In March, the weather is slowly getting warmer, but the nights are still a bit chilly. Cai Hongqiao, who had returned from sowing grain in the fields of Caijialing Village, was washing himself in the house with a basin of hot water when he suddenly smelled the smell of hookah. He shouted, Yueying, can you smell it?
Wu Yueying was his wife. She was lighting the fire by the hanging pot hanging for cooking midnight snacks. She suddenly turned around and responded to the sound. What did she smell?
Cai Hongqiao repeated, smelling of hookah.
Wu Yueying subconsciously twitched her nose, and then sighed, oh, I smell it. Where did it come from?
Cai Hongqiao said, yes, no one in our family smokes hookah, so why does it smell like hookah?
Wu Yueying put down the fire scissors for stoking the fire and approached the door. It was dim outside, and she could still see the outline of the place and other parts, but she saw no people and of course she couldn't smell the water smoke. She stood quietly for a while and then returned to the room.
Wu Yueying glanced at Cai Hongqiao, who was still washing and wiping her feet, shook her head and said, no one was smoking hookah outside, and there was no smell at all, but when they came inside, the smell became stronger again.
Cai Hongqiao asked doubtfully, could it be that the late people were smoking hookah? Where is he?
Wu Yueying walked around the main room and the side rooms and saw that they were all dark. Then he said that he didn't see anyone. Then he walked to the door and shouted at the top of his lungs, Wan Min——
At this time, someone seemed to answer upstairs, Mom, I am here. Sure enough, I heard footsteps walking upstairs, and then the sound of coming down the stairs.
Wu Yueying returned to the room and walked to the stairs. Her son Cai Wanmin happened to come down empty-handed.
Wu Yueying asked, Wan Min, did you smoke hookah? Why does the house smell like hookah, and your dad doesn't smoke it?
Cai Wanmin replied, Mom, I didn’t smoke!
Cai Hongqiao, who had washed his feet and put on his shoes, walked over, glared at him with a stern face, remained silent, then went upstairs, and came down again after a while. He took a hookah pole and threw it in front of Cai Wanmin. He frowned and signaled Cai Wanmin to kneel down, and Cai Wanmin knelt down obediently.
Cai Hongqiao said sternly, "Tell me clearly, where does this hookah come from?"
Cai Wanmin lowered his head and said nothing.
Cai Hongqiao shouted, "If you don't explain clearly, you will kneel with me all night."
Wu Yueying was standing by the fire pit, looking back at her son as she continued to light up the fire. She also helped, please make it clear! Was it robbed or stolen? Anyway, this hookah costs a lot of money to buy.
After a while, Cai Wanmin, who had been silent until now, suddenly covered his face and burst into tears.
Cai Hongqiao still shouted, please tell me clearly, why are you crying?
Cai Wanmin replied, Dad, Mom, I'm sorry for you. Then he said hesitantly, this... water... smoke... was bought. It was...bought, and...it was considered stolen.
Cai Hongqiao stared at him and asked in surprise, why do you make me more and more confused by what you said? What was bought and what was stolen? Damn it!
The fire in the fire pit was almost extinguished, but Wu Yueying forgot to refill it, and her attention came here. She said, Wanmin, please speak up. What you just said confused me.
Cai Wanmin kept wiping his tears and cried, "I'm scared. I often have nightmares at night. I heard people said that smoking hookah can increase people's anger, so I bought a hookah and smoked it."
Wu Yueying said, I still don’t understand, you bought the hookah, why did you say you snatched it? What happened to this nightmare?
Cai Wanmin said, Dad, Mom, I'm sorry for you. I did bad things. In the twelfth lunar month of last year, I joined a group of strongmen to rob a ship of soybeans on the Chibi River. They killed all seven members of the Cao family. Then they robbed the goods and sold them for money. I also received a share of the stolen money, which was 1,400 copper coins. Hang.
I took some copper coins and went out to the grocery store in town to buy this hookah, so the hookah I bought was also stolen, and the money came from a wrong way. Originally I wasn't afraid, after so long, but recently I have nightmares every time I fall asleep. I dream that I am arrested by the Puqi County government chief and thrown into death row. I am afraid!
When Cai Hongqiao heard this, he stamped his feet angrily and shouted loudly, "Hurry up and follow me to the government to surrender. If you find out then, don't say that my father didn't report the knowledge. I will be treated as a harborer. That's fine. We Both father and son will go to jail. If the swordsman wants to kill you, there will be no one to collect your body. The more he talked, the more excited he became, and he even kicked his son hard.
Wu Yueying whispered to her husband, please lower your voice so that no one outside can hear you.
