Third watch

Although the rain was not heavy, it kept falling intermittently. When Wang Xiaoming saw the signboard of Guangming Stationery Store, he was already drenched.

And what's worse, because of the rain, the sun disappeared early in the morning, and the lights of the stores next door were all turned on, which made the stationery store look more bright and dark.

Wang Xiaoming looked up at the second floor. The small gourd he hung last night was still hanging by the window, and a reflection of the glass of the window passed by, like a rapid reflection of a car headlight.

He turned his head immediately, but there were no cars on the road, but a man was standing across the road, holding a black umbrella, motionless.

Wang Xiaoming withdrew his gaze and reached out to touch the key.

"Xiao Ming!" A voice suddenly stopped him.

Wang Xiaoming turned his head, and Mrs. Xu, who runs a convenience store next door, came out wearing thick-soled slippers, "You're back."

"Mrs. Xu didn't play mahjong today?" Wang Xiaoming stroked his bangs from his forehead and greeted with a smile.

"It's raining." Mrs. Xu still held a piece of paper in her hand: "This is for you."

"What is this?" Wang Xiaoming took it in wonder.

"It's not the back. Someone peed in the back alley again. It stinks to death during the day. The landlord has been painting it all morning, so give us this, and we have to post it on every door."

The back alley is the alley of the back door, because the back is too dark, occasionally people will secretly throw garbage in the back, and there are also drunk people defecating everywhere in it.

"The landlord asked us to post it. I gave it in the afternoon, but I forgot." Mrs. Xu said, "I just wanted to post it and you came back. Anyway, you want to post it anyway. Can you post it for me by the way?"

Only then did Wang Xiaoming realize that he had two notices of fines for defecating in public.

"You know, it's raining now, there must be water behind, I can't get through in high heels."

Wang Xiaoming didn't reject her, but he looked at the sky: "Can't you post it tomorrow?

"Morning post, good morning, if someone goes in to pee again, the landlord will explode." Mrs. Xu slipped him another roll of tape.

Wang Xiaoming sighed.

It's not yet six o'clock, so if you move faster, nothing will happen.

Wang Xiaoming borrowed an umbrella from Mrs. Xu and went around to the back alley.

It's raining today, and the food stall's business is not very good, but there is no puddle with oily and dirty water as usual, but the road is dark and greasy, no wonder Mrs. Xu refused to come.

Wang Xiaoming avoided the stagnant water, found the back door of Mrs. Xu's house, and began posting notices to defecate and cut dicks everywhere.

A child was standing next to the large trash can where food waste was placed in the food stall and watched Wang Xiaoming post the notice. After Wang Xiaoming had posted it, he turned around and saw him, and was shocked.

The child seemed to be frightened too, and shrank behind the trash can.

Wang Xiaoming started posting the second one.

The child timidly leaned over to look.

Wang Xiaoming finished pasting without squinting, put away the wide tape, and glanced at the child from the corner of his eye.

It was a little boy, only four or five years old, with disheveled hair covering his eyes and a dirty body.

Wang Xiaoming checked again whether the back door of his house was locked, then held up his umbrella and walked out of the alley quickly, while the child behind him shrank back to the trash can.

Mrs. Xu stood at the door with a smile and waited for him to return the umbrella. Wang Xiaoming returned the things to her, and went into the convenience store to buy a can of Coke and a sandwich.

When leaving the store, Wang Xiaoming was stunned as soon as he raised his eyes.

When he got out of the car just now, he saw that the person holding the black umbrella was still there.

And this time, instead of standing on the opposite side of the road, he stood in the middle of the road, regardless of the traffic on the road.

He still stood motionless as before, but this time he was so close that Wang Xiaoming could clearly see that the other party was facing the Guangming stationery store.

Wang Xiaoming felt a little uncomfortable, he opened the door and entered the house as quickly as possible, took a hot bath, then made a phone call with Lu Xiaolu, bragging for a while.

Probably because I was too tired to make models in the workshop today, Wang Xiaoming lay on the bed talking on the phone, and fell asleep without knowing it, and didn't even eat dinner.

It was almost nine o'clock when he was awakened by a knock on the door.

Lu Xiaolu might have heard his snoring and had already hung up the phone.

Wang Xiaoming got out of bed and turned on the light, listened for a while, and then went downstairs to watch.

The knock on the door did not come from the stationery store, but from the back door—not so much a knock as a kick.

Wang Xiaoming's heart beat a little faster by the earth-shattering kicks on the door, the door panel was also kicked a little bit, and the bronze door lock on it was glowing with a dim light.

But never open the door.

Wang Xiaoming leaned his back against the wall, silently waiting for the sound of kicking the door to stop.

Even if the back door is set on fire, the door must never be opened—this is the rule that Wang Dazhuang always emphasized to Wang Xiaoming.

The lock on the back door was made by Wang Dazhuang himself. Logically speaking, only Wang Dazhuang can open it.

Because this is a yin and yang lock.

Lock the yin and yang, don't mess up the boundaries.

Because as long as it is night and the lock is opened, there will be another world outside the door.

Guangming Stationery Store has two doors, one door is opened after dawn for daytime business; the other door is opened after nightfall for evening business.

Every night when the sun goes down, Wang Dazhuang will close the front door, open the back door, and hang a paper windproof lamp on the back door.

