Me and Empress Dowager Cixi

Chapter 30 Fox Immortal Tower

During the time in Fengtian, there were not many government affairs, and the Queen Mother would take the initiative to propose going out for fun in her spare time.Unlike when visiting the relics of the emperors of the past, the Empress Dowager's worries have been significantly reduced at this time. After washing up that morning, she plans to go to the Fox Immortal Pagoda.The Empress Dowager is the king of a country, so others have no right to ask where she wants to go. Although she asked us where to go on the surface, in fact, she already has the answer in her heart.The queen mother likes to show off her knowledge, whenever she goes to a new place or something new happens, she always tells us something about it.This time is no exception. From the Queen Mother, we learned that the Fox Immortal Pagoda is a place where demon foxes use to repent.

Seeing the Queen Mother's great interest, we couldn't bear to rebel, so we asked her about the history of the Fox Immortal Pagoda.Seeing our question, the queen mother smiled triumphantly, and then told us a story about a thousand-year-old nine-tailed fox:
"Long before the nine-tailed fox reincarnated into a fox, no one knew what kind of beast it was, and even the emperor of the upper realm couldn't figure out its previous life, but there is one thing that everyone knows very well, that is, the nine-tailed fox. The fox has done many evils no matter in the previous life or in this life, and it is harmful to the reproduction of the whole human being. When the fox was just conceived, it had nine tails in total, and all of them were plump and round, very beautiful. In addition , this fox has another advantage, that is, it can quickly hide itself, and ordinary people can't see it at all. In fact, the nine tails of the nine-tailed fox represent nine bad habits. Committing so many crimes, he became the leader of everyone shouting and beating."

When talking about this, the Queen Mother paused for a moment. Seeing this situation, we asked her what these nine bad habits were.The Queen Mother took a sip of water, then said slowly:

The nine bad habits are: reckless and negligent; frequent drinking; insincere, often lying and cheating; greedy for wealth, jealousy when seeing precious things; violent personality; gluttonous, often stealing other people's food; narrow-minded, often hitting Revenge; lust, seeing a beautiful woman and not knowing the north, south, east, and west; lust, often indulge in excess.It is these nine bad habits that obscure its originally kind heart, making it unable to see the kind side of human nature.Because of its many evils, the Emperor of Heaven couldn't stand it anymore, so he sent someone to catch it, severely reprimanded it, and wanted to remove one of its tails as punishment.As for which tail to remove, Nine-Tailed Fox can choose for himself.The nine-tailed fox loves each of its own tails very much, and could not make up its mind for a long time. The Emperor of Heaven got impatient, so he ordered people to cut off its greedy tail, and warned it that if in the next 1000 days Other bad habits cannot be removed within a year, and it will be punished more severely.After returning from heaven, the nine-tailed fox continued to live its own life on the ground, and 1000 years passed quickly, and its other shortcomings have not changed, but it has never raped a woman from a good family during these 1000 years.According to the previous agreement, the Emperor of Heaven captured it again and imposed the same punishment on it. At the same time, he gave it another 1000 years so that it would have enough time to reform itself.In a blink of an eye, it was another 1000 years... The same story continued for 8000 years. At this time, the nine-tailed fox had only one tail left, but even so, its behavior was still not perfect.After a long period of consideration, the Emperor of Heaven decided to cut off the last tail of the nine-tailed fox to prevent it from recurring.Therefore, when the 9000 years were over, the Emperor of Heaven made the Nine-Tailed Fox mentally prepared to accept the punishment.

But things are not that simple.This nine-tailed fox is very vain, and will never agree to remove its last tail. In its opinion, if the last tail is also removed, its beauty will also disappear. endured.Therefore, the nine-tailed fox kept begging to the Emperor of Heaven, and promised that he would never do bad things again, hoping that the Emperor of Heaven would change his mind and let him keep the only tail left.Looking at the weeping Nine-Tailed Fox, the benevolent Emperor of Heaven was moved with compassion, but in view of the previous situation, he couldn't fully trust Nine-Tailed Fox.After discussing with all the gods, the Emperor of Heaven made a decision, neither to cut off the last tail of the nine-tailed fox, nor to allow it to act recklessly in the mortal world. In the past 9000 years, he has saved lives and healed the wounded, and has been a good fox who helps people heal diseases. 9000 years is quite a long period of time, but Nine-Tailed Fox did not hesitate, and immediately took over this task, and at the same time kept his last tail.In this way, this fox also got the reputation of a green fox great fairy. At that time, whether it was heaven or the mortal world, the title of great fairy was not something that ordinary people could get.Since then, this fox has taken on the important task of saving lives and healing the wounded. Because of its superb medical skills, it can easily cure all ailments in the world, so it quickly won the respect of the world.With the growing reputation, more and more people come to it for medical treatment, and it has never refused other people's request.Later, in order to commend its meritorious deeds and remember its name, people raised funds to build a Fox Immortal Pagoda and worshiped it devoutly.Anyone who has a disease, just go there and pray, and they will get a prescription, according to the prescription, the patient will be given medicine, and the patient will be cured in all likelihood.This miraculous story has been passed down like this. Many people say that the 9000-year deadline has not yet come, and the Great Immortal Green Fox is still busy treating diseases for the world.

