Chapter 11 2
The six large trumpets that were invited to be broadcast also started to play at the same time. The low and shrill sounds hit people's eardrums, and people's hearts trembled with the tone.
An altar had been set up at the entrance of the alley, with only incense and candles on it but no offerings. A temporary tent had been set up next to it, with three people sitting inside.
Dozens of relatives walked around the altar and knelt in the middle of the street. The coffin behind them also stopped in front of the altar. Here, the most important of all the "road sacrifices" is performed, called the "welcoming sacrifice."
During the funeral process, the relatives of the deceased must pay tribute to the deceased one by one along the way. This is called "road sacrifice". The number of road sacrifices depends on the number of relatives of the host family. If the road sacrifice is not completed, the coffin cannot enter the cemetery.
If the relatives of the deceased are dissatisfied with the descendants of the deceased, they will punish them by delaying the worship, for example, making the descendants kneel there and suffer, and this situation will be laughed at by the villagers. It is also very embarrassing for the "lump" if the funeral cannot go on.
The "welcoming sacrifice" is the most important because it is performed by the children's maternal uncle, who is the one with the most weight among all the relatives. If something goes wrong, it is usually at the welcoming sacrifice. The subsequent road sacrifices are performed by relatives who are more distant, such as the daughter-in-law's family, and generally there will be no problems.
All worshippers had to perform the worship under the guidance of "Geda". Mu Linfeng stood at one end of the altar waiting for the worshippers to come. He noticed that there were no offerings on the altar, and found that the person sitting in the tent was not wearing a "cloth shirt". Mu Linfeng suddenly realized that something was going to happen.
Before worshipping, worshippers need to wear a long gown made of white cloth, which is called "bushan" in the local area, equivalent to the first-class mourning clothes in ancient times. "Bushan" looks a bit like a costume, with two wide and long sleeves. Before worshipping, worshippers need to throw the two long sleeves behind them, making a "pa pa" sound at the same time, in order to let the people watching nearby know that the worshippers are veterans.
Mu Linfeng looked into the temporary tent and saw the steward of the Tan family standing in front of the three worshippers with a "cloth shirt" in his hand, as if saying something to them. When he saw that the people sitting there had no intention of wearing long cloth shirts, Mu Linfeng knew that they were "catching monsters".
The people watching on both sides of the street had obviously noticed something, and some began to discuss in low voices.
The steward seemed unable to convince those who were offering the welcoming sacrifice, so he came out of the tent, walked to Boss Tan who was kneeling in the middle of the street, stretched out his hand to pull him up, and then the two of them walked back into the tent together.
Seeing this scene, Mu Linfeng guessed that it must be Boss Tan going to explain something to his relatives. He suddenly realized what was going on and hurriedly followed.
After entering the tent, Mu Linfeng heard the old man sitting in the middle asking Boss Tan: "My brother-in-law is eighty years old, it's a happy funeral, and he has a son and a daughter, why do you want to rank third? Aren't you afraid that the villagers will laugh at you if you do this..."
Hearing this, Mu Linfeng thought that it was just as he guessed, the relatives really "took blame" on this, and Boss Tan knelt on the ground speechless, because there were some things he could not explain in front of everyone.
Seeing this, Mu Linfeng hurriedly stepped forward and said to the old man, "Old man, can you listen to me?"
The butler standing next to him quickly introduced to the old man, "This Master Mu is a descendant of the old Mu family in Mujiaying. The old man specifically instructed before he died that the Mu family must be invited to preside over the funeral."
Within a hundred miles, if you mention "lumps", few people don't know the Mu family, especially the elderly. The three people sitting on the bench were obviously very familiar with the old Mu family. They stood up immediately, and the old man in the lead clasped his hands and said respectfully: "It turns out to be Master Mu, please tell me what you have to say."
"Mr. Tan's burial date is determined by heaven and has nothing to do with the Tan brothers."
