Phoenix and Dragon

On the day when the show was scheduled to start, the villages outside the city of Jiangling, which had never been winter, the river and the sky were washed away after the drizzle, and the red trees were stained with frost. In the night of Jiangling City in late autumn, the green mountains were like black jade, and the roads in the remote villages were light. Have autumn cold.

However, this servant of the Wang family has been guarding the entrance of the village with his hands in his hands since the day he died, muttering.

On the day he was looking for an opera troupe, he was so anxious that he lost his head. It was more enjoyable to spend money than to dig toilet paper. When he came back and thought about it, his heart was at a loss.

What if this group of actors took the deposit and ran away?

Although the way of life in this world is quite simple, and people who travel north and south pay attention to the word "faith", but after all, they are not local people, and they are not a well-known team. They may not pass by this Jiangling city once in ten or twenty years. There must be no hidden worries of being caught, and there is even no burden on conscience.

The servants were blowing hype in front of Wang Qiye, patting their chests to fool the master's livelihood and doing everything in one go, but the grandson didn't know what to do after all, and he just wanted to slap himself in the face when he turned his head, knowing that even if this troupe I ran away because I didn't care too much.

The servants of the Wang family paused for more than an hour at the entrance of the village in fear, scratching their heads, scratching their heads, worrying about gains and losses like a big girl Huaichun, when he saw a group of actors carrying suitcases coming from a distance without any haste. It was only then that he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The leader of this group of actors is the slightly richer, white-faced meat bun-like leader I saw yesterday, perhaps because of the long journey, the white and fat meat buns on his face are a little more thicker than when we first met that day. Road folds, revealing a bit tired and downcast.

However, this abjection can't hide his shrewd eyes, with the unique cunning of a traveler. If he didn't wear an opera costume, he would be too eye-catching to be mistaken. Looking at this troupe leader alone, he doesn't look like an opera troupe. The people here look like businessmen, the kind who are not stupid and have a lot of money.

It gets dark early in late autumn, and the sky is already getting dark before the show starts.

When the servants of the Wang family saw the group leader's face with a few more wrinkles, the stone finally fell to the ground, and they trotted out to greet them like rain after a long drought, and welcomed the group of actors to the village gratefully.

This team of actors is familiar with the way, and they are also veterans who often run this kind of hall. The hands and feet of picking things and carrying luggage are exceptionally nimble. It can be seen that all of them have a body as light as a swallow and are strong on the stage. The only shortcoming is that the mouth is like a duck on a rope, if you stick it in front of him to ask questions, people will probably ignore you.

But it's not surprising. I heard that the troupe came from the north, and the capital city is also from the north. Maybe they keep a low profile and don't like to say it clearly.

If these people came from the capital, this scene would not be surprising—the boss who has been there must have seen it before, and there are many rules, and it is not uncommon for them not to chat with the host family easily.

It doesn't matter if the boss in the team doesn't like to talk, as long as the team leader can talk.

The owner of the pleated meat bun class claimed to be surnamed Shan, and smiled a little when he met everyone. He was even polite to this servant, coaxing this servant into a happy mood.

The servants of the Wang family observed the group of people while flattering them. Seeing the style and the rules, they felt that their errands were done in a decent way, and that they might have recruited experts in a crooked manner, which was enough to make his family Wang Qi look good.

A group of people walked into the village smoothly, talking and laughing, and went straight to the Wang family's courtyard.

According to the local tradition, birthday banquets for children's birthdays and elderly people are only held at night, and guests have already started to come to celebrate birthdays outside the Wang Family Courtyard.

The servants led the troupe around the main entrance and entered through the side entrance of the palace.

In this Liu family village, the Wang family is a local rich man. The family is big and the land is big, and the money and wealth are not rich. The head of the village built all the way to the end of the village, but he was later pointed out that it was not in compliance with the rules, and he was thinking about building it according to such a scale. He dragged his old body that was old and strong but didn't know how many years he could work, and went to the concubines every night. Sleeping in the room, I am afraid that his old legs will be broken.

Thinking about it this way would be very inconvenient, Lord Wang gave up the idea and prevented him from building his mansion into the pattern of Efang Palace which is three hundred miles away.

Today's palace is already the result of Lord Wang's hiding his great ambitions, but it is still surprisingly large. It doesn't have the demeanor of "the prime minister's family letters let three feet away", it looks like a prison.

Therefore, in the current Wang's house, there are descendants of Mr. Wang's big family who have entered the genealogy, and there are many empty houses that can be rich.

It’s not bad to say that the house is big, just to say that now, in order to hold a banquet for his precious son and old mother, Wang Qiye has to support the scenes inside and out, and it’s not easy for relatives, friends and guests who are inconvenient to come and go, so it’s not easy for them to eat and sleep in the open. The land is Lu.

Therefore, Wang Qiye specially ordered his servants to tidy up a few clean rooms, and leave the better ones for relatives and friends who came from afar, and leave the worse ones for the cooks, day laborers and others invited by the house to help. troupe.

The room reserved for the troupe is among them.

The servants led the steamed stuffed bun master to explore the grounds, and helped to pick out two clean and tidy rooms. Zhang Luo and the others settled down here, and told them not to delay the time of the master's house, and prepared to go to the back kitchen for them. Get some food ready so they can get dressed and get on stage later.

