Chapter 12: Apprenticeship
After this incident, as soon as it was dawn the next day, the eldest cousin and sister-in-law went home tremblingly to pack their things, and they were not going to live here, after all, the house was haunted, and there was a shadow in their hearts.
Our family of three followed Miao Chun's master and apprentice to the county seat, and my parents were ready to move, so we had to go to the county seat to find a house first. And I followed Miao Chun's master and apprentice to the shroud shop at No. 18 Xiangyang Street in the county seat, in the words of the old man, since I want to learn from him in the future, I will live there permanently.
In the next few days, our family moved from the village to a farmhouse on the edge of the county, not far from Xiangyang Street, where the rent was relatively cheap, and my parents also found jobs in the county.
I've always been a little haunted by what happened that night, but Miao Chun and the old man don't mention it at all, and it seems that the guy who controls everything behind the scenes is a taboo topic.
From that night when I agreed to become the old man's disciple, I found that Miao Chun sometimes looked at me a little wrong, it was very complicated, and it made me very confused.
After I was busy with some things moving, I came to the shroud shop, and since I had to learn things from the elderly, the apprenticeship was naturally indispensable.
When I came to the living room behind the shroud shop, there was a yellowed calligraphy and painting hanging on the wall, on which was a Taoist man with fairy wind bones, and I don't know who it was.
On both sides of the portrait of the Taoist are two couplets, which read: Immortal Dao noble life, immeasurable people!
The old man asked me to kneel in front of the portrait, solemnly lit a few sticks of incense, bowed to these words, muttered something in my mouth, and then asked me to kowtow to the portrait three times.
After kowtowing three heads, I took the tea in Miao Chun's hand on the side as instructed, respectfully handed it to the old man, and said, "Master, please use tea!" β
The old man took the tea in my hand, took a sip, and said to me very seriously: "Today, when you enter my door, first follow your Senior Brother Miao to learn some of the precepts and rules of this sect, let him teach you some simple things first, and then I will teach you some secret methods of this sect after you are familiar with it!" β
After speaking, the old man looked at Miao Chun and said lightly: "Teach your junior brother with your heart, don't hide your secrets, you know?" β
Miao Chun nodded respectfully and said, "Disciple understands!" β
Then the old man gave a few more commands, and then turned around and went out, not knowing what to do.
My cheap master's name is Gao Yao, and in my opinion, he is the kind of strange person who hides in the city, so when the master went out, I looked at Miao Chun with curiosity on my face, and said a little impatiently: "Senior brother, what sect do we belong to?" I see that in those movies, there are masters of flying eaves and walls, is there any such character in our sect? Also, our sect ......"
"Alright, don't ask!" Miao Chun directly interrupted me, looked at me, and sighed with complicated eyes: "You will understand later!" β
Then, Miao Chun looked at the picture hanging on the wall, then looked at the direction where the old man left, and finally put his eyes on me, looking like he wanted to say something.
I looked at Miao Chun with some curiosity, but he just shook his head and sighed lightly: "Follow me and study hard!" I'll teach you what I know as soon as I can! β
Somehow, I felt that Miao Chun didn't seem to be willing to teach me, or that he didn't want me to be his junior.
Why?
I don't know the reason, but I was deeply affected by some episodes in movies and television, and I couldn't help but think about the things of the descendants of the sect, such as all kinds of dark things about the disciples fighting for power and profit.
Anyway, I didn't have such thoughts, I followed the old man to learn those things, firstly because I was curious, but also because I wanted to have a way to protect myself when I encountered something similar weird in the future, and I didn't want to compete with Miao Chun for anything at all.
I have a good impression of Miao Chun, and he also saved our family, I am not the kind of villain who will take revenge. But it's not appropriate to say this now, I will show my attitude to him when I find an opportunity in the future, anyway, the days will be long in the future, and he will understand after seeing people's hearts over time.
Miao Chun taught me the rules and precepts in the door, which were basically nothing special, and were not as strict as I imagined. But strangely, he never mentioned to me what kind of sect we are, only that now there are only three of us in our lineage.
I was a little dumbfounded when I heard this, the sect I worshipped was too single!
