Suddenly, there was a commotion in the walnut tree, and the leaves on the tree suddenly became noisy.
Yun Kong raised his head and looked at other trees.
Sure enough, there was no wind.
Only the walnut trees were bustling, their leaves rustling and their walnuts falling.
Yun Kong picked up the walnuts and noticed one thing: these were not fresh walnuts, the fresh ones were green. When the skin is peeled off, the juice will flow out. The juice will turn black quickly and it will be difficult to wash off if it touches your hands. And these walnuts come from the tree. What fell down has been dry for a long time.
Furthermore, Yun Kong recalled that walnuts only bear fruit in autumn, and it is only spring now.
Yun Kong stared at the walnut tree for a long, long time.
Finally, he noticed a thick wooden trunk placed next to the tree, which was used to behead chickens.
There are some dark marks on the ground next to the tree. Are they pools of blood left by killing sheep or chickens?
"Yes..." Yun Kong said to himself.
※※※
"Tonight, just tonight, maybe I can learn the truth."
"What do you already know?" Mr. Xu could already climb out of bed, but he still sat on the edge of the bed and talked.
"I'm not sure..." Yun Kong said.
"What else do you need to know for sure?"
"In this way," Yun Kong came close to his ear and whispered, "I'm going to see your grandson tonight."
"Scared? Why?"
"Go and see how he sleeps."
It had just fallen into the night, and the Xu Mansion soon fell into a dead silence.
Because Xu Mansion is located on the outskirts of the city and there are few people around, it is very quiet.
Yun Kong did not mention the lights, but took advantage of the waning moon and stars to support Mr. Xu and quietly walked towards his grandson's bedroom.
There was no sound in the corridor, and the entire Xu Mansion looked like an empty house with no one in it.
They pushed open the door of Mr. Xu's grandson's room and smelled a strange smell.
"Hmm...what does it smell like?"
"Let's hold our breath for a moment." Yun Kong said, helping Mr. Xu to cross the threshold.
His grandson was sleeping quietly on the bed, making no sound.
There is another bed next to the grandson where the wet nurse sleeps. She is usually responsible for taking care of the grandson and sleeps soundlessly.
"Sleep so well," Mr. Xu said, walking forward and looking at his grandson lovingly, "What do you want me to see?"
"Don't you think... sleeping too peacefully?"
Mr. Xu put his head closer. Yes, his grandson was sleeping very stiffly, without even the rise and fall of his breathing, as if he were dead.
Mr. Xu stretched out his hand involuntarily, but couldn't help but hesitate.
"Try it." Yunkong took the lead in reaching out to check his breathing.
"how?"
"Not breathing."
"What?" Mr. Xu panicked and hurriedly stretched out his hand to check. When he found out that it was true, he couldn't help being shocked. He hurriedly knelt beside the bed and listened to his grandson's chest.
Yun Kong saw him trembling, and everything was just as he expected.
Just as he expected.
"Ping'er..." Mr. Xu was about to shout, but Yun Kong quickly stopped him.
"Mr. Xu, please don't disturb others and leave first."
"What? Taoist priest, my grandson is dead..."
"Don't wake him up, let's go out..."
"Taoist Master, he..." What Mr. Xu didn't say was: How could he still wake up?
"Shh, he's about to wake up." Yun Kong hurriedly picked up Mr. Xu and forced him to leave the bedroom.
Ping'er turned over on the bed.
※※※
On the third day after Yun Kong came to Xu's house, he was ready to leave, otherwise he would really miss the journey.
Last night, Mr. Xu asked Yun Kong to stay with him and spend the night with him.
He couldn't even trust his own family, and he no longer knew who to trust.
Yun Kong sat in meditation next to Mr. Xu and practiced spiritual practice. He spent the whole night quietly without any disturbance.
After finally waiting until early morning, Yun Kong listened quietly to the sounds outside the room. Master Xu also didn't sleep well all night. He got up and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for the maid to come in.
The maid Mingxiang came into the room on time. She was carrying face wash and saw Yun Kongxi sitting on the ground. She was stunned for a moment and her face turned pale.
Mr. Xu told her: "Go and ask someone to put a chair under the walnut tree, and then ask everyone to gather under the tree after breakfast. I will go over and talk to everyone later."
Yunkong also said: "Please, could you ask someone to place an ax under the walnut tree?"
