Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Qiyang People Forum
[Qiyang Interesting Stories] Topic: Did anyone pass by Jingui Pedestrian Street yesterday?
Content: The original poster is still very scared and only dares to post during the day. I was passing by Jingui Pedestrian Street after working overtime at 11 o’clock last night. I passed by the door of Baoyang Temple and heard the sound of chanting inside. Out of curiosity, I peeked through the crack of the door. As a result, I saw a lot of people, and I was wondering why they were there so late, but when I looked carefully, these people’s feet didn’t even touch the ground, and then I suddenly remembered that last night was the Ghost Festival, and Taoist priests were performing rituals by singing sutras!
1L:??? It’s so scary. Is it real?
2L: Damn, don’t be kidding me. There are people dancing in the square at night in Liming Square over at Jingui Pedestrian Street. They must have scared away any ghosts.
3L: No one seemed to be dancing in the square last night, but then the area is quite lively usually.
4L: You were hallucinating, please go to the hospital.
5L: Why is it Baoyang Temple again? Two days ago, there was a post asking whether the talismans of Baoyang Temple were really working. Are you guys the navy hired by Baoyang Temple?
6L: Well, host, has your luck been particularly low recently? If your luck is particularly low, don’t go out at night during the Ghost Festival. It’s easy to see this kind of thing. Fortunately, you saw it at the Taoist temple ceremony…
18L: I work near Baoyang Temple. This place is really beautiful. God, there was an employee of the company downstairs who didn’t believe it and said some disrespectful words at the door of the Taoist temple. He was in trouble for several days, so he finally went to burn incense.
19L: It was previously said that there were no mosquitoes in Baoyang Temple. I visited it and found that there were indeed no mosquitoes. I also discovered a very sad thing. Their whole Taoist temple is so poor that they only have one Taoist priest. I guess they don’t have the money to hire a navy?
….
45L: …I kind of believe it. My aunt was at the scene last night. She didn’t see any ghosts, but she told me that two believers felt cold during the process, as if there was something else around them. Moreover, after returning home at night, my aunt dreamed of my grandpa (she had made a memorial tablet for my deceased grandpa last night), saying that grandpa smiled at her in her dream and asked her to take care of herself in the future.
46L: Ah, don’t scare me upstairs, I will take it seriously!!
….
Xie Lingya closed the web page. He had heard about the local forum posts about last night’s Zhongyuan Dharma Ceremony and took a look online. He usually didn’t go to this forum very much, but it was good to take a look now and then to understand the image of Baoyang Temple.
Because the title of the post only mentioned Jingui Pedestrian Street and not Baoyang Temple, Xie Lingya searched for it for a while. After going in and browsing, he discovered that he was not the only one who saw the ghosts grabbing food last night.
But this poster who saw ghosts was different from him. It should be because his luck was too low or his yang energy was too weak.
This kind of person was still rare. Like He Zun, he also must not have been having very good luck recently, but he didn’t see it directly last night. He just had a strong sense of it, which meant that the poster was even worse off than He Zun.
Someone downstairs had already reminded the host to be careful during the Ghost Festival night, so Xie Lingya stopped paying attention.
Although the scale of the Zhongyuan Dharma Conference in Baoyang Temple last night was not very large, it had an excellent reputation and was felt by all the participating believers and onlookers. Today, several believers came to the Taoist temple specifically to tell Zhang Daoting that they dreamed of their deceased relatives last night.
With this incident, they could be said to have become more confident in their faith. They asked Zhang Daoting for advice on how to practice. Several believers even asked if they could come to the temple to do volunteer work. Baoyang Temple was quite short of people, so naturally they won’t refuse.
People who often came to Baoyang Temple also heard about the Dharma conference, which became a hot topic for them for several days. They regretted not attending the Dharma conference. Those believers who participated had a wonderful sense of mission and took the trouble to tell anyone who asked about their experiences.
