Volume 1 Chapter 62: Disciple
Ma Laodao said: "This is a long story." He looked at me and said, "Do you want to hear it?"
I nodded. This had never happened to me before.
Ma Laodao: "Do you see anything special about this woman?"
I walked over and looked around her carefully. This woman was pretty, with smooth palms and slender fingers. She probably wasn't someone who did rough work, but I couldn't tell much else about her.
Yan Zi smiled coquettishly and said, "Unbutton her clothes and take a look."
My face turned red, thinking she was making fun of me on purpose, but when I saw Boss Ma nodded at me, I went over and unbuttoned the woman's clothes. I saw a green mark on her chest. At first glance, it looked like a huge green python coiled there.
I thought it was a tattoo at first, but after a closer look, I knew it wasn't. This mark looked more like it grew naturally from the body.
Ma Laodao said: "This woman was a spirit medium. After her death, this mark appeared."
I have heard of some stories about disciples who went out to perform rituals. They were also called "kanxiang" (looking at incense) and "chutang" (going out to perform rituals), and they inherited some of the ancient Shamanism traditions.
According to legend, some spiritual animals, such as foxes, weasels, snakes, etc., practiced for hundreds of years. In order to achieve the right result, they need to do more good deeds in the world and accumulate merits. They are called the immortals. Among them, the Hu Huang Chang Mang is the most common and has the highest level of Taoism. They are called the four major families by the world.
It is said that the three masters in his family, such as Mr. Hu San, Mrs. Hu San, the leader of Jinhua, the leader of Yinhua, the leader of Tongtian, etc. , have great magical powers and are able to control the world's horse-riding immortals. These horse-riding immortals usually choose some people with immortal affinity as incense boys, and cooperate with them or directly possess them to intervene in human affairs. These incense boys are also known as the disciples of the horse-riding immortals.
This saying was widely circulated among the people. At that time, there was a woman in her thirties in our village who claimed to be a disciple of a spirit medium and often did some mysterious things.
I have always heard of this when I was a child, but I just listened to it as a legend and never took it seriously. After all, what are the three masters of Hu San and Tongtian Jiaozhu? I only know one person called Tongtian Jiaozhu, and that is the leader of Jiejiao in "The Investiture of the Gods".
"Could it be that the immortal this woman is sending out is a green python?" I thought of the strange markings and found it a little hard to believe.
Yan Zi clapped her hands and said, "Smart!" She added, "It's a pity for this woman. She's quite pretty. She was sent here by her husband three days ago. I heard she's a teacher and is eight months pregnant."
I was a little puzzled: "Was this woman killed by that snake?" But this is a little unreasonable . Even if this woman is really a disciple of a spirit medium, and there is really a giant python as her spirit medium, then according to the legend, this woman is the incense child of the giant python, why would that thing kill its disciple?
Yan Zi said: "Haha, snakes are inherently evil. Nine out of ten female disciples of the snake fairy have unclear relationships. Maybe it's because of this matter that they had a disagreement and took ruthless action."
"Is such that……"
Someone suddenly interrupted. I knew who it was from the peculiar drawn-out sound without even looking.
Yan Zi smiled and said, "Hey, Lao Liu, what do you think?"
I looked at the skinny guy and saw that he had a dazed look on his face. He opened his mouth and said after a long while, "This... thing... in my... stomach..."
"The baby in the belly?" Yan Zi couldn't wait and asked.
"Yeah...yes..." The skinny guy nodded, "No...is..."
Yan Zi's eyes lit up and she said, "Not her husband's? Oh, I didn't realize this woman had other lovers! Hey, Lao Liu, how did you know that?"
"No...no...that's not right..." The skinny guy continued to speak calmly, "Be...belly...belly..."
This guy was talking too slowly. Yan Zi and the others couldn't wait any longer and went to check the belly of the female corpse. Boss Ma and Heimao also followed and surrounded her.
I saw that the muscular man was standing there without moving. He had just praised me, so I smiled at him. The muscular man nodded at me in a simple and honest manner.
