Life is a lame story, luck and misfortune do not need clever and long preparation, just a careless night.
The man fled to Fuguifang six years ago. He is good at making steamed buns, and his wife is also good at weaving. The couple supported each other and worked hard to save a little money. They built a small courtyard next to Fuguifang and raised children.
They gave birth to a son and a daughter, and went to the countryside to follow the customs and received incense from the community. They worshiped diligently during the festivals every year, and named the children after Buddhist gods.
Everything was prosperous until a fire...
The man once again dragged his tired body back to his home. It was said to be a home, but what was left? Everything was burned down, leaving only half of the blackened earth wall, and he barely built a shack with branches and weeds.
The wife lost her loom and went to the countryside to find wild vegetables and grass seeds and came back to pick and wash them. When she saw her husband returning, she quickly put down her work and went towards him with anxiety and hope.
"The other end of the guild?"
The man remained silent.
All walks of life in Qiantang, even beggars, organize group tours. They collect membership fees on weekdays and allow you to gain a foothold in the industry. In critical moments, you can lend a helping hand. But this rule seems to have failed with today's men. He went
Many times in the city, I was stopped without being able to see him, and I was laughed at by the disciples, saying that Fuguifang had everything. But now it was burned to the ground. The man may have become a dead ghost, and he came to the door pretending to be alive to defraud.
Money.
The wife asked again: "Is there any work on the dock?"
The man shook his head slowly.
Qiantang is connected to the sea and land. No matter when you go to the dock to sell your strength, you can always make a full meal. But this is not the time recently. In the past, during the tide period, although the sea was not calm, there were always big ships coming regardless of the wind and waves.
, and because of the Zhenhai Seal, the river transportation was not affected. But this year was strange, a large ship was reported, and there was a military disaster in the upper reaches of Qiantang, which blocked shipping.
All the wharves inside and outside the city are like wealthy houses, each with their own powerful workers and associations. At this moment, if you can't even take care of yourself, how can you have enough room to accommodate outsiders?
The wife hoped for the best: "What did the temple say?"
The man shook his head silently.
The couple burned incense at Jishan Temple every year, thinking of borrowing some money to make a comeback based on their past fate. However, the monks always only begged for alms and never acted as donors. But the monk was compassionate after all, and gave him a talisman, which he said could protect his health.
He has a safe and smooth future.
But peace in the future will not relieve the current difficulties, and my wife's expression dimmed.
In the shack, the child woke up from hunger and cried loudly. The older one tried to coax him, but he couldn't coax him. He couldn't help but started crying along with the younger one.
The man woke up from a dream and hurriedly took out a shortbread from his arms. It was brought from the temple. The tributes in front of the Buddha were replaced with new ones every day. The pastry of the cake had become cold and hard, but the inside was still soft.
The hungry children ate in a hurry, and their mother handed them water and scolded them in a low voice. The older one was more sensible and tore up most of the pancake and returned it to their parents. The man just refused to eat and told the three of them to eat more.
"Sanlang is back."
Listen to the shouting from a distance.
A young man came to the "door", wearing a long coat with fancy colors, beautiful black leather boots, and a red chrysanthemum on his head, which was incompatible with the ruins of the surrounding walls.
He said hello and came straight in.
I looked around and sighed.
"I've heard that Fuguifang suffered a disaster, but I didn't expect that a family like Sanlang's who has accumulated good fortune will not be spared." He couldn't help but take two slings of money from his sleeves, "Don't be polite with these money, and use it to send envoys."
The man didn't say anything, and sent his wife to make tea - a few mint leaves that she picked up conveniently - looked at the two slings of money with eyes closed for a long time, and finally took it.
The hairpin man seemed to have won some kind of victory and laughed.
"With Saburo's skills, whether he joins a restaurant or borrows some capital, the family business will be able to earn back sooner or later. However, there are some rumors in the city that the matter of the He family's mansion is related to Fuguifang. The recent situation is appalling.
People, no one dares to have anything to do with you."
"If you ask me, it's that solution that's to blame..." Hairpin Hua stopped abruptly in Hanhua here, as if she was afraid that the name would attract something, "That thief killed someone, patted his butt and acted like a turtle, it's better
There is no shadow in the sky, but it makes us suffer for him."
The man remained dumb and didn't speak. The hairpin man didn't take it seriously and took out two meat buns and handed them to the children. The children looked at their father timidly and when they saw that he didn't say anything, they quickly grabbed them and ate them until their mouths were full of oil.
The children are young and ignorant. They really don't know why their mother weeps secretly and their father is as silent as a shadow when there is delicious food.
The wife made "tea" and brought it to her, and the hairpin man's eyes fell on it. She had been weaving at home all year round and was not short of food. She was fairer and plumper than ordinary women.
