Besides, Xiao Jiu, who said goodbye to Chu Qing and Granny Duan at Jade Shoot Peak, also traveled all the way, for fear that Chu Qing would walk in front of him and come to Lao Zhao Xiaojiang Village early.

Standing and looking around, I saw the green rice fields as far as the eye could see. There were two buffaloes in the field who seemed to have seen a living person, and slowly raised their heads to look over, flicking their tails, chewing in their mouths, and eating grass leisurely. In the field, there are several farmers wearing hats working on their heads. A gust of wind blew, setting off a green wave in the rice field, and those farmers also stopped their farm work, stood up straight, slightly closed their eyes and breathed deeply, enjoying the coolness given by nature at this moment, and on the other side of the rice field, a little away, green trees, Qianmo traffic, dotted with dozens of thatched huts and green tiles.

Xiao Jiu instantly reveled in this peaceful pastoral scenery, stood with his hands in his hands, closed his eyes, opened his arms, and used every inch of his skin to feel the cool breath. Suddenly, there was a sound of blowing and blowing, which seemed extremely harsh in this quiet countryside. Looking for prestige, but saw a group of people coming out of the village, hugging all the way, colorful flags fluttering, beating gongs and drums, Xiao Jiu was happy, and thought of whose girl this was marrying, but seeing that the group of people was walking towards the cemetery on the side, he was puzzled, and raised his eyes to look into the distance, and saw that Qing'er was still nowhere to be seen, driven by curiosity, he followed the crowd over.

The pedestrian walked a short distance, then stopped, Xiao Jiu approached the crowd, squeezed in to see, only to see that everyone gathered in front of a mound of mounds, stopped blowing, and then walked out two young men who looked like people, dressed in linen and wearing filial piety, hung their heads, and knelt down in front of the grave in silence.

"Ah, it was from the grave. When Xiao Jiu thought of this, he felt bored, so he wanted to leave.

At this time, another year of elders stepped forward, straightened up, bowed to the grave a few times, and then turned around and said in a loud voice: "Today, there are Cao brothers, a villager in my village, who walked at night and broke into the yin house by mistake, disturbing the Hua family (note: the local name for unmarried women who died early), and now a pair of substitute boys and boys are specially offered, hoping to exchange for the soul of the detained. After speaking, he waved his hand, and ordered someone to bring up a pair of papier-mâché boys, about the size of adults, with all clothes and hats, and a nose and eyes on their faces, which can be described as colorful and meticulous workmanship.

The old man walked up again, asked the two Cao brothers about their birthdays, turned around and put a cinnabar pen on the paper figure, and then everyone blew and blew again, and circled around the mound.

When Xiao Jiu heard the elder say this, he immediately understood that the two people kneeling in front of the grave were the villagers of Lao Zhao Xiaojiang Village. It seems that this group of people made a pair of paper figures according to local folk customs to exchange souls with female ghosts.

Xiao Jiu's chivalrous heart suddenly rose, stopped his steps at the moment, turned around and concentrated on urging the mana, lifted his eyes, and checked the entire cemetery, but did not find anything unusual, and on the other hand, the two Cao brothers who knelt in front of the grave were just pale and weak, and there was no appearance of ghosts and things, so they thought about whether to come forward and tell one or two.

At this time, I saw that the old man ordered someone to bring some dry firewood, gathered it into two piles, and put the paper figures on them, as if they were going to burn them. When everything was in order, the elder walked up to the two Cao brothers and took out a silver needle from his arms, about three inches long, which shone silver in the sun. The old man saw the position, pierced the eyebrows of the two people, took out a few drops of blood respectively, and pointed to the eyebrows of the paper man, and then ordered the two Cao brothers to step forward, hold the fire fold, and light the firewood. I don't know if it was because of nervousness, or because the fire fold was damp, the two of them trembled their hands, but they lit it several times, but they didn't light it.

There was a quiet place here, under the attention of everyone, the two Cao brothers were so anxious that they were sweating profusely, and their clothes were wet for a while.

Everyone also held their breath, silent, all eyes focused on the two fire folds, and the old man saw that the two of them really couldn't light it, so he made a look. Several more men came out of the crowd, and with the help of these men, the fire was finally lit, and the faint flames, swaying under the firewood, did not care for a moment, and ignited more firewood around them, and the flame finally grew.

Under the red firelight, seeing that the paper figure was about to be burned, the wish was fulfilled, and the two Cao brothers and everyone were also relieved.

How do you know that suddenly a strong wind blew from the grave, and there was a loud sound of hula, and in a blink of an eye, the two piles of firewood were blown out, and when everyone was stunned, then the sand flew in front of them, and the eyes were difficult to open, and everyone was blown to the side, standing unsteadily, panicking, and the timid pulled their legs and ran, and the rest except for a few bold, there were a few weak legs that could not move their legs.

