Tonight is the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month.

July 15 is known as Obon in Buddhism, and it was originally named after monks who held the Bon festival to give alms to hungry ghosts in the underworld, but gradually evolved into an annual ritual. On this day, pujas are held in all monasteries and temples to worship the Buddha and help sentient beings from the six realms.

And Taoism has more sayings and exquisiteness, and they call the 15th day of July the Zhongyuan Festival. The annual grand event of Taoism is divided into three times, collectively known as the "Three Yuan", which are the birthdays of the "Three Official Emperors" of the Heavenly Official Emperor, the Diguan Emperor and the Water Official Emperor. Among them, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is called "Shangyuan", that is, the birthday of the heavenly official, which is mainly to hold a blessing ceremony and pray for peace in the world, and later evolved into the Lantern Festival. The word "Lantern Festival" means "the night of the Shangyuan Festival". The 15th day of the seventh month, known as the "Zhongyuan", is the birthday of the Emperor Diguan, and is used to pardon the sins of the deceased. October 15 is called "Xia Yuan", which is the birthday of the water official, and it relieves bad luck for those who are at fault.

The "rites" in Confucianism are based on sacrificing ancestors. After the Song Dynasty, the theories of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism gradually merged with each other, learning from each other's strengths, and Confucianism also began to advocate the Zhongyuan Festival, which was mainly to worship ancestors and pray for the ancestors to bless the health of their descendants.

When it comes to the people, the common people don't pay so much attention to it, and directly call July 15 "Ghost Festival". According to folklore, every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the gate of the underworld will be opened, and all the ownerless lonely souls will be released from the underworld and go to the yang world to receive offerings from the living. Therefore, people everywhere will worship gods and ghosts on this day and present offerings.

And my master's statement is that the 15th day of July is the time when the yin energy is at its highest. Usually, the human world is full of yang and weak yin, and yang is suppressing yin, so living people can move freely, and ghosts can only hide and hide, and there are all kinds of restrictions. On the evening of July 15, the yin energy was in full bloom, overshadowing the yang energy. As a result, the ghost can walk freely in the sun, experience the life of a living person, and reminisce about his life by the way.

Of course, there are many ghosts who go to the yang world, and it is inevitable that some ghosts like to play pranks and play tricks on the living in a small way. It's just a harmless little trick, but if you go too far, it can become a tragedy. Therefore, on this day, the people in the yang world will prepare incense candles, paper money, and offerings in advance, and place them in front of the door to eat the ghosts of the past, so as to make them return satisfied. We also have a custom here, that is, to put incense around the homestead and burn yellow paper at the gate, which is to prevent some ignorant ghosts from accidentally breaking into the yang house.

The big ghost market in the mass grave can also play a role in appeasing ghosts and entertaining yin spirits, that is, attracting wild ghosts wandering in the sun in the form of catching up with the big market, which effectively prevents them from causing trouble everywhere. According to Master, it's not just us doing this here, but other ghost markets are doing it too.

Last night, business on July 14 was also very hot, and there were a lot of people and ghosts coming again, and the snacks that Master and I brought over were simply in short supply, and they were sold out quickly. Today, July 15 is a positive day, and it is foreseeable that sales will soar tonight. So, we prepared more ingredients and planned to seize the opportunity to make a big profit. I also told Master that he would be responsible for preparing his old dishes first, and I would make my own new snacks first and then help him. Master has no problem with this, because it is obvious that my new snacks are more popular in the ghost market, and those ghosts rush to buy them as if they don't need money, and they can't eat them if they come slowly.

At ten o'clock in the evening, the master and apprentice were busy with their work, when suddenly my master's mobile phone rang by itself in the room. He wiped his hands and went to the house to pick up his phone to answer. I couldn't hear it very clearly outside, and Master seemed to just answer "Hmm!" inside. "Ahh "What's going on? And "Got it!" "A few words.

After the master finished the call, he walked out of the room, took off the bib he was working on, and said to me, "Lao Liu over there called and said that something was wrong over there and asked me to go over and help." Tonight's ghost market, you can go by yourself, you can fit as many of these things as you want, don't force it. ”

"In such a hurry?" I asked, "What's going on in Baihualing?" ”

"I don't know where the powerful ghost thing came out of nowhere to make trouble, and there are quite a few of them, Lao Liu can't control the situation alone!" Master replied directly. In the past, Master refused to tell me this kind of thing, but since the last time I went to the cave with him and Boss Su, he also seemed to feel that there was no need to hide it from me anymore.

