Chapter 9: The Old Bamboo Mountain Dao

  The next morning, Li Tianzhen woke up and found herself lying in the main room. She slowly recalled what had happened last night.

  Although Liu Da-kui is a fool, this son is forever his mother's heart's meat. Therefore, from an early age, Li Tian-zhen has always been very protective of Liu Da-kui's son, and Liu Da-kui is also very dependent on Li Tian-zhen.

  In front of Li Tianzhen, Liu Daqi has always been very obedient, so if he didn't have any problems, it's absolutely impossible for him to lay a hand on Li Tianzhen.

  The more Li Tianzhen thought about it, the stranger she felt, so she went back to her mother's house and told her mother, Mie Menpo, about it. Mie Menpo said that she was too old for this matter and couldn't handle it, so she asked Li Tianzhen to invite Zhu Shan Lao Dao.

  Zhushan Laodao's reputation is not inferior to that of Mie Men Po, but compared to Mie Men Po, in this area, Zhushan Laodao's reputation is slightly better.

  Zhu Shan Lao Dao also dealt with so-called ghosts and gods, but he only collected people's money, drove out evil spirits and avoided disasters for them. He had never done anything like annihilating a whole family.

  In this matter, Li Tianzhen always believed in her mother's words. So, her mother told Li Tianzhen to go find Zhu Shan Lao Dao, and Li Tianzhen immediately went.

  Zhu Shan Lao Dao, as long as you pay him enough money, he's easy to invite. Liu Renqing's family, in this area of ten miles and eight villages, although not the richest, is considered one of the few wealthy families. Therefore, inviting Zhu Shan Lao Dao will not be a burden for the Liu family.

  After being invited to the Liu's house, Zhangshan Laodao first walked around the earthen wall of the Liu's house. When he reached the woodshed, Zhangshan Laodao stopped in his tracks.

  After stopping, the old Taoist of Bamboo Mountain waved his hand with the somewhat yellowed duster, then had Li Tianzhen prepare some incense sticks, paper money, white wine and bowls.

  These things are all essential for doing Buddhist rituals, so before Li Tianzhen went to ask Zhu Shan Lao Dao, she was already prepared. When she heard that Zhu Shan Lao Dao needed them now, Li Tianzhen quickly walked into the inner room and brought out all these things for Zhu Shan Lao Dao.

  After getting these things, Zhangshan Lao Dao asked Li Tianzhen to get a large sweet potato and flatten the bottom, saying it was for inserting incense sticks.

  When Li Tianzhen brought the sweet potatoes, Zhu Shan Lao Dao had already lit a pair of candles.

  Zhu Shan Lao Dao placed the flattened big sweet potato at the entrance of the thatched cottage, then reverently inserted the pair of burning candles into it.

  After inserting the candles, Master Zhushan recited a bunch of scriptures that were hard to understand. After finishing, Master Zhushan lit three more incense sticks.

  After the incense was lit, Zhangshan Lao Dao asked Li Tianzhen to put the bowl in front of him and poured more than half a bowl of white wine into it. After pouring the wine, Zhangshan Lao Dao took out several sheets of paper money.

  Zhu Shan Lao Dao held the paper money in his hand, ignited it on the candle, and then threw the paper money into a bowl filled with wine. As soon as the paper money was thrown into the bowl, the wine in the bowl caught fire.

  Those faint blue flames, in the gentle breeze, jumped up and down, now visible, now invisible.

  After igniting the white wine in the bowl, Zhangshan Old Dao sat down cross-legged and began to recite that incomprehensible scripture again. This time, Zhangshan Old Dao recited for more than an hour. The white wine in the bowl was almost burned out, but Zhangshan Old Dao's scripture had not been finished yet.

  The old man on Bamboo Mountain finished reciting his scriptures, and it was almost noon by then, for the sun had already climbed to its peak.

  Zhu Shan Lao Dao looked up at the sun on his head, then used the yellowed feather duster to dip into the wine bowl, dipped some wine, and then gently swung the feather duster, sprinkling the wine on it onto the ground.

  After splashing the wine, Zhushan Daoren sat down cross-legged again and began to recite scriptures facing those disordered and irregular wine drops on the ground.

  Zhu Shan Daoren chanted for about two or three minutes, and the scattered wine droplets on the ground slowly dried up, leaving only seven wine stains. Those seven undried wines, like the Big Dipper, formed a ladle pattern. The handle of the ladle was facing southeast.

  Li Tianzhen was after all the daughter of the exterminated family's matriarch, so she could still understand some of this stuff that the Taoist had set up.

