Ancient Corpse in the Mountain Village (I)
There were scattered white paper money among the green bamboos, and dead leaves and paper ashes were piled up. The slight sound when stepped on was particularly harsh.
When Yu Shu stepped into the mourning hall, he saw relatives sitting in an orderly row on both sides of the huge wooden coffin, like plaster. In the center of the altar, there was a portrait of his grandfather decorated with wreaths, looking both sad and happy.
"The eldest grandson came back too late. The younger grandson took care of all the funeral arrangements."
"He was so busy that he didn't notice me asking him to help find out if there are any hospitals hiring nurses." said the aunt in her forties.
Yu Shu lit a stick of incense and smiled when he saw the golden flower earrings on the aunt's ears. His eyes were full of kindness. "I've already said hello. The nursing department is still recruiting. You can try in a few days."
He didn't force a smile foolishly because he couldn't tell the difference between good and bad words, but there was no need to tear each other apart because of verbal intrigue. He knew that these people were relatives on the surface but actually had their own ulterior motives. Some of them participated out of helplessness, while others were watching the show under the guise of relatives.
Yu Shu stopped paying attention to the stunned aunt after he finished speaking. He turned to look at the young men who were moving the coffin and asked, "Where are they moving it to?"
Yu Huan followed the sound and met his gaze. "Just move a few steps to the side. Mr. Jiang Yu said that Grandpa lacks water in his destiny. The position just now was in the direction of the Li Fire Trigram, which is not suitable."
Yu Shu felt it didn't matter where it was placed; the mourning hall was so small. He didn't understand metaphysics, but he respected it. After thinking it over, he decided not to bring it up. Instead, he watched the young men carrying the coffin with a bit of curiosity about the Taoist priest named Jiang Yu.
"Uncle is quite heavy." The young man at the front of the line said directly.
"Yes, a little bit." The person next to him echoed. "But I remember that uncle was quite thin."
"No." The young man who had brought up the topic had a serious expression on his face. He lowered his head to look at the coffin in his hands, swallowed with great force, and continued with a slight tremor in his voice, "It wasn't this heavy when we brought it in last night."
"If a person dies with eyes open and holds a grudge, his body will become heavy." The aunt who had just seen Yu Shu enter the mourning hall and talked about him spoke again, obviously hinting at something.
This implicit sarcasm immediately made everyone look at Yu Shu in tacit understanding.
Of course, Yu Huan was an exception. He coughed lightly with a serious expression, reminding the aunts and uncles that it was enough.
Yu Shu seized the moment of silence and put his ear to the coffin lid under everyone's puzzled gaze.
There was a sound from inside the coffin.
He stared at the coffin and his brows twitched: "Don't talk yet."
"Listen."
As soon as the words fell, everyone present became alert.
The rustling sounds coming from inside the coffin became increasingly clear.
It was like... the sound of dry, cracked fingers sliding down the wall of the coffin without any strength, and the friction was rhythmic and intermittent, accompanied by a very faint hissing sound, like a dying person still struggling to breathe.
"What, the situation?"
"You're so resentful in broad daylight?!"
Several young people wanted to let go but didn't dare to. They looked at Yu Huan in shock and fear, but Yu Huan was also in a state of panic and didn't dare to breathe. They had no choice but to look to Yu Shu for help.
Yu Shucai didn't believe that the body became heavier because of resentment. When a person is dead, he is dead. He waved his hand to signal the guys carrying the coffin to put it down, and then stepped forward to push the coffin lid.
The dull sound of wood rubbing against each other was exposed and spread in the air, heavy and trembling, as if sawing back and forth in everyone's eardrums.
The hissing sound gradually became clearer, sharper and more rapid than before, as if the person could feel the fresh air but could not breathe smoothly and could only continue to struggle weakly. It seemed as if the person lying in the coffin would open his eyes and open his mouth to breathe in the next second.
The gap that was pushed open revealed the slightly dry and cracked feet of the corpse, and a few dark purple-red cloud-like spots.
It's the livor mortis caused by poisoning, but my grandfather clearly died of natural causes. It's so strange.
At this moment, the foot twitched.
Yu Shu's breathing stagnated and his heartbeat skipped a beat, and then his chest began to pound wildly. He tried his best to maintain his outward calm, suppressing his inner doubts and anxieties as he continued to push the coffin lid.
He continued to push the coffin lid but a large, warm hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him back.
Yu Shu had been paying too much attention to the coffin, and was startled when his hand was suddenly grabbed. With a reflexive cry of "ouch", chicken skin appeared on his arm like mushrooms after rain, and the hairs on his arms stood up.
The young man lowered his eyes to glance at Yu Shu's hand, and when he saw that there was nothing unusual, he let go, then reached into the coffin and felt around.
Yu Shu patted his chest to calm down, and then he realized that the man he saw should be Jiang Yu. He was very young, about twenty years old, with an extraordinary temperament. He was wearing a black new Chinese style suit, and the dark red auspicious cloud pattern swayed gently in the breeze, as if he would float out at any time.
Jiang Yu turned around and bent down, his silk sleeves wrinkled and his biceps slightly arched, as if he had spent a lot of effort to grab it.
Yu Shu was about to go over to see what was going on, but Jiang Yu, without even turning around, said, "Don't come over."
He obediently took half a step back, and the next second he saw Jiang Yu actually take out a big snake from the coffin.