I nodded, and began to pack up, there were enough ingredients I had already made to sell at the ghost market tonight. My master went back to the room to get his props, then came out with his old backpack on his back, and walked to the door again and stood, as if waiting for someone to come.

After another ten minutes or so, the sound of a motor came from outside the door, as if a car had stopped outside the courtyard. Someone got out of the car, walked to the door and knocked on the door, shouting, "Master Feng, are you okay?" ”

As soon as I heard that voice, I knew it was Boss Su. Master opened the door, and sure enough, it was Boss Su standing at the door. When he saw me in the yard, he smiled at me and said hello. I also shouted "Boss Su".

Master said, "Let's go!" And he went out the door. Boss Su seemed to feel a little strange and asked my master, "What's the matter?" Won't Xiaosheng come with us? ”

Master stopped, hesitated, then turned to me and asked, "We also need manpower this time, but the things we have to deal with are more complicated than the previous times I went to that cave, and I may not be able to take care of you." Would you still like to come with us? ”

I thought about it, I went to the ghost market to set up a stall just to make more money. But now that I'm in this situation, I no longer have any urgent motivation to earn more and less, so it's better to follow them to open my eyes!

So I ripped off my bib, lowered my rolled up sleeves, and walked out the door: "Go!" I'll go too! ”

The three of us sat on Boss Su's small bread again, and drove all the way around the winding mountain road to Baihualing. However, this time we did not stop at the Wind Valley Ridge in the middle of the way, but went straight to Baihua Town. Along the way, the master made another phone call to Lao Liu over there to ask about the situation. Lao Liu's voice on the phone was very anxious, saying that there were more and more ghosts in the town, and some ghosts had begun to make trouble, playing tricks on pedestrians on the road, and even breaking into the houses of the living to make trouble.

When Boss Su heard Lao Liu say this on the phone, the speed of the car sped up a little more, and he played drifting on the winding mountain road, which made me very nervous. Normally, it takes two hours to drive, but Boss Su actually arrived in only an hour.

When we arrived in Baihua Town, we were suddenly surprised by the situation in front of us. The scene on the street is very strange, and there are wandering spirits and wild ghosts floating around, and there are many more than those in the county seat. And there are some living people mixed in there, but judging from the way they walk and move, something is obviously wrong, and they are probably all possessed by ghosts! The street lights flickered and flickered, and several cars stopped directly in the middle of the road, and one of the drivers was standing on the roof of the car and doing a break dance. There are also a few households that "do not believe in evil", and there are no incense stickers or yellow paper burning in the homes of people who have always had ghosts going in and out, and I don't know what the living people in the house are like now. In short, the situation in the entire town of Baihua is very chaotic, and it looks like it may be about to get completely out of control!

Boss Su's car was stopped by a large truck parked in the middle of the road, and he couldn't drive it. In desperation, the three of us got out of the car and ran all the way to town. The ghosts who were roaming the streets probably knew that we were not to be messed with, and as soon as they saw us coming, they quickly avoided us, not daring to make a mistake. We ran all the way to a small square in the center of Baihua Town, and found the little old man I saw when I was here last time.

Lao Liu was holding a sack in one hand and was catching ghosts. He didn't seem to use any special methods, so he grabbed it with his hands, and when he caught one, he stuffed it into a sack, and he didn't know how he could catch the ghost's body. However, he was short in stature, and he couldn't run fast on two short legs, so it was not easy to catch up with those floating ghosts.

The master shouted at Lao Liu, and Lao Liu found out that the "reinforcements" had finally arrived. He dropped the ghost he was chasing and ran towards us out of breath.

Boss Su asked loudly, "Lao Liu, what's going on?" I see that those ghosts don't eat offerings, they don't take paper money, they just love to play tricks on the living, was that how they used to be? ”

Lao Liu complained with a sad face: "I don't know either! In addition to the local ghosts, there are many foreign ghosts here, I have never seen them before, and they seem to be deliberately trying to cause trouble! ”

"Deliberately to make trouble?" Master asked with a frown.

