The ancestral hall of the Wang family is in the township, it is located in a osmanthus forest, a walk into the osmanthus floating, the fragrance of flowers is like the wind, poetic and picturesque.

Xu Dachang thought: "If you bring a girl here for a walk, it will be beautiful for the two of us to recite poetry together again." ”

"Slut!"

Wang Qilin scolded in his mouth, good idea, he can bring Suisui Niangzi, but when the time comes, don't chant poetry and do it right, tell a ghost story to scare and scare her, hehehehe......

Soon walked to the ancestral hall, this ancestral temple was built a little strange, like a bunker, all bluestone red bricks, it looks very solid.

Seeing this, Wang Qilin threw away the charm in his heart, and said in surprise: "This ancestral shrine is not a fortress, how can it be built like this?"

Wu Dasan explained positively: "Oh, because there were often clan fights in Pingyang Mansion in the past, and the primary target of clan battles was each other's ancestral shrines, so the ancestral shrines had to be built unbreakable." ”

"In addition, before Taizu pacified the world, there were often mountain bandits in the surrounding mountains, and the mountain bandits would come down to rob the house, so the people needed a place to hide, and the ancestral shrine could be used to take refuge, and it is said that there were many tunnels in the ancestral hall, which were used to hide food for Tibetans. ”

Wang Qilin nodded knowingly.

The gate of the ancestral hall was closed, and Wang Yuantong went to slap the door with a bitter face.

The door creaked open, and an old man with gray hair came out and asked, "Who is this?"

Wang Yuantong explained Wang Qilin's intention, but the old man immediately shook his head, no matter how he explained, the old man just refused to get out of the way.

Seeing this, Wang Qilin was impatient, he was an official of the imperial court, but he was not a tourist, so he treated the Wang family with courtesy, but it was not his duty.

So he made a look, and Xu asked the old man with a smile: "Have you ever seen a fist as big as a casserole?"

The old man's eyes widened and said, "In broad daylight, Lang Lang Qiankun, you still dare to do bad things that violate the law and discipline?"

Xu Da laughed and was about to make a move, but Wang Qilin stopped him and said, "You don't need to do it, wait." ”

At this time, it was afternoon, and he was not in a hurry to enter this ancestral hall, but first circled the ancestral hall with Xie Toad and studied this ancestral hall from the outside.

But they still didn't study anything, Xie Toad flew up the wall and stepped on the wall and spun around, still shaking his head after coming down.

There is nothing eccentric about the ancestral hall.

Wang Qilin said: "It's all resting, we don't need to go in during the day, we can't see anything when we go in, and we will go in at night." ”

The osmanthus forest is elegant, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, he put eight meows and ninety-six out to stroll, he should give himself a half-day vacation, rest first.

In the afternoon, the clouds cleared, the sun barely appeared, and the autumn sun shone softly, flowing down through the branches.

Wang Qilin climbed the tallest and thickest osmanthus tree, sat on the branch and leaned on the trunk and whistled, leisurely.

Eight Meow lay on the branch of the tree and drooped four legs to listen to the whistle, and Nine-Six hurriedly climbed under the tree.

But the dog really can't climb a tree, it climbs up twice and then 'quacks' on the ground, the tengu skin is thick and rough, and it barks twice and continues to climb.

The sun sets in the west, and soon the last rays of light disappear and night falls.

Wang Qilin clapped his hands and jumped down and said, "Okay, it's not broad daylight now, it's dark, do it, go in." ”

As a result, the old man did not open the door, but he was shrewd, and when he saw that they were blocking the door, he simply bolted the door.

Wang Qilin's face was gloomy and said, "Break the door!"

It's a shame to the face!

If it were put in the hands of a cool official, that alone would cure them of contempt of the court.

Xu Da tightened the straps of his shoes, lifted his leg and kicked it.

The big wooden door wrapped in iron made a loud bang!

He kicked it up again, and the big wooden door began to shake.

Seeing this, Wang Qilin frowned and said, "Master Wu, you said that this ancestral hall was built to prevent bandits in the past?"

"That's right. ”

"That's not right, look at the protective power of this door panel, it can't even block a person's kick, let alone the attack of a bandit?"

