Chapter 37 Chapter Three

"You said you gave me the ancient book?" I was still worried about this matter, afraid that grandpa would change his mind if it dragged on for a long time. "I've told you that I won't go back on my word. Catch this qi-eating ghost first. If you wait too long, the short mother-in-law's life will be in danger." Grandpa said, not seeming to be perfunctory to me. "Where to catch it?" I asked. Grandpa turned to ask the short granny: "Where have you been? Is there anything special on the way?" The short granny said slowly: "I, I went to Wentian Village over the back mountain. When I came back, I met a dog with only upper body on the mountain, and was bitten by that beast."

The little granny spoke in a low voice, like a mosquito buzzing.Maybe people who have no breath speak like this.Grandpa put his ear close to listen, nodding frequently while listening. Later, grandpa prepared a few meaty bones, a weighing beam, and a weighing mound, and asked me to go to the back mountain together.Ma Bing volunteered to go with him. Grandpa said: "Forget it, it will bite you when you go. I said that it likes to bite people who have done bad things. To deal with such little ghosts, we, grandpa and grandson, are enough. "The horse soldiers had to bow their heads and leave.Grandpa always talks too straight, which is his shortcoming and also his advantage.

Grandpa handed the weight to me and told me to hold it tight and don't fall to the ground.He packed the meat and bones in a canvas bag, lifted it on his shoulders with a scale beam, and led me out the back door to the back mountain. Let me talk about the geographical location of the back mountain first. There is a Wentian Village between our family Changshan Village and my grandfather’s Huamei Village. Between Wentian Village and Huamei Village is a hill with an altitude of only one or two hundred meters.Although the hill is short, it has a large area of ​​more than 600 mu, and there are many kinds of tea trees and tung trees on the hill.The tea tree is as short as an umbrella standing on the ground, while the tung tree is as tall as an electric pole.

The mountain road is narrow and many bends, tall tung trees are planted on both sides of the road, and behind the tung trees are dense and chaotic tea trees. Walking on the mountain road during the day, I feel that the tung trees on both sides stand upright like soldiers, and the tea trees behind are green everywhere, and I feel refreshed.But walking here at night feels completely different. The tung trees on both sides are like demons and ghosts, and the tea trees behind are like ghosts gathering. More than ten years ago, when it was getting dark, I didn't dare to go home. Even if I had to go to class tomorrow, I would stay at my grandfather's house for the night. I would rather run all the way to school early in the morning with my schoolbag on my back.

This time even with my grandpa around, I couldn't help but lose control of my hands and feet. I always suspected that there was something behind me, but I didn't dare to look back. As soon as he went up the mountain, Grandpa slowed down.There are unknown grass insects chirping all around, one after another, like talking and discussing with each other.The moon was in the sky, but it was not very bright, and there were fluffy hairs around it, which seemed to be moldy, and it was not very comfortable to shine on people. The tung trees on both sides of the road lost their three-dimensional sense, and were as thin as paper-cut. When the wind blew slightly, the branches moved like living devils.But the tea trees lay motionless, like beasts ready to go. They held their breath, waiting for us to pounce and bite from all sides inadvertently.

My grandpa and I walked in the gap between the trees that resembled devils and beasts.Grandpa pursed his mouth and made a "tsk tsk" sound to tease the dog to eat.The weight is heavy in my hand, I hold the bottom of the weight with one hand, and hold the silk rope through the hole of the weight with the other.Scales and weights are both things to ward off evil spirits.Scaling beams to beat ghosts is like cutting people with swords.Most ghosts are light in body, and if you have a weight in your hand, it won't be able to pull your soul away. Some people's children are sick, and a weight is often hung on the bedside, which means that ghosts will not take away the child's soul.

After walking about a hundred steps, Grandpa suddenly stopped the dog teasing voice and listened attentively.I also stopped to listen carefully, and there was no other sound at first, but when I listened again, I heard the sound of "rustling" grass, which meant that there were living creatures slowly approaching us.I cling to the weights tightly.