The old Taoist priests are most familiar with the practice of opening altars and the process of ministering to the dead.
Although doing things is just a temporary idea.
But the old Taoist priest still does the whole process seriously.
Desks, incense candles, paper money and other things are all ready-made in the Tian family.
As for the standard magic tools for opening altars, such as soul-calling bells, Bagua mirrors, command flags, tokens, and Five Emperors copper coins, he always has them in his Tai Chi Bagua bag that is like a treasure bag.
Speaking of Taoist practices, they divide Yang rituals and Yin rituals.
Yangshi is a ceremony to help the living people eliminate misfortunes and pray for blessings and longevity.
The underworld is a ceremony to save the dead, communicate with the underworld, transcend human and heaven, ascend to the immortal world, let the deceased rest in peace, and then go to a haunted house to catch ghosts and exorcise evil spirits.
Next, the old Taoist priest took Jin An and began to perform rituals on the altar in the mourning hall, burning paper, lighting lamps, building the Naihe Bridge with red ropes, opening the Yin and Yang Road with copper coins, adding three sticks of incense to uncooked rice to pay homage to the deceased, drawing ghost coins on the spot and using Tai Chi
The seal of the Lord of Hell in the Bagua bag can be used as the currency in the underworld. This money is not for the dead. It is the tea money offered to the bull head and horse noodles and the money used to buy the ghosts in the underworld. As the old saying goes, rich people can
Make trouble...
Then step on the steps.
Recite "The Sutra of Saving People" orally.
After finishing this set of rituals, the old Taoist priest was still exhausted and covered in sweat even though it was a cloudy day in March.
"Open the coffin! Bury the coffin! Little brother, come here!" the old Taoist priest shouted with a majestic look on his face, frightening the Tian family for a moment. No one dared to step forward to stop Jin An.
The old Taoist priest and Jin An have lived together for so long, and the two have already cooperated with each other tacitly. Although they are not father and son, they have a tacit understanding that is better than that between father and son. When Jin An temporarily said that he wanted to perform rituals at the pulpit, the old Taoist priest already knew what Jin An was going to do.
, so I asked Jin An to help bury the body.
The so-called burial is to put the deceased into a coffin...
According to different local customs, the burial time is also different. In some places, the burial time is three days, five days, or after the first seven days after the death. In other places, the burial time is one day before the funeral.
Generally speaking, in the Northland or the Northwest where the climate is dry and the body is not prone to decay, burials are carried out the day before the funeral.
In areas with hot and humid climates, such as the south or southwest, burials are carried out earlier in order to prevent corpses from growing maggots, corpse water and corpse odor, and attracting flies, centipedes and other poisonous insects to attack the wake of children and grandchildren.
Anyway, each place has its own customs. In fact, behind every custom is closely related to the local climate. Behind the seemingly superstitious rules, there is a rigorous summary of previous experience.
These are all small details. To sum up, after Jin An received the signal from the old Taoist priest, he first walked to the body of Tian Mangui’s youngest son, wrapped it in white cloth, and picked up the body. Jin An’s face showed surprise. The body under the white cloth was seriously mutilated.
.
Jin An calmly picked up the body under the white cloth and carefully put it into the coffin. The moment he removed the white cloth, a mutilated body was revealed!
Two-thirds of the child's body was eaten by a mad dog, leaving only a head, an arm, two soles of the feet, and a few pieces of flesh on the back of the belly... The head was chewed to pieces by the dog's canine teeth, and his facial features were no longer visible.
, the child died miserably.
In comparison, the body of Tian Mangui's mother was in better condition, but one of her palms and neck were bitten off, and have now been sewn shut with needles and threads.
Huh? Jin An felt that the weight of the body was obviously wrong. His eyes moved and he guessed that the old woman's stomach was bitten by a vicious dog, and the intestines and internal organs were eaten away. The family members refilled the stomach with hay.
The reason why it is assumed that the deceased's stomach was filled with hay is because the old woman's stomach was not obviously deflated.
When Jin An put the body in, he quietly pressed the old woman's belly through her clothes. Sure enough, the old woman's belly was empty, like pressing cotton wool, and there was no tight feeling of muscles.
Why.
Jin An looked at the corpses of the old woman and the child with unbearable eyes, and each said: "Supreme Taiyi, save Ku Tianzun."
By the time everyone was finished, it was almost dark, and the Tian family were not ungrateful people. Seeing that the old Taoist priest and Jin An had worked hard all day, they politely asked them to stay for dinner before leaving.
The old Taoist priest saw what Jin An was thinking and agreed to stay for dinner without refusing.
On the dinner table, there were all vegetarian dishes and no meat dishes. Tian Mangui explained that his mother was reluctant to kill animals and had always been a vegetarian. They have been observing filial piety these days, so they are also vegetarian. I hope you can understand.
The atmosphere of this meal was a bit dull. After all, the deceased had just passed away and had not yet rested in peace. No one could be happy. After the meal, he said goodbye and walked into the courtyard and passed the vicious dog that had been beaten to pieces. Jin An suddenly asked
One sentence: "Can you tell me how vicious dogs hurt people?"
As soon as Tian Mangui recalled the painful memory of that day, the expression on his face was extremely painful, with both regret and self-blame.
The Tian family had a small amount of assets in the local area and opened a small restaurant. Although they were not rich, they had enough food and clothing compared to ordinary people. Because they were busy with business, they neglected their youngest son, so they bought him a puppy as a playmate to relieve his boredom. That's it.
We lived in peace for two years.
