Volume 1 Chapter 16: Sharing a Bed
At this moment, my uncle waved at me and said, "Bring your girlfriend over here."
Damn it! I finally understood that this coffin was prepared for Lin Wenjing! I was not happy at the time and stood there motionless. Uncle San glared at me with a stern face, and I reluctantly carried the girl from the Lin family over.
I am not an amateur who knows nothing, so of course I understand what Dead Face and Third Uncle are planning. Now Lin Wenjing and that ghost girl surnamed Liu are one and the same, so as long as Lin Wenjing is sealed, it will be equivalent to weakening half of the ghost girl's ability.
I climbed into the coffin holding Lin Wenjing, put her down carefully, and combed her hair before climbing out of the coffin silently.
Uncle San ordered people to close the coffin, and then had seven three-inch-long coffin nails hammered in. These seven coffin nails were not ordinary nails, but were made of red copper. In our family, they had a name for them, called "red nails." The positions where the nails were hammered in were not chosen randomly, but had their own particularities, and this was called the Seven Star Nail Soul.
This was the first time I saw Uncle San use this stuff in all these years. Liu Zining pulled my hand and whispered to me, "Don't be too sad." I nodded and said, "It's okay." But I couldn't help but feel sad. Uncle San took a handful of ancient copper coins from the plate and placed them around the coffin one by one, just enough to form a circle around the coffin.
Liu Zining stared at me intently and asked me, "What is your uncle doing? He walks so strangely!"
I saw him mumbling something and walking forward at a strange pace, so I said, "This is Bu Gang. My third uncle should be building a diamond wall."
Bugang, in fact, is called Bugang Tadou, also known as Yubu, which is the step that is taken when performing rituals. In our line of work, we must master the skills of collecting corpses, corpse makeup, rituals, and Fengshui. So my third uncle urged me to practice footwork since I was a child. Of course, Bugang is only the most basic one, and I can walk it without mistakes even with my eyes closed. My third uncle also taught me several other footworks, which are much more difficult, but they are not used in daily life.
The so-called "Vajra Wall" is a trick that my uncle taught me a long time ago. I call it a trick because it is used to fool people. In the past, in order to make more money, my uncle also built a Vajra Wall for people, saying that it could suppress corpses and ward off evil spirits.
I know very well that they are all fake and are just fooling customers. Because when Uncle San taught me, he clearly said that when setting up the Diamond Wall, all 72 copper coins must stand up. But when Uncle San built the Diamond Wall, the copper coins were all lying flat on the ground, which was useless!
As I was thinking about it, Liu Zining suddenly pushed me and said in surprise, "It's standing up!" Then a cry of surprise came from the hall.
I looked carefully and saw that my uncle was standing there with his eyes closed. The seventy-two copper coins surrounding the coffin were standing upright on the ground!
"Who stood it up just now?" I asked in confusion. I was distracted and didn't pay attention. Liu Zining said, "No! It was the copper coins that stood up by themselves!"
I immediately said, "How is that possible!" How can a copper coin stand up by itself when it has no arms or legs? Liu Zining blushed and said, "Really? It really stood up by itself!"
I was stunned to see that the 72 copper coins were standing there motionless. Liu Zining asked me, "How did you do that? Your uncle is amazing!"
How could I know how he did it? I still doubt it myself! I remember all the steps and spells that Uncle San taught me, but I always thought of them as a trick, a formality, a performance for others to see.
Uncle San returned to his chair and sat down. He took a sip from the tea bowl and praised it as "good tea". Then he said, "Everything is ready. It shouldn't be possible to raise the body for a while."
The dead face circled the coffin a few times, turned back and praised: "Mr. Feng San is really good. You even built this diamond wall to suppress corpses and ward off evil spirits." Although it was a compliment, the tone was still cold and without a trace of expression.
I was shocked, thinking that this guy actually knew about the "King Kong Wall". Uncle San said, "Okay, okay."
The dead face turned around and whispered a few words to the old woman from the Liu family. The old woman sometimes gritted her teeth and sometimes nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, which looked quite funny.
After this incident, even the young people in the house vaguely knew that there was a terrible evil ghost outside the house, waiting for an opportunity to kill everyone in the house. In addition, the man surnamed Cai died horribly, and the crowd of men, women, old and young in the house were all silent.
Everyone in the room sat together and waited. Uncle San and Dead Face sat together, talking about something, and they seemed to be having a good time. I was so angry that I huddled aside, thinking out of sight, out of mind. Liu Zining came over to talk to me, and asked me why I wasn't scared at all, because she was scared to death.
