Chapter 31: The Drumming Portrait

  Jin Hu didn't quite agree with Lao Zi's old ideas from his previous life. With so many gold bars at home, he had to have a meal of steamed buns and salted vegetables every morning and evening when he was young, and even fought with people for free soup in college. The villagers endured the flickering lights for years, but used silver as bricks, claiming it was for their descendants. They were frugal to the point where they could arrange things for their great-grandchildren while they were still alive, and whenever they had some money, they wouldn't buy land or invest in property, but instead exchange it all for hard currency and hide it away. Who would have thought that these poor villagers could have tons of white silver? Of course, what happened after they got rich doesn't need to be said by Jin Hu, everyone already knows.

  Looking at his old man, Jin Hu said: "You just use it with peace of mind, when I come back, I'll exchange all the silver bricks in the stockade for gold bricks, and also pave them at home to let you bring your grandson to roll around on top."

  Jin Guangfu burst out laughing and patted his son's shoulder, saying: "I've been waiting for the day you'd say that!" After finishing his laughter, he turned to Jin Hu and said: "Put the urn back and bury it again."

  "What's the point of burying it?" Jin Hu hadn't finished speaking, and he glanced at his father with a glare. He had no choice but to hug the jar and go out. In the old land, he buried the jar well. When he returned to the house, Jin Guangfu had already put away the things on the table, using a woven bag and a blue cloth strip to tie it up. Looking at his son coming in, he said: "Put this thing in your big bag, and take it down the mountain directly when you leave."

  Jin Hu picked up his things and walked towards his own house, just then he heard San Shu's voice at the door: "Big brother! Are you home?"

  "Come on in!" Jin Guangfu yelled at the doorway.

  Just as Jin Hu had put the woven bag into his travel bag, he heard Jin Guangfu say outside: "Tiger boy, take out how much money you brought back." Jin Hu listened and took out the ten bundles of money he had brought back from the bag.

  Arrived at the main house, saw San Uncle and asked how he was doing, put the bag on the table. Jin Guangfu was carefully looking at a long list, after a while, he said to San Uncle: "I have no opinion." After that, he took out five bundles of money from the bag brought by Jin Hu: "Just follow this number, all five animals are ready and alive, let the chef in town prepare wine and dishes, and buy the rest of the wine, not loose bottles."

  "Two million won is all spent on wine?"

  Jin Guangfu nodded, thought for a moment, then took out all the money from his bag and put it on top: "Buy everything, also get twenty boxes of white porcelain wine at 100 yuan per bottle, leave it for the host to bring back when they come to pay their respects. Others come from far away, our Jinjia village can't be too stingy! If this is not enough, go take out the card, the old rules, thirty-six tables open for five days!"

  Not only did San Shu look stupid, but Jin Hu also looked at his own father, sitting steadily on a small stool, with his waist straight and his hands on his knees, sitting like a spear.

  "Big brother?!" San Shu Bo looked at Jin Guang Fu and asked.

  Jin Guangfu didn't wait for San Shu to finish speaking, he waved his hand to stop him: "Follow this! For the past five days, all of you are guests, and I'll provide food and drink until you're full!"

  Before he could finish speaking, an old man's voice came from the doorway: "Guangfu!"

  The three people in the house immediately stood up from their seats and went out to greet him. An old man with very little hair on his head but a straight waist was standing at the door.

  "Uncle Stick!" "Grandpa Stick!" Jin Hu followed his father to make a fist and bow, the old man waved his hand and went into the house. The three of them returned to the main hall together.

  The old man sat down on the chair by the side: "You guys do what you want, I'm just here to listen. Tiger, come sit next to me." Jin Hu heard this and brought over a small stool to sit at the old man's lower position. The old man held onto Jin Hu's hand, looked up at him with a glance, and started to apply a bit of force on his hand. Seeing that Jin Hu didn't change color, he slowly added more force, and finally patted Jin Hu's hand: "I thought your dad hadn't taught you anything, but these skills aren't bad. I'm relieved now. Your courage is also top-notch - as soon as you went out, you robbed someone of their valuable goods! What they said didn't sound quite right, tell Grandpa about it again!"

  The old man is now the head of the village, in other words, he's a instructor and a guard. In the past, he was responsible for teaching everyone in the village martial arts and marksmanship, but didn't participate in raids, instead guarding the village. He sat on the left side of the main chair in the hall, ranking third.

  The old man wanted to hear stories, so Jin Hu had no choice but to start telling him. The old man listened intently, nodding his head and shaking it at times, and finally pointed out Jin Hu's mistakes: "You were led by the nose, if you let people go, they would still be in control, if you didn't let them go, they would also be in control. You busied yourself for half a day, but in the end, you didn't even get anything! Next time when someone asks you to make a choice, if you can handle it, then do it thoroughly, if not, run away and find someone else to continue until they die! Even if you're an old cow, you should grab the rope that controls your nose!"

  After finishing speaking, he looked at Jin Hu and asked: "Remembered?" Seeing Jin Hu nod his head, he asked again: "What did I mean by what I said?"

  "The initiative" Jin Hu said to the old man.

  The old man nodded at Jin Hu: "Good boy! Reading a few more years of books is really different!" After finishing, he turned his head to face Jin Guangfu and said: "You continue to discuss, I'll listen!"

