Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 71

There is no dutiful son before a long-term illness.

At funerals, those who cry and scream exaggeratedly are often not the children who have been serving by their side all year round.

On the contrary, those who take care of and serve the elderly day after day and send them off find it difficult to cry at a funeral.

Anything that can be suffixed with "value" is limited, such as emotions.

After being consumed for a long time, it will naturally be consumed.

Just like Yin Meng at this moment, she smiled, not a forced smile, but a smile of relief and relief.

Her grandfather was trapped in a coffin and she was trapped in a coffin shop.

The grandfather and grandson were both suffering.

Now, finally both sides have been relieved.

We are thankful that she held on to the end. She did not show any impatience or depression. She always helped her grandfather change his diapers and wipe his body every day with a positive and sunny attitude, and she lay beside the coffin and talked to him.

She knew that this was what she should do. After all, she was raised by her grandfather. She would feel disgusted with herself because of the numbness and disgust that suddenly arose in her heart at a certain moment, and then she would criticize and educate herself.

She was very afraid that she would not be able to hold on. She did not want to show a side that was not in line with the role of a "good granddaughter" in front of her grandfather, even the slightest sign of that would not be allowed.

Now, she wins.

Gain a clear conscience for the rest of your life.

Tan Wenbin stepped forward first and also said with a smile: "The old man passed away peacefully. It was a happy funeral."

Runsheng: "Let's hold the funeral."

The funeral was very simple, as there were really no outside guests, and Yin Meng didn't need to wear a black veil or a white rope and kneel down to invite guests.

Two white lanterns were hung on both sides of the shop sign.

There was a wreath at the door, with three people's names left on it. The elegiac couplet was written by Li Zhuiyuan, because among the four people, he was the only one who had the best calligraphy handwriting.

There was an old stereo in the shop, which was now placed outside and playing funeral music.

But this is Fengdu, a ghost street, and the storefront is a coffin shop. Even with so many things displayed, passers-by would not think that someone has died. They would subconsciously think that this is an event to add to the atmosphere.

For a while, there were more customers coming into the store than usual.

After changing the old man's burial clothes, Yin Meng put on mourning clothes and sat cross-legged in front of the mourning hall.

Tan Wenbin and Runsheng sat opposite each other and burned paper money.

Paper ashes were flying around, and the room felt a little stuffy.

It happened to be raining outside, so Li Zhuiyuan simply closed the family tree and moved a small stool to sit at the door of the store.

The rain brought fresh air and also watered the pedestrians on the street.

Runsheng asked: "How do you arrange funerals here? How long will the body be kept?"

Yin Meng: "I want to bury grandpa tonight."

Runsheng reminded: "This is against the rules."

Unless the world is in chaos and there is an emergency, I have never heard of anyone being buried on the same night of death.

Yin Meng: "It doesn't matter what the rules are."

Tan Wenbin immediately echoed: "Those who fulfill their filial duties during their lifetime are confident and don't need to act anymore."

Runsheng asked: "Then I'll push it over for you. Where is your ancestral grave?"

Yin Meng shook her head: "My family doesn't have an ancestral tomb. My family tradition is water burial."

Runsheng: "Which waters?"

Yin Meng shook her head again: "I don't know, grandpa never told me these details when he was alive."

Li Zhuiyuan, who was sitting at the door of the shop with his back to everyone listening to the rain, said, "Jiuguai River."

Yin Meng asked curiously: "Xiao Yuan, how did you know?"

"It's written in your family tree."

"Is it written? I have read the family tree, but I don't remember it having this."

"It's the notes at the back. An ancestor of your family from the Ming Dynasty recorded the burial process of his father in great detail."

"Oh, no wonder. I didn't read the notes. There were too many of them and they were too dense. The words were hard to understand."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Your grandfather is indeed too careless."

Although he was already very old, he did not even inform his granddaughter in advance about the arrangements for his funeral.

Of course, it is also possible that the old man no longer cares about these rules. After all, he can even borrow the family tree at will.

His son "has disappeared without a trace", and his only blood relative is his granddaughter. He himself is in poor health, so he should have been prepared for the extinction of family inheritance, otherwise he would not have even taught Yin Meng the method of walking in the underworld.

"Well, can you help me arrange grandpa's burial, Xiaoyuan?"

Runsheng: "Call me brother."

Tan Wenbin said, "Brother Xiaoyuan, what do you want to eat for lunch? I'll go buy it."

Yin Meng stood up from the futon, walked to Li Zhuiyuan's side, and half-knelt down:
"Brother Xiaoyuan, help me."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded.

