This chapter and the next chapter happened that day when Tencent went crazy. I posted them without displaying them, and posted them repeatedly, but they couldn’t be deleted. In order not to affect the continuity of everyone’s reading, I changed them into two short stories.
These short stories were published by me in major magazines. Originally, only readers in the Qimen group could see them. Posting them here is considered a bonus. Those who don’t like to read short stories can jump directly to Chapter 51.
Ancient and modern wonders about mountain ghosts
Text: Yu Qi
one:
Wangjiaji was not a market town at first, but it was located on an important road, with a lake in front and a mountain behind it. One had to pass through Wangjiaji when traveling from south to north. There were many villages in the surrounding villages, so it gradually gained popularity and formed a market.
There are two famous people in Wangjiaji. One is Wang Tiezhu, the pig butcher. This guy is tall and thick, with a fierce look. He has three sons, Wang Long, Wang Hu and Wang Bao. They all follow Wang Tiezhu, majestic and tall. Wang Tiezhu
With these three sons, they ran rampant in the Wang family and no one dared to offend them.
The other is Wang Tiezui, a fortune teller. Legend has it that this man was born with yin and yang eyes. He can distinguish ghosts and gods, distinguish yin and yang, watch stars and clouds, seek good luck and avoid bad luck, has an iron mouth, and never makes a mistake. Many wealthy businessmen from other places are not far away.
He drove thousands of miles to come here, promised Wang Tiezui a lot of money, and asked Wang Tiezui for guidance. There were many local believers.
These two people are still brothers from the same clan, Wang Tiezui is the second, and Wang Tiezhu is the fourth. They were very close friends when they were young. Later, Wang Tiezhu fell in love with a woman named Li from a neighboring village, and asked Wang Tiezui to help check the situation. Unexpectedly, Wang Tiezhu
Tiezui took one look at it and firmly opposed it, saying that the woman had a poor appearance, a thin figure, withered hair and sparse eyebrows, sunken eyes and thin lips, could not walk well, and had invisible limbs. She must be a mean person, and she was a slut, so she was definitely not allowed to marry him.
As a wife.
Wang Tiezhu and the woman were having a heated fight at that time, and no one would listen. It didn't take long before he married the woman into his family and they became husband and wife.
When Wang Tiezui saw that it was a done deal, he had no choice but to instruct Wang Tiezhu to do the pig-killing business. He said that pig-killers killed pigs every day, and their hands were bloody and the evil spirit was very strong. They could restrain Wang Li's life of punishment and avoid being killed.
Wang Lishi took away his life.
I don’t know how this matter reached the ears of Mrs. Wang Li. This woman was really mean. From then on, whenever she saw Wang Tiezui, she would make sarcastic remarks, and the wind would blow non-stop on her pillow, and she would do anything to sow discord.
Yes, over time, Wang Tiezhu and Wang Tiezui became estranged.
A year later, Wang Tiezhu's eldest son, Wang Long, was born. On the day of the Full Moon Wine, Wang Tiezui also went there. He took one look at the child and pulled Wang Tiezhu out. He said that the child was born with a short life and would not live to be twenty years old.
He had been mentally prepared. This made Wang Tiezhu very angry. He said such unlucky words when his child was just born. No matter how good the relationship was, Wang Tiezhu turned against him on the spot and kicked Wang Tiezui out.
, from then on, the two stopped interacting with each other.
Wang Li's belly was very impressive, and she gave birth to two more sons one after another. Wang Tiezhu's pig-killing business became increasingly prosperous. As the three sons grew up, their power became stronger. But Wang Tiezhu also had more and more followers.
Their reputation was growing day by day, and despite the many instigations from Wang and Li, the two of them were still at peace with each other because they were wary of each other and longed for their old friendship.
two:
In the blink of an eye, nineteen years have passed. Wang Long has grown into a strong young man. When it is time to talk about marriage, Wang Hu and Wang Bao are also strong and strong. Wang Li is thinking about building a few more rooms.
The house was left for his three sons to find wives.
But Wang Tiezhu is an only son, and his predecessors did not pass down many housing sites. Buying a housing site costs a lot of money. With Wang Li's stingy character, how can he be willing to spend this money? After a lot of back and forth, he decided to go to the ancestral hall of the old Wang family.
