There is a unique custom in Li Village, every household with an elderly person will prepare a longevity wood before his death, and this longevity wood is not only of good quality, but also stored in a separate wooden house, commonly known as the ancestral house.

The villagers are not wealthy, and the ancestral houses generally choose old houses that have been abandoned for a long time, often the older generation has lived in them, and then they are idle and unwilling to demolish.

The wooden house is unique to Li Village, and I don't know when it was handed down, so there are no other three villages in Luoshui Village, and everyone who comes to Li Village often feels that the wooden house is very mysterious, and Li Village itself is also in awe.

On the one hand, it is because the wooden houses are dark and damp, closed all the year round, and the coffins are prohibitive, and on the other hand, there are many terrifying ghost stories about the wooden houses, which have been passed down from generation to generation.

Ghost stories are widely circulated among the elderly and children, and most adults actually don't believe in them, but for some tacit purposes, they won't come forward to expose them. This may also be a kind of protection for the most valuable property of the whole family (many elderly people use their life savings to buy a pair of longevity materials), to prevent thieves!

Among the many ghost stories, there is a legend that has been circulated for the longest time and spread the widest, so that most people are unable to distinguish the truth from the false, and slowly, it has become a prophecy with a nose and eyes in Li Village, which is miraculous:

It is said that every 60 years, an ancestor who had opened the eyes of heaven would descend on the wooden house, and he would inspect all the wooden houses in the dead of night, and then check whether these descendants had done great rebellious deeds, and punish them accordingly according to the severity of the crime.

For those who commit minor crimes, they should be given warnings to remind them to correct or make amends in a timely manner; if the crimes are slightly more serious but not to death, some strange things will happen in the house of the owner of the wooden house as punishment; as for the major crimes, they will be cursed, and the owner of the wooden house will be punished by the five kinds of natural punishments, such as gold, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Having said that, it seems that small warnings and small punishments have appeared, but the Five Elements Heavenly Punishment has never heard of it happening, and no one can specifically say it.

It is worth mentioning that this absurd legend was actually recorded in the genealogy of Li Village as it was, and kept as an attachment (I don't know which ancestor was so spoofed), which specifically mentioned a great crime: offending the ancestral hall.

The ancestral hall is the ancestral hall of the Li family, and it does not refer to all ancestral ancestral halls.

It is precisely for this reason that the person in charge of the ancestral hall has naturally become the highest authority in Li Village, and modern society has set up the official post of village party secretary, but it does not affect the pivotal position of Li Qisi, who is in charge of the ancestral hall, in Li Village; first, the post of village party secretary is the village party secretary of the entire Luoshui Village, and Li Village is a natural village, and only a group leader is set up; second, each village party secretary is basically an aboriginal of Luoshui Village, and he knows the special rules of Li Village to some extent, and there is no need to deprive the authority of the Li Village patriarch without affecting the management of the whole village of Luoshui Village; and third, every village party secretary is the younger generation of the Li Village patriarch, and he is orderly in this old ageIn the remote mountain villages with traditional ideas, no one dares to dare to do something that forgets their roots.

In modern times, this legend has long been scoffed at by many young people, but the older generation still believes in it.

The so-called rather believe that it exists, not believe that it is not, in order to avoid disasters and descendants, it is better to accumulate more yin virtue and not to commit Tianwei.

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Li Yiting didn't believe in this legend, but he also grew up listening to this legend, and when he retold this legend to the people in Beiting, everyone laughed in unison.

Liu Zichen also covered his mouth slightly, but Shen Mingyue laughed so insolently that it could be heard inside and outside the house.

Li Yiting coughed a few times in embarrassment, glared at Shen Mingyue to express his dissatisfaction, Shen Mingyue didn't notice it at all, and continued to be silly.

"Le Guile, I can warn you, my dad is back, you have to be serious......" Li Yiting said helplessly, along the way, how many legends and rumors Beiting has exposed, he naturally will not believe it easily, but when he returns to his hometown, everyone will unconsciously make some common-sense mistakes and don't know it.

Before the words fell, Yiting's mother happened to walk in and said with a slight smile: "What are you children happy about?"

No one spoke, and Shen Mingyue was also holding back.

Li Yiting sneered: "Talk casually, they don't understand our rules." ”

The mother looked at them lovingly, and said, "Don't fool me, I hear them all...... What you are saying is indeed boundless, and it is all a lie to children. ”

Liu Zichen said on the side: "Auntie, don't worry." We just listen, and we certainly don't believe it. ”

"It's good if you don't believe it......" The mother nodded, and did not speak again, taking care of some important household chores by herself.

