The temple outside Liuzhen was not big and a little dilapidated.
Only when the town's annual grand gathering is held, this small temple will become full of incense and smoke will fill the sky and the ground.
Usually the small temple is deserted, except for the occasional villager who comes to clean the dust and cobwebs.
The main reason is that the location of this temple is a bit remote.
Two teenagers were standing in front of the small temple.
The older one is Wang Zhaolian, the young master of the Wang Family Teahouse.
At this time, Wang Er asked Wang Zhaolian with some confusion: "Master, what are we doing here today? Is this place so gloomy? It's a bit scary!"
Wang Zhaolian had an incomprehensible smile on his face and lowered his voice and taunted: "Shut up, you bastard, you know nothing? Don't talk nonsense here! The Buddha in this temple is called Tathagata Buddha. This Tathagata has boundless power and great mercy." Great Compassion, he is in charge of all kinds of gods, including Arhats, Bodhisattvas, Vajras, and many, many people, and even the Great Merciful and Compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva is under his command, he is so powerful!"
Wang Er was shocked and stared in surprise at the tall and somewhat discolored statue of Tathagata Buddha in the center of the small temple!
Wang Zhaolian knelt down on the futon in front of the Buddha statue, pulled Wang Er to kneel down together, and said: "My mother said that back then, she was afraid that she would not be able to give birth to a boy, so she came here specifically to burn incense and make a wish, and sure enough, she gave birth to me. Later, she gave birth to me. Afraid that I might not grow up, I came here again to ask for a peace charm, and here—"
Wang Zhaolian pulled out an amulet from his neck. This yellow amulet was folded into a triangle and strung together with red threads. It was quite delicate!
Wang Er saw that the yellow talisman was covered with unknown patterns painted in red and red, and his face was full of envy.
Wang Zhaolian put the amulet back on her chest with great treasure and said, "It's time for Hongxiang to get married! My father came to propose marriage several times, but Hongxiang's father neither agreed nor disagreed. See what Hongxiang means! I went to see Hongxiang today, but Hongxiang ignored me! You said, I have been Hongxiang’s best friend since childhood, why did she ignore me today? Is it because of what happened?"
Wang Er doesn't quite understand these things. He has a vague understanding of the feelings between men and women.
But yesterday was indeed extremely dangerous. If Sister Hongxiang was really caught by that fat young master, something unexpected might happen!
Now thinking about what happened yesterday, Wang Erwu couldn't help but feel scared.
Last night, he had been dreaming that he was holding Sister Hongxiang's hand and running away desperately. The fat pig behind him ran so fast that he woke up several times in the night.
Wang Zhaolian just asked casually, not really wanting to get any specific answer from Wang Er, who was usually submissive. He didn't care at all how Wang Er and Zhao Hongxiang escaped back yesterday.
What he cared about was that after he learned about Hongxiang's escape from Wang Er, he immediately bought delicious food to see Hongxiang. Why didn't Hongxiang even want to see him again?
Wang Zhaolian, who has been the center of the universe since he was a child, was very angry. He said to himself angrily: "My mother said that after this year, on February 2nd, when Grandma Bodhisattva's birthday is held in the temple fair, she will come here again to pray to the Buddha. This matter I'm sure it will happen! But today I am really angry with this girl Zhao Hongxiang. Huh, let's beg first today. Maybe Tathagata Buddha will agree to the marriage today, and Hongxiang's father will come with him later in the evening. My father has discussed organizing the wedding on the day before the Chinese New Year this year, so that he doesn’t have to wait half a year for the deduction! How great would that be? You think so, right?"
As Wang Zhaolian said this, he knelt on the ground and stopped getting up. He kept mumbling words and praying to the statue of Tathagata Buddha.
Wang Er also imitated the young master's example, kowtowed respectfully to the Buddha statue with his palms raised, and began to murmur softly.
But what he asked for was not to ask Tathagata Buddha to help the young master, but to ask Buddha to help him.
He secretly prayed in his heart: "Sister Hongxiang, she is getting more and more beautiful now. If she gets married, I wonder if she can marry me? I also like Sister Hongxiang very much. This morning, Sister Hongxiang secretly went to the young master behind her back. She sewed a cotton robe for me, and the fragrance of her hair smelled so good! It would be nice if I could smell the fragrance of Sister Hongxiang every day, I think..."
The more Wang Er thought about it, the more he thought about it, as if Sister Hongxiang had really married him. His nose was filled with the fragrance of Sister Hongxiang that penetrated the heart and lungs. He felt that he had been intoxicated by the delicious fragrance. .
If the Tathagata really has a spirit in heaven, I wonder if he will be depressed and entangled?
Two men come to Tathagata for a woman. Who should Tathagata help?