Gone to the ground.
The Wang surname is a common surname in the Wang family. The ancestral hall occupies a large area, enough for each of the three sons of the Wang family to build three rooms. It stands to reason that taking the land of the ancestral hall as your own is a violation of the ancestral family law. Wang Tiezhu originally
I don’t want to listen to my mother-in-law’s bad idea. But the ancestral hall has long been dilapidated and has nothing. In addition, after the reform and opening up, the ancestral hall has long lost its original function and is not that important in the minds of the tribe. The thought of saving a lot of money
The money for the real estate base was so deceived that he actually agreed.
At present, the Wang Li family gave some discounts to all the people in the Wang family. This family had a leg of pork, and that family had half a rack of ribs, which was considered accommodating. The clan members did not dare to offend Wang Tiezhu, and the ancestral hall had long been deserted.
I got a bargain, and I was happy to sell him a favor, and everyone in charge nodded.
Only Wang Tiezui not only disagreed, but also took the lead in opposing it, saying that although the ancestral hall was dilapidated, it was the resting place for the ancestors of the Wang surname. Demolishing the ancestral hall had alarmed the ancestors and lost their protection.
If you use it yourself, you are afraid that your ancestors will get angry and destroy Wang Tiezhu's family at the least, and destroy the blessings of the Wang family at the worst.
This is tantamount to adding fuel to the fire, especially the Wang and Li family, who already have a grudge against each other and have always been aggressive in character. This time, in order to occupy the ancestral hall, they have reluctantly bowed their heads to Wang Tiezui, worried.
Wang Tiezui would not agree, and even sent him the heaviest gift, but when Wang Tiezui said this, he couldn't bear to swallow it.
In the morning of that day, Mrs. Wang Li took her three sons to Wang Tiezui's door. They blocked the door, stuck their waists, and began to curse frothing at the corners of their mouths. They continued to curse from morning to noon. After returning home and having dinner,
He came back and continued to scold. At first Wang Tiezui didn't bother arguing with a woman, but after scolding him like this for a day, he felt that he couldn't stand it anymore. That night, he went to see Wang Tiezhu.
Wang Tiezhu was also holding his breath. The two good brothers in the past didn't say anything to each other, but they actually made a move. Wang Tiezui was no match for Wang Tiezhu. After a good meal and a beating, he lay down for several days.
I couldn't get out of bed.
As a result, Wang Tiezhu became even more arrogant. Among the Wang clan members, even those who did not agree with it did not dare to speak. Wang Tiezhu, under the instigation of Wang Li, hired a group of craftsmen to demolish the ancestral hall without permission.
, on the original site of the ancestral hall, the area of nine rooms was circled, and the foundation was started.
three:
After two days of laying the foundation, something happened. One of the craftsmen shoveled off his own foot for no apparent reason. The shovel was so sharp! When the shovel went down, half of the sole of his foot was cut off, and he immediately winced in pain. The other craftsmen had seven hands.
The eight-legged one was sent to the hospital. Wang Tiezhu worked hard and spent a lot of money to save the craftsman's one foot from being disabled.
Fortunately, they were all from the village, so the craftsman didn’t pursue any further investigation. After Wang Tiezhu paid a sum of medical expenses, he let it go. An accident on the construction site was normal for the craftsmen, and no one paid much attention to it. The next day,
Work started normally again.
But at noon that day, on a sunny day, the craftsmen were digging the foundation. Suddenly a whirlwind blew up on the ground. Almost all the craftsmen were blinded for an instant. The more they rubbed, the more painful they became. In a moment, all the eyes were filled with tears.
I was flushed and crying when I saw the wind. I couldn't work anymore. I had no choice but to rest for a long time.
As soon as work started the next day, a craftsman went down with a pickaxe, and with a "clang" sound, the tiger's mouth was suddenly cracked. There was not a white spot on the ground. The craftsmen finally realized that something was wrong and hurriedly reported the matter.
The foreman was also an experienced man. He knew something was wrong as soon as he heard it. He hurriedly went to find Wang Tiezhu and explained the matter in detail.