After listening to what Miao Chun said about our sect, I couldn't suppress the curiosity and doubts in my heart, and took advantage of Master's absence, and asked, "Senior brother, who was that person when I was in Lijia Village that night?" β
That guy got my family to Lijia Village, but he didn't hurt my parents and them, and it seems that Miao Chun's master and apprentice also know that person very well, so I wondered, is that guy really a disciple of the master? Or is it my other brother?
When I asked this, Miao Chun's face changed, and he hurriedly made a silent gesture to me, and then turned his head to look outside the house, as if he was afraid of being heard by Master.
"This matter will rot in your stomach in the future, don't mention it again!" Miao Chun was speechless, and said with a slightly ugly face: "You just don't know that person, knowing too much is not good for you!" β
Seeing his serious and dignified appearance, although I was still curious, I could only nod helplessly and stop asking.
He looked at me with some hesitation in his eyes, and then as if he had made up his mind, he stared at me and said, "Xiao Ye, do you want to believe me?" β
I was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Senior brother, what are you talking about, you saved my family's life, if you hadn't made a move that day, I would have seen the king of Hades a long time ago, to put it mildly, even if you let me go up the sword mountain and down the sea of fire, I won't frown!" β
Although this is a bit exaggerated, it is indeed my sincere words, and I am really grateful to Miao Chun in my heart, which cannot be faked.
"Good!" Miao Chun looked at me and said with burning eyes: "I won't let you go up the sword mountain or the sea of fire or anything, I only ask you to remember one thing, I won't harm you, absolutely not!" β
I looked at Miao Chun a little blankly, not knowing why he suddenly said such a thing, I smiled dryly: "That's for sure, how could you harm me, senior brother?" β
Miao Chun shook his head and said in a solemn tone: "If I want to kill you one day, you have to remember that that person is definitely not me, remember, I will never harm you!" β
His words and now solemn expression made my heart a little hairy, and I vaguely felt that Miao Chun seemed to be about to reveal something to me, but his words were not clear, and I was not very clear, so I could only nod blankly.
He patted me on the shoulder, and a smile appeared on his face, but it looked really bleak, exactly the same smile he had since I had promised to be the old man's apprentice.
"I know you have a question, but I can't answer you right now, and you'll understand later!" The bleak smile on Miao Chun's face was even stronger, as if he remembered something, the color in his eyes was a little dim, and he murmured: "If I can still live by then......
"What?" I looked at Miao Chun with a stunned expression.
"It's okay, just moan and sigh occasionally!" Miao Chun responded with a light smile: "Let's go, I will teach you some simple things from today, cheer up, and I will ensure that you will be stimulated for the next period of time......"
Although I didn't understand what Miao Chun meant by what he said before, as soon as I heard Miao Chun say and began to teach me, the excitement in my heart instantly suppressed other thoughts.
I thought I could start learning that kind of ghost removal method, or that magical yellow paper talisman technique, but when Miao Chun officially started teaching me, I realized that I was really naΓ―ve.
This thing actually made me keep a vigil alone in the county cemetery, and I don't know what to say.
After a few nights in the cemetery, I thought that this kind of courage training was coming to an end, but I still underestimated Miao Chun's brain, he actually locked me alone in a small dark room to watch horror movies, and from time to time when I was asleep, he suddenly pretended to be a ghost to scare me.
In this way, my exciting life was completely opened, and fortunately, my nerves were relatively coarse, and if I was replaced by a timid one, I was tossed like this, and nine times out of ten I would be scared.
After a while, I was much bolder, Miao Chun was full of praise for my progress, boasting that it was his credit that my courage could become so big in such a short period of time, and looking at his face, I really wanted to rush up and punch me twice.
After the end of the courage training, I began to really get in touch with some simple ghost removal methods in this door, Miao Chun taught very carefully, and I also studied very carefully.
Time passed day by day, and one day about a month later, Miao Chun suddenly came to my room mysteriously, took out a thin yellowed book from his arms like a thief and handed it to me, and said in a somewhat hurried tone: "Learn this thing as soon as possible, you must not be discovered by the master, otherwise we will both suffer!" β