"In the winter of the third year of Emperor You's reign, because of an ugly wife at home, Zhang Xun, the chief minister in front of the palace, invited Zhang Xun to leave the capital and died at Kunlun Pass. His wife, Miss Zhang, threw herself into the river in shame and anger. The next day, her body floated in the water, looking like a peach blossom. Even if he can speak, the villagers are too afraid to step forward and call him a water ghost."

——"Bianjingdi News"

*

At night, the gardenia lights on Ma Xing Street light up.

The restaurant was abuzz with people talking about the strange things in the newspaper and marveling at them.

"How ugly is that little lady?"

"My second aunt's great-aunt's niece lives in Zhangjia Village. She says that she is a shameless and low-income person who pesters Zhang Xun all day long and is embarrassing. Now it's better. She will pester Zhang Xun to death. Outside, she comes back from the dead, it’s unreasonable!”

"According to me, the person who comes back from the dead must have been greatly wronged. Even the Lord of Hell refuses to accept her, so she will be blessed with great blessings."

next door.

The lights in Sun's pharmacy were much darker than those in the wine shop. The wick slipped into the lamp oil, but the shopkeeper didn't notice it. He listened intently to the discussion in the restaurant, slowly wrapped the medicinal materials, and tied them loosely with hemp rope. Throw it on the counter.

"Half money."

A thin little hand reached over and picked up the hemp rope. The skin on the fingertips was wrinkled and pale. It was not the wrinkles that lose elasticity after old age, but more like it had been soaked in water for three to five days.

The shopkeeper was startled and lit the wick.

The little lady in front of her looked about fifteen or sixteen years old. Her clothes were hanging empty on her body, as if they would be blown away by the wind at any time. Her face and hands were the same color, cold and white, and the size of a palm.

"What's missing is Baizhu."

The young lady put the medicine packet to her nose, smelled it, and pushed it back to the counter.

"How is that possible?" The shopkeeper glared dissatisfied.

The young lady didn't speak, but looked at him with half-squinted eyes, smiling. A small bright red tear mole under her right eye looked like a hook, with sharp thorns, which made people think of the water ghost in the newspaper.

The shopkeeper quickly lowered his head and opened the medicine paper.

It just lacks a piece of Atractylodes.

"The nose is pretty sharp."

The shopkeeper muttered, picked up the medicine again, and threw it on the counter, "Half! Give me the money."

The young lady lowered her eyes, opened the medicine packet, picked up a piece of Poria cocos inside, put it into her mouth and bit it gently, "The skin texture is too thick, the cracks are obvious, and the adhesive force on the teeth is weak. Defective product!"

"What are you talking about? Our medicinal materials are the best in the entire capital."

The shopkeeper raised his thumb and pointed at the plaques on the wall that read "Miao Hands Rejuvenate" and "Benevolence and Virtue Lasts", "Open your eyes and see clearly. That one was given by the Zuo Army Inspector, and that one was given by Xiao Cao's Mansion." …”

Without raising her head, the young lady picked up another piece of licorice with her thin onion-like fingers and pointed it at the oil lamp to look at it carefully.

"The reed heads were not removed, the wine was not soaked for enough time, and the steaming method was wrong. It is still a defective product!"

The shopkeeper's expression changed, "You are sincerely looking for trouble, right?"

The young lady sneered, and her eyes finally glanced at him, "Purchasing inferior goods as good ones is tantamount to murdering people. Tell me, did your boss ask you to do this, or did you pass the fake stuff off as the real thing to line your own pockets?"

The shopkeeper's mouth trembled, and he slapped the table and cursed, "Where did you come from, this little beggar? He's talking nonsense. Can a person like you understand how to prepare medicinal materials? Let's go, let's go, it's a cold day, I don't have time to talk to you. It’s nonsense, if you don’t buy it, get out.”

Boom!

The little lady raised her eyes, as if she didn't understand what was being said, she slightly curled her knuckles like dry wood, and tapped the counter impatiently.

"Hurry up and bring out the best medicinal materials."

The shopkeeper sneered and taunted him angrily: "Who takes the medicine? The best medicinal materials are for the best people, so you deserve it? Huh, you are a poor and hungry ghost! If you can't cure the disease, you have to find a place to die."

The young lady leaned against the counter, her dark eyes were cool and innocent, but she was smiling.

"How did you know I was a ghost?"

"Hey! I said you won't shed tears until you see the coffin? You have to force me to deport people, right?"

The shopkeeper rolled up his sleeves and went over to grab him.

Unexpectedly, the little lady looked like a thin man, but she was surprisingly strong. She grabbed his arm with her backhand and pushed him hard into the counter.

"Should you come and get it, or should I come in person? Tell your boss again that you are a fat rat that eats everything inside and out."

