One

In the mountains on the border between Xinchang and Ninghai, there is a small village without a village name. The people in the village live by selling firewood and burning charcoal, and women usually weave some belts and the like in exchange for oil, salt, sauce and vinegar.

One night, a mountain watchman in the village came home from selling firewood, and when he walked to a corridor outside the village, he suddenly saw a woman with a disheveled hair standing in the corner. The mountain watcher coughed first and shouted, "Sister-in-law, what are you doing outside late at night?" "This woman should not. The mountain watcher shouted again, but it still shouldn't. Feeling strange, he stepped forward and put his hand on the woman's shoulder, and pulled it over. This time it was terrible, I only heard a scream from a woman "Ah", it turned out to be a hanged ghost with a "long tongue shakuhachi"! Although the mountain watcher was bold, he was also frightened and took a few steps back. The hanged man took the opportunity to escape from the porch and drift in the direction of the village.

The mountain watcher thought that this hanged ghost must have come out tonight to harm people. He remembered hearing the old people say that the hanged ghost could only be reincarnated if he found a stand-in. Thinking of this, the mountain watcher chased out of the corridor, stared at the hanged ghost and followed him to the entrance of the village, and the hanged ghost suddenly disappeared. At this time, all the dogs in the village suddenly barked, and the mountain watchers expected that the hanged ghost had entered the village, so they went from house to house. I saw a little light shining from the inside of a thatched hut, and the mountain watcher threw himself on the windowsill to see that there was a little girl of fifteen or sixteen years old in the house, weaving a belt on an upside-down bench, wiping her tears as she knitted. Behind her stood the Hanged Man. He was wearing a green satin jacket and a red silk rope in his hand.

The little girl was a child daughter-in-law, and when she broke a red flower bowl during a meal, her mother-in-law beat her. He also punished her for weaving a belt at night, and if she didn't do it well, he would kill her at dawn. Now it's been four more. The belt is almost finished. The hanged man slashed his one-foot-long fingernail at the belt, and with a "snap", the belt broke. Seeing that the belt was broken for no reason, the tears of the child daughter-in-law rolled down. Isn't that destined to die? This broken belt cannot be connected or repaired, and it is too late to weave another one. What to do? The child daughter-in-law was anxious and panicked, and she was desperate.

At this time, the red silk rope in the hand of the hanged ghost was thrown desperately. opened and closed his mouth, instigating his adopted daughter-in-law to seek death quickly. The hanged ghost used a red silk rope to lead, and the child's daughter-in-law's heart was as uncomfortable as a knife cut. If you are beaten to death by your mother-in-law, it is better to seek death yourself. The child daughter-in-law really knotted the two belts. If you move over the bench, you have to hang yourself. The mountain watcher can see clearly outside the window. He couldn't help but pull out the firewood knife in the firewood sheath, kicked the door open and rushed into the house, raised the firewood knife and slashed at the hanged ghost, shouting as he chopped: "Hack you to death!" Hack you to death! "The hanged ghost came unexpectedly, and he hurriedly hid in the corner of the east house, and the mountain watcher split to the corner of the east house; The hanged ghost hid in the corner of the West Winghouse, and the mountain watcher split to the corner of the West Winghouse. The hanged ghost had no choice but to hurriedly get out the back door. "Ahh At this time, the child's daughter-in-law stood on the stool and was stunned. The mother-in-law, who lived in the back room, was also awakened and came out to rebuke the mountain watcher. Why did you break into the house in the middle of the night and yell? The mountain watcher told her what had just happened, and said that if a house was not peaceful, the ghost would come to the door. The mother-in-law listened to the reason, and pulled the child daughter-in-law to thank the mountain watcher.

The mountain watcher's house is outside the village and is a thatched hut. He was a bachelor, and there was nothing at home for people to steal, and he never locked the door every time he went to sell firewood, and when he came home, he threw his burden and slept when he entered the house. Today, he felt a little strange that the door could not be opened, as if someone was leaning against it. The mountain watcher knew about it, and he must have hanged the ghost to take revenge. But he was not afraid, and kicked in the door with all his might. Unexpectedly, he was stopped by the hanging ghost and hugged by his waist, and the mountain watcher couldn't get rid of it. I saw the hanged ghost with his mouth wide open, his tongue mopping the ground, and the blood was dripping, and he wanted to gnaw on the mountain man. The mountain watcher suddenly remembered that the elders had said that the hanged ghost was most afraid of people's saliva, and if the ghost swallowed people's saliva, he would freeze himself. Thinking of this, the mountain watcher desperately spat saliva into the mouth of the hanged ghost. Sure enough, the face of the hanged ghost also looked better a little bit, and the hand holding him slowly relaxed, and slowly turned into a middle-aged sister-in-law, looking at the mountain man, bowing her head and saying nothing. The mountain watcher happened to have no wife, and when he saw her fixed figure, he was quite happy in his heart, and said, "Don't be afraid, live with me!" She smiled and nodded with a red face. From then on, when the mountain watchers went out to sell firewood, they locked the door. The female ghost stays at home and never goes out, only cooking and washing clothes for the mountain watchers.

