the last priest

Since then, Lord Dog has stopped raising dogs, but people in the village still call him that.Cha Wenbin listened quietly to Lord Dog while bowing his head to make origami, while telling him the story of the year. From the face of this sixty-year-old old man, through the wrinkles left by those years, he can still distinguish his romantic and uninhibited past. .

"How could you?" Cha Wenbin said, pointing to the pile of ingots he had stacked.This stack of ingots is not bad, and it uses the usual Taoist method, not the folk one. People who have not learned it will not know how to do it.

Lord Dog stopped his hands and gently put a folded ingot on the ground. He wanted to say something, but he stopped again, stood up and said, "There is still some winter game at home. Let's have a good drink."

Riding Lord Dog out of the kitchen, Cha Wenbin led a basket full of ingots out of the courtyard door, and the snow outside was still heavy.He drew a circle in the snow with a wooden stick, then poured all the ingots into the circle, and lit a fire.

These ingots were burned to relatives far away. He couldn't go to the grave this year, so he could only carry them over in this way.Although on this day, Chaozi Dashan and Zhuo Xiong had already done what he needed to do, but he was still silently reciting the names of his relatives, pious and solemn. At this moment, he really didn't look like a Taoist priest, but A lost stranger.

After placing tributes in the circle and lighting the incense candles, Cha Wenbin stood in this snow-filled village, was he escaping?He didn't know either, he knew that when he followed the sky, the sky didn't follow him; Fewer and fewer.Cha Wenbin naturally understood that it wasn't that they planned to let him go, but that he himself was becoming more and more fierce, so fierce that even the bad guys started to fear him.

The Tao comes from the heart, and only when the mind is calm can one understand the Tao. Now that I have too much hostility, and the killing heart dominates everything, is this Tao still the original Tao?Whenever he reminded himself that he needed to calm down, there was always a voice in his heart telling him that killing one person is a massacre, killing a hundred people is a demon, and killing ten thousand is a king.

"You're homesick, right? It's Chinese New Year. You don't look like I'm a bachelor." Lord Dog also came out at this moment, holding two earthen jars in his hands, still steaming inside.Cha Wenbin turned around and went over without answering. Mr. Dog smiled, pointed to the jar and said, "I sent it to a poor man. It's Chinese New Year today. If you're okay, come and have a look with me. You know fortune-telling. If there is a fate, show it to others, and point out a way out."

On the west side of the village, there is a low bungalow, the walls are covered with spots left by the dried yellow mud, and a broken courtyard door with three holes rotted incessantly swings back and forth in the howling north wind.

Today is New Year's Eve, and there is no smoke coming from the chimney of this family, and there are neither couplets nor blessings on the door.Although the snow was thick, Cha Wenbin could still tell that the yard had not been taken care of for a long time.

While walking with the jar, Lord Dog said to Cha Wenbin: "This used to be the warehouse of the production team, and a friend of mine lived in it. I have to come here once a day."

Entering the house, the smell in the house is a bit unpleasant, mixed with damp and various peculiar smells, even in the middle of the afternoon, the light in the house is still very poor.There is no glass on the windows, and the plastic film that used to be common in rural areas is used. Many of them are broken, and some are not bare at all.In the winter, the icy north wind was blowing into the house, and Cha Wenbin wondered if people could still live here?

The house is not big, just two rooms, one room is piled with messy things, there are two burnt black bricks on the ground, the firewood ash between the bricks has turned white, it seems that it has been a few days No one uses it anymore.In the corner near the southwest corner, there is a broken table, on which a spiritual tablet is enshrined, and the two small bowls in front of the table are covered with red candle oil, and the rest of the incense burner are all burnt wooden sticks.

To Zha Wenbin's surprise, there was a portrait of Laojun in the sky hanging on the wall. The spiders criss-crossed and criss-crossed had completely covered Laojun's beard. The yellowed paper was slightly curled due to damp. It seemed that this thing Also a bit old.

I don't know if it's in the portrait of Laojun or something else, Cha Wenbin took out three incense sticks from his pocket, lit them and inserted them into the incense burner, and then turned to see Lord Dog's friends.