After telling the story, the Queen Mother said that in her opinion, there are many miracles in the Fox Immortal Pagoda, and she must pay homage to it when she arrives here.Everyone was very interested in the story told by the Queen Mother and wanted to read it.Although we all know that this story is false, we are still very excited.There are so many loopholes in this story that it is impossible for us to think it is true. In the story, the emperor of heaven only removes one tail of the nine-tailed fox at a time, and only inspects it every 1000 years. It does not show the tolerance of the Emperor of Heaven, but the thinking of the person who made up the story is too naive.I can't remember the exact location of the Fox Fairy Pagoda. I just think it's not far from Fengtian Palace. Now that I recall it, it should be in the northeast corner of Fengtian City.I am a person with a poor sense of direction. Once in a strange place, it is always difficult to distinguish the north, south, east, and west. In addition, Fengtian City is not as square as Beijing City, and there are winding corridors everywhere, so I can't tell the difference. There is nothing strange about clearing the direction.

After the queen mother gave the order, everyone was busy preparing.According to the rules of the royal outing, the first step is to send people there to expel idlers to ensure the safety of the royal family members; the second step is to choose the tour route and spread yellow sand along the route; the last is the royal guard of honor to clear the way , the Empress Dowager and her entourage went over mightily.I went in a sedan chair, and I thought about this question along the way: Why is there such a big gap between the myths circulated among other nations and the myths circulated by our own nation?Regardless of whether the historical era is far or near, and whether these myths are true or false, since we live in the same land, there should be some similarities.But now I have been thinking for a long time, and it is still difficult to find the common ground between the two.I have always been very concerned about myths. Even so, I am not a professional researcher after all, otherwise I might be able to cite the similarities and differences between the two.Strictly speaking, the story told by the queen mother is not a myth, so I didn't pay special attention to it, but I just thought it was very funny.

The entire guard of honor marched very slowly, probably because none of us had any diseases, and we were not in a hurry to ask Daxian to prescribe medicine for us.No matter how slow you go, you will always reach your destination.When I got there, I found many facts that supported the story. Not only was it richly decorated, but there were also many plaques of thanksgiving, with the names of the thanking people signed on them.From this point of view, this story is quite influential in the local area, and perhaps many people do not regard it as a story, but as a fact.In their view, this fox did exist thousands of years ago, and now it is fulfilling its oath to the Emperor of Heaven to heal the sickness and wounds of the world in order to keep the last tail.In my opinion, the reason why some people get healed after going out from here is probably the power created by faith.

The Fox Immortal Pagoda is a relatively large temple, which is solemn and solemn.Entering from the main entrance, bypassing a big barrier, the main hall comes into view head-on.There is a huge shrine in the middle of the main hall, which enshrines the so-called Green Fox Immortal.There are two curtains hanging on both sides of the shrine. It is expected that the two curtains must have been very gorgeous, but now they look very old and dirty.Between these two curtains, one can vaguely see a divine tablet, on which are written nine script characters in italics: "Imperial seal of the divine tablet of the Great Immortal of the Green Fox".Below the shrine is an offering table, which is filled with various offerings, as well as candlesticks, incense burners and other things.

Compared with other formal big temples, this place is still relatively shabby.So, how do good men and women come to seek healing?In fact, many Chinese are well versed in this way. May I ask which place does not have a few temples, and which family does not ask for a few lottery more or less?All procedures are pretty much the same.The family members of the patients came here with their offerings. First they offered their offerings, then kowtowed a few times, and then held up joss sticks to worship a few times.Next is the crucial part - the lottery.There are many bamboo sticks in a big bamboo tube, if you shake it gently, some bamboo sticks will always fall down, if you shake it fast, several bamboo sticks will fall down at the same time, which means that the person who asks for a lottery is not confident. , the patient's disease will also be aggravated.If you shake too fast, and the person who draws the lottery is an idiot, all the bamboo sticks may fall off at the same time, which means that the patient is terminally ill and there is no cure.In order to avoid such an unlucky result, the lottery people are very careful, shaking the bamboo tube gently, and eventually one of the bamboo sticks will fall off.Sometimes, Miaozhu will also give advice by the side. If it is successful, tipping is naturally indispensable.After the only bamboo stick falls, the family members of the patient will take the bamboo stick to Miaozhu, and Miaozhu will get a prescription according to a different number.The prescriptions are pre-written on yellow paper, then threaded with a piece of cotton thread, and stacked together according to the arranged numbers.

