Fushou Village is not too far from Yongan River. It is just a small village with about twenty households.
Although the village is small, it has a long history. People living here have made a living by fishing for generations.
Sincerely, the villagers are very familiar with each other, and most of the people living here have the same surname and clan, so the surname Zhang is the common surname in the village.
Entering the village along the dirt road, Fatty and the others soon noticed that many villagers were gathering on the roadside to look curiously.
People in the village had heard about what happened at Zhang Dong's home by word of mouth, so from their conversations, Fatty and others could also get some clues.
"Why did their family suffer such misfortune? How could they let the water ghost capture and replace them?"
"Zhang Dong's child was married just two years ago. The old couple didn't even care about their grandson, so they met with something unexpected."
"Alas, a family of three suffered this misfortune overnight. Zhang Dong's child couldn't bear to think about it and hung himself from the beam. What a sin. The hemp rope was cut at a thin spot. Bad luck only seeks out the poor..."
The villagers under the big tree gathered together and lamented. After hearing this, the fat man took the lead and walked towards the villagers.
"Uncle and aunt, where does Zhang Dong's family live?"
Although the villagers were confused, they soon noticed Feng Yun and Kong Jie following behind.
The military uniforms worn by the two men naturally explained the identity of this group of people.
But watching a few people gradually walk into the village, the villagers were also quite curious. They had just left Tixingsi, but how come the soldiers were here?
All the houses in the whole village look very new, obviously they have been renovated not long ago.
Fatty and others followed the place mentioned by the villagers and soon saw a three-story bungalow.
But the strange thing is that the door of this room is not closed, but a crack is left open, as if someone has entered not long ago.
The fat man was about to step forward and push the door open, but Yan Qilin grabbed his wrist by the side.
Just when Fatty was feeling confused, he saw Yan Qilin pointing at the two wooden doors that were ajar.
The two wooden doors looked dirty, but strangely, the two door god portraits hanging on the doors looked brand new.
The fat man quickly understood what Yan Qilin meant. The two door god portraits were a bit strange and they must have been posted not long ago.
Moreover, the left and right of this door god statue are two divine generals, Shen Tu and Yu Lei respectively. Such portraits of door gods are rare.
Nowadays, many places still have the custom of posting portraits of door gods, but usually they are of the two generals Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong from the Tang Dynasty.
Legend has it that Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty dreamed of ghosts at night, but Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong kept watch, and the evil spirits and disturbances were calmed down.
As the saying goes, it only takes a thousand years to be called a household captain and an eternity to be a door god, which describes these two generals.
To this day, the portraits of the door gods of Qin Qiong and Yu Chigong are not uncommon, but the portraits of the two great generals Shen Tu and Yu Lei are rare.
These two are known as the oldest door gods. It is said in the six volumes of Sou Shen Ji:
There is a huge peach tree in Dushuo Mountain in the East China Sea, which stretches for three thousand miles.
The northeastern part of Beizhi is called the Ghost Gate, where all ghosts come and go.
There are two gods stationed there, one is called Shentu and the other is Yulei.
These two portraits of door gods appear somewhat out of place in this village.
More importantly, the so-called newness of the two door god portraits only means that they are not stained with any dust compared to the two wooden doors.
In fact, the scroll is slightly yellowed, but it must have been carefully preserved.
"Something's wrong..."
The fat man frowned in confusion, and leaned over the crack in the door to look inside. He could vaguely feel that there was someone standing in the room at the front door, and there were bursts of smoke that continued to spread out from the crack in the door.
The fat man quickly made a mouth gesture that sounded like someone was there, indicating that someone had already boarded before they came and was still in the room at the moment.
But what makes the three of them feel strange is that the last person alive in this house also hanged from the beam this morning. How come there are still visitors at this moment?
Yan Qilin gently pushed open the two wooden doors, trying not to make any noise as much as possible.
Then a few people tiptoed to the yard, and now they could hear the conversations coming from the house more clearly.
"This is life, there is nothing we can do about it."
"Suicide is a violent death. Without the support of ghosts, you cannot pass through the gate of hell."
"No, if I force you to go there, you will only fall into hell and it will be impossible for you to survive."