If this incident had happened in someone else's house, it would probably have been forgotten. However, Wang Tiezhu was a fool. When he heard about this incident, he flew into a rage. Without saying a word, he grabbed a butcher's knife and ran to the ancestral hall.
He cursed loudly and pointedly at the sky and the earth.
Wang Tiezhu cursed randomly, took two steps forward, and struck the ground with his butcher knife. Strangely enough, the ground was so hard that a pickaxe could not penetrate it, but this knife easily penetrated into the ground, up to the handle.
This stab made Wang Tiezhu more courageous. He reached out and took the pickaxe from the hand of the craftsman next to him. He rounded his arms a few times and dug up a small pile of rammed earth. When the craftsmen next to him saw it, they talked about it.
I only know that ghosts are afraid of evil people. It seems that this ancestor is also afraid of evil descendants!
Wang Tiezhu didn't stop there. Instead, he lost his temper. The pickaxe in his hand flew up and down. In a moment, he dug out a medium-sized pit. Then he stopped, handed out a circle of cigarettes, and said to himself
I also lit one, squatted aside, and started smoking.
As soon as the craftsmen saw it, the master no longer had any taboos. What should he be afraid of when he gets paid to do things?
With more people and greater strength, within a short while, the loose soil in the pit dug by Wang Tiezhu just now was shoveled clean, revealing a piece of bluestone underneath. Everyone didn't pay attention at first and dug along the edges of the bluestone.
, found a gap and pried up the stone slab. Who knew that as soon as the stone slab was lifted up, everyone was shocked. There was actually a one-meter-square stone jar under the stone slab. This bluestone slab was just a stone jar.
cover.
What's even more strange is that there is a tank of clear water in the stone tank, and there is a green carp swimming in the water, about half a foot long, swimming happily in the stone tank.
Everyone was surprised. It was not unusual to have a stone jar underground. When many people were laying foundations in the past, they directly filled it with some stone objects without materials. But it was too strange that there was a live carp in the stone jar.
The Wang Family Ancestral Hall was built at least over a hundred years ago, and there are no signs of new disturbance in the soil on the ground. So how did this carp survive for more than a hundred years underground?
This is beyond comprehension.
Wang Tiezhu and the foreman who were squatting aside smoking also came around. When they saw it, they didn't know what was going on, and they were all stunned. At this moment, the carp suddenly stopped swimming, and it was silent at first.
It stopped in the water, motionless, then slowly turned its belly and floated to the surface of the water.
After all, the foreman had seen a lot of the world. When he saw this situation, he immediately dragged Wang Tiezhu aside and said in a deep voice: "This stone tank hides fish. It looks a bit strange. I'm afraid something is wrong. In my opinion, you'd better go to Tiezui."
Brother, confess your crime and ask him to come and see what is going on. We are all brothers, and we will not hold grudges even if we fight for a small reason. I believe Brother Tiezui will come."
Although Wang Tiezhu was a little reluctant, he also knew that no one was talking about this matter, and the craftsmen were afraid that it would be difficult to work with peace of mind. He nodded immediately, turned around and ran towards Wang Tiezui's house.
Four:
As soon as Wang Tiezhu entered Wang Tiezui's house, he saw Wang Tiezui sitting on a wicker chair with his head wrapped in gauze and a bandage on one arm. Thinking of his old relationship, he suddenly felt ashamed and turned around to leave. Unexpectedly, Wang Tiezhu
With a sharp mouth and sharp eyes, as soon as he saw Wang Tiezhu's figure, he shouted: "Come in! I knew you would come to me a long time ago. Although we had some disagreements, you are my brother after all, and I can't just die without saving you."
Wang Tiezhu turned around helplessly, walked up to Wang Tiezui, admitted his mistake first, and then told him exactly what happened in the past few days. When Wang Tiezhu heard this, he immediately stood up in shock, not caring about what was happening on his body.
Feeling hurt, he walked out and said: "Let's go! Go quickly! Take me to see it quickly."
At this time, the news that Wang Tiezhu's house was digging the foundation and finding fish in stone jars had already spread. When the two of them walked quickly to the ancestral hall, a large circle of villagers watching the fun had already gathered around. Wang Tiezui separated from the crowd and took a closer look.
