The afterglow dyed the feathery clouds red and dragged them all the way to the sky.
The glow falls on the reeds, vegetables, jujube trees, and lentil seedlings on the lakeside. A gust of wind sways slightly, making people feel peaceful and warm.
Yu Sheng went back to pack his things, while Aunt Qing stood by the fence talking to the God of Agriculture.
She couldn't see the god of agriculture, but she could feel it and hear it.
What surprised her was that Yu Sheng could actually come into contact with ghosts and even see their appearance clearly.
As far as she knew, Yu Sheng's talents should not include such abilities.
When everyone was taking a rest after finishing their work in the vegetable garden, Yu Sheng walked out of the backyard, holding a food box in his hand to greet Aunt Qing.
Hearing that Yu Sheng was going to the lake to sacrifice his mother, the little white fox and Cao'er also followed.
It is a rare custom in the north to put out river lanterns, and Cao'er really wanted to put one out at night.
For the rest of her life, her mother was buried in the belly of a fish, so she was worshiped in the lake.
He pointed to the lake, "There are ghosts and monsters there. Be careful and they will catch you in the water and eat them."
Cao'er and Little White Fox were frightened when they heard this, and allowed Yu Sheng and Aunt Qing to walk out from the backyard.
Ye Zigao was very surprised, "It's just grass. What kind of monster do you think you, a demon fox, are afraid of?"
The little white fox flicked its tail and ignored him, but Cao'er blushed.
There is a pier in the town, behind the shrine.
As we walked through the street, some folks in the town were already eating at the door.
When they saw Yu Sheng carrying the river lantern, they said kindly: "Little fish, don't fall into the water again."
On the day after the old man was laid to rest, Yu Sheng went to the lake alone to worship his mother. When he was lighting a river lantern, he accidentally fell into the lake.
Fortunately, Yu Sheng's water quality is good and he can swim in the lake like a fish, otherwise he would have drowned.
The folks in the town thought he was frightened last time, so few people mentioned spending the rest of his life in sacrifice to his mother.
Actually no, I will be frightened by water ghosts for the rest of my life.
When passing the City Lord's Shrine, Aunt Qing went in and took a quick look, "Yes, although the painting is not very beautiful, it already looks similar."
Yu Sheng wondered, "Have you met the city lord?"
Aunt Qing nodded, "We are old acquaintances."
Yu Sheng was delighted, "Then you can..."
"Pa", Aunt Qing slapped him on the back of the head.
"What are you doing?" Yu Sheng was unconvinced.
"Let you say things you shouldn't say."
"I haven't said it yet."
"I already know what you're going to say."
The small pier behind the shrine is almost unused. Even the fisherman Uncle Gen only fishes in the river and rarely in the lake.
But there is always a small boat at the dock.
Yu Sheng rowed the boat, and my aunt stood on the bow, watching the reeds slowly parting in front of the boat.
The sky has darkened, and the reeds are dark from inside. Only the tips of the reeds have a faint light.
The boat disturbed the white bird in the reeds, and it flew up to the sky alone, flying eastward under the light of the setting sun.
By the time the boat rowed out of the reeds, the sky had darkened, and only the clouds in the western mountains had a glimmer of glow.
"It's not a festival, so I don't know what to worship." Yu Sheng complained as he glanced around.
Aunt Qing saw him looking around and asked, "Are you afraid of something?"
"Of course not..." Yu Sheng stopped mid-sentence and said angrily: "Fuck, here we go again."
Aunt Qing also heard it. She was somewhere in the lake and shouted in a seductive voice, "Yu Sheng, Yu Sheng, Yu Sheng."
Yu Sheng said: "So what if I agree? You didn't get into trouble last time."
"Then you promise." The voice slowly approached.
"Hey, there are other people." One person said.
"Is it Lao Yu?"
"No, he is already dead."
"Then we can't go up?"
"You are so afraid of living people, when will you be able to seduce people and support them?" The third one couldn't bear to urge.
