Volume V

Gamblers with their lives

Chapter 17: Witchcraft

Twenty years ago, Ma Youzhai was a monk; Ten years ago, Ma Youzhai was a Taoist priest.

He followed Big Thumb's circus for ten years, performing witchcraft, lighting lamps with his fingers and chanting incantations to make eggs float in the air, fooling many audiences. Finger lighting is actually very simple, with the chemicals potassium chlorate and sulfur each fifty grams into powder, mixed together and stuck to the finger, when the lamp is blown out, the green smoke of the wick still has a little spark, with a finger, the lamp will be back on. There was a wizard in Xiangxi who pretended to be a ghost and painted a lamp on the wall, and lit it with a match. This is a hole the size of a mung bean that he drilled in the wall beforehand, put a piece of camphor in the hole, and used a match to play the spell, and the lamp painted on the wall turned on.

Let the eggs float in the air, such a trick everyone will.

The egg opens a small hole, pours out the egg white and yolk, and injects the dew with a needle to paste the small mouth, and the egg will slowly rise under the sun exposure. The trouble with this trick is the collection of dew, in the summer, Ma Youzhai often has to run into the field before dawn, he holds a can, shakes the bushes and grass blades, and collects the dew while he is also wet with the dew.

After the circus was disbanded, he returned to the village, where there was a witch who danced the great god, and every time he walked by the witch's door, he had to curse: "Stinky old ladies, poor and foolish." He also instructed his three children to spit on him, and the witch was not to be provoked in the village, and the villagers were in awe of those who approached the gods.

One day, when the sun was shining, the witch was leaning on the door frame and eating melon seeds, Ma Youzhai walked past her and asked, "Why, didn't you go out to drink?" ”

The witch rolled her eyes, pursed her lips, tilted her head to the side, and continued to swallow the seeds.

Ma Youzhai stopped and scolded: "Basket (dialect, swear words, meaning genitals)." ”

The witch scoffed and tilted her head to the other side.

Ma Youzhai was furious, pushed the witch into the courtyard, closed the door and raped her.

Since then, these two single people have lived together, and there is a little fire burning in their hearts. The witches had been widowed for many years, and Ma Youzhai was vigorous, which prompted them to form a temporary family. The witch has two children, Ma Youzhai has three children, and five children have also become a huge pressure in life. Ma Youzhai had to pick up the hoe again, go to work in the fields, and in his spare time, he worked with witches to subdue demons and exorcise demons.

The reason why he pretended to be a Taoist priest was because his hair grew long.

Ma Youzhai and his wife, known as the fairy aunt, are often invited to dance to the great god. The fairy girl wears a mask, a hat with colorful ears, a shaman costume, a waist bell, a drum in her left hand, and a drum whip in her right hand. The horse is accompanied by gongs and drums, and the fairy girl sings while dancing:

Ay...... I picked up the Wenwang drum in my left hand,

Round and round that hi,

Whew, Helang Lang.

Eight strings, tied four times,

Sheep thread is tied to money.

Hurlang Lang.

I picked up the east of the sea with my right hand, and the south of the mountain,

The whip of the sea and the mountains is hi.

Not long, not short, one foot three.

Red Rope Wrap,

green belt entanglement,

Colorful streamers float down,

Hurlang Lang.

The gods of the past stopped,

Phew.

I'm going to pick it up for ten miles, and I'm going to welcome it for eight miles.

Wuli tug at the reins of your horse.

Check it out Hi,

The gate is hung with colors, and the small door is hung with red,

A felt floor to the hall.

Hehe, hea.

If you live in the temple, you will open the temple door.

If you don't live in the temple, come home!

Home in the west of the Drum Tower,

When the immortal dismounts the registration number,

Boom.

The gourd blossoms white,

Which great immortal came down to earth?

