Lao Du led me into the clinic office: "Xiao Wu, this is my sister-in-law, Dr. Xie Wanhua."
When Lao Du introduced me, he used the word "doctor" and was obviously a little distant from this beautiful and elegant doctor: "Wanhua, this is Wu Zhao, the sorcerer I invited. I want to take back your sister's life."
Xie Wanhua, who had been smiling at us just a moment ago, suddenly frowned and said, "Brother-in-law, after all these years, you still haven't given up? Are you still believing in those unrealistic things?"
Lao Du said in a deep voice: "Wanhua, I am investigating Wanqiao's case. Now, I have found..."
Xie Wanhua interrupted Lao Du forcefully, turned to me and said, "No matter what your purpose is, please get out and don't get close to my brother-in-law, otherwise, I will call the police to arrest you."
I crossed my arms and sneered, "Sister, it seems that your brother-in-law is my employer? What right do you have to chase me away?"
Lao Du was embarrassed: "Xie Wanhua, even if you don't believe in ghosts and gods, please be polite to my friend. Besides, when it comes to the law, I know more than you. Is there anything wrong with me coming to take back my wife's relics? If you..."
Seeing that Old Du was about to get angry, Xie Wanhua looked at me and said, "I can tell you very clearly that Du Zhengming is both my brother-in-law and my patient. He has suffered from serious mental illness since my sister passed away. The so-called diary is just something he wrote unconsciously. You don't have to think about taking the diary. If you insist on taking the diary, you can take legal action."
Xie Wanhua looked at me and said, "But I want to remind you that before taking legal action, I will choose to explain your identity to my lawyer, a quack."
I looked at him with interest: "It seems that Dr. Xie looks down on sorcerers, or rather, doesn't believe in the existence of sorcerers? Then I want to ask, do you know the art of incantation?"
In ancient times, there was no Chinese character for "medicine", only "witch". At that time, witch and doctor were interchangeable professions. Although doctors appeared in later generations, the witch's method of curing diseases with spells was preserved, which is the Zhuyou branch of the thirteen branches of traditional Chinese medicine, also known as the Zhujin branch.
Xie Wanhua smiled and said, "Of course I have heard of Zhuyouke, and I have even learned the art of Zhuyou. According to the current medical interpretation, Zhuyouke also falls into the category of psychological therapy."
Xie Wanhua's words revealed her true colors. She might have learned the method of Zhuyou, but she certainly didn't learn it all.
According to Taoism, "Zhu" means incantation, and "you" means the cause of the disease. The concept of "Zhuyou" is very broad, including forbidden methods, incantations, blessing methods, talismans, as well as suggestion therapy, psychotherapy, hypnosis therapy, music therapy, etc. in modern medicine, and of course, Chinese herbal medicine.
As for the various rules of the Zhuyou Department, I don't think Xie Wanhua may be clear about them.
I said in a deep voice: "Since you have learned the art of incantation, that's great. According to the rules of the art, you should know the consequences of blocking my business."
Xie Wanhua smiled and said, "I am not a practitioner of the art of martial arts, and I will not tell you any rules. However, since we are talking about rules, I seem to have heard my teacher say that there is a saying in the art of martial arts that 'reaching out determines the level', right?"
I couldn't help but frown and said, "You want to reach out to me?"
Stretching out one's hand is actually the most direct way for sorcerers to resolve business disputes. To put it bluntly, it is to stretch out one's hand and show one's bottom line to see who has greater ability. The losing party will naturally not be able to do business again.
"No way?" Xie Wanhua said before I could say anything, "Of course, you can also insist that we go through legal procedures. However, I can't guarantee who will win or lose."
I know Xie Wanhua is trying to scare me, but I don't have the patience to go through the officials to get the diary back.
I said in a deep voice: "How do you want to try?"
"In terms of skills, I am definitely not your opponent. I am a little girl, so I will take advantage of you, a big man!" Xie Wanhua pointed to the recliner in the room, "Please sit on the recliner! If I succeed in hypnotizing you, please don't disturb my brother-in-law; otherwise, I will give you the diary. What do you think?"
Hypnosis originated in the West, but China also has similar magic, such as soul-stealing, which is one of them. However, soul-stealing is extremely overbearing, so it has always been regarded as an evil art by the art of magic. The gentle Zhuyou art is the recognized orthodox art.
My grandfather taught me how to fight against soul-stealing. If Xie Wanhua has only learned a little bit of the art of incantation, then I will definitely win.
"It's a deal!" After I turned around and sat down, Xie Wanhua came over and took out a swaying watch from her body and hung it in front of my eyes: "Follow it with your eyes..."
I looked into Xie Wanhua's eyes with a half-smile: "Do you think this thing is useful?"
