Cai Weigong, a scholar, often said: "Ghosts have three tricks: one is to confuse people, the other is to hinder people, and the third is to scare people." Someone asked: "What are the specific manifestations of these three tricks?" Cai Weigong told the following story.
"My cousin Lu is a scholar, a native of Songjiang, with a bold personality, and calls himself 'Mr. Open-minded'. Once, while passing by Maohu Xixiang, the sky gradually darkened. He suddenly saw a woman in front of him, her face smeared with makeup. Holding a rope, she ran in panic. When she found Lv, she ran away under a big tree to hide. The rope she originally held in her hand fell to the ground. Lv picked it up and saw that it was a straw rope. He smelled it with his nose and found that there was a damp and bad smell on the rope. Knowing that he had encountered a hanged man, he hid the straw rope in his arms and kept walking forward.
The woman came out from behind the tree and stepped forward to block Lu's way. When Lv went to the left, she would stop him on the left; when Lv went to the right, she would stop him on the right. Lu thought that this was the proverbial "ghost beating the wall", so he simply rushed forward and passed by. The ghost had no choice but to let out a long scream, then changed into an appearance with disheveled hair and bloody face. It stretched out its ruler-long tongue and jumped up and down in front of Lu. Lv said: 'You first drew on your eyebrows and put on makeup to confuse me, then you blocked my way in front to stop me; now you make an ugly and fearful look to scare me. You have used up all three of your tricks, but I am still not afraid. You must have no other tricks to use. Did you know that I am the one nicknamed "Mr. Open-minded"? '
Then, the ghost showed its true form, knelt on the ground and said, "I used to live in the city, my surname is Shi. I had an argument with my husband. I couldn't figure it out, so I hanged myself to death." Today I found out that a woman from a certain family east of Mao Lake was also at odds with her husband, so I went all the way to find her to be my substitute. Unexpectedly, my husband cut off my path halfway and took away my rope. I really had no other tricks to use, so I just begged my husband to help me transcend life. "Lv asked the ghost how to be reborn, and the ghost said: "Tell the Shi family in the city for me, and ask the Shi family to help me do a dojo, and ask the eminent monk to recite the "Rebirth Mantra" several times, and I can be reborn. . Lv smiled and said, "I am an eminent monk. I have the Rebirth Mantra and I can recite it for you." 'Immediately chanted loudly: 'What a big world, there is no obstruction, no obstacles, death, death, life, birth, what is the need to replace it with life! If you want to go, go quickly, wouldn't it be so refreshing! After listening to Lu's singing, the ghost suddenly realized, fell on the ground, worshiped again and again, and ran away in a hurry. Later, the locals said that this area had never been peaceful and that there had been no ghosts since Mr. Huanda arrived. "