"Great-Grandma, what is bone structure?" Ke Xun decided to ask step by step.
"Here, right here," the old lady stretched out her withered, wrinkled hand, trembling as she touched Ke Xun's forehead. "The skin on the outside of a person is called skin appearance, and the bones inside the skin are called bone structure. When judging a person's character and destiny, seven-tenths of it is revealed in their bone structure."
Wei Dong muttered quietly behind her, "Can this old lady's street fortune-telling be accurate…"
He would rather she be wrong, he would rather she be like those street fortune-telling swindlers… all of them were lying.
Zhu Haowen spoke calmly, "It is said that in the scientific community, there are studies and theories that 'a person's personality, adaptability, and psychological function can be judged based on the shape of their skull.' So, judging a person's character and destiny based on the shape of their skull is not entirely without basis."
Wei Dong: "…Your words make me unsure whether to feel comforted or alarmed…"
Zhu Haowen ignored him, his gaze continuing to fall on Ke Xun's full, round forehead covered by the old lady's withered hand.
"Are you referring to the shape of the bones when you say 'bone structure'?" Ke Xun continued to ask further questions.
The old lady shook her head, tapping Ke Xun's forehead with her finger: "The shape of the bones is also called bone structure, but what I mean by bone structure is the essence, energy, and spirit of the bones. Bones are the foundation of the body, so they manifest in the face. The essence, energy, and spirit that a person displays on their face are actually the essence, energy, and spirit of the bones. However, some essence, energy, and spirit can be seen through the skin, while others are rooted deep within the bones. What I see in your bone structure is the rooted essence within the bones... Unfortunately... my old eyes are dim, and my cultivation is insufficient. I can see, but I can't see clearly, and what I can see clearly, I don't recognize..."
"What do you mean by 'don't recognize'?" Zhu Haowen also took a few steps forward and stood by the bedside to ask.
The old woman glanced at him, withdrew her hand from Ke Xun's forehead, and gestured in the air: "Your bone structure... there's something, a dark, lumpy thing, all over it..."
Wei Dong, Luo Jin, and Wu You shuddered at her words. "That gives me the creeps," Luo Jin said, rubbing his arm.
"Do you mean the bone itself is black, or is there something black on the outside of the bone?" Zhu Haowen continued to ask.
"Not the outside," the old woman shook her head, staring intently at Ke Xun's face with her dim, cloudy eyes, "it's inside the bone."
"Is the entire bone black?" Ke Xun felt uncomfortable under the old woman's gaze and couldn't help but rub his face.
"No," the old woman continued to stare at him with difficulty, "some areas aren't black, some areas are."
"...Are these black and non-black areas like intersecting stripes, or some other shape?" Zhu Haowen pressed further.
"Intermittent," the old lady withdrew her gaze from Ke Xun's face, slowly rubbing her wrinkled eyelids and the corners of her eyes with her hands, "Alas, I'm getting old, I can't see clearly anymore…"
"Then it must be mottled," Ke Xun looked up and exchanged a glance with Zhu Haowen, "What's the reason for this? Does 'that kind of thing' make bones turn black?"
"That kind of thing" of course refers to Ru Hua's affairs, but it's not appropriate to say it outright in front of the old lady.
"It's bone structure, silly boy, bone structure and bones are not the same thing," the old lady patted his knee, "I've seen quite a few bone structures in my life, but I've never seen anything like yours before. Even the patriarch didn't teach how to interpret bone structure. Alas, it's a pity for you young people…"
"Then how did you determine that this kind of bone structure is not a good omen?" Wu You asked hurriedly.
The old lady sighed, "This is the first time I've seen it. My master saw it once before, but I was still young then, before I became his apprentice. I only heard about it later from him. He said he had seen people with this kind of bone structure and found it strange, but unfortunately, he didn't know how to interpret it. As a result, within two days of seeing them, those people all died, and their deaths were horribly tragic..."
"This is a lot of information," Ke Xun said. "Great-Grandma, please take your time and tell us in detail. You see, we young people are all very pretty, you wouldn't want anything to happen to us, would you? Please take your time to think and tell us, remember as much as you can, okay?"
"Okay, okay, alright," the old lady waved her hand and said to Wei Dong and the others, "Don't stand there, sit down."
Wei Dong and the others responded and found places to sit down. Ke Xun then said, "Tell me about the people your master saw. How many were there in total?"
"They said there were five or six people," the old woman thought for a long time before giving a vague answer, "Anyway, several, not just one or two. My master said he had never seen so many people with this kind of bone structure before, so it must be more than just one or two."
"Do you know how old these people are or what they do?" Zhu Haowen asked.
The old woman thought for a long time again: "I remember they said there were men and women, some old and some young, which is why my master found it strange that there were all kinds of people, but they all had the same bone structure."