  Jin Guangfu and San Shu couldn't continue speaking, from beginning to end they told the whole story. After finishing, Jin Guangfu looked at the old man and asked: "Do you think there's anything missing?" The old man nodded after hearing this: "Things should be done like this! Our family's dignity can't be laughed at by other villages. I'll take a look at the money to see if it's enough, if not, we have other ways. This matter can't be taken lightly, it's about the whole village's reputation. After hearing you two speak, I feel at ease now. Go tell San Lao Ge about this." After finishing speaking, he stood up and everyone sent him off to the door. The old man turned his head back towards Jin Hu and said: "The eldest son is not in good health, can't be used for this. The second son is still a bit young! Let me take care of it for half a year and I'll send the second son over to you!"

  Jintiger heard this and couldn't help but laugh: "Stick Grandpa, Erwa is only seventeen"

  The old man sighed: "Now this kid is spoiled, a child of over ten years old in the past could start a family, but now they can't even stand up straight." The old man finished speaking and turned around to leave.

  As soon as this was decided, the whole village was in an uproar, with men busy preparing horses to go down the mountain and fetch things. Jin Hu's mother led a group of women to the mountain hall, sweeping the large bluestone courtyard and the mountain hall.

  Jin Guangfu took Jin Hu out for a walk and returned home to pay respects to their ancestors. After this busy period, it was already evening, and they had finished dinner. Jin Guangfu changed into a new set of clothes, with a black button-down shirt on top and black satin loose pants on the bottom. His mother also helped Jin Hu change into a new outfit. When the time was right, the two of them headed towards the mountain hall together.

  At the entrance of the Shan Tang's gate, Jin Hu saw that on both sides of the gate corridor were hung four white bamboo lanterns, each with a tiger head and claws, Jin Guangfu stood behind his hands watching the four lanterns swaying in the mountain wind. On either side of the gate stood four young men in their teens or twenties, one of whom was Shan Bao.

  The old man at home was stunned, and Jin Huo felt a bit uncomfortable wearing this set of clothes. The top was fine, but the bottom was loose and fluttering in the wind, making him feel cool and refreshing. When he looked up, he saw Shan Bao smiling happily at him with his mouth wide open. If Jin Huo hadn't known that this kid was just happy to go out with him, he would have thought he was getting married, his smile was so wide it almost reached the back of his ears.

  Jin Guangfu stared blankly for a few seconds, then turned to Jin Hu and said: "Tomorrow morning, you bring things, bring the note to ask your grandfather to come over, go early."

  Jin Hu nodded after listening to Lao Zi's words and followed him into the Shan Tang. The entire Shan Tang's gate was open, with half of the people inside being old men. Jin looked around and found that there was a pattern - each old man was accompanied by a young boy, although some were older or younger than others. The youngest one was even smaller than Jin Hu, who was only 16 years old, just like Shan Yao Dan Zi. The whole room was filled with fathers and sons, all of whom looked alike.

  Seeing Jin Guangfu walk in, a dozen or so people bowed their fists: "Master!"

  Jintiger followed Laozi and returned a courtesy, just then heard San Ye take two steps forward: "Please, master! Young master, offer incense to the mountain god!"

  Jin Hu followed his father around the central chair to burn incense, but Jin Hu made a small mistake. Originally, he was supposed to follow his father on one side, but before he even lifted his foot, he was glared at by San Ye Ye (Third Grandfather). Only then did Jin Hu realize he should walk on the other side. After reaching the back of the central chair, San Ye and Gun Er Ye helped light the incense, which Jin Hu and his father took over. They bowed three times, and when it was time to insert the incense, Jin Hu finally made no mistakes. The incense burner had six sticks in front and six in back, with two layers up and down.

  Jin Guangfu sat down on the big chair in the middle, and as soon as he did, everyone else also took their seats. Jin Hu, of course, squeezed into a spot right next to his father, unlike the other sons who had to sit behind their fathers' backs. Not that Jin Hu could have sat behind his father's back even if he wanted to - after all, his father's chair was half again as wide as anyone else's, and its height was a good ten or more centimeters higher than the others.

  In the next ten or so minutes, it was boring. When Jin Hu started to report, he almost yawned. This old routine is really something. Jin Guangfu has lived here for decades, what population, how many young and middle-aged people don't know? A serious report, a serious listen, the scene is perfect.

  After finishing the surface work, Jin Guangfu began to draw drums.

  Four red and four white candles, each as thick as an arm, were arranged in the eight trigrams position, with the drum surface facing the yin-yang fish. Jin Guangfu knelt beside the drum and used a brush to add color to the tiger's stripes. Jin Hu knelt outside the eight trigrams, watching his father paint the drum. The others didn't just stand by idly; they stood in two rows at the door, with the old man in front and the son behind, facing the outer hall. As the saying goes, they relied on the killing energy of their bodies to ward off the yin wind. When the master painted the tiger, he wouldn't let the fierce ghost's yin energy enter the hall and extinguish the candles.

  When drumming, all eight candles cannot be extinguished. If one is extinguished, a new auspicious day must be chosen to restart the drumming. If all eight are extinguished due to extremely bad luck, the village will have to invite Taoist priests to perform rituals to calm the vengeful spirits that even the killing aura cannot suppress. Jin Hu looked up at the eight giant candles, each one like a torch, illuminating the mountain hall with great brightness. He didn't know what kind of bad luck it would take for the wind to extinguish even one candle, let alone all eight. Seeing this, Jin Hu felt that the Taoist priests were trying too hard to swindle money from the bandits.

  There's already a golden house in the book, scanning will bring even more surprises. Open WeChat immediately, scan the QR code or search for the public account "Starting Point", add attention and take it down easily!