Most of the time, she invited Zhong Kui, and sometimes she invited Guanyin Bodhisattva, mainly according to the needs of the master, if the master is sick in bed, at this time, the birthday star Antarctic Immortal Weng or the judge of Hades should go down to earth. The Jade Emperor generally does not come, unless the host family is particularly wealthy. Once, when she was hungry while jumping, she invited the Tailed Fire Tiger God, and she became a tiger, jumping vertically, pounced, and ate up the tribute.

After the end of the dancing god, Ma Youzhai not only collected the money from the master's family, but also sold a packet of incense ash as a panacea to the onlookers.

Ma Youzhai felt that this was a way to make money, so he sharpened a peachwood sword, pretended to be a Taoist priest, and drew talismans to catch ghosts. He was able to make eggs float and light lamps with his fingers, which made him more famous than his wife, who could only dance, and became a well-known half-immortal. Once, an old man from other provinces came to the door, and took out 2,000 yuan first, saying that his son was evil, and if the half-immortal could help, he would give another 3,000 yuan after the deed.

The old man told a strange story.

The old man claimed to be surnamed Li, and contracted a fish pond in the town, and a few days ago, his son went to swim in the fish pond, and when he came back, he fell into evil, his eyes were dull, and he spoke woodenly, as if he had changed people. What's more serious is that the son has become afraid of water, and he doesn't even dare to wash his hands and face, and he went to several hospitals, but the doctors couldn't do anything.

After Ma Youzhai listened, he nodded and said, "This is a water ghost possessed." ”

Li Laohan asked, "Can you drive it away?" ”

Ma Youzhai said: "You can't drive it away, unless you catch it." ”

Li Laohan asked, "What should I do after I catch this ghost?" ”

Ma Youzhai said: "Fried! ”

The next day, an oil pot was erected in the courtyard of Li Laohan's house, and many people in the town came to watch, and the children climbed up the tree. Ma Youzhai is holding a peachwood sword, wearing a green sermon robe, and the back of the robe is embroidered with the picture of Tai Chi Yin and Yang, and his hair is fluttering, looking like a fairy wind and bones.

Ma Youzhai looked at the oil pot and asked Li Laohan to prepare some more chopping wood, and after a while, the oil pot boiled and boiled. Ma Youzhai put his hand into the hot oil pot, and the audience in the courtyard let out an exclamation, Ma Youzhai said as if nothing happened: "Burn it again, the fire is hot." ”

In fact, the pot of oil did not boil, Ma Youzhai quietly added chemicals such as borax to the pot, because of the chemical reaction, gas will be generated, and the bubbles will bulge to the top of the oil surface, causing the oil to boil and tumble, and the temperature of the oil is not high at this time, and it will not cause harm to people.

Ma Youzhai asked Li Laohan's son to lie on a mat, and then put a piece of talisman paper on Li Laohan's son's chest, telling him to close his eyes and not open them. Ma Youzhai cleaned his hands and burned incense, and began to practice, and the audience quieted down, only to see him chanting words and walking around Li Laohan's son. Suddenly, Ma Youzhai let out a loud shout and slapped it with his hand, and a blood-red handprint appeared on the paper. He tied the talisman paper to the peachwood sword and shouted, "Catch it!" ”

Ma Youzhai pinched the sword trick in his left hand, held the sword in his right hand, and quickly pressed the rune paper at the end of the sword on the incense case, and then he stood the sword on his chest and stared at the rune paper intently. At this point, he began to pant out of breath, as if catching ghosts was a tiring task. After a while, the onlookers saw smoke coming out of the rune paper at the end of the sword, and it actually burned. Ma Youzhai took out a handful of glutinous rice from his arms and threw it on the incense table, and the glutinous rice was also on fire.

Finally, Ma Youzhai put the burning rune paper into the oil pot to complete the entire ghost hunting process.

Make a bloody handprint on the paper, which is mainly a chemical reagent phenolphthalein is working, phenolphthalein will turn red when exposed to alkali, Ma Youzhai is using this simple chemical reaction. He sprayed phenolphthalein on the rune paper in advance, dried it, and it looked like a good piece of paper, and then when he did it, he dipped his hand in some alkaline water, slapped it on the paper, and a red handprint was there.

