At the time when I started writing the book, there were very few people coming to see Uncle Ma for divination. Because of the rules set by Uncle Ma, the hexagram gold was a bit high and most people looked down on it.
In fact, in the past few years, Uncle Ma was free to read divination, and he didn't care whether it was tens of dollars or a hundred dollars. But later, many people came to see him, and some of them had nothing to do. They just had no shit and a bad voice, and they still got thirty-twenty. Come join in the fun.
People's energy is inherently limited, not to mention that things like reading divination are very energy-consuming. You can only read a few in a day. If these people who have nothing to do are occupied, those who really have something to do will be delayed.
There are also some people who not only have nothing important to do, but after reading the divination to him, they will give him three or two yuan, or even accept one yuan.
Therefore, Uncle Ma has set a price for himself that anyone who comes to him for fortune telling will start at 888. However, this is not a rigid rule. Some people will not take any money from Uncle Ma.
But the premise is that you must be really poor, or really in trouble, and have a good character. We don't need to give you any money, and we won't accept anyone else who wants to take advantage.
I'm a little worried. If I say something like this, will it give people the impression of being greedy for money?
Uncle Ma said that you don't care about him. If you don't raise the threshold, many people will come over and talk nonsense, consuming a lot of your time and energy. The most important thing is that he has nothing important to do, but actually just wants to chat with you.
Uncle Ma is right, it is indeed the case. I have also discovered this problem, especially now that people read divination through the Internet. There are many underage children who use the pocket money given by their parents to do divination.
When encountering such situations, I mostly try to persuade them, telling them to stop fortune-telling, study hard, keep the money given by their parents, and don’t spend it randomly.
But in fact, most people don't listen. Children are more curious and like to study these things.
While raising the threshold, it can also prevent these children from spending money randomly and leave opportunities to those who really need it.
So Uncle Ma and I made a rule that those who come to him for divination will be given a divination gold, and those who come to me can give it as they wish.
But in fact, it is said that there are too many people who read divination without charging money. If the conditions are really difficult and there is something really urgent, Uncle Ma will waive the fee for them.
Uncle Ma would only trick rich people with evil intentions, but he never tricked poor people or good people.
Once, a student came to see a divination and insisted on giving me 200 yuan, but I refused. Later, I couldn’t refuse, so I took out his 200 yuan and donated it to a charity in his name. A public welfare school in a mountainous area.
There was also a woman who was suffering from cancer and came from a poor family. Not only did I not charge for the hexagram money, but all the rituals were paid for. I even ran for her for two days, all with gas money.
But most of the things we do are actually unknown to anyone, because I never tell anyone.
But there are always people who sneer and say that you are greedy for money when you read divination and set prices. If you are really helping people in need, you should not charge a penny.
One person even said: If you are true Taoist priests, you should not pay more than ten yuan to read divination, and you should not pay more than fifty yuan to do things. If you charge more than one hundred yuan, you are a liar!
Ma Shuli didn't bother to deal with this kind of person and only replied.
"Isn't pricing normal? You go to the temple to burn incense, and you throw in five dollars to take away the thickest incense stick, but they won't give it to you. These people only know how to find their presence online, and you ask them to go to the temple Let’s do a spiritual ritual here, pay fifty yuan, and see if anyone will pay attention to you.”
I was also speechless: "Yes, now everywhere there is a price for reading the divination rituals, and we have clearly marked the price so that you can spend it wisely. Those who say you can read the divination as you wish, and then try their best to trick you into finding a way to do it, in fact It costs more to fuck you.”
Uncle Ma said: "So this kind of person is a moral kidnapper. He can read it if he likes it, and he can't read it if he doesn't like it. No one is forcing him. If he pays more than a hundred yuan, I am a liar. If he can't read the hexagram, he can't do anything. , I have nothing to do with you? I am his father? Why should I help him when he is in trouble? You can’t even buy a few bags of gold ingots for a hundred yuan, what does he know? I’m almost sixty and I don’t have a wife. , you ask him, let his mother help the poor, sleep with me, and then I don’t have any money, so I have to go whoring for nothing, see if he agrees!"
Uncle Ma's words didn't sound good, but they were rough and rude, and they made me laugh.
In the eyes of these people, it seems that we should just go hungry and help the poor, and we should be damned if we make some money.
I remember that Grandpa Yuan Longping was scolded for touching someone when he got out of the car at a car show. At that time, I still sighed that human nature in this world is really the same.
So, those who understand will naturally understand, and those who don’t understand don’t need to say more, just let it happen.
When I first started trying to write a novel, it was not really a novel. I just wrote about some of my childhood experiences, and then added some fabrications and imagination.
Because at that time I liked to read Lao Cui's "The Years I Was Mr. Yin-Yang", so I named this book "The Years I Was a Yin Cao Official".
I was good at writing compositions when I was a child, but this was the first time I actually wrote a novel. At the beginning, I wrote tens of thousands of words in one go based on my enthusiasm, interest, and memories of my childhood.
The story started when I was a child at my grandpa’s house, and some of my great-grandpa’s experiences were briefly included.
As I said before, I have always had this idea since the incident with Lao Longhuai, and now it has come true.
But as I was writing it, I ran out of words. I didn’t know how the story behind it would develop. It was really like Zhao Benshan said, I couldn’t hold back six words in seven days.
I racked my brains and thought in those days, and then one night I had a dream about Chang Tianlong, the great protector of my family.
He gave me a headache in the dream, saying, you little fool, you have nothing to write about, write about me, write about these immortals.
This reminded me immediately, and when I woke up the next day, I was inspired to write Chang Tianlong directly into the book, and then assigned him an identity: the second brother of the protagonist Wu You in his previous life.
But to be honest, I was just writing for fun at the time. I didn’t think too much about it, and my writing speed was very slow. I would just write a few words whenever I had free time. It was not as efficient as it is now.
After all, I usually have to read divination and do errands for others, so I don’t have much time to write novels.
So I mostly write at night, or even early in the morning, because I feel it’s quieter and more inspiring at that time.
Uncle Ma said that if you write supernatural novels in the early hours, you’d better be careful. Even if you look like a fairy, it’s easy to inspire good friends in the spirit world, because they will also be curious and want to see what you write.
Uncle Ma's mouth was like a blessing. Two days after he said this, we encountered a very serious supernatural incident.
There are many stories about ghosts and fairies, and to be honest, they are no longer exciting in my eyes, but this time it is really exciting.
Because this time it's not a ghost or a fairy, it's a zombie.
