I became an immortal in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 137 People, Souls, Mount Tai (+4)

Li Bai asked.

"Then, is that acceptable?"

Pei sat up straight, becoming curious, "How did Taibai suddenly guess so accurately?"

He had played the guessing game with Li Bai before, and unless the hints were particularly clear, Li Bai's answers were not as good as Yuan Danqiu's.

Li Bai looked at Jiang She.

"This is what Mr. Jiang told me."

Pei asked, "Young Master Jiang is actually skilled at guessing riddles?"

"lucky."

Pei didn't believe it. He had deliberately hidden the remaining red dates in his sleeve so that no one would remember. He looked at Jiang She with a strange gaze.

Turn the bowl over.

A round, red date landed on the plate. Pei then peeled the date in half, revealing the yellow flesh inside.

"I got it."

The guests began to look Jiang She over again.

"Young master, you are so lucky."

"awesome."

"Pei Shiyi, let's play one more round. I refuse to believe I can't win..."

Jiang She smiled.

……

The flickering candlelight illuminated the astonished faces of the crowd.

Pei held the bowl upside down, his gaze intense.

"What is this?"

Even the Taoist priest turned his gaze over, watching with great interest. Even the cat woke up, wondering why so many people were suddenly looking at it.

Jiang She said:
A gentle breeze.

Pei turned the bowl over; it was empty.

The guests erupted in discussion.

On the plate in front of Pei Ze were already eight or nine items, including red dates, flower cakes, beans, handkerchiefs, and ink sticks.

They were all things I had just tried.

Even with the best luck, can someone guess correctly every time?
It must be an extremely sophisticated divination method; Pei wondered how it was calculated.

After nine innings, he was completely convinced and changed his form of address.

"Mr. Jiang is truly remarkable. It was my poor judgment that prevented me from recognizing such a distinguished person..."

At this point, a rumbling sound came from his stomach.

From Yuan Danqiu.

Pei seemed to snap out of his reverie. They had just played nine rounds in a row, and the more they watched, the more fascinating it became; the game had dragged on for far too long. Many of them were already quite hungry.

He quickly instructed his servants:
"Bring the wine and dishes quickly."

"Pour Mr. Jiang some good wine—"

The hall bustled with activity, and soon servants brought in cups, plates, and bowls, adding dish after dish, filling the air with fragrance.

The Pei family is very generous.

On the table was a platter of five kinds of meat: beef, mutton, rabbit, bear, and deer, all finely shredded. There was also a drink made with dragon's eye powder, camphor powder, and cow's milk. And there were sliced ​​river fish served with mustard, garlic, and fermented black beans, which was the kind of fish sashimi that the Tang people loved to eat at that time.

There's also roasted lamb arm with a wonderfully caramelized aroma, milk-braised fish stewed with cheese, refreshing scallion and vinegar chicken, and smooth and fragrant glutinous rice.

As Jiang She was looking around, a servant brought in a new dish.

Seeing the guests' interest, he explained in a low voice that this was a dish made by slicing mutton into thin slices, marinating and frying it.

A variety of delicacies were laid out on the table.

Pei then poured wine for Jiang She.

Having just experienced ten rounds of guessing games, he dared not underestimate this undisciplined young man again, and asked:

"Sir, are you perhaps skilled in exorcising ghosts?"

Jiang She held a piece of roasted lamb arm between his chopsticks, and after it cooled down, he carefully peeled a small piece for the cat and placed it in his palm.

"I know a little."

They leisurely drank and ate, chatting and laughing throughout the entire banquet, which didn't end until 9 PM. The guests were all a bit sleepy, so Pei had his servants take them back to their rooms to rest.

Li Bai and Yuan Danqiu were both drowsy, their eyes barely open, as they were most sleepy after drinking.

The fact that they've managed to hold on until now shows their perseverance.

But then I thought about the haunted Pei family home...

Yuan Danqiu patted him, "Taibai, wake up, there's a ghost."

Li Bai opened his eyes.

"I'm awake."

He then realized that he had closed his eyes sometime during the night, truly drowsy and disoriented. Li Bai shook his head and patted his neck a few times to wake himself up. He followed the Pei family out into the courtyard.

