Lingxian Zhenjun

Funiu Mountain is fifty or sixty miles away from Jiangcheng County. Although there is an official road, the road is rough, and the city yamen conscripted many civilians to level the road.

The sun just came out of the clouds, and the young and strong conscripts were already wielding hoes on the road to level the road, or hoisted a square boulder with a few companions and smashed it down to compact the soil.

In the distance, someone saw two figures coming from the road in Funiu Town in a panic. They were dressed like servants of a certain rich family in the city. When the city gate opened at dawn, the first wave entered in town.

"Uncle Liu, let's go back like this, will the master's family beat us both up?"

These two people were the old and the young who asked the expert in the ruined temple that day.Seeing that his companion was worried, the man called Uncle Liu shook his head, his expression was not good, obviously he hadn't recovered from what happened in the ruined temple yesterday.

After all, I have been chatting with the ghost for so long... Thinking of it now, I am full of fear. If I agreed to the two ghosts to go down the mountain with them to pick up the goods, I am afraid that my life will be lost.

But then why did those two ghosts turn into a cloud of smoke, and why did the teacher in the temple disappear?
After entering the city, the people begging for a living have already been busy on the street. The vendors carefully put the dough into the steamer and yelled twice along the way; The woman rushed to the street with the washing water, splashed on other people's trouser legs, causing several shouts and curses.

The two crossed two streets one after the other, and they slowed down after approaching the southeast of the city. After calming down, the man named Uncle Liu lowered his voice.

"Just tell the master the truth."

Immediately, the two walked to a mansion in front of them together. The gate was tall and the door was painted with the word "Li's House" written in red paint. A restaurant, an inn, and a silk shop, in the eyes of the common people, this is a great family business.

Just a few months ago, the theater troupe suddenly made a fuss, which made people feel uneasy. On the stage where there was no one there, the sound of gongs, drums and singing suddenly sounded, or a puppet show was being performed, and suddenly a black shadow floated across the stage. , The people who were watching the theater were so frightened that the people below rushed away, this is not over, that ghost thing has recently involved the host's inn, and the guests staying there saw a figure of Youdao sitting in front of the bronze mirror in the middle of the night, holding his head Combed his hair, was so frightened that he didn't wear any clothes, and rushed to the street naked...

After the news spread, the business plummeted, and the two were clever in the courtyard, so they were sent out to visit nearby experts to exorcise evil spirits.

After the two knocked on the courtyard door, the old porter saw that they were coming back, so he hurried in to welcome them in.

"Have you found an expert?"

The two shook their heads, and returned to the front yard, and the old man stopped them just as they got down the stone steps: "The shopkeeper of the silk shop is also here, and he happened to be talking to the owner in the front yard."

"Forget it, we'll just go."

Uncle Liu responded, and quickly walked around the feng shui wall with his somewhat frightened companions, and saw the door of the front courtyard hall open, a shopkeeper of a silk shop wearing a felt hat and a cyan robe with square holes was talking to the first master.

"...Master, if you can't find it, I will contact you here."

"Oh? Where's the expert? Can you tell the other party about the theater troupe?"

...

The first figure sitting upright was around fifty, with a bun, gray beard, and sallow skin. He leaned against the back of the chair with a big belly, and his energy seemed listless. He sighed, "If my fourth child is still here, how could I be helpless?"

The shopkeeper on the side smiled. He knew who the fourth son was talking about, and he had heard it countless times.

At first I thought it was the real brother of the master's family, but after a long time, I realized that it was a senior brother. They were studying arts together back then, and I heard that they knew magic spells.

But after thinking about it, it is also possible that the master said this on purpose, so that people with ulterior motives would be scruples and dare not pay attention to his family business, but in the past ten years, he has never seen the so-called fourth child appear.

It further confirmed my conjecture.

Thinking about it, the shopkeeper smiled and arched his hands: "My lord, the expert I was looking for was also found by someone. He is an expert outside the world. I heard that it is from Canglan Mountain."

"Alright, go and invite the expert here."

As he was talking, Li San waved his hand, and when he sent the person away, he saw two people waiting outside the door. Seeing their dejected expressions, he knew that he had achieved nothing in this trip, so he had no intention of asking.

"You have worked hard for several days, go down and rest."

"Master."

The elder servant had no intention of leaving, and stood there, arching his hands: "It is true that we returned without success, but yesterday we both encountered a ghost, and there was an expert present, and he saved us."

"Oh." Li San's eyes finally brightened when he heard this, "Let's hear it."

The servant was about to spend the night in the ruined temple yesterday, talking to ghosts, and a teacher who came suddenly, as well as the mage who was being invited in Funiu Town, and described the scene as completely as possible.

The younger servant on the side nodded in agreement.

"My lord, it's true what Uncle Liu said. It turned out that the two people we were talking to were ghosts, but the teacher was also very strange, and then disappeared all at once."

"Mr. Teacher, what does it look like?"

"The crumpled robe, the sleeves are wide, and some places are white, but it can be seen that it should be a blue robe. The bun is clean and tidy. A man who is well-read."

Hearing the servant's description, Li San subconsciously sat on the chair and stood up.

"Is there a crazy old man and a shedding old cow beside him?"

The two servants outside the door didn't understand why the master's family was so excited, they looked at each other, recalled the details of last night, and then shook their heads together.

"No."

Li San's eyes suddenly showed regret, and he sat back on the chair, and waved his hand weakly.

"Go down and rest."

"Yes."

The two servants didn't dare to disturb, and quickly left from one side.

The room was quiet, and after a while, someone came in from the side hall, and an old woman in her fifties came to Li San with her maid, Shi Shiran.

She blew on a bowl of soup, and seeing that her husband was resting with his eyes closed, she put down the soup on the table and pressed his back and head for a while.

"No matter how important the theater troupe and the inn are, you have to fill your stomach first, and you can do things when you have energy. Look at you, you have lost so much weight in a few months. Husband, what expression do you have, a look of despair , the woman raised outside ran away with someone?"

"It's all nonsense. The shopkeeper Wang of the silk shop has already taken care of the theater troupe, and he is still an expert in Canglan Mountain." Li San smiled. The husband and wife of more than 20 years have long been used to his wife talking and joking.He took a sip of the soup, and replied dryly and wearily, "Just now... I thought the fourth child came back."

Looking at the door, the sky is getting brighter, pushing bright light into the hall...

……

The sun rises above the clouds, a lot of labor is leveling the official road, and the young crops in the fields on both sides are rippling in the wind and spreading into the distance.

At the end of the road, two figures, two big and one small, came from the direction of the city. There were two Taoists, one big and one small, and an elegant teacher next to him. go.

"This is Jiangcheng County... It's much bigger than Qingshan County back then."

With her hands behind her back, Chen Yuan looked at the towering and stretching city wall and sighed, then invited Sun Zhengde, who was chatting with his apprentice beside him, into the city together, and inquired about the theater troupe.

Lingxian Zhenjun