Feng Junjia also raised his head and looked for the traces of the birds, and asked, "Why haven't I heard it before?" ”

Grandpa said, "You didn't listen carefully before. "There's a lot of sound that you have to believe and listen to to to to it to hear it, and you will notice that it is getting louder and louder.

The cuckoo's cry grew louder and louder, almost in the ear, as if it could catch it with a hand in the ear.

Feng Junjia couldn't stand the birdsong in his ears, and he said to his grandfather with a painful face: "Ma Xiucai, I can't stand it anymore. ”

Grandpa hurriedly stood up and stamped his feet violently, like a sparrow stealing grain, and like a duck catching up with the shore.

Feng Junjia asked incomprehensibly: "Ma Xiucai, what are you doing here......

As soon as he finished speaking, a fluttering voice rang out on the beam overhead. Immediately after, the shadow of a bird flew out of the unclosed window. There is a place in the ground.

Feng Junjia was taken aback and said, "Are there really birds?" ”

Grandpa did not answer him, but hurried out of the room and ran outside to chase the shadow of the bird.

Feng Junjia immediately followed his father's pace, and also ran out and came to the floor in front of the house. He saw his father's figure, but he didn't see the bird that had just flown away. There was a grove in front of the floor, and the trees in the grove swayed and trembled gently.

"It ran away?" Feng Junjia asked his father.

Grandpa said, "Of course I ran away." It will run away when it finds me here. ”

"It's not really a bird, is it? What the hell is it? Is it a ghost that transforms into a bird? Feng Junjia asked.

"Liang Shangxian." Daddy said.

"What?" Feng Junjia didn't understand.

Daddy explained, "It's not a cuckoo, it's a cuckoo. However, it is not an ordinary cuckoo, it has the same appearance as a cuckoo, and its call is the same, but its intelligence is much higher than that of a cuckoo, and it has some mysteries. You can call it a beam on the fairy, a beam on the house beam, up and down, a fairy on the fairy. ”

"Do you mean the gods on the beams?" Feng Junjia asked. The night wind was slightly cold, and he couldn't help but hug his arms.

"Uh, that's kind of that."

"But it's harmful, isn't it? My daughter-in-law didn't conceive a baby when she heard it. How can immortals harm people? Feng Junjia asked.

"It's just a metaphor, it just means that it cultivates on the beams of the house, not that it is an immortal."

"Shouldn't the cultivation on the beam of the house be the bamboo slipper in your house? The mouse is called the gentleman on the beam, how can the bird cultivate on the beam? If a bird wants to cultivate, it also cultivates on a tree, right? Feng Junjia didn't believe his father's words.

Grandpa thought for a while and asked him, "You've been doing this house for almost ten years, right?" ”

Feng Junjia didn't know what his father was doing when he suddenly mentioned the house, but he replied honestly: "It's almost ten years or so." It was a new house that my parents built to get me to marry my daughter-in-law. ”

"Do you recall, did anything strange happen when the house was beamed?" Daddy asked.

For building a new house, there are two things to pay attention to, one is the time to break the ground, and the other is the time to finish the upper beam. If the ground is not broken or the time is not good, the people who move in after the house is built will not have a good time. If the finishing beam is not smooth or the time is not good, after the owner lives in, the master's descendants will not go well. It is said that if the owner of the house offends the bricklayer, some of the bricklayers will deliberately break the beams of the house. For example, when several people carry the main beam up, the bricklayer will deliberately shout: "Is there anyone in front?" At this time, regardless of whether there is anyone in front of them, the respondent must reply: "Fushou Tianqi!" At this time, the bricklayer will deliberately shout: "Is there anyone behind?" In the same way, at this time, regardless of whether there is anyone behind or not, the respondent must reply: "Many children and many grandchildren!" ”

Someone in front of him asked the elders of the owner of the house what they meant, and the answer "Fushou Tianqi" is to wish the elders a long life. Someone in the back asked the descendants of the owner of the house what they meant, and naturally they had to answer "many sons and grandchildren". Some people don't understand the rules, and they answer "no one in front" or "no one behind" in ignorance, then they commit a taboo.

Of course, this kind of question and answer is mostly out of psychological suggestion, and it may not have much effect. But it's like saying good things and not saying bad things during the New Year's holidays.

In addition, there is a more important ritual on the upper beam, that is, when the main beam is completed, the owner of the house will throw red envelopes and candy from the high place where the beam is located, so that others can compete below.

This ritual has been preserved to this day.

I've ever asked my mom about this ritual. I said that this ritual should be changed, and the candy and red envelopes should not be thrown down from the height of the beam, so that the people below will grab it. Some even hurt their harmony because of the scramble. Especially children, fighting for a few pieces of candy are red-faced and inseparable. I said that it would be better to send it directly to all the people, and be kind and happy. Why not?

Mom said that it is wrong for you to think so, grabbing candy and red envelopes is not only to celebrate the completion of the house, but more importantly, in other aspects.

I was very surprised and asked, isn't it just for the sake of excitement and celebration? Anything else?

Mom said, of course, people look up when the candy and red envelopes haven't been thrown down, right?

