I understood what Master meant, but if according to what he said, the ghost of this cat was to protect Grandma Yang, then Grandma Yang must have been threatened to some extent. So I asked Master, where does this threat come from? Is it from Grandma Yang’s wife?
Master glanced sideways at Grandma Yang, because we both spoke in very low voices in order not to let Grandma Yang hear. And the master's eyes were telling me that what he suspected was probably exactly what I guessed. Master told me that I had burned incense on the grave and could not find any trace. Now I know that there are at least two ghosts in this house. One is Granny Yang’s wife, and the other is the old cat. spirit. So now in the house, Bing Ma Xiang should be able to find some more clues. Should you have some or should I have some?
I said, let me do it. If I can't handle it, Master, you can take action. Master nodded and asked me, where do you plan to start? I said that we didn't find Granny Yang just now. After she woke up, she told me that she went to the kitchen and then couldn't remember the rest, so if she was possessed at that time, she should be in the kitchen. The master said, then start lighting incense from the kitchen and see what the soldiers and horses are pointing to at the end.
So I left Master with Grandma Yang, fearing that she would suddenly be possessed again. I walked into the kitchen. It was an extremely simple kitchen. Considering my size, it would be a bit awkward for two people to stand in it at the same time. I first offered incense to the Kitchen God, and then called out the soldiers and horses, instructing me to find traces of the ghosts that existed here, and then give me a clue. After the incense of soldiers and horses rose up, it first surrounded the kitchen in all directions, and then the smoke suddenly changed direction and drifted directly towards the main room.
So I held the incense in my left hand, rang the bell in my right hand, and followed the smoke and walked out. In the past, when I used the incense of soldiers and horses, the purpose was to find people and things. Because the rampant soldiers were not under control, I always had to take some detours, so I often searched for a long time in a small area. . But this time it was different. The fragrance of soldiers and horses guided me to the calendar hanging on the wall. No matter which direction I walked, the smoke would always drift towards the calendar. I thought to myself, as expected, this calendar is the only one. is the key.
After seeing this, Master walked over to me and looked at the calendar. I told him in passing that I thought the calendar had been flipped. Master took the incense of soldiers and horses from my hand, shook it a few times, and shook some of the ashes from the burnt incense into the palm of his hand. The master brought the palm holding the ash to his mouth and turned the calendar page by page. Every time he turned a page, he blew a little ash onto the calendar.
I never understood why Master did this. It wasn't until he turned seven or eight pages that he stopped. There was a worried look on Master's face, but he didn't say anything unnecessary. He just asked me to look at the ash stained on the calendar. I looked carefully and found that there was a mark the size of a finger on each of the pages that Master checked, and the incense ash had never been able to stick to it.
So I understood that things that ghosts have come into contact with will leave some traces of the ghost. Incense ash is the ashes left after being used to worship gods. Ghosts have a certain repulsive effect on incense ash, just like the relationship between oil and water. mutually incompatible relationship. The empty finger-like marks on these pages of the calendar happen to be the marks where the ghost reached out to turn over the calendar.
Since it is a finger, it must be human-shaped, so there is no doubt that it was Grandma Yang's wife who turned over these calendars, tore off the days, and then took them to her own grave and threw them away. The master winked at me and asked me to follow him to the door. He whispered to me, "What is the last day you saw?" I said January 10th. The master frowned and said, if the prediction is correct, this day will be the day when Grandma Yang’s death is approaching.
I was shocked, so I asked the master why he said that. The master said that if his prediction was correct, Granny Yang's wife might have never left her for decades, but had just been dormant. Do you still remember the dream Grandma Yang told you about? I nodded, and Master continued, if an old man dreams of a dead person asking him to follow him, and it can be proven that it is not a pure dream, there is another possibility, that is, the dead person will serve as a guide for the living, or Precisely because life is about to come to an end, one is particularly sensitive to the perception of materials from another world, including ghosts.
Master said that Granny Yang’s wife should have known that the tenth day of the first lunar month was the day that Granny Yang would die, and then the family would be reunited. That's why it appeared in the last stage of Granny Yang's life, including tearing off the calendar and flipping the calendar. This is all because of this. As for the old cat, it could see the ghost of Granny Yang's wife, and the cat knew that it was a ghost. It probably thought that this ghost would harm Granny Yang, so it possessed Granny Yang according to its own ideas. Bar.
