I understood what Master meant, but if the cat's ghost was meant to protect Granny Yang as he said, then Granny Yang must be threatened to some extent. So I asked Master, where does such a threat come from? Is it from Granny Yang's wife?

Master squinted at Granny Yang, because we both spoke in a very low voice, so that Granny Yang would not hear her. And Master's eyes were telling me that what he suspected was probably exactly what I had guessed. Master told me that just now on the grave, I lit the incense of soldiers and horses and couldn't find any traces, and now I know that there are at least two ghosts in this house, one is Granny Yang's wife, and the other is the animal spirit of the old cat. Now in the house, Terracotta should be able to find some more clues. Will you do it or will I do it?

I said then I'll do it, and if I can't do it, Master, you'll go out again. Master nodded, and then asked me, where are you going to start? I said that we didn't find Granny Yang just now, and she woke up and told me that she went to the kitchen once, and then she didn't remember the next, so if she was possessed at that time, she should have been in the kitchen. Master said, then start lighting incense from the kitchen and see what the soldiers and horses refer to in the end.

So I left Master to accompany Granny Yang, afraid that she would suddenly be possessed again. I walked into the kitchen, which was extremely rudimentary, and for my size, it would be a bit uneven if two people were standing in it at the same time. I first offered incense to the god of the stove, and then summoned the soldiers and horses, instructed to find the traces of the ghosts that existed here, and then gave me a clue. After the incense of the terracotta rose, it first circled around the kitchen in all directions, and then the smoke suddenly turned in the direction of the hall and drifted directly towards the hall.

So I held incense in my left hand, rattled the bell with my right hand, and walked out with the smoke. In the past, when the purpose of using soldiers and horses was to find people and things, because of the rampant relationship between soldiers and uncontrolled, I always had to take a detour, so I often searched for a long time in an originally small area. But this time it was different, the fragrance of the soldiers and horses guided me to the calendar hanging on the wall, no matter which direction I went, the smoke would always drift towards the calendar, and I thought to myself, sure enough, this calendar is the key.

When Master saw this, he walked up to me and looked at the calendar. I told him by the way that I thought the calendar had been turned over. Master took the incense from my hand, shook it a few times, and shook some of the ashes of the incense in his palm. The Master brought the palm of the incense ash to his mouth, flipped through the calendar page by page, and blew a little incense ash on the calendar every time he turned the page.

I never understood what Master was doing this for. It wasn't until he had just turned seven or eight pages that he stopped. There was a worried look on Master's face, but he didn't say anything superfluous, just asked me to look at the incense ash on the calendar. I looked at it carefully, and found that the pages that Master had examined, each of which had a finger-sized mark, had never been able to stick to the incense ash.

So I understood that the things that the ghost and the ghost have come into contact with will leave some traces of the ghost, and the incense ash is the ash left after worshipping the gods, and the ghost has a certain repulsive effect on the incense ash, just like the incompatible relationship between oil and water. The finger-like marks on the blank pages of the calendar happen to be the traces of the ghost reaching out to flip through the calendar.

Since it is a finger, it must be humanoid, so there is no doubt that it was Granny Yang's wife who flipped through these calendars, tore off the dates, and then took them to her grave and threw them away. Master gave me a look and asked me to follow him to the door, and he whispered to me, "What is the last day you saw?" I said January 10th. Master frowned and said, if the expectation is good, this day is the day when Granny Yang's deadline is approaching.

I was taken aback, so I asked Master why he said that, and Master said that if he expected it to be right, Granny Yang's wife may have never left for decades, but has been dormant. Do you remember what Granny Yang said about her dream? I nodded, and Master went on to say that if an old man dreamed of a dead person and let him follow, and it can be proved that it was not a pure dream, there is also a possibility that this dead person will be the guide of the living, and it is precisely because his life is coming to an end that he will be particularly sensitive to the perception of the materials of the other world, including ghosts.

Master said that this Granny Yang's wife should know that the 10th day of the first month is the day when Granny Yang will die, and then the family will be reunited. That's why it appeared at the last stage of Granny Yang's life, including tearing off the calendar and flipping the calendar, all because of this. And the old cat, it can see the ghost of Granny Yang's wife, and the cat knows that it is a ghost, probably thinking that this ghost will hurt Granny Yang, so he has an act of possession of Granny Yang according to his own ideas.

