Chapter 4: The Ancestral Sandalwood Box

  Xuan Qi didn't expect things to go so smoothly, he had just bought the Qinghua porcelain vase from Old Zhang and immediately found a buyer. At the same time, he was also secretly rejoicing that he and Su Lao had gone to Old Zhang's house at almost the same time, with a difference of no more than ten minutes. If he had gone a little later, this good fortune would have completely slipped away from him.

  He never expected that the other party would go to Old Zhang to buy a vase, and it just so happened to be today, what a narrow escape.

  Money is a person's courage, and when their wallet is full, the whole spirit of the person changes, with more confident demeanor in every move.

  He didn't withdraw the money, and it remained in the bank. He still had over 9,000 yuan left on him. After all, he had borrowed 20,000 yuan from Liang Zimo and only spent 10,000 yuan on the vase.

  Xuan Qi made a big purchase in the county town, bought a lot of supplements for Grandpa, and some practical daily necessities, then rented a car and headed straight to the countryside.

  It's still early now, and Xuan Qi came all the way over, running into many familiar faces.

  "Qí yǎo zi is back!" It's Wang Bo from the village head, who is leading a cow home.

  "Yes, Old Wang, you're still working in the fields at your age?"

  ……

  "Brother Zhen, is school on holiday?" The speaker was one of Zhen Qi's former elementary school classmates.

  "Not yet, I have something on, so I'll take leave first."

  ……

  Along the way, he met fellow villagers who all greeted him warmly, and Xuan Qi responded to each of them.

  The familiar dialect made him feel particularly close, when he came back to farm that year, these relatives gave him a lot of help, if he had the ability, he would definitely repay these fellow villagers.

  He finally arrived home, Xuan Qi got off the car with his things, and he couldn't wait any longer, but at the same time, he felt anxious.

  As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he heard a familiar voice. His eyes were instantly filled with tears: "Grandpa!"

  "Little Qi? How did you come back?"

  Xuan Qing, dressed in a black robe and horse jacket, saw his grandson and was delighted in his heart, but also felt somewhat strange. On the one hand, it wasn't a holiday at present, on the other hand, he hadn't expected Xuan Qi to return at this time.

  Xuan Qi rushed over quickly, put down the things on the ground, then tightly hugged her grandfather, finally unable to hold back tears like rain, choking with sobs and couldn't say a word.

  He finally saw his grandfather!

  How many times had he dreamed of this scene in his dreams, the familiar courtyard, the dark green horse jacket, the bright smile, the thin but powerful arm, all of which strongly stimulated Xuan Qi's tear glands.

  Xuan Qing and Hehe smiled: "Have you been bullied outside?"

  "No, I just suddenly miss you so much!"

  Xuan Qing heard this and couldn't help but smile as he patted his grandson's head.

  Xuan Qi's height was a whole head taller than his grandfather's, but in front of him, Xuan Qi would always be just a child.

  Xuan Qing also found Xuan Qi's current behavior somewhat strange, after all, his own grandson had a strong personality since childhood and had never shown such weakness before, so why was he crying like this today?

  Did he already know that my time was running out?

  Impossible.

  Xuan Qing shook his head slightly in his heart. The ancestors' things, except for some fist and footwork, nothing else was taught to him, he couldn't know this point.

  Xuan Qing and his heart had some hesitation. Since Sun Er had already returned, should he tell him about some things?

  But considering the child's personality, if we delve deeper, how will it turn out? Will it be a blessing or a curse for him?

  "Grandfather, how's your body recently?" Xuan Qi suddenly asked when Xuan Qing was struggling intensely in her heart.

  Xuan Qinghe's face turned gloomy again, then said: "Body? It's fine. Why did you suddenly ask about this?"

  Xuan Qi said, "When I was in school, I heard the teachers at school mention a statistic that nowadays rural elderly people all have some minor health issues. Grandpa, let me take you to the hospital for a full-body checkup."

  Xuan Qing and Ya Ran lost their smiles. "What's there to check? No need to check, I know my own body, you don't have to worry about it."

  Xuan Qi saw that Grandpa was opposed to it and didn't insist on it anymore. He thought about how he could persuade Grandpa to go to the hospital for a check-up.

  In his memory, Grandpa had only three months left. Later, the hospital's examination results said it was sudden death caused by myocardial infarction. As for this result, Xuan Qi has always been somewhat skeptical, after all, Grandpa's body has always been very good, from childhood to adulthood, he has never seen him get sick.

  Many things are only known to be precious after they are lost, and Xuan Qi is now in this mood. He cherishes every minute and every second he spends with his grandfather.

  "What's wrong with you, kid? What did you buy all this stuff for?" Xuan Qinghe scolded, looking at the things on the ground.

  At the same time, he also felt a little strange in his heart, where did his grandson get the money to buy these?

  Xuan Qi carried these things into the house, explaining: "It's not a lot of money. Grandpa, this time at school exams, I took first place and got a 3,000 yuan scholarship."

  Xuan Qing and Ting heard this and didn't say anything else. Sunzi had this kind of filial piety, he should feel happy instead, as for the money issue, it was never something he cared about.

  This time when Xuan Qi returned, apart from wanting to see his grandfather as soon as possible, there was another very important matter.

  At that time, after Grandfather's death, he left behind a sandalwood box. And Xuan Qi was able to return to the present seventeen years ago because of an important connection with something in the sandalwood box.

