Volume 1 Chapter 005: Lifting the Coffin
I didn't know how I ended up in the coffin, riding on a female corpse, and I had no idea what I was doing!
The voice I heard was that of my third uncle. I didn't know when he came back from outside and was standing in the main room with a bag on his back. My face turned pale and I crawled out of the coffin. When I looked inside the room, I saw water everywhere, copper coins and fragments of life lamp bowls were kicked everywhere, and the candlelight had long been extinguished.
Uncle San put down the bag, pulled me over and opened my eyes to take a closer look.
I was in a daze and couldn't remember what had happened. Uncle San said that when he came back, he found broken bowls and coins kicked everywhere in the house. He saw me riding on the female corpse in the coffin, and he shouted to wake me up.
I still get scared when I think about it now. If my third uncle hadn’t come back at that time, I don’t know what terrible things would have happened.
Still in shock, he told the story of what had happened in the past few days. Uncle San frowned and said nothing. After a long while, he squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth: "The burial will be at noon the day after tomorrow!"
"Buried?" I was surprised. The body inside was very likely related to the girl from the Lin family. How could it be buried when it was so unclear?
Uncle San waved his hand and told me to go back to bed and sleep, and get up early tomorrow morning to prepare for the burial. I didn't continue to argue with him. This old guy is a sullen tyrant. He looks lazy and kind at ordinary times, but he is completely inhumane when he becomes autocratic.
I asked him if he had gained anything from this trip, but he didn't tell me. He just said that children shouldn't worry about such things.
What a bullshit! Why didn't you treat me like a child when you asked me to help you? How could a child of my age touch such horrible corpses?
No matter what, with my uncle at home, I can finally sleep well and peacefully until dawn.
The next morning, I started to make up the corpses. I usually washed the corpses with clean water first, and then trimmed the hair and nails. For some corpses that died in accidents such as car accidents, if there were major damage to the body, they would need to be repaired and sutured.
In short, my job is to make the body look as good as possible when it is sent on the road, so that the family of the deceased can feel comforted.
However, I didn't need to do much for the corpse in front of me. The corpse was well protected and well-groomed. I didn't need to do anything extra. I just had to tidy up her hair and skirt. Speaking of which, I felt both sympathy and fear for this little girl of my age. My mood was very complicated.
Uncle San was busy drawing a burial map. This involves another aspect of our business, Feng Shui. Feng Shui is very particular and varies from person to person. For example, in ancient times, kings, princes, and generals had to live near mountains and preferably near water, so that they could absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and bless their descendants.
For example, the female corpse buried this time exudes evil spirits inside and out, which clearly shows that there is something wrong. This is not something that can be solved by just burying it casually. It must be handled by experts like us, who need to find a special Feng Shui location and a burial layout to resolve it.
This is the reason why the group of people before secretly delivered the coffin to my house instead of directly cremating it or burying it somewhere else.
These bastards must have known that there was something wrong with the corpse a long time ago, but they kept it a secret because they were afraid that we would not accept it.
After I finished my work, I asked Uncle San if I should go and inform Zhang Dashan and the others first. Zhang Dashan and Wang Mingbu and the other four were the coffin bearers who had been working with our family. Since we were going to hold the funeral at noon tomorrow, it was necessary to inform them in advance.
"We don't need them this time. I have already found four outsiders." Uncle San said without raising his head as he concentrated on drawing the burial map.
I feel a little puzzled. Zhang Dashan and his team have been cooperating with our family for many years. We have a good understanding of each other and their skills are very strong. Why do we not want them this time and instead look for some outsiders?
Uncle San ignored my doubts. I stood beside him and watched him draw the map. After a while, I was shocked and cold sweat ran down my face.
"You old thing...are you looking for a scapegoat?"
I suddenly understood why this was so. The reason why Uncle San didn't invite Zhang Dashan, Wang Mingbu and other acquaintances was probably because he had already predicted that this burial would be extremely dangerous. The job of a coffin bearer is the dirtiest and most unlucky job. If something goes wrong during the burial process, the coffin bearers will be the first to bear the brunt.
