Master Zeng, whose surname is Zeng, whose name is Yun, and whose courtesy name is Ruxuan, comes from the official ranks.
Being an official means having power; having power means having money; the ancestors were rich, so he was born with money.
At that time, only rich people could afford to study, so Mr. Zeng was not only rich, but also famous.
Of course, the little fame he has only allows him to hire servants (without fame, the family cannot use servants, and even with money), he has never been an official. There is no need for him to become one, because relying solely on the inheritance left by his ancestors, even if he does nothing, he can live a life of fine clothing and fine food.
However, as the saying goes...people who have no long-term worries must have immediate worries.
Master Zeng is not stupid. He understands that no matter how rich you are, if you are not protected by power, you will not be stable in the long run.
Therefore, many years ago, he very wisely married his only daughter to a young and promising official in the court, and spent a lot of money to provide for this son-in-law; now, His son-in-law is already the Minister of Industry and has two grandsons. His son-in-law is very grateful to him, and the interests of the two families are also closely tied together. Therefore, Mr. Zeng looks at the whole country, not just at the local level. Dashu can be considered a quite powerful figure.
However, at the end of summer in the eighteenth year of Yongtai's reign, a series of strange events suddenly occurred in the Zeng Mansion, which had always been peaceful and peaceful.
Looking back now, the cause of that incident should have been half a month ago...
The Zeng Mansion’s back cook had two helpers, a pair of brothers, one named He Da, one is called He Er. One day, when they were pushing the swill cart out to empty the swill, He Er accidentally saw something shining in the sun on the grass by the river. He took a closer look out of curiosity and found that it was actually a strip of glass made of glass. grown carp.
From our modern point of view, this thing is roughly a degraded version of the "Eight Stars and Eight Arrows 998 Crystal Diamond". The cost is unimaginably low, but with Dashu's chemical level and industrial capabilities In fact, this thing is relatively rare, and you can get a lot of money even if you take it to a pawn shop.
The He brothers are just ordinary people living at the bottom. They do not have the ideological awareness of "find the owner of something valuable immediately". After picking up something valuable, their immediate thoughts That is: "This time God has opened his eyes and allowed my two brothers to get such a big deal."
In their perception, if they pick up this thing, it already belongs to them. Even if the owner comes to visit them afterwards, they may not be willing to give it... at least they have to receive some benefits.
So, on the way back home, the two people were already eagerly discussing how to sell the thing afterwards, how to divide the money from the sale, how to spend it after the division, etc.
That night, both of them were too excited to sleep, but because there were others around them, they couldn't discuss the matter openly, so they could only hold it in.
At midnight, they were really tired, so they fell asleep one after another.
A wealthy family has a professionalThe room where the servants slept was similar to the current dormitories. The He brothers and four other people slept in one room, a big bunk, and the two brothers' bunks were next to each other.
The "fish" they picked up during the day, because they were afraid of being seen by others, never took it out. It was always in He Er's arms. He didn't mind sleeping like this.
In this way, it was until the first moment of Yinshi.
In today’s terms, it’s around three o’clock in the morning, which is when people sleep the deepest.
Suddenly...
Out of the window of the servant's room, there was a hissing - hissing - a series of strange noises.
At first the sound was very soft, like the sound of tree branches being blown by the wind and brushing against the window paper, but then it became louder and more urgent.
The He brothers were too tired and slept deeply and did not hear anything. However, a servant named Zhao Daqiang who lived in the same room with them was more awakened when he was sleeping. After a while, he was disturbed by the sound. woke up.
Zhao Daqiang was just in his early twenties. He was a young man with a lot of energy. He didn’t think much about it. He sat there for a while and then got up and went out to see what the sound was about. By the way, Go to the toilet.
He thought he might have heard the noise of a wild cat or an owl in the tree. Unexpectedly, he pushed the door open and turned his head...
He could see that under the moonlight, a black unknown object with a salty smell was standing less than half a meter away from him, and it was half a head taller than him.
