At the beginning of March, the sky just cleared up, and the misty fragrance of peach blossoms made people intoxicated.
The long street paved with bluestone bricks is still moist with water vapor. It was wetted by the early spring drizzle just now and turned into a deep dark blue. When a gust of breeze came suddenly, a few pale pink peach blossoms fell to the stone. on the brick.
The number of pedestrians on the street gradually increased after the rain stopped, and the voices of people were noisy.
A red-edged sedan chair walked through the crowd to the end of the bluestone brick road and turned into a narrow alley on the right.
Although the rain has just stopped outside, the sky is still cloudy, but it is still dazzlingly white. However, after entering this narrow alley, there is an illusion that the whole sky has darkened. The white wall by the alley was high and broken, with dead vines climbing it, a few black wild cats screamed shrilly, and from the top of the wall into the courtyard of a house with closed doors and windows, constant gusts of wind whizzed past the ears By the side, blowing cools people's hearts.
"It's here, it's here, be careful when getting off the sedan chair, don't bump the third master—" a man dressed as a servant yelled, instructing the bearer who carried the sedan chair to drop the sedan chair in front of a simple and old mansion, and then slumped Standing up straight, flatteringly said, "Third Lord, this is the Fang Zhai."
As soon as the servant finished speaking, the car curtain was gently pushed aside by someone.
The skin of that hand was fair, the fingertips were powdery, and it was as slender as a peerless jade. There was a thin red string around the wrist, and a dark, almost black copper coin was strung in the middle of the red string.
"That's it?" the owner of the hand said, his voice was clear and elegant, like a drizzle in spring with affection, but he coughed lightly from time to time while speaking, as if he was in extremely poor health.
"Yes, Mr. Fang and Mrs. Fang are waiting for you at the door." The young servant felt that he had put the stool on the ground, and then moved to the entrance of the sedan chair to help the people in the sedan chair get off the carriage carefully, "Master, be careful Step on the ground."
Seeing the young man in the sedan chair standing firmly on the ground, Fang Boxin rushed to meet him: "Master Su, Fang has been waiting for you for a long time."
The young man who got off the sedan chair was wearing a moon frost-colored brocade gown, with a jade-colored red begonia flower embroidered on his left shoulder. Because of the cold spring, he also tied a white mink cape around his neck.
"Master Fang." The young man raised his hand and smiled lightly at him, before speaking three words, he put his fist against his lips and coughed lightly, his thin eyebrows frowned, and his paper-pale face became even more pale. It's a little white.
Fang Boxin looked at the young man who was about to pass out, and went to help him in fear: "Master Su, are you okay?"
"It's nothing, let Mr. Fang worry about it." Su Jinzhi pushed away Mr. Fang's hand that was supporting him without showing any signs, and looked up at the old mansion.
In the eyes of others, this Fang family mansion is only less crowded, and it is so shady and dead at the end of such a dark and narrow alley, but in the eyes of Su Jinzhi, who has opened his eyes, this house is more than just It's a little gloomy, almost ghostly.
He will definitely have another nightmare when he goes back tonight!
Thinking of this, Su Jinzhi's already precarious body shook violently twice, making people feel as weak as he was about to fall to the ground in the next moment. Fang Boxin was so frightened that he got closer to him, so that Su Jinzhi could help Su Jinzhi when he really fainted. Stop him from falling to the ground: "Master Su, it's very cold outside, why don't we go in and talk about it?"
"Okay...cough..." Su Jinzhi covered his mouth like a tuberculosis ghost and coughed a few more times, his legs trembled even more, and he almost tripped when he stepped into the threshold.
However, after he entered the door, looking at the black and red eyes everywhere, he felt that he was going to faint from fright in the next moment-this Fang's house was almost becoming a private house.
What is a yin house? Yin people live in yin houses, and yang people live in yang houses. Those who live in yang houses are living people, and those who live in yin houses are of course dead people.
The feng shui of the Fang family's mansion is excellent, so when the house is full of living people, it will naturally be a rich house with yang energy; but now the number of dead people living in it is twice as many as the living, and the yang energy cannot hold the yin energy. breath, it becomes a living grave—a place where the dead and the living live together.
Under such circumstances, even at noon, when the yang energy is at its peak, the house will feel gloomy and extremely dark, and it is necessary to light a lamp to see things clearly. But this family's house is covered with red cloth and red curtains everywhere, as if they want to take advantage of this, making it extremely gorgeous, when a candle is lit, the eyes are full of red light, corresponding to the original ghost atmosphere in the house, more like It is the fierce light of blood.
