Chapter 1 I was born on the day of Jingzhe
June 16th is a good day for weddings and funerals.
"No strangers allowed, no ghosts allowed to block the road..."
The Yin-Yang master shouted in a shrill voice, carried a soul-calling banner on his shoulder, and scattered paper money. Behind him followed eight strong men carrying a top-quality golden nanmu coffin.
Carry the coffin and lead the way to bid farewell to the deceased.
Behind the golden nanmu coffin, there was a long funeral procession, forming a dark crowd.
The funeral procession came out of the urban area of Caofeidian and carried the remains all the way to a hill in the east of the suburbs, where the ancestral grave of this family was located.
In ancient times, wealthy families had a particular requirement that the coffin should not touch the ground and should be buried in the ground. Even carrying it in a car was a bit taboo, so they would have someone carry it to the old cemetery.
"Stand at the bridgehead for a while, and never see each other again, dead or alive..." When the funeral procession reached a bridge, the Yin-Yang master turned around and shouted to the crowd behind him: "Young people, please step forward and bow three times to send your ancestors across the bridge to the living world."
In the funeral procession, there was a middle-aged man with a slicked-back hair and a mourning cloth tied around his body. Behind him were at least thirty men, women, old and young, all of whom bowed three times in unison towards the bridgehead. It looked like a large family with a large population.
After bowing three times, Mr. Yin and Yang shook the soul-calling flag and continued to shout at the top of his lungs: "No living people allowed, no lonely ghosts allowed to block the road..."
Half an hour later, the funeral procession left Caofeidian and headed to the old cemetery leading to Dongshan.
The weather in June is like a child's face, changing in an instant.
A dark cloud floated over the sky, and soon it began to drizzle. The rain hit the nanmu coffin, forming several long streams that fell to the ground.
Ahead of the mountain road where the funeral procession was marching, a young man suddenly appeared on the horizon. He was wearing a navy blue robe and carrying an old canvas bag. Every time he took a step, a crisp "clang, clang" sound could be heard. What was even more strange was that under the bag on his back was an ordinary kitchen knife.
A moment later, the young man in the robe and the funeral procession passed by. He suddenly stopped and frowned, looking under the coffin. After the procession passed, he squatted down and touched the ground with his fingers. There was a streak of blood on his two fingers, which was rapidly coagulating into lumps at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Puff" the man pinched hard with two fingers, and the hard blood clot broke immediately, and then a puff of black smoke came out.
The young man in the robe stood up, then turned around and followed the funeral procession.
A moment later, Mr. Yin Yang led the team to the old cemetery in Dongshan, where a grave had already been dug.
The gentleman looked up at the sun covered by dark clouds, stretched out his fingers to count a few times, turned around and said, "Carry the coffin and sit in the hall!"
The few people standing in the front of the funeral procession looked very sad, and cries could be heard from time to time.
The man with slicked-back hair and the woman in black standing next to him bowed three times respectfully towards the coffin.
"dad……"
"Grandpa, rest in peace"
"The coffin has been buried, please step aside, family members." The Yin-Yang Master scattered paper money and bowed to all sides, saying, "A new soul is passing by, please make way for the ghosts and gods. Please take the gift money for you."
Eight pallbearers tied hemp ropes around their waists and moved the coffin to the top of the grave. The Yin-Yang master stuck the soul-calling banner into the ground and said, "Eight flowers raise their heads... waist flowers shake."
"Wait." When the coffin was about to be buried, the young man in a long robe who had been following the funeral procession suddenly came over from behind. The Yin-Yang Master and the middle-aged man with a slicked-back hair looked at him in surprise.
The young man in the long robe untied the kitchen knife tied under his bag and placed it on the ground, saying softly: "Three days later, if there is anything unusual in your family, you can take this kitchen knife and go to the hotel near the train station in the city to find me."