As soon as this thing came into view, Zhao Daqiang lost all sleep in an instant. His whole body felt as cold as if he had fallen into an ice hole; in that moment, he only felt a stream of warm blood flowing from the soles of his feet. It went straight to his head, making him dizzy, his pupils constricted, and his whole body was shaking.
And his eyes, which gradually adapted to the dim light, finally saw clearly after a few seconds... The black thing in front of him was a head that had been soaked in water for an unknown length of time and had already shaped like a She had long black hair that was as sticky as waterweed, and from the gap in the long hair, there was a pale human face, staring at him with a pair of white eyes.
Fortunately, he was a young man. If it had been a woman or an old man, he would have fainted even if he had not been frightened to death on the spot.
Zhao Daqiang was okay, but his legs felt weak and he sat down on the ground. He shouted that he was choking in his throat and couldn't get out...
A few seconds later , his pants were wet, and the warm touch brought him back to his senses. His throat was no longer blocked, and he immediately shouted: "Help! There is a ghost!"
This In the middle of the night, his voice was very lively... Not only the servants, but also the master and his wife were awakened by this hoarse shout.
The fastest people to arrive at the scene were the five people lying in the room next to him. But when they came out, except for Zhao Daqiang who was sitting on the ground and peed his pants, there were not even half a person around him. No.
Not long after, the housekeeper and other servants arrived.After giving Zhao Daqiang two mouthfuls of hot water and two more slaps, he calmed down and recounted what happened just now.
But when asked where his "ghost" had gone, he couldn't tell. He only said that the moment his eyes shifted slightly, the ghost disappeared.
The next hour or so before dawn became very difficult... No one in the Zeng family, including Mr. Zeng who listened to the butler's report, dared to sleep again.
People of that era were afraid of this. Even if they have never seen one, they are more or less in awe of ghosts and gods. So Master Zeng immediately ordered all the servants to wake up and patrol their backyards with lanterns... that is, the area of Xiaoyaojin. If there is any abnormality, report them immediately.
This went on until dawn. As soon as the sun came out, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After all, the evil spirits could not see the sun.
This matter has been settled for the time being.
At this time, He Dahe Erke didn’t feel that this matter had anything to do with him...
That afternoon, when they came out to pour swill, I sneaked to a nearby pawn shop and wanted to sell the glass fish.
As soon as the pawn shop clerk saw this thing, he called the shopkeeper out. The shopkeeper took it and looked at it for a while, then gave up and asked He Dahe Er to take it away. , said they would not accept it.
The He brothers don’t understand. Why do pawn shops not accept things? But when they asked again, the shopkeeper said nothing and only told them to take the things away quickly, otherwise he would throw them out.
The He brothers had no choice but to take the things back, thinking that when they came out tomorrow, they would go further away and ask at other pawn shops.
So that day, they brought the glass fish back to Zeng Mansion, and still hid it in He Er's arms.
That night, there was not much movement, and there was no talk all night.
Unexpectedly, early the next morning, He Da opened his eyes and saw that He Er was missing. He Da thought to himself at that time: Could it be that my brother took the things and ran away?
He quickly stood up and asked all the people in the courtyard to look for him, but no one had seen He Er.
He Dana was furious, thinking that He Er must have abandoned him and ran away. Maybe He Er had already swallowed up the money from selling the things, left Luzhou, and went to work somewhere else. The small business went away.
But if you really want to look for it, the world is so big and He Er’s appearance is nothing special, so where can he look for it?
Thinking of this, He Da regretted so much that his intestines turned green. He believed in his brother so much and kept putting fish with him, but in the end he lost both his life and property.
Another day later, the housekeeper found He Da and asked him where his younger brother had gone and why he didn’t come to work. He Da could only answer that he didn’t know; the He brothers were just helpers, not prostitutes. Those who enter the Zeng Mansion can leave at any time as long as their wages are paid. Therefore, when He Er disappeared before his wages were paid, the housekeeper would not ask any more questions.After all, there are only one or two people in the mansion.
