Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
The Wei Family had searched for years without any news of Wei Qiuxi. After two years of disappearance in China, it was considered a death. The Village Committee had approached the Wei Family multiple times, and although they tried to evade the issue, they ultimately had no choice. Now, Wei Qiuxi's household registration had also vanished, marking a true disappearance from this world.
Historically, the Wei Family was a prominent household in the area, with countless tombs and grand gravestones scattered across the hills, signifying the family's former prosperity. Yet now, only Wei Ning remained as the last descendant, which brought a sense of melancholy.
According to the customs of the Xiangxi people, those who died young were typically buried at the foot of the mountain, while those who lived longer were buried higher up. The base of Grave Hill was densely populated with tombstones, but there was a noticeable empty space in the middle of the hill where only a few gravestones stood. Observant individuals would notice that most of the tombstones at the foot were relatively new, while those higher up were much older. Above the midsection, many graves had clearly been there for several years; the inscriptions on their stones had begun to fade, likely over a century old. It was evident that Wei Ning's father's grave was not high up and could be easily found. Nearby were several gravestones belonging to his uncles.
Wei Ning took the sickle handed to him by his mother and cleared away the weeds from his father's grave. Wei Mother took out offerings from her basket and lit paper money, which transformed into black butterflies as they danced in the wind.
After bowing to his ancestors, Wei Ning lit a string of firecrackers to awaken these sleeping "souls," following Xiangxi customs. While Wei Mother murmured something at his father's grave, Wei Ning picked up the sickle again and began to tidy up the weeds around each ancestor's grave. Having grown up alongside his grandfather and mother, he could barely remember what his father looked like, let alone recognize these uncles he had never met. Out of curiosity, he began reading aloud from one of the gravestones.
"Here lies Lord Wei Qiuji, born in 197 AD, passed away in 1954. Wife: Wei Wuting; Son: Wei Dawei..."
"Here lies Lord Wanqiu of the Wei family, born in 1944, passed away in 1971. Wife: Wei Shi Fang Yao; Son: Wei Wen..."
"Here lies Lord Wen of the Wei family, born in 1966, passed away in 198..."
"Huh..." Wei Ning felt something was off but couldn't pinpoint why.
"Stop reading!" Suddenly, Wei Mother stood up, her lips moving angrily. "Did I not tell you to stop?"
In Wei Ning's memory, his mother had always been gentle and soft-spoken; he had rarely seen her angry before. Why would she be so upset over him merely reading some inscriptions?
Wei Mother calmed herself and said coldly, "Do you not know that this is disrespectful to our ancestors?"
Wei Ning swallowed hard but sensed that there was more to it than just that.
Wei Mother glanced at him and sighed. "Pack up your things and let's head back soon; it will be dark if we stay too long."
"Okay," Wei Ning nodded obediently. "I'll just finish cleaning up these ancestors' 'Yin Houses' before we go."
Wei Mother remained silent as she turned away from him and wiped her wet eyes. With a sigh, she murmured softly, "If you truly wish to uphold the honor of the Wei Family, then let your vengeance fall upon me instead; Ning'er still has a long road ahead—please show mercy..."
Suddenly, Wei Ning called out, "Mom! Come look at this!"
Wei Mother wiped her face and walked over to see that Wei Ning had stopped at one gravestone that was already crumbling with age—at least a century old. He pointed at it and asked, "Mom, look at this ancestor's gravestone—why does it only have a birth date but no date of death?"
Wei Mother calmly said, "It might have been washed away by the rain over time."
Wei Ning shook his head and replied, "That's impossible. Look, this clearly wasn't engraved here before."
"It could be that the craftsman made a mistake back then. It's getting late; we should head back. You have classes tomorrow, and since you're in your senior year, your studies must be quite intense. Don't let this interfere with your learning."
With the college entrance examination approaching, Wei Ning was so busy that he barely had time to practice his Qi. In truth, he didn't particularly care about which university he attended, but he wanted to enroll in a specific program that was only available at Provincial University. Given Wei Ning's current grades, getting into Provincial University seemed like a distant dream. Despite his hard work, he had fallen behind in many subjects, especially English. Currently, all he could manage were the lyrics to "Righteousness Song" and the names of the Six Spirits, thanks to Wang Tuozi's help.
Unfortunately, that knowledge wouldn't help him in the exams.
A week before the tests, Wei Ning crammed for English and fell asleep shortly after 1 AM.
"Liu Linglang, Liu Linglang, born by the ancient paths in the wilderness, who will invite me to be a Divine General, so I won't suffer the wind and frost in the wild? Hehe, Wei Ning is back; come play with me."
Wei Ning frowned and said, "I've been studying hard lately and need my rest. Ling, can you not bother me for a while? Once my exams are over, I'll spend time with you."
Ling was unhappy upon hearing this: "No! I want you to play with me! Let's play hide and seek!"
"But I really don't have time. I need to rest properly. Please don’t make a fuss; we can play after my exams."
Ling pouted her lips in displeasure: "No! I want you to play with me now!"
"But I really need to improve my foreign language skills for the exam. If I don't catch up, I'm going to fail."
Ling shook her rattle and said in a sweet voice, "If you pass your foreign language exam, will you be able to play with me then?"
"That's true, but if you keep bothering me, I won't sleep well and won't be able to study properly. If that happens, I'll definitely fail the exam and then I won't pay any attention to you anymore."
Upon hearing that Wei Ning would ignore her, Ling quickly waved her hands: "Wei Ning, don't ignore me! Please don't!"
"Alright then. You need to go back and sleep quietly now. Don't disturb my sleep anymore; be good and hurry up."
Ling thought for a moment and suddenly asked, "Wei Ning, how can I guarantee that you'll be able to play with me while also passing your exams?"
Wei Ning couldn't help but feel a surge of frustration as he blurted out, "Unless you can help me get a copy of the foreign language exam paper for the college entrance examination."
Ling thought for a moment, then suddenly snapped his fingers and said, "No problem, wait for me tomorrow night." Without waiting for Wei Ning to respond, he began singing a tune and dashed out of Wei Ning's dream.
The next day, Ling actually showed up, excitedly waving his fists. "Wei Ning, Wei Ning! I'm back! I've memorized the English exam paper for you, so listen carefully."
Then, in a high-pitched voice, Ling recited an English test question and even provided the answers. Wei Ning was left bewildered, unsure whether it was real or not. After Ling finished reciting, he insisted that Wei Ning play with him for a while before leaving reluctantly.
Later, Wei Ning discovered that he remembered every question and answer from that paper perfectly. He didn't take it seriously at first, thinking it was just a joke from Ling. With a chuckle, he buried himself in his studies, cramming for the exam.
Finally, the moment of truth arrived when Wei Ning received the English exam paper. He was stunned to find that it was identical to the one Ling had recited to him! It dawned on him that Ling hadn't been joking; he had actually obtained a copy of the college entrance examination English paper.
Was this cheating?
To all the supervising teachers, this isn't my fault. If you want to blame someone, blame that mischievous spirit Ling; he's the real culprit. I can only be considered a reluctant participant—an accomplice or even a hostage infiltrating enemy lines. After reassuring himself with these thoughts, Wei Ning felt much more at ease and began writing calmly.
When the exam results came out, Wei Ning unexpectedly scored an impressive 145 in English (he intentionally threw away five points). With his outstanding foreign language score standing out among his peers, he received the admission notice from Provincial University’s Funeral Department amidst envious and puzzled glances from his classmates.
Comment 0 Comment Count