"It's not peaceful recently, and Fuguifang is crowded again. You left, and my sister-in-law took two children, orphans and widowers, who may have gotten into trouble. In this way, my brother has a few spare rooms in the courtyard of the city. If not,
If you dislike it, sister-in-law can move there..."
At this point, my wife was in a daze or was surprised. She stumbled and turned over the tea bowl. The boiling water made her cry out in pain.
The hairpin man said "Yeah" and quickly stretched out his hand
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At this time.
The man who had been silent all this time suddenly stood up and grabbed the hairpin man's wrist.
"Sanlang, what are you doing?"
"I only sell myself."
the man repeated.
"Only sell yourself."
Hairpin Han suddenly turned his face, and the previous enthusiasm, kindness and righteousness were like facial makeup that was easily torn off.
He opened his mouth to curse, but many people stood up like ghosts in the ruins around him, and the curses stopped.
called out.
"Let go!"
He broke away angrily, went out of the "door", and spat "I don't know what is good or bad."
He turned around and gouged out the family of four, sneered, and pulled out two booklets, one with white cover and one with red cover. The white book was nothing unusual, but the red book was covered with cloth, which was hidden under the red dye. Shows complex textures.
He crossed out the man's name from the white-covered volume, but added it to the red-covered volume.
"What does this red book say?"
The hairpin man was startled when he suddenly heard a shout from beside him. He turned around and saw a tall man with short hair stretching his neck and looking around.
"It's none of your business!"
The hairpinned man cursed and put away the booklet, and was about to vent his anger again, but he saw a cart behind him, with a large bucket steaming out of it. He knew that the brown-clothed gang had been giving out porridge these days, and he couldn't help but hold back the words that came to his mouth. His face was red, he wiped his white hair sweat, and left angrily.
Just walking and shouting loudly:
"How can half a bowl of swill a day cost the lives of young and old? Winter is approaching, and the cold can kill people. Only by joining the Nanyang can I have enough food and clothing for my family. A man with a strong body and two slings of money will be able to live without deception. There is a way to survive. Where? Don’t be fooled by two mouthfuls of swill!”
Some figures staggered up among the ruins.
"The bun seller." Li Changan called to the man. He met the man when he was selling talismans in the city. "The pier is being repaired. If we wait a few days, there will be a way to survive."
The man turned around, looked at Li Changan steadily, and smiled slightly.
"The talismans you sell are fake, and your words are also fake. There are tens of thousands of mouths in the shop. How long can you survive with your support? Isn't this porridge getting thinner and thinner every day?"
He glanced at his confused children and his tearful wife, feeling a little more excited despite his numbness.
"I heard that Nanyang is full of gold and silver. If I go there, I might still be able to make a fortune. If you are willing, please take care of my family. If I can return home someday, I will be given a generous gift!"
He looked back at his wife reluctantly and finally left her heartlessly.
Li Changan could only say: "Bon voyage."
The gong sounded.
"Porridge is here!"
…………
A bucket of porridge seems like a lot, but if you really give it out, it will be a drop in the bucket.
There was almost scraps of wood scraped out of the bottom of the barrel, and a large group of eager villagers were surrounding the car.
As a result, everyone who was giving porridge comforted, dispersed, and tidied up. Only Li Changan still looked at the direction the man was leaving thoughtfully.
"Taoist priest, are you still thinking about it?" Huangwei poured water into the bucket and skillfully brushed off every grain of rice stuck in the gaps. "Although the teeth can cause the separation of wives and children, in the end they also give people a way to survive, right?" .”
Li Changan replied with an irrelevant question.
"Do you think people have good intentions?"
"It's all about deeds but not the heart." Huang Wei laughed.
Li Changan studied deeply: "These days, ships can't come in or out. Ren Yazi bought people early and raised them one meal a day. If it weren't for them, our porridge would be a little thinner. That Ren Yazi's Liu Qiaopo, the leader, calls himself a ‘human bodhisattva’, is he really worthy of his name?”
Huangwei took a big spoon and stirred the shabu-shabu water evenly: "Maybe it's better to be stronger so that it can withstand the wind and waves?"
Li Changan asked: "Why do you use the red booklet to record your name again?"
"What's so weird about a book?" Huang Wei laughed and scooped out a bowl of shabu-shabu water for the Taoist priest, "It's not a book of life and death. Have you seen that book in Yama's hand?"
Li Changan took it and chewed it slowly.
No answer.
Of course he had never seen it in Yama Luo's hands, but he had seen the red book in the He family mansion and on Luo Yong's desk.
…………
At night.
Huang Tail is flooded with thoughts.
One day the Taoist priest stayed up all night.
The ghosts that appear in Zhi Niang's Cave.
The Taoist priest suddenly told everyone not to enter the city.
