"Taoist Priest! Wait a moment. It's me!"
As soon as the man was caught, he started shouting, which shocked Li Changan.
The Taoist priest lowered his head and saw that he was less than five feet tall and had an ugly face with thick hair.
"You recognize me?"
The man was anxious, fearing that his fist would be in vain, so he hurriedly tore off his clothes.
There is little skin and flesh under the clothes, and most of them are thick, fluffy yellow hairs.
Li Changan felt familiar. After thinking about it carefully, it finally dawned on him.
We meet each other everywhere in life. I didn’t expect to meet an acquaintance here in Yuhang. No, I should say an acquaintance!
He is the yellow-haired ghost who once caused trouble in the Shexing Teahouse.
"All yamen in the world don't want to get involved. The Taoist priest on the front foot sent me to the government office, and the yamen servant on the back foot threw me in a mass grave. It rained that night and soaked the yellow talisman at the mouth of the altar, so I See the light of day again soon!"
Li Changan wondered: "It's rare to see the light of day, why do you dare to show up in front of Pindao?"
"This time, that time."
The yellow-haired ghost was smiling and talking when suddenly, a low evening bell rang outside the alley.
He looked up at the sky, and the setting sun shone down on the alley, dyeing his yellow hair golden. At first glance, he looked like the Sun Wukong that jumped out of a storybook. But if you look closely, that furry face doesn't look like a monkey, but more like a dog.
"Alas, the sun has set again. This is not the place to talk."
He asked the priest:
"May I ask where the chief is staying?"
"Nowhere to stay."
The yellow-haired ghost suddenly showed a hint of joy.
"If the Taoist master doesn't mind the shabby situation, can he stay overnight at the kid's temporary residence?"
When you are alive, it is normal to stay in a deserted grave. How can you be picky when you are dead?
Li Changan does everything he can.
…………
Where should ghosts live?
Wild grave? Broken temple? Abandoned house?
Huangwei, also known as the yellow-haired ghost, didn't go anywhere. He led Li Changan to a bustling cattle and horse market in the city.
Of course, the commotion was during the day, and now the sun was setting. All the shops were closing before the market closed, and there were very few pedestrians on the streets. Mist is coming from the Qiantang River, which is hazy, deserted and clear, which means that the living people have retreated and the dead are livable.
Huang Wei found a regular chicken shop and instead of going through the front entrance, he took a detour through the back entrance and entered the hospital.
The yard is quite large, with a large grass shed set up on the left side and rows of bamboo cages standing under the shed. There are swarms of flies and a strong stench of chicken feces.
There is also a thatched shed on the right, but it is surrounded by an earthen wall. Looking in through the small window, there are no chickens or ducks inside, only a shed with people resting on chicken feathers.
Li Changan understood.
This is not only a chicken shop, but also a chicken feather shop.
Huang Wei spent twenty bucks to beg two baskets of chicken feathers from the shop owner, gave Li Changan half, and led him further inside.
"I thought I was dazzled when I saw the Taoist priest at the leftover ghost."
"What? You don't believe that I am also in Yuhang?"
"That's not true, it's just that I never expected that the Taoist priest would also become a ghost."
"It's not unusual to be a ghost. All humans are mortal. But it's very strange that we two ghosts don't meet each other in the underworld, but meet again in the human world."
"So, what's more strange?"
Huang Wei gave up and walked to a large thatched shed at the end of the yard.
Open the curtain and go in.
The shed was at least twenty paces deep from beginning to end, and was filled with people walking in two rows, foot to foot. There were no beds or chairs inside, just chicken feathers all over the floor. However, there were few and small windows. The light was dim, the air was turbid and muggy, flies and mosquitoes were buzzing with snoring, and the smell of feet and sweat was mixed with the smell of chicken feces.
The Taoist priest suddenly dreamed of catching a train during the Spring Festival. The floor of the carriage was filled with people like a puzzle. If you jump up, there will be no place to stay when you fall down.
Huang Tail skillfully stood on tiptoes and jumped in. When he got to the end of the hay shed, he stepped on everyone here and woke them up one by one.
"Everyone, get up and look, who have I brought here?!"
The people who were disturbed were cursing at first, but when they saw Li Changan...
"Taoist Priest? Taoist Priest Li?"
"Scared! It's really Li Shenxian."
"Aye, Auntie, the Taoist uncle is here to catch us again."
Li Changan was surprised to find that this noisy group of men, women, and children were actually the ghosts in the tea shed. Country men working together, scholars traveling together, two salesmen, and a family of four who fled, all are here.
…………
Huangwei asked the Taoist priest and the ghosts to wait for a while, then left the hut by himself. After a while, he came back with wine and food, followed by a little old man.
