Chapter 17: How Many People Have Returned from the Ancient Battles The two sides gradually became familiar with each other. Lin Jue made the excuse that he had rarely seen ghosts and was very curious about their magical powers. He naturally asked what magic powers they had and wanted to see them. The two of them readily agreed. However, the demon named Su was quite naughty. He pulled the demon named Mo in front of Lin Jue under the pretext of demonstrating his transformation ability. Suddenly, he turned into a scary demon with a missing piece of his head and several dark red blood holes on his face, trying to scare Lin Jue. As for himself, although his death was not a good look, at least he was a complete person. However, Lin Jue had just witnessed the dog demon's transformation technique on the road and had been frightened twice. He was now prepared, and his head was numb in the second half of the night, so he did not react much. It’s a pity that I don’t have any strange feelings. Then the two demonstrated their abilities to walk through walls and exhale. But this was just a natural characteristic of ghosts, and Lin Jue still had no feeling.

Finally, there is the art of transportation. Just when Lin Jue was full of expectation and wanted them to carry him, thinking that they might learn something, he saw two people walking up to him, one holding his head and the other holding his feet, and they lifted him up with force. Lin Jue was silent at that time. "In the past, monks from the temple came here to eat and drink, and then slept here after eating and drinking. That's how we moved them out." The two of them said this quite proudly. What could Lin Jue say? I could only give a few compliments and continue chatting. These two really loved poetry, and they probably enjoyed it even after their death. They often talked about various poems, which were quite elegant. Even when Lin Jue asked them whether they were monsters or ghosts at first, they did not give a clear answer. They just shook their heads and responded with doggerel like "I met you by chance in the bamboo mountains, I am not a monster nor an immortal. You must know that this is a burial place, and the cry of an owl at night announces the beginning of the fourth watch." Later on, Lin Jue was also urged and instigated by them, and after discussing for a long time, he came up with a series of sentences like "The distant road is lightly dusty and the dusk is thick, there is a wind blowing at the old temple on the deserted mountain at night", and there were two more sentences at the end about having the chance to encounter the immortal trace. My head felt dizzy in the second half of the night and I couldn't remember anything. I just remember that it made them both laugh. If ordinary people could hear such laughter clearly, I'm afraid that everyone in the temple would not sleep well that night. I don't know when I finally fell asleep. Just when I was half asleep, I had another dream. There was still a pavilion in the dream, and the furnishings were basically the same, but the details had become vague and illusory. In front of me were still Su Xiaojin and Mo Laifeng. "Hahaha, Brother Lin, you get sleepy too easily. You know, when I was your age, I could stay up all night playing poetry and chess with my friends without any problem." Su Xiaojin said with a smile. Lin Jue glanced at his hair and believed what he said. "Since Brother Lin is sleepy, we can only look for you in my dreams." Mo Laifeng's temperament is much gentler and more steady. "To be honest, we are all from Huizhou. We felt that we had no hope of passing the imperial examinations. It happened that the country was in internal and external troubles at that time, so we simply joined the army. This time, we were in the Western Regions for ten years. Unfortunately, I died on the battlefield. Brother Su was extremely kind and righteous. He brought my flesh and blood and sent me back thousands of miles away." When Lin Jue heard this, he couldn't help but be surprised and looked at the giggling ghost named Su again.

