Chapter 50 Chapter Nine: The Haunting of Ghosts in Duocuilou

At this time, Ji Sanniang, the old bustard of Duocuilou, came out from nowhere: "Who did I think it was, it turned out to be Mr. Leng! Mr. Leng is fine recently? Let me introduce you, Miss Tian, ​​you should know. Now she is the gold medal artist of our Duocui Building. If Mr. Leng is interested, please come up and order songs, and Miss Tian will play the piano for you." Tian Xiaomei is too shameless, so I decided to taunt her. Ji Sanniang seemed to see what I was thinking, and said: "Our Miss Tian has a bad temper and offended the young master, I hope you will forgive me a lot. Just now I saw that you are not giving in to each other, so I have a good suggestion. Why don't you come here? Let's compete, I don't know what Master Leng wants?"

"No problem, than what?" I replied. "Let's compare the couplets first, you take turns to make the couplets, let the other party do the right thing." Ji Sanniang said, while she came up with ideas, she yelled at passers-by to watch the fun: "Come and see, the competition between Mr. Leng and Ms. Tian has begun. " Hearing the yelling, many people surrounded him in a short while, as many as hundreds of people. "Ji Sanniang, is today a martial arts contest to recruit relatives? Can we sign up?" A young man booed downstairs. "This new chick is so beautiful, she's better than anything else, why not just throw a hydrangea ball!" Another booed.

"Ji Sanniang, you are here to compete in the ring, let me ask you, will the loser be punished?" "Of course there must be punishment, otherwise it's useless. I think that if a woman loses, she must marry a man as a wife; if a man loses, she must marry a woman as a wife." "Haha, it's not obvious that it's all men's favor!" "If this is the case, I will also sign up to participate, anyway, I will not suffer." The onlookers who gathered downstairs said something to each other, causing bursts of laughter and booing, and the scene suddenly had an atmosphere.

"Go, go, don't make a fuss here, today is Biwen. Let's do the couplet first, and Mr. Leng will come out first!" Ji Sanniang made a temporary guest appearance as the host. I decided to have a good time taunting the little bitch. "There are three women who are raped, one woman, two women, three women, women seduce each other, women in brothels have no shame!" I gave the first couplet (composed of three female characters in traditional Chinese characters) to satirize the prostitutes who trade in flesh and blood.As soon as the couplet came out, it won the unanimous applause of the onlookers.

When Tian Xiaomei heard my Shanglian, she had an angry look on her face, probably because she was dissatisfied with me for classifying her as a brothel woman.After a moment of contemplation, she opened her mouth and answered—— "There are three mouths for the character, one mouth, two mouths, three mouths, word of mouth, and those who are wicked and talented will accumulate some morals!" A group of brothel women upstairs who were not entertaining guests had already come out to cheer. After Tian Xiaomei finished speaking, they also applauded under the leadership of Ji Sanniang. "Changbian girl, Zhibian girl, two girls get together as prostitutes!"

I went on to write a couplet, which is a couplet with split characters. After disassembling the word prostitute and closing them together, it becomes a couplet.The audience applauded. At this time, two opposing lineups were formed upstairs and downstairs.Most of the onlookers downstairs were men, supporting me.Upstairs are all women, in solidarity with Tian Xiaomei. "Zhe side hog, Luo side hog, two hogs walk like a pig!" Tian Xiaomei was very calm.All the prostitutes applauded endlessly. It's Tian Xiaomei's turn to come out with the couplet: "Open your mouth to be a prostitute, shut your mouth to a prostitute, a dog scholar is talking nonsense, this girl is a showman but not a body, what shame is there?"

I then answered the second couplet: "Singing when you stand, dancing when you sit, a dead girl scratches her head and poses, a girl in a brothel sings and dances, like a raccoon!" There was another commotion in the crowd. "Actors are ruthless, bitches are ruthless, brothel actors are ruthless and ruthless!" I wrote a couplet to mock Tian Xiaomei. "The scholar lost his soul when he chased the corpse, and the scholar lost his soul when he chased the corpse!" Tian Xiaomei was not to be outdone. Probably because of hearing the news, people came here from time to time, unwilling to miss the opportunity to watch the fun.

