The aunt went on to say that she was frightened when she noticed it, so she quickly notified the surrounding neighbors. Everyone was enthusiastic and helped to find people from the hospital. After examination, it was found that the old man had been dead for a while, but due to The weather was cold and the body's degree of decay was not high. Everyone was talking about it, but many people said that they had seen old man Zhang wandering around here in the past few days, and they asked him why he didn't go to work, but he ignored him.
Under such discussion, everyone soon came to the conclusion that the old man Zhang that many people saw was actually the ghost of old man Zhang. So everyone was scared. The hospital helped contact people from the civil affairs and the funeral home, but the family members needed to be notified before they could verify the identity and remove the household after death. However, this old man has lived here for more than 20 years and knew that he had a son. But no one has ever seen his son, and no one can contact him.
So the neighbors pooled their money to pay for Old Man Zhang's funeral, and gave it to the civil affairs staff to be cremated and buried collectively as a member of the Sanwu staff.
The aunt told me that everyone knew that he was more or less a ghost, but old man Zhang was a kind man and had good relations with the neighbors, so no one could say he was too scared. However, not long after the cremation, someone once again saw Old Man Zhang wandering on the bluestone road at night. It was particularly scary when he knew that he was dead.
After speaking, the aunt turned towards another aunt who was sitting on the side peeling potatoes. The aunt took over what the aunt said and told us that she was the one who saw Old Man Zhang wandering around that night. After washing her clothes that day, she planned to pour the water into the gutter outside the door. She saw a slightly hunched figure in the distance. Walked from one end of the alley to the other, and then walked back again. At that time, the aunt didn't realize that it was Old Man Zhang, and she thought it was a drunk guy, so she looked at it curiously for a while, but soon the figure walked towards Old Man Zhang's house, and then passed directly through the door panel. Gone.
At this time, the aunt was frightened. She quickly ran home and recited Amitabha for a while under the quilt. From that day on, I couldn't sleep well for many days. I asked my aunt, where do you live? The aunt pointed behind her and said, isn't this my home? So I stood next to her and looked towards the end of the alley. I found that I could see the corner of the alley from this position, and that place happened to be Old Man Zhang's home.
The neighbors continued to talk in gibberish, as if they were tired of hearing some old-fashioned nonsense. Suddenly two outsiders came, so they talked about everything they knew. At this moment, the aunts and uncles have long forgotten that Master Ma and I just broke into a private house. This has added a lot of basis for my investigation. I also know that from the mouths of these neighbors who know Old Man Zhang, we can know More about him.
So I asked the aunts and uncles, what does this old man do for a living? From what the aunts said, he has no relatives, but he has to live. I have just learned about the situation in his family. Basically, it is a bare house. So how can its life be protected?
The aunt who peeled potatoes told me, what are the guarantees? Even though he has a meal but not a meal, the neighbors regard him as a lonely old man. On weekdays, he is more or less a helper. If anyone has extra food at home, he will send some to him. He can't eat much even as an old man. On weekdays, He doesn't smoke or drink, and he doesn't spend much money. He always wears his clean clothes, and his beard and hair are neatly trimmed. This man loves to be clean. If any of the neighbors gets sores or diseases, he He was also as anxious as his own family, running up and down in a panic, helping to cook and find a doctor. He had bad ears and couldn't understand what he was talking to. He could only smile stupidly...
When the aunt said this, she suddenly felt sentimental. She stopped peeling potatoes, grabbed the knife in her hand, and began to wipe her tears on her sleeve. It didn't matter that she was crying, the aunts and ladies around her also became emotional, sniffled, and began to wipe away tears.
This guy is like that. Once sadness comes to mind, it's easy to cry as a way to vent it. When you cry, you like to talk to people about your concerns. But if the group of aunts and ladies in front of me want to talk to me about their concerns, then why don’t they say that they haven’t played for three days and three nights? So I quickly interjected and asked, where does the money come from if he loves to be clean so much, and are you all helping him?
Fortunately, my interruption prevented this tragedy from continuing. The aunt said that old man Zhang worked as a handyman at Wanglongmen Wharf, helping carry sand and coal up and down cargo ships and doing some physical work. With such a thin body, he definitely couldn't work as well as those young people, so he didn't earn much money. People at the dock saw that he was a lonely old man and was deaf, and they sympathized with him, so they let him work as much as he could. How much?
At this time, the aunt from before said that this old man went out early and came back late every day, carrying a few steamed buns as his meal. I didn't go home after work, I just sat on the dock. I didn't go home until it was getting dark and there were no ships leaving the port.
