I rely on cooking to dominate the ghost killing team

Watching the boat disappear at the sea level, Wuyue reluctantly retracted her gaze, clasped tightly on the edge of the wooden ladder with both hands, and tremblingly stepped on the hollowed-out steps.

Wuyue felt that what she was stepping on was not a step—it was just a temporary plank.Looking from the gap between the planks, you can still see the tumbling sea water.

A dead fish floated in front of her with the tide, slowly and leisurely, and the posture seemed to be a bit of ease, but it made Wuyue suddenly nervous.She hastily narrowed her eyes, trying not to let her gaze go down, only thinking about the steps under her feet.

"The stairs are quite steep, aren't they?" Ishikawa Mutsu had already walked in front of her, and said with a smile, "Come on, hold my hand. I'll pull you up."

"Well... thank you, Miss Ishikawa."

"You can just call me Xiaomu. However, in Liren Pavilion, you have to call me Xiazi." She said, "Don't reveal your real name, otherwise it may be very troublesome."

May nodded numbly.She felt that she really seemed to be James Bond now.

Pushing open the small door in the corner, it was pitch black inside.Shi Chuanmu lit an oil lamp, beckoned to May, and asked her to follow behind him.

"I'll take you to see the proprietress now. I told the proprietress earlier that you are a neighbor from the same village as me. You came to work because you lacked money. When she asks, don't reveal your truth."

"I understand."

Go up the winding stairs, as if there is no end in sight.The stairwell was narrow and dark, and there was no way for the two of them to pass side by side.May walked behind Ishikawa Mutsu, smelling the unpleasant smell of burning oil lamps.The extremely poor ventilation here makes all kinds of strange smells linger here, and the air that can be breathed has a turbid feeling that is almost rotten.

There are occasional wooden windows pasted with paper, but they are all closed tightly, and the bright sunlight outside the pavilion cannot penetrate, which makes the place even more uncomfortable.

Wuyue laboriously repeated this simplest breathing movement, trying to make herself adapt to the bad air quickly.She looked up from time to time, wondering how many steps she had to climb to see the owner of the Liren Pavilion, but since the surroundings were too dark, she was thankful that she could clearly see the steps under her feet.Wanting to see the scene above seems a bit like a dream.

"It's a bit dark here, and so is the air... I always feel that the ventilation is poor."

May whispered.This place is really too narrow, even her voice can't be heard far away, it can only echo in the narrow and long space.

"That's true. Is it tormenting?" Ishikawa Mutsu smiled helplessly, "The air quality inside is even worse. In order not to let the guests notice it, the proprietress burns incense every night. Obviously, opening a few more windows can solve the problem ..."

As for why this method was not chosen, it must be due to the proprietress's own considerations.

"Hey, I'll say it." Wuyue trotted a few steps, leaned close to Ishikawa Mu's ear, and whispered in a very low voice, almost like a breathing sound, "The proprietress...is she a ghost?"

Shi Chuanmu nodded slightly.

"Her name is Mashiko, and she is not from Xingyuan. She is... She is a person that is not easy to describe. You'd better not be scared by her. I will tell you the rest of the matter later, Now……"

At the end of the stairs, it turned into a long and narrow corridor, and the hidden gloom was exactly the same as the stairwell.

The dim light of the oil lamp flickered.Ishikawa Mutsu took her by the hand and led her to the door at the end of the corridor.May heard her breathing trembling.There were ripples in the lamp oil, Wu Yue saw that she had firmly grasped the handle of the lamp, so the ripples stopped reverberating.

She knocked on the door.

There was no response from the door.There was only a "squeak", and the closed wooden door opened a small gap, and orange light leaked through the gap.Ishikawa Mutsu winked at Wuyue, gently pushed the door open, and walked in.May hurriedly followed.

Wu Yue didn't want to appear too rude, so she didn't dare to look around.She just felt that the air in this room was even more turbid, mixed with a strange stench that she couldn't smell.

It was no longer a question of poor ventilation—there was no such thing as "ventilation" in this room.

There are no windows, and even the doors are tight when closed.This place is like a huge closed box, neither the sunlight nor the wind from the sea can penetrate into it, only the turbid air continues to ferment in it.

She hastily held her breath.One more sniff, and she suspected she might faint.

The only good news is that it is very bright here.All the shelves are filled with candles, and a few Western incandescent lamps hang from the ceiling.All the lights merged into a bright orange.

But Matoko, who was surrounded by such a warm light, didn't feel any softness at all.She threw the black pearl necklace wrapped around her hand into the pile of copper coins in the corner, kicked away the low table of pear blossom wood inlaid with glass, and stood up.

The ubiquitous candlelight cast shadows everywhere for her, overlapping and surrounding her in darkness.Wu Yue could hear her walking towards her, every footstep on the crocheted carpet seemed to hit her heart heavily.

From the corner of the eye, Ishikawa Mutsu knelt down, Wu Yue also hurriedly imitated her appearance and put on a respectful posture.

"Master Mashiko, this child is the one I told you about earlier..."

Masaru stopped.The electric light on the ceiling seemed to wobble.Ishikawa Mutsu didn't say any more - she knew that Matoko wasn't listening to her.

Instead of making her angry by continuing to talk, it would be better to shut up early with discernment.

A cluster of sparks burst out from the wick of the candle, and the candlelight seemed to become dimmer.May lowered her head, staring at the fibers of the carpet.She could feel Matoko's eyes on her—sharp and piercing eyes.

"name."

Itsuki was taken aback by the deep, almost male voice.She lowered her head and replied, "Taki Ichiba."

"Oh—? Hold your head up."

Her words carried an inexplicable sense of oppression.Wu Yue didn't dare to disobey, and hurriedly did as she said.

