Chapter 8 turtle

There is a very common Zhuangzi called Wangzhuang, but none of the hundreds of households above is surnamed Wang.After careful investigation, I found out that this Zhuangzi was originally called Wang Bazhuang.Later, some people thought it was not pleasant to call it like this, so they removed the character "eight". There is a story in Wang Bazhuang—— There is a family surnamed Li in Zhuangyou. The owner is loyal and kind. He likes to make friends and is willing to do good deeds all his life.On this day, there was a poor Taoist priest, skinny, ragged, covered in dust, with disheveled hair, who seemed to have drifted here from thousands of miles away.When the master of the Li family saw the Taoist priest, the Taoist priest was sitting under the big locust tree in front of the village very wearily.The master of the Li family stepped forward and asked softly, "Where is the Taoist going?" "How can it be troublesome." The master of the Li family said: "Although my family is not wealthy, I can always have simple meals for three meals a day. If the Taoist priest is not in the mood one day and wants to look for other scenery, I will never stop The Taoist got up, brushed the dust lightly, and went all the way to the village with the master of the Li family. The two seemed to have known each other for a hundred years.

The Taoist priest has no intention of going elsewhere, and has lived in Li's house for more than a year.The master of the Li family didn't complain at all, and treated him as well as when we first met.In my free time, I often accompany Daotu Village for walks inside and outside the village, or go to the fields to watch farmers harvest wheat, or go to the river to look far away and sail masts.At night, the master of the Li family was afraid that the Taoist would be lonely, so he often came to talk to him until the Taoist became tired. On this day, the spring is mellow, the green wheat grows in the wild, the willow branches, the yellow warblers fly randomly, and the white sails flash by in the big river, leaving behind singing all the way.The owner of the Li family was about to accompany the Taoist priest to the edge of the field, and let the Taoist soil watch the windmill whirling slowly, and the clear water bubbling to moisten the fields, so as to bring a scene to the ordinary life of the Taoist priest.But when the Taoist priest walked to the front of the village, he turned his hands behind his back and stood still.He looked towards a road in front of the village, his eyes were deep and unfathomable.A wind blows from the fields, bringing the fragrance of cauliflower, and at the same time lifts the Taoist priest's robe, making it flutter like a cloud in the sky.

The Taoist didn't look at the owner of the Li family, but just stared forward, both like the owner of the Li family, and also as if he was talking to himself: "Do you know this is a good place?" The owner of the Li family replied, "I don't know." The Taoist slowly raised his bony hand, pointed to the road ahead, and then pointed to several rivers outside the village: "Can't you see that it looks like a turtle?" The master of the Li family looked at the Taoist's finger, and then exclaimed in his heart: "Oh, why haven't I seen it for so many years?"

Daotu said: "It's a spirit turtle." "What about the turtle?" "Blessed land" "What about blessed land?" "You look back at your house." "A house is still a house." "Look where it stands." "Stand in the middle of Zhuangzi." "No, stand on the back of the turtle. It carries your family on its back." "What about carrying the family on your back?" Taoist Huihui smiled like a bright spring. Not to mention the tortoise, the two of them still went to the edge of the field to see the windmill being fed into the water, and listened to the sound of the water.

At night, under the oil lamp, the Taoist priest put his hand on the teacup peacefully.The hot air in the cup curled up from between his hands.He said to the owner of the Li family: "The tortoise will leave. Tomorrow, you go get an iron chain and wrap it around the ginkgo tree in front of the door. The tortoise will not be able to leave. The tortoise is locked." The next day, Li The owner of the house did not do what the Taoist said. "Why don't you lock it?" the Taoist asked. "Since the turtle is a living thing, if it wants to go, let it go." "It's better to keep it."

The owner of the Li family turned around and looked around: "I can't keep it." The Taoist gave a long sigh. At dusk, the Taoist waved for the Li family members to come over, and said, "Please fetch an iron chain." The family fetched the iron chain.The Taoist said: "Just wrap the iron chain around the ginkgo tree." The family obeys. The Taoist priest was dizzy for a while, and he went blind after both of them followed. When the master of the Li family saw it, he said repeatedly, "Why did you come here? Why did you come here?" Desire to untie the chain.

The Taoist said: "It's late." Looking up at the sky, there was no trace of sadness or remorse on his face, but a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, like the waves of calm autumn water. A few years later, the three sons of the Li family all became officials, and this ordinary family showed a thriving population. However, in the fall of this year, when the shadows of geese flew across the sky, the master of the Li family returned west by a crane.Before leaving, he looked at the Taoist priest from the corner of his eye, then looked at his sons and said, "I'm going, he is your father."

Daotu still lives in the Li family.He sometimes goes out for a walk, but only alone. He either stands at the end of the road, looks up, and listens to the geese calling into the sky, or goes to the old forest behind the village, and then sits on the root of a rotten tree, listening to the bleak wind blowing in the forest.The blindness of his eyes prevented him from going far and wandering the world. The Li family is going to build a big house.When the old house was being demolished, the Li brothers asked the Taoist to temporarily live in a hut where firewood was piled up.A few months later, the mansion was built.The Li family brothers forgot to invite the Taoist priest back to the mansion.

