Chapter 18 Don’t wet the bed

Chapter 18 Don’t wet the bed

Chapter 18 Don’t wet the bed
Chen Shi returned home, still in a daze. Grandpa called him to eat, but he only ate two bites before putting down his bowl and chopsticks, walking back to his room, lying on his back on the bed, staring at the beams with his eyes wide open.

"You little bastard, do you want to eat or not? If not, feed it to the dog!"

Grandpa threw the food in front of the black pot.

Black Pot sniffed, shook his head, and turned away.

"I don't know if the dog I raise at home tastes good..."

Upon hearing this, Hei Guo turned back, wagging his tail and smiling. He sniffed, opened his mouth to eat, but found it too hard to swallow, so he turned around and left with his tail between his legs.

"The food we cooked today is indeed a bit too flavorful. It's almost entirely made of medicinal herbs. There's nothing edible."

Grandpa frowned slightly and reflected on himself, "Be more restrained next time. At least make sure Gouzi can eat it. Gouzi would rather die than eat it, and Xiaoshi will definitely not eat it either."

It was dinner time when Chen Shi got up, feeling a little listless.

The ruined temple in the deserted mountains was the only place he had found where he could practice properly. But now, this place was shattered by a meteorite. If he only relied on starlight to practice, it would take him an unknown amount of time to get rid of his status as a useless person.

He wanted to retake the exam to become a scholar, and then a juren, to get out of his current life. At the very least, he wanted to earn a lot of money to provide for his grandfather in his old age.

Grandpa is getting older, and he doesn't want his grandfather to run around taking care of him, a useless little guy, when he is old.

But now, a sudden meteorite from outer space has shattered his dream.

He was devastated.

But life has to go on, and Chen Shi soon came out of this state because his grandfather prepared a sumptuous dinner.

This dinner did not contain any weird-tasting herbs, and apart from too much salt, there was nothing wrong with it.

This was the first time in two years that Chen Shi had eaten food that tasted normal. After taking two bites, he couldn't help but feel his eyes turn red and he almost cried.

“Is it salty?”

Grandpa stood in front of the altar with his back to him, his eyes staring at Chen Shi from his shoulders. Seeing this, he asked, "I can't taste it. Maybe it's a little too salty."

He had lost all sense of taste and could even eat candles with relish.

Chen Shi shook his head: "Not salty, it's delicious."

Grandpa smiled and said, "Only those who endure the most hardships can become successful. Double the dose at night."

Chen Shi lowered his head to eat. After a while, he looked up and said, "Grandpa, the dilapidated temple where we stayed overnight was destroyed that night. A rock from outer space broke the mountain."

"There are so many things like this in Xiniu Island, why bother about it?" Grandpa said indifferently while eating candles slowly.

"Has this happened a lot?"

"Yeah. A lot."

After dinner, Chen Shi took the initiative to clean up the pots and pans without his grandfather's instructions, and was very diligent.

After taking the medicinal bath, Chen Shi practiced the Three Lights and Positive Qi as usual. From the next room came the voice of his grandfather using the Thousand Mile Sound Token to contact his father. His grandfather repeated the same old tune and told his father Chen Tang that he was old and didn't have many days left, so he wanted Chen Tang to take Chen Shi to the city.

However, there are always various excuses on the other end of the Qianli Sound Token.

Grandpa asked Chen Tang again whether he would come back during the Chinese New Year.

The other side still makes excuses.

The Thousand Miles Sound Token burned out, and the room was dark, with only a long sigh being heard.

"Atang, I really won't live much longer. I'm worried about Xiao Shi..."

Chen Shi in the yard was dejected, and continued to practice with his mind focused. However, his practice speed was greatly reduced, and was not as fast as the progress in the dilapidated temple in the deserted mountains.

Late at night, he returned to his bed, stared at the dark beams, and fell into a deep sleep after a long time.

Hei Guo heard the sound coming from Chen Shi's room and couldn't help but listen carefully.

"Grandpa, don't worry about me, I can take care of myself..."

Hei Guo was a little confused. Grandpa had obviously gone out, so who was Chen Shi talking to?

It quickly stood up, quietly pushed open Chen Shi's door, and looked inside.

"Grandpa, I am not a useless person. I will not be sick again. I will get better. I will pass the examination and become a scholar."

On the bed, Chen Shi slept uneasily, talking in his sleep, "I will let you live a good life... I don't like my father, and I have never seen him. Grandpa, please don't give me away, please... Grandpa, please don't give me away, I will be filial to you..."

Hei Guo watched for a while, then Chen Shi turned over and fell asleep, no longer talking in his sleep.

Hei Guo stepped forward, covered him with the quilt that had been kicked off, quietly went out, and closed the door while holding the door knocker in his mouth.

The next morning, Grandpa tied up the car and prepared to go out. Chen Shi was a little nervous and asked, "Where are you going, Grandpa?"

"I'm going to the county town to buy medicine. I've run out of medicine at home."

