Ghost Story of Liaozhai

Dai Sheng, Anqing, is young and frivolous, with dissolute behavior.One day, on his way home drunk, he ran into his cousin Ji Sheng, who had been dead for many years at that time.Dai Sheng was confused after drinking, and didn't remember his cousin's death. He asked, "Where is your job recently?" Ji Sheng said, "I'm a ghost, why did you forget?" Dai Sheng suddenly realized, but he was not afraid, and asked: " So the cousin is in the vagina, taking any job?"

Ji Sheng said: "I work under Zhuan Lun Wang, in charge of the book of life and death." Dai Sheng said: "You must be very clear about the misfortunes and blessings of the world?" Ji Sheng said: "This is my duty, how can I not know it? However, the records in the book of life and death are too cumbersome, and I can’t remember clearly if they are not close relatives or friends. I checked the book occasionally three days ago, and your name is on it.”

Dai Sheng hurriedly asked, "But I don't know what Pluto thinks of me?" Ji Sheng said, "To tell you the truth, because you have committed a lot of evil, you will go to a dark hell after death." Cousin, you must save me." Ji Sheng said: "This matter is beyond my ability, and I can save myself only by abandoning evil and doing good. But you are full of evil, and you must be good to redeem your sins. It's just that you are a poor scholar, and you have How can you do great good? Even if you do one good thing every day, it will take several years to eliminate the disaster, it is too late. But the accumulation of small things makes a lot, although death is inevitable, but in hell, there may be a day in the future."

Hearing this, Dai Sheng wept aloud, begging on the ground; when he raised his head again, Ji Sheng had long since disappeared.Feeling lost, Dai Sheng returned home depressed.Since then, I have changed my mind and started a new life.

At the beginning, Dai Sheng had an affair with a young woman next door. When the neighbor heard about it, he couldn't bear it, and wanted to catch Jian in bed and arrest them both.Unexpectedly, Dai Sheng gave up his bad deeds and stopped dealing with young women.The neighbors were so angry that they hated him deeply.

This day, the two met in the field, and the neighbor took the initiative to strike up a conversation, tricked Dai Sheng to the well, and pushed him into the water when he was unprepared.The well was several feet deep, and Dai Sheng thought he was going to die. Fortunately, the well was dry, there was not much water, and the soil at the bottom of the well was soft. Dai Sheng did not die, but he also fainted.

In the middle of the night, Dai Sheng woke up leisurely, looking for a way out everywhere, but found nothing. He was anxious and afraid, so he wailed loudly.Fearing that he would come back to life, the neighbors came to check in the middle of the night, and when they heard Dai Sheng calling for help, they were terrified. They hurriedly picked up several boulders and threw them into the well indiscriminately, intending to crush Dai Sheng to death.

Dai Sheng pressed his body against the well wall, not daring to make a sound.The neighbor threw stones for a while, but was still uneasy, thinking, "I don't know if the thief scholar is completely dead. There is no sound at the moment, and he is probably dead. But it is also possible that he passed out, and he simply did not do anything, and sent him another ride." ” Thinking of this, he took a shovel, swiped the shovel to shovel the soil, filled the bottom of the well to the height of a person, picked up the shovel, and walked away.

The well was dark and silent, and the environment was harsh, like hell.The surroundings are dark and humid, and food is scarce. Dai Sheng knows that his fate is not long.When he was worrying, suddenly he found a hole on the wall of the well, several feet high. Dai Sheng was overjoyed, and crawled into the hole, looking for a way out.But after climbing a few steps, water droplets gathered in front of him, and three steps away, it was full of stagnant water.

Dai Sheng had nothing to do, so he turned back to the well.At first I was hungry, but after a long time, my body became weak and I even forgot about my hunger.I thought to myself, "Under the dry well, there is nothing good to do, but to recite the Buddha's name sincerely." With this in mind, he proclaimed the Buddha's name and dared not slack off.

Not long after, the phosphorus fire in the cave danced, flickered and extinguished, and the cave was full of will-o'-the-wisps.Dai Sheng knew something was wrong, so he forced himself to be calm, and said to himself: "I heard that the phosphorus and fire are all transformed by evil spirits; although I survived temporarily, I will inevitably die sooner or later. If everyone is willing to chat with me, please listen carefully. It can relieve loneliness." After speaking, I saw the phosphorous fire slowly approaching, floating on the water, and in each phosphorous fire, a human figure appeared, half the height of a living person.

Dai Sheng asked: "Where do you come from?" The ghosts said: "This is a coal well. When the master was digging coal, he accidentally shook the ancient tomb, which angered Mr. Long Fei. In his anger, the old man attracted underground River water, drowned 43 people. We are all victims."

Dai Sheng asked: "Who is Mr. Long Fei?" The ghosts said: "He is the owner of the ancient tomb, his identity is unknown. We only know that he is a well-educated man, and now he works under the City God. He accidentally killed us , I couldn’t bear it, and every three to five days, I would go to the cave to give porridge and water. But we have been soaked in cold water for a long time, and we will never be reborn. If you have a chance to go out, please salvage our bones and move them elsewhere Burial, I am very grateful." Dai Sheng said: "Don't worry, as long as I can go out, I will try my best to help. It's just that I am in a deep well, and there is little hope of seeing the sun again."

