That old lady Ma was sitting on pins and needles in her own home.
Seeing that the two of them had no intention of leaving, they stood up and said with a smile: "There is an aunt outside Yuan Liu who is about to give birth. She asked me to check the position of the fetus today. What a coincidence..."
This was the time to see off the guests. Mengying knew that she couldn't ask any more questions today and couldn't stay too long, so she took Hongying and left.
Along the way, Hongying kept chattering, "I said, Madam, she ate too much delicacies. My family is poor, and my father said that when my mother gave birth to me, she laid eggs faster than a hen."
Mengying lowered her head and remained silent. Hongying saw that she was worried and asked: "Girl, Mrs. Ma, is there something wrong in what you said?"
Mengying shook her head, "I don't know either, but I remember what the nanny always said before, 'It's a shame that my milk is so good that even a girl who was like a kitten was so full of flesh.'"
"How about we go find the nanny and ask?"
Mengying shook her head and said, "I can't ask. She died of illness when I was six years old."
Hongying sighed and said: "Then there's no way to ask. The dead can't speak no matter what."
Mengying stopped after hearing this.
He raised his head, smiled and said to Hongying: "What if I could make the dead speak!"
Mengying's thief eyes made Hongying feel a little hairy on her spine: "Girl, what are your plans? I'm timid, don't scare me."
Mengying took Hongying's hand, strode forward, and said: "Let's go back, let's go back and get ready."
*
Three days later, there was movement at Yuan Liu's concubine. Mrs. Ma stayed at Liu's house for a whole day. When she arrived at midnight, she heard the child's loud cry, and the child fell off the grass...
He was a male, and Liu Yuan was rewarded and prepared wine and meat for the midwife.
Madam Ma's mouth was full of oil after eating, and she was tipsy from drinking.
After having enough wine and food, I returned to my small courtyard carrying a lantern.
He staggered into the courtyard gate and found that the door was open. He said to himself: "It's weird. When I left, I closed the door tightly, but why did it open again?"
Just as she was wondering, a black cat jumped out of the house. Mrs. Ma patted her chest and cursed: "Little thief cat, you scared me to death."
Mrs. Ma entered the house and closed the door behind her. She lit a candle, blew out the lantern, and took off her thick jacket.
He took out his purse from his pocket, poured some broken silver out of it, shook it with his hands, and said to himself: "This rich man is still so generous."
After that, I yawned, stretched, untied my skirt, and planned to go to bed.
As soon as I unbuttoned the collar loops, I heard faint sobbing outside the door, and the crying was intermittent.
Mrs. Ma was a little frightened and asked: "Who...who is outside?"
When the crying stopped, Mrs. Ma bravely tried to open the door to take a look, but she couldn't open the door.
A woman's melodious song came from outside the door again: "Melons can't grow from vines. The son is a melon and the mother is a vine. It's hard to buy a family if you have money. The most hated thing in the world is the separation of flesh and blood. My daughter, my daughter...
”
Madam Ma was so frightened that she took a few steps back and shouted loudly: "Who is pretending to be a ghost outside? I...I have never done anything wrong in my life, and I am not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door..."
At this moment, the candlelight on the table suddenly flickered. Mrs. Ma took a breath and said to herself: "It's over, it's over, it's haunted."
In the east corner of the house, there is a portrait of Guanyin, and there is a table below with an incense table and fruit offerings.
Madam Ma hurriedly knelt in front of the portrait, clasped her hands together, and muttered: "Guanyin Bodhisattva bless, Guanyin Bodhisattva bless, keep all ghosts away..."
Hearing the sound of footsteps behind her, Mrs. Ma turned her head sharply and was so frightened that her three souls came out of her body.
I saw a woman in white in front of me, with disheveled hair and blood on her dress.
"Who are you? Don't come here!" Mrs. Ma crawled upside down and hid under the altar table.
The woman spoke and said, "Don't you remember me, mother-in-law? It's too cold and dark down there. I miss my daughter. Mother-in-law, please give her back to me!"
"It was you who begged me to give the child away in the first place! Now she is being raised well in the Yao family. If you miss her, go find her yourself. Why bother bothering me?"
After Mrs. Ma finished speaking, she pulled off an embroidered shoe from her foot, held it in her hand, and bravely said, "Don't come over here. If you come over again, I won't be polite."