Mother had just returned from the third uncle's house, and she went to help with the food of Bai Shi, and now she is back to take care of the meals for this group of guests. She suddenly remembered something: "Ting, your father can't pull away, you have to take care of ...... here"

Li Yiting replied: "The third uncle is busy over there, I want to help him, but my father won't let me." ”

But her mother expressed her support: "Listen to your father, it's almost the New Year, and you still have guests here...... I really want to go, and I will see off your third uncle on the day I go out of the mountain. ”

She seemed to sigh softly, and her voice was almost inaudible: "People, they always get old." ”

After coming for so long, it was the first time that a few people in Beiting heard Yiting's mother sigh, and several of them had a sour nose for no reason.

Birth, old age, sickness and death are not common things in poor rural areas.

Li Yiting took out a cigarette and lit it, smoked it silently, and said for a long time: "Mom, is Futang back?" Of course, Futang is the adopted son of the third uncle.

Mother hummed, her hands didn't stop, Liu Zichen and Shen Mingyue got up to help them when they saw this, and their mother nodded and smiled at them.

"Over the years, Futang has been quite good outside...... I heard that I also bought a house and a car, and my children are seven or eight years old. The mother's tone was calm, and she didn't hear any special emotion.

Li Yiting wanted to speak and stopped, since Futang mixed so well, why didn't he ignore his father, but looking back and thinking about himself, it didn't seem to be much better, so he didn't say anything.

Chen Tianyu glanced at him, and probably understood Yiting's concerns, but his heart moved, and he glanced at Yiting, and the two got up and walked out of the kitchen and came to the door of the living room.

Leave Wan Yongkun to hand firewood, burn the fire, and do not express any opinions. When there are no tasks, they are more like ordinary people than ordinary people.

Before Chen Tianyu could speak, Li Yiting took the lead in asking, "Fourth brother, do you have anything to say to me?"

Chen Tianyu nodded: "Actually, it's nothing, but I feel that after you came back this time, your state is a little wrong." ”

"Ah?...... So, is this the reason why you stopped me from continuing the investigation yesterday?" Li Yiting was surprised.

Chen Tianyu shook his head and sighed: "I stopped you because the scene had not only been cleaned up at that time, but also been damaged twice, so there was no need to work hard......

Li Yiting was stunned for a moment, and quickly reacted: "Really?"

"I'm not sure if it's true, but I'm worried that you don't see the flaw. Chen Tianyu pointed out.

He continued: "I always felt that the room was too clean, not like a place where people usually lived. ”

Li Yiting subconsciously pinched his chin, and said for a long time: "Perhaps, there is only this condition in the temple......"

Chen Tianyu was noncommittal, and chuckled when he heard this: "You're right, I really haven't entered the temple room, so it's just a simple perception." ”

Li Yiting said calmly: "If I remember correctly, your intuition has always been quite accurate, I believe this time ......"

Chen Tianyu shook his head unexpectedly: "I'm not familiar with your situation here, and my intuition may be an illusion, or inertial thinking." ”

Li Yiting nodded, didn't speak again, he was obviously in an unconscious memory, for a long time, he spoke: "More than thirty years ago, the third uncle became a temple blessing, when I was not very old, I once went to his wing, although I don't remember clearly, but the impression is indeed very simple, almost empty......"

Chen Tianyu bowed his head knowingly: "I hope so." Let's not guess, it's taboo to speculate, we can ask privately if we have the chance. ”

Li Yiting nodded: "I will pay attention to your reminder." ”

Chen Tianyu sighed inexplicably and said, "We all have some obsessive-compulsive disorder, so you don't have to worry too much." ”

Li Yiting smiled slightly: "Eating this bowl of rice, if even we don't doubt it, who will pay attention?"

"Maybe that's the reason. Chen Tianyu suddenly remembered something, "Does cinnabar poisoning cause the body to be red?"

"The main ingredient of cinnabar is mercury sulfide, mixed with some trace amounts of other heavy metals, overdose poisoning is certain, but the body color is red......" Li Yiting was not sure.

Chen Tianyu didn't go into further detail: "Let's wait until I ask Jing Nan." ”

Li Yiting couldn't help but say again: "If there is really a murderer, what is the motive?" He asked the core question.

Chen Tianyu said: "That's right, I let you wait and see what happens, it's better if there is no real murderer, if there is, we can't expose our identity too early, otherwise the murderer just needs to wait for us to leave, and then carry out the action, the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

After all, Beiting is just a temporary passer-by in Luoshui Village, and no matter how high his skills are, he may not be able to reach them.

