Late at night, villagers holding shovels and flashlights started to dig up the soil at the grave mound on the back mountain.
After digging up the grave of the eldest sister of the Xing family under the gloomy moonlight, the villagers suppressed their fear and carried out the thin coffin.
After opening the coffin and seeing the eerie paper figure with blood-red eyes and a smile lying inside, their faces froze. They felt that the cemetery was filled with gloomy aura and hurriedly sent the coffin to the gate of the Xing family's courtyard.
At this time, hundreds of people gathered outside the Xing family's yard, and surrounded the gate of the Xing family to the street.
These were the people called by the villagers who were shocked after hearing the truth and hurried home to tell their relatives.
Half of the village were here, holding flashlights and surrounding the front door of the Xing family, which was brightly lit.
Some bad-tempered villagers took rotten vegetable leaves and threw them at Old Mrs. Xing who was sitting on the ground in the Xing family's yard.
As he threw the things, he cursed: "You are a black-hearted old woman, and you gave birth to a black-hearted wolf cub! You killed your own daughter, and your son poisoned his wife, making the whole village restless!"
Although Mrs. Xing is short and thin, she is a bold and aggressive person.
She reached for the chicken coop next to her and pulled out a few warm eggs still covered in chicken droppings from the nest where the frightened hens were fluttering around. She jumped up and smashed them all over the heads and faces of the villagers who were shouting at the gate of the yard.
"Bah! You are nothing but a bunch of scoundrels. You are pretending to be good people now. In the beginning, you were the ones who jumped the highest and cursed the most!" Old Mrs. Xing put her hands on her waist and cursed in dialect.
A person is not short of breath when facing a hundred people:
"Do you dare to tear off the cloth on your face? You deserve it for the sores all over your face. You scold my son? You will be 'smeared' tomorrow!"
"冚家砍" is a very vicious curse in Watuo Village, which means hoping that the other party's family will encounter misfortune and all relatives will die.
The villagers who had their faces covered with egg liquid were angry and annoyed, and were about to rush into the yard to start fighting. The other villagers quickly stopped them and made way for the villagers outside who were carrying the paper coffin.
Now the hundreds of villagers who had gathered around saw the strange scene in the coffin, and they gasped and clicked their tongues, saying "what a sin".
When the coffin was carried into the Xing family's yard, the village women who had boiled hot water in the yard had already wiped the body of the dazed Xing Lao Da several times.
He shook his head as he walked out of the house.
"You didn't see that, the flesh sores on Sister Xing's body were bigger than fingers, and when she wiped them, the basin was full of blood. It was so tragic!"
“Oh and, she was so dumb that she didn’t even know how to cry out in pain. Master Gu said that she had lost a lot of soul and she didn’t know if she could ever recover.
Nuo, the people inside are calling for Sister Xing’s soul right now.”
Seeing the coffin in the yard, Lamu sighed:
"Aunt Xing, you are ruining the hard-earned mother-son relationship by doing this!"
Old Madam Xing refused to listen and sneered, "It's no good for a dog to meddle in other people's business. This is our Xing family's family affair. The eldest daughter is the flesh and blood of my belly. What does it have to do with you outsiders how I arrange her?"
Just then, Gu Zhisang and others walked out of the house.
Daisy and Xi Haihong happened to hear what Old Lady Xing said, and immediately said angrily:
"The child is not your thing that you can manipulate at will. You are deliberately murdering and illegally imprisoning him!"
Lamu asked, "Masters, how is the Xing family's boss?"
Gu Zhisang wiped his fingers slowly with a tissue and said:
"With two souls and five spirits missing, there is only one 'Youjing' in her body, and two 'Xiufei' and 'Queyin' keeping her alive. Fortunately, these are the three most important souls and spirits. Otherwise, she would be dead now, and even gods could not save her."
People have three souls and seven spirits.
The three souls are 'Taiguang', 'Shuangling' and 'Youjing'.
The former 'fetal light' is also called heavenly soul, which originates from the mother's body and is responsible for vitality and the energy of Taiqing Yanghe. Staying in the human body for a long time can benefit people and prolong their life.
'Shuangling' is the earth soul originated from the father's body, it is in charge of wealth, strategy, and quick thinking.
The 'ghost spirit' is also called the human soul. It is the main soul of a person's body and controls all health, desires and body functions.
After death, either reincarnation or wandering around as a lonely ghost is the soul of the person.
The eldest sister of the Xing family lost two of the three souls in her body. The 'taiguang' and 'shuangling' disappeared, but the most critical human soul 'youjing' was still floating around in her body, which prevented her body and fate from completely collapsing.