Wang Zhaolian prayed for a while, then kowtowed for a while, kowtowed for a while, and then prayed again!
This was repeated over and over again, until it was almost dark, and then it finally stopped, and I happily led Wang Er home.
When he was almost walking to Liu Town, Wang Zhaolian saw half of the town's sky turn red from a distance. He thought it was fire clouds in the sky. When he looked closely, it seemed that someone's house in the town was on fire!
Wang Er suddenly shouted: "Master, it's not good! Look! Sister Hongxiang's house is on fire!"
Wang Zhaolian was taken aback and ran towards Hongxiang's house, followed closely by Wang Er.
It's just that Wang Er is much shorter than Wang Zhaolian, and his figure is too thin. He is not as strong as Wang Zhaolian, so he is pulled further and further away by Wang Zhaolian.
At this time, the fire was so intense that the houses of several of Zhao Hongxiang's neighbors were set alight. The fire spread rapidly toward the center of the town!
What surprised Wang Er was that despite the huge fire, the streets of Liu Town were still empty, and no one came out to put out the fire!
The more Wang Er looked at it, the weirder he felt. He searched around with his little head, trying to find an acquaintance to ask what happened.
But on the streets of Liu Town, every door was closed, and there wasn't even a dog barking!
Liu Town is usually very lively, and even in the middle of the night there will be people who have lost all their money in gambling and yelling crazily on the street.
It was evening at this time. Logically speaking, with such a big fire, there should be a lot of people coming out to put out the fire, right?
At this moment, Wang Zhaolian, who was running in front, suddenly shouted loudly: "Hongxiang! Hongxiang! Who are they?"
Wang Er was about tens of meters behind. Looking from a distance, he saw Wang Zhaolian yelling at a strong man with a beard. The bearded man was viciously pulling Sister Hongxiang out of the burning pawnshop with a rope. Drag it out!
Sister Hongxiang was tied tightly with ropes and struggled desperately on the ground.
The bearded man turned his head and saw Wang Zhaolian running towards him, but without answering, he suddenly waved his right hand flatly.
I don’t know where the big sword in the bearded man’s right hand came from. Wang Zhaolian and Wang Er didn’t see it at all beforehand!
From a distance, Wang Er saw Wang Zhaolian's head flying as high as a room in an instant, and the blood in his neck gushed out like a spring, flying all over the sky!
Because Wang Zhaolian's body was in a hurry, the huge inertia caused his body to run forward for more than one meter before falling into the dust with a 'pop'!
Wang Zhaolian died instantly!
Wang Er, who was lagging behind, was completely stunned. He was shocked, frightened and a little confused. The world in his eyes was distorted, reversed, stretched and shortened. The sudden and huge stimulation made Wang Er I feel like I am having a nightmare now!
The bearded man continued to drag Hongxiang while wiping the blood on the broadsword impatiently: "Hun Qi, whose family did the person who died just now belong to?"
A man with a scar on his face dragged a woman out from a distant house and responded loudly: "The one who died is Wang Zhaolian, the young master from the Xitou Teahouse in Liu Town!"
The bearded man said angrily: "Damn it, don't mess with that old woman. Now you lead three people to kill everyone in the Xitou Teahouse!"
Scar Hunqi immediately dropped the woman he was dragging and shouted, "Someone is coming! Someone is coming! Someone is coming quickly!"
Wang Eryi, who was in a trance, was shocked when he heard this, turned around and ran towards the Xitou Teahouse with all his strength.
But just after running back a few steps, a lean man suddenly came out of the alley next to him!
Because Wang Er was running in a hurry, he didn't notice anyone coming out of the alley, so he immediately bumped into the man!
This lean man was very agile. He suddenly dodged to the side, raised his foot, and cursed angrily: "What is that? I'll go to hell with you!"
He kicked Wang Er hard on the head!
Wang Er never expected this. He was unprepared and was kicked so hard that he flew up and hit the wooden door on the opposite side. The wooden door was smashed into pieces and he fell into the yard. In the corner of the wall, there was no sound.
The lean man spat disdainfully at the unconscious Wang Er, took the bright long knife, and followed Scar Hunqi towards the west teahouse.
When Wang Er opened his eyes again, it was already midnight.
There were cries and smoke all around.
Someone outside banged a gong and shouted: "Anyone who has dead bodies at home must move them to this pile in the wheat factory in the south of the village and burn them together. Anyone who buries the bodies privately will be punished!"
Wang Er got out of bed in a daze. As soon as he left the door, he saw a little old lady in the yard burning paper and crying softly.
Wang Er was stunned and asked: "Grandma Liu Er, what's wrong?"
