"We are both disciples of Shiqian God. We heard the call, so we came to visit."
Li Changan said to the lady who opened the door.
Perhaps it was because Huangwei's strange furry face had a bit of a magician's temperament, the aunt showed a look of surprise and shouted loudly into the courtyard.
"Sister, sister of the Tao family, come out quickly! Master Shi Qian has really shown his spirit!"
A sad woman came out of the room. She glanced at this side and bowed hesitantly, her expression full of caution and surprise.
Li Changan didn't blame him at all, because he himself was very surprised.
"Ten Money God" was originally the name of He Niluo's nonsense. After the last incident, it spread inexplicably and became part of the talk among the people. Qian Tang had many such stories, and it was difficult to tell whether they were true or false, and no one would go into them.
I thought that after a while, people would gradually forget about me. I never thought that someone would be sick and seek medical treatment in a hurry, and beg the "Ten Qian Master".
Anyway, idleness is idleness, and it is not a bad thing to be anxious about what others are anxious about.
"Look at my lack of expression! Two masters, please come in quickly."
Involuntarily, the two ghosts were introduced to the door. During the conversation, they realized that the young woman was the real owner and the aunt was the introducer, so she showed a great sense of responsibility.
"My girl has a hard life. A few years ago, men died at sea without leaving a few copper coins. The life of orphans and widowed mothers was very difficult, and today they encountered such evil things. Alas, the monks and Taoists in the city want to
Money is very fierce, and we poor people can't even invite people. We heard that the ten-money master is kind-hearted and doesn't mind the poverty of the pilgrims, but we don't know the price..."
"There's no rush." Li Changan stopped talking and said, "Let's check on the child first."
…………
A Zhi was still lying quietly on the bed.
Her mother was afraid that her soul would not be able to find her body when she returned home, so she carefully cleaned the black ash on her face, revealing her delicate and curved eyebrows, which looked like she was sleeping peacefully.
But after a brief inspection, Li Changan discovered that, like Fa Yan in the Salesian Home, her soul had been lost and she was just an empty shell.
The Taoist priest asked Mrs. Tao to tell the story in detail.
Perhaps she had doubts about the two people who had come forward out of nowhere, or perhaps she was trying to maintain a strong inner shell. She spoke very slowly, but fortunately there was an aunt beside her who was eager to add.
Li Changan roughly understood the ins and outs and figured out the key.
"Where's the money?"
The money in the water vat has completely disappeared.
The Taoist priest just frowned.
Huangwei said "Ouch" and stamped his feet anxiously.
"Confused, confused! You can throw all your money into the water like this!"
Mrs. Tao raised her head in fear, not knowing why.
Huangwei danced and explained quickly: "Dead people also have to follow rules. If you accept his money, you accept his work and accept his invitation. Ghost money is both a reward and a token. If you didn't want to
, we should add some incense and candles and offer them outside the door together with the ghost money, and we can solve the problem. Even if it doesn't work, we can use the money to find the offender and then negotiate. But you threw all the money into the water and melted it.
Isn’t it a complete loss of money and goods, and there will be no change?!”
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Tao's face suddenly lost color. She leaned against the wall and slid down, covering her face with her hands and sobbing silently.
"What did the master say?" The aunt said, "How can ordinary people like us understand these things?"
Li Changan consoled him:
"Sister-in-law, there is no need to blame yourself. My companion was in a hurry and said something wrong. This evil thing haunts people, just like a robber coming to the door with a knife. How can reason be effective?"
Mrs. Tao stopped crying, but suddenly knelt down and kowtowed to them.
"Please save my daughter! Please save my daughter! I will repay you even if I am a cow or a horse!"
Li Changan was taken aback, and he persuaded her to come down. He asked his aunt to accompany him, and he and Huang Wei went to the yard to discuss it.
…………
"What a mouthful I am! I said the wrong thing again."
Huang Wei felt quite regretful, and Li Changan felt the same way.
"Me too, I said bad things!"
His comfort seemed to have relieved Mrs. Tao of her fault, but it also exposed the last luck in her heart - the child's soul was just called to reunite with relatives in the previous life. Once the Zhongyuan is over, he can go home.
Everything is fine.
However, Li Changan's words indirectly pointed out that this incident was not about summoning the ghosts of relatives in previous lives, but actually about evil spirits or warlocks using evil methods to harm people.
Even if you are harming others, how can you live in peace?
Huang Wei glanced inside the door, Mrs. Tao was still immersed in misery.
He asked quietly:
"Can this be done?"
"Disaster."
Li Changan also answered softly.
"The yin and yang of the Qiantang world are confused, ghosts are not like ghosts, and people are not like people, so ordinary spiritual summoning techniques are difficult to work. I had to use stupid methods to try to trace the child's taken soul, but..."
He raised his hand, and a butterfly landed on his fingertips. He pinched its wings, flicked it, turned it back into a yellow talisman, and put it into his robe.
This was the spell he used to chase ghosts before, but unfortunately he walked around the courtyard several times like a headless fly and finally returned without success.
