"Master, is there any Luohua Cave girl who wants to be the bride of the Cave God recently?" As soon as he said this, the old Taoist stopped chewing, his eyes focused in the distance, looking at the left bank of the Tu Cave at the bottom of the mountain: "The oil seller's house Gao Azheng, she is planning to ask me to make a paper man to redeem her body these days."
"When I left, Azheng was only three or four years old, and now she must be sixteen or seventeen." Ren Kongque had been away from Tudong for more than ten years, and everything about her hometown was blurred. She recalled Gao Azheng in her mind, It was discovered that the memory of this woman was not clear, and Azheng was just a girl with braids.
When the old Taoist priest saw Ren Kongque like this, he knew that she just came back and didn't know anything, so he simply welcomed her into the main room and explained the matter clearly.
About a month ago, Tudong ushered in the Qingshui Festival. Gao Azheng was at the age of picking greens, and was also brought into the team by her sisters. They took advantage of the sunny spring day and walked together along the Qingshui River, waiting for the departure. When they arrived near Laolongkou, they suddenly felt a gust of wind blowing, and everyone else dispersed. Only Gao Azheng was blown all over his face, and his body and face were covered with fallen leaves.
After returning home, Gao Azheng was fine the day before, but her appearance completely changed the next day. She put on makeup and makeup, and cleaned herself up. When her family asked her what was wrong, the woman just said: She would whisper something - the cave god came to pick her up.
In the next two months, she refused to eat even whole grains, and only asked her family to collect toilet water and flowers to eat. Later, her eyes gradually became blurred, and her consciousness became more and more blurred. She sometimes fell asleep and sometimes woke up, as if she was half asleep and half awake in a dream. Same.
Seeing that she was about to fall into coma, her family members wanted to ask the old Taoist priest to redeem her soul. They just came to her door a few days ago and asked the old Taoist priest to do the ritual tomorrow.
The old Taoist priest probably heard the Gao family talk about this matter, and he could only give a rough summary. Even so briefly, Ren Kongque could tell that the beginning of the matter was closely related to the Green Picking Festival.
There is a saying that the plan for the year lies in spring, when everything revives, it is the awakening of insects in spring. The Qingqing Festival is also called the Fairy Seeking Festival, and it is a grand spring festival at the junction of Sichuan, Hunan and Guizhou.
Whenever the Qingqing Festival comes, young people from Tudong Ancient Town and nearby villages will wear colorful costumes and silver crowns. Under the guidance of the village elders, they will beat gongs and drums and sprinkle flower petals all over the place, along Kuahu Mountain, Funiu Mountain, One lap of Fenghuang Mountain and Laolongkou.
"After visiting the mountains and visiting the immortals, a group of people just walked to the top of Kuahu Mountain. After worshiping the Fox Mountain God here, when they went back down the mountain, they would choose the most beautiful green god in the crowd to protect the Mountain God."
"Qingshen? What is this? Isn't she also the girl from the Luohua Cave?" Song Siyuan listened to Ren Kongque's words and became curious about the Qingshen in her mouth.
Ren Kongque shook his head and retorted: "That's not the Luohua Cave Girl. Qingshen is the most beautiful among all the young ladies. Being able to choose Qingshen means that she is the most beautiful, and she can be a little more handsome in future marriages."
"Oh, I understand. This kind of ceremony is actually to prepare young people for their marriage, right?" Ren Peacock nodded: "That's what it means. This kind of ceremony existed thousands of years ago..." Sichuan, Hunan and Guizhou In ancient society, the border was a border town of the Central Plains dynasty. It was the boundary between the dynasty's direct ruling area and the Jisu District. Further to the southwest was the ethnic minority gathering area. At the same time, it was also the cultural boundary between the orthodox worshiping of gods to the east and north. Compared with the culture, it has a strong cultural color of Chu and Wu.
The so-called boundary is the place where population and culture come and go. In Hunan, there are not only gods from the Han area, but also gods from the Chu area. There are even some gods from Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and wild immortals who practice Gu. Special mysterious culture.
In the orthodox divine culture of the Central Plains, worshiping gods requires going to shrines, and worshiping ancestors requires setting up altars. If ghosts are encountered, they must be killed to defend the law and eliminate the demons.
However, in western Hunan and southwestern regions, it is a completely different way of coping! They believe that all things are gods, including flowers, plants, trees, scales, insects and animals, capable humans, aliens, ancestors and ghosts. As long as they can feel the aura of heaven and earth, they can use the aura to cultivate themselves and become the gods of all things. Therefore, in Sichuan, Hunan and Guizhou, , there are mountain spirits in the mountains, stone monsters in the rocks, flower demons in the flowers, water ghosts in the water, and cloud gods in the clouds.
In other words, the fairies and monsters here do not live in sacred temples and colorful temples, but live among the mountains, rivers and rivers. They are integrated with the daily life of Xiangdi people. Perhaps, you can interact with the river gods by rowing a awning boat across the river. When you meet, you may encounter flower fairies when you walk into the flower jungle. Even tree stumps, gravel, ancient trees and strange camphors on the roadside will be regarded as gods and worshiped because people can sense that they are alive.
Here, in addition to the righteous gods, there are many gods, ghosts and monsters of all kinds. The people in Xiangdi not only need to worship the righteous gods, but also worship other wild immortals besides the righteous gods.
Not much to say, let’s get down to business. The meaning of visiting the fairies around the mountains during the Qingqing Festival is to tell the gods, ghosts and ghosts on the nearby hills that the children in the village have grown up and it is time for them to leave the palace. I hope that these fairies can bless the children behind the scenes to have a safe and smooth life and to find a good wife smoothly. Marriage.
