home

search

002、The Strange Case of the Ancestral Hall

  At noon, I went back to cook and Mo Tian Ge came to the ancestral hall again.

  In the morning, Old Master teaches all the children in the clan to recognize characters, but in the afternoon, only those with high hopes come.

  Mò Tiān Gē was a girl, so she couldnt take the imperial examination or go to town to do business. Originally, she didnt need to learn much, but Old Master respected her fathers knowledge and looked at her differently. Moreover, her mother also thought that since her father had extensive knowledge, she should read more books instead of wasting time on household chores like ordinary village girls.

  The afternoon lessons were more casual than those in the morning. Five or six children either read books and practiced writing on their own, or received individual instruction from the old master.

  Mo Tian Ge came in and paid respects to Fu Zi as a student would, then entered the library.

  The Mo family is not a large clan, the ancestral hall has only one main hall, one courtyard and east and west wings. The main hall enshrines the spirits of ancestors from generation to generation, the back yard is where people gather during Chinese New Year to drink wine, the front half of the east wing was converted into a school, while the back half serves as a library, the west wing houses several elderly widows who take care of the ancestral hall on a daily basis.

  The study is not large, with six bookshelves against the wall, adding up to over a thousand books, which have been passed down through generations of the Mo family.

  Mogentian pulled a stool to the east, the books on this bookshelf were all travel notes and miscellaneous news, using simple words, with many pictures, just suitable for children who had not been studying for long like her.

  She likes reading these miscellaneous books, Lao Fuzi didnt say anything, a woman cant take the imperial examination anyway, so it doesnt matter what she reads.

  Mò Tiān Gē picked up a book and also found a "Dà Jìn Zì Diǎn" to put beside it, then sat by the window to read.

  The name of this book is "Tian Ji Lue Wen". It is said that the world is vast, with countless lands and oceans. The place where they are located is called Tian Ji. Tian Ji is vast, including Jin State and more than a dozen other countries, with vast forests in the northeast, a desert wilderness in the west, glaciers in the north, and continuous mountains in the south.

  This book records the strange and bizarre stories of Tianji.

  Legend has it that at the southern end of Tianji, there is a mountain range called Kunwu. The Kunwu Mountains stretch for thousands of miles, with peaks and ridges unbroken from east to west, and since ancient times no one has been able to cross them. Ordinary people living not far from the mountains occasionally see purple clouds swirling in the mountains, shimmering with five colors, but when they enter the mountains to search, they become lost in the mist and can only find their way out by turning back.

  Gradually, people said that this mountain is a fairy mountain, and only fairies can enter.

  The immortals living on Kunwu Mountain, inhale cloud dew in the morning and eat moon essence at night, go to heaven and enter the earth, and can do anything. If they find a spiritual root in the mortal world, they will take it back to the immortal mountain for cultivation. After cultivating to perfection, they will become immortals. Once becoming an immortal, they can turn their hands into clouds and cover their hands with rain, tread on cloud-colored feet to come and go thousands of miles, move mountains and seas, enter heaven and earth, and also keep their faces youthful and live forever without dying.

  People in the world all hope to enter the fairy mountain and practice the fairy bone, but unfortunately, it is difficult to find the spiritual root. As for the fairies, most people have only heard of them in legends.

  This book records a story. In ancient times, the king of Chu loved Taoist magic and wanted to cultivate immortality. He summoned all the Taoists in the world to the capital city to find one with high moral character to be appointed as the national master. Just when all the Taoists were competing to show off their skills, a dirty beggar walked into the Taoist temple and said, "You are not even worthy of holding my shoes." The Taoists were furious, but the beggar burst out laughing, raised his hand, and suddenly a deep pool appeared in the center of the altar. With another wave of his hand, the pool disappeared and a huge fire broke out. Everyone present was shocked, and the king of Chu wanted to appoint him as the national master, but the beggar vanished into thin air.

  It is also recorded that in the Liang State, there was a scholar who came from a poor family and studied hard. He eventually became a top scorer in the imperial examination but offended a powerful official at the Banquet of the Jade Forest and was sent to manage the library of the Hanlin Academy. The proud top scorer was thus confined to the library for ten years with no prospects, but after ten years, he suddenly enlightened to the Taoist way by finding a mysterious method in the library. When the official who had been offended by him many years ago learned about this, he became extremely frightened, but the scholar just smiled and left on the wind.

  Mo Tian Ge was reading with great interest when suddenly someone stood in front of her. Mo Tian Ge looked up and hastily closed the book, standing up: "Master."

  The old man nodded and took the book from her hand, flipping through a few pages, asking: "Can you recognize all of them?"

  Mo Tian Ge replied: "Some characters I dont recognize, so I look them up in the dictionary. Those that cant be found, I remember and ask Master next time."

  The old man handed her a book: "Well, reading more books is the best way to learn characters, you continue."

  "Yes, Master."

  The sun sets in the west, Mo Tian Ge puts away his book and goes out to sweep the school grounds.

  The other children have all gone home, and Old Master has also gone to the back hall for dinner. The front hall is empty except for her.

  After wiping the table and sweeping the floor, she went to throw away the trash. As she passed by the back door of the hall, she stopped for a moment.

  Inside, it seems like there is light.

  After watching for a while, she put down the dustpan and approached closer.

  Women are not allowed to enter the ancestral hall, even if they have married in, they must be led by their husbands into the ancestral hall. Therefore, Mo Tian Ge has never entered this grand hall where the ancestral tablets are placed.

  At this time, the main gate of the hall was closed. The hazy thing that seemed to be light and smoke at the same time couldnt be seen clearly. She looked around and found no one nearby, hesitated for a moment, and then put down her dustpan and crept in quietly.

  The hall was very high and had its doors closed. The whole house was pitch black, with only a faint light coming through the window lattice and a bright light from the back door.

  She cautiously approached and found that the light seemed to come from the highest spirit tablet.

  Row upon row of memorial tablets were placed in the great hall, numbering forty or fifty, and even the walls on both sides were filled with them, making a particularly eerie sight.

  The strangers song was somewhat subdued, but as soon as she entered, the light became even brighter.

  She couldnt help but be curious, looked up and found that the highest level only had one spirit tablet.

  The spirit tablet was entirely white, resembling jade. My grandfathers house had a white jade carving of the Taoist deity. However, this spirit tablet was even whiter, with what seemed to be a misty white aura floating above it.

  Mò Tiān Gē looked around and brought a chair from the corner, placing it beside the spirit tablet. She stepped on it, just high enough. She carefully stretched out her hand to grab the spirit tablet.

  She was short and small, almost half of her body leaned on the case just to get the Ling position in hand.

  It was a bit cool, and white air spread over her hand, which could be clearly seen now.

  Mo Tian Ge turned the Ling Wei over and saw that there were five words on it: Mo Yao Qings position. There was only one name, which was different from all the others.

  The white gas grew thicker and thicker, even starting to submerge her body. She stared at the spirit tablet, finding that the white light was also growing brighter. The light had originally been just a dull white haze, but it gradually became bright and dazzling. Witnessing such a miraculous thing, she couldnt help but widen her eyes.

  That light suddenly flashed, rushing towards her brow and instantly disappeared. She was startled, her eyes suddenly lost focus, then slowly closed, and fell off the chair.

Recommended Popular Novels