These days, Su Qing's life is very peaceful and stable.

I get up in the morning to run, buy groceries and cook, teach Su Zichen to paint and then send him home, and practice in the evening.

His strength increased steadily, and one of his punches could already weigh over two thousand pounds.

The lives of the three group members were also very peaceful and nothing happened.

Everyone chatted occasionally, said hello, and then went about their own business.

That day, Su Qing came back from jogging and received a call from Uncle Xiaolong.

"Uncle Xiaolong is burning paper money today? Okay, I understand. I will go back in the afternoon."

After hanging up the phone, Su Qing looked at the date, August 30th in the Gregorian calendar, July 15th in the lunar calendar.

“It’s the annual Ghost Festival again”

"Grandpa, Dad, Mom"

Burning paper money is a Ghost Festival custom in Jiangyou.

Every year during the Ghost Festival when the gates of hell open wide, people prepare paper money to worship their ancestors two or three days in advance.

Punch holes in the ghost paper, cut the ghost clothes, wrap it up with ghost paper, and finally write the ancestor's name on the cover.

This is the Jiangyou custom of burning paper money.

Generally, paper money is burned at the doorstep or at the entrance of the village on the evening of July 12th or 14th.

On the night of July 15th, the gates of hell will open and the ancestors will take away the paper money.

Of course, some people go to the graves on the mountains to burn them, but they are generally very rare.

Use a wooden stick to burn it, burning it all up bit by bit, without leaving any trace of the paper.

Otherwise, the ancestors will not be able to receive the paper money, and the consequences will be serious.

Your luck will get worse in the future, you will suffer losses in business, everything will go wrong, etc.

Su Qing's parents died before the age of 60, which was an unexpected death.

He cannot burn paper money in advance, he has to burn it on the day of the Ghost Festival.

There are some particularities to chiseling paper money. You cannot do it inside the house. You have to move a stool and take it outside to do it.

It has to be chiseled by filial sons and grandsons themselves, and only those chiseled with a pious heart will be effective.

However, modern society has long lost all the past traditions.

Many people are lazy and want to save trouble. They don't want to carve paper money themselves, so they go to the market to buy paper money made by machines.

This is not impossible, but it is not pious enough, and the ancestors may not be able to accept it.

In the past, the paper money that Su Qing burned for his ancestors every year was carved by Uncle Xiaolong one by one.

How would he understand these things? Uncle Xiaolong did everything for him.

Of course, Su Qing also knew that there were no ghosts in the world. This was just a ritual to commemorate ancestors and remember the past.

Regarding "paper money" in "Fengshi Wenjianji", it says: "In today's funerals, paper money is cut and piled into a mountain, which is then carved and decorated, and carried to lead the coffin."

"wrong."

"I have inherited the true teachings of Maoshan Taoism. It doesn't mean there are no ghosts in the world!"

But on second thought, Su Qing's expression changed slightly.

All the methods of exorcising ghosts and demons passed down by Maoshan are in my mind. Who dares to say that there are no ghosts in the world? "It seems that I have to prepare in advance"

Thinking of this, Su Qing hurriedly called Su Xiaolong and asked him to suspend teaching for one day.

He was told not to send Su Zichen over, as he wanted to carve the paper money himself.

Then he drove to the market, ready to buy items such as an adult rooster, aged peach wood, Five Emperors' coins, glutinous rice, cinnabar, straw paper, red rope, inkwell, pomelo leaves, and Bagua mirror.

Other things are easy to buy. There are plenty of them on the market and they are easy to buy.

The only things that are hard to buy are peach wood, big roosters, Five Emperors' coins and cow's tears.

I went to several markets and even made a trip to the countryside before I managed to gather all these things.

The peach wood is only ten years old, the Five Emperors' coins can only buy small Five Emperors' coins, and the big rooster is only two and a half years old.

After purchasing everything, Su Qing drove back home and began to make various magical instruments.

After a whole day of hard work, he finally made a few magical instruments.

A peach wood sword, a Five Emperors copper coin sword, and a consecrated Bagua mirror. He mixed cinnabar and chicken blood to make ink, and drew hundreds of talismans before he succeeded in drawing three. He also personally carved a batch of ghost money and wrote the names of his ancestors on them.

In the evening, Su Qing drove back to his hometown in the countryside alone with the prepared paper money.

Su Xiaolong went back to the countryside yesterday, so he and Su Qing did not burn paper money on the same day.

It is a remote village surrounded by mountains on three sides with beautiful scenery.

There are more than one hundred households in the village, with about four hundred people.

Most of the villagers have the surname Su, and they are descendants of the same ancestor.

In recent years, the village has become increasingly desolate.

Most villagers have bought houses in the county or developed their businesses in other places.

Most of those who stay in the mountain villages are from poor families or the elderly, the weak and the young.

Su Qing parked the car at the entrance of the village, greeted the villagers passing by, and walked into the village.

When he arrived at the last and westernmost house in the village, he remained silent for a long time.

These two red brick and green tile houses were once his home.

The house had been uninhabited for many years and most of it had collapsed, exposing the beams.

The rusty lock on the broken door has not been opened for a long time, the gray brick path is covered with dry moss; nameless dead grass invades the whole yard, and a bitter taste enters my throat...

"Grandma, Dad, Mom, I'm back."

Su Qing murmured, tears streaming down her face unconsciously.

Since leaving home, he seldom comes back, except during the Qingming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival and Winter Solstice every year.

Putting the paper money under the eaves, Su Qing pushed open the door and walked in.

As soon as you enter, you will see the hall, which is full of spider webs and lots of rat droppings.

He took out the key and unlocked the bedroom door. The furnishings inside were still the same as before.

There are photos of my grandfather and parents, their clothes, and traces of their lives.

"Why"

Su Qing waved his hand, put all the things into his personal space, and left the room.

Carrying paper money, he walked towards the back mountain and came to the graves of his grandparents and parents.

Pull out the weeds on the grave, sweep away the debris in front of the tombstone, and clear out a piece of open space.

Take out paper money and clothes from the bag, place them in front of each grave according to their names, and light them.

"Buzz"

As flames shot up into the sky, Su Qing wiped her eyes with pomelo leaves soaked in the buffalo's tears.

A cool feeling arose and his eyes lit up slightly.

The third eye is opened.

Looking at the grave and the burning paper money again, he saw a scene he had never seen before.

Wisps of grey air rose from the burnt paper money and drifted away with the wind.

Su Qing looked with wide eyes, but found nothing.

I did not sense the existence of the underworld, nor could I sense the ghosts of my grandfather and parents.

"Is there no ghost on earth? Where did my parents go after they died?"

Su Qing was stunned and felt quite disappointed.

"Grandpa and grandma, mom and dad, don't worry, I'm doing well."

After the funeral clothes burned out, he kowtowed three times towards the grave and left without looking back.

"Uncle Xiaolong, can we still build houses in the village now?"

On the way back to the city, Su Qing thought about it and called Su Xiaolong.

".Please ask the village chief for me. I am not familiar with him."

"If it is possible, I would like to rebuild a house on the foundation of my old house."

"Yeah. You know, I don't care what the villagers say about me, but I don't want to embarrass my grandfather and parents."

"Okay, thank you for your help."

The scene reminded Su Qing of the idea of ​​building a house in his hometown.

The so-called returning home in glory is nothing more than this.

(End of this chapter)