The first volume of the funeral Chapter 16: Unexpected Meanings
"What do you mean?!" Liu Yufei rushed over and was about to punch him.
Ke Xun was tall and had long arms. Before Liu Yufei's fist could reach him, his hands had already reached Liu Yufei's face. He held Liu Yufei's face with his five fingers and then casually pushed it to the side. Liu Yufei staggered out with his face.
"Dongzi, it's your turn." Ke Xun said.
"What I want to say is the same as Ke'er," Wei Dong said, "I'm just an ordinary person, I don't have any special skills or advantages. The only thing I can guarantee is that I won't take advantage of others."
"Our Dongzi is also an artist," Ke Xun added for him, "He's a fine arts major, and he has a unique professional vision and perspective on art works. Studying the world in paintings and so on is a perfect match for him."
Wei Dong wondered what kind of match this was.
The doctor looked at the pancake stand owner and asked, "What do you want to say?"
The pancake stand owner opened his bloodshot eyes and said, "I don't want to die. I really don't want to die. Please, don't choose me. I don't want to die... I don't want to die..."
Seeing that he only said this sentence over and over again, the doctor had no choice but to stop asking and finally turned to Mu Yiran: "It's your turn."
Mu Yiran said: "I have a clue."
“…”
Just four words, simple, rough, direct and clear.
If Ke Xun's fatal blow was only for one-on-one combat, then Mu Yiran's one-hit-kill blow could directly KO all members.
He has a clue.
No one can kill him.
It's that simple.
The doctor lowered his eyes, "Okay, that's all. Now... let's vote. Time is running out."
Everyone's expression was heavy and complicated.
Being an executioner doesn't feel good.
However, facing death is even more unpleasant.
"I'll go get some paper and pen." The doctor got up and went to find the old man, and brought back a piece of yellow paper and some charcoal pencils.
He cut the paper into eight equal parts and distributed them to everyone, then said, "Everyone, please tell us your name. If you really don't want to tell us your name, you can give yourself a nickname."
"Ke Xun," Ke Xun was the first to speak, "Ke from Conan, Xun from Li Xunhuan."
"Weidong," Weidong continued, "Wei in Weiqing, Dong in Dongqing."
Ke Xun: "...I really wronged you by not calling you 'Qing'."
Wei Dong: "Ke Zhenwu, shut up."
Mu Yiran glanced coldly at the two guys who were still making a few jokes just before death. He wondered if these two were upholding the ** spirit of not crying until seeing the coffin and entertaining themselves to death, or if... it was the calmness and thick-skinnedness that came from their bones.
Then he said: "Mu Yiran, Mu of Mu Ye, Yi of happy and carefree, Ran of leisurely."
"In the endless fields with blue sky and white clouds, it's joyful and leisurely. What a good name." said Ke Xun, a rough-minded young man.
Mu Yiran said coldly: "Ke from Nan Kemeng, shut up."
Ke Xun: “…”
Wei Dong: “…”
Next, a single father and a private company boss each gave their names. One was Ma Zhenhua and the other was Zhang Maolin.
The pancake stand owner refused to give his name, and kept begging: "Don't choose me, please, I beg you, don't choose me..."
"Let's call him codename A." The doctor sighed and looked at Liu Yufei.
"Why are you looking at me? I can't die anyway! If you want to write, write about others. Some people are just sitting there doing nothing. Their lives are of no use to the country or the people. It's not a pity that they should die!" Liu Yufei roared.
"Let's call him SB." Ke Xun sighed.
Weidong: “Very appropriate.”
The doctor was the last to speak: "My last name is Qin, Qin Ci. Qin is like Qin Shi Huang, and Ci is like giving."
The room fell silent again.
Eight names, eight lives, have been laid before everyone with no escape or retreat possible.
Zhang Maolin, the boss of a private enterprise, took out his mobile phone and glanced at it, then looked at everyone anxiously: "It's only five minutes until nine o'clock... We must, we must vote..."
Everyone's faces twisted instantly.
The arrow is on the string, there is no time to hesitate.
