Mr. Zeng, whose surname is Zeng, whose given name is Yun, and whose courtesy name is Ruxuan, comes from an official position.
Being an official means having power; having power means having money; the ancestors were rich, so he was born with money.
At that time, only rich people could afford to study, so Mr. Zeng was not only rich but also famous.
Of course, the little fame he has only allows him to hire servants (without fame, the family cannot use servants, and even with money), he has never been an official; he has no need to be,
Because relying solely on the inheritance left by his ancestors, even if he does nothing, he can still live a life of good food and clothing.
However, as the saying goes...people who have no long-term worries must have immediate worries.
Mr. Zeng is not stupid. He understands that no matter how rich you are, if you are not protected by power, you will not be stable in the long run.
Therefore, many years ago, he very smartly married his only daughter to a young and promising official in the court, and spent a lot of money to provide for this son-in-law; now, his son-in-law is the Minister of Industry
Minister Zeng also has two grandsons; his son-in-law is very grateful to him, and the interests of the two families are also closely tied together, so Master Zeng can be regarded as a very important person not only in the local area, but also in the whole country.
A powerful person.
However, at the end of summer in the 18th year of Yongtai's reign, a series of strange events suddenly occurred in the Zeng Mansion, which had always been peaceful and peaceful.
Looking back now, the cause of that incident should have been half a month ago...
There were two helpers in the kitchen of Zeng Mansion, a pair of brothers, one named He Da and the other named He Er. One day, when they were pushing a swill cart out to pour swill, He Er happened to see He Er by the river.
There was something shining on the grass in the sun. He looked closer out of curiosity and found that it was a carp made of glass.
From our modern point of view, this thing is roughly a degraded version of the "Eight Stars and Eight Arrows 998 Crystal Diamond". The cost is unimaginably low, but with Dashu's chemical level and industrial capabilities, this thing is
It's quite rare, and you can get a lot of money even if you take it to a pawn shop.
The He brothers are just ordinary people living at the bottom. They don't have the ideological consciousness of "find the owner of something valuable quickly". After picking up something valuable, their first thought was: "Oh my God, this time"
It’s an eye-opener that my brothers got such a big deal.”
In their mind, if they pick up this thing, it already belongs to them. Even if the owner comes to visit them afterwards, they may not be willing to give it back... at least they have to receive some benefit.
So, on the way back home, the two people were already eagerly discussing how to sell the thing afterwards, how to divide the money from the sale, how to spend it after the division, etc.
That night, both of them were too excited to sleep, but because there were others around them, they couldn't discuss the matter openly, so they could only hold it in.
At midnight, they were really tired, so they fell asleep one after another.
Rich families had a special room for their servants to sleep in, which was similar to today's dormitories. The He brothers and four other people slept in one room, a big bunk, and the two brothers' bunks were next to each other.
Because they were afraid of being seen by others, they never took out the "fish" they picked up during the day, and kept it in He Er's arms. He didn't mind sleeping like this.
In this way, it lasted until the first moment of Yinshi.
In today’s terms, it’s around three o’clock in the morning, which is when people sleep most deeply.
suddenly……
Outside the window of the servant's room, there was a series of strange noises.
At first the sound was very soft, like the sound of branches being blown by the wind and brushing against the window paper, but then it became louder and more urgent.
The He brothers were too tired and slept deeply and did not hear anything. However, a servant named Zhao Daqiang who lived in the same room with them was more startled when he was sleeping. Not long after, he was awakened by the sound.
Zhao Daqiang was just in his early twenties. He was a young man with a strong temper. He didn't think much about it. He sat there for a while and then got up and went out. He wanted to see what the sound was about and went to the toilet on the way.
He thought he might have heard the noise of a wild cat or an owl in the tree. Unexpectedly, he pushed the door open and turned his head...
Then he saw that under the moonlight, a black unknown object with a salty smell was standing less than half a meter away from him, and it was half a head taller than him.
