The boss smiled. He did not feel angered at all. He just felt that it was a little fun.
A person\'s temperament and aura were often more credible than his words.
"Hiss..."
The crisp sound was a little long, like a snake shedding its skin. He began to tear off the skin on his body.
At the same time, the boss\'s body was slowly shrinking, and his physique was slowly thinning. He was like a balloon that had a small hole and was slowly deflating.
Zhou Ze finally understood why the bowl of noodles was cooked so badly,
The other party\'s "Transformation" did take some time.
He was still wearing the boss\'s clothes and an apron, but the other party\'s face had turned into a slightly young man.
The young man smiled, and his charm was natural. Especially the arc at the corner of his eyes, it seemed to be able to tickle the hearts of the men and women around him. It was just right, just right.
Using the word "charming" to describe a man was somewhat inappropriate. However, some men were indeed born charming, such as the ancient emperors. There were countless men who liked men, and the reason was that some men were more like women than women.
"Do I look good?"
The young man asked Zhou Ze.
Zhou Ze felt the nausea that he had suppressed after eating the noodles again. He waved his hand apologetically and then covered his chest, making a gesture that he could not vomit.
Who knew that every grain of food on the plate was hard!
Zhou Ze knew how to cherish food, especially food that he had swallowed with great difficulty and was about to be digested into his body\'s energy.
The young man sat down on a chair at the side. He held a lighter in his hand and casually spun it.
He was sizing up Zhou Ze because Zhou Ze had discovered him. He thought that his imitation was natural, and he was in a small restaurant, so there shouldn't be any problems.
Most importantly..,
He was imitating his own parents.
Ever since he was young, he had been observing his parents. His parents\ 'every move and expression had long been engraved in his heart.
"How did you discover me?" The young man could not help but ask.
"You\'re not a ghost?"
Zhou Ze also asked at the same time.
The young man frowned slightly. He thought that Zhou Ze was mocking him and saying that he was pretending to be mysterious.
As a matter of fact, Zhou Ze had treated him as a ghost from the very beginning.
Zhou Ze did not want to meddle in other people's business. Zhou Ze did not think he had the right to meddle in a person's business, who was still fighting over a fridge not long ago.
But he couldn't just ignore it.
It happened right next door to him.
Therefore, Zhou Ze felt that no matter what, it was better to expose the matter first. If it was easy to solve, he could solve it himself. If it was not easy to solve, he could just move again.
"Your nails," Zhou Ze said, "I'm quite sensitive about nails."
The lady boss placed the noodles in front of him.
The boss personally handed him a cigarette.
Even the nails were presented in front of him.
Although the thickness of the fingers and the degree of the white calluses were different, the lines on the fingernails were the same.
Recently, Zhou Ze had been paying more attention to his nails. Not only his nails, but the nails of others as well.
The young man squinted his eyes and felt lost. The details were not done well.
Although he had the intention to slack off, as long as he was discovered, it was indeed his mistake.
"Are you really not a ghost?" Zhou Ze asked again.
If he was a human, then it would be a little exaggerated.
Actually, Zhou Ze had not seen many ghosts. Excluding the journey in Hell, the number of ghosts he had seen in the Yang World could be counted on one hand.
"Skin painting is a skill passed down in my family."
The young man stood up and grabbed Zhou Ze's hand, placing it on his chest. "However, it has been lost for many generations. Only my generation can pick it up again."
This action was a little ambiguous and a little out of line, but Zhou Ze still subconsciously pinched it.
Zhou Ze would never think that it was because Doctor Lin did not let him sleep that he was interested in men.
Of course, the man in front of him was indeed more charming than a woman. That was the truth.
"No bones?" Zhou Ze was surprised. "No, it's rickets."
Rickets was also known as rickets. Due to the lack of calcium, the calcification of the bones would become obstructed, and the bones would become soft and easily deformed. Zhou Ze used to be a doctor, so he naturally knew a little about it. However, just like how there were many conditions and different pathologies for a common cold, rickets also had many subdivisions. The young man in front of him should be at the extreme end of the spectrum.