A gust of cold wind instantly sobers one up.

Snowflakes were falling from the sky.

A servant held a lamp and led the way.

On this snowy night, it wasn't dark outside; in fact, it was quite bright. It glowed with a faint blue-purple light, shimmering and sparkling. Several people walked on the snow, their footsteps crunching softly.

Pei Ze walked ahead and said to Jiang She and the Taoist priest:

"The main courtyard is often haunted, but there are no haunts elsewhere."

He was afraid that Jiang She would remember that he had hired a Taoist priest to exorcise the ghost, so after the food and wine were served, he spoke very politely, even cautiously.

Jiang She glanced at his expression.

His tone remained normal, without the smugness of someone who had won ten consecutive rounds of riddles. He asked:

"Has Young Master Pei stayed anywhere else?"

"How did you know, sir?"

Pei mentioned that he had tried changing houses, even staying at a friend's house or a country estate, but nothing worked. He couldn't fall asleep.

Only his own main courtyard.

Although there may be nightmares, I can still manage to get half a night's sleep.

Yuan Danqiu pondered, "Does this ghost even know how to find a place? To disturb people and cause trouble?"

Pei had no idea why he was so unlucky.

Fearing he might scare Jiang She and the Taoist priest away, Pei added the insights of the masters and monks they had previously consulted. Some said the bed's location was wrong, the feng shui was bad, and it needed to be moved on an auspicious day. Others said there was evil spirit in the house, requiring exorcism and exorcism, and they performed elaborate rituals throughout the house, even scattering chicken blood all over the floor—but it was all in vain.

They talked for a long time.

Pei asked cautiously:
"Is there really a ghost in my house?"

Jiang She glanced at it twice, his tone indifferent.

"Have."

Pei pressed his hand to his chest.

The Taoist priest nodded: "Indeed."

Li Bai watched as Pei Ze passed through a ghostly figure, shattering the ghost's body without realizing it, and continued walking towards the main courtyard.

Jiang She noticed that Pei Langjun was nervous.

He offered a word of comfort.

"The spirit of the underworld does not usually harm people, so please do not worry, my lord."

Who can live carefree if they know there's a ghost in their house?
Jiang She walked as usual, looking around.

Some of the ghosts had vaguely discernible faces, and a few resembled Pei Ze himself, suggesting they might be related. There were even very young children among them, presumably who had died young.

His tone softened.

He said a few more words, then added:
“Every house in the world has seen deaths, and some of the ghosts may have been family members or close relatives who linger there. As long as they don’t harm anyone, the city god and the local earth god will most likely not drive them away.”

"When people die, they become ghosts, and ghosts are mostly weaker than humans."

“My lord, there is really no need to be afraid.”

Pei Ze himself was the eleventh child in the Pei family. Apart from the collateral branches, he actually had three older brothers.

One of them, at the age of twelve, fell into a pond and drowned.

One was born but died instantly.

There was also an older brother who had a high fever when he was young. The doctor couldn't save him, and he died when he was only five or six years old. He had already started to recite the Classic of Filial Piety.

There were also sisters who died young.

Pei suddenly felt much better. He wasn't as scared as he had been when he first heard about the ghost in the courtyard.

“I have three older brothers…”

Pei was much younger and had little memory of them. He only heard his mother sigh about her intelligent eldest son. Later, he secretly inquired and learned that he had several deceased brothers.

As he grew up, his parents gradually passed away.

One of his children also died young.

Pei opened his mouth, "Can't Mount Tai guide the souls of the dead?"

The Taoist priest next to him couldn't help but look over.

Jiang She said:
"I haven't heard of it yet."

As they talked, they had already passed the wall of the main courtyard. Right in front of the stone steps, there was a short child, his figure faint, sitting in the snow, looking bewildered, repeatedly reciting a passage from a book.

"Filial piety is the root of virtue, and the source of all education..."

The snow was falling heavily, but it didn't touch Jiang She's clothes.

He gently stroked the child's head with his palm. The moonlight shone on him, sparse and cold, like a snowfall.

【Ask for monthly ticket】

(End of this chapter)