Witchcraft

  Gu, composed of the characters "insect" and "bowl", literally means a poisonous insect born in a vessel. In the Ming dynasty, Li Shizhen's "Bencao Gangmu · Bug Department 4" records: "Take hundreds of insects into a container, after a year, open it, and there will be one insect that eats all the other insects, this is called Gu." The idea is to describe how the poisonous Gu used by ancient witches was produced. First, put hundreds of poisonous insects in the same vessel, after a period of time, when you open the vessel, the poisonous insects inside will eat each other, and the only one left will be the most toxic and ferocious insect, which is called Gu.

  Of course, in a broad sense, Gu does not necessarily only represent insects. Any toxic substance can become Gu. The types of Gu poison are also diverse, such as snake Gu, golden silkworm Gu, toad Gu, and so on. People who have been poisoned by Gu will exhibit different symptoms depending on the type of poisonous Gu they have contracted, and if left untreated, death is certain.

  These words were told to me by Liu Zhen after I woke up.

  I don't know how long I was unconscious, and I only vaguely remember that night when I went to the bathroom to take a bath, I found my left arm red and swollen, and my head was heavy and dizzy. I returned to bed in a daze and fell asleep. The next morning, I had a high fever, and several times I even lost consciousness. Fortunately, Liu Zhen called me when I was still awake, telling me that he would arrive in Kunming at noon today. I told him the name of my hotel, but after that, I couldn't remember anything else.

  When I opened my eyes, I found Liu Zhen and Bu Jin sitting on either side of my bed.

  Liu Zhen saw me wake up and hastily poured a glass of water for me, saying: "How is it? Are you okay now?"

  I shook my head, I didn't have the strength to sit up and drink water yet, but asked: "What time is it now, how long have I been unconscious?"

  Liu Zhen smiled and said: "It's not long ago, I came here yesterday at noon, now it's the evening of the second day."

  I let out a sigh and muttered to myself: "It must be that insect's fault."

  As soon as I said this, Bo Jin pointed at his own bundle and said, "Don't touch."

  I nodded, thinking to myself that I could finally relax. Last time, it was just out of curiosity, but now, even if someone killed me, I wouldn't dare touch Bu Jin's things again. I stood up and took a look at my left arm, finding that it was still slightly red, but the dark purple color had faded away, and the swelling had disappeared, returning to normal. Then, I looked again and found that my wrist had been bandaged with gauze by someone, and there was still a hint of blood visible from outside the gauze. I looked at Liu Zhen in confusion. Liu Zhen pointed his chin towards Bu Jin and said, "You should really thank her properly, she's the one who saved you."

  I glanced at Bo Jin, didn't say anything, just silently nodded. On the surface it seemed that way, but in my heart I couldn't utter a word of thanks. Although being attacked by those strange poisonous insects was something I had brought upon myself, if there hadn't been those terrifying bugs in Bo Jin's bundle, none of this would have happened.

  I felt a sense of vigilance towards the simple Miao girl in front of me for the first time. Who is this girl, after all? Although I knew she was the successor of Ah Jiu Na's great witchcraft, Ah Jiu Na herself had said that there was no blood relationship between her and Bu Jin. So, where are this girl's real parents? Is she an orphan? Why did she raise those terrifying poisonous insects? And what about the ghostly shadow in the bathtub? Of course, what made me most curious was the jade pendant on her neck - why did someone keep mentioning her jade pendant? I had too many questions, and I finally discovered that all these questions arose because of the Miao girl in front of me. To answer these questions, it would be necessary to uncover the mystery of Long Bu Jin's life.

  Liu Zhen, who was sitting on my bed, is now my only clue. I told Bo Jin that I'm fine now and asked her to go back to her own room. As soon as Bo Jin left, I bombarded Liu Zhen with questions.

  Liu Zhen listened and then waved his hand repeatedly, telling me to stop quickly. He stood up, pulled the curtains over the window, relocked the door, and sat back down beside my bed.

  Liu Zhen is not only intelligent, but also has a well-proportioned figure. He looks very thin at first glance, but in fact he has a robust physique and does not resemble those sickly bookworms.

  I thought he was going to start answering my questions, but instead, he asked me a question first, saying: "Tell me first, is that girl the one your teacher asked you to come to Yunnan to pick up?"

  I was taken aback by the question and said, "That's right, it's her. What's wrong with that?"

  Liu Zhen said: "It's not that it doesn't feel right, but I always think this girl is mysterious."

