The truth of the world is like this, when suffering comes to an end, there is prosperity and decline.
When Songyun Mountain and the Shen family villa returned to the past, the Zhang family's main house in the West Ring was a different scene—
Before the house collapsed overnight, Zhangjialong was frequently featured in local news in Ningzhou. The initial statement was that the cause of the collapse was unknown, sparking a wave of discussion and speculation. It was later explained as a gas explosion, and it was quickly drowned in the daily flood of information.
It seems that suddenly, no one can remember this.
Only when passing by there, people have a vague impression. Because the scattered Chinese-style houses are now missing a large piece, like a sudden and ugly scar,
"Sister Lan, what are you going to do with that ruin?" Dadong asked.
The man by the window put his elbows on his elbows, fiddling with his long fingernails coated with dark green oil glue, staring at the floor tiles in a daze, without saying a word.
"Sister Lan?" Dadong called out again, seeing that the other party didn't respond. Reaching out his hand and shaking it in front of her, "Sister Lan!"
"Huh?!" Zhang Lan snapped back to his senses, "What?"
"I mean—" Dadong asked, "What's going on with the ruins next to it? It's not a big deal since it's been hanging around for a long time. Should it be restored to its original state, or should we clear the place and do something else?"
Zhang Lan raised his eyes.
The ruins were right behind her yard. From this window, you could see a rockery fish pond, an artificial bamboo forest, and a corner of the owner's house with a bell hanging from the eaves.
Now those things no longer exist, only the ruins.
It's quiet, mainly ugly - it reminds everyone who sees it what happened to the Zhang family.
Even other families and the Zhang family's juniors would be a little embarrassed, not to mention Zhang Lan.
This window is where she lives, look down and see.
Dadong glanced at Zhang Lan's face, thinking that this aunt would probably not be feeling well.
In fact, the entire Zhang family has not been doing well recently.
Because of the relationship with the ancestor Zhang Daiyue, the Zhang family's momentum plummeted and fell to the lowest point.
People who were not involved in the past would turn around seventeen or eighteen corners and say, "I belong to the Zhang family." Now even some of the juniors of the family can't open their mouths.
In addition, Zhang Yalin has not recovered for a long time, and the puppets in front and behind are no longer there. The entire Zhang family has a sense of wanting to be desolate.
Originally, "Sister Lan" was long and "Sister Lan" was short, and now most of them are scattered.
On the contrary, Dadong is no different from before, except that the cowhide is not blown often, and the rest is the same. He and the mouse have become the people who have the most contacts with the family's mansion, and they also have some real friends with Zhang Lan.
Just because he was a friend, he always reminded Zhang Lan to clean up the ruins, so as not to get stuck in his heart.
In fact, it is not particularly difficult for Zhang Lan to restore the ruins to their original state, that is, three or five days. But Dadong didn't suggest that, he swiped a few times on his mobile phone, and pulled out the photo to Zhang Lan to see: "This is what I and the mouse have been looking for these days. It would be good to have a big pond like this. Yes, style, pay attention!"
In fact, it was mainly to make this lifeless place a little bit alive, but he was too embarrassed to say it.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Lan lay on the window frame, stared at the ruins for a long time, and said, "I didn't plan to do it."
Dadong was stunned: "Huh?"
Zhang Lan said: "That's it, just keep it like this, it's good."
Dadong: "???"
If he hadn't been cowardly, I'm afraid he'd have to feel if this aunt had a fever, why she was talking nonsense in the daytime.
"Those broken bricks and tiles are useless and ugly, why keep them?"
"Keep it for others to see." Zhang Lan replied.
"To whom?"
"Me." Zhang Lan withdrew his hand from the window, stood up straight, patted the indistinct gray, and his long eyelashes blocked the half-drooping eyes: "Show me more."
For the Zhang family, it was an overnight upheaval.
For her, it was a fall from the high position of the stars and the moon, and the fall was not really heavy, but it was gray after all.
In the past, when a major event happened, there was always Yalin by my side. But this time it was only herself - she became the new owner of the house, cleaned up the rest of the mess, and waited for Zhang Yalin to wake up.
For a longer period of time in the future, she needs a piece of debris outside the window that has witnessed the collapse of the building, reminding her day after day not to go astray, reminding her why the name of the judge exists, and why it has been passed down to this day. .
