Chapter 227 Yao Family Affairs (Part )
There were loud knocks on the door, and the copper ring was ringing.

It is quiet all around, with only rusty trees and thick grass.

Li Daoxuan stood at the door and felt a chill coming over him.

It came out from the crack in the door of the Yao family and attacked the head, feet and body.

"But is there anyone there?" Li Daoxuan knocked a few more times, a look of confusion on his face.

Although strange things happen frequently in the Yao family, is it true that, as the passerby said, they no longer live here?
But if this house is really unattended, other things will happen. If there is a disaster in an ordinary house, someone should set up a tent outside the house to watch over it.

But now, after knocking for a long time, no one answered.

"Maybe, there is really no one here?" Gong Youwei leaned her head out and said in a low voice.

"Unlikely." Li Daoxuan shook his head and said softly, "When Master gave me the place, he said it was in the Yao family. If it was a different place, they would have written to Master, and Master would have definitely found a way to tell me. Besides, there is still some time before the agreed date, and we can't just hire someone to do the job without giving them the place."

Upon hearing this, Gong Youwei nodded her rabbit head, curled up in Li Daoxuan's arms and stopped talking, but her ears drooped, and it was obvious that she was not in good spirits.

The sun has been shining in Yangzhou lately, and it is indeed a bit hot.

I don’t know why it’s not raining in the misty Yangzhou during this Grain Rain season.

At this moment, footsteps were heard from the door, accompanied by the old man's coughing. The sound seemed to be coughing into the lungs, which made people feel uncomfortable when listening to it, and they were always worried that they would cough out their internal organs.

"Who is it?" The door slowly opened, and first one saw an old man's two eyes peeking out from behind the door. His eye sockets were deep, and wrinkles were all around his old eyes. Then his entire face was revealed, just like a yellow-painted opera mask on a high stage, with crisscrossing lines, heavy and overlapping, and mottled, which was really a bit scary.

If Li Daoxuan had not been accustomed to seeing horrific things, he would probably have been frightened by this honor.

He just glanced at it briefly, and then nodded and smiled, "Grandpa, I am a Taoist priest from Mount Mao, my surname is Li. This time, I am here at the order of my master to help Madam Yao solve her doubts."

"Is this the Taoist priest invited by the madam?" The old man looked him up and down, hesitated for a moment, and then opened the door completely.

He waved to Li Daoxuan, motioning him to come in.

"Since you are a guest invited by Madam, please come in and have a seat first."

Li Daoxuan naturally agreed and walked into the Yao family.

As you enter the door, you will see the round sky and the square earth, with tall and pure bamboos on both sides.

The corridor is quiet and the murals are exquisite, as if they were carved by experts. The dragons and phoenixes are flying and the fine lines are clearly visible. Even though Li Daoxuan is used to seeing all kinds of carvings, he was amazed by this mural of the Yao family.

The wind blew in from both sides of the round door, with gusts of cold wind, and the bamboos were rustling, as if thousands of insects and spiders were crawling around, which made people feel uneasy.

He looked at the bamboos on both sides and asked the old man, "I'm afraid no one has cleaned the house for many days, right?"

A house needs popularity. If there is no vitality from living people, even the best house will become deserted.

Large households need more people, small households need fewer people, and there is a reason for the difference between more people and fewer people.

If there are seven or eight people in a small family, there will be too much Yang energy in the house, which will definitely gather Yang Sha, and it will be easy to cause trouble and conflicts.

Therefore, for a one-room apartment, two are often preferred, and for a two-room apartment, three or four are considered a good home.

A large house like the Yao family's with three or four courtyards would only look lively if there were dozens of people there.

Now the cracks of the bluestone slabs in the courtyard are overgrown with weeds, and moss grows on the corners of the walls. It seems that no one has cleaned the house for a long time, so it looks dilapidated. When the old man heard what Li Daoxuan said, he sighed and said, "A lot of things happened in the family, so few people stay here. Only I am so old that I am not afraid to live here."

As he spoke, he invited Li Daoxuan to walk into the main hall.

