Origin

Wu Zhongyuan didn't immediately open these two books which he picked from a pile of old books, hesitating whether to read or not. If the contents of these two books were helpful to him and his senior brother, their master would have taught them long ago when he was alive. And the reason why the master did not teach them before his death means that learning the contents of these two books must be harmful to them, or at least the master thought so.

But these two books should have something good to read. If they were all by-products of feudal superstition, then Master would have surely burned them before he died. Since Master did not do that but hid them on the ceiling, which showed that Master himself was also contradictory. He must have felt that he shouldn't teach these books to them but was reluctant to burn them, so he could only hide them in a hidden place. Whether two brothers can find these, relies on the will of God and the luck of the two.

Hesitating and unsure, Wu Zhongyuan picked up the Kanyu ( geomantic omen) Thirty-Six Laws. He wanted to open it but hesitated again. Now is the era of science, and these mysterious things are often associated with liars. 

Hope he won't get crazy after reading it.

He finally opened it up after thinking for a while. Whether this thing is the wisdom of the ancients or the lingering poison of superstition, it can only be judged after reading it.

A great man once said that there is no right to speak without investigation. 

So to investigate first, use a scientific perspective and a critical attitude to examine objectively.

The first page contained the author's or maybe the transcriber's message for future generations. It was written vertically in traditional Chinese characters. The difference between traditional Chinese and simplified characters was not very big and definitely not difficult to read. 

'Born, empty-handed, Die, followed by nothing. Good and evil will eventually be rewarded and repented. Borrowed must be repaid.'

"That's fair, but a little pessimistic." Wu Zhongyuan said to himself.

The classmates who didn't sleep in the dormitory answered casually, "Zhongyuan, what are you looking at?"  

"The history of the development of ancient literature." Wu Zhongyuan casually said. "We are about to go to the battlefield. Are you sure you will pass the exam?" The classmates said as if the battlefield refers to the upcoming college entrance examination. 

"I'm sure I'll flunk the exam." Wu Zhongyuan said as he turned to the second page again. Seeing that Wu Zhongyuan was absent-minded, his classmates ignored him and adjusted their glasses to immerse their eyes into the lessons. 

The second page was the catalog, which was divided into three chapters: First, Second, and Final. The names of the chapters surprised Wu Zhongyuan. The first chapter was about supporting the family while the second chapter was about seeking wealth from danger, and the final chapter was about repaying life and death. 

It was the first time Wu Zhongyuan has seen these kinds of titles. It stands to reason that mysterious things are often named very high and holy, but these titles were very common, not pleasant to be heard, and not detached from the normal. 

The book was not thick since it had only a few dozen pages, and it was all about the content and methods related to any ( geomantic omen ).

The so-called kanyu does not only refer to feng shui but also includes a lot of content such as stargazing, time selection, location selection, house determination, etc. He doesn't have time to take a closer look so he quickly skimmed through the contents. 

As if he got lost in the mist he only understood that each page records a lot of difficult concepts with the same type of content. 

Counting in detail, the main body of the book has a total of thirty-six pages, the first chapter was twenty-seven, the middle chapter was six, and the final chapter was three.

After reading the whole book, Wu Zhongyuan finally understood why the author or the transcriber named such an ambiguous title. Many of these methods related to Kanyu were achieved at the expense of their lifespan. Most of the methods recorded in the first chapter were daily content that will be used, such as naming a child, and looking at the feng shui of the house; these have little effect on oneself since he/she can earn a little money and support the family by helping others.

The content recorded in the second chapter was more dangerous. Once it is done, it is very likely to hurt oneself, but because of the danger, the reward is good. If you help the dignitaries and nobles, you will naturally get more money, so it is called rich and risk-seeking.

The final chapter was only three pages, all recorded were the essence of Kanyu, there were mysterious methods of prolonging life and changing one's faith by Qi ( one's energy ). Correspondingly, the price to pay is also very high. To repay life and death, doing this kind of thing is no longer for money, but often to repay the great kindness of others.

After reading the Thirty-Six Methods of Kanyu, Wu Zhongyuan did not remember what the specific methods of Kanyu were. The most impressive thing was that people could not tell fortune-telling randomly, because fortune-telling is classified as divination. Divination was in the second chapter of the Thirty-Six Methods of Kanyu, which is very serious.

