"The woman said that her parents wanted to sell her to a rich family as a concubine. She couldn't bear it, so she secretly ran away. She didn't know where she wanted to go. Wang Sheng saw that the woman was beautiful and traveled alone. He was tempted and invited her to his home …"
In order to see Ruyi's frightened expression, Li Yi had told her the story of 'The Painted Skin'. Now he was familiar with it. He ate the osmanthus cake given by the young girl and drank a cup of tea to moisten his throat before continuing.
The young girl had a general idea of what kind of story this gentleman was telling based on her years of experience listening to books.
The scholar named Wang Sheng helped the woman who was in a hurry. The woman was grateful and decided to stay at his house. The two of them spent a long time together and fell in love with each other. When Wang Sheng was studying hard at night, the woman would stay by his side. Finally, her hard work paid off. Wang Sheng went to the capital to take the imperial examinations and became the top scorer. He returned to his hometown in glory. From then on, the two of them lived happily together and became a story to be told …
If the plot was even more bizarre, after Wang Sheng became the Zhuangyuan, he was chosen by the princess or the daughter of the Prime Minister, and became the son-in-law of some high-ranking official. The woman waited at home every day, but there was no news of Wang Sheng. So, she packed her luggage and traveled thousands of miles to the capital to act out the story of searching for her husband.
She had heard stories like this since she was a child, and her expectations for the story told by the young man in front of her had dropped a bit. However, there was one thing that made her curious. The name of the story seemed to be 'Painted Skin'. What did 'painted skin' mean? Was Wang Sheng's painting skills very exquisite?
"Wang Sheng and the woman spent a few days together. One day, he was bumped into by a Taoist. The Taoist turned around and saw Wang Sheng. He was very surprised and asked Wang Sheng, 'What happened to you recently?' Wang Sheng shook his head and denied it. The Taoist said, 'You have evil energy lingering around you. How can you say nothing?' Wang Sheng tried his best to defend himself. The Taoist shook his head and said, 'What a fool! There are people in this world who don't realize that death is at hand … '"
After listening to this part, the young girl's expression became a bit confused.
Wasn't he going to the capital to take the imperial examination? Why did the Taoist priest come out? What did he mean by "death is near"? This story seemed to be different from the stories she had heard before.
Thinking of this, the girl's curiosity was fully aroused, and the expression on her pretty face gradually became serious.
"When Wang Sheng returned home, he discovered that the courtyard gate was blocked from the inside, and he couldn't enter. He suspected that it was the person blocking the door, so he climbed over the broken wall and tiptoed to the window to peep. He was so scared that all his hair stood on end. He saw a ferocious-looking demon with emerald skin and long, sharp teeth, like saws. The evil ghost spread a piece of human skin on the couch and started drawing on it with a colored pen. After a while, she threw away the pen and lifted the human skin. Like shaking clothes, she draped the human skin over her body and turned into the woman who had been with Wang Sheng day and night … "
"Ah!"
When Li Yi reached this point, the girl's face turned deathly pale and she suddenly let out a scream, "Ghost!"
Li Yi's voice stopped abruptly. He didn't deliberately stop at the exciting part to ask for a tip, but the girl's scream scared him.
He had seen countless horror movies, so his imagination was much better than the people of this era. The image of the female ghost just now was like a 3D movie rolling in his mind. The girl's scream was like a surround sound effect added to the movie, so immersive that it couldn't be any more real …
He glared at the girl, ate a piece of osmanthus cake, and drank a cup of tea to calm down.
"Oh my god!"
After the girl let out a scream, a man behind her suddenly jumped up from his seat, knocked his knees on the stool, and hurriedly squatted down, holding his knees and inhaling.
"Little girl, what are you yelling for!"
The man glared at the girl, grimaced in pain, and his tone was full of resentment.
Just now, he was listening to the story attentively. The evil ghost actually painted on human skin, and after the painting was done, she could wear the skin to become a human woman, and the scholar even had sex with the evil ghost every night. Thinking of this scene, his heart was a little scared. This was too f * cking scary …
Suddenly hearing the girl's ghost scream, he was scared out of his wits, and all the hair on his body stood up, and he subconsciously jumped up.
"That's right, listen to the story, don't yell blindly!"
"Scholar, continue to tell the story. What happened to Wang Sheng after he saw the female ghost …"
There were a few men sitting around the big man, and they were probably eavesdropping on Li Yi scaring the girl — he was kind enough to tell the girl a story, and they were startled by the scream just now. When they came back to their senses, they all urged.
On the platform not far away, the old storyteller's voice became smaller and smaller, and a surprised look appeared on his face.
Just now, the guests who were listening to his story, what did they do over there?
He had already told an important story, and according to the usual practice, these people would be happy to hear it, and they would definitely give him money. But now, even the people were gone, so what f * cking money was there to give!
The old man looked at the scholar who was sitting there surrounded by people, and he couldn't help but frown.
Could it be that this young man was sent by someone else to mess up the place?
When he saw the guests slap the copper coins on the table in front of him, and there was even a piece of silver among them, the old man was even more determined in his heart.
Snatching business here, those people were getting more and more overboard!
"Here, the reward is for you, continue to tell the story."
After the first man put a few copper coins on the table, several people followed suit.
The evil ghost painted on human skin — the story told by the scholar just now was much more exciting than the one told by the old man on the platform. Several people mistook him for a new storyteller, and when they took out their rewards, they were much more generous than when they threw money on the platform.
Although the girl didn't put any copper coins on the table, she still looked at Li Yi with longing in her eyes, "What about the rest of the story?"
For people thousands of years in the future, a horror story like "The Painted Skin" was simply too weak. The atmosphere of horror was far from comparable to those 3D horror blockbusters. But this was ancient times, and half of "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" was enough to scare timid people into not daring to go out at night. It was said that when the first "The Painted Skin" was filmed in Hong Kong in the sixties, many people believed it to be real, and after watching it, they were scared to death …
However, although it sounded scary, many people liked this kind of thrilling feeling.
Li Yi couldn't understand this girl's behavior. She was obviously scared to the point that her face was pale, so why did she still want to listen?
Even if she wanted to listen — he didn't dare to continue!
When the 3D movie was playing in his mind, if she screamed a few more times like she did just now, Li Yi wasn't sure if his little heart could take it anymore.
Being responsible for the young girl's young heart, and not letting her have some lingering trauma, Li Yi decided to stop here.
"I'll tell the rest of the story when I have the chance." Under the girl's stunned gaze, he stood up from his seat and packed the rest of the osmanthus cake to take away.
After a few steps, he turned back and kept the copper coins on the table.
Although the money was a little less, at least it was his own labor, and it was shameful to waste it …
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