Chapter 0 wedge 1
Fate is really a very strange thing. Sometimes it changes in an instant, leaving no room for people to think or grasp it. Although Mu Linfeng is less than 30 years old, he has encountered this situation several times.
Not long ago, at noon, without any warning, Mu Linfeng's fate was suddenly changed by a bizarre incident. Perhaps it was arranged by fate, and from then on he returned to his ancestral business, doing work with the dead, and began a thrilling, exciting, mysterious and bizarre journey.
Before becoming a "knot", Mu Linfeng had been living in an ancient county town called Qingzhou in the central part of Shandong Peninsula. Although Qingzhou is only a small county town, it is an ancient city with a long history and profound cultural heritage.
Legend has it that after Dayu controlled the floods, he divided the country into nine states, namely Qing, Xu, Yang, Jing, Yu, Ji, Yan, Yong and Liang, according to the direction of mountains and rivers. Qingzhou was one of them. One of the oldest works in China, "Shangshu? Yu Gong", records that "Hai Dai is Qingzhou". Hai refers to Bohai Sea and Dai refers to Mount Tai, which shows that Qingzhou has a long history.
Since the Xia and Shang dynasties, Qingzhou has had local government offices. In the fifth year of Yuanfeng of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu established the Qingzhou Provincial Government. In the third year of Long'an of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Emperor An established Qingzhou as the capital of the Southern Yan. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Qingzhou was a large county with seven states and 38 counties under its jurisdiction. Thirteen wise ministers, including Kou Zhun, Fan Zhongyan, and Ouyang Xiu, had served as officials and governed here.
Although the ancient city is small, it is blessed with beautiful scenery and many talented people. The famous female poet Li Qingzhao and her husband lived in Qingzhou for more than ten years, leaving behind poems that have been passed down through the ages; scientists such as Jia Sixie, Yan Su, and Yang Miaozhen, as well as national heroes and uprising leaders such as Tang Sai'er, have also left their footprints here.
The reason why the ancient city of Qingzhou is introduced in such detail is that under such a deep historical dust, there are many unknown secrets. Many stories in this book take place here, and the protagonist's family is also connected with some of these secrets.
Mu Linfeng's hometown is in a mountain village more than 20 kilometers southwest of the ancient city. Most of the villagers have the surname Mu. Legend has it that Mu Ying, a general under Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, once led his troops to set up camp here. The ten surrounding villages are called Zhangjiaying, Lijiaying, Gaojiaying, etc. These village names are all named after the surname of the commander of Mu Ying's personal battalion.
Mu Linfeng’s hometown, Mujiaying, is the most famous village locally. The main reason is that his ancestors were once the most famous “lump” within a hundred miles.
Unlike wedding hosts, people who work in this profession must not only understand local customs and folkways, and be familiar with the entire funeral and burial procedures, but also be familiar with the various taboos to be observed during the funeral, as well as how to deal with unexpected situations during the funeral. Of course, the most important thing is to understand "grave physiognomy", also known as "grave physiognomy".
Mu Linfeng had been in the army for several years before coming to work in the city. Although he was a soldier, he was a very mysterious special forces soldier in people's eyes. On the first day before he was to be promoted to the military academy, an unexpected incident happened and his dream was shattered. He had to return to his hometown with the title of non-commissioned officer.
In the army, Mu Linfeng was a model soldier in training, proficient in grappling, combat, disguise reconnaissance, shooting and driving, so many good units in the county were vying to accept him. The county public security bureau and several banks were all units that many people wanted to get into, but this guy was a dog sitting in a sedan chair and didn't know how to lift him up. He gave up the opportunity that many people dreamed of and went to work as a chef in a star-rated hotel.
In the eyes of outsiders, Mu Linfeng is such a weirdo, so no girl is willing to marry him even though he is almost 30 years old, and he is still single. His old father has been missing since he can remember, and his mother died a few years ago, so no one cares about him, and he is happy to be free and easy, and if he is full, the whole family will not be hungry.
Although his profession is a very common chef, Mu Linfeng personally feels good about it because he is the chef in the only three-star hotel in the county. He is considered a high-income "blue-collar worker" in the local area. Although his life is peaceful, it is also fulfilling.
It happened that Mu Linfeng was off duty today. Chefs have the habit of taking a nap. After lunch, he was about to go to bed for a nap when he suddenly heard a loud bang on the door. The door was knocked so loudly, the sound was loud and rapid, as if the Japanese devils had entered the village.
"Who is the bastard who disturbed my sleep? Stop knocking. If you break the door, you have to pay me with a new one..."
Mu Linfeng climbed up from the bed reluctantly and went to open the door cursing. He thought that it must be one of his buddies who was drunk and came to him for tea or to play cards.
