“The Way of Incense, the Fragrance of Spirits, the Incense that reaches all three realms, spreading through the ten directions…”
In the center of the scene, a middle-aged man dressed in a tattered, dirty Taoist robe was stepping in the Seven-Star formation, shaking a soul-summoning bell and waving a spirit-summoning banner. His eyes were slightly closed, his expression solemn, and he was murmuring incantations.
This man was Xia Si, the fourth younger brother of Elder Xia Jia. According to Elder Xia, Xia Si had once received direct instruction from the great master Shao Yuanjie in his youth. Although he lived incognito among the common people, his magical powers were formidable. In the villages within a five-mile radius, ordinary families without sufficient status couldn’t even hope to have him perform rituals for them.
The three young Taoist apprentices beside him, dressed like little demons and clanging their cymbals, were none other than Sanhei and his two older brothers.
Elder Xia was standing close to Mei Qing, smiling broadly as he said, “Master Mei, I’m not boasting when I say this coffin is a top-quality piece made from five kinds of wood joined together at the center. It was originally prepared by Old Qian from the East Village. After Qian fell into ruin, many people coveted this coffin. If it weren’t for my connections and resourcefulness, who knows whose hands it would have ended up in…”
Mei Qing looked at the coffin made obviously from scrap wood and sighed, “Alright, alright, I know it’s made from five kinds of wood. That’s rare indeed. As for the items to be buried with the deceased, Old Liu gave instructions before his death. We brothers will handle it ourselves. Please ask your younger brother the Taoist priest to pause for a while, and resume chanting after the body is placed in the coffin, will you?”
Upon hearing the words “burial items,” Elder Xia’s eyes, already bloodshot, blinked a few more times in surprise as he asked, “Could it be that Old Liu has something valuable to take with him?”
Mei Qing waved his hand, “Even if he was poor, he must have had a plate or a bowl. He had a few pieces of porcelain in his house that he wanted to take along.”
Upon hearing this, Elder Xia immediately deflated, “He didn’t look like he had anything valuable at all—why should the masters bother? Let me handle it instead.”
As he spoke, his feet remained firmly planted in place.
Mei Qing ignored him and simply instructed him to arrange for someone to move Liu’s corpse from the adjacent room into the coffin first. Then he entered the east room and took another look at the items on the shelves, sighing deeply.
Wang Sigu, hearing the noise outside, frowned and said, “Has everything been arranged? Since Liu had no one to burn paper for him, we might as well handle it simply.”
Beside him, Li Mei’s eyes were fixed on the gleaming porcelain on the shelves like a hen staring at eggs, not moving at all.
Mei Qing said, “After all, we were friends. We brothers will see him off. The burial will start soon. As for the items on the shelves, we won’t be too picky—each of us can take one piece.”
Without a word, the three each picked an item. Wang Sigu took the Ru kiln flower-mouth vase first. Mei Qing smiled but said nothing, and casually picked up a Tang dynasty celadon bowl. Only Li Mei, after much hesitation and with a dreamy gaze, finally took a carved Huayao kiln vase after Wang Sigu urged him a few times, hiding it in a corner of the room.
By now, Elder Xia had already called his brothers and sons to cover the doorway with curtains and carry Liu’s corpse into the coffin. Outside, they had set up a temporary shelter with bamboo mats, placed a brazier, lit the eternal lamp.
According to Mei Qing’s suggestion, the chest Liu had pointed out was to be carried to the grave and burned. However, both Wang Sigu and Li Mei were unwilling, suggesting it would suffice to burn it in front of the coffin. Mei Qing thought for a moment—after all, it was just a matter of setting fire—so he didn’t argue further. He called Elder Xia and instructed him to have someone carry the chest away.
Upon hearing that the chest was to be burned, Elder Xia couldn’t help exclaiming loudly, “Why burn such a good chest? Why not let the gentlemen here deal with it first? I’ll have someone carry it to the grave and burn it thoroughly later.”
Li Mei, annoyed, snapped, “Burn it now, no more nonsense!”
Elder Xia squinted with his bloodshot eyes for a while, seeing that Li Mei looked like a man of status, so he grudgingly kept quiet and called his eldest son and third brother to carry the chest away.
But his eldest son, Dahei, was also a hotheaded fellow. Grabbing one side of the iron handle on the chest, he heaved before his uncle had even gotten a firm grip. With a grunt, he lifted one end of the chest with a sudden burst of strength. His uncle on the other side hadn’t yet secured his grip, so the chest “thud” fell to the ground. The chest, made of no quality wood and somewhat aged, immediately split into pieces, scattering its contents.
Knowing he had caused trouble, Dahei dared not speak and quickly bent down to pick up the items. Elder Xia, already angry from Li Mei’s sharp words, was even more furious at the scene before him. He kicked his son, shouting, “You clumsy fool! Always rushing around, always asking for payment for every little thing!”
Mei Qing and the others were startled to see the chest broken. According to Old Liu’s last instructions, no one was supposed to look inside. Since the three of them had already seen the porcelain on the shelves, they naturally had some thoughts, wondering whether the chest might contain something even more valuable. But since they had promised Old Liu, they felt reluctant to bring up the idea of opening it. Now, due to an accident, the chest had broken open, and they couldn’t help but look at what had spilled out.
