The beautiful scenery of Leifeng Pagoda at sunset is unfolding by the side of West Lake, in a private room on the outer floor of a building in Hangzhou. An energetic old man is toasting a white-clad middle-aged man, while next to them sits a fat man with large tortoiseshell glasses and a receding hairline.

  The old man is an expert in ancient characters: He Lao. The white-clothed man is naturally Cha Wenbin, and the fat man is Old Wang.

  "Ive long heard Old Wang talk about your divine abilities, and Ive always wanted to see the real persons demeanor. Today, I finally saw you, and indeed, you have a unique and extraordinary bearing, truly worthy of being called a divine person! Heres to you, sir!" With that, He Lao downed the cup of fine Maotai he had brought with him in one gulp, smiling brightly at Cha Wenbin across from him, indicating that he had finished drinking.

  Zha Wenbin made a bow, then smiled at Old Wang and said: "He Lao is overpraising me, Im just a beginner on the path, I dont dare to show off in front of my seniors. This cup should be mine to toast my senior." He downed the wine in one gulp, wiped his mouth with his hand, and shouted: "Good wine!"

  He Lao smiled and continued, inviting everyone to eat

  Old Wang took a sip of the wine, smiled and stared at the cup, saying: "Wenbin, I really benefited from you today. Do you know the origin of this wine?"

  Cha Wenbin looked at the smiling couple and shook his head, saying: "This wine is probably not an ordinary product?"

  Old Wang burst out laughing and put down his chopsticks, telling Cha Wenbin about an archaeological activity from years ago.

  It is said that in those years, Mr. He was in a Western Han Dynasty tomb in Guizhou Province which had been robbed. Mr. He led the team to conduct emergency excavations. The inside of the tomb had already been messed up, but fortunately, many jars were found in the ear chamber next door, with their mouths still sealed and covered with mud. They moved out more than 100 large jars in total. Originally, these jars were supposed to be sent to the museum for cleaning, but during the transportation process, one of them was accidentally broken, and a strong wine aroma wafted out. Several people who couldnt hold their liquor fainted on the spot.

  He Lao used his finger to taste a bit and found that it was wine. This urn actually had wine in it. That night, he returned to the museum and carefully sealed it again. Immediately, a strong aroma of wine filled the entire room. It wasnt just drinking a sip, but even smelling it made people feel like they were floating on air. This was 2000-year-old wine! Through technical appraisal, most of these urns only had less than one-third of liquid left in them, which was extremely pure and refined.

  Later, the wine was taken over by the state, and some top leaders may have been lucky enough to drink it. He Lao, who also loved wine, secretly kept a jar of it. When he occasionally checked on it, he found that one was missing. After investigating, they couldnt find out who took it, so they framed He Lao for dereliction of duty and demoted him to Zhejiang, which was still relatively poor at the time, where he became a museum administrator.

  This wine, over 2000 years old, He Lao himself had never dared to drink a mouthful, also afraid of being discovered by his superiors. Today, Cha Wenbin came, so he took out this national treasure-level wine to entertain him, showing his respect for Cha Wenbin.

  Cha Wenbin was also shocked, staring at the cup in his hand. He Lao poured him another cup, Cha Wenbin couldnt refuse, and after drinking two cups of wine, three people who normally had a good tolerance for alcohol suddenly passed out on the table. The restaurant staff didnt realize until closing time that all the customers at this table were completely drunk, showing just how potent this wine was.

  It wasnt until the next day at noon that the three of them woke up one after another from their rooms in the restaurant, savoring the memories of last nights banquet and marveling at the potency of the wine. After cleaning up, they went to He Laos home.

  He Lao is not only an archaeologist, but also a mystic. When Zha Wenbin arrived at He Laos home, he found that the arrangement of his house was designed according to the I Ching feng shui, and couldnt help but have more admiration for He Lao.

  The topic of the three people turned to that text again, and He Lao took out the handwritten copy of the text, pointing at the symbols on it and saying that this should be the ancient Miaojiang script, recording a strange book, as for where this book is, there is no mention of it in the text.

  Zha Wenbin asked He Lao and Old Wang if they had discovered any special Daoist relics in other places. He Lao shook his head and said, "These kinds of things are not understandable to outsiders. Even if something is discovered, its very likely that it would be treated as an ordinary cultural relic. Firstly, Chinas religions have always been complex. Secondly, during the Cultural Revolution, too many things were destroyed, and many traditions passed down from our ancestors were cut off by about 70-80%. If you want to find this book, its probably still up to fate."