"Oh! Please let me know, Master Mu."
Mu Linfeng continued, "You are Mr. Tan's uncle, so you must know that Mr. Tan is born under the element of gold. Not only is Mr. Tan born under the element of gold, but he is also born under the element of gold foil, which is very strong in gold. Strong gold must be overcome, otherwise it will be extremely unfavorable to future generations. If we arrange the seven days, the seventh day happens to be the gold day in the five elements. The same sex helps each other to become stronger, and the five elements are overpowering, which is very unfavorable. The fifth day belongs to earth, and earth produces gold, which also increases the power of gold. Only today is the five elements of fire, and fire overcomes gold, which can just suppress the old man's strong gold and protect future generations. It is almost noon now, which happens to be the time of the day when the fire is the strongest, which is most conducive to the funeral of the old man. The time cannot be missed. I believe that the uncle must be thinking about the comfort of the younger generations..."
Before Mu Linfeng finished speaking, Tan Laoda's uncle reached out and grabbed the "cloth shirt" from the butler, and began to put it on himself swiftly, saying as he put it on, "With Master Mu's words, we understand. Just now, we were mainly concerned that the third place was unfair to my brother-in-law. Since it is God's will, of course we have no objection."
The villagers watching outside the tent couldn't hear clearly what Mu Linfeng said, but when they saw the old uncle actively rushing to put on the "cloth shirt", they felt that this "lump" was not simple, and they convinced the old uncle of the Tan family with just a few words.
Mu Linfeng relaxed a little, thinking that he had finally gotten over this hurdle. However, before he could recover, an even bigger surprise occurred...
After hearing Mu Linfeng say that they couldn't miss the good time, the uncle of the Tan family didn't need to be persuaded and rushed to put on the big cloth shirt for worship. "Geda" had said so much, no one dared to bear the stigma of harming the descendants.
While my uncle was putting on his cloth shirt, the other two people who followed him quickly carried a large food box, walked to the altar, and placed the offerings they had brought.
This kind of food box is very large, with a base half a meter wide and nearly one and a half meters long. There is a handle more than one meter high in the middle, so it is also called a "handle box". It has two layers, upper and lower, and a lid on the top. The entire handle box is made of fine wood.
The "ti box" is a special container for holding sacrificial offerings during funerals and roadside sacrifices. Every village has one or two. These food boxes have a history of more than a hundred years. The surface is black and covered with cracks. People today don't know what color the ti box was originally.
After putting on his baggy white shirt, the uncle of the Tan family stood in front of the altar. Mu Linfeng faced the worshiper and bowed with both hands, which was a way to thank the worshiper on behalf of the deceased. Then he took a large envelope made of white paper from the worshiper, on which was written the name of the worshiper.
Mu Linfeng lit three incense sticks for the worshippers, then stepped back a step, and then shouted loudly with a long tone: "Serve the ancestors food——" "Toast the ancestors——"
Under the guidance of Mu Linfeng, the worshiper symbolically poked each dish with chopsticks in turn, then poured three cups of wine on the ground. After three final bows, when the worship was over, Mu Linfeng led Boss Tan to kowtow to thank the worshipers.
After the welcoming sacrifice was over, the helpers quickly packed the offerings on the altar into a carrying box, and then carried the altar to the next roadside sacrifice location, where worshippers were already waiting a hundred meters away.
Mu Linfeng turned to face the coffin, opened his arms, and directed ten strong men to lift the heavy nanmu coffin together. However, at this moment, an unexpected situation occurred...
The coffin is made of five thick brown ropes passing through the bottom, and then tied with buckles on the top, through which wooden sticks as thick as a bowl are passed. Because the nanmu coffin is very heavy, the brown ropes are all double-stranded, and the five wooden sticks are of different lengths, just enough to allow the front and back to be spread apart so that the coffin bearers will not trip over each other when walking.
