Chapter 1: Xuanhuang Flag

My name is Zhang Santong. I was born in the ninth month of the lunar calendar in 1982. I ranked third in my family. According to my grandfather, I was destined to be in the five elements, so I named it Santong.

I was born in a strange big family. I had six uncles and grandfathers, and more than ten brothers of the same generation. Almost all males in the family are engaged in a business, called "Yin and Yang" in my hometown. Moreover, males in the family have to learn calligraphy, chant scriptures, walk on the Yin and Yang steps and practice Zhangjiaquan since childhood. It can be said that doing "Yin and Yang" starts from a baby, but if you fail to study, you will become "Yin and Yang".

This "Yin and Yang" is a profession that is engaged in the salvation of dead people and the observation of Feng Shui, which is a bit similar to Taoist priests. If the family has no elderly people, they will ask "Yin and Yang" to recite scriptures and rituals to save the dead. If the family is poor, three "Yin and Yang" will be invited for funerals, called "Guang Guang Jing". If the family is slightly better, five or seven "Yin and Yang" will be invited for funerals, which are called small three yuan or large three yuan. If the family is rich, in addition to asking more than ten "Yin and Yang" to invite the same number of monks to be mages. This scene is called a temple. It is said that when the old man who died in the temple leads the way when he enters the underworld, he welcomes the ten palaces of Yama.

Whether it is the Guangguang Jing, the Sanyuan and the Taoist temple, my family’s ‘Yin and Yang’ can provide customers with the best candidates. The business is booming, and the only one in ten miles is radius, without any semicolon.

My hometown is also a strange place. It is located in the Qilian Mountains in the northwest of Qinghai-Gansu provinces of the motherland. It is called Jiusizhang. The name of Jiusizhang is very popular. There is a Wolong Mountain in the Qilian Mountains. The entire Wolong Mountain is steep on all sides, with pine forests in patches. More than three-quarters of the mountain seems to have been cut with a knife, forming a square top of nine hundred feet wide, which is therefore named.

There is a birch stake that is half a meter tall in the center of nineteen-four feet. According to my grandfather, this birch stake was a nine-four-tall birch flagpole. Whenever a thunderstorm was about to rise, people from nineteen-four feet would hang a flag on the birch pole. This flag can block thunderstorms and prevent the fields from being attacked by hail. All kinds of hangings are accurate. How long has this flagpole been? My grandfather said that his grandfather had already existed when he was a grandfather, and the history of hanging flags could not be studied.

There is another saying that according to the old man, in the late Qing Dynasty, a sudden thunderstorm broke out one day and it was 94 feet above Wolong Mountain. Dark clouds rolled, lightning and thunder were roaring, and the rain flag was not hung. After a few hours, the dark clouds slowly rose. Many people saw a snake-like object that rose with the clouds, which was strangely approaching the ground. Everyone said: "This thing is undoubtedly a dragon!", so people called this mountain Wolong Mountain.

In the 1970s, this birch flagpole was sawed to make the beam of the commune, but the whereabouts of the flag were unknown.

There is a river called Datong River at the foot of Wolong Mountain. In the 1980s, the economy on both sides of the Datong River rose. A flat road circulated from the bottom of Wolong Mountain to 94z, driving the development of 94z. My third uncle Zhang Youfu became the highest-level member of the 94z. He boldly walked out of 94z and opened a timber processing factory at the foot of Wolong Mountain. Since then, he has made a fortune and is rich. Several times Uncle San wanted to move his whole family to the provincial capital to enjoy his fortune, but my grandfather sternly refused. His grandfather said that this mountain is a rare blessed place, and lying over the dragon, he is destined to have earth-shaking big people. His grandfather said he would not leave anything, and let my father have more children, so he might be able to give birth to a big person.

I am one of the members my grandfather urged my father to give birth to more. Family planning was implemented in the 1980s, and my birth was overcrowded. Therefore, my family was fined a lot of money, and many of my cousins ​​were also overcrowded. And these overcrowded fines were fined, so my grandfather asked my third uncle to pay for it.

When I was five years old, my third uncle gave me a black and white TV to every household in the family. As soon as the TV series Huo Yuanjia was staged, the boy from the 94 zhang Zhang family was so proud. Because our Zhang family also had a set of boxing techniques and was engaged in the Yin-Yang business, the peach wood sword at home was a young man. Under the leadership of my two brothers and several cousins, I almost beat up all the other boys from Jiusizhang surnames.

When I was a child, my personality was the most ostentatious among my peers, but I was also loved by my grandfather the most. During the period when the Romance of the Gods was played on TV, I envied Nezha inside. Seeing the third prince stepping on two fire wheels and carrying the Qiankun circle on his back, that was so majestic. I yelled to ask my grandfather to make two fire wheels and Qiankun circles for me. My grandfather had no choice but to do the fire wheels, so I circled a "Qiankun circle" with steel wire. In those days, I had a lot of fun holding the child with the circle, but accidentally broke the nose of a child named Yang. In this way, I was sent by my grandfather and my family to school at the third uncle's house in the provincial capital.

My grandfather and father told me to study hard, otherwise I would be considered "yin and yang" when I grew up. But I have been determined to be a grandfather-like "yin and yang" since I was a child. Therefore, when I was studying in the provincial capital, I almost fished for three days and had two days of drying the net.

Third Uncle’s youngest son Zhang Fuhong is about the same age as me, and we are in the same class. He always ranked first in the exam, but I am the last. Third Uncle said, I was destined to be a "yin and yang" life. I was not convinced when I heard it. Although I was determined to be an excellent "yin and yang", he could not say that to me! So I studied hard. When I was in junior high school, my grades rose to 25 in thirty classmates. When I was in high school, I was only a few hundred points away from being admitted to a key middle school. Finally, Third Uncle had no choice but to move his relationship and made me become a classmate with my cousin again.

In the first year of high school, around mid-October, my cousin and my third uncle received a call saying that my grandfather was almost out of reach. When we returned to 94 zhang, my grandfather had already passed away and dozens of people in the family were there. What’s funny is that my grandfather had been doing rituals to save others all his life, but no one was saving him. Our whole family wore mourning. Although many people in the family were "yin and yang", those who wore mourning could not do yin and yang, and my grandfather hated monks the most, so monks must not be invited.

Finally, the grandfather's funeral was very deserted. Uncle San was furious and said that the Zhang family would no longer be able to do "yin and yang" in the future. Whoever does "yin and yang" would be cut off from anyone. Everyone must not ignore the words of Uncle San. Uncle San is the God of Wealth in the family!

In this way, the Zhang family no longer had the "yin and yang" business. We cremated all the things we used during our lifetime, as well as the Taoist robes and peach wood swords in the family, in front of our grandfather's grave.

When my grandfather passed away, I cried the most sadly. After my grandfather was buried, I stayed alone in front of his grave for several days. When I left my grandfather's grave, I found that there was a pennant made of unknown materials in front of my grandfather's grave that had not been burned. I was curious and took it out of the ashes.

The flag was only as big as a slap. There was no trace of burning the earthy yellow flag. It was covered with twill patterns like black lightning. The edge of the flag was a dragon-shaped pattern. I don’t know what material it was, but it was not burned.

I was holding this small flag at that time. When I thought it was the only thing my grandfather left in the world, I stared at the small flag blankly, biting my lips and couldn't help but cry silently. Tears dripped on the small flag in my hand. I stared at the flag, thinking about my grandfather's words and smiles, and I didn't know how many drops of blood dripped on the flag.
Chapter completed!