C8

Now, as usual, the master told me to go to the back. He said that I was still too young to know too much about his profession, so every time I came to the back of the house, my master told me to stay out of the way for a while, and only called me out when he had finished talking to the guests.

I went to the back, picked up my pen, and began practicing my drawing.

My master once said that paper is ordinary paper and pen is ordinary, so when one is drawing talismans, one must concentrate and guide the 'Qi' of the world into the paper through the hands and the tip of the brush. Only with different incantations can one draw a complete talisman.

For me, the most difficult thing right now isn't the one on top, but because my master told me that I had to use a brush to practice when I first started drawing talismans.

It was so hard for me that I couldn't even imagine how the ancients could have written with this thing. With a slight shake of the hand, a large black dot would appear on the paper, and it wouldn't even be erased.

After destroying several pieces of paper in succession, I finally gave up on drawing talismans and continued writing my name on the paper.

At this time, Master's voice came from outside.

"He Fang, you take care of the shop yourself. I'm going out to handle some matters, I'll do it the same night as usual, do you know?"

"Yes," I said in the back room and went back to my writing.

The old rule was to open the restaurant after 12 o'clock every night. Then, he would light three joss sticks and two drops of wax in front of the door, more or less burn some paper money, and then close the door again at 4 o'clock.

As for this strange rule, the master didn't explain too much, so I didn't ask either.

He also told me that no matter when I went in or out of the shop, I had to remember to close the door. I didn't know why, but of course I did.

I had been writing in the house, and my hands felt a little sore. I put down my brush and walked out. I realized that it was already 5 in the afternoon, and that it would be time for dinner soon. Usually, as long as the master doesn't come back after 6, he would stay the night at the guest's house; this is one of the rules that I discovered after staying here for a period of time.

After a while, when Master still hadn't returned, I went to the back to make dinner.

I went to look through the books my master had placed on his bookshelf. My master had told me that I would have to learn these things sooner or later. He told me to look through them myself when I had time.

After opening the book, I remembered that I couldn't read many large characters. Some of the books had talismans written on them that I could draw according to their appearance. Of course, they didn't have any power.

But it was better than nothing. Just like that, time passed slowly, and soon it was midnight.

I was still scared when I was at home alone, but getting used to it wasn't that big of a deal, and it never happened.

My master's clock was in the back room. I checked the time and saw that there was less than five minutes before midnight. As usual, I took out three incense sticks and two wax paper money and opened the door to the door.

It was getting colder and colder. Snow was hard to see in winter in the south, but that sort of cooling was deep to the bones. Sometimes, a gust of wind would blow on your face and your snot would fall off.

Rubbing my hands, I ignited the incense wax before quickly lighting up the paper money. This way, I would be able to roast the paper.

He didn't know what was going on. Normally, there would be one or two dogs barking at this time of the day, but tonight, the streets were exceptionally quiet. Not even dogs could be heard.

There was another gust of cold wind, and I shivered. It was terrifying.

Master had said that after midnight was the peak period for those dirty things to appear, and that the two points with the heaviest yin energy were the peak period.

But it was only 12 o'clock, could it be that something was about to come out?

Thinking this, I became even more scared. I hurriedly threw all of the remaining paper money into the fire and ran into the house. What made me angry was that I couldn't close the door, nor could I sleep.

So I went behind the counter and turned on the light, and the dim light finally made me feel a little safer.

Although Master said that he had set up two talismans under the doorsill and that those dirty things wouldn't be able to enter the room, looking at the scorched pieces of paper flying in the wind outside, I still felt that it was very scary.

However, no matter how scared I was, I continued to lie on the counter. Not long after, I fell asleep in a daze.

I don't know how long this went on before I woke up from the cold, but I felt cold all over. I ran to the back room and got a quilt to cover myself with. I glanced at the time, it was exactly two o'clock, and I had only slept for two hours.

While complaining about the rules, I continued to sit behind the counter.

Before I knew it, I was dozing again, wrapped in a quilt with one hand under my chin.

"Boss, buy some medicine."

Ah!

A person with a head of hair suddenly appeared in front of my counter and called out to me.

In an instant, I stopped dozing off and even cried out loudly in fright. The stool fell back and almost fell off.

I looked carefully at the person in front of me. He was about thirty years old and was dressed entirely in white. There was even an umbrella in his hand.

Most importantly, his eyes were staring straight at me. This is too scary!

Then, he remembered that his master had said that he had set up a rune under the doorstep. He was relieved, thinking that this person must be like his master, an expert of some sort.

I remember Master telling me before that all masters have strange habits that ordinary people can't understand.

Now that I think about it, I'm not scared anymore. Instead, I became a bit more respectful and asked him, "Mister, what kind of medicine do you want?"

After asking this question, I felt that I was done for, and my master is no longer here. Where can I find someone to give him medicine? When my master told me to identify the Chinese medicine, I only remembered a few of the easier ones. I can only hope that I can recognize all the medicines he wants.

I don't know what's going on, but why do I feel that the room is getting colder and colder?

"Eight cents, three coins for fennel."

He continued to stare at me, causing me to feel uncomfortable. I thought to myself, 'These experts are really strange, do I have flowers on my face? They must be staring at me.'

The two things that he said were things that I knew about and could easily obtain, but the joy in my heart had mysteriously been diluted by a lot.

I got up and put down the quilt to help him get his medicine. The moment I put down the quilt, I felt a chill. I couldn't help but shiver. It was too cold! What was going on?

I didn't care if he was an expert or not. I just wanted to get him some medicine and get him out of here.

The star anise is not very bright, but the shape and smell of these two herbs make it easy for me to find them.

I didn't notice it when he said that I was lucky when weighing the medicinal herbs. Three coins? How much (how much) are these three dollars? I didn't ask any more questions and just gave him three taels. It should be pretty much the same.

"Sir, here's your medicine."

I handed him the medicine, and he left without giving me any money. I chased after him. When I reached the door, there was no sign of him.

I began to feel scared again. I didn't know how my master managed to survive so many years, and this medicine store couldn't earn any money. His help to the poor in this town didn't have any fees, just like helping our family.

What is this?

When I walked back to the counter, I found a half palm-sized round piece of unknown material lying on top of it. I didn't know what this was for.

He weighed the money in his hand and found it to be quite heavy. In my impression, didn't the money always come from paper? There were still some coins, but they were not this heavy?

Curious, I didn't think much about it and just put this strange item in the drawer of the counter.

By then the temperature had started to warm up again, and at last there was nothing more wrong with the night, and after four o'clock I closed the door and went back to my room to sleep.

As a result, I was pulled off the bed by my master the next day just as the sky lit up.

"He Fang, are you alright?"

Ever since I got to know Master, I started to get along with him. I rubbed my eyes and said, "I'm fine, what's wrong with Master?" I crawled back into bed, ready to go back to sleep.

I didn't expect my master's words to immediately dispel all of my drowsiness, allowing me to stand up straight.

"There are some dirty things in the shop that have come before, and they are very powerful!"