Chapter 286: The Widow of the Ghost Master
The temperature is low on the mountain at night, so Li Shuang prepared a thick quilt.
After lighting the mosquito coils, he closed the door and left.
Shuang Ling opened the door and checked her room. Uncle San circled the door twice, jumped onto the wall lightly, then onto the roof, and his figure blended into the night in the blink of an eye.
Shuang Ling didn't stop him. She looked at Lin Zhi and asked, "Brother Lin, do you want me to check your room?"
Lin Zhi smiled and declined: "No thanks."
He doesn't have to worry about any dirt in the room. From the fact that Lian Qing appeared on the train but the black cat didn't notice it, it can be seen that Lian Qing's strength is above the black cat. Lian Qing will handle anything that happens.
Shuang Ling nodded. She knew there was a secret in Brother Lin’s backpack. That smoke was much cooler than a bullet.
After saying good night to each other, Lin Zhi closed the door.
The room was equipped with an old-fashioned rope-operated chandelier, and the dim light looked listless in a corner of the room.
It is not yet ten o'clock, and when the nightlife in the city is just beginning, it is already completely silent here. The villages and the mountains and rivers are all asleep, and the occasional night breeze is like the echo of the breathing of the mountains and forests.
Lin Zhi turned on the light and lay down on the slightly hard bed.
The incense and candles were still burning, the light was tiny, barely illuminating the first two words on the deceased's tablet.
Smelling the unique aroma of the offerings, Lin Zhi felt sleepy unconsciously.
cold.
The pervasive coldness made Lin Zhi shiver even in his sleep.
He curled up in the quilt, but still couldn't resist the cold.
His consciousness was hazy, and he was about to wake up. His ability to think seemed to be frozen, leaving only instinctive reactions.
The eyeball under the eyelids trembled rapidly, but still could not break free from the shackles.
It seemed like someone was watching him, on the left? No, it seems to be on top again... No, it seems to be under the quilt.
The tip of his tongue seemed to be gently pulled out of his mouth, and the coolness made him gasp in discomfort.
My cheek seemed to feel a gust of air falling on my ear, causing a slight sting.
The window of the room was not closed tightly, leaving a gap about a finger's width, and the moonlight peeked in a little, revealing a beautiful silvery-white color.
A light mist floated in the room, turning the wooden house into a mountain forest in the early spring morning, blurring the face of the young man lying on the bed.
Lin Zhi was awakened early the next morning by the sound of gongs and drums. He sat up from the bed and rubbed his sore shoulders.
He didn't sleep well this time, perhaps because the bed was too hard and he was not used to it.
Lin Zhi yawned, put away the incense burner and candles on the table, wiped the wooden sign and put it back in the bag, and after finishing his things, he opened the door to wash up.
The village has a quaint environment, so naturally there are no separate washrooms.
The little boy I saw yesterday was sitting on the threshold of the main house not far away. He looked a little conflicted, as if he didn't know whether to approach him or not.
Lin Zhi smiled at him in a friendly manner: "Little friend, where do you get water at home?"
Xiaoyang pointed to a water tank not far away, rubbed his eyes and walked closer.
It’s strange. Was he dazzled yesterday? This handsome brother doesn’t seem to have that kind of fog on him anymore.
Lin Zhi walked to the big water tank, opened the big wooden lid, and scooped a basin of water from it.
The early morning sunlight falls on the water, emitting a faint golden glow and reflecting people's faces.
The slightly cool well water made one's mind completely clear. Lin Zhi licked his lips which had a small crack for some reason. As the image reflected on the water surface was too blurry, he did not notice anything unusual.
If he had a clear glass mirror in front of him, he would have found that the tip of his tongue was an abnormally bright red due to excessive sucking.
From another door, Shuang Ling came out yawning and greeted Lin Zhi sleepily, apparently having been woken up by the hustle and bustle in the village.
Lin Zhi pointed out the location of the water tank to her and opened the door.
Outside, unlike last night's silence, women, girls and children were all smiling and happily preparing for today's big event.
They were wearing local ethnic costumes. The men wore blue and black double-breasted trousers, and the women wore headscarves. Some wore large-breasted trousers, and some wore skirts. When they saw Lin Zhi, a foreign guest, they greeted him enthusiastically and invited him to have lunch together.
Li Shuang brought five-color glutinous rice and glutinous rice dumplings to the door, delivering breakfast to Lin Zhi and Shuang Ling, and also mentioned having lunch together.
"We will set up a meal in the village temple after the sacrifice. Let's eat together then. However, there is a small rule: you cannot turn over the dishes when you pick them up, and you cannot spill the food on the ground."
Li Shuang obviously does not think that this rule is a strict regulation, but just basic modern dining etiquette.
He was naturally confident in Lin Zhi and the others, but now he was just being prepared and wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. After all, he still needed to discuss the future matters with the village elders and couldn't give them a bad impression.
Shuang Ling said cheerfully, "Of course, no problem. This is the first time I've seen this kind of sacrificial activity. It looks lively and festive."
Lin Zhi naturally nodded. He was not interested in any of this. He was just waiting for what to do after the festival was over.
Li Shuang saw Xiaoyang looking at the food with a longing look on his face, so he took the bowl and chopsticks from his kitchen and shared some with him.
"Xiaoyang, where's your grandma?"
Generally speaking, the elderly sleep less, so usually at around six in the morning, Li Shuang could see Xiaoyang's door open and Grandma Li sitting in the yard on a bench picking vegetables.
But it's already eight or nine o'clock, and Li Shuang hasn't seen her yet.
Xiao Yang said, "Grandma is not feeling well and is sleeping."
