Ji Yihe told me about the wooden bowl and the makeup box.
The wooden bowl is made of northern pentagonal maple, polished to a translucent finish, and looks like an antique. It is indeed several decades old. My mother died early, but the bowl still retains its color, and it is something that has been paddled.
Ji Yihe asked me to bring the bowl, so I went home and got the wooden bowl, and Ji Yihe took it and looked at it.
"A nice piece of stuff."
Ji Yihe took out a piece of coffin material, compared it and said.
"I took a look at it and it looks like maple, but it's not. It's redwood. There are many types of redwood. There is a special kind of redwood in the East. It's very difficult to grow into timber. One cubic meter costs hundreds of thousands. This is made of this kind of redwood."
Ji Yihe turned the bowl over and took a look at the bottom of the bowl.
"Look at what's at the bottom of the bowl?"
There is a scorpion at the bottom of the bowl. I saw it. It is a mark.
"I know the man who made this bowl. He rarely shows up in public and only a few people know him. However, thirteen of the bowls he made were sold out. There are only thirteen of them. Many people want to get this kind of bowl, but few can get it. These thirteen bowls are out there. I didn't expect that there is another one in your mother's grave."
Ji Yihe went out and entered another room. He came back after a long time, holding a bowl and put it on the table. It was exactly the same. I was stunned. I didn't expect it to be like this.
"This man is called Ma Sanda, also known as Ma Xiezi. He raises scorpions and carves scorpions on the bottom of his bowls. This bowl has a unique carving of scorpions. No two scorpions are the same on the thirteen bowls, and they represent different meanings. Mine is a scorpion digging a hole, and the one in your mother's grave is an angry scorpion. There is a story behind this."
That’s right, the scorpion looks just like it’s alive.
"What does my mother have to say?"
"No one knows what will happen to the resentment. We have to find Ma San."
"Where is he?"
"I don't know if he is still alive. He lives in a place called Baishilazi in Beishan. It's too far from here and the road is not easy to get there. I haven't been there for more than ten years and I haven't seen him."
"I think I should find this Ma San."
"Well, we'll go tomorrow, leaving at five in the morning, and we should be back after dark."
The next day, Ji Yihe and I and Master Ji went to Baishishazi.
It took us nearly five hours to get there, and we had to carry a lot of stuff, including the things Ji Yihe gave me.
"If he is gone, he told me that he would erect a stone tablet in front of his stone house. If I knew, I would make him an urn. He would lie in the pit and die naked."
I shuddered. What a weird person.
From afar, I saw a stone house with a pointed roof, made entirely of stone, with two windows. There was a small lake surrounding the stone house, as well as a waterwheel and a small boat. Ma San really knew how to find a place. This was where the gods lived. There were about a dozen of them, and there was a small waterfall.
“This place is so beautiful.”
"Yes, I have been playing chess with the old horse here for two years, and it seems that he is still alive."
Ji Yihe shouted.
"Ma, I'm here to see you."
An old man with long hair came out and saw Ji Yihe and shouted.
"Old donkey, you just came to see me."
I was a little surprised that Lao Ma actually jumped onto the boat and paddled towards us, just like a young man.
"How old is he?"
He is ten years older than me, 78 years old. I was shocked, and I might not be able to do it.
"He called me Old Donkey and I called him Old Horse. We always fought when playing chess and he said I looked like a donkey, so that's how it got called."
Lao Ma pulled us onto the boat and Ji Yihe introduced.
"Lao Ke's son."
"Oh, he's Lao Ke's son. He looks like Lao Ke."
When we went there, we got meat and game, and then drank wine.
That day, when the matter of the wooden bowl was mentioned, Lao Ma's face turned gloomy.
A scorpion crawled to my feet, and I screamed and jumped high.
"It's okay, it won't hurt you."
He really raised scorpions, and they were really big, about half the size of a bowl. I had never seen such a big scorpion.
It’s time to eat and drink, said Lao Ma.
"I think this matter will find me sooner or later. It was my fault back then because I was young."
Lao Ma said as he walked into the stone house, and we followed him in. When I went in, I almost screamed. The stone house had three rooms. Lao Ma showed us a pool in one of the rooms, which was full of big scorpions, and there were bones in them.
I recognize that bone. It's a human bone. There's no doubt about it.
I was shocked. This old man was playing with this. He was actually feeding scorpions to humans
I was nervous. Lao Ji said that this old man Ma was a little weird. When I first saw Lao Ma, he was an impetuous and enthusiastic old man. I thought Lao Ji was talking nonsense. I didn't expect that he was really weird.
The middle room contained a living room and a bedroom, and inside it we went into a large bowl, which was at least two meters in diameter. The bowl was filled with bones, including skulls, hand bones, leg bones, and bones from all parts of the human body. My hair stood up.
We went into the house to drink tea, which was wild tea from the mountains and very bitter.
"Xiao Ke, I want to tell your father about this. This matter is related to your father. You are the younger generation, so I won't tell you about it. Your father knows this place, so just tell your father. I also want to meet him. I haven't seen him for decades."
I don’t know what to say, said Lao Ji.
"Deal with this as soon as possible. They need to be buried there."
"When that bastard Lao Ke came, the problem was solved. It's been decades. If it's not solved, I won't be able to close my eyes until I die."
From what I heard, I thought my dad had offended him or something, I don’t know.
Lao Ji and I hurried back, and I asked Lao Ji on the way.
"He feeds scorpions with humans?"
"You ask too many questions about this. When you know, you will know it naturally."
Lao Ji didn't tell me anything about Lao Ma.
I went home and Han Xue was at home, having dinner with her father.
That day, Han Xue fell asleep. I went into my father's room. He was not asleep. He was sitting in front of the window, thinking about something.
