Chapter 630
After booking a room at the guesthouse, Xiaoling said, "Miaomiao, Uncle Yuan, you two should rest for a while. Come to my house for dinner at 5:30. Tonight, my brother and I will take you to the temple to watch the 'Dragon Eyes' performance."
I heard that the dragon-blasting activity in the evening would last for a long time, so in order to get enough rest, Su Miao and his father took a nap in the afternoon.
After dinner at Xiaoling's house, Xiaoling and her brother Xiaohao took the father and daughter to the temple.
This seems to be a land temple. It is less than twenty minutes' walk from Xiaoling's house. It is said that some dragon gods will depart from here tonight.
It was almost dark at this time, and the temple was already packed inside and outside. There were even many young people lying on the walls, looking like they had been waiting there for a long time.
In this situation, no matter how hard Ren Su Miao and the others squeezed, they couldn't get to the front. It would take all their strength to reach the center of the crowd.
Fortunately, Su Yuanzheng was strong and tall, standing out from the crowd. He could clearly see the dragon's blessing operation over the huge crowd in front of him.
Seeing his daughter standing on tiptoe and stretching her neck, he simply carried her on his back. In this way, Su Miao was the one who could see the farthest among the people in the back row.
Xiaoling looked at Miaomiao enviously, then turned her gaze to her twin brother.
A drop of cold sweat silently dripped down Xiao Hao's forehead. He gestured at his 1.7-meter-tall self and his increasingly plump figure after he and his sister started working at the restaurant, and said awkwardly:
"I'm too weak to carry it, and the altitude is too low to see it!"
"I don't care, just memorize it first!"
Xiaoling didn't say anything more. She jumped up and used her hands and feet to cling to her brother's back.
Xiao Hao was so overwhelmed by the sudden weight that his knees almost gave way and he fell to the ground. He was afraid that if he really dropped his sister, he would definitely be scolded by his parents when he got home, so he quickly reached back to lift his sister up and gritted his teeth to hold on.
At this time, Su Miao's attention was attracted by the consecration ceremony in front of him, and he did not notice the interesting behavior of the brother and sister beside him.
In Su Miao's vision, the open space in front of the temple was brightly illuminated by torches and lanterns.
Six giant dragons with golden scales and red manes occupied the place, each carried by eight shirtless men. The dragons had not yet had their eyes painted, and their eyes covered with red silk added a bit of mystery.
Green smoke curled up from the incense table, and the offerings were neatly placed. The master priest was dressed in traditional costumes, holding copper bells and magic swords, chanting scriptures, respectfully inviting the gods to come and infuse spirituality into the Paolong.
The master spoke in Yang County dialect, and Su Miao didn't quite understand what he was saying. She turned around and asked Xiaoling, who was a head shorter than her, in a low voice.
"Sister Xiaoling, what did that master say?"
"Um... this... let me try to translate it."
So, Su Miao watched while Xiaoling interpreted simultaneously, and he was no longer troubled for a while.
The master first sprinkles holy water on the dragon's horns, tongue, claws and other key parts in turn, symbolizing that the dragon is endowed with divine power and can drive away evil and bring good fortune.
Then I looked at the clock and saw that the auspicious time had arrived.
When the master took the pen handed to him by his disciple and walked in front of the largest dragon, Su Miao suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck.
A drizzle began to fall in the twilight, and the raindrops looked like golden threads under the firelight.
"It's raining!" someone exclaimed, but the master seemed not to hear. He dipped the tip of the brush in rooster blood and circled it three times with his wrist at the dragon's eye position.
"The sky gate opens at one point!" The moment the words fell, the red silk covering the eyes fell without wind.
The brush tip fell steadily, the dragon's eyes were as red as torches, raindrops splashed on the scales, and tiny golden lights burst out. The whole dragon seemed to be suddenly injected with life.
Xiao Hao suddenly called out, "Look at the incense burner!"
The burning speed of the three tall incense sticks on the table suddenly increased, but the ashes did not fall, but pointed straight up to the sky like a sword.
The master took the opportunity to strike the dragon's spine with his magic sword. Amidst the clear metallic vibrations, he chanted, "Two points, the earth door is open!"
"Boom!" Someone lit the first string of firecrackers, and smoke spread instantly.
Amid the deafening sound of firecrackers, the dragon dancers shouted in unison, and the dragon's body suddenly soared into the air.
Su Miao subconsciously grabbed his father's shoulders. The dragon head was looming in the smoke, as if it was about to fly through the air.
Xiaoling said, "Don't be afraid, Miaomiao! This is 'dragon energy', a symbol of having invited the dragon. It doesn't come every year! This year, you're definitely going to be rich!"
After the eyes of the six dragons were painted, the temple suddenly began to dance.
Looking more closely, it turned out that the men deliberately made the dragon dance appear and disappear from time to time. When the dragon's body passed over the incense table, the master quickly stuffed a yellow talisman into the dragon's mouth.
The talisman paper burned when it came into contact with fire, and a three-foot-long flame tail spurted out of the dragon's mouth, causing the audience to exclaim in surprise.
Xiaoling suddenly whispered excitedly in Su Miao's ear: "Make a wish quickly! The first moment the dragon opens its eyes is the most effective!"
Su Miao quickly closed her eyes, but at the moment she closed her eyes, she clearly heard the rustling sound of dragon scales rubbing against each other, as if a giant dragon was really flying over her head.
When I opened my eyes again, the Dragon Team had already set off, rushing into the crowd and heading towards the street. Wherever they passed, firecrackers blasted and red confetti poured down like a rainstorm.
"Can you come down now? I can't take it anymore!"
Xiao Hao carried his sister on his back and had to resist the crowd rushing out of the temple, shouting loudly!
"Oh, they're coming down! Let's follow them out! Follow the one heading towards our house. They're going to separate and then meet up at the square. We still have to grab the dragon after that!"
At this moment, there was a sea of people in front of the temple, and the cannon dragon was tumbling in the smoke. Sometimes the dragon head was raised high to break through the smoke, and sometimes the dragon tail swept across and rolled up red debris all over the ground.
The four of them squeezed through the room, their hair covered with firecracker debris, and their nostrils filled with a strange smell of sulfur and sandalwood.
Xiaoling quickly took out a homemade cotton mask from her bag and said, "Put on a mask, or your mouth and nose will be covered in black when you go back!"
The sound of the cannon was so deafening that they had to get close to each other's ears to barely hear each other. Su Miao asked:
"Sister Xiaoling, is this dragon going to walk the streets?"
"Yes! There are actually more than just these few dragons today. There are other teams starting from other places! The routes are all set, and they have to pass through residential areas. Everyone, get your firecrackers ready! Two of them are going to cross our street!"
Su Miao and his companions followed the dragon team all the way back. Wherever the cannon dragon went, every household lined the streets to welcome it, and everyone took out the firecrackers they had prepared in advance and set them off.
After entering the residential area, the firecracker dragon moves very slowly because according to tradition, the firecracker dragon cannot go to the next house until the firecrackers in the current house have been set off. It often takes a long time for the firecracker dragon to dance across a small street.
Su Miao covered his ears and watched the Cannon Dragon Team. People threw firecrackers at them, and the Cannon Dragon rolled left and right in the overwhelming red paper, which made Su Miao terrified.
Wow! Dragon dancers are such warriors! Sometimes they even hang firecrackers on their bodies, and they dance even more vigorously!
I walked slowly like this for forty minutes before finally arriving at Xiaoling's house.
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