Hundreds of thousands of unfamiliar netizens help decipher the "mysterious script" left by a loved one on their deathbed.

Not long ago, we found a rather unusual seeking-help post on Xiaohongshu. The content of the request was not about how to match this piece of clothing, nor how to unclog the toilet or kill cockroaches, but to ask netizens to help identify the last handwriting of a relative.

The poster's father passed away in October this year. At the last moment of his life, the father wrote what he wanted to say with a gel pen on the poster's arm, but because his hand was already weak, the words were written crookedly and were difficult to recognize.

Soon, this post received a lot of attention. Some netizens who have practiced calligraphy split the strokes of each character according to the heavy strokes of each character, solved these scattered strokes, and guessed that what was written was "People are gone, don't keep thinking about it". With up to 90,000 likes and more than 5,000 comments, many were moved by the last touch of warmth of a loved one's passing, and it also triggered a large-scale empathy among netizens.

Later, we found that there are not a few similar seeking-help posts. Even in a group called "The Worst Handwriting Group in History" on Douban, many seekers have gathered, and some people obviously registered a new account specifically to identify the handwriting. Among these posts, some received hundreds of responses and the answers were successfully solved through the efforts of netizens, while others sank without a trace and were gradually forgotten.

When a loved one passes away, they use their last strength to write down their last instructions and regrets. And how to identify these handwritings and preserve this trace has become the obsession of the living relatives.

"Can anyone tell what these characters are?"

On December 30 last year, Guangzhi's grandfather passed away.

A week earlier, the 93-year-old grandfather had a sudden high fever due to the epidemic, and his mental state became very poor. He was even confused to the point of not recognizing his family members. On the 30th, the grandfather had hallucinations, reaching out his hand to grab something in the air while muttering, but because of white lung, his throat could not make any sound. The family hurriedly took an envelope and an old almanac and asked the grandfather to write down what he wanted to say.

The grandfather wrote for 7 or 8 minutes, writing a series of things like symbols that the family could not recognize. Even Guangzhi, who is a calligraphy teacher, could not tell what that string of "symbols" was.

But at the final critical moment, no one could afford to distract their energy on this matter. They put the envelope and the old almanac aside and hurriedly sent the grandfather to the hospital. Four hours later, the old man passed away.

That night, when Guangzhi went home to tidy up the relics, he remembered the words his grandfather wrote. He opened Xiaohongshu, posted a request for help, with the title "Grandfather's Dying Testament, I Really Can't See It! Please Help Me Everyone", and attached the words written by his grandfather. But he was busy arranging the funeral, and after posting, he didn't care about this matter anymore and put his phone aside.

The words written by Guangzhi's grandfather, Source: Xiaohongshu @WuAngBoEn

The next day, when Guangzhi returned from the funeral home and had time to look at his phone, he found that there were many comments under his post. Some people were helping him analyze stroke by stroke, but the answers were not complete. Some people suggested that Guangzhi go to the "Worst Handwriting" group on Douban to ask.

Also posting a handwriting seeking-help post on Xiaohongshu is momo.

This Mid-Autumn Festival, momo's grandfather's cardia cancer recurred and he passed away in his sleep. Momo was working in a different place. When she learned of her grandfather's passing, she immediately rushed back to her hometown. On the way, her younger brother sent a picture of a piece of paper with two unrecognizable characters. It could be seen that the person who wrote the words had no strength and the words were written crooked. "Sister, this is what grandfather wrote at more than three o'clock this afternoon (two hours before his death)", the younger brother said, "Just this afternoon, when I went to grandfather, grandfather always said something in his mouth, but my grandmother and I couldn't hear clearly."

Grandfather had always liked writing. In momo's impression, grandfather's writing was always vigorous and powerful, but after getting sick, his writing was always in a mess. Momo stared at the picture and couldn't understand it at all. "Grandfather passed away and wrote two words without strength", momo posted a request for help online, "Can anyone tell what these characters are?"

The words written by momo's grandfather, Source: Xiaohongshu @momo

The Worst Handwriting Group in History

There is a group on Douban dedicated to looking at bad handwriting called "The Worst Handwriting Group in History!" Originally just a gathering place for bad handwriting, but unexpectedly it has extended into a functional position for identifying handwriting.

Almost under every post on the Internet seeking help to identify handwriting, there will be netizens suggesting that the poster go to this group to try.

The current group leader is called "A Big Slipper", a post-00s. In 2020, Slipper couldn't practice writing brush calligraphy well, so she joined the bad handwriting group and applied to become an administrator.

Slipper once asked the former group leader about the original intention of establishing the group. The former group leader said that he had practiced calligraphy for more than half a year, but his handwriting had not changed at all. He once felt inferior because he couldn't write a good hand. He began to think, "Why do I have to write a good hand?" In order to resist this requirement, the former group leader established this "The Worst Handwriting Group in History!" in 2019 and attracted 190,000 group members.

"I hope to provide a utopia for everyone who writes bad handwriting but doesn't want to practice calligraphy, so that bad handwriting calligraphers who are attacked and ridiculed in reality because of their bad handwriting can receive praise in the group and thus break the anxiety of practicing calligraphy. Even if you don't write well, you have the right to write and can also bring happiness and meaning to everyone", the former group leader said in the group rules.

