Mantra

Chapter 52

Following Zhao Hong's instructions, with the brightness of the high beams, I could clearly see the "something" that was directly ahead of us and intercepted us.

To be honest, if a ghost, a fox, a ghost, or a sprite really came out on the way, I wouldn't be afraid. There must be too many "adventures" along the way.

And in all fairness, this "Old Qi Road" itself has been abandoned for many years. When I walked in, I was prepared to encounter various emergencies, even "unknowable supernatural phenomena".

But I can't understand the "things" placed in front of the car now.My first reaction was, did I feel that I had "traversed"?Can these things also be placed in the middle of the road?
Because I saw that in the middle of the road, more than a hundred meters away from us, there were... three square tables!
That's not counting, and each table is covered with a bright red tablecloth that hangs down to the bottom of the table, and some white porcelain pots and pans can be seen on the table, which seems to be steaming faintly.

The three tables are completely set up for a three-table banquet, quietly waiting for their "guests".

All of us woke up from Zhao Hong's sudden brake just now, except for Xiao Ahsi, everyone also saw the three empty tables in front of the headlights.

For a while, no one spoke, because everyone didn't understand what it meant.

But after a while, everyone's eyes were turned to me, and their expectant expressions made me feel uncomfortable.

I was itchy all over when everyone looked at me, so I opened my mouth first: "Why are you looking at me? It's not a banquet I arranged."

"But you're a cook!" Xian Hongye "reminded" in a low voice, "You're still the cook of the Wu Zang Temple! You don't know how to set up three tables of dishes on this road, do you?"

I didn't answer right away, but looked up at the three tables of dishes that were still emitting green smoke.

To be honest, I have no idea what that means.The old squad leader didn't tell me about it, and I haven't heard of the custom of setting up "Dragon Gate Arrays" on the road in the countryside in recent years.

So, I shook my head helplessly.

"You don't know?" Unexpectedly, Wang Hou pointed to the three tables outside and said, "Don't you even know about the Coffin Head Banquet and the Free Food Gu? You don't know about the three simple tables. "

His questioning made me a little unhappy, so I waved my hand and retorted: "My brother Hou! This is not a concept at all, okay? Even if you ask me the way of it... you have to go out and have a look What exactly is on the table?"

My words also instantly divided everyone into two factions.

During the discussion, Zhao Hong and Xiao Ah Si suggested to go out and have a look, to find out the situation before they can go on the road with peace of mind.But Wang Hou and Hongye firmly opposed it, thinking that one thing more is worse than one thing less.

Among them, Wang Hou was even more cautious because of his experience of "hitting the Yin Banquet" in the morning.He even crazily suggested that everyone should not worry about it, just kick the gas pedal, step on it to death and rush over to finish the job.

In the end, both factions were reasonable, and both sides were evenly matched. In desperation, everyone's focus returned to me.

"Be careful! Otherwise, if everyone is so deadlocked, it will be dawn. Just a 'professional' like you, think about it!" Hongye first handed over the decision-making power to me in the stalemate.

With his words, everyone nodded and handed the baton into my hand again.

But what can I do?

In the silence, I stared at the three empty "banquets", feeling a little dazed.

In the anticipation of everyone, I have no choice but to tell you:
"A long time ago, I heard the old squad leader say, 'A cook is a guest when he enters the door, and please eat at the banquet table'. It means that in the rules of opening a restaurant, you are a guest when you enter the door, even if you only drink a pot of water. You have to entertain. When the food is served on the table, it must be an invitation to eat. Even if you don’t want to eat, you have to move your chopsticks, so I think...these three tables have prepared even the tableware, and they should be invited to eat. right?!"

"Isn't that coming back?" Zhao Hong frowned and said, "If we know who these three tables are inviting, or what 'things' we are inviting, shouldn't we solve the problem?"

Yes!The key question is that you don't know, but if you want to know, you have to get out of the car and have a look.

In desperation, I looked at everyone's expectant eyes and took a compromise.

I said, "Is this good? If you say you want to get out of the car and watch it, let's get out of the car and watch it. If you don't want to watch it, just stay in the car and wait."

"That's fine..." Wang Hou was the first to agree unexpectedly, "In case something happens, it won't be all trapped."

"Hehe!" I responded with a helpless smile, as the saying goes, "the drunkard doesn't care about drinking"!The reason why this kid wants to stay in the car is because he is trying to trick Xian Hongye... I don't want to think about it.

So, under the division of labor, I took Zhao Hong and the dwarf Ah Si out of the car.Hongye, Wang Hou and Zhao Hong's second uncle's black dog "Dudu" stayed behind just in case.