A very serious matter, it doesn't matter if the calculation was wrong or right. If the calculation was right, it would reveal the secret, but it would cost one,  nine days life span. The re-pay lifespan recorded in the book was calculated by nine, the least was one-ninth, then two ninths, then three until the nine ninths, nine times nine is eighty-one days the most serious one, you might die suddenly. From this, it can be seen that the fortune-telling stalls on the street are all liars, and they are really capable of lying. Who would exchange their nine-day life for the ten and twenty dollars, even paying the hundred won't do.

After reading the whole book, he concluded that the book did have some personality, but after thinking about it for a long time, it is difficult to judge whether this book was ancient wisdom or superstition. The reason is very simple. 

Try -it -yourself.

It is already midnight, and he is the only one left in the dormitory who didn't sleep. Wu Zhongyuan is not sleepy since he slept earlier, so he took out the Messed Drawing Talisman to read.

The content recorded in this book was even more outrageous. It was all about the methods of catching ghosts and exorcizing evil spirits. Drawing talismans was only one of the common methods. There were also some strange methods which came from folk tale accumulation and were different from the practice of orthodox Taoist talismans. Therefore, the book was called " Messed Drawing Talismans", and avoids being painfully corrected when encountering other orthodox Taoists. 

In addition, the transcriber of this book and the transcriber of Kanyu Thirty-Six Methods should not be the same person, because the handwriting was different. Compared with Kanyu's Thirty-Six Methods, this book was less credible. Kanyu's Thirty-Six Methods can still be tried by himself. This one can't even be tried.

Where can he find ghosts these days? By the time he finished reading the Messed Drawing Talismans, it was after one o'clock at night. Wu Zhongyuan re-bundled the books and put them under the bed.

The college entrance examination was about to take place. He doesn't have time to read them. He must get up early the next day and everything will go as per its routine. The college entrance examination is imminent, and there are endless mock exams. For the college entrance examination, Wu Zhongyuan is confident, but it is limited to passing the admission score. His grades for subjects were good, except mathematics.

They said that interest is the best teacher but he has no interest in mathematics at all and unfortunately mathematics is mandatory for both liberal arts and sciences. Although he is poor, he has no subsidy from the school, nor is there any charity to help him. This is not because the school does not have corresponding policies, nor that no one is willing to fund him, but Lin Qingming does not let him accept help from others.

Lin Qingming always said that human debt is the most difficult thing to repay, and it is best not to ask people for things that can be handled by themselves.

On the eve of the college entrance examination, Lin Qingming called and told Wu Zhongyuan that he does not want to work in a mine anymore, and wants to go back to work in Huang County. Also, there has been no movement from the hospital's side for the past few days, which made Wu Zhongyuan relieved. He doesn't have to be afraid of his affairs being leaked out and being arrested by the relevant departments for observation and research, at least for now.

The college entrance examination was approaching, and students appeared alert as if they were facing enemies on a battlefield. Wu Zhongyuan wasn't too nervous, since he can't apply for the military and police academies and he had no interest in other schools. 

Students spend more in university than in high school, and one has to study for four years to graduate. So it is better to study at a three-year junior college, and it can also relieve a little bit of pressure on his brother.

After the exam, the students were both nervous and excited. They gathered together to discuss in advance what university and major to apply for while looking forward to picture-perfect college life.

Wu Zhongyuan was very inactive in this regard. The reason is very simple, 

Everything will be easy and perfect once someone gets into the university, and it's the perfect time to spend your youth by falling in love. And love costs money, since he has no extra money, and his genes are abnormal, he will not think about it. He doesn't want any girl getting hurt.

Although he had no intention to fall in love, he knew that some female classmates likes him, not because he was good looking.

To be honest, he wasn't a handsome boy nor his academic performance was excellent, but still, some female classmates liked him. He couldn't figure out the reason, maybe it was because of the lack of boys in the liberal arts class. It's about time to leave high school, the adolescence of boys and girls has reached its peak, and the feeling of parting has evolved into emotional blindness.

