In the last seven days, Xianghai invited Zhao Da, Fusheng and neighbors to go to Guangfu Temple to do Buddhist things for his deceased father.

Guangfu Temple is the first temple in the south of the Yangtze River built by Puhui monks, in the past, every fifteenth day of the new year, pious pilgrims are famous to come, and the incense is very prosperous.

Early in the morning, Mrs. Li brought the three brothers Xianghai, Zhao Da and Fusheng, as well as Wu Ma and Niu Laosi to pick up 49 pairs of cages, which contained 80 kinds of pastries, and asked the good neighbors to follow and came to Guangfu Temple together. I went to the guest room to settle the account first, and the helpers in the temple led Mrs. Li and her party to the Daxiong Hall. Mrs. Li instructed that while the monk was still having breakfast, he should first go to the table to set up offerings, and pile up incense and candles in the pilgrims' resting place. After making offerings, he folded the tin foil paper while waiting for the monk to appear. Soon, a Buddha bell rang out, and seven enlightened monks came to the main hall. The so-called enlightened monks, in addition to reciting Buddhist scriptures, can also use their own words to exceed the deceased, and the mana is much greater than that of ordinary monks, so Mrs. Li spent a lot of money in the temple as early as a month ago to make an appointment for all the enlightened monks to give the deceased husband a super. A sound of Amitabha Buddha sounded, the monks sat down at the Dharma table, and another Buddha bell rang, "Oh-" The Grand Master let out a long voice, and the seven enlightened monks chanted the scriptures in unison. Xianghai folded tin foil and stacked ingots in the corner. Mrs. Li said that these jobs are all done by male dependents to be powerful, especially sons, one top ten, female dependents are useless, so all men bury their heads in work. When the Buddha bell rings, immediately stop the work at hand, Xianghai starts, the male dependents follow, the female dependents again, the neighbors follow, one by one lined up in a long slip, go to the futon kneeling and kowtowing, respectfully, three bows and three knocks. I kowtowed seventy-seven forty-nine times, and worshiped the Buddha ninety-nine and eighty-one times. After all, Mrs. Li was born in a rich and noble family, where can she withstand such a toss, the first half has not yet ended, she has knelt so straight that her knees are stiff, her head is dizzy, and she can't get up anymore when she lies on the futon. The monk signaled that he could kneel for a long time, and he didn't have to stand up and kneel down every time, but if he couldn't do it, he could not kneel, and he could stand up, so Mrs. Li couldn't kneel for a long time. After the three scriptures are recited, it is almost dusk, read the degree, burn paper money, sing verses, and add flames to the mouth to melt the dead. After the ceremonies were over, the sound of the wooden fish stopped, Xianghai helped his mother, moved to the side room to rest, saw his mother lying on the chair and closed his eyes to recuperate, Xianghai and Zhao Da and Fusheng walked out of the hall to stretch their tired bodies.

The sunset in the west sky is not so dazzling, the faint light gives the temple a cicada-like brilliance, the outline of the temple is clearly outlined, Xianghai learned from Zhao Da's example, played Shaolin boxing, suddenly saw a woman in white clothes fluttering, passing in front of her eyes, when she looked at it, the woman turned the corner of the wall and disappeared.

Xianghai hurriedly followed forward and saw that the woman had walked outside the mountain gate. Xianghai stared at the woman's back, small and exquisite, although she was dressed in coarse linen clothes and plain white juan, she was also light and soft, and she was clearly a pair of small feet but walked fast, and went straight to the small bridge in front of the temple. Xianghai turned around and heard that the woman in white was making grass for the new widow of the Zhu family who was doing a dojo in the Medicine Hall next door.

