Chapter 97 Dream 2: Dreaming on the Pillow
The reason why Wang Fengxu sent this post to Meng Caiyun was because this matter was somewhat related to the Liuxian Temple in Hongfu Village.
Meng Caiyun clicked on it casually and found that this post was reposted from an external platform. However, even if it was a repost, the number of views had reached 20,000. It is conceivable how popular the original post was.
[RT, the original poster is a public official in the Wheat Field District. Everyone understands this. Please don't expose my identity. If these facts weren't so unbelievable, I wouldn't risk violating discipline by posting them online... It all started last month. Someone came to report the police. He came alone and seemed mentally normal, but his words were very strange. He first asked us if dreams could come true, then asked if we had seen the scarecrows in the fields. He said he was just like the scarecrow, his body stuffed with straw...]
Zhu Meng's forum app isn't open to the public. Generally speaking, "Hearsay" is filled with Taoist monks chatting and gossiping. They often recount terrifying encounters while fighting demons and defending the Way, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of today's top leaders, and delve into the intrigues of wealthy families. As for the various urban legends and academic anecdotes that are popular on other sites, most of them are of little value, as they are clearly fabricated by outsiders.
This is the first time I've seen a forum post from an external site being forwarded and causing such a high level of discussion.
Meng Caiyun followed the repost and read the original post.
My colleague wrote a receipt to the person who reported the crime, but there was no way a case could be filed. It sounded ridiculous. We initially planned to contact his family or community organizations, but he currently lives alone. It was said that he divorced early due to business failure, and his parents are no longer alive. He has no other close friends or family. The boss asked my colleague to take him to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. The results were completely normal, but we couldn't rule out excessive psychological stress. My colleague gave him a few words of advice and sent him home.
However, after returning from the hospital that day, my colleague seemed a little off and often distracted during work. I asked him what was wrong, and what he said next completely stumped me.
According to him, he and the reporter were walking side by side on their way to the hospital to get the report. The corridor was relatively quiet at noon, but my colleague kept hearing a rustling sound. He thought about it for a long time and felt that the sound was very similar to the sound of grass rubbing against each other.
He listened carefully for a long time and confirmed that the sound was coming from the person who reported the case.
When seeing this, some netizens from other sites began to draw conclusions based on their own experience: [I guess the original poster's colleague might be the one with a mental illness.]
Meng Caiyun frowned, not connecting the strange phenomena in the post with any kind of evil spirit, and put it aside for the time being.
Post continues.
I know what you're all about to say. I also thought my colleague was just nervous, but he's a very serious person. He never jumps to conclusions, nor is he easily led astray. He looked at me and said very seriously that after hearing the sound, he immediately did one thing: he grabbed the wrist of the person who reported the crime. The two of us stopped in the hallway, and at that moment, the sound disappeared! My colleague then said, "I looked at him, and he looked at me. His turtleneck caught my eye. It was so hot, why was he covering himself up so tightly? Then I noticed what seemed to be stripes on his neck. They weren't very obvious, like the marks of sleeping on a mat in the middle of summer, but I think they looked more like a bundle of straw tied together."
Most of you live in urban areas, right? Our workplace is near the urban-rural fringe, surrounded by vast expanses of farmland. I wonder if you've ever seen the scarecrows made in the fields? Some are quite elaborate, using a cloth doll for the head, while others are more perfunctory, simply tying a bundle of straw in a circle to create a neck and shoulders. Such crude creations, while clearly unremarkable in their resemblance to humans, are treated as if they were human... But I'm getting off topic. What I want to point out is that the crude scarecrow faces bear a striking resemblance to the unnatural puffiness of the reporter's features.
[At this point, I feel like no one will believe me, but I guarantee that what follows is true and not a rumor or a publicity stunt.]
When the post was serialized to this point, it was not very popular and everyone's replies were mainly chat and nonsense. Some people gave serious suggestions, while others thought it was fabricated and was just a trick to create mystery.
However, the poster did not reply to any of the messages. He seemed to be busy organizing his sentences to pour out all his experiences. There were also a few mosaic photos in between, a psychological assessment report that concluded there was no abnormality, and some street scenes in the rural areas of Langang. The last photo was taken in front of the temple. The eaves of the temple were short and old, and the three elegant and simple characters "Liuxian Temple" could be vaguely made out on the black plaque.
Meng Caiyun enlarged the picture with two fingers. On the two pillars from right to left, there was a couplet hanging: "Dreams of yellow millet on the pillow, and the sound of bells under the willow trees make me understand the mystery."
It is indeed the Liuxian Temple in Hongfu Village.
