White Bone Monkey King

Jiangzhou Prefecture is located in the south of the Yangtze River, where private business is active and businessmen come and go in an endless stream. Even the scorching July heat above cannot stop the enthusiasm of business people.

For example, there are street performers and monkey charmers,

There are jugglers,

There are magicians from the Western Regions,

There are sellers carrying burdens and shouting,

There are knife sharpeners walking around the streets,

There are also porters, coachmen, escorts...

Grain merchants, ship merchants, cloth merchants from other places...

Three hundred and sixty-five lines constitute the prosperity of Jiangnan, the most important tax-paying land in Kangding.

On this day, several guests came to Yuelai Inn. They were all dressed up for work. At first glance, they looked like people who had been busy making a living all year round. They spoke with half-baked local accents and led a few donkeys, a big donkey and three small donkeys in a string.

As soon as these guests arrived, they asked if there was a separate courtyard where they could share a small courtyard so that they could keep the donkeys.

When the shopkeeper saw the big deal, he smiled widely and quickly said yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Several guests looked honest and honest, and rejected the shopkeeper's kindness, saying that these donkeys were the livelihood of their caravan, they were spoiled and difficult to take care of, and they were born with a stubborn donkey temper. They had to come in person to tame the stubborn donkey temper.

The shopkeeper didn't take this matter too seriously, as long as others were willing to pay the room fee in full, it didn't matter whether they were leading donkeys or cattle, horses and sheep, as long as they made money.

At this moment, a strange scene happened. As soon as the guests finished speaking, the donkeys, large and small, began to scratch their hooves and bray restlessly.

Upon seeing this, the shopkeeper said half-jokingly: "I see that these donkeys of yours are not only stubborn, but also like to take advantage of others. Do they like to call everyone 'Er, er, er, er, err' when you meet them?"

Just when the shopkeeper was about to personally lead these people to the independent courtyard, several of the donkeys suddenly knelt down to the shopkeeper, opened their mouths and neighed non-stop.

The shopkeeper was surprised: "This is calling someone indiscriminately, and kneeling down to someone indiscriminately. What does it mean? I kneel down to my son, and you deliberately shorten my life?"

Even the errand boy looked at this scene in surprise.

One of them, the youngest but a man in his forties, skillfully wielded a whip and whipped the donkey to drive it to the courtyard: "These stubborn donkeys just need whipping. Whether you are dealing with stubborn donkeys or pampered people, you have to do it." It’s a spanking, there’s nothing that a spanking can’t cure.”

Uh, the shopkeeper couldn't bear to say that all things have spirituality. They are working hard to make money for your caravans, right?

After listening to the shopkeeper's words, someone immediately stopped him from continuing to beat the donkey. However, as soon as the shopkeeper left the independent courtyard and closed the door, a louder sound of whipping and the painful neighing of several donkeys came from the independent courtyard.

"I'll tell you to stop being disobedient and screaming!"

"I'll tell you to stop being disobedient and screaming!"

Angry curses came from the private courtyard, which was blocked from sight. Although the shopkeeper couldn't bear it, he finally shook his head and sighed, turned his head and left in a hurry without being out of sight or out of mind.

It is strange to say that these guests claim to be the packmen who help the caravan carry goods, but they have never been seen carrying goods since they checked into Yuelai Inn. But that's not the strangest thing. The strangest thing is that these people go out empty-handed every day. Once they go out, they stay all day long. They don't know what they are doing. They rush back to the inn before the curfew and they always bring back donkeys, big or small, every day. Seeing that the number of donkeys in the private courtyard of the inn increased.

On the third day of the guest's stay, a boy sneaked up to the shopkeeper and said, "Shopkeeper, why do I think those camel drivers are so suspicious? They always bring back new donkeys every day if they don't do anything. Just now I secretly climbed up the wall and took a look inside. , in such a hot weather, so many donkeys were exposed to the sun without any protection. The packmen either beat or abused them and did not cherish these donkeys at all. In my opinion, even if those donkeys were not beaten to death, they would still be exposed to the sun. Death from heatstroke.”

The shopkeeper glared at the boy: "You have forgotten the rules of our business. Don't inquire about the guests' affairs and be less curious. If you are caught and reported to the Yamen, you will have to ask me to wipe your ass!"

It is said that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, so the boy boldly shouted loudly: "The donkeys in the yard, smelling of manure and barking randomly, have already caused dissatisfaction and complaints from other residents. Shopkeeper, you can't be too afraid of trouble." , it’s time to take care of this matter.”

The shopkeeper quickly covered the boy's mouth and cursed in a low voice: "You are afraid that not enough residents will complain, and there are not enough shit bowls on my head, right? You want to make the noise known to the whole world!"

