Chapter 51 Heavy Rain, Thunder, and Lightning
Xie Liang was about to go find the Yin-Yang master to ask when the old woman would be buried, but unexpectedly the Yin-Yang master came to the shed in a hurry with his apprentice.
Holding a whisk, he said to Xie Liang and Xu He, looking like he was about to accuse someone of something, "Didn't you throw a copper coin into the river when you went to fetch water during the day?"
Xie Liang was confused: "Sir, you only asked us to fetch water. We don't know anything about copper coins."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Yin Yang turned to his apprentice and said sternly, "Wang Yang, can you explain to me clearly whether the copper coin was lost in the river?"
Wang Yang trembled all over: "I gave the copper coin to the deceased's eldest grandson. I told him to remember to throw the copper coin into the river after fetching water. I... I don't know... he..."
Mr. Yin Yang was furious when he heard this, and slapped Wang Yang on the chest before he could finish speaking. Wang Yang was knocked to the ground by the palm force. The other descenders didn't know what was going on and gathered around him.
Everyone said something:
"What happened?"
"Master Taoist, you're so cruel to your own people?"
"What happened?"
"Can't we even take a break? We've been digging the hole for a whole day and haven't even had time to drink a sip of water, and now you're causing trouble again!" Wang Li complained.
Mr. Yin Yang snorted, flicked his whisk, turned his back to the crowd and looked into the distance.
The rolling black clouds in the sky seemed to be about to fall, and silver lightning flashed across the deep mountains from time to time. He raised one hand, pinched his thumb with four fingers, and calculated back and forth.
After a while, he turned to Wang Yang and ordered: "Take a few people out immediately and find the nearest water source. Once you find it, throw five copper coins into the water! Don't delay! Remember to do it before it rains!" After that, he took out a string of copper coins from a cloth bag with a yin-yang pattern drawn on it and handed it to Wang Yang.
Wang Yang reached out to take the copper coin. At this moment, a huge thunder sounded, which startled him and made his hand unstable. The ancient yellow copper coin fell to the ground.
Seeing Wang Yang's impatience, Mr. Yin Yang shouted, "Why are you still dithering? You're such a loser."
Wang Yang mumbled silently, pointing to a few people in the crowd at random: "Five of you, follow me. Divide into three groups and go find water sources."
Wang Li, who was called out, was immediately furious: "You're deliberately trying to make things difficult for me, aren't you? You dug a grave and called me out, and now you're calling me out too! Can't you see it's going to rain heavily soon? I'm not going! Whoever wants to go can go!"
The other people who were called also echoed: "Yeah, why are we here again?"
"That's right, it's going to rain soon, we can't talk about it tomorrow!"
Mr. Yin Yang sneered, "Not going? Then you and I will both die here. You can figure it out for yourself."
No one spoke anymore, and the scene fell into silence for a moment.
Lu Bubu was one of the people Wang Yang had called out. He stepped past Wang Li and stood before the Yin-Yang Master, saying gently, "Old Taoist, we've been busy all day to get the old lady buried sooner. At least we understand why we're tired, don't you think?"
Then he changed the subject: "Then why now? It's not like we're not going. You have to explain the interests involved so we can avoid the important issues and complete the tasks you mentioned as soon as possible."
Seeing Mr. Yin Yang's mysterious look, Xie Lianghu started to guess: "I guess it's money for buying water?"
Xie Liang remembered that buying water money meant that after the death of a person, his or her closest relatives had to go to the river or well to fetch cleansing water that could wash away all impurities. After fetching the water, the person who fetched the water had to throw a few copper coins into the river or well, which meant buying water from the Dragon King.
Upon hearing this, Mr. Yin Yang looked at him in surprise: "Who are you?"
Xie Liang smiled and said, "Ordinary people, so I guessed right?"
Mr. Yin Yang looked at Xie Liang suspiciously: "How do ordinary people know this?"
Xie Liang met his scrutinizing gaze and said, "I learned it from a book. I only have a vague understanding of it and don't really understand it. I just happened to remember a few words."
The Yin-Yang Master said, "Yes, it's the money for buying water." He flicked his whisk and continued, "You didn't throw away the money for buying water when you took the cleansing water today, which made the Dragon King unhappy and caused a sudden change in the celestial phenomena!"