The doctor had a calm expression but his eyelids drooped: "Write it. What is coming will eventually come."
Five long yet short minutes passed. Except for Ke Xun and Wei Dong who had already declared their abstention, everyone else picked up their pens one after another.
While writing down their names, some people had no expression on their faces, some were struggling, some were vicious and cruel, and some were wailing.
One minute before nine o'clock, everyone placed the papers with their names on them on the table and slowly pushed them to the center of the table.
Even without opening the publication page, the world in this painting will know who has received the most votes.
Everyone sat there, staring at the back of the paper, waiting for the moment of sentencing to come.
As time passed, single father Ma Zhenhua and private enterprise owner Zhang Maolin couldn't help but cry out along with the pancake stall owner.
The doctor and Mu Yiran remained calm and expressionless.
Wei Dong stared at a corner of the table in a daze, while Ke Xun leaned back in his chair with his thin eyelids drooping, not moving.
Liu Yufei was shaking all over, his fists were clenched, and big beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Until he didn't know which second the countdown reached, the string in his head finally broke. He jumped up suddenly and shouted heartbreakingly: "I don't want to die - I want to go back - it's fake - all this is fake - I'm dreaming - I'm having a nightmare - let me wake up - I don't want to sleep anymore - let me wake up -"
Like a madman, Liu Yufei broke open the door and rushed out, as if trying to break free from the shackles of this strange world. Everyone hurriedly got up and chased to the door, only to see Liu Yufei staggering and falling on the fence of the yard.
The pointed bamboo fence with jagged thorns pierced into Liu Yufei's body at the waist and came out of his flesh with spurting blood.
Liu Yufei let out a shrill scream and struggled desperately with his limbs on the bamboo fence.
It's like a grasshopper with its belly pierced by a bamboo stick.
Thick blood flowed down the bamboo fence. Liu Yufei's screams gradually weakened, and his limbs slowly stopped struggling.
Until it hung there lifeless like a piece of bacon, and there was no movement anymore.
Ma Zhenhua and Zhang Maolin's legs went weak and they sat down on the ground, both bursting into tears. It was unclear whether they were frightened by Liu Yufei's death or were grateful for having escaped the brink of death.
The pancake stall owner was so scared that he became incontinent again.
The doctor looked at Liu Yufei's body and shook his head with a complicated expression. He was just thinking about saying something to ease this heavy, depressing and indescribable atmosphere, but he saw Mu Yiran suddenly walk towards Liu Yufei's body and said, "He can't be saved. He's dead."
Mu Yiran ignored him and walked straight to Liu Yufei's body. Just as he was about to bend down to take a closer look, he heard a voice behind him: "Want to study how he died?"
Mu Yiran turned his head and saw Ke Xun had caught up with him at some point, looking at him calmly.
The others did not follow. Mu Yiran turned around to check Liu Yufei's body, but saw that the row of sharpened bamboo fences under him, stained with thick and sticky blood, had completely pierced Liu Yufei's waist and abdomen, almost cutting his body in two.
"Cut in half." Mu Yiran coldly spat out two words that sounded extremely cruel.
However, Ke Xun noticed that his tone seemed to contain not only coldness but also a hint of understanding.
When I returned to the house, the old man had already prepared breakfast. He seemed to be completely unaware of what had just happened. He was still repeating what he had said yesterday morning in a lifeless : "Everyone worked hard last night. Let's have breakfast first. There is not much work to do during the day. You can take a rest. Come to me when it gets dark. I will arrange work for you tonight."
After saying that, he turned and went into the inner room.
Ma Zhenhua and Zhang Maolin were still slumped on the ground crying, the pancake stall owner was limp in his chair like a puddle of mud, his incontinent urine was flowing all over the floor at his feet, the doctor was leaning against the door frame lost in thought, and Wei Dong was hiding in a corner where he couldn't see the bodies in the yard.
Mu sat down at the table happily. As soon as he raised his hand, he saw Ke Xun handed him a steamed bread in a very filial manner. He also grabbed a steamed bread in his hand and called Weidong: "Come and eat."