This is a blessing.
Among the seven souls, the "stinky lung soul" is located in the "root chakra" and controls breathing;
The 'Que Yin Po' is located in the 'Throat Chakra' and controls the basic sexual functions and physiology of the body.
These two spirits are just able to maintain the basic activity of the human body. With the blessing of double luck, the eldest sister of the Xing family has only one soul and two spirits, and has been lying in the cellar for half a month, neither human nor ghost, but she is still alive.
But it's just being alive.
The other five spirits, 'Swallowing Thief', 'Corpse Dog', 'Purging Filth', 'Non-Poison' and 'Fu Shi' respectively control immunity, perception and alertness, removing foul air and excretion, illness, pain and dryness, and thought and consciousness.
After all of them left the body, the eldest sister of the Xing family began to suffer from illness, incontinence, dementia and other symptoms.
Living like a zombie without dignity is not much better than dying.
Walking to the thin coffin in the yard, Gu Zhisang took a look inside, then put two fingers together and hooked the center of the eyebrows of the paper man.
She clearly didn't use much force to poke the paper figure, but the others on the side still saw that the paper figure deflated, as if something invisible was pulled out of it by her.
After looking at it for a while, Gu Zhisang nodded slightly: "It is indeed lucky that consciousness can be restored."
Ordinary people cannot see it, but Xi Haihong and the other three can see that her fingertips are hooked on a misty, translucent human-shaped substance.
It was a collection of scattered souls and spirits, condensed together, and their appearance was exactly the same as the eldest sister of the Xing family who was lying in the room in an idiotic state.
This is also the one soul and three spirits of the Xing family girl locked in the substitute paper man.
They are the earth souls 'Shuangling', 'Tunzei', 'Chuji' and 'Fushi' respectively.
After these scattered souls and spirits entered her body, even if the Xing family girl's consciousness returned, some body functions would be restored, and it would not have much impact on her daily basic life.
But she still lost her heavenly soul 'Taiguang', as well as her two souls 'Shigou' and 'Non-Du', and it is impossible to get them back.
Because these souls had been torn into pieces by the resentful Xing family's daughter-in-law who mistook them for Xing Lao Er while helping her brother Xing Lao Er to ward off disaster, and they could never be put together again.
The various sequelae brought about by the loss of these souls will haunt the daughter of the Xing family for the rest of her life and bring all kinds of inconvenience to her life.
Gu Zhisang led the confused soul and three spirits and transferred them to the body of the Xing family girl, saying:
"Wait a few minutes, she will wake up after her soul and spirit merge back together."
Lamu nodded repeatedly. After a day of tossing and turning, he now had complete faith in Gu Zhisang:
"Then what else can we do to calm down the Xing family's daughter-in-law?"
The villagers also said, "Yes, Master Gu, we really know we were wrong. We shouldn't have said those gossips at the time. Please ask the Xing family's daughter-in-law to have mercy on us!"
Gu Zhisang said in a calm tone:
"The injustice of the Xing family's daughter-in-law has been exposed. I believe you have a clear idea of what is right and wrong."
“You destroyed and dissected her body, so you need to find a burial site with the best feng shui in the village, build a thick nanmu coffin, shroud, incense, candles, and paper money to hold a funeral for her.
Every household must hang white banners, and during the funeral procession, paper money must be scattered to express one's apologies. This way, the whole village can let it feel your sincerity, and this will resolve the resentment in its heart to the greatest extent possible."
Lamu nodded and said, "There is a master here who specializes in coffins and funeral arrangements. He has written down everything and will do it tomorrow morning!"
"Will holding a funeral like this help the sores on our faces go away?"
Gu Zhisang said: "It will stop spreading, and it won't be impossible to heal. As long as the sore is not too large or the erosion is too deep, it should be healed after applying medicine for half a month to a month."
“But I have to remind you of one thing. Even if the ‘human-faced sore’ is cured, you still have the ‘root of disease’ in your body, and it will be easier for you to be infected with karma again than ordinary people.
In the future, you must be more careful when you speak and discuss things, do not talk about things that you are not sure about, and definitely do not create or spread rumors, otherwise you may continue to create "verbal karma."
These sufferings are the legacy of "verbal karma" and will haunt these villagers for some time.
As for the few villagers who had harbored malicious intent and deliberately humiliated, insulted, and even took the opportunity to beat up the daughter-in-law of the Xing family, their "verbal karma" is even heavier. Even if the wounds heal, they will leave scars, which will be difficult to remove in the future except through surgery.
