Chapter 2 Shadow of the Pear Garden (Part 2) “My heart has thousands of knots that are hard to untie, but one word…”

Amid the sound of gongs and drums, during the interval between performances on the stage, Ye Qingzhan looked around—in the center was a high stage with carved beams and painted rafters, and red silk hanging down. With the stage as the center, there were chairs in front of the stage, and bronze stone lamps stood in the four corners of the courtyard, shining faint green light on them.

The entire inn was like a square courtyard, divided into two floors. The brown wooden stairs on the east and west sides of the stage led to the second floor. Every room upstairs had a brocade hanging on one wall, and red lanterns of various shapes protruded from the eaves on one side.

As the eyes of several people downstairs explored, the doors of the rooms on the second floor slowly opened, and ghosts walked out one after another in groups of three or two, some lying on the mahogany railings. Some leaned forward and smiled at them; some went straight downstairs and sat at the eight-immortal table under the stage, enjoying the show on the stage with the audience who had just come down.

Hu Sanniang glanced at the female ghost guarding the counter. The female ghost picked up the wooden sign on the counter, walked up to Ye Qingzhan, handed it to her, and then slowly walked to the back of the stage.

Ye Qingzhan took the sign, lowered her eyes and saw that the name of the corresponding room was written on the sign. She looked up at the female ghost who handed her the room card, and vaguely felt that the female ghost in the double-breasted narrow-sleeved shirt had a very graceful figure and a very beautiful walking posture.

The female ghost walked to the back of the stage and disappeared. Ye Qingzhan looked at Hu Sanniang, "Sanniang, how do you divide the room cards that your sister gave me just now?"

Hearing this, Hu Sanniang smiled and looked over, and whispered, "Give it to them and let them choose according to their preferences. "

The "they" that Sanniang was talking about were the ghost guests who walked in one by one from the Hongchen Inn at this moment, and walked to the side of Ye Qingzhan, some distance away from Wen Gu.

After Ye Qingzhan responded, he first glanced at Wen Gu who had been silent all the time, and then glanced at the exiled immortal who had been busy checking since entering the inn, and said: "The three of us are here to take them through the customs. They are 'guests' and more important. Let them choose first, okay?"

Li Zhixing said: "Of course, they should choose first."

Wen Gu stared at her and nodded lightly with no expression.

After getting the consent, Ye Qingzhan turned around and handed the room cards to the ghosts who gathered around him. With the candlelight in the cage on the second floor, he looked at the group of ghost guests who were traveling with him.

"Who of you will choose first? "Ye Qingzhan asked, spreading out the wooden sign in her arms to reveal the words engraved on it.

The man with phoenix eyes in green costume looked at her and shook his head. The charred human skeleton beside him also shook his head, and so did the big-eyed boy with a crack from head to toe, shaking his head.

Ye Qingzhan blinked and continued to move his gaze to the right. The woman with a hole in her head looked at her mother-in-law beside her.

"Why don't you let your mother-in-law come first. "Ye Qingzhan asked tentatively.

All the ghosts nodded in unison.

The old woman glanced at them, stretched out her hand, and took away the "Spring Peach Every Year", then the beautiful woman with the hole took away the "Wave Drum Sound", the green-clothed woman took away the "Fragrant Collection in the Garden", the charred skeleton took away the "Thousands of Threads", and the cracked boy took over the "Sword of Heaven and Earth".

After dividing the items among the ghost guests, Ye Qingzhan looked at them. Thinking that these ghosts had forgotten everything in their previous lives, leaving only a heart full of obstacles and concerns, they probably couldn't remember their names. She thought for a while and said, "In order to facilitate communication between us, I will temporarily give you a name based on your own characteristics. When you have untied your knot and recalled your past life, you can throw away this name."

The ghosts nodded.

Wen Gu glanced at her, his face darkened, and he clenched his fists in his sleeves.