As soon as this thing came into view, Zhao Daqiang lost all sleep in an instant, and his whole body felt as cold as if he had fallen into an ice cave; in that moment, he only felt a stream of hot blood rushing from the soles of his feet to his forehead, making him
Feeling dizzy, pupils constricted, and whole body shaking.
And his eyes, which gradually adapted to the dim light, finally saw clearly after a few seconds... The black thing in front of him was a long, sticky black thing that had been soaked in water for who knows how long. It had become as sticky as water plants.
There was a pale human face staring at him with a pair of rolled-up white eyes.
Fortunately, he was a young man. If it had been a woman or an old man, he would have fainted even if he had not been frightened to death on the spot.
Zhao Daqiang was fine, but his legs felt weak and he sat down on the ground. He yelled and choked in his throat, but he couldn't get out...
A few seconds later, his pants were wet. The warm touch brought him back to his senses. His throat was no longer blocked, and he immediately shouted: "Help! There is a ghost!"
In the middle of the night, his voice was very lively... Not only the servants, but also the master and his wife were awakened by this hoarse shout.
The quickest ones to arrive at the scene were the five people lying in the room next to him, but when they came out, there was no one around except Zhao Daqiang who was sitting on the ground and peed his pants.
Not long after, the housekeeper and other servants arrived. They gave Zhao Daqiang two mouthfuls of hot water and slapped him twice before he calmed down and recounted what had just happened.
But when asked where his "ghost" had gone, he couldn't tell. He only said that as soon as he looked away slightly, the ghost disappeared.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Then, the hour or so before dawn became very difficult... Everyone in the Zeng family, including Mr. Zeng who listened to the butler's report, all
I didn't dare to close my eyes again.
People at that time were afraid of this. Even if they had never seen it, they were more or less in awe of ghosts and gods. So Master Zeng immediately ordered all the servants to wake up and hold lanterns in their backyards.
...that is, patrol back and forth within the Xiaoyaojin area, and report any abnormalities immediately.
It went on like this until dawn. As soon as the sun came out, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After all, the evil spirits couldn't see the sun.
This matter has been settled for the time being.
At this time, He Dahe Erke didn't feel that this matter had anything to do with him...
That afternoon, while they were taking out their swill, they sneaked to a nearby pawn shop and tried to sell the glass fish.
As soon as the pawn shop clerk saw this thing, he called the shopkeeper out. The shopkeeper took it and looked at it for a while, then gave up and asked He Dahe Er to take it away, saying that they would not accept it.
The He brothers didn't understand why the pawn shop didn't accept the items. But when they asked again, the shopkeeper didn't say anything and just told them to take the items away quickly, otherwise he would throw them out.
The He brothers had no choice but to take the things back, thinking that when they came out tomorrow, they would go further away and ask at other pawn shops.
So that day, they brought the glass fish back to the Zeng Mansion and hid it in He Er's arms.
That night, there was not much movement, nothing to say all night long.
Unexpectedly, early the next morning, He Da opened his eyes and saw that He Er was missing. He Da thought to himself at that time: Could it be that my brother took the things and ran away?
He quickly got up and asked everyone in the courtyard to look for him, but no one had seen He Er.
He DaNa was furious, thinking that He Er must have abandoned him and ran away. Maybe He Er had already squandered the money from selling things, left Luzhou, and went to do small business elsewhere.
But if you really want to look for it, the world is so big and He Er’s appearance is nothing special, so where can he go to find it?
Thinking of this, He Da regretted that his intestines were green. He believed in his younger brother so much and kept putting the fish in his brother's place. In the end, he lost both his personal and financial resources.
Another day later, the housekeeper found He Da and asked him where his brother had gone and why he didn't come to work. He Da could only answer that he didn't know; the He brothers were just helpers and did not sell themselves into the Zeng Mansion.
Once the wages were paid, he could leave at any time, so when He Er disappeared on his own before the wages were paid, the housekeeper would not ask any more questions. After all, there were one or two people in the mansion.
Just like that, on the third day... two things happened.
The first thing - Zhao Daqiang died of illness.
