[Red Mansion + Liaozhai] Furong repays her kindness

There is an incense shop in the city of Gusu. It is said that the spices concocted by the owner, Long Qiye, can bring people back to life, just like the legendary god-returning incense.Three sticks of soul-returning incense, ethereal and connected to ten halls, but life and death are irreversible, and this incense has to be exchanged with life.

Wet bluestone slabs, creepers winding down the wall, a dark door at the end of the alley, the animal capital on the door is covered with copper green, the dark and cold alley is separated from the bustling street by an invisible line Open, the two do not invade each other.The woman stood at the entrance of the alley, her face was haggard and sallow, she raised her feet several times but stopped.Just when she was hesitating, a burst of fragrance entered her nostrils, the fragrance was cold and astringent, and then a pale hand patted her.

The woman was startled and almost cried out, but it was a frail girl who patted her. Seeing that she was frightened, the girl smiled apologetically and said, "Is this lady here to ask for incense? It smells so good, Mrs. Bao got her wish."

"I...I..." The woman took a few breaths, and tears welled up in her eyes, "Yes, I'm here to ask for incense, but the girl is the owner of the Dragon Shop?"

"I am Long Qiye, Madam, please come inside." Long Qiye walked into the alley first, the woman only felt the fragrance of her body was clear, and she was no longer afraid of her before.

There is a special scene inside the black gate. The bamboo is standing tall by the wall, and the stones are piled up by the small pond like clouds and mist. The koi in the pond are playing, which is very elegant. , I’m afraid I’ll look down on my little reward.”

Long Qiye turned her head, the tassels in her hair swayed, and the silver light shone, "Since Madam can find this place, she should have heard my rules. It's hot, Madam might as well sit in the gazebo for a while."

The woman sat awkwardly in the gazebo. The gazebo was surrounded by water on three sides, so it was very cool. She leaned on the railing and looked into the small pond. The golden scales reflected the green water in the pond. It was a koi swimming happily. It's not as good as this fish.Naturally, she has heard the rules of Long Qiye. According to the rumors in Gusu City, Miss Long said that she would give birth to bones and live dead people, but the person who bought the incense must exchange her life for her life, so people said, more It's fear.

Long Qiye just sat with her and didn't make a sound. The woman's tears fell drop by drop on the water, causing ripples. I lost my footing and drowned. If I didn’t have a daughter at home, I would have gone with him. Everyone said Miss Long could bring her back to life..."

"Madam has decided?"

The woman gritted her teeth, her eyes determined, and she grabbed Long Qiye's hand, like a dying person grabbing a life-saving driftwood, "I am willing to trade my life for my life, as long as you can bring my husband back to life."

Long Qiye deftly broke free from the woman, and took off the bracelet on her wrist. There was a delicate incense ball with dragon pattern hanging on the bracelet, but it was only as big as a thumb. The coiled dragon was lifelike and its scales were shining. Halo, "Madam put this incense ball next to the corpse. Tomorrow, I will go to your house."

The woman left in a daze, and the aroma on Long Qiye's body became salty as the incense ball left. She smiled wryly and waved to the pool, "Xiao Jiao, do you think I smell like the one from the vegetable market?" Salted fish?"

"Like, very like, the kind that stinks so many cats don't eat it." As soon as the water surface moved, there was a pretty girl beside Long Qiye, with a golden headband tied on her bun, with a displeased expression, "Why do you Still helping them? I don't like these people."

Long Qiye patted her head, "Because I won't do anything else."

"But...but, I just don't like it anyway! She still envies me, Zi Feiyu, who knows that fish is not happy, and being a fish is also very hard." Xiaojiao shook his head vigorously, "As a very hard fish ..."

"People envy me for being so rich and able to raise a koi like you. Don't be too sentimental, it's a hard-working fish." Long Qiye smiled, spreading his right hand upwards, and wisps of smoke fell into the void. In her palm, she closed her eyes and pondered for a moment, then said, "Xiao Jiao, you can go with me tomorrow."

"Oh. You already know who it is? Is this woman's story interesting?"

Long Qiye shook his head, "It turns out that her husband is Sun Xiucai who writes letters for others in Xishi. We have seen it before. It's nothing interesting. It's just a matter of raising eyebrows and having fun. It's just that her husband fell into the water, which is a bit strange. I You have to go and have a look again to know what kind of fragrance it goes with.”