Li Shuang thought so too. When he received the call the day before yesterday, he came to see Grandma Li. Grandma Li was not in a good mood at that time.
He grew up in the village and they had the same surname, so they were more or less related. At that time, Grandma Li asked him to bring Xiaoyang to worship the gods on June 6th.
"Then follow me and sit next to me. I'll take you to dinner."
"knew."
Xiaoyang nodded, and grandma had told him about it.
Li Shuang was busy with the sacrificial ceremony, Xiao Yang ran out to play with other children from the same village, and Lin Zhi and the others did not sit at home, but took a walk around the village.
Lin Zhi stood at the foot of the temple village and looked at the mountain behind.
It's not a pure dense forest there, and you can see the mountain road looming in the distance.
Lin Zhi checked the map in his mind and found the black dot representing Lian Qing was at the end of the mountain road.
Soon it was noon and the villagers gathered in family units, bringing their own three incense sticks, bowls and chopsticks, and paper money for the dead.
Their paper money is not the colorful banknotes produced by the Bank of Heaven and Earth that cause inflation in the underworld, but yellow paper.
Li Shuang and several young men were carrying a black pig in front, and someone else was carrying a red-crowned rooster next to them. The group walked towards the village temple with some banging and hammering.
The village chief was a highly respected man in his sixties. He walked at the front and was in charge of the sacrificial matters.
Lin Zhi and Shuang Ling are outsiders, so just watch from afar.
The village temple is about eight feet high and is built of wood and stone with tiles on the top. It is not gorgeous and even has a sense of being weathered by wind and rain, but it has a solemnity.
The inscriptions on the left and right sides have become a little blurred due to erosion, but they are still vaguely recognizable.
"Protect the eight directions and bring good luck, and bless the four seasons with peace," Shuang Ling squinted his eyes and read out the words, "The horizontal inscription says good weather and good harvests, which is a really good omen."
These are the things that people seek when they offer sacrifices to gods.
Lin Zhi looked around and didn't see any trace of the black cat, so he asked, "Where's your cat?"
"He said he was going to scout the way back first, and he hasn't come back yet, but he shouldn't be in trouble."
Shuang Ling has a sense of the black cat. Although they don’t know where he has gone, he should be safe.
Lin Zhi nodded and waited for the sacrificial ceremony to end.
The ceremony was not complicated and the meal started after about twenty minutes.
After the village elder raises his chopsticks, the people in the village raise their chopsticks in order and they can start eating.
The portions of the specialties were very substantial. The locals like glutinous rice products. Lin Zhi didn’t like glutinous rice very much, so he didn’t eat much and naturally finished it first.
The children have small stomachs and fill up quickly, so they play in groups of three or five and run around the village temple.
Lin Zhi looked at the group of children and gradually frowned.
He remembered that the boy named Xiaoyang from the family where he was staying was in the crowd just now, so how come he disappeared in a moment?
However, it is still noontime in broad daylight with the strongest yang energy. Ordinary evil spirits will not show up. The little boy seems to be quite timid and may have hidden somewhere.
After the sacrificial ceremony ended, the bustle in the village did not diminish.
Everyone took out their musical instruments and sang and danced, and men and women of appropriate age chatted and sang to each other in a straightforward yet subtle way.
Shuang Ling happily immersed herself in this atmosphere, and even the bold A-mei came to show her goodwill to Lin Zhi.
Lin Zhi openly stated that she already had a partner, and A-mei was not disappointed and left with a smile.
Shuang Ling couldn't help but sigh in her heart when she heard this. When she saw Brother Lin looking at the team leader's severed finger with deep affection, she knew that they must be very much in love.
It’s a pity that fate is so fickle that it separated this loving couple.
Soon it was evening, and Lin Zhi and Shuang Ling returned to the house they were staying in.
As long as we can convince him, we should be able to go up the mountain tomorrow.
When Lin Zhi was about to take the tablet out of her bag, she suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.
Li Shuang asked: "Has Xiaoyang returned home?"
After lunch, Xiaoyang went to play with the other children in the village, so he didn't pay much attention to him.
There was a meeting in the village in the afternoon. After he finished his work, he realized that he hadn't seen anyone for the whole afternoon, so he came to ask if the child had returned home.
"I haven't seen him. I'm not sure if he's back."
Lin Zhi shook his head and did not knock on the door of the main house.
Li Shuang didn't have this concern. He pushed open the door of the room and turned on the light.
Only Grandma Li was lying on the bed, and there was no sign of the child.
Li Shuang approached and asked, "Grandma, is Yangyang back?"
Grandma Li was still asleep and did not respond.
Li Shuang wanted to reach out and push, but his hand stopped before he touched it.
His expression changed slightly and he reached out to check Grandma Li's breathing.
He took out a bell from his waist, shook it with his eyes closed and his brows furrowed.
"The person is gone, even his soul is gone."
Lin Zhi had already sensed something was wrong when he walked in. He smelled a strong odor of death.
Shuang Ling walked forward and observed the corpse spots on the old man, and asserted: "He has been dead for at least one or two days."
Maybe she was already dead when they came, but she had been lying in the room and no one knew about it.
The old man is gone and his only grandson is also missing. This is a big deal.
Li Shuang was upset about his dereliction of duty. Without having time to say much to Lin Zhi and the others, he hurried to find the village chief.
Not long after, the adults in the village started calling for help with flashlights, and Lin Zhi and Shuang Ling also came to help with flashlights.
The scope of the village is limited. If it is not here, it can only be in one place, which is the back mountain.
The funeral custom in the village is not to bury the dead in the ground, but to bury them in a cave.
The cave in the back mountain is where the bodies of the villagers’ ancestors are placed.
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