Nine idlers

Chapter 15 Soap Puppet (this chapter is free)

Things suddenly took a turn for the worse, Xu Changqing was willing to make an exception for himself, and Xingshang was so happy that he bowed down and saluted, thanking him endlessly.Xu Changqing asked him to stand upright, looked at his face, and made hexagrams according to the direction of luck on his face, and then divided his body into three grades with the neck and waist as the line, observed his five-element fate, and finally put the hexagrams and fates into three classes. In the palm of the hand, set the heavenly stems, earthly branches, six gods, and eight gates to calculate the general flow of its fate and the details of transshipment.

Xu Changqing's sect has three methods of life-telling and fortune-telling, among which Xu Changqing is best at determining the universe with one palm. Although the calculations are extremely accurate, they can only be considered short-term.The other method is Zhou Tianling Signing Method. This method is an ancient method of the Tang Dynasty. According to legend, it originated from Yuan Tiangang. It can be used to push the mahogany spirit lotus with the true essence of the life, connect the heaven and earth Qi veins, and stand on the heaven and earth Qi veins to observe the fortune of people. , You can take in all the general trend of the world in your eyes.The general trend of the world calculated by this method lasts for a hundred years, and it can be used to measure personal connections, family fortune, and national fortune.Although this method is very strong, but every time it is calculated, it will consume more than half of the golden core essence, and it cannot be recovered within one or two hundred days.In addition, the mahogany spirit sticks made must have a century-old mahogany heart, which is much more precious than ordinary century-old mahogany and can only be used once.In Xu Changqing's opinion, it's really not worthwhile, so Zhou Tianling's signature method is rarely used.

Now Xu Changqing is using the method of ordering hexagrams, the Xiaodunjia Liuren method. This method of fate can only be counted as the fate of life and the knot of turning points in life. Since it is only a partial view of the fortune, there will obviously be some deviations, but it will not Injury to the fate of the Universiade.

After careful calculation, Xu Changqing was surprised for a while, and secretly said in his heart that people should not be judged by their appearance.It turned out that this merchant not only had excellent luck, but also had official luck, not the ordinary one, but a high official in charge of life and death.With this in mind, Xu Changqing decided to win over this person, and when he encounters disasters in the future, there will be another way to help him avoid disasters.

Xu Changqing withdrew his mind, smiled kindly at the merchant, and said: "Your business is doomed to lose this time, but it won't lose much, and it won't shake your foundation. The luck of this place in the south is not suitable for you. You should go to the north and it may be better. Besides, your luck is very good. Although there are some twists and turns, you will not be in danger of losing your luck. There is a turning point in your life. If you walk over there, you won't have to worry about your life, but you will live an ordinary life in the future. I am here to give you four words of advice. When you feel that you have reached the critical point of life and death, follow these four words of advice and act accordingly. You can turn bad luck into good luck and get through this turning point."

"Please give me your words, sir!" Xingshang listened intently.

Xu Changqing said slowly: "If you meet a horse, you will stop, if you meet a bow, you will resist, if you meet three hundred, you will retreat, and if you meet one hundred thousand, you will kill!" Seeing that the merchant was writing down these four comments carefully, he didn't bother him, and took out a gossip from his sleeve to drive away evil spirits. Bronze mirror, handed it to him, and said: "In addition, I will first congratulate you on the birth of your precious son tonight, and give you a bronze mirror to exorcise evil spirits, as a gift, I hope you don't dislike it."

The merchant was writing down the comments, but he didn't hear Xu Changqing's words clearly, but reflexively reached out to pick up the bronze mirror. After writing down the comments, he looked up and saw that Xu Changqing had already walked away.It wasn't until this time that he remembered Xu Changqing's words just now, and he remembered that his wife was seven months pregnant before he left home, and it was not too long to give birth during this time, so he immediately showed joy , hurriedly kowtowed to Xu Changqing's back several times, got up and rushed into the carriage, and rushed towards the door of the house quickly.The people around all looked enviously at the figure of Hongshang leaving. They thought how lucky it was to get Xu Changqing's order. You must know that even on the Lantern Festival, Xu Changqing only gave orders to ten people.The good luck of the merchants made many people in Chenjiachong decide to take a carriage to the Taohua Mountain when they have free time, maybe they will meet Xu Changqing and go down the mountain by car.

"Old man Zhang, are you still alive?" Xu Changqing walked all the way to the largest paper shop in the north of the city, and shouted loudly from outside the door.

"Shut your crow's mouth, even if you die, I won't die!" A thin old man in a short shirt came out from the back room, gave Xu Changqing a hard look, glanced at the chair, and signaled him to sit down. Down.Then he turned around and took out a can of tightly wrapped tea leaves from under the counter, carefully twisted some of the tea leaves, put them in a teacup, after steeping, put them in front of Xu Changqing, and asked with a cold face: "Is there nothing wrong with you kid?" Three Treasures Hall, what is the old man looking for today?"

