Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Xie Lingya continued to eat when he suddenly heard a noise. It turned out that Father Xie’s chopsticks had fallen to the ground.
“Ouch.” Father Xie said, and he bent down to pick it up, “Why did I drop it…”
Because of Xie Lingya, Song Jing was a little concerned about this aspect now and said nervously: “My mother seemed to have said before that it’s okay to drop chopsticks during the New Year. Great, but I forgot what it was, Lingya?”
Father Xie and Xie Lingya looked at each other. Father Xie knew Xie Lingya believed in all this because of Wang Yuji’s influence, but he felt that Song Jing was a little surprising since she became pregnant was too nervous, so he didn’t speak.
Xie Lingya saw Father Xie’s eyes and said, “It’s nothing. I was shocked when it landed. I’m afraid of this disturbing our ancestors who went home to celebrate the New Year. It’s okay. I’ll burn incense for them later.”
Song Jing felt relieved.
Xie Lingya ate quickly, took out a stack of paper from the room, and began to fold ingots. He was fast and he quickly folded a pile, then he took some food and went to the door.
“We Chinese people are very particular. If you don’t care about others or ghosts during the Chinese New Year, I won’t beat you up.” Xie Lingya said in a good voice while burning ingots, “Are you polite enough? I have a pregnant woman at home. Don’t come in casually in the future, it’s not good if you bump into them.”
A group of lonely ghosts squatted beside each other to eat and stuffed ingots into their arms.
If the chopsticks fell off the table, it could be that you were really careless, or it could be that a lonely ghost who had no descendants to sacrifice during the Chinese New Year was looking for food and dropped the chopsticks to make them easier to use.
Xie Lingya didn’t stack too many ingots, and they were all gone soon. These lonely ghosts concentrated on eating, and most of them ate people’s food. After taking the ingots, they would walk around his house in a sensible way. There were also one or two who were looking at it while eating, probably wondering if this place was easy to bully and if they could get more.
Xie Lingya sneered twice, went to a nearby peach tree and broke off a thicker branch, cut off the leaves and placed it across the door.
The Lonely Soul Wild Ghosts could tell at a glance that this was a very particular family.
Few people did this now, but in the past, on New Year’s Eve, people would put a wooden stick at the door, called a door-blocking stick. Of course, after inviting the ancestors back to offer sacrifices, they would stop those lonely ghosts. Therefore, when sending ancestors off, you must remember to remove the door stick, otherwise the ancestors would not be able to get out.
Song Jing was in a daze, thinking that Xie Lingya was burning ingots for his ancestors. When he came back, she asked, “Would you like to fold some more, I’ll help you fold them.”
“It’s okay, that’s enough.” Xie Lingya wiped his hands, “Remember to take away that peach wood stick on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. It’s not too early. I’ll go back to Baoyang Temple.”
When Father Xie heard that he used the word “Hui”, he felt a little disappointed and couldn’t say it out loud, so he could only sigh. He took a breath and said, “It’s so late, be careful.”
“I know.” Xie Lingya thought about it and handed two more Spirit Ancestor amulets to Father Xie and Song Jing.
Father Xie looked at it and asked him, “Did you draw it?”
Xie Lingya nodded and saw Song Jing put it away properly.
Father Xie smiled helplessly. In the end, his son still became a half-immortal. However, he still wore this talisman.
….
Xie Lingya spent several times more money than usual before returning to the city. It was almost ten o’clock, the blessing ceremony had not started yet, and there were only a few believers present.
Xie Lingya, Zhang Daoting and others took ingots, paper money, and food and went to the back door to give food. Ding Aima, Qin Limin and the toilet ghost had called their friends to celebrate the New Year with the sun in their arms.
Lonely souls and wandering ghosts were the most pitiable. They had no sacrifices. Fortunately, there were places like Baoyang Temple, or some well-intentioned people who gave alms and money to ghosts. But these were very few.
Ding Aima and the others responded to the call and brought the ghosts to eat and receive money. The three of them felt quite honored because they were under the supervision of Baoyang Temple and could be the first to eat and then help manage the ghosts at the scene so that they didn’t fight. This status made them feel very high.
At this time, fireworks were lit up somewhere, and the sounds of children’s joyful play could be heard in the ears. While the ghosts were nibbling on steamed buns, they also looked up to see the bright fireworks all over the sky, murmuring to themselves: “It’s Chinese New Year…”
They were lonely ghosts with no relatives to remember them. They could only eat a hard-earned meal in this small corner with the charity of the Taoist priests and grab a few ghost notes as red envelopes.
The children running past holding fireworks had happy smiles on their faces. The ghosts who were noisily grabbing the money just now felt increasingly deserted. There was a yin and yang separation between them and the ghosts and gods who enjoy sacrifices, and it was even more apparent at this time. Alas…
Xie Lingya, who was leaning by the door, suddenly shouted: “The community director clearly said that fireworks are not allowed here, in case it causes fire what will you do them? Why don’t adults take care of their children! Those who are celebrating the New Year are so ignorant!”