Seeing me laughing at the women in the brothel, Tian Xiaomei was very angry, so she came out to be a singing girl Zhaoxue: "I have been beautiful in the Six Dynasties, and I love Ban Cai deeply. Who can compare with Liu Ru?" I immediately replied: "Ignore the three obediences, make cheap remarks and four virtues, the fireworks woman can do her best!" As soon as I finished speaking, the onlookers downstairs immediately applauded and rioted. Tian Xiaomei is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and immediately launched a counterattack: "In the daytime, I talk about Confucianism and Mencius morality, and in the evening, I accompany brothels and red houses. Most of the scholars are frivolous!"

These words are very lethal!Most of the people who linger in the brothel are romantic young men who are studying. The group of prostitutes on the Duocui building kept screaming, and the prostitutes from several neighboring brothels also stood on the balcony of their own house, applauding endlessly. This scene has evolved into a war between men and prostitutes, each defending their dignity. Tian Xiaomei and I are just the spokespersons of these two groups. I was thinking about how to answer, when suddenly, a man's voice sounded harsh from upstairs: "Xiucai, when did you come here? Come and play, the chick here is really good."

It turned out that it was Tian Gudao who stuck his head out of the window of the upstairs side room facing the street and shouted at me. "Tian Gudao, what are you doing here!" Wang Erya screamed suddenly, her face was very displeased, causing a burst of boos. This dog is barking at the wrong time.I had placed high hopes on him before, and asked him to use Wang Erya to cheat out the antidote to the Gu poison through the trick of a handsome man. I was ridiculed by Tian Xiaomei, and I actually have an acquaintance who goes whoring here, which made me very embarrassed and ashamed!

