the last priest

My name is Xia Yi. I was born in 1986. When I was a child, I got to know Zha Wenbin because I stumbled into a general temple in the village.He has a good relationship with my father. I remember that when I was young, people in the village had a wedding and needed a Taoist priest, and they always called my father to invite Cha Wenbin.

Cha Wenbin sometimes comes to my house occasionally, but he always looks at me and smiles. I have never understood why this uncle treats me like this. Later, my grandfather told me that your eyes are different from others.

That year, I was still very young, about the second year after the General Temple incident, my grandfather passed away.For his memory, the most I have left is the wild strawberry, which is the kind of wild fruit whose scientific name is raspberry.

Grandpa had two daughters and six sons in total in his life. My dad is the youngest, and I am naturally his youngest grandson.Grandpa lives in the homes of six sons in turn, and each son stays at home for two months, which is quite comfortable.

At that time, the conditions were not good, and there was nothing delicious at home, but I was greedy. Grandpa would always come back from kindergarten and bring out some delicious food to coax me. My favorite is It's the raspberry.

When it was my family's turn to take care of him, grandpa always used to put me on his lap, and then told my mother: This doll is a good doll, as long as he grows up and doesn't go astray, he will be successful.

On the day my grandfather left, I just came back from the kindergarten. At that time, he lived at the fourth uncle's house under the ridge of my house. If I wanted to go back to my own home, I had to pass through the fourth uncle's house.

That day, there were so many people at the door of Uncle Si’s house, and almost everyone in the village had arrived. As soon as I walked across the bridge of Uncle Si’s house, my aunt came over and shouted, “Xiao Yi is back, hurry up and come in to see your grandpa. "

At that time, my cousins ​​and sisters were still in elementary school, and they finished school a little later than the kindergarten, so only another cousin who was one year older than me arrived.

At that time, all the uncles and aunts gathered around Grandpa’s bed, looking at him solemnly. I found that my father and mother were also there, and my mother also saw me, so she pulled me into the room. Said in his arms: "Xiao Yi, grandpa is leaving, you should call grandpa, he loves you the most."

At that time, my understanding of the word "go" was still at the level of distance, so I asked, "Where is grandpa going? Isn't he sleeping?"

My grandma coaxed me that grandpa was going to a far away place and would never come back again, so go and call him.

The other uncles and aunts also asked me to call me Grandpa, but I found that there was a stranger in this small room. He was wearing a white long coat and was hiding in a corner with a stick in his hand.

I saw him, and believed he saw me, because I saw him smile at me.

Although I am a boy and very naughty, I feel a bit embarrassed to call grandpa when I feel that there are strangers here, and I can’t yell out, so I said: “I don’t yell, you always like to tease me.”

The adults were still persuading me. I saw my grandpa was struggling to turn his head to look at me. At this moment, another cousin also came back from school.He was older than me, so the adults asked him to call, and the cousin yelled "Grandpa" very obediently, and then I saw Grandpa's body shaking slightly, but his eyes were still wide open.

Then the uncles and uncles began to cry, crying very sadly.I glanced at it, and the man in the white coat had stood up and was walking towards Grandpa's bed.

At this time, my grandmother held my head down and asked me to kneel down and kowtow to my grandfather, and I did so. When I got up, the man in the white coat had disappeared, and then I and the older man My brother went out to play.

As soon as I went out the door, I saw grandpa!

Grandpa followed a man in a white gown to the bridge in front of my uncle's house. I wanted to shout, but the ball in my brother's hand caught my eye. I took the ball and thought, yes, just now, grandma It means that grandpa is leaving. Didn't he just go out now?

When I was young, never did I ever think that the person on the bridge is my grandfather, and who would be lying in the room?

The word fear is unfamiliar to children, because I have never felt that dead people have anything to be afraid of.When grandpa’s big black coffin was carried out and placed in the mourning hall, there were many children older than me who were frightened, but I didn’t feel it, because that thing is when I often hide and seek used to hide.As long as I hide there, no one will ever be able to find me, but I also vaguely know that this thing can't play around, so I never say where I hide.

Later, I saw Cha Wenbin again, and I recognized him in Taoist robes just after he walked across the bridge.While still rolling on the ground, I immediately stood up and ran over and shouted, "Hello, Uncle Wen Bin!"

He looked at me very kindly, patted the dust off my body and said, "Hey, Xiao Yi, why are you still playing outside, go in and burn incense for your grandfather, have you kowtowed before?"

"It's over, Uncle Wen Bin, why are you here?" I asked, because Zha Wenbin had a sword in his hand, which I really liked.Boys in that era didn’t have any decent toys. The ones my dad used to play with most were the big swords my dad cut from wood and the swords from bamboo. But the one in Cha Wenbin’s hand decorated with seven precious stones was really Baojian, when I was a child, I was greedy. I thought he was the legendary hero, so I admired him very much.

He pinched my little cheek and said, "I'm here to see your grandpa off."

At this time, a guide happened to see him, and rushed out to welcome him, asking him to go inside.

I muttered in my mouth: "Didn't Grandpa leave already? He has walked a long way along the highway. Why are you here to give me something?"

Cha Wenbin probably heard what I said, so he stopped, squatted in front of me again and asked, "What did you say? Can you tell me again?"

At this time, there were many people around me, including relatives and people from the village. I was not used to the feeling of being surrounded by people, and I felt very embarrassed, so I said loudly: "I saw grandpa following a man in white clothes." Went to the main road beyond the bridge."

Some old people started pointing at me and talking about it. At this time, my mother was also in the crowd, and immediately rushed over and slapped me, and then explained with some embarrassment: "Children, talk nonsense."

I quit immediately. With so many people, my mother actually beat me. I have a strong self-esteem since I was a child. When I saw some friends still laughing at me, I immediately raised my voice and shouted: "That's right, I saw the man in white in the room just now, sitting next to Second Aunt!" Then he opened his mouth with a "wow" and began to cry loudly.

My mother looked up and saw that my second aunt's face had turned liver-colored, so she raised her hand and continued to prepare to slap her, but Cha Wenbin stopped her and said, "Don't blame him, this kid is telling the truth."

At that time, what Zha Wenbin said had absolute authority in our place. No one would refute what he said, and he rarely spoke.From then on, the rumors that I could see ghosts spread in private. Some people said that it was because I was still a child with low flames, and some people said that it had something to do with my horoscope that day. Said it was because my eyes were a little different from others.

Grandpa's funeral was organized by Cha Wenbin. I don't remember too many things, but I vaguely remember that Cha Wenbin glanced at me again when I was lowered into the coffin.

Later, I heard the grown-ups chatting and saying that the place where the coffin of the grandfather was moved that time, Huiwang’s old family, that is, my father, could get the most protection from the grandfather among the eight children.

There are a total of three families in the small section of our old house: my family, the fourth uncle and the fifth uncle, forming a character shape, my family is at the top, and the two uncles are at the bottom.At that time, there were two bridges, one was from the fourth uncle's house to my house, and the other was from the fifth uncle's house, but the road to the fifth uncle's house was really small, so we could carry some rice and firewood at that time. Can't go.

Later, I don’t know what happened. My father and my fourth uncle had a big quarrel. The rural people quarreled. Although they were brothers, they also tore their faces.My aunt was very irritable and forbade our family to walk on their bridge. My father and mother didn't want to be angry anymore, so they decided to build a bridge by themselves.

Breaking ground was a big event in those days, and many people wanted to invite someone to see it first.But my father and my mother said they would rather trust their own hands, so they insisted on building a road with their shoulders, and in the end they only had to build a bridge.