Mingxiang didn't know what the master wanted to do. Although she felt uneasy, she still said yes and left.
Soon, everyone gathered in the courtyard. Yunkong helped Mr. Xu walk to the walnut tree and let him sit on the chair. Yunkong looked around at the family members and said, "Mr. Xu, are these all the family members? "
Mr. Xu looked over and said, "No, my eldest son is out on business and will not come back for several months."
Yunkong thanked him, then turned back to pick up the ax from under the walnut tree, and deliberately weighed it in his hand. Sure enough, he felt that the walnut tree next to him was very uneasy, and the flow of water and nutrients in the trunk was disrupted. Lost speed.
"Okay, let me tell you..." Yun Kong put down his ax gently and faced everyone in the Xu family: "Five days ago, the master went to the city to attend a banquet and didn't go home that night, right?"
The family members were a little scared, but no one was willing to answer.
"...Mr. Xu didn't go home directly the next day. He didn't get home until the evening. Then he fell asleep and got up very late to settle accounts. Then he met a ghost disguised as a child. You all know..." Yun Kong swallowed his saliva, "The kid broke into the study and his eyes fell all over the floor...why?"
Mr. Xu said nothing and glanced at his family members, looking at their expressions one by one.
"The strange things that happened in the past few days are all related to walnuts," Yun Kong said, "I didn't find the eyeballs poured out by the child in the study, but I found a lot of walnuts... Mr. Xu, is this walnut tree planted by your family? "
"No," Mr. Xu said, "when I bought this house, there was already this tree."
"There are blood stains under this tree. You usually kill chickens and sheep under this tree, right?"
Finally one of the cooks nodded: "When the master bought this place, it was already like this under the tree."
Yun Kong glanced at the cook: "I see, thank you." He guessed that she was a servant who had worked for the Xu family for a long time. "Everyday family members kill animals, and the animal blood accumulates at the root of the tree. This tree," Yun Kong pointed to the blood accumulation next to the root, "may have become a spirit."
The walnut tree shook, and several leaves fell.
"Tree, tree!" Yun Kong said sincerely towards the tree, "If you have become a spirit, why don't you show up?"
No one laughed.
No one called him crazy.
Everyone held their breath and stared at Yun Kong. They were both looking forward to and afraid of what Yun Kong was about to reveal.
"Tree, tree!" Yun Kong shouted even louder, "If you don't show up, don't blame me for cutting you down!"
After Yun Kong finished speaking, he suddenly bent down, held the axe, and chopped down the tree body violently. The crack was not deep, but blood flowed out.
Everyone was shocked and screamed strangely. This tree has really become a spirit!
"Tree, tree! Come out quickly!" As he said, he was about to chop it down with the axe.
The walnut tree shook all over, and each walnut hit Yunkong's hat, forcing Yunkong to stop the ax in his hand.
Immediately afterwards, there was a commotion on the leaves, and the two people turned over and shouted at the same time: "Taoist priests must not be rude!"
Yun Kong took a closer look and saw an old man and a child. The child was wearing green clothes and the old man was wearing brown clothes. When they spoke, they opened and closed their mouths together, just like the same person separated into two bodies.
The old man and the child said in unison: "I have lived in this courtyard for more than a hundred years, why bother?"
"I have offended you so much, please forgive me." Yun Kong bowed deeply and put down the ax at the same time.
When Mr. Xu saw the child, he was surprised and said, "That child..."
The boy and the old man immediately interrupted him and said as if in a duet: "Mr. Xu, please forgive me. I didn't insist on scaring you that night, I just wanted to remind you that I didn't want you to be so helpless!"
While the tree demon was talking, the wounds on the tree's body would gradually heal. When Yun Kong saw this, he couldn't help but admire: "He is indeed a practicing monster!" No wonder, it's just because the two of them didn't want to make it clear, and the poor Taoist was on his way again, so he had to do it in a hurry." Seeing that the tree demon's expression softened slightly, Yun Kong asked hurriedly: "I dare to ask the immortal, you have to remind Xu What is it, sir?"
"this……"
They looked at everyone with some scruples and hesitated.
"But it doesn't matter." Yun Kong encouraged them.
"No, I can't say... As long as," the two dryads looked at the well five steps away, "go and lift the lid of the well, and you will know the clues!"
As soon as these words came out, every family member immediately showed a vigilant look, and the air immediately became very solemn.