Hearing Tian Gudao calling me, Duocuilou and several nearby prostitutes made booing sounds.At the same time, they recited the couplet Tian Xiaomei just said in unison: "In the daytime, you talk about Confucianism and Mencius, and at night, you spend time in brothels and red houses. Most of the scholars are frivolous!" I was a little confused by their booing, and Tian Gudao's appearance made me feel so gentle, I felt that all the clothes on my body had been stripped, and I couldn't help but feel a little ashamed on my face. The more this is the case, the more flustered, the more flustered, the more unable to keep up with the brain. At this time, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a brothel girl flirting on the side of the road, waving to passers-by frequently, so I had an idea and came up with a couplet: "When you invite customers, you have a flattering smile on your face, and after getting out of bed, you only recognize gold and silver. There are virgin martyrs!" When the onlookers downstairs saw that I was right, they also breathed a sigh of relief and applauded thunderously. "It's better for the broken jade than for the whole tile. Du Shiniang sank the treasure chest in anger. Who says there are no virgins in brothels!" Tian Xiaomei retorted with a couplet. "There is a mouth on the top, and a cock on the bottom. This young master has white flowers and silver in pain. I say there is a virgin in the archway!" Just as I was thinking about responding, Tian Gudao actually recited a couplet, which immediately caused a commotion. Not to mention how mediocre his writing in the second couplet is, the content is vulgar and insulting to me when I just read it, it's really embarrassing to me! However, Tian Gudao's couplet actually won loud applause and applause from the men in the audience downstairs.The cheers were mixed with the curses of prostitutes. Seeing this scene, Tian Gudao was very helpful, and frequently greeted the crowd downstairs. Just when he was triumphant, a gust of wind came suddenly, and before we could react, Tian Gudao was completely unrecognizable, his whole body was covered by vegetable leaves, eggs and tomatoes, and the egg yolk dripped from his face from time to time. There was another commotion among the crowd. Tian Gudao wiped the sundries off his face, and was about to protest, when suddenly, a woman screamed from upstairs. I saw a woman with disheveled clothes and disheveled hair rushing out, shouting as she ran, "There is a ghost! There is a ghost..." Seeing this, a man laughed and said, "I think you are a ghost yourself!" The bystanders laughed endlessly, and exchanged with relish from time to time. At this time, the woman with disheveled hair suddenly fell to the ground.The noise stopped abruptly. After a moment of silence, everyone came to their senses and rushed forward one after another, in a hurry, some beat the woman's back, some shook their hands, the scene was a bit chaotic. The focus of everyone's attention turned to the woman.Tian Xiaomei and I were put on the air. "Among those who pinched her!" A man who looked like a doctor squeezed in, and everyone made way. The doctor held the woman in his arms, grabbed her, took a pill from his pocket and put it in the woman's mouth . After a while, the woman finally woke up, her eyes were wandering, and she was still in shock, which may be caused by excessive shock. After a while, the woman regained her composure, looked at the people around her, and saw a familiar sister beside her, she was probably sure that she was still in the world, and began to narrate one after another. People who are familiar with her know that she is a prostitute from Duocuilou, whose nickname is Qiuju. From her intermittent narration, people finally understood what was going on. This evening, just after dusk, a guest revealed her card and told the old bustard that the purpose of coming here to seize Cuilou this time was to meet Qiuju for a while. Qiu Ju came to the guest's wing, but saw that the room was dark.Qiu Ju wanted to light the lamp, but the guest couldn't even say no.Qiu Ju said that it was too dark and had no mood, and lighting up the lamp also made me see the young master's face better.While speaking, the candle lamp was lit.Under the dancing candlelight, Qiu Ju looked at the guest with affection, but saw the guest deliberately avoiding her. Qiu Ju was so strange, the more she hid, the more she wanted to see, so she coaxed the guest to close her eyes, and finally hung her around the guest's neck coquettishly, and then slowly opened her eyes.Seeing that the man was quite young, but his face was strange, his facial features were unclear, and his outline was hard to distinguish. Qiu Ju was awed by the sight, and was terrified, and let go of it in surprise. The guest was not angry, instead he comforted Qiu Ju and said: "Miss, don't be afraid, I am your late husband. I haven't seen you for a long time, and I miss you very much, so I came to see you specially." It turned out that Qiu Ju, who was from a poor family, became the child bride-in-law of a wealthy family surnamed Wang in the neighboring village at the age of eight.When Qiu Ju was fourteen years old, she had already blossomed into a beautiful girl.This year, her 18-year-old husband, Mr. Wang, suddenly fell ill and could not be cured for a long time. The family asked Qiu Ju to marry Wang as a way to exorcise evil spirits.Afterwards, Chongxi still failed to save her husband Wang's life, and soon died. Qiu Ju began to be widowed, and a year later, her father-in-law, who was still in his prime, wanted to have an idea with his daughter-in-law, but Qiu Ju sternly rejected her. Since then, her father-in-law held a grudge, and went around saying that she was a broom star, and wanted to kick her out. In order to force her to submit.Qiu Ju couldn't bear it anymore, so she ran away from home, and finally entered the brothel by mistake. Hearing that the guest was her late husband, Qiu Ju still had lingering fears.Later, I heard a guest talk about some trivial things about the two of them when they