Chen Shi thought for a moment and said, "The reason why the meal Grandpa cooked last night was so delicious was because we ran out of medicine at home?"

"Yeah. I'll be back in the afternoon, don't run around."

The old man sat in the car, holding a compass, and ordered, "If you are hungry, just go hungry. I will give you a good meal at night, which I brought back from the county town."

Chen Shi was looking forward to it.

The wooden cart rolled out of the village.

Chen Shi went out to worship his godmother and practiced for a while. As expected, he became hungry quickly, so he extorted a few duck eggs from Yuzhu's duck and stole some sweet potatoes and a watermelon. He ate and drank his fill before returning home.

The godmother from Huangpo Village sat on the tree, with her dark eyes open, holding a red fruit in her hand, waving to him.

"You want to poison me while Grandpa is away, right?"

Chen Shi sneered, returned to his room, found writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone, and planned to draw some talismans and sell them secretly.

"Hei Guo, are we good buddies?" Chen Shi put one hand behind his back and approached the big black dog with a smile.

Hei Guo stepped back vigilantly, having guessed what he was going to do.

Chen Shi rushed forward, revealing the knife hidden in his back, and shouted, "Good brothers should stick their necks out for good brothers... Why don't you stick your neck out for me? My blood doesn't smell as good as yours... I'll make some money from the talismans I draw, how about we split it in half?"

He was wrestling with the black pot, causing a great deal of chaos, when suddenly there was a violent knock on the door, and then the door was pushed open. A dusty man rushed in, wearing coarse linen clothes and a pair of worn-out straw sandals. He was stunned when he saw a man and a dog fighting.

"Is this Master Chen Fu's home?"

The man hesitated for a moment and said, "Something happened in our village! There's an evil spirit going on and several children are missing. We need Master Chen's help to exorcise the evil spirit!"

Chen Shi let go of the dog, got up, and said to the man, "My grandfather went to the county town to buy medicinal herbs and will be back in the afternoon."

The man showed a look of disappointment and cried out: "What should we do? If we wait until the afternoon, I'm afraid everyone will be dead!"

"Um... am I paid for exorcising evil spirits for you?"

Chen Shi's eyes sparkled, and his breathing became a little hurried: "Do you have any silver?" The man hesitated, took out three or four pieces of silver the size of fingers, about five taels, and stammered: "This is all we have collected from Huangyang Village..."

Chen Shi snatched the silver, held it in his hand, and said with a smile: "My grandfather is Master Chen Fu, and I am also Master Chen Fu. I will take your business! Wait for me for a while, I will pack my things and follow you!"

The man was stunned. He saw Chen Shi excitedly walk into the house, and the black dog followed him in.

All I could hear in the house was the barking of a dog and the child's voice, which sounded like a conversation.

"Wow, wang wang!"

"I know I don't have any true energy and I don't know how to cast spells, but I can draw talismans."

"Woof woof, woof woof woof!"

"Don't worry, nothing will happen. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda, not to mention that they lost several children and several lives."

"Wang..."

"You think it's unreasonable to have evil spirits in the daytime? I also think it's a little unreasonable. However, I must earn this money. Next time I come across a deserted mountain or a dilapidated temple, I won't have to ask Grandpa for money. I will have the money to repair the dilapidated temple myself."

"Wang?"

"I was thinking, if the temple wasn't so dilapidated, the sunlight inside wouldn't be discovered by the eyes of heaven, and maybe it wouldn't be destroyed, and I could continue to practice."

……

After a while, Chen Shi packed up and went out with a book box on his back. The book box was taller than he was and was filled with things, probably weighing more than 20 kilograms. However, Chen Shi carried it on his back as if it was nothing, as if he could not feel any weight.

"Black Pot, I left a letter for Grandpa to tell him where I went."

Chen Shi wrote a letter and gave it to Gou Zi, saying, "When Grandpa comes back, you can give him the letter. If I'm in danger, tell him to come to Huangyang Village to rescue me."

Hei Guo ran quickly to the main hall holding the letter and placed it under Grandpa's spirit tablet. Then he ran back quickly holding a small knife and signaled Chen Shi to put the knife into the book box. If Chen Shi was in danger, using his own blood to drive away the evil spirits might save his life.

Chen Shi knew that it was worried about his safety, so he had no choice but to let it follow him.

The man hurriedly led the way, and the two of them and the dog headed towards Huangyang Village.

Huangyang Village is located at the northern foot of Qianyang Mountain. The straight-line distance is not far, but the mountain road is rugged and difficult to travel. There are barren mountains and dense forests on both sides of the road, and wild animals often appear.

On the way, Chen Shi got a general understanding of the matter.

There was an abandoned house in Huangyang Village, which was originally inhabited by a family named Tian with eight members. Suddenly one day, all the members of the Tian family, young and old, regardless of gender, died suddenly, even the livestock including chickens, ducks, cats and dogs were killed!

