Arriving at the end of the small east gate, Xueming returned to the paper shop and entered, leaving the two girls waiting outside.
When he entered the main room, he happened to see Mr. Chen busy in front of the shrine - a fake foreign devil stepping on a four-legged ladder and changing the plaque with couplets welcoming guests.
Xueming said hello: "Mr. Chen! I'm back, do you want my help?"
The blond fortune teller responded with a smile: "Okay, you hand me the plaque and help me."
Wait for Xueming to help Mr. Chen replace the old couplets and add new ones.
Yesterday's couplet said:
"But if you do good deeds, don't ask ghosts and gods."
"You still dare to enter my door if you feel guilty"
The horizontal batch is called "Counting a Qiu"
The three plaques were replaced and placed next to the curtain in the back room.
Xueming asked curiously: "Mr. Chen, what do you mean by this couplet?"
Mr. Chen slowly climbed down from the four-corner ladder and muttered to Xueming: "Avoid trouble."
Xueming was confused: "What trouble are you hiding from?"
Mr. Chen patted the plaster on his hands, arranged the black cloth gown cleanly, pointed to the replaced plaque and said in detail: "Don't count fortunes, talk about science and break superstition."
It was so strange to hear these words coming from the mouth of the paper shop owner.
Mr. Chen squatted next to the replaced plaque, took out a rag to wipe it with, pointed to the couplet and explained: "You have done good things, so why should you be suspicious. If you do something bad, I can't help you - that's what it means
, Count it as a bargain."
Xueming looked at the newly replaced plaque again.
The first couplet is called: "I am grateful to my mother for my coarse tea and rice."
The second line reads: "Kneeling down to thank my father, I will never forget my fists, feet and sticks."
Hengpi shouted: "The child is unfilial!"
The exclamation point was specially painted with gold paint, which was full of mockery.
"This..." Xueming felt dumbfounded: "Did you write it to me?"
"Ah, yes, yes!" Mr. Chen fiddled with his sunglasses, and his pair of blue eyes showed a playful and cunning meaning: "I'm not just writing this to you, today is Friday, parents in the county and urban areas are picking up their children from school. I have something to do.
Whenever I have nothing to do, I come over and ask about my child’s future. The things I ask are very outrageous, so I will replace them with this couplet, so that both mothers and fathers can reflect on it."
Xueming only felt that Boss Ye and Mr. Chen were both wonderful people.
He put aside the matters concerning his parents in Pingyang County and saw that Mr. Chen was busy cleaning, cleaning, waxing, and gilding the statues of gods. He could not spare a moment.
Xueming asked again: "Do you change the couplets every day?"
"That's right." Mr. Chen had no time to reply, and he said casually: "Now you can create an INS or Weibo account, go to Twitter for business, and post updates every day, right? I wrote couplets for these updates, specifically
If Internet celebrities come to shoot videos, how else can we generate income? I will kill those fake gods who only know how to deceive and defraud!"
"Then..." Xueming thought of the bag of paper money: "Mr. Chen means that everything in your store is effective?"
"Don't -" the fake foreign devil curled his lips again, looking frightened: "-don't say that, you won't be able to become a spirit after the founding of the People's Republic of China. I just don't do the business of cheating and abduction, but I didn't say I was effective! I don't
It’s spiritual, it’s not efficacious or miraculous at all, there’s no ghost in this clear sky and bright sunshine!”
When Mr. Chen was free, he finally sat in front of the cashier in the main room.
Xueming hasn't asked about the matter yet.
Mr. Chen had already taken the lead and started making small calculations with his account books.
"Two bags of banknotes, totaling twelve yuan and eighty cents. Let me settle the bill. Thank you."
According to the price of funeral supplies, it's really not expensive.
Xueming honestly opened the mobile online banking and paid the money.
Mr. Chen asked again: "Have you met the second elder?"
"Well... they came to greet me when I got home. The talks broke down several times. I was so angry that I couldn't speak. I took out the gifts given by the husband and they disappeared." After Xueming finished speaking, he asked again: "Mr.
When did you receive the news? Did you always know, sir? Does Brother Ye also know about this?"
"It's not convenient to go into detail about this matter." Mr. Chen took out a small notebook and seemed to be taking notes: "After you took Bai Lu away, Mr. Jiang came to the county town to apply for minimum living allowance the next year, but he failed."
Jiang Xueming remembered that her parents had discussed this matter when they were quarreling at home, and interrupted in confusion: "Why? Is it because he can't write?"
