There is a proverb in the north: good is the first month, evil is May.

In fact, this custom was passed from the land of Jingchu, in the south, the fifth month of the lunar calendar is commonly known as the evil moon, and there are many taboos. For example, avoid drying bed sheets and pillow mats, avoid repairing houses, etc.

Customs such as drinking realgar wine, tying colored threads, hanging mugwort, and patrolling the city god are all characteristics of the evil May. However, the people's enthusiasm for travel is still undiminished, thinking that people in modern times have seen foreigners picnicking, reading, partying, cherry blossom viewing in Japan, admiring the civilized behavior of foreigners, but forgetting that the Chinese are the originators of this aspect since the Wei and Jin dynasties, the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and even the middle of the Qing Dynasty.

On Mayday, all the cities in the Gyeonggi Gangnam are full of tourists. Along the major rivers and lakes in Jinling, hundreds of thousands of peach willows are planted, visitors all carry mat food, in the shade of the willows, on the grass, pavilion barrier mat sheds and other places sit down to eat, laugh and watch the dragon boat race, horse racing, martial arts, playing, etc., the children happily fly kites, and disperse until the evening.

It is recorded in many books that in May, many villages and towns in many areas will set up stages and open for three days in a row, inviting them to come to the pear orchard to perform the opera, which is a common thing for the year.

Families of all ages rush out for a walk in the first few days of early May, as the proverb goes, "the drought is only 13 May." After the middle of May, God will order the Dragon King to send dragon soldiers.

There is a book in the Song Dynasty that the secular May is called the dragon rain, also known as the rain of the rut, saying that the summer rain is more violent, and the dragons have their own divisions. Rain, often varies from one another to another.

The theory of dividing the dragon was first seen in the Song Dynasty, according to the records of the Song Dynasty, April 20 is the small dragon, and May 20 is the big dragon.

A hundred years later, the stars shifted, and in the Ming Dynasty, the date was naturally not very accurate, but there is a saying that is true: the main drought is sunny and the heavy rain is mainly waterlogging.

In ancient times, the resistance to natural phenomena was weak, and agriculture basically depended on God for food, so every day of the whole month of May will affect the hearts of countless people, and the continuous sunny days will make the government and farmers very anxious, and the continuous heavy rain days will still make people very anxious.

If the weather is sunny and the rain is just right, everyone will be happy to say God bless, Holy Sage, this year is smooth and rainy!

On this day, Xu Hao had nothing to do at home, the pomegranate blossoms were vivid, oleander was planted opposite the pomegranate tree, he watched the goldfish in the pond, and thought to himself.

He didn't know that decades later, pomegranate oleander and oleander were juxtaposed in the atrium, and there must be a fish tank in the middle, which became the standard for almost all well-off families in big cities in the north.

Xiaohuzi, a son of the Hanmen nearby, caught a lot of butterflies, made a large flower basket with flower branches, and also loaded some gnats in it, and ran to fight the autumn wind of Master Xu.

The little guy entered the yard and saw Xu Hao watching the fish with his head down, so he ran over and said, "The master is here, I specially sent flowers for the ladies to smell the fragrance."

Saying that, Xiaohuzi lifted the flower basket, Xu Hao turned around, the little guy's craftsmanship is becoming more and more ingenious, and he smiled: "Well done, hard work, add a tael of silver to the old rules, prices have risen recently."

Xiaohuzi said happily: "Thank you, thank you, thank you." He turned around and went to the tent.

Xu Hao smiled and ordered someone to send the flower basket into the inner house. As soon as he turned around, he saw Mama Li, who was next to the eldest lady Wang, coming over and said to him: "Mrs. Tai is going to have a peace festival today, last month the old man was not feeling well, the big guy was messed up, and the lady didn't know how many kowtows to the temple, no matter whether there is a god or not, anyway, the Bodhisattva has a spirit, and the old man's illness will be cured in a few days." Therefore, Mrs. Tai chose a date, set up the altar yesterday, and did a one-day and one-night puja today, thank you Bodhisattva, and I specially invited the third master to come over and have a look. ”

"I'll go in a moment." Xu Hao said. The older this man gets, the more he believes in God, and since he has sent someone, he can't help but go.