Early the next morning, Long Qiye and Xiaojiao appeared at the door of Sun Xiucai's house. Mrs. Sun was standing there with her daughter in her arms. When she saw Qiye, she rolled her eyes and said, "Miss Long is finally here. please."

Long Qiye raised his foot, and the daughter in Mrs. Sun's arms cried loudly and struggled desperately, "Mother, don't die, I don't want her to take mother away!"

"Xiaobao, Xiaobao don't cry. After mother is gone, father will take good care of Xiaobao." Mrs. Sun still had a bewildered expression, with a weird smile on her lips.

Long Qiye entered the door indifferently, there was no mourning hall in the house, and Sun Xiucai's body was parked in the front hall. Although the clothes were changed, her hair was still dripping wet, and her face was already swollen.Long Qiye's dragon pattern incense ball was placed next to the ear of the corpse and lost its fragrance.

Xiao Jiao frowned, "He has encountered a water ghost, and his soul has been dragged into the bottom of the river by the water ghost to act as a substitute, how can he be saved?"

"So much resentment, it overwhelmed my Jialan incense last night." Long Qiye leaned over and took back the incense ball and hung it in his hand, then pressed it on the corpse's hand, immediately black oozes out, and the rancid smell is unpleasant .The incense ball returned to her wrist, but the cold fragrance overflowed curlingly.

Later, Mrs. Sun coaxed her daughter well, and Xiao Bao fell into her arms and stopped making trouble, but sobbed softly, which made people feel uncomfortable.

"Mrs. Sun, which one is your husband's room? I want to take a look at the things he usually uses." Long Qiye asked, and wiped the black water from the corpse on his sleeve, and the black marks disappeared in an instant.

"Mostly in the study, my husband has to study hard, so he sleeps alone in the study." Mrs. Sun put down her daughter and found a bunch of keys from her body. "He was afraid that I would mess up the study, so he never let me in. He usually locked it when he went out. Yes, this key was found when I was changing his clothes."

Mrs. Sun had obviously never opened the lock of the study room, and had to change the keys several times to get it right. When she pushed the door, Long Qiye was almost suffocated by the sour smell inside, and she waved her sleeves to recover.Everyone has their own smell, this Sun Xiucai is really sour, the whole study is full of sour smell.

On the desk were half-read books, papers spread out, and pens laid out, as if they were still waiting for his master to write a beautiful essay. Mrs. Sun was weeping when she saw things and thought about others, and turned around and went out to hug Xiaobao Wail up.

Xiaojiao shook his head with a headache and complained in a low voice, "Just listening to these cries is enough to doom me, it's just too exhausting."

"It's just like that when I'm used to it." Long Qiye endured the sour taste and picked up the things in the house. She pulled out a picture scroll and opened it, and said with a slightly mocking smile, "There is Yan Ruyu in the book, and there is Yan Ruyu in the book." With a golden house, Sun Xiucai is really ambitious."

Xiaojiao hurriedly looked at the picture scroll, on which was vividly painted a young woman with red lips and white teeth, slim figure, with the word Yan Ruyu on the upper right.

"I think I was fascinated by this Yan Ruyu. This room is really uncomfortable. Take it back." Long Qiye handed the scroll to Xiaojiao, stepped out of the study, met Mrs. Sun's almost crazy eyes, she said with a smile , "I've accepted this business, and I'll come back to deliver incense to Madam after three days."

At midnight, everything was silent, Long Qiye poured the first spice into the gazebo, and at the same time, Xiaojiao's millet porridge was also cooked on the side.

It was the first time for Xiaojiao to see her making incense, and she was very curious. She opened her mouth to ask, but she was afraid of disturbing Long Qiye's incense making, but Long Qiye took the initiative to say, "Since it is made of water, it is natural that incense should be made by the water. This smell is fragrant, I call it Huangliang, have you heard of Huangliang Yimeng? This fragrance is the same, it is made before the millet is cooked, so it can bring back the soul."

"This porridge cooks quickly, and it's almost ready when the water boils." Xiao Jiao shook the fan, and the fire in the stove became more and more intense.

