So, after my father went out with a rag doll, he first went to the thatched house on the north side, carried a toilet in his hand, and then went downstairs. Fortunately, the toilet has a lid and the smell is not very bad.

While he was still on the stairs, my father saw a man in a robe standing at a square table next to the stairs. The man had his back to his father, who couldn't see his face. There were also people sitting at the other tables, sparsely populated. The faces of the men were dark, as if they had crawled out of a coffin in the ground. When the sun went down, someone told him that there would be ghosts after midnight, so Grandpa was not surprised.

The red lantern at the gate was still lit, and the bustard stood there to greet the guests, and kept saying words to attract the guests, like a duck before entering the water.

There were still figures walking around on the street outside the door, and Grandpa estimated that those were not living people, but souls who came out to wander at night.

As soon as Grandpa walked down the stairs, the man standing at the square table whispered, "Ma Xiucai, let's sit down for a while." ”

Grandpa thought that he would not meet acquaintances here, so he couldn't help but be secretly shocked when he heard the man calling himself.

"You can't get out now, why don't you sit with me for a while." The man said again, sounding hostile.

Grandpa turned around, only to realize that the man was not standing, but sitting. Because he was so tall, he looked like a normal person standing. The legs under the square table went through the table. The man's face seemed to be pulled down long enough to compliment his height, like a horse's face. But his horse face was different from the faces of the others in the shop, his face was white and pure but resolute, and amiable but majestic. Although his robes were blue-gray, they occasionally glowed in the lamplight.

"You are ......" Grandpa had some impressions in his mind, but he couldn't say the words when he came to his lips.

"Sit down." The horse-faced robe pointed to the bench next to him.

Grandpa looked at the gate again, and knew that when he walked out at this time, he would definitely meet the bustard, and the bustard must be suspicious. He heard the occasional barking of a dog coming from outside the door. The dog god should be near the bustard. Daddy thought to himself, avoiding the bustard and only dealing with the dog god still had a slight chance of winning, so it was better to wait for the bustard to lead the guests away before going out.

Daddy sat down at the table in the horse-faced robe and placed the toilet under the table.

The horse-faced robe sniffed his nose and asked, "You're going to use this to deal with the old bustard's dog god?" ”

Grandpa was taken aback and asked, "How do you know?" ”

The horse-faced robe smiled, smiled very reluctantly, and said, "You don't have to worry that I know. I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to help you. Have you forgotten? We've had a relationship before. ”

Grandpa remembered that not long after his father's death, this horse-faced robe came to Ma's house to find his stiff father. "You are...... The one who came to my father that time! Daddy exclaimed.

The horse-faced robe nodded. He picked up a glass of wine on the table and drank it slowly, purring as if a horse were drinking from a river.

"Did my father call you?" Daddy asked. Grandpa suddenly felt that he didn't need to look for his father who was a city god≡ he couldn't find his father, but his father had been protecting him behind his back≡ what he thought he didn't have was actually around him all along. This feeling made Grandpa feel weird and warm.

But soon my father decided that this was impossible. "No, you're arresting him, and you're not going to listen to him, are you?" Daddy asked.

The horse-faced robe drank a glass of wine, poured another glass for himself, then took out a cup from the plate, poured a glass of wine for his grandfather, and said, "The secret of heaven must not be leaked." ”

Grandpa picked up the wine on the table and took a sip, the taste of the wine was very strange, like a fake wine mixed with water.

"What kind of wine is this?" Daddy smashed his mouth and almost spit out the wine in his mouth.

The horse-faced robe drank the wine in front of him again, and said, "This is not wine, this is tear wine, made from tears, so it is very bitter." ”

"Tears and wine?" Daddy was surprised.

"Hmm. This kind of tear wine is bitter in the mouth, spicy in the throat, and the internal organs will churn after entering the stomach, but after the pain, there is sweetness, which is this little sweetness, and it has become the dependence of many people, so as to support the world, and survive the ghost gate of life and death. The horse-faced robe raised the cup and stared at the cup as he spoke. That being said, there was no trace of bitterness on his face, and he seemed to enjoy it.

Grandpa picked up the wine glass again and drank some bitterly. Sure enough, as he said, it was so spicy that it almost burst into tears, and after it entered his stomach, his stomach churned violently. Grandpa was so uncomfortable that he lay on the table. After tossing, Daddy didn't feel the sweetness of bitterness.

"How?" The horse-faced robe asked.

"There is only discomfort, not sweetness." Daddy said.

The horse-faced robe twisted his eyebrows, as if he couldn't believe it. "No sweetness?" He asked.