It is a fashionable and stylish thing these days for a gentleman to carry a sword, but it is the ultimate romance these days for a scholar to take up a spear and join the army, and this kind of thing is not uncommon. But what he didn't expect was that he would actually meet such a kind and righteous person in real life. Sending bones thousands of miles away is a beautiful story no matter which dynasty it is. "such a pity……" The ghost surnamed Su interrupted and said with a smile: "Although I saved my life on the battlefield, I was also injured. For ten years, I got used to the yellow sand in the Western Regions. When I returned to this ink-and-wash homeland, I fell ill due to acclimatization. Originally, we agreed that no matter who died first, the survivor would help him return to his roots. I didn't expect that I would not be able to fulfill my promise after all." These were heavy words, but after he finished speaking, he clasped his hands together and spread them out, looking like a scoundrel: "And he got himself into it!" The ghost named Mo stood beside him, as if he was already used to it. "We are not here to ask Brother Lin for help. It's just that I heard Brother Lin counting money upstairs in the early hours of last night, and there was a sigh. I guessed that Brother Lin must be short of money for studying abroad. In addition, I had a lot of fun playing with Brother Lin just now, and I admired Brother Lin's character. So after Brother Lin fell asleep, I discussed with Brother Su for a while..." The ghost surnamed Mo said, "Before he died, Brother Su buried all our money under a small hill in the bamboo forest behind the temple. We just dug a small pit on top. There are probably more than a hundred taels of silver in it. If Brother Lin is short of money, you can take some." Lin Jue was stunned for a moment. How could such a good thing happen out of the blue? I was just thinking about whether to agree or to give in, but when I thought about it carefully, isn't this still asking him for help? It was just a euphemism. If not, why not ask Lin Jue to take all the money? Now that both ghosts were dead, who would the money be given to? "Where do you two brothers live?" "Su Village, north of Danxun County." "Qiu Ru County, the old village." "How far is it from here?" "It's only two or three hundred miles away." "You two brothers defended your country, but you stopped when you were only 200 to 300 miles away from home. You stopped for more than ten years. It's really not good." "If Brother Lin is interested, please take a message home for us. Our bodies are buried in the north of the bamboo forest. As for the money, Brother Lin can leave some for our family." "I will definitely bring it to you." Lin Jue said calmly and firmly. The dream quietly dissipated. When Lin Jue woke up, it was already dawn. He put the cloth used as a quilt, the pants used as a pillow, and the books used as a cushion into the bookcase. Since there was nothing else to take, Lin Jue went downstairs with the bookcase on his back. "Squeak..." Pushing open the attic door, the sunlight outside suddenly shone in, hitting Lin Jue's face, making him feel dazed. I didn’t sleep well and my head is still a little dizzy. What I experienced last night was just like the Wang Family Ancestral Hall in Hengcun before. It was so fantastic and unreal, as if it was a dream. Did I just chat with two ghosts all night? Lin Jue couldn't help but stare blankly at the door for a moment. When he walked outside, he found that most of the business travelers who had stayed overnight had already left. The temple, which was bustling and crowded last night, was now empty, with only the middle-aged monk sweeping the floor.

Seeing Lin Jue, he turned around and smiled: "Mr. Lin, have you woken up? You are the last one to wake up. It's almost past breakfast time. I wonder if there is anything left." "Thank you, Master." "Donor Lin seems to be in a bad mood. Did he not sleep well last night? Last night, the monks and residents in the temple heard voices in the attic. Many people were woken up. But what did Donor Lin encounter?" "Master didn't tell me that although this attic has been vacant for a long time, I'm not the only one living in it." Lin Jue said with some complaint. "There were many people outside last night, and our temple still relies on the money from donors to make a living. It's really difficult to tell the donor." The monk stopped the broom, leaned on it, and bowed to him to apologize. "This attic does have two unusual donors who come to play sometimes. A few years ago, my brothers and sisters ran into them. But these two are not bad-hearted, and they are also half-literati. They always like to get along with scholars and respect people with virtue. Before, there were brave guests who like ghosts and strange things who stayed in the attic and got along with them peacefully. The donor is both a scholar and a virtuous person, so there is really nothing to be afraid of." He paused and smiled, "Besides, you are not even afraid of the demons on the road, so why should you be afraid of us who have lived with you in this temple for many years?" "..." When Lin Jue listened to him speak, he felt for a moment that this monk might be considered a "great monk". Who says that one has to have magical powers and know magic to be considered a great monk? "I hope you won't tell anyone." "Know that you know." Lin Jue didn't know what to say for a moment, so he just nodded and followed the monk to the dining hall. The food in the temple was simple, with a bowl of porridge for breakfast and a vegetable dumpling for each person. The monks in the temple had little time, so they could last until noon. Merchants and travelers had to hurry on their way, so they had to bring their own dry food to last for half a day. However, there were still a few vegetable dumplings left in the basket, but the porridge was gone, so the monk gave all the vegetable dumplings to him. Lin Jue thanked him, asked for some clean water, washed up briefly, and then sat down to eat. There were only a few people in the dining hall, a group of unfamiliar businessmen, who were talking in low voices about what they had heard yesterday, mostly about someone making a noise last night, or hearing that someone had encountered a ghost on the road, and what happened afterwards. As we chatted, we got to talking about mules. We talked about the current price of mules, and then moved on to the war in the west. The war in the west has been intermittent, with fighting stopping and starting for decades, and there is no change now. They heard that our side had won and massacred half of the people in the small country's city. They heard that our side had suffered a great defeat and an entire army was left in the yellow sand. They also heard that a certain country had invaded our border, entered the city, burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of atrocities, and when the reinforcements arrived, they had already left like the wind. How many people's bones were buried in the sand, and how many people could not return home? These merchants talked about it all in a few words over tea and meals. As Lin Jue listened, he couldn't help but think of the two literary ghosts he met yesterday night who had returned from the Western Regions. It still feels like a dream. (End of this chapter)