In late spring and early summer, the climate in the south is always hot and uncomfortable.

Grandpa and I cleaned up a tabletop, and the two of us were lying on it blowing a small electric fan and eating breakfast, looking a little comfortable.

My name is Ge Shiyi, which is the name given by my grandfather.

Grandpa said I picked it up by him. It was Chinese New Year's Eve, and my grandfather was passing by a park on his way home from tea at night, and I was wrapped in a red scarf and placed on a park stone bench.

He thought it was just a discarded kitten and a puppy, but I felt like I sensed him and cried as soon as he got closer.

It was a very snowy day, and my grandfather said that it was a miracle that I survived, and my little face was already purple from the cold, and he saw that there was no one around, so he had to take me home.

This home is the small room I live in now, a simple storefront.

My grandfather had no children, and when he brought me home, he didn't look anything unusual when he saw me, so he simply raised me as a son.

This is 20 years, during which this small county town has changed a lot, but the only thing that has not changed is my grandfather's small house and my poor family background.

Outside the room hung a few words crookedly, "Custom-made coffins, wreaths, paper ties." "Yes, it's a coffin shop, and even if it's a dead man's business, the other wreath shops on the same street are doing much better than we are.

As for why grandpa didn't change careers and kept doing this, in his words, he couldn't do without this line of work in his life, and he couldn't learn other crafts.

As far as I know, my grandfather was a fortune teller earlier, proficient in physiognomy and divination, and although he gained some false fame, he also gained a lot of evil obstacles because of it.

"I'm damned, you, but don't be like me. Your fate is destined to be full of disasters, and you need the help of nobles, and now you are almost twenty, and the catastrophe is near, but grandpa, I am afraid that I will no longer be able to protect you. Grandpa has been putting this on his lips lately, and he brings it up to me from time to time during meals.

I played with the unknown metal tag around my neck, which was engraved with the character kudzu, which my grandfather had set as my surname, and Eleven was my calamity, which was also the origin of my name.

Grandpa said that he was almost blind in order to see my life clearly. My first eons were abandoned at a young age, and the other nine eons have already been resolved by my grandfather in the past 19 years, and the only one eons will be fulfilled before the age of twenty, and this year is my last year.

"Grandpa, don't talk nonsense, I can see that your body is still tough." As I ate breakfast, I looked at my grandfather, who was sitting across from me, holding chopsticks and pulling porridge into his mouth.

The old man in front of me is my only relative, and I am his son and his only heir.

Grandpa's face clearly showed his face. The ends of his eyebrows were all gone, and his nose was slightly shriveled and collapsed. This is the end of life and the desire to die.

The eyebrows are also known as the longevity officer, the first half of the thick section indicates that the first half of the life is blessed with Lu Kangyou, and the longevity is full, and the second half disappears, which means that the death or the appearance of the broken life.

I think it should be my grandfather who lost his longevity for me to see the divination. The nose is shriveled and collapsed, indicating that the blessing has been exhausted, and there is no black gas and wrinkles in the palace of the evil disease at the bridge of the nose, indicating that the reason for the end of life is not because of disease. And the ugly position on the right side of his face is a little entangled in black gas, and it is heavier than other areas, this is the luck of 78, 79, grandpa is 78 years old this year, and he will definitely not be able to endure it in the past two years.

I didn't really curse my grandfather to die, but I deduced it from the skills taught by my grandfather.

"Hehe, what, it's this look again, hum, I know if you don't say it. Although we can't see our own fate clearly, I know my own body. Hey, it's so stuffy today, it looks like it's going to rain heavily. "Grandpa peeled a salted duck egg and looked at me with a smile.

I scratched my head, "Grandpa, it's a bit hot and humid, but the weather forecast says it's just cloudy today, and there will be rain in some areas." Isn't it, we're a local area again? ”

Grandpa smiled, took a sip of the oil stains on the salted egg yolk and said, "Science is science, and there is nothing wrong with it." But if you look at the black clouds outside, covering the sky and the sun, and the weather is so hot, it's no wonder that it doesn't rain. ”

"Grandpa, it's the summer solstice today, do you want me to go out and get an old hen to make up for you? Business has been good in the past two days, and the coffins have been ordered. "I looked at the big coffin on the side, this is the day before yesterday the guest ordered something, there is just a spot in the shop, the guest can also see it, so I made an appointment to pick it up today.