It's just that before the servant could walk away, he was stopped by the smiling class leader.

The servant had a very good impression of this class leader, so he hurriedly asked if there was any inappropriate hospitality.

The troupe master laughed at the slightly wretched tiredness, but showed a bit of politeness, and bowed to the servants with a sense of loyalty: "Little brother, we are not as good as the officials and officials. Born, luggage, sitting and sleeping are all in order, but relying on the patriarch to reward us with a bite of food, we still have to abide by the rules of the patriarch, otherwise we will anger the patriarch, and we will smash our own rice bowl with our own hands."

The servant originally thought that the main class was so polite because of some tricky request. Hearing this, he couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief and smiled: "What am I? I heard that you are the most knowledgeable boss who travels around. Since it's the rules of the road , it is absolutely impossible to break down our royal residence, there is no reason for this, just tell me, if you need anything, I will do my best."

The class leader Shan squinted his eyes and smiled: "I won't make any unreasonable requests, but it's just the rule in our troupe, we have to worship the gods before the show, and ask them to bless us in good health and a safe journey."

The servants of the palace have heard of this, 360 lines, and the rules are different, since it is the rules of others, he naturally has no reason to stop, not to mention, this is not a strange thing, follow others It's not a bad idea.

The servants of the palace agreed, and enthusiastically found an unused table for them from the warehouse, spread a red cloth as an altar, and found some fresh melons and fruits from the back kitchen, and helped to set them up in a decent manner. superior.

Because of his eagerness to help, troupe leader Shan stayed on purposely. I don't know whether it was luck or misfortune, and he saw the strange ways of worshiping the gods of this theater troupe.

As I said earlier, the worship of gods and Buddhas in the Jin Dynasty was messy. In the early years, the Tai / Zu refused to believe in Buddhism, and devoted himself to Taoism. Believe in Buddhism.

However, after all, Taoism took root in the Jin Dynasty as deep as a fierce son plunged into the water, thus creating the dual respect of Buddhism and Taoism in later generations.

People in the Jin Dynasty worshiped gods and Buddhas very casually. After all, when the empress dowager was confused, she didn't care about it, and she dared to invite any gods to the ancestral hall.

The imperial court couldn't control the queen mother, and it was too shameless to control the people. Therefore, the folk sacrificial activities in the Jin Dynasty were full of strange things, and people believed in everything.

According to legend, in a remote village, in the dilapidated ancestral hall of the village, there was a clay figurine whose appearance was unknown. He was dressed in red and was sealed as an empress.

The local villagers still worship very piously, and the incense is still prosperous, but they don't know who this "mother" is so sacred that they can build a temple here to enjoy the incense.

It was only later that the case was solved—this "mother" was actually a wine jar used by an old man in the village to store wine, and the mouth of the jar was sealed with a pinch of red cloth, and the outside was covered with a layer of mud that dries up in the wind. , put it on the table, but was seen by some lame-eyed and not-blind fool who saw the "human form", knelt down and bowed, and was so scared that the old man dared not say that he was hiding behind the old woman's back. The "fine wine".

Not to mention whether the old man scolded his mother on the street because he didn't drink enough wine, but he said that this broken wine jar has been worshiped as a god for many years, making the village a joke in the world, and he doesn't know if this jar is successful or not.

This incident shows the absurdity of folk worshiping gods and Buddhas, but overall there is still a unity.

For example, a carpenter worships Luban, a drug dealer worships Shennong, a weaver girl worships Leizu, and a poet worships Wenchang.

The most interesting thing is Erye Guan, who is in charge of arresting the head of the criminal department of the lawsuit, and also in charge of the traffickers. He is really a busy man who straddles the world of immortals. Who is the wise and mighty Guan Erye aiming at?

Maybe the gods also have a mortal heart, knowing that the right way in the world is vicissitudes.

The patriarch who worshiped in the Liyuan is also very interesting. It is not the god who has been recorded in the book, but the romantic emperor Tang Minghuang who has been with Concubine Yang for half his life but has been a heartless man.

According to legend, when the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty was young, he often cried and made troubles. The Tang emperor ordered people to play, beat and sing to make the prince smile and act for him.Later, Liyuan Pavilion was set up in Chang'an Forbidden Garden for musicians to play and practice singing and dancing.

Therefore, actors are also called "operators", and the word "Liyuan" comes from the original "Liyuan Pavilion" in Chang'an. This Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty also became the patriarch of Liyuanhang in a fair manner.

Even so, the servants of the royal house grew up in the countryside, and they are well-informed on this matter. They know that although folk worship gods nowadays, although they are free and arbitrary, they are pious, so they have long been mentally prepared. It is not unusual to see people in this troupe worshiping any Buddha or fairy.

However, this single leader is really unexpected.

The servants of Wang's residence have lived to such an advanced age, and I have never seen any theater troupe worshiping such a god.

The author has something to say: strive to finish this story in tomorrow's chapter.

Because I like the elements of ghosts and ghosts, sometimes I like to rely on this aspect when I write.

Although there may be a little supernatural element, but don't be afraid, this article is really not a ghost story. (spread hands)

And Mo Mo thinks that most of the time there are no ghosts and gods in the world, and only the hearts of people who are good or evil really exist.