Living Paper

nostalgia/article

Bai Zhun gently pinched the tip of his nose, frowned and turned his face away, Huo Zhenye had no choice but to put the paper girl in the courtyard first.

When he stood the girl in the courtyard, he suddenly thought that since the man could use the girl's eyes to peek, he can still use this eye now.

While pretending to straighten the paper figurine, Huo Zhenye stretched out his finger and poked "blind" the other eye of the paper figurine.

I don't know if it was an illusion, but he felt that the paper figurines in the whole room trembled.

The house was full of paper figurines, and the paper bamboo was silent for a while, when the wind blew through the glass wind chimes worn by Axiu from a small soda bottle under the eaves, and there was a burst of "ding ding dong dong".

"I wiped out that store and burned all the paper bundles."

Bai Zhun rolled to the kitchen in a wheelchair, opened the refrigerator, and took a bottle of orange flavor.

Huo Zhenye followed behind him: "Who is that person?" He asked as he took the soda bottle, bit the cap off with his teeth, and handed it back to Bai Zhun.

Bai Zhun took a sip, feeling refreshed, he squinted his eyes and hiccupped: "It's my senior brother."

……

"You still have a senior brother?" He thought that Bai Zhun's weird temper would mean that he wouldn't have fellow disciples.

"I started late. When the master accepted me, he was already able to take care of himself. After I apprenticed to the master for a few years, he went out to make a living by himself."

"Then why are you the sect master?"

Bai Zhun narrowed his eyes: "I'm better than him."

Huo Zhenye rubbed his nose, feeling that he shouldn't ask this question.

"He came back once." Bai Zhun seemed to be thinking about something, with a slight smile on the corner of his mouth, "My senior brother was very good to me before."

He had just entered the seventh sect at that time and didn't understand anything, but the master opened his eyes for him as soon as he entered the gate, and he could already see those things.

Qimensi harmonizes yin and yang and comforts the souls of the dead.Master is also a good person who likes to take care of everything. He will save any ghosts who ask to come to the door, and there will be no peace at night. There are hanged ghosts floating on the windows, and drowned ghosts floating in the water tank.

"At that time we were still living in the countryside, surrounded by farmland, and there were thresholds in other yards, but ours didn't. I was afraid that it would be inconvenient for them to jump in."

If people in the country hear knocking on the door of "Tuk Tuk" at night, they must not open it. It may be a ghost thinking about the door.

Huo Zhenye wanted to ask about "they", but when he came back to his senses, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Do you know what the most annoying thing is?"

Huo Zhenye didn't know if he wanted to know: "Tell me."

"The most annoying thing is the tuberculosis ghost, who keeps coughing, and blows cold wind whenever he coughs." Bai Zhun is most afraid of the cold, and he always hugs the small stove to cover his hands wherever he goes.

The tone was obviously disgusting, but with some smiles, Huo Zhenye thought he must have liked that time very much.

"He brought me in." The senior brother was seventeen or eighteen years old, and slept with him at night, and occasionally went to the market to buy sugar for him.

"Then what happened afterwards?" Huo Zhenye asked dryly.

"He went out for more than half a year. It was originally for practice, but he came back after a long time. He even had a big fight with the master and ran out by himself."

"why?"

Bai Zhun shook his head: "I don't know, Master didn't tell me even when he died." He inherited the seven schools, and he thought that his brother would come back to offer incense to Master, but he didn't.

That's why, when Liu Er said that he would kowtow to Han San for burning incense, Bai Zhun was willing to draw a face for him.

Bai Zhunzhu's wheelchair rolled to the front of the patio, staring at the paper-made maid from the Qing Dynasty, raised his hand, "Burn it."

Huo Zhenye lit the paper maid, and the girl's green clothes and red trousers rustled softly due to the flames, resembling the sound of clothes rubbing against each other, and burned in two with a "beep", turning into a pile of ashes.

Seeing the setting sun slide down little by little, the afterglow disappeared behind the eaves of the main hall of the Town God's Temple, and Bai Zhun entered the temple gate.

Miao Zhu wore a blue robe and waited for Bai Zhun to come in early, and greeted him respectfully: "Qi Ye, everything is ready, please trouble you."

Bai Zhun nodded: "Understood."

Miao Zhu glanced at Huo Zhenye, who was following behind, and was a little surprised. The paper offerings for the three tours every year were made by Bai Qiye alone, so why did he bring an extra person here today.

But he saw that Bai Zhun didn't explain, and he didn't ask any more: "I have prepared enough fine wax for you. There is a stove burning hot water under the corridor, and everything is clean." After speaking, he walked along the corridor and left the front hall.

In the open space in front of the main hall, a paper bamboo incense table has been set up, and a long and thin candle is stuck on the table. Oil lamps are lit in the four corridors, and there are candle shadows inside and outside the hall.

