Since it was only now that I realized that I couldn't enter a room that had chicken feathers hanging on it, it turned out to be a problem to find that kind of empty room. But fortunately, the heat comes and goes every day. After the people in front leave, they will tear off the chicken feathers on the door and throw them on the ground. So Da Mao and I found a room that looked shabby, but the chicken feathers were discarded on the ground. So I opened the door and asked twice, but no one answered. Da Mao also saw that there were no ghosts inside, so he was sure it was an empty house, so we moved in.
The floor was very dirty, and there was a quilt that was used as a floor mat spread on it. The fabric of the quilt was also old and looked dirty. It's probably because everyone who lives in this house just falls down on it and falls asleep, so they don't care about it. But neither Da Mao nor I could accept such a dirty place, so we first dusted the outside of the quilt door a few times, and then spread our own clothes on top, so that it could barely be regarded as a bed.
With the place to live settled, all that's left is food and drink. There is a small stream on the edge of the ancient town, which leads directly to the small ditch under the earth bridge. This solves the problem of drinking water. After all, this small stream looks quite clear. A hut in the house is just a latrine without a roof, so pooping can be considered solved, the key is to eat. Da Mao and I both still have some steamed buns on us. Even if we live frugally, we can only last for about a day at most. Where will we find food for the rest of the time? There are no insects or birds in this bamboo forest. From this point of view, it is unrealistic to hunt for game to satisfy hunger. You can't open your mouth to ask for food. Even so, who should you ask for? Are you going to eat radishes and vegetables with Jiama Tan?
This incident completely stumped Da Mao and I. It’s also because we didn’t think of it before. When Da Mao was detained here, people came to bring him food every day, so there was no need to worry about these problems. So I still blame myself for being too inexperienced. At the same time, I am also a little afraid of the mysterious and unpredictable place.
So I discussed with Da Mao Yi and decided that no matter what, we should at least get through tonight first, because there is a ghost market at night. If we are lucky enough to see the clues in a short period of time, maybe we can leave here tomorrow. I calculated the time and found that there were still about two hours until dark, so I discussed it with Damao. When the ghost market started in the evening, he would accompany me with his clairvoyance the whole time to let me know what was there, but I couldn’t act rashly. , no matter what you find, you must discuss it with me before doing anything.
In the following time, I let Da Mao rest by himself and recuperate his energy. Since it was my first time to come to such a place, although I was scared, I still had a little bit of excitement. Maybe this is the case for people in our industry. , the more mysterious things become, the more interested they become. So I kept squatting by the door, secretly peeking out through the small crack in the door. When it started to get dark, the originally quiet environment suddenly became noisy and lively. Almost all the houses along the way had their doors closed, and one could more or less see through the houses. The candlelight came out, the sound of someone coughing, the sound of someone chanting sutras, and the sound of someone using a knife to cut vegetables on a chopping board. If you just listen to the sounds, you will definitely feel that there is a spectacular socialist life atmosphere here, but when this sound When combined with the unusual movement outside, it gave me the illusion of being in another world.
This feeling is like listening to a monk friend of my master once talking about the eighteen levels of hell in the Buddhist scriptures. It is eerie, strange and weird. It is this sense of unknown fear that made me look at this place called Sanchuan Ghost Market for the first time. , produced a wonderful feeling.
Once it starts to get dark, it gets dark faster. Before long I could just see the outlines of some houses. At this time, the lights in many houses suddenly turned on, and people began to walk out of the houses carrying lanterns, bamboo baskets and wooden stools. In our time, since electricity was available, people either used flashlights or, at worst, candles, but it was rare to see people carrying those white paper cylindrical lanterns. When I first learned the craft from my master, I could see such lanterns. It is only used when doing rituals for the dead. As for the people who were coming out of the house one after another, almost everyone was holding a similar style lantern in their hands, looking very much like a funeral procession.
And that's not all that surprised me the most, because I hid behind the crack in the door, and through the crack I could see many people walking past me. Some of them were holding soul-calling flags, and some were dragging a piece of hemp in their hands. Rope, sometimes I can still hear the heavy footsteps that are different from normal people's weight, as if there is a huge person behind these people but I can't see, every heavy step They all remind me: they are holding ghosts, they are all ghosts, not people!
