Strange Tale

The city of ignorance.

In front of a shop along the street, a small yellow figure hurried past.The weather was so hot that Qilin was in a hurry and hadn't eaten or drank anything for two whole days.

Not long ago, Tianfeng went to Huang Lingbao's cave to catch up with his old friends, and Qilin heard them say that Si Ren is now in Wuming City while drinking.So taking advantage of Master's drunkenness that night, he sneaked out.

Really exhausted, Qilin stopped under the eaves in front of a shop, ready to take a rest in the shade before leaving.The smell of medicine wafted from the room, and Qilin glanced in through the open door: it was a medicine shop.There is a sign outside the door - Renxianju.There are a few plaques hanging on the wall inside the door, on which are written such beautiful words as "Hua Tuo is alive", "Hanging the Pot to Help the World", "Wonderful Hands Rejuvenate", it seems that they should be given by others.

"Alas! little thing!"

Qilin poked his head and looked happily, when suddenly there was such a sound from behind the door.Qilin was startled, and hurriedly turned his head to look: I saw a well-proportioned young man who looked about eighteen or nineteen years old, holding two bowls, hunched over, and looking at him furtively.

"Little thing, come here. Don't be afraid, are you hungry? Come here, there is water and food here. Don't run, I won't hurt you..." The man carefully put the bowl in his hand Go to the ground and push Qilin, "Here, you can eat."

Qilin looked helplessly at the bowl and then at the young man: Are you afraid of running away? !Do you think I am a cat? !Who is enough for such a bite? !Besides, what kind of mess is this? !

"Ah, eat slowly, don't worry, there is more." The young man turned around and entered the back kitchen.

Huh?How did I eat it?Mmmmm──It tastes really good...

"...Mama seems to be talking about this."

Suddenly there were voices and footsteps outside the door, and when Qilin raised his head, two men with tightly wrapped heads walked in, almost stepping on him.

When Qilin met Long Jiu and Ye Chang for the first time 18 years ago, they were also dressed like this when they met each other's eyes.

"Oh? The two guests, do you need any medicinal materials?" The young man came out with a bowl, just in time to see Long Jiuhe also often looking at the weasel on the ground at the door, "This little guy is probably very hungry. Give it something to eat. Don’t be afraid, it shouldn’t bite.”

He often squats down and stretches out his hand in front of the unicorn, "Didn't you raise this?"

The young man shook his head, "No, probably passing by, I haven't seen it before."

Long Jiu touched the back lightly with his foot and often.

I often understand, "Oh, that's right. This is my young master's pet. It has been running away for several days, and we have been looking for it."

Tianfeng said that Si Ren has been with Long Jiu all these years.Qilin quickly jumped onto Yechang's hand, climbed along his arm and onto his shoulder, and sat down firmly.

The young man's eyes widened in surprise, "Really? Such a coincidence!"

Long Jiu took off his turban and walked a few more steps into the room, "Yeah, what a coincidence. It seems that we are destined for each other. What's your name, little brother?"

"Little brother?" The young man looked at Long Jiu and laughed, "My name is Baibu, Xia Baibu. How old is your son? I should be older, right?"

"Hundred steps?" Long Jiu frowned: What kind of strange name is this?

"Oh, it's the 'Hundred Steps'." Xia Baibu pointed to a shelf in the medicine cabinet behind him, "The medicinal materials are not the 'Hundred Steps' that laugh at fifty steps."

Obviously people often misunderstand, and he explained it very skillfully.

"So that's how it is." Long Jiu nodded, "Well...you can't rely on your appearance depending on your age, you must be not as old as me. My name is Long Jiu, this is also common, and that little guy is called Qilin."

"Oh──" Xia Baibu nodded following Long Jiu's introduction, "Then I don't know why the two gentlemen came to me..."

"Mr. Xia, can you..."

Xia Baibu waved his hands again and again, "My lord, don't call me that. Although I can still cure diseases and prescribe prescriptions, this pharmacy was left by my father when he was alive, and the plaques on the wall were all given to him by former patients. I I'm still too young, you can just call me Baibu."

Long Jiu suddenly grabbed Xia Baibu's dangling hand in front of his eyes.

Xia Baibu was taken aback for a moment, and Long Jiu let go of his hand again.

"Master Long, you..."

"Straighten your arms and look."

Xia Baibu looked puzzled, but he still did as Long Jiu said.

"Ah!" He yelled after seeing the changes in his arm, "How could this happen?! The left hand has grown a lot!"

