Chapter 182 Three Souls and Five Spirits

"Third Young Master, this is what you want." Jiang put the water and ink aside, held them in front of her chest with both hands, and looked at Wen Ge'er standing there in a daze. Seeing that his face was a little pale, she couldn't help but reveal some doubts, "What did the Third Young Master say to Wen Ge'er just now?"

Li Daoxuan smiled at Wen Ge'er after hearing Jiang's question. He reached out and touched Wen Ge'er's head, then raised his head and said to Jiang, "I just asked Wen Ge'er some questions, and they are not big problems. I think Wen Ge'er is in good spirits and does not seem to be abnormal. Perhaps his illness and thin bones have other reasons. I will take a look and I should be able to see something."

"Then I'll trouble you, Third Young Master." Jiang bowed and saluted towards Li Daoxuan. She was no longer as impolite as she was the first time she met Li Daoxuan. Then she took small, trembling steps towards a chair beside her, sat down and looked at the two of them quietly.

Only then did Li Daoxuan notice that Jiang's feet were not as small as those of an ordinary lady from a wealthy family, but rather as big as those of an ordinary peasant woman.

The embroidered shoes she wore were quite large, more than half larger than those worn by ordinary women with bound feet. Although she did not seem to walk very steadily at this moment, it was only because she was too sad.

Li Daoxuan was also somewhat surprised that Jiang did not have bound feet. He had heard of Jiang's identity. She was said to be the daughter of a scholarly family. Such families always attached great importance to restraint on women and liked to follow social trends in educating their children.

Ever since Emperor Chen Houzhu of the Northern and Southern Dynasties took a liking to concubines with bound feet, the trend of "three-inch golden lotus" has become popular in the world. Many literati and poets even praised the inconvenience of women in moving after foot binding as the beauty of a weak willow in the wind. Driven by these people, there was even a phenomenon of "women not getting married when they grow up" emerging.

Although during the Qing Dynasty, for various reasons, many orders were issued to strictly prohibit foot binding among the Han people, and Emperor Kangxi reiterated this order again and again, it seems that due to the complex of "men surrender but women do not", after the men were forced to shave their heads and change their clothes, the custom of foot binding became even more serious among the people.

It was rare to see a woman like Jiang who did not have bound feet in such a family.

Perhaps because Li Daoxuan's gaze was too obvious, Jiang withdrew her feet uncomfortably.

Although she is middle-aged now, she still has her charm and takes good care of herself. She looks much younger than many peasant women in Lijia Village.

Just because she lost her husband, even though she seldom interacted with other people in the village and was rarely seen on weekdays, it was natural that there would be rumors behind her back.

Although Li Daoxuan was not very old, he was still a young man after all. Staring at a woman's feet like this would always make people feel strange, and Jiang was probably the same.

"I heard that you were born into a family of scholars. I wonder if this is true?" Seeing Jiang's behavior, Li Daoxuan naturally understood that she had misunderstood him and thought that he was a playboy and unruly. So he spoke up first to raise his doubts so that Jiang could know that he was not the kind of person she thought he was.

Sure enough, after hearing what Li Daoxuan said, Jiang, who was still covering her feet, stopped her unnatural movements, looked at him calmly, frowned slightly and said, "My father was a Jinshi in two exams and a fifth-rank official in the court. My grandfather was a third-place winner in the imperial examination during the Qianlong period and became a scholar. It's probably an exaggeration to say that we are from a scholarly family, but our ancestors were all educated people."

"I wonder what the Third Young Master's intention is in asking about this?"

"It's strange to say. I learned martial arts from my master, but I practiced the lower body first. Only when the lower body moves steadily can the martial arts be deep. Just now I saw that although the lady walked with tired steps, but steady, so I was a little confused. Looking at the lady's feet, I found that the lady did not bind her feet, so I was confused and looked at her a few more times." Li Daoxuan smiled pretending to be relieved. He spoke very naturally. He expressed his doubts without making Jiang feel frivolous.

When Jiang heard his words, her tense expression relaxed. She moved her hands away from her legs, sat upright on the chair and said, "My father didn't force me to have bound feet."

"So that's how it is." Li Daoxuan suddenly realized and didn't continue to dwell on this topic.

He looked at Wen Ge'er and asked him to come closer.

Brother Wen listened to his words and slowly approached Li Daoxuan.