The surname of the owner of this paper shop is Zhang, and he has forgotten his name, let alone others, everyone just knows that he is called Zhiren Zhang.This man was a strange man, he used to live in Beiping City, and the paper-making skills passed down from his ancestors were brought into full play in his hands. It is said that the paper figurines he made came alive, just like real people.Later, he did not know where he learned the long-lost Gezaoshan puppet technique, and used this technique to start a business without capital, controlling the beautiful women made of paper to lure those Eight Banners children, defrauding or stealing their property.It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. His Taoism was broken by a master who lived in Prince Jin's mansion. Those deceived disciples of the Eight Banners got entangled and wanted to light up sky lanterns with him, but he fled the capital overnight, wandering around Hiding, and finally hiding in Chen Jiachong, under the protection of the Chen family, was able to spend his old age in peace.

Back then, Xu Changqing's master asked Xu Changqing to pretend to be an orphan in trouble and enter the paper-made paper shop as an apprentice in order to learn the puppet art of the paper figurine.At that time, the paper figurine Zhang was so angry that he had a serious illness, and he recovered under Xu Changqing's meticulous care. Although the paper figurine Zhang had forgiven Xu Changqing for stealing his unique skills, he was always a little awkward in his heart, so he talked to Xu Changqing Sometimes, the tone is always very aggressive.

Xu Changqing has long been used to the tone of paper figurines, and this kind of atmosphere makes him feel a little different kind of kindness, so coming here to do it after a while will be the best adjustment for his life.He didn't answer the paper man Zhang's question immediately, but sniffed the fragrance of tea, blew lightly to blow away the floating tea leaves, took a shallow sip, and praised: "It really is the best Yuqian Longjing, After taking a sip of clear tea, one can't help but imagine the scene of a girl in a boudoir, holding tea in her mouth, brewing the fragrance of tea with 'milk'."

"That's the 'lewd' thoughts produced by your yanghuo!" The paper figurine Zhang said angrily, "Where would there be tea pickers like this, even if there were, the tea they picked would not be the best." He said coldly With a sneer, he said: "You have such phantoms because you need a woman to adjust the yin and yang in your body and vent your fire. I heard that Wanhualou in the south of the city has a famous Suzhou brand. 'Se', just go and play!"

"Fart!" Xu Changqing snorted coldly, and said: "My Yuanyang is not solid, but you let me let it out. It is obviously ulterior motives. For the sake of our old acquaintance, I will forgive you this time, but this time The price of this business will be reduced by half!"

"Dreaming! I knew you had something to do when you came." The paper figurine Zhang immediately refused, with a firm look on his face, and he said with no objection: "The price of the things your owner wants to buy is ten times that of ordinary people, and it is the same price. If you want it, if you don’t want it, go to another house, I can still survive if I don’t do the business of the owner of your Yizhuang.”

"You..." The paper figurine Zhang is one of the few people Xu Changqing can't deal with in Chen Jiachong. Paper figurine Zhang is equipped with a superb Gezao Mountain golden elixir, which is by no means inferior to his own Taoism. He is also one of Xu Changqing's masters in terms of human feelings. Although Xu Changqing is a selfish master, he will still abide by respecting the teacher.Seeing that the paper figurine had no room for bargaining, Xu Changqing could only be forced to accept it. After drinking all the hot tea in his hand along with the tea leaves, he put the teacup heavily on the table at hand and said, "Tonight I will To send those resentful souls to the road, give me 370 six white paper lanterns, nine cranes, and nine pairs of boys and girls as usual, and you will take people to Yizhuang to arrange the lanterns yourself."

"Don't worry, as long as I collect the money, the matter will be taken care of for you!" As he spoke, a smug smile appeared on the face of the paper figurine, and he dialed the abacus, as if calling Xu Changqing on purpose As if, after calculating the price, he handed the abacus to Xu Changqing and said, "Pay in cash, no credit!"

Xu Changqing looked at the numbers on the abacus, jumped up immediately, and shouted: "Even if it is ten times, it will not be so much more than usual! You are too obvious! You don't even have a fig leaf Prepare."

"You have to speak with conscience, who cheated you!" Paper figurine Zhang retorted coldly: "If you hadn't made such a big commotion in Chen's house two days ago, and played with a golden statue , so that all the apprentices in my shop went to participate in the Water and Land Ceremony, and I paid double the price to hire people to make lanterns by hand! All this is your own trouble, and you can't blame others."

"Damn it!" Xu Changqing had the urge to slap his mouth. Without saying anything more, he took out the travel ticket that the old Taoist gave him not long ago from his sleeve, handed it to the paper figurine, and said, "The remaining Yes, make me ten mahogany figurines, I have run out of mahogany figurines!"

