Chapter 29 Half Moon 1
◎Harvest a storyteller with a sieve mouth! ◎
Yan Yue felt that he was probably not cut out for business.
It is already late autumn. The "Half Moon" teahouse has been open for two months, and business is extremely slow.
After deducting the costs and losses of tea, candied fruits, and crispy candies, the revenue was barely enough to pay the wages of two waiters and a storyteller. She made the candy herself, but that couldn't even be counted as wages, let alone rent.
Previously, little Zheng Yi and little Feng Jian brought their friends to show their support, but later the adults in the family thought that Yan Yue always wore black clothes and that her teahouse was very weird, so they didn't allow the children to come anymore.
The teahouse business is slow, and the storyteller wants to earn commission from the tea money. There were few customers and little commission. After two months, the storyteller suggested that Yan Yue find someone else.
Yan Yue found out that there was a storyteller living in a village outside the city, so she traveled a long way to talk to him, but was turned away. After asking the neighbors, I learned that the old storyteller had died of illness some time ago.
The blow in his career made Yan Yue depressed and depressed. He was not even afraid when it got dark. He walked slowly towards the city in boredom in the cold autumn wind.
By now she was used to carrying a black umbrella when she went out, so it was very convenient for Zhou Lin to follow her and show up as soon as it got dark.
"Don't be discouraged! How can business be that easy? It's not easy for you to achieve this!"
Zhou Lin's consolation did not make Yan Yue feel better. She said dejectedly, "The Zheng family hasn't collected the rent yet! I asked about the rent of this shop, and it's really not low! What should I do next year?"
Zhou Lin said, "Don't worry, I'll think of a way for you later! I'm the eldest son of the Zhou family, is there any business I can't do?"
Yan Yue didn't answer, Zhou Lin said again: "You have to believe me..."
"Shh!"
Yan Yue raised her index finger to make a gesture to silence him, then looked at a figure in the distance and said, "Do you think that is a human or a ghost?"
Zhou Lin looked carefully and analyzed: "It's a person, about to hang himself!"
"No..." Yan Yue rushed over.
The girl who was about to stretch her neck in the tree was startled by the sudden shout! Before he could see who it was, he was suddenly knocked into the noose by the person who came, and his feet were immediately suspended in the air!
Yan Yue hugged the woman's legs and shouted, "Don't be depressed, girl! Death is not the end of everything. The trouble may be bigger and more difficult to solve! Calm down, there is a way around everything. Come down first..."
The girl above didn't answer, but just made a "ho ho" sound, seeming very impatient.
But at this critical moment, how could Yan Yue dare to let go?
Zhou Lin couldn't move forward, and was so anxious that he was floating up and down in front of Yan Yue: "Miss Yue, let go! She's rolling her eyes! If you keep pulling, you're going to strangle her to death!"
Yan Yue had no experience in rescuing people, and she realized that it was completely impossible to pull the hanged man down by holding his legs, so she quickly lifted him up.
She was a lovely round-faced girl, but she had already passed away.
Yan Yue patted her back a few times according to Zhou Lin's method, and the girl finally coughed.
"Are you saving people or harming them? I haven't figured it out yet! I almost sent you directly to see the King of Hell!" The girl, who seemed to be one or two years younger than Yan Yue, coughed with tears in her eyes and a face full of resentment.
Yan Yue apologized awkwardly: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I, I'm inexperienced, I was thinking I could pull you down!"
The girl coughed and coughed, her tears flowed more and more, and she hugged her knees and sobbed.
"Oh, don't cry! I'm sorry! I've learned from my experience this time, and I won't pull you again next time!"
The girl continued to cry. Yan Yue was at a loss as to what to do. She said to Zhou Lin silently, "You should think of a solution!"
Zhou Lin shrugged and spread his hands: "How can I coax a girl? How about you give her some money and try?"
Yan Yue had no choice but to take out a silver ingot from her purse and tempted her: "As long as you stop crying, I will give you this silver ingot."
The girl looked up at her in astonishment, then burst into laughter and said, "Are you stupid?"