"Did your master say where he saw them?" Ke Xun asked.
The old lady answered quickly: "It was at my master's house. Those people came specifically to have my master perform a divination. It seemed they were going to do something quite dangerous. They heard my master's divination was accurate, so they came all this way to see him. When my master took one look, he was terrified. He thought, 'Why are these people's bone structures so strange? I've never seen anything like it before, and my ancestral master never taught me about it.' So my master didn't dare to do a bone analysis for them. He only performed a divination to predict good or bad fortune, and the result was extremely ominous... My master said he had never seen such an ominous divination before. He was so frightened that he didn't dare to open his shop for several months, saying he wanted to avoid this ominous energy. And sure enough, those people got into trouble later."
"How did your master know that those people would get into trouble later?" Zhu Haowen keenly seized on the suspicious point.
The old woman patted her legs, which were draped over the edge of the bed, and sighed, "My master was just so curious. He was young then, and he cast such an ominous divination. He said he'd only seen it once in his life, and he was so intrigued, like a cat scratching at his heart, wanting to know what it meant. He overheard those people mentioning going to some kind of study, and he remembered it. After that, he went there every few days. One day, he actually saw those people go in, and then they came out not long after. He felt something was wrong, saying those people were like they were possessed, completely disoriented. After leaving the study, they went their separate ways, and before they'd gone far, they were shot dead in a hail of bullets, their bodies riddled with blood..." "
Wait... wait a minute," Wei Dong interrupted, his face darkening, "Shot dead in a hail of bullets? May I ask what era that was from?"
"In the 1920s or 1930s," the old woman said, "there was war everywhere back then, it was very chaotic."
Wei Dong did some mental calculations. This old woman looked to be in her eighties. Her master was young... indeed, it was a very chaotic time.
"Your master said they were like they were possessed. Do you know what exactly they looked like?" Ke Xun continued to ask.
The old woman glanced at him and answered slowly and hoarsely, "My master said that when those people came out of the study, they were already soulless, no different from living dead. They were going to die sooner or later."
These words made everyone shudder.
"Did your master tell you in detail what those people's bone structure was like?" Ke Xun finally got to the most crucial question.
The old woman seemed to remember this matter very clearly, so she didn't recall for long. She raised her withered hand and gestured in front of Ke Xun, "My master said it was black lines that emanated from their bones. Those people's entire bodies were covered with them. He said they looked like patterns, but even my master didn't recognize them. I don't recognize the ones on your bodies either..."
"Could you describe the patterns?" Ke Xun pressed.
The old lady looked troubled. "I can't describe them. Some are crooked, some are wavy..."
"Can you draw them?" Wu You asked urgently. Before the old lady could react, Wu You rummaged through her bag and pulled out a few tissues and an eyebrow pencil, shoving them into the old lady's hand. "Try drawing them."
The old lady took her reading glasses from the bedside table, peering at Ke Xun sitting in front of her through the lenses, and used her trembling old hand to draw on the paper with the eyebrow pencil. Unfortunately, after drawing for a long time, the paper was full of trembling, messy lines, and nothing was clear at all.
Wu You then asked for a proper pen and paper for the old lady to draw again, but the resulting pattern was still a few messy lines that looked like they had been electrocuted.
The old woman put down her pen, took off her glasses, and shook her head: "I can't, I'm too old, I can't hold a pen anymore and I can't see people clearly..."
The old woman was indeed very old; even raising her hand trembled, let alone performing a relatively delicate task like drawing.
Everyone felt helpless but couldn't force her. Ke Xun could only ask, "Do you remember the name of the study your master mentioned those people went to?"
The old woman thought for a long time and finally shook her head: "I don't remember, or maybe my master didn't say."
Zhu Haowen asked, "Where did your master live before? Was it in this city?"
The old woman nodded: "His ancestors lived here."
"Are there still people in his family now?" Ke Xun asked hurriedly.
The old woman shook her head and sighed, "My master didn't have any children. He said that those of us who do this kind of work reveal heavenly secrets and will be punished by heaven. Heaven made him childless, which is probably retribution... Ever since I learned this trade, I've suffered three disasters and eight calamities every year, and I've almost died several times. Isn't that retribution too?"
The clues had reached a dead end. Ke Xun and the others chatted with the old woman for a while longer, but seeing that she wasn't in good spirits, they took their leave.
"That 'living dead person without a soul'..." Wei Dong finally spoke up after they left the residential area, "Don't you think... it's a bit like those people who died in paintings, their 'skins' left in the real world?"
Everyone fell silent.
No one had ever imagined that nearly a hundred years ago, there was a group of people who had the same experience as them.
So, what was the final fate of that group?
Did they all 🎲 tragically, as the old woman's master had seen, without a single one remaining?
Or were there any lucky survivors?