, his eyes suddenly went straight, his face turned earth-colored, and the corners of his mouth kept twitching, but he couldn't say a word.
After a long while, Wang Tiezui came back to his senses. Without saying a word, he grabbed Wang Tiezhu's wrist and pulled him away, leaving a group of villagers there with suspicion.
Wang Tiezui pulled Wang Tiezhu and ran all the way. After a while, he rushed home. As soon as he entered the house, Wang Tiezui went straight to the bookcase and took out an iron box from the bookcase. There was also a small lock on the iron box. He took out the key to open it and opened it.
A thread-bound book was taken out from inside, with four words written in block letters on the blue cover - Genealogy of the Wang family.
Wang Tiezui hurriedly opened the family tree. The first page recorded the origin of the Wang family in small regular script. The following pages were filled with dense arrangements of names. When he turned to the last page, there was a painting with three layers: upper, middle and lower.
, there are several houses painted on the upper floor, and the houses are full of memorial tablets, which clearly look like the Wang family's ancestral hall; a lake is painted on the middle floor, with a giant blue dragon swimming in the lake; but the bottom floor is a cave.
, there is an evil ghost trapped in the cave. This evil ghost has double tumors on its head, its face is ashen, its eyes are like copper bells, its lips are like blood basins, and its four arms are dancing together, looking very angry.
Seeing this, Wang Tiezui sat down on the ground and murmured: "It's over, it's over..." When Wang Tiezhu saw his appearance, he hurriedly took the genealogy and looked left and right, but he couldn't see the reason.
, asked hurriedly: "What the hell is going on? You should tell me something!"
The corner of Wang Tiezui's mouth twitched, and he sighed: "This genealogy has been in my hands for some years. I never understood the meaning of the painting on the last page, but I vaguely guessed that something was wrong.
, so when you wanted to use the ancestral hall land as a homestead, I firmly opposed it. Today, everything finally became clear, but it was too late."
Having said this, he glanced at Wang Tiezhu with a look full of pity and continued: "Our ancestors were once a thieves in Shandong. They had some capable brothers. Because they offended a local official, they were surrounded and suppressed by the soldiers. In desperation,
I just fled here with a group of brothers. Seeing the beautiful mountains and green waters here, I settled there and spread my branches. The lineage has been passed down to this day."
"Therefore, many of the burial methods of our Wang family are inherited from Shandong burial techniques. Among them, the burial of fish in stone jars is a typical example. The burial of fish in stone jars was originally done at the time of the tomb, inside the coffin.
A stone jar is placed below, and three carps are placed in the jar, one green, one red and one gold. The green carp belongs to yin, and the red carp represents yang. The two colors of green and red mean the harmony of yin and yang. The gold carp can transform into a dragon, which means that the ancestors ascended on the dragon. This is a question.
An auspicious move."
"But the fish buried in the stone jar found underground in our Wang family ancestral hall only had one green carp. The meaning is completely different. The sun does not grow long, and the yin only breeds evil. In many places, the green carp is symbolized as a green dragon, and the dragon clan is a symbol of the world.
The pulse, golden dragon, and white dragon are all righteous gods, moving clouds and rain, blessing the people, while the blue dragon, black dragon, and red dragon are all evil dragons."
"Logically speaking, this method of burying fish in stone jars should not be used under the ancestral hall. Even if it is used, gold carp, white carp or green, red and gold carp should be placed. Putting a green carp is destined to be the Wang family.
There are only crooked people, none of our ancestors would do this."
"It is precisely because of this that I have always been skeptical about this painting, but today's incident has confirmed that our ancestors did this out of necessity."
How did Wang Tiezhu know this? He was confused when he heard it, and asked hurriedly: "Just tell me! What is going on? I'm going around and around, my head is getting big."
Wang Tiezui pointed at the evil ghost on the picture and said: "Mountains have mountain gods, and rivers have He Bo. In the same way, mountains also have mountain ghosts, and rivers also have river demons. Mountain gods and He Bo protect the people, and mountain ghosts and rivers have them."