were young, which was actually right.Qiu Ju felt even more strange.The two sat facing each other like this, recalling the past, chatting and laughing, suddenly saw the guest's color change drastically, and then said to Qiu Ju, "I will come to see you often in the future", and disappeared in an instant.Qiu Ju was horrified and exclaimed that there was a ghost. When everyone heard what Qiu Ju said, they smacked their lips and stuck out their tongues, feeling incredible. "He said he would come to see me often in the future! Woohoo..." Qiuju suddenly choked up, obviously, this was what she was most afraid of. She was worried that she would be harassed by the wandering spirit of her dead husband from now on and would not be at peace. Hearing what she said, everyone turned panic-stricken and looked around, for fear that the wandering spirit was behind them. "How is this good, what is this good..." Qiu Ju kept repeating this sentence. Her sisters took turns to comfort her, but their eyes were not confident.Others started talking about it. "Hurry up and invite a Taoist priest to cast spells to suppress demons, otherwise there will never be peace here." "Damn, this ghost won't come to our house." "Hush, be careful what you say, if this ghost overhears you, it will follow you home." "When you go home and enter the door, quickly smoke it with mugwort leaves or realgar before entering the door, it can dispel evil spirits..." "Don't be afraid, there is a demon mirror installed on the gate of my house." Hearing such a discussion from others, Qiu Ju became even more frightened, and her crying gradually became louder. When people were uneasy, Widow Horse came out from nowhere: "Do you know why there are ghosts haunting you?" After she asked such a question, everyone shook their heads without knowing it, and then turned their eyes to her, expecting her to give an answer.Widow Ma seemed to have the scriptures in hand, and she was not in a hurry to answer, deliberately entertaining everyone's appetite. "Widow Horse on Dog Egg Day, tell me quickly, what is the reason?" A man in the crowd couldn't help cursing. Widow Ma suddenly lost her proud expression, looked around in a hurry, then pointed at me and Tian Gudao and said: "I think it's the two of them who did it, they are the morticians!" After hearing this, everyone looked at me with reproachful eyes, and there was a trace of fear in their eyes. The performance of Widow Horse was unexpected, and I immediately became the target of public criticism, and it was hard to argue. "Everyone knows that the body of the body exorcist is very yin, and there are many dead souls attached to his body. Once these wandering souls float out, the consequences will be disastrous. I think the strange thing that happened to Qiu Ju just now is the body exorcist surnamed Tian. I brought it into Duocuilou when I came to go whoring." Widow Ma refused to let go, and continued to create an atmosphere of terror. The crowd around me immediately seemed to be receding water, afraid that I would not be able to avoid it. I really didn't expect that Widow Ma would come up with such a sinister trick after offending Widow Ma earlier. She can't be allowed to continue talking nonsense here, so as to tarnish the name of our exorcist, we must quickly find a way to stop it. "Don't panic, everyone. I can tell you that there will never be too much yin on the body of the corpse chaser, and there will be no wild ghosts possessing him! The reason is very simple. If this is the case, can the corpse chaser still move the corpse? Wasn't he killed by a ghost a long time ago? If that's the case, I'm afraid I've died hundreds of times." I said loudly. The others listened and discussed with each other, accompanied by nodding from time to time.It seems that my statement is convincing. "Do you know what kind of person is the most negative?" I asked back. Everyone shook their heads. "It's a widow. We know that women are yin and men are yang. If the yin and yang are out of balance, there will be variables. Especially widows who have died of men, because they have not been in contact with men for a long time, so the yin is the most serious." I continued.You are unkind, don't blame me for being unrighteous. Everyone nodded, seeming to agree with me. Widow Horse's face turned pale, and she said angrily, "How do you know that I haven't touched a man for a long time?" "Could it be that you usually steal men?" Tian Gudao suddenly stuck out his head upstairs and shouted. "You...you..." Widow Ma wanted to argue without saying a word, and suffered from being dumb. The crowd burst into laughter again.At this time, Ji Sanniang also came downstairs. I called her to me, and whispered to her: "The most embarrassing thing is you now. If there are rumors that the Duocui Building is haunted, I'm afraid no one will visit it again, and you will close down." Hearing what I said, Ji Sanniang was really nervous, and hurriedly asked me for advice: "Mr. Leng, find a way to turn the situation around. Please, I will arrange for the best girl in Duocuilou to be yours for free. Enjoy..." So, I whispered something to her, and Ji Sanniang left according to plan. After a while, Ji Sanniang stood on the balcony of the Duocui Building and shouted down: "Everyone in the neighborhood, was Qiu Ju's performance just now realistic?" Everyone was at a loss. "Qiu Ju's behavior just now is a program we arranged in advance for everyone's entertainment. If you think her performance is realistic, please give me some applause!" I saw Qiu Ju was also pushed to the front desk by Ji Sanniang, with a smile on her face, but the smile was a little forced. Immediately there were bursts of applause downstairs, everyone smiled again, and the atmosphere suddenly became much more relaxed. "As for Widow Ma's matter, I inquired about it just now. Widow Ma and Mr. Leng have no serious feuds. The two only had disagreements over the rent issue. Just now, it was just a whim to vent their anger. Just take it as a joke, please don't take it seriously. " When everyone heard what Ji Sanniang said, they