She remembered the first time she used the talisman paper and Zhang Yalin was entangled in the puppet line for the first time, not because of who they were in, but because of the past events about the judge in the book.
It is said in the past that all living beings are suffering, and those with serious obstacles are thrown into prison.
This is where they originally came from.
"Little..." Zhang Lan turned around and wanted to call someone, but stopped as soon as he spoke.
"Little one?" Dadong turned around and looked around for a while but saw no one.
"Xiao Hei." Zhang Lan said, "Ya Lin's puppet, the one who is proficient in hexagrams, is gone now."
Dadong let out an "oh", but didn't know what to say: "...When Brother Yalin gets better, it will be there. Puppets, they all come with the puppet master."
While talking, Zhang Lan had already dug out a few copper plates from the chest of drawers, and lined up on the table by himself: "It's been a long time since he looked at him, I'll try it too."
"What do you want?"
"Find a day."
"Why?" Dadong wondered.
While lining up the copper plates, Zhang Lan flipped through the reference book and said, "Mourning."
On the day of Bai Lu, the Zhang family hung up a white tent and built a mourning hall. The tablet on the hall was written with three words - Zhang Zhengchu. Zhang Lan knelt in front of the hall in white linen to see off the man she should have called grandpa.
She and Zhang Yalin called their grandfather for more than 30 years, but the one who really should have agreed was occupied by the bird's nest and could not hear a word.
On the third day after the construction of the mourning hall, the Yunfu Luo family, Weinan Yang family, Changle Lin family, Suzhou Wu family, etc. all arrived. From the patriarchs of the same generation as Zhang Zhengchu, to the younger generations who have frequent contacts, all of them are a little fragrant.
Zhang Lan was a little surprised at first. After all, the Zhang family is not as good as it used to be. She didn't expect that all the families would come.
But then she was not so surprised - people who can do the same thing from generation to generation, in addition to those worldly connections, will give birth to some fetters.
When Mr. Luo was admiring the incense, he looked at the photos on the mourning hall and said to Zhang Lan, "I used the photos of him when he was young... I have a heart."
When Zhang Zhengchu was young, he actually had a pair of smiling eyes.
"Your father was carved out of the same mold as him, especially the eyes." After Mr. Luo finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Lan and said, "You and Yalin are more like mothers."
"I used to joke with your grandfather, saying that his eyes are not expected to be the head of the house, and he will be old in the future, I'm afraid he won't have any dignity..."
He would have been a kind old man, with no temper and obedience to the younger generation. Will really hold one in the left hand and another in the right hand, go to the flower market and bird market, and go fishing in the river pond. Then, in front of his old friends, he showed off his talented children and grandchildren with a smile.
"Unfortunately, when he got older, he changed his appearance, and I forgot about those jokes..." Mr. Luo shook his head and put the incense into the stove.
Zhang Lan kowtowed and stood up straight when he heard the old man say, "Alan, there is actually one more thing to do here today..."
…
In the evening, autumn fog started to descend in the mountains.
After Wen Shi finished his last medicinal bath, he changed his clothes and planned to go back to the Shen family villa.
- He and Chen Dao have lived in Songyun Mountain for several days. After all, there are many herbs in the mountain, and the aura is heavy, and… there are many herbs, and the aura is heavy.
For some reasons, the puppet line will be strangled on the spot, so I won't mention it.
In short, the two of them lived in the mountains recently for the good of Xiaqiao and Bu Ning. Otherwise, there may be a few more resentful spirits like Lao Mao and Da Xiaozhao in the family.
They went back to the Shen family for a reason. That day on the lunar calendar was the third day of the eighth lunar month, which was Bu Ning's birthday and Zhou Xu's.
The birthday is of course a good day, but there are some sayings that ordinary people don't know. Generally speaking, a person's spiritual aspect is unstable at certain times—the third month of pregnancy, the time of birth, and the year of birth, which in turn occurs in a cycle of twelve years.
This actually doesn't matter to most people, but Zhou Xu is different from Bu Ning.
They were born with unstable spiritual appearance, were divided into two, experienced all kinds of consumption, and were still squeezed into one body. This is a bit of the meaning of the house leaking and raining all night.
Chen Chen and Wen Shi were not at ease, and planned to go back to Shen's house for a few days to watch.
When he was about to descend the mountain, Xia Qiao sent a message saying that the Zhang family had set up a mourning hall for Zhang Zhengchu, who died in vain, and Zhang Biling took Zhou Xu to mourn.
