Collection of strange powers and chaotic gods

Behind the lobby of the college in Chenzhou, Henan Province (now Huaiyang District, Zhoukou City, Henan Province), there was a building. Three rooms in the building had been sealed off and no one was allowed to enter.

The reason is that the building is said to be haunted.

In the middle of the Kangxi year, Mr. Tang Xiya (the alias of Tang Youzeng, a famous official in the Qing Dynasty) served as an admonisher (affiliated to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, an admonishing officer, also known as Liu Ke Shizhong) and was ordered to inspect colleges in various places.

When I arrived at Chenzhou College for inspection, I found the three sealed rooms in the building and felt a little strange.

Tang Xiya summoned the senior officials of the college and asked what was going on.

The older official told him the truth about the haunting in the building. He also advised him not to go in for inspection if it was not necessary.

Tang Xiya was also a person who respected ghosts and gods, so he listened to the official's advice, did not go in, and continued to lock the room as it was.

It was midsummer and the weather was very hot. Chenzhou College originally had many people but few rooms. Now that a large group of people came for inspection, it became even more crowded.

Among the staff who inspected with Tang Xiya, there were two people, Wang Xi, a scholar from Hangzhou, and Jing Kaoxiang, a scholar from Zhongzhou (specifically referring to Henan in the Ming and Qing Dynasties). They usually pride themselves on being bold. When they saw that the three rooms were empty and locked, they wanted to move in.

Master Tangxiyatang told them the legend of the local officials, saying that it was haunted and they should not enter casually as it would offend the gods.

The two scholars didn't believe it at all. They believed that they were brave and not afraid of ghosts. He ignored the advice and went straight upstairs, knocked on the door lock, and moved in.

When the two of them went in, they saw that the windows in the room were bright and clean, and there was no dust on the beams. It didn't look like anyone had come in.

The two became even more convinced that the rumors of haunting were false.

So I settled down with confidence and boldness. There were three rooms in total. Jing Kaoxiang slept in the outer room, Wang Yu slept in the inner room, and the middle room was used as a living room.

In this way, two people lived in three rooms and felt extremely comfortable.

One night, at the second watch, Jing Kaoxiang felt a little tired and wanted to go to bed first.

Wang Yan took the candle from the living room in the middle and went back to his room. As he walked, he said to Jing Kaoxiang: "The locals say there are ghosts in this building. Why have we lived here for several days and nothing has happened?" ?

It seems that the people here are too timid and have been deceived by the scribe. Also, look at how clean this place is, maybe it is a place reserved for officials to have private meetings with their lovers. You are afraid of being discovered by others, so you deliberately spread rumors of being haunted! "

Before Jing Kaoxiang had time to answer, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs, like the sound of someone slowly going up from downstairs.

Jing Kaoxiang hurriedly asked Wang Xuan, "Did you hear it? What's the sound below?"

Wang Xu listened for a while and said with a smile: "Don't make a fuss. I think it's the people downstairs who are jealous that we live comfortably and deliberately made noises to scare us."

After saying that, he walked into his room and went to bed.

Jing Kaoxiang thought what he said made sense, so he didn't care and went to bed to get ready for sleep.

After a while, the footsteps on the stairs outside didn't stop, and seemed to be getting closer.

Jing Kaoxiang felt very frightened and shouted to Wang Yuan loudly.

Wang Xuan quickly got up from the bed, lit a candle and took it in his hand, walked out of the room and went to the living room in the middle.

Suddenly, the candle's light shrunk to a tiny size, like the light of a firefly.

The two felt very strange, and couldn't help but think of the rumors of haunting, and suddenly felt scared.

I quickly lit a few more candles. The candlelight was a little brighter, but the color of the flames showed a strange greenish color.

Just when the two were panicking, the door outside suddenly opened without any wind.

When he looked up, he saw a strange-shaped man in Tsing Yi standing outside the door. He was only two feet tall, and his face was actually the same length as his body. There are no eyes, no mouth, and no nose on the face.

But there is hair on the head, and the hair stands upright, and it is more than two feet long.

The two of them were so frightened that they shouted in unison: "Is there anyone downstairs? Come up and save me!"

When they heard them calling for people to come up, the man in green fell straight down.

