Legend has it that in ancient times there was a mountain with a very domineering name, called... Although the Emperor of Heaven is not here, this mountain is also lush with vegetation, and there is a kind of sacred grass that horses can run fast if they eat it, and people can cure tumors after eating it-Du Heng. The strange beast lives here, and it looks like a dog and can climb trees. It is said that a mattress is made of its fur, and those who sleep on it can not be invaded by Gu poison and evil spirits. But this side is really hard to find, and even Qin Degong, the king of a country, can't find it, so he has to kill a few big dogs that look like it outside the city to resist the evil Gu. However, this method of stealing the sky and changing the day actually succeeded, so later, using dog blood to ward off evil spirits turned out to be a custom and became a weapon for folk ghosts.

The day of the burial was not an auspicious day of the zodiac, firstly, there was no one in the deceased's house, and secondly, it was not the case that the six black coffins were always resting in the village. Strange to say, the sky had not been bright that day, and several young people with bodies like oxen carried six coffins along the path up the mountain until they reached the back mountain. Along the way, the feet were either rocks or rash grass, and even the village chief who climbed the mountain with his empty hands was also very upset, but the young people who carried the coffin did not even breathe, as if they were born to do this business.

The burial pit was dug quickly, according to the rules of the village at that time, a mirror had to be hung on the sealing brick at the top of the pit, one was to protect the yin and drive away the yang, and the other was to say hello to the passing ghost.

The six people were buried in order of eldest and youngest, and the workers were all hired from outside, and the village chief and two old men smoked old smoking guns in the back. At this moment, a figure slowly appeared in the mirror at the top of the pit. It was a little old lady with bound feet, holding her hands, wearing a dark blue floral padded jacket, bent her waist, and walked through the mirror one by one.

At that time, the village chief was so frightened that his face turned white, and he didn't spit out the old pain that was hot in his mouth with a puff of smoke, and his two eyes stared at the mirror in a daze, isn't this little old lady the dead master of this family? This dead master is obviously still in the coffin, and he hasn't even passed the first seven years, how can he pass by here?

The other two old men were also stunned by this scene, unable to speak for a long time, seeing that the soil was about to be sealed, a bald old man suddenly took a hard puff of cigarette, put the cigarette stick under the creaky nest, rubbed his hands, and said: "I said Lao Li Tou...... What's the matter? ”

This guy, you have a shovel and I have a shovel, and I am working hard, when suddenly there is such a sound behind me, and it is also strange and terrible in this barren mountain grave, and they are all startled, and the movements in their hands are sluggish, and the bald old man is the village chief, and he follows his gaze The village chief, this old Li Tou is the village chief.

At this time, the village chief finally remembered to spit out the smoke ring, and also put the cigarette stick under the creaky nest, staring at the burial pit fiercely, and spitting at the foam: "Damn it, it's evil!" I haven't seen a little devil in such an old age, so I'm going to open my eyes to the big guy today! It's a human or a ghost, let's dig it out."

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, this is going to be a grave! Another thin old man shook his thin legs with two bamboo poles, shivered suddenly, and almost didn't fall to the ground, the bald old man glared at him, and also spat hard, and said: "Lao Li Tou is right, there are so many of us, what are you afraid of?" Then he said to the young men: "You can hear clearly, it doesn't matter if the fuck is a human or a ghost, hurry up and dig it!" ”

The head of the mourner wiped his sweat and said, "It's okay to dig it, but you have to pay more!" ”

This is indeed a bit of a suspicion of sitting on the ground, the bald old man's eyebrows fell, and they were screwed together, and he just wanted to knock on the cigarette stick and curse, the village chief waved his hand at him, and said to the head: "Let's add money and dig it." ”

Strange to say, ordinary people must be frightened when they encounter this kind of thing, but those young people don't seem to be afraid at all, digging the grave is like farming, and soon dug up the coffin of the old lady and carried it out.

The thin old man had collapsed to the ground in fright, and the village chief and the bald old man walked up with their cigarette guns in hand. This coffin was nailed by the village chief himself a few days ago, and even the long nail cap is so new that no one has ever opened it. The village chief nodded to the young men, and several of them pressed the machetes and hoes, and pried the four corners of the coffin lid, and only heard a creak, and the nails were pried open. Everyone took the handle again, and with a joint push, the black coffin lid slid backwards.

