"Aren't there any heavy objects dragging it under the water?" Shen Luo pondered for a while and asked.
"There are no heavy objects dragging, no water plants to get in the way, nothing. It is precisely because it is a little unusual, and the city has not been peaceful recently, so there are all kinds of rumors. Now Water-Warm Pavilion is almost regarded as a haunted house, and the business has plummeted." Bai Xiaotian shook his head.
From the beginning, Bai Family people actually didn't pay much attention to this. After all, this Qinhuai River is a place of right and wrong. Every year, there must be ten or twenty people who slip and fall into the river, who fall into the river drunk, who throw themselves into the river in frustration, and who die in love with their unhappy spouses.
Even if the matter occurs within one's own family, one often spends some money to manage the government affairs and sends a guest Daoist priest to perform rituals. No matter whether there is any evil intention or not, as long as one makes a show and lets the guests and the people see it, the matter will not be difficult to suppress.
But it was like dumplings being laid down like dumplings this time, drowning one after another, and it was really hard to bear it down. Now there are rumors in the market that there is a ghost hiding in the Water-Warm Pavilion. The three people died unjustly, and the bodies were fixed by resentment, so they floated and refused to go away.
"I'm also planning to go out, so let's go and have a look with you." Shen Luo said.
"That's just right." Bai Xiaotian's eyes brightened slightly, and there was finally a smile on his face.
As soon as the two people walked out of the door, they heard a rush of footsteps outside, and then they saw the girl Green Sleeve running in like crazy, shouting repeatedly:
"No... it's not good, young master, it's not good..."
Hearing this, Shen Luo and Bai Xiaotian looked at each other, a hint of haze flashed across their faces.
"What's going on? Speak slowly." Bai Xiaotian asked in a deep voice.
"Shopkeeper Gao from Faxiang Silk Shop in the west of the city went to the Water-Warm Pavilion last night to find the girl Shui Yuan that he was in love with, but he was found floating in the river in the morning, in the same place as the three previous ones." Green Sleeve's face turned pale and he gasped.
Bai Xiaotian sighed secretly and walked towards the front door without saying a word. Shen Luo touched his nose and followed.
"Young Master, the car is ready and waiting outside the door..." Green Sleeve hurriedly chased him a few steps out and shouted on tiptoe.
The carriage's speed in the city was limited, and it took less than half an hour to arrive in front of the Water-Warm Pavilion.
Shen Luo got off the carriage and looked up. Standing in front of him was a vermilion gate tower three to four feet high, with carved beams and painted buildings depicting rich and noble scenes such as birds approaching the phoenix and flowers vying for spring.
Entering through the doorway, only a few steps away, there is a magnificent three-story pavilion. Each floor of the attic has glazed tiles to make ridged eaves, and vermilion lanterns are hung below, the colors are so bright.
Inside the attic is a golden hall, with a huge twelve-fold screen in the center and a performance stage built with white jade fence. There are wooden ladders on the left and right leading to the second floor.
On weekdays, Water-Warm Pavilion is bustling with tourists, but today it is deserted. There are not even a few people in sight. There is only a middle-aged woman in purple brocade who is reprimanding a few servants in a low voice, telling them not to talk too much and telling outsiders about the Water-Warm Pavilion.
Seeing Bai Xiaotian two people come in, the woman immediately put away her sad expression, came forward to greet them, and bowed to them.
Shen Luo After looking at her for a moment, she saw that she had a good appearance, a slim figure, and fine lines at the corners of her eyes that even makeup could not hide. After looking at her demeanor and behavior, she knew that she must be the old lady here.
"Young Master, you are finally here." The middle-aged woman found the backbone and said as she pulled off the handkerchief from her waist and wiped the corners of her eyes.
"Feng Ma, where is the body?" Bai Xiaotian asked directly.
"It's on the waterfront in the backyard. I wasn't allowed to carry it into the house. The government officials have checked it and left. Daoist Bai Shui is over there right now." Feng's mother didn't dare to say more and said simply.
Bai Xiaotian said nothing and walked behind the screen.
Shen Luo followed him around the screen and walked out through a ticket door at the back.
Water-Warm Pavilion was built next to the Qinhuai River. In the backyard is a small water-filled pier. In the past, there were also flower boats moored for benefactors to take their Qing Guan women to go boating on the river.
But right now, there was only the body of a fat man in official uniforms lying beside the river, lying quietly in the shadow of the attic. Next to him stood a thin old man with bulging cheekbones and slightly sunken cheeks, wearing a gray-white robe.
Not far from here, there is a three-hole stone arch bridge across the river. Under the guardrail in the middle of the bridge, there are three characters "Zhenhuai Bridge" engraved on it.
Standing on one side of the bridge is a River-Quelling Water Beast that looks like a one-horned rhinoceros. There is a stone base embedded at the bottom. The whole structure is no more than a person tall. After years of baptism, the bottom is covered with moss and there are mottled marks everywhere.
Surrounding the water beast and on the entire bridge, many people from the city stood, with expressions of curiosity and fear, disgust and inexplicable excitement on their faces, pointing and whispering.
Shen Luo took a look at the man's body and saw that his whole body had been swollen and abnormally swollen, and the exposed skin had a bluish-white color. Although his dead appearance looked quite peaceful, he always felt that there was an evil aura about him.
"I've seen a real person." Bai Xiaotian came closer and bowed respectfully to the thin old man.
Shen Luo also clasped his fists.
"Young Master, you are here." The old Daoist frowned and returned a salute to the two of them.
"How is the situation now?" Bai Xiaotian asked.
"Similar to the previous few people, after seeing it, I said they were all drowned, and I couldn't find anything wrong." Daoist Bai Shui sighed and said.
"Does anyone know when he died?" Bai Xiaotian asked.
"It was probably around midnight last night... I'm ashamed to say that Pindao was actually 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." Daoist Bai Shui said.
"Miss Shui Yuan, does she know when he left?" Bai Xiaotian turned to Feng's mother again and asked.
"Oh, she was so scared that she couldn't understand. She only said that she slept very hard last night and had no idea when she left. Now she doesn't even dare to stay with the Water-Warm Pavilion and went to rest elsewhere." Feng's mother lamented and said.
Bai Xiaotian Hearing this, after a moment of silence, he took out a yellow paper talisman from his sleeve, walked to the corpse, leaned over and placed it in the middle of his eyebrows.
Just hearing a soft "pop" sound, a wisp of flame ignited on the talisman, jumped suddenly, and then slowly burned.
"Yin Baleful Qi Guiding Talisman!" Whitewater Daoist said with bright eyes.
Shen Luo Hearing this, he also focused his attention on the talisman paper.
He has also heard of this kind of talisman. When it burns, it can use the talisman fire to bring out the hidden Yin Baleful Qi.
If this Shopkeeper Gao is really harmed by Yin Baleful Ghost, there will probably be Yin Baleful Qi left in the body. Now that the talisman is burning in the Yintang, there should be Yin Qi flowing out from the seven orifices.