In just over ten minutes, dozens of people passed by our door. Perhaps because of preconceptions, when I saw these people, I subconsciously thought of these people as a little more sinister. . And these people were all walking around, not communicating with anyone else at all, as if he was the only one here. Usually, when setting up stalls in ancient towns, most of them would choose to set up stalls in front of their own homes. Why do these people go to the other side to set up stalls when they obviously live in these houses?
Damao had no rest at this time. I turned around and asked him, when are we going out? He said to wait for a while, about twenty minutes, until the stalls are basically set up, and then we can go out. So I continued to look through the crack in the door. I saw that some vendors slowly began to set up their stalls closer and closer to the house where we lived. Only then did I realize that these people started from the other end of this long street and walked towards each other in order. I was laying stalls at the end of the long street. Since someone has already started to sit down and set up a stall in front of my door, it means that there are ghosts around him. And behind this person is our door. Could it be that the ghosts he is selling are now filling our broken house?
When I thought of this, I took a few steps back and approached Da Mao. Da Mao probably guessed what I was thinking. He glanced behind me and said to me, "Don't worry, these guys are tied up. Although they are watching us, they won't come over." After listening to Da Mao's description, I couldn't help but look back and glanced behind me. It seemed that in the seemingly empty place, there were several ghosts standing in Da Mao's eyes, all turning their heads to look at me. Although I wasn't very scared, I still felt a little uncomfortable, so Da Mao and I stayed in the back room and waited for almost twenty minutes.
Then Da Mao and I got up and prepared to walk out of the house, but because there was a ghost at the door and a stall had been set up, I was worried that it would cause dissatisfaction to others, but who knew that from the time we opened the door, to stepping over each other's stall, to When we walked onto the long street, the man at the door didn't respond at all, and didn't even look at us. I heard Damao say before that people here basically don't communicate with each other, and they all rely on hand gestures when buying and selling, in order to prevent the ghosts behind them from remembering their voices. As the saying goes, do as the Romans do. Although this is not a good place, I decided not to talk nonsense for the time being. Even if I must say it, I should do it softly.
When I stood on the long street, the scene in front of me was incredible. The long street, which was deserted during the day, was now full of stalls selling goods, because our house was close to one end of the long street. But just by visual inspection, there seemed to be more than a hundred stalls. The lanterns around me seemed to be indicators to distinguish each stall in the dark. However, although there were crowds of people, no one spoke, as if they were on the train. People who didn't know each other stood on the platform. Although there were many people, they were quiet.
I have never seen such a battle. Although I had some fantasies about this scene before, when I actually saw it, I was still very surprised. I tried hard to restrain my pounding heart. Under the leadership of Da Mao, I first walked to one end of the long street, which can be regarded as the beginning or end of the ghost market, and then started walking slowly in the opposite direction toward the other end. Take a slow stroll.
In fact, it is easy to distinguish the people here. The people sitting on both sides of the road are all merchants who bring ghosts to sell, while the people like Da Mao and I walking slowly on the long street are all here to buy ghosts. If I can still understand selling ghosts, then who are these people who buy ghosts? So I observed it silently and found that most of those people looked a little strange. Maybe some people didn't want to let others go. Seeing their appearance, they even wear black glasses at night. Some people even wrap scarves around their necks, and then cover the lower half of their faces with the scarves. This is similar to the big-haired mask. There are still some people who are not hiding their virginity, and there is even a man and a woman holding hands as if they are really shopping. The man and woman both look to be in their fifties, the man is wearing a small suit, and the woman is Wearing cheongsam, they looked like they were dressed in the Republic of China period, and they looked relaxed and stayed for a while at each stall, as if they were really visiting a night market.
Da Mao and I just passed by these people. Just as Da Mao said, there were many small bamboo signs arranged on those stalls, with the types and attributes of ghosts written on them, but there were no prices on them, so I curiously walked to one. In front of the stall, I reached out and pointed at a random sign, and the other person pointed a few fingers at me, meaning he was asking for a price, and then I waved my hand and left.
I have never seen people buying and selling things like this. It felt like I was dealing with a group of deaf-mute people. Although I can't say there is anything wrong with this place, I always felt something was wrong. At this moment, Da Mao suddenly became nervous, and then lowered his head subconsciously.
