Chapter 12 Volume 3 Ghost Traces: Phantoms in the Night

In the middle of Zhenyuan, Wang Shen, a commoner in the west of Wangyuan post, planted elms by hand to form a forest by the side of the road, and built a thatched hut with several rafters. Xia Yue often fed oars and water to passers-by, and the officials would take a rest and have tea.There is a son who is thirteen years old and serves guests every order.Suddenly one day, Bai's father said, "There is a woman on the road begging for water." He called in because of the order.A young girl, dressed in biru and a white scarf, said to herself: "My home is more than ten miles south of here. My husband died and had no children. I am now in mourning. I will be in Mawei to visit my family, and I will be a beggar for food and clothing."Wang Shennai stayed with him and said: "You can stay here at dusk today, and Daming will go." The daughter also readily agreed.His wife then took her to the back hall and called her a younger sister.Qianqi made several things about clothing, and took care of them from noon to Xu.The stitching is fine and dense, almost not artificial.Wang Shen was very surprised. His wife still loved him, so she jokingly said, "Since my sister has no close relatives, can she be a new wife for my family?" Clothing ceremony is the bride.It was hot in the evening, and he warned his husband: "There are many robbers nearby, so don't open the door." That is to say, he went to sleep with a giant rafter.In the middle of the night, Wang Shen's wife dreamed that her son had her hair loose and complained, "I will be exhausted after being eaten." She was frightened and wanted to save her son.Wang Shen said angrily: "The old man has a good bride, and he is so happy to talk!" The wife is still asleep, and her dream is as good as before.Shen and his wife Bingzhu call their son and bride, but they don't respond.Open the door, the door is like a key, it is a bad door.When it is closed, it opens, and there is something with round eyes and chiseled teeth, and its body is blue, rushing towards people.All that remains of his son is his brain and hair.

Out of Chang'an, pass the Zhongwei Bridge, cross the Weishui River, go west along the north bank, passing Taohuayi (Xianyang County), Wenquanyi (Xianyang County), Huailiyi (Xingping County), Maweiyi (Xingping County), Wangyuan Posts (Xingping County)...Although posts and hotels belong to official institutions, ordinary travelers cannot stay and rest, but there are many private hotels around the posts and hotels. For example, in the vicinity of Wangyuan Post, in the first year of Emperor Dezong of Tang Dynasty (785-805 A.D.), a commoner, Wang Shen, opened a small inn for pedestrians to rest, and bought syrup and fruits, not for making money, but for charity.The Wang family also planted elm trees on the side of the road, forming a shady forest to shelter travelers from the wind and sun, so this small shop is very popular among travelers.

Wang Shen has a son who usually helps his father with business and serves guests.But it was said that this summer, near noon, the sun was scorching, a woman asked for water, so the son of the Wang family brought her into the house. The woman was wearing a green dress and a white scarf, and she said to Wang Shen, "I am a good wife. I live ten miles south of this place. My husband passed away a few days ago and I have no children. Now that the funeral period is over, I will go to Maweipo for relatives." Home, pass by here today, begging for some food." The woman was beautiful, bright in speech, and lovely in manner. Wang Shen then stayed with her for lunch and said, "It is already noon now. If you continue on your way, it will be completely dark if you don't reach Mawei. You are a woman, and you are more dangerous. How about Stay at my house tonight, live with my wife, wait for the journey tomorrow morning, and arrive in Mawei before sunset."

After hearing this, the woman seemed to feel reasonable, and followed it happily. After the meal, Wang's wife took the girl to the back hall and called her sister.In the afternoon, the two women started chatting. Wang's wife asked the woman to help her make clothes. It didn't take long for several pieces of clothes to be finished. Wang Shen was very surprised when he saw it. The wife liked the woman very much, and joked: "Since you have no close relatives, can you be my daughter-in-law?" The woman smiled and said, "I am lonely, and I am willing to listen to your arrangement."

Wang's wife was very surprised, she didn't expect the woman to agree so happily.Talking to Wang Shen, the husband is also very happy.In this way, on the same day, the woman married the son of the Wang family. In the evening, after entering the bridal chamber, the woman warned the Wang family's son, "I heard that there are many thieves in this area these days. Although it is a hot season, don't open the door to sleep." The woman gave Wang's son a meaningful look, and then blocked the door with a wooden stick. The night of the Tang Dynasty passed quietly in the hourglass.