The government did not intervene in this matter. After all, such incidents happened too often in the countryside and the government could not investigate all of them, so it became an unsolved case.

Later, there were rumors that the house was haunted, and over time it became a deserted house and no one entered.

"There was a naughty child in our village. He climbed over the wall and got possessed by an evil spirit. He cried and laughed, and kept saying, 'Whoever wets the bed will be eaten, whoever wets the bed will be eaten.'"

The man said, "It didn't work even after pasting peach charms. The child's mother also offered sacrifices to the godmother, but it didn't work either. Something bad happened that night."

Chen Shi listened intently and asked, "What's the matter?"

"There was a child in the village who wet the bed and was taken away."

The man looked strange and said, "The child's father was dazed in the middle of the night and saw a huge shadow on the wall of his house. It opened its big mouth, stuck out a long tongue, and sucked his child away."

Chen Shi's heart skipped a beat. Is this an evil creature that specializes in eating bed-wetting children?
This is too evil.

"Yesterday, two more children disappeared, scaring other families so much that they dared not let their children drink more water, fearing that they would be eaten if they wet the bed at night. Some families would wake their children up in the middle of the night and let them pee, but something still happened. Today, during the day, the child of Lao Liu's family, Fugui, was peeing when he was caught by a long tongue hanging from the sky. It also disappeared in a flash."

"daytime?"

Chen Shi couldn't help but frown. Would there be evil spirits appearing during the day?

"and then?"

“And then it was eaten.”

"Did your village's godmother not ask about this? Could she allow evil to enter the village?"

The man shook his head and said, "Not all godmothers protect the villagers. Some godmothers will do evil things if the sacrifices are not enough. Some people say that a family of eight surnamed Tian was killed by the godmother in our village. It is said that on that night, the godmother in our village did not drive away the evil spirit, but let an evil spirit into the village, causing the evil spirit to kill the eight members of the Tian family. It seems that the daughter-in-law of the Tian family spoke rudely to the godmother and cursed her, so the godmother held a grudge and killed them. After the eight members of the Tian family died, the godmother appeared in our dreams and asked us to burn more incense and offer more sacrifices, otherwise we would end up like the Tian family."

Chen Shi frowned. Aren’t all godmothers kind?

How can you do evil again?
When they arrived at Huangyang Village, they saw that it was in a dilapidated state, with old houses, mostly thatched houses, and the villagers were wearing tattered clothes, as if they were fleeing. Both children and adults had pale faces and were very weak.

There were a few children in the village. Some of them were timid and hid behind their parents, while some were brave and clamored for water. They must have not had water for a long time.

"An evil spirit that feeds on children who wet the bed? This kind of evil spirit should be attracted by the urine of boys. In other words, the reason why the child was taken away was not because of bedwetting, but because of the urine of boys. I am still a boy... Wait, was I deflowered before I was cut open by someone? I was only nine years old at that time, so I shouldn't have been deflowered..."

Just as Chen Shi was thinking of this, he was suddenly bumped into by someone. He saw a teenager about his age running past him.

The child bumped into him and hurriedly stopped, turned around and apologized to Chen Shi. He was a thin boy, very shy, with half a sniffle hanging under his nose.

"it's okay no problem."

Chen Shi waved his hand generously and said with a smile, "Aren't you afraid of me?"

If the children from Huangpo Village had bumped into him, they would probably have been kneeling on the ground, kowtowing and begging Boss Chen for mercy.

The thin boy asked curiously, "Why should I be afraid of you?"

Chen Shi thought of the children from the same village who knelt in front of him and begged for mercy, and smiled sympathetically: "The children in our village are afraid of me and dare not play with me."

The thin boy scratched his head: "Then you don't have any friends?"

"I also have a godmother. I also have Black Pot. I also have the scholar. They are all my friends." Chen Shi said with a smile.

The thin boy also smiled: "Would you like to have another friend?"

Chen Shi's eyes suddenly lit up. This was the first human friend he made since waking up!

The key is to be alive!

The elders of the village surrounded the man who led Chen Shi. An old woman trembled and said, "Sanwang, I asked you to invite Master Chen Fu. Where is Master Chen Fu?"

"Master Chen is not at home. Only his grandson is at home. Although he is not very old, he is also a master of talismans."

The man Sanwang glanced at Chen Shi and whispered, "Besides, our village doesn't have much money to offer, so I'm afraid we can't hire other talisman masters. We can only hire this young one. Which talisman master would be willing to come for five taels of silver?"

Everyone looked at Chen Shi, only to see that he was talking to the air and was actually laughing. They looked at each other in surprise.

Sanwang plucked up his courage and asked, "Master Chen Fu, who are you talking to?"

"My new friend!"

Chen Shi smiled and said, "By the way, my name is Chen Shi, and my nickname is Xiao Shi. What's your name?"

"My last name is Liu, and my name is Fugui." said the thin boy.

(End of this chapter)