There are more than 700 households of Zhangjiajia, with thousands of acres of land, located at the edge of Tuonan County, Guang'an Prefecture, almost a town of its own. Zhang Jiacheng is good-looking, and a few years ago he caught up with the daughter of the richest man in the neighboring Genting Town, the daughter of the Wang family, so although his ability is not very outstanding, he still took over most of the business of the clan with the support of his father-in-law. The patriarch also let him do it, and basically he had the final say in external affairs.

Originally, the small life was very nourishing, even if he couldn't be the next patriarch in the future, the money he saved was enough to live a lifetime without worrying about food and clothing. Who knew that after marrying Wang Lin, he found that this woman was not bad-looking, but she was frail and sickly, and she didn't get out of bed for seven days after the newlywed cave room. Looking for famous doctors to diagnose and treat them to no avail, saying that it is a lack of congenital vitality and that it is better to have less sex.

If you want to do things, you need to drink soup according to the recipe one month in advance to regulate your body. Afterwards, you need to rest for a month to replenish the vitality in your body. Zhang Jiacheng can't do it casually, every time he and his wife have a round house, it is like holding some kind of ceremony, and the essence of the two months can be poured out in half a moment. It was a fun thing that caused both parties to suffer, and after a few times, the sick man under him made him lose his interest.

A land that is easy to plow, a powerful cow with nowhere to go. Zhang Jiacheng takes the opportunity of doing business and often secretly asks for flowers and willows. It's not that I haven't thought about taking a concubine, but in recent years, the patriarch has only married a wife, and if he wants to take a concubine, he will have to be gossiped about.

The clan elders are very strict in the selection of the person in charge of the clan property, and the most basic one is to be honest, take care of everyone first, and then take care of the small family, unless he leads the clan to a higher level, and it is understandable to take concubines after he has a high prestige. However, his business has not improved much since he took the throne, and he relied on the face of his father-in-law to keep his position, and he could only bring humiliation on himself if he rashly accepted a concubine.

He met Zilomin's mother and daughter on the street yesterday, and when he decided to bring them back, he had some ulterior motives.

......

Today is the last day of the bereavement leave, and it coincides with Zhang Chuanzheng inviting someone to come over to do the first seven rituals, and Zhang Jiabao has to watch the fresh and lively scene. There is an unwritten rule in this area of Guang'an Mansion that to exorcise ghosts and evil spirits, you must invite a long-haired Taoist priest in Tsing Yi, and a bald monk in yellow clothes must be invited to send the dead. Externally, it is said that there is a specialization in the art industry, but in fact, the two peers of Buddhism and Taoism have different industries, and the business scope should be discussed first, and each should not cross the line so as not to make an unpleasant "uneven distribution of spoils".

But recently, there are too many families who need to overtake the dead, and the monks are too busy, so the funeral ceremony in Zhangjia Village has been presided over by the famous Dragon and Tiger Taoist Temple in Guang'an Mansion. The Dragon and Tiger View is also short of manpower, and only two Taoists, one old and one young, are sent.

In the evening, every household in Zhangjia Village finished their dinner early, and after bathing, they closed their doors. They can't show up until they've done the rituals. Legend has it that it is to prevent the dead from seeing the deceased, and the longing for the sun is reluctant to be reincarnated. Zhang Chuanzheng and a few other people who stayed behind to help also drank a bowl of talisman water that concealed yang breath in advance to avoid the yin spirit.

In the Zhangjiazu Temple, put a zhang tribute platform, burn three feet of high incense, and lay down three animal sacrifices. Two stout hall pillars are hung in door-shaped white silk, a bamboo pole with dark money is erected on the ground crack at the entrance of the hall, and two dark soul flags are inserted on the front door frame.

"Zhang Jushi doesn't need to be too worried. The white-haired old man drew the Big Dipper Seven Star Array while saying to Zhang Chuanzheng, who was pacing back and forth: "This natural disaster suddenly fell, and the deceased must have been terrified of great compassion and fear between life and death, and he was also confused, and he had many obsessions with the world. The ghosts tend to go to the young and the intellectual, and the instinct to take away and be reborn makes the babies cry frequently at night. When the poor are concerned, they will naturally be fine. ”

"There's a long way to go. Zhang Chuanzheng said. In addition to Zhang Chuanzheng, there were also two elders of the clan who were not too old, as well as Yu Bo and Zhang Jiacheng. In fact, there were two little ghosts secretly watching in the crack of the door of the side hall, and Zhang Chuanzheng didn't know it.

When everything was ready, the white-haired Taoist put on the Dao crown, put on the magic robes, and began to chant the mantra. After singing a few words, he picked up the erhu and pulled it up, and at the same time followed the seven-star array under his feet, stepping on the battle to summon the soul. His apprentice stood on the side, pinning a jade chime and a cymbal plate to his right waist, holding a mallet in his right hand, and wrapping his wrist with a silk ribbon around the other cymbal plate, playing acrobatic blows on the two objects tied to his waist, and holding a sheng pipe in his left hand to accompany the master's mantra and erhu music.

The two elders of the clan thought it was very novel, and they couldn't help but praise it. Both of these masters and apprentices are multitasking, and they can almost top five or six people. Although the young Taoist seemed a little scrambling, he didn't seem to be in much trouble.

Zhang Jiacheng frowned, a pair of eyes looked around, the "Yi Yi Oh Oh" spell and the weird tune were particularly harsh to him, and he couldn't help but wonder if the bad things he had done involved these dead souls. Zhang Chuanzheng sensed his discomfort and patted him on the shoulder to comfort him.

As the ritual progressed, Shangguan Naiya saw the ghosts drifting in one after another, inhaling the smoke that filled the room. When the young Taoist accidentally plays a wrong note, some of the ghosts will stop eating and hold their thin veiled faces in a daze. If something goes wrong, the ghost will even try to escape the house. At this time, the old Taoist would glared at the young Taoist, and the young Taoist sweated profusely and tried his best to save it, finally allowing the ghosts to settle down. Shangguan Naiya watched it with relish, and Zhang Jiabao's curiosity was so great that he had to endure it, because he promised his father that he would only watch and not speak.

Seeing that the time was almost up, the old Taoist glanced at his apprentice, and the song in his mouth transitioned from the soul-inducing mantra to the death mantra, and the ensemble music also changed. The tone changed from brisk and noisy to quiet and peaceful, and the young Taoist priest was relieved at this time, and finally he didn't have to hit the pair of cymbals, and he could calmly deal with the remaining two instruments.

But at this time, it is even more necessary to concentrate and cooperate with the Master with full attention. And not overly nervous, you must maintain a normal heart, a steady heart, a calm breath, and a natural hand. If the sheng pipe on his mouth trembles in one breath, or the rhythm of his hand is wrong, causing the ghost to not die and run back to the village to wave, then he will have to be beaten by the master.

When the singing of the master and apprentice reached the high tide, Shangguan Naiya saw that the ghosts had begun to stop wandering and smoking smoke, and stayed in place in contemplation. Then the body slowly turned into a dusty dot of star sand, rising, dissipating, and disappearing. By the time the mantra is chanted for the second time, the ghosts are all sublimated.

"It's over, they're all gone. Shangguan Naiya whispered to Zhang Jiabao. Zhang Jiabao wanted to go over and ask the man where the ghosts had gone, but he saw that the master and apprentice were still working hard until the tune ended.

"Return, return. The white-haired Taoist put down his erhu and sighed. The young Taoist also put down the instrument in his hand, not caring about his sweat soaking through his clothes, and diligently took off the Taoist crown and magic robe for the master.