It is a famous Taoist mountain in Jiangsu Province, China. It is the birthplace of the Shangqing Sect of Taoism. It is called the "Shangqing Zongtan" by Taoists and has the reputation of "the first blessed place and the eighth cave heaven"!
Because the mountain is winding and resembling the character "Ji", it is named Juqu Mountain. Taoists call it "Jinling of Juqu, a blessed place for cultivating truth and a spiritual ruins for becoming a god."
During the Western Han Dynasty, three brothers of the Mao family in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, Mao Ying, Mao Gu and Mao Zhong, came to Juqu Mountain to practice Taoism and perform good deeds, benefiting the world. In order to commemorate Mao's merits, later generations renamed Juqu Mountain Sanmao Mountain, referred to as "Maoshan".
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Taoism in Maoshan reached its peak. There were more than 300 and 5,000 Taoist buildings of various sizes, including palaces, temples, halls, and buildings in the mountains and ridges, among the peaks and valleys, and thousands of Taoist priests.
The theory of "three palaces, five temples, and seventy-two thatched nunneries".
However, in the 1980s, after experiencing the catastrophe of that decade, Maoshan seemed to be in some decline. Although it was restored in the early 1980s, it is still difficult to regain the incense of its heyday.
At the foot of the mountain near Jintan, there are several small villages surrounding it, with no more than a hundred households, and smaller villages with only a dozen or so households. Every morning and evening, you can see bursts of cooking smoke at the foot of the mountain.
rising everywhere.
When children in these villages reach school age, they have to walk five or six miles to go to the school in the town.
Boarding is not popular in this era, and you have to rush home obediently after school. Fortunately, there are no large wild animals near Maoshan. They are used to running on the road, so there is no chance of any accidents.
"Brother Ye Zi, we have a holiday tomorrow, do we want to celebrate tonight? How about we go steal corn from the cornfield of Li Erluzi's house and eat it?"
On a small road in the mountains, there were three, four, nine, and half-year-old boys in their early teens, carrying military green patched schoolbags on their backs, their small eyes searching around the sides of the road, with their toes exposed.
The cloth shoes on his head were not honest enough to kick the pebbles on the ground.
When it comes to eating, except for the little boy walking in the middle, the eyes of the other little guys are bright and they can't help but swallow saliva in their stomachs.
Although the chief designer had already shouted the slogan of reform and opening up at this time, large-scale construction was also going on vigorously in a city on the southern coast.
But in this remote mountain village, the children who are at the age of "half-grown children, poor people", in addition to playing, what they talk about the most in their spare time every day is eating.
Ye Tian, who was walking among a few people, heard what the little fat man said and said, "What kind of corn are you eating? Come to my house to eat fish, crabs and eels..."
In terms of family background, Ye Tian's family is an outsider and can be said to be the poorest of the family. However, Ye Tian's father always tried every means to supplement his son's nutrition. If there was no meat to eat, he would never run out of fish.
When they heard that there was fish to eat, the saliva of several little guys immediately flowed out. The uncle of the Ye family is very good at cooking fish. Even the fish soup boiled in plain water can make people drink it with endless aftertaste.
"Brother Ye Zi, you must have caught the eel. You are so good, but I always can't catch it."
A little fat man looked at Ye Tian with envy. He could look like a weight at the age of eight or nine. This was definitely the result of stuffing edible food into his mouth.
Fishing for eels is a technical job, and the tools are simple. Just use a bicycle strip. One end is sharpened and bent into a hook, and the other end is bent into a circle.
After finding the eel hole, you can put the hook into the hole. If an eel eats the hook, push it inward so that all the hook enters the mouth, turn the angle, pull it out of the hole, and use another eel in time to
Hold the eel's neck with one hand and lift it out of the fish hole.
It is easy to say, but it is extremely difficult to master the heat. Ye Tianneng has become the child king of several surrounding villages. In addition to defeating no opponents of his own age, his eel fishing skills are incomparable to many adults.
superior.
"Look at how greedy you are. What can eels eat? Crabs are delicious. This month happens to be the season for eating crabs..."
Maoshan is located in a water town in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are streams at the foot of the mountain. However, people don't seem to be too interested in crabs, and few people catch them to eat. On the contrary, people fishing for eels and fish can be seen everywhere. In this era of poverty, people are also trying to find ways to improve things.
Live your own life.
Ye Tian curled his lips, waved his fist, looked at the friends around him with threatening eyes, and said: "No one is allowed to tell my dad about Yu Qingya crying today, otherwise..."
"Brother Ye Zi, don't worry, we won't tell you..."
