Chapter 8

### Chapter 3

### Respect the Dead and Adhere to the Dao

### ——————————

Old Hu was a strange person! Especially to Lin Fei, who, after returning home late that night, recounted the entire encounter with Old Hu to his close friend An Kang.

An Kang was greatly surprised, exclaiming, "Why do I feel like your master is some kind of transcendent sage?"

"You think so too, right?" Lin Fei said, a bit uncertain.

"Not just strange!" An Kang suddenly slapped his hand and said loudly, "It's fucking amazing!"

"Huh?" Lin Fei looked at the excited An Kang, utterly confused.

"Sending a newbie like you to the morgue to apprentice, is that something a normal person would think of?" An Kang laughed wildly. "I think your master is really trying to train your courage with the dead bodies in the morgue!"

"Hey, why don't you ask? Why did they choose you to be the forensic doctor?"

"It's not that I didn't ask, it's that I didn't dare to!" Lin Fei said with a pained expression, explaining his concerns. "What if they really made a mistake? I'd be jobless again, right? I'll just wait it out for a month, at least get a month's salary to live on. By then, even if they fire me, I won't care..."

"Decisive, you're willing to do anything for money!"

"Man dies for wealth, birds die for food!"

...

The location was the only government morgue in the southern part of the city, where all the bodies from the various districts of the southern city were stored.

This place, filled with all sorts of dead bodies, made Lin Fei immediately think of the idiom "deep yin qi" (deep yin energy).

Following the corridor, Lin Fei walked slowly behind Old Hu toward the morgue.

"Others teach their apprentices to respect the teacher and adhere to the Dao!" Old Hu said to Lin Fei. "But in our line of work, I only require you to respect the dead and adhere to the Dao!"

"Uh-huh!" Lin Fei, who hadn't immediately grasped the difference between "teacher" and "dead," could only respond vaguely.

"Now, kneel down!" Old Hu stopped and said.

Lin Fei looked around the empty corridor, which only contained him and Hu Buwei. He thought: This must be the apprenticeship ceremony Old Hu mentioned!

Without much hesitation, although he hadn't personally witnessed Old Hu's skills, the rumors about him made Lin Fei believe that Old Hu had unique abilities.

"Art is never a burden to the body"! Although Lin Fei wasn't sure if he would continue on the path of a forensic doctor, perhaps after saving enough money, he would leave and venture into the film industry, his original dream! But at this moment, he needed this salary to live on, and the most direct way to get it was to learn from Old Hu...

With a "thud," Lin Fei knelt down quite decisively! To show his sincerity, he even added a bit more force, and his knees hit the floor, causing a sharp pain!

Lin Fei looked at Old Hu, thinking: This is pretty sincere, right?

But Old Hu suddenly looked angry! He slapped Lin Fei's forehead and scolded, "Are you stupid! I said to respect the dead and adhere to the Dao! Not to bow to me, but to bow to it..."

Lin Fei quickly turned around, following Old Hu's scolding, and looked at the empty corridor, but... there was no one?

No, wait! There was an additional basin? A metal basin full of burn marks!

Three steps away from Lin Fei, Old Hu squatted next to the fire basin and said, "Whether you're here for money or something else! From this moment on, you must bow every three steps! And you must do it sincerely!"

"How do you show sincerity?" Lin Fei asked, completely confused.

"Recite in your heart: 'Respect the dead and adhere to the Dao'!" Old Hu glared at Lin Fei. He then took out a box from somewhere, from which he retrieved paper money, yellow paper, and incense.

A match was struck, and the three dark incense sticks immediately produced three straight, gray smoke trails!

Another movement, and the iron basin, filled with paper money and yellow paper, suddenly ignited, spreading warmth through the corridor.

Old Hu held the three incense sticks and bowed three times at the end of the corridor, muttering something inaudible.

After he finished muttering, he instructed Lin Fei, "Bow! Three times!"

Lin Fei hurriedly complied, remembering Old Hu's instruction to be sincere. At first, he silently recited, "Respect the dead and adhere to the Dao," but later, he couldn't help but say it out loud, and the sound of these four words echoed through the corridor.

After Lin Fei finished bowing and stood up, Old Hu kicked the fire basin with his toe, moving it a bit forward. He then said, "Go forward, and continue bowing!"

At first, Lin Fei followed Old Hu's instructions, but he was puzzled: Is this really about learning to be a forensic doctor? It feels more like learning some kind of Daoist ritual! And Old Hu looked so skilled, just like an old Daoist!

"How does this feel like a scam?"

Lin Fei mused to himself. As a young man of the new era, he naturally opposed superstition, but growing up in a small county, he had heard many strange stories from the countryside.

For example, he remembered a pond near his grandmother's house in the countryside! The water wasn't shallow, and when the pond was full, it could reach a depth of several dozen meters! Of course, these were common sights in the countryside, but there was one thing that was rare elsewhere.

In the center of the pond was an abandoned grave.

This grave had always been in Lin Fei's childhood memories, and the locals called it "He Ma Niang's Grave." As he grew older, Lin Fei understood the meaning of this name. It must have been a woman surnamed Ma who married into a family surnamed He, hence the name!

