I had just experienced all kinds of horrors in the underground palace. Now that I saw the word 'Death' written on the cloth, I felt an inexplicable fear. But then, I remembered that the red shadow had purposely left this for me. She must have done it for a reason.
I endured the discomfort and took the cloth out of the wooden box, spreading it on the bed.
I don't know what this cloth is made of, but it's very thin. It looks like a thin stack, and it doesn't even seem to be as thick as my textbook, but after it's spread out, it's very big. There are still two layers left, but it's already bigger than the bed I sleep on. If it's completely spread out, I'm afraid it won't be smaller than a room.
I sat on the bed and pulled the cloth. I started to read the big words at the top of the scroll.
It was written in traditional Chinese characters. Although I had learned classical Chinese since junior high, I couldn't understand it at all.
After flipping through it, I could only confirm that the content was related to Fengshui and Metaphysics. I couldn't understand the details.
The cloth was divided into two sides. On one side, it said, "Luo Jing Geomancy, Dragon Cave Sand Water." On the other side, it said, "Witchcraft, Metaphysics."
These were the categories on the top of the front and back sides. I could recognize these words.
At that time, I didn't understand it. I just had a vague feeling that if I learned the content, I would be as capable as Old He.
This thought was enough to make me very excited at that time. I flipped through the cloth that was like a heavenly book to me and studied it from start to finish for the entire night. Only when the sun rose did I reluctantly fold it again and hide it in the wooden box.
It was the red shadow who had given it to me. It was just like the jade bracelet on my neck. I shouldn't show it to others.
The result of the whole night's study could be summarized in one sentence: I didn't understand a single word.
The next day, after the sun rose, I was worried about the fatty. Although I knew Old He had brought him to the county, I couldn't help but want to go to his house to see him.
The fatty had lived with his father since he was a kid. Now that he was alone, I didn't know what to do.
As his childhood friend, I was very worried about him.
After breakfast, I went to his house. I waited for him for a whole day, but he didn't come back. I gave up.
Since the high school in the county was far from my house, I had to go back to school on Sunday afternoon after the weekend. Moreover, I had to attend two periods of self-study at night.
So, I went back to school that afternoon.
However, I didn't see the fatty even after the self-study session ended.
I was worried, but I didn't know how to contact Old He. I couldn't sleep well when I returned to the dormitory.
However, after returning to the dormitory, he also received a piece of good news. Guo Mingming, who had been in a coma for a few days, had woken up. His body was fine, and he could come to school in a few days.
I thought it was amazing. When we were dealing with the blood baby, Guo of Guo of his soul had come out. I thought Guo Mingming's soul had come back in a few days.
I remembered that when I left the dormitory that day, Old He had used a paper doll to collect Guo Mingming's soul. Now that Guo Mingming had recovered, Old He must have used some method to return his soul to his body.
Old He must have gone to Guo Mingming's house. I asked the classmate who sent me the news, but he shook his head and said he didn't know anything. "I only went to Guo Mingming's house in the afternoon. I only know that Guo Mingming's body is fine. I don't know anything else."
Old He had cleaned up the dormitory that day. We had moved in again a few days ago. However, I couldn't fall asleep that night because I was worried about Fatty. I kept thinking about the blood baby and Fatty's father. Then, I touched the jade bracelet on my neck and thought about the red shadow.
I didn't know why I felt so down that night. It wasn't until the next day when the fatty came back to school and told me that he was going to transfer to another school that I understood. It was most likely because I had a premonition that we would be parting.
The fatty was the same age as me. He was only sixteen years old. He was still a child. After his father passed away, he became an orphan.
When we met the next day, he told me that he was going to live with Old He for a while. That's why he would transfer to another school. He would leave in about a week.
Moreover, he wouldn't stay in school that week. He would go with Old He to the graveyard on the hillside of our village to look for his father's body. Then, he would deal with the matters in his ancestral home.
After a simple farewell, the fatty left. We had agreed that he would inform me when he was leaving and that we would meet again.
However, there was no such thing as a mobile phone back then. The mobile phone that Old He had used that day was the first mobile communication device I had ever seen.
In the end, the fatty and I missed the chance to meet again.
When I returned home at the end of the week, the fatty's house was locked.
I purposely went to his ancestral home in the mountain, but there was only a pile of ashes left.