The speaker was an old man who sounded very old, with a hoarse voice and a slow tone.
It was not difficult to tell from his words that he seemed to be having a conversation with someone, but the strange thing was that he could only hear his voice from the beginning to the end.
At this time, Feng Yun and Kong Jie also stepped into the yard. It could be seen that the family had lived a very poor life before. The yard was empty, with nothing except some debris.
"Director, there is someone in the house..."
The fat man turned back to Feng Yun and made such a mouth gesture, obviously wanting to get Feng Yun's advice, but unexpectedly Feng Yun looked away again, looked back at the portraits of the door gods posted on both sides of the wooden door, and once again looked at the door god portraits. The fat man's plea for help was ignored.
There is no other way, now the three of them can only rely on themselves.
After looking at each other, the fat man told them in sign language to guard the door. He would open the door to see the situation. If there was any danger, the three of them would work together to subdue him.
However, looking at the fat man's sign language, Ma Ling'er looked confused and lowered her voice and asked:
"what are you talking about?"
Yan Qilin on the other side was also confused. Fatty's sign language was unreliable, more like he invented it himself.
The fat man glanced at the two of them in disbelief, and then chose the simplest method, which was to make a knife with his hand and wipe it on his neck.
Only then did the two of them realize it, and then they stood close to the door, one on the left and the other on the right.
Yan Qilin held the hilt of the sword with his backhand, while Ma Ling'er held the magic wand in her hand.
Kong Jie, who was following Feng Yun, saw this scene and instinctively held the holster on his waist.
Compared to the cold weapons they held, Kong Jie obviously trusted the gun in his hand more.
After seeing several people getting ready, the fat man kicked the door open.
The people who were standing in the room were obviously startled and turned around immediately.
Through the sunshine, the fat man noticed that the man standing in the room was really an old man, he looked to be over 50 years old, and he was holding a cigarette pole in his hand.
The smoke that floated out from the crack in the door just now was the man smoking dry cigarettes again.
The fat man obviously didn't expect that there would be an old man standing inside, with a fierce expression on his face, and he suddenly froze.
"What do you do?"
Both of them were stunned. After a few seconds of silence, they both asked the same question at the same time.
The fat man looked behind the old man again. He was obviously the only one in the whole room. He clearly heard the conversation in the room just now.
"Who are you talking to?"
The fat man asked again, but the old man took two puffs of his cigarette, looked at the fat man with a puzzled look, and then walked out the door without saying a word.
"Hey hey hey!"
The fat man quickly chased after him. Yan Qilin and Ma Ling'er, who were waiting at the door, did not expect that the person who walked out would be a strange old man smoking a dry pipe.
It is worth noting that the moment he saw the old man, Feng Yun, who had no expression on his face, suddenly lit up.
However, this emotion came and disappeared quickly, and no one noticed.
"Old man, we are from the polling bureau. Tell me honestly, why are you here and who were you talking to just now?"
After the fat man showed his waist card, he asked the old man aggressively.
This can't be blamed on Fatty, after all, this old man is indeed strange, and Yan Qilin and Ma Ling'er also find it strange.
"There's a death in this family. I'm here to see him off. Isn't it against the law?"
The old man said the most irritating words in the gentlest tone. This was the first time that the fat man was outmatched in his verbal skills.
Before the fat man could react, the old man walked straight past Feng Yun and came to the door.
After carefully taking off the two door god portraits from the door, he held them upright like treasures and left this place step by step.
The fat man who came back to his senses was about to chase after him, but was stopped by Feng Yun:
"Ignore him and go about your business first.
It seems that he should be a villager in this village. If he can run away from the monk, he can't run away from the temple. He will always have to deal with him again. "
After hearing this, Fatty could only give up.
But all three of them were deeply impressed and quite puzzled by that weird old man.
Especially since he was the only one in the room, but he was still having a decent conversation.
This alone is puzzling enough.
But now that Feng Yun had spoken, Fatty and the others did not insist anymore, but turned around and entered the house.
The room was still filled with a strong smell of dry smoke, and it was only then that the three of them noticed that there were three bowls of water placed neatly on the ground after entering the main hall.
These three bowls of water are lined up in a straight line.
