Gradually, there were fewer and fewer seats in the hall, and more and more people were there. （）

Grandpa saw Boss Wei walk in and sat down in the front seat. Daddy noticed that he was leading four dogs.

Those who have already come in see that there are more people who lead four or five dogs, and very few people who lead one or two or seven or eight. Daddy wants to get it, but the dog can't be rowed if it's too little, and it's too much to control. Four or five are the most suitable. There are also a few people who do bring in more than a dozen dogs. But that doesn't rule out robbing the jobs of ghost dealers from other weak factions.

Before the seats were full, the doors were closed.

Grandpa heard the other ghost dealers next to him whispering that the vacant spot was left by someone who encountered an accident on the way to Baoding. Every year there are a little fewer people coming than expected.

The old and new ghost dealers greeted each other, and the people in the hall were boiling. Some dogs barked twice from time to time, and it was very lively.

After a while, more than a dozen handsome women in black walked out of the front side door, each carrying a string of burning incense. They went to different places and hung the incense.

The ghost dealers were basically young and middle-aged men, and when they saw these more than a dozen women in black, they suddenly quieted down for a while and focused their attention on them. The greedy gaze fell on the woman's face, chest, and buttocks. Their eyes were blazing with fire, as if they were about to set the wonderful woman on fire.

The woman in black didn't pay attention to anyone, she kept her head down during the whole process, hung the incense and then withdrew in an orderly manner.

As soon as they left, the museum was lively again.

Soon, the hall was filled with a refreshing aroma.

After a while, a man came up from the platform in front of him, and that person was the same person who had been checking on the ghost dealer at the door just now. At this time, his gaze was not so cold and stunning, as if his gaze could be as cloudy and sunny as the moon in the sky. He slapped his face.

The ghost dealers in the hall immediately fell silent.

The man didn't speak, lit three sticks of incense, bowed in all directions, and then closed his eyes, and recited something in his mouth, as if he was doing some ritual.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Grandpa quietly asked the ghost dealer next to him: "Brother, excuse me, I'm new, who is the person burning incense in front of me?" ”

The ghost dealer replied: "Oh, his name is Helian Tian, his surname is Helian, his single name is Tian, and he is said to be a descendant of the Xiongnu." He handled the transactions of previous years. ”

Grandpa asked, "I heard that the soul collector is a person from the Guerjia clan, how did he become a person surnamed Helian?" ”

The ghost dealer whispered, "The people of the Guerjia clan heard that their legs are crippled and they have difficulty moving. Besides, how could a big boss appear casually? Generally, the people below come out to do things. ”

"Where are the people of the Gualga clan now?"

The ghost dealer finally got impatient and said, "What do you care where he is?" As long as someone trades with us, we can get the money, and that's enough. ”

At this time, the ceremony of Helian Tian on the platform was completed. He inserted three sticks of incense into the copper tripod against the wall, and then said: "You have worked hard to come here!" Don't say anything useless, everyone will hand over your Horcruxes one by one, and we will evaluate the quality of the souls in your Horcruxes. According to the old practice, the lighter the soul, the lower the price, and the heavier the soul, the higher the price. His voice was slightly hoarse, as if weather-beaten.

Grandpa touched the ghost dealer next to him again and said, "How do you weigh the soul?" ”

Grandpa knew that the soul of a newly deceased person was the heaviest, and as his soul remained in the world, the weight of the soul would gradually become lighter. The soul is like smoke, which is the thickest at first, and as the days go by, the smoke gradually fades and finally disappears.

Different people have different souls under different thoughts. The strongest obsession is like Luo Buzhai, the weight of his soul is almost the same as his body, and his outer body is actually a new body formed by the condensation of his soul. The second is like the husband who died in battle that his father rescued in Zichuan, his soul is only imaginary, and his wife can reach out through him. Again, like the common dead, the soul cannot be seen by ordinary people.

There are very few people in the world who can form an outer body with a soul like Luo Buzhai, and the soul of ordinary people is very light after death. Generally speaking, the heavier the soul, the shorter it died, and the lighter the soul, the longer it has been dead and the less time it can remain in the world. Therefore, Helian Tian is a fair way to evaluate each soul by the weight of the soul.

Dad once chatted with Luo Buzhai and talked about Luo Buzhai's bone weighing method, and Dad joked that the bone weight that Luo Buzhai could see might be the weight of a person's soul.

Luo Buzhai was noncommittal. He had never weighed the soul, so he couldn't be sure if that was the case.

Grandpa had never thought about how to weigh people's souls, so when he heard that Helian Tian wanted to give a price by the weight of his souls, he couldn't help but ask the ghost dealers he had traded before.

"You'll find out later." The ghost dealers have run out of patience.

Grandpa stared intently at Helian Tian on the platform.

Helian Tian beckoned, and two women in black carried a rod scale to the platform. The scale was the length of a man's arm, and a disc hung from the head. A woman in black took out the scale, placed it on the zero scale of the rod scale, and let go. The rod scale is kept level.

