Our village is also in a mountainous area. There was a large temple in our town, which was made of the type of grey brick. According to my father, that temple was unknown from which dynasty. This temple was there when our great-grandfather fled from the countryside due to famine to come here, but by then no one was in charge. Now was 100 years after, it looked even more decrepit.
During the Cultural Revolution, a large part of the temple was set on fire by the Red Guards, burning the whole temple walls red, leaving only the main hall unburned. Later, some people went there to pick out blocks to build houses, but I do not know why houses built with these temple walls brick were easy to fall, which did kill a whole family. Gradually, we take the block there to make pigsty.
There was also a block from the temple in my house, that brick was broken when I was a child, the slab is massive, where Chinese Dragon was carved on one side, and the other side was bare. According to current thinking, it should be a relievo brick. My dad picked it up when he was a kid and the next event was about the temple. . .
Listening to people of the older generation say that the temple is called the Temple of Generals. As for which General came out from our poor valley, I really have no idea. There are also about 100 families in the village, but most of them were relocated from other places, the natives here were said to be killed in period of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, hence no one knows the origin of the Temple of Generals. The temple was just there which is neither block the way, and people in the village used to the existence of the temple.
When I was a child in the countryside, I had no idea what fear was. I had a good friend whose birthday just the next day from me, called Yi Li. Because he was thin as a child, we called him "Monkey".
One time, I went with "Monkey" to the Temple of Generals, it had a sort of musty smell. If someone had an old shrine in their home, especially in an empty area with the door locked for long time, you could smell something like that. But I was curious about that smell, always trying to find where the smell came from.
That day, I was with "Monkey" and Hongxia which is a year younger than me to play there. In fact, we were both little naughty boy, three of us play a game together, pretending to be doctors to play injection, as for how to play...
Usually, "Monkey" and I take turns to be the doctor and Hongxia to be the patient, we check her body. . . At that time, we didn't know anything about the difference between men and women. We only knew that girls and boys didn't pee in the same way. So this kind of doctor's game of checking the body appeared. Checking her body and giving her injections was a game, secondly, it can help us understand why the posture of peeing is different.
This kind of game, although we are still young children, we also know that it is not to be known by others. We cajoled Hongxia to the back of the Temple of Generals, and then made a deal with her with a glass marble. She was the patient, I was the doctor, and "Monkey" looked from the side, just as I was about to take off her pants, outside came the roar of her mother: "What are you little bastards hiding over there you, little bastards, I'm coming for you! "
Before I could cover Hongxia's mouth, she said, "mom, they took off my pants and play an injection game. "
"Monkey" and I were completely frightened by this cry, immediately turned and looked for a place to hide. We looked all around can only see walls and there was nowhere to hide. Just as footsteps of Hongxia's mother were getting closer and closer, "Monkey" shouted to me: "quick, there's a hole, get in."
I Turned around to see, there was a hole in the wall behind us, where the bottom of the brick was taken out, left with a hole which can fit the size of a six-years-old child. I and "Monkey" then drilled into the hole.
As soon as we drill into the hole, Hongxia's mother has also arrived in, where we can felt her anger. She shouted that we are two little hooligans while dragged Hongxia out, Monkey and I sat on the ground not daring to breathe.
For a while now, two of us were afraid to go out, because if we wanted to go home, we have to pass through Hongxia's house, there was no way to escape. "Monkey" suggested that we could wait until dark then go back. It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Hongxia's mother actually came to ask her for dinner, as we normally have dinner early in the countryside.
When Hongxia's mother left, we suddenly found ourselves inside the ancient temple. At first we only noticed the outside. Now we looked up and saw that the walls of the temple were stained with smoke, but most of the walls are still vaguely discernible. The big hall should have been the main hall at that time. The part of the ceiling is carved with hollowed-out wood, with Taiji Bagua, gourds, cranes and so on. The doors of the main hall are tightly closed, as there was a big brass lock outside the door, but I have no idea who locked it, or what era of the lock was came from. In short, I have not seen this temple with the door open, so I have not known what was inside this temple.
There were murals all around the walls, two of which were indistinguishable from each other, except for the one on the right, in which the old man with horsetail whisk on his hand——he must be Supreme Lord.
Actually, the so-called the Temple of Generals has Taoist murals, indicating that the temple should have been a Taoist temple before.
Even more scary, there was nothing in the whole hall except a large coffin of vermilion brown in the middle, on which had full of a layer of dust. The musty smell in the room was strong, fortunately, there was a bright tile above my head, and the light from the outside was able to pass through the bright tile, so I can still saw few things. However, in such an environment, two of us were frightened completely, especially "Monkey", "Monkey" ran out of the small hole immediately. As I was leaving, I took a look at the smoke-blackened wall. It seemed that the pattern on the wall was made up of some kind of writing or symbols. I cannot control myself and looked a few more times. I haven't gone to school that time, hence I cannot read, but I was attracted by those word-like or symbol-like patterns, and left my mind blank.
The urging sound from "Monkey" outside, pulled me back into the reality, then I took another look at the big coffin, went out. "Monkey" asked me how I stayed in so long, he will think I was caught by a ghost If I do not come out.
I said "Is it a long time?", Monkey said, "you see the sun is already going down," and then I realized, Monkey has been out for almost half an hour, and I was alone in there for half an hour... But it did not realize this when I was inside…
When we passed through Hongxia's house, we were inevitably scolded by her mother for being hooligans and shameless, but I didn't pay any attention at all. All I think was what I saw in the temple, patterns that looked like characters, the mural, and that big coffin. When we were young, adults told us not to play in the Temple of Generals. When we asked the reason, they always refuse to answer, just don't go there.
The strangest thing about me is that it is clearly a Taoist temple. Why they call it the Temple of Generals? I called Monkey and said, "please don't tell anyone we went to the Temple of Generals, otherwise we'll get punched." Monkey stuck out his tongue and said he will not say anything. We also made a pinky promise before we all went home.
After going home there wasn't anything unusual appear, mother just thought I went somewhere to play, so she did not ask anything. Until dinner time, Hongxia's mother came to my home…
Then I knew I will be in trouble. Hongxia's mother started to say things like, how did me and "Monkey" treat her daughter, and asked my mother to discipline me, and so on. In fact, that day I really didn't see Hongxia's bottom, pants haven't been taken off yet and her mother already came. But no matter how strong her mother was, a few years later, "Monkey" took off Hongxia's pants…
My mom twisted my ear while apologized to them. I was afraid of my mom, she had three methods to do with me: twisting my ear, whipping my bottom with a bamboo stick, and get down on my knees. When they left, I was already lifted into the air with my ears screwed on, and then my mother made me knelt down. I knelt down and did not dare to move. My mother never let me stand up, just told me not to go there again, and finally my grandfather begged to help me stand up.
My grandfather take care of me a lot. In those years of materials shortage, he always secretly bought me some snacks, or cooked some meat for me. Grandpa held me and kneaded my numb knees, I asked him why people wasn't allowed to go there.
Grandfather said that there was haunted, when the Red Guards set fire to the temple, only the main hall did not get burn. The leader of the Red Guards was soon found hanging on the beams of the hall, since then, the door of the temple has locked.
I asked my grandfather whose coffin it was, but when he heard me mention it, he was very reluctant to talk about it
Few days later, I began to grow red rash on my body, and then I had high fever, vomiting and diarrhea. My mother carried me to the hospital, the doctor said it was a viral cold, and I was receiving injections and taking medicine. However, I was getting worse every day. I was already thin, all that left was skin and bone. Also, I felt itchy whole body and cracked when I scratched it.