Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The First Night of Aloneness, Introspection
The old branch secretary said that the old house in Nanshan could be renovated in five or six days, but it actually took more than ten days to complete.
When the team leader, Huang Dazhuang, mentioned this matter that day, many members were willing to help. Huang Dazhuang immediately selected a dozen or so capable people to go to the old house every day after work to plaster the walls, remove the kang, and lay the thatch. These were tasks that everyone was familiar with and did not require much effort.
You know, the village rarely has new things to say, and everyone was talking about the Gray Wolf's gift of meat with great relish. The simple villagers thought Xiao Lin was a worthy descendant of the old fairy lady, possessing a fairy aura! This made the dozen or so young men who came to help him all stand up straight and proud: the fairy lady even gave each of them ten pounds of venison as a thank you meal, a gift from the wolf named Da Huang! The other villagers were envious, not for the meat itself, but for the fairy aura it imbued them with.
It was already a hot stove, but within a day, news broke that Lin Xinghuo could treat livestock. It was Huang Sanbo himself who confirmed it. He was a man of his word, so how could it be false? This was like pouring oil on the hot stove, and the members' reaction was even greater. As a result, when Wang Dazhuang went to work the next day, he found a dozen or so adobe bricks piled on the ground.
"What's going on?" Huang Dazhuang asked. These bricks were enough to build a house.
"Wang Huzi, you say!" Huang Dazhuang pointed to the pile of adobe bricks with a crooked little flower pattern on it, "Don't pretend, only yours uses this mark!" Every household was mixing mud and making bricks in the brickyard, and each family had its own mark. Others would choose a place on the brick mold and carve a triangle or a circle or something like that, but Wang Huzi, the filial father, insisted on using the flowers painted on his family's forging.
Wang Huzi smiled innocently, "Well, didn't the fairy say she would return it next year? I thought it would be great if I could use the adobe bricks from the fairy's house to build a new kang for my little Caiduan!"
Every autumn, adobe houses needed to be repaired for the winter. It was common for families to borrow a few bricks from each other, so they could help out the next year when the bricks were removed. When Lin Xinghuo delivered the meat, she asked Huang Dazhuang, in front of everyone, to note the bricks used, as she would have to pay them back later. Wang Huzi had thought of bringing over some of his family's leftover bricks from the previous year—how many bricks would be needed to build a kang? They could just contribute a few bricks each, no need to pay back. The next day, his mother told him that Lin Xinghuo had cured a pig with diarrhea, and Wang Huzi was immediately impressed. In his eyes, this was a real feat more impressive than the skills of wolves and foxes. So, last night, after finishing work, he'd sneaked back and quietly brought over all the remaining bricks from his family: "He who strikes first is stronger, sir." Since the little fairy was sleeping on his family's adobe kang, shouldn't she get closer to his Caiduan? His Caiduan was so clever, he could definitely learn something from her! Wang Huzi has already made a promise in his mind that from now on, he, Wang Huzi, will be responsible for all the adobe bricks needed by the little fairy's family every year!
But who the hell could have imagined that these brothers were not stupid. No matter what their purpose was, they all did the same thing!
Huang Dazhuang said, "Hey, you're playing dumb again! With that physique of the little fairy, can she move through mud or even bricks? What nonsense are you talking about? Don't you know that the little fairy has to return it, and she won't return the bricks!"
"Don't play deaf. Take it home the way you got it! The old branch secretary told me that Xiaoxian's family can use the collective's adobe bricks first. Later, Xiaoxian will prepare some common medicines for the livestock and put them in the brigade headquarters to pay off the debt. The members can exchange them for work points."
He said what he wanted, and Wang Huzi and the others agreed to it, but no one actually took the bricks away. On the day of completion, Wang Huzi, with torches in the lead, toiled all night and managed to build a half-finished new house. When Huang Dazhuang got up the next morning, he was dumbfounded: "The thatched roof is easy, but what about the purlins and rafters?"
Another thing is that thatching a new house is different from thatching an old one. In an old house, the frame and roof are intact; all you need to do is patch up the thatch, and any village laborer can do it. But a new house is different; you need a thatcher. Thatching is a skilled job, and only a house thatched by a thatcher will be strong and durable; otherwise, it will be like a broken horse.
Wang Huzi put his arm around his good brother Cen Dazhu and said with a smile, "We brothers have all made plans. There is an old collapsed temple halfway up the Nanshan Mountain. It was the one built by the former steward of the Jin family to enshrine his mother's tablet. The temple was demolished by the elders in the village a few years ago. The bricks and tiles that were easy to take were all taken away, but the big wood could not be moved away. When I went back to Lianhua Peak last time, I went around to take a look, and it was still left in that depression." When the steward fled, he blew up the original side of the mountain road. After so many years, a small path was finally found from the other side of Nanshan Mountain.
