Ghost Story of Liaozhai

An old man in Yangxin County lives in Caidian Village, which is five or six miles away from the city.The father and son opened an inn by the roadside, which was exclusively for business travelers in the past.

At dusk that day, four coachmen came to stay for the night. The inn was full and there were no vacant rooms.Seeing that it was getting late, the four coachmen firmly demanded to stay, "If there is no guest room, a firewood room is fine. If not, sleeping in a stable or laying a bed on the floor can make do. Are you afraid that we won't pay?"

The old man was kind-hearted, and thought to himself, "If you don't make money, you won't make money if you send money to your door."After pondering for a moment, he said: "There is only one room left in the accommodation, I'm afraid everyone will dislike it."

The four drivers said: "It's good to have a place to stay, how dare you pick and choose?"

The old man said: "But there are dead bodies in that place." Before he finished speaking, he let out a long sigh, "It is my daughter-in-law who died. The little girl is young and her blessings are too thin. She has just married a dog and has not lived a few days. In the sun, you will get sick and die."

A coachman in Tsing Yi showed sympathy and persuaded: "Old man, my condolences."

The old man nodded, and led the four of them through the aisle to a small tile-roofed house. A butter lamp was lit in the room. The light seemed to be there, but it shone on a wooden board on which a woman was sleeping. In his twenties, his complexion is as pale as gold paper, his forehead is wrapped with gauze, he has no breathing, his hands and feet are cold, and his body is covered with a paper quilt, which shows that he has been dead for a long time.

Although the four of them were bold, they couldn't help gasping when they first saw the dead body. The driver in Tsing Yi trembled and used his words to boost his courage, and asked, "Old man, why haven't you seen your son since you've been in the store for so long?"

The old man said: "He went to buy a coffin for his wife, and he won't come back until tomorrow. The guests, it's late, so please rest." Pointing to a wooden bed about seven feet wide in the corner of the room, he said: "The place is narrow. It’s a bit late, but the four of us can make do if we squeeze together, so the little old man bid farewell.”

After the old man left, the four coachmen ran all the way. Weary and tired, they didn't bother to wash their feet. They took off their clothes and boots, leaned on the pillows, and snored loudly.

The coachman in Tsing Yi was timid and lived in the same room with the dead body. He was terrified in his heart and did not sleep soundly. He seemed to hear two clicks on the wooden board in a hazy state. He was startled, and quickly opened his eyes to look around.

Seeing this, the ghosts immediately flew into the sky: the lights in the house were originally dim, but at this moment, for some reason, it turned out to be as bright as day, and one table, one chair, one bed and one collapsed, all could be clearly seen.There were endless noises on the board, the female corpse stretched out her hand to lift the paper, sat up slowly, her feet touched the ground, and walked towards herself step by step.

The female corpse came to the side of the bed, leaned down, and blew three breaths between the mouth and nose of each coachman, and the three companions became completely unconscious, and the snoring stopped.

The driver in Tsing Yi broke out in a cold sweat, seeing the female corpse walking towards him, he obviously wanted to repeat the same trick, blowing himself to death, he hurriedly held his breath, not daring to move.

As expected, the female corpse came in front of her, blew a breath between the driver's mouth and nose as usual, then slowly returned to the wooden plank, lay down, and continued to sleep.

The driver in Tsing Yi was terrified, he didn't dare to breathe lightly, he secretly kicked his companion beside him, but the three of them didn't respond, it was very likely that they were dead.At this time, my heart was terrified, and I only had one thought: "It's important to escape!" So I carefully dressed under the quilt, tiptoed to the door, and ran away with bare feet.

The female corpse immediately noticed it, and immediately chased after it.The coachman in Tsing Yi was even more frightened, and ran desperately, yelling while running, hoping to attract the attention of others to come to the rescue.But the village was quiet and there was no sound, not even a single person, but there was a ghost behind him.

The coachman had no choice but to drive all the way to the county seat, and soon came to the eastern suburbs, where a temple stood not far away, the lights were flickering, and the sound of wooden fishes could be faintly heard.

The coachman was overjoyed, and hurried to the temple gate to call for help. There was a creaking sound, and the temple gate opened a little. A Taoist priest came out to look around and asked, "What are you doing?"

The coachman was out of breath and said anxiously: "There is a ghost who wants to kill me, open the door and let me in."

As soon as the Taoist heard that there was a ghost, his complexion changed immediately, and he said in a trembling voice: "My God, the ghost is here, close the door quickly." There was a loud bang, and the temple door was tightly closed, followed by another soft bang , it is obvious that the Taoist is a safe person, not only closed the door, but also put the bolt on it.

The Taoist priest saw that he was dying, and the driver was so angry that he wanted to scold his mother. Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew on his back, and he couldn't help shivering from the chill. He turned around and saw: the female corpse was following him, only a few feet away from him, with his hands clasped The root nail was as sharp as a needle, and it was emitting bursts of black air, and it seemed that it would explode and hurt people at any time.

At this moment, his life was hanging by a thread, and the driver's mind became more flexible. He saw a big white poplar in front of the temple gate, which was as thick as a water tank, which could be used to deal with the female ghost.Immediately, he rushed quickly and hid behind the tree. The female corpse He He let out a strange cry, and her figure was like the wind, and she rushed over.

One person and one ghost circled the tree, the driver was nimble, the female corpse turned to the left, he turned to the right, the female corpse turned to the right, and he turned to the left. After a stalemate for a while, both the person and the ghost exhausted their energy, panting and exhausted.

The female corpse struggled for a long time without success, suddenly her arms grew steeply, she hugged the poplar tree, and grabbed the driver's belt through the tree trunk, but there were two chi-chi sounds, the driver's clothes were torn, his face turned pale instantly, his legs Weak, fainted from fright, and fell to the ground.

The female corpse used too much force, her fingernails were deeply inserted into the tree trunk, she screamed twice, her body stiffened like a pole, she was already dead.

The Taoist listened to the inner ear of the temple, and there was a long silence. He felt relieved, opened the door and walked out, reached out and touched the coachman's chest, his heart was still beating, and said to himself, "I'm not dead, but there is still salvation." After speaking, he bent over to pick up the coachman, Enter the temple for treatment.

Back in the temple, the Taoist priest fed the coachman some soup and massaged him to promote blood circulation. After a busy night, the coachman finally woke up when it was daylight.

The Taoist told the driver, "The donor is weak and should not move around. You should rest in the temple and I will go to the county to report to the officials."

The county magistrate heard that the female ghost was doing evil, so he came to inspect it in person, and saw a female corpse under the poplar tree, which was quite straight and motionless. Curious in his heart, he immediately ordered seven or eight of his men to break open the female corpse and study it.

Seven or eight yamen servants gritted their teeth and yanked, worked together, and after wasting a lot of effort, they pulled the female corpse's hands out of the tree trunk. After a closer look, ten holes in the tree trunk were clearly marked, as if they were chiseled out with an iron awl. Crumbs are visible.

The county magistrate was amazed and ordered someone to inquire at the inn. As expected, the corpse of the old man's daughter-in-law disappeared, so it was naturally the female ghost in front of him.

The county magistrate patted the coachman on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Brother, you did a good job in capturing the female ghost wisely! I will reward you with some money, and you will go home now."

The coachman said with a bitter face: "Master Hui: When I came out, there were four of us together, but now I go home alone, how can I explain to the elders in the village? What if the villagers suspect that I am a murderer?"

The county magistrate pondered and said: "That makes sense. In this way, I will write a letter for you to take back, and then I can prove your innocence."

The coachman was satisfied with this, took the letter and silver, and went home happily.