Seeing that the person coming was a blind man, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"This person came just in time. The fortune teller must know the rules of sworn worship." Chu Huairou said.
"Hey, if you want to eat a tortoise, here comes a turtle." The fat man said with a smile.
Hearing voices in the temple, the blind man stopped and said, "Friend, can you let me go in to take shelter from the rain?"
"No one can rush with the house. Come in." Lu Pingchuan spoke in a low voice, trying to sound like an adult.
"Thank you." The blind man thanked him, banged his wooden stick and continued to move forward. After entering the main hall, he groped his way to the east side of the door and sat down against the wall.
There was a bonfire in the hall. Through the light of the bonfire, everyone could clearly see the appearance of the blind man. The man was not tall and had an unremarkable appearance. Although his eyes were closed, it was obvious that his eyes had shrunk and deformed, possibly due to years of age. Because of his wandering life, his skin color is very dark and his face is dusty.
The blind man's clothes were already soaked. After sitting down, he took off the baggage on his back and fumbled to open it. Inside the baggage were a change of clothes, a pair of old shoes, and some fortune-telling things. In addition, there were A paper bag with two pieces of dough inside.
The blind man took out a piece of bread and brought it to his mouth to chew slowly.
Everyone has been living here, and poor people and beggars often come to stay for the night. Therefore, the blind man's appearance does not make everyone pay too much attention. In addition, the blind man has already opened his bag and showed the contents of the bag to everyone, so everyone is wary of him. Go, after the hot water was boiled, Nanfeng brought a bowl of hot water over. The blind man thanked him and ate the pancake with the hot water.
After returning to the original place, Nanfeng took another look at the blind man. When delivering water, he found that the blind man's teeth were very neat and without tartar stains. This was contrary to common sense. Let alone a person in his fifties. Thirty-year-olds rarely have such neat teeth.
After the blind man finished eating the bread, Lu Pingchuan walked over and asked for advice on the rules of sworn worship. The blind man answered. The man didn't speak fast, but he wasn't slow either. His words were clear, with few pauses, and he was calm and soothing.
After getting the blind man's advice, everyone started to take action. Lu Pingchuan took Mo Li out to get incense candles and yellow paper, and Nanfeng took the fat man out to find the rooster. The so-called doing it was actually stealing. Looking for it is of course stealing because they have no money.
Nanfeng and Fatty left the ruined temple first. It was still raining outside, but it had become lighter.
"Give me a drink." The fat man extended his hand to Nan Feng.
"What?" Nanfeng said casually.
"Wine." The fat man begged with a shy face.
Nanfeng waved his hands repeatedly, "There isn't much left, I have to save it for my sworn vows."
"Just one bite." The fat man continued to ask.
Nanfeng shook his head.
"We are brothers in need, and you won't even take a sip of wine?" The fat man used provocation.
Nanfeng ignored him and walked quickly eastward after getting on the main road.
The fat man didn't get the drink, so he was very frustrated and followed him with his head down.
After walking a few dozen steps, Nanfeng stopped, took out a wine bottle from his pocket and handed it to the fat man, "We have agreed, just one sip."
The fat man agreed wholeheartedly and reached out to grab the wine bottle.
Seeing the fat man pulling out the cap of the bottle instead of the spout, Nanfeng hurriedly reached out to grab it, but he was too late as the fat man had already taken a big gulp.
Nan Feng shook the wine bottle, only the bottom of the bottle was left.
Seeing that Nanfeng was showing signs of getting angry, the fat man hurriedly shut up, "I kept my word, I only took a sip."
Nanfeng shook the wine jug again to make sure that the remaining wine was not enough for each person to drink, and then handed the jug to the fat man, "Let's go separately later, you go steal the chicken, and I'll get another jug." "
"Okay, okay." The fat man happily hugged the wine bottle, "By the way, what did you say to Changle during the meal?"