But as soon as I met Xie Wanhua's eyes, I felt a slight shock in my heart. Her eyes seemed to have the ability to captivate souls. One glance at her made people unable to extricate themselves, and they developed a kind of trust in her from the bottom of their hearts.
Soon, I didn't know what I was doing, but Xie Wanhua's voice came to my ears: "Do you have a lost memory?"
"Yes!" I do have a memory that I can't remember. I started to doubt this after my grandfather took me back to his so-called hometown. As far as I can remember, I was in the first grade of elementary school when I was eight years old.
But I always feel that some of the school scenes seem to have been seen somewhere, but I can't remember them. When I think about it carefully, it seems that I can't remember anything when I was six or seven years old.
Xie Wanhua said softly: "Do you want to know what happened to you at that time?"
I answered subconsciously: "Yes!"
Xie Wanhua's voice rang out again: "Well, lie down and I'll help you recall the past."
Soon, something that I had forgotten emerged in my mind.
Many years ago, our whole family lived in a more secluded mountain village. At that time, there was not only my grandfather, but also my father, my second uncle and my third aunt. But later, my father and my second uncle were both gone, just because they accepted three ghost coins from my grandfather.
At that time, my grandfather said that he had to pass on the three gold coins before he died.
Originally, my third aunt was obsessed with the money, and my father and second uncle also agreed, but my grandfather refused to give in no matter what. In the end, my third aunt was so angry that she ran away from home and never came back.
Not long after my third aunt passed away, my grandfather vomited blood due to anger. At that time, he was about to die, so he tremblingly handed a palm-sized leather bag to my father and told him to keep it well, because it was the life of the old Wu family.
At that time, everyone thought that my grandfather was dying. The village doctors came to see him several times and said, "Prepare for his funeral." My second uncle even prepared old clothes for my grandfather and put the coffin in the yard waiting.
But my grandfather refused to leave, and he did so for more than half a month.
There were no women in our family, only a few men. We didn't know how to save money, and we didn't have any land, so if we stopped working, we had to stop eating. Seeing that there was really no rice to cook at home, my father asked my second uncle to look after my grandfather while he went out to find a job.
My father is a coffin maker. According to the rules here, after the coffin is made, someone has to lie in it to test whether it is comfortable. Generally, coffin makers do not test the coffin because it is taboo, which means they make their own coffin.
When you ask someone to test the coffin, you need to give a red envelope to get rid of bad luck and bring good luck. The red envelope must be paid by the coffin maker because they are testing your craftsmanship. However, if the coffin maker lies in the coffin, the red envelope must be paid by the owner.
My father lay down in the coffin to earn more money. According to the rules, the person in the coffin must turn over three times, lying flat, lying on the sides, and lying flat again before he can stand up. After my father turned over the second time, as soon as his face turned over, he spat out of the coffin with a mouthful of blood, and his eyes widened as he died.
The family had no choice but to carry the unsealed coffin back to my house as per the rules. While I was crying my heart out in the yard, my grandfather sat up from the kang, walked out of the yard without even a stick, and exchanged the fine coffin that my father had prepared for him for the thin wooden coffin that hadn't even been painted, thus convincing the family to leave.
At that time, I saw with my own eyes that my grandfather took out three gold coins from my father's clenched fist. Only when the gold coins left his hand did my father's eyes close.
At that time, my grandfather didn't say anything and let my second uncle take care of my father's funeral.
But on the day of the burial, my grandfather covered my father's coffin with a reed mat.
Although I was young at that time, I had heard my father say that it was taboo to put a kang mat on the coffin.
In Northeast China, mats are placed on the kang to dissipate heat, so they are woven with reed stalks. No matter how they are woven, there must be gaps on the kang. The old people said that putting a kang mat on the coffin is to let the ghosts crawl through the gaps when they come out. The ghosts have to crawl through 3,600 gaps before they can come out, and they have to crawl back one by one when they go back. Putting a kang mat on the coffin is the same as not letting the ghosts come out, but the method is not so violent.
I said no matter what I did, he would not let my grandfather put the mat on top, but he would not listen, he just dragged me aside and filled the pit with dirt. Because of this, I was so angry that I did not talk to my grandfather for more than a month.
Later, my second uncle told me that my grandfather laid the kang mat in order to dispel the anger in my father.
My second uncle never lied to me, so I slowly started talking to my grandfather, but he never explained anything himself.
Half a year later, my second uncle wanted to find a wife, but my grandfather refused to let him marry the girl. He was so angry that he cried several times, but my grandfather just gritted his teeth and refused to give in. After my second uncle made a fuss several times, my grandfather became sick and never recovered.
My grandfather had been ill for more than half a year, and his health was getting worse day by day. My second uncle didn't dare to mention marriage anymore. When my grandfather was about to die, he took out the leather bag that was passed down to my father and gave it to my second uncle, and even said the same thing. (To be continued)