The old man spoke clearly with a Changsha accent, and the content of his words surprised me.
I secretly looked at the old man. He looked unfamiliar. He was probably in his seventies, very thin and not tall. There was a hint of gloom between his brows. He wore an old and wrinkled cotton jacket and reading glasses that looked like the bottom of a super beer bottle. I guess he was half blind.
Dressed like this, he doesn't look like a customer here. But there are many capable people in my second uncle's teahouse, so the waiter is not surprised. These days, there are all kinds of people.
I remained silent and watched his actions. I saw him pick up the book, put his hands behind his back and returned to his seat, his back straight and his steps brisk. If he was not a martial artist, he must have been a soldier in the past.
There were a few other people sitting in his seat, all of them elderly, chatting. When they saw the old man coming back, they all looked respectful, obviously this guy was the leader.
I secretly brought my tea over, sat down behind them, and listened to what the old man had to say.
At first, the old men talked about stocks for a while, which was not pleasant for me. Half an hour later, the old man remembered that he had taken the magazine, and then he said, "Oh, come on, let me show you something interesting."
As he said this, he unfolded the magazine and turned to the page I had burned. I knew there was something going on. This guy might really know something. I didn't even dare to breathe. I heard the old man say, "Come and see what's so special about this map. Let me test you."
The old men looked at each other and chattered. What's so special about a map with a hole burned by a cigarette? Those old men were really good at making up stories. Some of them even talked about the three-legged tripod. The old man in the lead shook his head, saying that it was all wrong.
I felt my intestines itching after hearing this, and was hoping that the answer would be announced soon. Why not just surrender?
Seeing that no one could come up with a solution, the old man chuckled, then lowered his voice and said something I couldn't understand. The other people immediately became excited and rushed to read the magazine.
I suddenly felt depressed. What dialect are you speaking? Am I just not destined to know this?
Unexpectedly, all the conversations between the group of people were in that strange language. I listened carefully for a long time and could only confirm that it was not a Chinese dialect. Where the hell were those old guys from?
After listening for a long time, I couldn't listen any more. My mind was also getting hot. I thought, you don't want me to understand, right? I'll go ask you guys myself, but you can't do anything to me. I made up my mind, stood up and walked to their side, pretending to be a studious teenager, and asked, "Where are you from, old men? Why do I feel that what you said sounds so weird?"
This was very abrupt in Hangzhou, unlike in Beijing where everyone in the teahouses and courtyards knew each other to some extent. I regretted what I said as soon as I said it, thinking that I hoped he would not give me a cold look.
Unexpectedly, the old men were stunned and burst into laughter. The one who took the book said, "Little boy, it's normal that you don't understand. This is the old Miao language. There are no more than a thousand people who can speak it in the whole country."
I was surprised and asked, "Are those people Miao people? Why don't they look like Miao people?"
The old men burst into laughter again, and didn't answer me. I saw that these people were talkative, and they were not from this area, so I might be able to get something out of them, so I quickly followed the trend and asked, "Don't laugh, everyone. I just heard this old man say that this map was burned by me. Could it be that there is some gimmick in it?"
The old man in the lead looked at me and said, "Young man, you are also interested in Feng Shui? You can't understand this knowledge."
"I understand! I understand!" I wanted to lick his feet to make him speak out. "How about you tell me and open my eyes?"
The old man smiled at the others and said, "It's nothing. Look, the three dots you burned are in very special positions. Connect them and look horizontally. What do you see?"
I picked up the magazine and when I took a look at it, I suddenly felt cold all over, "What is this!" I opened my mouth wide.
It turns out that the places where the three fish were unearthed, the Zhou Mausoleum in Qimeng Mountain in Shanxi, the Wofoling Pagoda Underground Palace in Guangxi and the underwater tomb in Xisha, are connected by a curve along the Chinese coastline. The shape is very familiar, and upon closer inspection, it is actually a faint dragon-shaped vein!
I wanted to slap myself, thinking, Wu Xie, how could you be so stupid! You can't even draw on the map, you only care about the different dynasties of these places, why don't you think of the relationship between them?
The old man saw that I was surprised and knew that I had seen the clues. He said with some appreciation, "It's a not-so-obvious 'dragon emerging from the water'. To put it nicely, it's called a latent dragon emerging from the sea. However, this round is still missing something, it's missing a dragon head." As he said that, he picked up his cigarette and pointed it at the magazine, exactly at the position of Changbai Mountain.