"What a big deal it is to sign." Mr. Chen continued to explain: "The uncles and aunts in the township have bad eyesight, so they can ask me, a foreigner who understands Chinese, to sign on their behalf. The problem is that there is money withdrawn from the account of your two precious elderly people.
It’s over 100,000 yuan a year. It’s not a subsistence allowance household.”
Jiang Xueming was surprised: "Where did this money come from?"
"Later, the police officers investigated, and they were very strict in cracking down on criminals." Mr. Chen scratched his head and recalled carefully: "It was found that the two elders were both human traffickers. They had already reached the age of washing their hands in a golden basin, and they had also violated the law.
Entrepreneurship adds fuel to an old criminal trade.”
Jiang Xueming: "What happened next?"
"He jumped into the river, just in the small fish pond in front of your house." Mr. Chen's tone was as usual, as if he had seen Dan's life and death for a long time.
, holding two small jars, sent them to the eternally warm home."
"Then..." Jiang Xueming thought of this sentence - "There are more than two hundred households in the county who don't recognize Old Man Jiang."
Mr. Chen, as if he was predicting the future, answered quickly: "Catch them all in one go."
"Um..."
Jiang Xueming felt a sense of loss and had forgotten Mr. Chen's instructions and the taboo of "it is not convenient to elaborate on this matter".
"Is what I saw an illusion? Mr. Chen...I..."
"Ouch, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!" Mr. Chen raised his orchid fingers and looked on guard: "You're disobedient, aren't you?"
"Sorry, I won't talk about this anymore." Xueming thought again. Mr. Chen was responsible for the funeral of the two elders of the Jiang family. Naturally, Mr. Chen had arranged for the two wads of paper money for this trip home for Xueming to take home.
secular gifts.
"If you are really curious, all I can say is..." Mr. Chen looked helpless as he looked at the unfortunate curious child, "What you saw was an hallucination. I happen to have medicine for hallucinations here, so I will do it too."
I don’t understand why this medicine can cure your hallucinations.
Just like we have been using electricity for so long, we still don't understand why electrons have positive and negative poles and why they can generate electric field power.
After the second old man Qi came back, he stayed in the house and refused to leave, as if he was waiting for someone. He had a very weird temper and was difficult to communicate with.
If you come back to balance yin and yang, I think it should be possible - then let you go back with some gifts and end this matter."
Xueming wanted to ask a few more questions, because Xiao Qi once said that these unknown things are spiritual disasters, and they may not encounter them again in the future.
"Don't look at me like a curious baby. I don't have any skills. I'm just a barefoot doctor." Mr. Chen looked in a dilemma: "To put it more deeply, it's just feudal superstition. Let's stop here and talk about science.
Break superstitions.
I also hope that those who work in our industry have formal professional titles, right? Just like a lactation master and a masseur, let’s get a certificate like a spiritual master, a feng shui master, etc., maybe we can get a salary increase——
——So that there are a lot of bad things operating without a license, strutting around outside all day long and defrauding people and their whole families."
"Thank you..." Xueming bowed solemnly.
Xiao Qi had been waiting outside the door for a long time. He was a little impatient and kept looking in.
When she heard what the fake foreign devil said so eloquently, she felt itchy and suddenly stepped through the door.
"Sir! Do you want to tell your fortune?"
Xueming and Mr. Chen were both stunned and looked at Brother Seventh.
Mr. Chen turned to Xueming and whispered, "Is this your wife?"
Xueming turned to Mr. Chen and whispered, "This is my servant."
"In this day and age, it is no longer popular to hire nannies to mess around with men and women. Xueming, please think it over carefully before you speak - I am familiar with this case. In the past two months, a boss said that he killed two people at home and the nanny at home
Jumping off a building while pregnant.
This guy was in a panic and came to ask for a safety charm, so I turned around and sent him to the police station." Mr. Chen first criticized Xueming.
Then he smiled and said to the handsome young lady: "Sister, what the servant said...what's going on?"
"Oh!" Brother Qi didn't care about the title issue at all, and explained: "I usually take care of his food, drink, laundry and cooking. If he has pets, I also have to help look after him and book cars, hotels and flights for him when he goes out.
, you have to take him to see a psychiatrist when he is unhappy, and take care of him when he is sick or injured. You also have to keep him safe, help him deal with the enemies who come to his door, and protect his mental health. Not only him, but also
His sister."