According to legend, there were records in the Spring and Autumn history that a prince of the State of Lu suffered from this disease. It was as if he had no bones, and his body was delicate. He could walk like a human or crawl like a snake.
"You can think of it as a hereditary disease. It requires a certain probability to manifest. In the past, many generations of my family were unable to practice skin painting because they did not have this disease, but I …"
The young man smiled and did not continue.
"So, you really aren't a ghost?" Zhou Ze still did not give up.
"My name is Xu Qinglang," the young man replied seriously.
"Who are you imitating?" Zhou Ze asked.
"Dad, Mom."
Zhou Ze was stunned for a moment and smiled bitterly.
Alright,
This misunderstanding was huge.
Previously, after eating the noodles, Sister Lin left. Zhou Ze wanted to poke through the window paper and deliberately provoke him. In the end, he did not expect that it was actually the other party who had nothing to do here to role-play and mourn his deceased family.
However, from Zhou Ze's previous perspective, he only took it for granted that this was a ghost, similar to the ghost in the story of "Painted Skin". It killed people, skinned them, and was still "Wearing a Monkey's Crown".
"Then … I'm sorry."
"I'm really sorry to tease your mother."
"I'm not angry," Xu Qinglang said. "But I'm very curious. What do you mean by treating me as a ghost?"
"Nothing."
"Have you seen a ghost?" Xu Qinglang asked.
"I'm a ghost," Zhou Ze looked at Xu Qinglang and said seriously.
His expression was serious and solemn,
It was from the bottom of his heart.
Xu Qinglang's expression froze,
Then, he could not help but let out a "Pfft" laugh,
He looked at Zhou Ze,
As if he was looking at a retard.
Zhou Ze nodded. Sometimes, this was how things were. When you told him the truth, you thought you were teasing him, but he did not believe you.
"Anyway, I'm sorry. By the way, I also want to ask, is that human skin real human skin?" Zhou Ze asked curiously.
"Fish skin," Xu Qinglang replied. "It's processed, painted, and made."
"Then why are you selling noodles?"
Zhou Ze was a little confused. "I heard that the snakeskin clothes of the Hezhe Tribe can be sold for a lot of money. They are sold as works of art. This should be more valuable, right?"
"I can't use something passed down from my ancestors for profit."
"Then you should be very rich," Zhou Ze said.
"My home has just been demolished." Xu Qinglang did not answer directly. "I was given more than twenty houses."
"..." Zhou Ze took a deep breath.
Therefore, the world was so unfair. In his previous life, he worked in a hospital and did not earn much money even after working hard. Yet, this person casually had more than twenty houses.
Tongcheng was not comparable to Shanghai, but the housing price was close to more than ten thousand per square meter.
Demolishing the second generation, how envious.
Zhou Ze shook his head. "Are you going to continue cooking noodles in the future?"
"Are you going to continue selling books in the future?"
The two of them asked each other at the same time.
"I'll wait and see for now," Zhou Ze replied.
"Me too."
"Then, see you later. By the way, do you have other flavors of sour plum juice?" Zhou Ze was very curious about this. "For example, bitter melon flavor?
Grape flavor? "
"I have a secret recipe. I can make it." Xu Qinglang was very honest.
"Very good." Zhou Ze reached out and patted Xu Qinglang's shoulder,
Damn,
It was like cotton,
Soft, really weak, really boneless. If he hugged it in his arms and lay on the bed...
Zhou Ze immediately brought up the image of Doctor Lin coming out of the bathroom in his pajamas after taking a shower and forcefully suppressed his discordant thoughts.
Zhou Ze walked out of the noodle shop,
Xu Qinglang walked into the inner room and lifted the curtain. He said to the woman's skin hanging inside,
"Mom, do you think he really believed it or not?"
The woman's skin swayed gently,
It swayed slightly,
It was as if she was saying that he didn't believe it,
It was also as if she was saying that she didn't know either.
