Candied Haws
Heavy snow covered every brick and tile of the Snow City, but it did not diminish the enthusiasm of the Baishan land at all. On the contrary, with the arrival of snow, the people here became more passionate.
"Katyusha is standing there~~~" Li Xingzang scratched his hair, wrapped himself tightly in his cotton coat, and walked into the bathing center where a song was being sung. "Auntie Guan, why is 'Katyusha' playing here?"
"It's snowing! Winter is coming!" It doesn't matter the month; as long as it snows, winter has arrived in this land. While people often complain about the temperature here, winter always has a special meaning for people in Northeast China.
"How are you, Zang'er? Are you still feeling well?" Aunt Guan touched her face with concern. It still looked white, but it felt even colder to the touch.
"It seems a bit cold." Li Xingzang tightened her nose. This was a little action she took when she was a human. Now she no longer has a runny nose, but after her body felt the cold, she subconsciously started to move again.
"You are a ghost cultivator. Logically, the temperature should not have much impact on you. But you are not like Xiao He. You have your own body. Now you are wrapped in a big cotton-padded jacket. What will you do when deep winter comes?" Aunt Guan sighed. This child's situation is special and the time he has been practicing is too short.
"Oh, by the way, Zang Zang, why don't you go to the KTV on the front street?" Aunt Guan thought about it, and suddenly her eyes lit up and she remembered something.
"KTV?" Li Xingzang looked at her in confusion. "Brother Li said he'd take me there a few days ago. What's going on there?"
"Just go if he asks you to play." Aunt Guan also kept it a secret and didn't say anything more no matter how much Li Xingzang acted coquettishly.
Li Xingzang was a little confused seeing that she was like this. Anyway, the breakfast and special set meal dishes had been prepared, so she took advantage of this time and slowly walked to the front street.
Baishan Street was once the heart of Xuecheng. In the last century, with the Baishan Bathhouse at its center, it developed into a commercial street with distinct local and historical characteristics. As time progressed, Xuecheng's factories and land were redeveloped, and the street in front of Baishan Street—Baishan Front Street—was later renamed Baijiang Street and gradually became the new commercial center. However, Xuecheng residents still refer to it simply as Front Street.
As the weather got colder, vendors selling candied haws came out. Li Xingzang picked one with hawthorn and another with strawberry, ate one in his mouth and held one in his hands, and walked towards the KTV at the end of the front street in this posture.
Red walls, yellow tiles, mythical beasts on the roof...
Li Xingzang stood at the door for a long time and forgot to chew the hawthorn in his mouth.
"Hello, we don't open until 5 pm." Perhaps she had been standing there for too long, so the clerk came out and reminded her.
"Oh... I'm here to look for someone." To be honest, Li Xingzang didn't know why she came, but Aunt Guan and Li Long asked her to come, so she came.
"Hey? Boss Li?" Another person appeared from behind the clerk. Li Xingzang looked at him in surprise. "Gao Yuan?"
Gao Yuan was her junior high school classmate. When they were in school, he dreamed of becoming a chic bard. As you can imagine, his dream was shattered by his parents' pressure. Later, she went to college in Hecheng, and their contact became less frequent. I heard that after graduating from college, he returned home to inherit the business. [1]
Ever since she came back, Gao Yuan always came to her to buy sauerkraut and blood sausage, and he was always mysterious when he packed it up to take away. Could it be that he brought the blood sausage here?
"Are you here to see me?" Gao Yuan looked at her with delight. Li Xingzang looked him up and down, recalling his family's property. She always felt like she had forgotten something. "No!" she answered simply.
Gao Yuan curled his lips, really not giving him face.
"Come in, I know who you are looking for." Gao Yuan sighed pretentiously, and touched his hair that had been licked by the calf with a melancholy look on his face. Li Xingzang really wanted to stick the candied haws stick in his hand into his nostrils.
She followed Gao Yuan into the KTV. Although she had already sensed the specialness of this place from its facade that resembled the Forbidden City, the decoration inside still made Li Xingzang stand in awe. This was not even postmodern style, it was ancient punk!
When he first walked in, Li Xingzang thought he had come to the Long Corridor of the Summer Palace. The buildings were painted with beautiful colorful paintings. At first glance, he thought it was some ancient artifact. What was the result?
A sinister aura permeates the landscape, as if demons and monsters are about to burst forth. Eh? The next painting depicts a true demon, but this one clutches an electric guitar, strumming passionately from a stone pedestal. The guitar's cord flows into another painting, where a power strip appears unobtrusively in the elegant room. Besides the guitar, a beautiful woman in a Manchu dress watches a Korean drama while charging her tablet. The terminally ill male and female protagonists shed tears.
"That's... quite an idea!" She laughed dryly. Gao Yuan tried to ease the awkwardness. "Our boss prefers the Qing Dynasty decoration style."
Well...she saw it.
Li Xingzang looked at the bright yellow gauze curtain at the door of the standard room upstairs. Her good eyesight allowed her to see the names hidden in the gauze: Prince's Mansion, Beile's Mansion, Princess Gulun's Mansion, Duolo County Prince's Mansion. The larger standard room was written with "Chuxiu Palace" and "Age's Residence"...