Ye Qingzhan's gaze followed the cracked-eyed boy to the old woman, and called them in turn: "Mingche, Shan'e, Qinghuai, Mozhi, Grandma A Tao. "

These names were the words that popped into Ye Qingzhan's mind when she named them, as if they were originally called that.

Li Zhixing listened to her naming several ghosts, and the names she chose were quite decent, so he praised her sincerely: "You are quite good at naming." After saying that, he glanced at the young man next to him.

Sure enough, Wen Gu's face became even darker.

Ye Qingzhan was completely unaware of the thoughts of the two people next to him. She just stared at the two wooden signs in her hands, hesitated for a moment, and looked at Hu Sanniang: "Sanniang, there are only two left, and we still have three people."

Sanniang looked at her and suddenly smiled mysteriously: "There are limited rooms in the wing, you have to squeeze with this handsome young man." As she said that, she looked at the young man with a gloomy face.

Hearing this, Ye Qingzhan felt uncomfortable - why did they do this, without even asking her if she was willing? Didn't they worry about her safety and innocence?

But even if she was reluctant, when it came to her life, Ye Qingzhan just smiled and said: "Wen Gu, can I trust you? "

The smile was bright, like the glaring sun. Wen Gu's heart seemed to be burned, and her ears were flushed. She looked like a gentleman, without nodding, but also without shaking her head.

"Not speaking means you agree." Ye Qingzhan said with a smile.

When she turned her eyes to the stage again, she found that two shadow puppets had walked off the stage, getting closer and closer to them. In surprise, Ye Qingzhan used her eyes to carefully describe the two approaching shadow puppets.

One of the sheet-like bodies wore a round-necked, double-breasted palace dress with large sleeves, and embroidered ribbons fluttered in the wind; the other wore a small flower pleated dress with broken branches of flowers and plants on the collar. The former had a handsome face and wore pearl flowers on his head, while the latter had a gentle face and wore a scholar's scarf on his head.

If it were like an ordinary shadow puppet who only appeared in front of the curtain, Seeing the people moving around, Ye Qingzhan must have found it interesting and joyful. However, now two shadow figures of the same height as her, with the same curved corners of their mouths and two heavily made-up faces, walked towards her step by step...Ye Qingzhan was really scared and took a step back involuntarily, moving closer to the people behind him.

Wen Gu did not move, letting the people lean into his arms, his eyes always fixed on the shadow figures that were getting closer and closer to him.

Under the illumination of the red candle and green lamp, the face of the young shadow figure, which was covered with light and dark, was frozen. The smile suddenly changed, the arc of the corner of the mouth became wider and wider, as if it was going to pull to the ears, the phoenix eyes smiled into two black slits, and pulled Wen Gu's hand.

The shadow figure in palace clothes also slowly came to Ye Qingzhan's side, relying on his height to bend over and press towards her. The black eyes that should have been fixed suddenly closed up and down, and then widened and stared at her intently, a pair of dull black pupils as if to see through her. The lips that were slightly pursed opened, revealing the white teeth, but just smiled, stretched out his hand and clasped her She grabbed the wrist of the person in front of her.

The two shadow figures walked towards the door of the inn together again and pulled up the green-

clothed male ghost, Qing Huai. The ghost's face, dressed in green, was pale and swollen, but it could not hide his original handsome face. His narrow and long phoenix

eyes looked at her blankly. Ye Qingzhan's heart was in her throat. She was pulled by the shadow figures to the stage and glanced back at the exiled immortal and Hu Sanniang who were still there.

Hu Sanniang stopped Li Zhixing who wanted to step forward and said calmly: "Let them go. Don't forget the rules of Ghost Gate."

Ghost Gate is full of illusions created by the ghost's memories in his previous life. The first rule of the gate is that you cannot disobey the people and things that appear in the illusion. According to their behavior, slowly explore the knot in the heart of the people who have been trapped.