Yan Yue seemed to be shot in the heart by a silent arrow, and her face tensed instantly: "Do you think I dare not hit you?"
The girl was not afraid at all. Instead, she sneered, "Giving silver to a person who wants to die, are you stupid? If I have made up my mind to die, can I stop wanting to die because of this ingot of silver?"
Yan Yue thought it made sense! He immediately glared at Zhou Lin and asked silently, "Are you stupid?"
Zhou Lin looked wronged: "No! This money is to make her stop crying, not to stop her from committing suicide!"
Yan Yue was confused and tried to sort out his thoughts in silence.
The girl looked around and asked, "Where is the scholar?"
Yan Yue suddenly widened her eyes and looked at Zhou Lin: "She can see you!"
But Zhou Lin tried to move left and right, but the girl's pupils did not move with him. He asked in confusion, "That's impossible? You can't see this?"
The girl suddenly felt cold all over: "Who are you talking to?"
Yan Yue asked back: "Did you really see a scholar just now?"
The girl nodded and said, "When you were strangling me, a scholar in green jumped up and down, asking you to let me go. He also called you Miss Yue, didn't he?"
Yan Yue was shocked and said with lingering fear: "It seems that she almost died just now."
The girl's name is Chuzhi. She is not yet seventeen and lives with her grandfather. A few days ago, my grandfather passed away, and my uncle took away the few acres of land left by my grandfather, and said that he had found a good family for her to marry.
So she had no other choice but to go find her grandfather.
When Chu Zhi learned that what she had just seen was a ghost, she was not afraid at all. Instead, she became more determined to seek death. She said that her grandfather was the only person in the world who truly loved her, and since she could become a ghost after death, she wanted to die immediately and continue to be with her grandfather.
Yan Yue didn't expect things to turn out like this, so she could only try her best to hold Chu Zhi back, "That's not necessarily true! Not everyone turns into a ghost after death! I haven't seen your grandfather, maybe your grandfather..."
She couldn't bear to tell the cruel truth, so she could only change the subject and say, "Maybe your grandfather has prepared a surprise for you! He wants to choose a good family and good parents for you, and make all the necessary preparations before welcoming you over!"
Chu Zhi stopped and stared at Yan Yue in a daze.
Yan Yue took two breaths and coaxed him softly, "You have to give him some time! If you still want him to be your grandfather, you have to wait patiently!"
"He just went there not long ago. If you chase him now, wouldn't he become your elder brother? He is old and his legs and feet are not good. If he is a step slower than you, wouldn't he become your younger brother? If he is impatient and fails to choose the right person, won't you two have to suffer for the rest of your lives?"
"Be obedient! If you go there suddenly now, the surprise will be gone and his plans will be interrupted. He will be very sad!"
Chu Zhi sat on the ground, hugged her knees and cried loudly: "But I really miss him..."
This time Yan Yue did not coax her. She let her cry for a while, and her emotions finally calmed down.
But Chuzhi didn't dare go home, for fear that her uncle would force her to get married. Yan Yue thought it wouldn't be a problem to have one more mouth in the shop, so she agreed to let her go to the shop to help out first until she found a proper job.
When she accompanied Chu Zhi home to get her identity card, she was surprised to find that it was the house of the storyteller who had just visited. After asking, she found out that the storyteller was Chu Zhi's grandfather!
"Then can you tell stories?" Yan Yue decided to give it a try.
Chu Zhi has followed his grandfather since he was a child. Except for the busy farming season, he would tell stories everywhere to make money. But later, my grandfather grew old and his physical strength could not keep up, so he didn't want to use the teahouse anymore. He could only go to the tea stall to talk for a while and earn some pocket money.
Chu Zhi was influenced by it every day, so the accent and posture were easily mastered.
She gave a brief speech, which Yan Yue thought was very good and immediately decided to make her the new storyteller of the teahouse.
Chu Zhi was worried, "I'm a woman, can I do it?"
Yan Yue asked back: "You are not dumb, why not?"
Chu Zhi was not afraid of ghosts. Instead, she envied Yan Yue for being able to see ghosts. She chattered about ghost anecdotes along the way and was as excited as if she was going on a date with a ghost.
