Master Zeng, surnamed Zeng Mingyun, the word is like Xuan, after the official eunuch.

If you have power, you will have money, and if you have money, your ancestors will be rich, so you will be born with money.

At that time, only rich people could afford to read, so Master Zeng was not only rich, but also famous.

Of course, his little fame is limited to allowing him to hire subordinates (without fame, the family can't use subordinates, and if he has money), he has never been an official, and he doesn't need to be an official, because just relying on the inheritance left by his ancestors, even if he doesn't do anything, he can live a life of fine clothes and fine food for the rest of his life.

However, as the so-called ...... People have no foresight, but they must have near-term worries.

Master Zeng is not stupid, he understands that no matter how rich you are, if you don't have the blessing of power, in the long run, it will be unstable.

Therefore, many years ago, he was very witty to marry his only daughter to a young and promising official in the court, and spent a lot of money to make money for this son-in-law; now, his son-in-law is already the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and his grandson also has two; the son-in-law is very grateful to him, and the interests of the two families are also closely tied together, so this Zeng old man is not said to be in the locality, even if he looks at the whole Dahui, he can be regarded as a quite powerful figure.

However, at the end of the summer of the eighteenth year of Yongtai, Zengfu, which had always been peaceful, suddenly had a series of strange things.

Looking back now, the cause of that incident should have been half a month ago......

In the back kitchen of Zengfu, there are two helpers, a pair of brothers, one is called He Da and the other is called He Er. One day, when they were pushing a swill cart out to pour swill, He Er happened to see something shining in the sun on the grass by the river, and he looked closer and found that it was actually a carp made of glass.

In our eyes, this thing is roughly a deteriorated version of the "Eight Stars and Eight Arrows 998 Crystal Diamond", and the cost is so low that it is beyond imagination, but in terms of Daxiao's chemical level and industrial capacity, this thing is relatively rare, and even if it is taken to a pawnshop, it can be exchanged for a lot of money.

The He brothers are just ordinary people living at the bottom, they don't have the kind of ideological consciousness of "picking up valuable things and quickly finding the owner", after picking up things, their first thought is: "This time God can be regarded as an eye-opener, let my brothers pick up such a big bargain."

In their cognition, if they find this thing, it will already belong to them, even if the owner comes to the door afterwards, they may not be willing to give it...... At the very least, we have to reap some benefits.

So, on the way home, the two of them couldn't wait to discuss how to sell this thing afterwards, how to divide the money from the sale, how to spend it after the distribution, and so on.

That night, both of them were so excited that they couldn't sleep, but because there were other people next to them, they couldn't discuss it openly, so they could only hold back.

When the time came, they were really tired, so they fell asleep one after another.

In large households, there is a special room for people to sleep in, similar to the current collective dormitory, the He brothers and four other people sleep in one, the big bunk, and the brothers' bunks are next to each other.

The "fish" that he picked up during the day, because they were afraid of being seen by others, so they never took it out, and always carried it in He Er's arms, and he didn't like to sleep like this.

And so, until the beginning of the day.

In today's parlance, it's more than three o'clock in the morning, which is when people sleep most soundly.

Suddenly......

Outside the window of the lower room, there was a strange hiss--sss

At first it was soft, like the sound of a tree branch being blown by the wind on the window paper, but then it grew louder and more urgent.

The He brothers were too tired to sleep deeply and didn't hear it, but a family member named Zhao Daqiang, who lived in the same room with them, woke up when he slept, and after a while, he was woken up by the sound.

Zhao Daqiang was just in his early twenties this year, a young man, and his blood was strong, he didn't think much about it, he sat there a little slowly, then got up and went out, wanting to see what the sound was about, and went to the toilet by the way.

He thought he might be hearing the sound of a wild cat or an owl in a tree, but he pushed the door open and turned his head......

He could see that in the moonlight, a black, salty-smelling unknown object stood less than half a meter away from him, half a head taller than him.

