20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 256 The fire point is trapped

The voice of the old concierge came from outside the house, his speech was slurred and hesitant.

"Master...it's me."

Second Master Qiao breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, pulled on his cloth shoes, sat on the edge of the bed, and encouraged himself loudly.

"what's up?"

The strong wind made the old man's voice particularly muffled.

"Master, this...you, you better come out and take a look at it yourself."

Hearing the noise in the yard getting louder and louder, Mr. Qiao became more courageous. He immediately rushed to the door and cursed: "Useless thing, wait! I'll be out right away."

After saying that, he got up and looked for a coat to put on his shoulders.

Shu Ning was frightened, and quickly reached out to hold his arm, and advised anxiously: "Master, wait until dawn before going to see him."

Mr. Qiao covered her with a quilt, lit the bedside lamp, and comforted her: "It's okay. There's no need to be afraid. There are so many people in the yard. I'll go take a look and I'll be back soon."

Pushing open the door, without waiting for a question, he looked up and saw in the corner of the yard, the two door panels of the Qiao family ancestral hall, being blown by the wind.

A dozen long-term servants, wearing single clothes and carrying two lanterns, gathered at the door and talked.

The ancestral hall is such an important place, how can it be tolerated by vulgar servants pointing at the door?

When Mr. Qiao saw it, he immediately became angry. He strode forward and raised his eyebrows. He said angrily: "What unruly person opened the ancestral hall?"

The servants immediately stopped talking, took a step back, and stood with their hands down, not daring to say another word.

The old concierge followed him cautiously and said cautiously: "Sir, the door of the ancestral hall is always locked, and no one has the key!"

Only then did Mr. Qiao realize that he was too frightened at night and ran out in a hurry, forgetting to lock the door.

Unfortunately, the anger has already been vented. There are thousands of mistakes, but the master is not wrong. This has been the truth since ancient times.

"Then if you saw it, wouldn't you lock it? What are you doing here, waiting for me to come out?" Second Master Qiao was concerned about his face, and it was inevitable that he would be a little arrogant.

Everyone wondered: "Master... we... don't dare!"

"Don't you dare?" Mr. Qiao's heart tightened, but he asked knowingly, "You guys dare to stand here, what are you afraid of?"

"Master... you, you'd better go in and take a look yourself."

Second Master Qiao snatched the lantern from the concierge's hand and cursed: "It's useless!"

Guang told others that when he reached the door of the room, he himself did not dare to cross the threshold. He just stretched his arms and looked into the room from a distance.

The candlelight passed through the lamp paper and cast a bright red color in the mourning hall.

On the high altar table, cups, plates, and fruits were scattered all over the floor. The dark, densely packed tablets were all buttoned up. The scene was extremely strange.

The servants couldn't help but cast their eyes on Second Master Qiao.

This meaning seems to be self-evident. The ancestors and clans do not want to look at the unworthy descendant of the head of the family in front of them.

Mr. Qiao's back was like a light, and the corner of his mouth twitched. Then he became angry and turned around to curse: "What are you looking at! Why don't you go in and help the memorial tablet?"

"Ah? Shall we go?"

The servants looked bitter: "Master... didn't you say you wouldn't let us enter the ancestral hall..."

Mr. Qiao scolded him sternly: "Whatever you are trying to do, please move quickly!"

The old concierge hesitated for a while, then finally plucked up the courage, patted Mr. Qiao on the shoulder from behind, and put on a smile before he said anything.

"Master... you see, what happened tonight is a bit unusual. How about... let's find an expert to come over and take a look. It won't be too late to deal with it. After all, we are all the masters of the family. If we accidentally collide, It’s not good either…it’s not good to be vague about ghosts and gods.”

"Bastard!"

Mr. Qiao's eyes almost bulged with blood. He turned around, raised his hand and smacked his mouth.

"Our Qiao family has been upright and upright for generations. Stop talking nonsense like the countryside! The Qiao family doesn't have such bad things! Come in and clean up!"

After a series of coercion and inducements, the servants had no choice but to reluctantly go to the ancestral hall. Taking advantage of their popularity, they emboldened each other and entered the ancestral hall.

It didn't take long to get everything back in its place.

When everyone returned to the courtyard, Mr. Qiao looked around at his servants angrily, cleared his throat, and warned: "Shut up! If anyone dares to spread a word about today's matter, everyone must stop." I want to run! The wind blows, do you understand? The wind blows!"

The weaker my heart is, the more angry I am, and no matter what I say, it seems to be hiding something.

How come the ancestral tablets are so neatly arranged despite the wind?

The altar table faced the door. Even if it was blown by the wind, it would probably have fallen against the wind. How could it be possible that it had fallen against the wind?

Undoubtedly, there must be something fishy.

The servants lowered their heads, glanced at each other, and said in response: "I understand, sir, it was the wind that blew it."

