Chapter 36 3. The Fortune Teller's Confession

Time flies, and time makes people old. In 1988, I was 60 years old, and I lived for a full year. My legs and feet were weak, my eyes were blurred, and I couldn’t sleep well. This probably has something to do with my love of drinking tea.I always have a habit of making a pot of tea after meals. When I drink tea, I will think of my grandfather and the days and nights when I was by his side.Late at night, my wife will put a dress on me, and it has been like this for decades. I am grateful to God for giving me such a good wife. Over the years, she has cared for me and never left her. She has always been so good to me. She said that I have suffered enough before. To give it to me is to give me happiness, she said it, and she did it.

One day, I was reading a book while wearing presbyopic glasses, and my wife came in from outside and handed me a book, "Old man, show you this, why do I feel that there is an article on it that is very similar to what you used to do. " I took it over and saw that it was compiled by the editor of a law weekly. It recorded the confession monologues written by death-row prisoners in some major cases since the founding of New China. It is about to die, and its cry is also mournful. Some heinous criminals will deeply repent before they die, and they will write down some things. For themselves, it is an end, and for future generations, it is a warning.

My wife asked me to read the third article.I opened the book and read it carefully, until my blood boiled and tears flowed down my face.The title of that article was "Between Good and Evil" and it read like this: between good and evil In the world of life, who doesn't want to be a good person?However, the world is treacherous and fate is changeable. Once you step into the wrong path, you will never turn over! I was born in April of the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu, and my surname was changed to Shangguan. My loving mother gave me the name Chengming, which was taken from the "Book of Rites", which means "sincerity is clear", and because the word for family seniority occupies "Guan", my father gave my baby the name "Chengming". Guansheng".In the sixth year of the Republic of China, my family suffered a sudden change. Within one month, seven relatives died!Since then, I have been alone and desperate for my life!

That year, I gathered together with the "Jiang Xiang School", and was favored by Master Zhang, so I won the position of "Mu Zilian".At the beginning, I thought that I could turn around the situation of "Jiang Xiangpai" who was unable to follow the law with my own strength. Therefore, for decades, I did my best, and I took the way of heaven as my sincerity in everything I said, and tried my best to promote prudence. The purpose of killing, abstaining from prostitution, abstaining from stealing, robbing the rich and helping the poor, and using evil to control evil.

However, the "Jiang Xiang faction" is a mob after all!Sitting in this hall is like sitting on a volcano!Pros and cons are necessary, good and evil collapse, many things are beyond my control!What's more, I can't control myself, and I have killed innocent people many times because of my own selfishness!Who in the world has no parents, who has no children, those who lost their lives innocently, have no way to escape, and every time they think about it, they feel extremely guilty! I once wanted to unify the "Jiang Xiang faction", but after exhausting my thinking, I killed them. When all the mouths of the four halls were in my hands, I was extremely confused! Where does "Jiang Xiangpai" go?Where am I going?

For thirty years, I wanted to do justice for the heavens, but I lost all morality, burned, killed, cheated, and looted, and did all kinds of evil; In the past thirty years, my brothers at the entrance of the church have changed from ghosts to people, upholding kindness and righteousness, but in the end, what I saw was melee fighting and devastation; In the past thirty years, I have tried to control evil with evil, punish evil and promote good. However, the evil is even worse, and the deceit is endless, while the good has been taught for a long time. I wanted to leave as soon as possible, but at that moment, I suddenly remembered what my friend Master Qingfeng said, it is not important whether I go or stay, but the stay or stay of "Jiang Xiangpai" is important!

After the liberation of Guangzhou, I traveled to several provinces, and I saw with my own eyes the scene of prosperity and happiness in the liberated areas. Such a state of prosperity and peace for the people has not been seen in thousands of years! I can't go. Once I go, the "Jiang Xiang faction" will have no leader. Hundreds of people will flee in all directions. These people are like seeds, scattered to every corner of society, and they will take root when they land. Cause Hazard! I choose to die, I use my own life to wash away the sins of my life, and redeem the entire "Jiang Xiang faction"!My cousins ​​may hate me, but they will eventually understand that there is no way out for liars, and the law of evil against evil will not work!

The "Jiangxiang faction" has lasted for hundreds of years, and has already completed its historical mission. Now that its morality has been ruined and its vitality has been lost, it is time to end it! I implore the government to severely punish my brothers. Severe punishment can wake them up. When their prodigal sons turn back and go on the right path, they will definitely understand my painstaking efforts! ... Seeing this, I can't help crying!Grandfather, I understand!finally, I understand!I finally know why you didn't leave, I finally know why you didn't allow anyone to run away, you have worked so hard!The "Tao" you have been searching for has finally been found - the prodigal son turns back, abandons evil and pursues good!You redeemed us at the cost of your life!I thought your biggest secret was your wife and children, but I didn't expect this to be your last secret.