Yin Meng breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and shouted to Tan Wenbin, "Let's go to Miss Wang's stewed food shop over there. I want to eat pig's trotters."

Tan Wenbin opened his umbrella and walked into the rain.

Soon, he came back with a big bag of food.

There is no wine, but there is good meat and good food.

The four of them sat in a circle, opened the plastic bag and placed it on the ground.

The rice was from home and was cooked by Runsheng himself, and he didn't dare let Yin Meng interfere.

A large bowl of rice was brought up. Li Zhuiyuan and Yin Meng each had half a bowl, and the rest of the bowl, which was almost not reduced at all, was given to Runsheng and Tan Wenbin.

During the meal, Tan Wenbin asked, "What are you going to do next? Will you continue to run this coffin shop?"

Yin Meng stopped chewing the pig's trotter, glanced at Li Zhuiyuan secretly, and whispered: "I already called you brother."

"What do you mean?" Tan Wenbin didn't understand for a moment.

Runsheng: “I’m relying on you.”

Yin Meng stretched out her leg and kicked Run Sheng.

Tan Wenbin was a little surprised and said, "What are you thinking? You want to go with us? This place is quite far from Nantong."

Yin Meng said indifferently: "Anyway, I don't have any relatives now. If one person is full, the whole family will not be hungry. We can go anywhere. I don't have many friends, just you three."

Tan Wenbin said somewhat embarrassedly: "But, I am already the only one who eats dry food in Uncle Li's house."

Yin Meng: "I can work, help with cooking or something."

Runsheng: “…”

Tan Wenbin: “…”

Li Zhuiyuan had no choice but to say, "After you go home with us, you can do nothing, but don't get itchy hands and cook."

Even a stomach as strong as Tan Wenbin's couldn't bear it. He was afraid that if Yin Meng came home and cooked a meal, she would be able to send herself and her grandfather away.

"You agree?" Yin Meng asked happily, "Then I will go to Nantong with you."

"okay."

Old man, your granddaughter is actually much smarter than you think.

After dinner, funeral music continued to play on the speakers outside the door, and everyone sat in front of the mourning hall and played cards.

At first, they played Landlord with four players. After playing for a while, the three of them tacitly excluded Li Zhuiyuan and played Landlord with three players.

The three of them dispersed in the afternoon.

The things in the shop need to be disposed of. Those handicrafts are not worth much in the first place and can be given away as gifts. The truly valuable things in the shop are the coffins. The old man used one, so there are four left.

Fortunately, coffins are hard currency nowadays.

Every family has elderly people, and before they die, they will prepare funeral supplies for themselves in advance.

In order to sell the coffins as quickly as possible, Yin Meng gave a 50% discount. The four coffins were sold quickly and the money was paid in cash.

Runsheng and Tan Wenbin pushed the cart and delivered the four coffins to the shops. Yes, they were bought by other merchants before they even left Ghost Street.

They are not worried that temporarily placing the coffin outside the store will affect their business. Here, it is as common as placing a fortune cat.

Yin Meng sat there counting money: "Fortunately, the rent for next month has not been paid yet. By then, the remaining things in the house will be left to the landlord."

Runsheng threw in all the leftover cooked dishes from lunch and cooked a big pot of porridge.

After eating and drinking, it was already dark outside.

Yin Fuhai's coffin was placed on a cart. Runsheng pushed the cart in the front, Tan Wenbin pushed it in the back, Yin Meng followed the cart, and Li Zhuiyuan sat on the coffin lid with an umbrella in his hand.

It wasn't that the boy was being lazy on purpose, but the burial route was difficult to walk on, so he needed to sit high and see far to plan.

The burial was at night, on a ghost street. If you just rush around blindly, who knows what you’ll run into.

They have to return tomorrow, and Li Zhuiyuan doesn't want to encounter any unexpected events tonight.

After leaving the street, leaving the county, and passing the village, the coffin was transported to the river beach. The journey was safe and smooth.

In front of us is Jiuguaitou, which is also called Jiulongguai by the locals. As the name suggests, the river section here is winding and has many extreme turns.

After passing the Jiulong Bend, the rest of the river is straight and flows directly into the Yangtze River.

From the perspective of Feng Shui, this place is full of potential for building a fortification and waiting to be released.

Water burial here means that the deceased cleanses himself from the dust of his life and washes away all causes and effects.

After seeing the real scene, Li Zhuiyuan felt a little strange, because logically speaking, this is not a good location for water burial.

In the eyes of normal people, the deceased should be allowed to rest in peace, but here, they are allowed to travel far away with light luggage.

It would be more appropriate to choose this place as the place for newborns to be baptized and for their coming-of-age ceremonies to be held.

