Globe Trekker

Chapter 8
Master Bingzhen came to the village in the evening of the next day, and after dinner, the ceremony of saving the dead began.

The mourning hall has already been well-decorated by the elders of the village. The offerings of fish, meat and fruit are neatly placed on the altar table, candles are flickering and cigarettes are lingering, and the family members of the deceased are dressed in linen and mourning.

After the sound of the drums, the flags and flags were erected, and Taoist Bingzhen, who put on the purple gold Taoist crown of the Ming yellow Taoist robe, made a grand appearance surrounded by the elders, and the crying stopped, and hundreds of villagers, old and young, formed a large circle solemnly.

Amidst the sound of instrumental music, Taoist Bingzhen put the Dharma bell and the simple peach wood sword in his hands on the Dharma table, and seemed to casually glance at Chengzong and Wu Ming, who were wearing neat Taoist robes and knocking on the left, with a look of satisfaction in their eyes .

Chengzong played the cowhide drum and a row of small bells by himself, and he handled it calmly; Wu Ming, who had never participated in Buddhist rituals, was also in charge of two musical instruments, gongs and cymbals. He could also keep up with Chengzong's drumbeat, without any obvious mistakes, and his sense of rhythm was quite good.

This unexpected discovery surprised Taoist Priest Bingzhen. He guessed that Chengzong taught it to Wu Ming, so he couldn't help showing a smile.

Wu Ming happened to be looking at Taoist Priest Bingzhen. Seeing Taoist Priest's rare smile, he couldn't help being stunned for a moment. The cymbal in his hand went out of tune and made an abrupt sound, which made Taoist Priest Bingzhen very depressed. He turned around and stopped looking at Wu Ming.

Seeing his uncle's depression and Wu Ming's absent-mindedness, Chengzong found it interesting, and couldn't help but lower his head and smile secretly, but the work in his hands was not slow.

The half-hour-long ceremony opened Wu Ming's eyes. The mahogany sword and Dharma bell danced by Master Bingzhen dazzled his eyes. He was still in his 50s and he was still graceful and swaying freely. The Dharma music with different rhythms is like a sound from outside the sky, which makes the audience admire and respect in every possible way.

When the ceremony came to an end, someone brought fragrant tea and handed over a towel.Taoist Bingzhen sat politely on the upper chair, sipping fragrant tea calmly, and chatting in low voice with the village elders who surrounded him.Chengzong and Wu Ming were still sitting on the straw futon, drinking fragrant tea and whispering.

In fact, Taoist Master Bingzhen doesn’t need to be surprised. Wu Ming has lived in Qizhen Temple for more than half a year. After hearing and seeing, he is already familiar with the percussion music of the rituals such as sacrifices and blessings held three or four times a month in the Taoist Temple. It was Wu Ming's first appearance on the stage, and it was purely pretentious, but Chengzong temporarily taught Wu Ming for more than two hours, and Wu Ming's extraordinary comprehension ability naturally performed well.

Moreover, Qizhen Temple is a small Taoist temple, and there are only three masters and apprentices in total. Naturally, it is not as ostentatious as Zhengyijiao Longhushan Zuting's band with more than [-] people, and there is no need to use bamboo strings, orchestras, etc. Ten musical instruments, playing dozens of traditional repertoires.Generally, Taoist temples or traveling Taoist priests have very simple possessions. They only need a few simple instruments such as swords, gongs, drums, and bells to meet the needs of general ritual affairs.

After only a quarter of an hour's rest, the ceremony continued, and Wu Ming's sense of freshness and accomplishment quickly disappeared, making his arms tight with sweat.

After the three rounds of ceremonies, it was nearly twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, and the ceremonies came to an end. After a break of two quarters of an hour, they began to eat.Chengzong pulled Wu Ming and said to go eat something together, otherwise he wouldn't be able to survive the rest of the night, and Wu Ming felt a little dumbfounded.Chengzong explained that this is a simple ritual for ordinary people. If it is a wealthy family, it will take at least three days and three nights.