Over time, fewer and fewer people knew which family had built the grave. After so many years, there were no more families surnamed He within ten miles of the pond, and most were surnamed "Liu, Li, Zhang, Zhu, and Kuang." Lin Fei's grandmother was from the Li family...

Back then, Lin Fei's favorite thing to do during the rainy season was to have his parents take him to his grandmother's house in the countryside! Not to find playmates, but to gather a few friends and go to the pond to see a strange phenomenon, the phenomenon of "He Ma Niang's Grave"!

As the rain grew heavier, the water in the pond rose to the top, almost reaching the small path around the pond!

Originally, the water in the pond couldn't rise to this level, but during the reform and opening-up period, the village had a major transformation. The entrances and exits at both ends of the pond were filled in to make roads. As a result, during heavy rains, the pond became a reservoir, filling up in the blink of an eye. And at this moment...

"Look! Look! He Ma Niang's grave is floating up again!"

Lin Fei always worried that someone would try to throw stones at He Ma Niang's grave to see if they could move it with a stone or a brick!

Every time, little Lin Fei would remember his grandmother's words, "There are gods three feet above your head!" and thus believed that there must be something mysterious guarding the floating "He Ma Niang's Grave." Therefore, he didn't dare to try to touch it with stones or bricks, but could only stand far away, watching the grave that remained unmoved even when hit.

After countless attempts, everyone believed the grave couldn't be moved! The only way to move it was by rain...

"Water rises, it rises; water falls, it falls!"

The tip of the grave always maintained a distance of one zhang and one chi from the water surface, even during droughts when the pond was dry and the ground cracked. There were no stories of ghosts emerging to harm people, just the phrase "plain and unremarkable."

Because of this, the strange phenomenon of "water rises, it rises; water falls, it falls" was the only thing that made the grave stand out. As a result, people in the area began to forget about the grave's existence...

Until after 2000, Lin Fei, who was studying in the county, learned from his grandmother that "He Ma Niang's Grave" had been excavated! It was discovered by an archaeological team from the provincial city, and after applying, the local government sent many people to help. But the final result was unexpected...

The grave was empty! There wasn't even a coffin!

The archaeological team stayed for two days, found nothing, and left disappointed. Since then, the phenomenon of "He Ma Niang's Grave" disappeared...

This was the strangest thing Lin Fei remembered from his childhood!

Even after so many years, he still remembered it vividly.

He looked at Old Hu, who had a serious expression. He was a government employee, but what he was doing now was completely against science and could be considered superstition.

Sensing Lin Fei's confusion, Old Hu turned and said, "Some things can't be asked here! I'll explain when we get back!"

Some things? What things?

Even Lin Fei himself didn't know what he wanted to ask! Was it about whether ghosts existed? Or was it about whether Old Hu was a forensic doctor or something else?

Three steps, a bow; three steps, a bow...

Lin Fei, filled with doubts, walked and bowed halfway down the corridor before realizing something was off?

"Thud, thud, thud..."

Old Hu kicked the fire basin with his toe again, moving it three steps forward!

He looked at Old Hu, who was calm, and saw him bow forward, then take three steps.

Lin Fei walked three steps to the fire basin and bowed sincerely. He stared at Old Hu, who again kicked the fire basin three steps away. "My god! This old guy is really something!" Lin Fei thought, "Every kick moves the fire basin exactly three steps, without a single mistake!"

Not only that, but each time Old Hu kicked the fire basin, the flames didn't go out but grew stronger! Lin Fei remembered that Old Hu had thrown paper money and yellow paper into the fire basin, and after walking halfway down the corridor, nothing had been added, yet the fire burned brighter and brighter!

Also, Lin Fei felt the temperature around him getting colder, and his skin was covered in goosebumps?

Just then, Old Hu and Lin Fei finally reached the end of the corridor, the last morgue room.

Old Hu closed his eyes, turned to the morgue room door, and said, "New disciple entering, please take care of him in the future!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the fire basin, which had been burning fiercely, suddenly went out...

All that was left in the basin was a pile of black ash, as black as the basin itself, making it hard for Lin Fei to tell where the basin ended and the ash began...

"Take it!" Old Hu handed the three incense sticks to Lin Fei and asked, "Do you know what to do next?"

Lin Fei hesitated for a moment, then, without hesitation, took the incense sticks from Old Hu, knelt in front of the fire basin, and faced the morgue room door. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "My name is Lin Fei... I will be working here in the future, and I hope all the grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, and children will take care of me!"

Then he bowed three times.

Old Hu looked at Lin Fei and smiled faintly. He knew Lin Fei was a clever kid. Although he was probably filled with doubts, he could hold back and not ask too many questions before Old Hu spoke, which showed he had some patience! With patience, even if he wasn't particularly talented, he would be easier to teach.

The moment Lin Fei finished his three bows, the ash in the fire basin suddenly reignited, burning more fiercely than ever.

The fire continued to burn until the three incense sticks in Lin Fei's hand were completely consumed, then slowly went out...

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