Chapter 21: The Secret in Father's Book Box

  That sound was like the sound of scratching at the door. In the past, my family had raised a dog, and sometimes when the dog wanted to come in from outside, it would scratch at the door. Now this sound is similar to that of a dog scratching at the door. I thought it was just a mouse, so I didn't pay attention and continued to lie in bed feeling sad. Unexpectedly, after three or four minutes, "bang" - there was another noise from outside, this time with two loud knocks. I thought this couldn't be just a simple mouse, so I got out of bed, opened the door, and took a look. Outside was empty, with nothing there.

  Was it a ghost knocking on the door?

  Won't it be the red-clothed female ghost coming after me again?

  After daybreak, I drove the cattle to the hill where the red-clothed female ghost was, and found that grave. In the past few times when I passed by here, I didn't notice it, today I deliberately took a closer look, this grave is in a pile of weeds, it's an unmarked grave, the grave is covered with wild grass, on this desolate hill, it looks especially lonely and bleak.

  He took out the specially prepared hell money and burned it in front of the grave, sincerely saying: "Senior, I have operated on you, I know my hands were a bit heavy and hurt you, but this is my first time using the yin-yang knife to treat a ghost's illness, I did my best, I don't know if your illness has been cured or not, no matter what, I hope you won't come looking for me again. I don't know why you insist on staying in the mortal world, maybe you have unavoidable reasons. Here is some money, I'm giving it to you, after taking this money, I hope it will be of some use to you, strive to be reincarnated and reborn as soon as possible."

  No sooner had he finished speaking than a gust of cold wind blew by, sending the ashes of the burnt paper swirling into the air, and in an instant they were scattered all around.

  At noon on the dinner table, my mother sighed and said that if my father didn't come back, I wouldn't have money to go to school and could only work outside. I felt very uncomfortable, after finishing eating, I tidied up the books in my room, tied them with a rope, and decided to put them in the attic.

  I went upstairs to the attic, because there was no light on top, and the light was a bit dim. I put the book in a corner and looked around, and found that there were many books here. Some of them were all my textbooks and extracurricular books from grade one to high school, and the rest were my father's books.

  Because my father was a famous doctor, in my understanding, his books were just some medical books, I had no interest in them at all, so I never read them before. Now that I know my father is a famous witch doctor, I suddenly became curious about his books.

  His father's books were not like mine, which were tied up in bundles and placed on the attic, casually piled in any corner. His books were in three wooden boxes, all of which were locked.

  The more locks there are, the more mysterious it is.

  I fiddled with the lock, couldn't open it, so I went downstairs to ask my mother if she knew where the key to Father's trunk was. Mother said she didn't know either, then asked me what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to see what books were in Father's trunk. Mother said they were just some ghost stories, which she had read before and thought weren't worth reading.

  If it were in the past, I would think there's nothing to look at, but now it's different. I feel that Father's book is not just a simple ghost story book. Since it's been locked up and made so mysterious, while Father is not home, I have to take a look. Otherwise, when Father comes back, I don't think I'll even have the chance to see it.

  I fetched a pair of pliers and a hammer upstairs. After much ado, I finally managed to remove one lock.

  As soon as the box was opened, a musty smell of old paper wafted out, but I didn't have time to notice this strange odor and eagerly began to look at the books.

  This box is about one meter long and half a meter wide, with roughly over ten books inside. I picked up the topmost book and flipped it open, feeling slightly disappointed to find that it was entirely in traditional characters and handwritten! I read a few lines and indeed it was a book related to ghosts and monsters.

  I spent about half an hour, and finally looked through all the books in this box. Almost all of them were related to ghosts, such as ghost-seeing methods, ghost-recognition methods, and ghost-treatment methods. The words were too obscure, my language skills weren't good enough, and it was classical Chinese, so I really couldn't understand it. However, one book caught my interest. The cover only had two words: "Ghost Technique". This book was very thin, with only four or five pages. When I flipped through it, it said: "The ghost technique mentioned in this book is a method for summoning ghosts, mostly forbidden techniques, use with caution."

