Hard as iron means that the body is not only stiff, but you can also feel that the muscles in the body have become a piece of iron, and the body is as hard as a brick.

Not only could I not move my body, I couldn't even move my hair. I tried my best but couldn't move a finger or speak. I couldn't even open my mouth to ask what was going on.

I saw the uncle calmly took out a thin glass bottle from his pocket, unplugged the bottle and shook it under my nose. I immediately smelled a strong mint scent. As the cool smell entered my nostrils, my spirit was shocked, and then my body returned to normal in the blink of an eye.

I shook my body and said, "Uncle, what happened to us?"

All of them remained in the same position they were in a split second before being frozen, as if they had been hit by a "fixing acupuncture point." The uncle pointed at them and said, "You say you're afraid of their revenge, but in fact, I think these people are no different from children. They have no skills. Now that you've entered Longhua Village, is there any need to be afraid of these low-class people?"

I was surprised and happy. No wonder the uncle was so confident. It turned out that he had a way to deal with these people. I walked up to one of them and pinched his face with my hand. It was actually harder than a brick. No wonder I felt like "iron" at that time. It turned out that muscles really became harder than iron.

I saw my uncle pour some powder from the small glass bottle for me to smell, throw it up casually, and it was immediately blown away by the wind.

Before I could figure out what he meant, I saw several people's bodies twitch and they could all move.

The five people looked at each other in bewilderment. The middle-aged man, in particular, no longer had the arrogant expression he had just had. Instead, he asked cautiously, "What did you do to us just now?"

The uncle smiled, which was rare for him, and said, "What did I do to you? Don't you feel anything?"

"Who are you? How come you can use such extraordinary means?" He seemed very nervous.

The uncle said disdainfully, "I'm just an ordinary person. My methods are nothing special. It's just some medicine powder with an unusual formula. You guys take advantage of your numbers to bully others every day. What I despise most is you so-called gangsters. Do you deserve to be called gangsters? You are nothing more than a bunch of scoundrels."

The four thugs' expressions changed and they were about to make trouble, but the middle-aged man stopped them and said, "Let's go."

The uncle said, "Let me remind you all, please don't cause me any more trouble. People's patience is limited, and I don't have time to run around for these trivial matters. If you invite me here for such trivial matters next time, do you know what the consequences will be?"

After waiting for a while without anyone saying anything, the uncle's eyes flashed with a fierce light and he said, "Why, you won't even give me the courtesy to say something back? It seems I've overestimated myself a bit."

"Boss, we surrender. From today on, all misunderstandings between Yu Zhen and us will be written off. We will never trouble him again." The middle-aged man said helplessly.

"Hey, that's right, let's go." The uncle waved at them. These people felt relieved and quickly turned around and ran out of the alley.

After the five men disappeared, I asked my uncle, "Uncle, what kind of powder do you use? Can it make a person as hard as a brick?"

The uncle took out a snuff bottle and said, "This is a powder made from a liquid mixture of something called a rigor mortis. If you sprinkle it into the air, everyone within five meters will be affected, and their bodies will become extremely stiff. But the antidote is also easy to make. Use mint leaves that have been dried and ground into powder. Just smell it and the poison will be cured."

"So amazing! What kind of insect is that zombie? I've never heard of it."

"The rigor mortis beetle resembles a watermelon bug, but is larger, about the length of a little finger and the width of a thumb. It thrives in the putrefactive fluids of corpses . Qin Dynasty craftsmen used rigor mortis beetle fluid mixed with bronze to cast weapons, making the resulting bronze weapons even stronger. This technique wasn't replaced until the advent of alloys. This shows that rigor mortis beetles do increase the hardness of objects, but we, the local craftsmen, don't understand how."

"We're not scientists, so why would we need to know the principles? Isn't it enough to be able to use it accurately?"

"That's exactly the truth."

"No wonder you're not afraid of these people. It turns out there are ways to control them. I've really opened my eyes today."