It was so cold in the drug store, and the shopkeeper watched her use her thin arms to carry out bags of high-quality medicinal materials hidden in the secret compartment under the counter. Her legs and feet went weak, and she collapsed on the ground, snoring.

ring.

"Forgive me, please spare me..."

This shopkeeper has been working in Sun's drug store for ten years. His boss trusts him very much, but they never raise the monthly payment. As time goes by, he develops evil ideas and secretly buys inferior medicinal materials to make simple preparations, and then uses Sun's medicine to make it simple.

The family's high-quality medicinal materials are resold. The owner's business is large, so he does not often come to the drug store. When he meets knowledgeable people or dignitaries, he will use high-quality medicinal materials to treat ordinary people who come to buy medicine, and use inferior products to fool them.

I have been doing this for several years, and I have become fat and oily, but no one has ever discovered it.

Who knew that the boat would capsize in the gutter today?

"Ghost Lady, no, Ghost Ancestor, please, don't report me... I have an eighty-year-old mother and a three-year-old son. I have a family of more than ten people, and I am the only one who supports it..."

"Who are you coaxing? Your old mother has been dead for more than ten years. There are five people in the family. Your wife just gave birth to a daughter, and you didn't bother to do anything."

The little lady smiled half-heartedly, and the shopkeeper's pupils dilated in surprise.

If he wasn't a ghost, how could he know about his family?

"You, what are you going to do?"

The young lady smiled slowly and said softly: "Tell your boss that the store is short of a clerk. I can do the job."

The shopkeeper was stunned.

If a female ghost is short of incense, do she have to go out and earn it on her own?

The little lady seemed to have read through his thoughts, and the old god was laughing.

"Oh, the ghost world is not easy either, Juan!"

…

…

Bianjing City is not divided into cities and towns. If I knock twice, there are still countless wine shops and teahouses with hook-and-mortar tiles that are still in business.

The rain is getting heavier and heavier.

Xin Yi looked at the wet eaves of Sun's medicine shop, coughing muffledly, and sat in front of the charcoal stove to warm himself...

She had no choice in what happened just now. If she didn't find a place to stay, she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to survive the winter night.

It has been three days since Xin Yi came to this world.

This is ridiculous.

The "ugly wife" Mrs. Zhang, who was compiled by the Bianjingdi newspaper, is just an NPC (character) in a character interactive somatosensory game - "Bianjing Fu".

Not the protagonist, not even cannon fodder.

She was originally bought by the Zhang family from Ya Po. Where she lived and her last name were unknown.

People in the village call her Miss Zhang.

It is said that on the day Mrs. Zhang got married in Zhangjia Village, a woman in the village gave birth to a freak - "a big head, short limbs, crooked eyes and no nose." The woman threw the baby into the river that night.

From then on, strange things happened in Zhangjiacun.

No more normal children were born in the village, and people drowned in the river one after another.

Gradually, the saying "Water ghosts look for substitutes and eat babies' brains" spread. No longer can the men in this village find wives, and the girls are eager to marry far away...

Because of this matter, Mrs. Zhang was often poked in the back by people in the village. Her parents-in-law were displeased, and her sisters-in-law were disgusted with each other. Zhang Xungen refused to consummate the marriage with her to the end because he had feelings for her. She also had three stepchildren, each of whom

He regarded her as the "evil stepmother" and hated her to the core.

Later, for some reason, Zhang Xun died at Kunlun Pass.

Mrs. Zhang also threw herself into the river.

...Then, the female water ghost with "a corpse floating on the surface of the water and a mouth that could speak" was Xin Yi who came through time.

There are not many plots about Miss Zhang in "Bianjing Fu", but Xin Yi is certain that there is no such thing as Mrs. Zhang throwing herself into the river.

And Zhang Xun’s death was even more outrageous.

Originally, Zhang Xun was set up as a proper male protagonist of a male pornographic novel - he grew up poor and was looked down upon by others. Later, he became an official in the military and was known as the "Wu Tanhua."

.

Especially after the death of Mrs. Zhang, Zhang Xun became a widower and rose through the ranks and became a famous general in Huaihua. He commanded envoys in front of the palace, slept with princesses, married beauties, and finally became a marquis and prime minister. His power was overwhelming for a while.

Xin Yi couldn't figure it out, why did Zhang Xun die halfway through?

Could it be that the NPCs in the game have become autonomous and have broken away from the setting? The death of Zhang Xun caused Mrs. Zhang to commit suicide by drowning herself in the river. Therefore, the program was messed up and she was stuck in a game bug while she was doing plot tasks?

Xin Yi couldn't figure out the whole story.

In short, she almost frightened the Zhang family to death when she took a breath.

They said Xin Yi was "possessed by a water ghost" and wanted to burn her to death.
To be continued...