In this way, on the third day... two things happened.
The first thing - Zhao Daqiang died of illness.
Ever since the night of the "ghost collision", Zhao Daqiang has been ill, unable to eat or sleep. He went to the doctor to see him, but he couldn't find any illness, so he could only treat him as I was overly frightened, so I randomly grabbed some prescriptions to help calm my nerves and fall asleep.
But he vomited the medicine as soon as he drank it... He didn't even take a few sips.
He is just a young servant, and it is impossible for the government to arrange any special and thoughtful care for him. It would be nice to be able to give him a small room alone to lie down and recuperate.
In this way, he went without eating, drinking or sleeping for several days. In the evening of that day, when someone came into the house to see him, he was already lying there and dying.
Almost at the same moment, also in the backyard of Zeng Mansion, a second thing happened - He Er's body floated up from Xiaoyao Pond.
In just half an hour, two dead people were found in succession. This is no small matter.
Zhao Daqiang's death was easy to handle. He had been sold to the Zeng Mansion since he was a child. No one cared about him, let alone death from illness or beating. But He Er's death... was not easy to handle.
He Er died in your Zeng Mansion without any explanation, and he still has a brother alive. They are not from your Zeng Mansion, they are just helpers. You have to give an explanation to the master, right?
At first, Mr. Zeng didn’t want to report to the official, so he just thought that He Er had drowned because of his own mistake, and he just gave his brother some money to send him away.
What a big deal this is, the idea is simple. Although he doesn’t know how his brother drowned, since everyone is dead, he just thinks about the “fish” on my brother’s body. , now it’s mine alone; I’m old enough, and I can’t make a living by working as a helper for the rest of my life, but I want to sell the fish, and then get the money Zeng Mansion compensates me, and use the money It wouldn't be bad to start a small business and get a wife.
Thinking of this, he felt that his brother's death was nothing to be sad about, and could even be said to be a happy thing; he didn't even bother to find out how his brother died...
Unexpectedly, when he asked the housekeeper if his brother had any relics afterwards, the housekeeper told him that there was nothing; and the money compensated to him by the Zeng Mansion was not as good as he expected.
He Da was so anxious that he thought someone had stolen "his fish", but he couldn't tell clearly because if people asked about the origin of this thing, he couldn't answer. So he opened his mouth to the lion and asked the Zeng family to pay him twenty taels of silver.
What is the concept of twenty taels of silver in Dashu? Let's put it this way, one tael of silver is equivalent to regular money, that is, one thousand penny. In terms of purchasing power... today, it can probably buy 500 kilograms of potatoes.
Master Zeng is rich, but it is impossible for him to agree to such a request. If he agrees to He Da today, ten scoundrels who are a hundred times more rogue than He Da may come to your door tomorrow and use something like this. lawI'm blackmailing you.
However, human life is at stake, and Mr. Zeng has a good reputation in the local area. He does not want to bully others unless he has to, so he can only report to the official.
As soon as the government came, the common people who were watching the excitement and passing on gossips naturally came. Not only did He Er drown mysteriously, but Zhao Daqiang was frightened to death by the "water ghost" The incident soon became a topic that people in Luzhou talked about after dinner.
What's the big deal? The job is no longer available, but he has nowhere else to go. Even if there is, he doesn't want to go until he gets the money, so he stays in the Zeng Mansion. .
The housekeeper was afraid that he would disturb other servants, so he arranged a separate room for him, took care of his food, and said he could stay there until the government found out the results.
One night a few days later, He Dazheng was sleeping alone in his room. In the darkness, his brother He Er's voice suddenly sounded in his ears: "Brother, I died so miserably..."
After He Da heard this sentence, he woke up with a fright. He couldn't tell whether it was a dream or reality. But at this moment, his hand... touched something—— A glass fish whose surface is still wet.
"Ah!" At that moment, He Da was so frightened that he lost his mind.
Before he could figure out what was going on, he suddenly heard...