Elder Xia’s hands moved faster than any of the three. He had already grabbed one item and squinted at it for a while through his bloodshot eyes, saying, “What is this? Looks like books from a school.”
Mei Qing and the others could now see clearly. Inside the chest that Old Liu had repeatedly warned not to open were bundles that appeared to be books. However, there were no characters or writings on the covers of these bundles, all of which looked worn and old, making it impossible to tell what was inside.
Wang Sigu frowned and closed his fan, saying, “What kind of things are these? Could they be rare ancient editions? Old Liu was so secretive, giving countless warnings to burn them and not letting us take a look. Now that they’ve scattered, it’s not our fault.”
Just then, Xia San exclaimed in surprise from the side, “What’s this?”
Everyone looked and saw Xia San picking up a wooden box from under the scattered bundles.
Mei Qing and the others, being well-versed in literary matters, immediately recognized the wooden box as a stationery case. However, Mei Qing felt a stirring in his heart—it was somewhat strange. The wood was fine and delicate, but not the usual types like rosewood, huanghuali, or walnut. Although it looked familiar, he couldn’t place the kind of wood immediately.
Li Mei, who had mistakenly bought a poor-quality Duan inkstone that day, was particularly sensitive to inkstones. Without thinking, he took the box from Xia San’s hands and said, “Is this a Duan inkstone? I wonder what kind of fine stone it is?” As he spoke, he opened the box.
Mei Qing felt that since Old Liu had said not to open the chest and he had promised, he should honor his word. Although the chest had accidentally broken open, he shouldn’t examine its contents. As he was about to stop Li Mei, the latter had already opened the box and, upon seeing its contents, laughed and said, “It really is a Duan inkstone!”
Everyone looked and saw that it was indeed a purple stone inkstone, about six or seven inches long, shaped like a flowing pool. Li Mei examined it and said, “It seems this is indeed an old pit stone, and the quality of the stone is quite good.” As he turned the inkstone over to check the back, he suddenly let out a startled “Ah!”
It turned out that on the back of the inkstone’s grip, there were seven natural eye-shaped patterns, arranged exactly like the seven stars of the Big Dipper in the sky, perfectly aligned. It was already rare for an inkstone to have such eye-shaped patterns, but to have seven arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper was even rarer. Just this feature alone made the inkstone a priceless treasure.
Not only Mei Qing and the other two, but even the Xia family members, upon seeing the inkstone’s shape, knew it must be something valuable. For a moment, the room fell into an unusual silence. The seven eyes of the ancient inkstone emitted a mysterious luster, as if drawing everyone’s gaze, holding them spellbound, leaving them speechless.
Finally, Mei Qing spoke softly, “The Big Dipper inkstone is indeed recorded in ancient texts. However, although this one is also shaped like the Big Dipper, unfortunately, all seven eyes are ‘dead eyes’—it cannot be considered a supreme treasure. Since Old Liu said to burn everything, we should burn this one too.”
In truth, even the Big Dipper shape alone was already extremely rare. Of course, Mei Qing was right in saying that all seven eyes were indeed ‘dead eyes.’ If they were truly ‘living eyes,’ the value of the inkstone would be beyond imagination.
A ‘dead eye’ refers to an eye-shaped pattern without a pupil, just a single color. A ‘living eye’ has both a pupil and iris, appearing as if alive. Although both are eye-shaped patterns, the value of a living eye far surpasses that of a dead eye.
Mei Qing’s words were deliberately meant to downplay the inkstone’s value, to prevent others present from developing other intentions. Since he had spoken thus, the others, though reluctant, could not argue further. They began collecting the scattered items and piled them beside the brazier, preparing to burn them.
Li Mei held the inkstone in his hands, repeatedly stroking it, lost in thought. Mei Qing called him several times before he finally snapped out of his trance, his face looking strange, his eyes flickering with a dreamy light.
Mei Qing asked, “Brother Li, is there something else?”
Li Mei replied hoarsely, “Nothing—oh, by the way, Brother Mei, Brother Wang, since this is an inkstone, perhaps we shouldn’t burn it as per Liu’s instructions. Why not place it in the coffin along with the porcelain items? We can just burn the books; that should be enough.”
Mei Qing and Wang Sigu exchanged glances and thought Li Mei’s suggestion made sense. After all, even if the inkstone were burned, it wouldn’t be destroyed like paper. It would be more appropriate to place it in the coffin as a burial offering.
The three began moving the porcelain items from the room. The Xia brothers, unfamiliar with such things, assumed they were just ordinary porcelain and paid no attention. After several trips, all the porcelain items, except those the three had chosen, were placed in the coffin. Li Mei then took the inkstone box and said, “I’ll place the inkstone in the coffin now. Brothers, please watch carefully.”
With that, he slowly placed the inkstone box into a corner of the coffin. Then he called for Xia San to come and close the coffin lid, securing it with long nails. After that, Taoist priest Xia Si reappeared, resuming his chanting and the clanging of cymbals with renewed vigor.
The wooden chest, along with the bundles of books inside, was burned in front of the coffin. One bundle after another was thrown into the flames. Soon, the bindings burned away, and the old pages curled up in the fire. The ancient characters on the pages flickered and danced in the smoke before being consumed by the flames, carried upward by the heat in swirling, fluttering pieces like black butterflies, rising and falling gently.
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