Xiong was shocked: "Did you see me?"
Jiang Yuelu shook her head. "I was just guessing. Nothing special has happened since last night. If you want to say something, you must be talking about this. You don't need to be afraid. Its purpose is not to harm us, otherwise it would have acted like an invisible ghost last night."
Leng Jing asked: "What is it going to do?"
"I don't know yet." Jiang Yuelu said, "But it took me to a wing room."
"Wing?"
He told everyone everything he saw in the wing room, avoiding only the issue of Master Xia. When he finished, the bowl was empty, Jiang Yuelu glanced at the empty rice barrel, and finally said nothing more.
Jiang Xinhui said anxiously: "I'm a little scared..."
"Since entering the city, there have been rustling ghosts and inexplicable crying... and there are townspeople wearing paper man-made skins... In our place, paper-made skins are only used by the dead, but they have been wearing them for ten years..."
Zhao Xiaoxuan also muttered in a low voice: "This town is too weird."
Fear spread quickly. Yuan Xiang cheered himself up and comforted Jiang Xinhui, "Look at it in a positive way. Ghosts and crying sounds never hurt us, did they?"
Chen Chuan nodded and coaxed Zhao Xiaoxuan: "Yes, didn't you hear what the townspeople said? After the ceremony is carried out normally, the ghosts will disappear, the bad things will disappear, no one will die, and we will be able to get out soon."
Jiang Yuelu didn't think so, and he didn't want these people to think so.
So he said: "I advise you not to have any lucky thoughts."
"Don't you find it strange? Before we came in, we heard the system talking about the exam, saying that we must do our best to pass the exam and get high scores. This is what the system said, and it is also emphasized in black and white on the candidate manual."
"Exam, what to test, who to test?"
Jiang Yuelu's tone had never been so serious. "We should have been tested, but we just muddled through the first round. The worst person we saw along the way was the paper doll that had been drawn all night."
"A test center designed for us and used to test us, could it be so useless? Could it pose no threat to us at all? Do you think that's possible?"
Everyone bowed their heads in silence. Jiang Yuelu's words hit them like a heavy hammer.
Leng Jing thought: Although he said it very directly, being direct is a good thing here.
He wanted them to understand sooner than anyone else that the world of witchcraft was definitely not a friendly world.
An abrupt laugh came from the other end. Even though Lin Shenyin was laughing, he still had an unfathomable expression, as if nothing could make him panic. "As a wizard, I am very pleased to hear such high-quality analysis."
"I'll give you a tip for passing the level. Anyone who sees it will get it."
He didn't look at anyone, and had a superior attitude.
“First, the test will not necessarily start on time.”
"second……"
He paused for a second strangely, as if waiting for something.
Suddenly, there were chaotic footsteps outside the door. The town that had been filled with joy all day was broken by a scream. The wizards stood up, and only Lin Shenyin sat there, looking at Jiang Yuelu who was opposite him.
Lin Shenyin was very sure, he seemed to know what had happened.
His unfathomable voice was not drowned out by the noise outside. Jiang Yuelu could hear his words clearly, as if a snake's cold tongue licked his vocal cords.
"Second, someone is going to die soon."
"More than one person."
They all heard the heart-wrenching and desperate shouts outside, "Shitou—Liu Shitou!"
“Why is it that even after the ritual is over, people are still dying?!”
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