Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty-Eight

According to Village Head Zhao, most of the residents in the village came from land reclamation after liberation. Know, if they don't know, probably no one in this village will know. Following Village Chief Zhao, turning eastward and westward, we arrived in front of a house with a red brick courtyard wall and a square and regular courtyard. The gate was separated by iron doors. The Yonglu road is facing the door.The main building is three large tile-roofed houses, and the newly painted windows and doors are brightly colored, which looks very festive.A layer of plastic sheeting was nailed outside the window, and the scene inside the house could not be seen clearly. There were two wing rooms on the east side, and a livestock pen on the west side. A mule and a horse were guarding the trough and eating forage.

As soon as he entered the hospital, Village Chief Zhao raised his voice and yelled, "Is Old Master Meng at home?" As soon as the voice fell, the door was quickly pushed open from the inside. A thin, black boy in his teens opened the door and looked out. Seeing that we were a little strange, he raised his head and asked Village Chief Zhao: "Fourth Uncle, My grandfather is at home." Turning around, he shouted into the room again: "Master, fourth uncle is here." Village head Zhao saw that it was the child who opened the door, and while beckoning us to enter the room, he patted the child on the head and smiled: "Meng Xing, have you finished your homework? Did you not go out to play? I'll bring two people over. Ask your grandfather about old things."

After entering the house, I saw an old man sitting on the kang in the east room. He was a little thin, his hair was bald, and his face was wrinkled. Eyes sitting on the kang smoking a pipe.While I was looking at the time, Village Chief Zhao took the lead to say hello: "Uncle Meng, you are always at home and haven't gone out to look at the cards? Are you still in good health?" The old man on the kang is obviously very familiar with Village Chief Zhao. Seeing that it was Village Chief Zhao coming over, a smile appeared on his dry face: "Fourth boys, come on, sit on the kang, why don't you go out and play?" It's a cat at home. Why are you so idle and sit here?" After speaking, he looked at Da Ya and me, and at Village Chief Zhao.

Village Chief Zhao smiled, pointed at Daya and me and said, "Uncle Meng, this is a person from the city who came to learn about the folk culture of our village. You are an old householder in our village. There is nothing you don't know , No, I brought you here to chat with you about our village." Hearing this, old man Meng looked at me and Da Ya again, nodded his head and said hello, let us all sit down and talk, and then said: "Hey, we rural people don't have much to say, what do you ask? My old man has lived a few more years, and he is in his eighties this year, he is old and confused, and his memory is not working."

After hearing what the old man Meng said, I smiled in agreement and asked politely: "Master Meng, hello, we are from the China Folk Culture Protection Association. Actually, there is nothing else, just want to ask if you know Do you know that there used to be a Niangniang Temple in our village? There was also a very capable Taoist girl living in the temple?" Old man Meng lowered his head and took two deep puffs of his cigarette, as if he was trying to remember. After a long time, he seemed to remember something. He reached out and knocked the soot in the cigarette pot on the edge of the kang: "Our hometown is in Guanzhong, and it was also the first time in the past. A group of people came here to open up wasteland. They have been farming and have no culture. I heard that this Niangniang Temple existed hundreds of years ago. The tiles have some patterns engraved on them, which is quite interesting to look at.

I also heard people say that the temple was a villain back then, occupying the boss's place, with several big houses, and there are gods descending from the earth inside, who can cure all kinds of diseases.At that time, the person who burned incense and made a wish was an old nose. Later, I don’t know what happened. It was burned away in a big fire. There was nothing left, not even a single person. It is said that the goddess in the sky went down to earth to commit the crime. Tiantiao was taken back by the sky again. I have never heard of the Taoist nun you are talking about. " After listening to the old man Meng, Da Ya and I looked at each other. Naturally, we don't believe in the idea of ​​immortals descending to earth, but at least two things can be concluded from what the old man said. One is that there really was a Niangniang temple here in history, and the other Even in the temple, there were indeed masters living there.I just don't know if the fairy lady that the people talk about is the Taoist nun who knows magic that we saw in the materials, and I don't know if this has anything to do with the beads we were looking for.

Now that you're here, let's understand it clearly, and Da Ya nodded at the old man: "Master, you look so young with white hair and youthful looks, and you are more energetic than us young men. You are so lucky. The empress you mentioned is from the temple. How far can we go from here?" Mr. Meng immediately smiled when he heard Da Ya's praise, and kept exaggerating that Ya could speak, and then he told us that the barren hillock was about three miles away from this village, at the east end of Pianlianzi Village ahead. , now it’s just a wasteland mound, because nothing grows, so it has been piled up all the time.