Until now, Wuyue finally saw the whole picture of Zhenshizi clearly.

She seems to be a middle-aged woman in her 40s, tall and thin, wearing heavy makeup that is inappropriate for her age and age, and she is unsmiling, even the fine lines under the corners of her mouth are sharp.She was wearing a very tacky bright red kimono, and on her withered wrists were several gold bracelets that were as wide as two fingers. Looking at it, Wu Yue couldn't help worrying whether such thin bones could really bear the weight of these gold bracelets.

While Wu Yue looked at Mashiko, Mashiko was also looking at the girl.She held the slender white jade pipe between her fingers, brought it to her mouth, took a deep breath, let the smell of tobacco linger for a while, and then exhaled it all.Consciously or unintentionally, she spit the smoke on May's face.

She looked at Wuyue and tightened the corners of her mouth, but she still didn't say a word, she straightened her back and stared at herself.

She squinted her long and narrow eyes, took a small step back, knocked the pipe on the corner of the table, and poured out the ash stored in it.

"Why did you come to the Liren Pavilion?"

Matoko asked her in a haughty tone that was almost like an interrogation.

When speaking, her sharp fangs would be exposed from time to time, and in such a bright environment, she would be able to see clearly no matter what.May could feel the shivers down her spine.

Not just scared.The emotion surging in her heart seemed to be the blood of facing the ghost.

She could see Matoko's sharp ghost claws and pupils that were slender and erect like snakes.Matoko didn't hide these obvious ghost features at all, Wuyue didn't know why.

But now the "why" doesn't matter.

"Because... I want to make money."

Wu Yue tried hard to suppress all kinds of ready-to-movement moods, tried to make her words sound emotional, and also tried her best to act like an ordinary applicant.

Her words were completely in accordance with Ishikawa Mutsu's instructions, there should be no mistakes, but Matoko looked indifferent, still looking at her, as if she wanted to hear more from her.

But that's just speculation in May.She had no idea what to do next.She silently lowered her eyes and cast a searching look at Ishikawa Mutsu.

Before the two could make eye contact, Mashiko suddenly lowered her body and pinched Wuyue's chin with her dry but powerful palm, making her look at her again.

"Want to make money?"

Mashiko said in a drawn-out voice, each word sounded sharper.During the conversation, she even smiled a little, the corners of her bright red mouth almost reaching the ears, as ferocious as a clown laughing exaggeratedly.

She tapped May's cheekbones with the pipe, again and again.

"In this case, you have to work hard for me, otherwise you won't get any money." She suppressed her smile, stared at May, and suddenly raised her voice, "Got it!"

May was terrified and nodded quickly.

"understood."

"Then get out of here quickly." Matoko shook off her hand, lit another bag of tobacco, and said to Ishikawa Mutsu, "Take good care of her. If something goes wrong, don't stay here Leaving Ren Pavilion. Do you understand, Xia Zi?"

"Yes."

Ishikawa Mutsu gently tugged Wuyue's clothes, and took her out.

The two walked for a while in silence, until Matoko and her room had been left behind, Wuyue finally felt a little more relaxed.She let out a deep breath, scratched her hair, smiled self-deprecatingly, and said, "She's really fierce..."

"Yeah. She's even scarier when she treats divas." Ishikawa Mutoshi turned his head and smiled, "I'll take you to the dormitory. It's time to change your clothes—the clothes of our handymen are uniform. .By the way, the dormitory has windows, so you can take a good breath of fresh air."

As soon as she heard the word "fresh air", May immediately became energetic.She nodded vigorously: "Okay!"

We walked windingly through the dark and narrow wooden corridor.Mushi Ishikawa opened a paper door, and the light from the door made her no longer have to hold the oil lamp.She made a silent gesture to Wuyue, blew out the fire, put the lamp away, looked into the room first, and then beckoned for Wuyue to come in.

I thought it might be a bit more spacious here, but when I stepped into it, I realized that it was just as narrow.There were more than a dozen beds lined up on the floor, through the raised arc, Wu Yue knew that there were still people sleeping inside.

"It's not just us odd jobs, some singers also live here." Ishikawa Mutsu told Wuyue quietly, "The lights in Liren Pavilion are always on all night, so we can only be free during the day. Before it's dark, you first Rest for a while—it's okay to sleep for a while. Hey, here are your clothes. I'm going to bed."

"Hmm...thank you. Good night, Natsuko."

Whoops, should have said "good afternoon" or "good sleep".

However, Ishikawa Mutsu had already got into the bed and covered his head with the quilt, so Wu Yue didn't correct him anymore.She hugged her clothes tightly, stood on tiptoe, walked through the gap between the quilts, and found a place by the window.

She curled up, hid herself under the window frame, and hurriedly changed into the Yamabuki color kimono.She is really not good at wearing such complicated clothes.

Using a rope to tie up the obstructing sleeves and hair, she was finally able to straighten up.The warm wind blowing from the sea is very pleasant. If it weren't for such a place, May might be excited by the sea in front of her.

She brushed her hair back behind her ears.At this moment, she has nothing to do, the only thing she can do is to wait for the night to come, but she doesn't really want to start doing odd jobs as soon as possible.

She clasped her palms together, secretly praying that the night would come slowly.Although this behavior is useless.

I sat alone by the window for a long time.The other girls in the room hadn't woken up yet.Maybe someone woke up, but May didn't notice.

Suddenly, a group of crows flew straight towards the window, so frightened May that they were about to fly in, but fortunately the group of crows turned around as they approached.

Among the birds, one bird seemed to be lagging behind, being left behind by the other crows, heading straight for May.It landed lightly on the window frame.

A closer look revealed that it was not one of the crows—it was a pigeon with gray feathers.It flapped its wings and jumped a few times.

It brought a letter of valor to May.