Chapter 07: The Beginning of Learning the Art

After the dark clouds had dissipated, my family came to pick me up on the news.

Grandma put medicine on my scorched back, and although I was not directly hit, I was also electrocuted. My body was very weak and weak, my skin was white, and the veins on my arms and legs were like leaf veins, appearing on the surface of my skin in blue, like countless earthworms, curved, and looked very scary.

Grandmother asked the great aunt to go from the lightning struck acacia tree to shave some charred wood back together with the decoction.

I learned at this time, grandma took a hair before me, with straw and paper charms tied a stand-in dummy hanging in the kitchen under the beam, the first lightning is directly in there, the whole kitchen is basically considered fried. Because there was a warning, grandma knew that the lightning was coming to me, the emergency practice to protect me to escape here, now look back on it, it was a close call.

After my dad learned, he shook his head vigorously and said "no way" three times in a row, "where in the world will be struck by lightning disease?"

My second eldest has been running long distances for years and has seen a lot of things, so he said, "I have heard of a man abroad who was struck by lightning six times in his life, and after he died, coincidentally, his grave was opened by lightning again. It seems that there is indeed such an odd physique in the world, I think Miao Miao is because of the disease, the body has changed."

My father rubbed his thinning hair with chagrin, "Our own family knows that this is a disease, but outsiders do not know ah, and think that our Lin family has done something wrong! On my way here, I already heard some idle people chewing on me."

Grandma looked at my father with some hatred: "Lao-san, the mouth is on others, let them talk! Also, being struck by lightning is not necessarily a symptom, most likely because the plague lurking in Miao Miao's body, once the outbreak will be dangerous to the world, so the lightning punishment, Miao Miao was only implicated."

The group was stunned, my mother heartily hugged me and cried: "Our Miao Miao is innocent ah! Mom, can't you think of a way to get rid of this sick ghost?"

Grandma shook her head in vain, "This sick ghost uses a very malicious technique, there is no tricky way to get rid of it, there are only two ways to drive it away: cure or death. However, the statement of thunder punishment is also my speculation, there is no evidence. In any case, the first priority is to cure Miao Miao, not to let the disease spread or transfer ..."

My father said, "Do you want Miao Miao to carry a lightning rod with her in the future?"

My second grandfather said, "Forget it, Lao-san you really do not know anything except earning money, lightning rod that is to attract lightning."

My father was not happy, "Second brother, you know everything but give an idea ah, standing talking does not hurt, this did not happen to your family Hui Hui, of course you are not anxious."

"All shut up! How adult, just know the noise ..." Grandma pounded the ground with her new cane, "Before the cure, Miao Miao can not leave my side, I will do everything possible to save him."

"What?" My dad said hesitantly, "Mom, but Miao Miao is going to middle school soon, and he can't stay in our village forever. ..."

My mother was not happy: "Study is not as important as the child's life! If he goes to school in the county, what if he gets struck by lightning again? Only our mother can protect Miao Miao."

"So you're just wasting your education?" My father sighed in frustration and said, "Why don't we all move to the county?"

The oldest aunt, who was listening to them, sank down and said, "Lao-san, what do you mean? Are you saying that our mother is so old that she won't know anyone in the county and her legs won't be so good, and that she has to go with her grandson to accompany him to school? You are really a filial son!"

My father said with a stern neck: "Adults suffer for the sake of the children, don't they? Miao Miao's education cannot be wasted!"

Suddenly, a violent cough interrupted the adults' quarrel, and I woke up in a daze, only to see my mother supporting my grandmother, who was clutching a handkerchief in her hand, which was red, as if blood had been annihilated.

Now my father and they are not quarrel, scared face white, busy asking grandmother what happened.

Grandmother waved her hand and said slightly weakly: "Ahem, my body is not working, before I go to see the old man, we must cure Miao Miao's disease, other things, postpone it!"

By September 1, the other children in the village went to school, I remained in my grandmother's clinic, the occasional patient came to the door, or Mom and Dad came to send food, but the rest of the time was very quiet.

When I tried to get out of the clinic to go outside, a large swirling cloud would suddenly appear in the air, very scary. I was so scared that I retreated to my room - my grandmother had set up a spell in the clinic to protect me.

