chapter 3 The weird old man who burned paper

When Celeste Qin Bing came back to his senses, Philip Lu had disappeared into the vast night, and his crying turned into choked sobs, and then turned into anxious calls. However, Philip Lu could no longer hear all this as he was far away. fly

Xu Qing walked aimlessly on the street, enjoying the empty loneliness in his heart. He didn't even know where he should go. It wasn't until today that he felt that this city was so strange. Not far away was a park. Under the halo of dim street lights, two rows of long stone benches can be vaguely seen.

One row of stone benches was cushioned with newspapers, and a long object was lying on it. Philip Lu, who was half-hearted, slowly walked to another bench and sat down. When he turned his head and looked around, he discovered that it was not far away. Lying on the bench was a sloppy old man in ragged clothes, with an old newspaper covering his face. His snoring was earth-shattering, like a dozen passionate sows roaring in unison.

Philip Lu was thinking about his own affairs, and lay down on the stone bench. A burst of fatigue came over him, and he fell asleep unconsciously. I don't know how long it took, but Philip Lu, who was sleeping, felt a rush of hot air on his face, and then a faint scent of sandalwood penetrated his nostrils.

Surprised, he opened his eyes and saw a small fire lit beside the stone bench not far away. The sloppy old man was sitting silently by the fire, and kept picking up a pile of The paper was thrown into the fire, and Philip Lu happened to be sleeping downwind. No wonder there was hot air blowing on his face.

"What is this old man burning? How come it has the smell of sandalwood?"Philip Lu wondered, and coupled with curiosity, he got up and walked over unexpectedly.

The sloppy old man half-closed his eyes and muttered some words in his mouth. He didn't seem to notice anyone coming over. He picked up the piece of paper and threw it into the fire.

This time Philip Lu finally saw clearly that what the old man burned was a pile of yellow paper with figures of villains printed on it, but it was not clear where the sandalwood smell came from.

Xu Qing shook his head and was about to turn around and leave. Unexpectedly, his pants sank. He turned around and saw that it was the old man holding the hem of his pants.

"Young man, please help me, this old man, burn some pieces of paper." The dirty old man's sinister voice sent chills down the spine.

The pores on Philip Lu body shrank, and he shivered. He thought to himself, this old man didn't run out of a mental hospital, right? He and I are not relatives. Besides, this man is still alive and kicking. How can I help him burn the ghost paper? ?

Burning paper has been a way to commemorate deceased relatives and friends since ancient times. It was unheard of for a living person to burn paper for himself, so Philip Lu could only classify this sloppy old man as a mental patient.

Seeing that Philip Lu was not moved at all, the old man grinned, showing his white teeth, and did not let go of his hand holding his pants.

"Young man, just take pity on my dying old man and come over and burn a few."

Philip Lu felt a pain in his heart. He gritted his teeth and squatted beside the fire. He picked up a few pieces of paper and put them into the fire. His eyes glanced at the crazy old man's waist from time to time. It was clear that something was hidden in the bulging bag. , maybe it’s still a cold weapon.

He naively believed that when he was entangled by such a mentally ill person, sometimes it would be easier to get away by following his will. It was like a drunk person who likes to say, "I'm not drunk, even if I'm mentally ill, I will never admit it." I am sick, and it would be bad if I offend this crazy old man.

With Philip Lu's participation, the pile of paper was quickly burned out, and the wind blew black paper ashes flying all over the sky, like low-flying ink butterflies.

"Thank you young man, just consider these as rewards for burning paper for me." The crazy old man slowly took out two stacks of brand new banknotes from his pocket and placed them in front of Philip Lu.

The seal was not even broken, and the package was worth 10,000 yuan. Philip Lu reached out and picked up a banknote and scratched the edge with his thumb. It was a genuine piece of silver, and he could still vaguely smell the smell of ink.

With 20,000 yuan in front of him, for Xu Qing, who was in urgent need of money, it was absolutely false to be completely unmoved. Even a stack of it could solve the current dilemma he and his sister-in-law were facing. At the same time, he was absolutely certain of one thing. The old man is really crazy, and he is a rich crazy person.

Philip Lu was short of money, but his conscience told him that if a mentally ill old man was greedy for money, it would not be a lack of money, but a lack of morality.

The corner of his mouth twitched twice, but Philip Lu still chose to put the money where it was and whispered: "Old man, I can't take this money, you'd better put it away."

Two gleams of light flashed out of the old madman's cloudy eyes. He picked up two stacks of banknotes and put them into his arms. He smiled, and two wild chrysanthemums bloomed in the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. He lowered his head and murmured: "Good boy. , neither greedy nor arrogant, pure jade is made in heaven. I didn’t expect that I would meet such a descendant before the Golden Soul to the underworld. God has treated me so well."

Philip Lu didn't hear clearly what the old man said. He rubbed his sore knees and wanted to get up and leave. Unexpectedly, the crazy old man opposite suddenly raised his head, his pupils flashed with two golden lights, and he looked directly into Philip Lu eyes.

"Young man, look into my eyes, look into my eyes, relax, relax"

The old madman's insidious voice seemed to carry some kind of magic power, penetrating into the depths of people's souls, and the ethereal and repeated words affected all the people's thoughts. Philip Lu felt that his mind went blank. After his body stiffened, he began to relax gradually, and his eyes There was only a pair of pupils shining with golden light.

Gold, a dreamlike color, a pair of coquettish golden pupils were tightly enlarged in Philip Lu eyes. All thoughts had stopped at this moment, and there was only a bright golden color left in the sky and earth. He seemed to feel a little coldness in his eyes. The breath is swirling around the eyeballs, and the feeling of being immersed in it is really wonderful.

I don't know how long it took, the golden pupils of his eyes gradually dimmed. When the golden light disappeared completely , Philip Lu also regained consciousness. Only then did he realize that he was sitting stupidly on the grass, and there was no old madman in front of him. There was not even ashes left over from burning paper.

Xu Qing scratched his head with confusion, then stretched out his hand to rub his eyes, but found nothing wrong with him.

"Is this all an illusion? No way, last night I remember helping a crazy old man burn paper." Philip Lu stood up and was about to take a look around, but unexpectedly, a bone-chilling cold wind came in without warning. The hair on his neck stood up in shock, and he didn't even bother to look for some crazy old man anymore, so he quickly trotted away from this land of right and wrong.

Less than a minute after Philip Lu left, a pile of burnt paper ashes suddenly appeared next to the stone bench, and a slovenly old man with an ashen face leaned against the stone bench and panted softly, with a hint of laughter at the corner of his mouth. The relieved smile slowly solidified.

Shortly after the old man died, two black figures floated over, picked up the old man's body and quickly disappeared in the first ray of morning light.