As the saying goes, "The soul of a dead person never leaves the body, let alone one who died unjustly." It was midnight when a boy with a red rope tied around his head and a silver lock around his neck climbed out from the lonely building in Huaiyuan. Zhang Xiaobian and the other two were shocked and stood there in amazement. Their souls jumped out of their bodies and flew away to who knows where.
At this time, the black cat seemed to have sensed something as well, and suddenly "meowed" a few times. In the dark night, the cat's eyes shone brightly, flashing like torches. Zhang Xiaobian and Sun Damazi didn't know what to do, and when they heard the cat's meowing next to them, it was like snow water pouring over their heads. They came to their senses immediately and thought that "Lou's Huaiyuan" was indeed an extremely dangerous place. If they were entangled by the unjustly killed little ghost, they would probably never be able to turn over in this life.
In Lingzhou, people have different customs every ten miles, but the custom of using black cats to ward off evil spirits has existed since ancient times and everyone knows it. Zhang Xiaobian thought of this and was about to throw the black cat out to fight back, as he wanted to do it once and for all. This is called fighting first and talking later. However, he saw a flash of light in front of him and the naked child flashed past him. In a moment, there was no trace of him. It was pitch dark in the deep of the building and he could not see anything. He had no idea where he had hidden.
Zhang Xiaobian and Sun Damazi were shocked and surprised. They didn't know what evil thing had come into the house to cause such trouble. Was there really a ghost in the haunted house? But they were sure that there were gold, silver, and jade in the Huai Garden. They were so excited that they would not give up. They immediately picked up the lantern and bravely went to the building to investigate.
Xiaofeng did not have their courage and bravery. When she saw the ghost in the building, she panicked. Moreover, she had been frightened all day and had never eaten anything decent, so she was very weak. She fell down immediately and lost consciousness.
Sun Damazi was a man of integrity. When he saw Xiaofeng lying unconscious, he quickly turned around and held her up. He said to Zhang Xiaobian, "Third brother, Xiaofeng can't stand being frightened. If we don't take care of her, she'll die ."
Zhang Xiaobian stamped his feet and cursed, "This widow who stole her husband's child is a thief who only wants to ruin the Third Master's good deeds!" But when he saw the cold wind and the overwhelming resentment in the locust garden, he couldn't help feeling scared. He didn't dare to take the risk to go into the building alone. He had to carry Xiaofeng with Sun Damazi and ran out of the door like a puff of smoke.
Who would have thought that this run would turn him into an ant on hot ground – he could not stand still for a moment. He saw that the sky was covered with dark clouds and the moon was covered by cold wind. In the desolate and quiet "Huai Garden", the dead branches and twigs were shaking and rustling. In the middle of the night, it sounded as if countless children were hiding in every corner and crying. In such a huge abandoned garden of the Lou family, there was not a single peaceful movement. He had to rush out of the gate and fled all the way to the "Cat Fairy Temple" at the end of the street before stopping.
Late at night, a large group of wild cats often gathered in this ancient temple. The wild cats lay on the beams, eaves and tiles, and looked at the three uninvited guests curiously. Zhang Xiaobian and Sun Damazi worked together to lift Xiaofeng to the dusty altar, and they pinched her Ren Zhong acupoint and stimulated her qi and blood circulation. After a lot of hard work, they finally woke her up.
Xiao Feng was still pale, and as soon as she woke up she started crying, "Have you two been possessed by ghosts? I don't know what bloody incident happened in that mansion that caused the ghost to linger around and show such a fierce appearance. Now it's better for you to escape with your lives, and don't go back to look for gold, silver, and jade."
Sun Damazi said, "It seems that ghosts and evil spirits do exist, and that child died very unfairly. I'm afraid none of his relatives knew about it, so they have not been able to be liberated until now. Maybe there is some great injustice. Since we have encountered it, we naturally want to give him justice. How can we just stand by and watch? Sister Xiaofeng, you are a woman, you don't have to take such risks. Just stay here and wait. Brother Zhang and I will go to find out the truth."
Although Zhang Xiaobian was one or two years younger than the two, he was far superior to his peers in terms of his insight and quick wit in "observing the scenery and taking appropriate measures", and he often had some self-righteous thoughts. He thought carefully at this time. In addition to seeing a boy in the lonely building, there seemed to be many little ghosts crying at night in the locust tree garden. The movement was very unusual. If it was said that the "haunted house" was haunted, it was reasonable to die in this day and age , but so many children died in the locust tree bushes, which seemed very strange.