My back recovered very slowly, I had to apply thick ointment every day, drink the soup made of lightning wood, sleep on my back, the wound was itchy and painful, and I couldn't leave the clinic for half a step, so I was a little depressed, but I gritted my teeth in front of my grandmother and tried to behave like a little man.

But my grandmother could see my inner turmoil and would sometimes console me: "Miao Miao, you're still young, you can cry if you're sad, it's okay."

I bit my lip and shook my head stubbornly, "Grandma, I'm just angry, why in the world there is such a bad thing as the god of plague, causing people to get sick, if only it could be destroyed forever."

Grandma lovingly stroked my head: "Miao Miao, life and death, disease, natural disasters, is nature's checks and balances, otherwise human beings will endlessly reproduce, and in the end, no one can live. The god of plague is also a part of heaven, you don't have to complain about it too much."

I thought about it and said, "We are human, it's only natural to hate it, so why should we understand this bad thing? In the future, if I can afford it I will kill it again!"

Grandma smiled and said, "No, remember, you can only seal it! Grandmother's mistake you must not repeat again, that kind of existence that lives at par with heaven and earth can not be killed, only be able to seal it!"

I nodded my head, determined to say, "Grandma, I want to learn the skills from you!"

Grandma showed a surprised look and said with a smile, "The art of witch doctor, witch and doctor are complementary, if you want to learn, you have to start from zero and progress step by step."

I nodded again, "I'm willing to learn, anyway ... I can't go to school now ..."

Actually, Grandma also had the idea of teaching me, and since Grandpa was gone, she coughed more and more.

The best way is to teach me to fish, so that in the future I can identify the disease myself and find the solution.

In addition, the thousand-year legacy of witch doctors, grandmother naturally do not want to break in their own hands. After teaching me for a while, my grandmother thought that I was gifted and had a kind heart, which was very important, because the only way to practice traditional medicine is to have a kind heart.

So, my grandmother told me to read medical books, starting with the "Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine", and ask her if I did not understand anything.

With something to do and my body slowly recovering, I gradually recovered from my depressed mood of not being able to go out, but my back was left with a large scar of lightning strike forever, which was so ugly that people were shocked.

Grandmother said to me that this is a blessing in disguise, because the heavenly thunder marks are the purest brand of Yang energy between heaven and earth, the body with this person is a vicious corner, after the demons will go around me.

In the grandmother's careful explanation, I spent five months to learn the "Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine" thoroughly, the body's yin and Yang, the five elements, pulse meridians have a basic understanding, but also just touched the threshold of traditional medicine.

Whenever I heard my grandmother coughing at night, I was very sad and asked her anxiously if she wanted to boil some medicine to eat.

She smiled and said, "Miao Miao, I'm not seriously ill, I'm just old. The life span of a person is predestined by God, no one can stay when the time comes."

I looked at my grandmother's thinning silver hair and aging face and said reluctantly, "Grandma, when I finish my studies, I will find you a medicine for immortality!"

Grandma curbed her smile and solemnly admonished me: "Silly child, one cannot go against the sky! I have already rebel against the sky twice in my life, if you rebel again, I'm afraid the Lin family will have a big disaster! Remember, everything must be done in accordance with heaven!"

Autumn and winter came and went, and I read medical books and took care of the herb garden in the backyard for my grandmother, a quiet and relaxed life that I had become very comfortable with.

Grandma often dragged me to worship the gods together. She said that the god Zong Bu was in charge of all the ghosts in heaven and earth and must be worshipped by the witch doctors - before he became a god, his name was "Yi", the very hero who shot the sun.

There is also a small sculpture next to the god Zong Bu, a kind-eyed beautiful sister, her name is Lin Mo, the first great witch of the past and present, is also the ancestor of the Lin family, her other name may be more familiar to the world, called "Ma Zu".

Last time for me to block the lightning is Lin Tai Sin's "dance Nuo incarnation statue".

Lin family witch doctor, and the northeast shaman is a different source, we come from the south in the witch, so the worship of Zong Bu God, rather than the nature spirits.

Once after worshipping the statue, I asked my grandmother in a low voice, "Grandma, can I learn those powerful spells now?"

Grandma looked at me, "Bear, you want to run before you learn to walk? Witch doctor is first and foremost a doctor, learn the art of medicine first!"