Chapter 10
When the roar of the motorcycle stopped, they were already outside Bai Lu's courtyard.
It seemed that Master Zong had been waiting in the courtyard since early morning. When he saw the two of them, he didn't scold them at all, but just waved them over.
"Xiao Di, Xiao Xin, come and have some tea."
Bai Nan glanced around and found no one watching or paying attention, so he guessed that Grandpa Zong had issued a ban. But even Bai Hua and his wife, who doted on Bai Di the most, were nowhere to be seen.
"Your sister is awake. I've arranged for them to stay with her at the hospital, so don't worry," Grandpa Zong said casually, taking a sip of tea, as if he had read her thoughts.
Bai Nan sat down obediently on the futon in front of her, and Xu Xin sat down at the same time and also took a sip of tea.
"Yunnan black tea?"
He put down his teacup and savored the taste; it had been a long time since his mouth had tasted anything of decent quality.
"Hehe, I asked your family to send it. How is it? It hasn't gone bad, has it?" Grandpa Zong said cheerfully.
Xu Xin poured himself another glass and also refilled Bai Nan's glass, which she had already finished.
"Your trip really gave us old folks a fright."
Grandpa Zong said something meaningful, but Bai Nan didn't understand what he meant. Seeing him staring straight at Xu Xin, she realized that the old man in his words must be referring to the Xu family.
Since it had nothing to do with him, Bai Nan drank even more enthusiastically.
"Grandpa Zong, I just went to a friend's house for a visit. I should be fine, right?" Xu Xin's words were loaded with meaning as he stared at his teacup with his eyes half-lowered.
"Hehe, it's alright, it's alright, going to a friend's house is fine, it's fine." Grandpa Zong seemed a little surprised by his answer, and after a moment he happily repeated it, as if he were getting senile.
"Splash splash splash—"
The sound of water brought them both back to their senses.
Bai Nan casually put down the teapot and placed the teacups, now filled with water, back in front of the two of them.
He then picked up the fairness cup in front of him and drank it down in one gulp.
"Haha, it's time to drink tea in big gulps to really enjoy it!"
Grandpa Zong smiled.
At noon, the geomancer and the opera troupe arrived together.
After three days of mourning, the day for the body to be laid to rest arrived, and it was clear that Master Zong had made all the necessary arrangements.
At the memorial service before the funeral, many members of the Li family were present, including Li Rui, whom Huang Ying had mentioned.
He followed behind his mother and respectfully placed a white chrysanthemum, which had been distributed in advance, on the square table in front of the coffin. The thick incense stick that had been burning for three days was now reduced to a wisp of smoke.
Bai Nan watched from her seat as he limped back to his mother's side.
After whispering to his mother, he looked up and around, and the two made eye contact more than once.
She knew who he was looking for.
The sun was high in the sky, shining brightly.
The geomancer led the opera troupe at the front, the coffin bearers walked in the middle, and the rest of the people lined up at the back according to their closeness to the family.
This was Bai Nan's first time attending a funeral. With her family members away and Bai Lu at the hospital, she could only casually follow behind the coffin bearers with Xu Xin.
The funeral ceremony arranged by Grandpa Zong was of a very high standard, with several photographers scattered around the perimeter, all carrying heavy video cameras.
With everyone present, Bai Zong waved his hand.
"Wuwuwu—wa—" The suona horn blew, and the mournful tune rang out three times;
"Heaven and earth sink—yo—" The suona is raised twice, and heaven and earth sink on all four sides;
"The roots are broken—oh—" The suona is twisted three times, and the kinship is rekindled five times;
"The soul has scattered—oh—" The suona horns blared, and the soul vanished in six directions;
"Sizzle—!"
The suona's sound fades away, the tearing sound of silk rising high, like a candle being extinguished and a phoenix weeping, signifying the complete dissipation of life.
Then came the clanging of drums, gongs, and opera singing from the opera troupe, each sound a low, mournful wail.
This marked the official start of the funeral procession.
Hearing that the cemetery was not far from the courtyard, even relatives and friends who came to pay their respects joined in, making a large group of nearly a hundred people.
If an unsuspecting outsider saw this, they would probably think that everyone was dressed in mourning clothes and collectively sending off a "highly respected" great man.
