The plum blossoms welcome the seasonal rain, and the vastness marks the late spring.
The sorrow is deep in the ape's night, and the dream is broken in the chicken's morning.
Hua Hua Hua.
The state capital was shrouded in rain, and the sky was gray.
Since the fifth month of the lunar calendar, it has also entered the plum rain season.
This is what happens during the rainy season.
Once it starts raining, it rains, rains, and rains.
The dripping dripping, the water beads on the eaves clustered into strings, forming a white bead curtain.
It's still He Mansion.
But today, four or five days have passed since Wutong Shen Fu was executed.
The large study room of He Mansion.
With her black hair tied into a bun, a jade hairpin, and a pearl gold bird hairpin, she was wearing a wide white floor-length skirt, her eyebrows were dark, and she was sitting in the high hall with a mature charm, looking at the whole room with her palms. There are all kinds of internal affairs in He Mansion.
It's evening time now.
The eldest lady listened to the reports from several stewards in the house, dealt with the internal affairs saved today, and took care of hundreds of people in order.
The eldest lady Shuhui is virtuous.
Both talent and virtue.
After finishing all the chores, the eldest lady rubbed her temples a little tiredly.
"Madam, I have one last thing to report. Madam, you asked me to instruct the branches in various places to find spiritual martial arts for Taoist Jin'an. It has been settled."
"Oh? Those people below are very efficient in their work. It has only been less than five days since the last time that Master Jin An and Master Chen came to exorcise evil spirits from my house."
After dealing with all kinds of tiring and tiring internal affairs for a day, it was rare that she came across something that was no longer about the trivial internal affairs of the house, and the eldest lady looked a little tired, and she suddenly became interested.
The old housekeeper of the He Mansion replied respectfully: "The main reason is because the eldest lady personally ordered this matter, so the people below dare not neglect it."
After the old housekeeper finished speaking, hesitation appeared on his face: "It's just..."
"Just what?"
The eldest lady frowned displeased. She didn't really like the hesitancy among her subordinates.
The old housekeeper heard the displeasure in the eldest lady's words and did not dare to be negligent. He quickly replied with sincerity: "The other party is a small martial arts family that has fallen into disrepute. Although they have retired from the world, they are still being hunted by their former enemies. Because my father was injured, he urgently needs century-old medicinal materials to heal his injuries."
"The other party doesn't ask for money, he just wants a piece of century-old healing medicine..."
"In addition, the other party also made some demands, saying that this spiritual martial arts is their family's unique martial arts. In order to prevent us from leaking their family's unique secrets to others, he was only willing to hand over the upper half of this spiritual martial arts. Next Half of it is related to the life, death and revival of the family, so I refuse to hand it over.”
A century-old medicinal material...
The eldest lady was silent for a while.
Hundred-year-old medicinal materials are precious. Even the most common century-old medicinal materials are worth hundreds of taels of silver.
And the century-old medicinal materials with healing effects are not comparable to ordinary century-old medicinal materials. If you put it in the world, you may not be able to buy it for a hundred gold.
However, the He family has a big business. Together with the other three medicinal material merchants, they control nearly half of the medicinal material business in the state capital. Although century-old medicinal materials are precious, there are not no century-old medicinal materials in the treasury.
The eldest lady's silence did not last long.
Then she quickly decided on the matter.
After finishing the discussion about purchasing centuries-old medicinal materials for Jin'an, the eldest lady looked around, her thin eyebrows frowning slightly, and she looked at the old housekeeper: "I haven't seen Miss Third today. Miss Third secretly went to Wu Zang Taoist Temple to find Taoist Master Jin An today?"
This is the family matter of the master's family. As a servant, the old housekeeper would not dare to talk about the family affairs of the master's family. He lowered his head and could only respond with a simple yes.
"Sure enough, women are not allowed to stay in college."
"When these wings become strong, you will learn to fly on your own."
The eldest lady was so angry that she laughed and cursed. Several stewards in the big study did not dare to raise their heads and look around. They wondered in their hearts that the eldest lady was really angry? Or fake anger?
…
…
The Wu Zang Taoist Temple, which has always been deserted, has gradually become lively in the past few days.
Even the old Taoist priest has more smile lines on his face.
