Chapter 26 The twenty-fifth round of Suspicious Clouds in the Bird House

morning. When Xiao Fang walked out of the willow-free willow alley, he felt a headache, thirst, and depression.It was the same feeling he'd had when he woke up drunk somewhere else. The sunlight was hitting a sloping wall, golden sunlight, not blue. A ragged, unkempt child, holding a tin jar in his hand, squatted under the sloping wall, looked down at his jar, and looked at it intently, as if there was nothing more interesting in the world than the things in his jar up. The world is already full of many boring things, and now Xiaofang also feels very boring. A boring person, who has done something boring all night, always feels like this.

He suddenly wanted to see what was in the kid's jar? The jars contained worms, full of twisted and wriggling worms. Xiao Fang actually asked him: "What kind of insects are these?" "These are not worms." The child actually replied. "It's not a bug?" Xiao Fang was a little surprised: "What is it if it's not a bug?" "Although it looks like a worm in your eyes, but in the eyes of my friend, it is a rich meal." He raised his head and looked at Xiao Fang. Although his face was terribly dirty, his big black and white eyes were very clever and cunning: "Because my friend is not a human, but a bird."

Xiao Fang smiled. He suddenly felt that the child was very interesting, and what he said was also very interesting. He deliberately asked: "You are obviously a human being, why do you want to make friends with the bird?" "Because no one is willing to make friends with me, only the bird is willing to make friends with me." The child said: "It is better to have friends than to have no friends." He was clearly a child, but what he said was not like that of a child. His words actually aroused Xiao Fang's many emotions. "Yes, having friends is indeed better than having no friends." Xiao Fang sighed softly: "Sometimes bird friends are better than human friends."

"why?" "Because people can deceive and harm people, but birds can't." Xiao Fang was ready to leave, he didn't want this innocent child to know too much of the deceitfulness of the human heart. The child asked him again. "What about you? Are you good to your friend?" He asked strangely: "If you have a friend who needs your help and wants you to visit him, will you go?" Xiao Fang turned around and looked at him: "What if I am willing to go?" "If you are willing to go, follow me now." "Walk with you?" Xiao Fang asked, "Why do you want to go with you?"

"Because I was your friend who asked me to come to you." The child said, "I have been waiting for you here all night." Xiao Fang was even more surprised: "Do you know who I am?" "Of course I know." The child said, "Your surname is Fang, and everyone calls you the damn little Fang." "Who is that friend of mine?" "I can't tell." "why?" "Because he asked me to keep the secret for him, and I have promised him. Even if you kill me, I won't tell it." Xiao Fang's curiosity has undoubtedly been aroused.

A can of worms, a child, a friend who needs his help, a secret that would rather die than tell. He never thought that these things could be connected together. He couldn't figure out what was the connection? "Okay." Xiao Fang suddenly made up his mind: "I'll go with you, right now." But the child stared at him for a long time with those big black and white eyes. "I can keep a secret for your friend, how about you?" He asked Xiao Fang, "Can you keep a secret for your friend?" Xiao Fang nodded. The child jumped up suddenly, and held Xiao Fang's hand with a surprisingly dirty hand: "Come with me!"

In the distance, bells and drums rang together, and Sanskrit singing wafted in the wind, and the spire of the pagoda shone golden in the sun. The sky is clear blue, the sun is bright, and it is full of sacred and solemn scenes. The dirty alleys are full of all kinds of humble, ordinary, poor and dirty people. It seems that their gods and Buddhas have not heard their prayers and have not taken good care of them. But they never complain. The child took Xiao Fang's hand, walked through the crowd, through the alley, and came to a magnificent temple. "where is this place?" "It's the Jokhang Temple."

What are you doing in the Jokhang Temple?Was that mysterious friend waiting for him at the Jokhang Temple? The child seemed to deliberately not let Xiao Fang ask any more questions, and quickly pulled him, squeezing in from countless devout pilgrims. He is obviously a child, but the things he does are not like what a child does. The magnificent temple is very gloomy and dark. Thousands of huge candles and bronze lamps fueled by butter flicker mysterious flames in the wind. On the towering temple wall, there are countless shrines, enshrining huge seven-color god statues with hideous faces, which are even more mysterious and terrifying in the flickering candlelight.