When I heard this, I was still a little puzzled. People who have been dead for decades have long passed the time limit of reincarnation, and even if they appear now, they should not have such a clear consciousness. How can it be so obvious? Master said that he was also a little skeptical about this question, but he quickly figured it out. He pointed to the three graves in the vegetable field from a distance and said to me, you look at the three tombs, two are sons and one is Lao Tzu, this Granny Yang married into the village, that is to say, Granny Yang's wife was originally from the village. But after his death, he was not able to be buried with his ancestors, which shows that there are only two reasons. Either he doesn't know who his ancestors are, or he can't find where his ancestors are. In either case, he chose to leave his grave here after his death, and if it is calculated according to the family bloodline, his grave can be managed by the ancestral grave of three generations of his family.

Master said that it stands to reason that the four generations from Granny Yang's son to her great-grandson will be blessed by the ancestral grave of her wife. But because of the early death of his son and the absence of a family heir, as the ancestral tomb of the guardian family, it has lost its meaning at this moment, but it has long passed the time limit of reincarnation, so it has flowed down. Master said that in so many decades, Granny Yang had never encountered such a thing, so much so that she had forgotten what her husband looked like. This shows that at least after her two sons died, the old wife in the ancestral grave chose to lie dormant in it, and she couldn't enter reincarnation anyway, so she didn't continue to wander and consume herself. It wasn't until he realized that his wife would die soon, that he came out again. And he didn't come out to scare her, but silently counted the days and waited for that day to come.

Hearing this, I felt a little emotional, so I looked back at Granny Yang who was sitting in the room and dozing off, perhaps because of Master's words, which caused me to feel different when I looked at Granny Yang. The old man, who I thought was healthy an hour ago, looks so weak now. I asked Master, is there any other way to save Granny Yang? Master shook his head and said, although we are Taoist priests and do things to save people and save lives, some things are actually destined to end a long time ago. We can't predict a person's death, but ghosts that are closely related to that person can. If you want to force a change, of course there will be a way, but is that really good?

I stopped talking, in fact, I understood these truths, but it was not easy to accept for a while. Master said that this Granny Yang's wife was not the one who wanted to kill her, and the only irrationality of its existence was that it had violated the law and existed for so long. On the contrary, the ghost of the old cat, although it was intended to protect its owner, invisibly caused Granny Yang's body to be weaker, do you know why her wife keeps flipping through the calendar? It should be because of the influence of the cat's ghost that this Granny Yang's deadline came earlier, but livestock is an animal after all, if you really want to blame it, you can't blame it.

Master said that the current solution can only be to make a small protective ritual for this Granny Yang, to protect her from being affected by other souls before she dies, because even if it is not for the ghost of harming people, staying with people for a long time will also consume people's own yang energy and essence, so the ghost of that cat, we must first think of ways to get rid of it. The soul of Granny Yang's wife, let's wait until after the 10th of January and send it away together with Granny Yang.

Although I am young and conceited, I also know that fate cannot be violated. Obviously, Master has a way to continue Granny Yang's life, but I don't know exactly what way, and Master won't do it. In the world we live in, we are the ones who save people, but in the world of metaphysics, anyone who violates the laws of heaven and earth is called nosy. Master also once said that this is the reason why we have to receive remuneration even if it is an egg or a piece of cloth, which is why that person's money will eliminate disasters for others, and with such a business relationship, it is not a nosy, otherwise, if we intervene in other people's cause and effect, we will bear the cause and effect that does not belong to us, not only for ourselves, but also for our family members and descendants.

Master patted me on the shoulder and said, don't tell Granny Yang about these things, she is old, alone, she has long known the destiny of heaven, and death may not be the most terrible for her. Now that it is not yet dark, Master will go back to Aunt Xu's house first and tell their family about this incident.

I asked Master why he wanted to tell others, and what would I do if you were gone? The master sighed and said, if it is said that Granny Yang will definitely die on the tenth day of the first month, this barren mountain and wild mountain is rarely populated on weekdays, and there must be villagers to help take care of the aftermath, so since you can't hide, let them help prepare in advance, since you know, you can't change it, you can't let her go when she is still so lonely, right?

After speaking, the master said to me, you will stay tonight, deal with the ghost of the old cat, even if it is an animal, don't forget to treat it kindly.