When I heard this, I was still a little confused. People who have been dead for decades have long passed the period of reincarnation. Even if they appear now, they should not have such a clear awareness. How could it be expressed so obviously? Master said that he had some doubts about this issue, but he quickly figured it out. He pointed to the three tombs in the vegetable field from a distance and said to me, if you look at the three tombs, two are sons and one is Lao Tzu. This Granny Yang was married into the village. In other words, Granny Yang My wife was originally from the village. But he was not able to be buried with his ancestors after his death. This shows that there are only two reasons. Either he doesn't know who his ancestor is, or he can't find his whereabouts. No matter what the situation is, let him choose to leave his tomb here after his death. If calculated according to family bloodline, his tomb is the ancestral tomb that can control three generations of his family.
Master said that logically speaking, the four generations from Grandma Yang’s son to her great-grandson would be blessed by the ancestral grave of my wife. However, because the son died early and the family had no heirs, the ancestral tomb as a guardian of the family lost its meaning at this moment. However, the period of reincarnation had already passed, so it was passed down. The master said that Grandma Yang had never encountered anything like this in so many decades, so much so that she even forgot what her husband looked like. This shows that at least after her two sons died, her wife in the ancestral grave chose to hibernate in it. She couldn't enter reincarnation anyway, so she stopped wandering around and consuming herself. It wasn't until he realized that his wife would die soon that he came out again. And he came out not to scare her, but to count the days silently, waiting for that day to come.
Hearing this, I felt a little emotional, so I looked back at Grandma Yang who was sitting in the room and taking a nap. Maybe it was because of Master's words that my feeling when I saw Grandma Yang was different. The old man who I thought was relatively healthy an hour ago looked so frail now. I asked Master, is there any other way to save Grandma Yang? The master shook his head and said, although we are Taoist priests, what we do is to save people and lives, but some things are actually destined to have a good ending. We cannot predict a person's death, but the ghosts closely associated with that person can. If you want to force a change, of course there will be a way, but is that really good?
I stopped talking. In fact, I understood these principles, but it was a little difficult to accept them for a while. Master said that Grandma Yang’s wife was not the one who wanted to kill her. The only unreasonable thing about its existence was that it violated the law and existed for such a long time. On the contrary, although the ghost of the old cat was originally intended to protect its owner, it invisibly made Granny Yang's body weaker. Do you know why her wife kept flipping the calendar? It was probably because of the influence of the cat's soul that Granny Yang's end came earlier, but a beast was a beast after all, and if it was really to be blamed, it couldn't be blamed.
Master said that the only way now is to do a small ritual for the body of Granny Yang to protect her from being affected by other dead souls before she dies, because even if it is not a ghost that harms people, it will stay with people for a long time. , will also consume a person's own yang energy and essence, so we must find a way to get rid of the cat's ghost first. Let’s wait until the tenth day of the first lunar month to send the soul of Granny Yang’s wife away together with Granny Yang.
Although I am young and conceited, I also know that fate cannot be violated. Obviously, Master has a way to extend Grandma Yang's life. I don't know the specific method, and Master will not do this. In the world we live in, we are the ones who save people, but in the world of metaphysics, anyone who violates the laws of heaven and earth is called nosy. Master once said, this is the reason why we charge compensation even for a certain type of egg or a piece of cloth. This means that the person's money can help others to eliminate disasters. With such a business relationship, it is not considered nosy. , otherwise, by interfering in other people's karma, we will also bear the karma that does not belong to us, which is very bad not only for ourselves, but also for our family and descendants.
Master patted me on the shoulder and said, don’t tell Granny Yang any of this. At this age, she is alone and has already known her destiny. Death may not be the most terrifying thing to her. Master will go back to Aunt Xu's house before it gets dark and tell their family about this matter.
I asked Master why he told others, and what should I do if you leave? The master sighed and said, if Granny Yang is bound to die on the 10th of the first lunar month, this barren mountain is rarely inhabited on weekdays. There must be villagers to help with the funeral arrangements, so since we can't escape, let them help in advance. Get ready. Now that you know it, you can't change it. You can't let her still be so lonely when she leaves, right?
After saying that, Master said to me, you will stay tonight and deal with the ghost of the old cat. Even though it is a beast, don’t forget to treat it kindly.