Everyone listened to the general idea, but didn't quite understand it.
One of them, a thin man in a green T-shirt, asked, "What will happen if I don't throw the coin?"
The Yin-Yang Master sarcastically said, "What will happen? The Dragon King can use water as a medium to know who has touched that bucket of water today, and then place a curse on them. Those people may die if they come near the water."
Wang Li felt relieved after hearing this: "Old man, none of us touched that water today. If we have to go, it's not us who should go. Whoever messes up should go."
Except for Lu Bubu, everyone else who was pointed out by Wang Yang began to feel dissatisfied:
"That's right, it's not us who messed it up, what does it have to do with us!"
"Whoever wants to go can go, I'm not going!"
Wang Tieshu, who was burning paper money with Xie Liang in front of the brazier today, also echoed: "Yeah! Whoever messes it up will go."
"Don't forget, you also took the bucket of water today," said Wang Yang.
Upon hearing this, Wang Tieshu’s face turned pale and he stopped talking.
Shi Xiaoyin looked at Wang Li with disdain: "You're so slow and lazy at work, but you're quite good at picking fights!"
Hearing this, Wang Li said angrily: "Stinky woman, what nonsense are you talking about!"
Shi Xiaoyin snorted coldly: "You know whether I am talking nonsense or not. You have a stomachache, dizziness, and need to urinate. Tell me what you did today?"
Wang Li's face turned red after hearing what Shi Xiaoyin said, and she looked like she wanted to tear Shi Xiaoyin apart.
At this time, Xu He stood up and said to Wang Yang calmly: "I'll go, give me the copper coins."
Upon hearing this, Wang Yang hurriedly untied the string of copper coins and handed five to Xu He.
"Give me a few too, and I'll go too." Xie Liang stretched out his hand towards Wang Yang.
Xu He brushed Xie Liang's hand away: "It's going to rain soon, you stay here, I'll be back soon."
Lu Bubu stepped forward and said, "Little brother, just listen to me and stay here with me. We can go with me." He stretched out his hand to Wang Yang and said, "Give us some too."
Afterwards, Lü Bubu and Xu He formed a group, while Wang Yang and Wang Tieshu joined. They started walking towards the path outside the shed, carrying the copper coins.
As Mr. Yin Yang watched them leave, he suddenly seemed to remember something and shouted at Wang Yang's back, "Disciple! Disciple Wang Yang! Come back! I have something to tell you."
Wang Yang trotted back upon hearing this. Mr. Yin Yang looked at Wang Tieshu who was waiting in front, then leaned over and whispered in Wang Yang's ear.
After Mr. Yin Yang finished his instructions, he said, "Go. Don't keep him waiting too long."
Only then did Wang Yang jog to catch up with Wang Tieshu who was waiting in front, but Xu He and Lu Bubu had already walked far away.
Shortly after they left, the sky covered with dark clouds roared like a beast, the thunder became more and more deafening, lightning flashed in the surrounding jungle as bright as daylight, the wind was so strong that people could hardly stand, and even several wooden boards nailed to the shed were blown away.
Soon after, raindrops as big as beans fell, hitting the roof with a noisy sound. The simple shed kept swaying in the storm, looking like it was about to collapse at any time.
Several white lights fell on the nearby ancestral hall, followed by a deafening thunder.
Mr. Yin and Yang counted with his fingers and said in horror: "Oh no! Come with me quickly! We must subdue her before she turns into a corpse!" After that, he rushed out in the rain.
Except for Shi Xiaoyin, everyone else looked unmoved.
Xie Liang said to Shi Xiaoyin, "Let's go over and take a look!"
Then the two of them took out a flashlight and pulled out a larger wooden board from the miscellaneous items nearby to use as an umbrella. After covering their heads with it, they followed Mr. Yin and Yang closely and rushed out towards the rain.
All the tungsten filament lamps hanging throughout the ancestral hall were out, apparently the wind had broken the wires.
The door of the mourning hall was open, creaking in the wind. One or two white lanterns hanging on the beams inside the house were still lit, and the faint yellow light was swaying in the wind, with light and shadow interweaving.