As soon as this thing entered the field of vision, Zhao Daqiang instantly lost his sleepiness, and his whole body seemed to be as cold as if he had fallen into an ice hole;

And his eyes, which had gradually adapted to the dim light, finally saw clearly after a few seconds...... The black thing in front of him was a long black hair that had been soaked in the water for an unknown amount of time, and it was already as wet and sticky as a water weed, and from the gap in the long hair, there was a miserable white human face, staring at him with a pair of rolling eyes.

Thanks to the fact that he is a young man, if he were to be replaced by a woman or an old man, he would have to faint even if he was not scared to death on the spot.

Zhao Daqiang was okay, but his legs were weak, and he sat on the ground with his buttocks, and he choked on his throat when he shouted......

After a few seconds, his pants were wet, and the warm touch brought him back to his senses a little, and his throat stopped stopping, and he immediately shouted, "Help!

In the middle of the night, his voice was lively...... Not only the family slaves, but even the old men and ladies were awakened by this hoarse shout.

The fastest to arrive at the scene were the five lying in the room next to him, but when they came out, except for Zhao Daqiang, who was sitting on the ground and peeing his pants, there was not even half a figure around.

Not long after, the housekeeper and other family members also arrived, and they poured two mouthfuls of hot water and slapped Zhao Daqiang twice, which calmed him down and recounted those things just now.

But when asked where his "ghost" went, he couldn't say, only that his eyes were slightly staggered, and the ghost disappeared.

Then, until the hour before dawn, it became very difficult...... The whole Zeng Mansion, including Master Zeng, who listened to the housekeeper's report, didn't dare to close their eyes anymore.

People of that year were afraid of this. Even if they had never seen them, they were more or less in awe of ghosts and gods. So Master Zeng immediately ordered all the subordinates to be called up and held lanterns in their backyards...... That is, patrolling back and forth within the scope of Xiaoyaojin, and report any abnormalities immediately.

In this way, until dawn, as soon as the sun came out, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, after all, demons and evil spirits could not see the sun.

This matter is here, and it can be regarded as a temporary subsidence.

And at this time, He Da He Er didn't think that this matter had anything to do with him......

In the afternoon of the same day, when they came out to pour swill, they sneaked to a nearby pawnshop and wanted to sell the glazed fish.

As soon as the pawnshop guy saw this thing, he called the shopkeeper out, and the shopkeeper took it and looked at it a little, and then the façade let go and asked He Da He Er to take this thing away, saying that they would not accept it.

But if they wanted to ask again, the shopkeeper would not say anything, but only let them take the things away quickly, or he would throw them out.

The He brothers had no choice but to take the things back, thinking that when they came out tomorrow, they would go farther away and ask other pawnshops.

So on this day, they brought the glass fish back to Zeng's mansion, and hid it in He Er's arms.

That night, there was no movement, and there was no word all night.

Unexpectedly, early the next morning, He Da opened his eyes and saw that He Er was gone; He Da thought to himself: Could it be that my younger brother ran away with his things?

He hurriedly got up and asked all over the courtyard to look for it, but no one had ever seen He Er.

He Da was angry, and said that He Er must have left him and ran away, maybe He Er had already swallowed the money from selling things at this time, left Luzhou, and went to other places to do small business.

But if you really want to talk about looking for it, this world is big, and He Er's appearance is not very distinctive, where can he find it?

Thinking of this, He Da regretted that his intestines were blue, he believed in his younger brother so much, he kept the fish at his younger brother's place, and the result was empty of personal wealth.

Another day passed, the housekeeper found He Da and asked him where his younger brother had gone, why he didn't come to work, He Da could only answer that he didn't know; The He brothers were just helpers, not sold into Zeng's mansion, as long as they paid their wages, they could leave at any time, so He Er disappeared when the salary was not settled, and the housekeeper would not ask anything more, after all, there were not one or two people in the mansion.

