Chapter 119 Late at night, someone anxiously knocked on my door
In a blink of an eye, it was July.
Lao Xiao called and said he was doing better and better over there.
Hua Duo also called and said that she was finally pregnant.
Su Xing, the eldest son of the Xipo family, made a special trip to Youran Ju and said that he had contacted a medical research institute in the provincial capital and was jointly applying for a new drug patent.
All good news.
There was only one thing that made me depressed: Chen Er wanted to live in his hometown, but his wife didn't agree, so he went to live with his eldest daughter in Guangxi.
Then, rumors spread that a female bank employee had been murdered. Various theories arose as to why she was killed. Then, news broke that a young man had committed suicide in the office yard.
As a result, all kinds of discussions began to arise, all saying that it was a bad year.
The police didn't need to solve this serial crime. I calculated that it was just a love tragedy. Sure enough, the police quickly solved the case.
What surprised me even more was that Dongzi called me and told me that the man who committed suicide was his colleague, who used to be an ambitious young man. He did such a stupid thing because of a broken heart.
I suddenly remembered the man who came to me a few months ago to get his gambling fortune told. He asked Dongzi about his physical characteristics. Every time Dongzi mentioned one, my heart skipped a beat. When Dongzi finished, I said I knew him.
Dongzi listened and said nothing for a long time. Finally, he said, "He and I have talked about you before."
I was depressed for several days.
My master noticed I'd been looking worried for days and asked me what was going on. I told him about the time I'd had my fortune told about gambling. He consoled me, saying, "In our profession, we can only do our best; destiny is our destiny."
In fact, in my heart, I am not sad about the men who killed and committed suicide. After all, they have nothing to do with me. I just feel uncomfortable because of Chen Er's departure.
The master recalled the past and said, "That year, before you became an apprentice, a man came to me for fortune-telling. He said he was planning to go out on business. I told him not to go. But he refused to listen and ended up jumping into the river and committing suicide."
I asked, "What word is he trying to predict?"
The word "path".
I wrote the word "Jing" on a piece of paper, but it took me a while to figure it out.
My master taught me that this "path" means that what I am doing is not a serious business.
I understood immediately and said quickly, "He wants to take a shortcut."
The master nodded and said to me, "Put up the sign and let's go to the study to talk."
I put the "No Visitors" sign on the living room table, went into the study, made tea, burned incense, and set up the ashtray.
Whenever Master wants to talk to me in the study, it must be something very private.
The master and the disciple sat down opposite each other. The master lit a cigarette and said slowly:
"Shanhong, I won't hide it from you. There's an old saying: 'Teach your apprentice to defeat your master.' So, I want to keep a trick up my sleeve. After observing you for the past few years, I've proven that you're someone worthy of my trust. So, I'll teach you my final trick in fortune-telling."
As I listened, I thought of all the kindness Master had shown me over the past four years, and my eyes started to well up. I wiped my eyes and tried to smile. "You said that I will do my best to learn and understand."
The master stared at me and said, "The most accurate way to predict a character is to find the oracle bone script for that character. If there's no corresponding oracle bone script, then look for the bronze inscription."
"My understanding is to find the most primitive form of this character when it was first created."
The master nodded with satisfaction. "Your greatest strength is your intelligence. You grasp things quickly. Why do we need to find the most primitive character? Because Chinese characters are pictographic and ideographic. When a character was created, its original meaning was expressed in writing."
I nodded and said, "Because Chinese characters are unique in the world in their pictographic form. When a character is created, it is the projection of a specific image in the mind."
The master wrote the oracle bone script character "Jing" on a piece of paper and asked, "How do you think it should be interpreted?"
I said, "The path."
The master said, "Look at the picture. The middle one is called 'Dao', and the ones on the sides are called 'Jing'. Dao is the main road, straight. Jing is the small road, slanting."
He drew another picture and pointed to it and said:
This is the "well" field system of feudal society. The central area is the "king's field," the feudal lord's field, cultivated by slaves. Around it are paths, but if no one is around, a slave walking from point A to point B diagonally wouldn't take the main path, which would be too far. Instead, he'd take the "path," which would trample the crops, wouldn't it?
I said, "Yes."
Master said: Therefore, the word "jing" means "sloping road".
Oh—it suddenly dawned on me.
Master said: Let me say it again, when Chinese people created characters, they were projecting an object onto their minds. As for the extended meanings of some characters, they were extended based on the ideographic meanings.
He drew another picture and asked, "Do you know this word?"
I shook my head.
He said, "Tai."
I said, “A bit like that.”
He said: The oracle bone script "泰" means an adult holding a child with both hands to urinate.
I said, “The more I look at it, the more it looks like it.”
He asked: Why is "Tai" used to represent a child peeing? This is because a child is in a very urgent need to pee and feels very uncomfortable, so he has to pee. What happens after he pee?
I said, "It feels good."
Master said: "Comfortable, peaceful." So "Tai" means comfortable and peaceful, and that's how it came about.
I said, "This is a really profound subject."
Master said, "Let me repeat, because hieroglyphics are the projection of concrete images in the human brain, when a person writes a word, they have this concrete image replayed in their subconscious mind. This is the basis of our divination."
I said: When others come to divine the word "Tai", it is related to water, urgent matters, and children, right?
The master nodded.
I immediately left my seat and knelt down in homage. "You have taught me with all your heart and soul, and I will definitely live up to your expectations and master oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions thoroughly."
The master sighed, "The beauty and profound meaning of Chinese characters are beyond the reach of my generation. I am already old, so I can only hope that you will explore them with your heart."
I sighed, "Master Hongyuan and your unique method of fortune-telling is unique in China and stands out from other methods. Whether it's analyzing characters from their shape, meaning, or even their phonetics, it's a unique style. I will inherit it and work hard to promote it."
The master stood up and walked away. A moment later, he came back and handed me a book, saying, "Spend a year reading it thoroughly, and then return it to me."
I opened it and found it was a complete book of oracle bone inscriptions with handwritten annotations by my master.
Master said, "To date, a total of 4,500 oracle bone characters have been unearthed. Currently, over 2,000 have been recognized, and only a little over 1,000 are generally accepted. This is a treasure trove."
I said, "I will definitely hand-copy a copy and return the original to you."
For the next month, I copied a page every night, carefully pondering the original meaning of the characters created by our ancestors. Gradually, I came to my own understanding. It was not until that person appeared that I felt the power of oracle bone script.
Late one night in August, a middle-aged man in his thirties walked towards the "Night Talk Room".
At this time, the moon was dark, the road was slippery, the wind was strong, the rain was heavy, and it was late at night.
I never thought that someone would knock on the door at twelve o'clock in the evening.
"Knock, knock, knock, knock..."
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