So, how can rune paper spontaneously combust? In fact, it is very simple, Ma Youzhai sprinkled some light yellow powder on the incense table in advance, which is sodium peroxide. Sodium peroxide burns when exposed to water and carbon dioxide. He slapped the rune paper on the incense table, dipped it in sodium peroxide, and exhaled into the rune paper out of breath, and the exhaled gas contained carbon dioxide and water, and when it reached the ignition point, the paper would burn. Glutinous rice has been stirred with sulfur powder beforehand, and sulfur will also burn when it comes into contact with sodium peroxide.

After a few days, Li Laohan's son miraculously recovered and returned to his previous liveliness and cheerfulness. Ghost hunting was a great psychological comfort for him, and he was frightened when he saw a corpse at the bottom of the fish pond. The corpse swollen into a giant with wires wrapped around its waist and stones tied to both ends of the wires. He didn't know who the dead man was, and he didn't know who killed him and threw it into the fish pond, he just dragged the body up late at night and quietly dug a pit to bury it.

He didn't tell anyone about it.

In 1996, the witch died, and Ma Youzhai's children grew up.

On April 5, 1997, Qingming, Ma Youzhai's house came to three guests, they were Brother Thumb, Ding Busi, and Shanya.

Shanya: "How many years haven't we seen each other?" ”

Ma Youzhai: "It's been seven years. ”

Big Thumb: "I don't think you have anything in this business." ”

Ma Youzhai: "It's a mess." ”

Ding Busi: "Still pretending to be a ghost?" ”

Ma Youzhai: "No one believes in this set anymore." ”

Ding Busi: "My brother is gone." ”

Ma Youzhai: "Mengni, sell dog meat at home." ”

Ding Busi: "I have to go see her." ”

Ma Youzhai: "Where's the money?" ”

Big Thumb: "In Hwaseong." ”

Shanya: "It's called Huatou, he's okay to mix, and everyone there listens to him." ”

Ma Youzhai: "I can't stand you, when I see your leg, I feel uncomfortable." ”

Shanya: "Don't get in the way, and don't delay me walking around with the small cigarette pack." ”

Ma Youzhai: "Still playing monkeys? ”

Shanya: "I'm going to make a fortune with Big Brother now." ”

Big Thumb: "I got some white noodles from my hometown." ”

Ding Busi: "This is a way to make money, and you can make money." ”

Brother Thumb: "I can't ignore you, now I want to call you, and there are three cents, let's go together." ”

Ma Youzhai: "Drug trafficking, right? ”

Big Thumb: "In my hometown, over there in Yunnan, many people do this. ”

Ma Youzhai: "I don't have the capital." ”

Big Thumb: "I don't need you to take the money, I owe you." ”

Ma Youzhai: "That's okay, I, and my three sons, will follow you to get rich." ”

When Ma Youzhai moved out of the village, it snowed lightly.

In fact, they didn't move anything, everything was kept in its place from yesterday, snowflakes were falling, and the pickle jar in the yard had an old metaphor like a new jar.

Before 1993, there were only a few small drug dealers in Northeast China, who bought drugs from the south and sold them, and since 1997, Ma Youzhai has monopolized the drug market in the three northeastern provinces. Drug trafficking brought huge profits, and Ma Youzhai purchased a property in the city, covering an area of ten acres, with pavilions and pavilions, and extreme luxury.

Twenty years ago, Ma Youzhai was a monk, and after the circus was disbanded, he cheated on the streets.

The poplar catkins on the first street flutter in the wind, and Ma Youzhai wears a green monk's robe and yellow-faced cloth shoes, knocking on other people's doors. After the wooden doors, the iron doors, the black gates, the red gates, when they were opened, he recited Amitabha Buddha, took out the official virtue book, asked the owner to write down his name and hometown, and then said that a certain temple was to be built, please donate some money. He folded his hands together and left with such an old and quaint gesture as he carried the money with him. At that time, there were still many good men and women, and then, when people saw a monk knocking on the door and a stranger knocking on the door, they would not open the door casually.