Li Daoxuan asked him to stand still, and he picked up a pen, dipped it in ink, and wrote a talisman on Wen Ge'er's forehead.

Then use a pen to dip in ink and place a dot under the left eye. Then draw a horizontal line under the right nose, crossing the left and right sides.

"Don't move for now." Li Daoxuan comforted him.

Wen Ge'er knew from the conversation that Li Daoxuan was not a bad person, so he nodded and stood still. Li Daoxuan used a brush to write a Taoist talisman on the palm of his left hand, and then he put his palm on the top of Wen Ge'er's head and chanted: "Two scenes fly around, and the red and yellow disperse smoke. The air restrains the evil spirits and the corpses are gone. The soul is reconciled and the spirit is refined, and the body is combined with the great god. Make me immortal and live forever. Make me wise and clear, and long-lasting and steadfast."

Recite the mantra three times, pinch the area under the left eye canthus with the second finger of the right hand, and pinch the area under the right nostril with the second finger of the left hand, and do this seven times.

I saw ink spreading on Wen Ge'er's face, and the ink on both sides met at the root of his nose.

"An inch of ink at the root of the mountain means three souls and five spirits are gone." Li Daoxuan looked at the ink on Wen Ge'er's face and he had an idea in his mind.

He asked Wen Ge'er to walk to the basin of clean water and put his face above the water.

Wen Ge'er was still a little confused as to why he did this, but when he put his face over the basin of water, there was no reflection of him in the basin.

"Ah!" Wen Ge'er was frightened by this situation and fell backwards involuntarily.

He sat down on the ground, pointed at the basin and said in panic, "I, I have no shadow."

"What's going on?! Third Young Master, why is my brother Wen missing?" Jiang was also shocked by this situation. She no longer cared about the sadness of her daughter-in-law's tragic death and hurriedly asked Li Daoxuan.

In the minds of ordinary people, everyone has a shadow. If someone has no shadow, then that person must be
Jiang didn't dare to think about it anymore. She looked at Li Daoxuan in panic. She wanted to get to the bottom of it, so her tone became much more urgent.

"Don't panic, ma'am." Li Daoxuan stretched out his hand to stop her, "Brother Wen just had his five spirits taken away by someone."

Normally, if one soul and one spirit were missing, it might be because of being frightened, but if all five spirits were missing, the most likely possibility was that someone had used force on him.

Losing five spirits is not a trivial matter. Li Daoxuan knew it in his heart and was secretly surprised. However, Jiang had just suffered a blow, and Li Daoxuan could only comfort her as much as possible and prevent her from suffering any more stimulation.

"His five souls were taken away? Who did this evil thing? Why did you treat my Wen'er like this?" Jiang asked hurriedly. She looked angry. She had never thought that her daughter-in-law would die suddenly and tragically, and she never thought that her youngest son would be in such a condition today. He actually lost his five souls.

It is well known that some people have three souls and seven spirits.

If one of the souls or spirits is lost, it is easy to imagine what will happen.

What puzzled Jiang was that she had never offended anyone in the village, so how could someone harm her child for no reason?

"He can take away people's souls, so this man should not be underestimated. Auntie, why don't you think about who you have met recently?" Li Daoxuan patiently tried to make Jiang remember some clues.

But Jiang couldn't figure it out no matter how hard she tried, so she could only tell him about her recent situation.

"I am a widower, so I don't want to leave the house too often. Ever since my eldest son's wife became pregnant, I seldom go out. On weekdays, only the vendors come here, and I go out to buy some things. As for these days, I haven't stepped out of the yard at all. I guess I haven't met anyone. If there are people, I only found the third young master and the old village chief." Jiang thought hard about the people and things she had seen, but in the end, only a few people from the village came to her house, and Li Daoxuan visited her.

Hearing these words, Li Daoxuan naturally knew that Jiang hadn't come up with anything useful, so he changed the subject and continued to ask, "Auntie, have you come into contact with any strange outsiders in the past two months?"

"If we talk about the outsiders I have seen in the past two months, there is one." Aunt Jiang nodded, and then told Li Daoxuan what she knew, "It was a monk my Dalang brought back. He is handsome and said he came to bless me with longevity and good fortune."

"A monk?" Li Daoxuan was trying to figure out what Jiang meant.

(End of this chapter)