The old Taoist priests are most familiar with the process of opening an altar and the process of ministering to the dead.
Although doing things is just a temporary idea.
But the old Taoist priest did it in a orderly manner.
The Tian family has ready-made items such as desks, incense candles, and paper money.
As for the standard magic tools for opening the altar, such as the Soul-Calling Bell, the Bagua Mirror, the Order Flag, the Token, and the Five Emperors Copper Coins, he always carries them in his Tai Chi Bagua bag, which is like a treasure bag.
This Taoist practice divides yang things and yin things.
Yangshi is a ceremony to eliminate disasters and solve problems for the living, pray for blessings and extend life. .
The underworld is to save the dead, communicate with the underworld, transcend human and heaven, ascend to the immortal world, let the deceased rest in peace, and then go to a haunted house to catch ghosts and exorcise evil spirits.
Next, the old Taoist priest took Jin An and began to perform rituals on the pulpit in the mourning hall, burning paper, lighting lamps, building a Naihe Bridge with red ropes, asking for directions with copper coins, inserting half-cooked rice with upside down and three sticks of incense to pay homage to the deceased, and drawing ghost paintings on the spot. The coins are stamped with the seal of the Lord of Hell in the Tai Chi Bagua bag and can be used as currency in the underworld. This money is not for the dead. It is tea money for the bull head and horse noodles and money for buying money to bribe the ghosts in the underworld. As the old saying goes. Money can make the world go round...
Then step on the steps.
Recite "The Sutra of Saving People" orally.
After finishing this set of rituals, the old Taoist priest was still exhausted and covered in sweat even though it was a cloudy day in March.
"Open the coffin! Bury the coffin! Little brother, come here!" The old Taoist priest shouted with a majestic look on his face, frightening the Tian family for a moment. No one dared to step forward to stop Jin An.
The old Taoist priest and Jin An have lived together for so long, and they have already cooperated with each other tacitly. Although the tacit understanding between father and son is not better than that between father and son, when Jin An temporarily said that he wanted to perform rituals at the pulpit, the old Taoist priest already knew what Jin An was going to do. Yes, so I specifically asked Jin An to help bury the body.
The so-called burial is to put the deceased into a coffin.
According to different local customs, the burial time is also different. In some places, the burial time is three days, five days, or after the first seven days after the death. In other places, the burial time is one day before the funeral.
Generally speaking, in the Northland or the Northwest where the climate is dry and the body is not prone to decay, burials are carried out the day before the funeral.
In areas with hot and humid climates, such as the south or southwest, burials are carried out earlier in order to prevent corpses from growing maggots, corpse water and corpse odor, and poisonous insects such as flies, centipedes, etc. getting into the mourning hall and invading the wake of children and grandchildren.
Anyway, each place has its own customs. In fact, behind every custom is closely related to the local climate. Behind the seemingly superstitious rules, there is a rigorous summary of previous experience.
These are all small details, briefly mentioned. After Jin An received the signal from the old Taoist priest, he first walked towards the body of Tian Fugui's youngest son, wrapped it in white cloth, and picked up the body. The moment Jin An looked surprised, the weight of the body under the white cloth was obvious. wrong.
Jin An calmly picked up the body under the white cloth and carefully put it into the coffin. The moment he removed the white cloth, a mutilated body was revealed!
Two-thirds of the child's body was eaten by a mad dog, leaving only a head, an arm, two paws, and a few pieces of flesh on the back of the belly... The head was chewed to pieces by the dog's canine teeth, and his facial features were no longer visible. , the child died horribly.
In comparison, the body of Tian Mangui's mother was in better condition. One of her palms had been bitten off but had been sewn shut, and the weight of the body was obviously wrong. Jin An guessed that the old woman's stomach had been bitten by a vicious dog, and the intestines inside were and internal organs were eaten, and then the stomach was refilled with hay, because the old woman's stomach was not obviously deflated.
When Jin An put the corpse in, he quietly pressed the old woman's belly through her clothes. Sure enough, the old woman's belly was empty, like pressing cotton wool, and there was no tight feeling of muscles.
Why.
Jin An looked at the corpses of the old woman and the child with unbearable eyes, and each said: "Supreme Taiyi, save Ku Tianzun."
By the time everyone was finished, it was almost dark, and the Tian family were not ungrateful people. Seeing that the old Taoist priest and Jin An had worked hard all day, they politely asked them to stay for dinner before leaving.
The old Taoist priest saw Jin An's thoughts, did not refuse, and agreed to stay for dinner.
On the dinner table, there are all vegetarian dishes, no meat dishes. Tian Mangui explained that his mother was reluctant to kill animals and had always been a vegetarian. These days, they are observing filial piety, so they are also vegetarian. I hope you can understand.
The atmosphere of this meal was a bit dull. After all, the deceased had just passed away and had not yet rested in peace. No one could be happy. After saying goodbye after the meal, when he walked to the courtyard and passed the vicious dog that had been beaten to pieces, Jin An suddenly felt Ask: "Can you tell me how vicious dogs hurt people?"
