"The master is a lot of mysteries, how to catch ghosts by telling stories? But I love stories the most, so let's get started. Xuanyi clapped his hands and said happily. When everyone was ready, the Taoist began to pass the lamp, and struck the copper chime with the ring ruler, and there was a clanging sound, and the flame whirred, and the first one pointed to the old woman.

The old woman put her cane on her lap and sighed, "This is because of me, and I should be the first to tell you." I don't have any stories, but I've heard a story about crossing a river before, so I'll tell you a little bit about it. ”

Then tell the story:

At the mouth of the river on the west side of the Yellow River, the water is usually rolling and the undercurrent is turbulent. If there is a wind, the waves will be overturned, and the waves will be monstrous. Ordinary people don't dare to approach, but there is a prince Liu, who specializes in rowing boats and ferrying people there. Wang Liu is skilled, and with only one penny, he can travel back and forth between the banks of the Yellow River. People know the dangers of water, and rarely dare to cross the Yellow River, only those who are bold, or have urgent matters, or are reckless, dare to board his boat easily.

The day was sunny, with light winds and gentle waves. Wang Liu was half lying under the willow tree on the shore and smoking a dry cigarette. After a while, a group of guests crossing the river gathered on the bank. A wealthy, richly dressed jeweler was accompanied by a young man under twenty years of age. Five sturdy young men who came out of the mountains to work together, an old monk and two teenage monks. There was also an ugly peasant woman dressed in tattered linen clothes with a yellow cloth on her head, and she was holding a baby in her arms.

The sun was rising, and the figure was already a lot shorter, and Wang Liu was still lying on the ground smoking. The fattest businessman, so hot that his forehead sweated, and he kept flicking his sleeves and fanning the wind. After enduring it for a while, he walked over and urged: "Boat family! It's not early, so let's cross the river. Don't wait any longer, I'll give you double the boat pay. "Yes, people are almost the same, don't be greedy, old man. If there are more people in your boat, it will be crowded, and then don't go into the river again. The young men also gathered around. The old monk and the young monk also stood impatiently and looked forward to it.

Zi Gong knocked the bronze smoke pot on the ground a few times, put it on his shoulder, and stood up. Stretched out his hand and counted the number of people, and a total of ten people came.

(When the old woman talked about this, Xuanyi found that it was wrong, obviously twelve people crossed the river, how could the old woman talk about ten people?) was about to ask, but the Taoist glanced at her, pointed to the ring ruler in front of her, and immediately covered his mouth with interest. ）

Wang Liu counted the number of people and said, "Men cross the river for 20 wen, women and children for 10 wen, and pay when they get to the other side." When you get on the boat, you are not allowed to talk nonsense, otherwise you will fall into the water to feed the fish, and you will be responsible for it. ”

Everyone agreed indifferently and laughed and boarded the boat. Wang Liu looked up at the sky, it was a good time for the sky to be clear and windless, and he used a penny to prop the boat off the shore.

The boat is leisurely in the water, the breeze is refreshing, and the guests on the boat feel more comfortable and stable. The jewel merchant clutched the burden in his arms with his hands, thinking about the little wealth he had earned from leaving home this time, and he had a smile hidden in his face. The young man stood by the side, and his face was full of the comfort of returning home. The young man was inevitably a little ostentatious and frivolous, and the five of them sat in the middle of the boat, their eyebrows fluttering and laughing, and they talked about going to the city to make money and go home to build a house and marry a daughter-in-law. The old monk sat firmly on the boat board at the back, holding a shelf, and gave lectures to the two little monks, saying what good and evil cause and effect, and doing good deeds and accumulating virtue. The peasant woman sat peacefully in the stern of the boat with her baby in her arms. Wang Liu propped up the boat with a bamboo pole, ignored the noisy people on the boat, looked at the shore with a solemn face, and did not dare to relax for a moment.

When the boat reached the middle of the river, the young men frolicked and shouted more and more, and the woman looked up and advised: "Be quiet, or you will wake up the children." The young men turned around and saw that the peasant woman's black face was black, like the bottom of a pitch-black pot, and they all leaned forward and backwards with laughter, pointing and laughing: "Haha, haha! You see, this girl's face is too dark, didn't she pick up the bottom of the pot in the morning and forgot to wash her face. Ignoring the peasant woman's pleas, she became even more unscrupulous and noisy.

"Wow! Wow! "Eventually, the baby will be woken up and crying. The baby, though weak, was loud, shrill and piercing, and made the crowd irritated. The peasant woman shook and coaxed softly, but to no avail. The calm water seemed to be flooded by the babies, the wind began to be violent, the waves became fierce, and the boat began to bouncing up and down.

Everyone was in no good mood, and gradually became a little nervous. The baby seemed to have no end of strength, and cried louder and louder, as if it was about to break the noise. Everyone was restless and frowned, and the young man pointed at the peasant woman and shouted arrogantly: "Take care of your children, you are making a lot of noise." Cry again, throw him into the water and feed the fish. The peasant woman was full of helplessness and anxiety, and complained: "What can I do if the child cries, it is not that you have to wake him up." Liu glanced back, did not speak, and continued to hold the bamboo pole to the shore as best he could.