Li Zhixing naturally knew the rules, but... why did he choose these two? They don't understand anything yet!

Seeing the worry on the exiled immortal's face, Hu Sanniang shouted to them: "There are thousands of knots in the heart that are difficult to untie, and every word and every object becomes a knot. "

——All, make, explanation."

Hu Sanniang's words were resounding, and Ye Qingzhan's uneasy heart was taken care of. She pulled the sleeve of the young man who was chosen with her.

Wen Gu glanced at her.

Ye Qingzhan met his inquiring gaze, then looked at his face as white as snow and his thin figure, and sighed softly in his heart: He looked like he had just recovered from a serious illness, and looked very fragile. If it weren't for the black mist running around, who knows who would protect whom. Never mind, anyway, we will know whether he is useful or not in the future, and besides... After

thinking it over, Ye Qingzhan raised his head and looked at the young man beside him, and said with a soothing tone: "Don't be afraid."

"I will protect you!"

As if remembering something, Ye Qingzhan continued, "But you have to put away that group of crazy mists, otherwise I won't protect you."

Wen Gu glanced at her sideways.

As for the rules of the Ghost Gate, he had listened to some of what the Black and White Impermanence said, and knew that he had to follow the actions of the people in the illusion as long as they did not harm the lives of the ghosts. He was patiently letting this skin pull at him only because he had signed a contract with the King of Hell. Rushing into it recklessly would only lead to fruitless recollections and backlash from the Yin Sha. He wasn't stupid, he could only pretend.

But the woman beside him, who loved giving people names, had just seen him hesitate to speak, and now she was saying she wanted to protect him. He found it amusing, and then thought of the Yin Sha within him being obsessed with her, so...

he lowered his eyes to the ground, and when he raised them again, he looked like a gentle young man, and obediently replied, "Okay, thank you."

Ye Qingzhan was momentarily stunned, wondering how this young man could change his expression so quickly? With just a glance, he put on such a pitiful look.

...So obedient.

Her heart wavered.

Coming to her senses, Ye Qingzhan lowered her head and began to ponder how to protect herself in the illusion, and how to "protect" the beautiful, sickly boy beside her. As she thought about it, her eyes were drawn to the shadows of the shadow puppets that were one step ahead of her.

Their shadows also looked angular and thin.

Just like that, the two people with different thoughts stepped onto the stage under the gaze of the ghosts in the audience, and were led to the center of the stage by two shadow figures. Ye Qingzhan opened his round eyes, looked at the audience in the audience, then looked away helplessly, lowered his head to look at the brown wooden stage.

Wen Gu on the side was calm, staring at the young man shadow figure who was one step away from him, his eyes naturally falling.

The two bronze green lamps standing on both sides of the stage illuminated the stage very brightly, and her shadow on the stage was stretched very long. However, Ye Qingzhan was surprised to find that the two shadow figures had no shadows.

She took out the ginkgo that the exiled immortal had handed to her before entering the gate and took a look. Hu Sanniang explained something on it, saying that there would be shadows as long as there was light in the gate of hell.

Wen Gu also found the strangeness of the shadow.

The two looked at each other.

The people on the stage discovered the mystery of the shadow. Hu Sanniang smiled and looked at the exiled immortal: "Young people are smart." As she spoke, she also looked up at the bright moon that was getting fuller and fuller, her expression became solemn, "Young Master, you take care of the remaining ghost guests. Sanniang has something important to do, so I'll go first."

Before she finished speaking, Hu Sanniang turned around and strode out of the inn.

The purple-clothed figure disappeared outside the door. Li Zhixing's eyes were fixed, as if thinking about something.

"Good!"

"Wonderful!"

The whole audience was in an uproar, and the thunderous applause brought him back to his senses.

Li Zhixing was just about to see how the two mortals won the cheers of the ghost guests in the hall, but when he looked back at the stage, he was shocked.

There is no one else on the stage!