The first chapter is about the dust

1

In the remote and dilapidated wilderness thatched house, the red candle shines high tonight, and there is neither a cave house flower candle nor a gold list title, which seems to be the unique hobby of the owner of the thatched house. The bright candle flame was shrouded in a red candlestick, and the blood-colored red light reflected the humble inner room. There is only one pine square table of the Eight Immortals in the room, and the bright copper candlestick with red candles stands on this table, and the peeling varnish on the table of the Eight Immortals is mottled and particularly eye-catching. There is also a large willow bed in the corner, I can't see what color it is, but I feel that the bed frame seems to be covered with a layer of dust, and I can see it if I look closely, the dark brown bed has a gauze curtain, I don't know how long it has not been washed, and the white gauze curtain has become a gray dust color. Looking around the four walls, there is only this table and a bed in the room, which reflect each other, making the already simple thatched hut even more shabby.

The dumb woman was lying on the bed, covered with three quilts, all of which were extremely thin, and the three beds were stacked on top of each other, which was no thicker than a normal quilt. The mute woman's face was covered with a black veil, and only two eyes were exposed, and the eye sockets were deep-set and black, and the eyelids were drooping, and there was not the slightest breath to be seen. The whole room, except for the occasional candle flame that danced once or twice, looked lifeless. After a while, there was a commotion outside the hut, and someone was coming this way. The closer I got, the clearer the voice became, it was a woman's voice, asking questions.

"When was the person found? How did it come to be like this? ”

The successor was a man, who seemed to be a subordinate, and his words were respectful. "I found it yesterday, and when I found it, it was already like this, and I hope to show it."

"Is she the only one? Have you ever asked your neighbors what they say? ”

"When I found her, she was the only one in the house, and the people in the village said that they only saw her going out alone, and they all said that she lived alone, she couldn't speak, and she made a living by washing clothes for others and doing some manual work on weekdays, but I haven't seen her for the last three or five days, and I don't know why it has become like this." The two were talking, and they had already arrived at the door.

"I'll go in and see, you're guarding outside."

"Yes."

The door of the hut creaked open with a screeching sound, shattering the silence of the night in this remote deserted village. When I entered the house, it was a young and beautiful woman, and her appearance was very delicate, and it was the kind of beauty that made people can't help but want to look at it all the time. She only glanced at the dumb woman, then ran to the side of the bed in a few steps, stretched out her hand and lifted the gauze tent, and looked at the dumb woman lying on the bed, but she was stunned for a while, and it was about half a pillar of incense before the beautiful woman spoke.

"I've been looking for you for twenty-five years, and finally, finally, I found you, but I didn't want you to be like this, I just want to ask you one thing, she...... Where is it? ”

The dumb woman naturally wouldn't answer, even if she was awake, she couldn't make a sound, and the beautiful woman didn't seem to mind, but hesitantly reached out to probe the pulse on the mute woman's neck, and it didn't move.

"Is that it? Is it useless anymore? After dealing with those things for a long time, it is destined to end like this. ”

The beautiful woman sighed, and reached out to take off the veil of the dumb woman, but her hand stopped halfway through, and finally gave up. The woman covered the door and retreated, just lightly instructing the subordinates outside the door.

"It's not the right time now, tomorrow, let's cook, the people of this family have such rules."

"Yes."

Silence had returned to the hut, and the two men had gone so far that they could no longer hear the sound of footsteps. On the bed, in the gauze tent, the mute woman who seemed to be asleep opened her eyes suddenly. The eyes were deep and bright in the deep sunken sockets, and they were definitely not dead eyes. The mute woman pulled her right hand out of the quilt, and the palm of her right hand was bright red, and blood flowed down her arm. Under the red candle, you can see that the palm and fingers are still there, but the skin and flesh on the palm are gone, revealing the white bones, which are set on the back of the hand, hideous and terrifying. The dumb woman looked at her hand and didn't seem to feel pain, just sighed softly, twenty-five years, this is the first time she has opened her mouth.

"Bibi, let's go, they will help you, go as far as possible, and my aunt will give you another ride."

Speaking of this, the dumb woman subconsciously touched her face.

"You still don't dare to look at my face after all, is it a face that you dare not face, or is it a sin you have committed?"

The mute woman walked to the table of the eight immortals, and with a wave of her hand, knocked over the copper candlestick, and the hut quickly burned, and in a few moments it was already burned into a sea of fire. The mute woman lay back on the bed as if nothing had happened, and lay peacefully in this sea of fire. The heat wave of the tongue of fire lifted her black veil, and what kind of face appeared in the firelight. There is not a single intact skin, it is full of scars and scabs, hideous and terrifying, this is a face from hell. However, in just an instant, the sea of fire engulfed a qiē......

2

On the top of the hill behind the thatched hut, under the largest plane tree, a beautiful girl with big eyes, carrying a cloth burden, looked at the thatched hut under the mountain, looked at the sea of fire, looked at the night sky that was reflected red, and was full of tears. She knelt down on her knees, slammed her head three times in the direction of the hut, then wiped her tears and turned away. In the direction she went, a hazy green light floated, as if to guide her. The burden on her body was boxy, and there were red blood stains oozing out, seeping into the burden, and a red bloody handprint appeared. The girl followed the faint green light, jumped a few times, and then disappeared into the night, nowhere to be found.

3

The Jiang family is a well-known big family in this small coastal city, with three entrances and three exits, carved beams and painted buildings, and carved trees, which are located in the southeast of this small city in style. No. 11 Peach Blossom Lane, South of Dongcheng -- Jiang House, in this small city with a big palm, it can be said that everyone knows it, no one knows it, even three or five-year-old children know it, and a song is sung among each other: "The threshold of the Jiang family is three zhang high, the wall is stuffed with gold ingots, the daughter of the Jiang family sits in the hall, and the son-in-law who proposes marriage is lined up into a river."