Su Jinzhi could already imagine the scene of a female ghost in red dreaming to sleep with him tonight. His already weak body was so frightened by himself that his breath was stuck in his throat and he almost couldn't catch his breath. The people present thought he was It was an old illness that was about to recur again, so he was helped to sit down on the wooden chair in the hall, served ginseng tea and patted his back.
Su Jinzhi took a sip of the ginseng tea offered by the servant, waved his hand to face the maid who was caressing his back, pretended to be calm and said with a smile, "I'm fine." He still can't die now, even if he dies, he definitely won't die. He would have died from a relapse of his old illness, and he must have been frightened to death by the ghosts that filled the room.
Su Jinzhi asked Fang Boxin: "Master Fang, tell me directly, why did you find me this time?" Explain the reason quickly, and he will leave quickly after it is resolved, and it will be difficult for him to go home after dark.
"Master Su, you must save our Fang family." Fang Boxin took a deep breath, lifted his clothes and was about to kneel down to Su Jinzhi.
Su Jinzhi hurriedly stopped him: "Master Fang, why are you doing this? You and my Su Fang family are family friends. If you have anything to do, I will help you with all my strength. It doesn't have to be like this."
Fang Boxin smiled wryly, shook his head and said, "Mr. Su is too flattering on Fang. How can our Fang family and the Su family be compared? Fang knows that Mr. Su is just recovering from a serious illness, so he shouldn't make you so tired, but I really... no There are other ways..."
"Master Fang, it's okay for you to say it." Su Jinzhi lowered his eyes, not daring to look at the dimly lit room, and he really thought so.
Fang Boxin sighed, and told Su Jinzhi what happened in the Fang family in the past six months in a heavy tone.
The strange things in Fang's house began after Fang Boxin's youngest daughter, Fang Meizhu, came back.
Fang Meizhu is the third daughter of the Fang family. She was loved and loved by Fang Boxin as an eyeball since she was a child. She was sent to study abroad when she was twelve years old. Now she has returned to China at the age of eighteen and is planning to discuss marriage.
But this child has been spoiled since he was a child, and he is very courageous. He often runs out of the square house to play outside alone without a group of servants, and only sneaks back to the house after nightfall.
Fang Boxin and Mrs. Fang often waited for her to come back in the hall, and they would inevitably scold her when they saw her home, but Fang Meizhu refused to change after repeated admonition. Fang Boxin and Mrs. Fang turned a blind eye to the bad reputation they caused outside. Anyway, Fang's family has a big business, and if it is impossible, they can recruit a son-in-law for Fang Meizhu.
After all, Fang Meizhu was a piece of flesh that fell from Mrs. Fang's body. Mrs. Fang loved her dearly. Although she no longer let her go out to play, she waited for her in the hall every night and gave her hot porridge.
As a result, one day after Fang Meizhu came back when she was a child, Mrs. Fang dragged her around all day long, keeping her at home and not allowing her to go out again, and even hid in the Fang family Buddhist hall for several days. Scripture.
Of course Fang Meizhu refused to listen to Mrs. Fang's words. Both Fang Boxin and Mrs. Fang acquiesced in allowing her to go out to play, but suddenly they didn't allow her to go out. Isn't this going to drive her crazy
So one night, Fang Meizhu ran out of the house again while her servants were not paying attention.
Mrs. Fang was shocked, and asked someone to hold a torch to look for Fang Meizhu all night, but the group disappeared in the narrow alley behind Fang's house and never came back. Fang Meizhu, who went out at night, returned to Fang Zhai after dawn, went into her room and fell asleep. After waking up, she insisted that she had not gone out last night. She only said that she heard wild cats outside in the middle of her sleep last night. The barking disturbed her to sleep, she called the maid, but no one paid attention to her, so she had to go out by herself to drive away the stray cat, and after driving the stray cat away, she went back to sleep, and the time before and after was only a stick of incense , it is absolutely impossible to have such a long night.
This was just the first strange thing. From that day on, every night in the Fang family, one person disappeared.
At the beginning no one paid attention to this matter, until after seven days in a row, the missing person caused panic in Fang Zhai, Fang Boxin became anxious, and sent someone to invite the Taoist priest to come to Fang Zhai to exorcise the evil spirits.
The Taoist priest asked people to hang some festive things in the house for celebration, and ordered two red lanterns to be lit at the door, saying it was for warding off evil spirits. He also pasted many talisman papers in the house before leaving. After the Taoist priest came, Fangzhai was indeed quiet for a few days, but not long after, Fangzhai began to disappear one after another. An alley, but no one who entered that alley could ever go out again.
"Then we can't go out too?!" The servants and porters who followed Su Jinzhi heard this, and couldn't help saying, when Master Fang invited their third young master, he didn't make it clear what was so great about it!
Su Jinzhi raised his hand, motioning them to stop talking: "Listen to Master Fang first."