My wife came over and held me in her arms. I fell into my wife's arms and burst into tears, and kept crying like this. After crying for a long time, I suddenly had an idea, what have those brothers and sisters been doing all these years, and how are they doing?I want to have a party, find those brothers and sisters back then, I want to let them know about this, I want to see what they are doing now! I mobilized all relationships and contacted those brothers and sisters through all channels.After the court pronounced the sentence that year, some of the most heinous people, especially A Bao who had a life in hand, such as grandfather, Da Batou, and several Batou under Qin Baichuan, were sentenced to death. Most of the others were still Sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment, there are also some newcomers, they did not participate in many things in the hall, the government leniently dealt with them, and released them after a period of labor reform.After these people came out, those with local household registrations looked for jobs there, those from other places, like Abao, the girl from Nanyue, all returned to their hometowns, and those from Sichuan also returned to Sichuan.After so many years, the older A Bao is probably dead.Therefore, it is not easy to find these people.

After running around for several months, I finally found more than 80 people.When everyone heard that there was going to be a party, everyone was very excited, especially the brothers at the hall of "Muzilian". When they heard that the leaders were the fourth, fifth and sixth masters, they all said excitedly, "We will definitely come!" I specially arranged a hotel. On that day, I was waiting at the entrance of the lobby early. I hadn’t seen him for decades, and I couldn’t recognize many people. What I didn't expect was that the first one to arrive was a female Abao from the entrance of "Yue Haitang". She seemed to be in her sixties. Realized that it must be Tangkou's sister, but who, I can't recognize.

