The director is a little dazed now. He threw those four bones into the furnace with his own hands.
"Master Ke, let me show you something."
The Lord would take a package from a cabinet, place it on the table, and then open it.
It was those four bones. I was stunned.
"I didn't burn it. I asked. It was a coffin. It was made by you and Master He. I know that these bones must be useful and there must be a story behind them, so..."
"You did a very smart thing."
"what to do?"
"Send it back, send it back in person, and put the four bones in their original positions. It's best not to go back to that place."
"That director..."
"Let her carry it for another thirteen days. If these bones burn, she will have to carry the ghost for the rest of her life!"
I went back, had a drink with Liu Shougui, and told him about this.
"Something bad is going to happen sooner or later. Bu Lele's ability to work is fine, but the problem is that she is an amateur and doesn't know anything. This is the most terrifying thing."
I know that sooner or later something big will happen to Bu Lele. If she doesn't understand, can ask for advice, and can recognize the problem, then there will be no problem at all.
At around nine o'clock in the evening, I went to He Ping's place, knocked on the door, and an old man opened it.
"Who are you looking for?"
"Master He, right? I'm Ke Mingzhe."
"I don't know you."
"My father, Ke Zuo."
"Oh, then come in, Lao Ke's son, you've grown so big now."
I went in. The room was dark. I poured some tea and He Ping sat down and talked.
"What do you want to see me about?"
"Yes, I want to ask you about paper-making."
"Paper-tying?"
He Ping repeated it, and seemed to be unfamiliar with paper-folding. It took him a long time to speak.
"I haven't had it done for a few years, it's like this thing doesn't exist."
"Master He, I'm learning paper-folding."
"What's the point of learning this? You spend your whole life studying it, but it's all in vain. In the end, it's all burned up, leaving nothing behind."
“I like paper tying.”
"You like it? Well, if you weren't Ke Zuo's son, you probably wouldn't have the chance to see these things. On the 13th of next month, I will burn these things, and no one will learn my craft from me."
"I am willing to be your apprentice."
"We don't accept outsiders for our art of weaving. It's all family tradition. What a pity, what a pity. I'm sorry to our ancestors for not leaving any descendants."
He Ping took me out of the room, walked to a room on the east side, and opened the door.
"Here are my things. There are only thirteen pieces left. Next month they will all be gone and burned. Paper-tying is like tying nothing. It comes and goes, just like a person. In fact, in the end there is nothing."
The light was turned on, a small bulb, and it was very dim.
"Go in and take a look yourself, then come out and lock the door. I'll wait for you in that room. I'm old, and I can't stand for too long."
He Ping is indeed very old. He knows my father and they are good friends. Liu Shougui told me this. I never expected that my father would know the master and they were good friends. My father never mentioned these things.
I went in and saw thirteen things, two life-size figures, a house, a ceiling, a horse, a cow, and some other things. I looked at them and thought that this Master He had really opened my eyes. I thought the things I had made were the best, but now it seems that they were just made by an elementary school student. I looked at them and more than an hour passed before I came out.
"How does it feel?"
He Ping asked me.
"Master He, it would be a shame if this skill is not passed down."
"This is the rule of our ancestors. I have failed them by not leaving any descendants."
It seems that Master He will not teach me this skill. When I left that day, it was already eleven o'clock in the evening. When I came out and just entered the yard, I shouted loudly and He Ping was startled by my shout.
"Don't be afraid, kid, you forgot to lock the door."
I saw a man standing in the corner of the yard, and I seemed to hear a faint laugh.
"That's a thorn. Don't be afraid. It's okay."
He Ping took the gun into the room and locked the door.
"If you don't lock the door, the two of them will run out and mess with you."
I was sweating, my legs were weak, and I almost fell to the ground.
I was escorted out and the door was closed. I was still sweating. What was written in the book was that it could make people walk, laugh, and cry. It was real, really real. I had not expected it.
I went to find Liu Shougui, who was reading a book in his room.
"What are you doing in the middle of the night?"
Liu Shougui asked me.
I said I saw him at He Ping's place.
"I want to learn paper-making from He Ping."
"That's impossible. He Ping won't teach you. But there is still a way. I'll take you there tomorrow."
I don’t know what Liu Shougui can do.
The next day, we went there again at night, and when He Ping saw Liu Shougui, he actually laughed.
"Ugly ghost, you haven't been here for a while. If you don't come again, you will see me."
"He Ping, you are still like that."
The two people seemed very familiar.
After we went in, we drank some wine and Liu Shougui mentioned that he wanted me to learn paper-folding from him, and He Ping's face fell.
"Ugly ghost, don't you know my house rules?"
I don't know whether Liu Shougui can convince He Ping.
"Of course I know that, but you can adopt Xiaozhe as your godson. You had the same idea and didn't want this art of making a knot to be lost."
He Ping stopped talking and just drank.
"Let me think about it."