  "Uh-huh, I have that feeling too." The experience of Kuiying is still vivid in my mind. I asked, "But why do you say that?"

  Liu Zhen lowered his voice and said to me, "That's because when I first arrived at this inn, I saw her making many suspicious moves in your room."

  I shivered and did some weird movements in my room, could it be that I was dancing her ugly dance again? But at that time, I was still in a daze and had no impression at all, so I went to ask Liu Zhen what he meant by the weird movement.

  Liu Zhen said that before entering my room, he found the door was ajar. At first, he wasn't sure if it was me or Bu Jin inside, so he carefully observed the situation in the room. As soon as he took a look, he discovered that Bu Jin was squatting beside me, muttering something to himself. Liu Zhen thought this was strange, so he knocked on the door, but Bu Jin ignored him and continued to squat by my bedside. Then, Liu Zhen pushed open the door and walked in, only to discover that Bu Jin was shoving some kind of insect into my nostrils.

  "What?" I was startled and subconsciously touched my nose, thinking that she had put the bug up my nostrils. Although it wasn't terrifying, it was disgusting. I quickly asked, "Why did she do that?"

  Liu Zhen replied, "I don't know, I just wanted to stop her, but that girl suddenly turned around and stared at me intensely. I didn't know why, but in that instant, I found myself unable to move. Then, I discovered that your left arm was severely swollen and your appearance was terrifying. All the blood vessels on your body became visible and were a dark purple color, like you were surrounded by countless small snakes. At this point, I suddenly realized that the girl was actually saving you, because after she inserted something into your nostrils, your tightly furrowed eyebrows relaxed, as if relieved of pain." Liu Zhen lit a cigarette and continued, "Next, she cut open the artery on your left wrist with a small knife, but strangely, there was no blood flow, as if all the blood vessels in your arm had been emptied. Then, she took out another strange insect from somewhere, which looked like a 'money string' but much smaller. She inserted the insect into the wound on your wrist and then simply bandaged it before sitting down motionless."

  I told Liu Zhen everything that had happened to me since the day I met Bu Jin. After I finished, I saw Liu Zhen's face change color and he said to me: "Is it possible that in today's society, Gu sorcery still exists?"

  I've naturally also heard of the art of Gu, but most of that was from secondary sources. Now, however, I have a PhD in history sitting right in front of me, and historically, there have been many major cases involving Gu, so historians must have studied this aspect to some extent. So Liu Zhen briefly introduced me to the matter of Gu techniques.

  But to be honest, after he finished speaking, I wasn't particularly surprised, because I had already subconsciously acknowledged that Bo Jin was a witch.

  I leaned against the headboard, listened to Liu Zhen finish speaking, and didn't pay much attention. I said, "Alright, I've already told you about that girl's matter. Now quickly answer my question." As I spoke, I asked the same question again as before.

  Liu Zhen sighed and shook his head, saying: "My goodness, you don't think I know everything, do you? To be honest with you, I couldn't answer any of the questions you just asked. All I can do is tell you what I know."

  "Then speak quickly." I urged.

  Liu Zhens thought for a moment, then said: "Let's talk about the teacher first. After the teacher went missing, your cousin had called me to ask about the teacher's situation. At that time, I lied and said I didn't know where the teacher was, but actually, the teacher had come to see me the night before he went missing."

  "Wasn't he already gone from Inner Mongolia at that time?" I asked.

  Liu Zhen nodded and continued, "The day after the teacher received that letter, I got a call from him, asking me to rush back to Liaoning as soon as possible, saying there was something even more important waiting for me to do."

  "Do you also know about that letter?" I asked.

  Liu Zhen responded with a sound, took out an envelope from his pocket and said to me: "This is the letter, it was given to me by him personally on the night before the teacher disappeared." Liu Zhen opened the letter while saying to me: "The teacher told me some things. You always thought you were going to pick up the descendant of the person who saved the teacher's life back then, right?"

  "Don't mention anything about descendants, that's just a scam. I went to see that Ashina, she never married in her life, how could there be any descendants?" As I said this, I also thought to myself that it was at that time that I started to suspect this trip to Yunnan.

  Liu Zhen shook his head and said to me, "The teacher didn't deceive you. That Ah Shu did indeed save the teacher's life, but it wasn't because of encountering mountain bandits, rather it was due to a series of strange events."

  "What's wrong?"

