Big dreamer

"Is there nothing heavy dragging under the water?" Shen Luo asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Nothing heavy dragging, no water plants, nothing. It is precisely because it is a little unusual, and the city has not been peaceful recently, so all kinds of rumors have spread. Now the water warming pavilion is almost regarded as a haunted house, and the business has plummeted." Bai Xiaotian shook his head.

From the beginning, the Bai family actually did not pay much attention to this. After all, the Qinhuai River is a place of right and wrong. Every year, there are at least 10 to 20 people who fall into the water, fall into the river drunk, jump into the water in frustration, and commit suicide for love.

Even if the incident happened in their own family, they often spent some money to bribe the government and send a guest Taoist priest to perform a ritual. No matter whether there is evil spirit or not, as long as they make a show and let the guests and the people see it, the matter will not be difficult to suppress.

But it is really hard to suppress the drownings one after another like this. Now people are saying that there are ghosts hidden in the water heating pavilion. The three people died unjustly, and their bodies are fixed by resentment, so they will not float.

"I am also planning to go out, so I will go with you to take a look." Shen Luo said.

"That's perfect." Bai Xiaotian's eyes lit up slightly, and there was finally a smile on his face.

As soon as the two walked out of the door, they heard a burst of hurried footsteps outside, and then they saw the girl Luxiu running in in a hurry, shouting

"No... It's not good, young master, it's not good..."

Shen Luo and Bai Xiaotian looked at each other after hearing this, and a trace of haze flashed across their faces.

"What's going on, please speak slowly." Bai Xiaotian asked in a deep voice.

"The shopkeeper Gao of Faxiang Silk Shop in the west of the city went to Shuinuan Pavilion to find his lover, Miss Shuiyuan, last night. As a result, he was found floating in the river in the morning, in the same place as the three in front." Luxiu's face was pale and she panted.

Bai Xiaotian sighed secretly and walked towards the front gate of the front yard without saying a word. Shen Luo touched his nose and followed him.

"Young Master, the car is ready and waiting outside the door..." Luxiu hurriedly chased out a few steps and shouted on tiptoe.

...

The speed of the carriage in the city is limited. It took less than half a quarter of an hour to arrive in front of Shuinuan Pavilion.

Shen Luo got off the carriage and looked up. In front of him stood a vermilion gate tower of three or four feet high, with carved beams and painted buildings, depicting rich scenes such as hundreds of birds paying homage to the phoenix and hundreds of flowers competing for spring.

Entering from the doorway, just a few steps away, there is a three-story magnificent pavilion. There are glazed tiles on each floor of the attic to make a ridge and eaves, and vermilion lanterns are hung below, the color is bright and colorful.

Inside the attic, there is a golden hall. In the center, there is a huge screen with twelve folds, and a stage is built with white jade fences. There are wooden ladders on both sides leading to the second floor.

The Shuinuan Pavilion, which is usually bustling with guests, is deserted today. There are not even a few people to be seen. There is only a middle-aged woman in purple brocade who is scolding a few servants in a low voice, telling them not to talk too much and talk about the Shuinuan Pavilion with outsiders.

Seeing Bai Xiaotian and the other two come in, the woman immediately put away her sorrow, greeted them, and bowed to them.

Shen Luo took a quick look and saw that she was beautiful and had a delicate figure, but there were fine lines at the corners of her eyes that could not be hidden by makeup. Looking at her demeanor, he knew that she should be the old nanny here.

"Young Master, you are finally here." The middle-aged woman found the backbone, and while speaking, she pulled off the handkerchief from her waist and wiped the corners of her eyes.

"Mother Feng, where is the body?" Bai Xiaotian asked directly.

"On the waterfront in the backyard, they didn't let him in. The official coroner has checked and left. Taoist Baishui is over there now." Aunt Feng didn't dare to say much, and said simply.

Bai Xiaotian said nothing, and walked behind the screen.

Shen Luo also followed him around the screen and walked out from a vaulted door at the back.

The Shuinuan Pavilion was built facing the Qinhuai River, and there was a small waterside pier in the backyard. In the past, there were flower boats moored there for guests to take their wives and relatives on the river.

And now, there was only a fat man's body in a gentry's clothing lying quietly in the shadow of the attic by the river, and next to him stood a thin old man with high cheekbones, slightly sunken cheeks, and wearing a gray Taoist robe.

Not far from here, across the river, there was a three-hole stone arch bridge, and under the guardrail in the middle of the bridge, the three characters "Zhenhuai Bridge" were engraved.

On one side of the bridge stood a river-suppressing water beast shaped like a unicorn rhino, with a stone base embedded underneath. The whole thing was only about one person tall. After years of baptism, the bottom was covered with moss and mottled marks everywhere.

Surrounding the water beast and on the entire bridge, many people from the city stood, with expressions of curiosity, fear, disgust and inexplicable excitement on their faces, pointing and whispering at this side.

Shen Luo looked at the man's body and saw that his whole body had been swollen and abnormal, and the exposed skin showed a bluish-white color. Although the dead look looked quite calm, he always felt that there was an evil spirit on him.

"Meet the real person." Bai Xiaotian walked up and bowed respectfully to the thin old Taoist.

Shen Luo also clasped his fists.

"Young Master, you are here." The old Taoist frowned and returned the salute to the two.

"What is the situation now?" Bai Xiaotian asked.

"Just like the previous few people, the coroner said they all drowned, and I can't find anything wrong." Taoist Master Baishui sighed and said.

"Master, do you know when they died?" Bai Xiaotian asked.

"It was probably around midnight last night... I'm ashamed to say that Pindao was stationed in the pavilion all the time, but he didn't notice it at all. It was the handyman who first discovered his body in the morning." Taoist Master Baishui said.

"Miss Shuiyuan, does she know when he left?" Bai Xiaotian turned to Feng's mother again and asked.

"Oh, she was so frightened that she couldn't understand. She only said that she slept very well last night and didn't know when she left. Now she doesn't even dare to stay in Shui Nuan Pavilion and went to rest elsewhere." Feng's mother lamented, said.

After hearing this, Bai Xiaotian was silent for a moment, then took out a yellow paper talisman from his sleeve, walked to the corpse, leaned over and placed it in the middle of his eyebrows.

There was a soft "pop" sound, and a wisp of flame ignited on the talisman, jumped suddenly, and then slowly burned.

"Yin Sha Qi Drawing Talisman!" Baishui Taoist said with bright eyes.

Hearing this, Shen Luo also focused his attention on the talisman paper.

He has also heard of this kind of talisman. When burning, it can use the talisman fire to draw out the hidden evil spirit.

If the shopkeeper Gao was really harmed by Yin evil spirits, the Yin evil energy would probably remain in his body. Now that the talisman fire is burning in the Yintang, there should be Yin energy flowing out from the seven orifices.