That Dark Night

When I was a child, I went to the mountains to herd cattle, and my great-grandmother used to tell me to hurry home before dark, and to beware of the wild spirits that would come and go on the roads less traveled, because if the spirits were taken away, the children would get all kinds of diseases and might not grow up. Sitting on a small wooden stool in front of the fire in the dark, the old ancestor would talk about various legends of the night.

　　Previously, there was a reputable Mr. Tuan Gong, who had collected many evil spirits. One day, a large family came to ask Tuan Gong to perform a puja. The visitor kindly reminded Duanguo, because of the long distance, the family has all the things needed for the practice, so only bring the disciple over the line, specifically to collect ghosts with the division knife and token and so on is not necessary to bring. Duanguang and his disciples followed the visitors to the big family's house, and the continuous building was bustling with excitement. Halfway through the ceremony, a disciple was thirsty and went to the kitchen to look for water. The cooks who were mixing the dishes all buried their heads and did not speak, the disciple felt something strange and when he looked at the dishes they were washing, he found that they were full of cow dung. The frightened disciple went back to tell Duanguang, Duanguang panicked and knew that he had encountered a ghost, but did not have a division knife and token, was worried when, fortunately, one of the disciples did not listen to Duanguang's words, secretly brought the division knife and token. Tuan Gong hastily shook the master knife and tapped the token, and the wide house and the lively crowd instantly disappeared. Only then did everyone realize that they were in a messy grave in the darkness of the night. It was the "disobedient" and somewhat resourceful disciple who saved Tuan Gong and his disciples.

　　The old ancestor always warned that ghosts always roam around at night, cunning ghosts, even the special ghost collector Tuan Gong almost fell for it, ordinary people should not run around at night. When the sun goes down, close the doors and windows to prevent ghosts, but also to prevent and ghosts together with the wolves and tigers. When my ancestor was young, the pig was once bitten and eaten by a tiger in the night. There were few people in the mountains, and in the old society where my ancestor lived, he had to worry about robbers and thieves who came out at night. A hilltop clearing across from the family home is called "Ganjia Yaki". According to my ancestor, it was originally a place where the Gan family lived, but they were robbed by a group of people at night and moved elsewhere, but people still used to call it "Gan Family House Base".

　　In the story depicted by Lao Tsu, the dark night with ghosts, wolves, tigers, panthers and villains was long and scary. Everyone went to bed early at dark, and even if they had to go to the toilet at night, they had to listen to the rooster to see if it was crowing. Because the rooster's crowing can not only scare away the ghosts, but also remind those thieves and robbers that it is almost dawn, they have to hurry to find a place to hide.

　　When I listened to the old ancestor's story, there were no more jackals, wolves, tigers and panthers in the mountains, and certainly no ghosts were encountered at night. But the family's pigs and cows were stolen at night by thieves. When the pigs were stolen, my father woke up when the thief opened the door to the pigpen and noticed the anomaly, and immediately opened the door and shouted to scare the thief away. When the father chased after them with a hoe, the thieves, who had run for some distance, found that the father was the only one, slowed down and told him to go over with a mocking tone, just as they had a knife in their hands. The cold words "knife in hand" are always creepy. After the family's only valuable cow was stolen, the family was unusually sad, but after a week or so, the hard-working police staff found the cow 30 to 40 kilometers away from home. The mother said she saw the cow when the cow was full of tears, perhaps the cow was excited to finally meet the master, or perhaps it was an accusation of being whisked away by vicious thieves on a long road trip. The viciousness of thieves and robbers in the darkness of the night, the cattle can also feel.

　　I am used to going to bed early at night, and when I read some sentences from the text about the moonlight and the starry sky, I could not always associate them with beauty. When I first moved to the city, I couldn't get used to sleeping late, and I also made myself suffer from insomnia and sickness while reading. When I woke up in the middle of the night, there was often a roar outside the window, knowing that it was a relaxation and venting of people at night, but I still often thought of the ghosts wandering in the old ancestors' stories.