Shen Yi followed Liu Hou closely. Seeing doubts in Liu Hou's eyes, she explained: "Do you think this looks like a temple?"
"Yes. What is this place?"
Liu Hou asked.
"This is a temple."
Shen Yi laughed, as if she had gone back to those happy times when her grandma was still alive: "My grandma believed in Buddhism, so after my grandpa bought this land, he built a Buddhist temple specifically for grandma to worship the Bodhisattva he invited back.
It is said that this small temple was built based on the appearance of the Leida Temple in our town."
"Leida Temple?"
Liu Hou remembered that the Taoist priest He Hua who was watching the night also mentioned this name when he was chatting with him.
He Hua also said that it was Mr. Shen who took the lead in raiding the Leida Temple, forcing the abbot to death, and stealing cultural relics from the Leida Temple to make a fortune.
The reason why rumors are rumors is not all false.
Maybe there is a real side to it.
"Can I go in and have a look?"
Liu Hou touched his chin.
Building Buddhist halls in private houses was common among wealthy families in ancient times. But this was the first time he heard of building temples.
No matter what you think, no matter what you think.
"Whatever. Anyway, if grandpa dies, my dad will definitely sell this house."
In fact, Shen Yi was also very curious about this temple.
When she was a child, her grandfather had repeatedly warned her not to go in. Whenever she was curious, she would always look in through the crack in the door.
But after watching it a few times I lost interest.
There are only a few Bodhisattvas inside, nothing surprising.
After receiving permission, Liu Hou entered the inner temple.
The blood-red moonlight shines on the roof of the temple, and the statues of the Nine Dragon Sons carved on the eaves look extremely ferocious, as if they will pounce down at any time.
Bloodthirsty and flesh-eating, like a monster.
There was a squeak.
Liu Hou pushed open the closed temple door.
Sure enough, the words "Leida Temple" were engraved on the door of this temple. After opening the door, you saw the inner hall.
There are three Bodhisattvas in total.
On the left is the solemn Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, with a red cinnabar lighting up between his eyebrows, making him look solemn.
On the right is a stone sculpture of Wei Tuo, wrapped in cloud ribbons, looking like a fairy. Holding a sword in one hand, the stone sword is inserted into the ground, and his eyes reveal a cold light.
But Liu Hou didn't recognize the Bodhisattva in the middle.
In other words, this is not a Bodhisattva at all.
The Ksitigarbha on the left and the Skanda on the right are both made of stone. But the one in the middle is glowing with copper and is actually cast entirely from bronze.
It is 1.8 meters tall, about the same size as a human being.
The facial expression is even more lifelike, and he is clearly an octogenarian. He is at least ninety years old, with a full forehead, protruding ears, and a pair of bright eyes.
At first glance, it looks exactly like a real person.
"Who is this being dedicated to?"
Liu Hou said doubtfully.
"Bodhisattva."
Shen Yi was also unsure: "This is also my first time coming in."
"No Bodhisattva looks like this."
Liu Hou shook his head: "This is definitely not a Bodhisattva. It is more like a commemorative bronze statue carved according to a real person. Didn't your grandfather tell you the identity of the person worshiping it?"
Shen Yi shook her head: "No, grandpa never allowed me to come in. In the entire Shen family, only grandma can enter this temple."
The more Liu Hou looked at this statue, the more strange he felt.
He searched around the temple, hoping to find something like an inscription.
Buddhist temples are different from cast temples. When building a temple, there must be an inscription recording the beginning and end of the temple's construction, as well as the names of faithful men and women.
After searching for a while, Liu Hou indeed found the inscription in a hidden corner.
Unfortunately, important parts of the text on the inscription were crossed out with a sharp weapon.
Only the part inscribed with the true identity of the enshrined statue was deliberately cut off.
"Someone deliberately decorated this place to prevent us from knowing the identity of this statue. Who is it and why did it do this? Did grandpa do it?"
Shen Yi is not stupid, and she also saw that someone did it deliberately.
She was puzzled.
Not finding any more clues in the temple, Liu Hou left with Shen Yi.
The moment he walked out of the temple gate, Liu Hou turned around suddenly and his eyes fell on the three statues.
