Twenty-one Monster Hunting

Quanzhou prefect's yamen are all made of blue bricks, looks very magnificent, after passing the instrument door is the lobby, usually Zhang Hansheng meets his subordinates, the review of the case is here, the middle of the lobby is placed with a heavy public case, the back wall hangs the "mirror hanging" plaque, the lobby and the instrument door, six rooms, and a wing room, ear room, etc. are collectively called the external office, the night the big seal is lost in the external office. After the lobby, it is the second hall, usually some cases involving **, Zhang Hansheng will be tried here, and after the second hall, it is the third hall, Zhang Hansheng often meets important guests here, the third hall is also more elegantly arranged, the wall is full of calligraphy and paintings and hanging screens, the west of the third hall is Zhang Hansheng's study, the east room is usually used to rest, and in the east side of the third hall, it is the residence of Zhang Hansheng's family.

Every night, the prefect's yamen east courtyard is always brightly lit, illuminating the courtyard as if it was daytime, but at this night, the courtyard is quiet, every door is closed, and there are only a few "angry wind" lanterns hanging in the courtyard, which are blown by the wind and dripping and turning in the air. Among these closed doors, there is a house that seems to be no different from the outside, but inside, it is very exquisite, a screen full of flowers is placed not far from the door, isolating the situation inside, turning the screen, you can see a Yaoqin idly placed, next to it is a vase with flowers, and then there is a desk with pen, ink, paper and inkstone and a dresser on the side, and the carved step bed inside hangs a pink gauze tent, covering the inside tightly. This is the boudoir of Zhang Hansheng's beloved daughter Zhang Qingqing, but she has been seriously ill recently, and she rarely sees anyone, except for his wife Huang, the others have not seen her for seven or eight days, at this time Huang is in the house, there is a faint trace of worry on her rich and white face, and she does not bring one, so she stays in Zhang Qingqing's house alone.

Suddenly, the door was pushed open with a "bang", Huang was taken aback, and in a blink of an eye, he saw Zhang Hansheng breaking in angrily. He glanced at the Huang clan and asked in a low voice, "There is no news about this evil obstacle yet?" ”

Huang didn't answer, walked up a few steps to cover the door, and then said in a low voice: "Didn't the master secretly send someone to investigate?" ”

Zhang Hansheng said dejectedly: "If there is news of her, I will not be so nervous, this child is spoiled by me, and I don't dare to make a big noise now, so I have to secretly send someone to look for it, but there is no news, as if he is missing." ”

Huang was tired, as if he had aged a lot: "Master, Qing'er left a book saying that she will return in ten days, she has always been a sensible child, you have the right to let her relax in the past ten days, she is not happy in her heart, today is the eighth day, and in two days, if she doesn't come back, we will send more people to look for her." ”

Zhang Hansheng glared at the Huang family: "There are many failures in the motherhood, and now there is an urgent matter, and the inspector wants to let the Han Yi Taoist go to the prefect to catch demons, what should I do now?" ”

Huang's face turned white, she tightened her sleeves and said, "How can the patrol press care about Qing'er's illness, aren't we hiding this from outsiders?" She thought for a while, and suddenly there was anger in her voice: "Is it Chang Ruyu's little slut who is a ghost?" ”

Zhang Hansheng lowered his voice: "Ruyu is also a good intention, but it happened to be heard by the patrol, so I took it seriously." Then he shouted: "It's hard to ride a tiger now, except for a few of my cronies, no one knows about Qing'er's going out, I'll tell you honestly, the patrol tomorrow is not for catching demons, but for the Hanyi Taoist who comes to the door, you honestly stay in Qing'er's room, no matter what happens outside, don't come out, and when the outside is over, Qing'er's matter will pass." After finishing speaking, he didn't look at Huang, and strode out of the door.