Wu Dasan said with a smile: "The ancestral hall was not like this in the earliest days, at that time it was still made of thick bricks and stones, but the world was the same, the war stopped, and the descendants of the Wang family wanted to build new houses, so they demolished the bricks and stones outside and built many houses." ”

The old man guarding the ancestral hall was frightened, and seeing that the door panel was about to be kicked off, he hurriedly shouted: "I open the door, I open the door!"

"No surrender!" Xu shouted.

Wang Qilin waved his hand and said, "We must enforce the law in a civilized manner and enforce the law with etiquette!"

Xu Da thought about it and stepped back, and said gently: "Be careful, this official is coming!"

Then rush three steps in a row, and kick it with a jump!

A door fell off, Wang Qilin rolled his eyes: he wanted Xu Da to stop, but since he kicked the door open, he kicked it open, listening to the heavenly prison anyway, he has always enforced the law with violence, not to mention that the other party resisted and did not open the door, which was in the hands of the more violent yamen, and even the gatekeeper had to be arrested and punished.

The four of them entered the door, and the old man ran to the village.

The area of the ancestral hall of the Wang family is not large, it is considered to be two in and two out, and there is only a house in it and no grass and trees, so it looks empty at a glance.

The outer room was the janitor's dormitory, Wang Qilin pushed open the main room, and it was full of tablets, with a huge cinnamon wooden frame sticking to the wall, and many tablets were placed from top to bottom, up and down.

Eight Meow hesitated to go up and kowtow, it felt that this scene was quite suitable for kowtowing.

It doesn't hurt anyway, right?

After seeing it, Wang Qilin was stunned: "Hey, what about ninety-six?"

Outside the door, Jiuliu sat next to a stone lion with one paw raised, as if the lion was holding a stone ball with its claw.

Wang Qilin beckoned to it and said, "Six, what are you doing? Come in." ”

Hearing his voice, Jiuliu happily turned around and wagged his tail at him, but refused to enter the ancestral hall.

No matter how Wang Qilin shouted, it just wouldn't go in.

Wang Qilin noticed that something was wrong, and he went out to urge Jiuliu to enter the door, but Jiuliu was unwilling to jump over the threshold anyway.

Xie Toad said: "Could it be that it can't jump over?" ”

Wang Qilin shook his head, he carried the back of Jiuliu's neck into the door, and after Jiuliu landed, he was free, and immediately turned around and jumped out.

The threshold doesn't stop it at all.

It just won't enter this ancestral hall!

Obviously, there is something wrong with the ancestral hall!

But Wang Qilin couldn't see anything wrong with the ancestral hall, he looked at Xie Toad, Xie Toad shook his head in confusion, and said, "Let Jiuliu come in, let it find a problem." ”

As soon as he heard this, Jiuliu immediately got into the gutter at the door, but it only stuffed its head in, its body was still outside, and its little tail wagged and flew up, as if it was proud of its own inspiration.

Ignore your head.

Then a team of people arrived with torches, Wang Yuantong mixed in the crowd, the leader was a dignified old man, Wang Yuantong cowardly introduced: "Uncle......"

"Who called me?" Xu Da walked out quickly.

The gatekeeper in the crowd shouted, "It's this dog who kicked the door of our ancestral shrine just now!"

A few young and strong young men drew their machetes with gloomy faces, and made a noise to come up and drive them away.

Xu Da had a gloomy face and let out the mountain prince ghost.

Suddenly there was silence.

Only the torches burned and made a crackling sound.

The majestic-looking old man subconsciously took half a step back, and then strode forward and shouted: "Master Wu, you listen to the great majesty of the Heavenly Prison! Is the court offering you just to use spells to bully the people?"

Before this dynasty, the rule of the imperial court was known as "the state power is not under the county, the county is only the clan, the clan is autonomous, the autonomy depends on ethics, and ethics creates the squire".

In the past dynasties, the squires had unbelievable power in the local area, and a place like Osmanthus Township had the Wang family as the main body, and the patriarch of the Wang family was like the emperor of the soil, and he was really not afraid to listen to the small seal of the heavenly supervisor.

But what he is facing this year is not a small seal, Wu Dasan invited Wang Qilin's Tiewei Yin and said coldly: "Patriarch Wang, in front of you is our new Tiewei Lord of Pingyang Mansion, you heard what your clansmen said just now, if you want to punish him, you can take him down and send him to prison now!"