Grandpa smiled bitterly: "You said that this sweetness can make people survive life and death." But I don't agree with it that way. Since birth, life is a process of loss. Lost loved ones, lost friends, lost time. Even if you get some once in a while, you will eventually lose them. So I can't taste the sweetness. ”

The horse-faced robe said: "The taste of the world is not inherent in itself, but given by those who taste it." It's sweet because the person who tastes it thinks it's sweet; It is bitter because the person who tastes it thinks it is bitter. Sweet because there is hope and gain; Bitterness is because there is no hope, there is loss. What you are tasting now is not bitterness, but loss. When you find what you lost, you come back to taste this wine with me, and you will definitely say that it still tastes sweet. ”

Grandpa was shocked. It turned out that the horse-faced robe even knew everything in his heart.

"So, what is the reason why you can drink the sweetness? Have you ever lost? And then recovered? Daddy asked.

The calm face of the horse-faced robe was suddenly alarmed as if a pebble had been thrown, but it quickly regained its composure. He turned his glass and said, "Actually, I don't taste it when I drink it." There is no sweetness, and there is no bitterness. For me, it doesn't matter what I gain or what I lose. ”

Grandpa nodded and said, "That's right." If I had drunk this wine before the age of twenty, I would have found it as bland and tasteless as you do. At that time, I felt that I didn't care about what I gained or what I lost. At that time, I realized that everything in life was not my own. Money, houses, fame, power, etc., you think you own it, you are the owner of it. But in fact, no one can own anything. Let's say a fine piece of porcelain, many people like it, covet it, and finally someone gets it. But does that person have it? No. Maybe that fine porcelain will be handed down for many years, and it will be handled by many people, and everyone will think that they own it, and finally it will be seen by someone else that it has owned many people, not one person. ”

The horse-faced robe looked at his grandfather, but he didn't nod or shake his head. The face that was as calm as water seemed to reflect the shadow of his grandfather.

"I thought I understood the truth of the world. But ......" Grandpa shook his head, said no more, and raised his neck to drink the rest of the tears and wine.

The horse-faced robe sat facing the gate of the Qinglou, while the grandfather turned his back to the gate. The horse-faced robe glanced ahead and said, "Stop drinking." The bustard walked away with the guests. Now is a good time for you to get out of here. ”

Daddy looked back, and sure enough, the bustard led a guest to a table near the counter.

"Thank you for the wine." Daddy said, and then walked briskly towards the door with the toilet.

When I walked to the gate, the barking of the dog suddenly went wild!

At that moment, there was a bang in the hall, the sound of a table slapping, and then the sound of a horse-faced robe. "Bustard! Come here! What kind of wine is this? It's so unpleasant! Is it a puddle that harms the guests? ”

Grandpa knew that he was trying to attract the bustard's attention, so he hurriedly continued to run forward.

The dog barked more and more violently, and seemed to be following closely behind the feet.

Daddy suddenly threw the toilet back. A strong stench rushed to my nose. Dad threw down the toilet and hurried into a nearby alley.

The dog god really didn't follow after him. The barking of the dog stopped at the place where the poop was scattered. At this time, there was not only the sound of dogs barking, but also the howling and screaming of dogs biting and fighting. It seems that they are fighting for food that they have not been given before they die.

Grandpa wanted to see the situation in the hall of the building again, but he was afraid that the old bustard would abandon his horse-faced robe and chase after him, so he turned his head and disappeared into the night......

The grandfather who got the rag doll did not immediately return to Wuzhen. He stayed in Hangzhou for a while, asking everywhere for news of the Qinglou. An old bustard who can capture the souls of others and can make dog gods must not only be an old bustard who is in the skin and meat business.

He asked everywhere and finally got some news.

It is said that this green building was called Yuhualou in the previous dynasty, and soon after the fall of the previous dynasty, it was renamed Manzhu Tower. Some people say that the reason why it was called Yuhualou before was because a certain emperor of the previous dynasty had secretly driven south and came here to sleep in the willows, and the prostitutes here spent more time with the emperor than the concubines in the palace. Some people also say that Yuhualou does not have that meaning, just the meaning of controlling beauty.

After the renaming, Manzhu Tower, the statement is relatively unified.

Manju is the meaning of Manju Sahua. Manzhu Sawa is also known as the flower of the other side, which is the flower of hell and blooms on both sides of Huangquan Road. Therefore, Manzhu Tower is actually the junction of the two worlds of yin and yang. It receives guests from the world during the day, and from the underworld after the hour of time. And that bustard is the Meng Po in the world. She made good wine, but she never used spring water to make wine, but collected people's tears everywhere and made wine from tears. The taste can be bitter or sweet, depending on the person. This kind of drunkard drinks and forgets things, and people drink and forget.