"It's better to have a few outsiders die than Zhang Dashan and the others." Uncle San's voice was calm, as if he was talking about something insignificant, which made me feel cold all over.
"This is all my decision. It has nothing to do with you. Stop talking nonsense. You are just a kid and don't need to think too much."
Bullshit! How could this have nothing to do with me? If you have the guts, just don't tell me! It would be much better if I could just do it quietly by myself!
I took a deep breath and said, "Can we not bury him?" Even though this stranger was not familiar to us, he was still a human life. Wouldn't it be against the will of heaven if we did this?
Third Uncle finally looked at me and sneered, "Since you have such a good idea, you will be the one making the decision this time. If you say bury, we will bury. If you say not to bury, we won't bury. Is that ok?"
I was a little angry and was about to say "I'll do it" when I suddenly remembered Er Laizi and Wang Bolai.
In fact, I also understand that the reason why my third uncle was so eager to bury the body was that he saw that the deaths of both of them were related to the female corpse at home. After all, my family is also in this business, and we are used to seeing some strange things. We know that if we let the body stay, my uncle and nephew, as well as the entire village, will suffer sooner or later.
"Is there no other way?" I was unwilling to give in.
Uncle San continued to draw and said, "Yes, there is." I was delighted and asked what the solution was.
"Let's pack up and run away overnight." Uncle San smiled, looked at me and said, "This way we can save our lives, not only will we not be tormented by our conscience, but we won't have to do anything. Isn't this a good idea?"
I didn't sleep a wink that night. Uncle San gave me three choices, and as long as I made up my mind, he would do it. For the first time in all these years, I felt the difficulty of making a choice.
The next day, I found my uncle with dark circles under my eyes and asked, "When will those four people come? Do you want me to urge them?"
Uncle San looked at me and told me to cook first and he would take care of the rest.
Since cremation was introduced in the countryside, we have also taken on burials, usually secretly at night to avoid being seen. But this time, Uncle San set the time for noon.
There was nothing we could do about it. The job we received this time was so weird that we didn't dare to go out at night. The Yang energy was at its peak at noon, which could suppress the evil spirit of the corpse. Before we left, my uncle and nephew had made all the necessary preparations.
But unexpectedly, something went wrong.
I heard that the four outsiders that Uncle San found were all idlers who didn't have a proper job. This was understandable, after all, who would be willing to carry a coffin for someone else? Although these people had never done coffin-carrying work before, they were all tall and strong, and Uncle San offered a high price, so they worked very hard.
Before opening the coffin, Uncle San first recited the mantra for rebirth, and then inserted a small yellow flag in front of the coffin.
I also thought it was quite fresh at the time, because it was the first time I saw a flag being lowered before a coffin was lifted. But soon my face turned pale, because as soon as the small flag was inserted , it snapped in half with a sound. Although I didn't understand what this meant, I knew it was definitely not a good thing.
Uncle San laughed dryly and said that the flag was of poor quality and would break if a little force was applied. The four strangers didn't care when they heard it. But my heart was in a knot because I saw cold sweat on Uncle San's forehead.
My third uncle called out, "Make way!" I led the way with talisman paper and paper money, and the four outsiders worked together to lift the coffin and head towards the burial site that my third uncle had chosen in advance.
After walking for more than a mile, something went wrong. The four tall and strong bearers were so pale under the weight of the coffin on their shoulders that they could not bear it any longer and dropped the coffin to the ground.
"Why does this coffin get heavier the more we lift it?" The four strangers panted heavily and cried out in exhaustion.
The coffin fell to the ground halfway, which was very unlucky. I was a little panicked and didn't know what to do for a moment. Uncle San took out seven copper coins and placed them on the coffin in a row, then took out three pieces of talisman paper and burned them in front of the coffin, and asked them to continue lifting it.
I don't know if it was a psychological effect, but these people said that the coffin was indeed much lighter, but it was still heavy and unbearable. My uncle asked me to turn around and walk towards the dock. When I got there, I found a boat waiting for us. It turned out that my uncle had anticipated this situation.
But when the boat reached the middle of the river, something went wrong again.
