Monster Inn Rectification Report

It was impossible to pay the money back. Xie Fei already locked the back-end account and swallowed the key himself.

He deliberately acted deaf and strategically played dumb. As part of the service industry Xie Fei always thought that being able to adapt and bend was a good traditional virtue. Based on his past experiences, when a guest misunderstood you, the most effective way was to admit the mistake first and then find a chance to explain the reason behind it in a mild and polite manner.

He wanted to apologize first and appease Yu Li. Unfortunately, the other party turned around and left after throwing down the words filled with great murderous intent .

Xie Fei didn't catch up with him right away, because he was really worried about Ah Fu. Although demons and human beings had different body structures, Yu Li's kicked the guy too hard……

He hurried over to the crime scene only to see  a bunch of broken bricks on the ground. No sign of a person could be seen. Xie Fei searched around,  when he suddenly saw a faint dark shadow coming from the mountain forest ahead. The shadow drew nearer and nearer but upon closer inspection, it was just Ah Fu limping.
 
“Brother Ah Fu!”

Xie Fei quickly stepped forward but slammed the brakes when he reached  a distance of two or three meters away from the other.

Half of Ah Fu’s face was covered in blood and his once fluffy and explosive hairstyle drooped down like a beaten rooster. His right arm was strangely folded back, and his clothes were dirty and torn. He looked like a zombie from a doomsday movie.

The two stared at each other eye to eye, silent in the midst of the afterglow of the setting sun.

After a long time, Xie Fei swallowed down his saliva and asked uneasily: ".....Do you want to call 120? " Xie Fei then changed his mind. On second thought, Ah Fu wasn’t a human being. He would have to find the doctor from Putian.

“No need, no need, it’s just skin trauma. I’ll be fine in three to five days.” Even though Ah Fu had a bloody head, he didn’t forget to show his loyalty and asked, “The boss didn’t bully you, right?”

Xie Fei shook his head and, unable to bear the sight of Ah Fu, pointed out the gravity of the situation. “But your arms are broken!”

"Physical injuries are fine. Even if the head is broken, I’m okay." Ah Fu leisurely set his  his arm right, adjusting  the bones himself. Xie Fei heard a crisp sound and the bones were connected.

Xie Fei: “......”

“The boss is still merciful, no demon power was used,” Ah Fu said happily and shook his arm.

Xie Fei seemed to understand at the same time didn’t. Even if he slowly digested  reality, it was beyond his cognition. "Brother Ah Fu, let’s go back to the room for a while and rest ba. Even if the injury isn’t serious, it's better to recuperate."

In all honesty, Ah Fu was very excited about his proposal but he hadn’t known the owner for a long time. He needed to make a good impression of himself in front of the new master. so he wiped the half-dried blood on his face and puffed up his chest.

“I can still do it! I-I will build the wall!”

Ah Fu’s eyes shone resolutely, similar to that of a revolutionary. Xie Fei was about to say something but hesitated. In the end, he secretly vowed to himself that as soon as the business got better, he would give Ah Fu a pay raise. 

But presently, this was only wishful thinking. The first thing Xie Fei needed to do was pacify the feelings of the gold master.

Half an hour later, Xie Fei found himself standing in front of Yu Li’s door.



He gently  knocked on the door and asked, “Mr. Yu? May I come in?”

No response. 

“I made a chicken and vegetable salad. Would you like some?”

Still no sound. 

Xie Fei was prepared to redouble his efforts when he heard movement behind him.

Yin Su didn’t know when to fly up and approach him. Instead, he sat quietly by the railing on the corridor with a mobile phone flashing brightly around his neck.

It was said that Yin Su specifically requested a bright and colorful phone case for the phone. 

Xie Fei kept silent and fed Yin Su a small piece of chicken. Yin Su accepted the bribe without politeness then fluttered his wings and flew to the door. He twisted the door open with his claws.

The door opened a tiny slit and soothing music flowed out. It was an unfamiliar Cantonese song. Xie Fei raised his eyebrows slightly and silently thanked Yin Su.

Xie Fei pushed the door open and saw a dark room with only the afterglow of the setting sun shedding light on a disc in a vinyl record player, rotating by the window. Yu Li stood next to the record player, the light bearing down on his silhouette. Xie Fei instantly recalled that time he saw Yu Li the first day. He also stood there, bathed in the twilight. At that time, the whole sky was painted a gorgeous sunset but at this very moment, the setting sun outside the window was dripping blood, as if setting the background for the coming of an evil demon.