Two

The Zhu family is a well-off family in Guangfu, and Uncle Zhu, the pillar of the Zhu family, has a pair of diligent hands, cultivating a hundred acres of land on the barren and barren sandy soil, and hiring cattle farmers to cultivate. After having the money, he demolished the thatched hut and built a tiled house, and raised two cows, ten sheep, and twenty pigs. The work of cattle farmers, from the rooster to the ghost crow, earns hard money, Guangfu's land is a piece of land in the east and west, a piece of land is often only two or three acres, and both high and low are bumpy, he has to lead the cattle to the east to the west every day, and have to cross the river several times to catch the field, so every time you have to get up early. That day, before dawn, he went out shirtless with a plow and a rake of several hundred pounds. Afraid that the oxen would be tired, he would rather carry the red and swollen shoulders than ride the ox, but follow the buttocks of the ploughing oxen, walking along the river with one foot high and one foot low, and only when he crosses the cross bridge and needs to help the workers in the field is he willing to put the plow rake on the oxen, and the river under the bridge is covered with thatch, and by the way, let the oxen pick and eat tender grass. When the cow reached the bottom of the bridge, he got into the weeds, Uncle Zhu simply loosened the cow's nose rope, and the cow suddenly "mooed", and a thick cow's tail shook "pop". Uncle Zhu looked under the bridge, and saw that there seemed to be a person lying in the grass, and when he got closer, there was a red-clothed girl lying unkempt and hungry in the haystack under the bridge. Uncle Zhu leaned over and picked up the girl, and saw a pair of small feet exposed under the girl's red pants, thinking that only girls from large families wrapped their small feet, and they must have suffered a great disaster to fall here. Saving people's lives, winning the seventh-level floating slaughter, Uncle Zhu didn't have time to think about it, so he hurriedly put the girl on the back of the ox, whipped it to the sky, and didn't do the helper's life, and hurriedly drove the livestock home.

When I got home, I gave the girl hot water, brought two bowls of white rice for her to eat, and brought hot water to wash the girl's face, which turned out to be a beautiful woman. Uncle Zhu asked the girl why she was so downcast? The girl ate white rice, like a frozen seedling meeting the sun, and regained its vitality. claimed to be from northern Jiangsu, and her family was once rich, but because of the rebellion, she was looted by the rebels, and her parents and brothers were killed, and she escaped alone. As a young lady from a wealthy merchant's family, she has no power to restrain her chickens, and once the building on which she lives suddenly collapses, it is like a running dog and a pig, and relatives and friends are afraid to avoid her, and the neighbors and villagers also avoid her like a plague god, and those relatives and neighbors have been favored by her family before. The world is cold and the people are so weak, she is helpless, forced to make a living, and is reduced to Shanghai to make a living. He was vague again, saying that he came to Guangfu to look for an official, but the official was not found, and she was half dead. Uncle Zhu was overjoyed when he heard this, and thought that God really cared for him, and sent him such a handsome woman, so he intended to take her in as a child daughter-in-law. The girl had no choice but to nod her head in agreement. Uncle Zhu asked her if she was still looking for an official, and the woman said that her life would not be guaranteed, as long as the uncle was willing to take her in, what kind of official would she find. Uncle Zhu took in the girl and gave her a cheap name called Cinnamon Plant, which means that it is as cheap as a pitcher plant, it does not need to be carefully cultivated, and it does not need to be watered, it will grow up by itself. probably thought that this name was really ugly, and later Uncle Zhu gave him an elegant nickname called Langcaoer.

Lane Cao'er came to the Zhu family, stepped on a pair of small feet and learned to herd cattle, feed pigs, and chop firewood, and became the pillar of the Zhu family, which undoubtedly brought a ray of light to the declining Zhu family. Uncle Zhu calculates the future, intending to keep the fertilizer and water from flowing into the fields of outsiders, marrying the grass to his stupid son, and even saving the money for his daughter-in-law. This year, Langcao'er was eighteen years old, slim and elegant, with a pair of big eyes clear and translucent, and her cheeks were light red, becoming one of the best beauties in the village.

When the spring flowers bloomed, Uncle Zhu couldn't wait to complete the marriage of his stupid son, choose an auspicious day, invite the neighbors, and hurriedly make grass to marry his stupid son. Lang Cao'er became Uncle Zhu's daughter-in-law, but Zhu Silly was sixteen years old and still stupid and demented, but he couldn't be a husband.

The spring of that year was destined to be an eventful spring, the spring breeze was blowing, the rape flowers were blooming, Uncle Zhu went to work in the field, Zhu Silly wanted to get grass to take him to play on the cross bridge, but he refused to make grass, March of this year was colder than in previous years, and she was afraid that her stupid husband would catch a cold and get sick. But he couldn't help the stupid husband's pleading, and as soon as his heart softened, he let him sit in an ox cart and go around the cross bridge, but Zhu Silly wanted to go to the west of the bridge to play. To the west of the bridge is a wilderness and a mound, the pines and cypresses are evergreen, and the people of Guangfu have nothing to do but the bridge, but Zhu Silly insists on going. There was no way to make grass, so I drove the ox cart to the west of the bridge and went around. In the fields west of the bridge, unknown wildflowers competed for beauty, and Zhu Silly sat in the car and "babbled", and went around again after a circle, and it took more than a dozen circles before stopping. Unexpectedly, she went to Qiaoxi for more than ten laps, which turned out to be the beginning of her nightmare.