We chatted with old man Meng for a while. The old man was very talkative, rambling, talking about everything, but there was nothing of value.Leaving Mr. Meng's house, the kid named Meng Xing who opened the door was also on winter vacation, and he had nothing to do, so he insisted on going for a walk with us to Lao Gu's house. Along the way, Da Ya and the village head and I were chatting about the old Niangniang Temple.The kid named Meng Xing who had been listening to our conversation interjected: "I always go to the deserted mountain that my grandfather mentioned, and I always play there. Last year, Xiao Yu'er said that his grandfather dug out a stone statue there." , and asked us to watch it together, but her grandfather said no, saying it was Xiao Yuer's nonsense. Because of this, Xiao Yuer was laughed at by us for several days, and even cried for a long time."

The village chief Zhao told us that the child Meng Xing mentioned was the granddaughter of the old man who was going to see him later. All the children in the countryside called him by their nicknames.He patted Meng Xing on the head again, and told us that Meng Xing is the grandson of Mr. Meng just now. Although he is a bit mischievous, he is good at school, very smart, and will definitely have a bright future. Hearing Zhao Cunzi's praise, Meng Xing blushed a little, obviously a little embarrassed, smiled shyly, and ran to the front by himself. The village is not very big, and it will soon arrive at the place.The child's legs and feet are fast, and he has long since disappeared. When we arrived at the gate, someone from the house greeted us.

The ones running in front were Meng Xing and a girl in her teens, who should be Xiao Yuer, and not far behind was an old man who seemed to be in his seventies, much younger than old man Meng, and his body was very strong. , the back is not bent, the legs and feet are quite sharp, and the eyes are very sharp. When Village Chief Zhao saw the old man, he took the initiative to say hello first: "Uncle Gu, have you eaten yet? Your family is going to be in trouble this year, and the corn is selling for a lot of money, right?" After the old man finished listening, he laughed: "Fourth boy, I just heard that the boy from the old Meng's family said that there are people coming from the city. It's true or not. What can you do with my old man?"

Then Village Chief Zhao was busy introducing us to each other, and Da Ya and I also greeted politely, and saw Da Ya started the same rhetoric again. Try to smooth things over. The old man had been listening to Da Ya's vernacular for a long time, and finally waited for Da Ya to finish speaking, and then he smiled at us: "Hey, we are all honest rural people, I am not afraid of your jokes, we have never traveled far, and we have never taken a train But, I saw it on TV. I won’t talk about the big truth, but if there is anything that can help you, the old man will be happy to reach out.” After speaking, he politely let us enter the room and chat again. In the room, the temperature in the room is not high, and I always feel that the surroundings are a bit drafty, and my body feels a little cold.Seeing that there were no chairs to sit on in this room, he was not polite, and sat around on the kang head of the old man, and chatted with the old man about the Niangniang Temple, what the old man said and the old man Meng said They are all similar, that is to say, after a fire hundreds of years ago, the Niangniang Temple was burned down. It is located four or five miles southeast of the village, near Pianmianzi Village. Da Ya pretended to be casual and asked: "Master Gu, I heard from that Meng family kid that you once dug a stone statue there, don't know if it's true or not?" The old man originally had a smile on his face, but when he heard this, he was obviously startled for a moment, and the expression on his face was a little unnatural: "Hey, don't listen to the kid talking nonsense, what's the matter, I just picked up a millstone The knife stone was thrown away after being used for a while, where is there any stone statue?" Before I could talk to Da Ya, the little girl named Xiao Yu'er said, "Master, you have, I've seen it, so I'm not talking nonsense." The little girl said this very suddenly. As soon as the old man heard what the little girl said, he immediately said to the child: "What do you know, you little doll? Don't talk nonsense, this is an adult's business. You go out to play with monkeys, don't stay here." Add to the chaos." Immediately kicked the child out. The little girl pouted, looking aggrieved, and said to Meng Xing: "Brother Monkey, let's go skating in the village?" That Meng Xing glanced at Xiao Yu'er, then at us, and finally went out with Xiao Yu'er. Seeing that the old man didn't want to talk about the stone at all, we didn't continue to question him.So he and Da Ya asked Lao Gutou some things about the Taoist nuns in the village's former temple, but Lao Gutou knew very little about it, and he heard it from the elders when he was young, and it was basically the same as what Old Man Meng said. .