In another room, a white-haired old man with a dirty face was leaning on the bed and eating something that Lord Dog had fed him.Because he ate too fast, he burned his tongue, and the white-haired old man shivered, almost letting the hot food in the jar splash on Master Dog's hands.

Master Dog scolded: "Eat so fast, rushing on the road? No one will snatch it from you when it's Chinese New Year. You've been doing this all your life. You deserve to be like a bird."

Beside the white-haired old man, there is a child with a somewhat confused expression, who is only XX years old, wearing a dark blue padded jacket, but the padded jacket has been turned out, and the face is not known whether it is because it is dirty or because it is cold. , have been completely cracked, there is a jar in front of him, and he is stirring it with a dirty spoon.

The old man and the young man didn't seem to notice the stranger at all, they just cared about eating by themselves, maybe they had been hungry for too long.Seeing Zha Wenbin coming, Mr. Dog wanted to invite him to sit down, but was embarrassed to find that there was not even a place to stay in the house, so he scratched his head and said, "He was a Taoist priest in the past just like you."

The white-haired old man paused for a moment, as if he wanted to raise his head to look at the stranger, but his brows were only raised half way before they lowered again, and then continued to eat soup and meat.

The dog master seemed to be used to it, and he pointed to the child and said, "This is his grandson and his lifeblood." The child raised his head and listened to the dog master introducing himself. "His name is Hetu. Hetu quickly calls Uncle Cha. After eating, Grandpa Dog will give you a red envelope."

With just one glance, Zha Wenbin felt that the child's eyes were crystal clear, no matter how sloppy the child's clothes were and how dirty his face was, they couldn't stop the light from his eyes.

The child didn't yell as Lord Dog wanted, but turned his head to look at the white-haired old man. The white-haired old man still had food stuffed in his mouth, and said vaguely, "Eat quickly!", and the child lowered his head. He continued to pick and pull the contents of the jar without making a sound.

Master Dog scolded: "Grandfather and grandson have the same virtues, you'd better go back to the west as soon as possible, so that this little one won't suffer with you."

When Sun and Sun were eating and drinking, Cha Wenbin kept his eyes on the kid named Hetu. After they finished eating, Lord Dog wrapped another red envelope for the kid.

Master Dog looked at the child with some pity, stroked his head and said, "Take it, as long as Grandpa Dog is still around, you will have what others have."

"Okay, old man, it's time for me to go back and have a full table of food and drinks. I have friends to accompany me this year." He pointed to Cha Wenbin and said, and then he was ready to go home. The two of them haven't eaten yet.

"Cough, cough." The white-haired old man sleeping on the bed coughed violently, and said in a hoarse voice: "Old dog, I'm afraid I have to trouble you a little bit tonight."

Mr. Dog took a look at the jar and said: "You have a lot of shit and pee, tonight is New Year's Eve, I don't want to make trouble for you, so hurry up and sleep after eating."

The white-haired old man looked at him, hesitant to speak, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "You should come here."

"Don't come, it's snowing so hard, it's freezing to death, you might as well go to Widow Wang's house to enjoy the fire." After saying that, Lord Dog dragged Cha Wenbin out the door, but when Cha Wenbin arrived at the door, he said One sentence: "Don't worry, old man, I will come before twelve o'clock."

The old man on the bed shook, then raised his hand that matched the old tree bark, touched his grandson's forehead, and even smiled.

Later, He Tu said that it was the first time he saw his grandpa smile, and it was also the last time.

The footprints left by the two just now will be covered by a light layer of snow. Cha Wenbin looked up at the sky, and those snowflakes floated on his face. After a while, even his eyes were covered. Living.

"What are you doing here at night? Don't worry about him, he's just a 60-year-old with a bad temper, and he doesn't know how to change at all, otherwise he wouldn't have ended up in such a situation, hey." Master Dog shook his head helplessly. , and patted Zha Wenbin on the shoulder to indicate that he could go.

Standing in this somewhat dilapidated courtyard, Cha Wenbin glanced back and said lightly, "Tonight, he is really leaving."

Master Dog's body froze, and he stood upright in the snow for a long time. . . . . .