Pushing open the wooden door of the house, Chu Zhi asked: "You don't even lock the door?"
Before Yan Yue could answer, a big black dog walked over slowly, stood in front of her, raised its ears and wagged its tail.
Yan Yue squatted down, hugged the black dog, patted its head and said, "I have Dahei to guard the house, no one dares to come in, is it Dahei..."
“I’m back!”
Yan Yue smiled at the old man behind Dahei and said, "Well, this is Chu Zhi, the new storyteller in the teahouse."
The old man asked in surprise: "Why are you... in front of her..."
Yan Yue smiled and said, "This girl said she is not afraid of ghosts."
Chu Zhi said that he was not afraid, but seeing Yan Yue talking to the void inexplicably, he was still a little nervous, and hurriedly said: "Is it Grandpa Jiang? Sister Yue told me about you. I am new here, my name is Chu Zhi! You can just call me Xiaozhi!"
Old man Jiang Huizong came with Dahei.
Dahei was a stray dog. After the teahouse opened, there were often some leftover snacks from the customers, and Yan Yue would collect them and feed Dahei.
Dahei would always leave after eating, and she didn't take any part in it. Until that day, Dahei was lying on the side of the road waiting for food. A passerby who was irritated for some reason took out his anger on Dahei. Yan Yue heard the dog barking and came out to see what was happening. The man ran away in panic.
Big Black's leg was broken. The doctor bandaged the leg and said that the dog was old and probably would not live for two years.
In order to prevent it from encountering such an unruly person, Yan Yue wanted to take Dahei home to raise him, but she didn't expect that Dahei would limp and squeeze out from under the crack of the door.
Fortunately, Zhou Lin saw it and called Yan Yue. The two followed Dahei to an old house and saw Jiang Huizong who was waiting eagerly.
Jiang Huizong was a widower. His wife passed away just a few years after their marriage. He never looked for another child, and lived his entire life as a childless, lonely and helpless man, with only one dog, Dahei, as his companion.
It is said that a dog only lives for about ten years. He lived and ate with Dahei and raised him for fifteen years, but he did not expect that he would die before Dahei.
He was worried about his old friend and stayed by Dahei's side all the time.
Dahei went out to look for food every day, and after eating, he would crawl through the dog hole and return to the old house.
The reason for digging a dog hole was that Jiang Huizong had no children or close relatives. His old house has been locked by the government, which is equivalent to confiscation. After a period of time, if no one cares about it, the government will sell it to the next family to subsidize local taxes.
When Jiang Huizong learned that his old friend had his leg broken, he was heartbroken and asked Yan Yue to take Dahei in.
Yan Yue had no objection, but Dahei refused to go with her.
Jiang Huizong said that Dahei liked to sleep on his quilt. Yan Yue thought that Dahei might like the familiar smell, so she climbed over the wall and took out a roll of bedding, but Dahei still refused to go with her.
Zhou Lin said that Dahei might be able to sense that Jiang Huizong was right next to it. Yan Yue asked Jiang Huizong to follow her, and Dahei followed as expected.
In this way, Jiang Huizong and Dahei moved into Yan Yue's house together.
Yan Yue's house was originally quite empty. The east wing was used as a guest room, where Qi Zhaoyang would sometimes stay for two days, and the west wing was used as a kitchen and bathroom. There are three rooms on the back, which are dark and cold and not suitable for living because they have little sunlight.
But ghosts don't like the light, so Yan Yue let Zhou Lin move in.
She sealed the doors and windows of the back room carefully, with two layers of thick black cloth curtains inside and outside, so that no light could penetrate. There is a tablet of Zhou Lin in the room, the oil lamp is lit continuously from morning to night, and two incense sticks are lit for him every morning and evening.
Zhou Lin only occupied one of the back rooms, and now Jiang Huizong and Dahei occupied the second room.
As for the three rooms in the east wing, Qi Zhaoyang used five talismans to exchange for the permanent residence rights of one of them, and Yan Yue gave the second one to Chu Zhi.
"If you are not afraid, stay in this room!"
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