Many people in the village who are in their 30s and 40s have never seen this kind of temple worship activity. It is said that since the day the temple was built in 1895, counting this time, there have only been four sacrifices in total, and this is the fourth time.
After the shock, I was confused, I couldn't figure it out.
Regardless of the selection of tributes, the bright yellow soul flags, or the hunchbacked Yapo's dress, they all have a strong Taoist style.
The hunchbacked Yapo smoothed his sleeves, leaned on his crutches, and slowly knelt down in front of the altar table.
It may have been passed down. She looked up at the three sticks of crude incense and read some words.
I saw the ranger Lao Hu sitting in front of his hut and watching. I couldn't understand what Yapo was saying, so I ran over and asked Lao Hu.
Old Hu said: "What she read is a memorial."
The general meaning is: "In the sixth generation, the temple girl so-and-so made sacrifices to the temple. The Taoist Master blessed her and sent messages to calm her anger and grievances. Today she will offer tribute."
Many villagers followed him to pay their respects, but Lao Hu didn't show up. I asked him out of curiosity why you didn't go?
Lao Hu shook his head and said nothing.
The first ceremony is held at the entrance of Gui Zailing. After nightfall, they have to go into Gui Zai Ridge and perform the second ceremony in front of the small temple. It is said that the second ceremony is the highlight and only Yapo can do it. The villagers are not allowed to watch the process.
The afternoon temple worship activity lasted for nearly four hours. During this period, adults and children kept coming to kowtow and worship. Dou Sprout watched for a while and felt that it was boring. He had to drag me to the canteen to get instant noodles and said that he would cook instant noodles for dinner.
On the way back to the canteen we met a man.
Tang Gui’s wife.
I saw everyone hiding from Tang Gui's wife. A young man shouted behind her: "Why didn't you lock her at home? She should be locked up with an iron chain!" After shouting, he threw bricks at her.
Just run away.
Tang Gui's wife was pale, with disheveled hair. She was wearing one shoe, but the other shoe was missing. Her feet were bare, and her toes were turned purple from the cold. Moreover, I saw there were dry skin on her pants.
He was covered in blood and walked with a limp.
"Don't say anything, let's go slowly." I whispered.
The three of us were about to pass by Tang Gui's wife. At this moment, Tang Gui's wife suddenly turned to look at me and said with a silly smile: "Have you deleted the photo?"
I didn't reply and walked quickly.
She continued to limp forward, and when she met someone, she asked if the photo had been deleted. She even asked a five- or six-year-old child wearing crotchless pants, which scared several children to tears.
Seeing Tang Gui's wife walking away, Douyazai breathed a sigh of relief and said, "According to my observation, these old ladies are really crazy. They are probably too stimulated."
I don’t know what happened, but I suddenly thought of Xie Qirong.
Should madness and mental illness be the same?
I was thinking, what would happen if Tang Gui’s wife met Xie Qirong and asked him if he had deleted the photos?
Based on my several contacts with that lunatic, I guessed that Xie Qirong might have kissed her, then pulled her back on a cart and locked her up.
After we got back, we cooked seven or eight packs of instant noodles and ate them. We didn’t need to eat at this point in the evening. At the dinner table, Uncle Xue asked Brother Yu where he had sent the express. He had been away for a day and still hadn’t come back.
He raised his head and said with a smile: "Wen Bin just called me. He said he met a friend in the county town and wanted to get together at night. He asked us not to wait for him."
"Bang bang bang!"
"Bang bang bang!"
We had just finished eating when there were two rapid knocks on the door.
"Xiao Tang? Why are you here?"
When I opened the door, I saw Xiao Tang standing at the door. She asked anxiously, "Brother Xiang, aren't you here for a trip? Did you bring any bandages to stop the bleeding?"
"bandage?"
I reacted and asked: "Yes, what do you want that thing for? Where are you injured?"
"not me!"
Xiao Tang stamped his feet and said: "The doctor in the village is gone! I'm here to ask if you have any. If you have any, get it quickly! The man is dying!"
"Who is sick?" I asked as I went back to look for bandages. I remembered that there was still half a roll left.
I found something and trotted along with Xiao Tang. She took me to Guizailing.
It was evening at this time, and the sky was just getting dark.
From a distance, I saw the hunchbacked old lady leaning on the leg of the altar table, her face covered with blood, and the cloth wrapped around her could not stop the bleeding at all.
"What...what's going on?"
"How did you get hurt like this? Did you fall? I was fine when I went back just now."