Hearing that the wound on his face could finally heal, the villagers breathed a sigh of relief and expressed their gratitude repeatedly.
Gu Zhisang added, "As for the case of the missing man Wang Lin who was buried alive in the village, we have already notified the nearest county police station. The police will arrive soon to handle the matter. You just need to wait for the investigation and notification."
"If I'm not mistaken, the villagers involved in the incident should still have a large amount of cash and some jewelry hidden in their homes."
The villagers immediately looked at the relatives of several dead villagers in the crowd.
有人忽然道：“老孙媳妇儿，你过年的时候戴了个金镯子吧？怕不是就是拿这个钱买的？”
“还有陈家叔婶儿，我说你们家陈哥和俺们家一样，一分工钱都没拿到，怎么家里还天天买酒买肉过得这么滋润！”
“啧啧，活埋啊！那王林再不是个东西，这下手也太狠了！”
被盯着的死者亲属们十分不自在，嚷道：
“看着俺干啥，那些钱本来就是俺男人干活儿的工钱，王林把我们一家老小的活命钱卷走了，他活该！”
“还不知道事情真相到底如何呢，谁也没看到那天到底发生了什么，你们不能听一个外乡人说道就什么都信啊，说不定我家那个根本就没参与活埋呢……”
顾之桑轻笑一声：“这位婶子说得没错，我也不过是个江湖术士，说的也都仅仅是我算出来的东西。
到底有没有这些事情、王林怎么死的，等警察来了调查便可知。”
“只是你们就算什么都不知道，可丈夫儿子往家里拿了那么多钱，你们就一点没有好奇询问吗？真的什么都不知道吗？”
被质问的村妇神情讪讪，最后没好气地嘟嘟囔囔，只说自己的男人死得惨，不愿意搭顾之桑的话。
实际上正如顾之桑所说，这些死者亲属或多或少都知道一些真相。
至少是知道王林之死、家中巨款是哪里来的。
分了钱的一共只有七个人，但当初没拿到钱款的足足有十几个村民。
那一部分村民的工款，其实也是被这七人心照不宣的吞了。
从某种程度上，虽然这些村民是在隐瞒王林之死，但所作所为和王林也没有本质区别。
很快当地警方便乘着夜色，赶到了瓦拓村。
他们在邢家、以及其他死者家中分别找到了数万元的现金。
另一拨警员则是按照顾之桑算出的大概地点，去了另一个村子的荒地，寻找王林的尸骨。
很快警员们便在当地的一片林子中挖到了被埋近两年、烂得不成样子的尸骨。
深更半夜瓦拓村也热闹得不行。
村民们都被聚集在空地，听着警员拿着大喇叭反复强调公共安全相关知识：
“人都死了这么多，为什么不报警呢？你们觉得自己能解决，这解决了么……”
顾之桑等人还在邢家，凌晨时分，邢家女姗姗苏醒。
早已等候在此、准备做笔录的警员叫了一声她的名字。
她恍惚了好几秒钟，才扭过瘦到脸颊凹陷的头颅看了过来，一言不发。
警员看了眼顾之桑，“顾小姐，她……？”
顾之桑道：“你有什么都可以直接问，她毕竟少了一魂两魄，其中‘尸狗魄’丢失会让她的反应能力大大减弱，简单点说就是她会比普通人愣一些，但意识和思考能力是正常的。”
警员虽然听不懂什么魂魄、‘尸狗’，但还是点点头，问道：
“邢女士，你可以说说被你母亲囚禁前后的一些细节么？以及她对你的一些强迫行为，比如是否强迫你以玄学、非自然手段，替你的弟弟做出了什么承诺？”
听完警员的问话，半晌邢大姐慢吞吞摇摇头，闷声道：
“没有、强迫我。”
奚海红/黛西/警员：？
紧接着邢家大姐道：“我愿意的，也不是囚禁。”
黛西眉头紧拧：“邢女士，你不用害怕，你母亲的恶行已经暴露了，她不能再掌控你了。
她可是差点害死你！”
可无论众人怎么问，邢家大姐都只是闷声坐在**，并没有指控自己的母亲和弟弟。
这下别说是警员，就连选手们也懵了。
一言不发的顾之桑冷笑一声，道：“不用问了，她的确是自愿替邢老二挡灾的。”
她常年生活在极度的重男轻女的环境中，思想早就被邢母驯化了。