"As for the foreman, Zhuzi said that his second uncle sent a message saying that he would return to the village tomorrow." Dazhu's second uncle was one of the best foreman in the surrounding villages. He worked as a temporary worker in the county construction team. The construction team was responsible for building roads and rivers in the entire county, as well as building houses for the collective. He was very busy and could only go home to live when winter was approaching.
"The little fairy lives alone, so instead of digging a cellar, it would be better to add a room in the west room to use as a warehouse." Cen Dazhu added.
Huang Dazhuang was so angry that he gasped for breath, but he accepted the words with a pinch of his nose. In the end, it took another seven days to complete the work.
As a result, what Lin Xinghuo saw were three neatly arranged mud and thatched houses: the outside of the mud walls were plastered flat with white wall plaster, and a large stove was built in the main room, similar to a livestock yard with two stoves in the north and south. The southern stove was larger and used for cooking and heating, while the northern stove was smaller and could be used to temporarily boil some food for the livestock; there were two kangs in the east room, and a small stove was built in the corner of the west wall connected to the south stove in the main room for boiling water; there was no kang in the newly added west room, and a large wooden table was placed against the east wall, and the rest of the space was filled with large wooden shelves that almost reached the ceiling against the wall.
The old branch secretary said, "The west room is newly built and has no fire wall. Only the east wall is adjacent to the main room, so it can be a little warm. You can use this room as a warehouse. The table and shelf were confiscated from the landlord's house. They have been left in the brigade for many years and no one has replaced them, so I'm giving them to you. You'll owe me work points for now." The brigade had a warehouse with furniture and other items that were confiscated that year. Members could exchange them for money and some work points, but everyone would rather saw two pieces of wood and make them themselves than spend the money.
Earlier, when Xiao Lin heard that Ruwai had built a new house, he gave him fifty yuan. The old branch secretary only took twenty, fifteen of which he gave to Cen Baotou, and the remaining five yuan was used by the old branch secretary to buy some things for Lin Xinghuo.
Lin Xinghuo saw that the original patterns on the shelves had been chipped or worn away, but they were indeed made of good material. He couldn't help but say regretfully, "Good wood!" Five dollars is not enough, right?
The old branch secretary shook his head: "It's ginkgo wood. This wood is too hard and difficult to process. It also has the reputation of being a longevity tree, so few people here use it to make furniture." These shelves suffered a lot when the "Four Olds" were destroyed. They became very ugly and no one replaced them.
Lin Xinghuo said goodbye to Grandma Wei, and the angry old lady grabbed Wei Chunfeng and kept complaining. The two of them, old and young, got along quite well. Grandma Wei felt that the family was already prosperous, and they hadn't had enough of the fragrance yet, so why did they have to move out?
But the last time Da Huang came into the village, he had really scared the old lady. Grandma Wei didn't get enough rest that night, and the next day she was feeling a bit dizzy. Lacking any herbs or acupuncture needles, Lin Xinghuo could only massage her acupoints to relieve the pain. She had suffered so much in her youth that Grandma Wei's emotional overload had left her with internal injuries and fatigue, putting her at risk of a stroke.
Lin Xinghuo had mentioned this privately to Wei Chunfeng, saying that Grandma Wei needed to be carefully cared for for a while while she would find a way to prescribe some medicine. She also thought it would be best if someone could accompany her, as she could tell that the old lady was a little afraid of being alone.
Wei Chunfeng was extremely grateful. After helping Lin Xinghuo move, she shamelessly took her daughter to stay at Grandma Wei's house. Grandma Wei was both angry and amused: "What's the big deal about you leaving Lai Fu at home alone? You're already grown up, and you leave home after just a few words. It's not decent."
Wei Chunfeng waved her hand: "It's better for both of us to separate! Aunt, why is Chen Laifu so slow? He can't work, can't talk, can't do anything, but he thinks I'm too good! Girls are so rare here, but he doesn't love his little girl at all, and he just envies other families who have many sons. If he has several sons, can he support them as a father?"
Grandma Wei never advised girls not to be so powerful. She only warned Wei Chunfeng not to hold on to her anger and harm her health.
