Chapter 235 Lord Black Impermanence (two chapters in one)
At four o'clock in the morning, a woman walked out of a small inn that was rumored to be a haunted house.
Not far ahead, an old beggar appeared, his steps staggering. The lonely figure of the woman, like a ghost, followed him closely, not too far away. The two of them, one in front and one behind, were soon swallowed by the darkness...
I don’t know how long I walked, but I finally reached my destination - a back alley not far from Dali Temple.
The street where the Dali Temple is located is called Liubu Houjie. As the name suggests, there is also Liubu Qianjie.
As you can imagine, these two streets are lined with government offices, both civil and military.
Wherever there is a government office, there are officials. Officials are also human beings. They also need to eat, especially breakfast and lunch, which are mostly eaten outside. After leaving the government office, they will also gather in groups of three or four to complain.
Therefore, small restaurants and teahouses that cater to officials came into being. These shops were located near Liubu Street. Although they looked like simple small businesses, they were actually frequented by ordinary people.
The back alley where the old beggar brought the girl was behind these small restaurants. During the day, it was still very lively here, with people delivering food, goods, and collecting泔水.
But now, it is very quiet here. Looking around, there is no third person in the long alley.
The old beggar pointed under the eaves of the back door of a shop and signaled the woman to wait there.
What are you waiting for?
Wait until the sky is bright and the streets are bustling with people.
The woman nodded silently and bowed to the old beggar, thanking him for leading the way.
It was still dark and fog had risen up. The old beggar felt his face was wet. The fog blurred his eyes and the woman's face.
The old beggar felt a sense of sadness in his heart. Although he didn't know why the woman came here or where her next stop would be, he knew that since someone was willing to pay him ten taels of silver to lead the way, the place the woman was going to must not be a good place. It might even be a place of death.
He has been in the capital for many years. This is not the first time he has received such a job, nor will it be the last. The reason why he took the money first was because he was worried that he would be silenced. Now, the ten taels of silver are on him. He has to leave here immediately and hide out of the city for a few days. The old widow in Xiaocui Village is interested in him, so he goes to Xiaocui Village.
The old beggar changed his staggering manner when he came and suddenly started running. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared.
Seeing him leave, the woman slowly raised her head, and her bright eyes shone brightly in the mist.
She blew a whistle, and a dog and two cats came out from behind her. Xiaoye couldn't help but scream. He had been holding it in all the way, and he hadn't screamed at all. He was almost suffocating to death.
He was about to bark a second time when he was pawed on the face. The little demon glared at him angrily: [Silly dog, shut up!]
Xiaoye's cry turned into a whimper. He was still a baby. What was wrong with him crying a few times? He didn't eat the cat's dried fish.
Zhao Shiqing patted his dog's head and said, "This kid still needs experience. He will become sensible after going out a few more times."
Xiaoye's grievances suddenly disappeared, and he became excited again, wagging his tail and leaving an afterimage.
Zhao Shiqing said, "Let's go find someone to play the drums."
......
There is an alley in the capital city, which is very close to the Imperial Examination Hall and the Imperial College, and its name is Gaosheng Alley.
For the imperial examinations held every three years, candidates from all over the country gathered in the capital. Most of these candidates stayed in local guild halls or inns in the capital that catered to the candidates.
But there are also some people from well-off families who will rent a yard, either alone or with a few good friends, close the door to visitors and concentrate on studying.
Gaosheng Hutong is the first choice for these candidates to rent a house.
There have been two top scorers in the imperial examinations, one second place, two third place winners, and three third place winners in the imperial examinations from this alley. Moreover, all the Jinshi who passed the imperial examinations from this alley had a very good career.
Even the then Prime Minister Feng Ke once rented a house here.
Therefore, those guild halls and inns would only be fully booked during the years of the big competition, while Gaosheng Hutong was always hard to find a room in no matter what time it was.
In the most recent spring examination, although the top three candidates did not come from Gaosheng Hutong, there were seven Jinshi (Jinshi) candidates including Chuanlu.
One of them is Lin Sen, who is at the bottom of the list.
Among these seven Jinshi, four were sent out of the capital, two passed the examination and became Shujishi and stayed in the capital, and one did not pass the examination but also stayed in the capital, and that was Lin Sen.
The rent in Gaosheng Hutong was not cheap, so although there were three Jinshi scholars who stayed in the capital, only Lin Sen still lived here.