As I walked through the door, I felt that the space in front of me became wider, bright and spacious, and the houses were well-maintained. It was really a good place.

In Yangzhou, where every inch of land was once worth a lot of money, the Yao family was able to support such a large yard. Their wealth must have been extraordinary and could not be compared with ordinary businessmen.

Li Daoxuan naturally did not come to investigate the family's financial situation. He just took a quick look at the Feng Shui and felt that the Yao family had an expert's advice when they built the house.

When you enter the door, the sky is round and the earth is square; when you enter the courtyard, light comes from all directions.

It gathers blessings and removes evil, and it can be said to be a place that brings benefits to future generations.

If it weren't for the fact that this courtyard gave people a chilly feeling even on a sunny day, Li Daoxuan felt that he would not have thought that this was a house where something strange had happened.

We sat down in the guest hall and the old man treated us well.

Soon, the old man brought some tea and said with a smile, "Does this Taoist have any token of trust?"

"Of course there is." Li Daoxuan nodded, then took out a letter written by Mrs. Yao and handed it over.

This letter was Mrs. Yao's reply to the Taoist priest. After the Taoist priest knew that he could not spare the time to go to Yangzhou, he wrote a letter to inform Mrs. Yao.

The old man wiped his hands and took it respectfully with both hands. With such magnanimity, he was worthy of being the steward of a wealthy family. Even in terms of etiquette, he was much more polite than others.

It also proves what others say, a wealthy family looks at the housekeeper, a small family looks at the head husband, and the reason why wealthy families are wealthy is that they can abide by the rules.

After the old man read it carefully, he folded it carefully and returned it to Li Daoxuan, bowing to him and saying, "I am sorry for my negligence just now. I hope you can forgive me, young Taoist priest."

"It's okay. Maybe you didn't expect anyone to come today, old man." Li Daoxuan said nonchalantly.

"Yes, no one has dared to come here for a long time." The old man sighed.

"I wonder what the old man's name is?" Li Daoxuan asked.

"Don't charge me any money. I'm just a clerk. If you don't mind, you can just call me Uncle Qian." The old man replied, stroking his beard.

"Uncle Qian." Li Daoxuan naturally knew the etiquette. He bowed to the old man, then pointed outside and asked, "When I knocked on the door just now, I felt that the house was filled with a heavy chill. I wonder what happened in the house? Why did Madam Yao get so scared that she didn't want to stay here? Even the maids and servants are so few?"

"Since young Taoist priest asked, I don't have to hide anything. This matter has to be traced back to last year." The old man said slowly and told him about the strange things that happened in the Yao family's mansion.

"That day, when the lady went to bed, she saw someone standing outside the window in the moonlight. At first, the lady thought it was a maid keeping watch, so she didn't pay much attention. Who knew that after falling asleep in the middle of the night, she could vaguely hear someone calling her. The lady was awakened by this, and then she asked people to look outside the door. The maids looked and said there was no one. When the lady went to sleep again, she heard the sound again."

"The lady hadn't slept for three nights. She thought she was hallucinating, so she asked someone to guard the door all night. You know what, it really worked. Once someone was guarding, the sound disappeared."

The old man said this, stroking his beard and shaking his head.

Seeing him like this, Li Daoxuan knew that what was going to happen next would not be that simple.

"Later, the lady dismissed the people, but the voice came again. The servants were called several times but no one was found. Rumors began to spread that the house was haunted. Later, a maid said that she saw a white shadow floating in the yard, but it disappeared when she looked again. Others said that they saw a strange man standing at the lady's door. When they came, the man left. There was also a servant who saw a real person. He went to ask the man, but he just patted the man on the shoulder and then fainted. When he woke up, he forgot everything and only knew that it was a man."

"So the situation got worse and worse, and even when the lady was sleeping, she could feel someone staring at her beside the bed. After a while, the lady went to Maoshan to seek a ritual, and the family was peaceful for a while. But recently, there were more strange things happening in the family, so the lady had no choice but to hide in another house in Yangzhou."

(End of this chapter)