  Thinking of this, Xuan Qi asked somewhat urgently:

  "Grandpa, when I was little, I saw a dark red sandalwood box at home. Can you show it to me?"

  Xuan Qing and heard his words, a very strange expression appeared on his face. Sun Er's words made him feel both surprised and unexpected, and thinking of Sun Er's previous behavior, he felt even more puzzled.

  However, Xuan Qing didn't ask for any reason, and Xuan Qi had already grown up. These things would have to be handed over to him sooner or later. Since he brought it up himself, let's just give them to him then.

  Everything goes with the natural order, following the will of heaven, this is the thought of Xuán Qīng and his inner mind at this moment.

  "Come with me."

  Having said that, Xuan Qing and Bian walked towards their own room.

  He and Xu Qing moved the wardrobe together, lifted a green brick from the ground, revealing a package wrapped in oilcloth.

  Xuan Qing and took up the package and handed it over to Xuan Qi: "This is something passed down from our ancestors, but actually it's not worth much anymore."

  Xuan Qi took over the package with some excitement, he understood that Grandfather said so because the things inside were broken and had been burned by a big fire. He used to think so too, but now Xuan Qi could be 100% sure that there was an earth-shaking secret inside.

  "Is Grandpa Xuan at home?" someone outside the house shouted.

  "In the inner room." Xuan Qing and Ying Dao said, "Is it Hu Zi?"

  As they were talking, a sturdy-looking young boy about twelve or thirteen years old walked in.

  "Grandpa Xuan, my mom's stomach suddenly feels a bit uncomfortable, and my dad asked me to come over and ask you to go take a look."

  "Does your stomach feel uncomfortable?" Xuan Qing said to Xuan Qi, "This is Chen Xiaohu, the son of Chen Guisheng from the village head. His mother is now pregnant with her second child, I'll go take a look."

  After finishing speaking, Xuán Qīng took out a small box from the cabinet and walked out with steady steps. Before leaving the room, he looked back at Xuán Zhēn with a profound gaze.

  Xuan Qinghe is very famous locally, not only does he understand Feng Shui and calculate the eight characters, but his medical skills are also renowned far and wide. Although he has already washed his hands in a golden basin and no longer tells fortunes or calculates destinies, he has never stopped treating illnesses and saving lives.

  In Xuan Qi's memory, when he was young, his grandfather seemed to want to teach these things to him too. He even made him recite medical book rhymes and some heavenly stems and earthly branches data, and taught him martial arts. However, later on, this was opposed by his father, so all these matters came to nothing.

  After his father's death, he lived in school for a long time and rarely returned home. Even his boxing skills were gradually abandoned.

  Xuan Qi hastily unwrapped the oilcloth package on the table and opened it, revealing a dark red sandalwood box.

  On top of the sandalwood box is a copper lock. The lock is entirely made of brass and consists of two main parts: the lock catch and the lock body.

  What's different about this copper lock from other copper locks is that it doesn't have a key, but rather a password.

  On the lock's surface, there are five cylindrical wheels. Each wheel has four Chinese characters engraved on it, totaling twenty characters: mountain river lake water, medical skill benevolent heart, life soul principle number, divination heaven earth human, fortune telling auspicious inauspicious.

  This lock has only one five-word password, and only when the five words on the round dial match the password and the text aligns with the lion's head at both ends of the lock slot can it be opened.

  This lock has 3,125 possible combinations. At first, Xuán Qí tried nearly two thousand times to open the lock before finally getting the correct five-character password.

  Of course, this lock is not complicated compared to modern locks, and it does not have a self-destruct mechanism. It can be opened with force, but since it was left by his grandfather as a keepsake for Xuan Qi, it holds special memorial significance, and he did not intend to destroy it at the time.

  This time, Xuan Qi already knew the password and directly turned the password wheel to line up the five correct Chinese characters in a row. With a "click" sound, the lock opened with a clang.

  Xuan Qi opened the lid, revealing what was inside.

  There are only two things, one of which is a black and yellow ancient book that has been burned to only one quarter left, with only about one quarter of its original size remaining. The paper material is unknown, neither gold nor silk, but it still looks very hard even though it has been burned like this.

  On the cover of the ancient book, a large "Xuan" character can be seen, with a font of Da Zhuan, simple and majestic, powerful and piercing through the paper.

  Another thing is a broken turtle shell, on the surface of which there are some natural textures. What's amazing is that the texture on it doesn't look messy and disorderly, but forms a natural picture, just like someone drew it with white lines.

  On the vast and misty surface of the water, a small fishing boat floated, with an old man wearing a conical hat and a rain cape sitting at one end, holding a fishing rod and fishing leisurely.

  Although the lines are simple and only a few strokes, they are vivid and have a unique charm, somewhat like "a small boat sails away from here, and the rivers and seas entrust me with my remaining life".

  The tortoiseshell is very broken and dirty, and even if it falls to the ground, no one will pick it up. However, the landscape pattern on the tortoiseshell immediately increases its value by several levels. From a craftsmanship perspective, these patterns do not seem to be man-made carvings, but rather natural formations, giving people a very ancient feeling.

  "That's it!"

  Xuan Qi's emotions surged as he stretched out his hand, and with a trembling motion, he took the tortoise shell in his grasp.

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