The elder of the Wang clan saluted with his hands after seeing the seal of Tie Wei, and said, "The grass people Wang Zhonghang pays a visit to Lord Tiewei and your lords. Master Wu's words are wrong, the saint has words, and those who don't know are not guilty......"

"Then if you don't know the identity of this official, there is no crime in killing this official, right?" Wang Qilin interrupted him and asked.

This is a bit heavy, killing officials is tantamount to rebellion, and rebellion is punishing the nine clans!

Osmanthus Township is not like other rural areas, there are many merchants here every year to buy osmanthus, osmanthus dew, osmanthus wine and other commodities, Wang Zhonghang has the same knowledge as the big families in the city.

After listening to Wang Qilin's words, he hurriedly knelt down and said: "My lord's words are serious, the grass people are loyal to the imperial court, how dare they murder your lord?"

Wang Qilin said: "Old man, this official is here to investigate a serious case, it is better to do this, this official will inform you of the truth, and then you Wang should do it yourself, you come in with this official." ”

Wang Zhonghang cautiously followed him into the ancestral hall, and Wang Qilin said with a cold face: "The next news, this official only tells you one person, you can't spread it, otherwise not only you will have the disaster of killing your head, but your entire Wang clan will have the disaster of extermination!"

Hearing this, Wang Zhonghang sighed in his heart, and he hurriedly said: "The grass people understand, you don't need to say anything, my lord, how do you need the grass people to cooperate, the grass people must cooperate!"

Wang Qilin said: "No, you have to know this news, otherwise you don't know what happened to your Wang family now." ”

He told Wang Zhonghang about the disappearance of the sixty-four scholars and the fact that Yang Zuo was probably dead, and Wang Zhonghang had insight, and after listening to it, he began to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

Wang Qilin continued: "This official has been ordered to inquire into this case, but the elders of the royal family should understand that if this official can't find out the truth, then the saint will be very unhappy, and Pingyang Mansion can't make the saint angry, and then he will have to find someone to make him a scapego!"

"Who are you looking for? Some of you Wang Clan said that the scholar and Lord Yang would die before they disappeared, if this matter is known to the high-ranking officials of the Heavenly Prison, will they think that your Wang family has a great deal to do with this case?

He is not scaring Wang Zhonghang, Wang Zhonghang is not frightened by his extraordinary knowledge, what he said is a practical operation.

When Wang Xiaobao said the words 'Feng Liang will die, Yang Zuo will die', the Wang family was involved in this case.

Wang Zhonghang knelt down and kowtowed: "Thank you, please investigate this case, the Wang family must know everything!

Wang Qilin nodded and asked, "Okay, let me ask you, was this ancestral hall built by your Wang family?"

Wang Zhonghang hesitated.

Wang Qilin noticed this and immediately looked at him sternly.

Seeing this, Wang Zhonghang gritted his teeth and arched his hand: "Lord Hui, this ancestral hall is actually not built by my Wang family, our Wang family migrated from the south, and saw that there are many locust trees here, leaving the clan." Before we arrived, this village was brutally looted by the soldiers of the previous dynasty and almost became a ruin, and our Wang clan took the lead in developing it again......"

"I'm asking about this ancestral hall!"

"Yes, yes, my lord is angry, this ancestral hall was originally a fortress, it was there when our Wang ancestor arrived, and later saw that it was strong, so our ancestors used it to resist bandits and horse bandits at first, and later made an ancestral hall. ”

Wang Qilin immediately became interested and asked, "Is there anything strange happening about this ancestral hall?"

Wang Zhonghang muttered: "Weird, weird things, yes, the most recent thing is that Xiaobao of the Erfang Yuantong family secretly entered the ancestral hall, he was found in a coma when he was found, and he woke up and became a spirit child. ”

"Where did he fall unconscious, and why did he enter the ancestral hall?"

Wang Zhonghang didn't know about this, he looked for the old man, and the old man said in a matter-of-fact manner: "Xiaobao, this child is in a coma in front of the ancestral tablet, these children are naughty and mischievous, and always find a way to sneak in and mess around, it must be that the ancestor is angry, so punish him for fooling around." ”

Xie Toad said coldly: "Your ancestor punished him for becoming a spirit child? Does the ancestor of the Wang clan have such a skill?"

