Chapter 17 Section 16

It was about five or six years ago, but I can't remember exactly if it was five or six years ago.Jiutuo and several laborers in the village are doing construction projects in other places.Their construction site is in a relatively remote countryside.When it rained, the construction site stopped working, and the few of them ran around.They found a strange phenomenon here - there are so many earth temples. According to the general custom, at most one earth temple is enshrined in a village.And there are more than ten villages here. When they took a closer look, the earth temple here was different from the earth temples in other places.

Common earth temples are generally waist-high and arm-wide, like a miniature house.This miniature house has no door, and there are statues of the land father-in-law and land mother-in-law inside, and there are no separate rooms. But the earth temple in this place is twice as small as the "miniature housing", and there are several other rooms separated inside, as if there is a family living in it.Instead of statues of the father-in-law and mother-in-law inside, there are many smaller decorations, such as chairs, tables, beds, etc., and sometimes you can even see a TV model. There are incense sticks in front of ordinary earth temples, but there are none here.

One of them will kneel in front of the temple, praying to the Bodhisattva in the temple to keep his family safe.He thought at the time, no matter whether there is a land father or not in this temple, at least some Bodhisattva is enshrined.Praying to Bodhisattvas is never a bad thing. He was about to kneel down when he was immediately stopped by the foreman who rushed over. The foreman said sharply: "How can you worship the temple indiscriminately! This is the girl's temple, do you know it!" The man was not convinced, and retorted: "The girl's temple is also a temple, why can't you worship?"

The foreman said: "This girl's temple is not an ordinary temple. There are no fairies enshrined in it. People here have a custom that if the girls in the family die before they are married, such a temple will be built for them to live in." You see, the layout of the house inside is like a new house, and everything you need for marriage is available. If a passing man worships her temple by mistake, her ghost will follow the man until he is tortured to death This man will marry her in the dark after death. If you worship, the owner of this girl's temple will follow you!"

The man's hairs stood on his head, and he hurriedly hid away. At this time, Jiu Tuo stood up and retorted: "How is it possible? The girl's family clearly knows that their lingering ghosts will harm others, so why build a girl's temple?" The foreman asked back: "Didn't patients who drink traditional Chinese medicine often pour the leftover Chinese medicine dregs on the road where many people pass by? It is hoped that in this way, the pain on their own body can be spread to passers-by. Isn't this approach similar? " Jiu Tuo choked. From then on, the few of them didn't dare to run around anymore, even if they stopped working, they just gathered in the dormitory to play chess and cards together.

After the project was completed, Jiutuo and the others were ready to go home. On the first night of going home, everyone found that Jiu Tuo had disappeared, and hadn't come back when it was time to turn off the lights and go to bed.The foreman hurriedly ordered several people to search separately, fearing that he would be trapped by the traps or prey traps left by nearby villagers on the mountain. The mountains around the construction site were searched all over, but Jiutuo was not found. There was no other way, so the foreman had no choice but to ask someone to look for it in a nearby village.

As a result, someone really discovered Jiu Tuo.But he is not in the residents' homes, but burns paper in front of the girl's temple. The person looking for him was taken aback and dragged him back to the construction site without any explanation. Everyone knew what Jiu Tuo meant by going there, but it was hard to expose him. Jiu Tuo's parents hardly leave the bedside, there is no surplus in the family, and Jiu Tuo's own hands are not too clean, and his notoriety has long been spread, so when he reaches the age of marriage, he doesn't even have a door-to-door matchmaker, let alone a date. .What everyone thinks about him is nothing but sympathy.

That night, Jiu Tuo, who was dragged back, looked a little excited, with a rare reddish face, as if he had drunk too much wine. Everyone didn't understand why he was excited.