Everyone was shocked. How could there be such a big snake in the coffin?!
Yu Shu ignored Jiang Yu's dissuasion and walked forward quickly. The snake was almost two meters long and its tail was still wrapped around his grandfather's hand.
The previous scraping sound turned out to be the snake crawling along the inside of the coffin.
Grandpa had regular physical examinations and was not diagnosed with any heart problems. The examinations also stated that he died of natural causes. However, as a doctor, he saw a different picture. The black-browed rat snake was not venomous, and the corpse spots could only appear if the person was poisoned or died from a heart attack.
A vague idea emerged in his mind: there was something strange about his grandfather's death.
Before he could sort out the doubts that had surfaced, he caught a glimpse of a scene out of the corner of his eye that made him so angry that he was speechless.
It was a double-layer pure black satin shroud with an odd number of buttons, and it looked quite thick. Yu Shu felt strange and reached out to touch it, and found that there was animal fur on the inside.
These are all taboos about funeral clothes!
Yu Shu wanted to ask the undertaker what was going on, but then he thought that Yu Huan would definitely have to agree before the body was put into the coffin, so he turned to look at his brother.
"Grandpa had written a will before, and the burial clothes were prepared long ago. I was just following his request." Yu Huan said seriously, "But the snake was really an accident."
Yu Shu did remember that half a year ago, his grandfather asked him to go home to discuss the will, but he did not come back because of an emergency surgery. It was also that surgery that caused a medical dispute and made him lose his job, making it difficult for him to enter the medical industry again.
The utility room had windows on all four sides and the space was large enough, but the wind that blew in was hot. Jiang Yu recited scriptures for four consecutive hours indoors in the hot summer without air conditioning. His professionalism impressed Yu Shu.
"Thank you for your hard work." Yu Shu grabbed a bottle of ice water and stuffed it into the hands of Jiang Yu, who was taking over the shift.
Jiang Yu raised the corners of his mouth and smiled officially: "It's my job." In less than two seconds, his expression returned to being expressionless.
Yu Huan walked up to Jiang Yu and said, "Don't you still have to chant sutras and perform rituals in the next few days? It's too troublesome to run back and forth. My brother's room is quite big, so you can stay at our house." Yu Huan spoke softly but firmly, making it difficult to refuse.
Jiang Yu nodded readily and agreed.
Yu Shu couldn't figure out what his brother was thinking. The hotel in town was a little far away but not expensive. There was no need to save a little money.
Yu Huan patted Yu Shu's shoulder, not wanting to give his brother a chance to refuse: "It's safe with Jiang Yu here." After that, he met Yu Shu's eyes, thought for a moment, and added: "Believe it or not, something dirty has happened recently, and there are many strange things happening in the village."
Yu Shu wanted to refuse, but he held back. He drove all night to get back, and his younger brother had taken care of many things during that time. He was only staying for a few days, and the time passed in the blink of an eye.
His attention was more focused on the latter sentence. He didn't believe in dirty things, but he didn't blindly deny the possibility of their existence. It was better to believe in metaphysics than not to believe in it. He had seen strange things with his own eyes, and his grandfather was an example right in front of him.
"It depends mainly on Mr. Jiang's wishes. If you find it inconvenient, I can take you to a hotel in town and take care of your round trip." Yu Shu showed an understanding and gentle smile. Considering that Jiang Yu was invited here to help, he had to give him a choice even if he was willing to share a room. At least this way he would feel more comfortable.
Jiang Yu was a few centimeters taller than Yu Shu. He lowered his eyes slightly when he looked at him, and his cold aura suddenly became gentle.
"No need. It's convenient to live here. I just take the money and do the job. I follow the employer's arrangements." Jiang Yu was not surprised at all that Yu Shu gave him a way out, because he had seen the scene when Yu Shu just came back and was ridiculed by relatives but just laughed it off. He concluded at that time that this man had an unusual mentality.
Jiang Yu did not come here simply to settle the matter. As early as three years ago, when he passed by here, he found that the resentment was so strong that it formed an invisible cage, trapping the residents of the mountain village here, but he was not sure at that time.
Yu Huan seemed to understand Yu Shu's thoughts. He patted him on the shoulder and said meaningfully, "I don't know how grandpa passed away, but it must have something to do with the village."
Yu Shu quickly caught on. Ever since he started boarding in junior high, his grandfather had always made him go home, even if he needed leave. He'd just stay in the village, doing nothing. It became a habit. Even if he worked in a distant city, he'd still drive home once a month, even if it meant just sleeping there for a night and then driving back the next day. He'd asked his grandfather why, and his answer was always, "Everyone does it this way. This is our roots."
It would be difficult for him to accept metaphysics and theology all at once, but Jiang Yu and Yu Huan's confident expressions were gradually permeating his already formed cognition.
Yu Shu and Jiang Yu looked at each other for answers.
Jiang Yu said calmly, "It's time to get off work. Let me rest for a while before we talk."
Yu Shu's eyes shifted away from Jiang Yu and he looked around. The renovated house looked a little distorted under the scorching sun. Every tree and blade of grass in the mountain village where he was born and raised was so familiar to him, but now it gave him a subtle and lingering sense of strangeness. He had never really seen this place clearly, nor did he know what secrets were hidden here.
But at this moment he was extremely determined to find out the reason for his grandfather's death, and Jiang Yu was the person who could help him.
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