“Six is ​​Yin, and nine is Yang. On the ninth day of the ninth month, the sun and the moon are both Yang. The two nines overlap, so it is called the Double Ninth Festival.”

Due to being busy with casework, Lin Fei didn’t go to the public kitchen for lunch and had Zhao You bring the meal to his room, along with a box of Chongyang festival gifts.

The gift box was placed on a long table not far away. Lin Fei could see the words engraved on the outside of the gift box as soon as he looked up.

These sentences come from the “Book of Changes”. When Ji Caimai was making the gift box, he specifically asked him if it was okay.

Good! Of course good! Not only was it a festival, but Lin Fei lowered his eyes, put his fingers on the table, and tapped lightly: For some people, today was probably a particularly special day.

After lunch, Wen Mingtang inserted two dogwood plants at the door of the public kitchen and then took a few more dogwood plants and walked to her own yard.

With nothing to do, Ah Bing and Tangyuan followed Wen Mingtang and saw that Wen Mingtang had tied dogwood on her door and windows at the gate of the yard. Ah Bing couldn’t help but say, “Every year during the Double Ninth Festival, we tie this. My mother said it can drive away poisonous insects. Master Wen, is this true?”

Wen Mingtang handed the two cloth bags tied with dogwood that she had made yesterday to the two children and asked them to tie them around their waists. She said, “Those old people did say so. In addition to this effect, it is said that it can also drive away cold and wind, and even…”

“Exorcise evil spirits!” Tangyuan said excitedly, “When I went out today, I saw several neighbors had invited monks and Taoist priests to chant sutras at their homes!”

“What does that count for at the neighbor’s house? It’s just a gathering!” A Bing glanced at the excited Tangyuan and immediately responded, unwilling to lose face in front of her. “I’ve seen several families running businesses that cater to superstitions and taboos; that kind of spectacle is what you would call grand!”

That’s right! Wen Mingtang smiled as she listened to what Ah Bing said, and seemed to be thinking: The Double Ninth Festival in this country was a day for ordinary people to climb mountains, but for those who were evil, it was the annual day to exorcise evil spirits!

This was probably a big event for the Yuan family who run the tombstone business!

…

…

A servant who was squatting at the alley entrance not far away and watching the monks chanting sutras and reciting Buddhist scriptures at the door of Yuan’s Tombstone Shop was startled by a sudden slap on the shoulder. When he turned around and saw that it was Liu Yuan, he breathed a sigh of relief and called out, “Liu Sicheng!”

“How is it?” Liu Yuan asked them, “Did you gain anything after squatting for the whole morning?”

The officer nodded and said, “Indeed, we have made some discoveries! Quite a few people came this morning to give them Buddhist scriptures, robes, and other items to ward off evil spirits. Five of Master Su’s friends even came here in person!”

If this matter had not been noticed because of the case of Master Su, it would not have seemed strange.

After all, there were not many people doing this business that strangers avoid, and there were only a few such families in the entire Chang’an City. The Yuan family’s tombstones were well made, so it was not surprising that they were acquainted with these people.

“These people who do this business usually seem low-key and inconspicuous, but if you think about it carefully, most of those who handle funeral affairs have had contact with them.” The officer said, “The Yuan family’s tombstones are magnificent and are favored by wealthy businessmen and dignitaries, so they have a close relationship with these people.”

Liu Yuan nodded, looked at the Yuan Family Tombstone Company, which was gathering monks to chant sutras not far away, and sneered, saying, “Throughout the ages, everyone has been worried about what happens after death. Otherwise, why would the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty have built a mausoleum on such a large scale?”

The Yuan family’s business was really a way to make money quietly. The Yuan family members who wanted to make money would naturally not care about Second Master Yuan and other playboys who knew nothing and gave up this business.

If this was an internal matter of the Yuan family, the Dali Temple would not bother to intervene. However, thinking of the case of the surname Su, Liu Yuan tilted his head and asked the officer: “Have the families of the deceased masters who were friends with the surname Su sent anyone here?”

The officer stretched his legs which were numb from squatting and said, “I was just about to talk about these things!” At this point, the officer’s expression became serious, “When they opened the door this morning, they sent people here!”

Wasn’t this the commonality of the case that they had been looking for for a long time?

Although there were not many people in the tombstone business, it was not necessarily a coincidence that the people involved in the case were related to the Yuan Family’s Tombstone Business. But since there was a commonality, they could arrest the person and question him.

The officer turned to Liu Yuan and asked, “Liu Sicheng, do you want us to arrest him now?”

Liu Yuan shook his head, looked at the Yuan family tombstones at the door where the sound of chanting and reciting Buddhist scriptures came one after another, scratched his ears, and said, “No need for now!”

Cast a long line to catch a big fish! There were too many big fish, more than one, so they couldn’t use a long line, they should use a net!

When Liu Yuan appeared near the Yuan family tombstone shop, Bai Zhu appeared in a teahouse outside the city in casual clothes with a few servants.

Today was the Double Ninth Festival, and many people were traveling to climb mountains. Sitting in a teahouse and looking towards the mountains, one could see groups of people everywhere, holding chrysanthemums in their hands and wearing dogwood sachets on their waists.

Bai Zhu only glanced briefly at the mountains, then turned his gaze to the foot of the mountain, where the guards at the gate were patrolling back and forth, not allowing tourists to get close.

The three large cinnabar-red characters “Linliu Zhuang” on the huge stone tablet in front of Zhuangzi’s gate seemed to glow blood-red under the sunlight, and Bai Zhu couldn’t help frowning when he saw it.

The waiter finally had time to run over, took the silver handed over by Bai Zhu, and said happily, “Thank you, sir,” while patting his chest and assuring, “Don’t worry, sir! I’ve been here for twenty years, and every day when I open my eyes, I see Linliu Manor. I’m afraid that apart from their own people, no one knows more about Linliu Manor than me!”

“The owner of Linliu Manor was born into a good family. His ancestors accumulated good deeds. Now that he is the owner of Linliu Manor, all his relatives are gone. Naturally, all the family wealth is enjoyed by him alone!” said the waiter. “The rent and interest he earns every day are enough for him to spend. Naturally, he can live a life of leisure and wealth! He likes gold, silver, jewelry, beauties, famous poems and paintings, and the like…”

“I just don’t know if it’s because of his poor health when he was young or if he’s just like this,” the waiter said, spreading his hands and saying, “Of course we don’t know about such private matters!”

“In short, the owner of Linliu Manor has never had any children, and has never married! Well, he has quite a few beauties, but when they get old, the owner sends them away!” The waiter said this, shook his head, and said, “I have been here for twenty years, and I have seen that none of the beauties around the owner are over eighteen years old, they are all beauties in their prime!”

Well, although the owner of Linliu Manor was not ugly when he was young, he looked younger than his peers because he had extra money.

“But the owner of Linliu Manor is already seventy years old. How young can he be?” The waiter clicked his tongue. Seeing Bai Zhu turning his head to look at the cinnabar-red stone tablet outside while listening to him, he immediately said, “Sir, are you looking at that stone tablet? A few years ago, the owner of the manor had a serious illness and almost died. If it weren’t for the medicine worth thousands of gold, I heard that he would have gone to hell. At that time, I heard that the owner of the manor invited a very powerful Taoist master to erect this tablet, saying that it was used to ward off evil spirits!”

The man said, looking at the words on the tombstone, muttering: “I don’t know how the colors of the words were mixed. Sometimes they look creepy as if they were drawn with blood!”

(End of this chapter)

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