And so, on the third day...... Two things happened.

The first one - Zhao Daqiang died, died of illness.

Since the night of the "ghost collision", Zhao Daqiang has been ill, unable to eat, and unable to sleep; when he asked the doctor to show him, he couldn't see any illness, so he could only assume that he was overly frightened, and casually grabbed some prescriptions to help calm his mind and sleep.

But as soon as he drank the medicine, he vomited...... Didn't take a few sips at all.

He is a small family, and it is impossible for the house to arrange any special and thoughtful care for him, so it would be good to get him a small room to lie down and recuperate.

In this way, he did not eat, drink, or sleep for several days, and when that evening came into the house to see him, he was already lying there and dying.

Almost at the same moment, also in the backyard of this Zeng Mansion, there was a second incident - He Er's body floated up from the free pool.

In just half an hour, two dead people were found in a row, which is not a trivial matter.

Zhao Daqiang's death is easy to deal with, he was sold to Zeng's mansion since he was a child, not to mention dying of illness, no one cares about beating him to death, but He Er's death ...... It's not easy to do.

He Er died in your Zengfu for no reason, and he still has a brother alive, and they are not from your Zengfu, just helpers, you have to give an explanation to the bitter master, right?

At first, Master Zeng didn't want to report to the official, so he thought that He Er had drowned by himself, and he would give his brother some silver and send him away.

And how big is this, the idea is also simple, although he doesn't know how his brother drowned, but since everyone is dead, then he thinks: The "fish" on my brother's body, now it is mine alone; I am also a big boss, and I can't turn over all my life by being a helper, but I want to sell the fish, and then take the money that Zeng Fu paid me, and use the money to do a small business and marry a daughter-in-law, which is not bad.

Thinking of this, he felt that his brother's death was nothing to be sad about, and it could even be said to be a happy thing, and he didn't even bother to find out how his brother died......

He didn't think about it, but when he went to ask the housekeeper if there were any relics on his body, the housekeeper told him that there was nothing, and the money that Zeng Fu paid him was not as he expected.

He Da jumped off the wall in a hurry, he thought that someone had stolen "his fish", but it was difficult to say, because if people asked about the origin of this thing, he couldn't answer, so he opened his mouth and asked the Zeng family to compensate him for twenty taels of silver.

What is the concept of 20 taels of silver in Dashu? Let's put it this way, one tael of silver is equal to consistent money, that is, 1,000 yuan, purchasing power...... Today, I can buy about 500 catties of potatoes.

Master Zeng is rich, but it is impossible to agree to this kind of request, if he agrees to you today, tomorrow there may be ten ruffians who are a hundred times bigger than you He Da to come to the door and use a similar method to blackmail you.

But people's lives are at stake, and Master Zeng's reputation in the local area is also good, and he doesn't want to bully people unless he has to, so he can only report to the official.

As soon as the government came, the people who watched the excitement and spread the gossip naturally came, not only He Er's bizarre drowning, but also Zhao Daqiang's scared death by the "water ghost", which soon became a topic of conversation among the people of Luzhou after tea and dinner.

So what about it, he didn't do the work, but he didn't have anywhere else to go, and even if he did, he didn't want to go until he got the money, so he was in Zeng's mansion.

The housekeeper was afraid that he would interfere with other subordinates, so he arranged a separate room for him, and also took care of his meal, saying that he could live until the government found out the results.

One night a few days later, He Dazheng was sleeping alone in the room, and in the dark, the voice of his brother He Er suddenly sounded in his ears: "Brother, I died so miserably......"

When He Da heard this, he woke up in fright, and he couldn't tell if it was a dream or a real thing just now, and at this moment, his hand was ...... I touched something - a glass fish with a wet surface.

"Ahh

Before he could figure out what was going on, he heard again......

Hiss - Hiss –

Outside the window, a strange noise began to sound.

