Three Matron Temple and Mr. Li (1/2)

Xu Feng called his master over.

Even his master could not make sense of the thing.

He could only say vaguely, "You think too highly of your master. I don't know much about things on dry land, let alone the strange things in the Yellow River. I'm completely in the dark there.

"There are simply too many strange things in the Yellow River.

"Even people who make their living from it can't tell you all of them.

"But I do have an idea about this snake."

They lit a fire. Xu Feng and his master gave up on Sewing it. Instead, they scooped it up with the Iron Shovel, threw it into the flames, and watched it burn to ash.

Leaning on the Iron Shovel, his master squinted into the firelight. "Your Uncle Sun told me about these things in the river. They're called wronged ghosts.

"It's a ghost, not a snake.

"When ordinary people drown in the Yellow River, even their souls remain in the river.

"If their bodies aren't hauled out, their souls sink to the riverbed.

"They attach themselves to whatever they encounter. If one attaches itself to a snake, a human face grows on the snake. If it attaches itself to a fish, the fish grows a human face.

"After a ghost has possessed one of these snakes or fish for a while, it grows limbs, just like a person."

Xu Feng had seen no sign of limbs on this snake.

But he did not agree with his master's conclusion.

He did not argue, either.

Xu Feng asked, "Master, was A Qing from Fisherfolk Village, the one we sewed up before, like this? Was he possessed by a wronged ghost too?"

His master said, "He looked like it.

"But someone killed him. He still had the