But to be honest, nearly half of the people had never even seen Li Laokou's face.
Moreover, there are only a handful of true members of the Li family, fewer than ten.
Therefore, the atmosphere was not particularly somber, and the number of people responsible for throwing paper money was also sparse.
The geomancer chanted scriptures earnestly, the opera troupe sang, recited, acted, and fought with great enthusiasm, the coffin bearers exerted their strength to the utmost, and the photographers on the periphery filmed meticulously.
The money wasn't wasted.
When the group was halfway there, the opera troupe suddenly stopped, and the geomancer walked over to Master Zong and whispered something in his ear.
Unaware of what lay ahead, the crowd discussed the matter in muffled voices. Several younger people squatted down to rest, as the frail laborers were exhausted from the journey.
Bai Nan looked past the still-supported coffin and toward Master Zong.
Unexpectedly, the two argued so fiercely that their faces turned red. Just as Master Zong was about to turn hostile and leave, the Li family sent someone to mediate.
Bai Nan and Xu Xin exchanged a glance and silently pushed their way forward.
"How can I carry a coffin?! This is utterly absurd!" Master Zong exclaimed angrily.
The geomancer, twirling his whisk, said calmly, "No, that's just how things are these days; we should go with the flow."
"Master, could you please tell me the divination result? So that we can make a judgment," the Li family member asked respectfully.
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at the geomancer, but he shook his head, appearing unwilling to say more.
The situation reached a stalemate for a moment.
However, in the end, Master Zong compromised.
Even before the incident occurred, cameras had already gathered around and were now filming Master Zong relentlessly.
First, Master Zong spoke with the head of the coffin bearers. Then, the head of the bearers took a piece of black wood from somewhere and tied it to the dragon-carrying pole on the right side of the coffin with a piece of white silk.
But this would disrupt the balance of the coffin, which was originally under balanced forces, and that would certainly be bad.
After whispering to the geomancer, Master Zong and the geomancer simultaneously turned their gazes to Bai Nan.
"Xiao Di, come here!" Master Zong called to her.
For some reason, Bai Nan's heart suddenly clenched, and she had a bad feeling.
After carefully observing the white nanmu tree, the geomancer uttered a single word:
"Can."
Master Zong didn't pressure her, and asked gently, "Little Di, are you willing?"
She looked blank and somewhat bewildered, but nodded solemnly and replied with a "okay".
The funeral procession continued, and apart from the sun overhead being even hotter and the ground sinking deeper underfoot, everything else was the same.
Fragments of paper money rose into the air with the wind, then fell back to the ground, adding a touch of desolation to the scene.
A dozen minutes later, the group arrived at the cemetery.
The tomb has already been dug, and the black tombstone has been gilded; now all that remains is for the coffin to be placed inside.
However, the coffin bearers did not put down the dragon-carrying pole. The geomancer flicked his whisk, and the Li family took out four strings of firecrackers and placed them in the four directions of the tomb.
"Sizzle! Thump thump thump—"
The firecrackers exploded, startling everyone. Some people took out their phones and started recording, probably like Bai Nan, it was their first time participating in a funeral.
After the crackling of firecrackers subsided, the coffin bearers finally began to move.
Bai Nan and Master Zong followed the group forward. The tomb was not large, but it was extremely deep. She was constantly on edge, afraid that she might lose her footing and fall again.
Although it was a bit tough, things went relatively smoothly. The group had already lifted the coffin to the top of the tomb, and all that was left was to unload the carrying poles.
Bai Nan gradually relaxed and silently breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as he was about to release the force, his pupils suddenly contracted.
Half a yellow talisman was visible peeking out from the crevice at the bottom of the coffin!
Her movements froze, her eyes uncontrollably fixed on the talisman, her heart pounded, and her palms and soles began to sweat.
She clearly remembered that the talisman she had thrown in was yellow!
Cold sweat climbed from my tailbone all the way to the top of my head. This icy, tingling sensation instantly swept over my entire body, and deep fear emanated from every pore.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
Someone shouted out the scream inside her head, and the shrill scream instantly pierced the sky.