Since the night of the "ghost collision", Zhao Daqiang has been sick, unable to eat or sleep. He went to the doctor to see him, but they couldn't find any illness. They could only treat him as being overly frightened and arrest him casually.
Here are some tips to help you calm down and fall asleep.
But that medicine made him vomit as soon as he drank it...and he didn't even take a few sips.
He is just a little servant, so the house cannot arrange any special and thoughtful care for him. It would be nice if they could give him a small room alone to lie down and recuperate.
In this way, he went without eating, drinking or sleeping for several days. In the evening of that day, when someone came into the house to see him, he was lying there dead.
Almost at the same moment, also in the backyard of Zeng Mansion, a second thing happened - He Er's body floated up from Xiaoyao Pond.
In just half an hour, two dead people were found in succession. This is no small matter.
Zhao Daqiang's death was easy to handle. He had been sold to the Zeng Mansion since he was a child. No one cared about him, let alone death from illness or beating. But He Er's death... was not easy to handle.
He Er died in your Zeng Mansion without any explanation, and he still has a brother alive. They are not from your Zeng Mansion, they are just helpers. You have to give an explanation to the owner of the suffering, right?
At first, Mr. Zeng didn't want to report to the government, so he just thought that He Er had drowned because of his own mistake, and he just gave his brother some money to send him away.
And this is so big, and the idea is simple. Although he doesn't know how his brother drowned, since everyone is dead, he thinks: The "fish" on my brother's body is now mine.
I'm old enough. I can't make a living by working as a helper for the rest of my life. But I want to sell the fish and take the money the Zeng Mansion compensates me. I'll use the money to do a small business and marry.
A daughter-in-law, not bad.
Thinking of this, he felt that his brother's death was nothing to be sad about, and could even be said to be a happy thing; he didn't even bother to find out how his brother died...
Unexpectedly, when he later asked the housekeeper if his brother had any relics, the housekeeper told him that there was nothing; and the money compensated to him by the Zeng Mansion was not as good as he had expected.
He Da was so anxious that he thought someone had stolen "his fish", but he couldn't tell clearly, because if people asked about the origin of this thing, he couldn't answer, so he just said,
He asked the Zeng family to pay him twenty taels of silver.
What is the concept of twenty taels of silver in Dashu? Let's put it this way, one tael of silver is equivalent to regular money, that is, one thousand cash. In terms of purchasing power... today, it can probably buy 500 kilograms of potatoes.
Master Zeng is rich, but it is impossible for him to agree to such a request. If he agrees to your request today, tomorrow ten gangsters who are a hundred times more rogue than you may come to your door and use similar methods to blackmail you.
However, people's lives were at stake, and Mr. Zeng had a good reputation in the local area. He did not want to bully others unless he had to, so he had no choice but to report to the official position.
As soon as the government officials came, the common people who were watching the excitement and passing on gossips naturally came. Not only the incident of He Er drowning in a strange way, but also the incident of Zhao Daqiang being frightened to death by the "water ghost" soon became a reality.
It became a topic that people in Luzhou talked about after dinner.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! What's the matter? The job is no longer available, but he has nowhere else to go, and even if there is, he doesn't want to until he gets the money.
Go, so he stayed in Zeng Mansion.
The housekeeper was afraid that he would disturb other servants, so he arranged a separate room for him, took care of his food, and said he could stay there until the government found out the results.
One night a few days later, He Dazheng was sleeping alone in his room. In the darkness, his brother He Er's voice suddenly sounded in his ears: "Brother, I died so miserably..."
When He Da heard this, he woke up with a fright. He couldn't tell whether it was a dream or reality. But at this moment, his hand... touched something - a strip of glass that was still wet on the surface.
fish.
"Ah!" At that moment, He Da was so frightened that he lost his mind.
Before he could figure out what was going on, he suddenly heard...
Hiss—hiss—
Outside the window, there began to be a series of strange noises.