"If you can't support me, I can't support you. It's fine in the water."
Aunt Qing smiled, as if it brought back good memories, "Hello, you guys."
"Oh my god, it's her, run, run." The voices of the three people hurried away.
Yu Sheng was surprised, "Do you know these three guys?"
"I don't know." Aunt Qing shook her head, "Did they call you into the water last time?"
"Who knows why I agreed at that time," Yu Sheng said.
It was also evening, so he followed the old man's instructions and went to the lake to tell his mother.
As soon as I put the offerings on the table, I heard someone shouting "Yu Sheng, Yu Sheng" from somewhere in the lake.
Of course Yu Sheng knew that this was a water ghost trying to seduce someone, so he must not agree to it.
But I don’t know why, maybe I’m used to it in my bones?
In short, Yu Sheng agreed by mistake, and then fell into the water with a "plop".
"You really don't have a long memory." Aunt Qing said softly.
Yu Sheng didn't hear it, so he took out a wooden board and said, "Now you know why I didn't come. I might have been eaten by them."
"They don't dare." Aunt Qing said.
Yu Sheng looked at Aunt Qing suspiciously, "Are you familiar with them?"
"do not know."
"Then how do you know they don't dare."
"Guess."
My aunt has made up her mind not to tell the truth, and there will be nothing she can do for the rest of her life.
He placed the offerings on a thin wooden board one by one, including soup dumplings, stir-fried vegetables, pork head meat and mapo tofu.
Aunt Qing said regretfully: "It would be great if it was a fish. Your mother likes fish the most. It would be better if it was deep-sea fish."
Yangzhou faces the sea to the east, so there is no need to worry about sea fish, but deep-sea fish are difficult for ordinary people to eat.
For the rest of her life, she just looked at Aunt Qing, with the dissatisfaction in her eyes clearly visible.
"Don't look at me, it's not the rules I set for the Yu family."
"In other families, the predecessors planted trees and the descendants enjoyed the shade, but the Yu family was the result of the sins of the predecessors and the descendants suffered," Yu Sheng said.
"Click", a fish jumped up from the water and landed in the boat, splashing water all over his face for the rest of his life.
"Bah." Yu Sheng caught it.
"Be careful, Lao Yu pretends to be a corpse." Aunt Qing said.
I can only put it back into the water for the rest of my life.
He took out the fire lanterns, lit the river lanterns and placed them in the water, then placed the wooden boards with the offerings between them.
"Make a wish," Aunt Qing said, "for example, good weather or something."
Yu Sheng looked at her and said, "It's your birthday and you're blowing out the candles."
"almost."
"Not even close."
After arguing for a while, Yu Sheng watched the river lanterns float away with the waves around the offerings.
I was raised by Lao Yu for the rest of my life, and I was very unfamiliar with this mother I had never met before. "What kind of person is she?"
"A very stingy person."
Seeing the river lantern disappearing from sight, Yu Sheng lit a lantern on the bow of the boat and rowed the boat to the shore.
After they landed ashore, they walked around the shrine and saw a piece of white clothing floating silently in front of them in the faint light.
I won’t be afraid of ghosts for the rest of my life, but what kind of monster is a piece of clothing floating around?
He couldn't help but get closer to his aunt, "Who is in front of you?"
Baiyi stopped, turned around, bowed, and made a sniffing sound, "It smells like ghosts."
The voice he made was weak, a little hoarse, and overall it was hard to hear.
Aunt Qing pushed away Yu Sheng, "He is a human being."
"Human?" Yu Sheng took a closer look and found a dark-skinned little old man wrapped in white clothes.
He was skinny and his white clothes were very loose. No wonder Yu Sheng looked like a piece of white clothes floating behind him.
He looked at Yu Sheng with a very eager look, revealing only a few yellow teeth in his mouth, and said with a smile: "Boy, you have met a ghost."
"Yes, I did see a ghost." Yu Sheng was not referring to anyone else.
"I am the Celestial Master of Four Money Catchers. I can help you." The little old man said.