There were all kinds of strange and terrifying screams coming from all directions outside the window, as if there were thousands of ghosts and ghosts acting as monsters at the same time.

The furniture and objects in the room began to beat, as if someone was kicking them.

The two of them were frightened and almost died of fear. They no longer felt that they were extremely brave!

This terrifying noise lasted until the rooster crowed outside, and then it calmed down just before dawn.

Early the next morning, the two of them went to Tang Xiya with lingering fears to report what happened during the night. At the same time, he expressed his apology for not listening to Mr. Tang’s dissuasion.

Tang Xiya did not argue with them, but called the older official over again to learn more about the cause of the haunting.

The old official then spoke in detail.

Prior to this, when Pan Gong of Liyang served as the superintendent of schools in Chenzhou, it coincided with the completion of the annual examination (the imperial examination system of the Qing Dynasty, which was held every three years, also known as the annual examination).

Because the list was to be announced the next day, Mr. Pan went to bed early.

Near the second watch, I suddenly heard the sound of drumming coming from outside the lobby.

Master Pan quickly asked the book boy to go over and ask who was complaining about injustice.

The clerk on duty in the lobby told him: "Just now, a woman with disheveled hair came out of the examination shed on the west and ran to the lobby asking to see Mr. Pan.

I knew it was late at night and Mr. Pan had already gone to bed, so I didn't dare to disturb him. So I didn't go in to report.

The woman said: 'I have a huge grievance, and I must see Mr. Pan to report it. To tell you the truth, I am not a human, but a ghost! ’”

The clerk on duty was so frightened that he fell to the ground.

The female ghost picked up the drumstick herself and beat the drum to express her grievances.

At this time, everyone in the Superintendent's Office was panicked and didn't know what to do.

There is a servant named Zhang in the mansion who is a little brave. He plucked up the courage to go out and ask the female ghost what her grievance was.

The female ghost said: "It's not too late now, it doesn't matter if Master Pan comes out to see me!

Since he doesn't want to come forward, I can only ask you to tell me this: I am the maid of a scholar's family in a certain county.

The master coveted my beauty and wanted to rape me, but I refused, so he whipped me!

After I got back, I told my husband about it. Although my husband hates it deeply and wants to take revenge. However, he couldn't do what he wanted, so he could only drink at home to drown his sorrows.

When my husband was drunk, he took advantage of the drunkenness and ran over and made rude remarks to him.

He had a grudge and took his servants with him that night to kill my husband.

The next morning, he led people into my room, ordered several servants to hold down my hands and feet, tore my clothes, and forcibly raped me.

I held back tears and cursed.

He flew into a rage, and together with his servants, beat me to death and buried me under a stone trough on the west side of the back garden.

I have been wronged for several years, and today I saw an opportunity for revenge, so I came here to redress my grievances. "

After the female ghost finished speaking, her grief was unbearable and she burst into tears involuntarily.

Zhang asked curiously: "You said today is your chance to take revenge. Could it be that the scholar you want to sue also came to take the exam this year?"

The female ghost said: "He came to take the exam, and he has been admitted to the [-]th place in the second class. The results will be released tomorrow, so I must ask you to report to Master Pan tonight!"

Zhang quickly ran in and reported to Master Pan.

Master Pan doubtfully opened the admission list and checked, and sure enough, the name of a certain scholar was among the thirteenth in the second class.

At this time, Master Pan had already believed the female ghost's words. So he asked Zhang to go out and comforted the female ghost and said: "I will definitely send an official document to your county and let the local officials clear up your grievances!"

The female ghost looked up to the sky and screamed, then left with satisfaction.

After getting up the next morning, Mr. Pan immediately sent an official document and passed the news he had learned to the county officials, asking them to verify the matter.

The local chief official immediately took people to a scholar's home.

According to Master Pan's official document, a female corpse was dug under the stone trough in the back garden.

So he immediately arrested a certain scholar and punished him according to the law.

After listening to the old official's narration, Tang Xiya smiled and said: "What you are talking about is an anecdote in the Superintendent's Yamen. What does it have to do with the ghosts upstairs in your college? Does anyone know what those ghosts are? Woolen cloth?"

No one here knows.

Soon after, Tang Xiya left Chenzhou and went to other places for inspection, and the matter was dropped!