The lamp looks very rough, and the light is like beans. In the dark night, it is the only light source in the back alley.

With this light, Wang Dazhuang's guests at night can follow the light and knock on the back door of his house.

What those customers are looking for is naturally not the old man in the stationery store who always dozes off, but Wang Dazhuang, a celestial master who has 30 years of experience in traveling between Yin and Yang and can exorcise ghosts and demons.

Since Wang Dazhuang and Wang Xiaoming came to S city and rented this small building three years ago, Wang Dazhuang personally made this yin and yang lock, hung up seven-star lamps, and opened a dark path at the back door of Guangming stationery store.

People are good and bad, ghosts are good and evil.

Wang Dazhuang has been in business for so many years, so he knows this all too well.

Occasionally there will be lost ghosts who will knock on the back door, but there will also be evil ghosts who seek their lives. This has nothing to do with the Wang family, but with the seven-star lamp lighting, there will always be some unexpected things coming to the door.

Wang Dazhuang was well aware of the danger, so he told his grandson that as long as he was not at home, the back door could not be opened no matter what.

Wang Dazhuang dared to open the door to do business, so he was fully prepared. As long as he didn't open the door, even if the person standing outside the door was black and white, he couldn't break in.

Wang Xiaoming also knew that he didn't have the skills of his grandfather, and he always adhered to the principle of not looking at, listening to, or touching those monsters.

As long as you don't get close, you'll be fine.

Although Wang Xiaoming didn't intend to inherit his grandfather's skills, but he was brought by Wang Dazhuang's side since he was a child, and he also indirectly heard a lot of ghosts and unpredictable things, knowing those things, he Wang Xiaoming can't touch.

He knew that Wang Dazhuang was a celestial master, so there were more or less things gathered around the Guangming Stationery Store—especially at the back door, so even though the door was knocked loudly, Wang Xiaoming just stood quietly by the stairs like last night, taking a step. Neither moved.

Usually the seven-star lamp is not hung up, and there will be no knocking on the door like this. From this, it can be seen that the thing outside the door is not looking for Wang Dazhuang to do business, and it is more likely to be an evil ghost who was hit by mistake and left behind by the back alley. Yin Qi attracts and is trying to harm people.

In any case, it would not be a late drunk who knocked on the door.In the situation where he couldn't figure out what the other party was, without Wang Dazhuang's reminder, Wang Xiaoming also thought it was better to pretend he didn't hear it.

Doing yin and yang business can easily lead to disorder in the surrounding aura, especially in back alleys where there are no street lights and there is no popularity all year round, so it is easier to gather yin.

Therefore, Wang Dazhuang would occasionally open the back door during the day to clean and ventilate.

But this time Wang Dazhuang went out for a long time, and Wang Xiaoming was not proficient in the technique of opening the door to dissipate Yin Qi, so he had to leave it like this all the time. After a long time, messy things would come to the door.

But tonight there was no power outage like yesterday. After listening to it for a while, Wang Xiaoming felt bored and planned to go upstairs and turn on the computer to watch TV.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he turned around, the movement stopped.

Huh?

So just give up?

Wang Xiaoming glanced at the door lock unexpectedly. The other party seemed to really give up. After waiting for a long time, the knock on the door did not ring again.

That's fine, Wang Xiaoming yawned and was about to go upstairs when the knock on the door rang again.

Neither slow nor ill, neither light nor heavy.

It was completely different from the stormy situation just now.

Wang Xiaoming was stunned.

Almost at the same time, the lights in the house flickered twice and went out again.

Wang Xiaoming stood in the darkness, a little speechless.

Again.

He didn't go out last night, so will he go out tonight?

Fortunately, he was prepared this morning and bought a new flashlight next door.

Wang Xiaoming went to the store in a smear, and was about to look for the flashlight under the counter. At this moment, there was another knock on the door—this time it was the front door.

Wang Xiaoming blinked and listened carefully.

The knock on the back door was so clear that I didn't hear it.

And there was a knock on the front door... too.

This is the first time.

Could it be that the other party is a monster with strangely long arms?Knock on the back door with one hand and go around to the front door with the other?

Wang Xiaoming was amused by his own imagination.

But the next second, he couldn't laugh anymore.

A sharp cry sounded, the voice was immature and full of fear.

Suddenly, a burst of coldness rushed from the soles of Wang Xiaoming's feet to his forehead!

As if being strangled by the neck, the miserable crying became intermittent.

Wang Xiaoming suddenly turned his head and looked back.

Almost immediately, the knocking on the front door stopped abruptly.

Wang Xiaoming pursed his lips and fumbled for the flashlight.

The crying continued, sobbing and sobbing, so pitiful.

Xiao Ming, some ghosts can change and are extremely cunning. They often transform according to human weaknesses, so that they can deceive people...

Wang Dazhuang asked him to remember.

However, Wang Xiaoming remembered the big trash can in the back alley, and the bottle of Coke upstairs.

After a pause for a few seconds, Wang Xiaoming gritted his teeth, rushed back to the stairs, picked up a short wooden stick from the table, turned back to the front door, and opened the door.

It was still raining, there were very few pedestrians on the road, the convenience store next door turned on the lights and closed the door, and Mrs. Xu probably went to play mahjong.

Wang Xiaoming closed the door behind his back, glanced at the half-lit street lamps, and rushed into the rain.