Part 2 Chapter 3
My heart skipped a beat and I quickly moved over. I was not far away from it. The porcelain bowl was white. When I shone a flashlight on it in the dark, it reflected some light. When I got closer, I found that it was a very ordinary white porcelain bowl. The style was quite old and few people use it now. However, it was definitely not an antique. There was a layer of black stuff on the bottom of the bowl, a bit like the grease left by dishes like braised pork.
Seeing that Qin Yiheng had a normal expression, I guessed that this thing was not dangerous. After hesitating for a moment, I still didn't dare to reach out to touch it. I just patted and pointed at the bowl, asking him what was going on with my eyes.
Qin Yiheng lowered his voice and said, "This bowl must have been left by the person who set off firecrackers. Don't act rashly before I see it for sure. The bowl must be filled with blood, which has already dried up." After saying that, he asked me, "Do you dare to knock on it?" He actually took out a small wooden stick from his bag and handed it to me.
Are you going to use me as a test again? I was about to start scolding him, so I waved my hand to let him do it himself. He smiled and really used a wooden stick to gently tap the edge of the bowl twice, and then there were two crisp sounds. Qin Yiheng frowned after hearing this, and seemed unwilling to give up. He tapped twice more vigorously, and the bowl still responded with two crisp sounds.
I didn't hear anything wrong. According to what Qin Yiheng said, the bowl was filled with blood. Could it be that this bowl was used to feed some ghosts? Thinking of this, I was a little scared. I raised my chin towards the bowl and asked him what was going on with my eyes.
Qin Yiheng glanced at me, pulled me to the other side of the dirt road, and told me that this bowl is called a tuo in their jargon. This tuo was used to weigh things in the past. With the progress of the times, most people now use electronic scales, so it is rarely seen. In the art of alchemy, the so-called tuo is also used as a heavy object to press things, but it presses shadows.
In ancient times, many families did not worship their ancestors or gods. They all had their own offerings, collectively known as household gods. These household gods were all very strange and had different origins. For example, some owners of some families were in trouble and were saved by some animals, or some spiritual bones were dug up when they were building houses and moving graves. It is said that some even more outrageous people worshipped some old objects in their homes as household gods. In the eyes of these families who worship household gods, this is different from worshipping their ancestors. Although it is natural for ancestors to protect their descendants, they are mortals after all, and their abilities may be weaker. Those public gods are probably too busy, and even if they are effective, they may require several generations of sincere worship. Household gods are different. They appear in a timely and effective manner. If you burn incense and place offerings today, your wish may be fulfilled tomorrow, so these families are more willing to believe in the protection of household gods.
I guess he was afraid that I wouldn’t understand, so he spoke in very simple terms, making it sound like a crosstalk.
I asked, "When worshipping gods, did the ancients also study the cost-effectiveness or something? According to you, if household gods are so powerful and so easy to show up, then who would still work? If everyone gets one to worship at home, wouldn't that mean they have everything?"
He waved his hand at me, asking me not to interrupt, and continued, "It's not as exaggerated as you say. Not to mention that household gods are hard to come by, their abilities are very limited. The so-called efficacy is only relative. At best, it can bring a child, rain, or bless the women in the family to have a smooth childbirth. The people who worship them don't ask for much. Moreover, according to my personal analysis, it is very likely that the efficacy of their prayers is not the credit of the household gods, but their destiny. The household gods just calculated their fate, knew the results in advance, and expressed them. They are probably no better than two good fortune tellers. But the people who worship household gods certainly don't realize this, so their faith is very blind, and this blindness has led to the emergence of things like the砣."
"In theory, the household gods do not belong exclusively to this family, and the people who worship them are naturally aware of this. However, for their own selfish interests, they hope to keep these effective household gods, and as a result, the thing called the 砣 was derived. According to legend, if a long-burning lamp is placed in front of the shrine, and the shadow of the shrine is pressed down by the 砣, the household gods can be tied to the house and cannot leave. In this way, the household god is equivalent to being in prison and can only serve this family. There is no evidence to prove who first invented this method, but it is still circulating today, which shows that it is still effective. Later, many branches were formed based on this method. For example, some wealthy families would use the 砣 to press down the shadow of the house where wealth is stored. It is said that this can ensure that the family does not lose money; in other places, the 砣 is used to press down the veil of women at marriage. It is said that it can prevent women from cheating, and so on. Originally, the blood of a male deer was put in this bowl. Blood should be added once on the first and fifteenth day of each month. Later, there were gradually fewer requirements, as long as it was blood."
"After the founding of New China, it has evolved into a literal meaning, using a real weight as a substitute. I don't know if this replacement will still work. Anyway, now it seems that those who use weights are probably charlatans who deceive people, otherwise the bowl here would not be like this."
After listening to all this, I was still confused. Although this place was not in the wilderness, it was at least sparsely populated, right? Let's not talk about whether there was a shrine. Even if there was one, wouldn't the household gods be placed at home? Where was the house? Thinking of this, I suddenly felt a chill in my heart. Damn, this person's home couldn't be right under our feet, right?
Thinking of this, I almost cried out: "So it's a corpse in a tomb that is being worshipped as a household deity?!"