It is said that he was originally planning to move away, but suddenly good luck struck and he was chosen by the emperor to meet the princess, so he gave up the idea of moving away.
If he moved out of Gaosheng Hutong, he wouldn't be able to find such a decent place to live.
Ever since the emperor betrothed him to Princess Huixin, eunuchs from the palace would come here every now and then to deliver rewards.
Although Princess Huixin has a low presence in the royal family, a princess is a princess and represents the dignity of the royal family.
As the future son-in-law, Lin Sen cannot be too cheap.
He rented a house with its own door and yard. The three rooms were filled to the brim with various rewards and were about to be full.
Lin Sen's parents are already on their way to the capital, and Lin Sen has already entrusted a real estate agency to buy a house in the capital.
After he married the princess, he could live in the princess's mansion, but his parents could not. Of course, that would be possible if the princess agreed.
However, he and the princess had just gotten married, and he was still not sure about the princess's temper. Of course, he could not rashly bring his parents into the house, so he could only buy a house temporarily. Then, the rewards sent from the palace could be displayed in the house with dignity. These were things that belonged to their Lin family, and many of them could be passed down from generation to generation.
Lin Sen was very busy. He was busy receiving people sent by the palace and the Ministry of Rites, busy receiving people who came to give gifts and congratulations, busy dealing with relatives who were not related to him at all, busy looking for a house, and busy with many other things.
Today, Lin Sen was busy until very late again. As the newly crowned prince consort, he had a lot of social engagements.
He actually wanted to get to know other princes-in-law, but there were very few princes-in-law in the capital. Most princesses either had divorced and had no princes-in-law, or their princes-in-law had died. There were also some who, like Princess Jiarou, refused to get married.
A few days ago, Lin Sen met Princess Jiale's consort Dai Fan. Unfortunately, Dai Fan had no family background and no future. He was dull and taciturn. He didn't say a word to him the whole time, which made Lin Sen feel very bored.
Compared to this acting prince consort, he wanted to get to know Princess Jiayi's prince consort Xiao more.
He had heard of Prince Consort Xiao before coming to the capital. He was a top scholar in the imperial examination and was also a descendant of the Xiao family.
The Qingquan Xiao family was once a famous family in this dynasty. Although its population is small now, it is still an important family in Dayong.
What's more, Princess Jiayi is different from other princesses. She is the only legitimate daughter of the retired emperor. Of course, Princess Jiale's mother was also the queen, but this queen had been deposed long ago and eventually died in the cold palace. However, Princess Jiayi's biological mother was buried as the queen and is now waiting for the retired emperor in the imperial mausoleum.
Just by virtue of Princess Jiayi's identity, Prince Consort Xiao was able to enjoy high status as a husband because of his wife, not to mention that Prince Consort Xiao himself had a good family background.
Unfortunately, Lin Sen has used many connections, but until now, he has not been able to meet Prince Consort Xiao.
Before going to bed, Lin Sen was still thinking about this matter. After thinking about it, he thought of a scholar from Liangdi. He remembered that man said that his sister's husband's family was a relative of the Qingquan Xiao family.
I don’t know if this Liangdi scholar is still in the capital. I’ll ask a few of my classmates tomorrow. It would be great if I could follow this person to Princess Jiayi’s mansion.
As he was thinking, Lin Sen fell asleep.
At night, he had a dream. In the dream, he was caught and forced to perform, and a stone broke on his chest.
The heavy stone pressed on him so hard that he couldn't breathe. He wanted to shout but couldn't. He was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. In a daze, he reached out to push, trying to push away the heavy object on his chest. His hand felt hairy and a wave of wet heat hit his face.
He was startled and opened his eyes suddenly, then he saw a pair of eyes, a pair of eyes so clear that they did not belong to human beings.
So close, so beautiful.
But the next moment, he saw the mouth under these eyes, a mouth with its tongue hanging out and breathing heavily.
Dog, it's a dog!
Lin Sen is not afraid of dogs, but that doesn't mean he's not afraid of a dog that lies on him in the middle of the night and sticks its tongue out at him.
At this moment, Lin Sen was scared half to death, as if he had seen a ghost.
He wanted to open his mouth and shout, but the sound was stuck in his throat. Lin Sen then realized that his mouth and tongue were numb and out of control.
Lin Sen wanted to get up, but the dog pressed firmly on his chest, preventing him from moving.