"Chang Le seems to be worried a lot. If I ask him what's wrong, he won't tell me." Nan Feng shook his head and said.
The fat man nodded in agreement, "There's something wrong with this guy. When Boss Chu gave him medicine before you came back, he lost his temper and knocked the bowl away."
"I'll ask again when I have time," Nanfeng stopped and looked around, "I'll go south and meet up from here later."
The fat man waved his hand and walked east.
Wine is made from grain, and there is not enough food to eat at this time. Wine is naturally a luxury product. Taverns and inns are very strict about wine. It is very difficult to steal wine from the cabinet, and the wine on the cabinet is not Nanfeng’s target. The wine belongs to the hotel owner, and he always hangs around here, so he can't eat it. But the wine in the room is requested by the hotel guests, so there will be no trouble if he takes it.
Late autumn is already cold, and it gets even colder on rainy days. Most of the guests staying at the hotel asked for drinks to keep away the cold. Half an hour later, the south wind succeeded. Stealing is a life skill for beggars, and they would have starved to death just by begging.
When we returned to the meeting place, the fat man was already waiting there, shirtless and holding his coat in his hands, with bulging bags inside.
The two returned the same way, and when they returned to the ruined temple, Lu Pingchuan and Mo Li had already returned first, and the open space in front of the statue had been cleaned up. Worship was a big event, and everyone washed their faces in the water tank behind the temple.
After returning to the ruined temple, everyone looked at Lu Pingchuan. Lu Pingchuan once again asked the blind man sitting by the wall for advice, "Sir, please do us a favor and give us some advice."
The old blind man was already lying down at this time. Hearing Lu Pingchuan's words, he stood up with his arms and sat leaning against the wall, "Sworship is a major event in life. According to regulations, you need to pay tribute to three animals, prepare grains, tell the eight characters, describe your life, write prayers, make oaths, and sacrifice. world."
After the old blind man finished speaking, everyone looked at each other.
"Sir, can it be simpler?" Lu Pingchuan frowned and asked.
"Is sworn friendship child's play?" The old blind man shook his head.
Lu Pingchuan said, "Sir, we are brothers and we are just going through the motions today."
The old blind man did not answer immediately. He was silent for a moment and said, "At this time, the left is the respected one. From the left to the right according to the eldest and the youngest, kneel in front of the earth god statue."
After the old blind man finished speaking, everyone started to kneel down. Chu Huairou was on the far left, Lu Pingchuan was on the second from the left, Fatty was on the third from the left, the little boy named Mo Li was on the far right, and Nan Feng was on the second right who stole the wine. , the third from the right is the mute girl.
"Chang Le, come quickly." Lu Pingchuan waved to Chang Le, who was sitting under the wooden pillars of the hall.
Changle glanced at Lu Pingchuan and shook his head.
Seeing this, Lu Pingchuan frowned and raised his voice, "Come here and kneel down."
Seeing Lu Pingchuan getting angry, Changle buried his head deeply, "I don't want to implicate you."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Lu Pingchuan glared at him.
"Chang Le, come on," Chu Huairou waved to Chang Le, "We are a family, there is no need to get involved."
Changle looked at Chu Huairou, then at the angry Lu Pingchuan and his companions who had been looking at him, stood up straight, walked over and knelt between the fat man and the mute girl.
"Tell me about the life of Ba Zi." The blind man's voice came from the south wall.
"Mr. Chu, whose name is Huairou. She was fourteen years old when Bingwu was already Yiweichou. She was from Lingxi Village, Qinan County." Chu Huairou spoke first. Since she had washed her face before, her appearance was more realistic. Chu Huairou had an oval face and facial features. Gentle and very kind-faced.
"The surname is Lu, the given name is Gang, and the courtesy name is Pingchuan. He was fourteen years old when Bingwu Bingzi guarded Yinzi. He was a native of Chang'an and the son of Lu Zhengqian, the former judge of Dali Temple." Lu Pingchuan said loudly. Lu Pingchuan's facial features were extremely strong, and his eyes were There is a spirit, and there is a heroic spirit hidden between the brows.