At first, the group posts included a wide variety of bad handwriting, including university class notes that looked like primary school students' handwriting, caterpillar fonts that everyone praised as "ugly", and cursive writing that couldn't be understood by the leader. The group members were keen on guessing what the content of those bad handwriting was in the group, and they would give various metaphors to the characters, some like spider webs, some like swans riding bicycles, and some like doing yoga...

Until August 2022, a post suddenly appeared in the group, "I would like to ask everyone to help see what my grandfather's diary before his death wrote", and attached a picture, "This is the diary that my grandfather wrote in the nursing home one day before his death. The family tried to read his last words, but they really couldn't understand."

Source: Douban netizen momo

The group members all clicked in to identify, and even those who couldn't recognize it actively helped to top the post. Slipper was also surprised. Can the group be used in this way? "Anyway, identifying any character is identifying. It's better to do something meaningful." In order to attract more group members' attention, she set the post as a flash event.

Slipper told "Post-Wave Research Institute" that there are many Chinese teachers in the group. They usually post some "bad handwriting" written by students in the group to relieve the anger and fatigue of grading papers in an entertaining way. After coming into contact with various bad handwriting, these teachers have long had the ability to identify handwriting.

They analyzed word by word under that post and pieced together the fragments of grandfather's diary -

"The fifth day, still got up, washed my face, had breakfast, and rested; The sixth day, still got up and washed my face; The sixth day, what eye, sleep" 

"The seventh day, the right eyelid is always what what"

"The seventh day, the head of the garden is for? Eyelid (Xiao?) Learning (It may also be the two characters 'nursing home')" 

"The third to last paragraph: Lingering here to rely on the elderly, because 

"The second to last paragraph:? Lift? Hasn't started to insist, because again 

"The last paragraph:? As long as the days ~ are good enough"

Because when the grandfather wrote these words at the end, he was already unconscious, and the group members could not identify the later text, but everyone's help and analysis made the post receive nearly 300 responses. Someone in the comment area said, "This may be the most valuable article I have seen in the bad handwriting group", and even someone said that they joined the group specifically to reply to this post, while the poster said, "In fact, everyone's answers are more meaningful to me".

When You Need It, It Can Be Any Character

Since that day, more and more people have come to the bad handwriting group for help.

In 2023, someone recommended the bad handwriting group on Xiaohongshu, and the group suddenly had many more posts asking for help to identify handwriting. These posters are obviously new users, with the initial ID and avatar, without carefully studying the code in the group rules, and only发起 an application to join the group with a sentence "My grandfather is seriously ill, and I want to post a character recognition post for approval".

And Slipper will also relax the group entry standards and directly allow them to pass, "Put yourself in their shoes. If you go to a place to seek help, you certainly don't want there to be various thresholds."

As more and more people join the group, the content of the requests here is also becoming more and more diverse.

In addition to the handwriting left by the deceased relatives, some people want to see the words written by their father with a brain hemorrhage with his left hand, some people hope to identify the words written by their father in the ICU, and some people hope to see the words written by their father when he is sick...

Source: Douban netizen Douyou63YkO6b7YA, the group members guessed that it was written "There is something in the mouth"

Source: Douban netizen There is a car and I will get on, the group members inferred that the first line is "My heart is very chaotic", and the last line is "Take good care of mom"

Source: Douban netizen DouyouLvMZeRVgA0, the final answer has not been recognized yet

Some group members will also move the Xiaohongshu posts to the group to seek the advice of experts. Guangzhi's post was moved here. Before long, someone in the group and on Xiaohongshu recognized that what the grandfather might have written was "Why don't they pick me up?"

Guangzhi's father passed away due to a heart problem three years ago. The family has been keeping it from the grandfather, saying that the father went to work in another place. Guangzhi thinks that the grandfather should be asking why the father hasn't come back yet. The more he thinks about it, the more uncomfortable he feels. Later, Guangzhi told his family to keep the envelope with the grandfather's writing and put it together with his watch and glasses and store it at his uncle's house.

On the sixth day after momo posted, someone also guessed that what the grandfather wrote should be "Get the money". Since the grandfather got sick, the family members have been going to collect the pension every month. Momo and the family guessed that the grandfather should feel that he is about to die and is urging everyone to get the money. Later, momo also put this note and the grandfather's photo together in grandma's cabinet.

But momo didn't expect that more and more netizens shared the handwriting left by their relatives before their death in the comment area.

@Li Yujin's grandfather wrote, "Goodbye, children. Everyone has to go through the stage of death."

@Patrick.'s grandfather said, "My son, seeing these words is like seeing you. I don't want to live anymore. You have all grown up."

@Netizen Xiao Wu's grandfather left for grandma, "If there is really an afterlife, let's be husband and wife again to repay."

Not only that, but some netizens also shared photos of their relatives and their memories of them. "This post has become an emotional sustenance for everyone, and I will not delete it." momo said.

Under momo's post, there is also a comment that, "It can be any character when you can't hold on." Guangzhi had seen a similar sentence before, when he hadn't guessed his grandfather's handwriting yet, but he