  The direction the spoon handle is pointing to, southeast, is the direction of the town. And Zhang Xiaolan's body is now in the town. Therefore, Li Tianzhen knew that this matter was probably caused by Zhang Xiaolan.

  As soon as she thought it was Zhang Xiaolan's doing, Li Tianzhen's anger couldn't be contained. Just as Li Tianzhen's anger was burning, the old Taoist Bamboo Mountain spoke up.

  "The resentment is too heavy, it's hard to handle." Zhushan Lao Dao muttered to himself as he was about to leave.

  Zhu Shan Lao Dao is a greedy fellow, Li Tian Zhen knew that he was doing this on purpose to get more money from him.

  Zhu Shan Old Dao dared to play like this because he was very clear that in these ten miles, except for him, Zhu Shan Old Dao, no one could handle this matter.

  The fierce relationship between them, Li Tianzhen was naturally clearer than anyone else. Before asking Zhangshan Old Dao to come, Li Tianzhen had already made preparations for the slaughter. In fact, in this situation, Li Tianzhen also had no other choice, she could only follow Zhangshan Old Dao's meaning.

  "Also, please help me out, Master Zhushan." Li Tianzhen said, and then took out a handful of money from his pocket and stuffed it into Master Zhushan's hand.

  Li Tianzhen stuffed this sum of money, a full 100 yuan. That was in 1987, when 100 yuan was worth a lot and could buy many things, unlike the 100 yuan now, which isn't even enough to eat a slightly better meal at a restaurant.

  Actually, Li Tianzhen had already given him 100 yuan when he asked Zhu Shan Lao Dao to come out of the mountain, and now with this additional 100 yuan, it's almost 200 yuan. It can be seen that Li Tianzhen has really spent a lot of money this time.

  Although Li Tianzhen had accepted the fact of sacrificing wealth to avoid disaster, her face still showed some displeasure. After all, it was 2,200 yuan! An ordinary family might not even be able to save that much in a year!

  Zhushan Old Dao has been mixed in the rivers and lakes for so many years, Li Tianzhen's dissatisfaction will not escape his eyes. However, Zhushan Old Dao is absolutely not a person who would do something that can't be settled with money. Therefore, he won't push away the money handed over by Li Tianzhen.

  In this life, although the old Taoist of Zhushan is very greedy for wealth, no one has ever dared to show him a bad face. Li Tianzhen showed him a bad face today, and no matter what, he will take revenge on Li Tianzhen in some small way.

  Of course, Zhangshan Lao Dao would not violate the Jianghu code of honor by taking someone's money and not fulfilling his obligations. He also wouldn't harm Li Tianzhen, after all, it was Li Tianzhen who paid him to come. However, playing a trick on Li Tianzhen wasn't against the Jianghu code of honor.

  After receiving the money, Zhu Shan Lao Dao said with some difficulty: "The resentment is too heavy, if you can't dispel the resentment, I'm also helpless."

  "How can I get rid of the resentment?" Li Tianzhen knew that the old Taoist Bamboo Mountain had a way, he was intentionally scaring her, so she asked straightforwardly.

  "I need your help." Bamboo Mountain Old Dao said with a serious face, but beneath this serious facade, he was secretly laughing.

  Zhu Shan Lao Dao has already said so, does Li Tian Zhen have a choice? "Please speak, Master Zhu Shan. As long as I can do it, I will not delay." Li Tian Zhen replied somewhat helplessly, because she had already felt that Zhu Shan Lao Dao seemed to be making things difficult for her.

  "This matter is not difficult, mainly to see if you can put down your shelf." Zhushan Lao Dao raised his dustpan and continued: "The resentment of Zhang Xiaolan was born because of you. Now her body is in the town in the southeast. You kowtow three times towards the southeast, which is equivalent to apologizing to her. In this way, her resentment will weaken, and I can also subdue her."

  Li Tianzhen didn't even bring Zhang Xiaolan to whip the corpse, and instead apologized to that stinky bitch who ruined the Liu family with a gift and kowtowed three times. This kind of thing, Li Tianzhen's heart is too broad-minded, it's absolutely unacceptable.

  Actually, the words spoken by Zhang Shan Lao Dao just now were nonsense. He intentionally said that to tease Li Tian Zhen. The more Li Tian Zhen refused to give in, the more interesting Zhang Shan found it.

  Now, Zhangshan Lao has made up his mind. As long as Li Tianzhen doesn't kowtow three times to Zhang Xiaolan and apologize, he won't perform the ritual for Li Tianzhen.

  Zhu Shan Lao Dao was a stubborn old man, once he made up his mind, no one could change it. Li Tian Zhen was also a woman with a strong personality, making her apologize and kowtow to her enemy was more difficult than ascending to heaven.