The little old lady raised her teary eyes and glanced at Wang Er, and said with tears: "Second son, oh, damn the Qingzhai bandits, I don't know where I got the information, saying that the little girl Hongxiang is pretty, what is the name of Yanjue?" In this state, the country is beautiful, and in our state, his grandma’s legs are so small that she is too small! How good is this little girl’s movie? If they come here to kidnap people, just let them kidnap them? As a result, the township head made a marriage arrangement with the Zhao family Your Excellency was not happy and led the village soldiers to embarrass the Qingzhai bandits! Who would have thought that the bloody gang in Qingzhai would come this time with more than a thousand people. These bandits who suffered a thousand blows killed the entire township chief and his family. Kill all the people in Hongxiang girl’s family, and kill all the soldiers led by the township chief. I have pity on the head of my family, he was dragged by the township chief to make up the numbers. You said he is a bad old man, there are What's the use? You were also killed by these god-killers, my old boss, you died so painfully, I..."
Grandma Liu became more and more sad as she talked and began to cry loudly.
Wang Er didn't know what to say or what to do. He just felt waves of coldness running through his body.
He went out, turned around the alley, and saw every family on Liuzhen Street showing mourning, everyone burning paper, and everyone crying.
Groups of officials from the state carried corpses one by one to the wheat field in the south of the town.
Wang Er followed the crowd to the south of the town in confusion, and saw piles of firewood racks set up on the wheat field, with a dead body lying on each pile of firewood racks.
There is a wooden sign not far in front of the firewood shelf, and the names of each person are written on the wooden sign in red pen.
Wang Er also went to private school with Wang Zhaolian for a few days and learned some words.
He looked past the wooden signs one by one. There were all very familiar names on the wooden signs.
Suddenly, Wang Er saw the young master’s name—Wang Zhaolian!
On the two firewood piles next to Wang Zhaolian were the bodies of Mr. Wang and Mrs. Wang!
Wang Er was completely stunned.
The name Wang Er was given to him by the Wang family.
Although the Wang family is not a big family, it can be considered a well-off family in Liu Town.
Wang Er remembered that when he was very young, the master of the Wang family said: "Master, I only have this son's life. What about you - even though you were picked up, you are the one behind Zhao Lian in this family, so you are called ——Wang Er! I won’t give up my name for now. When you grow up and become a man and get a wife, you can start it again on your own!”
Wang Er's brain stopped spinning, and the things in front of him were sometimes clear and sometimes blurry.
Now, the master is gone, the young master is gone, and the master and his wife are gone too.
Nothing is left.
The fierce fire burned everything in the world.
It also ends one proof after another that once existed.
When Wang Er finally saw what was in front of him clearly, three wooden boxes were already placed in front of him.
The names of the young master, the master and his wife were written in red pen on the simple wooden box!
Wang Er suddenly shouted: "No!"
Turn around and run.
The people around looked at each other, and an older man said: "Another one is crazy. Leave him alone and bury these three boxes in the Wang family cemetery."
Wang Er ran hard, but he didn't know how long it took before he returned to the temple.
The temple is still the same temple, and the place in front of the temple is still empty.
Wang Er stumbled and knelt on the futon.
The curtain around the statue was blown by the wind, rising and falling, shaped like ghost hands.
Wang Er secretly prayed in his heart: "Please pray to Buddha to resurrect the master and his family! Then ask Buddha to kill all those vicious bandits!"
As the sun rises and sets, Wang Er kowtows his head, that is all day and night.
Wang Er thought to himself, I begged the Buddha desperately, the Buddha has boundless power and great mercy, and he will definitely accomplish this!
When I return to town, the master and the young master will be waiting for me in the teahouse.
The sky is getting brighter, the fog is rising in the morning, and the air has become wet and cold!
Wang Er gradually became sleepy, and his consciousness gradually became blurred.
While he was not sleeping, he suddenly heard the sound of clothes being driven around.
The sound was urgent and fast, just like the sound the young master made when he was playing with a wooden stick!
Wang Er was excited and thought: "Could it be that the young master is here to look for me?"
He looked up and saw a person leaping into the temple in the hazy mist like flying!
This man was extremely tall and thin, as if he were a big bamboo pole.
When the man saw Wang Er, he was a little surprised: "Why is there someone here? Kid, hide behind the Buddha statue!"
The slender bamboo pole didn't wait for Wang Er's reaction. His long arms grabbed the back of Wang Er's neck and pushed Wang Er into the gap between the Buddha statue and the wall.
Wang Er didn't know why, so he peeked out from the gap of the lotus throne under the Buddha's seat.
The man, whose hands and feet were as long as a bamboo pole, sat upright on the futon!
I saw him wearing ordinary clothes, with a long sword hanging on his waist. The scabbard was extremely worn, and the sword hilt was dirty. There were a few earth-colored rags randomly wrapped around the hilt of the sword.