Ke Chendao put a talisman out, but found that the Zhang family was empty at the moment. Those who went to mourn were not in the mourning hall, but in Baicui Mountain, which is thousands of miles away.
"Baicuishan?" Wen Shi frowned, "Why go there?"
He had dragged Chen Duo to the map before, and the unknown col in the lake was on Baicui Mountain. He had a shadow on this place, and when he heard someone going, he would be on guard with a conditioned reflex, and his face was full of displeasure.
"Don't be in a hurry for now." Chen Buoyue touched his face with his crooked fingers, then broke open a series of doors and said, "Let's take a look and see."
Hen Shi recently also had a "shadow" on Chenbuo's fingers. After being touched twice, he silently retracted the blown up hair, and Chenbuo pulled him into the battle without saying a word.
They fell to the ground in the bamboo forest.
When he heard the mist, he swept away the miasma, and saw that those who were supposed to be mourning at Zhang's house were standing around the lake.
The puppet line in his hand instantly stretched.
Just before those long lines that cut iron like mud shot out, he saw those people stretched out their hands one after another, pinching their fingertips and dripping something on the ground.
When I smelled it, I was stunned for a moment, and then I realized that it was blood...
They were dripping blood on the stone.
Blood is the deepest connection. When Chen Dao wiped a smear on the formation stone, this giant formation was tied to his life and death, and he became the formation eye of this formation.
But now, these people quietly come here to make up their blood, which is equivalent to signing an affidavit.
Since then, the world's all kinds of fate are no longer borne by that one person, but are owned by future generations, and it is every descendant who appears in the branches and vines of the famous family tree.
At that moment, the giant formation buried at the bottom of the lake hummed between the mountains and rivers.
The famous family tree that everyone knew by heart lit up at this moment that no one knew about. The light rose from the end, flowing through every name, every line, and toward the source.
Like thousands of rivers rushing to the sea.
This is the first time in thousands of years that the people on this map have actually been connected.
When passing through the first few names, the Yangling Pond in Songyun Mountain shook, the water hit the stone wall lightly, splashed a few stars and returned to calm.
When he smelled it, he suddenly raised his hand and touched the back of his neck, and his fingertips touched a dampness.
The wind just swept past, and the dew on the bamboo leaves shook off a few drops, which was shockingly cold.
He raised his head and glanced at the tall bamboo leaves, and swept them around for a week, feeling as if he had just heard something.
Chen Bubu seemed to have sensed it, and his eyes fell into the deep depths of the bamboo forest.
"You just—" Wen Shi was about to ask him, but heard a low voice from the crowd by the lake.
He followed the sound and turned his head to see Zhou Xu go limp.
Before the crowd could react, he and Chen Dao had already entered the crowd and resisted the weak man.
"Xiao Xu!!" Zhang Biling panicked and rushed over. She wanted to pat Zhou Xu on the face to wake him up, but didn't dare to touch him, "Xiao Xu??"
She called several times, but Zhou Xu didn't respond.
But he didn't look like he was in any kind of pain, more like he fell asleep all of a sudden. It's just that there is not enough blood on his face, and his forehead is a little scary.
"What's wrong with him?" Zhang Biling looked anxiously at Wen Shi and He Chenbuo.
Chen Dao touched his forehead with the back of his finger, tried for a moment, and said, "Don't panic, good thing."
Everyone passed out, and Zhang Biling couldn't see how good it was. But these words were beyond words, and she subconsciously felt more relieved.
They did not delay here, nor did they go around the Shen family villa, but immediately took Zhou Xu back to Songyun Mountain.
On the way back, Zhang Biling couldn't help but ask a few more questions, and finally understood the meaning of the dust—
Zhou Xu and Bu Ning each have only half spirits, staying in one body. Although they get along well, the rejection situation is not so intense, and there will not be a tragic situation where one side devours the other, but there is still a loss.
The longer the coexistence, the heavier the loss.
Under normal circumstances, the only way to solve this problem is to pull out the intruding spirit.
But Zhou Xu and Bu Ning are a bit special. They have the same origin and the same spirit at first.
If you take out Bu Ning well, it is tantamount to tearing out half of the spirit of a living person. That process is not something Zhou Xu's physique can endure.
So they have to wait until their spiritual appearance is unstable...
Like now.