"Hey, the old hen doesn't need it, wait for you to go to the vegetable market to buy two catties of pig's head meat, and then get me some green onions, green onions are a good thing, through the five organs, to reach all the tricks, to go to cold and dampness, to avoid evil, to reduce swelling and pain, to accumulate meat..."

I was also used to his chatter, so I smiled and ignored it, swallowed all the food in the bowl and took it to the kitchen sink, "Grandpa, you eat slowly, just wait for me to come back and clean up." Then I'm going out, you be careful at home yourself, call me if there's anything. ”

"Got it, go ahead, go ahead, my eyes are bad, but I'm not stupid." Grandpa's voice came from the main hall next door, which was still loud, but it lacked a little confidence, which was a manifestation of the loss of yang energy.

Since my grandfather has been showing this recently, I didn't pay much attention to it, so I took my wallet and walked out the door.

Walking to the corner of the street, I saw the heavy dark clouds in the air, and I remembered that my grandfather said before that it was going to rain, "Hey, the vegetable market is also quite far away, walk for more than ten minutes, let's go back and bring an umbrella." ”

Thinking to himself, he turned back to his coffin shop on the old street.

The shop is still a shop, but there is a little more noise inside, and I am wondering, why is there a customer in just two or three minutes after going out, isn't it?

So I didn't think much about it and entered through the main entrance, and there were really some people crowded in the small shop, and I carefully identified that there were a total of 3 people in front of the old counter, two burly men in suits and leather shoes, and a bald old man was let by them in the middle, lying on the counter like a toad, discussing something with the people inside.

"Grandpa, are you here? I'll come back with an umbrella. I shouted, signaling my presence.

The bald old man in the middle turned around when he heard the shouting, nodded at me with a smile on his face, and said, "Hehe, Hu Tianshi's grandson is so old, what's his name, let the uncle take a good look." ”

After I took a closer look, I didn't recognize who this self-proclaimed uncle was, you know, although my family has lived in this small county town for 20 years, but they have no relatives, and they spend the New Year's holidays in their own home.

But the man's face gave me a very bad first impression, of course not the bad of the wicked person, but bad luck, and I didn't recognize it any more, because he had turned his head back, and obviously didn't really want to know me, and take a good look at what I meant.

"Grandpa, what's the matter? I'll go inside and get something I want to buy. "People don't want to pay attention to me, and I naturally don't want to be boring.

Grandpa was still sitting in the old Taishi chair at the counter, and a black and white television played a noisy program and the old ceiling fan in the background. But his voice still came to my ears: "Eleven, this guest is the one who ordered the coffin the day before yesterday, you go grocery shopping, I have already prepared what they want." ”

I listened to my grandfather's words and went into the inner room, took my umbrella and left, these people were strange, and they were a little different from the usual guests. It seems that it should be as simple as just buying things. Could it be that you are here to ask for hanging? It's a pity that they will be disappointed eventually, because as far as I know, grandpa has been sealed for an unknown number of years.

The north solstice of the day, the solstice of the long day, and the short solstice of the sun, so it is called the summer solstice. The most solitary, the extreme.

Some people say that this day is the day when the sun turns its head, but for me, this day is a real turning point.

By the time I ran home from the old street with an umbrella in the pouring rain, the balding old man had disappeared. However, my grandfather rarely cleaned up the breakfast dishes and chopsticks on the counter, and smiled kindly at me as I entered the door.

"Damn, grandpa, don't scare me, what are you smiling at me?" I dusted off the rainwater, put away my umbrella and shook it, and then went into the inner room, leaving a word.

"Eleven, today's heavy rain is estimated to be unstoppable for a while and a half, clean up the shop and we will close the door, you go upstairs to my room, I have something to give you." Even though I was already in the next room, my grandfather's voice still rang in my ears through the noise of the rainstorm and the walls.

I'm still used to this, and my grandfather said that he has a lot of qi in his body, so the sound is more penetrating.

"Got it, be careful when you go upstairs, I'll come right over." I quickly chopped the pork head meat I bought, put it on a plate and put it in the cupboard, then washed my hands and went upstairs.