"Fuck, you still have an appetite?" Wei Dong was shocked.
"You should eat more now," Ke Xun pointed at the seat and asked him to come over. "Didn't you listen to what the old man said? We will be assigned work tonight. It was luck that we didn't die last night. We don't know if we can survive tonight. Even if we are lucky enough to survive again, do we have to vote again tomorrow morning? Come and eat quickly! Only when you are full will you have the strength to find the seal as soon as possible."
Weidong thought it made sense, so he sat down reluctantly and forced himself to swallow the steamed bread and rice porridge.
After hearing this, the doctor also came over and sat down. He ate his fill in silence, put down his bowl and chopsticks, and looked up at Mu Yiran: "Xiao Mu, now you can share the clues you have obtained with everyone."
When Ma Zhenhua and Zhang Maolin heard this, they quickly struggled to stand up, sat around the table, and stared at Mu Yiran eagerly.
Ke Xun felt that if Mu Yiran didn't let something out of his mouth at this moment, these two men would swallow him alive.
Mu Yiran didn't seem to have any intention of hiding it any longer. He suddenly lowered his head, took off the linen strip with the word "Yang" written on it around his waist, and placed it on the table.
"This piece of cloth is the rule that determines how we die."
The doctor was slightly surprised: "Although I know that this piece of cloth must be strange, it is also used to group us, but you said that it determines the way we die. Is there any explanation?"
Mu Yiran pointed at the words on the linen strips: "On the first night, the three people who died in the mourning hall had the word 'Min' on the strips, and all three of them had lost their eyes; the two people who died in the cemetery had the word 'Qie' on the strips, and their bodies were cut into equal pieces of meat, which were eaten by crows; the word on the strip for Liu Yufei who died just now was 'Gu', and the way he died was similar to being beheaded."
The doctor shook his head slightly in confusion: "I don't see any connection between the way they died and these words."
Mu said happily: "I remember you said that the villagers' ancestors were Zong Zhu. I also said that cursing was very popular during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The most famous one was the "Curse of Chu".
"The Curse on Chu" is a text on a stone carving from the Qin State during the Warring States Period. The font belongs to the small seal script, the predecessor of which is the bronze inscription, which in turn is derived from the oracle bone script.
“Ancient things, whether they are artifacts or words, are full of supernatural colors. The ancients respected and revered words more than people today, so whether it was divine power or the power of curses, they were all placed in words.
“Most people only understand the current meaning of the word ‘people’, which refers to population and common people. But when this word was first created, ‘people’ had a horrifying original meaning.
"The character '民' in oracle bone script is composed of an eye with a pupil and a long pointed cross below. Its original meaning is to blind the eyes of the people with a sharp weapon and make them slaves who can be ordered around.
"The meaning of this word became more obvious after the oracle bone script evolved into bronze script. The word 'people' in bronze script directly wiped out the pupil in the eye, and the cross became a pointed cone shape, piercing directly into the eye.
"Let's talk about the character '且'. In oracle bone script, it is composed of a deformed form of the character '夕' plus the sign '='. 夕 represents a piece of meat, and '=' represents equality. Together, they represent dividing the meat equally.
"In the primitive era of communism and equal distribution, food was the most important common property, and meat was the highest level of food. Sharing meat was an important ritual for worshiping ancestors and gods. Therefore, the original meaning of the word '且' means to share meat and eat it.
"Finally, let's talk about the character 'Gu'. Gu is composed of the characters gu and xin. Gu means a large axe, and xin means someone who is sentenced to death. The original meaning of the character gu means to use a large axe to execute the death penalty by beheading or cutting in half.
"After the first night, I saw the deaths of the five people, and I began to have some doubts about these words, but I didn't have enough examples to make a firm conclusion. I just saw the death of Liu Yufei, which has proved my inference.
"These words written on the cloth strips are infused with the inherent viciousness of the characters. Add to that the curse power of our village ancestors who served as ancestral priests, and they have become cursed items that can determine how we die."