"It depends on how long this yellow beam dream has been going on." Long Qiye gradually poured in several other ingredients, "The first flavor is the usual benzoin, which calms resentment, the second flavor is peach fragrance, which drives water ghosts, and the third flavor is cardamom I think his husband and wife got married when they were young, and the husband and wife are deeply in love..."

The aroma was gradually gathered in the censer, leaving only the fragrance of millet freely. Long Qiye lit three pillars of fragrance with another small censer, "This incense is used to enshrine this furnace of spices."

"Scent the spices?"

"Everything has animism, and it is to use this aura to bring the soul back. Would you like to thank him?" Long Qiye closed his eyes, "These three sticks of incense are exhausted before you can open the furnace to get incense. It's a little troublesome."

Xiaojiao fanned the fire one after another, looked up to see the Kalan incense on her wrist, the smoke coiled from her wrist to her whole body, she was dressed in white and had black hair, only a silver hairpin, her face was beautiful and dignified, not like a real person.

"Looking at it this way, it looks a bit like the dragon girl in front of the Buddha in my previous temple."

"Oh? What's a dragon girl like?"

Xiaojiao seemed to have forgotten that she closed her eyes, and began to gesture earnestly, "As tall as a real person, she also wears white clothes, but she is dressed more delicately than you, with gold on her head and two dragon horns, and her lower body There is a dragon tail. Those who offer incense say she is the most beautiful statue in the temple."

"The clay sculpture is nothing more than a mortal imagination."

"Have you ever seen a real dragon girl? How big is the sea? Is there really a dragon gate? What kind of fish are you?" Xiaojiao asked hurriedly, seizing the opportunity.

Long Qiye remained silent, and said after a while, "Jiao, the genus of the dragon, can control fish in ponds and cause floods. Don't you want to cultivate to become a Jiaolong?"

"But since I was a child, I hoped to be able to jump the dragon's gate with a carp. Dragons are always better than Jiaos, right?"

"Turn down the fire, don't cook it too fast." Long Qiye obviously didn't want to talk about this topic anymore, Xiaojiao obediently picked out a few pieces of charcoal with the tongs.

The three sticks of incense burned overnight, and the millet porridge was cooked overnight.

When the moon was setting and the sun was rising, the sky was already bright, and Long Qiye opened his eyes, "The fragrance is ready, and it's faster than expected."

Xiaojiao was not sleepy, and said excitedly, "Then let's send it today, and finish it early."

"No, I'll go back on the seventh day of the next day. Well, I'm going to sleep. You pack your things, it's a hard job." Long Qiye brushed the incense ash on the table with his sleeves, and slapped Xiaojiao's head, causing her to shudder. Jump feet.

On the appointed day, Mrs. Sun sent Xiaobao to her natal family early, and stood at the door of the house to wait. Long Qiye was not seen until late at night. She dared not leave, and sat on the threshold leaning against the wall to continue waiting. .

Suddenly there was a faint blue light floating in the distance, which was really scary. When she got closer, a smile appeared on Madam Sun's stiff face. It turned out that it was Long Qiye who came with a small lantern.

Long Qiye said softly, "Madam, if you repent, there is still time."

Mrs. Sun shook her head and said in a hoarse voice, "As long as my husband is alive, I will do anything."

"Ma'am, you don't need to answer me at this time, you can go back on your word at any time." Long Qiye took the food box from Xiaojiao's hand, handed the glazed lamp to her, and told Xiaojiao, "Take this lamp in your hand into the house. It must not be extinguished."

Sun Xiucai drowned and died, most likely because he was used as a substitute by the water ghost, and he was not allowed to enter the cycle of reincarnation. The first seven days were the soul-returning nights.

The weather was unbearably hot, and there was no coolness at night. Sun Xiucai's body had begun to rot, and there was a stench in the sweltering heat. Long Qiye saw Mrs. Sun's cheeks were thin and her seal was black, and she had already been poisoned by the corpse.She first took out two incense burners from the food box, one was a three-legged burner with azure glaze color after rain, and the other was in the shape of a golden beast, then opened a compartment, and brought out a bowl of millet porridge to Mrs. Sun, " There is still some other work to do, Madam, eat something."

Mrs. Sun served the porridge like a puppet, and drank it in small sips.

