After a while, the two arrived at the main entrance of the Wang family mansion.
Looking at the high walls and grand gate, Gu Xu couldn't help but sigh, it was indeed a rich man's mansion. The area was at least seven or eight times the size of his own small yard.
The widow of Mr. Wang's family was already waiting outside the gate.
This is a graceful young woman who looks like she is in her twenties - she is wearing coarse linen mourning clothes, her hair is tied up with raw linen, and she is combed into a mourning bun; her face is beautiful, but it is full of tears, and her eyes are red. All of them were obviously crying bitterly for their deceased husband just now.
Behind the young woman, there was a short and fat little boy standing, who seemed to be the son of the rich man Wang.
He was wearing linen and mourning, his face was pale, he lowered his head and looked at his toes without saying a word.
"Are you two adults from the Exorcism Department?" After seeing Gu Xu and Shi Xiaohan, Mrs. Wang raised her head and asked, "May I ask how you call them?"
"Exorcism Department inspection, Shi Xiaohan." Shi Xiaohan answered with his head held high.
Gu Xu pondered for two seconds and replied: "I'm Xiao Changshou."
To be cautious, he made up a temporary pseudonym.
"So you are the Heroine Shi who is known as the 'Ruthless Ghost-Slaying Sword'!" Mrs. Wang glanced at Shi Xiaohan in surprise, "I have admired his name for so long, I have lost my respect!"
Then she looked at Gu Xu, her eyes lingering on him for a long time, refusing to move away: "This Young Master Xiao is so handsome!"
"Madam, you are so complimentary."
Gu Xu touched his face and complained in his heart: Madam, your husband's body is still cold!
Gu Xu and Shi Xiaohan walked into the house under the leadership of Mrs. Wang.
This is an open and spacious three-entry quadrangle with main room, wing rooms, wing rooms, courtyards, ponds, and rockeries. It is subtle and elegant, seemingly elegant and low-key, but secretly full of luxury.
Only now, the place is filled with smoke, soul flags are floating, and the air is filled with the smell of burned paper money. The entire mansion was shrouded in an awe-inspiring, heavy, and undispellable gloom.
At this time, it was less than seven days before the death of Rich Man Wang.
Therefore, his body was not buried and was still placed in the house, wearing a shroud and a yellow paper on his face, which looked a bit scary.
"Two adults, you must kill that evil spirit and avenge my husband!" Seeing her husband's body, Mrs. Wang couldn't help crying again, sobbing and wiping her tears with a silk handkerchief.
"Madam, don't worry, we will live up to our trust!" Shi Xiaohan said, then she licked her lips and looked at Gu Xu, "Aren't you the person who knows the most about ghosts in the Exorcism Department? Find the ghosts quickly, I'll fix it."
Not only was she not afraid of the evil spirits hiding in the dark, she was even a little excited.
"Put it on me." Gu Xu replied with a smile.
Then he turned to look at Rich Man Wang's son - the fat, white boy of eight or nine years old.
"Kid, what's your name?"
"Wang Guicai."
"Were you the one who reported the case to the Exorcism Department before?"
"Yes, my lord."
"The dead rich man Wang is your father?"
"right."
"So Mrs. Wang is your mother?"
"No, she is my stepmother."
Gu Xu glanced at the enchanting, youthful and beautiful Mrs. Wang, and then looked at the short and fat boy in front of him, thinking that such a young woman really couldn't give birth to such a big child.
Men are indeed dedicated, no matter how old they are, they all like beautiful girls in their twenties.
"Gui Cai, why do you firmly believe that ghosts are hiding in your home?" Gu Xu then asked.
"Because every night when I lie in bed, I hear knocking on the door," the fat boy said with a slightly trembling voice, "but when I opened the bedroom door, there was no one outside.
"I think... the ghost that killed my father must be targeting me now... I'm so scared. While I was sleeping, it dug open my chest and ate my heart, just like it killed my father... …”
The boy looked haggard and his eyes were bloodshot. It was obvious that he had not slept well for a long time.
