Guanqingzhai

"Buddha Says Ghost Child and Mother Sutra" is included in volume No. 20 of "Taisho Collection".All in one volume.The god of ghosts and mothers, whose Sanskrit name is Hariti.It means cyan, Tsing Yi.Literally translated as Aizimu, Tianmu, Gongdetian, etc.Because she is the mother of all ghosts, she is called the mother of ghosts.

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In the small hall, the singer sang the most popular new words in the capital, melodious and melodious. The content of the song sounds a little weird, but the words are very elegant, and the listeners are attracted by the grotesque content in the song.In that seemingly absurd story, there are things that make people ponder and recall.But after all, this place is just a small restaurant in the market, and all kinds of noisy sounds are still coming and going, which more or less makes the melodious song become a little blurred.

Hu Yue warmed herself a pot of wine, and said with a smile: "Lian'er's song gets better and better, next time write her a song about Shaoyao ghost. Heh, her father's Lao Baigan is also really good drink."

Chu Jue, who had been concentrating on listening to the song, put down the empty cup in his hand, and asked, "Could it be that all the singing girls in the capital are singing songs written by you?"

Hu Yue shook the cup and said with a smile, "How is it possible? Liu Sheng from the outskirts of the city is the real talent. Some women think my lyrics are too ghostly. In the eyes of those literati, my songs are not popular. , not even arty. I can’t make much money.”

Chu Jue was stunned for a moment, but then he burst out laughing. At this time, the wine was warm. He poured a glass for Hu Yue beside him and said, "Are you ghostly? Don't care at all."

Hu Yue tilted her head, and said disapprovingly: "Ghost air is ghost air, anyway, it's just a ditty, absurd people write absurd words, this world is made up of absurd things."

Chu Jue groaned, and Hu Yue seemed to have remembered something, opened the fan, leaned his body sideways, and said to Chu Jue, "Brother Chu, have you heard what happened in the streets and alleys of the east gate of the temple recently?"

Chu Jue frowned slightly, and said, "Could it be that there are rumors of evil ghosts appearing to eat children?"

Hu Yue straightened up, obviously a little disappointed with Chu Jue's answer. He couldn't sell it, so he could only pour himself another glass of wine. He said, "It's that matter. I may know something about this matter."

Chu Jue said, "What's the matter?"

Hu Yue took out a piece of blood-stained handkerchief, the original shape of the handkerchief was no longer visible, and the dried blood stains made the handkerchief particularly stiff.Fortunately, Hu Yue put it in his lapel indifferently.

Chu Jue said, "What is this?"

Hu Yue said: "It was given to me by the embroidered bead that sells tofu in the east gate of the temple. She said that he picked up the handkerchief near the Jinshui Bridge, and a child was killed there the day before yesterday. The bloody handkerchief just turned up there."

Chu Jue picked up the quick handkerchief and said, "Look carefully, is it still embroidered with flowers? It's something for women."

Hu Yue nodded, took back the handkerchief and said, "That's right, and Xiuzhu recognized that handkerchief, which was embroidered by Mrs. Lin Ersao, the wife of a carpenter in the east gate of the temple. And Xiuzhu told that the murderer who killed the child Probably not human."

Chu Jue said with a half-smile, "It's not easy to see such an inhuman monster in the capital."

Hu Yue froze for a moment, then suddenly understood what was happening and nodded with a smile.He poured wine for Chu Jue and said, "That's true, that's why I told you to listen to Brother Xian."

Chu Jue asked another question: "Do you think it has something to do with the handkerchief?"

Hu Yue shook his wine glass and didn't rush to answer.At this time, the singing girl finished singing a Qingping tune, and then bowed her head to collect the reward money.Walking to the side of the two of them, Hu Yue pouted, tilted her head and glanced at Chu Jue. The corner of Chu Jue's eyes twitched, but she still understood and gave the singer a reward. Suddenly, Chu Jue said yes. With a sound, he looked up at the singing girl and said, "Girl, where did you get the handkerchief on your hand?"