Over time, they had two sons. One summer night, the two sons were chilling in the courtyard. At this time, the mountain watcher and the female ghost carried a bucket of water through the courtyard. The moonlight was very high, and the eldest son suddenly cried out: "Hey! It's strange, Abba has a shadow, why doesn't Mom have a shadow? The youngest son also exclaimed, "Haha! Mom has no shadow, Mom has no shadow! ”

The son's words pierced the female ghost's heart, and with a "bang", the female ghost fell to the ground. The mountain watchers are busy with it, where can they afford it? Only the place where the female ghost fell, leaving a pool of clear water.

When people learned about this, they called this small village without a place name "Onihe". Later, I felt that it was not good to use "ghost with" as the name of the village, so I used homophony and changed it to "Jugen".

Two. Ghost lock the door

When my grandfather was young, he used to sell salt for a living, and in this business, he had to get up early and return late to make money.

Once, my grandfather rushed to a far-away market, and the business was very good that day, and when it was dark, he collected the salt stall, and the salt in the salt basket was almost sold out, so the grandfather carried two salt baskets and rushed to the house in the dark. When we were halfway there, it began to rain lightly, and then it became heavier and heavier, and because there was still some salt in the salt basket, my grandfather was afraid that it would get drenched, so he hurried forward.

After a while, he saw an orchard in front of him, and there was a hut at the edge of the orchard, so his grandfather hurried into it. I saw that the hut was empty, and there was no one, but now was the time when the fruit was ripe, how could there be no one in the hut who looked at the fruit, the grandfather wondered in his heart.

At this time, the rain outside was heavier, and Grandpa knew that he could not go home for the time being, and only spent the night here, but he did not dare to sleep, and after waiting for the rain to stop, he could go back as much as possible, because the next day, if it did not rain, he would have to go to the market. Just when he stared at the door with his eyes wide open, the door that had been open suddenly closed automatically, and Grandpa didn't pay much attention to it, thinking that the wind outside closed the door, but after a while, he heard very light footsteps outside the door, and the footsteps were so light that people couldn't hear them if they didn't pay attention. Grandpa thought that the orchard watcher had come, so he boldly asked, "Are you back?" ”。

A low sigh came from outside the door: "Alas! When I left, I forgot to lock the door, now lock it. Then I heard the sound of chains on the door

Grandpa heard that his voice was very cold, so he couldn't help but shiver, and said, "Friend, I'm in the house, you come in, let's be company." ”

Outside the door, except for the sound of rain falling on the ground, the low sigh and the sound of the chains on the door had stopped, and no other sound could be heard.

Grandpa thought that he had heard the wrong voice, and he didn't think deeply, so he made a bunk in the house and slept peacefully.

When the rain stopped at dawn, and when the grandfather woke up, he wanted to open the door, but no matter how hard he tried to open the door, he couldn't open it, and when he was anxious and helpless, he heard heavy footsteps outside the house, and saw an old man walking towards the hut, and the grandfather shouted at him: "Uncle, come and open the door for me." ”

After a while, the grandfather heard the old man come to the door and said, "No wonder you can't get out, who locked the door." ”

Grandpa said incredulously: "Last night, no one locked the door, it was the wind that closed the door. ”

The old man said again: "I didn't lie to you, someone really locked the door." Then he looked at the lock locked on the door very carefully, and suddenly trembled in fright and said: "This lock ~~~ I recognize, it is ~~~ the keeper of this orchard ~~~~ Orchard Liu Laohan." ”

When Grandpa heard this, he knew that he had heard the sound correctly last night, it was that Liu Laohan who had come and he locked the door of the house, but why did he lock me in the house? Did he think that I had come to steal the fruit, so that he might find some men to give me away after dawn? Just when the grandfather was wondering, he heard the old man tremble again: "Liu Laohan died of illness a few days ago, and his family has buried this lock in his grave, how can it appear here?" Hearing these words, grandpa suddenly sat down on the ground in fright, it turned out that it was Liu Laohan's ghost who locked grandpa in the house last night. Later, it was Liu Laohan's family who opened the lock and let his grandfather come out.

Since then, no matter how late my grandfather came back from the market, he didn't dare to stop halfway. (To be continued......)