So nothing happened, just about the time.
He closed his eyes when he heard it, and saw two figures on Zhou Xu. Zhou Xu's outline was clearer, but Bu Ning was almost invisible.
Others may not understand, but when they smell it, they can see the reason at a glance—
When spirits coexist, wear and tear should go both ways. But Bu Ning has always been gentle and courteous, and it is impossible for Zhou Xu to bear the half of the loss if he can't do the job of occupying the dove's nest.
He controlled all the losses on his half-spiritual form, and did not hurt the original owner at all.
"Then... What about the ancestor Bu Ning after he came out from Xiao Xu?" Zhang Biling asked.
"Make him a body." Wen Shi said.
Zhang Biling was stunned for a while, then subconsciously looked at Wen Shi's fingers wrapped around the puppet thread: "Do you mean puppet?"
"But... Puppets are not really independent living people, they still have to be controlled by puppet masters." Zhang Biling always felt that the two in front of them would not use a body under their control for others to use, and they couldn't do such a thing.
"Didn't you all call him Old Ancestor?" Chen Dao leaned on Wen Shi's shoulder and said to Zhang Biling, "You have underestimated this Old Ancestor's ability. Even I am a little afraid of him."
Yu Guangli, Wen Shi turned his face and looked at him with a "what the hell are you talking about" expression.
Chen Duo pretended not to see, but bent his eyes. To Zhang Biling: "He can create a puppet that is truly independent like a living person, look at Xia Qiao."
The person he is holding is now fully equipped, at the peak, and worthy of a puppet master.
Hearing Xia Qiao, Zhang Biling breathed a sigh of relief.
Taking a ten thousand steps back, these ancestors know a hundred times better than them, and there is always a way.
"Then don't delay." Zhang Biling carefully stepped aside, afraid that he would get in the way, "Does the ancestor have to squeeze a body first?"
He shook his head when he heard it.
He looked at Zhou Xu, and in the blink of an eye, he could always see those two shadows. He stared at the shadow so dim that he could barely see it, and answered Zhang Biling in a deep voice, "He has to go first to the spiritual pond."
One person bears the losses of both parties, the trauma is too heavy, the spirit is too weak, and the current Bu Ning is simply not enough to support a body. You can only see the light of the sky again if you advance to the Lingling Pond and keep it stable enough.
But the bleak shadow was not disappointed.
He just smiled when he heard the news, like he was annoyed when he was a teenager, and he handed over his apology.
Then, he turned to his side.
In a vast void of pure white like mountain fog, he and Zhou Xu stood face to face, like two projections of one person. It's just that one side has short hair and the other has long hair. On one side is the sun shining in the sky, and on the other side is the yin mountain and the moon.
Zhou Xu scratched his head and asked, "Are you really leaving?"
Bu Ning nodded.
Zhou Xu: "Actually, I'm used to squeezing in the same place with you, and it's not impossible to do this all the time. Pull you to show off from time to time, Ancestor Bu Ning, what a face."
Bu Ning laughed: "Well, this experience is probably the only one in the world. I met another self after reincarnation."
Zhou Xu: "Yeah, I can't find a second one like this. So why don't you leave? It's great to be alone for half the time, and you can chat after a break."
Bu Ning said gently: "You are only in your teens, and you will grow up in the future. How can you be separated from others all the time."
Zhou Xu pursed his lips, and asked again for some reason, "Did you plan to leave yesterday? I felt a little bit wrong when I was sleeping."
Bu Ning nodded: "If you dream too much, your spirit will be unstable, so it is suitable for walking."
Zhou Xu: "Then why did you wait until today?"
Bu Ning: "Thinking about it should be when you are awake. I should thank you and say goodbye to you."
He smiled and looked at the other self in the afterlife. It's like watching a twin brother, and it's like watching a junior with a year-long friendship.
After a long time, he opened his sleeves to face the wind, bowed his body and gave a long bow, and said warmly, "Thank you for disturbing me during this time."
"Then when are you coming back?" Zhou Xu asked.
Bu Ning turned his head and glanced at the snowy void behind him.
He vaguely heard the words between the snowman junior brother and the master, so he turned to Zhou Xu and said, "Let's winter next year."
…
He will return with his fellow apprentices whom he has not seen in a thousand years.
In the deep winter of the coming year, the Yangling Pond falls into ice, and the white plum blossoms fill the mountains behind.