Half an hour later, he entered the East Mansion alone and followed the sound of gongs and drums.

In a large courtyard, many men had gathered around, and upstairs were groups of women from relatives dressed in flowers.

On the altar in the courtyard, there is a large paper banner five zhang high, a middle-aged man wraps his head with silk, wears a paper hat, and wears a Taoist priest's robe.

Xu Hao stood on the periphery, he didn't know anything about this, he didn't know that such a festival was a special kind of livelihood, these people were called end workers, and they were also Taoist and vulgar, and they probably belonged to the units contracted by individuals under the Taoist temple.

The middle-aged man muttered to himself to the sky, not knowing what to read. Suddenly, a tall man walked over, with his long hair tied together, wearing a small coat with bare arms, revealing a strong chest, a green cloth skirt tied around his waist, and a kitchen knife in his hand.

Xu Hao noticed that his relatives were in a commotion, and he saw the strong man babbling and said, "I'm going to open the Wangmen."

When it was too late, the guy picked up the kitchen knife and slashed it on his arm, blood flowed out, and he looked around triumphantly.

The relatives around applauded and applauded loudly, and Xu Hao only felt funny.

The strong man immediately used the tea bowl to release the blood, and then walked to the door, smeared his own blood on the door frame, and staggered upstairs, and wiped the door when he saw it, so that the women upstairs screamed and hid again and again.

In an instant, the chickens and dogs in the building jumped, the men laughed, Xu Haoxin said that he was really down-to-earth! The common people still eat this set of habits in the rivers and lakes. This kind of puja is like holding a church meeting, just to invite relatives and friends.

Sure enough, after some giggling and laughter upstairs, the self-harming old man walked down, and a few strings of whips crackled downstairs.

It seemed that the morning ritual had come to an end for the time being, and then it was time for lunch, and the finishers carried a large long table to the center, set up an incense table, and put a large pot of pig's head meat, elbows, etc., and the gang hummed and read around the long table, as if it was called a spinning flower plate.

The mage on the altar stopped chanting, and with the sound of gongs and drums, he sang a play in a straight voice.

At this time, a banquet was set up inside and outside the building, and the housekeeper of the East Mansion invited relatives to the table, Xu Hao felt bored, turned around and left quietly. It is said that after eating at noon, some left, while others stayed to continue watching the night party.

The so-called night party is the somersaults of these gods in overalls, tricks, and doing everything possible to amuse the audience and reward money, called joy to reward God.

The next day, Xu Hao received an invitation from Mu Ang, inviting all the brothers and family members to visit Qixia Temple together, fulfilling the agreement on the day of taking a concubine.

Mu Ang didn't spend money in vain, so Xu Hao immediately agreed, and said to Mu Ningxue when he entered the inner house, Mu Ningxue hurriedly asked someone to prepare incense candles, big incense, etc., and Xiao Yushi also prepared incense money, red envelopes, and things that needed to be prepared.

On May 14, the weather was clear. When she got up in the morning, Mu Ningxue finished grooming and wore a new light cyan Hangluo wide-sleeved Hanfu with a long white yarn.

After breakfast, Xu Hao and his wife and concubine came out to meet Xu Hai, Xu Song and other couples, and rushed to Xiaodongmen Wharf by car and sedan chair.

When they arrived at the dock, a group of people went down the stone slope mightily, and Mu Ang and his wife, Mu Hui and his wife saw it on the boat and had already greeted them.

Greeting each other, Xu Hao helped his wife to get on the boat, and then helped Xiao Yushi, Zhiqing, and Qingwen, and he glanced at the smiling upstart aunt Hongwen.