Actually, I was afraid too. Although I often deal with corpses, I have never encountered a haunted person like Liu Nan. However, there are so many people in the house, and the girl surnamed Liu should look for other people first.
Later, until midnight, the house was peaceful and quiet, and no one was making any trouble. Everyone in the house began to yawn, especially the women and children, and some of them even fell asleep on the table.
Uncle San said, "Everyone is tired. Let's leave some people to keep watch and the rest can go back and rest."
Father Liu was worried and asked, "Would this be inappropriate? What if Nan...that thing takes the opportunity to break in?"
"It doesn't matter. I have set up a formation in the house. If she comes in, she will be dead." The dead face interjected coldly.
Seeing both of them say this, Liu's father stood up and gave orders, asking the women, the elderly and the children to go back to their rooms to rest first. He himself and Liu Zi'an and other male members of the family followed his uncle and Dead Face to continue guarding the front hall.
I was trapped in that haunted house for two days and one night without eating a single grain of rice. After I came out, I had to carry people and rush on the road. I was so sleepy that I yawned every once in a while. Liu Zining took me downstairs to rest.
Although the Liu family's house is large, many relatives have come to the house recently because of the funeral of a family member, and all the guest rooms are full. Liu Zining said, why don't you take me to sleep in his brother's room.
Liu Zian, I don't like this guy at all. He snores when he sleeps, which is so noisy. If he comes back to sleep at night, I will be in trouble. I shook my head like a rattle.
Liu Zining bit her lip lightly, and ran in and out to arrange things for me. As a result, the other rooms were occupied by her cousins, nephews and nieces.
When we passed by a remote house, I pointed inside and asked who lived there and why it looked so eerie. Liu Zining took a look inside, his eyes slightly reddened, and said, "My second uncle and cousin live there."
I said "Oh", thinking that Liu Nan had lived here before he died. This place is full of ghosts and it's really not a good place. Just as I was thinking, I saw a man coming out of the house, holding a basin of water and pouring it on the ground.
This was a thin man with gray hair on his temples, hunched back, and staring straight ahead. He didn't react at all when he saw us, and splashed a basin of water. Liu Zining pulled me away quickly, apologetically saying, "I didn't splash you, my second uncle is a little unwell."
Only then did I realize that this man was actually Liu Nan's father. But looking at him, he looked like a little old man, not a middle-aged man in his forties.
I noticed that his posture of holding the basin was very strange. When I looked closely, I found that nine of the ten fingers on this man's hands were broken. Only the thumb on the right hand was left. It looked bare and extremely horrifying.
Liu Zining said she didn't know what happened, it seemed that there was an accident in his early years, and all nine fingers of her second uncle were broken. We searched the house for a while, but still couldn't find a vacant room.
"How about you squeeze in with me tonight?" Liu Zining said embarrassedly: "Many of these relatives are from my grandmother's side. I don't dare to offend them."
I hesitated: "This is not good, I am a man..." Although I said that, I was still very happy in my heart. It's just that I was raised by my uncle, an old bachelor, from childhood to adulthood, and I have never slept with the opposite sex, so I always feel a little embarrassed.
Liu Zining said " Pah" and poked my head: "How old are you? Your mind is full of these messed up things! What kind of man are you, a little brat? At most, you are a naughty child!" Then she led me into her boudoir and asked me if I wanted to take a shower. She went to get some hot water for me.
I was so sleepy that I didn't want to move at all. But then I thought, I was really dirty from going down the well and carrying the corpse all day. It would be bad if I soiled the sister's quilt, so I decided to wash it.
After I finished washing, Liu Zining brought me a set of clean clothes to wear. When I returned to the room, Liu Zining was untying my hair and told me to go to bed if I was tired.
I said "Oh", climbed onto the bed, and lay on the inner side. I could smell a faint fragrance lingering around, which was very pleasant. Liu Zining usually tied her hair into a ponytail. After untying it and combing it with a comb, her hair just fell to her shoulders. She didn't change into pajamas, but wore a white short-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of light pink shorts, revealing a pair of straight white thighs.
I took a few secret glances at her and felt my heart pounding. When I saw her turn around, I quickly turned sideways, closed my eyes and pretended to sleep.
"Xiao Jing? Are you asleep?" Liu Zining called out to me a few times. Seeing that I didn't respond, he chuckled and said, "This little brat must be really tired!"
I closed my eyes, not daring to answer or move. I only heard the sound of the light being turned off, and then the room went dark. There was a rustling sound, and then I felt someone climb onto the bed and sleep next to me.
