Chapter 171 Magic

In the morning, Zhou Ze woke up, went downstairs, took a shower as usual, and sat down in his favorite sofa by the window.

Yingying brought over coffee and handed him the ironed newspaper.

At this moment, Xu Qinglang also came down from upstairs.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

"Anything is fine, I don't have much appetite."

"Then I'll make small wontons."

"Okay."

Xu Qinglang turned and went into the kitchen.

Zhou Ze picked up his coffee,

took a sip,

and with a "snap,"

he shook the newspaper open,

crisp and pleasant to the ear.

Zhou Ze thought this was one of the most wonderful sounds in life.

Outside, black clouds loomed, threatening the city,

but inside,

it was still a scene of small bridges, flowing water, and cozy homes.

It was like living your own little life and caring about national affairs; after a bunch of boasting and grand pronouncements, the next day you still had to get up early to go to the market to buy fresh and cheap vegetables.

Yingying sat opposite Zhou Ze, holding her phone, as if watching a video.

Oppressive and eerie melodies played in the video, but Yingying couldn't help but chuckle.

Curious, Zhou Ze put down the newspaper and asked:

"What are you watching?"

"Magic, Boss. I feel like the audience below is really cooperative."

"Magic?"

Yingying turned the phone screen towards Zhou Ze and tapped replay.

In the video was a very familiar stage background, a slightly greasy art style, and when the host's voice sounded, everything became highly recognizable; later, this host became a household name for his sketch comedy.

"This is, the Spring Festival Gala, right?"

"Spring Festival Gala?" Yingying was somewhat puzzled.

The video continued, and a man walked to the center of the stage, placed two toads on the ground, and then stepped on the toads with only his socks on.

"Dear audience members, next, our qigong master is going to unleash his power, please, wait and see!"

"Youyouyouyouyouyou………………"

Music somewhat like the *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio* soundtrack began to play,

giving a mysterious feeling.

After a short while,

the master took a mouthful of water,

and sprayed it at the red brick in front of him,

the red brick cracked directly!

The audience below applauded enthusiastically, and the host repeatedly exclaimed in disbelief!

When the master took a few steps back,

the camera immediately captured the two toads that had been stepped on by the master earlier,

the two toads were still hopping around,

the audience exclaimed again, applauding wildly!

The following program was somewhat like "bone shrinking," crawling in and out of a cage. The cage's metal frame might have been elastic, but it required a lot of force to break open. They first had a few children wearing red scarves try it out, but none of them could crawl through.

After the two qigong masters went in, they were very fast, breaking in with one bump and coming out with another.

Coupled with the background music and the host's exclamations,

the scene was still incredibly lively, with thunderous applause.

From the perspective of modern people, this was nothing more than a common trick, but back then, it could be elevated to a master's title.

"Boss, this magic is so boring, but the background music and the host's voice are really funny."

"Yeah, back then, magic wasn't called magic, it was called qigong."

"Qigong?"

"Yes, qigong, or maybe it could be called special abilities."

"So, Boss, the audience in the video really regarded them as masters? And the kind of masters who were very amazing?"

"Yes, that's right."

"People were so stupid back then."

Even Yingying, who came from the Qing Dynasty, didn't believe in this stuff.

"Only a small portion of people believed it," Zhou Ze said.

"What about the majority?"

"They were pretending to be blind."

"Breakfast is ready, what are you chatting about?" Xu Qinglang came out of the kitchen.

The wontons were pre-made. After preparing the soup base and putting the small wontons in, they were ready quickly.

Two drops of sesame oil, a pinch of chopped scallions and cilantro, with the right amount of seasoning,

the taste was truly delicious.

Xu Qinglang brought out three bowls,

Zhou Ze got up, sat at the table, picked up a spoon, and began to eat.

Xu Qinglang sat down opposite Zhou Ze and ate bite by bite.

"Still no news," Xu Qinglang said with some concern.

Even though they were so close, the sense of insecurity caused by being in the dark was indeed tormenting. Most importantly, this time his shifu seemed to understand the principle of forbearance even more than last time.

He actually hoped that his shifu would come to his door directly like last time. If it was a blessing, it wouldn't be a disaster; if it was a disaster, it couldn't be avoided. But what was the point of being kept in suspense like this?

"I think, right now, we shouldn't be worrying about this first."

Zhou Ze bit into a wonton, drank some soup, and pulled out a tissue to wipe his mouth.

"What's wrong?" Xu Qinglang asked.

Zhou Ze pointed to the third bowl next to him.

That bowl of wontons was placed there quietly. Yingying wouldn't eat it, and Xu Qinglang hadn't prepared it for Yingying either.

"Didn't you notice that this morning is a bit quiet?"

Where was Monkey?

Where was the old Taoist?

Where was the black girl?

Where was the white fox?

And the few ghost messengers across from the bookstore, they also came over for meals.

