As we all know, Chinese sacrifices and funerals have to burn dead money. What is a dead banknote? It's the paper money that burns the dead, as the saying goes!

But in fact, the dead money is not just burned to the dead, in general, there are four types of gold money, silver money, god money, and paper money. Among them, gold money is sacrificed to the gods and Buddhas; Silver money is sacrificed to ancestors and ghosts; The magic banknote is the most mysterious; The last paper money is the kind that ordinary people say.

Why do I know so well? Because I am a designer of the banknotes, that is, the craftsmen who make the banknotes.

Now that I'm getting older, I can't do it anymore, so I'll write these out for everyone to have fun. If you happen to run into a peer, you just know what is written in it, don't say it.

My name is Jiang Ming, I am an orphan, and I have lived in a small town with my master since I was a child.

For as long as I can remember, I knew that I was different from ordinary babies, because I was so ugly, and there were five black scabbed wounds on the left side of my face, which extended from the corners of my mouth to the corners of my eyes, which looked very scary. It's been there since I was a kid and it's getting older and bigger.

Unlike other businesses, we are closed during the day, open in the afternoon, and close at night. As for the reason, it is said that it is a rule passed down by the ancestors, and it is not clear in detail.

The master taught me since I was a child that what we do is to use the dark money to communicate the two worlds of yin and yang, and don't feel strange when you encounter any strange things.

The first thing that really sticks in my mind happened when I was eight years old.

In the winter of '88, I don't know why it was so cold in Sichuan and Chongqing, and it was only the early month of November, and there were two heavy snowfalls. One gloomy afternoon, a man dressed in black and wearing a hat that covered most of his face arrived at the store. The way he walked was strange and stiff, which reminded me of a puppet in a puppet show.

Although I am not very old, I grew up in a money shop, and I am not afraid to see this strange person. Directly asked him if he wanted to buy the dark banknote? As I approached the man, I also smelled a faint stench.

I said this big brother, the dark money in our store is of good quality and low price, what do you want, not only paper money, but also silver money, if you can afford the price, you can afford to wait for time, and the gold money is not nothing.

The man wrapped in black clothes didn't care about me at all, and walked directly towards the master who was sorting out a pile of dark bills. The master raised his head and saw that the man in black said what kind of dark money are you going to buy? You tell me directly.

The man in black spoke, his voice hoarse, very ugly: "Master Jiang, Shuitang Village, Longtou Township, please take a trip." ”

At the time, I thought this person was a little weird, generally buy dark paper and buy dark money, where is the reason for my master to send it in person? Does he think he's an uncle?

My master stared at the man for a long time, then nodded and said I know, I'll go over now.

I didn't expect the master to agree! Do I have to send it separately when I buy the paper? I didn't understand it, but what I didn't expect was that something even more incomprehensible was still to come, and in Reservoir Village, I would be fully and truly exposed to another side of this world for the first time.

The man dressed in black refused to go, and stood still. The master sighed, took out a crumpled thing from his pocket, handed it to the man, and said, "Thank you for your hard work." Then the man in black accepted what the master handed him, turned around and walked out of the door step by step.

I clearly saw that what the master handed to this person just now was a silver dark note with a pattern!

After the man left, I packed up my things under the command of the master, and tied up all kinds of paper money of different uses and shapes with red thread one by one, and put them in a black cloth bag. The master himself was in a gloomy hut on the west side of the courtyard, but it was not long before he came out, with a cloth bag straddled behind him, a pair of black cloth shoes on his feet, a hemp rope wrapped around his waist, and a shabby hat on his head.

I ran over and said it wasn't raining again, master, what are you doing with a hat, and you're dressed so strangely.

The master touched my head with a smile and said Xiao Ming, today the master will let you see the ability of our banknote designers, and let you know that what you have inherited is not only the craft of making a living by making money, but also many, many more. In the end, the smile on the master's face subsided and became a little serious.

I nodded in understanding.

Many years later, that winter afternoon in 1988 seemed like the beginning of a fateful one......

At that time, transportation in China was still very poor, there was no transportation from the town to the countryside below, and it was necessary to walk. Shuitang Village, Longtou Township is a very remote village, deep in the mountains. Although the mountains in Sichuan and Chongqing are not tall, the terrain is extremely complex, the vegetation is lush, and the climate is humid, there are many poisonous snakes and poisonous insects, so you should be very careful when rushing in the countryside.

I walked with my master for about three hours on the mountain road before we reached the boundary of Shui Tong Village. It was already dark, and the surrounding barren grass and paths looked like they were covered with a veil of vagueness, and there was a stone tablet next to us, on which were carved three big characters of Shuitang Village.

My master told me to read and write since I was a child, so although I didn't go to school, I was much earlier than those students who read books.

"Master, it's a little dark today, it's only five o'clock now, and it's so dark." I rubbed my eyes with my hands while looking at the master.

The master didn't answer, and looked at the pond village in front of him with a serious expression, his brows furrowed very tightly. It took a long time before he let out a long sigh and said: I'm afraid there is a big problem in this village, if it is not solved as soon as possible, I don't know how many people will die...... Jiang Ming, I shouldn't have brought you here today. ”

Only then did I realize that it was not early that it was dark, but that there was a circle of black gas around the village. The black air enveloped the entire reservoir village, which is why it made me feel like it was dark.

I suddenly felt a little scared and moved closer to the master. The master opened his backpack, took out a few yellow paper coins from it, and then threw them in front of him, as if manipulated by an invisible force, and flew towards the tiled house closest to us in front.

But when he was about to get closer, he seemed to be blocked by a transparent wall that he couldn't see, and he stopped at once, fell to the ground, and then quickly turned from yellow to black, and finally turned into powder.

The master shook his head: "The money is no longer collected, it's a big guy." As he spoke, he took out a thin rope from his backpack and handed it to me, shouting that I must hold on tightly and not let go no matter what happens. The master's expression had never been so serious, and although I didn't know what it was all about, I nodded and grabbed the rope tightly with my hand.

After doing these things, the master and I took the two ends of the rope and walked into the reservoir village one after the other. The moment I walked through the stele and walked into the reservoir village, I immediately felt a chill coming towards me, so cold that I couldn't bear it, as if I didn't wear clothes to walk in the wind when I was the coldest in winter, my teeth chattered up and down in the cold, I really couldn't figure out why it was so cold?

The village was quiet, or rather deadly, and not a sound could be heard. I had never seen such a quiet village, and it was supposed to be the time for dinner, but not only did I see no cooking smoke, I didn't hear people, not even dogs!

Which village didn't have dogs at that time? Usually people from outside the village came in, and the dogs began to bark, but now the situation is that the dogs are not barking, not even a ghost is seen, and the whole area of the village seems to have a thin layer of mist, hazy.

A thought popped into my head, this didn't look like a village from anywhere, it was like a graveyard!

The master next to me suddenly raised his hand, and I saw that he had a torch in his hand, and the torch was burning, and it was actually paper money soaked in kerosene, like the wick of a kerosene lamp. But the strange thing is that the light emitted by the burning of this paper money torch is actually red, and the red flame looks very strange in the white mist.