i was my mistake

This is in front of the release pool, and it is a place specially used for people to burn incense.

Unlike other halls where only incense sticks can be inserted, candles and yellow paper can also be burned here—Ye Chen actually never figured out how the burning of yellow paper has anything to do with Buddhism.

I always feel that this thing should only be used when offering sacrifices to the dead.

"Shall we also buy two incense sticks to burn?" Father suddenly suggested.

"Dad... You said just now that you don't need to buy it."

"Haha, everyone burns, isn't it a bit bad for us not to burn?"

"As long as you have two words, you can borrow a little from the person next to you." Wan Qing squatted beside the release pool, squinting her eyes.

It is said here that it is a release pond, but in fact it is just a lot of turtles.

This group of tortoises all climbed onto the balcony in the middle, enjoying the warm winter sun very much, and they were stacked one on top of the other. The small one is stacked on top of the big one, and it looks dangling, as if it will 'fall apart' at any time, which is extremely funny.

Wan Qing didn't look back, but heard the voice of her father talking with other people, and saw Ye Chen approaching her with a feeling of embarrassment.

"what?"

"Dad, he really went to someone else to ask for it..."

"How normal is this."

"Are all adults this thick-skinned?"

"That's called social skills, what a thick skin... Wouldn't it be nice to save some money?"

"But in that case, why don't you buy it when you come in?"

"That's saving face."

"...Who cares about saving face? I really don't understand why you care about such a strange place." Ye Chen curled his lips with a look of incomprehension.

"You'll understand when you grow up."

"Then I'd better not grow up."

"Tch, who in this world can't grow up."

"Is there always someone who can keep a pure heart?"

"It's not impossible, the main thing is that you have to be rich."

"...How can things that are linked to money remain pure?"

"It's a pity." Wan Qing smiled jokingly, "If you want to build a wall to keep out the dirt, you must have money. If a piece of bread and a bag of bread fall into the mud at the same time, you Say—which one will stay clean?"

"Unreasonable!" Ye Chen couldn't think of a rebuttal for a while, so he could only yell angrily.

On the other side, my father really borrowed a few sticks of incense, lit the fire, and handed them to the two cheerfully.

These few thin sticks of incense sticks look much shabby compared to others' handfuls.

The incenses that those people lit were not just smoking, they were even flaming, as if the switch of the gas stove was turned on, burning blazingly, even burning more vigorously in the wind.

In fact, most people who come to burn incense and worship Buddha are probably not very pious. Most of them just find a "wish-making organization" and entrust their New Year's wishes.

That's why those incense sticks should be burned as vigorously as possible.

There are several halls here, with different statues in them, including the Four Heavenly Kings, Guanyin and Ksitigarbha, and of course Maitreya Buddha. In the top hall, there are three Buddhas of the past, present, and future. But it happened to be the most deserted here.

Probably these three Buddhas do not have specific "functions" like other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, so only devout believers will come to visit them seriously, and the rest are just a hasty formality.

In a sense, they might not be as useful as Sending Avalokitesvara...

Ye Chen and his father bowed to show respect, but Wan Qing had no respect, and even had the heart to ridicule the flaws of the statues, and even discussed the dots on the Buddha's head with Ye Chen Is it mosquito bites or natural curly hair? If it is natural curly hair, then the Buddha should have dark skin...

And when it's time for lunch, she is the most active.

"Dinner! Do you want to eat? If not, I'll go by myself!"

"Are you hungry now?"

"Do you understand those who deliberately save their stomachs for lunch?"

"I'm quite full." Father patted his stomach, "I was really hungry in the morning, so I ate more."

"Me too……"

"Then I'm going to go alone?"

"We're going to eat, let's go together..." Ye Chen blinked blankly, always feeling that Wan Qing's words just now contained a bit of complaint and coquettishness—maybe it was just her illusion.

The vegetarian meal at noon is an ordinary big pot dish, which contains Chinese cabbage, peanuts, tofu and roasted bran.

The most delicious thing here is the roasted bran. It is a kind of flour product. It tastes very layered. It is similar to tofu in shape, but it is not as solid as tofu. If you really want to compare it, it may be closer to frozen tofu. .