When he opened the door and looked inside, Mu Linfeng was stunned...
There were five or six people standing outside the door. Except for Master Gao Hongjin, I didn't recognize the others. They all had strange expressions on their faces. In particular, the middle-aged man standing in the front had several broken skins on his face, as if he had been rubbed against something. Red scabs had just formed, and he looked scary.
The middle-aged man rushed in first, without saying anything, he knelt down in front of Mu Linfeng, and then kowtowed. Mu Linfeng was startled by the middle-aged man's unexpected behavior, not knowing what happened, and hurriedly reached out to pull his arm...
At this time, Mu Linfeng noticed that the middle-aged man was wearing a small black heart-shaped badge on his arm with a white "filial piety" on it. He suddenly realized that an elderly person in this middle-aged man's family must have passed away... But he didn't understand why this person came to kowtow to him, because he didn't know this person.
"No thanks, no thanks..." Mu Linfeng said as he pulled the middle-aged man who was kowtowing up.
Seeing Mu Linfeng's puzzled expression, Gao Hongjin, who followed him in, hurriedly said to him: "This friend's surname is Zhu, Zhu Fugui, and he is from the same village as me. I have something to ask you today."
"Damn, what can a cook like me do!" Mu Linfeng said in a self-deprecating tone.
Gao Hongjin pulled Mu Linfeng's arm and dragged him into the bedroom, whispering, "Come, come to the inner room, I'll tell you something..."
Gao Hongjin was the head chef of the hotel, and his cooking skills were among the best in the local area. Mu Linfeng had just started working at the hotel and had followed him for a while. Although he was only three or four years older than Mu Linfeng, Mu Linfeng had always regarded Gao Hongjin as his master because he had taught him how to cook. He usually obeyed his orders and respected him very much.
Although he is also a chef, Gao Hongjin has a special skill, which is that he is good at socializing. There is everyone in the county who he knows, and he can talk to anyone. Mu Linfeng admires Gao's advantage, because this is precisely his weakness. Mu Linfeng's biggest headache is dealing with strangers.
Mu Linfeng likes quietness. Although he has not married yet, he bought a three-bedroom, two-living-room house early on. Fortunately, this is a county town, and the housing prices are relatively low. He only spent a little over 300,000 yuan, which is convenient for him to live alone.
After entering the bedroom, Gao Hongjin turned around and carefully closed the door. Seeing his mysterious look, Mu Linfeng felt even more strange. He was usually so carefree, so what happened today?
"Master Gao, what happened?" Mu Linfeng asked in surprise.
Gao Hongjin turned around and sat down beside the bed, with a strange expression on his face, and lowered his voice and said: "Something strange happened in the home of Zhu Fugui outside today. His father died two days ago, and after his death, his body was sent to the funeral home for storage, and then a mourning hall was set up at home. According to the current custom in the city, the cremation and funeral should be held together today, but no one expected that such an incredible and strange thing would happen..."
Having said that, Gao Hongjin waved his hands with a panicked expression on his face, as if he didn't dare to continue.
The situation Gao Hongjin described is very common in the county town, because everyone lives in apartment buildings. After the elderly die, they cannot keep vigil at home as they used to, so they send the body to the funeral home for temporary storage. Then they set up a mourning hall at home, place a spirit tablet or a photo of the elderly facing the funeral home, and use this method to keep vigil for three days. After completing the necessary funeral procedures, all relatives and friends go to the funeral home together and hold a simple funeral.
Strictly speaking, funerals are divided into two parts: funerals and burials. Funerals refer to the rituals of mourning the dead, while burials refer to the methods of dealing with the body of the dead. People living in cities nowadays have simplified many procedures due to the restrictions of living conditions.
Seeing Gao Hongjin's hesitant expression, Mu Linfeng urged him, "Tell me what happened quickly. Why are you hesitating? It's as if you met a ghost..."
"Hey, it's almost like seeing a ghost!"
Mu Linfeng couldn't help but laugh: "What era is it now? Do you still believe in ghosts..."
Gao Hongjin quickly waved his hands, signaling Mu Linfeng to stop talking. With fear in his eyes, he whispered, "Because we are from the same village and we all work in the city, I have been helping Zhu Fugui at home since his father passed away. At ten o'clock this morning, we were preparing to take the spirit tablet to the crematorium for the funeral. Who knew that Zhu Fugui fell down before he even left the house while holding his father's spirit tablet..."
"Fuck, what's the big deal about falling down? Look how scared you are..." Mu Linfeng said nonchalantly.