Huangwei said "Huh".
"Is the Taoist just trying to find a soul?"
Li Changan just thought he didn't understand, so he explained: "People in Qian Tang Dynasty live together with ghosts, and the art of chasing ghosts is easily disturbed."
"It may be difficult to find the soul through magic, but the Taoist Master forgot about it."
Huangwei lowered his voice.
"We are ghosts."
…………
Hua Weng didn't like Huang Wei very much, but the interesting thing was that whenever Huang Wei came to the door shamelessly, he never turned him away.
Moreover, Fuguifang is the territory of the Brown Clothes Gang, and he is the leader of the gang. He consciously has the responsibility to monitor evil spirits, so when Huangwei came to ask for help, he immediately agreed.
There is just one condition.
You have to follow his rules.
Li Changan does everything he can.
The brown-clothed gang had a large number of ghosts, so they spread their hands and it didn't take long for them to receive a reply.
It is said that there is no soul in Fuguifang that looks like Ah Zhi being worshiped in a certain family. Instead, in Fuguifang and several neighboring houses, people with the same experience were found, all in the name of relatives from past lives.
, calling away the soul of the young child in the family.
Hua Weng's expression was obviously serious.
He recruited his cronies and wrote several letters, asking them to quickly deliver them to the ghost head of Sakon Utopou.
Hua Weng's face is very useful.
In less than an hour, news from various quarters came one after another:
There are two children in Zhongmiaofang whose souls were summoned away.
There is a person in Xianyifang.
Three people from Putuofang.
…
In just one hour, there were as many as ten children who were victims. They were all from poor families like A Zhi, whose families were dilapidated and helpless.
Hua Weng's premonition came true.
This is not some lonely wild ghost with a dazed mind, it is clearly a group of villains practicing witchcraft and premeditating to commit a major crime!
"What should we do?" Huang Wei felt it was difficult and hesitated, "Shall we report it to the official?"
Hua Weng snorted coldly: "The government never cares about ghosts and gods."
To be precise, based on what Li Changan saw and heard, the Qiantang official family mostly did not care about other things except eating and getting cards. The city's operation depends entirely on folk autonomy, and the people of Qiantang are all believers of various temples...
"Report to all temples and temples?"
"The temple only cares about its own believers. The victims this time are all poor people. How can you have spare money to pay incense to the gods and Buddhas?"
This doesn't work, that doesn't work either, Huang Wei said angrily: "It involves many things, we can't handle it."
"Now that it's caught my eye, I can't ignore it."
Hua Weng said it categorically, but that group of villains were quite clean. Qian Tang was already a mixed bag of dragons and snakes, and today was the Ghost Festival and it was even more chaotic. How could they dig them out in such a short time?
"Gang leader!"
A gang rushed in eagerly.
"Which family was affected by rice transplants again?"
"found it!"
"What?! Found the child's soul?!"
"without."
The visitor said.
"Find a child whose soul has not been taken away!"
…………
Linhufang is to the west of Qiantang and north of Fuguifang.
Like Fuguifang, it is a slum that is not recorded in the official atlas.
The residents are mostly vegetable farmers, fishermen, woodcutters and water carriers.
The family targeted by the gang of thugs was similar to Mrs. Tao. A widower lived with his only son. The child went out to sell three live fish early in the morning. He bumped into a man who called him grandpa and bought all the fish at a high price.
The widower was also a bad gambler. He took the money without any suspicion, so he turned around and gambled to make money. The banker found out and was about to cut off his hand, but he was saved by the ghost who was inquiring about the news.
When Li Chang'an and others rushed over, his shabby thatched shack had been surrounded by local ghosts - a man nicknamed the "Knife-headed Ghost". The father and son were huddled in the corner.
There was no nonsense when entering the door, Li Changan said it directly:
"Where's the money?"
The widower hurriedly presented him with copper coins.
The knife-headed ghost glanced at him and shook his face: "That's all?"
The widower immediately hesitated, but his boy said nothing, dug out a dozen copper coins and handed them over again.
The Taoist priest estimated that in total, not to mention three live fish, he could buy thirty live fish.
Check again.
It was all ghost money, and as expected, the money was cursed and used as a medium to capture souls.
The Taoist priest thought for a moment, discussed with Hua Weng and the knife-headed ghost, and then turned to ask the child.
"Little baby, what's your name?"
"My name is Zhu Gou Sheng."
"..." Li Changan, "What a good name."
Depressed, Li Chang'an took out the yellow talisman and wrote the three characters "Zhu Gou Sheng" on the back. Then he called the child to him and cut off a bunch of hair from his forehead.
The little boy is a wild child who grew up on the street. He is very courageous, his mouth is tight and his eyes are wide open.
"Uncle," he said, "if you want to feed me to ghosts, can you leave some money for my father?"
"The baby is not worth anything, and I won't feed you to ghosts."
Li Changan smiled and rubbed his head.
"Don't be afraid."
Wrap your hair and a ghost coin with a yellow talisman, put it close to your body and put it in your arms.