  The art of capturing ghosts... Is it a spell for catching ghosts?

  I took a look, and there were fifteen in total. The first two were: Ghost-killing Technique, Soul-summoning Technique, Ghost-taming Technique... Each technique had detailed explanations, my heart suddenly skipped a beat. If I could master these ghost-controlling techniques, wouldn't I be fearless of ghosts from then on?

  Starting from the twelfth volume, it is a forbidden book, including: Kind Blood Jia, Qitian Fanhun Shu and so on.

  I tried to calm down my excited heart, hesitated for a moment, put this book aside alone, rearranged the books in the box, and covered the box.

  There are two more wooden boxes, what books are inside? Will there be any magical treasures?

  Since I've already pried open one trunk, Father will surely scold me and even beat me. But opening one trunk is a punishment, so is opening two or three trunks. Might as well pry open a few more. Thinking this way, I went ahead and opened another wooden trunk.

  The books in this box are similar to those in the previous one, very old and mostly handwritten. There aren't many, only four. I picked up the first one, the cover has only one word: Wu. Another book also has only one word on the cover: Gu. I opened them separately and found they were about witchcraft and poisonous insects. I was amazed that my father had such books. Then I took out the third one, the cover reads four words: Witchcraft and Poisonous Insects Forbidden Book.

  Since it's a banned book, I have to take a look at it.

  To be frank, I love reading banned books, such as "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "Jin Ping Mei". My interest is more inclined towards "Jin Ping Mei". Is this book similar to "Jin Ping Mei"?

  Open the cover page, which reads: This book is an ancient heretical book that has been passed down, forbidden to use.

  The following words are very few, about seven or eight pages, but adding up will not exceed four hundred words. Basically, one word represents a sentence, so I don't understand it. Although it's a forbidden book, I threw it to the bottom of the box and didn't read it.

  The fourth book, it seems a bit interesting, like a sheepskin scroll, printed with: Luo Book.

  I feel like I've seen these two characters before, must have seen them somewhere, maybe on TV? But for a moment, I couldn't think of it. Opened it and took a look, it was bitter and complicated traditional Chinese text again. Didn't read it, put it back in the box.

  What will be in the third wooden box?

  Forget it, pry it open!

  Just now I opened two boxes in a row, and this one has experience, so I quickly pried open the lock of this box. I found that there are more books inside, relatively new ones. I picked them up and flipped through them, they are medical books, even including a "Ben Cao Gang Mu". I think the books in this box are the ones my father used to make a living, I wonder if there are any books on treating ghost diseases? As my father is a famous shaman doctor, he should have books on this aspect.

  I took out all the books from the wooden box, one by one to check them. The first few were medical books for doctors, and one of them was even about treating animals. My father really is a man of many talents... Suddenly, a book caught my eye. This book was thicker, similar to our textbooks. I picked it up and took a look, the title of the book was: Witch Doctor's Handbook.

  I finally found it! I was overjoyed, hastily opened it, and found that it was another handwritten copy in complex ancient characters. When the time came to use it, I regretted not working hard enough in school, so I had to study the words very carefully, but understanding them was also very difficult, and most of them were only half-understood.

  Overall, this book is divided into three parts. The first part introduces the concept of ghosts, simply put: what are ghosts. The second part introduces ghost diseases, talking about what kind of illnesses ghosts can contract and how they contract them, followed by some methods for treating these illnesses.

  I had an impulse to devour this book in one go, but my knowledge is really limited. I could only put the book aside and tidy up the books on top of the box after covering it. Originally, I wanted to restore the lock, but due to my poor technique, these three locks were basically ruined by me, so I had to give up.

  Holding "Onmyodo" and "Shaman's Handbook", I went downstairs with a pounding heart.

  At night, I read under the lamp and was studying "The Witch Doctor's Handbook". Suddenly, a faint noise came from outside the door. I was startled for a moment. This noise was just like the scratching sound at the door last night. It happened two nights in a row, this absolutely wasn't just a mouse.

  I gently put down the book and decided to go out for a look.