"What's wrong?"
Shen Yi asked in surprise.
Liu Hou's expression was gloomy and uncertain: "I don't know why, but just now I always felt that someone was looking at me from behind. There is obviously no one, is it an illusion..."
He said this, but Liu Hou knew it clearly.
It's definitely not an illusion.
Someone must have been peeping at him just now. But the sense of peeping disappeared the moment he turned back.
Is it possible that besides the Shen family members and the Taoist priests in the mourning hall, is there anyone else in the Shen residence?
Bypassing the Zhaizhong Temple, behind is Mr. Shen's study.
The door was closed, but the cordon tape that had been put up during the police investigation remained on the door.
Liu Hou took Shen Yi in.
Mr. Shen's study is very large, more than fifty square meters. Directly opposite is a three-meter-long golden nanmu desk, with the Four Treasures of the Study on it, and a row of ten-meter-long desks and display cabinets against the wall.
The books on the desk are nothing more than some ancient books, Feng Shui and philosophy books. The antiques placed in the display cabinets are mostly porcelain dishes, porcelain ornaments and other old objects that are not afraid of oxidation.
Average.
Looking at the study, Shen Yi suddenly burst into tears. She touched the table and chairs with her delicate hands, remembering that her grandfather taught her to read, write, practice calligraphy, and draw when she was a child.
Why did grandpa die just when he said he would?
I no longer have a grandfather who loves her unconditionally.
Sadness comes from it, crying makes the pear blossoms rain with rain.
Liu Hou showed no pity for her and automatically blocked Shen Yi's cries and walked to the place where Mr. Shen died.
The mahogany chair in front of me is the one where Mr. Shen was sitting when he passed away.
He took out a talisman, raised his hand, and the talisman spontaneously ignited without fire.
This move shocked Shen Yi: "What are you doing?"
"Try to see if there is any ghost spirit here."
Liu Hou answered while bringing the burning talisman to the chair.
The talisman paper burned with orange light, but as soon as he got close to the chair, a scene happened that made Shen Yi's jaw drop.
The firelight turned pale.
White and transparent.
A trace of black air crawled in the pale flame.
It's like the black blood vessels are squirming.
Extremely disgusting.
"How is this going?"
Shen Yi's lips turned pale with fear.
"Your grandfather did not die in a normal way."
Liu Hou looked at the fire in his hand and said: "This fire can detect ghostly energy, which means that your grandfather was killed by a ghostly thing. And this ghostly thing is not simple, even after seven days By the end of the day, the evil spirits have dispersed, but they can still be ignited and reveal themselves."
"My grandfather was killed by a ghost?"
Shen Yi couldn't believe it: "Is there really a ghost in this world?"
"It's not necessarily a ghost, it could also be filth."
Liu Hou explained.
"I don't understand. What on earth killed my grandfather?"
Shen Yi asked loudly, with runny nose and tears.
"I don't know yet. I need to find more clues."
Liu Hou shook his head, and his eyes scanned everywhere. After searching for a while, he finally found the antique that Butler Zhou mentioned on the display shelf.
It was an oval sphere as big as a fist, made of bronze, and placed in the middle of the display shelf.
When Mr. Shen died, he was holding this thing.
The police took it for investigation and found no problems, so they returned it to the Shen family, and Butler Zhou put it back in a distant place.
Liu Hou took a few steps forward, took the oval sphere and put it in his hands. The surface of the sphere was smooth, as if it had been made by human hands.
I don’t know how long it took Mr. Shen to make the bronze plate so bright.
Shen Yi leaned over and looked at the ball: "This is grandpa's favorite antique? It's just a ball, it doesn't look like an antique. Why does grandpa like it?"
Liu Hou stared at the ball, looked up and down, turned it over and over, and suddenly seemed to have discovered something.
"This is indeed not an antique, and it is not simple."
Liu Hou pointed to the patterns on the sphere: "You see, these patterns have a certain pattern and form an interlocking spiral."
Shen Yi is also a talented student. She also saw the clue. Her eyes lit up with a look of surprise: "These spiral shapes look so familiar..."
Chapter completed!