Chapter 42: Ghost Festival Attracts Ghosts
It's the Mid-Autumn Festival again. At every intersection there are piles of paper that are being burned or have been burned, adding a sense of fireworks to comfort the ancestors in this blurry city.
Just after ten o'clock, there were fewer pedestrians on the street than usual. Few people stopped to walk on the usually busy streets. Everyone was in a hurry, and I didn't know whether they disliked the smoky environment or were afraid of this unusual day.
“Cough… cough…”
Su Cheng sat in the car, covering his mouth and nose and coughing constantly. Although the car's doors and windows were closed, smoke still came into the car with the air conditioner.
"Why are there so many people burning paper on the street and no one is doing anything about it?"
Xiao Di patted Su Cheng on the back and said, "Today is the day for people to pay tribute to their ancestors, but most people are wandering outside for a living and cannot go home, so they can only express their remembrance of their ancestors in this way on the street. They are already very upset that they cannot go home to pay tribute, so who would stop them? People are all made of flesh and blood, and everyone has elders in their family."
After passing the intersection and driving along the street by the river, there were not many people burning paper here, the air was a little better, and Su Cheng felt a little more comfortable.
"They are just doing this to comfort themselves. Their ancestors won't come here to shop, so who are they burning for? They are really deceiving others and even themselves. If their ancestors really come to collect those valuables, wouldn't they be scared to death?"
"Come on, don't comment on things you don't know. You believe in ghosts and gods but don't respect them. I really don't know what people like you are thinking. If you don't believe it, why are you joining in the fun? I remember that you and Li Jianyang were quite pious when you participated in the event. You not only burned paper but also incense. I haven't seen you make so much trouble." Tan Xuan interrupted Su Cheng's complaint with a complaint. He obviously didn't want to see them, but they kept haunting him. Tan Xuan felt very uncomfortable and didn't speak in a good tone, and there was also undisguised sarcasm.
Xiao Di and Su Cheng both took the initiative to participate in this ghost-calling activity without Tan Xuan's reminder. Su Cheng was the nominal organizer of the activity and had to come after receiving the money. Xiao Di wanted to see if there was any new material to shoot. Anyway, they came uninvited. And Xiao Di once again called Tan Xuan to be a free driver. The reason was also very sufficient. It was late at night, and it was the 15th of July. Girls needed protection, otherwise it would be too dangerous to confuse people with ghosts.
Along the way, Xiao Di didn't say anything, but just kept taking pictures of the "fireworks" on the roadside. Su Cheng kept complaining, and seemed to have forgotten her guilt towards Tan Xuan. She didn't calm down until Tan Xuan spoke, and she stopped coughing, as if the aura emanating from Tan Xuan had dispersed the smell of burning paper in the car.
Tan Xuan drove while reminding others: "Today is the Ghost Festival. It is said that the gates of hell are wide open. It is easy for strange things to happen tonight. So whether you are on the road or at the riverside, don't say anything. Don't be surprised if you see anything unusual. If you don't disturb them, they won't disturb you easily. I won't be polite if they provoke you, but if you get into trouble because of your own reasons, don't blame me for not caring about you."
"I know..." Xiao Di replied impatiently, deliberately lengthening his voice, "Why are you hesitating like a woman..."
"It's better to be annoyed than to die. If you don't want to get into trouble, just behave yourself. Put away your camera and don't let those inexperienced people collect their offerings for you."
"Will there be danger in a while?" Su Cheng asked in a low voice. She didn't feel scared at first, but now after Tan Xuan's instructions, she was scared instead.
"You said it's dangerous to invite ghosts for no reason. You chose a day when the ghost gates are wide open. Who knows what you will invite. I don't know if Yang Junwen's friend is reliable. If he really causes trouble and I take action, be careful or I will make him bankrupt."
"Ah!" Su Cheng glanced at Tan Xuan's profile timidly and found that he was becoming more and more unfamiliar with him, especially when Tan Xuan talked about ghosts, there seemed to be no emotion in his eyes.
"Ah what?" Tan Xuan turned his head and glared at Su Cheng, scaring Su Cheng so much that he immediately shut his mouth.
Tan Xuan said with a cold face: "He is fine, I won't waste my gas money today, it depends on whether the trouble they caused is big or small, if nothing happens, I will lose a lot."
Su Cheng was speechless for a while, and suddenly felt sad for Yang Junwen. He felt that he had entrusted his trust to the wrong person. He just wanted his own safety, but he didn't expect person he begged for help was a money-grubber. The person was not satisfied with the income from yesterday and seemed to hope that the situation tonight would be as worse as possible.
Tan Xuan didn't know what the two women behind him were thinking, he just drove seriously and arrived at the railway bridge that Yang Junwen mentioned at nearly eleven o'clock.
The railway bridge used to be a landmark building in Jiangzhou. Cars and trains passed on the bridge. It was very famous locally at that time. However, with the passage of time, social progress, and the replacement of leaders, it gradually became deserted and became a railway bridge with only a few trains passing through it every day. Cars rarely cross the river from here, and people use the new bridge not far away on a daily basis. Now the new and old places are in sharp contrast. One is brightly lit, and the other street lamp is not as dazzling as the moon in the sky, and many of them are broken but no one repairs them. In the past, there might be a few wild mandarin ducks who were reluctant to spend money to go to the hotel. Today, this place is completely quiet, and even people who burn paper are unwilling to come to such a remote place.