After talking for a while, Dai Shengxian was very bored, and began to teach the ghosts to recite scriptures. After several days, he would sit when he was awake, and sleep when he was sleepy. It was extremely boring.This day, everyone was chanting scriptures by themselves, when suddenly a light came from the depths of the cave, and all the ghosts said happily: "Mr. Long Fei is here, go eat quickly." They invited Dai Sheng to go with him.Dai Sheng was worried that the waterway would be blocked, so the ghosts couldn't help but put up his arms and carried him into the cave.Dai Sheng only felt his body light, and he walked on the water like flying. After driving for half a mile, he came to a house.

There is a step in front of you, and you go up the steps to a hall. On the table is a huge candle, as thick as an arm, and the light is soft and bright.Dai grew up in the dark, and he couldn't help but see the light at first sight.Taking a closer look, I saw an old man sitting in the hall, wearing a Confucian scarf and Confucian clothing.

Dai Sheng stopped and didn't dare to go forward, the old man had already seen him, and asked, "Young Master, you are very handsome, but where is he from?" Dai Sheng told the truth, and the old man was surprised when he heard the words, and said happily, "So you are my son. descendants of future generations." Dai Sheng's face was full of confusion, not understanding why.The old man explained: "My name is Dai Qian, and my name is Long Fei. Dai Tang is your ancestor, and he is my grandson, but this man has a wicked plan, colluded with evil businessmen, and mined coal near the old man's grave, which made me restless after death. The old man was not willing to be angry, so he cast some spells, transported water to wash down the coal mine, and severely punished him, but I don't know what happened to him afterwards?"

At the beginning, there were five branches of the Dai clan, and Dai Tang was the head.There are many coal mines beside the ancestral tomb, rich businessmen in the county bribed Dai Tang to exploit them wantonly.The brothers of the same clan were frightened by Dai Tang's majesty, and dared not speak out.Later, the flood flooded the coal mine, and all the coal miners were killed. The family members of the deceased were outraged and went to the government to sue.For this reason, Dai Tang's family declined and became impoverished.Dai Sheng had heard these things mentioned by his ancestors, and now he will tell them in detail.

The old man listened intently, and finally said: "The unworthy descendants like Dai Tang deserve this retribution. I think Dai's lineage is all from a scholarly family. Since you are here, you can't waste your studies." So he took out the booklet , ordered Dai Sheng to study, all of which are stereotyped articles, with a total of more than 100 articles.

Since then, Dai Sheng has been studying in the cave, and the red candles in the hall are brightly lit, even if they are not replaced, they will never go out.There are no stars in the cave, and the years cannot be distinguished.I don't know how long it took, Dai Sheng worked hard every day, and unconsciously memorized more than 100 articles by heart. He read each article more than 4000 times, which is unforgettable.

This day, the old man said: "You are full of sins, and you will return to the ground soon. The old man's cemetery is near the coal cave, and the wind is bitter every day. After you go back, remember to rebury me. The eastern suburbs have excellent feng shui, so I can be buried there." .” Dai Sheng agreed.The old man called out a group of ghosts and ordered them to send Dai Sheng back to the bottom of the well and wait for rescue.

When Dai Sheng disappeared, his family searched everywhere.After many efforts, it was in vain in the end, and his wife remarried and left.There was no news of the son, and the mother was so anxious that she went to the government to ask for help. The county magistrate arrested many suspects and interrogated them, but to no avail.In the blink of an eye, three or four years later, the county magistrate resigned and returned to the field, and the case was shelved and ignored.

Not long after, someone in the village repaired the old well and went down to investigate. They found that Dai Sheng was unconscious at the bottom of the well. When he touched it with his hands, his skin was warm and his breath was still breathing. They immediately carried him back to the village and informed his relatives.A few days later, Dai Sheng came back to life again, and explained the incident one by one. When everyone learned that everything was caused by his neighbors, they were filled with anger and said they wanted to arrest him and see the officials.Dai Sheng asked the neighbors how they were doing, and everyone talked briefly.

It turned out that since Dai Sheng entered the well, the neighbor was ashamed of his wife's infidelity and killed her.When the father-in-law heard that his daughter had been killed, he was sad and angry, and reported the matter to the government.The county magistrate issued an order to arrest the neighbor, put him in prison, tortured him, and kept him in prison for a whole year. He was not released until the neighbor became so disfigured that only his skin and bones remained.After the neighbor returned home, he heard that Dai Sheng was resurrected, so he fled overnight.

When Dai Sheng heard this, he sighed and said, "Actually, I can't blame him for this matter. I seduced his wife first. Even if I fell into the well and suffered, it's my own fault. We can't trouble him."

A few days later, the well dried up, and Dai Sheng hired people to enter the well to take out the bones of the dead miners one by one and bury them together.They also bought coffins, enshrined the old man's remains, and reburied them in the eastern suburbs.Later, Dai Sheng passed the examination, and every spring and autumn sacrifices, he would go to the eastern suburbs to visit the grave, every year.