Huo Zhenye pushed Bai Zhun to the side of the bamboo paper: "What can I do for you?"

Bai Zhun pointed to the bamboo strips on the ground: "Split the bamboo threads."

"it works?"

"It's useless, it's just for you to practice your hands. You are an apprentice, and you still want to touch the gods and offer paper?"

Hey, I still despise him for being clumsy, Huo Zhenye's engraved seal is even praised by old man Huo.

But he obediently lowered his head and picked up the bamboo knife, following Bai Zhun's example, he chopped off a bamboo thread.

Bai Zhun's bamboo wheelchair rolled to the front of the censer, first lit the incense to worship the gods, and then lit the long wax with the incense.The faint light of candlelight casts a circle of light in front of the open space, and Bai Zhun is in the middle of the circle.

He first took long bamboo strips and erected the bones.

The bamboo sticks seemed to have life in Bai Zhun's hands. They were bent and turned according to his will, one by one wrapped around each other, and the bamboo sticks quickly came out of the chassis and body frame.

When the bamboo bones are erected, it is a painted silk garment.

The deity paper is not made of ordinary paper, but light silk. It takes the most effort to draw clouds and symbols, paste gold with glitter, and silk clothes.

Huo Zhenye was sitting on the stone steps, splitting the bamboo thread, while looking up at Bai Zhun, his fingertips fluttered in the faint light circle, his eyes were pious.

It seemed that it was about to merge with the circle of light, and there was no other sound in the circle except the sound of candlelight and wind.

Huo Zhenye licked his lips, he broke the silence: "Do you want some hot chocolate milk?"

Just as Bai Zhun picked up the light silk, he suddenly heard Huo Zhenye's voice and regained his senses.Every time at this time, there is no one in the front hall, except for the lamps and candles of the statue, he is the only one.

He looked sideways at Huo Zhenye: "Okay."

Huo Zhenye found the stove to heat up the milk, and threw two pieces of chocolate into the small stove. Soon the sweet smell of chocolate overflowed from the lid of the pot, diluting the sandalwood in the hall.

Huo Zhenye poured a small cup of hot milk chocolate for Bai Zhun. Bai Zhun held it in his hand, squinted his eyes and took a sip. Before he drank it, his body was already warm.

It was only then that my fingertips felt cold, and the soft blanket on my knees couldn't resist the draft, a small sip, and the heat flowed to my limbs, it was actually more effective than wine.

Bai Zhun narrowed his eyes: "This is more effective than ginger soup, so I'll drink it from now on." During the Qingming and October dynasties, one early spring and one late autumn, the wind was bitingly cold, and he wanted to drink ginger soup to keep warm, so he held his nose and drank it every time.

This chocolate is really a good thing.

Huo Zhenye saw that he was satisfied, chuckled lightly, and picked up the crab claw pen on the desk: "Is the silk robe just like the painting on the statue?"

Bai Zhun's hand pinching the cup tightened slightly, seeing Huo Zhenye stepping into the aperture without knowing it, the aperture was not dimmed, but brighter.

Bai Zhun was surprised, holding the hot cup with his white fingertips, he blew a sip like blowing tea: "Have you ever painted a statue of a god?"

Hearing that he had no objection, Huo Zhenye shook out the light silk, spread the silk on the corridors on both sides, first brushed it with alum water, and waited for the silk to dry before painting and coloring. After all the painting was done, another layer was needed.

The color of the painting will not fade, and the silk will not crack.

"I've painted it." He paints every year, for Mrs. Huo and Mrs. Huo, and all the women in the room worship Bodhisattva. The Guanyin he painted seems to be Mrs. Huo's favorite.

Once the silk clothes were wrapped with bamboo bones, there was no mistake when painting the colors. Huo Zhenye climbed on the bamboo frame, holding a paint tray in one hand and brushes of various thicknesses in the other, and dressed the paper bamboo gods one by one.

Seeing that he painted well, Bai Zhun poured himself another cup of hot chocolate, blew lazily on the cup of noodles, and sank into the goose feather pillow, no wonder this master had to accept apprentices.

The surrounding candles sway with the wind, and the wooden statue of the City God in the hall lowers its benevolent brows.

Huo Zhenye finished painting the cassock, and just climbed down from the bamboo stand, the slender candle on the incense table burned to the end, and when the sparks went out, the circle of light disappeared.

"Okay, let's go back." Bai Zhun reluctantly drank the last sip of hot chocolate milk.

It was already dark, and people in the old city were reluctant to use electricity. This area was so dark that you couldn't see your fingers.

There was a small square lantern hanging in front of Bai Zhun's wheelchair, Huo Zhenye pushed him behind him, a long and narrow stone alley, a circle of warm light slowly moved forward, the wind blowing on his body, he didn't feel cold anymore.