With a flattering expression on his face, the little fat man approached Ye Tian and asked, "Brother Ye Zi, put the mirror on your feet, can you see clearly under her skirt?"
"Of course I saw it clearly, but...she noticed it after just one glance..."
Ye Tian said with a bitter look on his face, this little girl's movie was so unfunny, he cried and ran to tell the teacher, which made him get double hundred in the exam this year, and he didn't get the certificate of three good students.
However, it seems that after attending elementary school for five years, Ye Tian got perfect scores in every exam, but he never got a certificate from home. He either tied a female classmate’s pigtails to a chair or threw firecrackers into the men’s bathroom. The parents did not
Yelling frequently.
"Brother Ye Zi, how about... let's go see Er Lunzi and his wife take a bath after dinner? I know Er Lunzi is going to the reservoir to lower fishing nets today..."
The little fat man rolled his eyes and came up with a bad idea. It wasn't that these kids had grown up early, but it was just that they were too bored in this remote mountain village, leaving these kids nowhere to vent their energy.
"Sure, but you guys be careful, don't recruit me out if you get caught..."
Ye Tian nodded. This was not the first time they had done this. It was said that from the day Li Lengzi got married when Ye Tian was five years old, he had crawled under the bed of his new house, and the next day he had learned from the villagers in a lively manner.
listen.
Of course, Ye Tian himself doesn't understand what "hum hum ah ah" means, and he still doesn't quite understand it.
A few little guys were talking and had already seen the village not far away. They immediately quickened their pace and ran towards the entrance of the village. The yellow dog that was originally squatting under the big locust tree at the entrance of the village was about to greet them. When they saw it, it was these few
After catching the guy, he quickly clamped his tail and retracted it.
The village where Ye Tian lives is called Lizhuang. As the name suggests, except for Ye Tian and his son, all the other people in this village have the surname Li. It is said that during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the two brothers fled here from northern Jiangsu, and this village came into being.
Lizhuang is not very big, with only twenty-three households in total. From the beginning of the village to the end of the village, you can run back and forth in a few minutes.
On the outer wall of the bluestone house in the village, there are still words painted with lime such as "Struggle against private interests and approve repairs", "Carry the great proletarian revolution to the end!"
"Pangdun, Erdan, you guys can come over as soon as you get home..." Ye Tian stopped when he reached the end of the village. His home was at the entrance of the village.
Ye Tianjia was originally an ancestral hall in the village. However, in those ten years, the ancestral tablets were destroyed by those fanatical young red generals who were looking to "eliminate feudal superstitions" all day long, and the ancestral hall became an ancestral hall.
The residence of educated youths.
However, as the educated youth returned to their hometowns, the ancestral hall that originally housed more than ten people now only houses Ye Tian and his son, making the large place a little dilapidated.
"Dad, I'm back. I passed the double hundred test again this year..."
Ye Tian started shouting loudly as soon as he entered the courtyard. Different from the Jiangnan dialect he spoke to his friends just now, what Ye Tian spoke now was authentic Mandarin, which seemed to have a hint of Beijing accent.
"You brat, why are you so loud? Are you doing something bad again?"
As the saying goes, a child is better than his father. After hearing Ye Tian's voice, the middle-aged man in the yard stood up straight and laughed and cursed. He was taught a lesson several times every year. Of course he knew his son's ability to cause trouble.
Ye Tian's appearance is very similar to his father, but compared to Ye Dongping's resolute face, Ye Tian's face is a little softer.
When Ye Tian was young, people from other villages who came to visit him would always praise Ye Tian for how beautiful the girl was. As a result, when Ye Tian was five years old, he climbed up Maoshan Mountain alone, saying that he wanted to learn from a teacher.
A man.
If it weren't for the lack of monks in Maoshan, after watching "Shaolin Temple" played by the screening team, Ye Tian would have dared to shave his hair and become a monk.
"It's okay, Dad, I'll help you kill the eels..."
Ye Tian threw his schoolbag aside and took a wooden board from the door with a smile. There was a nail driven on the top of the board.
Putting the board on the ground, Ye Tian stretched out his hand to grab an eel from the basin next to him, and nailed it to the board skillfully. He produced a small knife from nowhere with his right hand and cut the eel's belly with a single stroke.
It was chipped.
After searching in the water for a while, Ye Tian quickly flashed his right hand on the wooden board a few times, and with a flick of his hand, a piece of eel weighing one pound fell into the enamel jar prepared next to it.