Regarding this strange noise, He Dake had heard Zhao Daqiang talk about it with his own ears, and when he recalled it now, a thought flashed in his mind: "Could it be ...... The ghost that Zhao Daqiang bumped into was running for this fish from the beginning?"

Hiss Blah ......

The sound outside became more and more urgent, and He Da was so frightened that he hugged his head and lay under the bed board and shouted for help.

I don't know how long later, the sound stopped, and then several people called for the door.

Come to think of it, someone heard the call for help.

He Da plucked up the courage to climb out from under the bed, went to open the door, and was relieved to see that it was the housekeeper and several housekeepers carrying lanterns at the door.

That night, he told the housekeeper about the cause and effect of the whole thing, and took out the "glass fish", and the housekeeper presented the things to Master Zeng again, and retold the story of He Da.

Master Zeng is a scholar, how can he understand this, just think that this glass fish is an evil thing, quickly find a barren mountain and bury it; as for that big thing, give him ten taels, he loves it or not, let him leave quickly.

Early the next morning, He Da took the money and left Zeng's mansion, and the bitter master ran away, and the government did not investigate the case of his brother He Er.

And the "glazed fish", the housekeeper instructed a few family members, specially picked a day when the sun was empty, and the yang energy was at its peak, ran to a wasteland outside the city, dug a rather deep pit, and buried it on the spot.

I thought that was the end of the matter, but ......

A few days later, the second wife of Master Zeng was suddenly found in the room, and the hands of the corpse were closed in front of his chest, and a glass fish was tightly held in his hands......

..................

Huang Donglai ordered a pot of wine for the strange old man at a wine shop on the side of the road, and listened to him finish the story vividly.

After listening, Huang Donglai's first question was: "That...... This old man, don't talk about it, is this really such an evil thing...... Why do you say it in such detail, as if you have seen it with your own eyes?"

"Hey, boy, don't believe me. The old man replied quite confidently, "I listened to Grandma Li of the old Li family next door to me." ”

"Then Grandma Li of the old Li family next door saw it with her own eyes?" Huang Donglai asked again.

She didn't see it, but she heard from her grandson's friend's cousin. The old man said again.

"Then her grandson's friend's cousin......" Huang Dong couldn't listen to it anymore when he came to this, he turned to say, "Hey~ Just say, where is the source of this news." ”

"It's the housekeeper of Zeng's house, Zeng Su. The old man replied, "These things, before and after, he knows best, it is he who personally told Zhou Zhutou at the yamen, Zhou Zhutou knows, his officials and brothers naturally know, and then ......."

"Okay...... 'and then' don't need to be mentioned. Huang Donglai stopped the other party from continuing to be poor, and asked again, "By the way, when did the second grandmother of the Zeng family die?"

"Just yesterday. The old man said, "The corpse has been in the room for a day and a night, and no one dares to move, but today, the old man Zeng and the county lord discussed, simply, let the people send the corpse of the second lady together with the glass fish, directly to the temple, and ask the monks to chant the scriptures for a few days to see if they can calm this matter." ”

"Hmm...... Yesterday ......" Huang Donglai touched his chin and read, "The people who died yesterday are now known all over the city, and you people here really love to gossip......"

"Small smash. The old man smiled, "Huh...... Don't you like to gossip, too, why don't you buy me wine?"

Huang Donglai thought to himself, too, this is not the world he used to be, people can stare at their phones and computers all day long, looking for almost unlimited information and fun on the Internet...... Here, there is not even a newspaper, and the common people love to gossip with each other.

After another moment, Huang Donglai remembered that he still had something to do, so he put down the wine money, said goodbye to the uncle, and went to the helm of the high-speed rail gang.

Originally, I listened to today's incident, but I didn't care about it, and I didn't plan to care about it.

But what Huang Donglai didn't know was ...... In this life, he had a relationship with these gods, ghosts, mysterious and strange things, and in the end, he didn't look for trouble, but things came to him......