Huo Zhenye muttered above his head: "I have to go tomorrow, how about I move you a rocking chair? You can lean on it and sleep for a while while I paint the cassock."

"It's not enough to just drink hot milk, or I'll order a pair of sweet wine brewing loads, which are warmed by the fire, and you can eat as much as you want."

Bai Zhun was drowsy, Huo Zhenye looked down, his eyes were already closed.

Before they reached the gate, they saw a slender figure standing in front of the gate, wearing a long gown and a fedora. Hearing the sound of the wheelchair, he turned around and looked at them from the shadows.

Bai Zhun frowned slightly, staring at the visitor.

"Junior brother," the man took a few steps forward, took off his hat, and smiled at Bai Zhun.Under the black hat, he was still young, his skin was white, and his whole body was like a piece of faded paper.

Even the eyeballs of his eyes are a little lighter than ordinary people: "Long time no see."

Bai Zhun's pupils shrank, and the man smiled gently at him, and looked at Bai Zhun with a tolerant look, as if he was ready to accept all censures.

Huo Zhenye's heart was flooded like rain on a cloudy day, coming up one after another.

"Come in." Bai Zhun pushed open the door and went in first.

In the middle of the night, Huo Qishao squatted in the courtyard and burned the briquettes stove to boil water for the two people in the house to make tea.

With a stinky face, he fanned the fire furiously with a fan, while eavesdropping on what the two of them were talking about in the room, what was going on in the middle of the night!

"Junior brother's skills are really superb." Bai Li looked at the paper bundles in the room, and his tone was full of relief.

"Since you are back, you should offer incense sticks to Master."

Bai Li shook his head: "Master won't want to see me, so I came here and didn't want to disturb you."

"You broke the house rules." Bai Zhun frowned at him, "You shouldn't have made paper figurines for Song Fusheng and his wife."

Bai Li still looked meek, he lowered his eyelashes: "I told them not to blink, and I also told them the solution."

Song Fusheng did say so.

Bai Zhun frowned, that Zhiling killed four people, three of them deserved their crimes, and one was backlashed, but it was Bai Liqi's head after all.

Bai Li continued: "It's my fault, but that mother cried miserably, I can't bear it."

Bai Zhun stared at him, and said after a long time: "Song Ying volunteered to sacrifice, even though he didn't become a vengeful spirit, he still has to save him."

"I've already surpassed it, and I'm also responsible for the cause and effect." Bai Li smiled after finishing speaking, "I came here to see how you are, whether you can hold on to Qimen, and see that you are doing well. I will leave the city tomorrow. .”

"Where are you going?"

"Go to the countryside, I like the countryside, and the funeral affairs are also very lively."

At this moment, Huo Zhenye came in with a tea tray, gave Bai Li a cup of tea, and gave Bai Zhun a cup of hot milk with some honey in it: "It's too late, you can't sleep with tea."

Of course Huo Qishao's tone was rigid.

Surprised expression appeared on Bai Li's face, he looked at Bai Zhun and then at Huo Zhenye, Bai Zhun was fine at first, but when Bai Li glanced at him, the tips of his ears were slightly red, Bai Li smiled lightly.

Holding the cup, Bai Zhun chased Huo Zhenye away: "Don't disturb me talking to your uncle."

When Huo Zhenye gritted his teeth and turned to go out, Bai Zhun asked, "What about Song Ying's skin?"

"Burn it." Bai Li said, "Burn it in front of her ashes, and she will be saved." He lowered his head and took a sip of tea, ho, it's really bitter.

"Back then, why did you quarrel with Master?"

"I met someone I like and wanted to marry her. I came back and told the master. The master said that the seven families are lonely and widowed, so don't harm the girls." Bai Li said in a low voice, "So that mother begged me , I can't bear it."

"Don't do such a thing again, even if it's you, I won't show mercy." Bai Zhun drank the milk in one gulp.

"Okay." Bai Li glanced at Huo Zhenye who was pacing up and down in the hall, "Zhun, I failed to protect my people, you have to protect yours."

Bai Zhun pursed his lips, but didn't make a sound.

When he washed up and went to bed, Huo Zhenye still had a stinky face.

Bai Zhun lay down on the bed, and the bamboo strips touched the wooden bed: "What? Do you still want to sleep here?"

Huo Zhenye got under the quilt and replied, "What? If you can sleep with your senior brother, I can sleep with my master."

Bai Zhun turned around and ignored him, blowing on the lamp for a long time, Huo Zhenye asked again: "If you are really worried, do you want to follow him to see where he goes?"

Although Bai Zhun didn't answer, Huo Zhenye still called Datou early the next morning. Bai Li lived in the back alley of Sanguantang Road, and asked him to see if he had moved out.

The big head called to report: "Mr. Huo, a man moved away, and he brought a coffin with him."

The author has something to say: Huo · Those who should eavesdrop didn't hear · VII