A full moon hung on the treetops, and Li Bing squeezed his eyes at Zhang Yuanshan. Zhang Yuanshan immediately understood, closed his eyes and pinched his fingers.

After a while, he opened his eyes and said, "Li Bing, come out with me." Tomorrow is the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and now people call it the Zhongyuan Festival, and our Taoist priests are still used to calling it the Ghost Festival. Today is the 14th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and night falls, which is the time when the ghost door is wide open, and the yin qi is very heavy. A few of you stay in the hotel and don't come out, Li Bing and I go out for a walk, and the hexagram says that Li Bing will meet Liuhe for the first time today. ”

Zhao Wan'er asked suspiciously, "Brother Zhang, is this really the case?" You can't fool around with us taking Li Bing out, right? ”

Zhang Yuanshan replied very seriously: "Not really! The midyear festival is also known as the 'July Festival' or 'Bon Festival', and this name comes from our Taoism. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Taiwu Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty Tuoba Tao listened to Cui Hao's words and destroyed the Buddha with Taoism, which was one of the famous "Three Martial Powers to Destroy the Buddha" disaster in the history of Buddhism. Since then, it has become popular to say that in the seventh and half months of the lunar calendar, a lantern in Hanoi can be used to keep ghosts alive. ”

"In Buddhism, on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, according to the story of 'Mulian Saving the Mother' contained in the Buddhist scriptures, Buddhists hold a 'Bon Puja' to worship the Buddha and monks, to help sentient beings in the six realms of suffering, and to repay their parents for their kindness and kindness."

"On the day of the Midyear Festival, a life of death can not only express the sorrow for the deceased, but also make people remember the kindness of their parents. Therefore, in order to allow all the ghosts to go home to receive the sacrifices of their relatives on the day of the Midyear Festival, the underworld will open the ghost door on the night of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, let the ghosts go home and have a full meal, receive some underworld coins, and then be escorted back to the Yin Si by the ghost to continue to suffer. ”

He said solemnly: "So July 14 is the heaviest time of the year, and it is not inferior to the Qingming Festival." On this night, those who are weak and sick and lack yang energy should try not to go out, so as not to run into evil spirits! Even if you go out, don't frolic on the road, let alone urinate anywhere or something, it's easy to bump into ghosts! ”

Zhao Wan'er snorted and said, "Brother Zhang, don't you just want to say that Sister Shi and I are women, and our yang energy is not strong!" Brother Qian is weak and timid, and he can't go out, only you and Li Bing can go around! Well, you go early and come back early, and if you find anything, come back and tell us about it. ”

Li Bing pretended to say, "Brother Zhang, are you really sure that we will find something tonight?" ”

Before Zhang Yuanshan could answer, he had already walked out the door, Zhang Yuanshan smiled, and immediately left the hotel with him.

The streets were deserted, with no cars or pedestrians, but many people were seen burning paper money in front of their homes.

Zhang Yuanshan whispered: "Li Bing, the paper money they burn now is not for their dead relatives, but for those lonely souls and wild ghosts, so that they can smoothly bring the ghosts of their relatives home to be sacrificed." ”

Li Bing said in surprise: "Brother Zhang, don't you say that I really don't know, I think the money burned on the night of July 14 is for the dead relatives!" ”

Zhang Yuanshan whispered: "It is indeed burned for dead relatives, but before burning for dead relatives, you have to burn some paper money for passing ghosts." Since Liuhe is the four directions of heaven and earth plus southeast, northwest and northwest, then we might as well go east tonight, and maybe we can find something. ”

Li Bing nodded in agreement, and the two crossed a few streets, and on a remote street, they saw an old woman burning paper money on the side of the road.

Li Bing unconsciously glanced at it a few more times, and asked Zhang Yuanshan strangely: "Brother Zhang, have you noticed that the old woman is different from others?" In several other places, when burning paper money, it was only at the door of her house, only one place or one next to the door, how did she light several more paper money? ”

Zhang Yuanshan looked at it and felt quite strange. He reached into his pocket, took out willow leaves and cow tears, and after applying them, wiped them on his eyelids.

After looking at it for a while, he whispered: "Li Bing, no matter what you see, don't be surprised, pretend that it's okay." ”

Li Bing nodded, and Zhang Yuanshan also wiped Li Bing's eyelids with his tears. Li Bing opened his eyes again, and was startled. The streets, which were empty just now, were bustling with traffic.

Looking at the wandering crowd, almost all of them were dull-eyed and stiff-acted, Li Bing immediately understood in his heart that these were all lonely souls and wild ghosts who came to the world to accept sacrifices after the ghost gate was opened.

A ghost came towards Li Bing, and Li Bing was about to dodge away, Zhang Yuanshan tightly grabbed Li Bing's hand and said, "Don't move, if you avoid it, the ghost will find out about your existence." If you consciously avoid it, the ghost will immediately be aware of your existence, and this will be a big trouble. ”

Li Bing was frightened in his heart, but after listening to Zhang Yuanshan's words, he immediately calmed down. When he saw that the demon was about to crash into him, he was terrified in his heart, but he stood still as if he were careless.

It was a hanged ghost, with his long tongue sticking out, which made Li Bing feel so disgusting, turning his stomach and stomach, so uncomfortable. When the ghost bumped into Li Bing, although Li Bing's scalp exploded, he was also quite surprised, obviously bumped into the ghost, but he didn't feel anything.

To his surprise, the hanged man walked through his body and onwards. Li Bing looked at Zhang Yuanshan in surprise, and was about to ask, but heard Zhang Yuanshan say in a low voice: "Don't be silent, ghosts and people meet each other, it seems that they are in the same world, if they don't disturb each other, then they are two worlds." You collide but don't feel anything, that's the truth, people and ghosts have different paths, you are not in the same world. ”

Li Bing was extremely surprised, and turned his head to look at another place where paper money was being burned. I saw a middle-aged man squatting on the ground, burning a pile of paper money in front of his house. When many 'people' passed by their door, they stretched their necks and looked into the floor of his house, looking at them as if they hesitated for a while, and then picked up a few 'money' floating in Wan and left.

Look at the old woman again, she has placed a total of five paper coins at the door of her house, and there is an incense burner at the door, in which three pillars of incense are rising. There are also two lit candles by the incense burner.

When many ghosts passed by the old woman's house, they were attracted by the amount of 'money' and had no time to look at the old woman's house. The ghosts who passed by, after obtaining the coins, greedily inhaled the fragrance wafting from the incense burner for a while, seemed to enjoy it exceedingly, and then left with a satisfied expression.

Li Bing asked quietly: "Brother Zhang, why does that old lady burn more paper money than others?" Could it be that she is a very good-hearted person, giving alms and food? ”

Zhang Yuanshan shook his head and said: "I think there is something strange in it, this old lady seems to know Taoism, and her purpose in doing this should be to not let any passing souls visit her home." ”