"I looked for Yao Mengying last night, but she didn't recognize me. Mother-in-law, why didn't you tell her your life experience?" After saying this, the woman began to hide her face again and cry softly.
The voice was so deep that Madam Ma was so frightened that cold sweat ran down her forehead.
"How dare I tell her that now she has achieved great fortune after suffering all her hardships? If Mr. Yao knew the truth, could he still pamper her so much? If you really feel sorry for that child, stay away from her and reincarnate as soon as possible."<
/p>
"I'm a lonely ghost, I don't even have any incense. But I gave birth to her after all. You can let her come to my grave to worship once, and I won't bother you anymore."
"Okay, okay, I'll go find her tomorrow and ask her to burn some paper money for you. You can leave quickly."
The man continued: "I won't let my mother-in-law work in vain. This money should be regarded as a reward for my mother-in-law."
"I know, it's almost dawn, and I won't be able to leave if I don't go!" Mrs. Ma covered her eyes for fear of being seduced by ghosts.
Mrs. Ma heard the door open and then close with a bang, knowing that the ghost was gone.
She was so frightened that she didn't dare to go to bed. She cried and said: "If I had known, I shouldn't have been soft-hearted and saved the child's life, but now, he is haunted by a ghost."
After a while, the wine got stronger, and Mrs. Ma fell asleep under the altar table with her embroidered shoes in her arms.
*
"Cackle..."
After a rooster crows, the sky begins to brighten.
Madam Ma, after spending half the night under the altar table, my back and legs hurt.
He shook his neck and said to himself: "I can't drink more of this wine from now on. It will give me nightmares and scare people."
The hangover made her very thirsty, so she walked to the table and poured herself a cup of tea. Before she could drink the water, she saw something on the table. She was so frightened that she fell to the ground and spilled tea all over her body.
It turned out that there was a stack of paper money on the altar table.
Madam Ma rubbed her eyes, fearing that she had seen it wrong, so she stood up and took it in her hand with courage.
Upon closer inspection, it is undoubtedly paper money.
The words of the female ghost yesterday were still in her ears, "I won't let my mother-in-law work in vain. This money should be regarded as a reward for my mother-in-law."
"It's not a dream, I actually met a ghost. What should I do? What should I do?"
Mrs. Ma was so scared that she lost her mind. She was afraid that the female ghost would come again, but she didn't dare to go find Mengying like this. It would be terrible if Mr. Yao found out about it.
After much thought, she decided to go to the Taoist temple to find Taoist Aunt Lu and ask her to break it for her.
I thought about it and changed my clothes.
I didn't even eat, I just walked out the door with a basket of incense and candles.
As soon as she left, there was a carriage driving far behind.
Mrs. Ma kept thinking about the "female ghost" at night and didn't pay attention to anything else. She walked westward until she reached the southern suburbs of Qi County and entered Baiyun Temple.
Mengying has never been to Baiyun Temple, but she has heard of it. There is only one Taoist nun in this temple, and she was seen going to Master Qi’s house to perform rituals in her previous life.
After about half an hour, Mrs. Ma came out of it like a spring breeze.
Seeing Mrs. Ma walking away, Hongying also entered the Taoist temple in three steps and two steps at a time.
After a cup of tea, Mengying lifted the curtains and saw Hongying walking out with a solemn expression.
Seeing the girl looking at him in the car, Hongying walked quickly to the car, but was still reluctant to get in.
Mengying said: "Come up and tell me, I thought of it."
Hongying got on the carriage, turned around, and started walking back.
"Say it!"
Mengying took a deep breath and said, the answer was already coming out.
Hongying calmed down and said: "I gave the Taoist nun ten taels of silver. According to her, Ma Po gave birth to a girl twelve years ago and gave birth to a baby girl. But then the girl died and another girl happened to be born.
A woman in a family had a difficult delivery and her baby was stillborn, so she took the baby away and took over the identity of the deceased child.
Now the female ghost suddenly came to her door and wanted her child, so she begged Taoist Aunt Ma to help her exorcise the ghost."
Mengying nodded, indicating that she understood.
"Then are we going back home now?" Hongying asked softly.
"Go to Mrs. Ma's house!" Mengying said with her eyes closed.