The singing girl blushed and lowered her head and said, "It was given by Mrs. Lin Er in the Dongsi Alley."

Chu Jue said, "Does she often give handkerchiefs?"

The singing girl leaned forward and replied: "Second sister-in-law Lin is a good person, and she will always help those who are not living well. Although their family does not have much wealth. Second sister-in-law Lin especially likes to embroider lotus flowers on handkerchiefs. She is a very dexterous woman. .”

Chu Jue nodded with a smile, the singing girl smiled shyly at Hu Yue, bowed her body and saluted, Hu Yue squinted her eyes and shook the wine glass twice, moved her lips, although she didn't make a sound, she still understood what he was talking about , such flirtatious eyebrows made the woman's cheeks even more red, she nodded and hurried away, not forgetting to look back as she walked, Hu Yue drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, he looked at the thoughtful Chu Jue said: "It seems that such a kind woman is indeed not like a hag who eats children."

Chu Jue took a sip of wine and said, "But, is it really that simple?"

Hu Yue narrowed her eyes and said, "Oh?"

Chu Jue opened the fan in Hu Yue's hand, changed the subject and continued, "It's rare to see you being so caring. So are you planning to intervene in this matter?"

Hu Yue laughed, and he said: "The business I do is to listen to anecdotes from various parties. Do you think I will miss it? And I found that when Xiuzhu handed me the veil, he looked very scared. So There must be something else she hasn't told me."

Chu Jue raised his eyebrows, and said with a bit of taste: "It seems that you are quite interested in that embroidered bead girl."

Hu Yue looked up at him, smiled and stretched out a finger, tapped the table and said: "But there is one place that needs brother Chu's help."

Chu Jue twisted his mouth and said, "Your brother invited me here to ask for my help, otherwise I won't see you invite me to drink during the holidays..."

Hu Yue coughed, but she didn't show any embarrassment at all, but replied calmly: "Do we really need to use those to count our friendship?"

Chu Jue sighed: "Yes, but you never responded to my sincerity once."

There was a trace of unnaturalness in Hu Yue's slender eyes, but there was only a moment of absence, and he quickly smiled and said: "How come, I take Brother Chu as a confidant. Come, drink, become friends if you are destined, cherish the fate Fang is a bosom friend."

Chu Jue smiled wryly, and raised their wine glasses to Qiang Yue, and drank a glass of wine with their own thoughts.

It was late at night, and Chu Jue got up and said, "Let's stop here for today. Let's talk about it in the future."

Hu Yue was already half-drunk. He nodded and walked a little staggeringly. Every time Chu Jue met Hu Yue, he was alone, so now there was only one person to support this drunk confidant.

The two walked across the Jinshui Bridge over the moat, and a colorful platform had been set up by the lakeside for the Yufo Zhaihui a few days later.There are still some candles lit in bits and pieces.There was a regular slapping sound from the river, and occasionally something could be heard falling into Hanoi.But gradually, the color of the river changed, and the sky was dark. It was hard to see what it was, but there was a smell of fresh blood floating from not far away.There was a very strange panting sound from the left side of the river. It didn't sound like a human sound, it sounded like some kind of beast.The sound vaguely resembled the knocking of a wooden fish. Chu Jue helped Hu Yue, who was hiccupping, to check. When they walked to the edge of the bridge pier, the weird sound had disappeared, and the two of them could only pass through the bridge pier in the dark night. The faint moonlight could see the surroundings clearly, so they didn't find any people or beasts.

Suddenly Chu Jue saw a huddled figure beside him.

Chu Jue whispered: "Could it be a beggar?"

When the two reached the shore, Hu Yue, who had been leaning against Chu Jue's arms, let out a gasp. He rubbed his eyes and said, "Look, is that a Buddha statue?"

When the two walked to the river, it was a half-carved Buddha statue, but it was abandoned by the bridge before it was finished.This is a rare thing, because engraving Buddha images has always been a merit, and carpenters will only start work after devotional and fasting, and there is no possibility of giving up halfway. In their eyes, it is even a life-saving thing, and there will be retribution.