When lifting the coffin, the five groups of people had to exert their strength at the same time, so they had to stand up together according to the gestures and shouts of the "lumps" in front. Just when the two guys in the first group were halfway up, they heard two loud bangs, and the two brown ropes that tied the coffin suddenly broke in the middle, causing the two men to stagger...
Before anyone could react to what was happening, a few more crackling sounds were heard, and the following groups of brown ropes broke one after another. The coffin, which was just over ten centimeters off the ground, fell to the ground with a loud bang, raising a cloud of dust as it hit the ground.
The sudden accident made the ten young men carrying the coffin terrified. They looked at each other, as if they had not yet recovered from the shock.
The villagers watching around were stunned by the incredible scene before them. All of them had their eyes wide open and their mouths wide open. After screaming in surprise, they could say nothing more. They stared blankly at the coffin covered in dust and the ten bewildered coffin bearers on both sides.
The Tan family was the last to discover the accident, because they were still kneeling on the ground, some of them were crying with their heads down. As the coffin landed, the sad cries stopped abruptly. Originally there was a chorus of wailing, but suddenly the whole street became silent. Everyone was stunned by this bizarre incident...
The people living in the mountains are very familiar with these sturdy brown ropes. These five brown ropes are as thick as a wine cup and are used in pairs. Not to mention one coffin, even ten cannot be crushed.
Mu Linfeng was in charge of the coffin opening and was facing the coffin, so he saw everything that happened most clearly. When he saw the brown rope that tied the coffin snap, his heart was like being struck by an electric current. Among all the people present, he was the only one who understood what was going on.
Six years of special forces training gave Mu Linfeng a strong psychological quality to remain calm in the face of danger. Mu Linfeng knew that he must not panic at this time, and his brain was thinking about countermeasures rapidly. He knew very well that if this matter was not handled well, the reputation created by the ancestors would be destroyed, and the Mu family would no longer have to be a "knot" in the future.
Mu Linfeng walked forward a few steps without saying a word. He came to the side of the coffin, reached out and grabbed a broken rope head, sniffed it, and a faint sour smell entered his nostrils. Mu Linfeng thought that his guess was indeed confirmed. The rope was tampered with and it was likely sprayed with strong acid.
The eyes of hundreds of people at the scene were focused on Mu Linfeng. Their faces showed astonishment, panic, worry, and even some fear. It was unheard of to encounter such a thing on the way to a funeral.
The first reaction of everyone at the scene was that there was something wrong with Mr. Tan’s body. People were most worried that the body would come back to life, so everyone focused their attention on this "lump". In the minds of the villagers, "lump" had the magical power to eliminate demons and monsters.
Although Mu Linfeng knew what happened, he couldn't explain it to everyone, and he knew that even if he told the truth now, no one would believe it. The only way now was to make the onlookers believe that he could control the situation.
Mu Linfeng was nervously thinking of a solution while looking around. He guessed that the person who did this must be hiding among the onlookers...
Suddenly, Mu Linfeng's eyes fell on Zhang Xiaosan. When he saw the cowhide bag that Xiaosan carried with him, he suddenly had an idea. Mu Linfeng knew very well what the villagers were thinking. He had to follow the villagers' thinking to resolve all this, and he had to turn passivity into initiative.
Mu Linfeng said nothing. In the surprised eyes of everyone, he walked to Zhang Xiaosan, reached into the small bag at the back of his shoulder bag and took out a bag of cinnabar. At the same time, he whispered in Xiaosan's ear: "Hide behind, and when you see my gesture, spread Ah Huang out and let it run to me."
Mu Linfeng came to the coffin with the bag of cinnabar powder in his hand, and slowly sprinkled the cinnabar on the ground three meters away from the coffin head to form a circle with a diameter of about one meter. Then he stood at the edge of the circle, pinched the Lingguan Jue with one hand, stepped on the Tiangang step, and chanted something.