Long Jiu smiled and patted his arm, "It's okay, you can compare again."

Xia Baibu compared again, his arms became longer again, he patted his chest with a sigh of relief, "I was scared to death. How did you do it?"

"You don't need to pay attention to a blindfold." Long Jiu pretended to curl his lips relaxedly, "Did you just say that you can cure diseases and prescribe prescriptions?"

Xia Baibu was too young, so few people came to him for medical treatment. Most of them came here just to get medicine. Seeing that Long Jiu was interested in his medical skills, he was very happy, and quickly agreed, "Yes!"

"Then can you make a doctor's visit?"

"Ok, Ok!"

"Great. My great-grandmother is ill, please ask Mr. Xia to come with us."

"Okay, okay." Xia Baibu was overjoyed, and hurried into the counter to pack the medical kit, "But don't call me Mr. again, really."

On the way, Long Jiu asked about Xia Baibu's family situation.He said that his mother passed away when he was born, his father never remarried, and he was brought up alone.Last year, my father suffered a sudden illness and passed away.Because his father is an orphan, and his mother's natal family is also thin, and he has lived far away for many years, so he has no relatives around him now.He ran with his father since he was a child, and he can barely handle business matters. Occasionally, when there are some difficulties, a few uncles who were close to his father before his death will help.

Hearing what Xia Baibu said, Long Jiu couldn't help muttering in his heart: Is this intentional?Choose a family with few worries?

Soon after arriving at the place, Xia Baibu looked up at the plaque on the door in surprise, "Sishui Garden? This garden has been abandoned for a long time, and it is said to be haunted. Do you live here?"

He often pushed open the door, "Yes, we just bought the garden at a low price a few days ago. Boss Wu, who sold the house, was very happy."

"How could he be unhappy? This garden has been sold for a long time, and no one has dared to buy it. Aren't you afraid?"

"Don't be afraid. My old grandmother can catch ghosts. After we came, those ghosts, ghosts, ghosts, ghosts, ghosts, ghosts, and monsters ran away."

Xia Baibu looked at Long Jiu and Yechang with a look of astonishment and suspicion, obviously not believing Yechang's words, but thinking that he was just here for a doctor's visit, he didn't say much.

After entering the garden and walking for a while, Xia Baibu couldn't help but asked again, "How many people live in your family?"

He is often introduced into an inner courtyard, "Young master, old grandmother, young master's uncle, old housekeeper, me, and some servants."

"So little? Do you need such a big garden?!"

"It's better to be free than not to live. Besides, we all like to be clean and need a bigger place."

Long Jiu turned around and walked to other courtyards, Qilin jumped off Yechang's shoulder and followed.Xia Baibu looked back at Long Jiu, often calling him and pointing to the main room in front, "The young master's great-grandmother is inside. The old man has bad eyesight. Many people are afraid that you will not be prepared when they see it."

Xia Baibu put his clothes on and carried the medicine box carefully, "When you are a doctor, you have to see all the patients. It's okay, I'm not afraid."

He often knocked twice on the door, "He brought it."

"Ahem..." There were two coughs in the room, and a lonely voice came out, "Come in."

Xia Baibu pushed the door open to enter the house, and often closed the door behind him and stayed where he was.

Qilin didn't dare to get on Long Jiu's shoulder, and followed behind him all the way.

"You're here to find Si Ren, right?" Long Jiu asked suddenly.

Seeing no one around, Qilin turned into a human form, "Yeah. I haven't seen him in 18 years. I heard that he is here, so I want to take a look."

"Okay, I'll take you to see him. But don't be too surprised when you see him later."

"No, I've heard all about you. I know what Si Ren was like."

"That's good."

"That..." Qilin looked around at the empty courtyard, "What I want to ask is: Where is your army? Why did you guys bring so few people into the city this time?"

Long Jiu turned into a courtyard, "I promised that I would not involve any unrelated people in my own affairs. So I don't want to go to war anymore and let the army be stationed outside the city."

Qilin knew who he said "promised" to, "Oh, it's best to be like this. Oh? By the way. I often said your 'uncle' just now. Who is your uncle?"

Long Jiu didn't answer right away, but walked into a room for a while, and then opened the door and said, "Here, that's my 'uncle'."

Qilin looked inside the door, and was stunned for a moment: there was a middle-aged fat man sitting on the floor of the room, his clothes and hair were fairly neat, and his beard was neatly trimmed, but the saliva from his half-open mouth and his bold sitting posture made one glance You can see that it is either crazy or stupid.