At this time, there was a car parked on the side of the road at the bridge head. Yang Junwen and his team had arrived long ago. When they saw Tan Xuan's car coming, the car turned on the double flashes and then drove for a while onto the dry stone beach under the bridge.
Seeing that the road conditions below were not ideal, Tan Xuan parked the car directly on the side of the road. "Damn it, he thought his car was amphibious and he still wanted to climb mountains and wade through water. Let's go on. I don't want to find another tow truck."
Tan Xuan asked Xiao Di and Su Cheng to get out of the car. Tan Xuan originally planned to let them wait in the car, but thinking that these two were not the kind of people who could stay in the car obediently, especially seeing Xiao Di's excited eyes, he was too lazy to persuade them. Just follow them, they came here on their own anyway, and he had reminded them a lot on the way. If there is any special situation later, it is their own fault.
Yang Junwen's car stopped not far from the water, and three people got out of the car, two men and one woman. Two of them were the ones Tan Xuan and the others had met yesterday, and one was a stranger.
When Tan Xuan and the others walked from the roadside to the stone beach, Yang Junwen pulled the stranger to introduce him to Tan Xuan, "Master Tan, you are here. Thank you for your hard work. Let me introduce you. This is my friend Ge Youming. He recommended you to me. He is also the main person in charge of tonight's activities. Youming, this is the Master Tan in the video. I didn't expect Master Tan to be so young, right?"
"Master Tan, hello." Ge Youming clasped his fists towards Tan Xuan, "I have heard of your great name for a long time."
Tan Xuan was stunned by the other party's way of greeting. He didn't expect that he would encounter such etiquette that only appeared in martial arts movies. He smiled and clasped his fists in return, "Hello to you too."
As if she had heard of a famous person, this was too fake. Tan Xuan did not think that his fame could be known to everyone, and thought that the other party was too polite. As for the remaining person, he had seen her the day before yesterday and had close contact with her. Although her face was not familiar, the mark on her face was very obvious, and the look in her eyes when she looked at Tan Xuan now was slowly filled with anger, so Tan Xuan simply ignored it.
After a brief greeting, Ge Youming pointed to the river surface under the railway bridge and said to Tan Xuan: "Master Tan, this is where the female ghost fell into the river. I will try to summon the female ghost here and ask her why she had a nightmare. If there is anything wrong or inappropriate in the process, please give me some advice. I will be very grateful."
Tan Xuan smiled and waved his hand politely, "I don't deserve it. You are too polite. I don't have the ability to instruct others. You can preside over the affairs tonight. If you don't mind me watching from the side, I will be satisfied."
"Then I will make a fool of myself."
"You are welcome."
Just be polite. If you are not polite, Yang Junwen will scold you. Tan Xuan found a stone to sit on and act as his audience.
Ge Youming returned to the car and took out a lot of things from the car, including a folding table, incense, candles, yellow paper, and offerings. After everything was arranged, Ge Youming took out a long and narrow wooden box from the car, took out a brown Taoist robe and put it on, then took out a copper bell, a copper coin sword, a token, and a stack of talisman paper from the wooden box and placed them on the wooden table.
After checking the time, Ge Youming waved to Yang Junwen and the others, "It's midnight. You all step aside and wait for me to cast a spell to summon the female ghost. Come forward when I call you."
Yang Junwen and others obediently stepped aside, leaving the "stage" entirely to Ge Youming.
Ge Youming lit the incense and candles, picked up a piece of yellow paper, lit it on the candle, and threw it onto the rocky beach when it was half burned. Then he picked up a yellow talisman, lit it and threw it into the air. He rang a bell with his left hand, made hand gestures with his right hand, and chanted a spell that he had learned from somewhere.
"The fragrance is deep and responds to the universe, and the fragrance is burning through the gates of heaven; the golden bird is running like a cloud arrow, and the jade rabbit is shining like a wheel; the Southern Star and the Northern Dipper are shining all over the sky, and the colorful clouds are bustling..."
“Woo…”
A breeze blew by, and the burning yellow talisman did not fall to the ground but was blown directly into the air. With the ringing of the bell in Ge Youming's hand, the yellow talisman hovered in the air for a few times and was finally blown above the river surface until it was completely burned out and disappeared without a trace.
There was wind blowing, but the candlelight on the altar was not affected at all and was still burning vigorously. It was very strange, and everyone unconsciously moved closer to Tan Xuan, even Yang Yumin, who had always been hostile to Tan Xuan, followed him.
After the yellow talisman disappeared, Ge Youming also stopped ringing the bell, took out three incense sticks from the table, lit them and inserted them into the incense burner, picked up a few pieces of yellow paper and lit them in a steel basin in front of the altar. Then he picked up the brush and wrote a few words on a piece of yellow paper, picked up the copper coin sword, pierced the yellow paper and put it on the candle to light it.
Ge Youming raised the token on the table with his left hand, waved the copper coin sword with his right hand, and shouted loudly: "Patrolling ghosts and gods, listen to my order, quickly bring Yu Jing's ghost here."
