I walked around the village several times and saw no one. It was only when I got to the other side of the village that I realized that the villagers were all gathered here. () There was a family in the village who bought two sets of coffins in the city. They couldn't drive in at the intersection of the highway, so they had to be carried by people. All the men and younger women in the village went, including Meng Changqing.
When we went, the coffin had already been carried to the door of the owner's house, and Meng Changqing was also among the coffin bearers.
After the coffin was brought into the house, the host asked people from the village to have lunch with him. Everyone else in the village agreed, except for the old man who took us in. He said he wanted to go back.
After hearing this, the villagers quickly asked him what he was pretending to be. The villagers persuaded the old man for a while, and the old man pointed to the three crows on the plane tree next to the house and said: "When I went to work in the field yesterday, these three old crows followed me all the time. They are waiting for me to die and eat my meat. I don't think I have much time. Maybe I will leave immediately. Although my earthen house is dirty, I still want to die there."
Everyone in the seven miles and eight villages here knew that the crow foretold death. When the villagers saw the crow, they hurriedly drove the crow away with stones, and persuaded the old man not to believe it.
They persuaded him a few words, but the old man insisted on leaving. I could tell that they didn't really want to keep the old man, for fear that the old man would really die in their house.
After the old man left, we also declined the host's persuasion, and went back with the old man.
After arriving home, the old man held Meng Changqing's hand and begged him for several things, and Meng Changqing agreed to them one by one. The old man asked Meng Changqing to put him in a coffin after his death, and inform the people in the village by the way.
The old man also told Meng Changqing where he wanted to be buried, and asked Meng Changqing to tell his son.
Meng Changqing agreed to all the old man's demands, and after he finished speaking, the old man told Meng Changqing that the reason why he kept us at his house was that he was afraid that he would rot in bed like his wife after death, and the villagers didn't want to come to his house, so he had no choice but to If we are left behind, there will be someone who can inform us.
Meng Changqing smiled and said nothing.
The old man went to make lunch afterwards. I looked outside and saw that the three old crows were resting on the tree outside again. I really hated seeing it, so I took Xiaoxiao outside and threw stones at the three crows. .
Xiaoxiao thought it was the three crows that were killing the old man, and they threw it with extra effort, but the force was too weak, and they fell within five meters.
We threw it outside in full swing, and when we looked back, Meng Changqing was looking at the backs of the two of us and laughing.
The first time I saw his smile, I was a little creepy, so I hurriedly stopped Xiaoxiao, dragged him to Meng Changqing and asked him why he was smiling.
Meng Changqing replied: "It's nothing, you all pay attention to safety, don't throw it on your own head."
After he finished speaking, we continued to go out and throw the crow. At first it was to relieve hatred, and then it was purely for fun.
When we were having fun, the old man greeted the two of us in the house.
"I'll give you both a little thing." After entering, the old man said, and then took out a white hairpin from an iron box in his hand, with a Tai Chi engraved on the hairpin, which looked very charming.
He handed the hairpin to me, and then took out a book with a green cover from the iron box, with the words "Walking Horses in the Water" written on it.
He handed the book to Xiaoxiao, and said at the same time: "When I die, the things in this house that should be burned will be burned. These things are given by others. It's a pity to burn them. For you two, If you are willing to play with it, just treat it as a toy, and you can sell it if you don't like it. There is also the book, I don't know a few big characters, and I don't know what it's written in. You can take it and read it, and it's worth more. child knowledge."
I fiddled with the hairpin, then grabbed the book in Xiaoxiao's hand and looked at it. The old man took a few glances at us and walked into the stove with a smile on his face.
Meng Changqing also looked at us and smiled, then closed his eyes and took a nap.
Two minutes after he closed his eyes, the sky outside became gloomy, and it started to rain in a short time, and in just a few blinks, the outside became a stream of water.
Seeing the wind and rain outside, Xiaoxiao stared at Meng Changqing for a while, then went to the old man to borrow a quilt to cover Meng Changqing's body. Meng Changqing didn't feel the slightest movement, which showed how sleepy he was.
I was bored, so I went to the stove house to have a look. The old man has lived alone for a year, and he still has a way of cooking. When he saw me coming in, he knew that I had nothing to do now, so he asked me to find a bamboo hat in the house Go to the next field and cut some leeks for him.
These are all trivial matters, so I naturally have no reason to refuse. I found a bamboo hat in the house, put it on and went out.
Next to it is a small field with an area of about 50 square meters. Tianli grows various fruits and vegetables. After staying in the countryside for so many years, I naturally know leeks.
When I was about to go back after cutting the leeks, I saw a group of people walking down a small road opposite the leek field. This group of people looked like villagers in the village, but they hadn't seen them when they carried the coffin in the morning, so they were a little uncertain.