He stared wide-eyed in horror. Was this a dream? This must be a dream!
He closed his eyes and opened them again. The dog was still there. Oh my God, he actually felt that the dog was smiling at him, but the smile was too weird and too scary.
The next moment, a furry claw stretched out from above his head and pressed on his eyelids. Lin Sen was so scared that he almost suffocated. His hands felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds, and he had no courage to raise them to open the claw.
Then, another furry creature came up and pressed on the other eye. This time, Lin Sen closed his eyes completely.
It turns out that when facing danger, closing your eyes is more terrifying than seeing it with your own eyes, because everything is unknown, and in your imagination, even stranger things will happen.
Soon, Lin Sen’s guess came true.
A voice sounded in his ear: "Do you remember me? I am from the Luo family."
Luo family?
Is this a ghost?
Judging from the voice, it's a woman. Second Aunt? Or Luo Liqiong?
Is Luo Liqiong dead too?
I haven’t heard from my family.
Lin Sen made a gurgling sound in his throat. He wanted to say, what happened to your Luo family has nothing to do with me. It was all done by my parents. If you want revenge, go find my father and mother.
But when the words came to his lips, he couldn't say them no matter what. He didn't know what was wrong with his mouth. It was as if it wasn't attached to him.
It’s a magic trick, it must be a magic trick!
No, this is a ghost, not a monster!
Before this, if someone said that he had seen a ghost, Lin Sen would definitely say that it was supernatural, but when it happened to him, Lin Sen didn't think so.
What he hopes most now is that the Taoist priest who catches ghosts will pass by the door, smell the ghost aura, and kill the demons and exorcise the ghosts immediately as ordered!
Unfortunately, hope is beautiful, but reality is cruel.
The ghost did not leave, but pressed more fur against his face, and the dog was still lying on him, saliva dripping on his face, and every drop made his whole body tremble.
Then, something slippery and sticky crept into his quilt.
It's a snake!
The voice sounded again: "Welcome to the underworld, I am your guide."
Underworld?
Isn't this where he lives?
Wasn't that a dog he just saw?
By the way, that dog is black. Could it be the legendary Black Impermanence?
As if guessing what he was thinking, the voice said, "Lord Black Impermanence has twelve incarnations. What you saw was only one of them."
It turns out that it really is the Black Impermanence.
Lin Sen's head was dizzy, the air was thin, breathing became increasingly difficult, and his tongue and mouth still could not move. He felt that he might be really dead, otherwise why would he have such a feeling?
The snake actually wrapped around his leg, and then the other leg was also entangled. It turned out that there was not only one snake that came in.
Or, he was not covered with a blanket at all. He wanted to open his eyes and look, but his eyelids were pressed down tightly, so he could not open his eyes or see.
The voice sounded again: "You killed me, but I still want to guide you. Tell me, am I a good ghost?"
Lin Sen was horrified and could no longer hold on and fainted!
When he woke up again, he opened his eyes and found that it was still dark around him, and the black dog was still pressing on his chest.
Or maybe, it wasn't a black dog at all, but the Black Impermanence.
When Lin Sen realized that he could open his eyes, he was hit hard in the face.
"You hurt me, I'm here to take you to the underworld, go, go quickly!"
The black dog head suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by a long-haired female ghost!
The female ghost had a pale face and stuck out her long tongue at him.
Lin Sen fainted again.
......
The imperial capital of Dayong, no matter how bright or dark, beautiful or ugly it is inside, is still prosperous and peaceful on the surface. People of all kinds, from all over the country, come to the capital in droves, shocked by its grandeur and the ever-changing gossip.
For example, the biggest gossip today is Dengwen Drum.
The drum for reporting affairs has stood in front of the Dali Temple for many years, and it seems that it has been there since the time of Emperor Taizu.
As time passed, wind and sun came and went, the officials of the Dali Temple were replaced one after another, but the drum for reporting affairs still stood there silently. The paint that was once as bright as blood had long been eroded by time and became mottled and peeling, just like the dilapidated court, even the surface brilliance was gone.
However, in the past six months, the honest Dengwen Drum has suddenly become restless.
First, the white-haired parents of a prefect came to beat the drum, and one died and the other was seriously injured, but the result was good. Although their sons did not survive, the murderer and the officials involved were all arrested.
Just a few months had passed since this incident, and just this morning, a quarter of an hour ago, the Dali Temple's most honest drum for reporting was struck again.
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