I asked, "Why don't you go over and take a look?" He smiled innocently and said, "I don't understand it either, so I won't look at it."
I couldn't hold back my curiosity, and I smiled at him impatiently, and then I moved closer. Yan Zi had already unbuttoned the woman's shirt, revealing her snow-white skin, and her belly was obviously bulging, indicating that she was about to give birth.
Yan Zi stretched out her hand and pressed the woman's abdomen a few times. Suddenly her face changed drastically and she said to Ma Laodao: "Boss, come and take a look."
Boss Ma nodded, stretched out his dry hands, pressed the woman's abdomen a few times, and squeezed the wrinkles on his face together. Then he leaned over and put his ear to the woman's belly. After listening for a while, he straightened up and said in a deep voice: "There is a live fetus inside."
I was shocked and asked in astonishment, "A child born from a corpse?"
People in our line of work deal with the dead all year round, so of course we encounter a lot of strange things. Corpse birth is one of them. Corpse birth, as the name suggests, refers to a child born from a corpse, also known as coffin birth in folklore. Children born in this way are not in good health because they are infected by Yin Qi at birth, and their bodies are weak and weak, but there are exceptions, and some live healthy lives until old age.
People call this kind of child a coffin boy, and consider it unlucky, so they usually stay away from them, similar to how I am treated in the village.
But when I thought about it again, I felt that it was not right. Generally speaking, most births in coffins occur within eight hours after the death of the pregnant woman, and at most no more than twelve hours, because if it is longer, the fetus will not survive.
But I clearly heard Yan Zi say before that this woman was sent here by her husband three days ago. That means this woman has been dead for at least three days. How could the fetus still be alive?
Boss Ma shook his head and said, "This woman is probably pregnant with a snake fetus!"
"Snake fetus?" Several exclamations suddenly rang out in the room. They were Yan Zi, Hei Mao, and me. The skinny guy was dumbfounded the whole time, and I guess he wouldn't have any special reaction even if the sky fell. As for the muscular man, he was also a little surprised, but he didn't make a fuss like us.
The black-haired man cursed, "Damn it, is there a snake cub in this woman's belly?"
Yan Zi was stunned for a moment, and asked the thin bamboo pole: "Sixth Brother, is that right?"
The thin bamboo pole nodded and said, "Yes..."
Yan Zi said, "That's not right. Since this woman is pregnant with a snake fetus, it must be the offspring of that lewd snake. How could this thing be so cruel?"
I felt the strange things she said, so I reached out and touched the woman's belly. I calmed down and felt it carefully. There was indeed something moving slowly inside. Although I didn't know what was inside, it couldn't be a normal fetus.
Boss Ma frowned and said, "Don't make blind guesses. We can't interfere with such matters. Lao Liu, you should deal with the snake fetus."
The thin bamboo pole nodded woodenly.
Boss Ma said "hmm", then turned around to look at the people present and said, "What do you think of Lu Jing? I think he's good."
My heart skipped a beat. We were finally getting to the point. I couldn't help but feel a little nervous. To be honest, I was really counting on this job. If this place didn't accept me, I would really starve to death on the streets.
Yan Zi took the initiative to express her opinion and said, "I think Brother Lu is particularly suitable to work here with us!" This woman is really good at handling things. It has only been a short while and she has already called her brother over.
The black-haired man said in a muffled voice, "Since the boss says it's good, let's keep this kid and see how he lasts. Hey, I wonder how long he can stay here!"
Boss Ma nodded and said to the skinny guy, "Sixth Brother, how are you?"
The skinny guy was dumbfounded, he hummed and nodded twice. Finally, Ma Laoda turned to the muscular man and said, "Old Four, what do you think?"
The muscular man turned out to be their fourth child. He glanced at me, smiled innocently, and said, "I think it's good too, but I don't know what the second sister thinks."
The black-haired man showed a strange expression on his face and laughed, "Little brat, these levels are easy for us to pass, but our second sister's level is not easy to pass!"
I wondered who this "Second Sister" was. She seemed very difficult to deal with.