What the aunt said caught my attention. If a person is tired from work, he just needs to rest for a while. Why does this old man sit there until night? And he must wait until there is no ship to come before he is willing to go home? Why did he choose the dock to work? And why do we have to wait for the boat? Could it be that he was waiting for a certain ship to dock, and there was someone he cared about on that ship?
I suddenly thought that the aunt just said that the old man could not contact his family when he died, but everyone had heard that he had a son, but no one had seen it. Could it be that Old Man Zhang is waiting for his son?
But when I was at Old Man Zhang's house, I saw that the image in the round light was a rifle. This clue was obviously inconsistent with my guess. After thinking about it for a long time, I am still confused. Originally I thought it was a simple order, but the assassin has so many objective factors that I don’t know how to judge. Master told me that although the way to deal with ghosts is ultimately the same, different approaches can be chosen based on their specific circumstances. For example, evil people should be punished, and good people should have a better life. Master said that you don’t need to understand the person you are about to take away, but you should try your best to resolve his obsession. This is a good thing, and people will be grateful to you if they become ghosts.
So I have always insisted on doing this. Unless I have no clue and no progress, I will choose the most common way to save Old Man Zhang to death.
Seeing that we couldn't get any more clues from Auntie Ma, Uncle Ma and I said goodbye and headed back the way we came. When passing by Old Man Zhang's house, Uncle Ma still couldn't hold it back, so he asked me, what should I do now? Do you want to continue the investigation? Or should I just do something directly to completely resolve the matter?
In fact, my rituals are not harsh. After all, I have not yet reached Master's level. And the whole process of dealing with this matter, I followed the regulations. The soldiers and horses also led the way, and Yuan Guang also gave the clues. It’s just that I couldn’t understand the clues myself, so how could I act so hastily? , to end this matter?
No, I can't do that. So I said to Uncle Ma, just wait for me here, I will find someone and I will be back soon. I ran out of the alley before he could agree.
The person I want to find is Mr. Wang Chengqian, one of those strangers introduced to me by Master. His disciple is Pu'an Dharma, which is a folk sect that seems to have no distinction between Buddhism and Taoism, because both Buddhism and Taoism have the existence of Pu'an Dharma. However, Mr. Wang Chengqian started practicing as a teacher when he was young. After learning the method of this sect, he began to travel around the world at the age of fourteen. But I heard from the master that this man had an adventure. It is said that when Mr. Wang Chengqian was sixteen years old, he had a dream one night and dreamed of the true form of the Crouching Tiger Arhat, and this Crouching Tiger Arhat taught him in his dream His clairvoyance technique.
The master said that Wang Chengqian had never admitted this to himself, but whenever others asked about it, he just smiled and did not answer directly. I have heard about Arhat dreaming many times in the past, but most people only hear it from word of mouth, and there is no way to prove whether such a thing really exists. Mr. Wang Chengqian's refusal to admit or deny just gave people in the world more topics for rumors. But Master told me that Mr. Wang Chengqian really opened his eyes overnight. As for whether it was an Arhat who was dreaming about him, no one can say for sure.
I am a latecomer, so it is unreasonable to ask an old-timer to help me so rashly. According to the rules of the world, if I want to seek help from my seniors, I must at least inform my master first, and then bring the news to the other senior, saying that my master already knows about it. Otherwise, other masters are generally unwilling to help me, because if they help me, they will be helping my own master to educate his disciples. It will appear that my master is incompetent, and that the old master has offended others, and the master will not be able to bear it.
But I didn't think too much about it at the time. I just thought that Mr. Wang Chengqian could help. According to Master, this order was the time for me to regain my confidence. I had to solve it myself.
At Mr. Wang Chengqian's house, I breathlessly expressed my intention to come. What I encountered seemed like child's play to him, so he said jokingly, "I said Taoist Lin is really weird. He studies his singing skills every day." Long and short, I don’t teach my disciples well about such an easy thing. I felt embarrassed when he said that, so I didn't say anything. He probably noticed my embarrassment, so he said to me, hahaha, I was just kidding, Lin Qishan is an old friend, and he must help me with this. I also smiled and said, of course I knew it was a joke, it was just not that funny.
Mr. Wang Chengqian said to me, I won’t go there myself. I will ask my apprentice to go with you. He has been studying for about as long as you, but he was much younger than you when he entered the apprenticeship. After saying that, he shouted towards the room: Da Mao, come out quickly and go help Master with something!
"Oh!" A childish-sounding voice came from the room. Soon a little boy, about thirteen or fourteen years old, ran out and asked Mr. Wang Chengqian, "Master, what are you doing?"
This little boy’s nickname is Da Mao. I became a disciple at the age of 8 and opened my eyes at the age of 10. Today, he is not yet 14 years old.