were stunned at first, and then they had a new topic, discussed with each other, and slowly dispersed. I walked into Duocui Tower and expressed my approval to Ji Sanniang.Knowing that Widow Ma has been settled by her, she will no longer cause trouble. Then, I called Qiu Ju over.Although she forced herself to be happy on the balcony just now, it was obvious that Qiu Ju still had lingering fears, so I said a few words to comfort her.I cast the yin spell and looked around, and saw Wang's soul wandering around the Duocui Tower. He was always looking up in the direction of the Duocui Tower, sometimes sighing, sometimes bowing his head, and refused to leave for a long time. "Bold wild ghost, why are you always entangled in this?" I communicated with him in ghost language. "The mage doesn't know something. There is my wife inside. I am not entangled with her. I just came to see her." The soul said. "You and Qiu Ju are separated by yin and yang, don't come here again, humans and ghosts are not compatible in the same world." The ghost still wanted to argue, but Tian Gudao yelled from the side: "Xiucai, don't talk to him, take him in quickly!" The ghost wanted to escape, Tian Gudao quickly took out the ghost lock rope, threw it down, and locked it firmly.The ghost was struggling wildly, and the more he struggled, the tighter he was bound.I took the Huya Suppression Ruler from my bosom and suppressed him with one stroke. Then tell Qiu Ju that Wang's wandering spirit will not come to harass her again.Qiu Ju is very grateful, thank you again and again. Everything was in order, Ji Sanniang forced me to fulfill the previous promise, to accompany me with the gold medal oiran from the Cuicui Building.I refused to live or die, and ran away. Tian Gudao said: "Ji Sanniang, the scholar is still a boy, don't hurt him, just hurt me." I called Tian Gudao and wanted to go home, but I met Tian Xiaomei and Wang Erya who were about to go home. "Hmph..." As soon as the two people met, they looked at each other. Although they walked on the same road, they ignored each other. Tian Gudao wanted to break the deadlock, so he took the lead in striking up a conversation: "Miss Tian, ​​just now you are very thoughtful, really good." "Tian Gudao, you brazen bastard, what did you do in Duocui Tower just now!" Erya Wang asked sharply, causing him to put his hot face on his cold ass, and was grabbed by the braids again, speechless. The four of them walked alone, and the atmosphere was a bit awkward. Finally, from Wang Erya's mouth, we learned the truth about their going to seize Cuilou. It turned out that they had spent all the money they had brought, and it was not easy to ask us to borrow money because of face.The two returned to Liye's residence, and when they were worried, they met Ji Sanniang.After Ji Sanniang knew the situation, she kindly invited Tian Xiaomei to play the piano and sing in Duocuilou, and promised that her salary would be double that of other singing girls.Due to her lack of money, Tian Xiaomei agreed.So, there was the opening scene. When I got back to the residence, I felt that I had wrongly blamed Tian Xiaomei, and I was a little sorry for them, so I asked Tian Gudao to send some silver taels. "Xiucai, to be honest, have you fallen in love with Tian Xiaomei? I think you two seem to have a little interest in each other!" Tian Gudao teased me.I deny it. "I still don't admit it, if you don't like her, it's none of your business if she goes to a brothel! It makes you anxious!" "I think Wang Erya just fell in love with you. When she learned that you were working in a brothel, she yelled at you!" "Hey, is it?" "Hurry up and send the money over, admit your mistake by the way, and then use the beauty trick to get the antidote to the poison!" Therefore, Tian Gudao took out twenty taels of silver from his purse, wrapped it up, went downstairs, crossed the street, and knocked on the door... Hearing the creaking sound of the door opening, I saw Tian Gudao enter the house through the pane. After a while, I saw Tian Gudao rolling and crawling, and was kicked out by Wang Erya, looking very funny.Immediately, the package containing the silver was also thrown out, and the door closed with a bang.Tian Gudao turned back in embarrassment. "Look, I can't even send out any money, hey..." I was very dissatisfied with Tian Gudao. "Wang Erya, that little girl is still obsessed with the fact that I went to open a brothel, and if she didn't speak speculatively, she kicked me out!" "It seems that Wang Erya is interested in you, otherwise you don't need to be so excited about her going to the brothel!" However, if the money is not sent over, I am afraid Tian Xiaomei and Wang Erya will go to Duocuilou to play the piano and sing again tomorrow.This is what I don't want to see. To be honest, I didn't know these two little enemies, and we walked together all the way. Although they were poisoned by them, I didn't seem to have much hatred for them. On the contrary, I seemed to have a little affection. This kind of relationship is very complicated, it is different from the relationship between a man and a woman, and it is different from the relationship between brothers and sisters, and it is not the feeling of familiarity with passers-by. This kind of relationship is very subtle, so subtle that even I can't explain it clearly. I thought, I have to send the money over.These two women have backbones and refuse to accept free charity from others. So, I wrote a line on a note: "The money is not a charity, it is only lent to you temporarily, and will be returned to us when you have more money." Then I asked the ghost cub to send the money over. After a while, the ghost cub came back bouncing around, and the opposite party took the silver as expected. I was both relieved and annoyed at the moment.I am gratified that Tian Xiaomei and the others will not go to the brothel to sell singing, but I am annoyed that seeing my research expenses are getting closer and closer to the goal of 200 taels, and I have given away a lot for no reason, naturally I feel a little heartbroken.