彩礼钱给弟弟、掏空夫家给弟弟？
都是因为弟弟是男孩，可以传承香火、是老邢家的根子啊！
当邢母提出让她给邢老二挡灾的时候，邢大姐有一瞬间的难过，但很快她便‘温顺’地接受了。
谁让弟弟是家里唯一的男丁呢。
顾之桑冷声道：“只是你应该没想到，你的母亲要你给邢老二挡灾一次还不够，直接让你二次替死，这些天外界发生的事情你都能感知到、也知道自己在地窖里过的是什么鬼日子。”
“你母亲每天给邢老二熬鸡汤、擦身体，可曾对地窖里的你有过一丁点歉意？
你觉得你替人挡灾，就不会有苦果么？你少了一魂双魄，分别对应了你的寿命、敏捷和健康，未来你不仅会头脑愚钝，也会小病不断寿命减少，除此之外你还会很容易撞邪。”
顾之桑并没有危言耸听。
魂魄是人最重要的东西，少了一魂尚且会让身体虚弱高烧不止，更何况是三道。
她再次确认：“哪怕是这样，你也要替她隐瞒罪行吗？”
听到她的问声，邢大姐的脸上闪过一丝扭曲的痛苦和挣扎。
邢老太太让看事婆婆做的纸人身上，是穿了绣着她自己名字的寿衣、胸口也有她的八字。
而邢大姐本身就是她的亲女儿，两人血脉相连、再加以做法，把邢大姐的魂魄封在纸人中，很容易就能蒙蔽凶物的感官。
原本空****的纸人瞬间被填充起来，有身体有灵魂，气息和感官上和‘人’没有区别。
再把其埋入棺中，就像是邢老太太已经下葬了。
这才让邢老太太躲过了死去儿媳的报复。
可邢大姐本身还活着，她的魂魄被封入棺中也是有知觉的，在她真正的身体躺在地窖中忍受皮肤溃烂、空气恶臭稀薄时，她另一半灵魂也在地下忍受窒息之苦。
饶是她经历过那些痛苦，知道自己的母亲是个何其恶毒、轻贱女儿的人，可邢大姐犹豫挣扎了许久，最后脸上的神情还是一点点衰败下去。
直到最后，她都闭口不言，说一切都是自己自愿的。
母亲没有逼迫自己。
看着她如此懦弱、被完全洗脑，黛西和奚海红简直要被气死了。
警员们也非常无奈。
没有邢大姐的指控，他们就奈何不了邢家老太太。
看着邢老太太满脸挑衅的得色，顾之桑视若无睹。
邢老太这个跳梁小丑还影响不了她，但她心中的无名怒火，是被邢大姐勾起来了。
对于瓦拓村的调查和教育一直到凌晨一点多才结束。
凌晨三点，不少身心疲惫的村民已经回到了家中，进入梦乡。
漆黑夜色中，一身红斑身形消瘦的中年男人躺在床榻上，呼吸逐渐急促起来。
他像是在梦中受到了极大的影响，猛然惊醒，浑浊的眼睛在黑暗中逐渐瞪大、满脸惊恐。
邢老二张了张口，却一点声音都喊不出来，就像是是被什么东西死死堵住的嘴巴。
他面上覆了一团黑乎乎的东西。
那是一团四肢细而扭曲的、皮肤焦黑的人形鬼影，赤红如血的狰狞面孔和邢老二脸贴着脸。
是邢家媳妇的鬼魂。
哪怕魂魄被重创，哪怕知道邢家附近有那个非常强大的玄师存在，可它心中对邢老二强烈的恨意，还是让它来了。
细而尖锐的声音像是女人幽怨的哭声：
“老公……我找你找得好苦啊……”
“现在那个孩子没有了，我干净了，你们……满意了吗？！”
邢家媳妇的声音陡然尖利，强烈的怨气让邢老二双眼爆突，布满红血丝。
他面孔因为惊恐至极而十分扭曲，细微的声音从牙缝中挤出：“对、对不、起……饶了、饶……”
和他睡在同一张床塌上的邢老太太被动静闹醒，一睁眼就看到自己的宝贝儿子口吐血沫、在**大力抽搐，脸色都铁青了。
她尖叫哭嚎着，跑下床从抽屉里拿出驱邪的符在儿子头上挥舞。
可这一次无济于事了。
邢老太太含在嘴里怕化了的心肝宝贝，还是在她眼皮子底下惨死，死前痛苦不堪。
看着她撕心裂肺的样子，焦黑的怨鬼畅快不已，赤红的面孔上露出明晃晃的、带着恶意的笑，遁出墙壁。
被邢老太挑刺辱骂了这么多年，它很清楚，比起弄死邢老太，让这个视儿子如**的老太婆亲眼看着宝贝儿子横死，才是对她最大的折磨。
果不其然，邢老太太抱着邢老二的尸体，疯狂捶打床榻。
嘴里还用最难听的话咒骂着死去儿媳、顾之桑、甚至是自己的女儿。
她怨儿媳索命，怨顾之桑没有把儿媳灭杀了，还怨自己的女儿不中用，挡灾也没挡成还是让她的宝贝儿子死了。
满心怨怼的邢老太太颤抖着从抽屉里拿出几个稻草和木料扎的小人，在心里默念一些人的名字，而后拿出针来，在小人的胸口、眼鼻、肚子上反复狠扎。
当她默念着顾之桑的名字时，她覆满皱纹的面孔扭曲：“去死！去死！”
一边诅咒着，她一边扎针。
After only two stabs, Mrs. Xing suddenly felt that her eyes, heart, and stomach - the places where she had stabbed the little man - were in unbearable pain, as if they were pierced by awls.