In the midst of the light and shadows, the brilliant and handsome "Demon lord" turned slightly towards him and in a cold voice asked, "Who allowed you to come in?"

“I tried opening the door and found that it was unlocked so I came in.”

Xie Fei was still very loyal and didn’t sell out Yin Su. Before Yu Li could utter the next sentence,  Xie Fei rushed in and said: “I was wrong!”

Maybe his apology was too sudden because it caught the man off guard. After a while, Yu Li asked, “Where are you wrong?”

Xie Fei inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that the man was still willing to be reasonable. 

He thought about it carefully. Judging from Yu Li’s character, he most likely regarded Ah Fu’s words as something shameful that  was  meant to ridicule him. The words were a blow to his self-esteem since he also lost face thus, he was being angry at them. Xie Fei could explain the whole situation to him but with a small and humble voice he said, “You took care of me so much but I made you angry. Of course, I was wrong”, instead.

“So?” Yu Li turned around to face him, the shadows obscuring his expressions.

Xie Fei’s ears moved slightly. Despite the man's cold and harsh voice, a layer of ice  melted quietly into the seams, opening a gap. 

“So I’m here to apologize ah.”

“Pa---”

Xie Fei pressed on the light switch and the room was bathed in a bright light.

With the tacit consent of the owner of the room, Xie Fei put on his slippers and entered the room, placing the tray containing dishes on the round table.

In addition to the salad, there was also seaweed and dried shrimp soup.

The soup was covered with a thin layer of oil under the lamp. In a pleasing voice, Xie Fei said: "Seaweed is low in fat and high in amino acids. Dried shrimps can replenish calcium. I only used a drop of sesame oil, so you won't get fat."

Yu Li didn’t even look at the food and walked straight towards him. “Is this how you apologize?”

Xie Fie worked hard to show his sincerity. “Whatever Mr. Yu needs, I’ll do my best to satisfy them.”

“Is that so?”

Yu Li suddenly leaned forward, the distance between them narrowing in an instant.

Once again, Xie Fei caught a whiff of the man’s unique fragrance of green bamboo. Looking up, he saw the other’s facial features magnified in front of him. Unconsciously he jumped and leaned back. But, Yu Li simply raised his arm over his ears and took a book from the bookshelf behind him. 

The book was worn with time. The light brown cover had a few cracks on its edges and in the middle, a black portrait was printed on it, similar to the mural style of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. 

“The bookmarked page, read it to me.” The corner of Yu Li’s lips rose in contempt, inexplicably malicious. 

Xie Fei glanced at him with surprise, an expression that clearly asked, “That’s it?”

Yu Li stuffed the book in Xie Fei’s arms and turned back to the record player, stopping the music. 

The room was quiet.

Xie Fei lowered his head and opened the page with the bookmark.

The so-called bookmark was just  a piece of bamboo leaves. He didn’t know what method Yu Li used but the leaves remained tender and verdant.

Xie Fei  pulled out the bamboo leaves carefully, staring at several lines of ink on the page. It felt familiar.

But…...

"I can’t read it.”

Yu Li, who just sat down to listen: “......”

Xie Fei turned the book over and showed the page to Yu Li. "This is the writing before the Qin Dynasty, right?"　

Although he asked the question, he was sure of it. After realizing his lacking knowledge, he made up and learned more about the world. He knew that the historical context of the world in the book was not far from that of the original world. They were only slightly different in terms of geographics.

“And the copied inscription isn’t clear…..”

Xie Fei silently trailed off because the look on Yu Li’s face became extremely complicated. Bewilderment, disappointment, frustration, self-mockery, grief, resentment…different kinds of emotions fluctuated, changing with the tides until they settled and his face finally, slowly, sank.

Just when Xie Fei thought that Yu Li would lose his temper again, Yu Li suddenly closed his eyes. "Forget it, put the book back.”

As if finally being granted pardon, Xie Fei swiftly closed the book and tucked it back into the shelf. When he turned around, Yu Li  was back to normal, ready to eat the soup with a spoon

Yu Li waited for the hot soup to cool then raised his eyes. “Make an account first.”

Xie Fei became anxious as soon as he heard his words. “Does that mean you still want me to pay back the money?”

Yu Li’s temple suddenly throbbed. “I said, remember to apologize first!”

Xie Fei immediately relaxed and with a wide smile said, "Okay. Even if Mr. Yu forgets, I will remember."