"Yes!" Lao Liu continued: "I found that there seemed to be too many ghosts on the street last night, and something was not right, but I didn't make any mess last night. Tonight was supposed to be the day of the big ghost city, but I couldn't be relieved, so I came out in advance to see the situation, and it turned out that some ghosts had already started to mess around. So I didn't even open the ghost market, and ran out to hunt ghosts alone. But you see, there are so many ghosts in town right now, I can't catch them alone! ”

"I've heard some news before," Boss Su hesitated, "Could it be that ......"

"We'll discuss the reasons later, and it's important to solve the current situation first!" My master suddenly interrupted Boss Su's words and began to assign tasks: "Lao Liu and I are responsible for catching ghosts, and Boss Su took Xiaosheng to save people!" Xiao Sheng, Boss Su pioneered the ghost, and then you are responsible for attaching photo charms to the living. You have to be careful yourself, you have to follow Boss Su, don't run around! Let's start with the ghosts on the streets! ”

After saying that, Master took out a stack of Xiangmen talismans from his backpack and stuffed them into me. I took it and quickly pasted one on myself first, and then walked to Boss Su and followed him. Over there, Master and Lao Liu separated from us and began to hunt ghosts.

My master's ghost hunting method is similar to Lao Liu's, but it is more powerful. I saw him take out the bag and open it to the ghosts, and keep reciting incantations that I didn't understand. Then my master pointed to the void with his finger, and the ghost in his finger was frozen and unable to move. The master flicked his wrist again and pointed to the mouth of the bag, and the ghost was sucked in with a "whoosh"! My master's method of catching ghosts is much more accurate and efficient than that of Lao Liu.

Boss Su took me to check on those who were suspected of being possessed by ghosts. Our first target was the big driver who was breaking on the roof of the car. The eldest brother was shirtless, shy and pot-bellied, wearing a towboard, and he was twisting and jumping on the roof of the car, and his sense of rhythm was quite strong. It's just that the whites of his eyes have been rolled, his mouth is foaming, and he is sweating profusely.

After Boss Su ran to confirm it, he directly took out a hexagonal talisman dart. The talisman dart was made of yellow rune paper and was covered with charms. Boss Su picked up the talisman dart with his middle finger, and shook his hand at the driver on the roof of the car, and the talisman dart hit him directly on the forehead. As soon as the dart came into contact with the human body, it began to spontaneously combust, and a bewitching-looking, male or female, thin ghost screamed out of the driver's body, and was about to flee in a panic. Boss Su shouted at me to go and paste the talisman, and he himself ran up to catch the thin ghost.

The driver's eldest brother's body lost the control of the ghost, but the person did not wake up in time, and suddenly collapsed and slid down the roof of the car through the windshield. I quickly ran up and grabbed him and made him sit on the ground against the front of the car.

At this time, the ghost in the driver's body had just been driven away, and he began to have some consciousness, but he was not very conscious and kept talking nonsense. I pulled out a picture charm and pasted it on the door of his head. His head was covered with sweat, and the talisman was good, but I was afraid that he would take it off in a daze. So I reattached it to him and picked up the clothes he had thrown on the ground to cover it. As soon as I dealt with it, Boss Su ran back, saying that the ghost had been caught by him just after running away.

On the street, I saw seven or eight other living people who had fallen into evil spirits. Their behavior is strange in their own way, some lie on the ground and pluck the weeds on the side of the road and chew them, not knowing whether they belonged to cattle in their previous lives; Some sang Huangmei Opera on the street, with a high-pitched tone, obviously the ghost attached to the body was a ticket friend before his death; There are also those who hug a telephone pole and cry and laugh, perhaps the ghost used to be an electrician and has a special affection for telephone poles.

So just like that, I followed behind Boss Su, he drove away a ghost, and I went up to support the person and put on the Xiangmen charm. Boss Su catches a ghost, and I post a person. Soon, we were almost done dealing with the evil people on the street, and then we started to walk to the houses of those who didn't have incense. My master and Lao Liu's side also caught them all the way, and the two sides separated.