This is to verify to everyone present that the rod scale is not manipulating.

"How's this scale?" Helian Tian asked.

The ghost dealers present nodded their heads and said yes.

Helian Tian smiled with satisfaction and slapped his face.

Two more women in black came to the platform, each holding a cat, one white as a snowball and the other black and shiny, but almost the same size. Cats are lazy and occasionally yawn.

Daddy's head rang. Grandpa looked up and saw that the bamboo slipper had escaped without a trace. It turns out that it is afraid of the cats here.

Daddy hesitated in his heart, Zhu Yuzi didn't seem to be afraid of cats, why was he afraid of the cats here?

"Do you choose Mr. White or Mr. Night first?" Helian Tian asked again. He doesn't call them white cats and black cats, but he calls them "Mr. White" and "Mr. Night".

Some people say Mr. White, some say Mr. Night.

Helian Tian took out a silver dollar from his pocket and said, "Since everyone disagrees, let's listen to God's decision." If you have a head, you will use Mr. White, and if you have a negative head, you will use Mr. Night. ”

At that time, the common currency was Yuan Datou, the front was the portrait of Yuan Shikai on the left side of the suit, and the back was two crossed ears of rice.

Helian Tian tossed the silver dollar with his claw-like hand, and then caught it. Release your hand with the head side facing up. He pointed to the white cat and said, "Then please Mr. Bai." ”

The woman in black carefully placed the white cat on the disc of the rod scale. The woman in black who carried the scale moved the weighing rope on the scale pole to restore the level of the rod.

"Nine pounds, two taels and six dollars." A woman in black reads the scale.

Helian Tian smiled and said to the lazy white cat: "Mr. Bai, your old man is three dollars heavier than half a year ago." His attitude was respectful, as if he was facing an elder who was several generations older than him.

And the white cat's feedback to him was a yawn, like an arrogant elder who was extremely indifferent.

Helian Tian was not angry, and he said to the ghost dealers below, "You can send the Horcruxes up. ”

A ghost dealer went up first, and he led five dogs.

Helian Tian said to the white cat: "There is Mr. Lao Bai!" "The attitude is still respectful.

The white cat leapt off the disc and landed silently on the ground.

The weighing rod in the black-clothed woman's hand was warped, and the black-clothed woman hurriedly grabbed the weighing rod and the weighing rope.

When the five dogs saw the white cat, they all cowered and stepped back. The owner of the dog tightly holds the chain around the dog's neck.

The white cat walked up to the first dog and sniffed at the dog's head, and the dog suddenly went limp and fell to the ground. The white cat took turns sniffing the five dogs, and all five of them fell to the ground. The situation is just like after Grandpa fed Boss Wei's dog water.

The white cat returned to the woman in black who had hugged it earlier. The woman in black gently picked it up and placed it on the disc of the scale.

The woman in black who lifted the scale weighed the white cat again, and reported: "Eleven catties, three taels and eight dollars." ”

Helian Tian nodded and said, "Eleven catties and three taels and eight coins minus nine catties and two taels and six coins are two catties and two taels and two coins." The equivalent of silver dollars is two hundred and twelve dollars. ”

The ghost dealer was overjoyed.

My grandfather said that at that time, more than 200 silver dollars was not a small amount, at that time five silver dollars could buy a large buffalo, one silver dollar could buy a load of rice≤ governor only got 60 or 70 oceans a month, and ordinary workers could get about 5 to 10 oceans a month after hard work. More than 200 silver dollars are equal to the total wages of ordinary workers for two to four years, equal to more than 40 large buffaloes, and equal to more than 200 quintals of rice.

After Helian Tian finished speaking, the bookkeeper next to the platform crackled and dialed the abacus, counted the silver dollars, and waited for the ghost dealer to get them.

While the other ghost dealers were all watching with bright eyes as Mr. Bookkeeper took out the ocean, Grandpa was mentally calculating the weight just now. There are five souls in five horcruxes, and the total weight is two catties and one tael or two dollars, so the average is about a little more than four taels per soul. In Luo Buzhai's bone weighing method, the lightest bone weight is two taels and one money, and the heaviest is seven taels and two coins. In this way, the weight of the soul just weighed did not exceed the weight of the bone. Therefore, the method of weighing bones in ancient art may be called the soul.

It's a pity that Luo Buzhai is not in the dog meat restaurant at this time, and his father can't discuss the matter of weighing bones with him.

The second ghost dealer led the three dogs up, and the white cat did the same, weighing the weight of the three souls. The average weight of the three souls did not exceed the range of the bones.

Daddy thought that the white cat was going to change to a black cat after sniffing nine dogs. But the white cat sniffed more than a dozen dogs in a row, and the weight of its body continued to grow. When it smelled more than fifty, its movements were slightly slow, and its body became much more rounded.