Perhaps it is this kind of power that can make people's minds completely captured and completely forget themselves.Some pilgrims even dragged heavy iron shackles on their feet, crawling in the Buddhist hall. Xiao Fang understands their behavior. There are many people in the world who hope to use the pain of the body to eliminate the guilt and sin in their hearts. He himself seemed to be immersed in this feeling of illusory, emptiness and mystery. He suddenly realized the miraculous greatness of religious power. The air is filled with the smell of yogurt and joss sticks, the sound of bells, drums and cymbals echoes in the wind, and the lights flicker in the heavy shadows.The deep and fast mantras sounded along with the prayers in front of the Buddha.

The child stopped suddenly, before a dome-shaped grotto on the rock wall. In the grotto, there is a colorful but extremely terrifying mural, which depicts a ferocious Rakshasa ghost girl sucking the brain of a mortal. The precise and meticulous painting looks lifelike, even though Xiao Fang knew it was just a picture, he still felt very uncomfortable. The child suddenly asked him again: "Do you know who this person is? Why did this Rakshasa ghost suck his brains?" Xiao Fang didn't know. "Because he is a broken man," said the child. "He promised to keep a secret for his friend, but he failed to keep it."

Xiao Fang smiled wryly. "You don't seem to trust me." "We're not friends yet, and I can't trust you." The child's big eyes flashed with sly light: "If you want me to take you there, you must make an oath here first. If you break the oath, you will be like this person for the rest of your life, being tortured viciously by the Rakshasa ghost girl. " Who is that friend?Why is the whereabouts so secretive? Xiao Fang made this poisonous oath. He is not afraid of retribution from gods and ghosts. He has never betrayed others. In his life, the only person he is sorry for is himself. The child smiled, genuinely. "You are really a good person." He pulled Xiao Fang up again: "Now I really take you there." "Where to go?" "Go to the birdhouse," said the child. "Your friend and my friend are there." The bird house is a strange wooden house, built on a raised rock, among several huge trees. There are railings around the wooden house, the eaves stretch out like bird wings, and birdcages are lined up under the eaves. In the exquisitely handcrafted birdcages, birds chirped, and some birds, Xiaofang, were not only unknown, but had never even been seen. "I made all these cages." The child's eyes sparkled, obviously proud of himself: "Can't you see what's special about them?" Xiao Fang has already seen that although these birdcages also have "doors", they are all open. "I don't want to keep them in cages like prisoners. As long as they are happy, they can fly out at any time." The child said: "But those who fly away often fly back." A bright smile appeared on his dirty face: "Because they also know that I am their friend." Xiao Fang couldn't help asking, "Where's my friend?" The child pointed to a very narrow wooden door: "Your friend is inside." The wooden house is large and spacious, and the wooden boards on the four walls are very old, and some are even cracked. It is undoubtedly an old house for many years, and it was built long before the child was born. In the large wooden house, there is only a low wooden table, a huge brazier, and one person. An iron rack for grilling food is supported on the brazier, and the person is sitting on the ground with his back to the door. When Xiao Fang came in, he didn't turn his head and didn't respond. His back is very thin, his shoulders are slanted down, and he has an indescribable loneliness. It seems that few people in the world can disturb him and attract his attention. If you are also an experienced rivers and lakes person, you can see many things from a person's back. Although Xiao Fang didn't have much experience, when he saw this man's back, he immediately confirmed one thing—— He had never seen this person, let alone recognized this person. As long as it is someone he recognizes, if he sees the back, he will definitely recognize it. He thought this person was definitely not his friend. Nobody makes friends with someone they've never met. Who is this person?Why pretend to be Xiaofang's friend?Why would a child bring Xiao Fang to meet him?