Because Wu Zang Taoist Temple, which had always had zero incense believers, finally started to have its own incense followers, and the incense was still very strong every day.
There is no way, rich people can really do whatever they want.
The third lady of the He family has been running to the Wu Zang Taoist Temple recently, and she has been running very diligently. Every time she spends a lot of money to buy incense, and the business of the coffin shop opposite the Taoist temple has also improved.
The coffin shop not only sells coffins, but also sells yellow paper, paper ingots, shrouds, incense sticks, candles, etc. The Fu Shou shop and the coffin shop provide one-stop services.
The Taoist temple has suddenly become popular in the past few days. There is no inventory in the Taoist temple, so it is natural to revitalize the surrounding businesses.
Therefore, Uncle Lin looked particularly kind and kind to the third lady of the He family.
The recent incense believers in Wu Zang Taoist Temple are not only the third lady of He Mansion, but also the guard Li of He Mansion has become an incense believer.
Every day when I have something to do, I run to the Taoist temple.
All I can think about is fighting evil spirits.
Then the girls, the old lady, and the two maids next to the eldest lady in the laundry room of He Mansion also became incense believers in the Five Zang Taoist Temple.
It's just that they rarely have the opportunity to leave the house, so they come occasionally, unlike the first two who go to the Five Zang Taoist Temple every day.
But no matter what, there are now eleven incense believers in Wu Zang Taoist Temple.
Compared to the deserted place with zero incense believers at the beginning, it has become much better.
Especially among them is a wealthy second-generation daughter who is not short of money.
This day.
Jin'an was hiding from the third lady of the He family. The old Taoist priest had just sent the third lady of the He family away. The fat Li Weiwei, with a big belly, came to the Five Zang Taoist Temple again.
"Wei Li, you go to our little Taoist temple every two days. Doesn't your family need to look after the home?"
Jin An was speechless as he looked at Li Weiwei, who had become familiar with them and poured himself a cup of tea.
Guard Li's answer was very simple and straightforward. He winked at Jin An: "Who said that the guards of He Mansion must only be limited to He Mansion?"
"Inspecting the surrounding environment of He Mansion and identifying hidden dangers in advance is also one of the responsibilities of this guard."
Faced with this shameless fish in troubled waters, Jin An gave the other party a hehe face on the spot.
As long as you are happy.
Anyway, He Mansion is not mine.
As we were chatting today, the old Taoist priests talked about his bravery in the past. One of them talked with joy and spit, while the other listened with envy.
Jin An: "?"
God is so envious.
When the old Taoist priest finished speaking, Li Huwei's face still showed unfinished emotion.
I wish I could throw away my current job and go on a casual trip with an old Taoist priest.
Looking at Li Huwei, who was always thinking about bumping into evil spirits, Jin An's head moved, and he remembered a small detail when he first met Li Huwei.
Li Huwei, who longed to encounter evil spirits, once said that he knew 99% of the various folklore and legends in the state capital.
"Weiwei Li, have you ever heard of the place name Wutou Village?"
Jin An asked.
"Headless Village?"
Li Huwei looked over curiously, wondering why Jin An suddenly asked about this matter.
Li Huwei had a good memory and said that he had heard of the place name Wutou Village. Jin An and the old Taoist priest suddenly became energetic after hearing this. Jin An couldn't wait to ask for details.
Therefore, Li Weiwei, who was very curious and was familiar with various folk legends of Wuzhou Prefecture, began to tell everything he knew.
What is a headless village?
Of course it is a village where the villagers have no heads on their necks.
And people have no brains.
Nature is dead.
So this headless village is a place where dead people gather.
According to what Li Huwei said, the story of the Headless Village has to start with a traveling businessman.
This matter started a few years ago.
It is impossible to verify exactly how many years it took place.
There is a group of traveling merchants who resell goods and earn the price difference between the two places. They often travel back and forth between neighboring state capitals. In order to avoid bandits and bandits along the way, this group of traveling merchants had their own trail for carrying goods.
It's just that the cargo trail is not easy to walk, because most of it is in the deep mountains and old forests.
But luckily they were careful along the way.
Never travel at night.
Never curious.
Never ask about what happens along the way.
In this way, they had been doing business as traveling merchants for several years, and everything was fine.