More than ten seconds later, Mu Linfeng suddenly threw the remaining cinnabar powder in his right hand toward the sky above the coffin, and the cinnabar powder immediately turned into a red smoke that enveloped the entire coffin. Everyone stared at the red smoke, and when the smoke fell, they suddenly found a skin fairy standing in the circle in front of Mu Linfeng.
No one noticed how this weasel appeared. In the minds of the villagers, weasels have fairy spirits and are called yellow-skinned fairies. Suddenly, it magically appeared in this scene, and everyone thought that Mu Linfeng's magic power made it appear.
I saw the weasel in the circle, supporting its body with its two hind legs, raising its two front legs, looking at Mu Linfeng with its round eyes, seeming to be very friendly to him.
Mu Linfeng asked Ah Huang seriously, "Great Immortal, why does the coffin suddenly not want to leave?"
The weasel scratched the air a few times with its two front paws and made a squeaking sound from its black mouth, as if answering Mu Linfeng's question.
Mu Linfeng nodded and agreed in a pretentious manner, as if he was listening to the Yellow-skinned Immortal. Then, Mu Linfeng walked to the tent on the side of the road and whispered a few words to the steward standing there. The steward nodded and turned away in a hurry. Then, Mu Linfeng waved to the person in charge of scattering paper money. The person ran over quickly. Mu Linfeng grabbed a handful of paper money from the bamboo basket on his arm and threw it into the air. The raised paper money fell down like snowflakes flying all over the sky.
Everyone's eyes followed Mu Linfeng's movements. No one knew what he was going to do. When all the paper money fell, they found that the yellow-skinned fairy in the circle had disappeared. Everyone believed in Mu Linfeng's magic power even more...
After doing all this, Mu Linfeng walked up to the Tan family relatives who were still kneeling there and said loudly: "Just now, the old man asked Huang Pixian to tell me that the rope tying the coffin was too tight, which made the old man very uncomfortable, so he broke the brown rope. The old man told me that he wanted to take a car to the cemetery. I have asked the steward to arrange someone to push the car."
Mu Linfeng's actions just now had frightened everyone. No one doubted his words at this moment. Especially the weasel's coming and going without a trace made the matter even more mysterious.
After listening to Mu Linfeng, Boss Tan kowtowed hastily and said, " Master Mu will make the decision."
"Ah!" Mu Linfeng sighed heavily and said with a heavy expression, "The old man also told me that his children are so good and filial, and he doesn't want to leave you, so he wants to stay with you for a while..."
At this point, Mu Linfeng looked back inadvertently. He wanted to see if the hearse had arrived. The family couldn't just sit there and wait. Seeing that there was still no movement, he said, "Boss Tan, you brothers and sisters, come over to the coffin and talk to the old man. Give him some advice so that he can rest in peace."
Upon hearing this, the two brothers and their two wives hurried to the side of the coffin, knelt down on their knees, stroked the coffin with their hands and cried loudly, and kept repeating while crying, asking the old man to rest assured and rest in peace...
Seeing this scene, the villagers on both sides were moved. Some wiped their tears, some gave thumbs up, and some whispered: "The Tan brothers are so good. They are so filial to the old man. No wonder the old man doesn't want to leave..." "Hey, if our children are like this, we will burn incense to thank God..."
An embarrassing accident was slowly resolved by Mu Linfeng, and the villagers were full of praise for the Tan brothers, and no one thought about anything else.
After a while, a flatbed cart used to transport goods in the mountains was pushed over by two people. Mu Linfeng immediately called the ten young men who were carrying the coffin, and asked them to grab the broken rope ends on both sides of the coffin with their hands, lift the coffin steadily, and then quickly push the flatbed cart under the coffin, and then place the coffin steadily on the flatbed cart.
It turned out that the young men carrying the coffin were on both sides of the hearse, holding the coffin with one hand, surrounding the hearse and slowly moving forward...
