There are too many taboo things for rural people, and this mouth says that they want to send stone lions, and they are not afraid of bad luck?

However, I didn't understand the rules of this business, and I didn't ask too much, so I silently followed Liu Cheng towards the mountain, and found that no one had come to this road for a long time, and the road opened up by the ancestors had long been covered by thorns.

This mountain was not high, but all the way up, it took us nearly an hour's time, to the middle of the mountain, only to see a piece of flat land in this forest, there is a dilapidated small view on the flat ground, the view is written on the three words 'Qingshan View', when we go, this dilapidated small Taoist temple came from the sound of jingling bells, Liu Cheng exclaimed after hearing that it was not good, and he was busy looking at the main entrance of the Taoist temple, but saw that there were five people inside who were chiseling some gravel in the Taoist temple, and the weeds in the Taoist temple had been cleaned up by them.

Liu Cheng hurriedly stepped forward and shouted, "Stop! ”

These people raised their heads to look at Liu Cheng, and saw that Liu Cheng was wearing Taoist clothes, and seemed to understand something, waved his hand and said, "Dao Ye wait a while, the house has been cleaned up, and the stones in this courtyard have not had time to be cleaned up, and they can live in tonight." ”

I think someone said hello, saying that there is a Taoist priest here to live, and let them come early to clean up.

There is also a rule in Taoism, those who convert to Taoism are called Taoists, and those who believe in Taoism but have not converted are called laymen, and when they see Taoists, they should also call Taoists Taoists, immortals, masters, mages or Taoists, not called brothers or brothers, this group of people obviously understands this rule, so they call Liu Cheng Taoist.

Seeing that they continued to chisel stones, Liu Cheng stepped forward and grabbed one of them to stop him from continuing, and then looked around the courtyard, but he didn't see the boulder blocking the way, his face changed suddenly, and he asked, "What about the stone that rolled down the mountain?" ”

The man replied, "It's been chiseled and shipped away, what's wrong?" ”

Liu Cheng glanced back at me, and then continued to ask, "Where did it go?" ”

The man pointed to the bottom of the mountain and said, "It was transported away from the shop where the stele was carved in the village under the mountain, saying that it was used to carve tombstones and stone lions, and the last load was also picked up by Old Man Zhao just now,"

We listened and looked at each other, and the person who picked up the stone when we came here just now was not the person who carved the monument, and we also saw it when we went up the mountain, and the road up the mountain was no longer passable, so the man carried the stone around the road and passed through the side mountain.

We walked with him for so long and didn't even notice it, Liu Cheng naturally reacted, and immediately said, "You don't have to dig here, we will handle the rest by ourselves." As he spoke, he turned around and walked us down the hill without stopping.

Regardless of the thorn bushes on the road, I followed quickly behind, and seeing Liu Cheng in such a hurry, I asked curiously, "Is that stone useful?" ”

Liu Cheng glanced at me and said, "That stone is your life, it's called a dragon stone, there is a gentian in the stone, once the gentian is broken, you kid should also die." ”

I only felt very mysterious when I heard it, but I didn't say much, and followed Liu Cheng all the way to Santou Village at the bottom of the mountain.

Because we are in the same township, the living habits here are similar to those in our village, they all rise and rest at sunset, but this place is obviously richer than ours, and the number of shops is much more than that of our village.

Hurriedly entered Santou Village, Liu Cheng only inquired about someone, and asked about the tombstone shop.

The people of Santou Village said that the person who carved the stele was called Zhao Shide, and the family began to do this business during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and it was interrupted for a period of time when the commune was made, and then the families became a little richer, and he reopened the tombstone shop, and most of the tombstones in the township came from his hands.

Liu Cheng took us directly to the outside of an inconspicuous small bungalow at the edge of Santou Village, and when we went, we saw that the old man who was traveling with us before was sitting on a low bench carving a stone in front of him, and when he heard someone coming in, he opened his mouth without raising his head and said, "If you engrave the inscription, first write the name of the deceased, the date of birth, the name of the descendants, and the identity of the deceased on the paper, and then pick the stone; If you are in the Zhenyin house, you will choose the stone yourself, and then tell me whether to carve a unicorn or a lion. ”

Seeing that he didn't look up, Liu Cheng walked in and looked around first, but didn't seem to find the stone he was looking for, and then said, "Old man, it's me." ”

Zhao Shide raised his head at this time, and when he saw that it was Liu Chenghou, he smiled happily, invited us into the house and sat down, and asked us why we came.

