Chapter 2: The Seventh Day, Night of Terror
"Creaky" Wang Jingzhe came to the second floor and pushed open a door. A damp smell mixed with mold hit him in the face. When he stepped on the floor, his feet made a "creaking" sound. There was only a bed, a chair and a simple toilet in the room with a pungent smell of disinfectant.
Putting down the pork head and wine in his hands, Wang Jingzhe took off the canvas bag on his back, took out a few ordinary-looking kitchen knives and scissors, spread them flat on the bed, then wiped them carefully with a white towel, his eyes full of piety.
Wang Jingzhe is a knife seller on credit. This title represents a profession. It is said to be the most mysterious organization among the people. However, with the changes of the times and the changes of history, this profession has gradually faded from people sight, but fading does not mean it does not exist.
People who sell knives on credit have always existed in the world, perhaps in some corner, on the streets or under a bridge pier, with a piece of rag in front of them and old-fashioned kitchen knives and scissors placed on it.
They would also walk among the people, carrying a few kitchen knives in their backpacks, and would meet people or things of interest wherever they went, and sometimes they would leave behind mysterious, puzzling, and confusing prophecies.
"The Yellow River will flood here in early spring next year. You can leave this kitchen knife here. When the river floods, everyone in your village will move away, and I will come back to collect the money..."
During the three-year natural disaster, a knife seller came to a village in the middle of Hebei Plain, which was hit by a severe drought. He said to the village secretary, who was leading the villagers to dig up Guanyin soil and eat tree bark, and whose face was pale from hunger, "Keep this kitchen knife for now. I'll come back to collect the money in a year and a half, when the disaster is over and everyone can have enough food to eat."
Prophecies like these have been left countless times by knife sellers throughout history. If you choose to believe them, they will give you a kitchen knife or a pair of scissors, and then on the day the prophecy comes true, they will appear in front of you very punctually to collect the money.
If the prophecy left at that time had not come true, this kitchen knife would have been given to you for free.
Of course, the knife seller on credit has made predictions countless times from ancient times to the present, but none of them has ever come true.
One year, the profession of knife sellers suddenly disappeared from the people. That year, the wind of reform blew across 9.6 million square kilometers. Many people who were labeled as superstitious and feudal were all locked up in cow sheds. That year, knife sellers disappeared from the streets and alleys.
Someone later said that the knife seller had left a prophecy before he disappeared.
"Ten years from now, the chaos will be over, and China will usher in a new era..."
Afterwards, it was 1976 all of a sudden, the unrest had subsided, and exactly ten years had passed!
It was midnight, a quarter to twelve.
Two pounds of pork head, some peanuts and a bottle of liquor all went into Wang Jingzhe's stomach. He opened the window and looked to the east while burping.
During the day, Wang Jingzhe once stuck a kitchen knife into an old grave and left a message.
"Three days later, if anything unusual happens in your home, you can come to the hotel next to the train station and bring this kitchen knife to find me."
A few days ago, an old man from a wealthy family in Caofeidian was suddenly involved in a car accident on the highway while traveling. The Volkswagen Phaeton he was riding in was directly hit by a trailer and turned into a beetle. The three-box car was turned into a two-box car. The people inside were naturally dead. The old man's entire body was squeezed and deformed, and his corpse was pulled into several pieces by the twisted car body. It could not be put together because some of the limbs were torn into pieces.
The body was later transported back to Caofeidian. The old man's son was very powerful in the local area, so he used his connections to avoid cremation and planned to bury the body in his own ancestral cemetery.
Today is the day of the funeral.
In three days, it will be the seventh day!
Wang Jingzhe stood at the window, pinching a few fingers and muttering in a low voice: "The evil spirit is so strong..."
Three days passed in a flash. According to custom, this night was the seventh night after the death of the old man from a wealthy family in Caofeidian. As the saying seventh night is the night when the soul returns home. On this night, the soul of the deceased will go home for a visit. Family members should burn sky ladders or send sky lanterns at home to send the soul of the deceased to the underworld so that he can reincarnate as soon as possible. If no fire is burned on the first seventh night, the soul of the deceased will think that the family is trying to keep him, and may simply not leave. In this case, the family members may be entangled.
Therefore, in funeral customs, burning the first seven days is the most important.
That night, the moon was dark and the wind was strong. In front of a villa in Mission Hills Garden in Caofeidian, Lin Yuan asked his wife to go back to her parents' home, then called out his only daughter. They set up a ladder made of yellow paper in front of their house and placed offerings next to it. After paying homage to their father at around eight o'clock in the evening, they burned the ladder.
"Sizzle" Lin Yuan struck a match and said to his daughter: "After the fire is burned, no one can stay at home tonight. You and I will stay at your grandma's house for one night...Xianyu, pay respect to your grandfather towards the tribute."
Lin Xianyu, wearing plain clothes and with a somewhat resentful look on her face, was about to bid farewell to her grandfather in front of the offerings on the ground when suddenly a small breeze blew up from the ground, and the match that Lin Yuan had just struck in his hand went out with a "puff".
"Sizzle" Lin Yuan didn't take it seriously and lit another one. Before he reached the bottom of the ladder, the breeze that had just blown seemed to turn around and come back, and the match went out with a "puff".
Lin Yuan and Lin Xianyu, father and daughter, looked at each other, their bodies a little stiff. Some things are called coincidence once, but if they happen again, it's called a trick!
Lin Yuan took out a Zippo from his pocket that he usually used to light cigarettes. He slid his finger across the grinding wheel, and when a flame the length of his little finger popped out, he carefully handed it to the bottom of the ladder.
"Puff" for the third time, the Zippo flame that could not be extinguished even with mouth was extinguished by the wind again. This time, the breeze was obviously eerie, and the father and daughter instantly got goose bumps from their feet to their scalps.
There is a feeling called chilling!
"Is your grandpa not going to leave?" Lin Yuan frowned and said jokingly.
"Dad?" Lin Xianyu suddenly pointed at the offerings on the ground. His voice was a little broken and trembling when he spoke. The offerings were longevity cakes and some fruits, which were the old man's favorite foods.
Lin Yuan looked down and found that the fruits in the tribute were originally quite fresh, but they suddenly became dry at some point, as if they had been exposed to the sun. The longevity cake became extremely shriveled, and it was obvious that it would fall apart if you touched it with your hand.
It has been said since ancient times that if the offerings made to families in the Northeast who worship guardian gods lose moisture after a day or two, it means that the gods have drained their essence, proving that there is indeed a guardian god in your home, which is considered a good thing.