Therefore, such festivals will also attract people who have men nearby to come to see each other. If there is a woman they like, they will ask a matchmaker to pay a betrothal gift, which can be regarded as giving young people a channel for blind dates.
As the most beautiful person among Shaoai, Qingshen will enjoy the respect of eight villages in ten miles. At the same time, if someone wants to marry Qingshen as his wife, they must hold a banquet and invite people from nearby villages and towns to come to congratulate them. They may even Invite wild fairies and ghosts to banquets and prepare sacrifices for them.
In the past, when a Shao Ai was chosen as the Qing Shen, she was actually preparing to be the wife of the clan leader and the wife of the clan leader for the next generation. However, after the change of land and migration, the customs of the southwest were changed, and customs no longer restricted marriage, and Qing Qing was selected. The god has completely become a folk custom. The woman who is chosen as the Qingshen will receive rewards from the entire clan. With the title of Qingshen, it will be easier to choose a son-in-law for subsequent marriages.
At this point, Ren Kongque basically explained the past events of the Green Picking Festival. Song Siyuan asked the old Taoist priest: "Master, this Green Picking Festival, the Green God will not be Gao Azheng." The old Taoist priest said to him. Everyone nodded: "Infinite Heavenly Lord, this year's Green God is Gao Azheng."
"Could it be that she was chosen by the Dong Shen because she chose Qing Shen?" Song Siyuan's guess caused the old Taoist priest to shake his head and retort: "In previous years, Qing Shen was also chosen, and other women were not selected by the Dong Shen. Why did the Dong Shen This year, Qingshen was chosen. Anyway, the old Taoist priest doesn’t think that choosing Qingshen has anything to do with the Dongshen’s marriage.”
"Master, do the other cave girls have any characteristics, or what did they do to be selected by the cave god!" Song Siyuan wanted to know what behavioral characteristics these selected cave girls had, and how they could find out the patterns. You can probably deduce what kind of target person the cave god likes.
The old Taoist priest carefully recalled the past and introduced the cave girls from previous years: "These women have different surnames and different families. They are also different in height, short, fat, and thin. They are even different in age. If there is any similarity, I heard that these women are all the same." She is very quiet, not a girl who makes loud noises and loves to have fun. She looks quiet and gentle no matter in front of others or behind others."
"Apart from these?" Song Siyuan asked again. The old Taoist priest shook his head: "That's fine. Apart from that, I don't see any common characteristics. Besides, it makes sense that the cave god might just like to be gentle and quiet."
"Something's wrong, Sister Ren. When you become a cave girl, do you also have a quiet temperament?" Yue Guanchao pondered the old Taoist priest's words and compared them with Ren Kongque's situation. They were completely different from the characteristics of ordinary cave girls.
"I have always been so fierce and fierce, and my temper changed when I was selected as a cave girl. After I was redeemed, I changed back. I haven't changed since then." Yue Guanchao listened to her. Hanazi chewed her teeth and was puzzled by the explanation: "That's strange. Since the cave god likes gentle and quiet women, why did he choose you to be the cave girl in the first place? After you were redeemed, you quickly recovered. It’s a normal preference, does Dong Shen also want to change his taste?”
"In that case, Sister Ren, you are the most special person among the Luohua Cave girls. Everything was as usual before you, and everything will be as usual after you, but you are the only one with a fierce personality who escaped from the hands of the cave god because of your determination... ..." Song Siyuan combined with Yue Guanchao's words, carefully considered their conversation, and quickly read the flavor of conspiracy: "If the cave god is not trying to change his taste, then there must be something in you that can make the cave god choose you and change his taste. And gave up the opportunity to choose other cave girls." After saying that, she looked at the old Taoist priest: "Master, in the same year when you redeemed Sister Ren, were there any other women who fell into the cave?"
"No, there is only one of these Luohua Cave girls every year. Although the timing of Luohua Cave girls' appearance is inconsistent every year, it is true that only one Luohua Cave girl is needed. In the past twenty years, we have never seen two Luohua Cave girls in the same year." The old Taoist priest answered truthfully. .
When Ren Peacock heard this, he felt more and more that the cave girl's fall into the cave was a conspiracy. Even she was already involved in the conspiracy. He looked at everyone and said, "The clues are too complicated. We can't guess the reason just by guessing here." Come, why don't you follow the old master to Azheng's house tomorrow to see what's going on with her? After seeing her specific situation, we can take the next step. Maybe her parents can give us more information."
"Master, remember to call me when you go to Gao A-Zheng's house tomorrow. I'm going to see how Gao A-Zheng is doing now."
"Okay, I will pass by the Qingshui River tomorrow. You can meet me near the arch bridge in the center of the river." After some discussion, they made up their minds to go to Gao Azheng's house to see what happened. They saw that the old Taoist priest agreed to their request and got what they wanted. I would like to go down the mountain, and it will be almost evening when I get back to Ren's stilted building.
Eating at night, cool breeze blowing. Everyone stood in Ren Peacock's room, and the warm river breeze blew in from the huge square window. Even though it was refreshing, everyone felt chilly in their hearts.
If they hadn't found the old Taoist priest today, they really wouldn't have known that cave girls are all gentle and gentle. From this, they could infer that Ren Kongque's selection as the Luohua Cave Girl was not just a simple custom, but perhaps there was a deeper conspiracy. So, Gao Azheng is their breakthrough!
