Time is like an arrow, the sun and the moon are like edges, and in a blink of an eye, more than two months have passed since the Lantern Festival.

The wind is clear, the clouds are fluttering, and it is a good weather today on Tianlu Mountain. The sunlight shone through the layers of branches and leaves of the big tree next to the hut, casting a gently swaying halo on the ground. Birds fly around the trees, chasing each other and singing beautiful songs.

Huineng and his mother catch insects in the tea field in front of the grass shed.

The two monkeys are now good friends with Huineng's mother and son, who are unhappy if they don't see each other for a day. After foraging from the mountains, they climb the big trees next to the tea fields and jump around.

After being busy for a while, Huineng and Li sat in front of the grass hut to rest, and the two monkeys were playing around them.

At the turn of the path, two figures suddenly appeared.

Liang Diqing carried a bag of rice on his shoulder, followed by the owner of Ding Zhai.

"Uncle Di Qing, Master Ding Zhai, you are here." Huineng said softly, greeted him, and saw that compared with the Ding Zhai master he knew on the day of the Lantern Festival, he was like two people: the high-spirited and talkative Ding Zhai master that day had become haggard and his eyes were distracted.

When the master of Ding Zhai saw Huineng, he quickly stepped forward to greet him: "Little brother Aneng, hello!" ”

Huineng returned the salute and said: "Hello, Lord Ding Zhai! ”

Liang Diqing came to the grass shed, put down the rice bag, pointed to Huineng's mother and son, and introduced to the owner of Ding Village: "This aunt is Huineng's mother-in-law. ”

Lord Ding nodded towards the Li clan and said respectfully, "Hello, aunt! ”

Li returned a gift: "Hello uncle!" ”

Liang Diqing saw that Li's body was gradually improving, his face was ruddy, and he was fatter than when he first came, and said, "Auntie, I can see that your health is much better." ”

Li Shile said: "This time, thanks to you. ”

Liang Diqing found that Huineng, who was working hard day and night, had lost weight significantly, and said distressedly: "Ah Neng, you also have to pay attention to taking care of your body!" ”

Huineng said sincerely: "As long as my mother's health is better, it is worth losing a few pounds." ”

Liang Diqing praised: "Ah Neng, you are really a filial son!" ”

"That's what a son should do......"

Before Huineng's words were finished, I saw the lord of Ding Zhai rush forward, "pounce", knelt down in front of Huineng, knocked his head three times, and shouted again and again: "Little brother Aneng, I hope you will show great kindness and save my precious son." ”

"Tell me to save your precious son?" This happened too suddenly, and Hui Neng was like a king - he was confused, so he hurriedly stepped forward to help the master of Ding Zhai up, and said, "Don't be like this, you old man, say it slowly." ”

Li Shi also accosted: "Yes, uncle, if you have something to say slowly, don't be so polite, you are so old, and you still come to kneel and kowtow, you can't afford it!" ”

Huineng pointed to the master of Ding Zhai and asked Liang Diqing: "What is the master of Ding Zhai?" ”

Liang Diqing pointed to the master of Ding Zhai and said: "Yesterday I went up the mountain to hunt, and I happened to meet him on the mountain road. I thought about it for a while, so I brought him to you to see if you could help him solve the problem. ”

It happened so suddenly, Hui Neng was puzzled: "I am a civilian cloth, I have no position, no power, and no ability to pass through the sky, how can I save your precious son?" I don't know what happened to me when the master of Ding Zhai came this time? ”

Lord Ding Zhai sighed and said, "Brother Aneng, you listen to me tell you the details. ”

"Good. You go into the house and say slowly, "Huineng led them into the grass hut, brought another bamboo chair from the corner of the house, and let the master of Ding Zhai sit down.

Li also went over there and poured a cup of hot mountain tea and handed it to the master of Ding Zhai.

The master of Ding Zhai took a sip of camellia, sighed long, and then told the reason why he came this time.

It turned out that the ancestors of the owner of Ding Zhai have lived on Tianlu Mountain for generations, and his ancestors are from a scholarly family. But he was a hard-working and shrewd man, and he knew how to buy animal skins, fungus, mushrooms and other mountain goods from the mountain people very early, and took them to the top of the mountain to pick up the horse pass, the heavenly ruins, and exchanged them with foreign traders such as Enping and Yangjiang for dried seafood and salt, and then sold them to the mountain people and the farmers in the cave.

Cycle after cycle, goods such as rotation, after the accumulation of generations, the owner of Ding Zhai not only has a thousand hectares of mountainous land, but also purchased 100 acres of fertile land near the cave market under the mountain, in this Tianlu Mountain area, it is a famous rich household.

The lord of Ding Zhai said that he began to perform bad luck when he entered the year of knowing the destiny of heaven--

On the night of the 17th day of the first lunar month after the Lantern Festival this year, his wife Wang was bitten by a poisonous snake under the bed at home, and left his father and son because the rescue was not timely.