Before leaving, Wang Hou shouted to me excitedly: "Look carefully, don't be afraid after a long time, I will follow you from behind."

Listening to what he said, I was so depressed.

Does he have no bottom line in picking up girls?And it's shameless, it's Zhao Hong's car lights that are shining on us!
Leaving aside the gossip, when we came to the three tables covered with red cloths in front of the banquet with apprehension, everyone felt a little bit surprised, and apart from being shocked, we also felt sincerely grateful.

Fortunately, we didn't listen to Wang Hou's words, otherwise we would have crashed into the past without knowing why, and the car would have been destroyed.

Why did the car crash?As we got closer, we realized that these three tables look like square tables from a distance, but they are not at all, but square "stone platforms" accumulated with small stones. The three stone platforms are like ancient times. The stone pier of chess is as thick and stable, even if I push it with my hands, it can't move at all.

These three stone platforms were squatted in the middle of the road. They were not covered with red cloth, but floor-sized red paper. The white porcelain pots and bowls placed on the red paper were really genuine things, but they were empty inside. , nothing to eat.

At first glance, this distance really looks like a "banquet" arranged on square tables.

But what surprised me the most was that there seemed to be green smoke lingering among the empty bowls and plates. It smelled like a barbecue smell in the nose, and it was like lingering steam.

I looked at the smoke lingering between the white porcelain tableware, and suddenly noticed the source of the green smoke between the pots and bowls.

So, following my train of thought, I walked over quickly, bypassing the other side of the stone "table" in the center, and immediately saw a pile of incense ash under the "corner of the table".

Among the incense ashes, I saw that there were still three high incense sticks that were still burning slowly. The fragrance was overflowing, and two thirds of the whole stick of incense had been burned.

The green smoke lingering on the table is actually these burning incense.

Zhao Hong was also puzzled. He reached out and touched the red paper on the table, and said in surprise: "The red paper is still new, and it is estimated that the banquet was set for a day or two."

Looking at the burning incense, I suddenly realized and corrected him: "This is not a banquet, but a sacrifice."

"Sacrifice? Is there such a sacrifice?" Zhao Hong looked at my expression in confusion, and at the same time pointed to the tableware on the square table and said: "There are still chopsticks and empty bowls, obviously waiting for someone to come to eat, right? Couldn't it be... a banquet to greet ghosts?"

When Zhao Hong said this, he was taken aback, but the dwarf Ah Si gently scolded "superstition", and then asked me to give a scientific explanation, why there is a banquet, but the bowl is empty of.

To be honest, I don’t have a scientific explanation, because it’s not very scientific to put such a table in the middle of the road.

However, Ah Si's words reminded me, and I suddenly thought of something, so instead of answering him and Zhao Hong immediately, I told them both: "Don't touch the bowls, chopsticks and plates, and look at them carefully first." See if there is anything to eat in each bowl?"

While talking, Zhao Hong stared wide-eyed, Ah Si stood on tiptoe, and together with me, they looked into the neatly arranged white porcelain bowls by the table.

We looked through the bowls one by one, for fear of missing the most important details.

But soon I was disappointed to find that there was nothing there.

"You don't have any?" I asked them a little disappointed.

"Nothing!" Zhao Hong responded with the same disappointment.

Just when we both gave up, Ah Si screamed and reported his "significant discovery"!
He replied, "Yes! There is something to eat in the bowl!"

"What?" Zhao Hong and I were taken aback for a moment, then excitedly said at the same time: "What the hell?"

Afterwards, Ah Si pointed to a bowl he had seen and said to us, "There is a grain of rice in the bowl!"

What he said was within my expectation, but also beyond my expectation!
I guessed that there might be rice in this bowl, but I never thought about it...why is there only one grain of rice? !What does this mean?

At that time, I didn't have time to think about it, I walked over immediately, picked up the bowl that Ah Si instructed, and immediately took out the only remaining grain of rice from the bowl.

I put it under the light and stared carefully at the only remaining grain of rice, and barely recognized it as a grain of glutinous rice!
My heart sank suddenly.

It really is glutinous rice!
However, with a little luck, I put the grain of rice in front of my nose and sniffed it gently.

After a while, a mildew smell passed to my brain instantly.

"It's over!" My hands trembling slightly while holding the rice, I told Zhao Hong and A Sidao: "This glutinous rice is already moldy, it's 'buying rations for soldiers from the underworld'! The rations for soldiers from the underworld!"

"What do you mean by buying military rations?" Both of them asked me at the same time.

And my answer is almost the same as Zhao Qingshan's answer to Lei A Niu back then!
I told them: "This moldy glutinous rice is food for soldiers of the underworld! Wherever there are them, there will be soldiers passing through!"

(End of this chapter)