"In fact, there are still people who can get out." Fang Boxin gritted his teeth and looked at Su Jinzhi, if no one could get out of this alley, how could the letter for help reach Su Jinzhi, "I think Mr. Su has already guessed who that person is. "
Oh, this is a test of his ability.
He has the help of No. 1 pseudoscience and true superstition ambassador. Su Jinzhi asked No. 1: "Who is it?"
Number One said flatly, "Guess."
Su Jinzhi said: "I guess it's Fang Meizhu."
"you guessed right."
So Su Jinzhi held up the ginseng tea and took a sip, and said calmly, "It must be the letter from Miss San."
"That's right, it's the letter that Meizhu risked her life to deliver." Fang Boxin heaved a sigh of relief, and said, "As expected of Mr. Su."
"Okay, I know something about the Fang family." Su Jinzhi stood up from the chair, raised his hand and brushed the hem of Shanshuang's white gown, "Master Fang, please take me to see Miss San first."
The people who live in the yin house are almost half-dead. Since ancient times, only the living die, but no dead people live. It is easy for Yang people to enter the yin house, but it is not so easy to get out.
Su Jinzhi also wanted to know what kind of character this Third Miss of the Fang family who was able to walk out of the yin house was.
It's daytime now, and ghosts don't come out, so Su Jinzhi can walk in Fang Zhai with peace of mind, and don't have to be afraid of a ghost jumping out of nowhere to scare him to death.
After Su Jinzhi met Fang Meizhu, the third young lady of the Fang family, he understood why she was able to walk out of the yin house, because the yang energy in her body was so strong that even gods and ghosts avoided it, even though she had lived in the yin house for so long After a long time, the yang energy in his body was still extremely strong, and it was as dazzling as a little sun in this gloomy house.
"Meizhu, Meizhu—" Fang Boxin looked at the door of Fang Meizhu's room, "Come out and meet Mr. Su."
"What is Mr. Su, dad—I said that there are no ghosts in this world..." Fang Meizhu's voice moved from far to near, and finally there was a "creak", and a woman in a tube top dress appeared behind the door .
"You, you, you—" Fang Boxin blushed when he saw his daughter was wearing a foreign dress, with half of her bulging white breasts exposed, "What kind of clothes are you wearing? Ah? I told you not to wear them anymore." ! Go and replace it for me!"
"I always dress like this abroad!" Fang Meizhu yelled back not to be outdone.
Fang Boxin was furious: "This is in China, it's your home!"
Fang Meizhu studied abroad and was influenced by Marxism. She is a firm atheist, so when no one in Fang's house dared to cross that alley to deliver letters, she volunteered to go and came back safe and sound. In my heart, I don't believe that the alley that the servants said can eat people, but I just think that the servants ran away by themselves.
She thought that the "Third Master Su" her father asked her to send a letter to beg this time was just like the Taoist priest invited last time. It was such a handsome young man who immediately blushed and stood where he was, and took back the words that he planned to contradict her father a few more times.
Seeing that she stopped making trouble, Fang Boxin snorted heavily: "I still don't call you Mr. Su."
"Miss San." Su Jinzhi spoke first, smiling and nodding towards Fang Meizhu.
The young man's smile made him even more elegant and handsome, Fang Meizhu's ears were even redder, and she showed a rare little girl's attitude: "Third Master Su..."
"Third Master Su." Fang Boxin turned to look at Su Jinzhi, "Little girl, you have already met, I wonder if you can see anything?"
"I want to ask her a few questions." Su Jinzhi said to Fang Meizhu, "Miss San, why didn't your mother let you go out after you came home that day?"
Fang Meizhu secretly glanced at Fang Boxin, then raised her eyes to Su Jinzhi, and said, "My mother said, I went home that day and brought back a pervert."
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Su Jinzhi was stunned. He really didn't expect this answer. He asked No. 1: "Is what Fang Meizhu said true? Are there really perverts who followed her back?"
"Yeah." No. 1 imitated his pretense just now, and said calmly, "Maybe when you go back tonight, there will be a few perverts going back with you."
Su Jinzhi was so angry that he cursed loudly, but on the outside he still maintained the persona of Su Sanye, who looked like a banished fairy, with a warm smile on his face like a spring breeze.
Seeing Su Jinzhi smiling at her, Fang Meizhu felt encouraged, and continued to finish the sentence: "Mother said that she had read scriptures in the Buddhist hall for several days, negotiated with that pervert, and told that pervert to stop pestering me. I feel that my mother is lying to me, I asked the professor before, and the professor said that there are no ghosts in this world, how could what my mother said be true?"
Su Jinzhi is silent, what your mother said is really true.