…
Tangled with clues
It turned into a terrible suspicion and turned into a nightmare that Huang Wei tossed around every night. He always avoided it habitually, saying that he was too worried, but now...
He sighed, put on his clothes, got up at night, and went out to the small wing in the corner of the yard. In the past few days, Li Changan often made magic talismans there.
"Taoist Priest?"
no respond. .??.
"Taoist Priest..."
He pushed open the wooden door, but there was no one inside, and even the made talisman disappeared.
Damn it! Huang Tail’s eyebrows drooped and he quickly turned around and went to the front yard.
Under the moonlight, there are many statues of gods with different expressions on their faces.
General Shi's hands are already empty.
At this time, Huang Wei's back even became a little more rickety with pain.
Pushing open the courtyard door, one can see from a distance the Qiantang City at the foot of the mountain, submerged in the vast mist, which is as peaceful as the sea surface with turbulent undercurrents.
He knows that Taoist priests like to express grudges, but there are some people who cannot be killed, and there are some places that are absolutely forbidden to go to!
I was so anxious that I scratched my bald yellow hair.
Finally, he let out a long sigh and took steps.
…………
The city was silent.
The banks of the Rouge River, where people have been drunk and dreaming night after night, are now filled with only a few cheers and dim lights.
If ordinary people are ignorant and do not know what is going on, they will probably only feel that the city is desolate and quiet, which makes people feel chilly. But in the eyes of ghosts, they can clearly see the ghosts and envoys unscrupulously stirring up torrents of evil in various temples;
Spy on the world, or show off your power by roaring through the streets.
The two sides did not interfere with each other but were facing each other vaguely, but they were so frightened that 30% of the residents in the city did not dare to make a sound.
Fortunately, there are sewers and culverts spreading like spider webs under the city, which connect every hidden corner of the city. Of course, they are very dangerous, breed many dark stories, and also hide the biggest terror in Qiantang City.
But Huang Tai knew these ditches, at least most of them, very well.
He carefully bypassed the temple, avoiding the general's sight, and arrived in front of a large house in the east of the city.
This house is called Jishantang, and it is the home of Liu Qiaopo, the leader of Renyazi.
Qiantang City occupies a very large area, and the outer walls are particularly tall and thick. They are as high as the fences of a livestock shed, so no one can escape from the inside and no one can see from the outside; they are so thick that no sound can be heard, and the walls are insulated.
Inside and outside, it's like two worlds.
Some good people said that in early August of a certain year, the tide came back and flooded the city, damaging the outer wall of Jishan Hall, and a small gap opened in the wall. Some beggars didn't know how to do it, so they leaned against the foot of the wall and borrowed a small space under the eaves to spend the night.
After just one night, the beggar suffered from heart failure and told everyone he met that the high wall closed the underworld, and what leaked out from the cracks were the wails of the dead.
One night, he disappeared without a trace.
Huang Wei crouched in the shadow of the wall and moved carefully, not daring to move away or climb up the wall for fear of attracting the attention of ghosts and gods. Jishan Hall is not the underworld, but there is a small gap.
He walked around the door and reached the gap. When he came to the end, he hesitated very much. Liu Qiaopo was not a simple human being, but a ruthless person whose energy spread to Southeast Asia and became the ghost king's guest.
Its lair is not hell, so how can it be better than hell?
He was so frightened that his tail was tucked between his butt cracks and shaking. If he hadn't been dead, his heart might have jumped out of his chest.
Besides, is the Taoist priest really inside? Maybe, it's just his own wild imagination.
Huang Tail listened and listened again and again, even though there was dead silence in the gap.
Meow~
He looked up in shock.
Several cats were sitting or lying on the wall, with their tails hanging down and their eyes dark, as if they resented why he was always the mother-in-law.
Huang Wei's face fell, he pushed his head over, turned into smoke, and drilled hard.
At first it was extremely narrow, but only then did it lead to ghosts, and then it was more than two feet deep...
The frost has passed and the temperature is getting lower. Unexpectedly, it is colder and foggier inside the high wall than outside.
Huang Wei just put his head over, and couldn't help but be startled. He saw another high wall a few steps ahead. He was in a corridor, surrounded by deep fog that almost covered his head, and beside him——
It was a pair of eyes that stared intently at him.
…………
Yellow hair stands on end all over his body.
Huangwei was so frightened that he wanted to run away, but no matter how hard he exerted his strength, his whole body slipped into the corridor before he could cry out.
It’s over!
He looked back in horror.
But it felt wrong.
The man didn't react at all to his actions.
Take a calm look.
It's not a person, it's just a solitary head.
Head?!
Huang Wei's face almost turned pale. He was indeed a ghost. He had seen many dead people and scared many people with various strange images, but he was never very courageous.