It turns out that being a Taoist priest is not so easy, Wu Ming couldn't help but secretly rejoice: Thank God, I'm just a hypocritical Taoist priest!

On the morning of the third day, the funeral began after a ceremonial ceremony. Firecrackers rang out after the tedious rituals were performed. Sixteen men lifted up two coffins amidst the wailing. , Filed to the west of the village tomb.

Taoist Priest Bingzhen walked in front of the team, ringing a bell and muttering words, Chengzong and Wu Ming followed behind Taoist Priest Bingzhen.Chengzong threw paper money all the way, chanting scriptures echoed the voice of his uncle's decree, Wu Ming hugged the flagpole with thick arms and held the flag high, comforting himself amidst the bursts of crying and firecrackers: it is also a good experience up.

It was already noon after the funeral was over, and the only street in the village was filled with water mats. Daoist Bingzhen, Chengzong, and Wu Ming naturally became the targets of thanksgiving.

After Taoist Master Bingzhen toasted to the heaven, earth, ghosts and gods, the banquet began immediately.After drinking for three rounds, the atmosphere gradually relaxed. Four village men came to Wu Ming with wine bowls in their hands, and thanked Wu Ming with gratitude. After drinking half a bowl of porridge, the villagers generally believed that they could save their lives.

Wu Ming responded very humbly, and put the credit on Chengzong, causing Chengzong to be downed with three bowls of wine.The men thanked the unsmiling Cheng Zong again and again, and returned to Wu Ming, determined to drink another bowl with Wu Ming. They called out "Wu Daochang" after each sip, and Wu Ming's face became hot and red like a boiled crab shell. Well, you can cover your embarrassment with alcohol.

Daoist Bingzhen, who was at the same table with the elders of the village patriarchs, saw it, quietly asked Chengzong to come over, and asked in a low voice what happened to Chengzong?Chengzong then truthfully reported the process of saving people that night three days ago.

Priest Bingzhen was secretly surprised, and asked Chengzong in a low voice: "So, it seems to be a surgical technique of Western medicine. Where did he learn it?"

"I don't know. When I asked about this the night before yesterday, Brother Ang's answer was very simple. He said that it was 'subconsciously', and he felt that he should do this. From the perspective of the treatment process, Brother Ang's technique was very unfamiliar, and it didn't seem like he had learned it before. Maybe it's like what he said, it's better to take a gamble than let people die." Chengzong didn't hide anything for Wu Ming, because Wu Ming didn't say anything, anyway, he was lucky enough to not die so far, but even if He survived with a broken leg.

Daoist Bingzhen waved helplessly: "Go."

"Yes."

Chengzong promised and did not leave: "Uncle, there is something to report to Uncle, Brother Wu wants to take this opportunity to go to the city to buy some books."

Bingzhen hesitated: "Then let him go and come back quickly, you stay, there is one last ceremony after the meal, we have to go back when it's over. By the way, does he have any money?"

"Yes, it is probably enough to buy a few books."

After lunch, the tables and chairs were removed, and God suddenly changed his face. After a gust of cold wind, it began to drizzle quietly.

Chengzong borrowed a bamboo hat and coir raincoat from the village chief's house and handed it to Wu Ming, telling him that if he didn't have enough time, he didn't have to take a detour to Tianjia Village, but just took a shortcut back.

Tianjia Village is about fifteen miles away from the county seat. Wu Ming walked on the winding dirt road for nearly two hours, and arrived in the city at nearly four o'clock in the afternoon.

I don’t know if it’s because of the continuous drizzle, or because the KMT’s regular army has already left Shangrao and rushed to the south of Jiangxi to suppress the Communists. The streets in the city are deserted and there are few pedestrians. Seeing clearly the Taoist robe under Wu Ming's coir raincoat, there was a little respect on his cold face, and when they passed each other, one of the soldiers nodded kindly to Wu Ming.