I couldn't help but recall what the fatty had told me about his father. 'Nine generations of coroner, nine coffins.'
After the nine coffins were filled with people, the ancestral home was sealed and burned. The fate of the nine generations had come to an end.
When I first heard the story, I thought it was a distant story. I didn't expect that in just ten days, the words from that day would become a prophecy.
After the fatty's father passed away, the village didn't have a new coroner. It didn't seem to affect the villagers much. At this time, the country had started to carry out cremation. Although the villagers didn't like it, they didn't dare to find a coroner when they had a funeral. Those who had an ancestral grave would quietly bury their bodies there, while those who didn't have a strong family background would just find a random place to bury their bodies.
The funeral culture that had been passed down for thousands of years didn't seem to be important in this era where science and technology were surging.
Just like before, I went to class every day. However, my interest in Chinese was much stronger than before. To be precise, I was interested in ancient Chinese.
As I continued to study, I could gradually understand what was written on the cloth. It was a complete inheritance of metaphysical knowledge. It could be said to be all-encompassing, and it was abnormally abstruse and profound.
In the past, the education I had received since I was a child had made me scoff at these things. However, after experiencing so many things, I now believed that the knowledge passed down by my ancestors wasn't superstition. It was another kind of science.
Perhaps the logic of this science wasn't as clear as the Western science system. However, after studying it for a long time, you would find the truth hidden in it.
It was just like Chinese medicine and Western medicine. Western medicine could list your cell diseases and the chemical composition of medicines. It could use a set of strict logic to make you believe in its scientific nature.
Chinese medicine couldn't do that. It wasn't because it didn't have strict logic, but because many people couldn't understand the basic logic of Chinese medicine. Once you understood the basic theory of Chinese medicine, you would find that its precision wasn't any less than that of Western medicine.
Along with the study of ancient Chinese, I understood more and more about the knowledge on the cloth, and I could even use it in my daily life.
When I was in the third year of high school, I accidentally saw a student in my class. His glabella was narrow and sunken, and there was a shallow black spot in the center. More importantly, there was a red mark next to the black spot that had been scratched by something.
According to what was written on the cloth, the glabella belonged to the "Fate Palace", and this kind of face was the fiercest of the twelve Fate Palace faces, the "Black meets Red" face. The description of this face on the cloth was, "When black meets red, there will be calamity!"
First, I didn't know much at that time, so I didn't dare to say anything. Second, even if I did, no one would believe me. During those days, I was worried that something would happen to my classmate, so I followed him. In just two days, I saw him encounter danger twice.
The first time was during PE class. My classmate was playing basketball, and I was watching from the side. Suddenly, I saw a triangle on the ground next to the basketball hoop. I instinctively kicked it away, but before my foot could leave the place, my classmate suddenly fell from the side, and his head hit my leg.
At that time, I wasn't sure. But now that I thought about it, if I hadn't kicked the triangle away, his head would have hit the triangle, and his life would have been in danger.
The second time was in the afternoon after school. On the way to lunch, the student inexplicably turned to a small pond in the school. He leaned against the railing to watch the fish. After watching for a while, he flipped over and fell into the pond. He didn't even make a sound. Only his two legs were above the water.
I hurried to call someone to pull him out of the water. After pulling him out, the classmate's entire head was covered in mud. No wonder he couldn't move in the water.
After that, I didn't care whether others believed me or not. I directly told the classmate that his physiognomy wasn't right. I told him to be careful for the next two days, and it would be best if he could find a knowledgeable person to take a look.
My good intentions weren't taken seriously. That classmate's face was covered in mud, and perhaps he felt embarrassed. After listening to my words, he didn't care at all, and even scolded me as a lunatic.
That day was Friday, and I went home for two days. When I returned to school the next week, I heard the news that the classmate was at home during the weekend. When he was crossing the road, he was run over by a truck, and his entire body was crushed in half.
Because of this, I blamed myself for a long time. But at the same time, I completely believed in the 'Death Scripture' written on the cloth. From then on, I put more effort into studying it. When I graduated from high school and applied for university, I chose to major in Ancient Chinese.
During the summer vacation when I was about to go to university, my family's financial situation was better. Since I was admitted to university, my parents decided to build a new house.
When building a new house, we also needed to find someone to take a look at the geomancy. The day after we confirmed that we were going to build a house, my father went to find a geomancy master.