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Especially now, especially here.
Huang Tail hurriedly retreated on all fours, his back bumped into a solid wall, and his head hit something relatively soft. He subconsciously looked sideways, and a pair of embroidered shoes gently pressed against his cheek.
Stiffly, he slowly raised his head.
A beautiful woman clung to the wall, with a piece of late osmanthus pierced through her eyes and skull, nailing her to the wall. Her toes swayed slightly, and blood flowed from the osmanthus branches, dyeing the light yellow osmanthus seeds bright red.
He was so horrified that he opened his mouth to scream, but suddenly he woke up, covered his mouth tightly, stood up in a panic, staggered ten steps, suddenly tripped and fell into the courtyard.
I leaned over in pain and looked back, I saw a pair of clothes on the stone steps, including boots, hakama, shirt, robe, scarf...all complete, but all the limbs were empty, only the shirt and robe were still bulging, and there were wisps of black air on the collar and cuffs.
leak.
Huang Wei stood up numbly and looked around the courtyard.
The courtyard is deep, covered with frost and mist, with few osmanthus seeds, and the moonlight shines over the high walls.
besides.
Only the remains of the body were soaked in a pool of blood, which were the corpses of people who had been killed.
Only the severed limbs dissipated black energy, which was the residual energy left by the ghost after being killed.
They are everywhere, causing Yellowtail's teeth to chatter and running wildly for no reason, but almost every ten steps...
dead.
devil.
devil.
dead.
They kept appearing in front of him in various postures.
He still covered his mouth tightly. In fact, he could have shouted loudly. The high courtyard wall did have a special structure, which was enough to isolate his shouts. But no one inside the high wall could hear him.
It wasn't until he arrived in front of a lobby that he calmed down a little. Thinking of this situation, shouldn't he be the one who should be afraid the most?
He couldn't help but cursed, but he didn't dare to make a real sound. He shrank his head and peeked in. The door of the main room in front of him was closed tightly. Although he couldn't hear any sound, he could see bright light shining through the door and window screens.
I heard that in recent days, Liu Qiaopo has been ordering a large amount of fine wine and delicacies at the restaurant.
There must be another feast in the house.
The mellow smell of wine and the strong aroma of meat can't help but assault people through the window.
as well as……
There was blood seeping out of the crack of the door.
Huang Wei's hand paused on the door for a long time, but finally did not have the courage to push it open. He looked around for a few times, then walked through the verandah and through the moon gate, as if he had been here before, he groped his way into the side courtyard.
Go straight into the main house.
There were some debris piled in the corner, except for a large iron door placed on the ground.
The lock on the door had been removed, and Huang Wei struggled to open the iron door.
Behind the door, steps slope down into a dark cave.
The ghost itself can see in the dark, but the darkness in the cave seems to have substance, with a thick and unsettling coldness.
Huang Wei had no choice but to light a torch, lest the flames would burn his soul, and took off the gourd from his waist. This was a treasure he shamelessly begged from Wannian Gong. It could change with the ghosts, and the Sophora japonica wine in the gourd was even more magical.
It can protect lonely souls and wild ghosts from being scolded by the world.
I took a sip and felt warm.
Huang Tail stepped in carefully.
…………
After walking more than sixty steps, we arrived at an underground hall.
The goods were scattered all around, and the firelight was dim, unable to illuminate the true boundary.
You can only smell the stale air mixed with filthy stench, but it is so quiet that there is no sound of insects.
闼,闼.
He stepped forward slowly with his own footsteps.
At the end of the underground hall, there is an underground river running across it. The river channel is neat and lined with bricks and stones, and it must have been dug manually. The river water is not living water, it cannot accumulate corrosion, and the green water is like oily and thick pus.
There was a small boat tied to the underground river, and the cabin was piled high with cargo and tightly covered with tarpaulin.
Huang Wei couldn't help but take a deep breath, and was choked by the stench and coughed repeatedly. He quickly drank another mouthful of sophora wine to calm his soul, carefully stepped forward, and slowly opened the oilcloth.
Then it was like being struck by thunder.
Corpse.
One corpse after another.
A body that was already cold but still intact and not stiff yet.
Like cargo, they are stacked neatly in the cabin, head to head, foot to foot.
The one at the top looked the most familiar. He had just said goodbye to his wife and children during the day, and had made bold plans to go to Nanyang to earn a family fortune. He had been put on the boat at night, his eyes facing Huang Tail blankly, and his right hand fisted into his chest.
, revealing a corner of yellow paper.
He still had the "peace charm" with him.
Huang Wei stood there blankly, his face seemed to be filled with surprise, anger, fear, and doubt, but under the dim firelight, it was really hard to tell what the expression on that furry face was.
After being stunned for a long time, he stretched out his hand to close the man's eyes.