In the hut, the Taoist priest heard the clinking of glasses celebrating the completion of the Huawu house and the sound of wine orders coming from the mansion.The Taoist priest's blind eyes seem to have seen the three brothers of the Li family with red faces in the mansion.However, the Taoist priest was calm and extremely calm.He vaguely heard a few cocks crowing in the distant village. He reasoned: it was already evening. The mansion finally fell silent.Although the Taoist couldn't see the mansion, he could imagine its appearance in his heart: it stands tall, with its four eaves raised, ready to fly; .

Finally, a family member brought the meal.Daotu felt that the food was cold.However, he felt that the food was still delicious.He seems a little hungry.Besides, when he was wandering around in the past, he was always asking for scraps, and he was used to eating cold food. He kind of missed the evening conversations under the lamp when the master of the Li family was alive.He could no longer remember what he had talked with the master of the Li family, he only remembered the green lantern, which filled the room with soft light.At that time, there was either the autumn wind blowing the bamboo forest, or the rain falling on the empty steps, or there was no movement at all except for the occasional chirping of insects from the grass.He only remembers a feeling of warmth like spring, and only remembers those words are full of flavor, making the long night endless aftertaste.

Now, he can only watch the night alone.He can't fall asleep for a long time. Falling asleep and waking up often.When he woke up, he imagined the night at this time: the sky is as black as ink?Moonlight like water?Blue-chip?Or are there only three or two stars floating in the clouds? Daoist is old.When he leaned on a cane and stood on the main road where the master of the Li family led him to the Li family, people saw that it was just a Taoist robe propped up by a thin skeleton. On this day, the whole family of the Li family brothers slaughtered chickens and ducks, and entertained distinguished guests. One of the chickens was so violent that it flew around, and finally had nowhere to go, and flew into the cesspit.The family said: Throw this chicken away.The old man of the Li family said: "Although the family has a great business today, it should not be wasted like this." The second son of the Li family said: "The Taoist priest is very thin recently, let this chicken be simmered in soup and let him nourish his body." The third son of the Li family echoed: "The two brothers said yes." The Taoist priest has not seen meat for many days, and he ate and drank a lot when he saw chicken soup. Or when the master of the Li family was still alive, he had already watched the Taoist priest by the side of an old servant of the Li family, and finally said: "Do you know why they are willing to give you a chicken?" "I don't know." The old maid said: "This is a chicken that fell into the cesspit." The Taoist laughed: "The chicken that fell into the cesspit is also a chicken." He drank the chicken soup to the last drop. A few days later, the Taoist priest said to the old servant: "Please call your master and say that I am leaving tomorrow, and I have something important to tell his three brothers." The old servant didn't go much—for a while, the Li family brothers walked up to the Taoist priest together. "I'm leaving tomorrow." "I've heard about it," said the boss. "Why are you leaving?" said the second child. "There are not many of you here." The third child said. The Taoist said, "I have to go." He faced the three brothers of the Li family and asked, "Do you know why the Li family is here today?" "I know. Thanks to your old man's advice, our house locked up a spirit turtle." Daotu said: "The three of you brothers will be promoted to higher officials. But the tortoise still has to go. Go and see the ginkgo tree. It is dead. The chain is about to rot." The Li family brothers immediately panicked: "What should I do?" The Taoist said: "When your lord was alive, he locked the tortoise with an iron chain, but that was just a Daoming lock. If you want to lock this tortoise for life, you have to set a hidden lock." "How to do it?" The Taoist pointed to the turtle's neck and said, "Dig a trench at the neck, about nine feet deep." The brothers of the Li family learned the lesson and immediately recruited some labor. According to the Taoist's instructions, within two days they dug a trench nine feet deep. At this time, the Taoist's head was suddenly struck by lightning, and then he felt lightning flashing in front of his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he saw a sun hanging in the eternal sky. The Taoist stood at the intersection, looked back, and saw that strange mansion standing there like an explosion, and all the peaceful and simple scenes of the old master when he was alive disappeared.The Taoist priest suddenly felt desolate.He turned around and left quietly when no one was paying attention.At that time, it was snowing heavily, and the Taoist priest's footprints, just after they came out, were covered by heavy snow again, as if he had never existed. This winter, the weather is dry, as if the whole world has become a dry firewood.One day, the Li family's mansion suddenly caught fire at five o'clock.Watchman—See, knock on the gong for the alarm.After the people in the front village and the back house woke up from their sleep, they tapped the water dragon to put out the fire and rushed to put out the fire.However, the nine-foot-deep ditch blocked people's way, making it impossible for the heavy water dragon to pass through. By the time someone took off the door panel, laid it on the ditch, and carried the water dragon to the front of the mansion, the mansion had already been reduced to ashes. The few remaining fires are dancing there like ghostly fire... —April 20, 1997 at Yanbei Campus, Peking University