07 Big Brother's Props
For the convenience of narrative, I must first skip how Wan Defu found out that Wan Xi was involved in the bloody accident during the process of finding the six elders who did not meet each other day and night, and first explain the clues of my big brother.
For the Cao Gang elders around 1997, the two names Zhang Shifang or Zhang Hanqing are just one of the tens of thousands under their hands. But for my big brother, helping this identity is extraordinary—unlike my father, who just used the sign of a bachelor in his chaotic life to make his ordinary life more smoothly, which means a little more ordinary.
On the morning when my father went to participate in the village New Year's reunion and lottery (that may be in 1997 or early 1971), the big brother told me many things that this little brother who is only twelve or thirteen should not know .
Big brother first explained to me for a long time: Cao Gang is not a bad organization that robs houses, murders and sets fire, and even all gangs should not be set up to rob houses, murder and set fires. But like any organization, there are always bad guys in it; as soon as there are more bad guys, bad things will be done, and the reputation of the gang will be ruined. He then explained to me: The uncle—that is, my father—was not unreasonable for persuading him to quit and help out. It was not unreasonable that he locked the door and closed the windows when he came to the house. To put it bluntly, he has seen the restless and uneasy side of the gang, tired and scared, or he doesn't like to help out for danger for his wife and children, and he always feels hateful when he looks at his original brothers and partners. "It's not about who is wrong to whom, it means that someone has some ideas." Big brother said.
Then, he told me that the elders in the gang often talked about anecdotes, and he only slowly learned about the origin of the gang. It is said that during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a minister of household, whose surname was Luo Mingqing, who was from Gansu. This Shi Lang later resigned from the official position, converted to Buddhism, and enshrined a Zen Master Bifeng as his teacher. Zen Master Bifeng gave him a dharma name, called Jing Qing. From then on, there was the Luo Sect or the Qingmen school in Buddhism. When it spread to Jiangsu, it is called Mahayana teaching and Wuwei teaching. Spread to Jiangxi, it is called Sancheng Jiao and Dacheng Jiao. In short, it is the foundation of Buddhism, mixed with some Taoist rituals and principles, and passed down four sutras, called Jingxin Sutra, Hard Work Sutra, Qudou Sutra, Breaking Evil Sutra, and Taishan Solitary Sutra. Some people who believe in Luo Buddhism eat vegetarian chants, some do not recite sutras, some do not recite sutras, and some are exempt from sutras. In the pre-Qing Kangxi reign, the water transport servicemen in Qingjiang organized the grain and rice gang. Boat people from Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu and other places also followed suit. Among them were sailors, helmsmen, coolies for carrying rice, and slenders. It is nothing more than a very poor family background, with neither constant production nor habitual skills, so he can only sell rough energy and live a wandering life from north to south on the boat. Since such people form a gang, they naturally want to create a mythology for this gang to attract more people. So they fell in love with Luojiao, a sect that is both Buddhist and Taoist, not monk or vulgar. Since then, the Liangmi Gang has combined the two characteristics of a professional trade union and a religious organization.