The lord of Ding Zhai has just finished his wife's funeral, Sanqi has not yet passed, and his son Yujia was born with red lips and white teeth, well-behaved and delicate, and can speak well, after the death of his mother, his eighteen-year-old son has become silent all day long. That's not all, just over a month ago, for some reason, his son suddenly got another strange disease: frequent dizziness and headaches, ringing ears, irritability, rapid heartbeat when walking a little faster, panting, and powerless. All day long, he was exhausted, groggy and wanted to sleep, and recently he coughed up phlegm and wheezing, and vomited blood. It is really "a blessing is incomparable, and a disaster is not a single line".

At the age of eighteen, it should be the time to show great achievements in life, and it is also the best time for people in the mountains to start a family. But fate made the only seedling of Ding Zhai get this serious illness.

The lord of Ding Zhai went to the village and even went to the county seat, and visited the famous doctors in Langzhong to treat his son. There are no less than 20 Langzhong who have been replaced, and no less than 100 medicines have been eaten, but this uncompetitive son not only has no improvement at all, but his condition is getting worse and worse.

Someone suggested that the lord of Ding Zhai marry a daughter-in-law for his son to be happy, wash away the filth and bad luck, and let the fortune turn around.

The owner of Ding Zhai on the rich side is a famous family in Tianlu Mountain. According to common sense, if his family wants to marry a daughter-in-law, ordinary people, especially those from poor families, will rush to him, step through the threshold, and let him choose. But when it became known that the only son of the owner of Ding Zhai had a terrible strange disease, the families of those who were waiting to marry either avoided the matchmaker or politely rejected it. Even those whose families are so poor that they are reluctant to send their daughters to the house of the owner of Ding Zhai. They believe that this Ding Yujia is terminally ill and will die soon. If you climb into this marriage, isn't this equivalent to sending your daughter to widowhood for nothing? Therefore, let the iron-mouthed matchmaker step on the iron shoes, walk all over the mountains and mountains of Tianlu Mountain, and go to each house with a big drum like a spring tongue and wear out the skin of the mouth, people are shaking their heads and waving their hands, and no one is willing to agree.

The owner of Ding Zhai waited anxiously at home every day for news, and when the red sun sank in the west, the iron-mouthed matchmaker stepped into the door dejectedly, and every reply broke his heart.

What's even more terrifying is that Su Yujia, who sleeps in bed, often has nightmares, and screams in fear from time to time in the middle of the night: "Ghost, ghost, ghost......"

It is often said that "if one person attains the Tao, the chicken and dog ascend to heaven". It's the same thing: when one person gets sick, the whole family is not at peace.

The serious illness of the only son caused the master of Ding Zhai to be hit and tortured again and again, causing him to sleep and eat restlessly, becoming thinner and thinner, and his health gradually deteriorated.

After knowing the situation, Huineng asked the owner of Ding Zhai: "Who else have you invited recently?" ”

"I've recently invited a district witch to my house to do the trick." The lord of Ding Zhai talked about the process of the district witch coming to his house to ask the gods to exorcise ghosts.

The lord of Ding Village, who had been anxious all day long, finally couldn't hold his breath anymore when he was helpless, inquired in many ways, and invited a district witch in her fifties from other places at the price of Ten Dou Valley.

This district witch is famous.

People who believe in her praise her Bu Ji for asking the murderer, with great magical powers, she can go up to the heavens, send down the netherworld, perform witchcraft, invite heavenly soldiers and gods, exorcise ghosts and cure evil diseases, and is very effective.

The witch of the district came to Tianlu Mountain and said that she could not cast a spell until night, so she first had a full meal of fish and meat at the main house of Ding Village.

The night in the mountains comes very early, after the sun sets, the wind and clouds suddenly change, and the cross wind wraps in a drizzle, enveloping the mountain forest villages.

Under the guidance of the district witch, the lord of Ding Zhai respectfully installed incense and candles in front of the altar, prayed, and then knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times.

The mountain breeze blowing in through the crack in the door blew away the wisps of cigarette smoke, and the swaying red candles shed wax tears.

The witch wore a navy blue cardigan, and her hair was combed in a shiny bun, making it difficult for even the yellow silk ants to climb up. She came to the house of the master of Ding Zhai, went into the room and looked at Ding Yujia, who was sick in bed, and asked him how he felt recently, returned to the hall, lit the incense candles, faced the shrine, put her hands together, and chanted the words: "The sky is round and the place is round, the nine chapters of the law, I write today, and ten thousand ghosts are hidden." ”

The district witch was barefoot, with her eyes closed, bouncing around on the ground, and then she made a gesture: a wooden T-frame was placed on the sand table, and two people supported each end to invoke the gods according to the law.

According to the instructions of the district witch, the lord of Ding Zhai knelt on the ground and quietly watched the progress of the situation.