  Old Wang suggested going to the museum to check the archives and see if there were any similar texts that had appeared before. He Lao nodded in agreement.

  Those few days, Zhang Wenbin stayed at He Laos home. He Lao was also delighted, with only an old partner at home, and his sons and daughters had already established their own families outside. So when Zhang Wenbin arrived, the house became lively. Every night, he followed Zhang Wenbin to study Taoist history. Old Wang also reported to He Laos home every day after work. The three of them chatted happily, and He Laos old partner stir-fried some local dishes for them. The three of them drank wine and talked.

  These easy days continued for another week

  Mrs. Wang, the wife of Old He, has seven brothers and sisters, ranking fifth in seniority, is also sixty-five years old this year, usually healthy, cant see any illness, a week after Zhang Wenbin arrived, Mrs. Wangs elderly father passed away

  The father of the kings wife is already a ninety-year-old man, and it would be normal for him to die at this age. So He Lao took the kings wife back to their hometown for the funeral. Cha Wenbin stayed in their home for a week, enjoying good wine and meat every day, but feeling embarrassed, he thought about following them to take a look and make a small offering to the deceased as a way of repaying He Lao.

  Lao Wang followed He Lao as friends and naturally went together. The four of them set off on the same day and went to that small town in western Zhejiang.

  Mrs. Wangs hometown was also in the mountains, a small village with only over a hundred households. When they arrived at Mr. Wangs home, Mrs. Wang had almost fainted from crying and wailed loudly while holding onto Mr. Wangs body. In rural areas, when an elderly person passes away, the more their children cry, the more it represents their filial piety. With Mrs. Wang crying so heart-wrenchingly, naturally the people around her also started crying.

  After He Lao lit a stick of incense and burned some paper money, he introduced the two people he brought with him to his nephew, saying that one was a Taoist priest who had come to take a look. His nephews name was Wang Xin, and when he heard that a Taoist priest had arrived, he thought to himself that their family was just about to send someone to invite a Taoist priest, so his uncle had brought one over. He was naturally very polite to Cha Wenbin, offering him cigarettes and tea, and asked Cha Wenbin to perform a small ritual. Cha Wenbin nodded, then turned around and went into the side room, changed his clothes, and came out again.

  Those who came to visit looked and dug, good guy, such a Feng Xian Dao bone Daoist appeared, naturally the eyes all shifted up, usually in the village there is a dead person, also ask the Daoist, basically are some old men, this young Daoist, really understand?

  Cha Wenbin didnt make a sound, and asked for Wang Laos birth date and time, listed some zodiac animals, warned people with these zodiac signs not to stay in this place, fearing they would be affected by the evil spirits. He also asked for yellow paper and incense sticks, and held a ritual ceremony for Wang Lao.

  The natural thing to do was to cross the Fairy Bridge, which was a big deal. Zhang Wenbin crossed the Fairy Bridge and it went smoothly without any unexpected events. Then he went to take a look at the treasure hole that Old Master Wang had dug for himself before his death and found nothing wrong with it. He then made out a receipt for Wang Xin.

  What is this? Its the time for holding a memorial service, also known as "zhai qi". After someone dies (or after the funeral), starting from the first seventh day, an altar is set up to offer sacrifices and worship the deceased. Every morning and evening, offerings are made and rituals performed. Every seven days, a Buddhist ceremony is held to make offerings and pay respects, until the 49th day when the mourning period ends.

  The offerings for the seventh day of the month must be in even numbers, as odd numbers are yang and even numbers are yin. Therefore, when we invite guests to order dishes, its best to order an odd number.

  Cha Wenbin calculated the good days, and during this period of seven days, he posted the names of people who needed to be present on the wall of Wang Laos living room. After finishing these tasks, after Wang Lao was buried, a group of people returned to the provincial city in Wang Xins gratitude, promising to come back together again on the seventh day

  On the seventh day after a persons death, commonly known as "head seven" or "returning soul night", it is said that if the deceased has any unfinished business, they will be escorted back by ghosts to meet with their relatives in the world of the living; or they may bring a group of new friends they met in the underworld back to the world of the living. The relatives in the world of the living would then set up a table of wine and food for the deceased to entertain their friends. However, there is one thing that must be put away - anything yellow in color, because yellow represents the color of the gods. If seen, the deceased will naturally not dare to return home.

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