For more than a year, Chang spent more than half of his money on Luo's medical treatment and medicine. Chang gritted his teeth and used the last ten taels of silver to buy a house and began to knit straw hats to support his two children. The eldest of the two children was named Ding Ruiqi. , the second child is called Ding Ruizong, and the eldest child, Ding Ruiqi, is not as good at using melon seeds as his younger brother. Secondly, he thinks he is the older brother and starts selling straw hats in the streets at a young age. (Since Luo Shi's death, the two children began to call Chang Shi grandma. Although Mr. Chang was lame, he was very clever with his hands and was good at knitting straw hats. He had bad legs and feet, so he knitted them at home and asked Ding Ruiqi to sell them.) He squeezed money from his teeth to send his younger brother to school, hoping that his younger brother would have Although Ding Ruizong inherited his father Ding Yi's intelligence and wisdom, he was able to stand out and honor his ancestors in one day, but he was thinking about something else. Ever since he saw his father Ding Yi's tragic death, Ding Ruizong had an idea: What if Without those evil things, or if I had the ability to get rid of those things at that time, how happy would Lao Ding's family be?…
In the twelfth lunar month of the sixth year of Xianfeng's reign, the old lady Chang got sick from overwork and contracted a cold. She died soon after. The two brothers used their last savings to bury Chang. (Although Chang was not sick for a year like Luo, he asked his doctor to give him medicine (and no less money), they began to figure out what to do in the future. At that time, the eldest brother Ding Ruiqi still hoped that his younger brother could continue to study in order to gain fame. However, after the Chang family was buried, the brothers were penniless. Ding Ruiqi himself also understood that his grandma had no money. Now, it is impossible to knit straw hats for his younger brother to go to school. Moreover, the world is in chaos at this time. You can get fame by donating dozens of taels of silver. Ten ingots of gold are worth ten years in cold weather. In such a world, what is the use of obtaining fame?
After some discussion, the brothers decided to ask Chang Laogang, who used to live in the same village (who worked as a fireman in a teahouse) to help find a helper in the teahouse to work first, and then make plans later when there is an opportunity.
Speak the truth. A teahouse doesn't need many helpers, so the two brothers begged the teahouse manager Lu to reluctantly keep them all. But there was no wages, just two meals. Even so, the two were very content, but the good times did not last long. Due to poor business, the teahouse could no longer afford to support the two brothers. Each of the two brothers could only keep one. Just when the two brothers were worried, an experienced tea drinker, about forty years old, came to the teahouse. Shen Fangzhuo, who claims to be the great disciple of Zuoqiu Yangzuo Zhenren of Fuzhen Temple in Wudang Mountain, is here to provide medical services to the county magistrate's family. Hearing that this man was a Taoist priest from Wudang Mountain, Ding Ruizong got excited and knelt on the ground to kowtow to become his master. This frightened Taoist Shen. After hearing what happened to the two brothers. Daochang Shen frowned. Firstly, he felt sorry for the Ding family, and secondly, he was surprised by what happened in the Chang family camp. Ding Ruizong was a smart boy. When he saw the change in Daoist Shen's expression, he immediately kowtowed with tears and snot. At this moment, Daoist Shen also felt sympathy. Although he had not agreed to Ding Ruizong's acceptance of his disciples, he thought of watching this. There was a need for a handyman to cut firewood, so he took Ding Ruizong back to Wudang Mountain. At this time, Ding Ruizong was not officially a disciple of the Taoist sect, but just a handyman who cut firewood and rice in the temple.