Qilin squinted his eyes and slowed down to walk towards the man, and gradually saw Si Ren's features, but he was not only fat, but also old, no wonder he was Long Jiu's uncle, people who don't know what happened saw him now Si Ren can only be regarded as Long Jiu's elder.

"Nine...nine...look! It's snowing! It's snowing! Hahahaha..." Si Ren crossed his legs on the ground and was tearing up paper, when he saw Long Jiu coming in, he happily hugged the pieces of paper on the ground together He raised his head upwards, and laughed heartily.

Long Jiu walked over and patted his head and pulled him up from the ground, "How many times have I said, don't sit on the ground. Be obedient and get up quickly."

Si Ren got up obediently and Long Jiu pushed him onto a chair.

Long Jiu took out a handkerchief and wiped his saliva, "Look who's here, do you recognize him?"

Si Ren turned his head to look at Qilin, then turned back and put his head on Long Jiu Xuxu, "Huan'er said: She originally wanted to reincarnate to find you, but now it seems that she can't... Huan'er said: She originally wanted to reincarnate I went to find you, but now it seems that I can't..."

Qilin opened his mouth in surprise, "What did he say?!"

Long Jiu patted Si Ren on the back very flatly, as if he had gotten used to it, "He said what Huan'er left for you before his soul disappeared."

"He... he actually remembers?! So... he recognizes me?!"

"I can only say that I recognize him now. He has often been like this in recent years. He can't say when he sees something and he will think of some things in the past. After all, we have experienced it together, so there are still some memories."

Qilin walked up to Si Ren and found that he was still carrying a Qiankun bag, "Huh? He has been carrying this all the time?"

"Well, except for taking a bath and changing clothes, I never take it off." Long Jiu adjusted the backpack strap on Si Ren's shoulder, "Anyway, you know his bag, no matter how others take it out, it will be empty. But the strange thing is Since Si Ren became like this, he can no longer take out any magic weapon, at most he can only find some stones, sticks and toys that he put in casually."

Qilin found his original shape and got into the Qiankun bag skillfully, Si Ren didn't respond to his actions.Turn around the unicorn twice to reveal its head, "It's no different from before!"

Someone knocked on the door, Long Jiu shouted "Come in", and often pushed the door and walked in.

Long Jiu left Si Ren and rushed to meet him, "How is it?"

"It's him, that's right. Grandma Dudu has already confirmed it." Ye Chang replied.

"What about him now?"

"Dudu pretended to be sick. He prescribed a prescription, saying that he had it in his shop, and he went back to get the medicine. If you want to do it, you can do it anytime."

Long Jiu thought for a while, "No, wait for him to come back first."

He often frowned, "Why?"

"I think this Xia Baibu is sincere and straightforward, which is quite interesting. Let him live for a few more days. Also, I really wonder: why is every reincarnation of him so much better than me?"

here we go again.I often thought to myself, but I didn't say anything, "Well, you can do whatever you want, anyway, everything is ready now, and the only thing left is your last knife."

"So that Xia Baibu is the reincarnation of General Dayi!" Qilin suddenly realized.

Two hours passed, and Xia Baibu hadn't come back yet.

Long Jiu was a little anxious and began to walk back and forth on the ground.

"Do you think it's too strange for us to live here and dare not come?"

Ye Chang raised his shoulders and nodded, "It's possible, or... I'll look for it? If you really don't dare to come over, just grab it directly."

Long Jiu hesitated, "Well... that's fine, you can go."

He often got up and left, and Long Jiu continued to pace back and forth restlessly.Si Ren had been lying on the bed and fell asleep, and Qilin had been lying in the Qiankun bag, reluctant to come out.He thought that since he had reached this point, he had to check it out this time before going back to Huang Lingbao's side.At that time, even if he was severely punished, he would admit it.

It didn't take long for him to come back in a panic.

"It's bad!" He shouted as he rushed through the door, "The big thing is bad!"

"What's wrong?!" Long Jiu just sat down, then stood up again.

"I didn't find anyone when I arrived at Renxianju. I asked around, and someone said that they saw Xia Baibu being taken away by a monk and a Taoist priest. It seems that he was also on a medical visit and carried a medicine box."

"Monk? Taoist?" Long Jiu bit his lips slowly, "Could it be..."

Qilin suddenly jumped out of the Qiankun bag, "It's that witch Hunduo! She's here too?!"