The entire mourning hall was in a mess, with incense paper and paper money scattered all over the floor by the wind. The oil lamp and soul-guiding incense on the altar had obviously been extinguished a long time ago, and the table was blown over to the ground by the wind.
The red coffin placed in the main hall of mourning looked like it had been struck by lightning not long ago. A corner of the coffin lid was charred and fell to the ground.
The rain was so heavy that Xie Liang ignored his fear and followed the Yin-Yang Master into the mourning hall. The remaining adventers also braved the heavy rain and arrived at the mourning hall.
Xie Liang followed Mr. Yin Yang and walked forward to take a look at the red coffin.
The coffin was covered in blood. An old woman, wearing ragged shroud, lay quietly inside with her bloodstained mouth open.
There was no Zhao Mingze's body in the coffin. Could it be that the old woman had already...
The Yin-Yang master standing by suddenly let out a long sigh, and his frown gradually relaxed.
Judging from his appearance, the old woman should not have turned into a zombie.
No! Xie Liang felt that the old woman was a little different from before, but he couldn't tell what was different.
At this moment, the creaking sound of the wind blowing through the door became faster and faster, suppressing the feeling of unease in Xie Liang's heart.
Xie Liang walked over and closed the two doors of the mourning hall. The lanterns in the hall that were swaying in the wind gradually stabilized.
The terrible thing they imagined did not happen. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and began to wring out their clothes that were wet by the heavy rain.
Mr. Yin Yang sat cross-legged on the futon with his eyes closed. He said to Xie Liang, "Boy, go light the soul-calling incense and the eternal lamp."
Xie Liang walked to the side and propped up the altar, picked up the incense table and oil lamp that had fallen on the ground, and put them back on the altar. Then he looked around for new soul-guiding incense and kerosene pot.
Shi Xiaoyin walked to the basket filled with incense, candles and paper money by the wall and started looking for it with Xie Liang. After a while, she found a bunch of new soul-guiding incense, took out three sticks and handed them to Xie Liang.
Xie Liang placed the soul-guiding incense on the incense table, took out a match, and tried several times to light it but it wouldn't light.
Xie Liang said helplessly: "Maybe it got damp."
"I have a lighter." Shi Xiaoyin said as she put the plaid bag on her back on the ground and started searching.
Xie Liang thought that he must throw a few lighters into his bag when he got back.
"Ah! Found it."
Shi Xiaoyin handed the lighter to Xie Liang.
After lighting the soul-guiding incense, the two men went to look for the kerosene bottle in several baskets filled with funeral supplies. They searched back and forth several times but couldn't find it. Then they searched several times in the mourning hall but still couldn't find the kerosene bottle.
Suddenly, a loud thunder struck the coffin through the roof, causing thick white smoke to come out of the coffin, and frightened the people in the house so much that they hurriedly moved away from the coffin.
The Yin-Yang Master, who was sitting cross-legged on the mat, quickly stood up and approached to examine the old woman in the coffin. After checking, he turned his head to look at the altar and immediately shouted, "What are you dawdling about, you little brat? Why hasn't the eternal lamp been lit yet?"
Seeing the old man talking without any hesitation, Shi Xiaoyin couldn't help but retort, "You need oil to light a lamp! Do you think we can perform magic tricks?"
After the argument, Shi Xiaoyin looked at Xie Liang who was lying on the beam - Xie Liang was taking the lantern hanging on the beam. They needed the oil in the lantern to light the eternal lamp.
Xie Liang struggled for a while, and after pouring the oil in the lantern into the oil cup, the eternal lamp was finally lit.
After the eternal lamp was lit, the Yin-Yang master adjusted the altar toward the main seat, and then picked up the soul-guiding silk cloth with the old woman's birth and death dates written on it from the wall on one side and placed it on the altar.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and every once in a while a loud thunder would strike the red coffin in the main seat. Seeing this, Mr. Yin Yang ordered Xie Liang and a participant named Huang Datong to put the lid of the coffin back on the top.
Mr. Yin Yang's expression remained the same, his face unchanged. Seeing this, everyone's anxious hearts seemed to relax a little, and they were no longer so frightened and panicked.
It was late at night, and Xie Liang and everyone else huddled in a corner of the mourning hall, praying that the rainstorm would stop soon.
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