The father and son have been dependent on each other for so many years, and this is obviously not the first time they have worked together. After Ye Tian cleaned up the eels, Ye Dong also heated up the lard in the pan. After adding some green onions and chili peppers, he poured out the eel slices.
Put it in the pot, and with the sound of "chichi", a fragrance fills the yard.
Not long after, a large enamel jar stir-fried eel slices, a braised fish and a bowl of fish head soup were placed on the table. There were also home-grown vegetables. In rural areas, these dishes were considered very rich.
Already.
Although there were only three dishes, the portion was quite large. The fish alone weighed six or seven kilograms. Plus three kilograms of eel fillets, it was enough to feed five or six people.
"It smells so good, Lao Ye. I bought some rice wine when I came back from town. Let's have a few drinks together..."
Following a burst of laughter, a man of the same age as Ye Dongping walked in. Behind him, there were several fat guys, but all of them were shrinking and winking at Ye Tian.
"Teacher Yu..."
After seeing the visitor, Ye Tian immediately became more honest. He stood up and called out to the teacher in a polite manner. The visitor was not only his class teacher, but also Yu Qingya's father. Who knows if he is here to complain?
Yu Haoran glanced at Ye Tian, who was pretending to be honest, and scolded with a smile: "You brat, your studies are good, but you are too naughty. You need to develop your moral, intellectual, physical, artistic, and physical skills in an all-round way..."
Looking at his student, Yu Haoran couldn't laugh or cry. Ye Tian's academic performance is nothing to say. Not to mention the elementary school in the town, he is also one of the best in the county.
Playing on it.
However, teachers always prefer students with good academic performance. Although they are harsh in words, they still like them in their hearts. After calling their parents several times, Yu Haoran became friends with Ye Dongping.
Like Ye Dongping, Yu Haoran is also an educated youth from outside, but because he found a partner locally, he did not return to Shanghai. From 1978 to now, he has been teaching in primary schools.
Seeing Yu Haoran's expression, Ye Dongping said with a smile: "Teacher Yu, has this kid gotten into trouble again? If you don't have your bed tiles for three days, you will treat it as your own child. Don't be lenient when you teach him a lesson..."
"No way, Dad, I'm hungry, let's eat..."
Ye Tian glanced at the teacher with a guilty conscience, but he also knew that since the head teacher became friends with his father, he had not made many reports, and it seemed that he could avoid it again today.
"Eat, eat, come, Lao Ye, let's go first..."
Sure enough, Yu Haoran didn't mention what happened at school. After a few kids gathered around the table, he picked up the glass filled with wine and clinked it with Ye Dongping.
"This wine... is tasteless, but Erguotou is still strong enough..." Ye Dongping drank a glass of wine and shook his head. He seemed to have thought of something, and his eyes were slightly dim.
Yu Haoran put down his wine glass and said: "Old Ye, I just have something to tell you..."
The adults were drinking and chatting, but the little guys were not idle. With their chopsticks flying, they first picked up a piece of fish and stuffed it into their mouths, then buried a piece of eel fillet in the bowl. Finally, their eyes were fixed on the next target. They all looked like
It's like a wolf cub.
"Dad, Teacher Yu, we are full..." Three to five minutes later, the food on the table was swept away. Ye Tian patted his belly and stood up, looking towards the door.
"You brat, each one is better than the other..."
Looking at the empty bowl on the table, Ye Dongping smiled and cursed, stood up and said, "Let's all go out and play, Teacher Yu. I'll fry some more peanuts. You can talk about that slowly..."
…
Although no one in Lizhuang has installed a TV in their home, it is still quite lively at night in the countryside in the summer. People come out to chat in the shade after dinner, as well as the frogs and insects in the fields add a bit of life to this small village.
"Brother Ye Zi, show me..."
Under the window of a small courtyard house, three little heads were squeezing and peering into the room. Through the moonlight outside the window, one could vaguely see the white body in the room with the lights off.
Although they are not old enough to cause changes in certain parts of the body, they are a good asset to brag to their classmates at school. Therefore, these little guys always enjoy this activity whenever they catch the idiot at home.
"You little bastards, are you looking for death?"
Just when Ye Tian and others were discussing in low voices whether the mole on the buttocks of the stupid wife was on the left or the right, there was a sudden explosion at the door of the yard.
"Damn, Fatty, didn't you say that the idiot won't come back until midnight? I should have known that I would have figured it out myself..."
Ye Tian knew Er Lunzi's temper. If he was caught doing something like this, the whole village who was designated to make a fuss would know about it. He didn't think that he would be treated differently if he helped Er Lunzi hold the chicken when he got married.
