Chapter 1: Night Talk Between People and Ghosts
In the east of Kumu Territory, on the border of Fengming Country, there is the old mine in Fengshan.
The night outside the window was dark, but there was a light in the shack-like house. An old oil lamp had a flame that emitted light at the corner of the table.
Because the lowest quality lamp oil was used, the smell in the shabby house was very bad. There were also two broken bowls on the table, which were very similar to the utensils used by beggars to pay money, but they were washed more cleanly.
There is water in a bowl.
The other bowl contained a strange black liquid that smelled strongly of herbs.
There was no bedding on the only wooden bed in the room, only a few patched clothes thrown there.
The night was so quiet that one could even hear the snoring of a beggar in the nearby shack and the chattering and laughing of drunken miners further away on Fengshan Street.
The flickering lights in the house cast a shadow across the rough and uneven ground.
The shadow belongs to a person sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a book, and the elongated shadow seems to fill this impoverished place, making it look less empty.
A young man in tattered clothes turned a page of a book under the dim light. His dim face was full of thinness caused by malnutrition, and his long gown was patched and turned white from starching.
Although his hair was neatly styled in a scholarly style, it did not add a hint of scholarly temperament to him.
On the contrary, because he always hunches over, he looks sickly and unhealthy.
And from the perspective of where he lives, this shack does not seem to be an environment where he can study with peace of mind. There is an unconcealable sorrow on his face, which perfectly fits the definition of the word "down and out".
He must have some unresolved worries, and could only read to relieve his loneliness in this dead and silent night.
"The Master said..."
"Shut up!"
He had just started reading, before he could finish reading the sage words from the book, when he was interrupted by a rude shout.
Coming from the shack next door, it seems that his "neighbor" was not having a good time begging today, and his voice was filled with anger that had nowhere to vent.
The scholar was startled, smiled awkwardly, and slandered in his heart that this evil beggar should not be provoked and that he should not be treated with the etiquette of a sage. If he made him angry, he would be beaten again.
So the scholar chose to recite it silently in his heart.
"The Master said..."
"Shut up! You're still reciting poetry so late, can't you let me rest?"
Just as he started, he was interrupted by a scolding.
But this time, the sound did not come from outside the shack.
From the heart of a scholar.
It rang directly in his mind, shocking the scholar so much that his face turned pale.
He looked as if he had seen a ghost. He hurriedly dropped the book, rushed forward two steps, grabbed the broken bowl containing the medicine, drank it in a big gulp, then made strange hand seals, turned around in circles, and muttered to himself.
"Don't try. It's useless."
The voice in my heart sounded again, with a hint of helplessness.
"I've said it many times, I'm not a ghost, no matter how much magic water you drink or how many exorcism spells you chant, it's useless. What's more, the recipe for the magic water you bought for ten strings of cash.
The so-called exorcism spell is even given as a buy-one-get-one-free gift.
Jiang Ziheng, I know that there are ghosts and gods in your world, as well as monks, but you think it’s too good to spend only ten dollars to learn real magic, don’t you? "
"You occupy my soul and want to take my body. You also disturb my mood day and night. If you are not a ghost, then what is it?"
The scholar closed his eyes and muttered to himself, cursing in his heart:
“As for money, you still have the nerve to talk about it!
In order to drive you away in the past few years, I failed in my studies, lost all my wealth, lost both my parents, and got involved in a murder case. I had to hide in this remote place.
And keep company with evil beggars!
It's all your fault!
You've hurt me enough, what else do you want?"
The voice in my heart fell silent.
After a few breaths, his tone became more helpless.
explain:
"You failed in your studies because you have been slacking off since you passed the examination.
Both of my parents died of an epidemic, it wasn't me who poisoned them.
As for the loss of your wealth, you still blame me? When you were crazy and wanted to donate your property to that old liar in the temple to exorcise ghosts for you, I didn't persuade you enough?
It's just that you didn't listen.
There are also murder lawsuits...
hehe.
If I hadn't warned you in advance, you would have been kidnapped and sold to a brothel. How could you have escaped to Fengshan alive?"
The sound paused.
And then:
"I don't want to either, Jiang Ziheng. If I had a choice, I would never coexist with a pedantic and incompetent guy like you for so many years. I have been watching you all these years.
I know exactly how useless you are, don't put your blame on me!"
"Then go!"
The scholar's tone became resentful, and he shouted:
"Since I'm such a loser, why do you still cling to me? Go away! Take your ghost tree with you! I'm so unlucky because of you, the ghost!
It's your fault that I'm like this now!"
"You think I don't want to leave?"
The voice had no intention of arguing with Scholar Jiang. Seeing that the scholar was possessed again, the voice faded away in a low voice.
“I don’t know who sent me to this world, but I think he must hate me very much, so he tied me, Lao Jiang, to you.
He must be torturing me this way.
If you had any potential, with my help, you wouldn't have ended up like this.
Alas, maybe I didn’t do good things in my previous life, so I ended up like this.
You're a piece of trash.
That’s my hell.”
As the voice gradually faded away, the scholar Jiang Ziheng was still dissatisfied. He shouted at it to come out and confront him. The noise annoyed the beggars in the surrounding shacks.
They rolled up their sleeves viciously, ready to beat up this sour guy.
But when they saw him shouting and screaming in the shack like a madman, they stopped their attacks.
"Hey, this scholar, why is he acting crazy again?"
