The day I was hugged by a goblin

Team Wang did not disappoint Gu Shu. He really invited Cao Rui, a staff member of the Forestry Bureau who happened to be involved in the investigation and survey of rural farmland and woodland.Several months of survey work made him very familiar with the various woodlands in Yuhe Town, and he happened to be the person Gu Shu needed.

With the help of Cao Rui, Gu Shu locked down three places that might be the dwelling places of ghosts.One is a damp cave located in the southwest of Yuhe Town; the other is a mountain depression, but according to Cao Rui, it is a cemetery, and the graves of several nearby villages have been there for hundreds of years, and there are no more than a thousand tombs; It is a valley located in the northeast of Yuhe Town.

The three places were locked by Gu Shu after deliberation. Not only are they suitable for ghosts to live in, but there are also villages near the three places, which just meet their requirements.

"Let's divide the troops into three groups." Gu Shu finally decided.Hu Yaoguang was in charge of contacting the superiors and assigning the celestial master to check in the other two places, Team Wang was in charge of resettling the villagers near the three places, and Gu Shu planned to go to the valley in the northeast alone.

In fact, on the surface, the valley is the most unlikely place, but there seems to be some kind of traction in the dark, Gu Shu has an inexplicable intuition, an inexplicable intuition, that valley is definitely not simple.

Perhaps it was destined somewhere, that valley is not only the farthest from Yuhe Town, but also the road is difficult to walk, even if they start now, it will take at least two days from Yuhe Town to that valley, and tomorrow, just The fourteenth day of the seventh lunar month in the lunar calendar is the time to welcome ghosts.

During the Ghost Festival, the gate of hell is wide open on this day, and ghosts from the underworld will come to the world, whether they are well-established ghosts or unclaimed ghosts.It is precisely because of this that the custom of worshiping ghosts and gods on this day has been circulating since ancient times, and this custom is especially well preserved in rural areas far away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Unfortunately, when Gu Shu and Zhu Meiliang arrived at the nearest village near the valley, it was almost eight o'clock in the evening, and at that time, it was completely dark, and this is the best time for people to worship ghosts.

Zhu Meili grabbed Gu Shu's arm tremblingly, and pressed her body tightly against him. He had no choice but to be timid.

In fact, they have already walked the mountain road for almost an hour, and this road has experienced the afterglow of the evening sun until now it is completely dark. They have encountered countless passing ghosts along the way, and Zhu Meili has become used to being scared.

But now he was still terrified by the scene in front of him.At the end of the dirt road into the village, piles of fire scattered scattered all over the dirt road less than three meters wide. There were dozens of fire piles, piles of flaming red in the blurred darkness. It seems that the will-o'-the-wisp growing on Huangquan Road makes people unconsciously stand upside down.

The fire flickered, and there was a "stab" sound from time to time, and a string of sparks flew up along with the flame, leaving a string of weird notes in the silent night.

Zhu Xi swallowed subconsciously, and gripped Gu Shu's hand even tighter, wishing that his whole body would be embedded in Gu Shu's body.Zhu Xi pointed with teeth chattering, "Uncle...uncle, what are they doing?" Zhu Xi's voice was very low, and he didn't dare to make a sound in such a scene.

"Burning paper." Gu Shu approached his ear in a funny way, and the hot air sprayed directly into Zhu Meili's ear as he spoke, which made him tremble.

I saw a few people squatting beside each fire, vaguely, carefully watching what they were using to gently stir the fire, as if to make them burn more vigorously, and three sticks of incense were inserted in front of each fire , burning brightly.When he got closer and listened carefully, Zhu Nai immediately froze all over. He could only hear them muttering something in a low voice, chanting words while throwing paper money into the fire.

What's more terrible is that the other side of each fire, which is where the three sticks of incense are inserted, is full of shadowy ghosts. They may cry or laugh, or stand or sit, but they are all crowded in front of the fire, with their eyes fixed on each other. He stared intently at the paper that was being burned by the living.

"Uncle~" Zhu Xi only felt that his legs were a little weak from the scene, and he had to hang on Gu Shu's body to continue walking.

Gu Shu hugged his shoulder amusedly, without any intention of stopping, and walked through the fire in the blink of an eye.Tonight is the day when the gate of hell is wide open. All ghosts have come to the world, and people will also choose to burn some paper money for their ancestors and relatives on this day. In addition to paper-folded silver ingots, various imitation coins of the world have also evolved, and various modern furniture and home appliances made of paper are inexplicably joyful.

"Grandpa, it's July and a half, and I'll send you some money. I'll burn a lot of money for you. I hope you will have a good life down here. I also made dozens of shrouds for you. You won't have to worry about running out of clothes for a year. Here are some good things for you, Grandpa, please take them.” A woman led a seven or eight-year-old child squatting in front of the fire, chanting, and while chanting, put a lot of paper money into a circle drawn with white ash There are piles of silver ingots and silver ingots, and there are seven or eight such white circles beside her, which also burn paper money. Her child is squatting there and burning, and her man is also lowering his head. The burning paper murmured something.The woman burned the paper while taking care of other papers in the white circle, "Grandma, this is yours. I will burn a lot of money for you. I must keep our family safe and healthy..."

The whole family squatted on the ground and burned quietly. They didn't know that in front of their eyes, no less than twenty ghosts were shaking in front of their eyes, especially the two old people were looking at them with smiles.Gu Shu and Zhu Xi passed behind them, as if they hadn't seen them, Zhu Xi unconsciously stiffened and grabbed Gu Shu's arm, "Uncle..." Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask something, Gu Shu immediately said He made a silent gesture.

Zhu Xi didn't know, but Gu Shu knew that there were many taboos when burning paper in the middle of July. For example, one had to come out to burn paper after dark, because only ghosts came out to get things after dark. That's why now The reason why these villagers burn paper so late.