The ghosts: “…”
The atmosphere was suddenly disturbed by Xie Lingya. Ding Aima, who had always thought it was good to be a ghost, was also very sad due to the infection. When they were awakened by Xie Lingya, the mood immediately faded away. They also took advantage of knowing Xie Lingya for a long time and said, “Teacher Xie, can you give me some wine?”
“For the sake of the Chinese New Year,” Xie Lingya muttered, “Daoting, go pour some wine.”
Zhang Daoting couldn’t see the ghost and only heard Xie Lingya talking. He couldn’t help but look around the open space, then went to get some wine. The cup was then placed on the ground.
The ghosts inhaled the smell of alcohol and felt much better as soon as they relieved their greed.
There was also a female ghost who came up to him and said pitifully: “Teacher Xie, brother Xie, can you give me some lucky money?”
All the ghosts cursed in their hearts, “Damn, that’s shameless and seductive.”
Xie Lingya glanced sideways at the female ghost and said, “You must have died early. The New Year’s Eve is full of evil spirits. The meaning of New Year’s Eve is to suppress evil spirits and drive away ghosts. Do you mean you want me to seal you a red envelope and crush you to death?”
Female ghost: “…”
The ghosts burst into laughter and winked at the female ghost for being uneducated.
The female ghost walked away angrily.
Xie Lingya kept offering food until eleven o’clock, and then he took care of it. These lonely ghosts were also full of wine and food and left with a lot of gratitude.
When Zhang Daoting put away the cup, when he smelled it, there was no smell of alcohol at all, just like boiled water.
After entertaining the dead souls, you had to entertain the living people.
The believers attending the Dharma conference had almost all arrived, and Tang Qi stood out among the crowd. He and several of his friends all held incense sticks that were one meter high and as thick as a child’s fist.
The people next to him looked at his incense, then looked at their own incense, there was a little black line, and they all whispered to each other.
Tang Qi was quite proud and felt that he had gained the limelight. He specially brought two bodyguards here just to ensure that he would be able to burn the incense later. Who made Teacher Xie unwilling to open the temple door to him alone in the middle of the night and burn incense like the temple owner in the story?
Xie Lingya came over to greet Tang Qi, “Your incense… is really big.”
Tang Qi held the incense in his arms. He had to raise his head to see it. It was so thick that it could hit someone.
Tang Qi said proudly: “It’s specially made!”
“As long as you are happy.” Xie Lingya murmured.
At this time, the Dharma assembly had already begun. Three Taoist priests made offerings to the sky and set up an altar to pray for the believers. The Dharma instruments sounded a full 108 times, which meant to remove 108 kinds of troubles.
On this occasion, believers lit incense and expressed their gratitude to the saints of the three realms for their blessings.
Tang Qi’s fat body, protected by bodyguards, successfully stood in the front row. He was the first to insert his meter-long incense stick into the large incense burner, and then made a wish with great satisfaction.
After finishing, Tang Qi turned around and left the palace proudly, “Oh, I feel much better.”
Xie Lingya: “…Congratulations.”
He thought about it, in fact, many people burnt incense for peace of mind, especially people like Tang Qi who went to any mountain to worship any god. So it was good as long as he was satisfied with it.
Others either didn’t ask for the first incense, since all they burnt was the first incense if they burnt it at this hour, or they couldn’t win over Tang Qi even if they asked for it, so they just burnt it themselves.
“By the way, it’s already past midnight. I almost forgot. Thank you, Teacher, and Happy New Year.” Tang Qi said.
“Happy New Year, Mr. Tang, may you make a lot of money in the coming year.” Xie Lingya also returned the blessing.
He turned his head and saw outside the gate, Ding Aima, Qin Limin, Toilet Ghost and a group of wild ghosts were standing there, with their hands clasped in fists, shaped like yin and yang, they closed their eyes and bowed, and touched the heaven and earth with a handful of incense.
Xie Lingya smiled at them and said, “Happy New Year to you too.”
The Lonely Ghost also moved his lips slightly, wishing from a distance.
When Tang Qi heard Xie Lingya’s words, he asked doubtfully: “What?”
“I said Happy New Year to everyone.”
The sound of New Year blessings resounded throughout the city. In the small sun-embracing temple, amid the curls of fragrant smoke, Taoist priests and believers also blessed each other. Several Taoist priests and Xie Lingya took out the red paper they had prepared long ago and wrote the words “blessing” on it and gave it to the believers who came to attend the Dharma conference.
Some people celebrating New Year’s Eve and having fun in squares or pedestrian streets walked here and saw the peaceful atmosphere inside. They couldn’t help but walk in, burn incense sticks, clasp their fists to greet the New Year, and participate in this traditional religious New Year’s Eve.
Everything was captured through the lens of those photographers who came here specially.
Although there were negative things that could not be seen in the mirror, and there were partners who were hundreds of miles away and could not be together, it was still a rare happy reunion.
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