After all, it hadn't been a few hours since breakfast was finished, so the three of them just ordered a regular portion.

Fortunately, the bowls here are very small, so if it's just such a small portion, it won't be too much to eat.

——Perhaps it was designed this way to avoid waste.

"Occasionally, I don't eat any meat for ten days and a half months, and I just eat something light, and it feels good." Ye Chen took a sip of seaweed soup and said with emotion.

"Yeah, especially when I'm sick, I like to eat light food." Father nodded.

Wan Qing sneered softly and said, "Oh, if you really want to keep you from eating any meat for half a month, you're probably going to cry a long time ago, so you can bear it."

"Cut, is that an exaggeration? We didn't eat meat for several days before. When I was young, I remember that our family couldn't eat meat once a month."

"Ahem! How is that possible! We ate meat at least twice a week before." My father cleared his throat vigorously, "You can't talk nonsense about this. When I was young, I didn't care if I was full with meat, but it was definitely enough to satisfy my cravings."

"That is, when my father was still working in the factory, his life was still very good."

"I, how can I remember..." Ye Chen began to speak stiffly.

"Then tell me which year it is? Which season?"

"Hmm...can't remember."

"That's bullshit."

"Then I will prove myself by not eating meat for a month!"

"Okay, what did you say?"

"How about...forget it?" Ye Chen immediately hesitated.

……

109. Flea market

The fifth day of the first lunar month in [-].

Wan Qing and Ye Chen were sitting in the back of his father's car, and Xiao Bai was also there, laying his head on the guardrail of the tricycle, blowing the cold wind leisurely.

Overhead is a pale white sky, gloomy, as if an early spring snow is coming.

Wrapped in coats, Wan Qing and Ye Chen exhaled puffs of white air in front of the cold wind.

On both sides of the street, several grocery stores and canteens have opened their doors. Occasionally, a few children will come to buy some matches, firecrackers or bubble gum. The children who have lucky money are obviously more generous than usual.

Although what they bought were cheap snacks, for them, they were rare delicacies that they could hardly enjoy on weekdays.

"Hoooo!" My father stood up from the cushion as if he was decades younger, stepped on a few feet, and screamed strangely, "The wind is really refreshing!"

Wan Qing's body swayed accordingly, and the small stool under her made a "squeak, creak" sound. Her long black hair was gently lifted by the wind, as if a pair of invisible hands were carefully covering her. comb.

She narrowed her green eyes slightly, covered her dark green hairpin lightly, and said with a sympathetic smile: "Yeah, it reminds me of the time when I went back to my hometown when I was a child, on the long slope on the top of the mountain, Everyone sat on a small tricycle and rushed down, we yelled and made noise, and the sound was heard far away, but the adults found out, so the adults chased after us, and we enjoyed the cold wind 'howl' in front."

"Ah, I remember, the tricycle was smashed later! Fortunately, we jumped off before we couldn't stop the car." Ye Chen nodded vigorously, "When I went up, I didn't expect it to be so dangerous. .”

"The big boy who rode the bike was whipped when he went back, haha..." Wan Qing laughed heartily, and the expression on her face soon became a little sad again, "I didn't get to attend his funeral, but later Only then did I know that he died in City W in 2020."

"he……"

"Well, that's what I said."

"Oh... the first batch of unfortunate deaths..."

Ye Chen gathered her legs slightly, leaned back slightly, and pressed her hands on the bench, tightly grasping the top of the bench, her ponytail was a little messy by the wind: "After so many years, the whole world Haven't figured out a solution?"

"Who knows."

"Peaceful and beautiful time, why can't it be longer?" Ye Chen gently touched his lips with his cold fingers, and said softly, "Suddenly I don't look forward to the future so much, I hope that time... will pass slowly some."

"But people always have to meet their own future." Father laughed loudly, his consciousness has entered various time and space chaotically, so he still has some memories of the future, "always escape, never solve the problem , is like a barrier connected to heaven and earth, vast and boundless, and can never be bypassed, all we can do is muster up the courage to break through it..."