Liu Cheng didn't talk nonsense, and asked directly, "Did you pick up some stones from the Taoist temple on the mountain?" ”

Zhao Shide nodded and said, "There are some, someone told me last night that there are a few good stones in the Taoist temple, let me hurry up and pick them, now there are very few good stones, and the burden just now is the last one." ”

Liu Cheng said again, "Where is the stone you picked?" I don't seem to see the stones in your shop. ”

Zhao Shide put down the work in his hand, looked up at Liu Cheng, and asked vigilantly, "What are you looking for that stone for?" ”

Liu Cheng said, "I can't tell you the specifics, but that stone is related to a child's life, so if you accept the stone, please return it all to me, and I am willing to pay double the market price in exchange." ”

Zhao Shide didn't make a sound, continued to look at Liu Cheng vigilantly, and then stared at me and Huang Yunqiu and Chen Yingying behind him, and then said after a while, "My family has been doing this business for hundreds of years, and I still have some eyesight, master, the two women behind you, I'm afraid they are not alive." ”

Chen Yingying and Huang Yunqiu were stunned.

Liu Cheng didn't think it was strange and said, "Yes, they have been dead for a long time. ”

Zhao Shide smiled and said, "You're late, I picked up those stones overnight last night, just back to the house, there was a person, just like you, the person behind him is not a living person, that person is to carve the sacred beast of the town's Yin House, there are many living people who come to this shop, but there are also a lot of dead people, I am not surprised, and I didn't ask much, so I let him choose his own stones, and he chose the stones I just picked up from the Taoist temple, and let me carve them all into the shape of a dog, I carved two to him last night, when I went home just now, He had already carried all the stones with him. ”

Liu Cheng's face changed when he heard this, and he hurriedly asked, "What does that person look like?" ”

Zhao Shide said, "I didn't see this clearly, as the saying goes, there are no good people in front of the tombstone, the rule of this line is not to ask too much, not to look too much, who knows if he killed someone or made money." ”

Grandpa told me about this, saying that the old man should be buried thickly, when the old man is alive, just treat the old man well, don't be too extravagant after the old man dies, and simply bury this is the right way, those who spend money and effort to make a big show, most of them don't have any good intentions, either they do it for others to see, or they feel guilty, and they talk about pomp and circumstance, which is called labor and money, and change customs, so there is such a sentence that there are no good people in front of the tombstone.

Liu Cheng didn't really see the stone in this shop, but then said, "The inscription shop is dedicated to the Heavenly Master Zhong Kui, which is to warn those who carve the inscription to carve the Yin Beast to have a scale in their hearts, what can and can't be done, can you still carve dogs in this shop?" ”

Most of the mythical beasts in front of the tomb are lions and unicorns, which means to attract wealth, suppress evil spirits, and protect future generations to become talents, but the carving of dogs, I have heard of it for the first time, and I have never seen it before.

Zhao Shide listened to Liu Cheng's words, and then looked at Liu Cheng, and said for a long time, "I don't look like a wicked person, I will tell you clearly, there are two non-carving in this line, do not carve dragons and phoenixes, do not carve pigs and dogs, carve dragons and phoenixes that are disrespectful to heaven and earth, carved pigs and dogs that must be harmful, at that time the man told me to carve all into dogs, I knew that he was going to harm people, and I said I didn't agree at the time, but there was no way, there were several wandering ghosts behind him, if I didn't agree, he would come forward to get me, and I could only do what he wanted, He chose two stones for me to carve two dogs overnight and handed them to him, and the rest were all carried away by him before I could carve them. ”

Liu Cheng looked at him silently, "You didn't tell the truth. ”

Zhao Shide was stunned for a moment, then sighed and continued, "This thing is really strange, last night someone suddenly notified me to transport the stone, I also saw that the stone material is good, even if you don't carve it can be sold at a good price, but confiscated my money, I feel that there is something wrong with this stone, plus then someone asked me to use this stone to carve a dog, I kept an eye, carved a piece down and kept it, I wanted to see what was wrong with this stone, since you came to the door, I will show it to you." ”

Zhao Shide said and turned to go in, and after a short time, he took out a fist-sized stone and handed it to Liu Cheng, Liu Cheng took the stone and then showed it to Huang Yunqiu, and asked, "You saw the stones they exploded before, is this the case?" ”

Huang Yunqiu looked at it for a while and nodded, "That's it." ”

I also took a look, this stone is indeed different from other stones, whether it is outside or inside, there are crooked lines, and there is a trace of blood red in the stone.

Liu Cheng then returned the stone to Zhao Shide, and then said to us, "The gentian is red, and it seems that someone has taken it. ”

Zhao Shide didn't understand much when he heard it, and when he was surprised, he looked at Huang Yunqiu and was stunned, and suddenly remembered for a while, pointed at Huang Yunqiu and exclaimed, "Aren't you the girl who carried a dead baby into the village in 1966 to beg for food for the living?" ”

At that time, Huang Yunqiu had come to this village and went door to door to save people's lives, and in the end, only an old man in Wang Duangong's family in Santou Village pointed her out a clear way.

Too much time has passed, I didn't expect this Zhao Shide to be able to remember, but Huang Yunqiu didn't think about it, after all, her attention was all on the child at that time.