This matter was spread from one person to another, and the local forum also discussed it in a lively manner, which added a layer of mystery to Baoyang Temple.
Different from pilgrims, those who had no faith and were outside the information radiation circle were more interested in urban rumors, such as the ghost sightings of women working the night shift during the Ghost Festival.
In the evening, Xie Lingya went to find Ding Aima again, “Did you come to watch last night?”
Ding Aima said: “I kept hearing the ringing of the Dharma bells from your place, but I didn’t want to go because I felt that they were telling me to die…oh no, to be saved.”
Soul summoning at the Zhongyuan Dharma Conference was naturally not compulsory, and some ghosts didn’t want to leave, so they won’t go.
“You can hear it from such a distance. It’s true that people really were transcended.” Xie Lingya said, “I failed to complete the ghost investigation last night. I’m too inexperienced. I don’t know if there will be a chance next year. However, I think the ghosts who transcended all had peaceful faces, so they shouldn’t feel uncomfortable.”
“That’s secondary, the main thing is that it sounds like they had lost all interest in life!” Ding Aima said.
Xie Lingya: “??”
No interest in life? Do you know what idiom you are using?
Ding Aima said with a hint of longing in his eyes, “I’d better continue to be a ghost. I think they have nothing to do after they are saved… I worked because I wanted to live in a big house in the future. This place has been built and started to be renovated. Soon I will be able to live in a big house without spending any money.”
Xie Lingya was a little envious after hearing this. Yes, he was really envious. Wasn’t this place much better decorated than their Taoist temple?
“Forget it, it’s not sweet if you force yourself to do it.” Xie Lingya checked the time and said, “I’m going back first. There’s nothing for wild ghosts in this area of the city. If you want to eat, go to the back door of our Taoist temple. Food will be placed there at night.”
Ding Aima swallowed, “Okay!”
This was probably the only thing Ding Aima was dissatisfied with about being a ghost. There was a lot of food that you could see but couldn’t eat.
All ghosts and gods in the underworld would have nothing to eat unless the people in the upper world specially sacrificed food. So there was a saying, “If a man is full, he can endure for a day; if a ghost is full, he can endure for a year.”
….
Tonight, because it was still July 16th, the Taoist temple closed early, Xie Lingya taught Zhang Daoting how to draw talismans in the backyard, but not everyone had his talent. Zhang Daoting said: “Well, I think I can memorize those rituals and do the hand exercises, but it is really difficult to draw talismans!”
Such complicated words needed to be completed in one go. To draw the talisman well, he still had to concentrate on thinking. One talisman alone was enough for him to practice for a long time, and there were more than hundreds of Taoist talismans.
Xie Lingya asked him to master Baoyang Temple’s signature talismans at least.
Shi Changxuan was on the side contacting his mentor. It was said that although the other person was a scholar, he had studied for many years and still has some understanding of their internal situation. He had known Shi Changxuan’s family for a long time. The caller was concerned about Shi Changxuan’s life issues.
Shi Changxuan told his mentor that he would still stay in a Taoist temple in the future, and then hung up without saying much.
“You haven’t been to the school yet. It’s quite big. I’ll show you the way on the first day of school.” Xie Lingya said kindly. Before Shi Changxuan could answer, he heard some noise outside the back door and got up to open the door to take a look.
Among the vendors outside, he saw a young policeman in police uniform, Officer Wang, who was in charge of their area. Next to him was a little girl looking like a student, who was crying.
“What’s going on?” Xie Lingya couldn’t help but ask.
A fruit seller who knew Xie Lingya said, “Xiao Xie, this girl dropped her wallet here earlier and it was picked up. It contained three months’ living expenses. This place happens to be a blind spot for surveillance. They are asking who was here and if they saw anything.”
But in this situation, they all knew that hope was slim.
When Officer Wang saw Xie Lingya, he also asked: “Xie Lingya, did you open the back door? What did you see?”
