The 14th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, that is, the traditional folk ghost festival.

There is a folk saying that the fire flows in July, which means that in the seventh month of the lunar calendar, after the great heat, the weather begins to cool, the yin rises, and the whole world is shrouded in a layer of yin and cold breath.

Therefore, there is another slang saying that spreads among the people, that is, "leave a fire in July". The implication is that on the day of the Ghost Festival on the 14th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, every household should keep one to several lamps to ward off evil spirits and drive away ghosts, pray for blessings and eliminate disasters.

At this time, there is still afterglow in the sky, a sunset is like a large area of burning clouds spread in the sky, the afterglow spills from the sky, penetrating this cloud like a scene of fire, slowly dyeing this cloud, in the bright cloud curtain, wrapped in a little bit of golden brilliance that is not dazzling, if it is not for the dark Halloween that makes people taboo, this must be a good scene of sunset molten gold.

If the blood remnant sun has not yet fallen into the mountain in the west, the bright red clouds are still hanging in the distance. At this time, the doors of the people on the small street are closed, but outside the closed doors, there is a candle flame, and the weak flames are gently swaying in the meager cold autumn wind, and they will not be extinguished.

At this time, the gate of this small town called Red Candle Town was hidden, and from a distance, the lights of a desert alley were tirelessly swaying and flickering, adding a few wisps of weird atmosphere.

On this day, the guards guarding Red Candle Town left early and hid in their homes, leaving only a gap in the gate to facilitate the entry and exit of ghosts and gods.

This is an unwritten rule, and the origin is still the same, according to legend, a long time ago, on the day of Halloween, the door was closed, but every year after Halloween, there will be people in Red Candle Town who died for no reason, and the reasons for the violent death are varied, but they are all miserable and miserable.

Later, an old warlock who covered his face came out of nowhere, and said the strange thing, so he had this kind of "open the door to welcome the ghosts and gods".

Since the gate of Red Candle Town has left a gap, there have been no unprovoked tragic deaths in this town, so people believe that Halloween is kept.

Outside the town, there is a deserted grave, which is a clothed mound that does not know the age, because of the age, even some old people in the town can't say that the son is ugly, only know that this mound is a desolate cemetery. It's just that after the Halloween Festival every year, there will be a lot of dark yellow money floating into the town with the wind, and they are fluttering like withered yellow leaves dragged off by the autumn wind, which is very terrifying. Then there will be a rough and ragy boy who will collect these dark money floating around the town, and as for why he collects this ominous money, outsiders dare not ask more, let alone provoke evil. The people who live in this town believe in an old saying that there are gods in the head three feet high, and they also believe that there are ghosts hidden under their feet. That's why people turned a blind eye to the boy in rags.

Although the boy's behavior is a little weird, in the town, it is very pleasing.

In the twilight when the door of the house is closed, there is still a store in the town of Red Candle that has not yet closed its door, but a lot of lights and candles are placed in front of the door.

This is a small shop that sells candles and wax for a living, and the owner of the shop is a gray-haired old shopkeeper, and there is a young man in coarse and tattered clothes.

The door of the shop was still open, and the young man dragged his tired body out of the shop where all kinds of lamps were placed, and glanced at the flickering lamps and candles in front of the door, which were placed in a very particular and orderly manner, and then the young man looked into the distance, as if waiting for the old shopkeeper to return. Every year on the eve of Halloween, the old shopkeeper, who doesn't stay at home much all year round, leaves the store and returns in the middle of the night. Once the coarse cloth boy asked the old shopkeeper, and the old shopkeeper just said concisely and to the point, worship his family. In the days that followed, the boy never got to the bottom of it, after all, in this festival where everyone would be in awe, it was a solemn matter to pay tribute to the deceased family. It's just that according to the custom, the worship of the family should be placed at noon, the yang is strong at noon, and the ghosts and evil things are close to the yin and avoid the yang, so each family will light a "guiding yin lamp" to lead their ancestors to come to be worshipped, with this "guiding yin lamp", the ancestors can find a way to come to the family to be worshipped, and can also avoid all kinds of lonely souls and wild ghosts to come to "grab food".

However, this eccentric old shopkeeper is the opposite of ordinary people, offering ancestors at noon and avoiding ghosts at night, and the old man doesn't seem to do this.

And in the impression of the young man, for so many years, the old man did not worship the ancestors.

The young man withdrew his distant gaze, and returned to the store listlessly with a heavy heart.

At this time, other people's homes have already closed their doors, lit lanterns, and left the fire until dawn.

But this miserable young man still has to guard the store for the old shopkeeper, besides, his winning money has not yet been purchased, how can he worship his deceased parents?

In the matter of worshiping and exorcising ghosts, there is a lot of exquisiteness, in addition to using the "guiding yin lamp" to illuminate a shade road in the sun, winning money is also one of the indispensable objects.

The so-called exorcism is not really the meaning of exorcism, but feeding. As long as the lonely souls and wild ghosts who come from all walks of life without graves and graves are fed and fed, after these lonely souls and wild ghosts have eaten and drunk enough, they will happily leave and will not cause trouble again.