The Jiang family is not a local, it is unknown when they came to settle in this small city, when and how they made their home. The gossip outside only knows that the Jiang family has always only given birth to daughters, and the patriarchs of the past dynasties have also been women, and the son-in-law of the Jiang family will have to be rich, and the daughter born will be surnamed Jiang. From generation to generation, from dynasty to dynasty, history rotates, the women of the Jiang family don't know what kind of power tricks they use, and they are not afraid of the tide of history, not only do they not see the decline, but they are becoming more and more prosperous. People say that "you can't be rich for three generations", but I'm afraid that the Jiang family is an exception. Now I don't know how many generations of the Jiang family it is, and the patriarch who sits in the town is called Yuechun.

Jiang Yuechun, forty-two years old, widowed ten years ago, widowed early, although he is over forty years old, but he was born with a face like rain and eyebrows like willows, with pear dimples in his eyes, at first glance it looks like twenty-five or six, but he feels that seventeen or eighteen is too much. Don't look at this Jiang Yuechun gave birth to a beautiful girl's skin, but she is not a vegetarian embroidered pillow, buying fields, building houses, opening shops, lending money, giving porridge, donating temples, and businessmen and officialdom, they all know this person, known as "Jiang Niangzi".

Jiang Niangzi's husband's original surname was Ge, and he was a scholar, and he was useless after winning a show, because of the hardship of his family, he entered the door of Jiang's family. Ten years ago, she died of a sudden illness, and she was a wife and a husband with Jiang Niangzi all her life, and she was very affectionate.

The so-called widow has many rights and wrongs in front of the door, and there are many suspicions among the people about Jiang Niangzi and his wife. Some people say that Jiang Niangzi was born handsome, and she had already had an outside heart, and she fornicated with others and killed Ge Xiucai. It is also said that the Jiang family is so prosperous, all because the women of their family practice a trick of bewitching people, specializing in sucking the positive yang qi of men to nourish their own ghosts, so that they can be prosperous for a hundred years. Most of the rumors originated from jealousy, since the death of her husband, Jiang Niangzi concentrated on family affairs, and it is indeed a fact that there is no marriage match to recruit a son-in-law, and the rumors are self-defeating.

Jiang Niangzi raised three daughters. The eldest daughter Jiang Yunong, four out of twenty, recruited Yuan Feng, a passing scholar like her father, as her son-in-law, Yunong is not as beautiful as her mother, but she is also born generous, elegant and dignified, knowledgeable, and good at calligraphy and painting. The husband and wife often chant about the wind and the moon, and there is a taste of fireworks in the world. Yu Nong has no intention of family affairs, and now she is pregnant, Jiang Niangzi is naturally overjoyed when she sees that she is going to be a grandmother, so she goes and opens a small courtyard in the southwest corner of the mansion, so that the two of them can live a small life like a paradise.

The second daughter, Jiang Yurou, is one in twenty, who has just been married for a year, and recruited the third son of the gentry Wang family in Lincheng Township as her son-in-law. The third young master of the Wang family was originally a prodigal child, a good gambler, and never defeated, and his reputation was outside, and he was known as the little gambling king. Who knew that one day, a mysterious masked little woman came to invite her, and bet three rounds with 10,000 gold as a bet. The third young master of the Wang family went to the appointment as scheduled, but lost all three games, and said to himself: "This woman must be blessed by God, and I will lose in this life." This little woman is Jiang Yurou, the second lady of the Jiang family, and the story of the two using gambling as a medium is rumored to be a good story. Yu Rou and the eldest sister have very different personalities, they are boys' personalities since they were children, they like to plan, and the little couple assists Jiang Niangzi, and takes care of the daily chores in an orderly manner, which is very important, and the two of them are allowed to live in the main house and are regarded as housekeepers. It's a pity that Yurou's appearance is mediocre, far inferior to her mother and sister.

The youngest daughter, Jiang Yuqin, is sixteen years old, and she is still in the boudoir, and she rarely goes out, and outsiders know very little. It is said that the birth is a flower and a moon appearance, and Jiang Niangzi is like a mold carved out, the mind is excellent and through calligraphy and painting, the temperament is quiet, and the person is kind. Jiang Niangzi regarded this daughter as a treasure, and she was in pain like a pearl in her palm, and she had already released her words, if the old girl wanted to recruit a son-in-law, she had to be a royal relative. The entire Jiang family has spread all over the country, don't look at the second miss now with the status of a housekeeper, the scenery is infinite, but the position of the patriarch of the next generation is none other than the third miss. When the rumors were also accurate, when Jiang Niangzi was forty-five years old, she suddenly fell ill and died. The eldest daughter was pregnant with her second child at the time, and when she heard this, she had a miscarriage and collapsed, so she followed. Overnight, the family went to the two masters, the Jiang family was panicked, waiting for a person in charge to come out of the house, but the Jiang family's mansion was closed, and there was no news for three days, until the evening of the third day, a doorman named Agui came out, saying that the second lady of the Jiang family was sad and sick, and the third lady should keep filial piety for 100 days, let the foreigners be in charge, and discuss the affairs in the house after 100 days. On the hundredth day, the door of the house was opened, the third lady sat in the hall, and the new patriarch began to take charge. It's just that no one has seen the eldest lady's husband and the second miss since then, even the eldest lady's two-year-old daughter is nowhere to be seen, and the Jiang family never mentions it, and outsiders think that they are accompanying the second miss to go out to seek medical treatment. After a long time, this matter was gradually forgotten, and the Jiang family was still the same Jiang family, prosperous.