Long Qiye put the three-legged stove at the door, lit a stick of incense, kneeled three times and kowtowed nine times, then knelt on the spot with palms together, muttering to himself.The incense burned very quickly at first, and the cigarette went straight up into the air. Just when Xiaojiao thought that Long Qiye could get up, a gust of wind blew, and the incense suddenly went out, and the whole stick of incense ash also collapsed.

"This one is not the incense of returning to the soul, but this incense of rising to heaven and earth is lit for the sake of heaven and earth. You don't want him to be resurrected, and you shouldn't do such disrespectful things." Long Qiye still spoke softly, not at all unhappy , Xiaojiao stepped forward to relight it for her, but was stopped by Long Qiye, "Shangling Xiaoxiang is used for blessings, and can make prayers reach the heavens. It was made by Emperor Taizong of the former Tang Dynasty for his beloved daughter who died young. So far. Once this incense is extinguished, it cannot be rekindled with flint, otherwise it will be disrespectful."

As she said that, she took off the silver hairpin in her hair and drew a line on her wrist. Dark red blood gushed out instantly. She hung her wrist on the incense, and the blood dripped on the incense, soaking the incense first. , and then dyed the furnace ash red, and when half of the incense ash turned red, the Sheng Ling Xiao Xiang lit up again out of thin air, and slowly burned out.

Long Qiye's wrist was still bleeding, she put her hand to Xiaojiao's mouth, "It's a good day for you today." Seeing her long hair loose and her face pale, Xiaojiao couldn't help saying, "Now you Not like a dragon girl, but more like a female ghost who is demanding her life."

"Drink it quickly, it will be wasted after a while." Long Qiye moved his hands together again, Xiaojiao's heart slumped, and he closed his eyes and began to suck on her wound.Long Qiye's blood was very cold, freezing from the throat to the internal organs as soon as he swallowed it, and it didn't have the bloody smell she thought, but had a faint fragrance of Jialan.

When Long Qiye withdrew his hand, the blood had stopped, forming a red line on his wrist.Mrs. Sun didn't know what happened before, and she fell asleep holding the bowl at some point.

Xiao Jiao said, "Mrs. Sun is too pitiful. Is it worth it after all? Doesn't she miss her daughter?"

"Whether it's worth it or not, I can't tell now, but do you believe me if I tell you that this yellow beam is not the fragrance of returning souls?" Long Qiye lowered his head and lit the yellow beam and stuffed it into the golden beast, and the beast's mouth immediately exhaled enchanting smoke. The heavy benzoin and the fresh fruit-like peach fragrance fill the room with the rising and falling of the two. The spicy cardamom and the refreshing borneol are followed by a strong smell.

As the fragrance flourished, Sun Xiucai's body changed, black water flowed out from the body, the rot and swelling disappeared, and he became the gentle and handsome letter writer in Xiaojiao's memory again.

The fragrance went out again, silently diffused into the river, dragged something lightly back, there were black tentacles behind it to be pulled, but they were all blocked by the fragrance.

After the incense was burned, everything was settled, and Sun Xiucai on the bed, wearing clothes soaked in black water, opened his eyes.He was ignorant at first, not knowing where he was, and when he felt his breathing and heartbeat, he rolled over and sat up, "I, am I still alive?"

He still remembered the despair when the river was flooded, and the pain of his soul being pinned to the bottom of the river by the water ghost. At this moment, it seemed that it was all a nightmare of his own.What he saw now was his familiar home. He moved his stiff neck wantonly, and when he turned his head, he saw a beautiful woman in white clothes standing beside him. He hesitated, "Ruyu, you saved me?"

Xiao Jiao interrupted her unceremoniously, "This is Miss Long, my master, it was your wife who saved you at the expense of her life."

Sun Xiucai was horrified, it was only when he saw Mrs. Sun sleeping on the chair, before he approached, the bowl in Mrs. Sun's hand fell to the ground, and the millet porridge was scattered all over the floor, and she was already lifeless.

"The matter is over, and I would like to ask Mr. Sun to express my condolences." Long Qiye packed up his incense burner and left quietly, leaving behind Sun Xiucai who was in great pain.

After crying for a few days, Sun Xiucai took Xiaobao back from Mrs. Sun's natal home, gave Mrs. Sun a grand burial, and promised in front of his father-in-law that in order to repay his wife's great kindness, he would never continue the marriage.Mrs. Sun saved her husband with her own life, and it became a strange story in Gusu City. People are even more in awe of the Long Family Incense Shop. It is rumored that Long Qiye raised a life-threatening imp, or she is actually a white man from the underworld. Impermanence personified.