Forget it, can you handle such a big thing? Cai Hongqiao said angrily.
Cai Wanmin's body was trembling, and his mouth was trembling as he said, "Dad, Mom, I'm afraid of surrendering. If I surrender, I will be beheaded. Please don't let me surrender."
Cai Hongqiao's heart softened. He walked to the door of the room and closed the door. When he came back, he lowered his voice. It depends on your luck. Once the government catches you, our family will be in trouble.
Cai Wanmin's voice was lowered. This murder happened on the river. It is not easy to solve the case. As long as you don't talk about it, no one will know. It is said that the government has been investigating for a long time but has not found anything, and now it has been settled.
Cai Hongqiao sighed and said, even if this murder case cannot be solved, if you do such a bad thing, your conscience will be uneasy for the rest of your life! Wanmin, from now on, don't do any bad things, and work hard on the crops in your hometown. If I find that you have done something bad, I will be cruel and drive you out of the house. I will control you to become a dragon or a snake outside. Yes. Whether I live or die has nothing to do with me.
Cai Wanmin shed tears on his clothes and said with a repentant look, "Father, Mom, I will change my mind and be a new person. I will never do any bad things again, and I will never have any wrong thoughts."
Wu Yueying glanced into the room, then looked at the earthen stove, and said behind the door, "Old man, you should set up an incense table to repent to the house god, kitchen god and door god in the house. What you just said was not heard by outsiders, but They have heard it. As long as they report it to the underworld, you will not feel comfortable. At first, they will seek your life immediately. At the worst, they will make you sick and bring disaster, or reduce your already thin fortune and reduce your long life. Life span, in short, there are various possibilities.
Cai Wanmin became even more frightened. He said, "Dad, Mom, I will buy an incense case tomorrow, burn incense and worship for the house god, kitchen god and door god, and beg them not to sue the underworld for the bad things I have done. From now on, I will also No more bad things.
Cai Hongqiao nodded silently, with a solemn look on his face.
Wu Yueying said anxiously, son, just do what you say! It doesn't matter if you swear to be a good person in front of the house god, kitchen god and door god. Not only will they not publicize the bad things you did when you participated in a group of strongmen, but they will also bless you secretly.
Cai Wanmin immediately kowtowed to the family god in the room; he kowtowed to the kitchen god in front of the earthen stove, and then kowtowed to the door god in front of the gate.
One morning, the Leopard Tail God and the Tiangong God set out from the north and each flew to the South China Sea on an auspicious cloud, happily going to fulfill their vocation as protectors of the Three Treasures and Wild Gods. Passing by the south bank of the Yangtze River, I heard the sound of dogs barking, and saw a wave of turbid resentment rising to the sky.
The Leopard Tail God frowned, pressed the cloud head, and saw a bloody scene of dog slaughter: a yellow dog with a rope around its neck was hanging on a wooden ladder against the wall of the house, and a big young man was using it. The wooden ladle scooped water from the bucket placed at his feet and poured it into the yellow dog's open mouth with a row of canine teeth. He poured one ladle after another. By the fourth ladle, the yellow dog was about to suffocate. And die.
It started to be wrapped around its neck, and it couldn't breathe smoothly. It would have been fine if it stopped struggling, but the more it twisted its body, the tighter its neck would be with the rope, and of course it wouldn't die immediately.
At this moment, several villagers stood aside to watch the excitement, and some even cheered for the tall young man. The big young man worked harder and harder, pouring water into the yellow dog's throat one after another. The dog couldn't catch its breath and soon died.
The Leopard Tail God also saw the body of the yellow dog trembling slightly, and then became motionless. Its tongue was half hanging out of its mouth, and its pair of bead-like transparent and bulging eyes were fixed with a dead light without any vitality. , but when the big young man touched it, he seemed to tremble in his heart.
He put down the wooden ladle for scooping water that he no longer needed, and took out a spare short knife from his waist with a cold light, and knocked it twice into the dog's eyeballs, as if to embolden himself, and as if to say: You beast, Why are you still staring at me? I will immediately cut off your skin and cook your flesh and drink it with wine.
The Leopard Tail God looked at the tragic scene of dog slaughter in the lower realm and kept sighing, "Wow!"
The Tiangong God who flew ahead saw the Leopard-Tailed God resting in the air and looking down at the dog slaughtering scene, so he flew back to watch with him.
The Leopard-Tailed God also opened the protective veil and dusted it off, then covered it again and sighed, "This kind of beast likes and sinks into the evil realm, and it is difficult to escape from it." Let's go!