All of them didn't have umbrellas, and walked away in the rain. When they passed by me, I let out a hey, and asked them why they didn't open umbrellas, but they ignored them and walked away.
I watched them walking towards the nearby pine forest, and thought to myself that these people are really strange, what are they doing in the mountains without umbrellas on rainy days.
While thinking this way in my heart, I looked down and saw the movement of them stepping on the ground. Because it was a rainy day, the soil on the ground had been soaked loose long ago, and it would leave marks if you stepped on it casually, but this group of people stepped on the ground, and the rainwater bucket on the ground did not even shake.
I understood right then that they were not human beings at all, but ghosts, and they were floating away.
Mostly because they were isolated in the wilderness by the sun before, and now they are taking advantage of the rain to enter the mountain.
After understanding, I pretended not to see them, and continued to bend down to do my own thing, and then raised my head and walked into the house after I couldn't see them.
Walking to the house, before going in, I saw another group of people passing by the side of the house, walking in the same way as the previous group.
I looked at it and found it strange, why are there so many ghosts passing by today? And they all go to the same place.
I wanted to ask Meng Changqing, but seeing that he was sleeping soundly at the moment, I didn't bother him, but went into the room and asked the old man.
After the old man heard about it, he put down the spatula in his hand and went out to have a look, and then said: "You stay in the house, don't go out, this is the Yin soldiers passing by, and they are going to the Temple of the City God over there. It is very uncomfortable to see this." auspicious."
"Why are you going to the Town God's Temple?"
"This place is sandwiched by three mountains, and the feng shui is very bad. Most of the dead people turn into ghosts. Every once in a while, the errands come to Chenghuang Temple to collect ghosts and take them down to reincarnate. These are rushing Those who go to reincarnate."
I said oh, and then asked what the errant looked like. Meng Changqing had also said about the errand before, and I didn't quite believe it.
The old man said: "Yin servants are actually human beings. Now the number of people dying every day has increased greatly, and the number of original ecstasy envoys is greatly insufficient. Therefore, some Yang souls are hired to temporarily work for them. These people are called Yin servants."
Yinhun is the soul of a person whose life span has passed. Yang soul is naturally the soul of a person whose life span is not yet exhausted. I thought it was so mysterious, but it turned out that it was changed by ordinary people.
Afterwards, I continued to chat with the old man about perineal errands. He didn't call Meng Changqing after the meal. You can eat at any time, but you may not be able to sleep at any time. He hasn't slept well for a long time. Let him sleep for a while.
After eating, the old man went out alone, saying that he wanted to see some places he had walked in the past, so that he could have a thought after death.
Not long after the old man left, Meng Changqing woke up. Since he didn't see the old man, he got up and went out to find him. Xiaoxiao and I continued to stay in the house.
Meng Changqing went out all afternoon, and when it was almost evening, they didn't see the two of them coming back.
Xiaoxiao and I were waiting impatiently, and we were going to look for him. Just as we were about to go out, we saw Uncle Zhang walking towards us quickly, wearing a bamboo hat.
I was just taken aback when I saw him. Although I knew he was a ghost, I didn't feel scared at all.
Uncle Zhang walked over quickly when he saw the two of us, and as soon as he came over, he took off his bamboo hat and asked me where my master was.
When he learned that my master had gone out, he hurried into the room and closed the door, and at the same time put the bolt on the door.
I asked him what he was doing, and he made a shush gesture to me. As soon as he finished the gesture, there was a sound of footsteps outside. The footsteps gradually approached, and finally stopped outside the door.
For the next half a minute, there was no movement outside, and I mistakenly thought that the things outside had left. While relaxing, there was a knocking sound from the door.
When Uncle Zhang saw it, he hurriedly kept us away from the door, and at the same time signaled us not to speak.
We retreated a few steps, and the door shook rumblingly immediately. When Uncle Zhang saw it, he hurriedly ran to the side door. We were also frightened by the menacing things outside, so we ran to the side door to wait.
Uncle Zhang stood at the side door and listened to the sound of the gate. After hearing the sound of the gate crashing to the ground, Uncle Zhang immediately opened the door and ran out.
After hearing the sound, I also ran out together.
Uncle Zhang traveled all the way, but he refused to answer my questions. He waited until he reached a place relatively far away, and then said, "We'll talk about it after we find your master."
I asked him how he found us, and he said that he knew we were following them when we were in Yejiawan, and he avoided seeing us at first because he was afraid that Meng Changqing would take him in. I went to Meng Changqing to seek asylum.
This place is not very big, and it didn't take long to find Meng Changqing and the old man in a cemetery.
Meng Changqing frowned when he saw Uncle Zhang. Uncle Zhang didn't care about Meng Changqing's expression, he stepped forward and said, "The walking corpse has been taken in by a ghost, and now it's chasing me everywhere."
Meng Changqing asked him exactly what was going on, and then Uncle Zhang told the story from the beginning to the end.