Second Master Qiao looked at everyone suspiciously, snorted coldly, and walked away immediately.

He returned to the bedroom and briefly comforted his wife, but he stayed up all night. When I close my eyes, I see everything in the ancestral hall.

Second Master Qiao was anxious and uneasy until dawn, and then he finally made up his mind to go to the ancestral hall to find out what was going on.

Spring thunder is rolling, the sky is full of loess, and light rain is falling outside the house.

Pushing open the door and looking around, Mr. Qiao walked through the yard like a thief before his servants started working, entered the ancestral hall, turned around and locked the door.

At first, his eyes were tightly closed. After a while, he slowly opened them half-open.

Seeing that the ancestral tablet was not moved at all, Mr. Qiao immediately made a "pop" sound and knelt on the futon in front of the altar table.

"Forefathers and ancestors, you can't blame Qimin!"

Second Master Qiao wanted to shout, but he didn't dare to shout loudly. He held the words in his throat to defend himself.

"I, I am doing this for our Qiao family! If we don't rely on these things, when will Qimin be able to turn the family around?"

Of course the ancestors said nothing.

Mr. Qiao then added: "Besides, this kind of thing will always exist. Even if I don't do it, others will do it. The world is in chaos. Can you blame me? You don't blame me at all. How can you blame me? Is there any I’m all the same, so of course you can’t blame me!”

There was a burst of muffled thunder outside the window, as if in response to his confession.

"If they want to die themselves, what does it have to do with me? It doesn't matter at all!"

Mr. Qiao's speaking speed became faster and faster, and Che Zulu's words were repeated over and over again.

"I have never forced them to eat this food. It is all of their own free will! Some people are just cheap, and they can only blame themselves! Moreover, I have done so many good deeds and added glory to our Qiao family. I can't hide my faults." , How many poor people have I helped? My ancestors, you know this better than me!"

Second Master Qiao respectfully offered three sticks of incense to his ancestor.

"Ancestors, don't blame Qimin. The emperor climbed out on mountains of corpses and seas of blood. What does it mean to me? Nothing! I swear to God, if I work for another year, I will be dead." One year, this time it’s true, Qimin will definitely give up!”

Raise the incense above your head, worship three times, and place it in the incense burner.

The ancestors will naturally understand the difficulties of the younger generation.

Second Master Qiao suddenly felt that the heavy burden on his shoulders was relieved a lot, but as soon as he opened the door, he saw the cook with a face as bright as a dish, standing straight at the door, waiting for him to come out.

"master."

The fat cook took a step forward and asked carefully: "You, please come to the kitchen and have a look."

"What's going on in the kitchen?" "I can't tell. I really can't tell. Come and see."

After that, the master and the servant hurried to the kitchen downstairs.

The fat cook didn't say anything nonsense. When he entered the kitchen, he immediately took out half a bag of rice from the corner, opened it, poked his palm into the rice, and turned his hand over to pick out a handful of black rice as hard as iron. dross.

Second Master Qiao suddenly frowned: "Why did the rice harvested last autumn turn into old rice not even half a year ago?"

"Master, how can this be old rice?" The fat cook sighed, "This... this is completely rotten! Not only the rice, but also flour, corn, and soybeans are all rotten!"

"Don't make any noise, don't make any noise!"

Second Master Qiao quickly signaled the fat cook to lower his voice, then took out a piece of foreign currency from his arms and said nervously: "Lao Zhu, come here, I have a reward!"

The fat cook took the reward, but heard the master continue to say: "While my wife is still awake, quickly throw these junk things out, buy something else, how much it costs, and tell me the rest. Remember, don't make any noise. !”

Having money can make all the difference, let alone just going to buy groceries?

When the fat cook heard this, he immediately took action.

Mr. Qiao glanced at the stale rice dregs in the bag and felt a chill from head to toe, and hurriedly left the kitchen.

The tree wants to be calm and the wind does not stop.

For the next few days, strange things would happen every night in Qiao's house.

In the big tank where pickled vegetables were stored, blood suddenly oozed out...

A few more hidden treasures unexpectedly appeared in the accounting room warehouse...

In the dead of night, people sigh for no reason in the yard...

All kinds of weird and bizarre things made the whole family feel frightened, suspicious, and even in a state of panic all day long.

As time went by, everyone became frightened, and many small things that were originally ordinary became scary due to preconceptions.

Housekeepers and servants also began to resign one after another, with various excuses that were ridiculous.

Seeing that An An was restless and people's hearts were floating, Mr. Qiao finally relented and asked an "expert" to come over and take a look.

So, the French priest from the Rooster House wore a black robe and came tremblingly to perform an exorcism ceremony for everyone in the Qiao family.

The result is naturally ineffective.

Mr. Qiao didn't say anything, but he made the servants very excited - it seems that foreigners are not good at everything, and sometimes they can't do it well.

Our ancestors will not give it in vain!