"Even if it's me who sacrificed."

"Yes, even if it's me who sacrificed myself." My father let out a cloud of white air, and suddenly raised his voice, "People find ways to go back to the past and change the future, which is also a kind of escape. Such changes will only Cause more difficulties, some things are like this, there is no way to turn around, you can only meet them head-on.”

There were slight ripples in Wan Qing's emerald green eyes, she licked her lips that were a little dry from the cold wind, and seemed to want to say something, but in the end she didn't say anything.

"Will mankind really usher in the end? I always feel that it is an unimaginable thing."

"If there is a doomsday, I hope that everyone will die together." Wan Qing gently supported her cheeks with the back of her hand, "It would be very enjoyable, and it would be worthwhile to travel around this world."

"You are just afraid that the world will not be chaotic..."

Wan Qing ignored her, just closed her eyelids, letting the car on the bumpy road shake her body back and forth.

The destination of the three is a flea market.

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, half of the shops in the market have opened. Although it seems that there are not many customers, the bosses don’t seem to be particularly idle. They are busy arranging goods and cleaning the shop. There is a small pile of second-hand goods at the door, and they are sold at extremely low prices.

For example, selling by the catty—this kind is usually for selling second-hand books; another example is to pack them all up and buy them at a low price. Squeeze out some oil and water from a money thing; of course, there is a very casual boss who writes a sign on cardboard and throws it at the door, claiming that he can take it away with money, and there is no limit to the amount.

In the second-hand market, there are all kinds of second-hand goods.

There will also be items that are damaged and need to be repaired yourself, for sale at extremely low prices.

For those who like to toss, this is also a holy place for gold rush.

"These books are all sold by the catty." My father stood in front of a shop specializing in second-hand books. The cheapest books were the cheapest ones, only [-] cents for a catty, and [-] yuan for ten catties. That's all.

"Buying books? Pick whatever you want! There's always something you want, and sell it for three catties!" The boss in a down jacket corrected the woolen cap on his head and greeted them loudly.

"It's all eight cents a catty?"

"The quality here is good, one yuan for one catty, and the other old books are one price per book."

Ye Chen squatted down curiously, and suddenly his eyes lit up: "Hey, there are Doraemon cartoons!"

"Choose whatever you want! It doesn't include the fineness, if you think about it before you buy it, they are all second-hand books, and there must be flaws!"

An uncle with a busy life like Wan Qing spends most of his time fragmented, so he only has time to watch short videos. Things like reading books have long been removed from her life.

If she hadn't gone back to the past, she probably wouldn't have picked up a physical book and read it carefully.

If she hadn't gone back to the past and passed such an old bookstall, she probably wouldn't have even laid her eyes on it.

When there is no purpose, each book found in these old books is a kind of surprise, and the process of finding it is more enjoyable than buying them.

"There is actually a post-nuclear survival code published in the 60s..." Wan Qing patted the dusty book. Its binding was simple, but the yellowed and rough paper seemed to be written decades ago. It seems that the precipitated air was brought over together.

"I have a Barefoot Doctor's Manual here."

What my father picked up was a driver's license test manual published three years ago. It was full of pictures and texts. Although it was all in black and white, it was much more intuitive than simple text.

He simply opened it and flipped through it a few times, then put it aside, planning to buy it together later.

After that, the three of them each picked out some magazines or comics and asked the boss to weigh them.

Even though it was only so little, it turned out to be a full ten catties in the end. My father readily paid eight yuan, and took the thick woven bag containing the books in one hand, and "thrown" them into the bucket of the tricycle.

"Did we buy too much?" Ye Chen suddenly became worried, "Can there be so many books at home?"

"There's always a place to pile it up."

"It's about to become a warehouse..."

"Anyway, I'm going to move later. The houses over there are bigger than the apartments."

"right!"

"Although it's not that big."

"But it's already big!" Ye Chen suddenly looked at his father expectantly, "After the Chinese New Year, will our real estate certificate be issued?"

"It should be about the same." Father smiled cheerfully, "How about you, do you want to go shopping by yourself, or do you go together?"