The two glanced at each other, and then began to observe the Buddha statue in their hands. They found that there were dark brown blood stains and some gnawing marks on the back of the unfinished Buddha statue.Suddenly there was a shrill cry, the sound was like a child's.

The wine of the two of them also woke up instantly, and the two of them quickly ran towards the sound, but what caught their eyes was a bloody scene, a child who was only four or five years old, half of his face The flesh had been torn off, blood was all over the body, and there was a big gash on the neck.The child twitched all over, and it seemed that he hadn't died yet. Chu Jue ran over quickly, but it still had no effect. The child only had time to call out the word "wood" before dying. Such pain was too cruel for a child.His eyes were wide open, maintaining the painful appearance before he died, and the blood kept flowing from his body into the river, staining the river in a dark color.The shuddering blood of death filled the surroundings.

Chu Jue frowned, closed the child's eyes, and said, "It's hopeless, it looks like I just died, and if I come earlier, maybe I won't die."

Hu Yue squatted down expressionlessly, looked at the child's body and said, "Look carefully, these wounds are not caused by teeth."

Chu Jue looked at the corpse. The wound on the corpse's face was very hideous, and the surface of the wound was also uneven.Hu Yue pointed to the flesh of the neck and said, "If you bite it off, it won't be so clean, it's like a toothed knife."

Hu Yue looked at the child's body and said to himself, "A beast with a knife?"

At this moment, the patrolling waiters were walking towards here, Chu Jue shook his head, so he could only run over and stop the two waiters.One of the waiters who walked faster saw the corpse and yelled out in fright. He pointed to the corpse and said, "Here...here, you have to go see the governor with me!"

Hu Yue shook his head and said: "Go to the yamen, hey, look at the man, we don't look like murderous people, but we just found the body of this child...Why don't we wait here for your master? Otherwise, the body will be killed If the person is moved, what should I do?"

The one who caught up after him immediately shouted: "How can you be allowed to run wild here? Since there is a corpse here, and you are nearby, it is reasonable to go to the yamen to ask questions. Let a grassroots like you talk nonsense here?"

Hu Yue frowned as if in trouble, and said to herself: "The yamen is too strong... Hey, there is no way, let's go!"

Hu Yue scratched her hair with a fan, and was about to speak, but was stopped by Chu Jue and said: "He will stay here, I will go to see your governor."

The two waiters looked at each other, and saw that Chu Jue was not dressed like a commoner, but he couldn't be sure of his identity for a while, but his tone eased a lot: "This..."

Seeing this, Hu Yue said, "Brother Chu, don't bother, I'll just go with you."

Chu Jue stopped him and said, "You are not suitable to go there."

Hu Yue raised her eyebrows and said, "Then you are suitable?"

Chu Jue hummed as a matter of course.Hu Yue had no way to refute, so he could only sigh. In the end, Chu Jue went to the government with one waiter, while the other waiter was in charge of guarding the corpse and monitoring Hu Yue.

The waiter was obviously very scared. He murmured: "Hey, there are quite a few of them... In seven days, there will be the Buddha Bathing Festival, and the Holy Master will drive the Jinming Pond. What if something happens... What should I do?"

Hu Yue asked: "Brother, have you encountered such a situation several times before?"

Hu Yue nodded slightly towards the waiter, but the waiter felt that this poor scholar was approachable and not like a vicious person.Then he opened his mouth and said, "Isn't it possible! The deaths of these children are too miserable."

Hu Yue said: "Can you tell us about the general situation of the children who died earlier?"

The waiter asked vigilantly, "Why are you asking this?"

Hu Yue smiled again: "I'm just curious."

The waiter said: "Curiosity? You are too cruel. Those children are really pitiful. They are all four-year-olds, and they are all boys. They were bitten beyond recognition, tortured alive, and then killed with a knife!"

Hu Yue glanced at the corpse outside, and said to himself: "Killed to death..."