After breakfast, Lu Yiwei left Chu Chu with his parents and drove to Beihe town.
Today, he planned to see "Xu Banxian". On the way, Lu Yiwei didn't forget to buy two bottles of good wine and two cartons of cigarettes for Xu Banxian.
Xu Banxian's house was in a cave on the hillside. When Lu Yiwei was about to reach his house, he heard a violent cough. Lu Yiwei couldn't help but feel nervous and quickened his pace.
Xu Banxian's body was getting worse and worse. Compared to last year, he was much worse. Lu Yiwei asked him to go to the hospital many times, but the stubborn old man refused to go no matter how hard he tried to persuade him. He always said that he knew his own body best, which made Lu Yiwei feel helpless.
About Xu Banxian's legendary life, we have already introduced it in detail in the beginning. His ancestor was a landlord. He was the third child in his family, so outsiders called him "Third Young Master Xu." When his family was prosperous, he was a typical "rich second generation." He lived a carefree and happy life. However, during the Cultural Revolution, his house was confiscated. As a landlord's son, Xu Banxian was beaten by the poor and middle class peasants all day, causing him to be delirious and talk nonsense. Others thought he was stupid, so he was able to keep his life. As for whether he was really stupid or not, only he knew in his heart.
However, while Third Young Master Xu was ill, he managed to master an extraordinary skill – divination. This profession wasn't very popular nowadays, but it was a very promising profession in the relatively ignorant countryside. At first, people didn't believe that this "landlord's son" had this skill. But one year, during a drought, Xu Banxian casually said, "It will rain on the third day of the summer." People thought he was talking nonsense, but unexpectedly, it really rained on the third day of the summer. Another time, a woman was still not pregnant, and Xu Banxian said that she would give birth to a boy next year. This time, he was right again. People were amazed. In a short period of time, Third Young Master Xu became known as "Half Immortal Xu", and his name was spread around like a god. All the commoners in the surrounding villages came to pray for children, illness, and marriage. Even some superstitious officials came to pray for promotion and wealth, and worshiped him as a "living Buddha".
In addition, Xu Banxian also had some medical skills, especially in treating dislocations and stomach diseases. He was definitely an expert. Many commoners did not go to the hospital when they got sick, but instead went to Half Immortal Xu for help. There were even some people with infertility who wanted to ask Half Immortal Xu for a prescription. For someone who had never been married or had children, it was indeed a little difficult.
Lu Yiwei didn't believe that Xu Banxian was so amazing, but the two of them unexpectedly became friends. Lu Yiwei had unintentionally asked about Xu Banxian's "cultivation", but Xu Banxian only smiled and kept his mouth shut. However, after drinking a little too much, he managed to reveal some mysteries.
Divination wasn't something that could be done on a whim. Just like the ancient diviners, they had to look at the celestial phenomena, personality, geography, and so on, and then combine it with the abstruse philosophy in the Book of Changes to speculate. However, most of the time, he still relied on guessing. Let's talk about rain. That's the Heavens' business. Who can control the Heavens? Combined with modern science, rain would only come when hot and cold air met. If someone who knew how to observe life could deduce whether rain would come from the changes in the clouds, Xu Banxian might be someone who knew how to live.
Children could be divined too? Don't think about it, people just wanted to be comforted. Xu Banxian said that she would give birth to a boy next year. When a woman was happy, she would go home and make love to her man. If she wasn't really sick, the probability of her getting pregnant was quite high. As for boys and girls, this was the study of probability. There was at least a 50% chance. If one guessed correctly, they would become gods.
As for palmistry, word telling, and other Jianghu Daoist arts, there was a complete and detailed system. These were all methods that the ancient people developed to fool the commoners when they were bored. It was also the simplest and most effective way for the ruling class to govern the country. Whether it was Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, Zhao Kuangyin, or Zhu Yuanzhang, they all used superstitious methods during the uprising to gain the support of the masses and the soldiers. After ascending to the throne, when writing history, they all compared themselves to gods. Especially when they were born, they either lit up the land of Huaxia with a flash of lightning, or set fire to the north and south of the Yangtze River. They were like heavenly soldiers who came down to save the world.
Superstition was superstition after all. It was not elegant, and was even called a crooked path. After careful analysis, for a nation that lacked faith, they were only seeking a spiritual sustenance. What is faith? Perhaps you and I are not clear about this ambiguous concept. However, if we compare the "gods" of ancient and modern times, we might be able to find the answer.
Jesus founded Christianity, and its flag was planted all over the world. Muhammad founded Islam, and its believers numbered in the hundreds of millions. Sakyamuni founded Buddhism, and enlightened the world. As for our Three Pure Ones, Taishang Laojun founded Taoism, but he became the "ancestor" of superstition. He worshiped all kinds of illusory and non-existent Bodhisattvas. The difference between "man" and "god" was the difference between faith and ignorance.
