Nine? What is the unit?
So it wasn't until this time that I realized that when I needed to inquire with the other party, I didn't know how much "nine" it was. Is it ninety? Or nine hundred? If it's 900, I'll blow this guy's stall, that's too expensive! You must know that a worker’s monthly salary back then was only a dozen yuan! Even those who are officials only have thirty or forty yuan.
Jiama Tan saw that I didn’t understand and stood still. He probably thought that Da Mao and I were both novices and didn’t understand the market here at all. Even after he made a nine sign to me, I didn’t even know that How much is it. In those days, money and various kinds of tickets were used together. For example, when you bought food, money and tickets alone were not enough. They had to be used together to prove that you were legitimate and not undermining socialism. Buying cloth, buying cigarettes and alcohol, it's all like this, except in some unnoticed small black markets, there are direct money transactions.
Jiama Dan waved his hand towards me, which meant, young man, stop making trouble and leave quickly. I still stood and didn't move, but reached into my bag and took out all my money and tickets. I grabbed them all in the palm of my hands, and then stretched them out to Jiama Dan. I didn't mean to ask him. I accepted them all, but asked him to pick out what he called "nine" from the money in my hand.
Jiama Dan saw that I was a little stubborn, so he smiled, then stretched out two fingers and picked out a dark blue "ten yuan" and a yellow "one cent" from my pile of money. I almost couldn't help but want to ask him, didn't he agree that it would be nine? Why did you charge me ten yuan and one cent? But I saw Jiama Dan reaching out from a pocket that looked like a small purse on his waist, taking out a pink "one yuan", and then handed it to me.
In this case, it cost me a full nine yuan and one cent to buy this ghost. This is more than half a month's wages of many working class people! How many steamed buns can I eat, how many nights can I sleep in a hotel, and how many packs of cigarettes can I buy! And what's going on with that fraction of a penny? Is it a ghost of buying and selling? Do you still have to pay taxes to the state?
Due to the rules, I kept silent, but the pain in my heart was self-evident. Inexplicably, I spent a huge sum of money to buy a ghost that committed suicide. Although I knew that its final destination in my place would be for me to eliminate its anger, circulate around the world, and then send it away. This is equivalent to saying that I am here. During this period, you still have to have money for incense and ritual money. You can just say that I didn't get a penny of benefits, but you gave away the money in vain. What kind of situation is this?
When I was feeling very sad and angry that my RMB was killed in the battle, Jiama Tan had already stuffed my money into his purse, then took out three sticks of incense, lit them, and motioned for me to take them, and then he took out a pair of wooden fish , I placed the ghost sign I bought under the wooden fish as a cushion, and then gently tapped it three times as a unit, for a total of three groups, that is, nine times. It seems to coincide with the price I paid for it. And at this moment, something happened that shocked me.
Jiamatan stood up, holding the bamboo sign I just bought in his hand, then stretched out a palm, like a blind man touching something, touched a handful behind himself, and then grabbed it, as if It was like something was caught in the air. I thought that if you dared to fool me, I would chop at random and destroy the remaining signs of yours. However, I saw it bring the bamboo sign closer to the hand grabbing the air, then put a set on the neck of the hand, and then As soon as I let go, I watched the bamboo sign hanging in the air so unreasonably, and the posture was as if the sign was wrapped around the neck of something, but I couldn't see the ghost at all.
Jiama Dan gestured to me, meaning that I should reach out for the sign now. I tried to reach out, and when my hand touched the bamboo sign, a cold feeling instantly came from the bamboo sign. I am very familiar with this feeling. This is indeed what I guessed. This bamboo sign is now Hanging on the body of the ghost who committed suicide. I turned to look at Da Mao, and his complicated expression confirmed this to me. Because I have a natural repulsion towards ghosts, when I pulled the bamboo sign in my direction, I even felt the presence of a weight, but it would be difficult to detect it if I didn't notice it carefully. And when I grabbed the bamboo sign, I also smelled a strong smell of rotten eggs.
My heart was beating fast. I held the bamboo sign in my left hand and secretly pinched my fingers with my right hand. I secretly called out my soldiers and horses to take the wronged souls in my hands into custody and wait until I was free to deal with them. When my soldiers and horses sprang out, When I saw him, I noticed a look of surprise on Jiama Tan's face. Wuyang Soldiers and Horses is not an advanced craft, it is even a basic course that we need to learn to get started here. Maybe it is because I have been able to pick up the skills of soldiers and horses at my fingertips over the years, and the postures are also more fancy. Jiamadan is an expert, so I You’ll know just by looking at it.