Not two years after Ding Ruizong left , the teahouse closed down. Shopkeeper Lu saw that Ding Ruiqi was a man who could endure hardships from dawn to dusk every day and had a good mind, so he reminded him that young people should be ambitious in all directions, and gave him guidance on how to go to Hankou for a living. Before leaving, he gave him two slings of money as travel expenses. Qian'en After thanking him, Ding Ruiqi went to Hankou and became an apprentice in a shoe store. The owner of the shoe store, whose surname was Wu, had an only daughter who was pretty good-looking, but she was unable to get married because of cataracts. Seeing that Ding Ruiqi was a tall man who could endure hardships and had a good mind, he wanted to betroth his daughter to him. Ding Ruiqi had never had enough to eat for a day since his mother's death. He himself had a very low self-esteem. How could such a good thing happen? If he could miss it, he happily agreed to Boss Wu's request. He became the intrusive son-in-law of the Wu family, and after marrying the Wu family, the problem came again: the twenty-seventh ancestor of the dead disciples . No matter how hard Ding Ruiqi tried, this Wu family was Not getting pregnant made Ding Ruiqi very anxious. If his younger brother became a Taoist priest, he might not have a wife. And if he couldn't have another child, wouldn't the old Ding family be wiped out? (Ding Ruiqi believes that Taoism is similar to Buddhism. Marriage is not allowed after entering a Taoist sect. However, in fact, most Taoist sects have a very positive attitude towards marriage. The early Taoist scripture "The Taiping Jing" states that "Yin and Yang are not in harmony, there will be no marriage." There is a saying that there will be no worldly species when it is destroyed.)
Day after day, shopkeeper Wu was more anxious than Ding Ruiqi, because in the old society, if a woman had no children, she would be guilty of the "seven outs" rule, and the husband would have reason to marry his wife at any time. This Wu family was born with a sinister nature and was already guilty of this. In view of the taboo of "having serious diseases" in "Qi Chu", if you add "no heirs" at this time, even if it goes to the Yamen, Ding Ruiqi will be the one to take care of him. Therefore, shopkeeper Wu takes good care of Ding Ruiqi in every possible way and obeys his advice. Most people who come to buy shoes think that shopkeeper Wu is the shopkeeper, so when they come in, they directly ask Ding Ruiqi who calls shopkeeper.
After Ding Ruizong arrived at Wudang Mountain, he only did chores such as going up the mountain to cut firewood, wash rice and wash vegetables. However, he was smart by nature. He secretly watched the rituals every day and learned martial arts secretly. One day while secretly learning martial arts, he was hit by Zuo Qiuyang. Got it right. Originally, it was a taboo for Taoists to secretly learn martial arts in the temple, and they should be expelled from the mountain. However, after Master Zuo asked Ding Ruizong about the ins and outs of going up the mountain, instead of driving him down the mountain, he ordered the disciple Shen Fangzhuo who took him up the mountain to accept him as his disciple. , At this time, Ding Ruizong officially entered Taoism. In the eighteenth year of Guangxu, Master Zuo Qiuyang emerged, Master Shen Fangzhuo succeeded to the throne, and Ding Ruizong became the chief disciple. From then on, Ding Ruizong took his nickname Yunling As a disciple, he began to go down the mountain under this name to cure diseases and exorcise evil spirits for the people.
"Ah! That's right!" Zhang Guozhong sighed, "Master Zuo Qiuyang can be regarded as a great master. No wonder Yun Lingzi's cultivation level is even three points lower than that of his master. I see! Then why is he? Will he become a traitor?"
"Headmaster Zhang, Yun Lingzi is not a traitor!" Sun Ting smiled slightly, "The world has many misunderstandings about him. In fact, Yun Lingzi endured humiliation and heavy burdens just to kill the enemy and serve the country, but in the end he was called a traitor. It is really a great tragedy for Taoism!”
"Oh? I'd like to hear some advice!" Zhang Guozhong seemed to be very interested in Sun Tingla's homely narration.
The summer of the 20th year of Guangxu. Yun Lingzi felt that the heat had come, so he prepared to clean up the corpse refining furnace in Changjiaying. At this time, Changjiaying was already a frightening place. It was even said that ghosts could be heard crying from ten miles away, and the Yamen once sent people to investigate. But no one could come back after going there. As time went by, even the government officials no longer dared to ask. At that time, Master Shen was very worried about Yun Lingzi going to Changjiaying alone, and insisted on sending a few disciples to go with him. He even wanted to accompany his apprentice to the corpse refining kiln in person, but was rejected by Yun Lingzi. After formulating a detailed plan based on the remaining memories of the year, Yun Lingzi went to the Chang Family Camp alone.