After scolding, when those guests came back with two donkeys, one big and one small, before nightfall, the shopkeeper rubbed his palms, smiled and came forward to greet and chat. After chatting for a few words, the topic of the donkeys came up. The shopkeeper asked where these donkeys came from. Yes, why do you see a new donkey being brought in every day?

Several people laughed and replied: "The caravan is taking a short break recently, so we are looking for some new donkeys in the city these days."

The shopkeeper then chatted for a few more words, and the other party's answer was flawless, so the shopkeeper didn't ask any more questions, not wanting to get into trouble with Qian.

As a result, the next day, the boy was right. Three donkeys, two large and one small, died of heat stroke in succession. The guests asked the shopkeeper to borrow a cart to transport the corpses, and said they would take them to bury them outside the city.

The shopkeeper saw with his own eyes that the donkeys were indeed dead, so he asked the customers why they didn't sell the donkey carcasses to our shop. It happened that our shop had a ready-made kitchen to cook a delicious meal of braised donkey meat for everyone.

However, the other party replied that there was no blood bleeding in the summer, and the meat of the animals would smell and change after being left for a long time. To prevent others from finding their heads after being eaten up, it would be safest to bury these donkey carcasses somewhere. Although we lost some money by doing this, it can be regarded as a good thing for our brothers to avoid implicating the inn and the shopkeeper, and our conscience will feel better.

The errand boy muttered: "If I really had a conscience, I wouldn't have left those donkeys out in the July sun and died of heat stroke."

…

…

Jiangzhou Prefecture is full of ships, and at the deep-water port dock where thousands of sails are sailing in the same sky, the weather is abnormal and the weather is getting hotter day by day, but it still cannot stop the busy figures of the porters at the dock.

Every porter and coachman here is extremely busy, helping the grain merchants, tea merchants, cloth merchants, and porcelain merchants to load and unload the goods. Some of these goods are transported along the coast to the Central Plains and the north, and some of them are transported across the oceans to foreign countries. , and then in exchange for boatloads of gold, silver, jewelry and mulled wine to fill the cornucopia of Jiangzhou Prefecture.

At this time, the porters and coachmen at the pier were sweating profusely due to the heat, but at the urging of the caravan manager, no one dared to stop and rest except for a few complaints that God would not allow people to live.

According to the old people, this is the first time they have seen such a hot summer in their forty or fifty years of life. It is really rare.

Among the busy adults at the pier, there were also a few children who were busy following the adults. As soon as those children saw that the driver was having difficulty going up the hill, they immediately rushed to help the cart driver go up the hill. Even though they could not make much money after sweating all day. He only has a copper penny, but he can earn a bunch of candied haws on his own.

Therefore, this bustling and busy pier has become the place where most children gather in the city.

Today, a few strange tea-goers came to the teahouse near the pier. It was strange because these people only ordered one pot of tea and sat there for the whole day.

In this summer when the heat is unbearable and the sea breeze is scalding, everyone else is running to a shady place to enjoy the coolness. The business of the teahouse is mediocre. Even the boss and the servants are sleepy due to summer sleep. However, these few people can sit in the teahouse all day. They lean on the railing. While sitting, you can just see the busy atmosphere of the market on the pier.

These people were none other than the donkey packers at Yuelai Inn.

If you follow their gazes, you can see that what they are looking at is not the atmosphere of the dock market, but the group of children on the dock.

His eyes were cold and emotionless, as if he was not looking at a living person of flesh and blood, but rather selecting goods at the vegetable market, and then taking out a pen and paper to record the characteristics of each child.

Suddenly, one of them let out a cry of surprise as if he had discovered something.

"Um?"

"As expected, he took his sister and fled to the city!"

Hearing this, the rest of the table immediately followed the sound.

It has been four or five days since Xiaofei brought his sister to Fucheng. Although he has a dozen coppers given by Jin An, he has always kept Jin An's words in mind, not to leak money at will, and only use it in emergencies. Those ten coppers He didn't spend any of it. He had been working at the dock for the past few days helping adults push cars uphill, earning two or three coppers a day to support himself and his sister.

He didn't go to the Five Zang Taoist Temple to find Jin An these days. While making money to support himself and his sister during the day, he was looking for people in the beggar's shack at night to get more information about the Five Zang Taoist Temple and Jin An.

When it comes to where the best news is in the city, it is naturally these beggars all over the city.

He is very stubborn and vigilant, because the brother and sister were abducted by human traffickers once and managed to escape from the traffickers, so they are hostile to the adult world and will not trust others so easily! The best thing people are good at is pretending. The adult world is full of lies, so he only believes what he sees with his own eyes and hears with his own ears!

