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Chapter 17: The Big Tree Has a Spirit

Walking through the thick snow, I ran towards the mountain at the east end of the village, falling several times along the way. I finally stumbled into the mountain and found the old locust tree where several people were hugging each other.

The tree was still the same, not full of green leaves or red flowers as in the dream, nor did I see the little girl in white.

I was stunned. If the dream was fake, where did this string of crystal clear red beads in my hand come from?

If the dream is true, why don’t we see trees full of green leaves and red flowers? And that little girl?

Isn't it this tree?

But even after thinking about it, I never imagined that there would be such a big locust tree in the nearby mountains, and the old locust tree in front of me was full of strange-shaped holes. It was clearly the tree in the dream.

My head was in a daze, and the drowsiness I felt just now came back. The mountain wind blew hard and made me shiver with cold. I thought I'd better go back first before making any plans.

I turned around to leave, when I glanced at the tree from the corner of my eye, I suddenly realized something was wrong with the tree. It was a little different from before!

When I looked carefully, I discovered that there used to be many branches as thick as an arm when the tree trunk was close to the ground. Why are they now bare and gone? Where are the branches?

I got closer and took a closer look, and I saw a lot of broken twigs under the old locust tree, and there were a lot of saw scars on the trunk. I don't know who had sawed off those arms-thick branches.

I used my feet to pull away the snow under the tree, and sure enough I saw a lot of sawdust, and a faint fragrance remained.

Suddenly I slapped my forehead and remembered! It was Carpenter Zhang. I went to his house yesterday. When I entered the door, I saw a lot of branches as thick as arms in the yard, and there was a faint fragrance. This was the smell. It turned out that those branches were from this old tree.

On the locust tree!

Thinking of the weird dream last night, and the fact that many children in the village have lost their souls, it seems that this matter is not simple!

I quickly ran to the village and asked Carpenter Zhang to find out.

Going down the mountain is slippery and slippery, but it's much faster than going up the mountain. It's just that my pants and buttocks are a bit worn...

After a while, I trotted to Carpenter Zhang's house. Before I could knock on the door, Carpenter Zhang opened the door and was about to come out in a hurry.

When he saw it was me, he looked happy, hugged my arm, and dragged me into the house without any explanation. As he walked, he said excitedly: "Eldest nephew, look at our brother, you used that trick of yours last night."

It's easy to eat and make. I had a good night's sleep and didn't make any fuss at all. Let's see if it's all right!"

I followed Carpenter Zhang into the house and saw Xiaohu sitting on the kang, grabbing a big pig's trotter and chewing it.

It looks like you are sick, but you are also greedy!

I told Carpenter Zhang that his son was fine, and he was so happy that he kept praising me for being capable and worthy of being my master and apprentice.

His tall and thick wife also grinned happily and tried to hug me when she came up, which scared me so much that I wouldn’t have nightmares at night if she hugged me.

Thinking of the dream, I suddenly remembered what I was doing at his house. When he interrupted me, I couldn't forget it.

I quickly got up and went to the yard, and saw a pile of tree branches as thick as arms piled in the corner. It was the same as yesterday, except that a thick layer of snow had fallen, and a faint fragrance hit my nose as if it couldn't be covered.

Carpenter Zhang followed me in confusion, not knowing what I wanted to do.

"Uncle, are these branches of yours from the old locust tree in the mountain at the east end of the village?" I asked him straight to the point.

"Hey, Bai boy, you are so amazing! How do you know this? Can you pinch and count?" Zhang Carpenter asked me with a puzzled look on his face.

Seeing him admit it, I felt a chill in my heart for no reason. I don't know if it was caused by the wind or something.

"That old locust tree is hundreds of years old. It's a big tree, you know? It's fine. Why are you messing with it? There's no wood left to make furniture, uncle?" I was so angry when I thought about what happened.

, scold him.

Carpenter Zhang scratched his head, a little confused, and explained to me: "I am not short of wood. The main reason is that I am afraid that the children will get into trouble if they climb up and fall. If you fall from such a tall tree, your legs and arms will be broken even if you don't die. So,

Cut off the branches at the bottom of the tree trunk, so those little bastards won't be able to get up."

I seemed to be confused, so I quickly asked him: "Who climbed the tree? What were they doing?"

"I'm not sure. I was doing some work at home the other day. A boy from the Sun family came to me and said that my little tiger couldn't get up and down the tree. He asked me to go and have a look. When I went there, I saw the little tiger riding on the old tree.

