This matter is over. Just let it be over. I won't follow you again. Liu Banxian tapped the table as he spoke, saying that it follows you for a reason.
what reason? Mother said quickly.
Do you remember? In the winter when you were six years old, there was a famine in the country and there was no food. You little ones went up the mountain to dig up polygonatum odorifera, took the polygonatum odorifera to a corner of a new house with a very impressive architectural style and lit a fire to eat it. As a result, a fire started. , the fire burned down the entire new house and turned it into ruins. It was said that you would be punished and imprisoned. Since you are young, no one will hold you accountable. However, you escaped the Yang law, but you cannot escape the Yin law. When you become an adult, the Yin Division sent the Fire God to follow you all the time. You will not be able to escape!
The mother looked at Liu Banxian and said, "This is indeed the case. I didn't know who caused the fire the day I got angry. Later, other children pointed out that it was her. I beat her hard with a stick. She was so painful that she crawled into the chicken holding her head. I pulled her out of the cage without any further beating and let her kneel on the washboard for several hours.
Master Liu, I admire you. Xiong Yingzi glanced at Liu Banxian and lowered his head guiltily.
When my mother got home, she couldn't hold back her words and told her wife Xiong Daode what Liu Banxian had said. Xiong Daode pondered for a while and suddenly said, that new house should be burned, and our daughter should not receive retribution. Mother said, isn’t your heroic appearance being repaid? Xiong Yingzi, who was standing in front of me, also asked, Dad, do you have any basis for saying that I don't deserve retribution?
I'm not talking nonsense, I say this for a reason. Xiong Daode then told the story of the new house, which happened a generation ago.
There was a man named Xiong Weizai in Xiongjiawan who became a prefect in another province. He had the power to take out the prefect's treasury and privately build a beautiful new house in his hometown of Xiongjiawan based on the style of a government building, which is equivalent to a modern villa. .
Soon someone reported it, and the imperial court sent an imperial envoy to inspect. Xiong Weizai was frightened and fled back to his hometown to hide. But when he heard that the government was going to chase him home, the people of Xiongjiawan came up with a way for Xiong Weizai to fake his death, hoping to get through.
That is to say, a coffin is placed in the hall and the whole family mourns. Sure enough, someone from the government came. A big man who looked like a warrior came over, stretched out his hand and patted the coffin gently, saying "Prefect Xiong, we are leaving."
After the warrior left, the family opened the coffin lid. The two rows of thick tiles stacked inside turned into powder, which showed that the warrior's martial arts was extraordinary. Everyone thought they had escaped this disaster, but unexpectedly, they heard that the imperial envoy issued an order: live to see the face, die to see the head. There was no way out, so Xiong Weizai had no choice but to commit suicide by swallowing gold. In this way, he changed from fake death to real death, and his body was really put into the coffin.
The next day, it was the same warrior who came. He opened the coffin lid, cut off Xiong Weizai's head with a pipe knife, then mounted his horse and drove away.
The Xiongjiawan people had no choice but to ask a carver to carve a wooden head for Xiong Weizai and attach it to his neck to keep the body looking intact.
After hearing this anecdote, my wife also said that our new house in the bay was built by Xiong Weizai with embezzled government funds. According to legend, being burned down was a kind of retribution. Our Yingzi family should not bear the blame.
Xiong Daode didn't strike up a conversation. With this idea in mind, he took the time to find Liu Banxian in the City God's Temple to argue with him about the matter.
Liu Banxian smiled and said that the new house, which was as luxurious as a villa, was built with corrupt government funds. However, its use value was there and there was no mistake. The new house should not have been burned down. If it had not been burned down, it would have been burned down later. If the local government takes over and uses it, since the government serves the people, there will be no problem.
Xiong Weizai used government money to build a house. Although his starting point was for his own family, it would later become government property, so the money he embezzled was naturally confiscated. This money was taken from the people and used for the people. The saying is that the money spent to build this house comes from the people, and the built house will also be used for the people. Your daughter burned down a government-owned house that was used for the people. Do you think she committed a crime? Xiong Daode was speechless when asked.
Ma Chengzhi's chicken farm, which was hit by the fire, did not recover for a year or two. Fortunately, he still had some savings to make ends meet. But he didn't want to make any more big investments, fearing that something unexpected might happen to him and cause another disaster.
During this period, his family raised dozens of chickens on a small scale. He did not want to make a fortune, but he was cautious and afraid of losing money. Seeing that his farming business was not improving, someone enlightened him, saying that he was not as courageous as his father, Ma Duhe. At that time, Ma Duhe launched a special dish of wok-palm goose meat, and the business suddenly flourished, and customers from nearly a hundred miles away came to patronize it. , not only made a lot of money, but also built a brand.
After hearing this, Ma Chengzhi felt sad in his heart. Then he said to the man, "Don't you know there will be retribution for killing the big white goose like that?" Do you know how my father died?
The man said that your father died from eating a chicken that was infected with rat poison, and it had nothing to do with his special dish of goose meat. What you call retribution is all superstition. Your thinking is too feudal, too rigid, and too backward. Isn't your name Chengzhi? I advise you to inherit your father's unfinished business and make persistent efforts to open a restaurant specializing in goose meat. I guarantee that it will become bigger and stronger. If you are willing to do it, we can also help you obtain subsidized loans from banks through village and town cadres.
Ma Chengzhi originally had a negative attitude towards this kind of "persuasion", but when he heard that he could get subsidized loans, he felt a little excited. Of course, he was also very contradictory. He was afraid of retribution. Others said that retribution was a kind of superstition. Is retribution really a superstition? ?
He couldn't get rid of this knot, so he told his wife to listen. She also said that retribution was superstitious, which undoubtedly emboldened him.
Ma Chengzhi immediately expressed his position: We must inherit the unfinished business of our father and continue to build a restaurant specializing in goose meat! That way, you can also get a subsidized loan from the bank. Why not do such a good thing?
He plans to make an appointment with the person who enlightened him tomorrow, and then ask the village and town cadres to help him apply for bank interest-subsidized loans.
But that night, as soon as he fell asleep, he saw a young man with small eyes walking in front of him and kneeling down to him. Ma Chengzhi asked in a panic, who are you? Why kneel to me.
The young man said, Son! I am your father Ma Duhe. Ma Chengzhi suddenly recalled that he had seen this young man with small eyes last time in his dream, and he believed him. He immediately helped him up and said, "Father, why are you like this?"
The father said with tears streaming down his face, "Son!" I heard that you were instigated by others to use the method of cooking dishes with the "palm of a wok" to attract business when I was alive. This is aggravating my sin again! If you do this, I will immediately be captured and tortured in the hot and angry hell in the seventh palace of the underworld. I beg you never to do that.
Ma Chengzhi was stunned for a moment and asked, Father, how could it affect you if I did that? The father said, "Son, you don't know something. It is a bad thing caused by my hands. No matter who does it according to my method, I will be implicated. What's more, you are my son, and the implication is even greater." If you don't listen to me and do what you do, your soul will be sent to hell when you die, and you will have the same fate as your father, me. Those who fail to do so will have retribution.
Ma Chengzhi said that people in the mortal world say that retribution is superstitious. My father shook his head and said, that is not superstition. Anyone who says retribution is superstition is a fool.
Father, if this is the case, I won’t do it anymore. After what you said, I believe in retribution and fear retribution. My son sincerely confesses, now I just want to save you and reduce your sins. Can you teach me any good methods?