Another, when burning paper, you must be respectful and pious, and you must never smile. This is the respect for ancestors and ghosts.Don't make loud noises, but speak in a low voice, because speaking loudly is disrespectful to them, and ghosts are timid, which will frighten them.

What's more, it's usually burned by each family. Even the best neighbors can't say hello when they see each other at this moment. He didn't speak, and silently finished the burning and went back to each house silently.Because ghosts are raging around at this time, the person who greets you may not be a living person. If you accidentally agree, it will be a terrible thing.

Gu Shu dragged Zhu Xi through dozens of fires all the way, no one looked back at them, they probably regarded them as people who had finished burning the paper and went home.Zhu Nai held Gu Shu tightly all the way, his palms were sweaty.

"Your uncle, take it, and take care of it down here if you have money."

"Father, my son sent you money with his wife and children. I must bless your granddaughter to be admitted to college..."

"Grandpa..."

……

He slowed down his footsteps, even the sound of footsteps was reduced to the minimum. Listening carefully, there were such voices along the way, including the blessings of the living to the dead and blessings to the living.Gu Shu's heart moved slightly. In fact, these people who are devoutly burning paper may not necessarily believe that their relatives can really turn into ghosts to get these things, nor do they necessarily believe in the truth of what they chanted. According to legend, they follow the previous generation of old people to do this, from generation to generation, every year, and their children will grow up after many years, and they will still do the same with their children.

This is a kind of inheritance, but it is also a kind of belief, and it is an extension of simple feelings.Regardless of whether the people who do this believe it or not, the key lies in their original intention and method of doing this, at least it is beautiful and simple.So even though he lives in a big city with a lot of traffic, Gu Shu often prefers the traditions of the countryside. It's not that people in big cities are not good, it's just that the pace of the times makes too many things go by slowly.

"Don't grab it, these are all yours," an old man murmured, through his old but kind eyes, Gu Shu turned his head, and saw a hunched figure squatting on the ground, a big bag of paper money was burning little by little , did not draw a circle to enclose the paper money, but just opened it like that, "They are all poor ghosts, don't grab some for one person, go down and buy some delicious food, cast a good pregnancy in the next life and be a good person."

Gu Shu's heart moved slightly, and he glanced over. Right in front of the old lady, thirty or forty lonely ghosts were scrambling for the money that the old lady gave them, because those who were circled were designated Humans, they can't be snatched by lonely ghosts who are left alone.

Gu Shu's face darkened, his eyes darkened sharply, and he glanced over with a sharp glance. Immediately, the aura that he deliberately restrained was released instantly.Those lonely ghosts turned around and ran away tremblingly, but in the next second, when Gu Shu stretched out his hand, they were all pulled back. It was just that the dozens of people who were scrambling to push and shoved were forcibly pushed away by Gu Shu. There was a long queue.

Zhu Xi silently gave his master a thumbs up, and then followed his master's footsteps to leave this creepy place, until he walked into the village and saw no more piles of paper money. The book asked him a lot of doubts.

"Uncle, why did you draw a circle?" Zhu Xi was curious about the baby's appearance.

"Prevent them from fighting over things." Gu Shu smiled, they were naturally referring to those ghosts.These are things that have been handed down by the people for thousands of years. For example, draw a circle with charcoal and put paper money or other things in it, and assign it to a certain ghost, so that other ghosts will not be able to compete.It means that those things are marked with the imprint of that person, and all the things in the circle belong to him, and they cannot be snatched. The underworld is very strict, and if you make a mistake, you will be punished if you go back.

"He... Are they that rich? Look at that one pocket, one thousand, one ten thousand. I have never seen so much money in my life. Uncle, you don't even have it." Zhu Xi was a little confused. I was so excited that I was incoherent, where on earth is this place so rich?

The corner of Gu Shu's mouth twitched, and after he was stunned for two seconds, he slapped Zhu Meili on the head, "Do you see clearly? It's Mingbi."

Zhu Xi:? ? ? ? ? ?

"Then why doesn't the old lady draw a circle?" No wonder those ghosts are scrambling to starve to death, they must be ignorant.

"Those are solitary ghosts. They have no relatives to care about, and they forgot their way home." Gu Shu explained lightly. At this time, they had already walked outside the wall of a villager at the entrance of the village, and took out their mobile phones to make a call.

Because tonight's Ghost Festival, except for those who are still burning paper and have not come back at this time, the doors of every house are closed and they will never go out. The lights illuminate the room brightly, no one will go to another house tonight, but they don't welcome knocks on the door of their own house.

What's more, every household has received a notice from the village head in advance that not only must they absolutely not go out tonight, they must close their doors tightly and do not go out if they hear any noise.This was actually what Gu Shu asked Team Wang to do, but there was nothing they could do to get here so late.

So Wang Dui gave him the phone number of the village head. Zhu Meili wanted to ask something but the call was already connected. Gu Shu raised his hand and covered Zhu Meili's mouth.

"Hello, is this the village chief?"

"Hi, hello, I'm the village head, and you are Mr. Gu, right? Have you arrived? Where are you? I'll pick you up." Obviously, the village head had already known about Gu Shu's coming.

Gu Shu hurriedly told the village chief his location, then hung up the phone and glanced at the mischievous Zhu Meili, "Aren't you afraid now?" Gu Shu glared at this guy angrily. tease yourself.

Just when he got on the phone, Gu Shu casually covered Zhu Meili's mouth, but he didn't pay attention, and this guy stuck out his tongue and licked his palm, really...

"Hey," Zhu Meili held Gu Shu's big hand in her arms, "What am I afraid of with uncle around?"

Gu Shu raised the corner of his mouth and gave him a finger on his forehead.