According to Taoist lore, "boys making trouble in the house" is a sign of the destruction of a family. However, the incident in Huaiyuan was very strange. When Zhang Xiaobian was young, he followed an old Taoist who traveled around and told fortunes. He had heard and seen a lot of things from the outside world since he was a child. He also believed in the story of encountering immortals in the golden coffin tomb. He even dreamed of getting a windfall in "Huaiyuan".
"Lingzhou" is a prosperous ancient city with a history of thousands of years. Since ancient times, there have been many wealthy and luxurious merchants. In the old society, many rich people had the custom of burying gold and silver, so there are countless legends of "burying money in old houses". Gold and silver buried underground for many years will turn into monsters. As the saying goes "everything has its owner", and only when they meet the person who is really destined to collect the money will they show supernatural powers.
It is said that during the Yongle reign of the previous dynasty, there was also a haunted house in Lingzhou City. There was a failed scholar from another province. He was poor and had nowhere to go. He could only rely on writing letters for a living. One day, it rained heavily, and the poor scholar accidentally hid in the haunted house. He had just arrived here and naturally did not know how serious it was. Seeing that the house was tidy, he stayed there overnight.
Who knew that at night the house would be haunted. The candle on the bedside would light up for no reason, and a group of little people in plain clothes, less than an inch tall, both men and women, would crawl in through the crack in the door. They were carrying a small coffin, beating drums and gongs, crying as they walked, and they were passing by the scholar's bed.
The scholar was so shocked that he didn't know what kind of monster it was. He could only lie on his side on the bed and dared not move. Then he saw a group of little people who were attending a funeral came to the head of the bed. Suddenly, they stopped their footsteps and stopped crying. They made faces and gathered together to whisper. The scholar heard it and it seemed that they were asking, "Why is there a living person in this room today?"
The scholar was just feeling terrified when he suddenly saw a young woman in mourning clothes walking out from the crowd. Although she was only an inch tall, she was wearing heavy makeup, had a graceful figure, and was dressed beautifully. Unexpectedly, she climbed onto the bed, pointed at the scholar's nose, and started cursing at him, using obscene and vicious words.
The scholar was always weak and frail. Although he was scolded, he did not dare to say anything back. He just begged for mercy and life. A group of villains came forward and said harsh words, saying that this "immortal house" was not a place where vulgar people could enter and leave casually. They had to eat the scholar alive to vent their anger.
After the scholar begged hard, someone finally said that it would not be difficult to go back in the world, but my master passed away a few days ago, and the coffin is here. You poor guy, kowtow a few times in front of the coffin and call out a few nice and pleasant names to make our mistress smile, and I will spare your life and temporarily put your donkey's head on her neck.
Seeing that there was a way out, the scholar dared not disrespect the emperor. He immediately stood up and kowtowed respectfully to the small coffin, calling him "Grandpa Immortal."
The little people in mourning seemed to be deliberately making things difficult for us. They shook their heads and said, "We are immortals. Although the title of Great Immortal is noble, we are tired of hearing it all the time. It's nothing strange."
The scholar was afraid that they would regret and eat him alive, so he quickly changed his words and said, "The coffin of the virtuous king is above. Please accept my humble greetings."
The mourning villains were immediately furious: "It is absolutely inappropriate to call you the Great King. The Great King is not as dignified as the Great Immortal. How dare you, a poor fellow, take advantage of our ignorance?"
As the saying goes, "When luck is bad, slaves bully their masters; when times are bad, ghosts play tricks on people." The scholar had always been a coward and submissive, never daring to say a word when being bullied by others. He had no choice but to beg for mercy again: "Please forgive me, immortals. I really can't think of any other name. Do I have to call you Your Majesty to suit my heart?"
Those vicious villains said: "Your Highness is the title of the Emperor. We are among the immortals, so how can we like the title of worldly kings? You don't look like an incurable bookworm. Now I will teach you a lesson. You might as well respect my master as the most holy and wise old teacher."