He must confirm with his own eyes whether Taoist Master Jin An is a good person worthy of trust! Is there any connection between the Five Zang Taoist Temple in Jiangzhou Prefecture and the Five Zang Taoist Temple in Wuzhou Prefecture?

Although this is a bit hard and tiring, I live a very secure life.

What their brothers and sisters lack most is a sense of security.

As the setting sun shone on the sea and the blue waves were filled with golden light, Xiao Fei took the three coppers he earned today and bought two white-faced steamed buns. He carefully placed them close to his chest and happily ran to the beggar's shack to find his little girl.

As they established themselves in the city, other women and beggars were also willing to help the poor brother and sister. When the brother went to the pier to push a cart for someone, a woman beggar took her sister to the river to wash clothes and work part-time. , although they can't earn enough food and clothing, they still won't starve to death.

The reunion of brother and sister is naturally a heart-warming scene.

The younger sister, who deliberately painted her face dirty, giggled happily and bit into the white-flour steamed buns her brother bought. As long as her brother was around, she felt that the most delicious white-flour steamed buns in the world were white-flour steamed buns.

"Brother, what's wrong with you? Why don't you eat steamed buns all of a sudden?" The younger sister blinked her big clean eyes and looked at her brother curiously while holding the steamed buns.

The elder brother turned around and looked behind him, frowning like a young adult: "I suddenly felt uneasy, as if something was going to happen..."

As soon as my brother finished speaking, there was the sound of footsteps approaching from outside the simple shack where the brother and sister lived.

The elder brother immediately picked up the bamboo pole that he had sharpened with his own hands and protected his sister tightly behind him.

"These brothers and sisters are pretty good at hiding. They live with these stinky beggars. It's really hard to find them."

"Oh, are they really naive and think that if they gather in a crowded place, there is nothing we can do to them? Children are children, and no matter how naughty they are, they are just two children who are only ten years old together. I don’t understand how dangerous the world is, hahaha.”

"I have used the enchantment to isolate the surrounding area, so I can take action."

The sound was getting closer and closer to the simple shack where the brother and sister lived. Suddenly, the footsteps of several people stopped. The younger sister was so frightened that her face turned pale, her innocent eyes were filled with fear, and her little hands tightly grasped her brother's clothes, trying hard Huddled up behind his brother.

call!

The straw curtain of the shack was suddenly opened, and a ferocious face poked its head in, sneering: "I caught you!"

A white light flashed in front of his eyes, and a sharpened bamboo pole was stabbed at him. He caught it easily. With a shake of his burly and powerful arm, the huge disparity in power directly shook the bamboo pole away. The little boy's hands were split open, and blood suddenly flowed out.

"Brother!" my sister shouted sadly, tears falling down.

The space in the shack was limited and there was nowhere to hide. Soon the brother and sister were carried out by the burly man. No matter how much they cried and cried, the surrounding beggars' shacks were indifferent. There was a layer of transparent ripple barrier that isolated them from the outside world.

"It is said that good fortune brings great fortune. Even such a big storm and the ship being damaged by the storm did not allow you two brothers and sisters to be buried under the sea. Your fate is indeed great. It is a pity that your good fortune is not as great as your fate. Even after hiding in Tibet, you are still Found by us."

The one who spoke was the oldest old man among the group of people. His eyes were as gloomy as a vulture that eats people without spitting out their bones. He said viciously to the brother and sister who were holding their clothes by the back of their necks and struggling desperately: "As punishment, I will arrest them this time." You go back and use them directly to fill the sea with stone beasts and build life support piles for people. You will spend your whole life wandering in the dark ocean and never make it to shore!"

"Before leaving the city, let me help you relive the days when you were a dog and a donkey!"

…

Yuelai Inn.

Before the curfew closed, several porters staying at the inn returned to the inn.

"You bought two more little donkeys today?" the innkeeper greeted.

When the two little donkeys saw the innkeeper, they struggled excitedly and knelt down to kowtow. Tears actually fell from their eyes, as if they were crying for help. However, the words they said were donkey noises that humans could not understand. Instead, they were beaten with whips. .

"Let you scream! Let you scream again!"

"Why don't you be more honest!"

Seeing the other little donkey desperately trying to protect its companion, the innkeeper couldn't bear to say that all things have spirituality, please spare them, otherwise they would be beaten to death if they continued to be beaten. Today I will give you a jar of wine as a gift. If you drink it to your heart’s content, how about treating it as a favor to me?

Only then did several people stop beating him.