Gao Hongjin waved his hand again hurriedly: "Listen to me, Zhu Fugui's father lived on the third floor. After he went out, he fell again when he just reached the stairs. This fall was even more serious. He rolled down the stairs to the middle corner. Not only did he knock over his father's spirit tablet, but he also fell hard. You saw it. His face was scratched..."
At this point, Gao Hongjin paused and licked his cracked lips. Seeing his nervous expression, Mu Linfeng stood up and said, "I'll go get you a glass of water."
"No need, just listen to me first." Gao Hongjin hurriedly stopped Mu Linfeng, and then continued, "Relatives and friends all felt that this matter was a bit strange, but they didn't think much about it. Everyone hurried back to the house and wrote a new spirit tablet. Unexpectedly, when Zhu Fugui left the house again, he fell again before he reached the entrance of the corridor... and... he dropped his father's spirit tablet on the stairs again... This time, the 'lump' who was invited was scared and said that Zhu Fugui's father's soul didn't want to leave home, and he couldn't hold the funeral, and then he slipped away..."
Gao Hongjin, who usually speaks fluently, actually stuttered when he spoke these words. It can be seen that he was still frightened. Mu Linfeng was also stunned by this mysterious thing and couldn't help but say, "It's incredible, there is such a strange thing!"
Gao Hongjin calmed himself down, and then continued, "After this happened, relatives and friends were very anxious, but they dared not make it public. They were most afraid of outsiders knowing about this kind of thing. You know that time waits for no one, and the funeral must be held today. After discussing it, everyone quickly went to invite more ' Geda'. Two more 'Geda' were invited one after another. When they arrived and heard the situation, they turned around and left without saying a word. No 'Geda' dared to take this job..."
Before Gao Hongjin could finish, Mu Linfeng interrupted him and asked in confusion: "Then why did you come to see me? Besides, I don't know anyone who makes 'lumps'."
Gao Hongjin stared at Mu Linfeng and asked, "How come you forgot what your ancestors did?"
Only then did Mu Linfeng realize why Zhu Fugui kowtowed to him as soon as he entered the door. It turned out that he wanted to ask him to preside over the old man's funeral.
Mu Linfeng really wanted to slap himself twice, it was all because of this stinky mouth, when drunk he liked to brag about the little things of his ancestors. So friends who were familiar with Mu Linfeng knew that his ancestor was a very famous "lump" in the local area, but he had never done it once.
"Master Gao, you should know that I have never done 'knots'. Why did you suddenly think of me? Are you kidding me?" Mu Linfeng hurriedly declined.
"Brother, I know you have never done this, but you know more than those who often do 'lumps'. Don't you often talk about the stories of your ancestors? You know the funeral procedures better than anyone else, even if you just copy them. Please help me this time."
Before Gao Hongjin could finish, Mu Linfeng shook his head like a rattle: "You must be joking, no... this is definitely not okay... I can help with other things, but this kind of thing is not a joke..."
"Brother, even if I beg you...if there is a way, I will not bring people to beg you to do this..."
Before Gao Hongjin finished his words, the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside. Several people in the living room knelt down at once. Five or six big men knelt in unison facing the bedroom. Leading them was Zhu Fugui, who had bruises on his face. It was obvious that they had heard the conversation between Mu Linfeng and Gao Hongjin.
Seeing this, Mu Linfeng hurried out and stretched out his hands to support Zhu Fugui: "Brothers, what are you doing? Get up quickly..."
"Brother, I dare to call you brother, please help me...I..." Before he could finish his words, Zhu Fugui choked with sobs and couldn't continue.
An older man behind Zhu Fugui continued, "Master Mu, I am Fugui's cousin. My uncle is still lying in the crematorium waiting for 'official business'. We are really desperate and have come to you for help. You must help us."
Mu Linfeng didn't know what to do. Looking at the several grown men kneeling on the ground, he was really at a loss. He said anxiously: "Brothers, it's not that I don't want to help you. I have never done anything wrong. If it is something else, it's easy to talk about, but... but... a funeral is a big deal, we can't be careless..." Mu Linfeng was speechless and didn't know what to say.
Gao Hongjin came out of the bedroom, patted Mu Linfeng on the shoulder and said, "Linfeng, to be honest, Big Brother brought them here to find you because he trusts you. If you help with this matter, everyone will remember you for the rest of their lives."
"Brother Mu...Master Mu..." Zhu Fugui, who was kneeling on the ground, stammered, not knowing what to call him, "If you don't agree, I won't get up."
Mu Linfeng felt as if he had been forced into a dead end. It seemed that he would have no choice but to agree. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and nod in agreement: "Okay, all the big brothers, please stand up first, and we can discuss anything."