After asking for the celestial prescription, the person involved did not dare to be negligent, and immediately ran to the pharmacy to grab the medicine. If there is no accident, most of the people's medicines were obtained from the pharmacy near the temple.In this way, the pharmacies near the temple really have to thank the Fox Immortal Pagoda, and nine out of ten of their business is introduced by it.The owner of the pharmacy naturally knows how to behave in the world, so it is inevitable to thank Miao Zhu.Most of the medicinal materials in these prescriptions are mild and nourishing. Even if it has no effect after eating, it will definitely not kill people.Therefore, there will be no problems with the prescription prescribed by the fox fairy. If it matches the patient's illness to some extent, and then causes the patient to recover from the illness, then the merit will naturally be attributed to the boundless mana of the fox fairy.The more times it works, people will naturally attribute the ones that don't work to the destiny, saying that this is what life should be like.Although I think that if you are sick, you should see a doctor immediately, but other people don't think so. They have great confidence in the fox fairy, and it cannot be changed simply by persuasion.Even a woman like the queen mother has boundless confidence in the fox fairy, let alone ordinary people?

I didn't know what happened to me that day, maybe I was thinking too much, temporarily forgot all my scruples, and asked the Queen Mother a question casually: "Queen Mother, these prescriptions are all written in the original, in case you come to ask for medicine People who are sick get medicines that are not good for their health? For example, people who have a fever get medicines that are hot, and people who have a cold get medicines that are cold. Disadvantages. If such a thing really happens, what should we do?" The Queen Mother is usually very easy to get angry, but she always treats me extra favorably, and never speaks harshly to me, but the situation is different today.After hearing my question, she flew into a rage and scolded how I could be so disrespectful to the gods.In fact, I regretted it as soon as I articulated my problem. Although the meaning I expressed was correct, it was out of place.How can I casually criticize something that the Queen Mother likes?People like us can only obey the queen mother, just like young children to their parents, they have no resistance to power.Now, I dare to publicly express my dissent, which is undoubtedly extremely daring. If the queen mother is not happy, she can punish me whatever she wants.Thinking of this, I couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat. I was used to being favored by the Empress Dowager, but now I was scolded suddenly, so I was naturally much more hasty than others.At that time, I had no choice but to kowtow to the Queen Mother indiscriminately.The queen mother's anger was not so easy to dispel, she still scolded me loudly: "You are so bold, don't you know that the magic power of the Great Immortal is boundless? How can it make people take the wrong medicine! Think about it carefully, Its supernatural powers will definitely allow people to get the right medicine, when have you heard that the medicine of the Great Immortal has harmed people and caused trouble?"

When the queen mother said these words, I was no longer afraid, because I could clearly see that in the eyes of the queen mother, besides anger, she also worried about me. She was worried that I would be punished for disobeying the gods.In this case, how could she punish me?After scolding me, the queen mother hurriedly asked me to apologize to Daxian.According to what the Empress Dowager said afterwards, Daxian is not so easy to forgive people. If I didn't kowtow at that time, there is no guarantee that there will be no disaster in the future. When the disaster befalls me, it will be too late to apologize.I myself would never believe such lies, and I didn't believe that there would be a disaster, but because of the Empress Dowager's face and to please the Empress Dowager, I followed her will and respectfully kowtowed to apologize.

When I kowtowed and got up from the ground, the anger on the Empress Dowager's face had disappeared, but she still said to me in a very serious tone: "The magic power of the Great Immortal is not something a child like you can experience. No matter who Suffering from multiple diseases, as long as his family members come here to pray sincerely, Daxian will give him effective prescriptions to restore his health, but there is a prerequisite, that is, the family members of the patients must be sincere. Anyone who sincerely asks to return There is no medicine that does not work immediately. Don’t say anything about medicinal materials, as long as it is something given by the Great Immortal, even a handful of soil can cure the most vicious diseases in the world. The magical power of the Great Immortal is beyond the comprehension of ordinary people like us.”

(End of this chapter)