She let out a "wow" and a mouthful of smelly blood spurted out of her mouth. She fell to the ground, holding her heart and crying in pain.
In a temporary residence somewhere on the other side, Gu Zhisang, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, slowly opened his eyes, his eyes full of indifference and irony:
"idiot."
There is a road to heaven but you don't take it, there is no door to hell but you will fall into it.
If Old Lady Xing behaves herself and doesn't do anything naughty, then as an ordinary person with corrupt morals, she has not violated any serious laws, and there really isn't much that can be done to punish her except verbal condemnation.
But she insisted on seeking death and used the curse on Gu Zhisang.
At this moment, Old Lady Xing changed from an ordinary person to a user of divination. Any defense or counterattack from Gu Zhisang was just a normal fight.
He is not as skilled as others and deserves to die.
She glanced out the dark window, thought for a moment, and got up to go out.
In the dense forest outside Watuo Village, a blurry black shadow was crawling on the ground in a twisted posture.
The resentful spirit, no longer blessed by a corpse, seemed somewhat transparent, but it was muttering something, and countless resentments overflowed from its body and spread toward the entire village.
The Xing family's daughter-in-law has become a fierce ghost. She holds such deep resentment that she has no intention of letting this village go.
Just as it was about to sacrifice its soul and curse the village, an iron chain came flying from a distance and accurately and powerfully wrapped around its upper body, pulling it backwards and causing it to fall to the ground and roll several times.
The resentful ghost was horrified and found that he could not break free. He looked down and found that he was tied with a "soul-catching rope".
It raised its head with an ugly expression: "Are you the messenger from the underworld?!"
The resentful ghost is both afraid and hateful.
What it feared was that this young woman was unfathomable. It could still vividly remember the pain of having its head chopped off by a wooden sword and its soul being hurt.
What it hates is that this person has repeatedly prevented it from venting its hatred.
Gu Zhisang said, "That's enough of the trouble."
The resentful ghost had a distorted look on his face and sneered as he thought, 'This sanctimonious master is going to talk about some great principles again.'
Just as it was about to open its mouth, its soul was pulled into the air and thrown directly into a pitch-black ghost door that had been set up next to Gu Zhisang at some point.
Xing's wife:? ?
Gu Zhisang raised his hand and threw the vengeful ghost in. Then he waved his hand to close the ghost gate and disappeared on the spot.
She is also helping the underworld to capture fugitive evil spirits and increase its performance.
As for how to evaluate and judge the daughter-in-law of the Xing family, it is all up to the underworld to decide. It has nothing to do with her, and she doesn't want to care.
Gu Zhisang slowly put away the 'Soul-Catching Rope', feeling the curse that had just formed around him begin to dissipate, and left the place with satisfaction.
The next day, screams were heard from the Xing family's yard.
The police officers who came to take Xing Laoer's statement could not knock on the door. After breaking in, they saw Old Mrs. Xing and Xing Laoer lying on the bed in a tragic state of death.
Who could have thought that in just half a night, another murder would happen bizarrely.
But when they went to ask the contestants of the "Spiritual Matters" program and Gu Zhisang, these metaphysical people were all confused and knew nothing about anything.
After the police officers left, several contestants looked meaningfully in the direction of Gu Zhisang.
Bai Ci said slowly: "Finally, we can leave this village..."
Gu Zhisang nodded slightly.
He Mi Tu had a blank expression on his face: "Is leaving a good thing? We are still going to the next case location."
Gu Zhisang: ...
The author has something to say:
New story about "sending off the dead"
I will explain the ending of the pregnant ghost~