This is to mention a kind of "ghost money" to win the coin, this kind of coin is not used for trading and circulation, just used in the sacrifice and offering, its function is relatively single, but this kind of coin occupies a pivotal position in the sacrifice and worship, because the lonely soul and wild ghost like to eat this kind of coin with the "underworld" atmosphere, once you see this kind of coin, it is like a gluttonous old customer happened to meet the food that you can't find for a long time, the real sense of the hungry ghost pounces, so this kind of coin has become the best "food" to feed the lonely soul and wild ghost 。

However, for sacrificing deceased family members, this kind of "ghost feeding money" for lonely souls and wild ghosts is generally not used, but another kind of winning money. That is, "offering money".

This kind of coin, is also a kind of species that wins money, than in the "feed the ghost money", "offering money" contains more yin and dark breath, the graphic decoration on it is more exquisite and detailed than the "ghost money", engraved on the front and back of the coin font, is also dignified and beautiful, of course, the most important point is that the aura on the "worship money" is much higher than the poor workmanship of the "ghost money".

The coarse boy sat at the counter of the shop, full of melancholy, because today was the 14th of July, and the shop was very busy, and there was an endless stream of customers coming to buy lamps or candle wax from the morning, until 10 o'clock in the afternoon, when the customers gradually stopped.

Although the old shopkeeper has always been indifferent to the business in the store, he is extremely strict when it comes to money. There was such a guy in the store, he was busy for nearly a day, and he thought that he could go home early, and then go to a store called "Please Money Shop" on the street to buy a "sacrifice money", worship his parents who died early, and say something to his parents, and then rush back non-stop to take care of the store, so that the old man can also go to worship his family at night, but who knows, this usually thunderbolt, The habit of going out of the shop to worship the family only at nightfall has changed for the first time this year, and the old man left the shop in the afternoon and has not returned until now.

The young man was anxious, and his eyes glanced out along the wooden door from time to time, hoping that the old shopkeeper would come back sooner, but don't return to the store until midnight after midnight.

No one at home lights the fire until dawn, no one "feeds" all kinds of little ghosts, once the time passes, he will suffer from the big seedlings, when he thinks of the strange stories that the storyteller on the corner tells on weekdays, the young man can't help but shudder in his heart.

Besides, there is such an opportunity to support his deceased parents once a year, and the teenager naturally doesn't want to lose it, so he doesn't want to talk about filial piety and disrespect, and the teenager really wants to talk to his parents for a while.

Although the boy is likable in Red Candle Town, he doesn't have many true friends, his parents died early, his family is in tatters, and he has to go out to beg for a living when he is very young, and he can't play like other children, so there are not many people who have too deep a relationship with him.

The old shopkeeper was even more critical of him, with a straight face all day long, as if the young man secretly hid a penny from him, and the tone of his voice was always yin and yang, this old man didn't seem to be good at dealing with people, and there was no acquaintance between neighbors.

At this time, the twilight fell, the afterglow of the sky was gone, and the volcanic clouds had gradually dissipated, and outside the entire Red Candle Town, it seemed that a gray cloth was gently spreading down.

In the alleys of the town, the lights are getting brighter and brighter, and the open flames are swaying, under this dark night sky, some are dazzling, and some are crazy.

In front of the gate of Red Candle Town, there is a pale-faced old man's figure towering in the night, this figure is almost integrated with the night, if you don't look carefully, you can only see a swaying pure black, like a ghost.

The old man came to the gate, stood for a moment, took out a half-burned red incense from his wide sleeve, and then gently extinguished it, and gathered the red incense into his sleeve, before pushing open the door that left a gap and striding in.

After the old man walked into the door, he turned around and gently closed the thick red wooden door.

On the lonely street, the old man walked leisurely, looking at the dense lamps around him, and his face was indifferent.

Under the reflection of the bright lights, the old man was dressed in black, not luxurious, the usual rough clothes in the market, but on the old man's black clothes, there was a very eye-catching white silk around the waist, which extended around the old man's waist, and then was knotted by the old man around his waist.

The old man walked through the corners of the street, and around the flickering lights, there was an illusory black shadow shaking, the black shadow was like a tide, and at the moment of the old man's arrival, they all retreated, like a tide falling.

The old man walked in the alley like this, and the dark shadow retreated again and again.

The old man's outfit seems to be no different from ordinary people's ancestors, but in the old man's heart, he is very particular.

Black and white are distinct, it is yin and yang.

The old man walked briskly through the streets and alleys, and soon came to a shop with a wide open door.

The old man stood in front of the shop, did not immediately lift his feet to enter the shop, but gently untied the white silk around his waist and put it in his sleeve, and then raised his feet to enter the shop.

After the old man entered the shop, he saw the young man in coarse cloth and rotten clothes sitting on the counter, his face was still not smiling, and he said in a hoarse voice: "Deng'er, you go home." ”

When the young man saw the old man come back, he was relieved and smiled, "Okay!"

The young man got up from the counter of the shop, said goodbye to the old man, and turned to leave.

The old man glanced outside, frowned slightly, and then took out a winning coin and stopped the young man who was about to walk out of the wooden door.

"It's a winning coin, I know you haven't bought a worship coin yet, I just happen to have one here, you can take it. ”

The young man turned around with joy on his face, took the money from the old man's hand, thanked him respectfully, and ran away from the shop.

The young man ran down the street, and there was an old and hoarse voice behind him, "Don't forget to pick up the money tomorrow, there is no firewood in the stove at home." ”

The boy replied, "Okay." ”

A young man named Li Deng, holding an old winning coin tightly in his hand, ran down the street, and there were invisible black shadows floating in front of and behind him, and then poured away like a torrent.

The boy galloped, and the ghosts retreated.