It was impossible to get up and down from the top of the locust tree. The other children were probably afraid that I would scold them and they would disappear. I gave up all my strength and climbed up to get the little tiger down. Well, in a fit of anger, I sawed off all the branches at the bottom of the tree to save the gang.

Climb up again, little brat."

I understand! So that’s what happened!

"Let's go ask Xiaohu!" I still had some questions I wanted to ask clearly, so I quickly entered the room to find Zhang Xiaohu.

"Huzi, tell me, who were you climbing that old locust tree with last time? What were you doing up there?" I interrupted Zhang Xiaohu from chewing the pig's trotters and asked.

"Just the ones who are about the same size as me, the older ones won't let us play with you! There are Sun Xiao, Bai Ying, Liu Fei, Zhang Ming..." Zhang Xiaohu wiped the sticky oil on his hands and said.

As expected, they were all the same ones who had the accident the night before!

"What are you doing there? Why not have fun in the village and go so far to climb trees?"

"We didn't want to go at first, but we relied on Sun Xiao. He insisted that there was a bird's nest on the top of the old locust tree and asked us to dig out the bird's nest to see if there were any baby birds in the nest..."

"Then have you paid for it? Where can the baby birds come from in the winter? Sun Xiaosi, you are stupid too!"

"There are no baby birds, so I just touched a hand of bird poop..."

"I've found the reason. It's probably because the old locust tree has a spirit. You saw off the arms and legs of this person. I'd be weird if I didn't look for you as a monster! Find all those families quickly and I'll break it for you!

"

When Carpenter Zhang heard what I said, his expression turned bad, and he quickly agreed and ran out.

After a while, the adults and their children all arrived, and Carpenter Zhang's house was suddenly so crowded that there was no space to stand on.

I also took this time to go home and get everything I needed to prepare.

Set up the altar table, place offerings, and light incense.

I asked these unlucky children to kneel and line up in front of the altar table.

I originally thought about reciting a brilliant memorial speech, which would make me look more professional, and it was more or less the same thing, but after thinking about it for a long time, my little ink was not enough to support me in doing this, so I had to give up.

He simply said a few words, which was nothing more than asking the old locust tree not to blame them. The children were young and naive, and they were punished, so they should be pulled down.

Then he asked a few of them to kowtow and apologize, and then asked the adults of each family to take the children back. If nothing else happened, they would burn incense under the old locust tree and pay their respects.

The people in the village are honest, and when something happened, the families were all vying to invite me to their house for dinner at night, and I became a favorite.

Seeing that I refused to go, they probably felt sorry, so they sent a lot of chickens, ducks and geese to my house, as well as a few bottles of wine.

My parents were so happy that they couldn't help but think that I could still benefit them.

I remembered that my master said that when you start working for others, you have to bear the karma. You can't ask for too much money, as it will affect your Taoist mind, and you can't take nothing for nothing, as it will damage the karma. It's okay to collect some money or items appropriately. I also

He didn't refuse and accepted all the things sent by those families.

In the evening, my mother cooked a table of delicious dishes and said she wanted to reward me, including chicken, duck, and fish. At my strong request, she also stewed a few big rotten pig trotters.

I was gnawing so much that I thought of my master inexplicably. That bad old man didn’t know if he could chew rotten pig’s trotters or sleep on the warm bed in this freezing cold day in the world of ice and snow. When would he be able to return...

I had that strange dream again at night. It was still the old locust tree covered with green leaves, the same blood-red locust flowers, and the same little girl in white. Only one of the two lovely soaring horns was left, and the other ones were scattered.

I know it's because the beads that tie my hair are here.

The white and tender little face was full of grievances, and she was crying, as if she had been bullied again. After a while, she disappeared.

I searched everywhere in my dream, wanting to know who the little girl in white was and what she wanted to do? But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find it. Only the big locust tree danced in the wind in the snow, carrying the whole tree with it.

green leaves and blood-red locust flowers...

I was woken up in the morning, and it was the families who had been involved in the accident. They all stood in the courtyard in a hurry and urged me to go see their children.

I quickly got up and put on my clothes. I thought, isn’t their child well? What’s wrong?

Only after looking at it did I realize that the children didn't react at all. They fainted one by one and lost their souls!

What’s even weirder is that the scene in the dream actually came true!

The old locust tree in the mountain at the east end of the village, facing the cold wind and heavy snow, sprouted all over, grew green leaves, and bloomed with blood-red locust flowers overnight...


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