Xiao Tang bit off the hemostatic bandage with his teeth and wrapped the bandage several times on Ya Po's head, finally stopping the bleeding.
Ya Po is already old, but now she has suffered such a serious injury on her head. Whether she can recover is a question. She can only maintain her condition first and then send her to the hospital as soon as possible.
But the problem is at this juncture! Something happened to Yapo, what to do with the sacrifice at night...
I asked again why it was so injured.
Xiao Tang stood up and looked around, gritted his teeth and said: "Human! It must be a human!"
Xiao Tang said that just as the ceremony was almost over, a small stone suddenly came from nowhere and hit Ya Po on the head. Ya Po was bleeding on the spot and was seriously injured!
She showed me.
It's said to be a stone, but it's actually just a pebble the size of a fingernail.
It was getting dark, so I looked around at my surroundings with the pebbles in my hand, wondering who did this and who threw the pebbles?
If it was intentional...
It's so accurate and so powerful. Could it be that someone in this village has magical powers at the snap of a finger?
Xiao Tang actually had a very good relationship with the hunchback Ya Po. Other villagers did not dare to come forward to help because they were afraid. They said that the ghost god was dissatisfied with Ya Po's sacrifice, so he was angry with her and wanted to take her away.
Xiao Tang followed me and I carried him back.
Yapo had a son who drowned more than ten years ago. She also has a granddaughter who is studying in high school in the city, so she usually lives alone.
After putting Ya Po on the bed, I asked Xiao Tang, "Should I call 120? Does your ambulance come from the city or the county?"
Xiao Tang was about to speak when he suddenly heard Ya Po's feeble voice speaking intermittently.
"what did she say?"
Little Tangti looked ugly, biting his lower lip and said: "She said not to save her. This is the meaning of Zaizai God. She has angered Zaizai God, so let her die to make amends."
"Confused!"
I said: "What a bastard! It's obvious that someone deliberately threw the stone!"
"Brother Xiang, please don't say that...we will all be implicated," Xiao Tang turned pale with fright when he heard me scolding him.
"Then you can be free. If anything happens, come find me." After leaving a few words, I left directly.
I didn't go back, but went to Guizailing. The sacrificial table had not been removed, and I could see a pool of blood on the ground.
Yapo was injured on the left side of her forehead. She should have been kneeling at the time.
This direction.....
I turned around and looked around, and finally looked at the hut. The distance between them was about a hundred meters.
"Bang bang." I knocked on the door.
"Why are you looking for me?" After waiting at the door for two minutes, Lao Hu opened the door and asked.
I smiled and said, "Nothing, Brother Hu, can I go in and sit down?"
Lao Hu held the door and shook his head: "It's inconvenient."
He said: "Something has happened to Yapo. It is estimated that tonight's sacrifice will be cancelled. The candles on the altar table in front of the temple are still burning. There are many dead branches in the woods in winter. I have to go in now to collect the tributes."
"Then let me help you. It's not safe to go in alone at night."
Lao Hu raised his head and glanced at me: "If you're not afraid, then come."
It was already dark by this time, and there was no electricity here. After locking the door of the hut, Lao Hu was smoking a cigarette and walking ahead with a flashlight, and I followed closely behind him.
As soon as I stepped into Guizailing, I saw those strange stone figures on the ground.
A table was set up in front of the small temple, which was more than one meter high. There were candles on the table and twelve wooden tablets were placed on it.
These tablets are a bit strange. The six on the table on the left are painted with black paint, and the six standing on the right are painted with white paint. Each tablet has a name written with a red brush.
"Brother Hu, whose name is written on this tablet? What was offered?"
"Hoo, ho."
Lao Hu blew out the candles one by one and said: "The Bailing cards are Liujia Yangshen, Yuande, Jielue, Tongyuan, Linqi, Churen and Gunchang."
"The black ones are the Six Yin Gods, Wen Bo, Ren Gong, Ren Gao, Wen Qing, Wen Yuan, and Ya Nu."
I frowned after hearing this. These were people recorded in ancient books, and many of them were Taoist priests.
The woods were full of dead leaves and dry branches. Maybe because as a forest ranger, he was afraid of causing a fire, so after talking, Old Hu wanted to knock down the candlestick. As a result, he accidentally knocked down a black tablet of Liuyin God Yanu.
The tablet fell from the altar table to the ground.
Lao Hu flashed his flashlight, bent down and reached out to pick it up.
At this time, an iron slingshot fell out of his coat pocket.