Having settled the matter of paying back the money, for the time being, Xie Fei went downstairs to eat dinner, completely at ease.

However as he reached the garden, his footsteps gradually slowed down until stopping completely. 

He remembered why those words were familiar. It’s because he had seen them before.

In the original world, his grandfather's biggest hobby was to collect cultural relics. Unfortunately, he had a bad eye and was often cheated. When Xie Fei was young, he read a report collected by his grandfather. In the report, it was said that an expert accidentally found a bronze ware from the Western Zhou dynasty in an overseas cultural relics market. The relic had an inscription of 10 lines with 98 characters at the bottom and was known as one of the first  records of “Da Yu’s flood control” at the time.

And the mysterious characters written on the page were exactly the same as the inscription pictures on the report!

Why did Yu Li ask him to read that?

Before he could find the chance to ask, the next morning, Yu Li already drove away from the inn again.

That day Yu Li left coincided with the weekend. Yu Li left the village entrance but was blocked by a row of cars waiting to leave the village.

He knocked on the steering wheel impatiently. Through the windshield, he saw a bus stop at the platform when a group of people got down. In the stream of people, Yu Li noticed a refined and elegant young man. He wore a white shirt covered with a gray knitted checkered vest. On his face was a pair of glasses lying on the bridge of his nose. He looked like a cultured man.

The young man walked slowly, dragging his suitcase behind him. He seemed to notice the car window as he passed by and turned his head, peering into the SUV. 
It was a pity though. He couldn't see anything beyond the glass. The young man frowned slightly, tore his gaze away, and went on to the village with his luggage.

After passing the market at the village entrance, a crystal clear spring could be seen, and the surrounding fields of wheat undulated like golden ripples. Many  people sat by the field, sketching down on their drawing boards. They painted the rural autumn landscape, immediately becoming a scenery in the eyes of others.

The young man watched this scene, breathing in the exceptionally fresh air in the village. Then, his tense mood that lasted for many days was slightly relieved. He looked to one side and saw the streets and alleys containing numerous inns built right next to the water.

Since the decision of this trip was too sudden and out of the blue, the young man wasn’t able to book a room. He took out his mobile phone to check the hotel listings when he heard the schoolgirl’s words beside him. 

“Are you sure the inn you mentioned exists? There are too many swindlers in live broadcasts. What if the anchor is a complete scammer? "

“If you cheat, then you cheat. Anyway, we already agreed to go to Xining village to sketch the landscapes. While here we can simply look for it. If there’s none, just look for another one.” The girl's companion was a little fat and she took a sip of her milk tea indifferently. "In fact, I just wanted to see if the anchor's a man or a woman."

"But you can't even find Dahuang Inn on the Internet, not even the map."

"The anchor said that the inn was at the edge of the village, very quiet and secluded."

“That, how long will it take to walk there? I’m hungry…..”

"Why don't you find a restaurant for lunch first? I'd like some snacks."

……

The two girls stopped while talking but the youth passed by without giving them a glance. Despite this, he took note of the inn and committed it to heart. 

A quiet and peaceful inn, just what he needed.

The streets in the villages were full of twists and turns but the youth had a good sense of direction. After walking for a while, he finally saw a row of houses ahead, sitting at the foot of the mountain. The houses were surrounded by a medium height fence.
He quickly dragged his suitcase towards the inn and saw several branches decorated with light yellow flowers, sticking out of the fence. A wooden signboard could be seen with the words “Dahuang Inn” engraved with red paint.

The young man breathed a sigh of relief. He found that the bamboo fence’s hidden gate was unlocked so he raised his hand and pushed it open. 

The lush greenery of the courtyard came into view, which made people feel comfortable. The young man subconsciously took a deep breath. But in the next second, the scene in front of him suddenly faded like peeling wallpaper. Instead of the verdant scenery, it revealed the traces of years inside, mottled and dim. The shadows of colorful flowers and trees in the courtyard disappeared, leaving a few bare tree trunks in its midst. On the eaves and treetops, a silver owl could be seen. Melted water droplets dripped on the muddy ground, gathering into puddles of different sizes.

A woman in a cheongsam dress leaned against the door, surrounded by several devil troops armed with bayonets. The sharp knife reflected the woman's face on the blade: eyebrows like willow leaves, eyes like spring water, and a dark red tear mole in the corner of her eye--all of which were breathtaking at the same time hair-raising. 