The middle-aged man with slicked-back hair had a gloomy face. The Yin-Yang Master jumped up with a roar like a rabbit with its tail on fire, jumping up and down and cursing, "You little bastard, are you saying that there is something wrong with the Feng Shui tomb I found when searching for dragon points?"
The young man in the long robe spread his hands and said, "I didn't say there was something wrong with the tomb you found. I only said that there was something wrong with this coffin. They are two different things. Do you understand?"
Mr. Yin Yang gritted his teeth and said, "Isn't it the same? If there's something wrong with the coffin, then the tomb is wrong. I've been searching for dragons for three years and finding acupuncture points for ten years. I've been in this business for more than twenty years and have found hundreds of tombs, and I've never ruined the reputation of my lineage."
The young man in the long robe passed by the Yin-Yang Master who looked like a jumping monkey, and turned to the middle-aged man with slicked back hair and said, "I will only stay here for three and a half days. Three days later will be the first seven days of the person in this coffin. If there is any change in your family, take the kitchen knife and go to the city to find me... Remember, only the kitchen knife will count, because it is my proof of payment."
After the young man in the robe finished speaking, he turned around and walked down the mountain with his canvas bag on his back, ignoring the strange looks from the people around him.
The middle-aged man glanced at the kitchen knife on the ground with a suspicious look in his eyes. Mr. Yin Yang was so angry that he raised his leg and was about to kick the kitchen knife stuck in the ground away: "Little kid, you are talking nonsense and you don't know what is good for you..."
Suddenly, a young woman walked past the middle-aged man, stopped the Yin-Yang master, and turned to the middle-aged man and said, "Dad, he obviously came from another place and hasn't arrived in Caofeidian yet. How did he know that three days later would be grandpa's seventh day?"
The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, and after saying "oh", his suspicion became even stronger.
The Yin-Yang Master beside him snorted and said, "The death of your old man is not like the death of an ordinary old man. If he wanted to find out, how could he not know the exact date? This kid is just talking nonsense, do you really believe it?"
The middle-aged man turned his head and asked calmly, "Sir, are you sure this tomb is okay?"
Mr. Yin Yang pointed his two fingers toward the sky and said in a resounding voice, "I swear in the name of my ancestor, if this cemetery is not a Feng Shui tomb for Fuyao's descendants , I will personally take down the gate of my family from now on, and will no longer be involved in the Yin Yang lineage..."
The middle-aged man paused for a moment and said simply, "Okay, bury him!"
The Yin-Yang Master turned around and said to the eight pallbearers: "The flowers are gone... The flowers are tight, put down the coffin and prepare to scatter the flowers."
Hua refers to the hemp rope tied on the coffin. Shaking Hua means putting the coffin into the pit, and San Hua means pulling out the hemp rope at the bottom of the coffin after the coffin falls into the tomb. At this point, the coffin is considered to be placed safely, and the last step is to prepare to fill the soil.
After the coffin was buried, they began to fill the grave with soil. People gathered around the grave with solemn and sad expressions. There was an ordinary kitchen knife stuck on the ground under the feet of the crowd. It looked like the one that ordinary people use for cutting vegetables. It was covered with rust and thrown on the ground, but no one noticed it.
Suddenly, a white and tender hand grasped the handle of the knife and pulled it out of the ground.
At the foot of East Mountain, the young man in a long robe came down from the old cemetery. He turned around and forgot about the cemetery on the mountain. At this time, a dark cloud was floating towards the top of the mountain.
More than two hours later, in the city of Caofeidian, near a small hotel near the train station, a young man in a robe walked into the hotel carrying two pounds of pork head, a bag of peanut skins and a bottle of Lao Baigan.
"Stay in the hotel!" The young man in the long robe took out his ID card and handed it over. The hotel proprietress took it and glanced at it. After seeing the name on it, she subconsciously said, "Wang Jingzhe?"
The young man in the long robe grinned, revealing a row of neat white teeth: "I was born on the day of Jingzhe, and was named Wang Jingzhe."