The river suddenly rose with huge waves and lifted the wooden boat, and the sudden shocking change frightened everyone into the face of the earth, and they all grabbed the side of the boat and did not dare to move. Frightened, I saw a black strange fish several feet long suddenly fly up in the water, jumping over everyone's heads. The black pressure pressed a large area of black yin on the top, and the fishy wind and turbid water fell from the sky, and everyone cried out: "Ah! Oh my mother! Big fish monster! Raise big fish in deep water, this Yellow River really hides the dragon lord. If it falls into the water, it's not enough for it to swallow in one gulp! ”

The merchant clutched the treasure in his arms, closed his eyes, and muttered nonsense: "Buddha bless!" Daozu bless! Immortal Ancestor bless! Bless the gods of all walks of life! If I can go ashore safely, I will do good deeds and accumulate virtue in the future, donate money to repair temples and Buddhas, and I will definitely repay you gods and grandfathers. The young man was already frightened, and trembling with the merchant's arm in his arms. The old monk and the little monk hugged together, the old monk's face was blue, the little monk's face was white, and they all trembled with "Amitabha". The five young men lay on the side of the boat, their calves trembling, and they shrunk their heads and did not dare to move.

The black fish monster constantly stirred up huge waves around the ship, trying to overturn the ship. King Liu stood on the plank, unmoved, still holding a penny to the shore. With a "snap", the big fish jumped up and bit off the bamboo pole in his hand. Without the penny to guide the boat, the boat immediately spun in the turbulent waves. Wang Liu had no choice, so he squatted down, took out his cigarette pouch and smoked casually.

"Without Penny, how can we cross the river! There are also man-eating fish monsters in this water, and they really forgot to burn incense when they went out, and encountered this evil thing. Boatman, you quickly find a way, as long as you can save me from it, I will give you tenfold, no, a hundred times the ship's money! The merchant shouted at Wang Liu. Don't be in a hurry, wait patiently for a while, the fish won't capsize, and when it gets tired, it will naturally leave. Wang Liu spit out a puff of smoke and said calmly.

"Boom! Boom! Crash! "The fish monster suddenly hit the boat again, and everyone immediately staggered again, and the river was half a boat." The water is in the boat, quickly throw the water out, otherwise the boat will sink and everyone will not survive! The merchant hurriedly shouted. The crowd was in a hurry, rushing the water out of the boat. "Bang Bang! ......" The fish monster slammed into it even more ferociously.

The crowd staggered after the shipowner, and the merchant shouted, "No! This fish monster is too fierce, this wooden boat is afraid that it will be sunk by it in a while, it will not go if it does not eat us, everyone quickly find a way! The people were equally anxious, but there was nothing they could do about it. And the baby in the peasant woman's arms cried even more, which added to the irritability in everyone's hearts.

"One of them" suddenly pointed at the child and shouted, "This is it!" It was the child's cry that drew the fish monster in. The fish monster must be waiting to eat the child! "That's right! I think so. The old man said that women and children were not allowed to get on the boat, and that they must have attracted the fish monsters, and if they were thrown off the boat, the fish monsters would leave. ”

Everyone looked at the woman and the child in her hand, and even the old monk stopped chanting and looked at it expectantly. Seeing that everyone was staring at her like wolves, the peasant woman hugged the baby in her hand and shook her head in fear: "No! Why do you blame us, why don't you say it's a monster you attracted? You just look at us orphans and widows as easy to bully, and you can't be a man without conscience. ”

Another huge wave came, and the boat flew up and down into the sky, and fell back to the water. Everyone was knocked to pieces, as if they had died once, and tears were all scared. The merchant didn't hide it anymore, gritted his teeth angrily and shouted: "It's her, I don't think their mother and daughter are normal." They must be disaster stars, feed them to the fish monster, we can survive! Otherwise, everyone will die in this river. The crowd looked at each other with resentment, as if they were really to blame.

"That's right! It's them who hurt them, and if we want to live, we have to throw them into the river! As soon as a young man drank it, he crawled over with four other men, snatched the baby from the woman's arms, and pushed her into the water. The woman struggled desperately with the child in one hand and the plank in the other. accidentally ripped off the cloth on his head, revealing a black face that really looked like black charcoal, and his eyes were even more frighteningly white!

Everyone was stunned, and a young man said angrily: "It's so ugly, it's sinful to live, it's not wronged to die, and it can save a boatload of our lives!" Then he snatched the baby from the woman's arms even harder. The other four took the opportunity to hold the woman down, and the young man snatched the baby and threw it into the water. "Ahh The woman's heart ached violently, she screamed, and then jumped into the water.

The woman and the baby were thrown into the water, swallowed up in the murky waters in the blink of an eye. Frightened and ashamed, the crowd sat back in silence. However, it is strange that after they were thrown into the water, the river really returned to calm, and the fish monster did not reappear. The young man who threw the child took a breath, swallowed his saliva with a weak heart, and pointed to the river: "See, I said that it was a monster caused by this child." I don't blame me, I'm here for everyone's good. Everyone nodded in unison, and they all bowed their heads and exhaled in peace.

"Master! Buddhism is not compassionate, why should children be fed to monsters? Didn't you just say that you should do good deeds and accumulate virtue? Is it right to feed a child to a youkai? A young monk took the old monk's hand and looked questioning. The old monk's face turned red, pondered for a moment, and sighed: "Yes, the master is still an ordinary man, he is still creating karma, and he is still in the cycle of cause and effect, and it is estimated that I will not be able to escape this hell after death." ”

The merchant tucked the burden in his arms and said with a smile: "Hey, old monk, I don't know what will happen after death, but we are not alive now." You, you have escaped this fate, and you can live a few more years! Boatman, find something to row, don't delay any longer. When you get to the shore, you will pay ten times the boat money. ”

Everyone was happy, but Wang Liu sighed: "Your road has come to an end, where else can the ship go?" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a huge wave of more than ten feet suddenly surged on the surface of the water, engulfing the boat mercilessly. Not long after, the boat floated back to the river, and only the prince Liu climbed back into the boat. He twisted the water on his clothes and looked at the river, only to see three big black-faced fish swimming slowly. With a sigh, he rowed back to shore.

"Ding!" The Taoist used the ring ruler to knock on the copper bowl again to awaken the gods.