Compared with the quiet of the night, the backyard of the prefect on the second day was very lively, a Taoist priest wearing a lotus crown, wearing a purple cardigan robe, embroidered with the sun, moon and stars, Rui Beast Pagoda various patterns, stepping on the clouds, followed by two Taoist children, striding forward, Chang Ruchun shook his fat body, swaying three times, but far behind this Taoist priest. Zhang Hansheng stood in the middle of the courtyard, and Wu Hai, Ding Si, Zhu Keyong, and Ruan Feng stood behind Zhang Hansheng, looking very powerful. Seeing that so many people were present, this Taoist priest did not have the slightest panic on his face, arched his hand, and said to Zhang Hansheng: "My lord, it is a great honor for the poor Dao to invite. ”

Ding Si saw that this Taoist priest was slender and long, although his eyes were not big, his eyes were very flexible, and he had a long beard under his mouth, and he looked like a fairy when he stood there. Wu Hai glanced at the guard he had brought, and the guard quietly retreated.

Zhang Hansheng chatted with the Taoist priest who called himself "Han Yi Shangren" for a while, and he didn't talk nonsense, and directly asked the Taoist priest to check if there was anything unclean in the backyard, and then he took his hand and watched the Taoist priest busy with Ding Si and others. When this Taoist priest heard that the prefect was invited, he attached great importance to it, and at this moment, he was even more about to show off his magical powers. He signaled to Daotong, Xiaodaotong had already come up with a peachwood sword, he took the peachwood sword, walked around the yard, and suddenly pinched a mantra, and shouted loudly: "Disease." It is also strange to say, where his sword is pointing, there is a ghost fire of Sen Sen lit up clearly, although it is not obvious in the sun, but it is floating around, as if there are ghosts fleeing around, this Taoist priest is chasing after him, where the ghost fire floats, he will chase to where, and he also uses a peach wood sword in his hand to keep chopping, and when it is time for a tea, I saw him step on the gang position, and shouted: "Formation." Two Taoist boys held rattles in their hands and stepped forward to help. After another half of the incense, he suddenly saw the Taoist priest suddenly pointing to the pool next to him with his hand, and the pool "suddenly" lit a fire, and he took out a small bottle from his arms, poured out a few drops of something that seemed to be water and not water, and shouted again: "Hurry like a law." Immediately the pool was filled with blood, and little by little it stained the water red. When the Taoist priest saw this, he hurriedly picked out the yellow laminated paper with a peachwood sword, and a mouthful of fire sprayed it out, and the yellow laminated paper immediately burned, but where it was burned, it actually showed the appearance of a water snake.

After the yellow paper burned into a ball of ashes, the Taoist priest slowly collected the peachwood sword, wiped the sweat on his forehead, and said: "Han Yi has not disgraced his mission, this snake demon has been beheaded by me." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of people suddenly came running from outside, and the leading guard in front didn't wait for him to react, and a basin of dark red things poured on his head, and the Taoist priest didn't watch out for this, and his face and body were immediately dirty, and the dark red thing wet his head, and dripped down his beard, which was very embarrassing. It turned out that the thing that the guard poured was the black dog blood mentioned in Wu Haikou.

Wu Hai saw that the Taoist priest was doused all over his head, paced out of the crowd, and shouted: "Duh, you demon Dao, now see what tricks you have." Then he said in a fierce voice: "I still don't tell you what you have done." ”

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Taoist priest shouted loudly, regardless of the fishy and smelly face: "My lord, the poor road is wronged, I don't know what the poor road has done, and the adults treat the poor road like this?" ”

Wu Hai smiled and said, "What did you do on the night of April 8th?" ”

When the Taoist priest heard Wu Hai say "April 8th" from his mouth, his face couldn't help but turn pale, and he no longer had the sharpness just now, and his body fell down softly. Wu Hai saw the Taoist priest's situation like this, and knew that he had a ghost in his heart, because he was in the prefect's house, and it was not easy to interrogate here, so he shouted at the messenger: "Take it down." ”

Zhang Hansheng next to him also gritted his teeth and said: "Put him in the most heavily defended Tianzi prison first, if the big seal is really stolen by him, I will skin him alive." ”

The servants below were like wolves and tigers, and the three of them were escorted down, and the two little Taoist boys had never seen such a scene, so they were so frightened that they couldn't even cry. Ruan Feng saw this situation and quietly retreated, and Zhu Keyong on the side saw that no one was paying attention, so he also lowered his head and walked out.