The old man was proud to brag, Wang Zhonghang said sharply: "Uncle, this matter involves the safety of our Wang family, don't use the previous set of rhetoric to talk nonsense, this time people will die!"

Wang Zhonghang was very dignified in the Wang family, and after being scolded by him, the old man shrank his head and said, "He, he is at the back of the well, lying at the wellhead......"

"Take us there. ”

The group walked back, and Wang Zhonghang introduced: "This well has been deserted, the well water is very turbid, and there is a smell of smoke and fire. ”

The old man added: "Yes, but the naughty boys in the clan have nothing to do, and it is said that there are ghosts in this well, and they always throw stones and rotten melons and fruits into the well, and I have always been afraid that something will happen to them, so after Xiaobao fainted at the mouth of the well, I blocked it with a grinding plate." ”

Sure enough, bypassing the main house of the ancestral hall and passing through a gate is the backyard, and there are four small towers in the backyard, and between the towers is an open space, on which there is a large stone grinding plate.

Wu Dasan went up and removed the grinding disc, revealing a wellhead below.

This wellhead is not an ordinary circle, but boxy, not too big, one step long, half a step wide.

The grinding disc moved away, Wang Qilin leaned his head to look down, and first a pungent smell of fireworks came.

This is weird, how can there be a smell of fireworks in the well?

He took a torch and shone it down, the well was not too deep, and with the help of the torch light he could see the water rippling, so he estimated that the height of the water from the wellhead to the well was about six or seven feet.

Xie Toad asked, "Has anyone died in this well?"

Wang Zhonghang said very firmly: "No, absolutely not! Whether it is suicide by throwing himself into a well or accidentally falling into a well and dying in our clan is a big deal, I can't not know!"

At this time, the old janitor wanted to speak and stopped.

Xie Toad Old Jianghu, always looking around, he immediately looked at the old man and asked, "Old man, tell me, what are you hiding?"

The old man hurriedly waved his hand: "I didn't hide it, but there is something that the clan elder may have ignored, no one has died in the well, but there has been a person who has fallen, it is Xiaobao, when I found Xiaobao that day, his clothes were wet, and it was the gray and black water below." ”

Wang Zhonghang said: "I didn't ignore this, Xiaobao didn't fall, it is estimated that their naughty boy used a rope to tie a bucket to get water and had a water fight, so his body would be wet, otherwise although this well is not deep, it is not something that a ten-year-old child can climb up, right?"

Wang Qilin said violently: "Could it be that Xiaobao fell down, something got on his body, and then this thing controlled him to climb up?"

In late autumn, the wind was already cold, and hearing him say such a sentence in the middle of the night, the Wang clan shivered.

Wang Yuantong shouted: "No, no! Xiaobao is Xiaobao, although he is confused most of the time, but sometimes he is more sober, I am his father, I can recognize him, he is Xiaobao!"

Xie Toad said in a deep voice: "Immeasurable Tianzun, don't be anxious, Lao Dao has seen it, your Xiaobao is indeed himself, he has not been subjected to any demons and monsters." ”

When he said this, he gave Wang Qilin a look, and Wang Qilin thought that he had discovered something, so he stopped talking.

Hearing the words of the old Taoist priest, the Wang clan breathed a sigh of relief.

Xie Toad squatted on the edge of the well and hung it upside down with a torch tied to a rope, and then stared at the well with a swaying look.

At night, the well water was dim, and although the fire burned vigorously, it still could not illuminate the well water.

Wang Qilin looked down and saw that the well water was gray.

He muttered, "The water in this well is indeed very mixed, and it stands to reason that there is a fire illumination, and I should not be unable to see anything clearly." ”

Wu Dasan said positively: "Let's throw down something and see what color the splash is, so that we can know the color of the well water?"

The backyard was cleaned up and free of clutter.

The old janitor explained: "There used to be a mess of rocks here, but the urchins always liked to throw them into the well, so I cleaned them all up. ”

Wu Dasan was in a hurry to perform, so he simply found a rope to tie the waist knife and threw the knife in.