Wang Er wanted to continue to observe the man with the bamboo pole, but suddenly he heard someone outside the temple shouting: "Thief, you can't run away? Why don't you get out of here and be captured without a fight?"
The thin man with a bamboo pole did not answer or move, and continued to sit upright on the futon in front of the Buddha.
After a while, I heard the tiles on the temple roof rattle a few times.
Then the temple door exploded several times, and everyone was kicked aside violently!
Six people jumped in from outside the temple.
Wang Er watched intently and saw that these six people were fat, thin, tall, and short. One of them was wearing brocade clothes and a jade belt. His clothes were different from the others. His skin color was extremely white, and his hair was tied up high with a white jade belt. His hair was long. Quite handsome, he seems to be the leader among these six people!
A short and fat man among the six people took a step forward and shouted: "What is your name? Who instigated you to kill an entire family?"
The thin bamboo man on the futon slowly opened his eyes, but still did not stand up. He asked: "Who are you? Who are you?"
The short and fat man suddenly became furious: "Asshole bastard! You are a little thief, but you are very courageous! I am a policeman in the public house, and I have been specially sent to catch the thief! What do you want me to say to you, this little bastard? How dare you not answer?"
Saying this, the short and fat man took a step forward, and with his backhand, he slashed the thin bamboo pole man on the futon with his knife!
But when the short and fat man's fingers were about to touch the handle of the knife, Wang Er suddenly felt a flash of lightning suddenly strike in this small temple!
Wang Er suddenly felt his eyes light up, and he didn't know what happened!
After the lightning flashed, Wang Er looked out from the gap of the lotus throne and was shocked!
The thin man who looked like a bamboo pole was clearly sitting on the futon just now, but now he stood up, holding the dirty long sword that was originally hanging on his waist!
On the tip of the sword, bright red blood was flowing downwards. The blood dripped down the tip of the sword and fell into the dust drop by drop!
The short, fat man was desperately covering his neck with both hands. He was covering his neck so hard that the veins on his hands burst out!
But the red liquid still kept pouring out from between his fingers, spreading down the short and fat man's arms and clothes!
The scene is like a stream emerging from the ground in a mountain stream!
The short and fat man seemed to want to say something more. His mouth opened and closed like a fish just fished out of the water!
But his vocal tube was broken and he couldn't make any sound. He only made a few weird "clucking" sounds!
The remaining five people's faces all changed color, and they all took a step back involuntarily.
After taking a step back, these five people seemed to feel that it was still not enough, so they all took a step back!
Two people hit the temple wall hard, with such force that dust fell from the roof!
The three people in the middle had already retreated halfway out of the temple gate!
The man in brocade clothes saw that he was now more than two feet away from the thin man with a bamboo pole. He finally calmed down and shouted in a deep voice: "A bold madman, you still dare to resist arrest? You kill the superior with a sword, press Tai According to the laws of our ancestors, we belong to the three tribes of Yi!"
With these words in his mouth, the man in brocade clothes took off a rather exquisitely crafted hand crossbow from his waist with his trembling right hand, and pointed it at the thin bamboo pole man who was still standing with the sword in his hand!
The other four people saw their crossbows pointed at the man with the bamboo pole, and their expressions turned slightly better.
A man with a sallow face took half a step forward and said, "I advise you to quickly put down the weapon, kneel down and be bound, and you can live for a few more days! If not, I will let you die without a complete body now!"
The thin bamboo pole-like man didn't even raise his eyelids, and still stood with his sword in hand, as if he hadn't heard anything!
There was just a "bang" sound, and the short, fat man with the sword in his throat finally died. He fell straight backwards, kicked up a cloud of dust, twitched a few times, and never moved again!
The skinny bamboo man smiled slightly and asked: "Hey! May I ask some officials why they arrested me?"
While he was talking, he carefully wiped the blood-dripping sword back and forth with the short fat man's clothes. After all the blood on the blade was wiped clean, he slowly sheathed the long sword as if no one else was around!
He performed this series of actions with ease and familiarity, very naturally, as if he was doing a trivial thing.
The five living officials were so intimidated by the power of the thin bamboo pole man's sword just now that no one dared to speak against each other!
The hand holding the crossbow couldn't help but tremble slightly at this moment!
Changshan, a thin man with a bamboo pole, still slowly sat back on the futon and asked again: "This official who is good at crossbows is a Jin Yiwei, right?"
"I didn't expect it, I really didn't expect it, but after killing Liu Changshui, a fifth-grade sesame official in a remote village, he would actually dispatch the Jin Yiwei? Hehe..."
The man in Jinyi said in a long voice: "Yes, now that you know that Jinyiwei is handling the case, do you still dare to resist the law? Aren't you afraid of the Yi tribe?"
