A few days later, it was the eve of the Hungry Ghost Festival. There is only half a month left to go to Qinglize, where Lord Gaoyue lives.
At dusk, a group of people came to an unknown village. This area is a plain, suitable for growing crops. Villagers said that the harvest here has always been good, and many surrounding small towns will buy grain from them. When passing by the fields, they saw colorful notes hanging on the ears, saying they could prevent hail. Hemp and grain are hung at the door of every house, tofu and rice are placed everywhere on the street, and some scattered stalls have doughnuts and paper clothes in front of them. These are for lonely ghosts to keep out the cold and keep them hungry.
Dai Luan was probably hungry. She stared at the bowl on the ground without blinking. Shi Wuqi hit her on the head with a fan.
"What are you doing!"
"Don't eat it, you will suffer if you eat it."
"Nonsense, of course I know!"
There was a store owner holding a frying pan at the door and frying eggplant cakes. They were fragrant and golden, and they lured a few people into the store.
After eating, finding a place to stay, putting down our luggage, the mountains and seas gave away a little bit of broken silver.
"I'm going to buy some paper money for incense candles. Is there anyone there?"
"I'll go too," Mu Wan paused and explained, "I'll burn paper for my father."
Dai Luan definitely wanted to watch the fun, and Shi Wuqi was the only one left to watch the show. He didn't want to do it, so he followed him out.
After dark, people are everywhere burning paper for their ancestors. After finding a suitable open space, three fires were set on the ground. Ah Luan burned them together with them, while Shi Wuqi and Ah Qi stood aside. While the nearby villagers were burning paper, they all muttered words, and some even wiped away tears. These two people didn't say anything, they just passed the paper into the fire silently without saying a word.
After a while, Shi Wuqi also bent down and took a few stacks of paper money on the ground to help put them away. Dai Luan turned around and said to him:
"Are your parents still alive too?"
"Well, I forgot."
The two people who had been silent suddenly turned back to look at him, with doubts on their faces.
He explained: "I really can't remember. After the Battle of Xuanzang, I don't remember many things. Qi even told me my last name, let alone my family."
Shanhai said, it turns out that Miss Qi can talk.
"I remember you only read me once, and now I can't say a word."
"Then how do you remember her name?"
Mu Wan asked him this, he stretched out his hand, and Miss Qi brought him a long handkerchief. That was the one he used when he was killing corpses in Jiangyuan Town. The fabric of the handkerchief is not bad, but it is very old. I don't know if the dark red color on it is a stain or a pattern.
Under the light of three clusters of fire, it was vaguely visible that there were seven characters embroidered on it.
"Just by the sound, I thought it was my wife's wife."
"It's good that you think so. I really mean it. But don't misunderstand me. I think we have known each other for a long time. Qi is different from other demons. I can't let her go."
Is that why you are obsessed with Wangui Zhi? Shanhai thought to himself.
It gets dark very late, but people go home very early today. Legend has it that when the Hungry Ghost Festival comes, the gates of hell will be wide open and hundreds of ghosts will walk at night. It will be very troublesome for strangers to mix in.
While lying on the bed, Aluan told Mu Wan stories about his childhood.
One year during the Ghost Festival, she was so bored at home that she secretly ran out to play. The Ghost Festival in Dailuan City is very lively, not as deserted as the Chinese New Year. There was a little boy with big front teeth who took her to play, went to many places, and even gave her some tofu stew. After playing for a while, a Taoist priest passed by. He was so frightened that he ran away immediately. As soon as she turned around, she saw a mouse tail and realized that he was a mouse. When she was returning home, she suddenly couldn't find her way. The streets immediately became deserted and the colorful lights disappeared.
"Could it be that he was bewitched by a rat spirit?"
"I don't think so. I was so panicked that I looked around for people, but I didn't know anyone. Everyone looked very bad, with a straight face and no color. I was frightened and hid behind a tree crying. Suddenly I met that person. The knife maker - the one I talked about, you know. He asked me why I was here. I cried so much that I couldn't speak, so he put a mask on my face. I still remember there was a ghost horn on my forehead. He pulled I left. Not long after I left, the excitement started again. We went straight back to the house. Now that I think about it, I ate something unclean and accidentally entered the underworld. Fortunately, he didn’t scold me or complain to my parents. . He promised to take me to play next Hungry Ghost Festival, but he left in June of the next year, and I don’t know where he went.”
Mu Wan took a deep breath.
"Well... that's not how people live. People around them come and go. Okay, go to bed early."
Dai Luan thought a lot about the past and was not very sleepy now. She closed her eyes and opened them again, over and over again. Vaguely she heard the sound of a piano coming from far away, melodious and slow, coming from far to near.
His eyes suddenly became brighter.
Dai Luan looked around. She was surrounded by pink and colorful fallen flowers.
This is a world of peach blossoms and cherry blossoms. The pink and white cherry blossoms and pink peach blossoms are mixed together, like a dream.