The incident I'm about to discuss is related to the local Liuxian Temple. Netizens from other areas may not be familiar with it, so I'll briefly explain that the deity enshrined there is Lady Liu, who is responsible for warding off nightmares and is the local patron saint. The person who reported the incident said that on his first day back in the village, he wandered around the temple and encountered a young woman in green clothing, who appeared to be a staff member living there.
Before I knew it, the water in the bathtub had cooled down.
Meng Caiyun jumped out of the pool, grabbed a towel and covered himself with it, still thinking about what he had read in the post.
Hongfu Village and Madam Liu were all consistent with the information she knew about Liuxian Temple. The poster did not lie nor did he make up stories.
The Willow Lady, also known locally as the Dream Granny, is said to have been a girl who, according to legend, adopted willow trees as her parents. She was highly skilled in the art of incantations, able to calm crying children and cure nightmares. The heavens, grateful for her life-saving deeds, guided her to immortality. Legend has it that by hanging a copper bell on a willow tree in front of one's door, one can pray for Willow Lady's protection.
In the Liuxian Temple, there is only one willow tree planted in the front yard. Its branches are wrapped with red cloth and a copper bell is hung on the top of the tree. When the wind blows, the willow tree emits a clear and ethereal sound.
Lady Liu was modest and unwilling to accept the incense from the gods. There was also a saying that willow catkins were flammable and would pose a safety hazard if they floated into the temple and touched candles. The Liuxian Temple had fires and was rebuilt several times before the custom of offering sacrifices with open flames was abolished. Now when people go to the temple to worship, they buy half a foot of red cloth strips and wrap them around the branches or around the wooden railings next to them. If you are pious, you can just put some change in the merit box.
In recent years, the Liuxian Temple Dharma Assembly has unexpectedly become popular on the Internet, and has also attracted many young people from big cities to "check in". After all, Lady Liu is in charge of dispelling nightmares. Nowadays, young people are under great mental pressure and inevitably have various sleep disorders. They come to worship in a daze. Some people think that it seems to be really useful, so they post it on the Internet, which attracts another group of netizens to join in the fun.
There were also several people who had checked in among the replyers.
I've been there before, but the person guarding the temple is usually just an ordinary old lady. The temple is very small, and there aren't any extra rooms to rent out. How could there be a young woman in green clothes?
[+1, I went there to take photos, too. The willow trees in the courtyard are very beautiful, even more divine than the ones along the river... But the interior is quite run-down. The people who organized the procession only painted the exterior. I even donated 100 yuan, hoping they would properly maintain and repair the wooden structures inside to preserve the local cultural heritage.]
So what's the connection between the scarecrow and the Willow Fairy Temple? Could you please finish it all in one go? It's so disjointed and disjointed.
The poster still speaks slowly at his own pace.
[I just went to lunch, sorry, I will continue to update the post now. ]
[Note: These are all based on the report from the person who reported the incident. My colleagues and I are currently unable to determine their authenticity. I can only tell you his words verbatim.]
The person who reported the case said that he had recently failed in business and lost a large sum of money. He was depressed and wanted to return to Hongfu Village to find his family and relax. Oh, I forgot to mention that he was born during the birth control period, and his parents gave him away to be raised. They only told him this before they passed away. He only knew that his hometown was Hongfu Village, but previous records were severely incomplete, and we couldn't find any household registration information for his biological parents.
After returning to the village, he saw the local preparations for a ceremony at Liuxian Temple. He mentioned that he'd been suffering from insomnia lately, so he decided to go and pay his respects. It was only 5:30 p.m., and it was getting dark. There was no one in the temple. He wandered around and, upon emerging, saw a young woman in green clothes arranging copper bells on tree branches. He struck up a conversation with her.
Meng Caiyun read through the pages quickly.
The poster seemed to have completely treated the forum as a pornographic space, using a nagging tone like writing in a diary, completely lacking the efficiency and conciseness that a public official should have. It was as if he was deliberately delaying the story, trying to find something to make it seem less shocking.
In short, the person who reported the case learned more detailed legends about the Willow Fairy Temple during his casual chat with the woman in green. For example, Lady Liu could collect nightmares through the copper bells hung on the willow branches, and then purify them through the willow branches. Therefore, the locals like to wrap the branches with red cloth to tie the copper bells tighter, so as to prevent the nightmares from leaking out and going back to torture the original owner.
The reporter was simply amused. He jokingly asked the woman, "Since Lady Liu can both collect nightmares and give away sweet dreams, wouldn't the dreams she gives away be purified nightmares? If something goes wrong, could someone dream someone else's nightmare?"
Meng Caiyun thought: This is a very unconventional way of thinking. Is the person who reported the case an artist?
The young woman didn't answer at the time. She simply lowered her head and thought for a long time before finally telling him that it might be possible. That night, he had a dream.
He said that what he dreamed about was someone else's nightmare.
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