Those guys who usually banged on the basin at mealtime and immediately rushed over like hungry ghosts being reincarnated,

what was up with them today?

Why were they so quiet?

Xu Qinglang put down his spoon.

"Yingying, go take a look at the vegetable garden next door."

"Okay, Boss."

"Then I'll go upstairs and take a look." Xu Qinglang walked up the stairs.

After a short while, Yingying came back first, her face grave, and said, "Boss, no one's in the vegetable garden, even the deathsworn are gone."

Xu Qinglang then came down and said, "No one's in any of the bedrooms upstairs."

In just half a night,

so many employees of the bookstore had disappeared.

Boss Zhou wouldn't think that he was exploiting his employees too hard, so they all abandoned him and ran away.

But, after thinking about it,

Zhou Ze gently hooked his fingers,

"Buzz!"

A gust of wind quickly swept over,

and in the blink of an eye,

the sloth-like flower fox sable was lying on Zhou Ze's shoulder, using one of its fleshy paws to rub its butt.

It hurt~~

Zhou Ze smiled and flicked the flower fox sable on the head,

"You're still here, huh?"

Xu Qinglang stood in place, his face gloomy.

Zhou Ze shook his head, lit a cigarette, and slowly said:

"I feel like I haven't improved at all. It was like this last time, and it's like this again this time. I only realize it after someone else makes a move."

He remembered that last time he was in Qu Mingming's office in the internet cafe,

and Yingying desperately tried to send him a warning.

Fortunately, one thing worth comforting himself with was that Yingying was still standing safely by his side.

From a selfish point of view, the others, well, they were gone.

As long as Yingying was okay, Zhou Ze could withstand it and wouldn't feel like the sky had fallen.

Zhou Ze admitted that this feeling was very selfish, but what could he do?

It was already difficult to keep a bowl of water level, let alone balance human relationships?

"I think, maybe it's not that we haven't improved, but that our rate of improvement isn't as fast as his," Xu Qinglang said.

"I'll give you a hundred points for that self-consolation."

Zhou Ze stood up, stretched, and continued:

"Next, what exactly does that person intend to do?"

Zhou Ze and Lao Xu didn't discuss what had happened to the missing people,

whether they were still alive or dead?

Because discussing it now was meaningless.

"Boss, it's snowing outside again."

Yingying said, pointing to the French window.

It was snowing,

but it was sleet,

and the rain seemed to be quite heavy.

For many young people or children, snowfall was a very interesting thing, while "sleet" was a very troubling term.

It gave you hope and fantasy for snow, but it often extinguished your desire to build a snowman.

"Is it not our turn yet? Or is he keeping us, the key targets of his hatred, separate, wanting to play some twisted games?"

Xu Qinglang didn't answer, but silently walked to the bookstore door and stood there.

Zhou Ze shrugged.

In fact, one thing he didn't know was that

if it hadn't been for the old Taoist,

causing the Diting of hell to intervene and sever the process,

Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang might have already been "blinded."

…………

A tricycle

was slowly pushed over from across the street.

The tricycle was filled with many scrolls,

and the driver was an old man.

He didn't get too close to the bookstore, stopping under a streetlight on the side of the road.

Xu Qinglang's eyes were fixed on him.

The driver bent down,

took off his black baseball cap,

revealing a "support the central government from the regions" hairstyle (bald),

pausing slightly,

as if deliberately brewing his emotions,

the expression on his face gradually changed from the indifference just now to a warm one,

with excitement,

with joy,

with kindness,

stiffly as if he had peeled the skin off his face,

and re-glued a new one.

Then he opened his arms,

tiptoed slightly,

"Ah, ah, oh, oh, eh…………"

He was testing the microphone.

After testing the microphone,

the old man looked lively, and with an emotional voice, he opened his arms and shouted affectionately to Xu Qinglang, who was standing at the door:

"Disciple,

your shifu misses you so much!"

This scene

reminded Zhou Ze of the host in the video he had watched before, whose first words every year on the Spring Festival Gala were: "Dear audience friends, I miss you so much!"

Zhou Ze didn't know if Xu Qinglang was excited,

and Zhou Ze couldn't see if Xu Qinglang had tears in his eyes, standing behind him.

But what Zhou Ze could see was that

Xu Qinglang took the initiative to walk towards the old man,

walking very fast,

you could see Lao Xu's impatience.

The smile on the old man's face was even more radiant, like the blooming of hawthorn flowers.

Xu Qinglang threw himself into the old man's arms,

without a "weep,"

"Shifu, I miss you so much," no gentle punches to the chest.

Lao Xu's way of expressing his feelings was more simple and crude,

he pulled out his copper coin sword,

and directly stabbed it into his shifu's chest,

then,

pulled it out,

and stabbed it in again,

pulled it out,

and stabbed it in again,

repeating the cycle,

with sincere feelings,

and violent movements,

the deep bond between shifu and disciple was nothing more than this.