The birds were the first to react, flapping their wings and taking flight, hovering in mid-air.
Then the crowd began to stir, and the coffin bearers looked terrified, as if they had anticipated something.
Just then, an accident occurred!
First, the right-side dragon-carrying pole made a snapping sound as it could not bear the weight, causing the black coffin to lose its balance and shift all its weight to the right.
Seeing this, Bai Nan and the two coffin bearers lowered their bodies and tried to pull the coffin back, which had slid to the right.
But it's too late to start now.
The person on the right had already been taken down into the tomb in a heavy black coffin.
Bai Nan steadied himself and looked closely.
The one who fell into the tomb along with that black coffin was none other than Master Zong!
"ah--!"
Screams erupted simultaneously from the bottom of the tomb and on the ground.
Some of the more timid relatives quickly pulled off their mourning hats and ran away in a panic without looking back.
The scene was chaotic: the broken dragon-carrying pole, the vanished clan elder, and the tomb that swallowed the black coffin.
All of these amplify people's fears.
"Gah—Gah—Gah—"
A flock of crows had gathered overhead, their black feathers spreading and circling, seemingly obscuring the sky.
The coffin bearers walked to Bai Nan's side and peered into the tomb.
But the deep tomb is like a gaping maw of an abyss, swallowing even the light in one gulp.
No one knew what was happening below, but the piercing scream had terrified everyone.
Xu Xin pulled Bai Nan back to make room for the adults.
The view becomes more expansive from a distance.
Bai Nan immediately noticed the unusual behavior of the Li family members, especially Li Rui, whose body trembled like paper, his eyes filled with palpable fear, and he kept muttering:
"...I...forced...to...let...it go...that's irrelevant..."
The professional photographers seemed terrified and fled as fast as they could with their equipment.
Some relatives who dared not wander off stayed close to the bolder ones, occasionally letting out a few short screams.
When Bai Nan turned around, only three people remained beside the tomb.
One of them was a geomancer who presided over the funeral ceremony. He was making hand gestures with his right hand, waving a whisk with his left hand, and chanting something rapidly.
Secondly, there was the man who was recording with his phone. He was pointing the phone into the deep tomb, and as soon as the camera entered the darkness, the fill light automatically turned on, illuminating a corner of the tomb.
The third one was Xu Xin, who was the bravest. He squatted on one side of the tomb and peered into the bottom of the tomb. Just then, the videographer turned on the light, making him the first person to see the bottom of the tomb clearly.
"Stop yelling! Bai Nan, come help me!"
Xu Xin turned around, ordered the screaming person to shut up, and then waved to her.
Bai Nan steadied her heart, which was pounding in her throat, took a deep breath, and walked towards him.
The fortune teller was still chanting sutras, and the only person they could rely on was the guy recording the video. Xu Xin asked him to hold the phone steady so that the light source would always shine on the two of them.
Then he took Bai Nan's hand and led her down into the tomb along the edge.
Bai Nan followed closely behind. The soil in the tomb was somewhat damp, and the air was stifling and scarce.
The two covered their mouths and noses and slowly descended to the bottom of the tomb.
Upon reaching the bottom of the tomb, she looked up and discovered that the tomb was at least four or five meters deep and was trapezoidal in shape, wider at the bottom and narrower at the top. Looking up from below gave her a strong sense of suffocation.
The videographer followed the two men's steps, providing illumination.
From Bai Nan's perspective, only Xu Xin's soaked back is visible.
It seems he wasn't entirely fearless after all.
"Snap—"
Xu Xin suddenly stopped, and Bai Nan, unable to stop in time, crashed into him.
"Hmm..."
His nose hit his spine, and tears welled up instantly.
"Bai Nan...can you see clearly?"
He took her hand and slowly squatted down, pointing to the figure at his feet with his other finger.
Bai Nan wiped away her tears and looked carefully in the direction he was pointing.
He was buried face down in the ground, his messy white hair covered with a layer of wet soil. Although he had landed face-first, his hands and feet were pointing upwards, as if he was desperately struggling to climb back up.
The most bizarre,
It was his neck.
He twisted at a full ninety degrees, skin and flesh intertwined.
Master Zong
He actually fell to his death.
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