"I see what you mean," Li Yiting continued...... "I hope it was just an accident." ”

The two didn't say anything more, and after smoking a cigarette, it was time to eat.

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After Li Qihuai came back, he didn't say a word.

The third child's shroud was changed by him, and until the change of the shroud, the third child's body was always red, and there was no sign of fading.

He didn't have much medical knowledge, and what was hovering in his mind now was more rumors about the heavenly fire.

After returning to the village, there seemed to be more people talking about it, because Li Village was the real birthplace of this legend, which made the two or three generations of the six brothers of the Li family more or less affected.

Among them, only Li Fuqi, who lost his father at an early age, didn't care about it, his education and knowledge were there, and he was a typical atheist, so it was good that he didn't refute it because of customs and habits.

In Luoshui Village, burial is still the main way of funeral, and the cremation policy is still in the stage of government propaganda, until Li Qiwen passed away, no one in Luoshui Village took the initiative to ask for cremation.

Therefore, after everyone's discussion, Li Qiwen will advance to the mountain in the new year, enter the soil for peace, and basically choose the day, which is the day before Chinese New Year's Eve.

Although the eldest brother Li Qisi did not say anything clearly, looking at his solemn expression, it was obvious that he had the same trouble as Li Qihuai.

Regarding the legend of the Five Elements of Heavenly Punishment, the brothers of the Li family belong to the group that is more believing, and Li Qisi, as the patriarch in charge of the ancestral hall and genealogy, will only have more concerns.

But what made Li Qihuai puzzled was that the third child, who had respected the god all his life, was caught fishing in the water by the young people just because he didn't take good care of the statue of the god, and this situation could be spread out to the supreme punishment of burning himself in the sky?

What about thieves?

Li Qihuai really couldn't figure it out.

So after returning home in the evening, he was still thinking about it, and he hardly paid much attention to his son and a few guests in Beiting.

Chen Tianyu secretly gave Li Yiting a look, and Li Yiting took the initiative to chat with his father, who was the last person to see Li Qiwen.

"Dad, don't be too sad......" Li Yiting didn't know how to ask, for fear of causing his father's other emotions.

"Our brothers are not young anymore, and sooner or later they will have to leave. Li Qihuai knew the same thing as his mother in this regard, "But your third uncle didn't get a good end in the end, alas...... Some are not tasty. ”

He saw that his son didn't speak, and then said: "Life and death are fate, but it's nothing." Now that the times are good, you can develop well in the cities, and we will be at ease, because the rural areas are too backward. ”

Li Yiting was still hesitating, not knowing whether to talk to his father about his and the fourth brother's doubts, and finally said tactfully: "Dad, did you say that the third uncle has been living in the temple for so many years?"

Li Qihuai didn't think much about it: "Futang has not been close to your third uncle since he was a child, and he entered the city when he was young, and more than 20 years have passed, and your third uncle has long regarded Guanyin Temple as his home...... Li Village's nest has not been lit for a long time. ”

Li Yiting said strangely: "But the third uncle lives so simply in the temple, how can he stand it?"

"He has never liked cumbersomeness, and his personality is withdrawn. Most of the time I spend my days practicing my pen, I occasionally go to see him, and I often hear him say that the less things outside the body, the better, and it is better not to. Li Qihuai sighed, "I can't understand." ”

Li Yiting's heart moved, and asked: "So, the third uncle should have a lot of savings over the years, and he is useless." Does Futang still need him to help?"

Li Qihuai shook his head: "In the early years, I definitely had to send some money and things, but Futang is almost forty years old, and he has a family and a mouth, so he doesn't need your third uncle's help for a long time." ”

"The incense in the Guanyin Temple is so ......prosperous," Li Yiting pondered, "The third uncle should have left some family funds." ”

Li Qihuai sighed lightly: "Your uncle also thinks so, so let me help clean up your third uncle's relics and want to transfer them to Futang, after all, he only has such a nominal descendant." ”

Li Yiting said with interest: "It should be a lot, right?"

Li Qihuai shook his head again: "It's just 10,000 yuan, I don't know where he has spent his money all these years, I don't understand him as a person." ”

"Oh?" Li Yiting was indeed surprised, "Maybe the third uncle kept all the money in the bank......

The father chuckled and said, "Your third uncle has a quirk, he never deposits money in the bank, he says that he still holds cash steadily." ”

"I see. Li Yiting said to himself, he already had an idea.

It seems that it is necessary to have a good talk with Luo Ming, the apprentice of the third uncle, which is much simpler than communicating with his father.

So he didn't ask any more questions, and handed his father a cigarette, and the father and son smoked at the door of the living room until the mother called for dinner.