The victory of "Chinese ghosts" over "foreign ghosts" is of course something to be proud of.

After all the happiness, the problem has never been solved.

Once you get started, the next time will be easy.

Sure enough, within three or two days, without anyone else's persuasion, Mr. Qiao himself sent people to the temple to invite a group of monks to chant sutras for the salvation of his ancestors.

No less money was spent, but the results still didn’t work.

The servants have something to say again - Tathagata Buddha, even to the core, is still a foreign religion after all, and cannot suppress the ghosts of us Chinese.

But this time, Mr. Qiao hesitated.

It's not because he has any prejudice against Taoist priests, but because paper can't contain the fire after all!

In the previous two rituals, despite Qiao Erye's numerous warnings and instructions not to make any public announcements, how could it be possible that the news was not leaked due to the huge pomp and ceremony?

Nowadays, people in the neighborhood gradually began to talk behind each other's back, which made Mr. Qiao very angry. He used coercion and inducement. It took the boss a lot of effort to calm down the public opinion.

"We can't go on like this!"

Second Master Qiao was sitting in the study, throwing the "University" in his hand on the desk, with a dark face, giving orders to the old concierge.

"Our Qiao family's reputation is too great in Yingkou. It's too easy for the local heavenly masters, elders and priests to spread gossip about me!"

The old man, the concierge, immediately understood what his master meant, and said: "Master, if you want to find an expert from outside, why not go to Hekengdian? There are people coming and going over there, from all over the world, and people from all over the world are everywhere. have."

"Asshole! How can there be an expert in Hekengdian?" Second Master Qiao looked displeased and shouted angrily, "That's a den of thieves! Who am I, why did you ask me to go to Hekengdian? What if those old gentry knew this? Why don't you curse me behind my back and tarnish the Qiao family's reputation?"

"Master, this...can't be generalized. The masters are among the people! The key is that other people can't solve the problem."

Mr. Qiao raised his eyebrows and said, "What you mean by this is that there is someone you want to choose, and you want to pass it on to me?"

The old man rubbed his rough hands and smiled: "Otherwise you are the master! I can't hide anything from you."

"Speak directly!"

"Hey! Sir, I've been hearing rumors from the neighbors lately that there's an expert who sees things coming to Wakengdian. He's called 'Little Magical Power'. He's special. He's very capable. It's not convenient for you to go to Wakengdian. Why don't I go find him for you and show him to us?"

Mr. Qiao thought for a moment and finally nodded: "That's okay, then you can go out and have a look later."

In his opinion, those wild Taoist priests who set up stalls and tell fortunes may not have any real abilities.

But the good thing is that they are used to shooting and changing places, so they won't spread gossip about the Qiao family in Yingkou.

Moreover, he is an outsider, which makes him easy to control and easy to bully.

When the old man at the porter heard this and saw that it was noon, he immediately set off for Wakengdian.

He was twisting and turning, stretching his neck, staring at the hexagram booth.

After drinking some tea, I finally found a Gua stall behind a teahouse.

A table was covered with a blue cloth, and there were four big characters written on it - "King Wen of Zhouyi".

Behind him is a beige move, and there are two lines of regular script: Shen Ke Tong Xuan, iron mouth cuts straight!

Pen, ink, paper and inkstone, abacus and copper coins, a few stacks of books, a fan, small round sunglasses, and a ripped gown. If there is any difference between this gentleman and other gentlemen, it is that he is young, has a narrow forehead, and is unkempt.

At this moment, there was a young man who was asking for divination, sitting next to the gentleman, with his right hand spread out, sometimes lowering his head in thought, sometimes nodding while patting the table.

"Oh! I found it!"

The old concierge sighed, quickly dodged left and right, crossed the street, and headed straight for the Gua stall.

Little did they know, people were waiting for him to come to their door!

The young man who saw what was happening glanced out of the corner of his eye, immediately closed his palms, lowered his voice, and said: "Xifeng, the fire pole is coming."

Li Zhengxi hooked the nose clip of his sunglasses with his index finger, pulled it down, glanced at the old man across the street, smiled slyly, and immediately put his sunglasses back on.

"Thank you sir, your calculation is really accurate! Just take your thoughts and I will come back to ask for your advice when I have a chance."

The young man stood up and shouted a few polite words.

"You're welcome, you're welcome! Thank you for your support!" The fortune teller thanked him in return, "When you go back, be sure to pay attention to the taboos I told you. Don't worry, it's nothing serious!"

The two said goodbye.

The old concierge saw the opportunity, rushed to the table, and respectfully begged: "Sir, can you please come to my house to do some accounting?"

Unexpectedly, Mr. Li Zhengxi, a fake gentleman, actually smiled and waved his hand: "I can't see it, I can't see it."

"Why?" the old man asked.

Li Zhengxi held out three fingers: "I only calculate three hexagrams every day. One more hexagram won't work, and one less hexagram won't work!"

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(End of this chapter)