In the middle of the night, Wang Shen's wife was suddenly awakened by a nightmare.In the dream, his son cried out, "Mother, the child is about to be eaten up!" Still in shock, Wang's wife told Wang Shen what she had dreamed about, and the latter was very impatient: "You have such a good daughter-in-law, is it because you are so happy that you talk in your sleep?" Wang's wife thought about it, and it was indeed just a dream.So, lay down again, and went to sleep.But not long after, I dreamed of my son crying again: "Mother! The child is in pain." This time I couldn't sleep.Wang Shen also felt that something was wrong.The couple got out of bed and went to their son's room with candles.When I came to the door, I called my son, but there was no response from inside; I called the woman again, and there was still deathly silence.

Wang Shen suddenly had an ominous premonition. As soon as he pushed the door, he found that the door was being pushed against by something, and shouted: "No!" Just when Wang Shen used all his strength to knock the door open, something jumped out of it, shaped like a ghost, and roared away. At this time, Wang Shen's wife was paralyzed at the door.When Wang Shen had the courage to enter the room, he found only a pile of skulls and hair left on the bed. In the story, the son of the Wang family was eaten by a ghost in a daze. In fact, when Li Gui sewed the clothes, the non-artificial dense stitches had revealed clues.Wang Shen was a little skeptical at the time, but finally ignored this detail.When his wife was awakened by the nightmare, Wang Shen was still careless.And all of this is inseparable from the initial greed of the Wang wife.At that time, Wang's wife seemed to ask casually, but she actually had hope.Therefore, after the woman readily agreed, the king's wife felt like she was swallowing a pie that fell from the sky.It's just that he didn't expect that it was his son's flesh and blood that was swallowed in the end.

The story that happened next to Wangyuan Station is speechless, because the Wang family was a kind-hearted person, but they suffered such a disaster.If you carefully study the story recorded in "Youyang Miscellaneous Zu", you will find that it has a bit of "painted skin" elements, all of which are ghosts pretending to be beautiful women to cause disaster.In the novel, Pu Songling's description of the ghost is: "Take a look at it through the window, and see a ghost with a green face and teeth like saws. It spreads human skin on the couch and draws it with a colored brush." ​​In this story, , the description of Li Gui is "body like blue" and "round eyes and chiseled teeth".

Obviously, the story that happened on the night of the Tang Dynasty gave Pu Songling inspiration. However, the ghosts that Pu Songling borrowed in the novel not only come from Wangyuan Station, but also from the chapter "Wang Huang" in "Xuanguailu", the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, Niu Sengru.The next story of doom is basically the prototype of the original. It was a secret event that happened in the summer of Tang Xianzong Yuanhe three years (AD 808). In Secret Affair, it is exactly the same in terms of characters, plot and progress.When it comes to the difference, the only difference is that at the end of this story, the determination of the origin of the ghosts has broadened our knowledge.Pu Songling's work ended hastily.

The beginning of the book: "Wang Sheng from Taiyuan was traveling early, and met a girl, who ran alone with her arms in his arms. It was very difficult to walk, and he hurried to take advantage of it. She was a beautiful girl. Loved each other, and asked: 'He Suye walked alone?'" The place where the story of "Wang Huang" takes place is near Luoyang.However, the protagonist's hometown is also in Taiyuan, and his surname is also Wang.When he returned to the manor from Luoyang, he also met a beautiful woman: "Wang Huang of Taiyuan, at the beginning of May in the third year of Yuanhe, came out of the Jianchun Gate twenty-five miles from Luozhi Gou's Village, and there was a new tomb on the left side of the road. There was a white-clothed concubine before who set up a sacrifice and wept very mournfully. She was a young lady, about eighteen or nineteen years old, with a peerless complexion, beside her were two maidservants, but no husband..."

