Chapter 114 Xiyi Xiansheng Zhenjun
Chapter 114 Xiyi Xiansheng Zhenjun
After hanging up the phone, Ning Zhe continued to walk forward, and the wisp of smoke floating up to the blue sky was getting closer and closer.
The overall layout of Yanglao Village is a large simplified Chinese character "羊" spread out on the ground. The stone talisman at the south entrance of the village is at the bottom vertical line, and the land temple is in the middle of the two forked roads above the character 羊.
Behind the land temple is an old ginkgo tree that requires more than a dozen people to hug it. Before you get close, you can smell the smell of burning charcoal.
Ning Zhe turned into a holly bird and flew over the ginkgo tree. The rolling heat wave almost knocked him over. The tree was on fire.
The trunk of the ginkgo tree is hollow, with a few wisps of green smoke coming out from it. The thick trunk is like a tall chimney, and long tongues of fire occasionally stick out from the tree hole, licking the tender branches and green leaves on the treetop - the tree is still alive. In fact, it is still alive and well.
Seen from above, only the center of the entire tree canopy, near the fire hole, was smoked yellow in a small circle. Above the dry and scorched brown trunk was a lush green canopy. The fan-like ginkgo leaves swayed in the heat wave, and the lush green new leaves and tender branches looked full of vitality.
Under the burning ginkgo tree was a small temple, slightly larger than the land temple on the small road outside the village. Ning Zhe turned back into a human and walked closer. He saw two women, one old and one young, kneeling in front of the temple, respectfully burning incense to the land temple.
The old woman took 3 incense sticks and the young girl took 2, a total of 5 incense sticks were inserted into the incense ashes in front of the land temple. These should be Ji Taiyu's grandmother and sister.
"Strange..." Looking at the backs of the old man and the young man kneeling, Ning Zhe frowned slightly.
The old woman's appearance matched the image of the grandmother in Ji Taiyu's memory, except that she looked older than the grandmother he had seen when he was a child. He could still recognize her in general, but the girl next to the grandmother was...
"Ji Taixuan...at least that's the Ji Taixuan his grandfather knew. He has no memory of any knowledge or understanding of his sister." Ning Zhe's nerves were slightly tense, and he was a little hesitant whether to continue moving forward.
It’s fine if he forgets what she looks like, but is there a normal person who doesn’t even know the name of his own sister?
It was just a moment of hesitation. The two people kneeling in front of the land temple seemed to notice someone coming behind them. Grandma turned around and saw Ning Zhe standing not far behind her. A smile suddenly bloomed on her wrinkled old face: "Oh, Ah Mian, when did you come back? You didn't even tell our family. Your mother said on the phone..."
Grandma stood up happily and came to Ning Zhe. She pulled at the corner of his clothes and sleeves, looked up and down, and muttered that she hadn't seen her grandson for a few years and that he had grown taller and older, but his complexion didn't look very well and he was thin.
The girl who had been kneeling beside her grandmother turned her head timidly. Between her soft hair was a face covered with red spots and acne, and it was eroded beyond recognition: blackheads, chickenpox, psoriasis, fungal infections...all kinds of imaginable skin disease symptoms could be seen on this girl's face.
She called out softly in a hoarse voice: "Brother, you are back..."
Her voice was weak and it seemed that her throat was also sick.
This face... Ning Zhe glanced at the girl's hands covered by her long sleeves and smiled slightly: "I haven't seen you for a long time, do you miss me?"
Ji Taiyu's sister nodded vigorously: "I think about it every day."
As Taiyi successfully stole the identity of "brother known by sister", Ning Zhe learned her name:
【Yin Lishang】
Isn't the surname Ji but Yin... Ning Zhe's eyes narrowed slightly. It seems that what Lan Shiwen said before was right. In order to avoid being hunted down by the Sanren Upgraders, their family was forced to change their surnames, literally hiding their identities. But for some reason, Ji Taiyu and his father Ji Wuxie both changed their surnames, but his sister Yin Lishang did not. "Grandma, why is this tree on fire?" Ning Zhe asked instead.
In Ji Taiyu's childhood memory, this old ginkgo tree has always been in good condition.
"He was struck by lightning." Grandma pulled Ningzhe's hand and said:
"When grandma was younger than you, this tree had already grown in the village. Yun City sent people to persuade your grandpa again and again, asking him to sign a consent document to transplant the tree to a park in the city. But I have to say that the old man is stubborn and won't accept the free money. He won't agree to anyone digging up the tree no matter what.
Perhaps this ginkgo tree had been absorbing the earth's energy for too long in the village, and the god of the land couldn't stand it any longer. On the Dragon Boat Festival two years ago, a bolt of lightning struck the tree in broad daylight, hitting the center of the tree. Everyone rushed to see, and found that the center of the tree was already on fire.
While stroking the lines on Ningzhe's palm, grandma frequently turned her head to look at the flaming ginkgo tree, and then said, "But this tree is quite magical. Even thunder from the sky didn't kill it. The fire in the tree has been burning for three years, but the ginkgo tree is still alive and well. It even dropped its fruits last year."
"This fire has been burning for three years?" Ning Zhe couldn't believe it: "No one went to put out the fire?"
"Child, the God of Land is listening, don't dare to speak carelessly." Grandma quickly covered Ning Zhe's mouth and whispered, "This is the thunder and fire from heaven prayed for by the God of Land, who dares to extinguish it..."
I almost forgot that Ji Taixuan's grandmother is a Buddhist...
Ning Zhe let out a soft sigh and glanced timidly at his sister Yin Lishang, then at the ginkgo tree in front of him. A raging fire was burning in the hollow trunk, and green smoke was rising up like a huge chimney. The tree had lived for three years in this condition.
Thinking of the elderly people he had seen in the village who were too old to look like human beings but were still alive, Ning Zhe naturally came up with this guess:
"There seems to be no 'death' in Yanglao Village?"
If this is the case, Ji Taixun, who hurriedly fled into the village last night, may not be dead at all. If he is not dead, where would Ji Taixun be now?
"Grandma, I want to ask you something." Ning Zhe pulled his hand out of his grandmother's old hand and asked, "I saw a land temple on the way into the village. The land god in the temple looked a little miserable."
"Have you seen the land god?" Grandma opened her eyes wide, this matter seemed very important.
"Yeah." Ning Zhe nodded and said, "I saw that the land master's eyes were blinded by nails, his ears were sealed with mud, his nose was cut off by a knife, and his mouth was sealed with needles and thread. The wounds on his body were still bleeding like a human."
It was as if someone had disguised a human corpse, put it in the official uniform of the land god and placed it in the temple.
"Oh my God... Lord Xiyi Xiansheng!" Grandma wailed and immediately passed out of fright.
(End of this chapter)