The usual graduation and leaving school are fantasized by the boys and girls who are in love with each other as if they are going to have a tragic life and are going to be parted by death. The small hotel outside the school, under the big tree on campus, in the dormitory, and in the classroom, every place resounded the blind instinctive impulses and shallow and cheap vows everywhere.

Wu Zhongyuan received two love letters and a new mobile phone in one day. The writing was full of romance and touching words, but after reading it, Wu Zhongyuan found that he is not the person in the letters the two girls like. As described, He is just a carrier of the emotional fantasy of the girls' emotions. The one who sent the cell phone was from the same town as him, and she is indeed pretty. The cell phone was packed in a big envelope. In addition to the cell phone, there was a note with only one sentence on it, 

'I don't want to lose contact with you. '  

This confession was affectionate and direct, but Wu Zhongyuan still returned the phone to the girl. 

Well, it was not the first time that this female classmate had given boys a phone, and he had seen her often meet different men at the school gate. It is true that every beautiful face has a beautiful soul, and not every beautiful word has a beautiful truth.

Finally, Lin Qingming came. 

He came in a Mercedes-Benz sedan and was well dressed, unlike his usual appearance that Wu Zhongyuan almost didn't recognize his brother. Lin Qingming came and went in a hurry, said a few words briefly, and left a mobile phone and two thousand yuan with him. 

The Mercedes-Benz sedan was naturally not Lin Qingming's, but Zhao Dazhong's. Zhao Dazhong was a famous person who is engaged in real estate and Lin Qingming was his bodyguard. So he borrowed the car to visit his brother at the school. Zhao Dazhong is the richest man in Huang County and is well-known in the country. 

The resort business is one of his subsidiaries. It's not hard to guess why Zhao Dazhong asked Lin Qingming to be his bodyguard. The group of ruffians managed by the man in the beach shirt, all had their legs broken, and the medical expenses were inevitable. 

It must be reported to Zhao Dazhong, also it is not hard to guess why Lin Qingming was willing to be someone's bodyguard. 

It is for the money. Since Wu Zhongyuan will soon go to college, The money Lin Qingming earns in the mines won't be enough to pay his tuition and living expenses.

Watching the car disappear, Wu Zhongyuan returned to the dormitory worriedly.

When the master was alive, he always warned the two not to show their martial arts in front of others. By agreeing to become a bodyguard, Lin Qingmin violated their master's warning, and he did it all for his brother.

After the college entrance examination, the students left the school one after another, and soon the dormitory was empty. He had nowhere to go. The school knew his situation and temporarily let him live in the dormitory. When the old house was there, he had a home to go to during the holidays, but now that their house is gone, he is homeless now.

On the first day of the summer vacation, he took the initiative to go to Huang Ping and told her about Lin Qingming's situation.

Huang Ping was indeed surprised.

Needless to say, Lin Qingming had not told her that he had come to the county town. Wu Zhongyuan had the intention to say something more, but when he saw that Huang Ping's mood was low, he didn't say anything. What could he say to make her stop her futile efforts? Or should she be brave enough to persevere?

The vacation is very long, Wu Zhongyuan is reluctant to waste it, so he decided to find a short-term job to earn some money. But finding a temporary job was not easy to find within the first day.

Back in the dormitory at night, with nothing to do, he took out the bundle of old books from under the bed and read it at will.

He was not interested in the scriptures, and he felt that it is not appropriate to read more of those two books which were not classified as ancient wisdom or superstition. There were many real cases and many effective remedies left by his  Master in the book of Practice of Medicine.

He decided to take a look at it, hoping that he might use the information in the future.

After reading two pages, Wu Zhongyuan discovered a detail- these experiences were written by Master in his later years. Although there was no specific time or patient's name, it did contain the patient's age, gender and specific symptoms.

When he was a child, he nearly vomited blood and died. It was his master who cured and adopted him. If there is such an accident, there would be a record of it. As long as he finds his record, he can learn about some of the situations at that time. 

In addition, the strange corpse in the coffin was buried by the master himself.

If that person was probably alive when he met the master and must have communicated with each other. Otherwise, the master would not be willing to give the birdman his coffin. If Wu Zhongyuan is lucky enough, maybe there would be records about him in this medical experience.