Among them is a mountain road, which is the most dangerous place along the way. You have to walk through a steep cliff.
That mountain road.
It is indeed extremely steep.
Most of the roads can only be passed by one person. In some places, even one foot cannot step on it, and only half of the foot can be stepped on.
If a person accidentally steps into the air, it will be a cliff with no body intact.
And there are often falling rocks overhead.
So they named this mountain road Xuankong Road.
During the rainy season, the mountains become colder and foggy, making the suspended road even more slippery and difficult to walk on.
As the saying goes, people die for wealth and birds die for food.
Even though this mountain road is difficult to walk, knowing that it is extremely dangerous and may fall to pieces at any time, facing the high price difference of reselling goods in the two places, people are crazy enough in the face of interests.
I just often walk by the river without getting my shoes wet.
The group of traveling merchants finally encountered an accident. A large number of rocks suddenly fell on the mountain that day. They were caught off guard and were hit badly by the falling rocks, and many of them were injured.
Fortunately, they were almost finished walking that section of the mountain road. The last section of the road was wide, but no one was knocked off the cliff by falling rocks.
But even so, many people were still injured.
Two people's arms were broken by falling rocks, and they were in urgent need of finding a place to treat the injured.
Otherwise, the arms of those two people will definitely be crippled.
At this time, they saw smoke rising from the mountains. This was someone making a fire for cooking in the mountains. They were glad that they had met someone in the mountains, and finally there was no way out, so they hurriedly took the wounded in the direction of the smoke.
When they walked to the smoke, they found a village. Farmers were carrying hoes on the plowed fields and returning to the village to have dinner. In the thatched huts filled with smoke, there were chickens crowing and dogs barking, and children running around. It was a peaceful and peaceful scene. .
Fortunately, the folk customs in the village are simple and simple. When they saw injured people entering the village, they not only did not exclude others, but also entertained them with delicious food and drinks, and even took the initiative to help them treat the injured.
The group of traveling merchants were very grateful when they saw how enthusiastic the villagers were. Soon, they became familiar with this group of hospitable villagers.
At the same time, I also learned the name of this mountain village.
This mountain village is called Taoyuan Village. They are isolated from the world. Their ancestors fled into the mountains a long time ago to escape the war. They have lived in this deep mountain for generations, and no one has ever walked out of the mountain.
Daily living expenses are met by self-sufficiency, with men farming and women weaving.
The more the traveling businessmen listened, the more envious they became. They envied Taoyuan Village for living peacefully and contentedly with the world.
On that day, the hospitable villagers in Taoyuan Village killed chickens, pigs and fished, entertained them with good wine and meat, celebrated the rare arrival of outsiders in the village, and invited the traveling businessmen to tell them about the changes happening outside.
Fortunately, that group of businessmen travel around the world all year round, with daggers hidden in their arms and banknotes hidden in their insoles. They are wary of others. They all know that drinking can lead to trouble, so they are not greedy for the food in the cup, but the meat. Eat no less.
The huge pig head was quickly divided among several people.
As a result, they had just finished killing chickens and pigs last night. The next day, the village started killing chickens and pigs again, and continued to entertain the traveling businessmen with wine and meat.
However, not everyone in the group of traveling merchants has lost their minds, there are still some who remain vigilant enough.
Among these people was a man named Ding Bao.
He was one of the two people whose arms were broken by falling rocks. Because of his arm injury, he did not participate in the village bonfire dinner. After the other traveling merchants came back after eating, he was surprised after listening to everyone's descriptions, and then asked own questions.
Ding Bao asked everyone, if the people in Taoyuan Village really escaped war for generations, where did they get their domestic pigs?
They were all fleeing from the war, so they couldn't possibly be driving their pigs into the mountains, right? It is somewhat credible to say that there are chickens, ducks, cats and dogs on the road. After all, wild boars are not domestic pigs. There is a big difference between the two.
And let’s not even talk about driving pigs into the mountains. During the war years, ordinary people couldn’t even afford pork. To put it bluntly, when there is war, there will be famine. War causes people to have no intention of cultivating crops and growing food. I am afraid that people will not have enough to eat at that time. People will be so hungry that they will only eat grass roots and even cook food seeds. Where will there be live pigs for you to drive in? In the mountains?
