At this time, the step-ancestor said: "Uncle, I was telling everyone about you at night, didn't you say that day, there was movement on that board at night." ”

Carpenter Liu said: "It's true, after I made the board, I found that blood seeped into the board, and a figure appeared on the board, and I had a bad premonition in my heart. ”

At this time, the old wine worm brought a bowl, poured half a bowl of wine for Carpenter Liu, and said, "Come, sit down, let's drink and say, the wine here is good wine, and I am reluctant to drink more." ”

Carpenter Liu is also a cheerful person, said a few kind words, sat down on the table, took a sip of the wine bowl and said, "It's really good wine." ”

Shandong people are enthusiastic, as soon as they arrive at the wine table, they are quickly familiar, the so-called wine glass paves the way, chopsticks build a bridge, we will be commensurate with buddies for a while, I said: "Brother Liu, what did you just say about that board?" The step-ancestor just said half of it. ”

Carpenter Liu said: "This is the thing, I heard a cry, the cry was a woman's voice, the sound did not sound like a human cry, like a ghost crying, I picked up the ruler and went out to look, from the inside to the outside, I saw a person hanging on the beam, the man was wearing a cloak, his eyes were shining green, a tongue more than a foot long stretched out from his mouth, emitting a scarlet color, his hands and feet were hanging down, and he was swaying there, and he was gently shaking with the wind, and his mouth was crying.

As soon as I saw that it was the female hanged ghost who had found the house, I raised the ruler in my hand and hit the hanged ghost, and the hanged ghost screamed miserably, and ran away, and when I ran to the edge of the board, it suddenly disappeared, and I knew that it must be the problem with the board.

So I found an ink fountain and prepared to use the ink fountain to put the ink line on it, trap the female ghost, and then use an axe to directly chop the pot, but when I was about to do it, I remembered something, and my hand involuntarily stopped. ”

I said, "Brother Liu, what's the matter?" ”

Carpenter Liu sighed and said: "This matter is a long story, and I have to start with my apprenticeship, as the saying goes, I would rather give a thousand hanging money, not pass on the craft, this learning craft, but it is a big deal, my father was very good with a carpenter, the carpenter was an old carpenter, the craft is very good, it is good, it is good, it has taught a lot of apprentices, it is a capable person in our area."

My father begged the carpenter to accept me as an apprentice, the carpenter agreed, I formally worshipped the carpenter as a teacher, this apprentice is not in vain, generally on the fifth day of the first month of the new year, by the guarantor --- the head of the street, leading the apprentice to the master's house, after the introduction, by the guarantor to explain the agreement between the master and apprentice in person. The main agreements are: the apprenticeship period is three years and one section, and it is not allowed to leave the apprenticeship halfway; No wages are paid during the apprenticeship; It is forbidden to marry and start a family during the apprenticeship; The master beats and scolds the apprentice, in case he misses, he will not pay for his life; The master is responsible for the dressing and eating of the apprentices. These terms have already been agreed in advance to the apprentice and his family, and they are officially declared to take effect. The apprentice nodded in agreement, then saluted and kowtowed. The first head was to be knocked to the ancestor Lu Ban, Lu Ban didn't seem to have it, and there was a saw and an ax there. The master chanted: kowtow to the grandfather, and the apprentice kowtows to the front wall of the house. Then kowtow to the master. If the master and wife are present, they will naturally kowtow and salute. After the great ceremony, the apprenticeship ceremony ends.

After apprenticeship, it is to learn the arts, the traditional carpentry is pure manual work, axe to cut trees, sawed into planks, planed smooth with planers, and then chiseled out holes to install tenons, as the saying goes: if you want to learn, you will sleep with the master, these three years with the master, get up early and learn in the dark, the carpenter at that time is not like now, at that time all walks of life used carpenters, so until you can make a small bench without an iron nail, large to the whole wooden house, you can go out of the teacher. After learning, you can be regarded as a real craftsman, after we craftsmen are out of school, the fame is small and naturally looking for less, so life is not settled, the wind is halved and the rain is all over, and if you don't make money for a day, you can't eat, so you have to do it after learning the craft.