Seeing that Mu Linfeng agreed, several people kowtowed and then stood up. Zhu Fugui said excitedly: "Master Mu, when the old man's 'business' is done, I will definitely thank you very much."
Let me explain here that due to taboos, the locals have a special name for funerals. They never use words like funeral, burial, or funeral procession. Instead, they usually use the word "public affairs" or "afterlife." This is just like calling a coffin "shoucai," clothes "shroud clothes," and a morgue "mortuary room."
When someone dies in a family, the funeral process is called "doing public affairs". No one has verified the origin of this name. It is not only due to taboos, but also related to the simple local customs. "Public affairs" are common affairs for everyone. When someone dies in the family, it is a big deal for ordinary people. Not only relatives and friends, but also villagers and neighbors will take the initiative to help. They think it is a matter for everyone, so it is called "public affairs".
Mu Linfeng waved his hands hurriedly and said, "Let's not talk about thanking him yet. Master Gao knows my situation. Although my ancestors were 'lumps', I have never been involved in this, and I have never done 'official business' for others. The little I know is what I heard from the elders after dinner. If I can't do it well, just don't blame me."
Zhu Fugui kept saying: "How can I blame Master Mu? I'm so grateful that you agreed to my request..."
Before Zhu Fugui could finish, Gao Hongjin hurriedly called out to everyone: "Stop being polite. Time waits for no one. Let's go quickly."
2
He was still sleeping in bed a few minutes ago, but now he was begging someone to come and be a "knot". Fate really plays tricks on people, and Mu Linfeng's fate changed from the moment he agreed...
There were two Wuling vans parked downstairs. It seemed that they came prepared and wanted to invite Mu Linfeng over no matter what, which was a bit like forcing him to come.
Gao Hongjin and Mu Linfeng got on the van at the back, and the others squeezed into the van at the front. After the car started, Gao Hongjin leaned over to Mu Linfeng's ear and whispered, "I'll tell you in advance that my fellow villager doesn't have a good reputation among his relatives."
"Are you a little disrespectful to your parents?" Mu Linfeng asked immediately after he realized something.
Gao Hongjin nodded: "Well, after this incident, relatives and friends privately said that he deserved it, and they wanted to make fun of him, but no matter what, the old man had to be buried first. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Isn't this a bit of a coincidence? It's just three falls!" Mu Linfeng was still a little skeptical about this matter.
"To be honest, I don't know the specific situation, but I don't think it's a coincidence. How could he fall three times in a row? This matter is indeed a bit weird, otherwise why wouldn't the three 'lumps' dare to continue..."
Before Gao Hongjin could finish, Mu Linfeng glared at him and said angrily, "You come to me for a job that none of the three lumps dare to take over. Isn't this forcing someone to do something?"
Gao Hongjin smiled sheepishly: "Even if big brother owes you, no matter how wrong Zhu Fugui is, you should help him at this time. I have to do this for the sake of the deceased old man."
"I asked you to be a good person, but what should I do? Brother, to be honest, I really have no idea..." Mu Linfeng said with a wry smile.
Gao Hongjin patted Mu Linfeng's knee and said, "No matter what you do, as long as you get the old man's business done, I will be grateful. Even if I owe you one, you can do whatever you want."
As they were talking, the van in front turned into a dilapidated family compound. At first glance, this compound was no different from a garbage dump. Not only was it dilapidated, but it was also filled with firewood and debris everywhere.
Mu Linfeng knew that this was the family compound of that unit. This enterprise was originally a public institution in the county, but later it implemented enterprise restructuring and unexpectedly became the worst in the county. The person in charge of the enterprise was surnamed Ma, a scoundrel who did all kinds of evil. He took advantage of the enterprise restructuring to embezzle more than 50 million yuan of state-owned assets and was sentenced to death with a reprieve not long ago. A good enterprise was ruined by such a person, but the most unlucky ones were the employees.
At this time, Gao Hongjin leaned close to Mu Linfeng's ear and whispered, "Zhu Fugui's mother died early, and his father lives here alone."
"Oh, this Zhu Fugui doesn't live with his father?" Mu Linfeng asked with some surprise.
Mu Linfeng has a principle when making friends. He will never associate with people who are not good to their parents. How can people who are not good to their own parents be good to their friends? So if you make friends with such people, you will suffer sooner or later. Therefore, you simply don't associate with such people to avoid trouble in the future.
"His wife thought the old man was dirty, so she let him live alone in this old apartment building. Zhu Fugui bought a new apartment outside and rarely came back. When the old man was found, he was already dead..."
"So that's how it is..."
Mu Linfeng suddenly had an idea in his mind, and he wanted to take this opportunity to discipline this unfilial family.
