Remember the Mystery

Introduction to "Memory of Secret Cases" My name is Wang Xie, and I was born on the first half of the seventh month. The day I was born, the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck, and it took me thirteen pats before I cried. My mother died during childbirth, and my father knelt on the grave for three days. His hair turned half white, and then he disappeared without a trace. Sixteen years later, an old traveler came to beg for food and gave me a message with three copper coins - he said that in my previous life I was a murderous bandit leader, and that the man who died in vain turned into a ghost and haunted me for sixteen years. When I turn eighteen, the gates of hell will open wide and a hundred ghosts will walk through the night. That's when I'll pay for it with my life. The only thing that can protect me is the lightning-struck datewood amulet around my neck. The five thunder evil talismans were carved by my grandfather himself. Grandpa is the last Duan Gong in our area. He can connect yin and yang and ward off evil spirits. The year I was born, he walked alone into the forbidden area called Heizhugou in the mountains behind the village and never came out again. The cave entrance collapsed, and the collapsed stones were piled three stories high. The water seeping out from the cracks in the stones was dark red and smelled of rust. People in the village said that he exchanged his life for the lives of a whole village. Grandma doesn't believe in fate. She put on the red robe left by her grandfather, worked in the fields during the day, and called people's souls to exorcise evil spirits at night. She endured this for sixteen years. The day after the old Taoist left, she spread my grandfather's manuscript in front of me and said: If you learn well, you can save your life; if you don't learn well, you will die. You choose. My name is Wang Xie. The name my grandma gave me has a very simple meaning - the things I carry in my life are too heavy to hold down or escape. Then admit it. Be evil if you are evil, be honest with your name, and you may be able to survive. But the age of eighteen is getting closer and closer, and those things that have been with me for sixteen years no longer want to wait.