Wu Ming came to "Wenxuan Pavilion", a shop specializing in paper, pens, inkstones, books and newspapers, across from the middle school in the county seat. He took off his bamboo hat, took off his coir raincoat and put them on the wooden shelf by the door. Bu Ying went up to salute Wu Ming: "Please, Taoist priest, I haven't seen you for a while, take your time, I'll make you a cup of tea."

"Thank you!"

Wu Ming browsed for a while in front of the neat book counter. The waiter in the shop had already brought a cup of steaming tea. Wu Ming thanked him in a low voice, took the teacup and held it in his hand, and continued to look for the books he needed while drinking.

There were no other customers in the shop. The waiter followed Wu Ming and politely introduced to Wu Ming: "At the beginning of the month, after the local bandit suppression army left for reorganization, we bought a batch of new goods from Zhejiang. There are a few new books. Just put it on the top shelf on the right side of the Taoist priest, and the Taoist priest will see if it suits you."

"No wonder the city is much quieter than last time. It turns out that the army has left." Wu Ming said casually.

"Yes! Those foreign officers and soldiers are really annoying. During the stationing, the city was full of complaints. The people dared to be angry but did not dare to speak out. Fortunately, our shop sells all refined goods, which can't be eaten or used by uneducated people. They didn’t suffer any losses, but the other shops were sad. As long as the officers and soldiers saw something, they would immediately sell it by force, and beat people if they disagreed. It's getting better now, only the officers and soldiers of the army from Nanchang stayed behind to assist the county security regiment in recruiting training, and they were busy all day going to the surrounding towns to inspect, saying that they would set off after receiving the recruits, so the city is much more peaceful now, everyone All the shops are opening for business one after another." Maybe it's because there are not many customers today, but the waiter in the shop is very enthusiastic.

In the end, Wu Ming picked out the 20-block provincial atlas published by the Central Bureau of Surveying and Mapping during Yuan Shikai's time, and the latest "Twenty Years of the National Revolution" published by the Shanghai Commercial Press. tied up.

After paying the money and carefully putting the book into the Taoist robe, Wu Ming nodded and left.The waiter in the shop trotted ahead, graciously put on the coir raincoat for Wu Ming, and handed the bamboo hat to Wu Ming with both hands.Wu Ming took the bamboo hat, glanced at the misty sky and strode away.

It was still drizzling outside the city, few people were seen on the gray ground, and the sky had gradually darkened.After walking for four or five miles, Wu Ming, who was wearing a bamboo hat and coir raincoat, still walked steadily and hardly felt tired. He knew that his physique was due to half a year of hard training in the mountains and Chengzong's careful teaching.

A black-covered carriage pulled by tall mules came from behind, quickly overtook Wu Ming who was on foot, and continued to move forward after making two ruts.Wu Ming looked up, and saw that the two women on the half-closed mule cart were the ones who broke into his territory on the Double Ninth Festival.

The woman in the car also saw Wu Ming standing on the side of the road to avoid him, but because Wu Ming was wearing a bamboo hat and coir raincoat, neither of the two women recognized him.

The mule cart gradually went away, and Wu Ming continued to move forward. After walking for a mile, two healthy horses rushed towards each other. Wu Ming was shocked and panicked. Stopping more than [-] meters ahead, two officers and soldiers in gray military uniforms and big caps immediately reined in the horse and circled in place.

Immediately, the Nanchang voice of the officers and soldiers came clearly: "Have you looked carefully?"

"That's right! Fourth brother, the little girl on the mule cart is so fucking beautiful, she looks like the daughter of a rich family, and even that little maid is pretty. We brothers have been holding back for so long, and we are exhausted all day long." Why? How can you miss such a good opportunity?"

"Haha! Okay, let's turn around and catch up. There is a ruined temple two miles ahead. Let's talk about it after a while. Anyway, we will leave this small place in a few days, haha! Drive!"

The two horses were chasing after the mule cart like flying. Wu Ming weighed for a long time, and finally raised his legs and strode to catch up.

(End of this chapter)