Hongwen stood behind Du Qianqian, noticed that the young master and girls had not come, and she couldn't say whether she was happy or disappointed to put it away, and took the maids of Mu Wangfu to welcome the ladies and aunts into the cabin.

Xu Hao and Zhang Fu walked up to the bow of the boat and asked, "Why didn't you use your own boat?"

"It's fun to hire a boat." Mu Ang explained with a smile.

"Hmm."

Xu Hao looked at the big boat, there were four or five ordinary pleasure boats, four long rowing boats, people from each family were carrying things and were getting on the boat, mother-in-law and maids had their own boats, nearly two or three hundred people, even cars and horses, only one big boat had to be crowded.

A group of men chatted and passed the time, and for half an hour, everyone arranged it.

With the order of the boatman here, the ten ships untied the cable together, and the sailors shouted slogans, rowing the oars, the bracing of the penny, and slowly sailed from the shore one by one.

The smaller boats were in front, the larger ones were close behind, and Mu Ang also hired a group of children to blow and play.

The weather was good, the fleet passed through the embankment and the market along the way, and the tourists, the customers selling things, and the people eating tea in the teahouse heard the sound of silk and bamboo from a distance and looked towards the river.

Some of the older men shook their heads and said, "These sons and brothers are so expensive, this trip today will cost hundreds of taels of silver."

The young man said enviously: "Life is in the world, and you must play like others to live up to this life."

Even in Jinling, such a scene is rare. Because the whole family of wealthy families travels, most of them use their own boats, or borrow official boats, and rarely hire local cruise ships.

And most of the people who need to hire a boat are sons and brothers, literati, prodigal sons and the like who travel together, hugging Qinhuai famous prostitutes, blowing and singing, even if there are more than a dozen friends, at most one big ship is enough.

Xu Hao and Zhang Fu have been in high positions for too long, and they don't know that they have become the focus of swagger.

Many impetuous young people on both sides of the strait saw the beautiful women on the boat like clouds, and they couldn't see their age clearly from a distance, and they all praised so many young girls, all wearing red and green, all of them praised what a big battle, great romance!

The young man ran out and stood on the shore to learn from him, but his purse was limited and he couldn't do it, but he couldn't bear to have such a lively scene.

So they hurriedly called friends, hurriedly made some friends, hired a tent boat with two oars, and everyone squeezed in the cabin, urging the boatwoman to catch up.

Some young people came late and had no boats, so they had to hire a small fishing boat with a canopy, but fortunately, most of the fishing boats in Jinling carried passengers part-time.

Without a canopy, you can't do it, and if you are exposed to the sun, you have to suffer from heat stroke.

In ancient times, no matter what they did, they would strive to be elegant, take the car of Xu Hao and others, the canopy has long been unloaded, and now a red oil shelf has been set up, and a green silk canopy has been paved, which is as beautiful as a painting boat.

There are also many glass flower baskets hanging on the four sides of the cabin, as well as glazed lotus flowers and all kinds of small lanterns of insects and birds, which shine in the sun, and are dazzling from afar; Five-colored glass gas dead wind lamps were hung from the mast, and there were about a hundred more lanterns on one ship.

In addition to being good-looking, it also shows the prominent status of the tourists on board, and they will never dare to be so ostentatious if they are not famous, so as not to be senselessly harassed by government ships or unscrupulous people. In addition, since the lights are hung, it also indicates that the time to play is at least one day and one night.

Therefore, these good young people who came with them also bought some lotus lanterns along the way, tied them with ropes and hung them on the boat, which was beautiful and could not be without light at night.

After settling the accounts, three meals a day and a night, all kinds of expenses along the road, even if you save money, you have to pay hundreds of yuan per person.

The friend who had no money complained in his heart, and he couldn't help complaining, and he didn't know how many fights he had had over it. What's even more unfortunate is that everyone in the big guy has no money, so he was forced by the boat lady to detain a few people, and the others hurriedly ran home to raise money to ransom people.