In a moment, the sudden gust of wind blew, and the vision became clear again, and then looked at everyone, all of them were gray-headed and looked at each other. The elder who presided over the ceremony, under the protection of the two strong men beside him, barely stabilized his position, wiped his face, blinked, looked at the clear sky, and then looked at the two Cao brothers, and sighed: "It seems that this Hua family is unwilling to make this exchange, and still wants to ask for the lives of your two brothers." ”

As soon as these words came out, the two Cao brothers, who were already scared and had no idea, were like pouring down half a bucket of ice and snow on their backbones, and their whole bodies were cold, so they had to kneel on the ground again, kowtow to the elders like chickens pecking rice, and shouted in their mouths: "Uncle help, uncle help." ”

The elder looked at the two Cao brothers, then turned to look at the tomb, thought for a moment, and then said slowly: "The old man has never missed this marriage with Yin, could it be that the two of you have another secret affair and have not told the truth?"

As soon as these words came out, the two Cao brothers dodged their eyes, lowered their heads deeply, and stopped talking.

Seeing this, the old man already understood eight or nine points in his heart, his face sank, and he said: "If the two of you dare to hide the truth at this time, the old man will see that even if the Da Luo Jin Immortal is here, he won't be able to save you, forget it, let's go back to the village, you can do it yourself." After speaking, they pulled their legs and wanted to leave, and when everyone saw this, they also abandoned the two Cao brothers and followed the elders to leave.

How could the two Cao brothers be willing to let go, climbed forward, hugged the elder's thighs tightly, like a man in the water grabbed a life-saving straw, and cried and shouted: "Uncle, don't leave me alone." ”

The elder looked down at the two Cao brothers, pondered for a long time, and shouted with fake anger: "It's not really coming!"

The two Cao brothers, who were crying and begging, shouted loudly above their heads, like a thunderbolt in mid-air, and they were so frightened that they were all over, and then they looked at each other, and one of the young ones said: "Big brother, I think it's better to tell the truth, it's better than losing your life." ”

When the old man heard this, he sighed, and then he told the whole story, it turned out that the two brothers were idle on weekdays, and that day and night because of their greed for beauty, on a whim, despite their mother's illness, they ran out to participate in the "Laughing Girl" in the Falling Cloud Pavilion Throwing color, unexpectedly Fang walked to the head of the village, he was knocked unconscious, was dragged into the cemetery in a daze, had a spring dream in the cemetery, woke up in the morning and found a pair of paper people in his arms, immediately scared half to death, thought he had met a female ghost, and happened to be found by the neighbor who got up early, in order to escape the charge of unfilial piety, he made up a lie that he was lost by the female ghost and lost from home.

After listening to the two Cao brothers, the elder squinted his eyes, nodded slightly, and said with a slightly soothing expression: "In this way, this is God's punishment for your two unfilial piety." ”

When the villagers heard that the two people actually ignored their mother's illness in bed, and ran to look for flowers and ask willows, they were angry at the moment, and there was no mercy, so they went forward to add fists and kicks to the two, and beat them badly, so that the two Cao brothers cried and called their mother, and told them to forgive again and again.

The two Cao brothers covered their swollen faces, took the opportunity to plead bitterly, and swore in public that they would never dare to look for flowers and willows in this life, and they must listen to their parents and be filial to their parents, so that everyone can stop.

After a while, the elder stroked his beard, raised his hand and pointed at the two Cao brothers, and shouted angrily: "From now on, it depends on how you two behave, if you break your oath, the villagers will definitely punish you severely." ”

The two Cao brothers knelt on the ground again, and promised again and again, but they were still shocked, timidly pointed to the grave, and asked in a trembling voice: "Uncle, this female ghost, has already let our two brothers go." ”

When the old man heard this, a smile flashed on his face, and he knew in his heart that the two Cao brothers were still apprehensive about the matter of holding the paper figure in their arms after dreaming in the cemetery that night, and ordinary people must be shocked when they encountered this kind of thing, and it was really excusable, so he pretended to be angry: "This Hua family has already negotiated with the old man, and after returning to the village, as long as the two of you are forgiven by your parents, and from now on you are filial to your parents, she will no longer pursue it, otherwise she will definitely ask for your life." ”

When the two Cao brothers heard this, they were relieved and grateful, and then they were escorted by everyone, got up and went back to the village to ask their parents for forgiveness.

Seeing that everyone had walked some distance away, the elder stayed at the end of the line alone, stood in front of the mound, looked up at the sky with a smile, looked at the sky, and said lightly: "Thank you for the guidance of the immortals." After speaking, he strode after everyone.

Looking at the people who gradually disappeared at the head of the village, Xiao Jiu was left stunned in place, puzzled for a while, looked at the sky, looked at the tomb mound, stood in place and stayed for a while, but saw a light falling from the sky and falling in front of him.

The light flashed, and suddenly I saw a young scholar wearing a scarf, wearing a green cloth shirt, with a handsome face, and a chic and extraordinary, standing with a smile on his face.

Xiao Jiu was surprised, but when he saw that the scholar pouted, he said unwillingly: "Hmph, I wanted to tease you, but I didn't want to be disturbed by the two Cao brothers." ”

When Xiao Jiu heard this, he took a closer look, and only then did he recognize that it was Chu Qing, who was dressed as a scholar at this time.

Without waiting for Xiao Jiu to answer, Chu Qing's face changed, and he said again: "However, it's also quite fun, scare them, in the future, these two will definitely not do anything wrong." Although Chu Qing was dressed as a man at this time, in Xiao Jiu's eyes, he was full of joy and anger, showing his handsomeness and making people intoxicated.