the last priest

How did this thing appear in the belly of a wild boar?Zha Wenbin is a Taoist priest, he doesn't think about why, he just believes that this is a decree, everything is predestined, and since it is in his hands, he accepts it.However, he didn't mean to mention the bulging mountain bag at the top of the mountain. He has been rolling in the rivers and lakes a lot, and the current Cha Wenbin is no longer the same Cha Wenbin he used to be.He wouldn't trust anyone but his own people.

An experienced old hunter would never let his hunting dog provoke danger. Standing behind the mountain, Cha Wenbin could see clearly that he let go of the dog on purpose.Any panic in movement or language can be presented through performances, except for the eyes. After Dashan killed the pig, the old farmer's eyes were calm.

The guardian of the tomb, this is the identity that Cha Wenbin can guess.

Northwest Zhejiang is the favorite burial place for the nobles of Wu and Yue, because there is a Tianmu Mountain where the Southern Dragon is located. This is the largest dragon vein in South China. They are proficient in astronomy and geography. block resting place.It is no exaggeration to say that until the 80s when the country started a large-scale cultural relic protection campaign, ancient tombs were stolen and excavated in northwest Zhejiang. The pottery, jade, and even bronze and lacquer ware unearthed here were massively stolen. Into the black market.Among them, the ancient tombs of the six dynasties from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Han Dynasty are the most numerous, and most of them are noble tombs, which are distributed in various deep mountains and old forests along the winding Tianmu Mountains.

This small col on the side of Youling can be concluded to be a large-scale burial ground, but there is no sign of being stolen and excavated here. There can only be one explanation: there are guards here.

At night, Zha Wenbin didn't intend to fall asleep. He was waiting, looking up at the stars in the sky, when a shooting star suddenly flashed past and fell to the northwest, leaving a long trail behind.

Someone behind Zha Wenbin said: "The fire is falling from the sky, doomed." Turning around, it turned out that the old farmer got up.

"Haven't slept yet?" "Drink too much, wake up at night, why don't you sleep?" "Wait for you to wake up at night." "Wait for me? Are you kidding me?"

Cha Wenbin pointed to the small window in the room that was still lit with candles and said: "I have never seen him get drunk, even if you take out two more pots, he will not be drunk, so , is there a problem with the wine?"

The old farmer didn't avoid it either, he just smiled.Cha Wenbin continued: "I'm not here to rob graves, the elderly don't need to be so guarded."

The old farmer laughed and took out a long rope from behind him. The important thing is that there was a sawed-off sandbrush pinned to his waist: "You are a refreshing person. I was thinking that if I came out you would If you're not here, I'm going to tie up your accomplice, it seems that you really didn't come to rob graves."

Cha Wenbin picked up the ball and said to the old farmer, "Can you give this to me?" He thought for a while and added, "It's for me."

The old farmer laughed again: "Take it, it's not a good thing, it's just a stone."

"This is not an ordinary time, it is a treasure." Cha Wenbin said truthfully: "It is very likely that the record on it is a long-lost astrology map. If you get it on the black market, this thing can really be exchanged for a lot money."

"The old man is alone. Why do I need so much money?" The old farmer shook the long rope in his hand and said, "Our Cheng family has guarded here for generations. I ran out for a penny, and when my old bones are buried in the ground, I can't keep this place even if I think about it."

"Then do you know how we got here?"

The old farmer said with a smile: "It's that piece of iron, I recognize that young man, he looks like he's doing that."

Zha Wenbin was a little puzzled, since he was a mausoleum guard, how could it be? "and you……"

"I don't want the child to be tied to the wolf. That thing was indeed washed down in this river. I planned to use it to attract more tomb robbers. I am getting old and this mountain can't be defended anymore, so I thought about it." Make some noise so that the government can pay attention to this place, it’s better to hand it over to the government than even my coffin will be pried.” That’s what Cha Wenbin thought, it turned out that the old farmer’s thoughts were so meticulous, but Fortunately, it fell into Chaozi's hands. If it really fell into the hands of tomb robbers, the old Agricultural Bank would be in dire straits by now.

"Don't worry, there are people from the government with us, but this place doesn't seem to be very peaceful. You have lived here for so long, have you encountered any strange things?"

The old farmer put away his gun and sat on the stone mill at the door and said, "Hey, brother, isn't he from the government?"

"No." "Then what do you do?" "I'm a Taoist priest." "..."