At this moment, a strange wind suddenly blew in the mountain nest, blowing so that people couldn't open their eyes, and only heard the sound of "Boom-Boom-Boom......" all around, as if it was the sound of people's footsteps, and everyone was very loud in their hearts. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and everyone shivered, cold sweat crackled straight down, and no one was scared to faint, but a few bold people secretly squinted and opened their eyes, and a mother, it turned out that the coffin board was scraped off, and they were immediately relieved.

The thin old man was behind, and when he heard the sound, he was so frightened that he fluttered away, and while screaming, he ran down the hill with a rolling belt, and the village chief shouted a few times, but he couldn't shout at all, and the old man jumped faster than a rabbit, and rolled the loess in all directions, and soon, his back was drowned in the dust and disappeared.

The village chief scolded, then turned his head and continued the coffin, at this time the wind also stopped, the footsteps were gone, and the surroundings became quiet in an instant, only the heartbeat of these people was left. Everyone was bold with each other, and when they stepped forward, they felt a chill on their backs, where was there an old lady here, and there was a white skeleton lying there, her clothes were all rotten, and there were not a few teeth left, and her head didn't look like words, and there was a little gray in the white, and it was covered with a mess on her face, and she was an old man, but her body was only the size of a child of six or seven years old.

Everyone was so frightened that they didn't even dare to breathe, the corpse decomposed like this, it would have been decades since it died, it couldn't have been buried the day before yesterday, but no one had ever opened this coffin...... None of these people present had ever encountered such a thing, and there was a trumpet-blowing child in the funeral procession, and his voice was so frightened that he was still blowing there, and he couldn't stop.

After all, the village chief has been through things, most of his life has been ups and downs, and he knows that the more urgent he is at this time, the more panicked he is, so he calmed down first, put the cigarette gun on the waistband of his trousers, and told everyone not to panic, first put the incense in front of the coffin, and burned a lot of ingots paper money, and muttered for a while, and finally said: "It is said that this Qing official is difficult to decide family affairs, Mrs. Li, your family affairs, we outsiders are not easy to interfere, you can solve it yourself below." After saying that, he led the people to send the coffin back as if they were sifting chaff, filled it with soil, and went down the mountain in a panic, and no one in the village ever mentioned it again.

This story was told to me by my master when I was a child, and my master was the child who blew the trumpet in the funeral procession. Ever since I heard this story, I have had strange dreams every now and then that there is a mirror and a bathtub, and in the mirror there is a cricket old lady sitting in the tank, with her back to me, saying nothing, doing nothing, just with her back to me.

Naturally, I don't believe in any ghosts and gods, and cowardice can't do what we do. I don't know if you have heard of it, but there is a kind of people in this world, who are agile and have special skills, and they specialize in doing things that are not easy to do for others, and they only need to pay them a considerable amount afterwards.

This kind of person is called a professional errand runner in the industry.

The errand runner can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in China, and gradually grew in the Song and Yuan dynasties, divided into the old school and the new school. The old school made a living by running errands, and the disciples were not allowed to take care of other occupations and concentrate on running errands. The new school likes to reform and encourages its disciples to integrate into society and keep pace with the times, so the new school is often more scattered and does not have a strict hierarchy.

My master's school is the new school. After graduating from university, I went back to my hometown in Luoyang with my junior brother and sister, and opened a small antique shop in the old city, which was opened on the old street behind Lijing Gate, Luoyang is the ancient capital of the Nine Dynasties, and the antique shop is more or less a little performance here, plus it is a small scenic spot here, and the tourists who come and go every day are not three or fifty thousand but also seven or eight thousand. Of course, we don't make money by this, otherwise we would have starved to death.

Recently, new products have been being released in the store, and the summer vacation is coming, and the number of student customers is gradually increasing. The summer in Luoyang is especially hot, scorching hot, if you go out for a run shirtless, you can smell the protein when you come back. I once encouraged my junior brother to go out and do this.

Just as I was thinking, as soon as the octagonal wind chimes rang at the door, I knew that there was a customer in the store, but it was not a customer.

"Master, why are you here?" The junior brother had sharp eyes, put down the tall glow-in-the-dark cup in his hand, and poured tea on the dog's legs.

I glanced at him, got up from the master's chair, and while making a chair for the master to sit first, I saw off the two customers in the store, hung up the sign that the store was closed, and closed the door before sitting down in front of the master.