So he shook his head at me, meaning not to let the soldiers take him away for the time being, because he hadn't officially finished it yet. After the soldiers and horses were released, there would be no way to behave properly, so I could only use my own method to temporarily suppress my soldiers and horses and let Jiama Dan perform all the tricks. But I saw Jiama Dan slowly grabbing my right hand in the direction of my bamboo sign, like a claw, and then it was like grabbing a bunch of cotton. The height was about my shoulder, as if It's like an elder is stroking someone else's head. From this height, the dead soul I bought should be a woman or a child who hasn't grown up, otherwise it shouldn't be so short.
And when Jiamatan stretched out his hand, even in the relatively weak light, I could clearly see that there seemed to be an eye-shaped pattern tattooed on the center of the palm of his right hand. And after he caught this ghost, it took only a few seconds for the strong smell of rotten eggs around me to gradually fade away, and the coldness I felt gradually weakened, and then I realized that Jiama Dan was here. This means that a ghost transaction has been officially completed, and his reaching out to grab it seems to be telling the ghost I bought that from now on, I will be its new owner.
Then Jiama Dan nodded to me, indicating that I could release the troops and horses to take custody. So I no longer suppressed my soldiers and horses, and allowed them to smoothly integrate the dead soul I just bought into my soldiers and horses.
Then Jiamatan sat down, put the small wooden fish aside, and then no longer looked at Damao and me, but continued to look past our feet and stare at the long street behind him. This whole set last night, in fact, it only took a few minutes, but for the first time I felt what the fooling business was like. When I was surprised, Da Mao stretched out his hand and pulled my sleeve, and I looked at him, He pointed his chin toward the long street behind us, motioning for me to look.
I looked over and saw that the man was taking the silly girl to almost the end of the long street. Judging from the silly girl's expression and the man's appearance, it seemed that they had walked the entire street at the end, but still found nothing. . He was walking back with the silly girl, planning to lock him up for another day and continue tomorrow.
Seeing that Jiama Tan didn't seem to want to continue to talk to me, we started to continue walking forward, but deliberately slowed down so that the man and silly girl walking back could exceed our speed. Soon they passed us without realizing that we had noticed each other. The silly girl was still making a fuss about two or three meters in front of me, asking for sweets. Although the man would shake his head every time and said he wouldn't give it, in the end he couldn't resist the silly girl's insistence and finally gave it to him.
And the strange thing is that in the entire long street ghost market, apart from the footsteps of pedestrians, the only sound is the shout of the silly girl. Although the sound is not very loud, it cannot be said to be small, at least it is quiet here. On the long street where ghost business is quietly conducted, one can be heard very clearly. But even so, none of the vendors would raise their heads to look at this silly girl. It seemed that they were already used to it, or the rules were very strict and they couldn't look at it.
We slowly followed the silly girl until we reached the room where Da Mao was originally imprisoned. The man took the silly girl into the house and turned around and came out after a while, but put a lock on the door. , and then the man looked around for a while, as if to see if anyone was following him, and Da Mao and I also avoided his eyes at this time, and then the man turned around and left, in the direction we entered this ghost market in the first place. At that time, the direction of the bamboo forest that I drilled through.
This shows that this person is already familiar with the road and knows how to get in and out without getting lost. And his departure seems to be to find someone to change the shift, or there is no one on duty after the lock is locked at night, or maybe this silly girl is different from other masters. It is Damao or Wang Chengqian who may take advantage of the night when no one is paying attention. When she was young, she secretly broke out of the door, but the silly girl seemed to be able to stay in the house quietly as long as she was given enough candies.
Da Mao and I wandered around there for a long time and found that no one had come back since the man left. So I guessed that it was probably these people who were relieved that the little girl stayed here alone, and they just I need to come back after noon tomorrow. I can wait until dark and then take the silly girl for a few walks. Why waste my time to sleep. So I lowered my voice very low and spoke to Da Mao in his ear. Let’s go back and rest now. We’ll visit Jiamatan during the day tomorrow and ask him some questions. If there’s still no one guarding this girl’s door after tomorrow night’s ghost market, we’ll try to get something out of her. come out!