Ding Bao asked everyone again, if the people in Taoyuan Village have really never been out and have no contact with people from the outside world, how do they reproduce?
During the day, he saw the people in the village. There were a hundred villagers.
If there has been no contact with the outside world or marriage with the outside world, then it is the result of inbreeding.
But everyone knows that if a village is full of inbreeding, then the village will die before long and will not survive for long.
Why can these villagers live in the village safely and continue to reproduce for generations? This is not common sense.
When Ding Bao said this, the group of businessmen calmed down from the joyful atmosphere just now. Everyone was sweating on their backs from Ding Bao's repeated questions.
People who are capable of buying and selling business are inherently smarter than others. Which one will be the stupid one?
Otherwise, in the business world of intrigues and intrigues, he would have been devoured to the point where not even a bone would be left.
Everyone discussed that night that they would leave this strange village as soon as dawn tomorrow.
That night, the lights in the house were on all night, and they took turns keeping watch all night. Nothing happened, and more than a dozen people spent the night safely.
The next day.
As soon as the genius was revealed, the traveling businessmen were eager to leave the village.
Originally, they had no intention of saying goodbye, but simply sneaked away.
Unexpectedly, the villagers in Taoyuan Village actually started killing chickens and pigs again early in the morning, and had already set up a banquet to warmly entertain the traveling businessmen.
Ever since they were awakened by Ding Bao's words, the traveling merchants wanted to say goodbye and leave, even if they dared to stay in Taoyuan Village.
But the villagers in Taoyuan Village are so enthusiastic.
No matter what, that group of traveling merchants couldn't refuse.
Just when the stalemate reached a stalemate, Ding Bao, one of the traveling merchants, actually saw an acquaintance among the villagers in Taoyuan Village. He was immediately surprised and shouted: "Yang Zhi! Yang Zhi, aren't you dead?"
"Last year, didn't you encounter robbers, people were killed, and money was robbed? Why are you here? How come you have become a villager in Taoyuan Village?"
Who knows.
Ding Bao's words were like waking up someone from a dream. The Taoyuan Village villager named Yang Zhi actually fell to the ground with his head on the spot. His headless body fell straight to the ground and died.
At this time, the heads of the Taoyuan Village villagers who were still surrounding them all slipped from their necks. The originally bustling village suddenly became a desolate and dilapidated headless village. The pig heads that were originally boiling in the pot , the boiling water boiled, and the stewed human head surfaced.
The headless domestic pig lying aside also turned into a headless human corpse.
The traveling merchants were so frightened that they fled the village crying for their fathers and mothers.
When the government heard that there was a headless village hidden in the mountains, they immediately led their troops to find the village. The result was strange this time. The road was still the same, and the location was still the same. But no matter how hard they searched, the government never found Taoyuan Village.
It was as if this Taoyuan Village had never appeared before.
The government thought that the traveling businessmen were falsely reporting to the government and wasting the government's manpower and material resources, so they were imprisoned for half a year before being released.
As people were imprisoned in the big boss, no one cared about Taoyuan Village.
Later, from then on, the group of traveling merchants no longer dared to take this road. From then on, they changed other routes and went to other places to resell goods.
But when the rainy season came next year, that is, the rainy season when the group of traveling merchants encountered Taoyuan Village last year, all these traveling merchants mysteriously disappeared overnight.
No one can be seen in life, no corpse in death.
As a result, a folk legend gradually emerged... It was said that these people eventually returned to Taoyuan Village, just like the man named Yang Zhi.
Even if he dies, he cannot escape the curse of Taoyuan Village.
The man named Yang Zhi was Ding Bao's leader at the beginning. It was he who led Ding Bao into this industry, and it was he who told Ding Bao and other colleagues about Xuan Kong Road.
Therefore, according to folklore, Yang Zhi most likely encountered the headless village of Taoyuan Village. He entered the headless village a year earlier than Ding Bao and the others, so he could not escape his death. During the rainy season, he returned to the headless village inexplicably.
…
Hua Hua Hua.
The gray plum rain outside the Taoist temple is still falling.
"Little brother, it's been raining non-stop. I suddenly feel a little cold."
The old Taoist priest crossed his arms and rubbed them.
