For whom does one not go to be reborn in the Pure Land? (Part 1)
Chang Le Street is a famous commercial street in Luoqi City. Luoqi is an ancient city with a history of over a thousand years. It was once the capital of a certain dynasty. Its former architecture and local customs have been preserved over the past thousand years and have become one of the characteristics of Luoqi today. Chang Le Street is one of them.
During the day, Chang Le Street is a bustling street, but at night, it becomes even more dazzling. After 9 p.m., cars are prohibited from driving on Chang Le Street. The fountain show and the street vendors' calls are unique sources of joy for the people. The lanterns that are silent during the day emit a warm red glow at night, as if you are walking through a street from a thousand years ago.
Luoqi has a vibrant nightlife, but it doesn't belong to Changle Street. After 11 p.m., most of the shops on Changle Street close, and tourists will move to other night markets. After 11:30 p.m., there are usually no people on the street anymore, and Changle Street becomes quiet.
But tonight is different.
A plainly dressed woman walked anxiously along the deserted Chang Le Street, glancing around at the closed shops as if searching for something.
She didn't notice that the red streetlights, which should have been warm, were now blood red. She felt cold and touched her arm, where she felt goosebumps.
"It's still summer, why does it feel a bit cold?"
The woman muttered to herself, and walked for another ten minutes, but she still couldn't find the shop mentioned on the note after walking from one end of Changle Street to the other. She couldn't help but feel angry, feeling that she had been deceived.
"It's almost one o'clock, where are there still any shops open?"
The woman muttered a complaint under her breath. She wondered if it was just her imagination, but she felt that it wasn't so cold around her anymore. She couldn't help but curse the fickle temperature in her heart.
Standing at the end of Changle Street, the woman, somewhat skeptical, decided to walk the entire route from the end to the beginning.
"Liaoyuan Pavilion... Liaoyuan Pavilion... Ah!"
But this time, the woman saw the shop she was looking for after walking only a few steps. The shop was not big, but decorated in a classical style, similar to other ancient-style shops on the street. The red signboard had the three black characters "Liaoyuan Pavilion" on it. The door was open, and white lights were shining inside.
But she was even more puzzled as to why she hadn't seen the store with its doors open and lights on when she walked over.
The woman suppressed her doubts and walked to the shop's entrance, where she saw the entire shop: the narrow room was filled with exquisitely crafted items like lucky bags and red ropes, but priced very low. There was no one behind the counter, but next to it was a curtain, suggesting that there was another room behind it.
The woman stepped inside and asked, "Excuse me, is anyone home?"
With no response, the woman asked a second time.
Just then, footsteps came from behind the curtain next to the front desk.
"I was just thinking of making a cup of tea for the guests, but I didn't expect them to arrive so quickly. It was my oversight." A young man with delicate and handsome features and a short stature pushed open the curtain and came out. He was wearing a white turtleneck and gray trousers. The young man looked young, but he had a gentle and refined temperament and a maturity that was different from his appearance.
The woman looked at the man in front of her and asked incredulously, "Are you the owner of this shop?"
The boy smiled slightly but did not answer the woman's question: "This is not the place to talk." After saying that, he reached out and lifted the curtain behind him, gesturing for the woman to come behind it.
Although the woman had her doubts, she still went behind the curtain.
Behind the curtain was a short staircase leading to the second floor. The second floor contained a room only half the size of the first floor, simply furnished. In the center was a table and chairs, on which sat several teacups and a teapot. Beside the table and chairs, against the wall, stood a vermilion lacquered bookshelf and a vermilion lacquered display cabinet, filled with various porcelain ornaments. An open book sat on the tea table next to the wooden tea chairs. There was another door in the room, presumably to another room, but it was tightly closed, making it impossible to know what was inside.
The woman sat in a chair in the center of the living room, and the man followed her upstairs and sat in a chair opposite her.
The woman opened her mouth, about to say what she wanted to ask for help, but the man reached out and interrupted her.
"Guest, why don't you have a cup of tea first?"
The boy poured the freshly brewed tea from the teapot into a teacup and handed it to the woman. The tea was steaming hot, and a faint aroma of tea wafted out.
The woman took the tea and took a small sip. The tea was well-brewed, but the man had brewed bitter tea. The bitterness lingered on her lips and teeth, making her frown. Although the woman didn't frown, she put down the cup after taking a sip and didn't touch it again.
The young man smiled as he watched the woman drink tea, and introduced himself, saying, "My surname is Zhou, my given name is Ziqiu, and I am the owner of this Liaoyuan Pavilion."
Upon hearing that Zhou Ziqiu was the owner of the shop, the woman immediately put down her tea and pleaded urgently, "Master, Master, please save my child! Please save my child!"
"Guest, why don't you tell me what happened to your child first?"
The woman said, "My name is Liu Mei. A few days ago..." and quickly recounted what had happened to her child.