"The rest is not enough money for ten mahogany people!" The paper figurine Zhang looked at the number on the ticket, his eyes widened with a smile, but he immediately put away his smile and said.

"Old man Zhang, don't go too far!" Xu Changqing thought that he had always been the only one taking advantage of others, and how long ago he was taken advantage of by others, so he became angry, glared at the paper man, and said, "Some things should be done in moderation." , It’s enough to get a little bit of sweetness! Keep playing and annoy me, do you think I dare not burn your shop down?”

The paper man Zhang, who knows Xu Changqing's character well, understands that Xu Changqing's heart is bleeding because of the cheapness he has earned. If he expands the wound again, he will definitely anger Xu Changqing. Xu Changqing who is completely angered is not alone. Can withstand it.So he accepted it as soon as he saw it, put the ticket in his arms, smiled to ease the atmosphere, then moved to Xu Changqing's side mysteriously, and said: "I send you a message. After hearing this news, you will I think you got your money's worth."

"What news?" Xu Changqing calmed down his resentment a little and asked.

"Isn't the owner of Yizhuang always looking for a geomantic master who can find dragon's acupuncture points?" The paper figurine Zhang lighted the smoke unhurriedly, and said, "I know that there is a family of geologists who lived in Beiping. The family is proficient in this method of finding dragons and pointing 'acupoints'. Their family offended the emperor in Beiping. It is said that they were implicated because of Yuan's big head. Now they have fled to the Shanghai Concession and are planning to move their family to the south to avoid disaster. , I can write a letter suggesting that he come to live in Chenjiachong, "

"The Meng family from Beiping?" Xu Changqing suddenly changed his face, and asked extremely seriously, "Has their family always worked for Yuan Shikai?"

"It seems to be true. In the past, their family was the Qintian supervisor of the Qing court. Later, because they were looking for a place for the old witch Cixi, they were not liked by Cixi. They were taken off the top and sent to Rehe to work as coolies." Paper Zhang Zhang took a deep breath and said, "Before Yuan Shikai went to Tianjin to form the Beiyang New Army, he begged their family and asked them to do some things like staff documents under his own hands. I heard that Yuan Shikai betrayed him back then. Reformists were also influenced by them."

"It turned out to be them!" Xu Changqing tapped his fingers on the table and murmured, "Before Liu Bowen died, he passed on what he had learned to three disciples, and one of them was named Meng. In terms of 'acupoint' technique, it must be the descendant of the descendant of the Meng surname." Then, he looked up at the paper figurine seriously, and said: "The Meng family not only offended that old lady Cixi, I'm afraid the most wanted The person they died was the big head of Yuan Shikai who was under house arrest in Beiping. According to my calculation, they had some secrets about Yuan Shikai in their hands. Yuan Shikai was afraid that the Meng family would tell their secrets, so he would try his best to kill the Meng family so as not to expose them. The secret was leaked to Cixi, and Cixi made up her mind to deal with him. The Beiyang New Army controlled most of the Yangtze River Basin, and Yuan Shikai had a good relationship with foreigners. It is impossible for the Meng family to escape from Yuan Shikai's hands anyway. They are against the sky. Tap the 'acupoint', the energy should be extinguished, and you'd better not get involved, anyone who touches the edge will die of unforeseen disasters."

The face of the paper figurine changed. He didn't expect the Meng family to be involved in such a disaster. He knew that although Yuan Shikai seemed to be losing power now, if he really wanted to put the Meng family in In the case of death, as far as the entire land of China is concerned, no one person or force can save them.Maybe the Chen family can, but the Chen family will never completely turn against Yuan Shikai for such a family.

"Oh! Mr. Xu, you are here!" At this moment, a person walked in from outside the store, and when he saw Xu Changqing, he immediately stepped forward to greet him and said, "It's been a long time since you came to my teahouse to listen to books. During this period of time, Boss Zhao, the famous character of Tianjin Kuaiban Shu, was invited to our teahouse to talk about the Three Kingdoms for half a month, and today it happened to be talking about Huarong Dao and arresting and releasing Cao, so why don’t you go and listen?”

Xu Changqing looked up, and it turned out to be Li Sanyuan, the owner of the Sanwei Teahouse that he often went to, and he clasped his fists back and said, "I'm not busy with some things in Yizhuang during this period, and I'm just a little free today, so it's good to go to your place to listen to books." , I just don’t know if there is any room for me at Brother Sanyuan’s place?”

"Look at what you said, you, Mr. Xu, can come to my teahouse to give me Li Sanyuan's great face. Every day, I reserve a best seat for you, just waiting for you to come." Li Sanyuan opened and closed his clever mouth and said In the end, Xu Changqing thought that it would be a great sin if he didn't drink a bowl of tea and listen to a book, until Xu Changqing nodded in agreement, he left with a smile, as if he forgot to come Paper shop to buy things.