The uncle said, "I've seen a lot of dangerous things in the earthwork industry. These people are just using their numbers to bully the weak. That's all they can do. If I were afraid of even these small fry, I wouldn't have to make a living in this industry."

"Uncle, am I a little too timid?" I asked embarrassedly.

"Everyone is like you at the beginning. As long as you stay in this business for a long time, as long as you survive, you will become more and more courageous."

This sounded so awkward that I immediately lost the courage to reply. However, my uncle saw through my thoughts and asked, "Why? Do you think what I said is unlucky?"

"I, I don't mean to say it's unlucky..."

"You're very sensitive to the word 'death', right?"

"Most Chinese people are superstitious about this word, right?"

"That's right. But it's okay for others to be taboo about death, but you shouldn't be. Earthworkers are an industry that relies on the dead . Without death, we can't survive. So death is an unlucky word for others, but it's fundamental to our survival. Others can be taboo about death, but earthworkers can't."

"I understand."

Afterwards, we left the alley and took a taxi back to the bus station. After a bumpy ride for several hours, we returned to Longhua Village. When I saw Chu Sen, he asked me, "How are you? Did you encounter any danger?"

"What danger could there be in being with uncle?"

"He knows martial arts, right? I always feel he knows some Kung Fu?" Chu Sen said.

"Definitely not martial arts, but he uses a powder called rigor mortis that can make a person harder than a brick."

"What? There is such a thing?" Chu Sen said in surprise.

"Yes, there are many skills that Uncle knows that we don't even know about. If he teaches us all of them, then..."

Before I could finish my words, I saw my uncle standing at the door and said, "You two, follow me."

He didn't explain why. We followed him out of the new housing area, through rice fields and a small mound, and saw a large gray tiled house. The uncle said, "This is the Yu family's ancestral hall. Our family's original surname is Yu, so Yu Zhen and yours are the only ones with the same surname. Logically, I shouldn't let you return to Longhua Village, but I think you're smart among the younger generation and a promising talent. The family's business is now expanding, and it's no longer limited to tomb repair and construction, so we need more people to come in. This is the only reason you can return to the family to work. So in the future, when you do things in Longhua Village, you must keep a low profile and don't show off. Remember that?"

I really don’t understand why we are the only family in the whole family that inherited our ancestral surname, but we are the one that is excluded. What’s the logic behind this?

But now was the important moment for him to "recruit" us, and he couldn't ask more questions, so he nodded and said, "I remember."

Uncle turned and was about to go into the house. Chu Sen asked, "Uncle, do you have anything to tell me?"

"You are an outsider. According to the family's rules, you are only supposed to do some peripheral work. I let you in this time because I think you are good. In short, remember one thing: don't rush things. It is best to proceed step by step."

"Don't worry, I won't cause you any trouble."

The uncle nodded without saying anything and turned to go into the ancestral hall. We followed him in and saw two pictures on the wall above the altar. One was of an old man in a long robe, and the other was a strange man with a hideous face and branches and leaves all over his body.

The uncle said, "When you enter the earthwork industry, you must first worship your ancestors and then your guardian deity. The deity on the left is Confucius, the ancestor of funeral rituals. The deity on the right is Jiang Chen, the ancestor of zombies . When repairing graves, you will inevitably encounter zombies, and once a zombie transforms, it will become a zombie."

He took two wooden tokens from the altar and handed them to us, saying, "Earthworkers must wear these tokens. From today on, you must wear them every day."

The wooden sign was in the shape of a command arrow, painted black all over. A circle was painted white at the bottom of the triangle, with the word "kneel" written in black in the middle.

"This is called a corpse-suppressing plaque. It's a protective amulet for all earthworkers. If you come across a corpse-reborn grave with active zombies inside, you can use this wooden plaque to suppress the jumping corpses."

"Can zombies read?" Chu Sen asked foolishly.

"This is a magical tool. When you wear it, remember to tie it around your left waist. The corpse-suppressing token is like an earthworker's ID card. You must keep it safe. It can really save your life in a critical moment."