In this way, the two began to chat without saying a word. The old farmer is also a talker, and the trust between people is built on the basis of honesty.Cha Wenbin didn't hide anything from him, so the old farmer was naturally willing to tell him that anyone who has lived in the mountains all his life would have something to say.

The old farmer said that their ancestors guarded the mausoleum here a long time ago, but he didn't know where the mausoleum was. The only teaching of the elders is to guard the mountains within a five-kilometer radius.Perhaps it is the blessing of the dead ancestors. For thousands of years, this small one-acre three-point land has escaped natural disasters and riots again and again. Even the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement that swept across the entire Northwest Zhejiang Province did not disturb this place. .But every generation of ancestors will leave such a rule for their offspring: do not cross the bridge in the middle of the night!

All the houses are built on the east side of the mountain, and the cemetery is on the west side. There is a stone bridge connecting the east and west sides, and the stream is under the bridge.People here can go to work in the land and forests to the west during the day, but after midnight, no one can cross the bridge leading to the west.The old people said that at night, this bridge was reserved for the ancestors to go home. If they went out, they would disturb the souls of the ancestors, and they would be punished.

At the time of the most, there were about [-] families here. In the small village, intermarriage was maintained as much as possible. When they had to, they would choose to "buy" a daughter-in-law far away to continue their descendants. The consequences of such a closed model are The population began to gradually decrease.In their generation, there are only four households left, and now those three households have all moved out. In the words of the old farmer, they have betrayed the legacy of their ancestors.

100 years ago when the material civilization was not sufficiently developed, people only needed land to gain a foothold, but today, people desire more for cities and modernity.Under the impact of corruption, any belief will be shaken. The old farmer said that he did not hate them, because the ancestors had punished the greedy descendants.

In 1984, the last family except the old farmer had moved out. On the day before the winter solstice in 1985, one of the households who had moved out came back again. According to seniority, that person was the old farmer's nephew, and his name was Cheng Mingde.On the day he came back, he brought a stranger with him, and the old farmer couldn't understand what he said, which seemed to be a Cantonese accent.The two of them also stayed at the old farmer's house. The old farmer's house was kind-hearted, and his nephew was of course warmly entertaining. Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, the two of them felt the darkness and were about to go out.

In winter, it is cold in the mountains, and charcoal is used for heating in copper basins.Because there was no light, the two stepped on the copper basin and disturbed the old farmer. The old farmer got up and asked, and saw that the two men were holding various picks and iron bars in their hands.Under questioning, Cheng Mingde personally tied the old farmer to the doorpost of his home. Only then did the old farmer realize that the two came back to rob the tomb.

As the so-called defense against day and night, it is difficult to guard against family thieves. Cheng Mingde went south to Guangzhou in the 80s to make a fortune, but he had no skills and soon ended up living on the streets.After being introduced by several hooligans, he got acquainted with a Hong Kong businessman and started tomb robbery in Guangdong and Guangxi.Cheng Mingde mentioned that his ancestors were mausoleum guardians, but any mausoleum guarded by someone is either a royal family or an aristocrat, so the Hong Kong businessman sent a knowledgeable horse boy to come back with him to find out the situation, not wanting to disturb his uncle, so he simply revealed The true color of the robber.

The old farmer was powerless to stop him, and could only watch his nephew and outsiders run towards the mountain that had been guarded for generations. If Cheng Mingde had long forgotten the legacy of his ancestors, the rule of not staying on the bridge in the middle of the night had been completely defeated by the government.There was no village in front of the mountain, no store behind, and the old farmer struggled in vain. It was not until the next afternoon that he broke free from the rope and was ready to go find the two with his shotgun.Unexpectedly, as soon as I walked to the bridge, I saw two corpses lying in the creek below, both with their faces up and their limbs spread.

There was a small pool under the bridge, the depth of the water was less than one meter, even if the two fell, they would not be drowned.The corpse was spinning back and forth in the reflux formed in the pool. The old farmer chose to declare at the customs. The final result of the forensic examination was that the bridge was frozen in winter, and the two drowned because their feet slipped into the water.

It happened to be a crackdown at that time, and the identities of Cheng Mingde and the young man were quickly verified. As two people with criminal records, the official conclusion for them was that two hooligans who had traveled around many places fled in a panic after burglarizing and died accidentally. .

This matter, the old farmer has always believed that the ancestors appeared to punish the wicked, and it also strengthened his determination to guard the tomb.