When Ma Youzhai was "turning into a fate", he was kind and kind-eyed, in fact, he was a short-tempered person.

He once used a soft whip to pump the leaves of a small tree in Henan to the fullest, and the little tree, in a dream twenty years later, sprouted and blossomed again. When he was in a happy mood, he would also play a Zen stick in front of his three sons, and twenty years later, the rusty Zen stick was leaning against the window, hanging a full moon.

The reason why this monk pretended to be a Taoist priest has already been said - his hair grows.

The only thing he can recall from the days when he was a ghost is this: under a walnut tree, he sat on a stone and smashed a walnut with a stone.

Drug trafficking made Ma Youzhai rich overnight, and he almost forgot about the past.

He had a tooth that hurt very much, and the dentist said, "Old man Ma, pull it out." He said, "No, get out." "He was a man who couldn't stand pain. Holding the hammer, he searched the room for a spot where he could drive the nail on, and after the nail was nailed, he tied a rope to the nail and tied the other end to his teeth. He stood in his chair and jumped with all his might, and from then on, he no longer felt a toothache, and the tooth decay was tied to a rope and shook gently. He had a gold tooth, a heavy gold necklace around his neck, a gold watch on his wrist, and three gold rings on his fingers.

Later, Ma Youzhai had a herniated disc in his lumbar spine, and this shining person could only be comfortable when he was kneeling, and if he was lying down, he would roll in pain all over the bed and couldn't sleep all night. It occurred to him what this gesture might mean, and from that moment on, he had a vague sense of guilt.

The first doctor, acupuncture and massage for him, did not work. The second doctor applied a local hot compress to him, and external pain-relieving plasters such as "Voltarin gel" were ineffective. The third doctor suggested that he have surgery, but he refused, so the doctor had to use 25% mannitol 250 ml plus dexamethasone 10 mg intravenously.

He was also kneeling during the infusion.

Ma Youzhai was in unbearable pain, and he said to his eldest son, "Go, bring a packet of white powder." ”

The drug dealer naturally knows how to take drugs, he puts the white powder on the paper, makes a line, holds the paper with one hand, blocks one nostril with the other, sucks it with the other nostril, and sucks the white powder into it with a flick of his head. The pleasure of drug use suppressed the pain, and after a few days, the herniated disc in the lumbar spine was miraculously cured, however, the pleasure of drug use was not as strong as at the beginning, and Ma Youzhai began to use injection drug use. He tied his arm with an elastic band, just like a nurse would do with an intravenous needle, and he took the needle, pointed it up, and plunged it into the vein in the crook of his arm to push the drug in. After a while, the drug is drawn back into the syringe, mixed with blood, and so on several times, and the syringe is flushed so that all the drugs are injected. When it comes to injecting drugs, it is already a deep addiction and it is difficult to quit. If you are a person who has been addicted to drugs for several years, you can no longer find blood vessels in your body to inject. At this time, they will use a method called "blood slotting". It's to make a hole in the thigh and insert an infusion tube. After the infusion tube is inserted, it is not pulled out, and it is always inserted in the thigh. When drug addiction comes, drugs are injected into the body through an infusion tube with a needle.

Ma Youzhai's arm was covered with needle holes, he could only inject in his crotch, and he had to take off his pants several times a day, and finally, his three sons knelt in front of him and begged him to quit drugs.

The eldest son said, "Dad, don't you want to die?" ”

Ma Youzhai said, "Don't do it." ”

The eldest son snatched the needle.

Ma Youzhai knelt down for his son and begged, "Give it to me." ”

to devour

The three sons had no choice but to force him to quit drugs, put Ma Youzhai in a house in the backyard, and sent an old man to serve him. When the addiction was onset, the old man tied his hands and feet, and stuffed a towel in his mouth, which was stuffed to prevent him from biting his tongue in pain. When Luo Fawei in Yunnan was addicted to drugs, he sucked his father's ashes into his stomach; When Wang Juan in Gansu Province was addicted to drugs, she first ran naked and then plunged into the manure tank; Chen Jinyuan in Sichuan Province had spasms in his limbs and howled wolves during the onset of drug addiction, so a nearby kindergarten was relocated; When Cao Xiaojun was addicted to drugs, he swallowed a bottle cap, a lighter, and two of his fingers.