Wei Chunfeng was worried about her third aunt, and she really didn't want to see Chen Laifu's sullen face. "The little girl doesn't even want to call him anymore. The child calls him dad, but Chen Laifu is so fierce and doesn't respond. If it wasn't in front of the little girl, I would have gone up and hit him to the ground! He even blames me for not giving him a son. With his ability to tremble, he only has a little girl because of my good fortune..."
*
In any case, Lin Xinghuo moved to the foot of Nanshan Mountain before October. This house was rented by her brigade, and she had to pay the brigade two yuan in rent every year.
It was already late autumn in Buxian Village, and there was little work in the fields. Working only for an hour a day, every household was busy stockpiling supplies for the winter. Various groups spontaneously organized themselves: picking teams, patrol teams, autumn fishing teams, and firewood collection teams.
Lin Xinghuo was going to live alone, and since winter wasn't going to Aunt Wang's house, she had to make preparations. The three fox cubs were counting on her.
Before moving, Wei Chunfeng had enlisted Lin Xinghuo to join the picking team. They followed the women to pick hickory nuts and mountain reds. One of her sisters-in-law shared, "A mile west, there's a valley with a wild hazelnut forest. Towards the top is a pine forest. After a couple of days of patrolling the mountain, the team leader will lead us to pick pine cones. We women can't do this work, but we have to collect pine needles, as they're used for starting fires in winter. We don't dare go further in, and the militia only hangs around the periphery. In the old days, some ginseng pickers had the courage to go in."
Mountain red, wild hazelnut, pecan, sand apple, autumn pear... the treasures of this mountain are endless.
But Lin Xinghuo wasn't very good. She had little strength, and her eyesight and hands were only as sharp as others. Her slow movements were a real hindrance. Lin Xinghuo also wanted to join the autumn hunting team into the mountains to collect some medicinal herbs.
On the first day of moving, in the dead of night, Lin Xinghuo sat cross-legged, placed his hands in the mudra position below his navel, and tried hard to find that familiar feeling.
After all, she had cultivated a sense of Qi, and as long as she seized the opportunity, she could re-enter the realm. Just a trace of Qi was enough to cope with the busy winter storage.
The little foxes gathered around Lin Xinghuo, not making any noise at all, as if they knew that Lin Xinghuo was in meditation and cultivation.
It was not until the rooster crowed that Lin Xinghuo felt a flash of inspiration. There seemed to be thousands of fireworks roaring in the space between her eyebrows. In a trance, the strong fragrance of pine and cypress hit her face, suddenly leading her into a mysterious state.
Lin Xinghuo saw that the five internal organs were like five-colored hanging bells, the heart was like a red lotus, the liver was like green wood, the spleen was yellow, the lungs were white ore, and the kidneys contained black water. The qi circulated through the meridians and gathered in the crimson palace.
Not until the internal energy was activated and circulated through a small circle did Lin Xinghuo suddenly wake up from the state of introspection.
Introspection, or looking inward, is said to be the threshold for Taoists to move from the acquired to the innate, and is a sign of being half a step into the innate.
In her previous life, Lin Xinghuo had practiced Taoism for twenty years, receiving the utmost training from her master, yet she had never even touched the surface of Vipassana. She had never heard of any member of the royal family possessing Vipassana. The last person recorded by her master to have reached this state was a person from the late Tang Dynasty...
If his body wasn't sticky, as if he hadn't taken a bath in a month - and the white mud wasn't easily rubbed off, Lin Xinghuo would probably have suspected that he had just had a dream.
The author has something to say:
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Please give me some advice.
"Excessive emotions and internal injuries leading to exhaustion": quoted from Baidu.
Mingtang between the eyebrows: The Mingtang and Danfang area between the eyebrows is the upper Dantian.
Jianggong: Middle Dantian.
"The five internal organs are like five-colored hanging jade pipes. The heart is like a red lotus, the liver is like green wood, the spleen is yellow, the lungs are white ore, and the kidneys contain black water. Qi circulates through the meridians and converges in the crimson palace." Compiled based on the encyclopedia [Internal Vision].
[Internal Vision Encyclopedia]: "Qian Jin Yao Fang" states: "You should always practice the Huangdi method of internal vision, concentrating your thoughts and making yourself see the five internal organs as suspended chimes (ancient musical instrument). The five colors are distinct and clear, and you should never stop." The practice of internal vision can observe the shape and color of the internal organs, such as the heart like a lotus and the yellow color of the spleen, as well as the functional activities of the body, such as the ups and downs of the abdomen during abdominal breathing and the circulation of internal energy along the meridians.
[Everything about cultivation is made up] It took me half an hour to write this short paragraph.
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