"Brother, what should I say?" The fat man tilted his head and looked to the left.
Lu Pingchuan turned back to look at the blind fortune teller, "Sir, we are all orphans. Some of us have never even met our biological parents. Not to mention our birthdays, we don't even have our names. What should we do?"
"Whatever." The blind fortune teller said casually. In his opinion, the sworn sworn relationship of these little beggars was nothing more than a farce.
"Fat man, thirteen years old, seems to be from Linxian area, probably born in April." Fatty said. A person's fatness or thinness largely depends on his innate bloodline. A fat man has been fat since childhood, but his frame is not small, and although he is fat, he is not short. In addition, his eyes are big, but they lack agility.
"Gongsun Changle, thirteen years old, was born at noon on June 18th." Changle said. Although he is still young, his facial features have been shaped and are harder than Lu Pingchuan's, with higher cheekbones and convex brow bones.
The girl with big eyes was mute and couldn't speak. She was feeling worried. Nanfeng on the side made a gesture to her, meaning to help her. The girl nodded repeatedly.
Nan Feng cleared his throat, pointed his finger and said loudly, "She doesn't have a name either. We all call her Big Eyes. She is also thirteen years old."
Just because she couldn't hear the sound didn't mean she couldn't understand the mouth movements. The mute looked at Nanfeng gratefully. When Nanfeng turned to smile at her, she hurriedly looked away.
"Twelve years ago, I was thrown outside the gate of this temple. It was the temple guard who saved me. The south wind blew on the day he picked me up, so I got this name." Nan Feng said .
"Fortunately there was no northwest wind that day." The fat man curled his lips.
Lu Pingchuan glared at the fat man, then said, "Mo Li, it's your turn."
"My name is Mo Li. I was picked up by my eldest brother. I used to have a piece of jade with the word "Mo Li" on it, but that piece of jade is gone now. A few years ago, the fat man fell ill and my eldest brother pawned that piece of jade. He said he would redeem it and return it to me in the future, and by the way, I am eight years old." Mo Li was still young and spoke in an unorganized manner.
After everyone finished speaking, the blind fortune teller spoke again, "Make an oath."
"Remember me," Lu Pingchuan looked around at the crowd, waited for everyone to nod, and swore loudly, "God above, the seven of us have become brothers and sisters today. We will share blessings and share hardships in the future."
"Burn the paper and incense." The blind man gave instructions again.
Everyone stood up and burned incense on paper.
"Shame on the blood," the blind man said again.
No one understood what it meant, but Lu Pingchuan and Chu Huairou did. Chu Huairou looked at the fat man and said, "Go out and bring the rooster in."
There wasn't much wine, so I could only pour one bowl. After pouring the wine, Lu Pingchuan urged the fat man, "What are you waiting for, bring it over."
"Brother." The fat man outside the door had a strange expression.
"Suffocated to death?" Lu Pingchuan asked.
"No, he's still alive," said the fat man.
"Then what are you waiting for? Get it quickly." Lu Pingchuan urged again.
"This, this, it's all in the dark, I can't see clearly..." The fat man cowardly refused to enter.
"He must have caught a duck." Nanfeng said with a smile.
"It's a chicken, that's..."
When the fat man was extremely embarrassed, the blind fortune teller came to his rescue and said, "If there are women among you, you can use a hen."
When the fat man heard this, he grabbed the hen and walked in.
Lu Pingchuan pulled out a dagger from his waist, cut the hen's neck, dropped a few drops of blood into the bowl, squatted down and let Mo Li take a sip, and then Nanfeng, who waited for everyone to finish drinking, poured out the rest of the wine After drinking all the wine, he smashed the wine bowl into pieces with all his strength, "If people are separated from each other and their brothers and sisters fight against each other, there is a bowl like this..."