The demon is poisonous to all living beings. Our Wang family has gathered in the mountains and faces the lake, but there has been no trouble for decades. The only reason is that this mountain ghost was suppressed by our ancestors under the ancestral hall with the green dragon."
"Although the green dragon is an evil dragon, it is a dragon after all. It likes to eat ghosts and monsters, so it is often used by the people to suppress evil and drive away evil spirits. However, the green dragon that suppresses evil cannot be in the same acupoint as the red dragon, otherwise the Yin and Yang dual cultivation will lead to
Without the ferocity of the green dragon, we cannot let go of the golden dragon. Good and evil cannot coexist, and they will fight in the same cave. This is why our ancestors prefer that our Wang family only has crooked talents, and are not willing to let the three-color carp.
After all, peace is the most important thing."
At this time, Wang Tiezhu finally understood something. How could he believe this?
The green carp dug out today is the green dragon that our ancestors buried underground to suppress the mountain ghosts? Now that the green dragon is dead, the mountain ghosts will come out to harm people? Although you and I have been a little unhappy, we are brothers of the same race after all.
Why are you trying to scare me with these gods and ghosts? Not to mention that there are no mountain ghosts or river monsters in the world. Even if there are, do you really think that a small carp can control them?"
Wang Tiezui was very worried and shouted hurriedly: "Brother, we can still be saved now. If we don't take measures, in one more week or as few as three days, your family will be seriously injured! Even if you kill pigs for
Even if he is alive, he is covered in the smell of blood, even if he is alive, he will not be able to escape from being disabled."
When Wang Tiezhu heard this, he immediately became furious, threw away the genealogy and said: "Okay! Just wait for three days. I want to see how this mountain ghost comes to take my life. After three days, if nothing happens to my family, the ancestral hall
Please stop talking about it." After saying that, he slammed the door and left.
five:
Wang Tiezhu returned to the construction site and really asked the craftsmen to rest for three days. As a rule, the craftsmen were not paid for these three days of rest. In order to express his apology, Wang Tiezhu left everyone to drink and let Wang Li cut the pork.
He also asked Wang Long and Wang Hu to go to the town to buy wine, while he chatted with the craftsmen.
After a while, Wang Li's dishes and rice were ready, and they were waiting for their two sons to come back to buy wine and start the banquet. It only took about ten minutes to walk from Wang Tiezhu's house to the market, but he couldn't wait for him to come, and he couldn't wait for him to come.
After waiting for an hour, Wang Long and Wang Hu didn't buy the wine.
Wang Tiezhu was already unhappy, and now he was even more angry. He pulled out a cane and walked out. As soon as he reached the door, he bumped into someone. As soon as the visitor saw Wang Tiezhu, he cried out: "Uncle,
Go and have a look! Wang Long and Wang Hu drowned in the lake ahead."
As soon as these words came out, it was like a bolt from the blue. Wang Tiezhu was stunned for five seconds, and then suddenly let out a heart-piercing scream. His vision went dark, his body straightened, and he fell straight backwards.
When Wang Tiezhu woke up, the bodies of Wang Long and Wang Hu had been carried back. The brothers' faces were ashen and their bellies were as swollen as drums. They were lying side by side in the yard, resembling the green carp with its belly turned inside out.
Mrs. Wang Li was already crying and collapsed on the ground. She was holding one of her sons' arms with one hand and refused to let go no matter how others tried to persuade her. Wang Bao stood aside and sobbed. Wang Tiezhu couldn't stop crying when he looked at his two sons lying on the ground.
Living in the lower reaches of the river, it is sad enough for a white-haired person to give away a black-haired person, let alone two at a time.
At this moment, Wang Tiezui also heard the news and came over. As soon as he entered the door, he said angrily: "I'm late, I'm late. I knew something was going to happen, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon!"
When Mrs. Wang Li saw Wang Tiezui, she jumped up like crazy and shouted randomly: "You are the one who harmed my son. It is you who cursed him not to live to be twenty years old. It is you who harmed my son. I
I’ll fight with you..."
The villagers hurriedly grabbed Wang Li. Wang Tiezui looked a little embarrassed and turned to Wang Tiezhu and said: "Brother, you must listen to me this time. That ancestral land must not be used! The stone jar is still there.