  "The teacher didn't tell me about the specific things, I could see that he was in a great hurry that night, and when talking to me, he would often say 'time is running out'. So, some specific events, he didn't explain to me." Liu Zhen took out a cigarette, lit it, and continued: "I think you also know that the teacher had been to Yunnan thirty years ago, right?"

  I nodded and said: "At that time, I was not born yet. However, I did hear my mother mention this matter. That inspection was the turning point of my father's academic career."

  "That's right, but have you ever thought about what exactly made the teacher change from a rigorous historian to an enthusiastic mysticism enthusiast?" Liu Zhen asked.

  "This... I really haven't thought about it carefully, did my father tell you?" I'm the kind of person who dislikes guessing games the most and hates it when others put on an act in front of me. So, I was born without that spirit of inquiry like Liu Zhen's. Another thing is, when my father changed his research direction, I was still too young and didn't have any memories. By the time I grew up, I already knew that my father was a non-mainstream historian, so I never asked him why he changed his research direction. Moreover, since the incident where he almost got ostracized by the academic community, my father has always been tight-lipped about his experiences thirty years ago.

  Liu Zhen said: "The teacher didn't tell me, but that night he told me a very strange sentence. He said 'the affairs of the witch, have always been the secret of a few people', at the time because the teacher had other things to say, I didn't think deeply about it, now thinking back, I think the teacher must have encountered some very strange and bizarre things in Yunnan, this thing is enough to subvert his previous worldview, so he became obsessed with mysticism from then on."

  What kind of thing would be enough to subvert my worldview? What kind of thing is that? I thought of the ghost shadow that appeared in the bathtub that night, formed by smoke. Although later I heard from the waiter that someone had indeed died in the bathtub, but even now I don't really believe that strange shadow was a ghost shadow. Although I couldn't explain how the shadow was formed, at most I just think this thing is bizarre and strange, but it's not enough to subvert my worldview.

  Liu Zhen took a drag on his cigarette and continued, "Do you still remember Wang Chengbao? Actually, that person was one of the scholars who came to Yunnan with Teacher thirty years ago for an inspection. The inspection team at that time was completely made up of private individuals, almost all of whom were Teacher's former classmates. When they left, there were five people in total, but when they returned, only Teacher himself remained."

  "What?" I couldn't believe my ears and thought of Wang Chengbao, asking: "Could it be that the remaining four people are all dead?"

  Liu Zhen stretched out three fingers and said, "Five people died, three of them were killed, including one Wang Chengbao. The teacher and another person survived with the help of Ah Shu Na, but only the teacher returned to Liaoning, and the other person stayed in Yunnan."

  "Who is the one left behind?" I asked.

  Liu Zhen pulled out a photo from his pocket and said, "The person who stayed behind is named Duan Yiwu. The letter your father received was actually sent by this person, not Ah Jia herself. This photo was given to me by the teacher, he told us to find this person and he will think of a way to get us out of danger."

  As soon as I took the photo, I gasped in shock. Although the person in the photo looked younger, but those facial features, I could still recognize at a glance. The person in this photo wasn't the black car driver who took me to Wenshan, Driver Duan?

  Liu Zhen noticed something was off about my expression and asked: "What's wrong? Have you seen him before?"

  "This is really weird." I muttered to myself while looking at the photo, then I told Liu Zhen about what happened with Duan Yu.

  Liu Zhen furrowed his brow, seemingly perplexed, and said: "If that Yu Wen is indeed a former colleague of Teacher's, then why didn't he tell you directly, but instead claimed to be just an escort?"

  "God knows what's going on in those old men's minds." I said irritably.

  Liu Zhen thought for a moment and said: "I think he didn't tell you about the matter, there must be his own reasons. I heard the teacher's tone, he is very trusting of Duan Yuwen."

  "Trust?" I sneered: "It's been thirty years, people's hearts can change, who knows if he's still trustworthy now."

  Liu Zhen nodded and said, "What you say also makes sense, but no matter what, this piece of writing is our only clue now, and the letter that sent you to Yunnan was also written by him. If we want to solve these mysteries, we can only go find him."

  "Where is the letter? Let me take a look." I said.

  Liu Zhen handed me the letter, I opened the envelope, pulled out the letter inside, and had just read the first sentence when my mind suddenly went blank, I simply didn't dare to believe my eyes. The first sentence of the letter read: "Pei Lin is dead, send a successor immediately."

  Perrin, the full name should be Fan Perrin, who is exactly my brother that mysteriously disappeared more than a decade ago.