I was standing there in a daze when the other party came over with a smile, "Is it Fifth Master?" I was shocked by the cry of "Fifth Master", and I said, "Who are you?" She took off her glasses and said, "I am Liu Yumei under Yanniang. We met in Sichuan in 1949!" I suddenly remembered that in 1949 at the entrance of Qin Baichuan Hall, when Commander Liu was about to blow up his grandfather, Jiang Feiyan came, and then the two daughters, Ah Bao, also came in with the two boys who bombed the grave. The two daughters, A Bao, one named Liu Yumei and the other Liu Hongmei, are twin sisters, both of whom are Jiang Feiyan's personal maids. I hurriedly said, "Oh, sister Yumei, please come in, please come in!" More than 80 people arrived one after another, and they all kindly called me "Fifth Lord", which made my heart warm and sour. Before eating, let me say a few words.I stepped on the stage, looking at these familiar and unfamiliar faces, the scenes of the past rushed into my heart, and before I could speak, tears fell down... Grandpa's wish came true. After being reformed by the government, the brothers all went on the right path. Some entered the cotton spinning factory, some entered the post office, some entered the machinery factory, and some started business. Some people took the Chinese medicine exam and became doctors, some became teachers, and a few people, including me, started to study seriously because of their special affection for Zhouyi. During the dinner, a little foot asked me: "Fifth Master, how do you feel after learning the real Zhouyi?" I said: "The real Book of Changes is the book of superior goodness, like, number, reason, and accounting, clean, pure, refined, and subtle, the unity of heaven and man, the harmony of heaven and earth, not knowing Yi, and not being a gentleman." Another little foot stood up and asked me: "Fifth Master, what is Zhouyi?" After I heard it, I felt funny and desolate. What a fortune teller of the "Jiang Xiang School", who has been cheated all his life under the guise of Zhou Yi, does not even know what Zhou Yi is. This is our terrible thing, and even more sad. . I let out a long sigh and said: "Zhou Yi, the word 'Zhou' has two interpretations, one says that 'Wen Wang restrained and performed Zhou Yi', the sixty-four hexagrams of the Book of Changes were born in the Zhou Dynasty, so it is called Zhou Yi, and the other says that the word Zhou It means round and round, representing the laws of operation of all things in the world; and Yi characters are hieroglyphs, with a sun character on the top and a month character on the bottom, which shows that the book of changes studies the relationship between the sun, moon, stars and the earth, so the book of changes What is discussed is the truth of the universe. The original text of Zhouyi only has sixty-four hexagrams and hexagrams and lines, but the Zhouyi we see now is divided into two parts, one is the original text of Zhouyi, and the other is the annotations added by Confucius. There are ten annotations in total. It is called "Ten Wings", which means that Confucius put ten wings on the Book of Changes, so that the Book of Changes can spread its wings and fly high. In fact, Confucius' annotations to the Book of Changes were half a blessing and half a curse. Back then, Qin Shihuang burned books and pitted Confucianism because Confucius made annotations to the Book of Changes, and the Book of Changes was almost burned by Qin Shihuang as a Confucian classic. Fortunately, Prime Minister Li Si risked his life to admonish him, saying that the Book of Changes was a fortune-telling book and had nothing to do with Confucius, so he survived; at the same time, it was precisely because Confucius made annotations to the Book of Changes. The Book of Changes rose to the level of a philosophical classic through a pure book of divination. Confucianism flourished in later generations, and the value of the Book of Changes doubled and it ranked among the Five Classics. It even became the leader of the scriptures!" The little foot then asked: "Then what is the relationship between Zhouyi, the eight trigrams, and the sixty-four hexagrams?" I chuckled, and finally asked a valuable question, "The sixty-four hexagrams in the Book of Changes all talk about the way of yin and yang. The so-called Wuji has Taiji. , the gossip is mixed into sixty-four hexagrams. What is Promise? Extreme is the limit, the limit, and Promise is the state of no limit, no beginning and no end, and chaos. In the process of Promise, Tai Chi is bred, and Tai Chi is the beginning of things. The creation of heaven and earth, with the sky and the earth, Tai Chi appeared; Tai Chi gave birth to Liangyi, Liangyi is yin and yang, that is, the two sides of things, the sky is yang, the earth is yin, men are yang, women are yin, daytime is yang, The night is yin; Liangyi produces four images, and the four images refer to Shaoyin, Laoyin, Shaoyang, and Laoyang. It describes the changing law of Yin and Yang, just like a person from small to large, from old to old, reacts It is the development state of things from weak to strong, from strong to weak, and repeated cycles. You can see the Taiji Yin-Yang fish, which is the ebb and flow of Yin and Yang; Hua, divided into eight hexagrams: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Dui, Li, Kan, Xun, and Gen. Qian represents heaven, Kun represents earth, Zhen represents thunder, Dui represents Ze, Li represents fire, Kan represents water, and Xun represents wind. Gen and Gen represent mountains, so far the basic natural phenomena on the earth have been completely summarized; two pairs of gossips are matched to form sixty-four hexagrams, so far, everything in the world cannot be excluded..." "Hehe, I didn't expect Fifth Master to become the real master of Zhouyi!" A hearty laugh interrupted my words, and it was Liu Yumei who came over with a wine glass. In this gathering, what surprised me the most was Liu Yumei from "Yue Haitang".After she was released after serving her sentence, she came out to work as a female textile worker. She was skillful and outstanding in her work, and soon became the team leader. Under her leadership, all of their teams were strong women who always exceeded their quota. I became the director of the workshop, and was also selected as the first batch of "March 8th Red Banner Bearers" in New China.After the reform and opening up, she resigned and started a clothing business in the south. Her current assets have exceeded several million.After getting rich, she donated to several Hope Primary Schools, and often funded nursing homes. She is enthusiastic about public welfare and the protection of women's rights. She is now the director of the local Women's Federation.I couldn't help sighing: Baos are all smart people, as long as they use their brains on the right path, no matter what they do, they can do better than ordinary people. I think it's time to tell everyone my grandfather's last words in prison. I said to everyone: "A book has been published recently. Have you read it?" Everyone asked: "What book?" I took out the book and walked slowly onto the stage. I was so excited that my hands began to tremble. I took a deep breath, calmed myself down, and slowly read my grandfather's confession in prison. After reading it, everyone was silent.I said: "This monologue has been included in the case file of my grandfather. Recently, the government carried out legal education. An editor of a legal weekly magazine sorted it out and published it as part of the manuscript. My wife found it when she was visiting a bookstore. .” Sibatou stood up slowly, holding his wine glass tremblingly with tears in his eyes, and said, "Let's toast our grandfather!" Several girls were already crying, and everyone raised their glasses together: "Grandfather is eternal!" This is the grandfather that everyone has followed all their lives, that grandfather who is respected and feared. When he was alive, he sought a way for everyone to make money. When he died, he sent everyone on the right path. Liu Yumei was crying so hard, I walked over and handed her a handkerchief, she wiped her tears, "Fifth Master, you mentioned Grandpa, it reminded me of Yan Niang again." I didn't know Jiang Feiyan was dead at that time, so I asked, "Is there any news about Yan Niang?" Liu Yumei said: "At the end of last year, when I went to Hong Kong to discuss business, I saw her in a newspaper." "Is she okay?" I asked. Liu Yumei shed tears again: "She passed away. She died in March last year. According to the newspaper, she was a member of the Legislative Council there and has always advocated the reunification of the two sides of the strait. She opposed Taiwan independence. She said that the two sides of the strait are connected by blood. Before she died, she My biggest wish is to go back to mainland China, Guangdong, and the Jianghuai region.” After hearing this, my heart ached for a while, she was still thinking about her grandfather. Jiang Feiyan also wrote a poem in Taiwan, which was also reprinted in the newspaper in Hong Kong. Liu Yumei cut it out and kept it as a treasure.The title is "Missing", and it is written like this: I don't know, how long will I have to wait? I don't know how long I can live I only hope that the distance of living can be longer than the distance of waiting I don't know where people go after death I don't know, will it change in the afterlife? I just hope that in the next life I won't look at each other again There is a profession called liar There is an emotion called longing There is a kind of loneliness called Feiyan Jiang Feiyan was still thinking about her grandfather until she died.She traveled all over the world all her life, like a flying swallow, shuttling between the sea and the sky, although the sea and the sky are big, she has always been alone. That afternoon, after the dinner party, some people were going back, and some stayed for two days, and then everyone went their separate ways. After everyone left, I felt empty for a while: I don't know when we will see each other again, maybe in the next life.