Hissing—hissing—
Outside the window, a sound began to sound. There were bursts of strange noises.
He Dakou had heard Zhao Daqiang talk about this strange noise with his own ears. Now that he recalled it, a thought flashed through his mind: "Could it be that... the ghost that Zhao Daqiang encountered came from... Did you come here for this fish in the first place?"
Hiss, hiss, hiss...
The sound outside became more and more urgent, and He Da was so scared that he fell down with his head in his hands. Get under the bed and shout for help.
I don’t know how long it took, but the sound stopped, and then, there were several people calling the door.
I think someone heard the call for help and came over.
He Da mustered up the courage to climb out from under the bed board and opened the door. He was relieved to see the housekeeper and several servants holding lanterns at the door.
At this point, he really couldn’t hide it anymore. That night, he told the butler the whole story and took out the "Glass Fish". The things were presented to Master Zeng and He Da's story was relayed.
Master Zeng is a scholar, so he doesn’t understand this. Just think that the glass fish is an evil thing, and just find a deserted place to bury it. As for He Da, give him ten liang, he loves it. If not, let him leave quickly.
Early the next morning, He Da took the money and left the Zeng Mansion. The victims had all run away, and the government stopped investigating the case of his brother He Er.
As for the "glazed fish", the housekeeper ordered several servants to pick a day when the sky was high and the Yang energy was at its strongest, and ran to a wasteland outside the city to dig a quite deep pit. , buried on the spot.
I thought the matter would end here, but...
A few days later, Master Zeng's second wife was suddenly found dead suddenly in his room, and the corpse's hands were clasped in front of the chest, holding a glass fish tightly in their hands...
………………
Huang Donglai ordered a pot of wine for the strange old man at a roadside wine shop and listened to him tell the story vividly.
After listening, Huang Donglai's first question was: "Um...this old man, let alone whether this matter is really so evil...why did you say it in such detail? "You saw it with your own eyes?"
"Hey! Boy, don't believe it," the old man replied quite confidently, "I heard it from Grandma Li from my neighbor's house. "
"Then Grandma Li from the old Li family next door saw it with her own eyes?" Huang Donglai asked again.
"She didn't see it, but she heard it from her grandson's friend's cousin." The old man added.
"Then her grandson's friend's cousin..." Huang Donglai couldn't stand hearing it anymore. He turned to, "Hey~ Just tell me, where is the source of this news?" "Yeah."
"It's the housekeeper of Zeng Mansion, Zeng Su," the old man replied, "He knows all about these things personally. He told Zhou in person at the Yamen Gate. What the captain said, Zhou Baotou knows, and his brothers who are government officials will naturally know it, and then..."
"Okay...there's no need to mention 'then'" Huang Donglai. He stopped the other party from continuing to be poor and asked, "By the way, when did the second wife of the Zeng family die?"
"Just yesterday." The old man said, "The body is in the room. It had been a day and a night, and no one dared to touch it. Today, Mr. Zeng and the county magistrate decided to simply ask the police to take the body of the second lady together with the glass fish directly to the temple, and ask the monks to chant sutras and be saved. Let's see if we can settle this matter in a few days."
"Well...yesterday..." Huang Donglai touched his chin and said, "Those who died yesterday, this matter is over. Everyone knows, you people here really like to gossip..."
"Young man." The old man smiled, "Hey...don't you also like to gossip? "Buy me a drink?"
Huang Donglai thought, that's right; this is not the world he used to have, where people can stare at their mobile phones and computers all day long, looking for almost unlimited information and fun online... ...Here, there isn’t even a newspaper, so people just love to gossip about each other.
After a while, Huang Donglai remembered that he still had things to do, so he put down his drink money, said goodbye to the old man, and went to the high-speed rail gang's branch.
Originally, I just listened to this matter for fun. I didn’t pay attention to it, and I didn’t plan to take care of it.
But what Huang Donglai didn’t know was that...he was destined to be involved in these mysterious, mysterious and strange things in his life; in the end, instead of looking for trouble, trouble came to him...