Chapter 85: Reaching out to the God of Wealth

Chapter 85: Reaching out to the God of Wealth

Chapter 85: Reaching out to the God of Wealth
Early in the morning, as the sun rose, Ning Zhe transformed into a peregrine falcon and flapped his wings, flying over Yunmeng Lake and arriving above Chuyun Villa.

The moist wind blew over from the wide lake, creating layers of green waves in the lush forest outside the villa. July in Yunzhou is the season of summer, and the Izumo Mountains are all lush and green.

Seclusion is a word that sounds very beautiful, but is actually a shitty word. For the delicate and tender modern people, entering the deep mountains and old forests is like providing a buffet for mosquitoes. Therefore, the forest surrounding Izumo Villa is not a pure natural virgin forest, but an ornamental forest planted and managed by humans. There is basically only one kind of tree in the entire forest.

That is what Lan Shiwen said yesterday: mulberry tree.

"The flowering period of the mulberry tree is from April to May, and the fruiting period is from June to July. It will be a little later in the north, but the difference is not much." Ning Zhe flapped his wings, increased his altitude, and looked down at the lush ornamental forest below.

Today is June 2018, 06, and it is the season when the mulberry trees are in fruit-bearing condition. However, the woods outside Izumo Villa are all lush green, with no sight of any red inflorescence or fruit.

Paulownia is a purely wild tree species with strong adaptability. It is not a delicate fruit tree like cherry or lychee that requires care. It will not suffer a large-scale reduction in production or even a total loss of yield when encountering extreme weather.

Therefore, there is only one reason why there are no fruits in the woods outside Izumo Villa.

"All the mulberry trees in this forest are male." Ning Zhe came to the conclusion immediately.

Paulownia is a very typical dioecious plant and cannot self-pollinate like monoecious peach and plum trees. When a forest of trees only has male plants and no female plants, there is no object for cross-pollination, and the embarrassing situation of no fruit in the fruit-bearing season will occur like now.

Commonly known as the Bachelor Forest.

Ning Zhe circled in the ornamental forest outside Izumo Villa for a long time and basically confirmed his guess. This piece of bachelor forest was indeed artificially combed and the female trees were removed. Looking around, there was only a vast expanse of lush green, and no trees were seen bearing fruit.

...No, there are still some.

After searching for a long time, Ning Zhe finally saw a small red and green forest in the northern part of Izumo Villa near the mountains. The green ones are leaves and the red ones are fruits. The fruits of the mulberry tree are somewhat like mulberries, because it is a plant of the mulberry family, but the sugar content of the mulberry tree fruit is relatively low, and it is not as delicious as mulberries.

There were not many fruit-bearing mulberry trees in this small area, only about five or six. They were hidden very deep in the vast forest. Even if Ning Zhe turned into a flying bird and circled in circles, it took him a lot of effort to find them.

To be precise, there are five male trees surrounding one female tree, like the moon surrounded by stars, just like the statue of the God of Wealth who was guarded by five seven-baking pots yesterday.

"This is it."

Ning Zhe slowed down his flying speed and landed lightly in front of the only female tree. He shed his feathers and transformed into a young man wearing an evil ghost mask, but did not approach rashly.

Because under that tree, there was a loose figure sitting.

Ning Zhe did not get too close out of caution. The current distance was beyond the observation limit of the human eye. He took out the camera that he had prepared long ago from his arms and looked at the person sitting cross-legged under the female tree from a distance.

To be precise, it was not a person, but a clay statue sitting cross-legged in a small shrine.

The shrine is located under the crown of the only female tree. It is made of blue bricks and covered with bright red glazed tiles. A three-legged, two-eared copper incense burner stands quietly in front of the door, and three incense sticks emit purple-blue smoke.

Judging from the burning degree of these three incense sticks, it seems that they have just been lit for a short time, and there is not even much ash accumulated.

"A wisp of smoke on the mountain means fifteen days in the station." Ning Zhe put down the camera and shook his head slightly.

Who is so wicked as to burn incense in the deep mountains and forests, not even afraid that the ashes of the incense will ignite the fallen leaves and start a fire in the Yunshan Nature Reserve? It will not only be fifteen days in the police station, but even a suspended death sentence will be considered a lenient sentence.

Ning Zhe adjusted the focus of the camera, squatted down and continued to observe from an angle that could directly see into the shrine. Inside the shrine sat a hunched statue that seemed to be made of clay or pottery. It looked like an elderly man with sparse hair, thin bones, and a fairy-like temperament. He was wearing a loose Confucian robe and a curled fallen leaf on his shoulder. The mottled sunlight shone through the gaps in the leaves on his chest, just like the mottled age spots on his neck.

… This is not a statue, this is a person.

Ning Zhe pressed the shutter button to take a photo, and compared it with the photo of Ji Bochang in his mobile phone to confirm that it was correct.

The old man sitting cross-legged in the shrine is Ji Bochang. If you zoom in and look carefully, you can vaguely see his belly bulging slightly. This is the methane produced by the fermentation of the internal organs, excrement, and undigested food in the stomach after death, which makes the old man's originally shriveled abdomen bulge out.

"After death, he didn't even rest in peace, but ran to the deep mountains and sat in a shrine. Is he thinking he was a god?" Ning Zhe frowned slightly.

The sitting posture of Ji Bochang's corpse looked very familiar to him. It looked almost exactly like the statue of the God of Wealth in his study.

The boy's face is round and auspicious, while the old man's face is thin and refined. The similarity between the two "statues" is that there is a small cloth bag tied with a rope on the legs of both statues.

What is this cloth bag used for?
Before he had time to investigate the mystery, a wisp of green smoke passed through the branches of the mulberry tree and floated up into the sky. A bad premonition came to Ning Zhe's heart.

"God of Wealth?"

Ning Zhe hesitated for a moment, and finally decided not to approach rashly. He should go back to find Shi Yurou and Ji Yunying first. Since they are the God of Wealth, the copper coins on them should have some function here.

But just as Ning Zhe took a deep breath and turned to leave, a long sigh appeared in the silent forest.

Ning Zhe's pupils dilated slightly. He raised the camera and adjusted the focus. He saw that the incense sticks in the incense burner had burned out at some point, leaving only a pale ash.

A strong wind blew in the gloomy clouds, covering the clear sky and turning it dark. Inside the shrine, the God of Wealth opened his eyes.

Those were a pair of empty eye sockets without eyeballs.

Across a patch of mottled woods, the God of Wealth looked with his empty eyes at Ning Zhe who was holding a camera.

[No distinction between civil and military, no matter life or death]

An old and hoarse voice came out from His chest, with a buzzing hollow resonance, and like a string of copper coins hanging around His waist, clinking with the sound of His hurried running steps.

The God of Wealth said this and extended a hand to Ning Zhe.

The next second, Liu Hongzhi died.

Ning Zhe's face under the mask changed quickly, and he turned and left without hesitation, but before he could take a step, another life passed away quietly.

The God of Wealth raised his hand and took two lives.

Ning Zhe, who died twice in an instant, did not dare to delay any longer. He immediately abandoned his human body, turned into a flying bird, rushed out of the woods, and fled without looking back.

In the woods behind him, the God of Wealth slowly put down his hands, stood up, and climbed out of the shrine.

(End of this chapter)