… …
Zhou Ze returned to his shop. The freezer had already been settled. The next step was to renovate the lousy bookstore left behind by Xu Le. It was not a solution to let it continue to lose money.
The sign at the entrance of the bookstore said "Xu Le Bookstore". It was as rustic as it could be.
In short, the bookstore was in that guy's hands, from top to bottom, from inside to outside, it gave off an aura of "definitely losing money".
Zhou Ze sat in front of the computer and tried to log into his original QQ a few times. In the end, he could not log in. He could not pass the identity verification at all, and there was basically no way he could appeal.
Then, Zhou Ze could only go out and take a taxi. He planned to change the sign or get a pair of couplets to put here.
He knew a sign shop that specialized in wooden carvings. The owner was an old man. The old man often donated to the orphanage. Back then, when Zhou Ze was also a member of the orphanage, the old man had already donated. After Zhou Ze started working, the old man donated together with Zhou Ze.
The sign shop was not far away. It was at the foot of Wolf Mountain. There were incense and candles everywhere, and this was the only one that sold signs.
However, when Zhou Ze went inside, he saw that the shop was being cleaned. Even the sign had been taken down.
A middle-aged man was directing the workers.
"You are?" the man asked when he saw Zhou Ze walking over.
"I'm looking for Old Mr. Zhao," Zhou Ze said. He was very respectful of the old man.
"I'm sorry, my father just passed away last month," the middle-aged man replied.
"Passed away?"
Zhou Ze was surprised and a little sad. He was not familiar with Old Mr. Zhao. They only knew that he was alone. As such, it was normal that he was not notified of the funeral.
Besides, to Old Mr. Zhao's family, Old Mr. Zhao had been donating the money he earned from selling the signs to the orphanage, so they did not have a good impression of the orphanage. They would not even notify the orphanage about the funeral, as they were afraid that the orphanage would ask them for money again.
"Are you here to order a sign?" the middle-aged man asked.
"Mm," Zhou Ze nodded.
"Our family, we're not doing it anymore," the middle-aged man said apologetically, "We'll be selling incense and candles from now on."
Wolf Mountain was one of the top ten mountains in Buddhism. Even if it did not attract many tourists, the local people would still go there to burn incense and pray to Buddha during festivals. It was enough for the shops at the foot of the mountain to make a fortune.
It was a kind of living off the mountain and living off the river.
"That's a pity," Zhou Ze felt a little regretful.
He planned to take a look at the old man's tombstone.
"But I still have a few signs that my father made in the past. I can't sell them. I don't know why my father made them. They weren't custom-made. If you like them, I can sell them to you at a lower price." The middle-aged man was going to sell them as if he was selling junk.
"Alright, I'll take a look," Zhou Ze agreed.
He followed the middle-aged man to a small courtyard at the back. The middle-aged man opened a storeroom and turned on the lights.
There were some sundries inside, including Old Mr. Zhao's tools. They were piled up in a messy manner. It meant that his descendants were not going to inherit the skill.
Now that everyone was making signs that could shine, who would be willing to use this?
They worked so hard, but they could not earn much money.
"Phew …" the middle-aged man blew at the signs on the ground and said, "Take a look. Two hundred yuan each. You can take it if you like it. If you don't, forget it."
It was obvious that the middle-aged man did not have much confidence in being able to sell the plaques.
Zhou Ze walked over to take a look,
The first sign said:
"Life and death are determined by fate, wealth and honor are determined by the heavens."
Zhou Ze shook his head. The middle-aged man sighed. He knew that he had no chance of getting this sign.
The next one said:
"People know how terrifying ghosts are, and ghosts know how vicious people are."
Zhou Ze was slightly stunned. He was a little sensitive to this.
The middle-aged man did not sigh this time because he knew that there was no chance. Who would have the time to hang this at the door?
The third one:
"I'm just listening to you. That's what I heard."
Zhou Ze smiled,
The middle-aged man looked at Zhou Ze and smiled too,