I said yes.

Mom also said that when the things above are thrown down, the people below will lower down and pick them up, right?

I said yes.

Mom clapped her hands and said, That's it, in the process of looking up and looking down to pick up, almost everyone below completed a bowing action. It's like worshipping the Bodhisattva in the temple and bowing to the Bodhisattva. And they all bowed down to the beams above. This beam is worshiped by people, and with the bodhisattva-like offering, it will bring blessings to the family.

It dawned on me. So that's it!

Mom said, if you don't throw something down from above, who will go to worship the main beam?

I think so, but I don't think it's kind, it's the same way as those who take Chinese medicine and then dump it on the side of the road, hoping that the person who steps on the Chinese medicine residue will take the sickness away. But if everyone is like this, everyone is used to it.

Mom also said that you must pay attention when putting up the beam, and don't let other cats, dogs, birds, or other birds climb onto the roof or beam. Because if there are cats, dogs, or birds on it, it is likely that the bows of the people below will make those animals suffer. An animal that has been bowed and worshiped by many people is easy to cultivate into refinement, and if it knows the benefits of being worshipped, it will secretly take advantage of other people's homes to follow suit again, and gradually become a "Liang Shang Immortal". If the beams of the house that are supposed to be worshipped are not provided with any offerings, the house may collapse in a short time, and the people in the house may not have a good time.

The reason why Liang Shangxian is called Liang Shangxian is because it is worshiped by people. People often worship gods or immortals who are more capable and powerful than people, so it is also equivalent to immortals, but it is still a fake immortal.

Feng Junjia said that he couldn't remember anything strange when the house was beamed.

Daddy reminded, "Think about the shadow of that bird just now. ”

Feng Junjia thought for a moment and replied, "It seems that a bird flew over and landed on the main beam when it was on the beam." I chased it several times, but just chased it away and flew back. It didn't chirp though. Could it be that the cuckoo that flew away just now? ”

Daddy said, "Quite possibly." ”

"Oh, Ma Xiucai, I still think of one thing from your reminder." Feng Junjia said.

"What's the matter?"

"I remember when I went to buy the main beam for my new house, the seller showed me that the main beam was very blessed. He said that when his workers were cutting down the tree in the mountains, there was a cuckoo in the tree that kept calling in the cuckoo valley. The axe shook the tree, and the nearby birds flew away in fright, but the cuckoo on the tree fell after it did not go, and it still perched on the branches of the cuckoo and cuckoo. The tree cutter tried to catch it, but it ran away and flew away. ”

Grandpa nodded slowly and said softly, "No wonder...... In this way, this Liang Shangxian is reluctant to give up this tree. ”

Feng Junjia asked, "What should I do then?" Could it be that our house has to be replaced with a main beam? ”

Grandpa said: "You can't change it." Not to mention the cost and effort, this main beam cannot become a tree again, and there is no point in changing it. Don't worry, we'll continue to wait here tomorrow night for it to come. I'll take care of that for you. ”

"We've already scared the snake, will it come back tomorrow night?" Feng Junjia furrowed his brows and said worriedly.

"It's coming, I've been here for so many years, and I won't stop coming because of this."

Grandpa asked Feng Junjia to buy some yellow table paper and cinnabar the next day, saying that it was useful, and asked if there were any peach trees near their house.

Feng Junjia said yes.

Grandpa said, "Tomorrow you can take me to see it." Let's rest tonight. ”

So, the next day, Feng Junjia bought what his father wanted, and his father drew cinnabar charms on the yellow table paper. Grandpa and Feng Junjia found a few peach trees in their village, cut some peach branches and came back to make peach wood nails.

The next evening, his father told him to put cinnabar charms on the doors, windows, and cat holes.

Feng Junjia had seen the yellow paper talisman used by other people's homes before, but when he saw that his grandfather's drawing was very different from what he had seen before, he asked, "Ma Xiucai, what kind of talisman are you?" It doesn't look like any other charm. ”

Grandpa said: "This common name is called the basket charm. ”

"Basket charms? Why such a strange name? Does it have something to do with the basket? ”

In this place, the basket is not the meaning of the bamboo weaving tools that the Miao family is behind them. The basket here is a trap-like tool specially used to catch loaches and eels and snakes, but it is also made of bamboo, cylindrical, one large and one small, the big one is concave inward, leaving two or three thumb-sized holes for loaches and eels or snakes to get into; The small one can be tied up or let go so that it can be opened for prey. Some food is often placed in the middle of the basket to lure prey into it like fishing. But once you get in, it's hard to get out of that hole again.

Before the widespread use of chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides and herbicides in farmland, there were still a lot of loach eels in paddy fields. When I was a child, I used to see people carrying a large bundle of baskets in the evening, and when they walked to a paddy field, they would put one on their backs, and they would all the same. In the early morning, you will see someone collecting the basket, and there is often something in the basket.

Grandpa said that the basket charm is a symbol that has the function of "basket", so that those troublesome things can get in and can't get out.

Feng Junjia asked, "Then why don't you use this basket charm to catch millet?" ”