The water was very turbid, but it was impossible to tell what was in it.
"what does this mean?"
The fat man knelt down and studied in confusion. At this moment, he suddenly felt a chill on his neck, as if water drops were dripping on his neck.
But the fat man looked up and saw nothing except the beams, let alone water drops.
"Maybe it's because someone just died, but it always feels a bit cold here.
Don't waste time, call the soul quickly and see if you can summon the person who committed suicide. "
Ma Ling'er reminded the two of them, and they nodded quickly.
Then the fat man opened the Qiankun box. After getting the Qiankun box, the fat man stuffed all the contents of the backpack into the box, and the backpack had been discarded as garbage.
Due to his previous experience of summoning spirits in the hospital, the fat man familiarly took out the incense ash, red rope and copper coins.
Seeing the busy figures of the three people, Kong Jie couldn't help it anymore, looked at Feng Yun and asked:
"Director Feng, what are your team members going to do? I thought I heard them talking about summoning spirits just now?"
Looking at Kong Jie who looked surprised, Feng Yun smiled and nodded:
“The polling bureau’s way of handling cases is quite special. People have souls after death, so things that cannot be asked from the mouths of living people may not be able to be asked from the mouths of dead people.
However, there is no need to summon spirits. "
Feng Yun's words seemed to be addressed to Kong Jie, but in fact he was also talking to the three fat men.
Sure enough, the three busy fat men were stunned, then stood up and looked back at Feng Yun in confusion.
Recalling what Feng Yun said just now, the three fat men also began to wonder if they had missed something.
Soon, Ma Ling'er's eyes lit up and she looked at Fatty and Yan Qilin and said:
"This person committed suicide. Is that considered a violent death?"
These words suddenly felt familiar to Fatty, as if the weird old man had said them just now.
But then the fat man came back to his senses, slapped his thigh and said:
"Yes, ghosts who died violently, especially those who just died violently, don't need to summon the soul at all.
The dead ghost violates the laws of heaven and transcends common sense. The place where the body dies is naturally a prison.
In other words, the hanged man should be in this room, and he is still there wherever he hanged himself. "
Just after the fat man said these words, he suddenly realized a problem:
"Could it be that the old man was talking to a ghost just now?"
The fat man's words made Ma Ling'er who was standing next to him shiver.
This kind of thing just sounds a bit evil.
"Think about it quickly, the director must have said before, is there any way to see ghosts?"
"Willow leaves!"
"Cow tears!"
Yan Qilin and Ma Ling'er each came up with a way, but right now Fatty didn't have these two things in his universe box.
Until the fat man's eyes fell on the big pot not far away, and then he pointed over there and said:
"Those things are not prepared, but isn't there ready-made pot ashes?"
While talking, the fat man rolled up his sleeves and put his arm into the fire pit without caring about his dirty hands.
Villages like this still maintain the tradition of burning large pots, but few people know that the ash at the bottom of the pot can temporarily open the eyes.
Of course, compared to willow leaves and cow tears, this method of opening the eyes has some disadvantages.
Ghosts are afraid of dirty things and are afraid of black and white.
In ancient times, in some areas, there was a custom of smearing pot ashes on the body during the Ghost Festival.
In this way, on that day, even if the gate of hell is wide open and hundreds of ghosts are walking at night, they will all avoid it and not dare to get close.
Fatty and the others originally wanted to be able to communicate with the souls of the dead, so normally the ashes at the bottom of the pot were the worst choice.
But for now, they can only use local materials.
Soon the fat man wiped the bottom of the pot and swung it out, then drew two lines on his own eyelids, and then painted them on Yan Qilin and Ma Ling'er respectively.
The three of them felt a stinging pain in their eyes and closed their eyes subconsciously. After a while, they could slowly open them.
"Tick-tock...tick-tock..."
When the fat man opened his eyes, he was looking at the ground. Only then did he notice that there was a puddle of water on the ground, and it was still dripping down from the top of his head.
"What is this?"
While muttering something, the fat man looked up.
I saw a man hanging on the originally empty beam. His tongue was more than half a foot long, and saliva was dripping from the tip of his tongue...
(End of chapter)