There was no table, so the food and wine had to be placed on the spot.
The wine was turbid wine mixed with water, and it looked like a thin mud soup in the bowl; the food was better, a large plate full of minced chicken and duck, which had been scalded with boiling water until it oozed blood.
Li Changan has no appetite and is full of questions.
Just now he was chatting with the ghosts and learned that when the monk saved them, he felt a warm white light melting into him, and his consciousness gradually fell into chaos. But when he woke up in the blink of an eye, he found that he had arrived outside Yuhang City, and spent a while in the lonely soul wilderness. The ghosts were retrieved one by one by Huang Tail.
The Dharma is strict and the Dharma is profound, so there should be no such flaw, so Li Changan's first reaction was:
"Is there something evil in the area that's causing trouble, blocking the yin and yang?"
The little old man's surname was Qiao, and he claimed to be an old acquaintance of Huang Wei. After hearing Li Changan's words, he laughed so hard that his beard trembled.
"This Taoist master is so funny when he talks. Evil thing? I, a local old ghost, have never heard of it, but the isolation between yin and yang started hundreds of years ago. No dead ghost who falls in the local area will be able to descend into the yin cao."
"Hundreds of years?" The Taoist priest didn't believe it. "Without the yin and yang, wouldn't ghosts and ghosts become rampant?"
The little old man smiled and picked up a piece of chicken neck to chew on. Huang Wei next to him took over the words:
"Can Taoist Master hear a word?"
"What?"
Huangwei didn't rush to answer.
He pushed open the small window on the wall.
Outside the window, Yuhang City rang the last evening bell, and the last trace of light fell from the sky.
The day is over.
The half-gnawed chicken paw in Li Changan's hand suddenly fell through his palm and fell to the ground, stained with chicken feathers. Lighting was not allowed in the store, but the Taoist priest had a strange feeling that his shadow was disappearing and slowly shrinking back into himself.
The position at the door belonged to a woman, old and shriveled, but her snoring was the loudest in the yard. But at this time, there were other notes in her snoring. She turned her head and took a closer look. As her snoring rose and fell, she opened her mouth and kept spitting out her three-foot-long tongue.
The man's arms and legs under the east wall were too long, and he had to curl up in a ball before, lying suffocatingly. Now he took off his head and put it on his belly button, freeing up space and finally able to stretch his legs.
The resident lying on the west side has a round belly, which is especially popular with flies. There are swarms of flies around him, causing great annoyance to the surrounding area. Now, the light from the sky has fallen, showing a severe appearance. There is a large opening between the chest and abdomen, and the liver, intestines, spleen and stomach are faintly visible. He then plugged the gap tightly with chicken feathers, so that the flies could not find the rotten intestines and liver, and gradually dispersed.
Even Old Man Qiao's skinny body swelled suddenly, and his clothes were almost torn. He untied his belt, and his rotten white skin and flesh were swollen and shiny.
It turns out that the people living in the thatched hut of this chicken feather shop are all ghosts.
Huang Wei’s voice sounded faintly:
"The city of Yuhang is 70% human and 30% ghost."
…………
Li Changan picked up the chicken feet, twisted off the feathers, and stuffed them back into his mouth.
Frowning, he chewed for a while.
"I heard that there are 100,000 households in Yuhang City. If you count five people per household, there are 500,000 people. Adding in the hermits, refugees, servants, and monks, there are about 700,000 people. According to your statement, Aren’t there 300,000 ghosts in Yuhang City?!”
Huangwei scratched his hairy face and said, "No one has counted these, but they are all indistinguishable."
"Three hundred thousand ghosts stay in the Yang world and live among humans. Wouldn't it disturb the Yin..."
Li Changan was speechless.
He thought about his daytime transformation and Yuhang's extraordinary custom of worshiping ghosts - the local order of yin and yang has long been in chaos!
"The City God of Yuhang?"
"City God?" Old Man Qiao finally finished chewing the chicken neck and smiled. "Old man, I have lived in Yuhang City for sixty years and died for sixty years. I don't know the name of the City God."
In other words, there is no city god in Yuhang City! Li Changan was even more surprised. Three hundred thousand ghosts were not restrained by ghosts and gods, but there was no trouble!
"What trouble can happen?" Old Man Qiao picked up another chicken neck. "Ghosts are the same as people. As long as there is hope ahead, who would think of making trouble?"
Li Changan was puzzled: "Hope?"
"What else can a ghost hope for?"
Old Man Qiao, Huang Wei and even the ghosts in the tea shed all looked at each other and smiled.
"Reincarnate!"