It turned out that a few days ago, Liu Mei's father, due to his advanced age, passed away. He died the night before, and Liu Mei's family only found out the next day. They rushed to arrange the funeral, but Liu Mei suddenly noticed that starting the day after her father's death, her child began to appear listless and absent-minded. At first, Liu Mei thought it was because the child was close to his grandfather and was having trouble accepting his passing. However, since the day before yesterday, when the child fell into a deep sleep and developed a persistent high fever, the family panicked. They went to several hospitals in the city, but none could diagnose the cause of the illness.
Just as the family was in a state of panic, an elderly woman living next door told her that her child seemed to have lost his soul, possibly taken away by a ghost, and advised her to find a master to perform a soul-summoning ritual. Liu Mei hurriedly inquired about people who could perform soul-summoning rituals, but all the people she found were swindlers. She finally found someone with connections, but that person didn't tell her directly who to contact, only giving her a website. That website had many people who knew how to exorcise ghosts, and it was an official website established by the Ghost Exorcism Association.
Liu Mei logged onto the website, a site called "Qingdeng" (Green Lamp). The website featured many Taoist priests, each with a record of the ghosts they had captured and the tasks they had completed. Just looking at the records showed how powerful these priests were, but the fees they charged were far beyond what Liu Mei, an ordinary person struggling to make ends meet, could afford. After scrolling for a long time, Liu Mei finally found a name among the many priests: "Liaoyuan Pavilion" (Pavilion of Wishes).
Unlike other Taoist priests, Liaoyuan Pavilion charged very low prices, but the records did not mention what the shop had solved. It simply stated in the personal introduction: "If you encounter unclean things, come to Liaoyuan Pavilion at midnight." Liu Mei gritted her teeth and decided to try Liaoyuan Pavilion as a last resort.
She contacted Liaoyuan Pavilion on the website on a whim and soon received a reply from the owner, who told her to come around midnight. She wrote down the address of Liaoyuan Pavilion and arrived there late at night.
Liu Mei's words were disorganized and rambling, but Zhou Ziqiu simply listened with a smile without saying anything.
Looking at Zhou Ziqiu, Liu Mei suddenly felt uneasy and asked, "Master, you..."
Zhou Ziqiu knew what Liu Mei wanted to ask him, so he smiled and said, "I know everything the guest said."
Liu Mei looked at Zhou Ziqiu nervously, waiting for him to say what he was going to say next.
"Excuse me, how many days has it been since your father passed away?"
Liu Mei thought for a moment and said, "Today is the sixth day."
It's already past 1 a.m., and we've entered the next day. It's been six days since I died.
Zhou Ziqiu understood and said with a smile, "Guest, there's no need to be in such a hurry."
Liu Mei became even more anxious. Even though she didn't understand these things, she knew that the longer this matter dragged on, the worse it would get. She wondered if the boy in front of her actually knew anything about these things, and couldn't help but ask, "Master, can this ghost be driven away?"
Zhou Ziqiu shook his head: "There's no need to drive this ghost away."
"What? Why!" Liu Mei's voice suddenly became sharp.
Zhou Ziqiu remained calm, glanced at Liu Mei, and told her why: "Because this ghost will leave on its own."
Liu Mei was stunned; she couldn't understand this answer.
Zhou Ziqiu did not continue speaking, but instead asked Liu Mei to write down her address on a piece of paper, and said, "I will visit the guest at ten o'clock tonight, and please prepare the offerings for the elder during the day."
Following Zhou Ziqiu's directions, Liu Mei went down from the second floor to the first floor, feeling completely lost. Just as she was about to leave, Zhou Ziqiu suddenly called her back.
"It's late at night, and the yin energy is heavy. There may be little ghosts wandering the streets. Please accept this small gift, guest." Zhou Ziqiu took one of the red ropes hanging on the wall and handed it to Liu Mei.
Liu Mei took the red rope, thanked them, and left.
Zhou Ziqiu stood at the shop entrance, watching Liu Mei's departing figure. He said nothing, simply closing the door and returning to the second floor. The tea Liu Mei had just drunk was still steaming. Zhou Ziqiu didn't look at the cup of tea, but instead poured himself a fresh cup. He then sat down on a tea chair, sipping his tea while reading the book he hadn't finished, seemingly oblivious to the bitterness of the tea.
Chang Le Street remains bustling during the day, with pedestrians coming and going.
By 8:30 p.m., Chang Le Street was even more lively, but Liao Yuan Ge had already closed.
Next to Liaoyuan Pavilion was a snack shop. The owner sat at the door enjoying the cool night breeze, watching in surprise as Zhou Ziqiu locked the shop door.
"Is Xiaoqiu going out?"
Because Zhou Ziqiu was young and ran the shop alone, the snack shop owner was a middle-aged man whose children were about the same age as Zhou Ziqiu. So he took care of Zhou Ziqiu and would often give him some of the snacks sold in the shop.
Zhou Ziqiu replied, "Yes, something came up."
The shopkeeper waved the palm-leaf fan in his hand: "Remember to be careful, it's not safe at night."
Zhou Ziqiu accepted the boss's kindness with a smile.
18:55:25
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