There was a 'poof' sound, and the water splashed.

The splash was indeed muddy, but not muddy like muddy water, but like a mixture of ashes.

Xie Toad threw a talisman down.

The talisman burns and is extinguished when it enters the water.

Xu Da smacked his lips and said, "You still don't like that the well water is not muddy enough?"

This scene, this sentence-

A bolt of lightning struck Wang Qilin's mind, and he said in a deep voice: "I seem to know what's going on in this well!

Wang Zhonghang shook his head: "Never reversed!"

Wang Qilin was stunned, Xu Da's words just now reminded him, and made him think of what was going on with the well water: the gray and muddy well water was mixed with some black things, just like a talisman burned and mixed into a small bowl of water, the two were exactly the same!

Xie Toad got up and said: "There are some problems with this ancestral hall, we have to check here tonight, the elder of the royal family, you take the clansmen back first, no one is allowed to approach here tonight." ”

Wang Zhonghang agreed and took people away.

Xu Da bolted the door, Jiuliu exploded, and hurriedly rushed out and scratched the door with his claws: Daddy, Daddy, the cub didn't go in outside the door!

Wang Qilin fished it in, and then it stuffed itself into the corner of the door, leaning against the corner like a dog.

He asked Xie Toad, "Just now I said that when Xiaobao climbed up from the well, you gave me a look, did you find anything?"

Xie Toad shook his head and said: "No, I asked the adults not to say it, the villagers are timid and ignorant, if they think that Wang Xiaobao is possessed by demons and monsters, this news can kill the child." ”

Wang Qilin suddenly nodded silently: "It's me who didn't think it through." ”

Xie Toad smiled again: "But I do have a discovery now, and I know about what that well is." ”

Wang Qilin was pleasantly surprised: "What is it?"

"Sacrificial well!"

Xie Toad stroked his beard and said, "Lord Wang's words just now reminded me that the reason why the well water is turbid is that there are too many ashes mixed with it, the ashes of paper money, paper people, and paper horses!"

He led the three of them backwards, pointed to the mouth of the well and said, "Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable, look, what does this opening look like?"

Xu Da said in a deep voice: "Coffin!"

Wu Dasan's eyes straightened on the spot.

Xie Toad jumped up and slapped him on the back of the head: "What are you still blind and clever at this time? How can this be a coffin? On the contrary, this is a ding, this is the opening of a big ding!"

Wang Qilin thought for a while and said, "It really looks like a big ding." ”

Xie Toad said proudly: "The old Taoist priest will not be mistaken, and if we dig down from all sides, we will definitely be able to dig three or four stone pillars, which are the legs of this sacrificial ding!"

"Is it a sacrificial well or a sacrificial ding?" asked Xu Da.

Xie Toad said: "Stupid, this is a sacrificial well in the shape of a sacrificial tripod!"

"I'll talk about the sacrifice first, there is a saying you should have heard, the husband is not born to eat five tripods, and death is to cook five tripods. You know that the tripod is the important weapon of the country and the important weapon of the society, but do you know what the tripod did in the first place?"

Xu Da nodded and said: "Can I not know this? The earliest was that Xia Yu collected the gold of Jiumu and cast Jiuding under Jingshan Mountain to symbolize Kyushu, and engraved the graphic ...... of the charm on it."

"Wrong! Two places!" Xie Toad shook his head, "First, Ding was not made by Xia Yu at the earliest, it was there earlier, it was used for sacrifices. That is to say, the tripod was not used by people at the earliest, but the sacrifices such as sheep, pigs, skin, fish, and wax were used for ghosts and gods, so they can be called sacrificial tripods. ”

So the sacrificial well appeared, it imitated the sacrificial tripod and built, used to sacrifice to the ghosts and gods, and could collect the eight side sacrifices, the turbid water of the well is the result of collecting the eight directions of paper money, paper people, paper horses, and paper cars!"

"Second, Xia Yu did not cast nine tripods when he collected the gold of Jiu Mu, he only cast a tripod, that tripod has thousands of creations, called the creation of the tripod, why is it called the nine tripods of the folk?

Hearing this, Wang Qilin was shocked violently, and said in a lost voice: "What Xia Yu cast is just a tripod?