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  There are four major ghost festivals in China, namely the Seventh Month Half, Qingming Festival, San Yue San and October First.

  It is said that every year from July 1st, Yan Wang orders the gates of hell to be opened, allowing the vengeful spirits and ghosts who have been suffering in hell for years to leave hell, gain temporary freedom, and enjoy human food. Therefore, people call July the "Ghost Month", which is considered an unlucky month, during which weddings and moving are avoided.

  And every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, it is China's annual "Ghost Festival" Zhongyuan. According to legend, on this day, Yanluo Wang will open the gates of hell "Guimen Guan", allowing the imprisoned ghosts to come out and roam freely until the next day before returning to the underworld. Therefore, among the people, there is a widespread practice during this period to offer sacrifices to deceased loved ones, burn incense money, paper clothes, wax candles, release river lanterns, perform Buddhist rituals, in order to pray for ancestors' blessings, eliminate disasters and increase good fortune, or help the deceased souls ascend, resolve grievances.

  On the Zhongyuan Festival, there are many taboos. In rural areas, old people will remind their family members early in the morning not to go out and run around today, cannot pick up things outside, especially money, even if it's real money, it's best to pretend you didn't see it. You can't go out alone at night, and even if someone is accompanying you, it's best not to call each other by name, lest those "good brothers" outside remember your name. That evening is usually not for washing clothes, some people say that hanging clothes outside will make the "good brothers" like them and take them away. There are also taboos such as not hitting bowls and chopsticks, not sneaking food offerings, not saying words related to "ghosts", cannot casually put your hand on someone's shoulder, and in the past, many women would keep their bangs, but on this day, all women will stand their bangs up to avoid affecting their luck.

  Compared to the Qingming Festival's homecoming and ancestor worship, the Zhongyuan Festival in July is more straightforward. It is simply a festival for "ghosts". Some poets have even described it as:

  The carriage moves slowly beside the willow trees, and the road winds around the pond.

  Today all ghosts smile with joy, every family is busy visiting graves.

  It's not suitable to go out on such a day, but Lao Wan is a bit competitive with Xia Laoliu. Cha Wenbin still has to go and offer incense to his master in the evening. The amount of paper money burned today must be more than usual, and a circle must be drawn at the place where the paper is burned to prevent wild ghosts from snatching it away. One must say: "xxx, I've brought you money and flowers, today Sun's son and daughter have come to visit you xxx". After burning, one must see that the fire is completely extinguished before leaving. Remember not to laugh or make a fuss, since we're already here, it's best to be a bit more proper and persist until the end, lest we offend those "good friends" who are celebrating the festival.

  Cha Wenbin was different from ordinary people, he prepared things with more attention to detail. He had thirteen knives made of yellow paper, each knife divided into seven layers. There were also gold and silver papers, which were folded into ingot shapes, these were for his master to take down to bribe the officials. Nowadays, funeral shops have many types of paper money, various denominations, printed with things like "Heavenly People's Bank", valued at hundreds of millions or even tens of billions, made to be extremely similar to regular renminbi. Here, I advise everyone that in the future, it's best not to use this kind of underworld currency when visiting graves.

  The reason is simple: for the people below, it's also counterfeit money. You've added so many zeros out of nowhere, disrupting the market order and accelerating the devaluation of hellish currency. If your ancestors were really down there using a billion hellish currency to buy things, they'd probably get beaten to death again. So when burning paper money, just buy the most ordinary yellow paper. If you want to be more particular, I'll teach you a trick: take a real bill with any denomination, place it on the paper and press down, making sure the real bill is like a stamp, from right to left, from top to bottom, covering the entire paper until it's fully stamped, then you can burn it.

  That day, Cha Wenbin was also very careful. Because his parents were no longer around and the journey was too far to return home, he simply drew a circle on the ground in front of Cha Wenbin's house, reciting his parents' names, facing the direction of his hometown, kowtowing three times and nine times, then burning incense. This way of mourning is suitable for traveling sons who are away from home. Don't think that just because you're not by the grave, you can stop burning incense. As long as you're sincere, your ancestors will still be able to feel your filial piety.

  Whenever you encounter such roadside burning, those paper ashes must not be stepped on. Cha Wenbin always says a sentence when encountering this: "Sorry, I'll just borrow it for a moment." Then he would walk around from the side. If you really can't avoid a long row of them, unless you're sure you can jump over, otherwise it's safer to choose another route.

  At half past six, the sky was not too dark yet. Cha Wenbin and his two brothers had already set off towards Hong Village with flashlights in hand. Before they left, he repeatedly warned Fatso to keep his mouth shut, as Cha Wenbin feared that his chatter would attract trouble. It's said that on this day, the yin energy was extremely strong, and people's yang energy was at its weakest throughout the year. The probability of encountering evil spirits when going out was almost equivalent to spending a night in a cemetery on an ordinary day.

  As soon as I entered the village, I saw a few naughty kids being scolded. It turned out that those unlucky ones were playing "ghostly feet" in the empty space at the village entrance. The game is probably familiar to many people, where one person stands on another person's feet and then the person standing is lifted up and walks around. In fact, this game imitates the movement of a ghost possessing someone. The kids didn't know any better, they got scolded but still talked back, just as someone recognized Zhang Wenbin and said to that child: "The Daoist priest has come out to catch ghosts, you still dare to make trouble outside, be careful or the evil spirits will take you away..."