"As long as you collect the reincarnation silver and give it to the thirteen families, you can be reincarnated on the ground in Yuhang and be reincarnated as a human being."
"Thirteen families?"
"It is the most popular among the thirteen temples and Taoist temples in Yuhang City, with the most Bodhisattvas and gods."
Huang Tail became more and more excited as he talked, and his eyes glowed green in the night.
"No matter merits or deeds, just a hundred taels of silver and you can be reincarnated!"
After hearing such weird things, Li Changan was inevitably confused for a moment, and he asked:
"One hundred taels?"
Huang Wei pushed the question to Old Man Qiao.
"In order to collect the reincarnation silver, it depends on Lao Qiaotou. He is a person who can reincarnate with just a few steps."
"That's all nonsense!"
Old man Qiao dropped the chicken neck and waved his hands hurriedly.
"How much money can I earn from walking around the streets collecting excrement? I have to pay a commission to the excrement head every month, and I also have to buy ghost books, talismans, incense and candles, food, clothing, and accommodation, and I have to pay for every year during the holidays. On the other hand, I have to be filial, so that I don’t have a few cents in my pocket throughout the year. Otherwise, would I live in this chicken-feather shop?"
"I've heard that the old boy is dishonest." Huang Wei smiled and reached out to draw a number, "At least you saved this amount!"
Old man Qiao trembled and rushed forward to cover Huang Wei's hand.
"Brother, you... ugh! Forget it, to be honest, brother, I just want to save more."
"Still saving?!" Huang Wei withdrew his hand and said teasingly, "Are you planning to invest in some wealthy family?"
With no danger of losing money, Old Qiao sat back down with a smile.
"Brother, I'm joking. It's hard for us humble brats to get into this position, let alone a wealthy family."
He picked up the bowl of "yellow soup" and said Shi Shiran:
"Even if we come from a poor family, there are still some wise and foolish people."
"If you can't feed yourself and are thrown into the river, then forget it. But if you meet unscrupulous parents, like those who are lazy, gamble and whore, I'm afraid they will be implicated for the rest of their lives. It's better to be dead than to live as a human being. Make a ghost."
No one around agreed, only Huang Tai smiled and raised the bowl.
"Brother is absolutely right."
…
For the rest of the day, everyone talked about their family and friends over the food and wine.
Most of what the ghosts talk about is the hardships faced by ghosts.
When working in the city, you not only have to guard against people, as once your identity is exposed, you will easily attract mages; you also have to guard against ghosts, because many of them are bullies and sneaky people.
When he arrived at Li Changan, he had no choice but to talk about the past events during this period.
Everyone exclaimed.
"Is that big snake dead?"
"I don't know, I'm dead anyway."
"Is the master dead?"
"Alive, but almost dead."
While everyone was sighing, Li Changan was about to ask what kind of livelihood was suitable for him. Unexpectedly, Huangwei suddenly slapped his chest.
"Master Fa Yan is compassionate, and Taoist Master Xuan Xiao upholds his righteousness and promises. Both masters have been kind to us. Even though I am a brat, how can I sit back and watch when Master is in trouble?!"
The more righteous and awe-inspiring his words were, the more strange looks he attracted from everyone.
Are you kind?
Is it because the monk used a crescent shovel to cut him in two? Or was it because the Taoist priest sealed him into a wine jar in exchange for money?
Without a blush or a heartbeat, he took out a few coins and slapped them on the ground.
With his initiative, all the ghosts also donated their money generously. You have a few dimes of silver, I have a few slings of copper coins. In the end, I added up to several taels of silver. Huang Tail gave the least.
Li Changan did the math and found that the money here plus what he "earned" from the maniac Liu could just buy cheap ginseng.
The Taoist priest was silent for a long time and exhaled.
"Thank you."
…………
There is a time when the story is finished and there is a time when the wine is finished.
The night is long and all that is left is sleep.
It's three o'clock at night.
Li Changan suddenly woke up from his trance.
He looked around warily.
In the thatched shed, all kinds of stench are still strong and overpowering, and all kinds of snoring, teeth grinding, and murmuring sounds are still like the symphony of suonas, cymbals and gongs.
He pushed the small window open a little.
There are thick clouds outside, and the faint "swishing" sound comes from unknown sources; the dim lights in the distance are the wealthy people having fun at night.
Li Changan was wondering if he was too nervous.
Suddenly there was a lot of barking in the neighborhood.
The chickens and ducks in the cage also started to flapping and squawking.
Even the snoring in the chicken and feather shop gradually subsided.
Li Changan turned around.
I saw a pair of green ghost eyes staring out of the dark shed.
"Run!"
Someone shouted outside the house.
"Checking ghost records!"
