The day of fortune-telling for the dragon

The illusion was confined to the small courtyard of Yao's house, and they couldn't follow Yao Feimeng's school affairs, so naturally there was no way to investigate many things.Hua Jue didn't expect that this trip would return in vain. He and Xuan Long watched it together, and saw that Yao Feimeng's health has been getting worse and worse since the fever, and he would have a fever from time to time.

But the child was bored, and later on he refused to ask his husband to ask for leave. Only one day when Aunt Yao went out to sell shoes, he came back to eat, hid in the bed for an afternoon, and then went out crying.

Hua Jue felt a little distressed.In fact, after arriving here, there are signs of what will happen afterwards. Yao Feimeng's mental state is getting worse and worse, and Aunt Yao is becoming more and more strict. One day, Aunt Yao asked him to memorize the first chapter of the most basic virtuous essay, but Yao Feimeng failed to recite it. Yao Feimeng didn't write a single word when he was asked to silently write a thousand-character prose that children who were babbling would know.

The young boy who was already thin became thinner and thinner, and a small ball huddled on the chair and trembled violently, so much that the tables and chairs trembled.I thought his mother would beat him, but maybe Aunt Yao herself felt something too, she didn't scold him, she just handed him the book in her hand, asking him to rest first.

"Let's take a break. If you don't want to learn, then don't learn." The woman's voice was rare and gentle, cautious, as if she was afraid of breaking something fragile.

Yao Feimeng climbed onto the bed with the book in his hands, moving slowly, as if his whole body was in pain.He sat there blankly, holding a pen in his hand, the ink was saturated and flowed back into his sleeve, but he didn't lower his head to wipe it away.His eyes were blank, as if he didn't know anything.

At this time, he was only one month away from his 16th birthday.

A month later, Yao Feimeng, who was cold all over, was carried into the house and had been dying for a long time.It is said that he collapsed from a high fever in school, and never opened his eyes again.

The frail young man has really become a dead winter reed, sticking to the dilapidated and cold straw mat without support.Aunt Yao knelt beside him, reaching out her hand to gently wipe his fair cheeks.

Never said a word.

After burying Yao Feimeng, Aunt Yao's life returned to the same pattern. She got up early every day, embroidered, cooked, embroidered, tidied up the house, cooked, and then went to sleep to welcome another day that was exactly the same.Life crucified her son, and it also crucified her. If life and death were impossible, they lingered on, relying on their instincts to continue their lives in this lonely world.

Hua Jue was silent, reaching out to find Xuanlong's hand, Xuanlong tilted his head and pulled him into his arms.In fact, there is no need to continue after seeing this. After many years, the sadness is hidden under the deep heart, and life will continue.A woman with white temples becomes an old man, and time slows down along with her bones.

Aunt Yao bent her body, her voice was already old, only her face was gone, because the unchanging years had treated her face leniently.A vague human voice came from outside the yard, and it was also old: "Auntie is well maintained."

"A person in his 70s, what should he care for?" Aunt Yao said lightly.Neighbors and neighbors passed by in a hurry, and sometimes at the end of the day, they only said this sentence.

The illusion came to an abrupt end.

Hua Jue's eyes were suddenly plunged into darkness.He held Xuanlong's hand, and walked in the direction of the previous courtyard gate based on his memory. After walking a few steps, the light suddenly hit, the cold wind was bitter, and a unique fragrance of coal came from the tip of his nose.Xuanlong had seen Huajue throw orange peels into the brazier before, and the room was full of fragrance, and then he threw dragon scales into it, as if the scales on his body were free of money. Herbal aroma.

"I'm back." Xuanlong whispered.

Hua Jue nodded: "I'm back."

"Going home?" Xuanlong continued to ask.

Hua Jue nodded, then shook her head suddenly, and asked him, "Shall we... go see Aunt Yao?"

Xuan Long rejected his idea and shook his head: "She was just here to test a dream with you. It would be a bit abrupt to walk in front of you and follow in the back. Let's go again in a few days, and we can prepare some food and clothing in advance Send her something there."

Hua Jue whispered: "Okay." Then she followed Xuanlong back home.

Just after stepping into the house, Hua Jue repaired a bit, cooked a meal for the family members, and then went to the opposite city lord's mansion to inquire, knowing that Xie Ran still hadn't come back.In addition, the people who died suddenly were scattered all over the place, and the bodies were being sent back one after another. One of the bodies was sent to the state government a step earlier.