No matter how strong the yang energy in Fang Meizhu's body was, it would definitely weaken at night, not to mention that she came back when the yin energy was at its heaviest. The yang energy in her body can protect her from being haunted by evil things, but it cannot prevent ghosts from following her and entering the mansion together.
But filthy things like ghosts generally have no way to enter the mansion directly, because the mansion where strangers live will be guarded by door gods. The pervert can only wander around outside the gate of Fangzhai and stare blankly.
And Fang Meizhu said that her mother saw a ghost following her into the door, which proved that Fang's house had already been visited by ghosts before that pervert, and... Mrs. Fang is obviously a stranger, how could she suddenly see a ghost? Woolen cloth
"Master Fang." Su Jinzhi looked sideways at Fang Boxin, "I heard from Third Miss that there is a Buddhist hall in Fang's family. When was this Buddhist hall built?"
Fang Boxin said: "Oh, this Buddhist hall existed in my grandfather's generation. My Fang family believes in Buddhism...Of course, I also believe in your third master Su."
Su Jinzhi smiled: "Master Fang, can I go to the Buddhist hall to have a look."
"Of course." Fang Boxin replied, "Master Su, go this way."
Fang Boxin led Su Jinzhi through a long corridor. When turning a corner, Su Jinzhi saw the yellow talisman left by the previous Taoist priest, but the red lines on the talisman did not seem right. Painted... Su Jinzhi walked over directly, and took off the talisman paper. It turned out that the talisman was drawn with blood!
When Taoist priests make talismans, sometimes they will add their own blood to increase the power of the talismans, but they will never use blood to draw talismans directly. The talismans that are pasted in the square house today are probably not evil spirit talismans, but after being disturbed by ghosts and ghosts. Urgent!
"Master Fang, these talismans are no longer useful, you still feel like someone tore them off."
"What?" Fang Boxin's eyes widened, not daring to answer the question, "Could Daoist Zhang be lying to me?"
"No, you said that after Daoist Zhang came, your house was really quiet for a few days, which proves that these talismans are really useful, but... there are too many ghosts in your house, these talismans can't suppress them." Su Jinzhishen Taking a breath, he looked up at the darkening sky, and signaled Fang Boxin to take him to the Buddhist hall as soon as possible, and if he was later, he might not be able to go home tonight.
The closer to the Buddhist hall, the more intense the ghostly aura, accompanied by the sound of beating wooden fish and the rapid and strange sound of chanting. Su Jinzhi listened carefully and found that the chanting was the Great Compassion Mantra.
"Mother is chanting sutras again, I have never seen her chant sutras so diligently before..." Fang Meizhu muttered when she heard the sutras.
"Master Fang." Su Jinzhi paused and asked Fang Boxin, "Is the scriptures Mrs. Fang has been reciting all along the Great Compassion Mantra?"
Fang Boxin thought for a while, and replied: "No, I used to recite other scriptures, and then I recited the Nian Diamond Sutra, and then I recited the Great Compassion Mantra."
"I see." Su Jinzhi lowered his eyes.
Fang Meizhu didn't pay attention to what the two of them said, but walked straight over with her skirt in her hand, and knocked on the door of the Buddhist hall: "Mother, open the door, Dad brought Third Master Su here."
The sound of the wooden fish knocking and the scriptures stopped abruptly. After a short meeting, the door of the Buddhist hall was opened, and a woman with a pale face and black eyes appeared in front of them, looking at Su Jinzhi with a forced smile: " So it's Mr. Su... The master actually invited you here, how are you doing recently?"
Su Jinzhi's body is born with yin and yang eyes, and he can see ghosts without wiping willow leaves. He didn't see a ghost in Fang Zhai before because it was daytime. It appeared that he didn't like to leave Su's house at night because he could see ghosts.
But now, he looked at Mrs. Fang's pale face, which looked more like a dead person than he, a weak and sick child. It seemed that he would be in the state of being haunted by ghosts for a long time.
"Thank you, Mrs. Fang, for your concern. Jinzhi's body is fine." The name of his body is also Su Jinzhi. No more nonsense, I think this Buddhist hall is beautifully repaired, Madam Fang must have believed in Buddhism for a long time, can Madam Fang explain to Jinzhi why he recited the Great Compassion Mantra in this house?"
Generally, people who believe in Buddhism do not choose to recite the Great Compassion Mantra at home or at night. They often choose mantras such as the Diamond Sutra or the Shurangama Mantra. This is because the Great Compassion Mantra is a mantra for saving the souls of the dead. Reciting this mantra sincerely can save the dead souls and send them to the Land of Ultimate Bliss. However, frequent recitation of the Great Compassion Mantra may also make nearby wandering souls think that they are doing something here. And attract more wandering souls.