Hearing that Yang Ruoqing dreamed of Xiu'er again, Luo Fengtang's expression became more solemn.
"Why is this happening? Is this what I have been thinking about these past few days? Or are there other reasons?" He said to himself.
Yang Ruoqing shook her head: "If I dreamed about it once in a while, it might be a coincidence, but it is a bit strange to dream about the same scene two nights in a row."
Luo Fengtang said: "Is it possible that that kid Xiu'er wants to tell you something?"
Yang Ruoqing thought it made sense, but she couldn't understand it.
"Anyway, I'm going to the Taoist temple tomorrow to ask Taoist Master Yuan about Jiaojiao. I might as well tell you about this dream and ask him to help me understand it," she said.
Luo Fengtang nodded, "That's fine. I'll accompany you to the Taoist temple after breakfast tomorrow."
…
On the third day of the first lunar month, when the sky is bright, the sound of gongs and firecrackers can be heard outside.
It was also mixed with the shouts of the elders: "Fellow folks of Changping Village, get up and send your ancestors off!"
On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, the ancestors are taken back to the village to celebrate the New Year, and sent away early on the third day of the first lunar month. This has been the rule for many years.
Yang Ruoqing was awakened by the sound of firecrackers. When she opened her eyes, Luo Fengtang was already sitting by the bed putting on socks.
"Come back on the 24th and leave on the 3rd day of the lunar month, nine days before and after. This is the annual leave for our ancestors!"
Hearing her teasing, Luo Fengtang turned his head and smiled at her.
"There is something I can't figure out," she stretched, and continued: "You said that you brought your ancestors back to celebrate the New Year on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, so why did everyone still come back on the morning of the New Year's Eve? Are you going to burn incense at the grave for your ancestors? Logically speaking, they have already returned to the village, so isn’t the ghost house empty?"
This question actually stopped Luo Fengtang.
"Well... maybe some ancestors are too lazy to move, or maybe they think that the descendants in the family are unworthy descendants, so they don't want to go home to celebrate the New Year. So everyone goes to the grave to burn incense again, what do you think?" he said.
Yang Ruoqing thought for a moment and said, "It seems reasonable. Isn't it strange that there are many rituals? It's the same with our ancestors."
Luo Fengtang smiled again, raised his hand and pinched her deliberately exposed feet, "It's still early, you can sleep for a while, and I'll go to the front yard to set off firecrackers to send a message to the ancestors."
Yang Ruoqing gently rubbed her feet against the palm of his hand, "It's not warm to sleep alone. After you finish setting off the firecrackers, come back and sleep with me in the cage."
He smiled and nodded, "Yeah."
She tucked her feet back into the quilt, got up and strode out of the bedroom.
Yang Ruoqing turned over, closed her eyes and waited quietly for the sound of firecrackers in the yard.
In a daze, she heard footsteps entering the house, and they stopped when they reached the jade curtain.
Is Tang Yazi back?
Are the firecrackers over so soon? But she hasn't heard the sound yet.
The footsteps stopped outside the jade curtain, and after a pause, he did not enter the bedroom.
Immediately afterwards, the footsteps returned again, and a tea bowl on the Eight Immortals table outside fell to the ground with a bang.
Yang Ruoqing sat up suddenly, lifted the quilt, got out of bed and asked outside, "Tangyaozi, but you are back?"
He opened the jade curtain and came to the outer room. The door to the outer room was closed tightly. There was a teapot on the Eight Immortals table and six tea bowls upside down next to it.
Every teacup was intact, and there was nothing strange on the ground.
The windows all around were closed. The yellow and white orange cat she brought back last time had been kept by Luo Baobao in her house and rarely came to this house.
What's happening here?
Yang Ruoqing froze on the spot, confused.
Suddenly, the sound of crackling firecrackers rang out in the front yard. Yang Ruoqing came back to her senses and felt a chill. She tightened her clothes and went back to the bedroom and sat on the bed.
Having seen too much life and death, she is not afraid of any ghosts at all, she is just confused about such mysterious things.
She was sure that she was not hallucinating in a dream before, so what was it?
Such light footsteps, the steps are still a little unsteady, very much like the steps of a child learning to walk.
Xiu'er?
…
Yang Ruoqing did not mention this matter to Luo Fengtang. After breakfast, the two went straight to the Taoist temple at the foot of the mountain.
In a side room in the backyard of the Taoist temple, Yuan Daochang screened out of Xiaomo, closed the door, and interviewed Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang.
She first asked carefully about Jiaojiao, and what Yuan Daozhang said was the same as what Sun reported yesterday.
But this time, Taoist priest Yuan also told Yang Ruoqing: "That child Jiaojiao will have great filial piety within two years."
"Filial piety?" Yang Ruoqing's heart sank suddenly.
Generally speaking, when it comes to filial piety, parents are the first choice, followed by grandparents and other grandparents.
Going up to the great-grandfather and great-grandmother is considered a filial piety.
She immediately wanted to calculate it for Duo'er, but Duo'er's time was not accurate at all.
"Taoist Priest, are my sister and brother-in-law sick?" she asked.
Taoist priest Yuan shook his head, "The fate list is as follows. As for whether it will come true, everything is fixed and everything is variable."
Yang Ruoqing was dumbfounded.
Luo Fengtang comforted her in a low voice: "These things can only be referred to in detail, but cannot be fully believed. You can ask the Taoist about the dream."
Yang Ruoqing then told Taoist Yuan about her dreams over the past two nights, deliberately concealing what happened this morning.
Daochang Yuan is sitting cross-legged and meditating, wearing a dark yellow robe with black and white Bagua pictures embroidered on the chest, a lotus crown on his head, and a pair of black round-topped ten-square shoes with cloud head patterns embroidered on the uppers.
He held Gua Chui in one hand and placed it on his chest, and held Fuchen in the other hand. His eyebrows were slightly closed, his nose and eyes were lowered to his heart, and he was mumbling something that Yang Ruoqing couldn't understand.
The sandalwood on the desk in front of him curled up, showing the Taoist priest's detachment even more.
Yang Ruoqing can't say that she has 100% trust in these things, but she doesn't dare to completely deny them. The world is magical, and human beings are the smallest, and the mysteries are difficult to pry into.
Therefore, for some things, whether you believe it or not, you don’t have it. What you want is nothing more than your own peace of mind.
Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang drank fragrant tea and waited patiently for the results of Yuan Daozhang's calculation.
After a bowl of tea, Daochang Yuan raised his hand, twirled a tuft of beard at the corner of his mouth and slowly spoke.
"Every cause must have its effect. Mrs. Luo had the same dream two nights, which is actually because the child who died prematurely wanted something from you."
Yang Ruoqing looked at Daozhang Yuan without blinking, waiting for his next words.
Taoist priest Yuan continued: "The river you saw in your dream is the Santu River in the underworld. According to Taoist records, the Santu River is the river at the junction of yin and yang. Manzhu and sandalwood bloom on this bank, and Fengdu City is on the other bank. There is no bridge on the Santu River. If you want to go from one bank to the other, you can just take a boat across."
"It costs six cents to cross the river, no more, no less. So when a person dies, relatives need to put six copper plates in the deceased's coffin to facilitate crossing the river."
Hearing Taoist Yuan's words, Yang Ruoqing suddenly realized what she had been dreaming about for two nights.
When Xiu'er died, the old Yang family was in chaos. Yang Yongxian made a small coffin, put Xiu'er in the alley next door, and kept it there all night. After dawn, he took it out for burial.