Ma Youzhai quickly lost weight, from a sturdy middle-aged man to a skinny, dull-eyed, tearful communication, and incontinence. Because of his low immunity, his hair began to fall out, and after a high fever, he lost his sight.

Drug abuse can destroy people's normal physiological functions and immune functions, and a mosquito bites a drug addict, which may cause a pustule. A labor re-education police officer once said an extreme example: once a drug addict squatted and hoeed for about an hour, and when he stood up, all the blood vessels in his feet burst and blood sprayed out like a high-pressure water gun, because no one dared to approach him for fear of AIDS. Wait until the blood is no longer sprayed before being pulled to the hospital for resuscitation.

Ma Youzhai became blind, and sleeping was like a coma to him. Sometimes he sleeps in bed with his eyes open. Whether he opened or closed his eyes, all he saw was darkness. With the cooperation of drug treatment, Ma Youzhai slowly quit drugs.

After rehabilitation, the first thing he did when he got up every day was to light a cigarette, and after a while, he lit two cigarettes at a time. He smokes six boxes of cigarettes a day, and because he sleeps upside down, he can only be seen at night, and every time he sees him, he has two cigarettes in his hand.

In addition to smoking, he has a hobby: carving words on stone.

When one world closes its doors to him, the doors of another world open.

He spent the whole day in a state of contemplation, and one day, he asked his son to buy several stone tablets and stonemason tools such as hammers and chisels.

The son asked, "What do you want to engrave?" ”

Ma Youzhai replied: "Diamond Sutra." ”

The son said, "You can't see with your eyes, will you be wrong?" ”

Ma Youzhai said: "The words, in my heart, how can they be wrongly carved." ”

In that dark room in the backyard, there was a clanging sound and stone chips flying. At first, he just found something to do for himself, and for a blind man, this was not done to get rid of loneliness, quite the opposite, but to stay alone. He set up the carved stone tablet in the courtyard, and as time went by, the backyard became a forest of steles, a cemetery without graves and dead people.

There is also a pond in the backyard with carp, grass carp, silver carp, loaches, frogs, snakes, and duck eggs that have fallen to the bottom of the water. One early morning, Ma Youzhai opened the window, and he suddenly smelled a fragrance.

He asked the old man who delivered the food: "Outside, what is so fragrant?" ”

The old man who delivered the meal replied, "Lotus, the lotus flower in the pond has bloomed." ”

Ma Youzhai said to himself, "I know." ”

From then on, he put on his old robe, knocked on the wooden fish in the room, chanted the Buddha every day, and meditated. Previously, he was a false monk; Now, he has become a true monk. When his three sons asked him why he did this, he replied, "Atonement for the three of you." ”

The three sons usually made friends with many dignitaries and dignitaries, and also co-opted and corrupted some officials to act as a protective umbrella for them. There was a section chief of the procuratorate, after getting drunk, he ran to the backyard and asked Ma Youzhai: "Old man, I want to ask, what is a Buddha?" ”

Ma Youzhai asked him rhetorically, "What time is it?" ”

Drunken and misty-eyed, he looked at his watch and said, "11 o'clock in the evening." ”

Ma Youzhai asked, "Now everyone is asleep, right?" ”

He burped and said, "Almost, it's almost midnight." ”

Ma Youzhai said, "Did you bring the key?" ”

He said, "Take it, and voila." He unloaded a bunch of keys from his waist and dangled them in his hand.

Ma Youzhai took the key and threw it into the pond outside the window.

"What the hell are you doing, what do you mean?"

"Didn't you ask what a Buddha is?"

"yes, what are you throwing my keys for?"

"It's in your house."

"I don't understand."

"You go home now, and the person who opened the door for you is the Buddha."