Seeing the idiot blocking the yard, several little guys immediately dispersed and ran to both sides. The wall in this rural area was only more than one meter high, and even a small fat man could climb over it.
Just as Ye Tiangang ran to the wall, Fatty's cry of pain came from behind. When he looked back, he saw that Erluzi had his ears twisted and he was howling with a grin on his face.
"This idiot..."
Ye Tian muttered, but his movements did not slow down at all. After holding his right hand on the earth wall that was about the same height as himself, he jumped up and flipped out deftly.
"Oh, let's go to the master's house today..."
After leaving Er Lengzi's yard, Ye Tian didn't go home. He ran directly to the hillside behind the village. He didn't want to get beaten on the first day of vacation. He had to hide in the mountains for a few days before his father's anger subsided.
Not too late.
Although Maoshan Mountain has tall trees and dense forests, Ye Tian is not afraid. When he was five years old, he dared to crawl into the old forest on the mountain. However, he went to the wrong mountain. By chance, he met an old man named Li in a dilapidated Taoist temple.
The Taoist priest was deceived into becoming his master.
Ye Tian didn't know how old Taoist Li was, but the old Taoist priest often said that when Commander Chen Yi was fighting guerrillas in Maoshan, he always called him uncle.
When Ye Tian was young, he didn't know who Commander Chen was, but after he learned about Chen Yi's background after going to school, he often laughed at the old Taoist priest for bragging. The old Taoist priest was not angry, but just laughed and said nothing.
Although the old guy was a bit talkative, forcing him to memorize difficult-to-read books such as "Ma Yi Xiangfa" and "Shui Jing Ji" all day long, he was really good at martial arts. Ye Tian just learned some Qi-guiding techniques from him.
, beating all the invincible opponents of the same age.
It took almost an hour to get from Lizhuang to the Taoist temple on the mountain. Halfway through, it suddenly started raining heavily. By the time Ye Tian arrived at the Taoist temple, he was already soaked like a drowned rat.
"Master, master, I'm here..." Ye Tian dived into the Taoist temple from the rain curtain.
This Taoist temple is not very big. In addition to the main hall at the entrance, there are only two wing rooms at the back. Due to disrepair, the gate is dilapidated. Last year, the old guy chopped it up and burned it for firewood, which saved Ye Tian from going there.
Knock on the door.
"Master, where is the person?"
Ye Tianqian walked around the back room of the temple, but found that the old Taoist priest was not in the Taoist temple. He scratched his head and walked back to the main hall, bowing to a statue enshrined in the middle of the hall.
Unlike the Taoist temple on the main peak of Maoshan Mountain, which worships the Three Pure Ones, the statue in this Taoist temple is an ordinary Taoist statue.
The Taoist priest on the altar is dressed in linen clothes, with his hair tied in a bun. His left hand is placed on his side and his chest, while his right hand is raised to the top of his head, holding a palm-sized clay compass. The whole shape looks quite strange.
According to the old Taoist priest, this is the ancestor of their Mai lineage. Although he is not popular in the world, he must be worshiped sincerely.
"With such heavy rain, nothing will happen to the old guy, right?"
Suddenly there was a loud thunder, and the whole Taoist temple seemed to shake. Ye Tian turned back and looked outside, and couldn't help but worry about the old Taoist priest.
"Huh? What sound?"
Just as Ye Tian was looking outside, he suddenly heard a "quacking" sound behind him. When he looked back, he found that the clay sculpture had fallen straight towards him.
"Master Patriarch, I would be disrespectful to you..."
When Ye Tian looked up, he saw that the statue of Taoist priest in sackcloth was already pressing towards him like a hill. Ye Tian quickly stepped back. Due to his short stature, he could barely avoid the ancestor's head.
But before Ye Tian felt lucky that he had escaped, he suddenly felt a sharp pain coming from the top of his head. It was the right hand of the statue raised above his head that hit Ye Tian's little head.
Although it was a clay hand, its strength should not be underestimated. The blood on Ye Tian's head immediately flowed from the slap, and he felt his eyes blacken and he fainted.
The two-meter-high clay sculpture also fell into pieces after falling from the altar. I wonder if this ancestor in Mai would have expected such a disaster to happen to him a thousand years ago?
The head is the place with the densest concentration of capillaries in the human body. Even if the skin is scratched, the blood will continue to flow. Ye Tian's small body fell to the ground, and soon the blood stained the ground around him red.
The heavy rain outside became more and more intense, and lightning was raging in the sky. The dilapidated Taoist temple was crumbling in the storm, and it seemed that it might collapse at any time.
