Chapter 16 Encountering a Ghost In the middle of the night, the mountain wind pushed open the window. Although it was already summer, it was still a bit chilly in the mountains at night. Lin Jue was only covered with a piece of cloth, and he felt a little cold when the wind blew. I couldn't help but curl up. At this moment, he heard voices talking under the floor in a daze. "Huh? Who swept away the dust and cobwebs downstairs?" "It must be the monks in the temple. Who else could it be? It seems like they invited someone to stay in the attic tonight. They must have cleaned it up." "It became a lot cleaner all of a sudden." "That's right. These monks are so diligent. It was so dirty before. I didn't even want to pass by downstairs." "The guest should be asleep, right?" "That should be it? Brother Su, don't wake him up."
"I want to see what this person looks like." "Brother Su, you..." There were two different voices coming from downstairs. Lin Jue was still confused at first and thought he was dreaming, but suddenly he came to his senses and woke up. Why is someone talking in the middle of the night? Human or ghost? Doesn't sound like a monk in a temple. Lin Jue did not move rashly and pricked up his ears. The attic had been in use for many years and lacked maintenance, so the wooden ladder had long since rotted away and creaked when walked on. When Lin Jue had been cleaning before, the ladder would make one or three noises with each step, and even if he had stood still and just waved the broom the ladder would have made a slight noise. But at this time it was very quiet. Abnormally, the sound was coming from upstairs. "Still sleeping." "Brother Su, what are you talking about? It's the middle of the night now. Everyone in the temple is fast asleep." The sound was much softer than before. Lin Jue already roughly knew at this time that these two people were not human. Are there ghosts in the temple attic? I don’t know if the monks in the temple know about this. What should I do now? Thousands of thoughts were changing in Lin Jue's mind as he kept thinking. Listening to them talk, they don't seem to be bad.
On second thought, this temple has been established for a long time, and there are travelers who come here every day to stay overnight. It's just a matter of number. If there are demons who stay here, or come here often, they are very brave. But from another perspective, these two demons have not attracted anyone's attention for such a long time, and have not caused any problems, nor have they been expelled by the temple. Maybe this also shows that they are not cruel? In any case, the two voices were getting closer and closer, not only to the upstairs, but even in front of him. Lin Jue was alert and did not act rashly. "He's a young scholar!" "Like he's going out to study." "He doesn't look very old. I thought he was a scholar in his twenties...Did he sweep the stairs below?" "Don't wake him up. He is not afraid of the monster he encountered on the way, which shows that he is courageous. He picked up the mule from the monster and returned it to its owner without hesitation, which shows that he is virtuous. He cleaned upstairs while staying upstairs, which shows that he is sensible. Let him sleep here tonight, and we will go downstairs to sit and play." "Brother Mo is right, but this guy is still a scholar..." The voice paused and chuckled, "Why not wake him up and play with him?" "Stop it, go downstairs." "Hahaha……" The sound soon faded away. Lin Jue finally breathed a sigh of relief. "A pair of horses came from the south of the city, and the weeping willows all showed golden scales. The golden Quxu carved Hu brocade, I don't believe that King Chen is so talented." The voice was still at the stairs when reciting the poem, and walked downstairs after reciting the poem. "This poem took three days to complete. What do you think of it, Brother Su?" "How dare you not believe in Chen Wang's talent! If Brother Mo had the poetic talent he has now when we were in the Western Regions, he would have won the favor of the military supervisor and been promoted." "Then how do you meet Brother Su?" "Hahaha, Brother Mo..." There were still sounds coming from below. "Don't talk about me, is Brother Su's song finished?" "It's ready. I'm going to show you my ugly face now. Please help me figure it out, Brother Mo." "I'm all ears." Lin Jue opened his eyes in the darkness. These two really seem to be good people? I don't know if they are demons or ghosts, but they are actually reciting poems and writing couplets. The attic was still empty, but the window had been opened at some point, facing the bright moon in the sky. The moonlight poured in, casting a square patch of frosty white on the mottled wooden board. The young scholar held his breath in concentration. "The sound of flutes and drums in the candlelit tower, who is it that is pressing the keys of Xiaoliangzhou? How many spring breezes and cardamoms are there, and how many are there that are causing melancholy along the autumn river." "This poem..." "how?" "wrong!" "What's wrong? Please enlighten me, Brother Mo." "It's not poetry! It's the guy upstairs! He's still awake!"