Tian Mangui recalled the painful memory of that day with a sad face. The Tian family had small assets in the local area and opened a small restaurant. Although they were not rich and powerful, they had enough food and clothing compared to ordinary people. Because he was busy with business, he neglected his young son, so he bought him a puppy as a playmate, and they lived in peace for a year.
The accident happened the day before yesterday.
Tian Mangui and his wife, who were running business in a restaurant, suddenly received the bad news that something had happened at home, and both my mother and son were dead! The couple abandoned their business and ran home in a hurry. When they saw the miserable death of their mother and mother, they were heartbroken and cried in despair while holding the mother's body, which had been eaten by dogs with only her head and stomach and neck bitten to pieces.
As soon as he recalled what happened yesterday, the seven-foot tall man burst into tears and couldn't stop crying.
The relatives who came to help in the yard also wiped their tears with their sleeves and sympathized with Tian Mangui's experience. Even a hard-working man could not withstand such a tragedy that destroyed his family and his life.
At this time, Tian, who was following Tian Mangui, blamed himself with red eyes: "It's all my fault. If I had stayed at home to take care of the elderly and children that day, such a tragedy would not have happened! It's all my fault! It's all my fault. ! I’m sorry, the boss, but I’m useless. I can’t help with business and I can’t even take care of my family!”
Tian burst into tears and beat herself up with self-blame on her face, but Tian Mangui stopped her: "Nonsense! What are you doing!"
"I, Tian Mangui, can marry you so much that you regard Hu'er as my own, help me take care of my mother who is in poor health, and come to the restaurant to help me take care of business from time to time. You have always helped me without any complaints over the past few years. That's my fault." Tian Mangui’s blessing is the blessing that I have cultivated over several lifetimes to be able to marry a good wife like you.”
Thinking of the tragic death of his mother and son, Tian Mangui slapped himself hard: "It's all my fault. I took the business too seriously and neglected to take care of the family! I want to raise my son but my mother is not here. Mother, Hu'er, I was wrong. , I hope this is all a nightmare and I can wake up as soon as possible! Please give me another chance to be by your side!"
Listening to Tian Mangui crying so sadly, everyone couldn't help crying again. Some relatives came over to enlighten Tian Mangui and his wife, saying that it was an accident and no one expected it.
The soft-hearted and sentimental old Taoist priest was also moved by the scene in front of him and took up his sleeves to wipe the corners of his eyes.
"Treat him as his own?" Jin An looked at Tian Mangui doubtfully.
It turns out that the current Tian family is not Tian Mangui's original wife, but his wife who broke her string and renewed her string. Hu'er was born to Tian Mangui and his deceased wife. Hu'er's mother died in childbirth. In order to let his child have a mother, have a complete family, and not be discriminated against and bullied by others, Tian Mangui married the current Tian family through the introduction of a matchmaker.
Jin An nodded clearly and looked at the dying man-eating vicious dog in the pool of blood again: "In other words, there were no witnesses to the vicious dog wounding people the day before yesterday?"
A young man stood up in the yard. This man was the son of Zhang Ai'e's brother. That day he brought his family to give his aunt his favorite sweet cake. As a result, he smelled a strong smell of blood as soon as he opened the courtyard door. Tian Mangui raised him with his own hands. The dog broke into the house and ate the adults and children alive who were taking a nap.
This person was the one who stopped Jin An at the gate of the courtyard at the beginning.
Jin An came to squat in front of the vicious dog, as if he was looking for something. The old Taoist priest who knew Jin An best knew that Jin An must have discovered something, so he came over and asked: "What's wrong, little brother? Did you see anything?" ?”
Jin An did not answer immediately, but pointed to the vicious dog on the ground that had more air coming out and less air coming in, and asked the old Taoist priest: "Old Taoist, do you see any difference between this domestic dog and other domestic dogs?"
After hearing Jin An's words, Tian Mangui's other family members also gathered around to look at the vicious dog out of curiosity.
When everyone gathered around the vicious dog, no one noticed the unnatural expression on Tian's face.
The old Taoist priest followed Jin An's example and squatted down, carefully looking at the vicious dog in the pool of blood in the yard. After looking at it for a long time, he hesitated and said, "It seems to be a little different, but I can't tell what the difference is..."
"Its eyes were much more fierce than the rhubarb I raised at home, and even more ferocious than a wild dog. In order to catch it, I even broke several poles. In the end, I had to wrap it with a fishing net to subdue this mad dog! "The person who spoke was the young man who gave Zhang Ai'e a sweet cake the day before yesterday.
The old Taoist priest slapped his thigh and shouted in realization: "Yes, it's fierce! I finally saw something was wrong, my little brother, the eyes of this man-eating vicious dog are the same as those in the mass graves digging up graves and eating human flesh." They are as vicious as wild dogs, they don’t look like domesticated ones!”