The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and Xiaojiao can't stand the heat, so he yells that cooking fish is hard work, so he can only turn back into a koi and escape the heat in the pond if he doesn't want to become a grilled fish.Seeing this, Long Qiye couldn't laugh or cry, Zhidao knew this before, why bother to pick up such a delicate koi like her, but the grass carp in the moat is easy to feed.

Long Qiye went to the street on this day, unexpectedly met a wedding procession, it was so lively, but the passers-by couldn't stop cursing.Long Qiye was picking fruits at the stall, and asked, "Brother, do you know whose bride this is, why are everyone so angry?"

"Miss, do you know that Mrs. Sun saved Sun Xiucai by asking for the fragrance of returning souls? This is the newly married lady of Sun Xiucai. This Mrs. Sun is righteous, and now her bones are still cold, and she is rewarded like this. It is really embarrassing." Brother The surrounding stall owners all nodded in agreement with his words. Looking back at that time, Sun Xiucai swore not to continue the string, it was really ridiculous.

Faced with the disdain of the crowd, Sun Xiucai didn't take it seriously, and came out to meet the sedan chair with his head held high.Long Qiye watched it lively for a while, when the wind blew by, the new lady's hijab was lifted, revealing a beautiful face, although it was a glimpse, it was enough for Long Qiye to see clearly, it was that Yan Ruyu on the scroll.

After getting married, Sun Xiucai stayed with Yan Ruyu all day long, and always praised his new wife for being good at calligraphy and painting, and could add fragrance to his red sleeves.Mrs. Sun's natal family is just an ordinary farmer. Although she is dissatisfied with Sun Xiucai's personality, she doesn't care too much for Xiaobao's sake.

One year later, Sun Xiucai won the Juren Award, and after that, he became a Jinshi in high school. For a while, no one remembered Mrs. Sun. They only admired Yan Ruyu's combination of talent and virtue, and the appearance of a prosperous husband. There are not a few people who admire her.A few years later, Sun Xiucai has become Mrs. Sun, and was transferred back to Gusu Dangzhi County by his superiors to become a parent's official.

Yan Ruyu also gave birth to two sons and a daughter for him. He no longer had Xiaobao's mother and daughter in his heart, so he hurriedly booked Xiaobao into a well-known wealthy household and married him. All the treasures were swallowed up by Yan Ruyu.Long Qiye heard about it, but she forgot it after thinking about it, but Mrs. Sun was the first customer Xiaojiao came into contact with. She recalled Xiaobao's sobbing that day, and she felt a little concerned.

"I want to go and see Xiaobao. Her mother abandoned her back then, and her father is such a beast." Xiaojiao was furious, "It's fine if she's doing well, but if it's not... ..."

"As the saying goes, if you have a stepmother, you will have a stepfather. If she is not doing well, can you still force Sun Xiucai, no, Mr. Sun will die for Mrs. Sun?" Long Qiye touched her "You and Xiaobao are predestined, so let's go there once. She will go to worship Mrs. Sun today, so you can wait for her there."

Mrs. Sun's tomb was dilapidated, and Xiaobao had a hard time at her husband's house because of the shallow dowry, and was unable to repair it for her mother. She felt sad for a while, and knelt in front of the grave and cried bitterly, "Mother, would you rather go to the grave for your father that day?" Death, why don't you think about your daughter? It was originally said that orphans and widowed mothers have a hard time, but now that he has a prosperous official career, his daughter doesn't look like a person. Why don't you take me with you that day. "

After crying, he was about to bump into Mrs. Sun's tombstone, Xiao Jiao ran up to grab his head, but his forehead still broke apart, and blood and tears flowed all over his face.

Xiaojiao wiped off the blood for her, took out the balm to stop the bleeding, and persuaded, "It's better to live than to die. I have heard about your family's past. Why is your mother willing to let you die at such a young age?" You still have a long way to go."