On the big boat, Xu Hai pointed to the extra ships behind him at some point, and said with a smile: "There are so many people going to Qixia Mountain."

Xu Hao looked back, misunderstood, and was quite happy in his heart, and talked about Qixia Mountain with great interest.

Qixia Temple on Qixia Mountain has been famous for a long time, is one of the four famous temples in China, and the birthplace of the "Three Treatises" of Buddhism in the south of the Yangtze River.

Qixia Temple was founded in the seventh year of Yongming in the Southern Qi Dynasty, and the monk master of the Liang Dynasty was known as the monk in the Qixia Temple, and was respected by Buddhism as the first ancestor of the Jiangnan Three Treatises.

Emperor Wen of Sui built a relics pagoda in 83 states in the world, announcing it to the world, which was headed by Qixia Temple in Jiangzhou.

In the Tang Dynasty, it was renamed the Temple of Merit, and the scale of the temple was even larger. Since then, Jinling Qixia Temple and Lingyan Temple in Changqing, Shandong, Yuquan Temple in Dangyang, Hubei, and Guoqing Temple in Tiantai, Zhejiang, are called the four major forests in the world.

Qixia Mountain is more famous, known as the first Jinling Mingxiu Mountain, because of the Southern Dynasty when there was a "Qixia Essence House" in the mountain and got the name, since ancient times it is one of the holy places for appreciating maple.

Jinling folk known as the spring ox head, autumn Qixia said, so the late autumn red leaves are the most famous, in addition to the Qixia Temple on the mountain can be described as countless, probably talk all day can not be finished.

Before I knew it, we arrived at the wharf, and the ten boats were moored in turn, and the boatmen tied their cables and set up the gangplank, and everyone abandoned the boats and went ashore. And those young people who are doing good things are still behind, and they won't be able to catch up for a while.

The emphasis on incense is to worship when you see God, and you can't favor one over the other, so Xu Qinglian led all the female dependents to go to the land shrine on the shore to incense first and burned some incense money.

Mu Ang and Mu Hui were busy explaining to the Mu family's guards to maintain law and order along the way, after all, there were too many people and too many women, and Xu Hao and other men could only wait patiently outside.

When everything was over, more than 200 people marched towards the mountain, walked to the Gongdelin at the foot of the mountain, and posted a notice on the wooden pole on the left.

Xu Hao walked over and took a look, and it read: Qin Jia was promoted to the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of Households, and the main hall of Shuntianfu in the capital and the main hall of the local counties told the pilgrims in the past, and it was strictly forbidden to show sincerity and respect for the investigation of the case.

Illuminate Qixia Temple is the place where Cuihua patrols, is the crown of Jinling's scenic spots, from April to June every year, men and women from far and near, burn incense and pray for blessings, endlessly. There are lawless gangsters, crowded and noisy, and they make trouble. As well as cutting and pickpocketing bandits, taking the opportunity to cut and pick up silver objects, and there are small classes of various yamen white servants, hard to rob stalls and extort traders, and if they are not satisfied, they will commit wanton murder. There are even more beggars and flowermen, who are forced to beg. All kinds of illegalities have been investigated and prohibited.

It will be the end of the term, and I am afraid that the old state will relapse. In addition to the investigation and investigation, the joint investigation of the case is prohibited.

For this reason, the abbot of the mountain, the local security, the fang kuai, and the chief of the mountain are informed: If there are lawbreakers in the preceding paragraph, they still follow the same path, so those who violate the rules will be allowed to go to the county immediately to punish the flail. If the local protectors dare to tolerate it, they will be re-investigated.

Words are spoken, and never forgiven. Each should be complied with, and it is specially revealed. (To be continued.) If you like this work. You are welcome to come to the www.biquge.info (qidian.com) of Biquge to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, your support is my biggest motivation ......)