Mr. Chen lowered his face and whispered to Xueming: "Isn't this your father?"
Xueming suddenly realized: "It makes sense...it turns out to be my father..."
"What's wrong with dad?" Xiao Qi became impatient and wanted to get straight to the point, so she asked Mr. Chen: "Sir, do you want to tell your fortune? Do you think he and I will have a chance? I'll tell you eighty yuan. If there's no chance, I'll add more money."
That’s fine, do you think there is a chance that my father’s love will deteriorate?”
"Wait a minute..." Mr. Chen stood up and said, "Show me your hand."
Xiaoqi stretched out her hands and waited excitedly
"Want to read your palm? Hey?!"
Mr. Chen lowered his head and thought about it, "Well, my hands and feet are quick and work often, unlike today's girls who are all tender-skinned and tender. Can you help me change the plaque?"
Xiao Qi and Xueming were both stunned. Didn't this just change?
"Let's change." Mr. Chen looked at the expressions of the men and women: "Today is Friday, and it is also the day when wild mandarin ducks come to seek marriage after work. The most regrettable thing about my store is that there are different customers coming and going. You can only see one dynamic.
Please help me both."
After that, the two of them followed Mr. Chen to the back room, carried out three plaques, and replaced the new couplets on the shrine.
The first line of the couplet says, "It is better to find a plastic surgery team to find men and pick up women. You will suffer seven injuries, eight injuries, vomiting and diarrhea, and you will be blessed with beauty."
The second line is called "It is better to ask for the red thread of marriage than to ask for the demolition of the ancestral property and the demolition of four rooms and five halls, hugging the left and the right, and having both cats and dogs."
A horizontal review of "Broken Love, From Loving Lovers to Loving Money"
After a while, the man and woman stood under the couplet plaque and stared in deep thought.
Xiao Qi clasped her hands together and made a pious salute to Mr. Chen, "Master, I understand..."
Mr. Chen also nodded in a dignified manner, and said nonsense seriously, "Although I don't know what you have realized, it must be something extraordinary. I wish the two incense masters a good outcome."
Xueming understood and secretly smiled at the side.
Immediately afterwards, Seventh Brother made him stop laughing.
"I'm willing to raise dogs and cats. We don't need the money for demolition. I don't need plastic surgery if I look good. I will definitely be happy. Thank you, Master!"
When Xiao Qi jumped out of the door, she talked to Bai Lu about the Zen she had just realized.
"Sister-in-law! Let me tell you - the master in the room just used a couplet to tell me a very, very profound truth. For things like falling out of love, the mentality of the two people usually changes, from loving people to loving money, and finally
A bitter fruit was born.”
Xueming came close to Mr. Chen and asked in a low voice: "Can the couplet be understood in this way? I thought... I just think about falling in love all day long. It is better to live a more realistic life. It is to ask people to treat themselves well. After falling out of love, love someone
People might as well love money."
"Sometimes you have to admire these kind people." Mr. Chen said with a smile: "Your dad is much more lively than you. She knows how to live her life very well."
After asking about the matter, Xueming said a sincere thank you again. I don’t know how long it will be before we see each other again after this separation.
Jiang Xueming walked out the door and waved goodbye. He was going to go back to the airport, go back to meet Ah Xing, rent a room near his sister's school, and make other plans.
There are still many things waiting for him to do.
"Mr. Chen, I'm leaving."
Mr. Chen waved with a fake smile on his face, exactly the same business-like fake smile as Jiang Xueming. "Come here often!"
Xue Ming paused for a moment——
——Only then did I realize that the ridicule hidden in every word and action of this philistine paper-making shop owner made Jiang Xueming's dull and perfunctory attitude come alive and become more humane.
Jiang Xueming said again: "Thank you."
As if on conditioned reflex, Bai Lu shouted after her brother, "Thank you, Uncle Chen!"
The three people outside the door walked farther and farther away.
Mr. Chen leaned against the door frame and watched from a distance as the figures gradually disappeared into the bustling university food court.
He returned to the bottom of the plaque, and the containers on both sides surrounded half of the Heaven and half of the Leiyin Temple. He raised his head and took one more look at the couplet.
As if deep in thought, rubbing his chin, calm and natural.
"I didn't expect this couplet to have two meanings? Chinese is really broad and profound!"
It's like eating marrow and knowing the taste, standing up and shaking fists, clapping arms to celebrate.