This summer in the third year of Yuanhe was a bit hideous. In the middle, when the beautiful woman answered Wang Sheng why he walked alone, she said: "A person who walks the way can't relieve his worries, so why bother to ask?" Then, "Sheng said: 'Why are you worried? Maybe you can work hard.' The woman said sadly: "Parents are greedy, and concubines are rich. I am very jealous, and I am humiliated by Chu at night, so I can't bear it, and I will be far away." Ask: "Why?" Said: "A person who is dying , Wu has a fixed place.'Sheng said:'My house is not far away, and I will be bored and careless.'Women like to follow it. From generation to generation, they will carry things with them, and they will lead and return together." Wang Sheng is easy to think of a beautiful woman who is affected by the spirit of a regular wife. people take home. The beautiful woman in front of Wang Huang said that her husband died while traveling in Luoyang, and she came from afar to pay homage.The difference is that here, the beautiful woman is accompanied by two maids.When Wang Huang, who had no wife, wanted to take the beautiful woman home, he was rejected.At this time, the maid came forward and said to the woman: "Miss, it's getting late now, there is no place to live in the wild, and there is no job to support life when I go home. I am lucky enough to meet Wang Sheng, where else do I go?" . But the beautiful woman is still performing: "My ex-husband and I were married. Now my husband died in Luoyang. I am broken into pieces. I can't thank my husband for his kindness. How can I go with a stranger? Don't say it, I still want to Let's go, go back to Luoyang to settle down, and then make plans." Wang Huang said: "You go to Luoyang, there is no place to settle down, so why not come back to the village with me?" The maid sent messages back and forth, and finally the beautiful woman "reluctantly" agreed to go back together. In the manor, Wang Huang finally married the beautiful woman.But it wrote: "The woman has no one in the house, and asked: 'Why does the king have no family?' The answer was: 'Zhaier.' The woman said: 'This place is good. Live like a concubine, and you must keep secrets.' Make a promise. It is combined with the sleeping room. It will be hidden in the secret room, and people will not know it after a few days." The subsequent development was exactly the same: whether it was Wang Huang in the Tang Dynasty or Wang Sheng in the middle school, they all met a Taoist priest, saying that the protagonist's face was haggard, and he seemed to be haunted by a ghost.Wang Huang replied: "It's just a wife." Wang Sheng didn't tell the truth, saying that he hadn't met anyone recently.But when he returned home, he "creeped out and peeped through the window, and saw a ferocious ghost with a green face and teeth like saws. He spread human skin on the couch and painted it with a colored brush. He threw the brush and lifted the skin like Shaking the clothes, putting them on the body, and then turning into a woman..." This description is the climax of the story, and it is the most terrifying.Later, Wang Sheng got a wooden talisman from a Taoist priest.But he was attacked by a ghost, and finally Wang Sheng was heartbroken and died.Later, he was rescued by a Taoist priest and got rid of the ghost. Wang Huang's story is more complicated.The Taoist said to Wang Huang: "If you don't sever ties with this girl, you will die in ten or twenty days!" Wang Huang refused to listen and went his own way.When he met the Taoist priest again, the latter said: "Tomorrow at noon, the ghost will take your life! I will give you a wooden talisman. When the time comes, you will hit her with the talisman and you will see her true face!" Wang Huang was dubious, and put the wooden talisman into his bosom.After returning to the villa, Wang Huang sat in the hall, and when the beautiful woman came in, he threw a wooden talisman at her, and the woman turned into a ferocious ghost.Li Gui stepped forward and grabbed Wang Huang.The latter was overwhelmed with fright, sat on a chair and passed out. Li Gui didn't give up, put Wang Huang on the bed, stomped on Wang Huang's abdomen, and then disappeared with a smile... The Taoist came and saw Wang Huang's body. He sighed and said, "The tragedy of eternity! This ghost is the weight-resistance ghost under the right foot of King Beitian. Every three thousand years, someone will be replaced. When killing someone, if the person died sitting , then the replaced person can find a new substitute after 3,000 years. But after you die, you will be put on the bed by that ghost, your back will be trampled, and you will die lying down. Even after 3,000 years, you are not qualified to find someone else to replace yourself. You will be trampled under the feet of the Northern Heavenly King forever, and you will not be allowed to be reincarnated!" Here is a piece of ghost knowledge.The "Northern King" and "Naizhong Ghost" mentioned here can still be seen until now, because they are in the Grottoes of Fengxian Temple in Longmen, Luoyang.There is a sculpture of "Northern Heavenly King" stepping on "Heavy Ghost" (sculpted in the second year of Tang Gaozong Shangyuan, AD 675), which has stood in the wind and rain for more than a thousand years.According to the "Luoyang City Chronicles", in the sculpture, the "Northern King" puts his left hand on his waist, holds a three-story pagoda with his right hand, and steps on a "back-up demon king". "Northern Heavenly King" is the Northern Bishamon Heavenly King in Buddhism, and "Looking Up Demon King" is our protagonist Wang Huang! Wang Huang couldn't get up forever because his spine was broken by the previous generation of "heavy-resistant ghosts", and he was trampled under by the King of Beitian in the midst of eternal doom. He expressed the infinite regret and pain in his heart in the expression that had been frozen for thousands of years...