  Many kids now know Cha Wenbin, and in private they call him "Dao Shi Ye" (a term of respect for a Taoist priest). When they see him coming, all the naughty ones scatter like birds, more effective than their parents' rods. This makes Cha Wenbin laugh and cry at the same time - when did he become a symbol of fear?

  Originally wanted to go to Ma's house again, seeing that the lights in the yard were still on, and there were a few people chatting at the door, so I went straight to Lao Xia's house. Old Wan and Xia Laoliu were still drinking, after a busy day, Old Wan was a bit tired, tonight he drank a lot of wine and talked a lot, as soon as he saw him coming, he immediately shouted that Wen Bin would take him to experience it.

  That's it, since you insist on going, then go ahead. Cha Wenbin has thought about it. In the northwest of Hongcun Village, there is a large temple, and inside it, there is a patch of board chestnut forest. That place is a small mountain valley, even in the middle of summer, people who enter the valley will shiver all over. This forest is full of wild graves. When I first came here, Hongcun Village had a notorious bandit named Li Lao Er, with a twenty-shot pistol on his waist, specializing in doing things that couldn't be seen by others. He encountered some strange things in this forest and was finally rescued by Ma Suifeng. We locals also call it the "Misty Soul Valley". From its name, you can tell that there are many small forked roads inside, and the board chestnut trees don't have any special features. It's easy to get dizzy even during the day, not to mention at night when it's even more confusing with tombstones and grave mounds everywhere.

  There were six people and a dog in total, Old Xia father and son, Cha Wenbin brothers, and also Lao Wan. Daidai saw Ye Qiu that was affectionate to the extreme, besides this dog had mixed with others around the big temple before, it knew where there were ghosts better than humans.

  As they walked along the highway, passing by the last house, the atmosphere became somewhat unsettling. Every now and then, there were candles burning on the side of the road, emitting a faint fragrance. Old Wan, possibly due to having had too much wine, not only didn't feel alert but instead became even more excited, shouting: "Where is it? Bring it out and let me see!"

  It's also strange, Cha Wenbin specially wiped away his tears and opened his eyes to the sky, and on this road, he really didn't encounter a single dirty thing. Dazi was also unusually quiet. If it were in the past, there would definitely be people picking up money by the roadside, but tonight, not one was met.

  When passing by the grand temple, Cha Wenbin couldn't help but take a glance at the front gate. The large black door had a sturdy lock hanging on it, and surprisingly, there was no one burning incense in the giant censer at the entrance, which was quite unusual. On the tall water pine tree by the roadside, a few pieces of red silk were scattered, and judging from their color, they had been there for a long time.

  "Sixth Uncle, why is there no one here now?" In memory, in Hongcun Village, a group of old ladies would come to burn incense and pay respects every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month. No matter who was enshrined in this temple, it was the only building related to "temple" in this village, and although the incense fire was not prosperous in the past, it had never been interrupted.

  Xia Lao Liu shone his lantern on the giant water fir tree surrounded by three people and said, "Hey, there was a time when Liu Dama from the village below came here to burn incense and said she had encountered something unclean. She went crazy after returning home, shouting that someone wanted her life. Later, her son took a knife and hacked at the water fir tree three times, and it's said that fresh red blood flowed out. I don't know if it's true or not, but you can still see the knife marks. It was just last year."

  "Is Old Lady Liu better now?"

  "It's just that this matter is strange, her son finished cutting and went home for a few days, and the old lady was fine again. She just didn't dare to come here to burn incense anymore. She was the leader of those nun-like women, if she didn't come, others wouldn't dare to come either."

  Cha Wenbin glanced at the tree a few more times and didn't say anything else. He knew that things that had lived for many years all had spiritual energy, and trees were no exception. But unexpectedly, Old Wan understood clearly and said to the tree, "So you're saying this thing is very evil? And it can bleed too? Alright then, I don't want to see any ghosts either, let's just go up and stab it with a knife. If it bleeds, I'll believe." After speaking, he really was about to go over, but Xia Laoliu grabbed him and said, "This is our Feng Shui tree, you can't touch it."

  Lao Wan thought Xia Lao Liu was trying to scare him, but the more he did so, the less he believed it. Perhaps in front of his old comrade, Lao Wan could finally release the pressure he had been carrying around every day. Or perhaps this was the real Lao Wan, who was suffocating under the weight of his police uniform and wanted to let loose just once, to be as carefree as Xia Lao Liu.

  He patted the fat man and said: "Young man, lend me your dagger for a moment."

  "Huh, how did you know?" The fatty hurriedly covered his pants leg, having forgotten that he had exposed this thing before.

  "Bring it on, don't underestimate an old detective's eyesight."

  Old Wan took the dagger from Baozi and, seeing that he was determined to go, did not stop him. He simply walked towards the big tree with a swagger...

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  High-speed premiere of the last Taoist 2 latest chapter, this chapter is Chapter 51 Proof (I) address: If you think this chapter is not bad, please don't forget to recommend it to your QQ group and Weibo friends!