"Don't be afraid, Guicai, I'm here," Gu Xu touched the boy's head, as if comforting a frightened Shiba Inu, "Take me to your room first!"
"Yes, sir." Wang Guicai lowered his head and said obediently.
…………
The parents lived in the north room, the eldest son lived in the east wing, the second son lived in the west wing, the daughter lived in the backyard, and the servants lived in the reverse room. This has been a custom in the courtyard houses of the Daqi Dynasty.
As the only son of the deceased rich man Wang, Wang Guicai naturally occupied the spacious and comfortable east wing to himself.
There are corridors on all sides, flowing cornices, carved window lattice, and scarlet curtains.
Wealth and elegance coexist.
But now, in order to ward off evil spirits, moxa leaves are stuck on the door of this house, a mahogany sword is hung on the beam, and the windows are covered with dense talismans - yellow paper and red letters, which are complicated and weird, and look creepy.
Gu Xu glanced at these seemingly incomprehensible but actually useless talismans and shook his head silently - as a practitioner who majored in talismans, he just felt that it was too easy for scammers to make money nowadays.
He walked straight to the door of the east wing, grabbed the copper door knocker, knocked twice, and asked, "Guicai, is this the sound you heard when you were sleeping at night?"
The short and fat boy Wang Guicai frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, and replied: "Probably so."
Gu Xu kept the boy's hesitant look in his mind.
Then he opened the door.
The first thing that catches the eye is a tall bronze mirror.
In this bronze mirror, Gu Xu saw his own reflection——
His eyebrows are like an ink painting, and his eyes are like bright stars. He looks like a beautiful young man with a beautiful tree facing the wind.
It's just that compared to the glass mirror in the previous life, the imaging effect of the bronze mirror is much blurry, and it looks like an extra layer of underworld filter.
Mirrors facing doors is a taboo in Feng Shui.
It is mentioned in the classics that Gu Xu has read that the mirror itself is yin and has the evil influence of light. If placed opposite the door, it can easily create a yin-inducing aura, absorbing the surrounding bad luck and bringing bad luck to people.
Especially since the Wang family is having a funeral recently, there is a strong evil spirit gathering nearby.
As we all know, Yin Qi is a breeding ground for evil spirits.
Wang Guicai's bedroom has unknowingly turned into a haven for ghosts and monsters.
Gu Xu looked slightly stern.
He walked around the mirror and looked around.
The weak sunlight shines through the talisman on the window, giving the items in the house a halo of blur.
The indoor furniture is exquisite and new, with intricate carvings and patterns, but it doesn't look comfortable.
There are several pots of pothos placed in the corner of the wall, which are green and green, but they fail to add any vitality to the room.
Gu Xu felt that the air he breathed was also full of depression.
"Gui Cai, have you ever thought that the knocking you heard at night might not come from outside?"
At this moment, Gu Xu remembered a case recorded in ancient books, and a bold conjecture came to his mind.
"Sir, you mean..." Wang Guicai, a short and fat boy, looked a little confused and didn't seem to understand what Gu Xu was saying.
Gu Xu smiled slightly, stretched out his hand and knocked twice on the bronze mirror.
"Dang! Dang!"
The crisp sound echoed in the silent room.
Wang Guicai suddenly turned pale.
He pointed at the bronze mirror, staggered back a few steps, almost fell to the ground, and shouted hesitantly:
"Yes... Sir, this is it... the knock on the door I heard late at night... this is the sound... that ghost... it is in this mirror... it wants to come out..."
"Don't panic."
Gu Xu stretched out a finger to signal him to stay quiet.
Then he looked at the bronze mirror and grinned.
His reflection in the mirror grinned too.
He blinked.
The reflection in the mirror also blinked.
He made a scissor hand gesture.
The reflection also made a scissor hand gesture.
"How about we play a few games of rock-paper-scissors?" Gu Xu suggested to his mirror image with a cheerful smile on his face, "Here, rock-paper-scissors!"
Then he lost four games in a row.