Xie Lingya was about to say that their back door was not open at all, but suddenly thought of something and said, “Wait a minute, I’ll ask other people questions.”
He ran back to get the cinnabar, and quickly drew the spiritual eyes between his eyebrows. When he went out again this time, he would be able to see what he wanted to see – as expected, Ding Aima was squatting on the steps, eating rice. There were two wild ghosts fighting with him next to him. The three ghosts were fighting with one hand and taking time to eat with the other.
Xie Lingya: “…”
Someone saw Xie Lingya had drawn something on his forehead when he came back, and said: “Why is his face painted like that?”
He opened his mouth wide and tried his best to stuff rice into his mouth, but the corner of his mouth was picked by another ghost, and a third of it could leak out.
Ding Aima took the time to glance at Xie Lingya, knowing what he meant, and said vaguely: “There was a man in his thirties who saw there was no one around, so he took the wallet away. He was wearing light blue jeans, a yellow shirt, and he had a mark on his chest. It was a monkey, and he seemed to be wearing a red bracelet.”
Xie Lingya then said to Officer Wang, “Brother Wang, let me tell you clearly, it should be a man wearing light blue jeans, a yellow top with a monkey picture, and wearing a red bracelet, a man in his thirties probably picked it up, see if you can find his face in the surveillance video.”
The little girl was suddenly full of hope, and the onlookers said she was so lucky, someone actually saw it.
Officer Wang also felt lucky to not only have witnesses, but who also remembered the details so clearly. He quickly asked Xie Lingya to thank him on his behalf and took the little girl to watch the video.
The little girl looked at Xie Lingya, then her face turned slightly red, and she whispered: “That…”
Although Xie Lingya had a strange symbol painted on his eyebrows, which made him look a bit average, the bright red cinnabar made his complexion fairer, and his eyebrows looked good. She mustered up the courage and said: “Can you leave your contact information? I want to say thank you for finding it.”
Everyone had ambiguous smiles on their faces, thinking that this little girl was smart. Even if she didn’t find the wallet, still catching a boyfriend was not bad either.
Even Officer Wang felt speechless. Unexpectedly, she was still crying just now. Now she was in the mood to strike up a conversation, but he didn’t push her.
Some good people joked: “This place is a Taoist temple.”
The little girl’s face fell. She really didn’t know that this place was a Taoist temple from the back door. So this person lived in a Taoist temple, was he a monk?
“But Xiao Xie is not a Taoist priest.” Someone else said.
“…” The little girl felt like she was on a roller coaster.
Xie Lingya didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This little girl looked like she was in high school. “You’d better go find your wallet quickly. If you want to say thank you, just come back to Baoyang Temple to find Daozhang Zhang.” He gave her to Zhang Daoting without any pressure.
“Okay, thank you.” The little girl glanced at Xie Lingya with nostalgia for a few more times before leaving.
Zhang Daoting and the others were sitting in the back yard with the door open. Although they couldn’t see outside, they could vaguely hear the sounds, including Xie Lingya throwing his bag to Zhang Daoting, but what could he say.
After Xie Lingya came back, Zhang Daoting asked curiously: “Boss, when did you see the money picker?”
After dinner, they were all sitting here learning talismans, and the boss asked the little girl to find him, but he didn’t open his mouth or go through the back door.
Xie Lingya made up some nonsense: “I learned clairvoyance. What I saw, if you learn the ten sets of talismans earlier, I will also teach you.”
Zhang Daoting was stunned for a while, and turned to ask Shi Changxuan: “Daozhang Shi, it can’t be real, right? Does clairvoyance really exist?” He felt that Shi Changxuan was from a famous family and should know more about it, and he didn’t look like someone who wanted to fool people.
Shi Changxuan shook his head, “It’s not that mysterious.”
Zhang Daoting: “Hey, let me just say…”
Shi Changxuan: “He should have asked the ghost at the door.”
Zhang Daoting: “…”
Hey, no, this was already very mysterious….!
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