"Ok?" At the same time, Lin Jue upstairs was also stunned. His heart subconsciously tightened. But before he could close his eyes, he saw two heads suddenly appear on the wooden floor under the moonlight. The two heads gradually rose up, and two people floated out from the wooden floor with their bodies attached. "..." Lin Jue couldn't help but widen his eyes. If we don’t count the one in the Wang Family Ancestral Hall in Hengcun, this was the second time he had seen the true form of the demon. This way of appearing is really... "Look!" One of them looked at Lin Jue, then turned to the person next to him and said with a smile, "I said this person didn't sleep, right?" The tone of voice was quite jumpy, probably from the one with the surname Su. The other one did not reply to him, but bowed to Lin Jue, and said politely: "We were talking too loudly and accidentally disturbed your sweet dream. Please forgive us." "Brother Mo is right. But it is also because he has cultivated his life and spirit, so he can hear our voices more clearly. And he must have woken up a long time ago, but pretended to be asleep and kept silent." The man said, turning his head with a smile to look at Lin Jue, "Young Master, this is not the behavior of a gentleman." Lin Jue was really at a loss when talking to them, and had many thoughts in his mind. How do they know he's not asleep? How can you tell that you have practiced the Qi-nourishing method? Thinking of this, he sat up. He returned the greeting to the two men, and his words were equally polite, but he did not seem humble or afraid. He just explained, "My last name is Lin Jue. I was passing by here and stayed overnight. I accidentally met the two of you. Anyone who encounters such a thing would be nervous and confused. Therefore, it is normal for a normal person to stay awake and keep silent to wait and see what happens." "You are too polite, young master. I am Mo Laifeng." "Su Xiaojin." When the two heard him say his name, they gave their own names without hesitation. This is considered a courtesy these days. "Young master, don't pay attention to him. This is the attic of the temple. It doesn't belong to us. It's us who disturbed your rest." The demon named Mo Laifeng said with a bow. "What a great guy who is awake but silent. Let's wait and see what happens next!" The demon named Su Xiaojin looked at him with a smile, "You are so calm and composed. You don't look like someone who is afraid of demons, do you?" "You two know etiquette and understand poetry and books, so there is nothing to be afraid of." Lin Jue paused and said, "I just want to sleep and don't want to disturb your leisure time. How about we divide the first floor into two parts, and you two continue to talk about poetry downstairs while I continue to rest upstairs?" "Are you a scholar?" "I've read a few days." "Since you are a scholar and have already awakened, why are you obsessed with a sweet dream for one night? Why don't you chat and play together? There will be endless sleep after death." said the ghost named Su. "I am really sleepy." "Why bother?" The two demons refused to let him sleep.
Lin Jue was unsure of their abilities for the moment, and the other party did not threaten him or show any ferocity. They just smiled and invited him, which showed good intentions, so he really could not refuse. On second thought, I went out to look for immortals. If I don’t even dare to talk to a demon with such a temperament, how can I go looking for immortals? Lin Jue thought so and put on his shoes. "Brother Lin, have you heard our poems before?" "I heard." "What do you think, Brother Lin?" "Not bad, not bad." “Just good?” “It’s also… a good poem.” "Brother Lin, how do you think it compares to Zhang and Liu of the previous dynasty?" "..." "Ok?" "..." "Why doesn't Brother Lin say anything?" "Compared to Zhang and Liu..." Lin Jue tried to speak, but he couldn't say anything. Zhang and Liu were the most famous poets of the previous dynasties in this world, roughly equivalent to Li Bai and Du Fu of the Tang Dynasty in his memory, and were also called poets. Lin Jue didn't quite remember any of their poems, but he couldn't say how these two could compare with them. Since he didn't want to lie, he simply bowed his head and said, "I am still not well-educated, so I dare not speak nonsense." "You little brat! Can't you even say a few compliments?" The two of them looked to be in their thirties. If the legend was true, they should have been this age when they died. Facing Lin Jue, who looked to be in his teens, they acted like brothers: "You must know! If you want to be a writer and hang out with writers, the first thing you need to learn is not to write poetry or practice calligraphy, not to study, but to flatter each other! Where are the writers who don't flatter each other?" "I really don't understand poetry, and I'm not a scholar." "If you don't understand poetry, how can you know that we are not as good as Zhang and Liu?" "..." Lin Jue only heard about the blind arrogance and contempt for each other among the literati, as well as some bad habits, which made him feel a little uncomfortable. However, this way, the anxiety in his heart was reduced a lot. Then the two demons continued to clamor for him to produce a poem that could compare with the ones they had written. They were determined not to give up until he had produced one. In the end, they even said that poems that were not written by him but heard from somewhere else would also be fine, but the poem had to be one they had never heard of before. Lin Jue did have some good poems in his mind. He even knew that these two had served in the army in the Western Regions, so he had some frontier poems that would make them silent and emotional once they were read. But how could he read them to them? He let them urge him and remained silent. In fact, he already knew that they could not do anything to him.
How can people be deceived by ghosts? The two were really helpless, so they stopped mentioning their own poems and stopped making things difficult for him. Instead, they continued to chat with Lin Jue, talking about everything else, and occasionally complaining about the lack of wine and songs to liven up the atmosphere. Lin Jue also agreed with them and guided them, wanting to learn more about ghosts, gods and immortals from them. (End of this chapter)