"Don't worry about him. He tells everyone that there's something wrong with him. He doesn't look normal. Maybe he was a lunatic a long time ago."
"I also saw him often talking to himself. Tsk tsk, he is so young and tender-skinned. How pitiful."
The beggars chatted with each other for a while. It was boring to stay awake at night and watch a madman having hysterics. Not long after, they all said it was bad luck and went back to their shacks.
Jiang Shusheng made a fuss for a while and felt tired.
He was so exhausted that he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for the whole day. When he was tired, he stopped reading and just blew out the light and lay down on the bare bed. He mumbled a few words and fell asleep.
As the snoring sounded, in a certain corner of Jiang Shusheng's consciousness, another soul was not sleepy at all.
He looks 70% similar to Jiang Shusheng.
But there was not much sorrow between his brows. He just sat there silently, as if he was looking at the world from the night sky and could see Jiang Shusheng sleeping soundly.
Behind him, there is a small tree rooted in consciousness.
The pale light gathered into the branches of the tree, like a potted plant. The branches were bare and divided into seven branches, stretching out in all directions. There were no flowers or leaves. It looked more like a sculpture made of rock than a tree.
"It has been three years since I woke up."
The soul leaned against the strange tree, touched the cold branches beside him, and whispered:
"You have grown from a seed to this size, but I am still trapped here, unable to even commit suicide. He has been calling me a 'ghost' for three years, and I am beginning to doubt myself.
Am I a figment of his imagination?
But this damn thing has trapped me here, I can't get in or out, and I can't even kill that jerk. He keeps whining all day long, I'm almost annoyed by him."
He stroked the bare trees beside him and said:
"Baoshu, Baoshu, you should be my 'golden finger', but you don't bloom, you don't bear fruit, and you look ugly. You are not even qualified to be a handicraft.
What use are you to?
The tree could not speak, so it did not answer him, leaving the trapped soul alone talking to itself.
"Hey, scholar, are you asleep?"
After a few breaths, he said:
"I'm quite bored, let's chat for a while."
Jiang Shusheng was awakened and cursed fiercely. Then he grabbed his torn clothes, covered his ears with them, turned over and went back to sleep.
"Scholar!"
After a few breaths, the voice sounded again.
"Scholar, don't sleep. There are people outside the door. Several of them are carrying weapons. They are not friendly. Be careful."
When the scholar heard this, he stood up immediately.
It is unclear whether this ghost is good or bad, but in the past three years, the wandering scholar has indeed avoided a lot of trouble by relying on the ghost's reminders.
This ghost was very cunning and knowledgeable, and was able to save the scholar from danger every time.
The time I got involved in a murder lawsuit was an accident.
After all, no matter what kind of man he is, when faced with the threat of losing his anus, he will rise up to resist.
He grabbed the wooden stick for self-defense, hid beside the bed, and looked carefully outside the shack.
Ten seconds later, a group of people rushed in. Before the scholar could resist, a burly man subdued him and punched him hard in the face.
When he was tied up with ropes, he recognized the identity of the person in front of him and shouted loudly:
"Let me go! Let me go! Oh, stop pulling, don't hit me! You are so uncivilized, so uncivilized! Stop pulling my hair! That ten taels of silver...
Didn't I already agree with Manager Huang that I would be his accountant to settle his debts?"
"It's a deal."
The leader had a face full of flesh and a wicked smile. He said to the tied-up scholar:
"Aren't we here to invite Mr. Jiang to meet my housekeeper? Don't say anything more, just follow us."
After that, a rag was stuffed into his mouth and a sack was put on his head. As the scholar struggled, he was taken out of the shack, put on a carriage, and headed to the mine.
Several beggars in the nearby shack watched this scene. They looked at each other, but finally said nothing. They returned to their own shacks and continued to sleep with their heads covered.
That's someone from Ruyifang.
He is the local tyrant of Fengshan Mine. In this mine, no one dares to interfere in their affairs. I don’t know what trouble Crazy Jiang got into, but it is definitely not something that a few beggars can deal with.
"You've gotten yourself into trouble you can't solve, you poor bastard."
When Jiang Shusheng was in the shaking carriage, feeling panic, he heard the voice in his mind.
Slowly, with a tone of watching the fun and not minding the trouble.
He said:
"Would you like me to help you?"
"This rope is tied in a very bad way, the technique is very low-level, move your shoulders to slowly loosen it, don't be impatient, the man on your left has a dagger hanging on his waist, you can reach it with your hand.
Don't rush into it.
Wait until I tell you the opportunity, pull out the dagger and stab to the right, don't hold back, stab his neck or the aorta in his right leg, just once, and then use the dagger to subdue him.
These little thugs who only know how to act cruelly are easy to deal with. As long as you scare them, it will be easy for you to escape.
Just do as I say, it'll be fine."
" No."
Jiang Shusheng, who was wrapped in a sack, said in a muffled voice:
"I have already agreed with Manager Huang that it's only ten taels of silver, and I will return it to him. Manager Huang is a reasonable man, and I will reason with him.
I don't want you to meddle in other people's business."
"Be reasonable? Haha, okay."
The voice in his mind disappeared again, and said with a hint of sarcasm:
"I told you not to borrow money from local tyrants at high interest rates. There are many ways to make money. Since you don't listen to me, I'll leave it to you."
"I want to see how you reason with him. "