My father seldom mentioned to me about my mother's death. Until now, I only knew that she died of illness, but now it seems that is not the case.
"Ma San, I saw him today."
My father was stunned and didn't move for a long time. When the cigarette butt burned his hand, he jumped up with a start, then sat down again.
"He asked you to go over and said he wanted to solve the problem. In fact, you already knew that the wooden bowl was placed there by Ma San, but you didn't say it. You seemed to be afraid of meeting Ma San."
"Don't worry about it. Yes, it's time to solve it. I'll go tomorrow."
"I want to know the truth of the matter."
"I'll tell you, go to sleep, baby boy."
I went back to my room to sleep. When I woke up in the morning, my father was gone. I knew he had gone to Ma San's place.
At work, Han Xue and I entered the refining room. I pushed the corpse in and the director came in.
"Master Ke, my friend's father passed away and will be cremated tomorrow. Can you clean the furnace for me?"
I nodded and the manager left. In fact, this was a comfort to me. No matter how many people were burned in the furnace, it would be clean and the ashes would not be mixed up.
My father didn't come back that night, and I was worried that something might have happened. In the morning, when the next shift arrived, I explained that the deceased in cabinet number one was a friend of the director, so we should clean the furnace, the first furnace, and burn it properly.
I wanted to go to Lao Ma's place, but then I thought about going to Lao Ji's place.
"I was worried something might happen to my father. That old Ma was a little too weird. That bowl was full of bones."
"Don't worry, they knew each other earlier than I did, and they have a special relationship. Nothing will happen. If there was a problem, it would have happened long ago."
"What happened?"
"Your father will tell you the details when he comes back. He has been carrying this burden for his entire life and it's time for him to let it go."
I went home and had dinner with Hanxue, and she mentioned her father's house.
“I want to seal that place off.”
I clicked yes, and after dinner we went over, sealed the hole, and nailed a board on the door.
Han Xue has been in a bad mood and went to He Dana.
He actually fell asleep sitting on the chair. I called him and he screamed in fright.
"Are you sick? What's your name?"
I talked to him and he spit at me. This old guy, he’s so grown up, and he spit at people for fun.
"I want to ask you something?"
"Go get some food and some wine first."
Han Xue went to prepare the food and wine, while He Dana made some tea.
"I want to ask about Ma San."
"Ma San? I don't know this person."
It's strange that He Dana didn't know. How could it be possible? He didn't know Ma San? I guess he didn't want to tell me something.
"You don't know Ma San? That's impossible."
"I really don't know him. I've heard of him. He's a weird person, but I don't know anything else about him."
When I mentioned the wooden bowl, the scorpion wooden bowl, he shuddered and looked at me.
"This is really, I got a wooden bowl ten years ago, it's really strange, I got it at the ghost market. The ghost market ten years ago, in addition to the ghost, there were some messy things. I bought it back, there is a scorpion behind this wooden bowl, the scorpion is attacking, it's perfect."
"Let me see."
"There is an iron box under my bed. Here is the key. Remember, only take the wooden bowl. Don't touch anything else. The wooden bowl is in the left bottom corner of the box. It is wrapped and you can see it. Remember, don't touch anything else."
I entered He Dana's room and opened the iron box. There were a lot of things wrapped in black cloth inside. Everything was wrapped and arranged neatly. I could tell the bowl at a glance because it was wrapped in a bowl shape. I couldn't make out the shapes of the others. I wanted to see the others, so I took a look outside. Just as I was about to reach out, He Dana shouted.
"I told you not to touch other things, are you looking for death?"
Can he see it? Probably not. This guy can analyze how long it takes to get something. He is a very smart person. Sometimes he is so smart that you find it magical.
I came out and He Dana glared at me, and I handed him the key.
"How many times have I told you? Don't be curious. It will get you killed sooner or later."
The bowl was taken out and placed on the table. I looked underneath and saw that it was indeed a scorpion bowl.
"This is a bowl made by Ma San, Ma Scorpion. There are thirteen bowls in total. There is a scorpion at the bottom of each bowl, but each one is different and represents a different meaning."
"I have heard of this Ma San, but I really don't know what he does. I just think it's very weird. I didn't expect that he made thirteen scorpion bowls. When I bought it, I felt that the bones were a bit strange. Later, I studied it and found that the bowls were soaked in human oil. After being polished, they were soaked in human oil. It's really strange."
"what else?"
"I don't know the rest."
The scorpion under this bowl is an attacking scorpion. It jumps up and hangs in the air, looking ferocious and scary.
"You asked me these questions and mentioned Ma San. It seems like something is wrong?"
I don’t want to say it, Han Xue came in and drank, I wanted to say something else, He Dana said.
"explain."
It seemed that I had no choice but to tell him, so I told him and he glared at me.
"People feeding scorpions? Human bones in the bowl? Could this Ma Sanda be the one I heard about, the one who raises scorpions, eats scorpions as people, and feeds the bowl with scorpion venom."
After He Dana finished speaking, I was shocked.
"I recognize this scorpion. It's the Israeli golden scorpion, the most poisonous species. But it has mutated a bit and is much bigger. Its poison should be even stronger. A person will definitely die if stung within five minutes. This one is probably even more powerful. This scorpion bowl is probably not that simple."
I don't know what He Dana means.
He Dana looked at the bowl and knocked it. He shook his head and didn't understand.
I was worried about my father, so I went home early. He was already at home and nothing seemed to have happened.
"The wooden bowl has been returned, and the makeup box is here. Let's bury it tomorrow!"
Whatever I was thinking, my father went into the bedroom. He looked very tired and seemed to have put something down. (To be continued)