On the beach, Tan Wenbin set up the altar.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Yin Meng and asked, "Will you read the eulogy?"

Yin Meng spread her hands. She was used to this kind of response today: "No, I don't understand."

Li Zhuiyuan suddenly felt that he was at a disadvantage, because he was actually fasting for the old man.

But this item is not included in the buying and selling transactions.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the altar, pointed to his side, and said to Yin Meng, "Hold the incense and kneel here."

"Hey, good."

Yin Meng was very obedient. After lighting the incense, she knelt down and held the incense with both hands above her head.

Li Zhuiyuan made a gesture to Runsheng, and Runsheng pushed the coffin on the shore into the water.

However, the coffin was not washed away by the current, but continued to stay on the shore.

Li Zhuiyuan lit the yellow paper with a candle, and waved it, scattering the burning yellow paper in batches into the air, throwing it on the ground and throwing it into the river.

With the help of the light that had not yet been extinguished, Li Zhuiyuan supported the altar with both hands, his eyes slightly drooped, his body swaying slightly, and he recited a eulogy.

The first half of the eulogy is all about praising Yin Changsheng, also known as the Emperor of Fengdu.

Li Zhuiyuan memorized all of these from the notes, and there was nothing that needed to be revised.

The second half needs to tell about his life. It cannot be copied and must be based on the specific circumstances of the "deceased person".

However, there was really nothing to brag about the old man. Not only did he fail to carry forward and expand the family heritage, but it was almost cut off in his hands.

If that one-eyed woman hadn't poisoned the person first, the old man would have had to bear the consequences of being implicated in the extermination of the entire family. As for your own reasons, heaven doesn't care.

Since he had no achievements or highlights in his life, all Li Zhuiyuan could brag about was that he worked "diligently."

In order to complete the content of the eulogy, Li Zhuiyuan repeatedly described this point from multiple aspects and angles.

Only after he felt it was almost done did Li Zhuiyuan start to finish, which is also the most critical step.

The boy took a deep breath, then leaned forward and entered a semi-Yin state;
His voice no longer exists only in reality, but also spreads to another invisible and intangible "world".

"Li Zhuiyuan's filial son Yin Meng,
I pray to the Emperor of Fengdu to calm the underworld, suppress the underworld, and open the gates of the underworld.

接，
Yin Fuhai, a descendant of the Yin family,
Return to Fengdu, walk to the Pure Land, and enter bliss. "

Li Zhuiyuan raised his neck and finished walking in the Yin direction, then said to Yin Meng beside him: "Kowtow."

Yin Meng immediately kowtowed towards the river.

The ceremony is over.

The wind blew on the river beach, and even ordinary people could feel the coldness and weirdness of the wind.

The next moment, the coffin, which seemed to still be attached to the world of the living, finally broke away from the shore and drifted into the depths of the river.

Tan Wenbin looked very carefully, as if he had discovered something. He covered his mouth with one hand to prevent himself from screaming and pounded Runsheng's arm with the other hand.

Runsheng understood what Binbin meant. He also saw four shadows appear in the water below the coffin.

The shadow became more and more solid, and the coffin gradually left the water. The shadow below turned into four ghostly entities, which carried the coffin and continued to move forward in the river.

Runsheng sniffed and smelled a strong stench of a dead body.

The four people carrying the coffin seemed to be dead.

Li Zhuiyuan was also watching the scene. He actually saw more than Runsheng. For example, the four people carrying the coffin should have been the bodies of people who drowned in this river sometime in the past. They were not washed away by the current, but were buried deep under the mud at the bottom of the river.

At this moment, they all "revived", as if they were temporarily conscripted for corvée labor and served as coffin bearers.

This once again proves Li Zhuiyuan's previous speculation that this Fengdu ghost town does have its own unique characteristics.

At the same time, it also indirectly confirms another speculation that Yin Changsheng became an immortal by swallowing the corpse pill. The word "immortal" here should be the antonym of its literal meaning.

As for what Yin Changsheng said, those dozens of Taoist friends who didn't like to go out and lived in seclusion he saw after he became an immortal were probably not immortals, but just tyrannical and terrifying ones.

I just don’t know if they have communicated with each other privately... and whether I will have the opportunity to contact them in the future.

“Hehehe!~~~”

It was still early in the morning, but the loud crowing of roosters could be heard coming from somewhere nearby.

The sun was not called out, but a strange red color appeared on the clouds above, making the river beach and the river surface look extremely gloomy and depressing.

This phenomenon is fleeting, so fast that you might mistake it for a momentary visual dizziness.