The accident happened the day before yesterday.
Tian Mangui and his wife, who were running business in a restaurant, suddenly received the bad news that something had happened at home, and both their mother and son were dead! The couple abandoned their business and hurried home. When they saw the tragic death of their mother and son, they were heartbroken and hugged them.
Seeing the dead body of the old woman who had been eaten by dogs with only her head and belly bitten to pieces, she cried in despair.
As soon as he recalled what happened yesterday, the seven-foot-tall man burst into tears and choked with sobs.
The relatives who came to help in the yard also wiped their tears with their sleeves and sympathized with Tian Mangui's experience. Even a tough man could not withstand such a tragedy that destroyed his family and his life.
At this time, Tian, ​​who was following Tian Mangui, blamed himself with red eyes: "It's all my fault. If I had stayed at home to take care of the elderly and children that day, such a tragedy would not have happened! It's all my fault! It's all my fault.
!I’m sorry, the boss, but I’m useless. I can’t help with business, and I can’t even take care of my family!”
Tian burst into tears and blamed himself, but Tian Mangui stopped him: "What nonsense! What are you doing!"
"I, Tian Mangui, can marry you, a good wife who regards Hu'er as my own, helps me take care of my mother who is in poor health, and comes to the restaurant to help me take care of business from time to time. She has been helping me without complaint for the past few years. Then, how can I marry you?
It’s my blessing, Tian Mangui, why is it your fault for this!”
Thinking of the tragic death of his mother and son, Tian Mangui slapped himself hard: "It's all my fault. I took the business too seriously and neglected to take care of the family! I want to raise my son but my mother is not here. Mom, Hu'er, I was wrong.
, I hope this is all a nightmare and I can wake up as soon as possible! Please give me another chance to be by your side!"
Hearing Tian Mangui cry so sadly, everyone couldn't help crying again. Some relatives came over to enlighten Tian Mangui and his wife, saying that it was an accident and that no one expected it.
The soft-hearted and sentimental old Taoist priest was also so moved by the scene in front of him that he picked up his sleeves and wiped the corners of his eyes.
"Treat him as his own child?" Jin An looked at Tian Mangui doubtfully.
It turns out that the current Tian is not Tian Mangui’s original wife, but the wife who broke off and rekindled her relationship. Hu’er was born to Tian Mangui and his deceased wife. Hu’er’s mother died in childbirth. Tian Mangui wanted to give his child a mother and a complete life.
She comes from a family where she is not discriminated against or bullied by others. After being introduced by a matchmaker, she married the current Tian last year.
Jin An nodded clearly and looked at the man-eating vicious dog that was beaten to death by the Tian family again: "In other words, there were no witnesses to how the vicious dog hurt people the day before yesterday?"
A young man stood up in the yard. This man was the son of Zhang Ai'e's brother and Zhang Ai'e's nephew. That day he brought his family to give his aunt his favorite sweet cake. As a result, he smelled a strong smell of blood as soon as he opened the courtyard door.
, he saw the dog that Tian Mangui had raised by himself ran into the room and ate alive the adults and children who were taking a nap.
This person was exactly the one who stopped Jin An at the gate of the courtyard at the beginning.
Jin An came to squat in front of the vicious dog, as if he was looking for something. The old Taoist priest who knew Jin An best knew that Jin An must have discovered something, so he came over and asked: "What's wrong, little brother? Did you see anything?"
?”
Jin An did not answer immediately, but pointed to the vicious dog on the ground that had more air coming out and less air coming in, and asked the old Taoist priest: "Old Taoist, do you see any difference between this domestic dog and other domestic dogs?"
After hearing what Jin An said, Tian Mangui's other family members also gathered around to look at the vicious dog out of curiosity.
When everyone gathered around the vicious dog, no one noticed that the expression on Tian's face was a bit unnatural.
The old Taoist priest also imitated Jin An and squatted down, carefully looking at the vicious dog in the pool of blood in the yard. After looking at it for a long time, he hesitated and said: "It seems to be a little different, but I can't tell what the difference is..."
"Its eyes were much more fierce than the rhubarb I raised at home, and even more ferocious than a wild dog. In order to catch it, I even broke several poles. In the end, I had to wrap it with a fishing net to subdue this mad dog!
"The speaker is Zhang Ai'e's nephew.
The old Taoist priest slapped his thigh and shouted in realization: "Yes, it's fierce! I finally saw something was wrong, little brother. The eyes of this man-eating dog are as crazy and vicious as those gambling dogs in the gambling stalls."
!”
Jin An frowned: "It's not just the eyes that are vicious."
"Look at this vicious dog. Its tail is drooping like a wolf, its ears are erect, its eyes are ferocious, and its skull and canine teeth are slightly larger than those of ordinary domestic dogs. This vicious dog has gradually developed a wolfish nature. It only feeds raw meat every day to deliberately train it into a wolf.
Only with the wildness can such a change occur.”
As soon as this statement came out, there was an uproar, and everyone said that this dog was bought by Tian Mangui as a playmate for his children. It was impossible for anyone to feed raw meat to the dog, because everyone knew that this kind of dog was most likely to go crazy and hurt people.
Jin An stood up and looked at Tian Mangui: "What do you usually feed this dog?"
Tian Mangui was stunned for a moment: "I always feed leftovers when I'm at home. I feed people whatever they have left, but I will never feed them raw meat!"
Tian Mangui finally said it with certainty.
Jin An asked again: "Besides you, who else is responsible for feeding the dogs?"
To be continued...