After I arrived at the master's house, I followed the master to learn carpenter, first cutting trees, then sawing wood, using chisels, saws to beat mortise and tenon, and planing with planers, in fact, carpenters used to do too much work, from large palaces and pavilions to small tables, chairs and benches are all carpenters' work, small objects are delicate and small, the materials are exquisite, the workmanship is delicate, and the large objects can be slightly relaxed. Master said to me that both the stonemasons and the masons also respected Luban as their teacher. The three types of craftsmen are seated in order of their childhood. The masons who work in a seated position are the eldest, the bricklayer who often squats and works is the second brother, and the carpenter who works in a standing position when he was a child is the youngest.

Three years later, I didn't need mortise and tenon, I made a wooden house, and at this time, it was time for me to become a teacher, when I left the school, the master gave me the three things of the ink fountain, the corner ruler and the bamboo ruler, and also warned me not to despise these three things, especially the ink fountain can deal with ghosts, just like Shang Fang's sword, when the ink fountain is dry, it is better to spit to moisten the cotton yarn in the pot, and never pee in it, which is disrespectful to the master. At that time, the master also instructed me not to go to the senior brother, saying that the senior brother was not decent and had engaged in evil ways, and he had already expelled the senior brother from the master's door.

After I finished my studies, I just graduated from the teacher, I didn't have any reputation, and my parents passed away one after another that year, so my life was very tight, and I could barely live by relying on the help of my master. In those days, I was even more upset, because I had no money to marry a daughter-in-law, and I saw that my daughter-in-law's affairs were yellow. There was no work on this day, I was drinking at home alone, when someone knocked on the door, I opened the door and saw that there was a big fat man, chubby, fat and strong, a pair of sow eyes, a face full of meat, and a snack of wine and meat in his hand.

As soon as I saw that this person was none other than Senior Brother, Master had said that Senior Brother was not a good person, so I asked me to have less dealings with him, so I said lukewarmly, "Senior Brother, where are you going?" ”

The elder brother said, "Of course I came to you. ”

I said, "Senior brother, you are carrying a pig's head, and you can't find the temple gate, right?" My temple is small, but it can't accommodate you, a great Bodhisattva. ”

The senior brother said, "Senior brother, how are you talking?" We are all a master, the so-called one day for the teacher and the father for life, since the senior brother is the same as our father, then we are the same brothers as the brothers, I heard that you are going to say kiss these days, there is no money in your hands, after I know the senior brother, I am anxious, so I am thinking about getting some money to get you a daughter-in-law. I didn't expect that before I entered the door, you would drive me away, I had money in my pocket, wine and meat in my hand, and in the end I ended up like this. Let's go, since you bite Lu Dongbin and don't know the hearts of good people, I'll just go. ”

Talking and turning around to leave, this matter is obviously my mistake, think about people to come to my house with wine and meat, I turned away, thinking of this, I quickly apologized to my brother, said a lot of good things, brother said: "Brother, master doesn't like me because of prejudice against me, what crooked ways?" Those are misunderstandings about me, I am all the disgusting skills of our carpenters, which have been passed down by our ancestors, and we must pass them on. ”

I was a little embarrassed when I was told by my senior brother, so I hurriedly invited my senior brother into the house, my senior brother is the richest one among our senior brothers, and he was the poorest in the past, but then my senior brother made a fortune, and there was no work that could be done. Eating and drinking spicy food, the family not only has a big house, but also an area of land, I actually want to talk with my senior brother and want to know how he got so much money.

I cleaned up the table, and then put the wine and food, and the two of us sat there and started drinking, and when my brother asked me how my marriage was, I sighed and said, "I am so poor, I have no money in my hand, and people do not agree." ”

The senior brother said, "Do you want to get a lot of money?" ”

I said, "I've always dreamed of making money, but I ......."

The senior brother said: "I have my own way to do this, so I will ask if you want to get rich?" ”

"I want to get rich."

The senior brother said: "If you want to get rich, you have to use the technique of disgust and worship a ghost master." ”