When we heard Grandpa's voice, we all looked toward the stairway.
Then we saw Grandpa coming downstairs with a tattered, yellowed booklet in hand, smiling warmly.
At the sight of it, all of us turned solemn, our eyes widening.
We stared fixedly at the "tattered booklet" in Grandpa's hands and rose to our feet.
"Grandpa, let us see it!"
I could barely wait.
"Ah! Don't be in such a hurry. If you want to see my book, have another two drinks first."
Grandpa had quite the drinking habit, much like Master's smoking habit.
He gestured for us to sit down while lifting his bowl of liquor.
The three of us said nothing and picked up our bowls, clinking them against Grandpa's.
After another gulp, all our faces flushed red.
After that drink, Grandpa let out a breath.
"Comfortable! Take a look! This is the Apotropaic Art I got years ago. I couldn't understand it when I kept it at home, but I never threw it away.
"I just left it untouched in a box. Who would've thought that you three boys would all learn the old ancestors' craft? Perfect timing for you to see whether it's real or fake."
As he spoke, Grandpa placed the tattered booklet in his hand onto the table.
The three of us had long since lost our patience and all stood up.
We stared at the battered booklet on the table.
There were quite a few mold spots on it. After examining it carefully, I saw two large traditional characters on the cover: "Apotropaic Art."
Below them were several smaller traditional characters: "Soft Bone Qi-Stripping Technique."
The moment we saw those words, Mao Jing and I brightened.
Only Zhang Yuchen had not received much schooling, so he could not recognize all of those traditional characters.