Qin Yiheng quickly advised me not to worry, explaining: "This weight may not necessarily be used to suppress some household gods. Now it seems that the purpose of the person who put it there is very simple. The reason why the weight can tie up the household gods is because it is heavy enough. This heavy weight is not a physical weight, but a name in metaphysics, which is the same as saying that a person's horoscope is heavy. Because it is heavy enough, it is difficult for those gods and ghosts to move it. Putting it here will be a good signpost. Those who set off firecrackers may be worried that they will not be able to get out."
Can't get out? This place is not a maze or a primeval forest, how can I not get out? I used a flashlight to illuminate the road ahead, and the flashlight was swallowed up by the darkness at the end of the road. I looked at it and felt more and more scared. Qin Yiheng seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then told me to continue on my way, saying that we had wasted some time and we had to go faster next time.
I continued on the road, but it was still very difficult for me to walk. When I increased my speed, I was always worried about stepping on a pothole and hurting my ankle, which made me even more tired. After walking a few hundred meters, Qin Yiheng pointed out to me with a flashlight that there was another large white porcelain bowl on the side of the road, just like the previous . It seemed that this thing was really a road sign.
I forgot to keep track of the time, and I didn't know how long I had been chasing. I was extremely tired. From time to time, I could still hear the sound of firecrackers in front of me. From the noise, it seemed that there were fewer and fewer firecrackers. However, as the distance shortened, the sound of the firecrackers became louder and louder.
We both turned off our flashlights. The moonlight was good that night, at least it wasn't dark enough to get lost. At first, our eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness yet, so our pace slowed down. This gave me the opportunity to ask Qin Yiheng what the secret was in knocking on the bowl with a wooden stick.
Qin Yiheng explained to me: "First of all, this porcelain bowl has always been a common object in metaphysics and alchemy. First, it is easier to find, and the bowl is usually of moderate size, which is easier to use; second, because the bowl will contact the grains, it is more stable. The so-called stability does not mean that the bowl is stable and not easy to fall, but that the bowl is stronger than other utensils in the use of alchemy . This avoids the cracking of the utensils used in the layout of the alchemy, which will cause trouble to oneself. It is worth mentioning that many film and television dramas will shoot When you go to many poor families to burn incense for your deceased relatives, you always put a bowl filled with sand or rice in front of the spirit tablet. This is a big taboo, and it is clear that it will attract lonely ghosts into the house. Even if the family is poor and cannot afford an incense burner, they cannot use a rice bowl; even if it is a porcelain bowl that looks like a rice bowl, it must be the kind with the mouth facing inward. This is not only a taboo in metaphysics, but also sounds unlucky. Doesn't it mean that the rice bowl is being offered away? This is just like in many rural areas, no matter how much two families have a grudge, they cannot smash the big pot in the other family's house. "
Because many of the tricks in the art of making money are related to bowls, he couldn't figure out what it was for a while. Usually, the bowls placed on the roadside are upside down, with a talisman pressed inside. Usually, a family member is seriously ill, or has been cursed for some reason, so they find someone who knows the business to set up such a trick, hoping to pass it on to the person who is curious or accidentally opens the bowl. But the bowl just now was placed upright, so just in case, he still knocked it a few times with a peach wood stick, fearing that there was something at the bottom of the bowl. It goes without saying that this peach wood stick is spiritual and can ward off evil spirits. If there is a mystery when knocking the bowl with it, the sound will definitely be wrong. He knocked it a few times just now, and the sound was normal, but the vibration of the stick was very special. He knocked it a few more times before confirming that it was a ball.
As we talked, we were walking faster and faster, partly because our eyes had adjusted to the light, and partly because we had slowed down earlier and had recovered some strength. We were already close to each other, so we didn't dare to run too fast, so we could only walk fast. After walking for more than ten minutes, we saw two similar white porcelain bowls in the middle, and there were several firecrackers in front of us, and we could already see the flames. I don't know if it was a psychological effect, but I could even see a few vague shadows next to the firecrackers.
I was very surprised. This group of people didn't use flashlights. It seemed that they were moving forward in the dark. No wonder they were moving so slowly. I asked Qin Yiheng, "I thought we turned off the flashlights. They were the ones who were in the light while we were in the dark. It seemed that we were both in the dark. How could we get closer?"
Qin Yiheng pursed his lips and thought for a while, then looked around and said, "We just need to take a general look, and we don't need to get too close. The main thing is to follow closely and see what they are trying to do." As he said that, he handed the peach wood stick to me and asked me to turn off my phone.
I was immediately depressed. This was asking me to self-harm at a critical moment! Qin Yiheng told me to put the stick in my pocket. Now he couldn't feel any resentment at all. These people were all living people. There should be some knowledgeable people in the team. He asked me to put the peach wood stick just because he was afraid that the passing ghost would scare my yang energy and accidentally sneeze and expose myself. He told me to lower my body and then moved forward again.
People with experience should know that this posture is worse than crawling. I almost suffocated from walking so fast. Fortunately, this area has reached the third phase. There are many piles left for the foundation on the ground, and I can hide behind them to catch my breath occasionally. After walking for about ten minutes, I was behind a pile and Qin Yiheng asked me to stop. I stuck my head out and saw the outlines of those people. Although they were not clear, I could roughly see their movements. It didn't matter if I saw it, I was so scared that I almost peed my pants. I quickly turned my head and asked Qin Yiheng: "Are they all living people? How the hell do they look like that!"