So where did she come from? The Palace of Heavenly Purity? Or the Forbidden City?!
Li Xingzang's complaints peaked when he saw the dragon throne in the back of the KTV. "Wow, this carving is a one-to-one replica of the Taiji Hall, right?" Opposite the dragon throne was a massive, obviously expensive display screen, playing a classic play called "Blood Test!"
Gua Liu's confident words filled his ears. Li Xingzang looked at her beautiful face and had only three big words in his mind: No way?
Unfortunately, the situation she didn't want to face became a reality. A man with dreadlocks walked out from behind the display screen. Behind a group of beautiful faces was another exquisite face, but...
Is this the big ghost the little stones were talking about?! This is clearly a centuries-old zombie!!!
"Hey, Zang'er is here?" A low voice sounded. Li Xingzang rolled his eyes secretly and kept calling him "Zang'er". What? Am I very familiar with you?
"Hello, senior!" She showed all eight of her teeth perfectly and even handed over the candied haws in her hand.
The old zombie looked at her and said, "Just call me Brother Rui. I love eating hawthorns." He even felt a little aggrieved.
"Ah...let me eat the hawthorn one." Li Xingzang pretended to be embarrassed and opened his eyes wide, "I'll buy you another one." The strawberry candied haws in her hand was the most expensive one! It's good enough to give it to you!
Li Xingzang also found it a bit strange. This big boss had come to support her business on the first day of opening, and then sent Gao Yuan to pack blood sausage every day. But for some reason, she had felt uneasy since entering this place, and seeing him was even more disgusting. If it weren't for the professional ethics she had acquired through years of hard work, she would have pressed a strawberry into his braid.
Damn you, old zombie!
The old zombie stuffed the big strawberry into his mouth and glanced at her from the corner of his eyes: "Do you really want to peel me?"
Li Xingzang smiled broadly, "What are you talking about? You are my senior."
"Really?" The old zombie raised an eyebrow. "That's not what the vampire blood in you says."
Li Xingzang was stunned for a moment, "What do you mean? You know about me?"
"What's the matter?" The old zombie almost put his legs on the armrests of the dragon chair. "I just smell the stench of a jerk on you."
Li Xingzang thought of what Yuanbao had said before: "Do you know that vampire?" The vampire who was captured and subjected to blood drawing experiments by humans.
The old zombie nodded. "That guy wasn't a good guy. He came to Northeast China with the Russians in the late Qing Dynasty and wanted to stake his claim here. I beat him up and I heard he went to Europe. There's been no news of him since then." [2]
He glanced at Li Xingzang and said, "The smell on you isn't that strong. You probably weren't embraced by him personally, and drank his blood?"
Li Xingzang couldn't help but sigh that this guy was indeed sharp. He drank the stuff in the tube because of Yuncheng's accident, but he didn't expect to become a vampire because of it.
The old zombie got the answer from her silence. "I almost tore him apart back then, and he swore revenge. He must be holding a grudge against me. You must have been influenced by him, so you don't like me."
"Haha...what you said..." He was too straightforward. Li Xingzang didn't know how to respond. He didn't do anything wrong. On the contrary, he fought against the Russians in the late Qing Dynasty. How could it not be considered as fighting against the foreign powers?
"Tsk, there are so many people who look down on me, you're nothing." The old zombie didn't care at all, and threw away the candied haws stick without hesitation. "I know why you're here. Our blood is cold, and according to the modern biological classification, we are cold-blooded animals. So..."
Li Xingzang opened his eyes wide in disbelief, "Hibernation!"
"Hmm~" the old zombie nodded intelligently.
Li Xingzang stared at him for a long time before the old zombie curled his lips and said, "Why is this kid so stubborn? This is modern society! Even a turtle wouldn't be able to sleep in the Northeast!"
yes!
A lightbulb lit up in Li Xingzang's head. If ordinary people were afraid of the cold in winter, wouldn't they have to take measures? But she was in the Northeast, where equipment attributes were maximized!
It may be a bit embarrassing to say that she is a genuine modern person who was taught to use technology by an old man who is hundreds of years old, but what others said is true. It was her thinking that was limited after she entered the fantasy world.
"Other than that..." The old zombie pondered for a moment and said, "Just endure."
?
"It's true that we are more afraid of cold than ordinary people, and even our strength will be affected, but there's nothing we can do about it. If you want to stay in the Northeast and don't want to go to Haicheng, then just endure the winter like you resisted the urge to beat me just now." The old zombie pressed a button on the dragon chair with a melancholy look, and the temperature of the air conditioner rose a few degrees.
Li Xingzang learned her lesson. The floor heating had already been laid, and she would install a few of the best air conditioners!
Just as she was thinking about saying goodbye to the old zombie, she turned around and suddenly saw Gao Yuan adjusting the microphone at the side of the stage. Lightning flashed through her mind, "What's wrong with you!"
She suddenly remembered what his family's business was! She heard that his family was a family of Taoist priests who came here during the Great Wall Movement and usually helped people with fortune-telling! [3]
This world is too crazy, Taoist priests are performing for zombies! [4]
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