Hua Jue followed Xuanlong and the others to go again.Only this time, because of the urgency of the case, the body was urgently sent to Jiangling, where the deceased had not yet been coffined, and family members and relatives were also arriving one after another. The vigil should be completed by the local parental officials.Before the city lord returned, Mr. Sang was too busy to close his eyes for several days, so Hua Jue asked Sang Yi to watch the night on his behalf.

Sang Yi opened a pair of tired eyes, and shook her head to refuse: "No, you are not in good health, you can't bear it, go find someone else."

Xuanlong said: "I'll go."

Sang Yi looked at the two of them, got up and thanked Xuan Long earnestly, and then explained the matter of the night watch.Forced by the emperor's order, the deceased failed to enter the cemetery that had been selected for burial as scheduled, so he could not wake up. He had to wait until the family members arrived before raising the coffin and sending it to the cemetery.The various procedures in between were cumbersome. Hua Jue had previously held a funeral, so she followed the past to check and settle the accounts, and stayed in the mourning hall with Xuanlong at night.Wu did the autopsy, and it was also Hua Jue who was there to guard the spirit.

Xuan Long asked: "In the past, when people held funerals, would they invite you?"

Hua Jue shook her head: "No, most people hold funerals at home, just invite a few singing and gong bands, unless it's a particularly ferocious way of death. But I'm afraid of ghosts, so I usually don't pick them up, like today's This is the first time, and it is still according to the method written in the ancestor's book, I don't know if it is right."

After a while, Hua Jue looked at the place where the coffin was placed, and shook his head: "Actually, even Zhenling is not used, this person's soul has been eaten up."

"Where's Yuan Yang?" Xuan Long asked again.

"Of course Yuanyang..." Halfway through Hua Jue's speech, she suddenly remembered that they hadn't checked the matter again, so she quickly took out a dragon scale from Xuanlong's pocket, lit it and sent it to the coffin.

He carefully stared at the broken and pale forehead of the deceased, suppressed the fear and anxiety in his heart, and slowly approached the ignited dragon scales, but found that it was not extinguished like the last time Xuanlong saw it, but continued to disappear for a while. After a while, the flame was finally extinguished, but the place where the dragon scale was ignited by the fire was still lit with dark red sparks.

Hua Jue was a little surprised: "There is still yang energy? So, isn't this the work of Yan Gui?"

Xuan Long frowned and said nothing.He moved closer and wanted to take the dragon scale in Hua Jue's hand, but suddenly a gust of wind blew past his ears, whipping his heart tightly - almost subconsciously, Xuan Long pulled Hua Jue into his arms to protect him , When I looked up again, I found that all the candles and lamps in the mourning hall were blown out, and the mourning hall suddenly fell into a strange darkness.

Hua Jue suddenly couldn't see clearly, only knew that Xuanlong was protecting him, so she reached out and grabbed his arm, and asked blankly, "What's wrong? What's wrong with the lamp?"

The darkness does not affect Xuanlong's vision, he glanced around vigilantly, took Hua Jue back a few steps, pressed him on the seat, and whispered: "Hey, don't run around, I'll go and have a look."

Hua Jue nodded.

Xuanlong walked over silently, walked around a few times, gradually narrowed the range, stopped and walked, and the people around him slowly recovered from the panic of falling into the darkness, and some people started looking for flint and steel. , but was never found.In the small voice, Xuanlong heard a very subtle and abrupt sound, like the rustling sound of a cat licking a person's palm, or the rough tongue coating scraping against a person's skin.

He stopped, walked directly to the coffin, pushed the coffin with water, and dropped the yellow cloth covering the crown to the ground.The smell of blood and slightly stinking rot wafted out. Xuanlong looked down and saw that there was no one around the coffin—but another shadow, like a beauty rising in the morning, lazily and slowly walked out of the coffin. Sitting up, she turned her head to look at him, the corners of her lips curled up, revealing a cold smile.

"Yan ghost?" Xuanlong whispered, it was already too late when he reached out to grab it.The red-clothed ghost suddenly disappeared, and quickly disappeared from his eyes, leaving only a whitish trace of cold air.

Finally someone found the flint and lit the candle.Hua Jue came to look for him with a lamp, and saw that Xuanlong was still standing there silently, staring at the broken and incomplete flesh and blood body inside the coffin.He raised his hand to hold his hand, and asked him who he saw, but found that the dragon scale in his hand had cooled down, and the dark cold light that spread when it was burning was no longer seen.