Totems were the carriers of the soul. American soldiers worshiped eagles, the Russians worshiped bears, the Japanese worshiped cherry blossoms, the Koreans worshiped hibiscus, and we worshiped dragons. The former, whether it was animals or flowers, all existed in the natural world. Our dragon was a divine creature, and there were only portraits and legends. It had not been discovered in the natural world. The essence of Marxist philosophy was that matter determined consciousness. In the simple philosophy of the Huaxia nation, which came first, matter or consciousness? It was like the relationship between a chicken and an egg. It was always a mysterious and profound philosophical proposition.
God? Was it faith?
That was a digression. Let's talk about Xu Banxian's "medical skills". Before Xu Banxian discovered that he had the potential to become a god, he made a living by herding sheep. If the sheep were sick, there were no veterinarians or experts like now. He could only rely on himself to treat it. Sheep often ran freely and happily, and were the easiest to dislocate. Xu Banxian tried to treat it, and after a long time, he became familiar with it. The structure of humans and animals were the same. When it was transplanted to a human, it was the same. Naturally, he mastered a medical skill.
As for treating stomach problems, it was not a skill that anyone could master. In the past, when Li Shizhen wrote the Compendium of Medical Herbs, he tried all kinds of herbs and almost died several times. But in the end, he miraculously came back to life and left behind a treasure for the later generations. Ironically, Chinese medicine, tea ceremony, incense ceremony, and even Chinese culture were carried forward in Japan. Xu Banxian also learned from Li Shizhen and tried all kinds of herbs. Occasionally, he found a few herbs and mixed them in his mouth, which cured his stomach problems. That was how he got his current secret manual. There were experts among the people, and this was the type of person they were talking about. Of course, Chinese medicine emphasized on the right medicine. It was not omnipotent, and the effects would naturally vary from person to person. Perhaps this was an important reason why Chinese medicine was not recognized by the world.
Before Lu Yiwei entered the door, the big yellow dog at the door was already barking hysterically, which made him very puzzled. In the past, the big yellow dog never barked, so why was it so abnormal this time?
When Xu Banxian heard the dog barking, he came out and gave the dog a hard kick. The big yellow dog obediently lay there.
Lu Yiwei asked curiously, "Uncle Xu, what's wrong with it?"
Xu Banxian pointed at the dog's kennel and said, "It just gave birth to a litter of puppies yesterday. I guess it's afraid that you will take its children away."
"Haha!" Lu Yiwei walked over and stroked the big yellow dog, "Dogs are really understanding."
"Are you free today?" Xu Banxian asked, then he coughed again.
Lu Yiwei said worriedly, "Uncle Xu, you should really go to the hospital. It's not good if you continue to be like this."
Xu Banxian panted and waved his hand, "I've never been to the hospital in my life. You don't need to persuade me, I won't go."
Lu Yiwei shook his head helplessly and passed the cigarette and wine in his hand to Xu Banxian, "You can drink the wine, but you should smoke less. I guess your coughing is related to smoking."
"I've been smoking my whole life, how can I smoke less!" Xu Banxian took the cigarette and wine excitedly and said, "I've lived for more than half of my life, and only you care about me."
Although Lu Yiwei asked Xu Banxian to smoke less, he still unconsciously took out a cigarette from his pocket and continued, "When you go to work in the county, I won't have many chances to see you. You have to take care of yourself. Hai Dong has built a new house in Dongwa Village, why don't you go there and live? He doesn't go there often anyway. "
Xu Banxian tore off the cigarette holder and squeezed out the excess tobacco. Then, he added a new cigarette and took a puff. "I'm used to being alone. It's pretty good here. There's no one to disturb me, and it's so quiet! What about you? How about coming in? "
Lu Yiwei didn't want to talk about his own matters, so he forced a smile and said, "It's good!"
"What's good about it?" Xu Banxian stared at Lu Yiwei and said, "Look at your complexion. It's pale, and there's a tinge of worry between your brows. I can tell that you have something on your mind. What's wrong? Did something happen to you? "
"Really? Why didn't I notice it? "Lu Yiwei purposely said," Maybe it's because I didn't rest well. "
Xu Banxian shook his head and said, "Once a person has something on their mind, it will show on their brows no matter how they pretend to be fine."
Lu Yiwei sighed, "I do have something on my mind, but it's fine if I don't talk about it."
Xu Banxian did not pursue the matter and said, "Back then, Ceng Guofan was defeated at Jinggang and jumped into the river out of humiliation. This action of his became a laughing stock in the imperial court, and it became a failure in his military career. But did he fall? Following that, their fighting spirit was stimulated, their determination was strong, they threw away their agitation, they stored up an inexhaustible amount of energy, leaving some energy to advance forward with the coffin. In one fell swoop they captured Jinling, allowing the Great Qing, who was on the verge of death, to struggle at death's door for several decades. As for Ceng Guofan's merits and demerits, let's talk about his way of being an official. "
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