The uncle borrowed some merits, and the princess drew the talisman fiercely

Chapter 1979 The Village Kids

Madam Sheng also said that Zong Bie was quite capable, as she used the calming incense made by Lu Zhaoling to bribe a little ghost. As a result, she turned around and directly put the little ghost into her handheld mirror and brought it to the capital.

Upon hearing Lu Zhaoling's words, Madam Sheng immediately shook her head.

"Master, am I that kind of person?"

“A ghost,” Lu Zhaoling corrected her.

“Okay, am I that kind of ghost?” said Madam Sheng. “I asked him if he wanted to come to the capital to see if there were any candied hawthorns here, and he came with me.”

Candied hawthorn...

"Did you buy him candied hawthorns?" Lu Zhaoling waved to her and led her to another corner.

If you want to let a little devil out, you can't just release him like that.

She also set up a talisman array in the front hall, so weak little ghosts usually suffer a lot when they come out.

In a pavilion in a corner of the garden, Lu Zhaoling lit a spirit-clearing talisman first, then brushed away the flame before letting Sheng San Niangzi release the little ghost.

“Even if I buy some, he can’t eat them. He has to wait for you to come. If you listen to him, then give him a string of them to try.”

Madam Sheng shook the mirror, and a little boy fell out.

He stumbled, but quickly grabbed onto Sheng San Niangzi's skirt to regain his balance.

Previously, when Sheng San Niangzi kept calling someone a "little ghost," Lu Zhaoling thought she was referring to the kind of wandering ghosts that had almost no power. Anyway, now that Sheng Xian Shi is very powerful, she can call any ghost a "little ghost" whenever she encounters it.

Unexpectedly, when she said "little devil," she really meant it literally this time.

The little brat in front of me was probably five or six years old. He was wearing a patched-up cloth shirt, barefoot, with sleeves that were too short, and his hair was messy. He was very thin, like a little bean sprout.

Upon seeing him, Lu Zhaoling was suddenly reminded of her memories from when she was fourteen or fifteen.

She looked at the child and called out, "Xiao Cai?"

The little boy, who had been looking down nervously, suddenly looked up at her when he heard Lu Zhaoling call his name, his eyes filled with shock and confusion.

"Master, you know him?" Sheng San Niangzi was somewhat surprised.

However, upon further reflection, she realized there was nothing strange about it. The master had lived in that village before he was sixteen, and this kid was from that village, so it wasn't surprising that they knew each other.

"I knew you before..."

Lu Zhaoling looked at the child, feeling a mix of emotions.

Throughout history, the world has mostly favored sons over daughters.

This is especially true in rural areas.

But small is an exception.

He was disliked by his parents from birth, and was often beaten and scolded. He was also hungry every day. It seems that he had to help his family wash clothes from the age of three, and often cut grass when he was four or five.

At that time, although Lu Zhaoling was fourteen or fifteen years old, she was still a laborer in the Lu family, so she kept working and met Xiao Cai more often.

But Xiao Cai didn't dare to talk to her much. Occasionally, when she picked some wild fruit or dug up some wild potatoes, she would share two with him. Xiao Cai would just take them, kowtow to her with a thud, get up, and run away.

Before, she was just pitiful Lu Xiao, so she didn't have much ability to help Xiao Cai.

Later, Xiao Cai was forced by his sister to climb a tree to pick flowers. As a result, he lost his footing, fell from the tree, and died.

Lu Zhaoling only heard about this when she got home after finishing her work. She even went to Xiao Cai's house to see what had happened.

Then I heard Xiao Cai's parents say that they had abandoned Xiao Cai in a ravine, saying that some of the children who died young in their village were abandoned there.

At that time, Lu Rulian told her that it was fake. Other families would just throw a few pieces of children's clothes and shoes there, but they would still bury the body properly.

Only Xiao Cai's parents would be so heartless as to simply abandon him in that ditch.

Lu Zhaoling recalled that she had wanted to go to that ravine to take a look, thinking that Xiao Cai was also pitiful, and that she might as well dig a hole by the ravine and bury him. But when she went there, the ravine was very deep and she couldn't see anything at all, and she couldn't go down down.

When they returned, Lu Rulian seemed to sense her thoughts and told her that the ravine was too deep to go down. Even if she did go down, she wouldn't be able to carry the body back up.

Leaving Xiao Cai at the bottom of the ditch might be better than her burying him anywhere, because she definitely wouldn't be able to find a place to dig very deep. If the commotion is too great and Xiao Cai's parents find out, they'll come after her, and Xiao Cai will still be thrown down there.

Lu Zhaoling had no choice but to give up.

Of course, that was Lu Zhaoling when she was fourteen or fifteen years old.

If it were her now, she wouldn't need to go through all that trouble.

Lu Zhaoling thought of that past event, and now, looking at Xiao Cai, her expression was very complicated.

"Do you recognize me?" she asked.

Xiao Cai had been staring at her blankly for a while, but upon hearing her words, he suddenly knelt down and kowtowed.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, kid?"

Madam Sheng suddenly grabbed him and lifted him up.

"Why are you kowtowing to everyone you see? Our master doesn't like people or ghosts kowtowing to each other casually, do you know that?"

Lu Zhaoling hadn't expected that his first reaction would be this, so she didn't have time to react.

Just like before, the child kowtowed to her very quickly, always leaving her no time to stop him.

Even after becoming a ghost, is it still like this?

"Sister Lu," Xiao Cai called out to Lu Zhaoling.

He had never called her that before.

He was beaten so badly that he became very timid and rarely spoke.

Lu Zhaoling later asked Lu Rulian why Xiao Cai's parents treated him that way, but were kinder to their two daughters.

Lu Rulian said she didn't know either, but she had heard that someone had said something to Xiao Cai's parents before.

"Third Sister, put him down." Lu Zhaoling said helplessly to Third Sister Sheng when she saw that she was still carrying Xiao Cai.

"Kid, stand still."

Only then did Madam Sheng put Xiao Cai down on the ground.

Xiao Cai looked at Lu Zhaoling, his eyes filled with surprise.

“You’re not quite the same as before,” he said.

Lu Zhaoling squatted down to look him in the eye.

She sighed. Seeing a child she used to know who had died tragically, she was in a bad mood.

"You're not quite the same as before. You used to never greet people."

I still say these things now.

"I'm not human anymore," Xiao Cai said, looking down.

He's a ghost.

“Even my parents can’t hit me,” he added.

However, he was still wearing the tattered clothes he had worn when he was alive, and he didn't even have a pair of shoes.

He died in the spring, when it was still quite cold. He always walked around barefoot while working.

My feet are covered in frostbite.

"Didn't your parents ever burn anything for you?" Lu Zhaoling asked.

"No." Xiao Cai shrank back, looking embarrassed.

Lu Zhaoling sighed again.

"Wait a minute."

"That ghost uncle asked me to pass on a message for him," Xiao Cai quickly said.

"No rush, I'll tell you later."

Lu Zhaoling stood up straight.