"What is she reluctant to do? You are young, little girl, and you don't understand what's going on." Xiaobao sat on the ground slumped, "At first, I just accepted my fate, but on the day my father reunited, I hid behind the house and stole Only after hearing this did I realize that he and Yan Ruyu had an affair for a long time, and they had a private meeting in the study without telling my mother back then. It was her fault that my father fell into the water that day, and she pushed my father down with her own hands! Now my father After she came back to life, she said that she was fascinated by water ghosts at the time, and she felt sorry for my mother who was innocent and died because of this adulterer and adulterer, to fulfill their love."

Here Xiaojiao heard Xiaobao's crying and went back to tell Long Qiye intact. Long Qiye's expression was calm, and he raised his hand and shook Long Wenxiang's fairway, "Mrs. Sun, are you still satisfied?"

A wisp of smoke floated from the incense ball, and it turned into Mrs. Sun, just like what Xiaojiao saw that day, it was the same.

"You actually took Mrs. Sun here. If I had known, I would have asked you to ask for incense balls just now, so that their mother and daughter could meet. Your daughter is going to die..." Long Qi was hit on the head before he finished speaking. Ye Yi said, "What about you and mine, I don't have a name?"

Xiaojiao muttered for a long time without speaking, Madam Sun turned to her and said, "Miss Xiaojiao has a childlike heart, please miss Xiaobao. It's just that she is right, it's my mother who is not good, now Yin and Yang are separated, How can we meet face to face?"

Long Qiye held the silver hairpin in his hair, and said with a smile, "I said on the first seven days that Madam can go back on her word at any time. Do you regret it at this time?"

"I've been with Miss Long for many years, and he knows everything about him. I'm just an ordinary farmer's daughter, unlike him who can read and write, and is pretty. It's embarrassing to say the least. That summer, I washed my clothes by the river Clothes met him, and when I got home, I pestered my parents to propose marriage. Later, I had Xiaobao. But I didn’t expect that it was all my wishful thinking. If he really liked that Yan Ruyu, he would just think that I gave my life for nothing, but he has his own flesh and blood. It's all like that, but it's just a human-faced animal." Mrs. Sun's figure was a little erratic, she sighed, "Of course I regret it, if I go back to the past, I would rather orphans and widows beg for food to support my little treasure."

Long Qiye laughed, "In ancient times, Huangliang had a dream, and the yellow rice was not ripe when you woke up from the dream. Today, your husband and wife have a dream of Huangliang, and it is the wife who has not finished a bowl of porridge. You might as well wake up and use up the porridge. And have the strength to arrange funerals."

Master Sun was playing with his little daughter at the mansion, when suddenly her daughter disappeared, he hurried to look for it, but the Sun mansion was empty, not even a single servant was seen, he yelled in fear, "Ruyu, Ruyu!"

Yan Ruyu was full of smiles, as beautiful as flowers and jade in the painting, with a slender figure, she smiled and said, "Sun Lang loves me so much, Ruyu is really happy in her heart, I was afraid that you would be seduced by that incense."

All of a sudden, the water pavilions and pavilions collapsed, and the gold, silver and silk were turned into ashes.

Madam Sun opened her eyes, Sun Xiucai's body was still on the bed, and the millet porridge in her hand was still warm, she shed tears and drank the porridge together with the tears.

The dark wind was circling outside the house, and a voice shouted mournfully, "My lady, it's me, my lady, please save me, I won't dare again."

Mrs. Sun put down the bowl and walked to the door, only to see the fallen leaves being blown up by the wind, but she couldn't see the essence. She asked, "Is it a dream before, or is it true that my lord would act like this?"

"Huangliang just hooked the two of you into the illusion together, and you acted out of your heart. If Madam says she doesn't regret it in the end, it will be the time for your husband to return to his soul. It's a pity, a pity."

Mrs. Sun said in a low voice, "The relationship between you and my husband is over, you'd better have a loving relationship with your Mrs. Ruyuxin."

A woman's laughter came from outside, and it gradually quieted down.Xiaojiao woke up like a dream, and looked at the glazed lamp in his hand, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the lamp was still on.

Long Qiye tapped her on the head, and laughed and cursed, "You really don't have to worry about it, and you will follow the yellow beam dream at a little bit, and I have to pick you up. If the light goes out, what do you do?" manage."

"Isn't it not off..." Xiaojiao's voice involuntarily dropped, Long Qiye took over the lamp, and slowly walked into the darkness, only that little bit of blue was dimly lit.