It's not that I'm too cautious, it's just that my master is an uninhibited person who likes to travel all over the world, and we haven't been able to see him a few times in the year we have been apprentices.

The master took the Biluochun served by the junior brother, only lifted the lid and smelled it, and put it on the low table on the side: "There is work." ”

My heart tightened, and sure enough, I guessed correctly. According to our usual rules, we have a special contact channel for the work, and we generally do not alarm the master, let alone the master to inform it in person, which shows that this work may be a little unusual. The younger brother also took a clue, glanced at me, and sat down next to my hand.

Master took out a map from his backpack and a bank card: "Follow the map to find an ancient book." ”

I knew that the card must be a deposit, so I took the map, and now it was a hand-drawn sheet of leather with an unfading pen, like the original. Very few employers will give us the same thing directly, either because he has a lack of brains, or because he is too short on time and he has not had time to copy it.

I, soon this is a map of Luoyang, and the main direction of our operation is on the northeast side of Luoyang. Those who are familiar with a little history know that there is a group of tombs in Pishan. Who will need to run to the mausoleum complex to get something? And who will put things in the mausoleum complex? I hope I'm thinking too much.

The junior brother took the map and swept it with big eyes, and with a hey, he said poorly: "Bishan? An ancient book again? Master, could it be that this time, we are going to fight backwards? ”

"Don't talk nonsense!" I glared at my junior brother, although I also had this confusion in my heart, but running errands and fighting are two natures after all, besides, it is impossible for Master to be so rash. I then asked, "Master, what kind of book is it?" ”

The master shook his head slightly: "The specifics, you will know when you arrive." In ten days, the equipment is ready, and you will be out immediately. ”

I was stunned, although it is not the first time that we have taken such an urgent job, and in this case, the remuneration will be much more generous than usual, and the business in the store has been sluggish recently, and most of the junior brothers are bothering to take care of it, and it is time to take such an order. But this time, I was not happy at all, but faintly felt a little uneasy, the most important thing to take the job in addition to the middleman, is the goal of the work, must be clear, just like driving must have a steering wheel, practice courage must be 2.

My brother glanced at him and raised his eyebrows when he saw that he was also squinting at the bank card with a vague look. I knew where his mind was, this kid probably had itchy skin, I didn't bother to pay attention to him, and said to the master: "Don't worry, Master, we will definitely complete the task." ”

Master nodded, and suddenly sat up straight, I knew that what I was going to explain next was the purpose of Master's personal visit this time: "But Xiao Qian, I'm afraid this mission will not be so easy, you and Xiao Dui must be extra careful, remember, everything is adaptable." The master paused for a moment, and then said, "Also, when we get to the mouth of the horse's hoof, one more person will be added, and this time you will act together." ”

It's not that the remuneration is not easy to share, but people like us live underground, and the more work we take, the more secrets we know, so generally we have a very reliable intermediary between us and our employers, just like Master and them, so that we and our employers will feel safe. So after listening to Master, my brother and I were stunned for a moment, but our expressions didn't look like we were joking.

"Holy!" Before he finished speaking, the master waved his hand and stopped him: "This situation is a bit special, but you can rest assured of safety." ”

I'm worried in my heart, we are absolutely assured of the safety of the work that Master has taken, but what is the origin of this person and how is his skills? Could it be just a whim, a whim, and I and my brother and I have to take care of it when it's over? It's not clear, it's just a drag oil bottle.

The master looked at my thoughts, which would be a little relaxed, took a sip of Biluochun, and said to us: "I don't know where he came from, I only know that he is an old school." ”

As soon as I heard this, I was relieved, the old school had strict rules and exquisite craftsmanship, and all of them were first-class masters, and only their old school looked down on our new school, so I immediately became worried again. The junior brother is excited, we have lived in the Central Plains for a long time, each doing our own thing, almost never had the opportunity to contact the old school of people, the legend of the god list has heard a lot, the junior brother said that this time how to learn both hands, no matter how bad it is to open your eyes.

Speaking of tediousness, we brought a few commonly used things with us and went out. (To be continued.) Announcement: Biquge APP is online, supporting Android and Apple. Please pay attention to the WeChat public account to enter the download and install appxsyd (press and hold for three seconds to copy)