The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

Grandpa Jinbao reacted quickly and said, "Go and close the door."

Upon hearing this, Liu Sanlang took two steps forward and scratched his head again: "Grandpa Jinbao, this door doesn't have a bolt, did you forget?"

"Then you just hold the door open yourself first," Grandpa Jinbao replied.

It must be no small matter to make those fake bandits run away.

Qian Yongde said in a trembling voice: "Let's run quickly!"

Zhang was speechless. "Where are we running to? Where are we running to? We're not familiar with this area, and we're carrying so many children. It's a blessing in disguise. If it is, we can't avoid it. Grandpa Jinbao, let's go to the door and check. I think there are about ten people there. Not too many."

Although Grandpa Jinbao was old, his eyesight and hearing were still good. After listening carefully, he said, "The footsteps sound a bit strange. Okay, let's go out and take a look!"

Liu Sanlang had already blocked the door at this time.

Zhang called out, "Dazhu, go squat by the courtyard wall. I'll step on your shoulders and take a look."

Grandpa Jinbao called his son over. Zhang looked at Jinbao's frail figure with disdain and called Dahe over: "Dahe, squat down and let Grandpa Jinbao step on your shoulders."

No one knew who came from outside, and now everyone was working together. Dahe walked to the wall and squatted down without saying a word.

At this time, the sound of the copper bell stopped outside the door.

Dazhu and Dahe stood up straight and let Zhang and Grandpa Jinbao look over the courtyard wall to see who was coming outside the door.

Grandpa Jinbao's eyes widened when he saw who was coming in. He had been around the world when he was young and was not an old man who knew nothing. But he almost fainted from fright at this moment.

Zhang waved her hand and told Dazhu and Dahe to squat down and put the two men down. Then she said tremblingly, "Women, quickly cover the children's eyes. Don't open your eyes either."

Ma asked cautiously, "Mother, how long will you stay in seclusion?"

Zhang sternly said, "Close your eyes quickly! No one is allowed to open their eyes until I tell them to!"

The women and children quickly huddled together, huddling together like quails.

At this moment, there was a regular knock on the door, "Knock, knock, knock!"

"Grandpa Jinbao, what do you think we should do?" Zhang asked.

Grandpa Jinbao patted his chest and said in a trembling voice, "We've come to the wrong place! This is the Corpse Inn! We have to make room for someone else!"

"How can we move it? There is only one door, and I'm afraid it will scare the children. It will be troublesome if they lose their minds," Zhang frowned.

"Forget it. I'm old now and have lived enough. I'll go negotiate with the people outside the door," said Grandpa Jinbao after letting out a long sigh.

The other men looked at each other, not knowing what had happened, but it sounded scary and not simple!

Zhang Pingan walked up and asked in a low voice: "Grandma, what happened?"

After Zhang whispered something, Zhang Ping'an opened his eyes wide and said, "We can't let the women and children see this. There's still a lot of oilcloth in the car. Let my eldest sister and the others sit in the corner and use the oilcloth to block the view. We'll leave after the other party is settled."

Zhang nodded and said, "Okay!"

After that, he asked the women and children to sit in the east corner, then covered them with oilcloth and warned them again: "Don't open your eyes. Wait until I tell you to open your eyes!"

"Hey," Li replied, curling up in a ball with her two grandsons in her arms.

Zhang thought about it and felt uneasy, so she took the straw raincoat and covered them with it.

At this time, the knocking on the door had stopped, and a dagger was inserted from the crack of the door. Fortunately, Liu Sanlang was highly nervous and reacted quickly, otherwise he would have been stabbed.

The man outside the door paused after a few stabs and said in a low voice, "If you're not a corpse driver, why are you staying at the Corpse Inn?"

His voice was a little hoarse and his age could not be discerned, but he should be no more than thirty years old.

Grandpa Jinbao said to the outside, "I'm so sorry, we're just passersby and just happened to be nearby. We were so far away from home that we saw a house here and wanted to stay overnight. We couldn't make out the sign at the door, so we ended up wandering into this shop by mistake. Please forgive us, we'll make room right away!"

The person outside the door was silent for a moment before saying, "Okay, then open the door. I'll move the body aside first."

Liu Sanlang looked at Grandpa Jinbao.

Grandpa Jinbao nodded and said, "Open the door. There is only one door here, and you have to go in and out."

Liu Sanlang then stepped back, opened the door, and was almost frightened to death when he saw the situation outside.

Zhang Ping'an also widened his eyes and saw the legendary corpse-driving man from western Hunan.

The man had a pale face, a felt scarf wrapped around his head, his eyes were cold, there was a large dark red patch from his nose to his right cheek, he had a Yinluo hanging in his left hand and a rattle in his right hand, and he was walking in front.

Behind him were more than a dozen corpses, each covered in black cloth, wearing a felt hat, with talismans on their foreheads to ward off evil spirits, and the corpses were connected with straw ropes.

After seeing the door open, the corpse driver rang the copper bell again, and the corpse walked to the rhythm of the bell, and finally stopped against the courtyard wall.

The other men in the yard were also frightened. They had lived near Ezhou Prefecture since they were young and had never been exposed to this kind of business. It looked very strange at first glance. Moreover, people at that time were superstitious and were very taboo about dealing with people who did funeral business.