Although I found that there were not only dragon horns on the dragon's head but a few snails lying on their stomachs but retracting into their shells during the previous inspection, Hu Zongren said this at this moment, I still subconsciously looked up, just like the reaction of Mr. Zhao's family. Teacher Zhao stared at the dragon head for a long time, and then stammered and asked Hu Zongren, do you mean, those snails are my ancestors? Hu Zongren didn't speak, just nodded while shaving rice. I told Mr. Zhao that this snail is not your ancestor, but the reason why these snails came out of the grave, and then climbed so far to your house in fear, and then climbed along the wall to the dragon's head, is because of the relationship between your ancestors. As for what it is, we don't know for the time being, but I can prove it to you.

With that, I stood up and pressed against the wall to look closely. A few snails were crawling up the base of the wall, leaving a trail that resembled glue. I took out the compass and asked Mr. Zhao and his brothers to take a closer look, and I said that you can see the current north-south direction of the compass, which has been corrected by my proofreading, and the door of your house is facing due east, which means that when the sun comes out every morning, the first ray of sunlight can directly shine into your hall. And your dragon head is facing the gate, which means that when the sun shines in, you can "open your eyes" to the dragon, which is a very auspicious thing. But you take a closer look. With that, I brought the compass closer to the water marks where the snails had crawled, and the needle of the compass began to swing slightly from side to side, as if someone nearby was interfering with a piece of iron, which was not very strong, but it was enough to prove that it was an abnormal reaction.

Then I placed the compass near the snail, and the compass hand turned a little harder, but only a little stronger than the one on the water mark. I told Mr. Zhao and the brothers that the reaction here is exactly the same as the snail we had in front of your ancestor's grave before, and it is the same type as the reaction in your ancestor's grave, so this shows that these snails from Longtou Mountain came from your ancestor's grave. As for the snail that is good for the sake of the snail, and the living creature has this kind of soul reaction, does this need me to say? Teacher Zhao, they didn't seem to understand it, so I didn't continue to explain, if it was too clear, then why did people still come to people like me and Hu Zongren.

Then Mr. Zhao and I sat back in our seats, and Hu Zongren had already added another bowl of rice. He told us as he ate, you should also eat quickly, and after eating, I hope you can tell us everything you know about your ancestors.

After lunch, the two daughters-in-law of Mr. Zhao's family took away the dishes, dishes and chopsticks, except for the pair that they had prepared for their ancestors. The four of us sat in three directions of the table, leaving a blank side. Hu Zongren said to Teacher Zhao, you said that you have never seen your grandfather since you were a child, so how much do you know from your father? Because considering that a person who has been dead for decades suddenly comes back, there are only two situations, either he didn't go clean in the first place, or he encounters something that has to bring him back to the world. Teacher Zhao said that he didn't know much about the situation, but he remembered that since he was a child, he rarely heard his parents talk about his grandfather. His father was also a master of dragon dance, so when he was twelve years old, he began to grow taller, and his father saw that he was tall enough, so he began to teach him the essentials of dragon dance. At that time, the younger brother was still young, and he was all handed over to his mother to take him.

Teacher Zhao said that he remembered that once he was tired from practice, so he was lazy to run to the back mountain to climb the tree to play, but fell asleep on the tree and fell down, breaking a hand, fortunately, there are still people living near the house, after the villagers sent him home, his father quickly found the village bone-setting master to pick up the bones, when his father asked him why he wanted to secretly run to climb the tree, Teacher Zhao said to his father, because the practice is too hard, climbing the tree is more fun.

Teacher Zhao said that at that time, he was still a child, and he could say whatever came to mind, and people in that era, if they lied to their elders, they would be regarded as a disobedient thing. At that time, when his father heard his son say this, he sighed and sat on the edge of his bed and said to him, "This is a skill passed down from our family, and even if you don't like it, you must practice it." Industry is good at diligence and frolic, our family just a few pieces of land, relying on farming alone, a farmer all his life, people go to high places, your father and I have not been able to get out of the Lu, but also hope that you can get out of the Lu, one is to run a good livelihood, and the other is to pass on the stunt of our Tongliang Dragon Dance.

Teacher Zhao told us that because he was still a child, he did not have a deep understanding of his father's expectations at that time. So he asked his father openly, why can't you get out of it? Father probably didn't think he would ask this, so he replied to him, you have also seen the situation of our family, your father earned a lot of money from dragon dancing in the first half of his life, why are we still so poor, because Dad's money is used to pay off debts. He asked why he wanted to repay the debt, and his father told him that he had to repay the debt owed by Mr. Zhao's grandfather. So that was the first time he learned so carefully from his father about his grandfather's past.