The woman’s face held no fear as her painted fingers twisted the long and slender tobacco pipe. She took a puff and breathed out gray smoke. With bright red lips, she said, “Gentlemen, this servant’s tattered and ragged shop has always been deserted. How could there be female students?”

Here it comes! Again!

A shiver went down the young man’s spine  and his whole body trembled. He saw those strange and evil scenes once again, and now he was entangled by those terrible images. This time, the scene changed into a gorgeous ghost! What is this, an Anti-Japanese War drama?!

The young man wanted to leave, but his feet seemed to be entangled by the vines in a graveyard. He couldn’t move as if he’s rooted on the spot.

His head felt dizzy and swollen while his right eye throbbed in pain. Psychological tears poured out uncontrollably, blurring his vision. Just as the string on his head was about to break, someone suddenly asked, "Hello, do you want to stay in the inn?"

The voice was clear as a spring, dispelling the chill the young man felt. He blinked and found that everything was back to normal. The fence was covered in luscious greenery and the air was filled with the fragrance of flowers.

The young man turned his stiff neck and saw a handsome youth looking at him with his head tilted, his eyes full of curiosity.

“I….” The young man’s throat was dry and he swallowed down his saliva. “I don’t---”

“Our inn recently offered a discount of 20% off for three days and another day, free of charge!”

As soon as Xie Fei saw the young man's clothes, he knew that he was a tourist. How could he let the cooked duck fly? Besides, after the inn’s renovation, the price increased from the initial fee of 99 Yuan. Despite this, he wasn’t at a loss if he gave heavy discounts. 

“How about you look at the rooms first?”

The young man's lips moved slightly. Because of his relatively introverted personality, he found it difficult to reject the enthusiasm of others. What's more, the youth had a face that made it hard for people to refuse.

Forget it. He’d just take a look. The young man nodded reluctantly.

However, as soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he felt the cool and crisp air blowing over his face. He was happy since it felt like entering an air-conditioned room on a cool, summer day. It felt like a warm current was injected into his entire body, running straight up from the soles of his feet all the way to organs and muscles, washing them. The cold air that once wrapped his body was swept away and even his aching and uncomfortable right eye instantly became clear and bright.
　　
In this whole month, for the first time, the young man was so relaxed that he immediately decided to settle down here!

Although he was a bit frightened, the young man indistinctly felt that those foul, evil things were not because of a certain environment, but because they were directly aimed at him.  After all, he once saw a middle-aged couple hacking at each other with knives at home. He saw two groups of people in T-shirts and Mandarin coats fighting each other in the street. Even when he went to the most famous Xiaoxian temple in the city to ask the Taoist priest to exorcise some evil spirits, he also saw a middle-aged man in flower feathers and official robes, filling the merit chest with silver in front of several gold statues of gods and deities…... 

If it weren't for his excellent psychological quality, he’d be afraid of going mad.

Also, he had a paper signed by the Xiaoxian temple that by going to Xining village, he would be able to find the answers he longed for. Thus, he came.

Knowing that there was the possibility of wherever he lived in having a “cursed” environment, why was he still hesitating?

And so, when the teenager asked him what kind of room he preferred, the young man said: “I’ll stay here. Please arrange a large room for me, one that is quiet.”

Xie Fei’s heart was happy. “Okay ah. How many days do you plan on staying?”

The young man thought about it for a while then said, “I’ll book for a week first, okay?”

Xie Fei almost laughed, feeling overjoyed, and happily asked for the ID card of the young man.

Based on  the ID card, the young man was from Nanshan City, 25 years old, and had a very nice name-- Yan Lai.

As the man waited for Xie Fei to register his name, Yan Lai looked around the lobby’s furnishings at will. Although they were simple, it was still quite elegant and tasteful.

All of a sudden, his gaze landed on a row of picture frames. His scalp went numb and his legs went weak, turning soft in the knees. The pictures on the wall were of different colors and ages. Some were wearing Xiuhe clothes, some were wearing cheongsam, and the others were wearing braids and military -civilian clothes…….

From left to right, it seemed as if the pictures witnessed the change of time that happened over the past century. However, they all had similarities because there was a woman in every picture. The woman had a charming and coquettish face and right there was a dark red tear-shaped mole!



the author has something to say:

So what kind of demon is it this time?
 

T/N:
 
Hello! I'm back hehe. Thank you for the wonderful comments!! I'll do my best to update another chapter soon. Until then, hope you enjoy this read!