Regarding this strange noise, He Dakou had heard Zhao Daqiang tell it with his own ears. Now that he recalled it, a thought flashed through his mind: "Could it be that... the ghost Zhao Daqiang encountered was running this way from the beginning?"
From the fish?”
Hiss, hiss, hiss...
The sounds outside became more and more urgent. He Da was so frightened that he lay down under the bed with his head in his hands and shouted for help.
I don’t know how long it took, but the sound stopped, and then, there were several people calling the door.
I think someone heard the call for help and came over.
He Da mustered up the courage to climb out from under the bed board and opened the door. He was relieved when he saw the housekeeper and several servants holding lanterns at the door.
At this point, he really couldn't hide it any more. That night, he told the butler the whole story and took out the "glazed fish". The butler then showed the thing to Mr. Zeng.
, recounting He Da’s story.
Mr. Zeng is a scholar, so he doesn't understand this. Just think that the glass fish is an evil thing, and just find a deserted place to bury it. As for He Da, give him ten taels, and let him go if he likes it or not.
people.
Early the next morning, He Da took the money and left the Zeng Mansion. The victims had all run away, and the government stopped investigating the case of his brother He Er.
As for the "glazed fish", the housekeeper ordered several servants to specially choose a day when the sky was high and the Yang energy was at its strongest. He ran to a wasteland outside the city, dug a fairly deep pit, and buried it on the spot.
I thought that the matter would come to an end, but...
A few days later, Mr. Zeng’s second wife was suddenly found dead suddenly in his room. The corpse’s hands were clasped in front of its chest, holding a glass fish tightly in its hands...
………………
Huang Donglai ordered a pot of wine for the strange old man at a roadside wine shop and listened to him tell the story vividly.
After hearing this, Huang Donglai's first question was: "Well... this old man, let alone whether this matter is really so evil... why did you explain it in such detail, as if you had witnessed it with your own eyes?
"
"Hey! Boy, don't believe it." The old man replied quite confidently, "I heard it from Grandma Li from Lao Li's house next door."
"Did Grandma Li from Lao Li's house next door see it with her own eyes?" Huang Donglai asked again.
"She didn't see it, but she heard it from her grandson's friend's cousin," the old man added.
"Then the cousin of her grandson's friend..." When Huang Donglai came here, he couldn't stand listening anymore. He turned to say, "Hey~ just tell me where the source of this news is."
"That's the steward of the Zeng Mansion, Zeng Su." The old man replied, "He knows all about these things. He told him personally to Mr. Zhou at the Yamen Gate, and Mr. Zhou knew about it.
, his brothers who are government officials will naturally know about it, and then..."
"Okay...there's no need to mention 'and then'." Huang Donglai stopped the other party from continuing to be poor, and asked, "By the way, when did the second wife of the Zeng family die?"
"Just yesterday," the old man said, "the body has been left in the room all day and night, and no one dared to touch it. Today, Mr. Zeng and the county magistrate discussed it and asked the police to put the second lady's body together with the glass
Take the fish together and send it directly to the temple, and ask the monks to recite sutras and live a spiritual life for a few days to see if the matter can be settled."
"Well...yesterday..." Huang Donglai touched his chin and said, "The people who died yesterday have become known throughout the city today. The people here really love to gossip..."
"Xiao Sha." The old man smiled, "Ha...don't you also like to listen to gossip? Why else would you buy me a drink?"
Huang Donglai thought, yes; this is not the world he had before. People can stare at mobile phones and computers all day long, looking for almost unlimited information and fun on the Internet... Here, there is not even a newspaper, and people don't just love it.
Are they gossiping about each other in an exaggerated manner?
After a while, Huang Donglai remembered that he still had things to do, so he put down his drink money, said goodbye to the old man, and went to the high-speed rail gang's branch.
Originally, I just listened to this matter for fun, didn't pay attention to it, and didn't plan to take care of it.
But what Huang Donglai didn't know was... that he was destined to be associated with these gods, ghosts, mysterious and strange things in his life; in the end, instead of looking for trouble, trouble came to him...