Mr. Zhao's grandfather was also a child of a poor family when he was a child, because in the old society, and in the Sichuan region, at that time, if the poor did not go to the landlord to do long-term work, the only way to survive was nothing more than two ways, one was to join the army, to fight with the commander of the army and the division commander warlords, mixed rations to eat. Either he is the king of the mountain, as a bandit, a robe, robbing the rich and helping the poor, although this can temporarily have food and clothing, but it is often exterminated by the local coalition army, in the eyes of the common people, this is also a person who only has half a life. Or that is to have a skill, hit stones, be a carpenter, or know how to do manual work, and Mr. Zhao's grandfather was a long-term worker in a landlord's family, and when he was a teenager, he ran out of the landlord's house and never went back.

Mr. Zhao said that at that time, Sichuan was relatively peaceful, except for warlords and bandits who often fought back and forth, and occasionally came to the village to catch strong men and fill the army, but in most cases the battlefield was in the suburbs, and generally did not hurt the people. At that time, there were only a few criss-crossing old streets in Tongliang County, but there were many people, there were businessmen from other places, and there were also locals who did some small business here, but whenever any family opened a good fortune or married a daughter, they would invite the dragon dance team to come to the dragon and lion dance to congratulate and have a lively time, and every year during the New Year, the county prince would also take money to invite them to celebrate, so at that time, the dragon dance team was a fat difference, and everyone wanted to go in and eat.

And Mr. Zhao's grandfather is a talented one, he learned all the skills of the master at a young age, and sometimes the dragon dance is better than the master, which makes his master very pleased, so he has been regarded as a successor for a long time, and later the master died, and Mr. Zhao's grandfather naturally took over the dragon dance team from him. Mr. Zhao said that his father was born in 1940, when he was born, his grandfather was still dancing dragons, and because of years of accumulation, he returned to his hometown to build a big yard, grandpa was bold by nature, and liked to make friends on the rivers and lakes.

I know this. There are two kinds of robes, clear water and muddy water, the former is generally a person who does not contribute money or effort, or has a plan to provide protection, and the latter is a person who charges with a big sword and spear. Teacher Zhao pointed to the door and said to us, there used to be a big yard over there, which was our family's ancestral house. At that time, Mr. Zhao's grandfather was richer than the landlord who helped him at that time, so he bought almost the entire village and the land on the mountain, invited the villagers to help with the farming, and became a local landowner. As I get older, the dragon dance is very difficult, and I have formed several teams by myself, so I don't have to go out on my own. So more time is to teach Mr. Zhao's father dragon dance skills at home.

When he said this, Mr. Zhao suddenly sighed and said, but the good times did not last long, soon after the liberation, Tongliang also carried out land reform with the national trend, and the family's land was returned to the villagers overnight. At that time, there were still many tobacco houses in Sichuan, and because of opium, they lost their homes all of a sudden. Teacher Zhao smiled bitterly and spread his hands and said, Look, now there is only this little thing left in our family, and it is still bought with the money left by my grandfather.

Mr. Zhao went on to say that his father had also been dancing dragons for decades, but with the change of policy, the business was not as good as year by year, because everyone was gradually not interested. When he was a teenager, he also performed in many places in Chongqing and Sichuan with his father's team, but his income was very meager. Later, the country banned fireworks, which made the dragon dance that began to make people feel boring seemed even more meaningless, so it is basically difficult to see it now, unless it is a big money who wants to be elegant, so I invite the team to dance, but now the team is scattered, and all that can be invited is some half a bucket of water, the real dragon dance, I'm afraid I can't see it.

Hu Zongren asked Mr. Zhao, what did you do after you left the team? Teacher Zhao said with a smile, what else can you do, and there is no culture, I thought that the dragon dance could be mixed with food, but now I can't mix, so I can only work around, there are a lot of places in the county, I go to work as a decorator, cutting wood and sawing boards, I will still do these simple jobs. My wife farms at home, feeds chickens and ducks, and the children's school tuition is also high. Teacher Zhao said that even so, he must let his children study, and the inheritance is gone, and reading seems to have become the only choice.

I was about to tell Mr. Zhao that in fact, Hu Zongren and I didn't study much, Hu Zongren suddenly said, your ancestor was unfortunate in his old age, this may be a reason for him to stay, since this is the case, now the descendants are still alive, and they are sons and grandsons, then I will do a ritual in front of the grave in the name of your brothers and your children, hoping to make the ancestors blind, what should be left behind, and what should be dissipated will be dissipated.

Teacher Zhao asked a little embarrassed, can you two really do it? Hu Zongren nodded and said with a smile, we are different from the goddesses in your village, we don't play false.