, there is still a way to save it. Once the stone jar is broken and the mountain ghost is released, not only your family will be unable to escape bad luck, but the whole town will probably be implicated!"
When Wang Tiezhu heard this, he was furious and said with a cold face: "What ghosts and monsters are you telling a joke? My two sons died in vain? I also tell you, even if our family dies, then
I also want to book a piece of homestead land."
After saying that, he casually picked up the pickaxe, ignored everyone's dissuasion, and walked all the way to the ancestral hall. He found the stone jar, raised the pickaxe in his hand, and hit the stone jar a few times, smashing the stone jar into pieces. The stone jar shattered.
, revealing a dark hole underneath. The hole is not big, but it is bottomless.
When Wang Tiezhu saw him, he let out a long sigh, looked gloomy, said nothing more, and turned around to go home. Wang Tiezhu lost two sons in a row, and he was so sad and angry that he ignored the dissuasion of others and put all his resentment into the iron pick in his hand.
He went up, turned up the pickaxe, flew up and down, and in a moment, dug up the hole into a mess, then stopped, slammed the pickaxe in his hand on the ground, lowered his head and wiped the sweat.
After this meal, it happened to hit the gravel on the ground. With a "bang", a piece of gravel rose up. Wang Tiezhu lowered his head and wiped his sweat. The gravel hit Wang Tiezhu's eyes. He only heard "Oh!"
"With a scream, Wang Tiezhu covered his eyes with one hand, and blood was already flowing out from his fingers.
Wang Bao, who had been following him, saw that Wang Tiezhu was injured and hurriedly stepped forward to check. Unexpectedly, he made a mistake and stepped on the gravel. His foot stumbled. His body suddenly lost his balance and fell to the ground with a "plop".
His head hit the tip of the iron pickaxe on the ground, and with a "puff" sound, it passed through him, his limbs twitched, and he could not see his life.
All the villagers rushed forward and rushed the father and son to the hospital. By the time Wang Li arrived wailing, Wang Bao had already died. As for Wang Tiezhu, one of his eyes was disabled.
After the leopard was convinced that he was dead, he just stayed there and kept muttering: "Mountain ghost...Mountain ghost..."
six:
The next day, Wang Tiezui's family suddenly moved away from Wangjiaji and settled in a small village more than ten miles away from Wangjiaji. Before leaving, Wang Tiezui told the villagers that Wangjiaji could no longer be inhabited.
, the green dragon dies, and the mountain ghost comes out. If it continues to live, it will cause death or injury.
However, all the villagers have lived in Wangjiaji for so long. No one is willing to abandon their home easily. No one is willing to move away from Wangjiaji.
At the same time, Mrs. Wang and Li reported Wang Tiezui to the police station, claiming that Wang Tiezui had designed to kill her three sons and maim her husband in order to fight for the ancestral land.
Guan Tian, let alone three lives, the police quickly conducted an investigation and also conducted a custody interrogation of Wang Tiezui.
A few days later, Wang Tiezui was fined 3,000 yuan and released. The police announced the results and said that after strict verification, all this was an accidental incident and the murder of three sons in Wang Tiezhu's family had nothing to do with Wang Tiezui. However,
Wang Tiezui spread feudal superstitious ideas, made alarmist remarks, and deceived people's hearts. He was fined 3,000 yuan as a warning.
The stone jars dug under the Wang family ancestral hall hide fish and the caves under the stone jars are because the ancestors of the Wang family came here from thieves from Shandong. It is very likely that the ancestors of the Wang family hid the looted property. After investigation, the caves were found
There is nothing inside, and a stone jar is placed above it just to mark the location.
After Wang Tiezui was fined, he kept silent about the matter, but refused to move back to Wangjiaji. The matter soon came to an end.
But the strange thing is that from then on, Wangjiaji was no longer peaceful. Either the East family caused disaster, or the West family caused disaster. There were more and more bizarre things. Many families moved away from Wangjiaji, and Wangjiaji gradually fell into decline.
Three to five years later, it turned into a deserted village.
As for the mountain ghost's theory, since Wang Tiezui kept silent, there is no way to know the real story. It became a topic of conversation among the people in the nearby villages around ten miles and eighty miles away.