After arriving at Changjiaying, Yun Lingzi really went through a lot of escaping from death. But in the end, the corpse-refining kiln was destroyed. When Yun Lingzi returned to Fuzheng Temple with a fragment of the corpse-refining kiln, Master Shen was really surprised and happy. He didn't expect that his great disciple, that year, The young man who ran the teahouse actually broke down the corpse-making kiln alone. Even he and his master Zuo Qiuyang were not 100% sure of breaking it down. And Yun Lingzi himself became famous because of this incident. People from all over the country would give a thumbs up when mentioning the three words Yun Lingzi. Even the heads of Longhu Mountain and Maoshan became famous because of this incident. I made a special trip to Wudang Mountain to visit him.
"Is it that exaggerated?" Zhang Guozhong looked at this corpse refining kiln with admiration at this time, "The boss of Maoshan also went? At that time… it should be… it should be Ma Yanzheng, right?"
"I don't know about this, because it's not recorded in the book left by Yun Lingzi." Sun Ting said.
"He also has books?" Zhang Guozhong opened his eyes wide.
"This is it…" Sun Ting pulled out an inconspicuous booklet from the pile of ancient books and handed it to Zhang Guozhong, "This "Yunling Xiaozhi" was written by Yun Lingzi. Like Ding Yi's "Xiaochen Legacy", this book The book not only records what Yun Lingzi has learned throughout his life, but also has a narrative record of his life experience, including the method of destroying the corpse refining kiln. It is all there, but I can't understand it. If Zhang Zhang teaches you that you are interested in this thing, I can give it to you."
"Oh?" Zhang Guozhong couldn't wait to take the "Yunling Xiaozhi" and opened it page by page. In Zhang Guozhong's opinion, this book is very different from "Maoshan Shuzhi". Most of "Maoshan Shuzhi" The content is a theoretical narrative, but this book "Yun Ling Xiao Zhi" is mainly based on practical descriptions. It also writes about the five religions and eight sects, Feng Shui cures diseases, exorcises ghosts and suppresses evil spirits. Although the narrative is simple, its practical value is higher than "Maoshan Shuzhi" is much higher.
"If Headmaster Zhang wants to read this book, can we stop talking here for now and continue tomorrow?" Sun Ting found that Zhang Guozhong's attention had been completely attracted by the book "Yun Ling Xiao Zhi".
"No, no… Mr. Sun, I like your story very much. I want to know what happened to Yun Lingzi in the end." Hearing what Sun Ting said, Zhang Guozhong also felt a little rude and hurriedly closed the book and smiled awkwardly at Sun Ting.
After that, Yun Lingzi wandered around all year round, and her contact with her brother Ding Ruiqi gradually decreased. In the Republic of China, due to the war, the contact between the two was temporarily interrupted. Ding Ruiqi never had children, but he had no desire to repair his wife. Once he came to Wu The shopkeeper was indeed kind to me, and secondly, Mrs. Wu was indeed virtuous. Although she could not see anything, she knew that her man loved peanuts, so he wrapped peanuts for Ding Ruiqi every day, which moved Ding Ruiqi very much. In the 20th year of Guangxu's reign, shopkeeper Wu died of illness. When he was dying, he only had one last word, which was that he hoped Ding Ruiqi would not marry his wife. Although the atmosphere at the time was very sad, Ding Ruiqi was almost angry. They had been together for so many years. , why does this old husband always think that he is always thinking about fixing his wife…
Time flies, and the time soon arrived in the Republic of China. In the past, Ding Ruiqi also asked someone to have his fortune told, but the conclusion was that he would die with an heir. Although he didn’t understand what “an heir” meant, the hot pot of “having an heir” But it was enough for Ding Ruiqi to hold him for decades. Later, as he became nearly 70 years old, his dream of having children was shattered. When it's cold, strange things happen. One night, Mrs. Wu suddenly made a fuss about eating watermelon. Mrs. Wu had never made a fuss about wanting to eat anything in her life. Why did she think of eating watermelon now? In Ding Ruiqi's impression, there seemed to be a melon and fruit stall selling watermelons in the north of the city, but there were not many, just a few. If you wanted to buy one, you had to go early, so before dawn the next morning, Ding Ruiqi got dressed and went Buy watermelon for the old lady…