Then, the coffin, which had been "drifting away" but still within sight, also disappeared.

Tan Wenbin supported Runsheng's shoulders and jumped several times:
"Hey, why did it suddenly disappear? Did it sink?"

Runsheng: "He was taken away."

Li Zhuiyuan held the altar with his hands, his forehead was covered with sweat, and he kept taking deep breaths.

Yin Meng got up from the ground and asked with concern: "Xiaoyuan...Brother, are you okay?"

She felt very guilty and thought the boy was overdrawn because he helped her with her funeral.

But in fact, after learning the Yin family's twelve methods and filling in that most basic shortcoming, Li Zhuiyuan no longer suffers from nosebleeds as easily as before.

His current condition is one of extreme fear.

Because just now, even if the time was short, he had enough time to sneak into the dark and run to the front to "take a look".

As soon as this thought arose, he felt a huge sense of crisis.

It seems that as long as I do this, I will see the real horror.

So many years have passed, and even when a member of the Yin family died, they were still able to be taken away by the "Four Ghosts Carrying the Coffin", proving that the logic of its operation has not collapsed.

Does this also mean that Yin Changsheng, Emperor Fengdu... is still there?

He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, and when he opened his eyes again, Li Zhuiyuan's breathing became calm.

He turned around and faced the direction of Fengdu Ghost Street. The shock in his eyes was replaced by a hint of excitement:

It's great that you're still here.

This world is really getting more and more interesting.

The boy felt relieved because he was sure that even when he grew up, he would not be bored.

After packing up their things, the four of them returned to the coffin shop on Ghost Street.

After the clearance sale, the shop was very empty and everyone had to sleep on the floor for the night. Without the coffin, they missed it terribly.

The next morning, the four of them took their luggage and boarded the boat at Ghost Street Pier.

No need to go to Wanzhou anymore, we will head straight to the mountain city next.

Yin Meng stood at the bow of the boat, watching the river surface being cut open beneath his feet.

The one standing at the stern, somewhat reluctant to leave, was Li Zhuiyuan.

It’s like a famous dish, you only need to taste it once, and while it leaves you with an endless aftertaste, you still retain great expectations.

Although he knew that this was a suicidal thing, he believed that when he grew up and the time was right, he would return to this ghost town again to try to uncover the secrets at its core.

The pier is getting farther away, the streets are getting farther away, the mountains are getting farther away, but the future is getting closer step by step.

After returning to the mountain city, Li Zhuiyuan called Xue Liangliang.

Xue Liangliang told the boy that the restoration of the bamboo slips would take a long time. When he finished the project and returned to Jinling, he would bring the restored bamboo slips back and personally hand them over to the boy in Nantong.

Without spending too much time in the mountain city, the four of them went to the train station and bought tickets back home.

However, this time, without Xue Liangliang's connections, the four of them could only buy hard sleeper tickets, with six people in one room, and none of the tickets were bottom berths.

Even though Li Zhuiyuan was still young, he still felt cramped lying on the hard sleeper berth.

The other three were even worse off. They could only lie down on the berths but not sit. It was very painful to be stuck in this position.

Therefore, except sleeping at night, the three of them like to hang out in the corridor outside at other times.

Tan Wenbin specifically reminded Yin Meng several times not to send food or drinks on the train and not to have too much contact with any strangers.

To be honest, the little girl in red last time left such a deep shadow on everyone, and I really don’t want to be treated ungratefully again.

It was already late at night when we arrived at Nantong Station. The few taxis and illegal taxis outside the station refused to take us when they heard that we were going to the countryside.

Later, there was really no other choice, so Tan Wenbin went to the phone booth to call Tan Yunlong.

The four of them sat and waited on the side of the road for a while, and a pickup truck with a strong smell of seafood stopped in front of them.

Tan Yunlong threw the cigarette butt in his hand out of the car window and urged, "Hurry up and get in the car. I have to return the car in time. People need to use this car to purchase goods in the morning."

It was already dawn when the pickup truck arrived at Siyuan Village.

When the car stopped, Tan Yunlong looked at his son and asked, "Come home with me. Your mother misses you."

"It's okay. I'll go back tomorrow and let my mother enjoy one more day of anticipation for the reunion of mother and son."

After saying that, without waiting for his father to curse, Tan Wenbin got out of the car first.

While others were still picking up their luggage, he ran home excitedly, waving his arms, shouting:

"Uncle Li, Uncle Li!"

From the dam came Li Sanjiang's laughing and scolding voice, asking knowingly:

"I say, who is it this early in the morning?"

"It's Zhuangzhuang, Zhuangzhuang is back!"

(End of this chapter)