Tianjin, starting with unorthodox methods to achieve immortality

The engine roared low, and the car body vibrated slightly.

Aqing and Xiaowu, who were sitting in the back row, tensed up at the same time and gasped.

As the car slowly drove away, the pedestrians and shops on the street began to recede, but Aqing's gaze remained fixed on the scenery outside the car window.

After a while, he asked in a low voice, "Brother Mo, this car... must have cost a lot of money, right?"

"good."

Chen Mo gripped the steering wheel and casually responded.

Yuanyuan leaned over, looking smug. "My brother's really something now. He's the captain of the inspection bureau."

Aqing and Xiaowu both widened their eyes at the same time.

"The Inspection Bureau?" Xiao Wu's voice changed.

Chen Mo glanced at Yuan Yuan in the rearview mirror, not correcting her that he was no longer the captain. "I'll explain in detail later. Let's go eat first. You must be hungry after the long boat ride."

After a few seconds of silence in the back seat, Ah Qing's cautious voice came through: "Um... Brother Mo, will riding in this car cause you any trouble?"

"What's the trouble?" Chen Mo said, one hand on the steering wheel. "It's my own car, I can pick up whoever I want."

Aqing didn't say anything more, and quietly loosened her grip on her knee a little.

Xiao Wu slowly leaned back in his chair. Although his posture was still a bit stiff, at least he was no longer like a taut string.

As the car drove past the street corner, Sun Wenchang and his group were still standing by the dock, watching the black car turn into the alley and disappear into the afternoon light and shadow.

At this time, Chen Mo didn't know what to eat, so he wandered around for a while before stopping in front of a small restaurant that sold salted rice.

Around Jinshi, savory rice is made by adding mutton, dried shrimp, cabbage and other ingredients to dry rice and cooking them together in a pot.

It should really be called salty porridge; it's neither very thin nor very thick, and Chen Mo certainly doesn't like it.

Xiao Wu ate two bowls in one go, and A Qing ate about the same amount.

The two men ate until their foreheads were sweaty and their faces were shiny with oil, making them look much more energetic than they had been at the dock.

Seeing that they were enjoying their meal, Yuanyuan also ordered a bowl.

After the three finished eating, Chen Mo got up to pay the bill and led them back to the funeral street.

In the backyard of Du'e Zhai, Chen Dachuan was sitting on a small stool, setting up a frame. His fingers flew, and the bamboo strips made a soft creaking sound in his hands.

In the very center of the courtyard stood an incense table, upon which rested a wooden statue.

It is about a foot tall and is carved to depict an old man in a long robe with wide sleeves, holding a roll of paper in his hand, with a solemn expression.

In front of the incense table was an old cloth with some patterns drawn on it. Over the years, the colors had faded, and only the outlines could be vaguely seen.

"Aqing and Xiao Wu have arrived." Chen

Chen Mo helped the two of them put their luggage on the second floor of the shop before leading them to the backyard.

Chen Dachuan slowly stood up, patted the bamboo shavings off his knees, walked over to Aqing and Xiao Wu, and circled around them.

Aqing and Xiaowu didn't know what he was going to do, so they stood up straight and didn't dare to breathe.

After circling around, Chen Dachuan nodded, as if he understood, and turned to walk towards the incense table: "Come on over."

Aqing and Xiaowu exchanged a glance and followed him over.

Chen Dachuan stopped in front of the incense table, took out three incense sticks from under the table, and lit them with the light of the ever-burning lamp next to him.

The flame licked the tip of the incense stick, and wisps of smoke rose up. He raised the incense above his head, bowed three times to the wooden statue, and then placed the incense stick into the incense burner.

"Kneel down."

Without saying a word, Aqing and Xiaowu knelt down on the old cloth.

His knee slammed against the stone slab in the backyard with a dull thud.

Chen Dachuan turned around, looked down at the two of them, and asked, "Do you know who you're kneeling before?"

The two shook their heads.

"Master Lu Ban".

Chen Dachuan pointed to the wooden statue, "Wood, tile, and stone carving are all passed down from Master Lu Ban. The paper-cutting branch is considered to be a Yin craft, which is different from the way carpenters in the mortal world work, but the roots are the same."

"During festivals, other trades offer pig heads and three kinds of sacrificial animals, but we don't. We just keep the incense burning."

He picked up a pair of scissors, a bamboo knife, and a bamboo scraper from the incense table, wrapped them in a red cloth, and held them in his palm.

The three knives were not large, but they were polished to a shine, with a cold gleam on the blades, indicating that they were old objects that had been used for many years.

"These three are our tools for making a living," Chen Dachuan said. "Scissors for cutting paper, bamboo knife for making indentations, and bamboo scraper for shaving bamboo strips."

"The paper crafting business looks simple, but the real skill lies in the knife."

"If the paper isn't cut evenly, the finished product will be crooked and misshapen, which the deceased won't like. If the bamboo strips aren't scraped properly, the frame won't be sturdy, and it will fall apart halfway through burning, becoming just a pile of junk in the underworld."

He handed the red cloth package to Aqing: "Here you go."

Aqing raised both hands above her head to take the bag of tools, which felt heavy in her hands.

The red cloth felt rough to the touch, wrapped around three knives, and felt substantial in my hand.

Xiao Wu also took on another set.

Chen Dachuan then picked up a red rope from the incense table, cut it into two pieces, tied them to the left wrists of the two men, and made a slipknot.

"This rope is the rope of Du'e Zhai. Once tied, you are a person of Du'e Zhai."

His gaze swept across the two faces. "The profession of paper effigy maker doesn't sound good; it involves dealing with the dead."

"But the work isn't dirty, and the money isn't dirty either. Everyone dies eventually. Even the dead need someone to take care of them."

He pulled a piece of yellow paper from his pocket, on which a few lines of writing were made in cinnabar, and handed it to Aqing and Xiaowu: "Read them. Read as many as you recognize."

The two couldn't recognize all the words on the paper, but they understood the general meaning. It was a formal apprenticeship agreement, stating that the apprentice had entered the profession, was willing to follow the master's instructions, inherit the craft, and dared not slacken...

After reading it aloud, Chen Dachuan took the apprenticeship certificate and lit it on the eternal lamp.

The cinnabar writing twisted and deformed in the flames, eventually turning into a small clump of ash that drifted into the incense burner.

"The patriarch has accepted it."

Chen Dachuan said, his tone softening slightly.

He then took out a rough porcelain bowl from under the incense table. The bowl was half-filled with rice, and three unlit incense sticks were stuck in the rice.

He placed the bowl in front of the two of them, took out a few copper coins from his pocket, and dropped them into the bowl with a clinking sound. The coins sank into the middle of the rice grains, with half of their edges sticking out.

"This is the money for pressing the bowl down."

"There's a rule in the paper craft business: when an apprentice enters the business, the master gives him a bowl of rice to weigh down the food. The rice is for the living, and the copper coins are for the deceased to use for their journey."

"It means that from today onwards, half of the food you eat will be earned through the underworld."

"You earn money from the living, but you repay debts to the dead. Remember this principle."

Aqing and Xiaowu simultaneously bent down, their foreheads touching the ground, and kowtowed three times heavily.

After they finished kowtowing, Chen Dachuan reached out and helped them up.

"Get up. From now on, we're family. There's no need to be so reserved."

When Aqing stood up, his eyes were a little red, but he turned his head away so no one could see.

Xiao Wu couldn't help but wipe his eyes with his sleeve. "Thank you, Master."

Ah Qing also called out, "Master."

Chen Dachuan nodded, a rare smile appearing on his face...

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