He lowered his head and found a banjo in his hand. She looked carefully and recognized it as Paulownia. She actually doesn't know how to play, but she recognized some of them when she was a child. This is green paulownia wood, which is denser and thicker than the common paulownia wood. The material is rare and the sound is slower. The body of the piano should be made of eight treasures, made of blood, and shimmering with fine pearls, but she felt that the composition was different from what she was familiar with. The wood was cracked with ice patterns, and the emblem looked like it was made of gold, still shining brightly. She touched the body of the piano and felt that this thing was really valuable and rare.
It's weird, I obviously didn't eat anything today... Or am I still too tired and had a weird dream?
A girl came over from a distance, Dai Luan raised his head and looked at her.
This girl looked no older than Mu Wan, but her figure was much slender. She didn't look like a martial artist at first glance, but she exuded an elegant temperament. Walking closer, she saw that the girl's hair was beautiful dark brown, with a peach blossom and a cherry blossom on the left and right respectively. The pink and white complemented each other and were very fresh, as if they were born on her body. The clothes are also in matching colors with the entire flower forest. The fabrics are stacked in layers but not cumbersome, and are as light as petals.
She walked closer, with a crescent moon in her eyes.
"Are you, Six Paths Impermanence? Is this your piano?"
Dai Luan asked her, but she did not answer, but suddenly took her hand and wanted to go elsewhere. As the girl walked, she said to her affectionately:
"I saw a flower in the spiritual veins of Xishan Mountain. It grew very beautiful, but I can't name it. Will you come with me to have a look?"
"You are no longer busy. You are so lazy all day long."
Dai Luan didn't know why she spoke. The words weren't what she wanted to say, let alone her voice. This sound was like the "voiceless voice" that came to her mind when she was thinking alone or pointing at words while reading. Maybe because this is a dream, it’s not so particular.
The flower forest was very big, and they walked for an unknown amount of time. The impermanent girl just whispered a lot of things to her. One moment, he helped her remove the petals from her head, and the next moment, she complained that what she had done before was too dangerous, and kept talking for a long time. Dai Luan felt a very missed feeling - just like her mother.
She felt that she must have seen them burning paper during the day and thought of her own home, which led to such a thing in her dream.
After walking for a while, another figure came out from behind the tree.
It turned out to be Lord Jiyue.
"Jiyue Lord? What are you doing here?"
As before, the words were unspoken and could not be spoken. Lord Jiyue bowed to them solemnly and raised his eyes. Those eyes were still as clear as ice, and the crescent moon was also rising in the pool of eyes.
"I heard familiar fingering techniques from afar, so I guessed that Master was at Yingyue-kun's place. But the music was new, and it sounded familiar to me. It didn't look like I learned it from somewhere... Is it a new composition by you? Or do you know it before? , just don’t tell me?”
Oh, let me go, it’s worthy of you.
Wait a minute, what do you call me?
Dai Luan wanted to go forward and argue with him. There must be something wrong with this. But think about it again, it’s just a dream. Anything in a dream is possible.
...Wait a minute, what do you call this girl?
She turned her head and glanced at the girl. She had pink face and red lips, and a pretty face. She couldn't compare to the dead brat Mu Wan described.
"Glib tongue."
"Myself" said it again.
"Have you finished all the things that adult asked you to do? It's so leisurely that it really makes people anxious."
"Yingyue Jun" sighed, shook his head and scolded him. He smiled softly and started walking with them.
"Hey, of course I'm extremely busy. However, I still have some time to accompany Master and Sister Yingyue for a walk." Mr. Jiyue was still playing tricks, "But that adult said that there will be some problems in the extreme south." Please pay attention to the trend."
"Should Lord Kisaragi be in the south?"
"It should be," Dai Luan replied uncontrollably, "Speaking of which, I was working in the Central Plains earlier and met Mutsuki-kun."
"Mutsuki-kun is a busy man. He was running around before he was alive, and now he is still busy with trivial matters in the world." The girl sighed softly, and then continued, "I was in Hades yesterday, and the adult told me that the Book of Life and Death Someone is going to die in July."
Lord Jiyue thought for a moment.
"Is it just this sentence?"
"That's all."
"Sir, you won't talk about such trivial matters casually. I imagine that there is something about that person's death that requires our attention."
"I think so too."
After walking in silence for a few steps, the girl suddenly said that it was rare for three people to walk like this.
"A rare opportunity."
The sound of gurgling water got closer and closer, Dai Luan and the others came to the stream. A few people walked along the water, and Dai Luan suddenly wanted to see what he looked like in his dream. But she stood between the two of them, and her legs and feet were out of control. It was really difficult to take a look at the reflection. She tried her best to look towards the water's edge and kept peeping in, but she couldn't see anything.
Until daybreak.
Dai Luan opened her eyes and had a terrible headache.
"I dreamed that Lord Yingyue turned into a woman... quite beautiful," she said in a dry voice to Mu Wan who was packing her baggage. "I also dreamed that I became Lord Jiyue's master."
Mu Wan frowned, stopped what he was doing, walked over, and touched her forehead.
"You don't have a fever?"