Grandpa's speed was really slow, and he seemed to have just sat down on the bed when I entered his room, rummaging through the cabinet under the bed with his trembling hands.

"Grandpa, what are you looking for? It can't be some kind of heirloom, right? Hey, isn't it worth the money? I asked, curiously, squatting down a few steps.

Grandpa raised his head and glanced at me: "Little rabbit cub, what is worthless, didn't I tell you, in our industry, we can't touch too much money, money is a matter of cause and effect, and too much contamination will inevitably outweigh the losses." Here you go. ”

I smiled reluctantly, in fact, I didn't feel it when I heard that it was worthless, and my grandfather handed over a worn-out notebook, which was the kind of small yellow book bound in yellow paper, and the paper of the book was relatively thick, and it was full of vigorous and powerful fonts.

"Eleven, how's that, are you interested?" Grandpa asked with a frown when he saw me casually flipping through the little yellow book.

"Grandpa, what are you writing here? Palm thunder, sky thunder, fire cloud spell? I flipped a few more pages back, and then said, "Meditation Mantra, Evil Breaking Mantra, Four-Phase Array, Six-Combination Array?" What are you? Playing legends, and so many spells. ”

"Bah, what a legend, little rabbit cub, this is a Taoist secret art, it was written when I was young, and it records most of my spells." Grandpa snatched the little yellow book that was being read indiscriminately in my hand, folded it in distress and said.

"Taoist mysteries? Grandpa, are you still a Taoist priest? No, I didn't hear you mention it! I said with some suspicion.

Hearing this, Grandpa sighed heavily and replied: "Eleven, I didn't plan to hand over these things to you, I just hope that you will devote yourself to learning the method of looking at physiognomy, meet your nobles as soon as possible, and spend this life plainly." But now, it seems, it's too late. Your grandfather and I are approaching, and we can't delay it, this Taoist secret technique, it's all up to you to slowly refer to it, you have to remember all my following words. ”

I saw that my grandfather's words were not mixed with any jokes, and he looked at me with a straight face, so naturally he was not embarrassed to smile anymore, "Grandpa, you said, I remember everything, and I memorized it all." ”

"Hmm." Grandpa nodded, stared into my eyes and continued: "Looking at the fortune divination, it is a leak of heavenly secrets that will cause trouble, and it is not appropriate to reveal more; And this Taoist secret technique can help you exorcise evil spirits and slay demons, accumulate yin virtues, and counteract evil obstacles. ”

When Grandpa said this, he began to gasp heavily, covering his chest with one hand, and his expression gradually became hideous and painful.

"Grandpa!" Seeing this, I was so frightened that I jumped up from the half-crouched state and took two steps to support him.

Although Grandpa has always been weak, he has never been sick, where can there be such a short-spirited appearance!

"I'm fine, huhu~" Grandpa propped up the bed with one hand, the essence in his eyes began to dim, waved his hand at me and said, "It's really fast." Hey, just now I calculated a hexagram for the old man of the Xu family, and it caused a lot of evil obstacles. ”

"Aren't you already sealed! Why bother—" I was interrupted before I could finish my sentence.

"The Xu family is very strong in Xijing, you need to have a backer, I can't push this job. Since I received the business the day before yesterday, I have already thought about it, and if there is anything that cannot be solved in the future, I will go to them. ”

Grandpa had exhausted all his strength to say this, so I had to gently put him on the bed, help him cover the quilt, and look at the old man in front of me.

This is my only relative, my grandfather has always taken me very well, except for not giving me financial help, everything else is simply meticulous. "Grandpa, don't worry, I won't let you down, and I'll take care of myself when you leave."

"Ahem!" When my words fell, my grandfather coughed violently, and I hurriedly turned him sideways and patted him on the back, "Little rabbit, you curse me, what do you call me to leave." ”

Grandpa coughed for a while and his spirit was much better, and then he said: "You should study this yellow book carefully, I have to pack up my things and leave here tomorrow, I need to deal with Boss Xu's affairs personally, and don't come with me." I won't be coming back this time, hey, it's all fate. This storefront room is left to you, and the contents are yours. ”

I nodded, and seeing that he looked weak, I didn't say anything more. After getting up and pouring a glass of water for Grandpa, he closed the door and went back to his room, intending to study the yellow book first.