The magazine was smoking, but I was completely unable to react. I was stunned for a moment and asked him hurriedly, "Master, what is the purpose of this game?"
The old man chuckled, "Look, this is called looking from the side you see peaks and from the side you see ridges. Look at these points, they connect the Changbai Mountains, Qinling Mountains, Qimeng Mountains, and the Kunlun Mountains into the ground, this is called a thousand dragons pressing down on their tails. China's several dragon veins are all connected underground, this integrates Feng Shui, and there are naturally countless places along the entire line where qi gathers and winds are stored. These points you selected are all very critical treasure eyes, because this line is in the water at one end and on the shore at the other end, so it is called a water dragon."
"But this kind of big-headed feng shui is not practical. The dragon veins found by this kind of feng shui are relatively abstract. We call them big-headed dragons. In ancient times, it was used to predict the fortune of the world. The location of Beijing was determined by this. When choosing a mausoleum for the emperor, this kind of feng shui is too big. I only know a little bit about it. If there is a master, it is Wang Canghai in the early Ming Dynasty. Big-headed feng shui is his specialty."
When I heard this, my eyes blurred and I felt as if all my senses were cleared up. All the things that I couldn't understand came to my mind all at once.
Why did the hexagonal bell in the corpse cave of Wufenling outside the Lu Palace appear in the underwater tomb, and why did the relics in the Western Zhou tomb turn into snake-browed bronze fish? The reason is very simple, because Wang Canghai has been to all these places.
The eyes of the dragon are usually the places where the dragon veins gather wind and energy, and usually buildings or tombs have been built there. Although it is still unknown what the purpose of placing the copper fish in these eyes is, according to the general practice of Feng Shui, this Feng Shui line of the big head dragon is for the head of the dragon on Changbai Mountain.
All this was for Yunding Palace, no wonder he was so obsessed with it and put so much effort into it.
So who is buried in this heavenly palace under the snow?
The old man saw that I was in a daze, probably not knowing what I was thinking, so he asked the others to stand up, stuffed the magazine into my hand, and waved to pay the bill.
I was thinking about something and didn't react for a while. When I remembered to ask for his contact information, he had already walked out of the teahouse. I chased him out and saw him take off his glasses. When I saw his eyes and facial features, I felt a start and stopped in my tracks.
I saw an extremely scary scar starting from the corner of his eye, across his nose, and all the way to the other corner of his eye. There was a dent on the bridge of his nose, as if it had been scratched by some sharp weapon.
When I saw his eyes, I was frightened again and forgot to chase them. As a result, they all got in the car and left.
I changed my mind and felt that this old man had extraordinary conversation skills and was short on energy. It was very likely what Lao Hai said today, Chenpi A Si!
We were talking about him while having dinner just now. How come we meet him in the teahouse now? What a coincidence.
I thought about it and suddenly felt that it was a bit abrupt for Lao Hai to come to Hangzhou and tell me a story. Could it be that there was something fishy going on between this old man and Lao Hai? Was he setting up such a trap to lure me in?
This old man looks a little cunning, so you must be on guard against him.
I cursed inwardly, not knowing what the hell this was all about. I was suddenly confused, recalling what Lao Hai had said. Wasn't this old man blind? How could he still see? And he spoke with such vigor that he didn't sound like a 90-year-old.
But after figuring out the big-headed dragon's scheme, I felt much better, and the gloomy feeling was swept away. I turned around, paid the bill, and went home to have a good and solid sleep.
I woke up at noon the next day. I looked at the invitation and it was over. I called Lao Hai and he didn't have much to say. He just said that no one took pictures of that fish. I was very happy. Only a fool would buy this thing. I said a few more words. Lao Hai seemed very busy and it seemed that he bought a lot of things. I didn't say anything to him.
I didn't want to go to the shop in the afternoon. I wanted to go to the teahouse to wait for that person, but then my uncle's shop called and said someone was looking for me.
I thought maybe Lao Yang had appeared again, so I drove over anxiously. When I walked into the store, I saw a man sitting on the guest sofa. My eyes almost sore and I almost cried. I immediately shouted, "Pan Zi!"