No one mentioned the matter again that day, Liu Shougui said when we went back.
"I'll go there when I'm fine and take care of him like a son. He's very old too."
Just like that, I became He Ping's son again, and there's nothing wrong with that.
From that day on, I stopped doing stitching because I felt like what I was stitching was just a pile of junk.
I go there every day to cook for He Ping and take care of him, and sometimes I bring Liu Yang with me.
It was already October when He Ping finally agreed. He called Liu Shougui over, signed a contract, and had it notarized, making it a serious matter.
From that day on, He Ping told me that he would do this after dinner every day, for two hours a day.
From that day on, I started to learn tie-making from Bao Ping. He never used his hands, only his mouth. I didn't expect that He Ping was so good. In just one week, my tie-making became quite good. He said that I had talent in this area.
Actually, I don’t know, maybe everyone has it.
That morning, Li Xiaohuan called me suddenly. It was a little after nine o'clock, which was the time for me to put on makeup.
"Master, I can't go on. Makeup room number 13."
My apprentice, I had no choice but to go to the crematorium again and enter dressing room No. 13.
"Master, take a look, you gave me this job today, but..."
The body was not covered with a shroud. I took a look and was a little surprised to find that the dead man's eyes were still open.
"I can't close it."
I walked over and looked into the eyes of the deceased. She was a woman in her forties. Her eyes were open and angry, and it seemed that she died with her eyes open.
The anger of the corpse suddenly entered the makeup artist's body. I put my hand to her eyes and pulled down, but it didn't work. Her eyes were still open. The deceased's eyes were still open at the end, which meant she was unwilling to give up and would come back to look for people. This kind of angry ghost, confused by anger, can't be good or bad. When she comes back to look for people, she will be afraid of her home and will harm the last people who came into contact with her. The first to be affected are the makeup artist and the refiner, who are the last people to come into contact with them.
"Master, Bu Lele has always been giving me trouble."
“That’s training you!”
What I mean is that Bu Lele is too vengeful. I didn't expect that she would make things difficult for Li Xiaohuan.
For this kind of deceased, there is only one way to find out why she didn't close her eyes. This method is not very fun. The last image of a person is stored in the brain. Some say it is also stored in the eyes, but that is only for a very short time. You cannot see through the eyes what happened. You cannot catch the image that disappears in an instant.
"Xiao Huan, lock the door and cover the surveillance camera."
After Li Xiaohuan locked the door, he took a chair and hung the clothes on the surveillance camera, and the wireless intercom started to sound.
"Li Xiaohuan, what do you want to do? Take off your clothes immediately."
"Ignore her."
I turned off the intercom.
A few minutes later, Bu Lele came knocking on the door with the director.
I opened the door, and Bu Lele had obviously seen me on the surveillance camera.
"Master Ke, you are not an employee of our place. You cannot stay here. It is against the rules."
"I know, but you can't make things difficult for Li Xiaohuan. She's my apprentice. You can't let her do such a big makeup. You should find a master."
"This is all arranged by rotation. I didn't plan it. If you catch up, you have to do it. There's nothing I can do."
"Bu Lele, stop talking nonsense. Do you think I don't know how you plan to arrange for me? Something bad will happen sooner or later."
"I can handle the accident. It has nothing to do with you. Leave now."
"Okay, Xiao Huan, you can't wear this makeup."
I went out and the director took me to the deputy director's office.
This deputy director was originally a deputy director of Chi County. I have met him before.
"Master Ke, I'm so sorry. None of the 30 makeup artists at this crematorium are willing to do the makeup. No matter how much money you're offered, they say they can't do it. There's only one person, and that's you. We have no choice but to make it up like this. But Bu Lele, ah..."
"Old makeup artists are fine."
"No one can really do this makeup. Back then, there were retired old people who knew how to do this. A corpse like this only happens once every ten years. Now the old masters are all dead, and only you have learned this makeup."
I may be telling the truth.
"What do we do now?"
"Bu Lele will go to the bureau for a meeting soon, and then you can put on makeup for her. I beg you."
I shook my head. I was worried that something might happen to Li Xiaohuan, so I had no choice but to agree.
After Bu Lele drove out of the crematorium, I entered dressing room No. 13.
Li Xiaohuan sat there smoking.
"Why are you smoking again?"
Li Xiaohuan threw away the cigarette and stood there sticking out his tongue.
"Lock the door and block the surveillance."
Li Xiaohuan stood aside and watched.
"If the deceased doesn't close her eyes, she will come back to cause trouble. She doesn't distinguish between good and evil. The unlucky ones are the refiner and the makeup artist, the last two people who come into contact with them. If she keeps her eyes open like this, the image will not be lost in her head. Find the image, see what the problem is, and then solve the problem and everything will be fine."
Li Xiaohuan looked at me as if I hadn't explained it clearly, which was understandable. When my makeup artist taught me, I was also confused. (To be continued)