This time it was the scholar's turn to be angry. It turned out that he had read too much and didn't know the worldly ways. He just respected his teachers and regarded the books of sages as more important than his own life. It would have been fine if he had begged for mercy before, but how dare a group of monsters pretend to be Confucian sages? Hearing this, he immediately got furious. He jumped up as high as he could, took off his shoes and held them in his hands, cursing, "I fuck your ancestors, you are really insulting!" While cursing, he raised his hand and swung the broken shoes, looking at the crowd and smashing them, breaking up the coffin and the spirit flags. The "mistress" who was the leader was beaten into a meat pie on the spot by the rotten soles of the shoes.
Those little figures who were carrying the coffin and crying were terrified and ran to the crack in the door to escape. The scholar was very angry. He thought that honest people were easy to bully, and it was even more terrifying when they were pushed into a corner. The scholar was like a dragon trapped in water encountering clouds and rain, or a ferocious tiger and leopard showing its claws and fangs. He chased after them like a madman and just kept beating them. He rushed all the way to the kitchen, where he saw those little figures all hide in the crack of a water tank and disappeared.
The scholar got used to the beating and broke the water jar, but he found that the bottom of the jar had leaked, and there was nothing inside the jar. There was only a cellar hidden underneath, which was full of gold ingots. Going back to the room where he had just slept, he saw mostly yellow and white things. Then he realized that it was the spirits of gold and silver that had become old spirits and were causing trouble. It was destined that he would have unexpected wealth, and it was considered that the good met the right master, and finally he became rich.
This incident was widely circulated in "Lingzhou City". Zhang Xiaobian told it at this time, thinking that the abnormalities in "Huaiyuan" were most likely of the same kind. Some wealth was buried there, but no one knew what kind of rare treasure it was that could transform into the appearance of a boy and appear at night. If it was not dug out quickly, it would turn into an immortal or a demon sooner or later, and there would be no trace of it anymore.
Sun Damazi was impatient and wanted to find out the true identity immediately, while Zhang Xiaobian was so poor that he couldn't wait until dawn. They both felt that Xiaofeng was born to be poor and that people with such a thin fate could not get rich, so they left her alone in the temple to wait, then put out the lights, caught the "Moon Shadow Golden Tiger" who was playing with the wild cats, and went back to "Huaiyuan" with the cat to look for treasures again.
Zhang Xiaobian and Sun Damazi steeled their hearts and threw off their bags, figuring that it was almost four o'clock in the morning. After daybreak, Tie Zhanggui would definitely come to collect the keys, and there was no time to delay. They were "anxious as arrows and quick as the wind" and trotted back to the gate of the old house in Huaiyuan. They followed the same route to find the solitary building in the bushes at the back of the house. The building was silent at this time, and there was no one in sight.
The two of them walked into the building one after the other with lanterns in hand, and they felt something was wrong with their feet, as if something was poking their feet. They lowered the lanterns to take a look, and saw a lot of "chopsticks" scattered on the floor of the room. These chopsticks were in disorder, not only new but also old, and each one was different, and even pairs could not be found. Some of the chopsticks seemed to be rough and simple from ordinary people's homes, while others were exquisitely made from wealthy families. Just a quick look showed that there were all kinds of materials such as rhinoceros horn, ebony, bamboo, ivory, and silver-plated.
Zhang Xiaobian was suspicious. How could there be so many "hundreds of chopsticks" in the "Huai Garden"? He had no idea at the moment, but he felt something was wrong. He held up a lantern and looked around. At this time, he heard a child crying behind him. Zhang Xiaobian and Sun Damazi were not expecting it at all. They were a little surprised. They hurried to look behind them. They were even more surprised. It turned out that there was a cave in the corner behind the door. The entrance of the cave was wide enough for a person to fit in, but it was bottomless inside. The cold wind was blowing inside, and the crying sound came from the cave intermittently.
Zhang Xiaobian hugged the black cat tightly and went to the cave entrance to look down. The lonely building was particularly gloomy. If you don't get close, you won't easily find a big hole on the ground behind the door. The black cat became more and more uneasy when it reached the cave. It was so scared that the fur on its tail stood up. It cried "woohoo" and tried to break free and run away. Zhang and Sun didn't pay attention to it. Instead, they thought: "The naked child may have crawled into the cave. What on earth is this place?" He thought again: "If a man has no ambition to be rich and noble, he will be in vain. Now it's terrible. This is the ghost palace of Senluo Yama. We must go and explore it before we can make any decisions."